Chapter 14:
The capital of Wa was a paragon of order. It was laid out neatly, according to an overall design that had been drawn up at the city's creation. It was clean and kept that way according to ancient beliefs and customs. Still, beneath the order and cleanliness lurked the grime and filth that found its way into every city, no matter how well cared for. This decay could be found in the homes of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the low caste.
Chief amongst these low-caste societal throw-aways were the eta, those who dealt with the distasteful task of disposing of trash and the dead. These poorest of the poor lived apart from the city, unable to rise above what they had been born into. It was believed that one was born an eta because they had incurred a karmic debt in another life, and that when they died, if they lived as piously as they could, that an eta could be reborn above their former caste. Perhaps it was this belief that allowed the orderly people of Wa to enslave and degrade their fellow man.
It was through the eta village that the Blades entered the capital, sneaking over walls and through gates under the protection of an invisibility spell during the wee hours of the morning. At Yoshimo's direction the put all their weapons and armor, save a few easily concealable things, into the bag of holding they had brought along, and then donned their disguises.
"I never thought I'd have to actually use this," Imoen said quietly, more to herself than the others, as she slipped her magic ring onto one of her fingers. Her features shifted to those of a rather plain-looking Kara-Turan woman. "Good?"
Touga, Yukiko and Yoshimo appraised her with careful eyes. "Good enough," Touga said.
"Fix the kimono," Yoshimo suggested.
"Not enough blousing?"
"No, too much cleavage," Yukiko said gently.
Imoen adjusted her garment with a blush.
Once everyone was properly disguised the group made their way to an inn that Touga indicated would be fairly reputable, but one at which the arrival of a large number of people would not cause too much fuss.
As soon as they had rooms Yoshimo took the bag of holding and rummaged through it. He took out two enchanted daggers and hid them in the long, flowing sleeves of his clothes. Then he dug into the gem bag the Blades kept filled with jewels and such as back up currency and pulled out two fine pearl necklaces and a pair of matching earrings. Then he went to find Jaheira.
Yoshimo smiled grimly. "I will be going out for a while, keep an eye on both Touga and Yukiko. I don't trust either of them." Without giving any more of an answer, he ducked out of the inn and vanished into the streets.
***
Some quarters of the imperial capital made the seedier districts of Athkatla look tame in comparison. It was to these quarters that Yoshimo went, in particular a certain portion of the red light district he knew his current quarry frequented. Or at least, had sixteen years ago. He knocked on the door of the House of the Jade Willow and waited. In a moment the door slid open a crack and a little girl peeked out.
He knelt down and held out the earrings, saying to the girl, "Go take this to the mama-san, please, and tell her that if she will meet with me I have more gifts for her."
The little girl looked at him with wide eyes and bowed deeply before she hurriedly closed the door and ran back to relay the message. It didn't take long for the door to open again, this time wider, and an old woman, impeccably coiffed and made up, greeted him.
They went through a formal introduction, and then Yoshimo said politely, "Pardon me for arriving unannounced, but I was wondering if I might have a word with you."
"Perhaps…" the mama-san began
Yoshimo reached into the folds of his clothes and withdrew the first necklace.
"… That could easily be arranged," she finished, eyeing the necklace with shrewd and greedy eyes. "Please come in." She ushered him inside and sat him down in a small, tidy room, at a low wooden table. "Hana-chan, fetch tea for our honored guest!" The little girl, who had been peering into the room from the doorway, scuttled away. The Mama-san waited for the tea to arrive before she spoke again. "What brings you here, honored lord?"
Yoshimo half-smiled. "I'm no 'honored lord,'" he said, "but I can pay like one. I'm looking for a man, Hiruma Sabishii, and last I knew he was a patron of this establishment. I was hoping you could tell me where I might find him."
The Mama-san looked very suspicious all of a sudden. "Why are you looking for Hiruma-san?"
"I have some business to discuss with him."
"What sort of business?"
"Sorry, I can't reveal that," Yoshimo stood up. "I'm sorry to have troubled you. If you see Hiruma-san, please send him to me." He set the second necklace down on the table.
"Where will you be?" The Mama-san's eyes never left the necklace.
Yoshimo gave her the name of the inn where the Blades were staying. "Thank you for the tea, and have a pleasant night." He bowed and the Mama-san saw him out.
Almost as soon as Yoshimo got back to the inn Jaheira tracked him down. "Did your… excursion… go well?" she inquired.
Yoshimo nodded. "By tomorrow evening someone who might know a way into the Imperial Palace will probably come here to meet with me. What about the old man?"
Jaheira shrugged. "He did nothing that seemed suspicious to me."
Yoshimo said softly, "I trust him about as far as I can throw him."
"I said more or less the same thing about you once," Jaheira pointed out.
"Yes, but then, you couldn't trust me in the end, could you?"
***
Brynn had free run of the Imperial Palace, more or less. She had to be helped anywhere she wanted to go, and armed guards escorted her the whole time, but she could go where she chose. She spent most of her time in the garden or watching the palace guards practiced their katas. She longed to be able to pick up her own blades and join them, or even just to feel the familiar weight in her hands. It was very hard for the usually active Kensai to sit and convalesce.
She had been at the palace for a week and a half already, and under Asako's care she was healing slowly. At least she was healing though. She had done her best to behave herself, keeping her normally flippant tongue in check and her ire under control, and so the Emperor had given Asako instructions to make sure she got the best possible care. Still, she worried about what might happen if something went wrong. She had nightmares about being crippled for the rest of her life, unable to walk without limping, her trademark grace and power gone forever. It terrified her. What would she be then? Not a Kensai, of that she was certain. A Kensai who couldn't wield her sword was no Kensai at all. She would be nothing but an invalid, a helpless, hopeless invalid.
