would not be here. The vengeful Genzo had provided Kumo

with Akitada’s papers, proving that his suspicions of the convict

Taketsuna had been correct. Treason was punishable by death in

one of its more painful forms, and that explained why Kumo

had ordered Akitada captured. But it explained nothing else.

When Akitada was not thinking about Kumo, he exercised

his body. He began by stretching his limbs and moving all but his

260

I . J . P a r k e r

injured leg regularly and repeatedly. The slop he ate, unappetiz-

ing though it was, gradually brought back some strength so that

the enervating trembling stopped and he was less light-headed.

The pain was still with him, but head and neck improved until

he could sit up and lean against the rock. His right leg did not get better. He feared that he was permanently crippled, for however

much he tried to bend his knee, he could not do it. Still he per-

sisted, over and over again, gritting his teeth against the pain as he massaged the swollen flesh, and wondered why he bothered.

The day he pushed himself up against the wall and stood

upright for the first time, the goblin caught him. He heard her

at the plank door, but did not manage to get back down because

of his stiff leg. When she saw him, she shrieked and disap-

peared, slamming the door behind her.

He took a deep breath and made himself slide along the

rock toward the door. The right leg hurt abominably every time

he put his weight on it, but he needed only a few steps. When his

fingers touched wood, they were wet with sweat, and his eyes

burned with perspiration. Still he pushed and pulled on the

door. But it was locked. He felt all around and above it. The ceil-

ing was barely a foot above his head at its highest point, but the

door was much lower, so that he would have to bend to get out.

He was still leaning against the door when he heard them

and saw the light again. In a panic, he tried to get away from the

door too fast. Pain, hot like scalding water, shot up and down

his right leg and he fell. The door, when it flew open, struck his

foot, and Akitada writhed in agony.

They had no trouble at all with him after that. The three

men made quick work of tying him up with a thick rope. The

goblin held a burning torch for them, and later he was to re-

member the scene like something from a painting of hell, with

himself the tortured soul about to be fed to the flames. Then the

door clanked shut and he was alone again.

I s l a n d o f E x i l e s

261

Things were immeasurably worse than before. His wrists

were lashed together behind his back, and the rope continued to

his ankles, which were also tied together. Not only did the rope

restrict his circulation, but he was now in an arched position

causing continuous pain to both his neck and injured leg.

He also could no longer feed himself. The goblin had left his

soup and water within reach, but he was lying down and his

hands were tied. Eventually ravenous hunger drove him to

stretch enough so that he could lap like a dog, covering his face

and beard with food, dirtying his water.

Why did they not just make an end of him? What was he

being saved for?

After a while, he resorted again to taking his mind off his

condition by concentrating on other things. He was not entirely

successful in this, because the moment he cast his mind back

to his family and pictured himself with his wife and child,

or practicing stick-fighting with Tora, he would be seized by

despair. Even the playing of an imaginary flute did not work

any longer. Eventually he turned his thoughts again to the

events in Sadoshima.

The trial must be long over by now, its outcome surely a

guilty verdict without Akitada’s information. Had Toshito

been taken to the capital or quickly executed in Mano? And

what about his father? Mutobe would hardly remain governor.

Perhaps father and son had been taken off the island together.

That would account for the lack of interest in the disappearance

of the convict Taketsuna. And even if Mutobe reported in the

capital, help would not reach Akitada in time.

All his thoughts tended to the same dismal conclusion. More

time passed. Nothing happened, except that now when the gob-

lin brought his food and water she was accompanied by a short,

burly man with the same long matted hair and a long curly

beard. The man carried a cudgel and wore some sort of fur. Once

262

I . J . P a r k e r

Akitada tried to speak to them, begging to have the rope loos-

ened a little, but he was ignored. They communicated only with

each other in strange grunts and left again as soon as possible.

It came to him then that they must be Ezo. He had seen

people of mixed Japanese and Ezo blood. But these were full-

blooded Ezo. That accounted for their curly hair, their strange

light eyes, the fur clothing, and their guttural language. If his

guards knew that he was an official in the service of the em-

peror, they would have little pity for him.

He suddenly wondered if he was being kept alive because

they planned to ransom him. Perhaps he would go home after

all, home to hold his wife and child, home to breathe the clean

air, home to become human again.

That hope brought such relief that he relaxed in spite of his

miserable condition and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

But waking up in the same hot, stinking darkness cured

him quickly of ridiculous hopes. He had forgotten Kumo, the

man who had put him here, as well as the fact that no ransom

payment would be made for him. His family certainly had

nothing to trade for his life. And the imperial government

would hardly raise a large amount of gold or trade territory for

a junior official who had so signally failed in his assignment.

Knowing how powerful his enemies at court were, and how lit-

tle his superiors thought of his ability, he doubted they would

even negotiate on his behalf. So it would only be a matter of

time before either Kumo or the Ezo got rid of him.

When the goblin and her companion brought his food, he

looked at them more closely. Both creatures looked brutish, but

they seemed indifferent to him as a person. There was no par-

ticular animosity in the way they treated him, just caution and

dull obedience to orders.

In spite of an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, he ate.

Life was extraordinary. The more someone tried to crush it out

I s l a n d o f E x i l e s

263

of you, the harder you struggled to stay alive. There was neither

honor nor pride in this persisting. Chained in the bowels of the

earth, lying in your own filth, and lapping food from a bowl like

a dog, you were nothing. Yet you clung to life.

One faculty distinguishes a man from a trapped animal:

his reason. Akitada spent the waking hours thinking. What, for

example, were Ezo doing working in this mine? They had been

subjugated everywhere except in Hokkaido. Their presence lent

some credence to the fears that had brought the imperial secre-

taries first to Sadoshima and then to him. Okisada and/or Kumo

had formed some sort of alliance with the warlords of Dewa or

Mutsu, strongholds of the subjugated Ezo. Their territories were

only a short ship’s journey away. Aided by a rebel Ezo army and

funded by Kumo’s wealth, the traitors could march on the capi-

tal to place their candidate Okisada on the throne. No doubt the