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The Dragon Scroll

[Sugawara Akitada 03]

By I. J. Parker

Scanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU

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CHARACTERS

(Family names precede given names.)

Main Characters

Sugawara Akitada                            Nobleman, presently in his mid-twenties, a minor

government official on special assignment to Kazusa province

Seimei                                                 Family retainer of the Sugawaras and Akitada’s

trusted companion

Tora                                                     A deserter who becomes Akitada’s servant

Persons Connected with the Murder Cases

Fujiwara Motosuke                         Governor of Kazusa province; cousin of Kosehira

Secretary Akinobu                           Motosuke’s right-hand man

Captain Yukinari                               Commandant of the provincial garrison

Prefect Ikeda                                     Administrator of a local district; subordinate to

Motosuke

Lord Tachibana                                  Retired former governor of the province

Lady Tachibana                                His young wife

Master Joto                                        Abbot of the Temple of Fourfold Wisdom

Kukai                                                  Deacon of the temple

Higekuro                                            Crippled instructor in martial arts

Ayako                                                             His older daughter, also a teacher of martial arts

Otomi                                                 His younger daughter, a deaf-mute painter

The Rat                                               A beggar

Hidesato                                            An unemployed soldier

Fujiwara Kosehira                            Nobleman in the capital; Akitada’s best friend

Takashina Tasuku                             Another friend in the capital

Lady Asagao                                      Lady-in-waiting in the imperial household

Others

Minamoto Yutaka                             President of the Bureau of Censors

Soga Ietada                                        Minister of justice

Sato, Peony, Junjiro                          Servants in the Tachibana household

Scarface, Yushi, Jubei                       Three hoodlums

Jasmin                                                 A prostitute

Jisai                                                      A peddler

Seifu                                                    A silk merchant

(Also assorted monks, soldiers, and townspeople)

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THE

DRAGON SCROLL

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PROLOGUE

THE WATCHERS

Heian Kyo (Kyoto):

Leaf-Turning Month (September), a.d. 1014

T

here were two watchers in the garden that night.

One was the old man on the veranda who leaned forward a little when he heard light footsteps on the path from the small pavilion in back.

The young woman was coming back. Alone! He feasted his eyes for a moment on the shimmer of multicolored silk gauze and the sparkle of gold in her hair. The light of the moon was uncertain under the trees, and his eyes were weak with age. It was a moment before he realized that she was weeping. She stumbled near the street gate, her full sleeve pressed to her face, a slender arm groping the way. At the gate she stopped to look back toward the pavilion; then she slipped out and was gone.

The old man grinned toothlessly. A lovers’ spat. His boarder was an exceptionally handsome young man. No wonder he had been able to form an alliance with a lady of a rank so exalted that she wore fabrics and golden hairpins forbidden to lesser mortals.

He was pleased. His life had contracted to the narrow span of garden viewed from his veranda, and the vicarious enjoyment of the secret pleasures of the highborn filled his lonely hours with intriguing speculations. He looked forward to other nights and more entertainment. Sighing happily, he tottered off to bed.

The second watcher was also pleased. He had been crouching in the shrubbery, having followed the couple to their hideaway. He, too, had noted the golden jewelry in the lady’s hair. When she rushed past him into the street, it was an unforeseen piece of luck. He had not expected her to leave so soon—or alone—and he followed her.

♦

The lady ran quickly through the deserted streets. She had never before passed this way, or anywhere, alone. Ordinarily she traveled by carriage or palanquin, and always with attendants, but this was no ordinary errand. Whenever they had walked this way together, she had hidden behind her veil and allowed him to lead her. Now she looked anxiously for familiar landmarks.

Once or twice she took a wrong turn. At one point she thought she heard footsteps behind her and hoped it was her lover, but when she turned she saw no one. Most of the old houses lining the streets were uninhabited and falling into ruin. Others were hidden behind thickets of dense shrubbery, their gates firmly locked against unwelcome guests.

Gradually her steps faltered. The moon silvered traces of her tears. Their meetings at the hidden pavilion had been desperately secret. Nothing had mattered when weighed against their passion. She had willingly put her life into her lover’s hands, and now she was alone and in despair.

The streets lay empty, but in the trees silent shapes moved in search of prey. Somewhere a small animal shrieked and something thrashed about. She clasped her trailing skirts to her and began to run again, sudden fear of night-hunting tigers and bloody-fanged demons dogging her steps. Strange shapes loomed out of the darkness of abandoned gardens; eerie sounds came from the branches of towering trees. When a night bird started up, its wing brushing her cheek, she cried out to the goddess Kannon.

Then she saw the gilded roof ornament of the pagoda and sighed with relief. She had reached the broken wall of the old abandoned temple and knew where she was. The holy buildings lay silent and peaceful in the moonlight. The goddess, protector of the weak and troubled, resided there and had heard her cry.

♦

Just past the temple, in an open field where squatters had built their tattered shacks, the second watcher caught up with the young woman.

The human predator had expected his prey to return with her lover, whose long sword he had prepared against by positioning his men close by, but this was far better.

Grinning, he jumped into her path. She stopped and gasped. Just then the clouds parted and the moonlight fell on his face. Recoiling in horror, she screamed.

This time the goddess did not hear.

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ONE