Today she sat in the practice room, where the residents of the palace would work on their swordplay. She settled into one corner of the room, her ever-present guards surrounding her, but not obstructing her view. Sometimes, she wished they would. She didn't know why she forced herself to watch others practice, it brought all of her fears to the front of her mind and made her heart ache. It also irritated her to no end to know that she could best all of these silly children at once, if she had her swords and she was in top form, but they looked at her like she was some kind of freak. An incapable freak, because, after all, even if the Emperor had spared her because he was impressed with her skill on the prison island –which was the rumor that was going around- she couldn't really be all that good. She was just a barbarian. A crippled, helpless, ignorant barbarian. As soon as she was completely better she would show those clowns just what she could do. She would show them that 'barbarian' didn't mean 'unskilled.'
Of course, that would only be if she was still in the palace by the time her wounds were healed. She hoped that the Blades would find a way to get her out before then. She knew they had to be trying; they wouldn't leave her imprisoned after all. She missed them all terribly, most of all Yoshimo. She could really use a comforting hug and a kiss, even if she was too badly injured for more.
She sighed. Turning to her guards she said, "I'd like to go now."
Two of them helped her stand, and she leaned heavily on one as they left the practice room.
"Where will you be going, Brynn-san?"
Brynn resisted the urge to shrug, it hurt too much. "Back to my room I suppose. I'm tired." And lonely, and frightened, but I won't tell you that. They made their way through the palace at a slow pace to accommodate Brynn, which bothered her, but they eventually got there.
"Is there anything you want?"
"No, I think… I think I'm just going to go to sleep," Brynn said. She hobbled over to her futon and sat down gingerly.
The guards bowed almost in unison and backed out of the door and shut it. Brynn lay down and half-curled up on her uninjured side. The bandages itched slightly, and every deep breath she took stretched her torn flesh, but she put aside that discomfort and closed her eyes. If only she slept, then the days would go by faster, and sooner than she expected her wounds would be healed and her friends would be there to rescue her. It was, much to her dismay, the only thing she could do to help them.
***
It was the scars that gave away the identity of the aging man that walked into the inn where the Blades were staying, that and the way the other patrons avoided him, giving him wide berth as he passed. Mostly though, it was the scars. His face was covered with them, some small, some large and ugly. One of his eyes was scarred closed, but the other gleamed darkly with the light of a crafty and suspicious intellect.
In one of the inn's dark corners, Yoshimo pulled the hood of his cloak up and walked over to the scarred man. "Hiruma Sabishii?" he inquired in a low voice.
The man grunted in affirmation.
"Please come with me."
The two of them walked up to one of the Blades rooms, one that was empty and one which Yoshimo had specially prepared, and shut the door.
"What do you want from me?" asked Hiruma gruffly. "I don't like to waste my time."
"Please, have a seat." Reluctantly, Hiruma sat down, and Yoshimo followed suit. Then he pushed back his hood.
Hiruma straightened suddenly, his good eye narrowing furtively. "You!" he hissed. "What are you doing here?"
"I need information, and knew you were the source from which I could obtain it."
Hiruma laughed, his voice filling up the small room. "What makes you think I will help you?" he demanded when his laughter had subsided. "I should kill you here and now, boy. There is still a bounty on your head, not much of one, but enough to keep me comfortable for a few weeks at least."
"You can try," Yoshimo said, "but I think you would find that I'm no longer the child I was sixteen years ago. While you have grown old I have grown up, and you could not stand against me now, not for your life, which is what it would come down to in the end."
Hiruma flared with anger. "Watch your tongue! I'm still master over my domain. Now, tell me why I should give you the information you want?"
"There's profit in it for you, why else? I'm no fool. I know that your assistance comes with a price."
"How much?"
"You tell me what the information might be worth," Yoshimo countered. "I, and a number of companions, need to get into the Imperial Palace, and we need to do it quickly, quietly and secretly. Were I alone going it would have been an easy enough task, but the addition of my companions complicates things."
Suspicious, Hiruma looked around the room. "This is not the place to be discussing such things. The walls have ears in these places."
Yoshimo waved one hand dismissively. "My companions have the room warded. No one can hear us either by normal means or by magic. Now, tell me, is there a way into the palace that I could use and how much will it cost for you to tell me where it is?"
Hiruma glared. "Don't brush me off as if I were a beggar," he growled. "I'll tell you when I want."
"You'll tell me now or I'll make sure you never see the sunrise."
"You would, wouldn't you?" Hiruma mused. "What is in that palace that you want so badly I wonder?"
"That," said Yoshimo "is not the issue. Can you help me or not?"
"I believe I can. But it will cost you many fortunes."
"We will pay."
Hiruma smiled tightly, as if he had just won a victory but didn't want everyone to know exactly how glad he was about it. "Good. We meet five days from now at a place of my choosing. You will bring twenty-five koku worth of gems or gold, or both, and I will bring the information you require."
"We can't wait five days," Yoshimo told him. "We need to get into the palace tomorrow, or at the latest the day after that."
Hiruma laughed. "You're a fool. There's no way I can get the information you require by that time…"
"I'll double your payment."
Hiruma considered that. "Fine, but it will be the day after tomorrow at the earliest. You know how it works, I can't move any quicker than that."
"Then it is a deal," Yoshimo told him. "Where do you want to meet?"
"I'll send someone to you with that tomorrow."
"Fine."
Hiruma stood and walked out of the room. He paused just outside the doorway and said, "It was good to see you again."
Yoshimo felt a chill go up his spine, and it didn't leave him until many hours after his former mentor was gone.