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her again and again, and gradually something in me
developed the ability to oppose her force, and that was my own ki.
Then I knew what it was.
"Later we sent her back to her father, pregnant with my seed.
That enemy family was a branch of what is now known as the
Mito clan. In penance for his violation of oath, the chief sent me a
lock of his hair and his list of spies. We never made formal peace,
but there was no strife between us thereafter. Masami was delivered
of a healthy son, heir to their lands and fortune."
Fu Antos' eyes went briefly out of focus, seeing ancient heroics.
"Alas, I did not learn the ultimate lesson: to suspect everybody,
even my blood kin. By betraying me himself, my grandfather had
sought to educate me in the proper ninja suspicion. Had I mastered
that then, and anticipated the perfidy of beauty, I would
have married the idiot girl! She at least had no wit to be disloyal.
And so I was doomed, fated to be betrayed by my beautiful wife
from another clan. Her of the silken tresses. Mitsuko."
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He touched the geisha, letting her feel the ki. "It took me five
years to develop my own ki strongly enough to feign death, and
centuries to achieve its full potential. But it was well worth it!"
"Let me go," the girl repeated.
"Now we finish my business," he said. "From the time of my
wife's betrayal, I have been impotent with desirable women. Especially
those who most resemble my wife and who therefore arouse
in me the strongest conflicting passions. Until this moment! But
now I have shrived myself, speaking openly the truth that I hardly
let myself think before. Now the curse is off."
He sent his ki into his member, to stiffen it, and for the first
time in three hundred years, that ki failed him. He remained impotent.
"Damn that traitress!" he cried, half in fury, half in agony.
"Am I doomed forever to embrace only ugly women?"
"Let me go!"
Furious, he stood over her. He swept up his katana sword,
which he had smuggled in unseen, ninja style. "Slut, traitress,
defiler of honor, lovely anus of a pig, abomination, wife-I'll let
you go!" he screamed.
With a single stroke he cut her fair body in half.
*
On March 24, 1860, Lord Ii was on his way to the palace of
the shogun. He had just reached the Sakurada Gate in the heart of
Edo, or Yedo, later to be known as Tokyo, the capital city of Japan.
Lord Ii was carried on a palanquin in state, as befitted his
rank, surrounded by his retainers. The party halted at the bridge
over the palace moat, for the retinue of the prince of Kyushu was
already crossing. Meanwhile, the prince of Owai was approaching
with his train along the road.
Lord Ii was not annoyed at this delay. He was a busy man who
snatched his rest at such times, and he was glad to see the two
princes, with whom he had business. He waited in the broad plaza
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formed by the conjunction of the street with the bridge, while
light snow fell. Only the presence of a few idle peasants marred
the tranquillity of the setting. It was not worth the effort of cleaning
them out; like weeds, in their cheap oil-paper cloaks, they
sprouted wherever royalty moved, hoping for handouts. He seldom
even noticed them.
Suddenly one of the riffraff flung himself across the line of
march, right in front of the regent's palanquin. This was a gross
affront, not to be tolerated for a moment. The officers of Lord Ii's
household rushed forward, drawing their swords; they would make
swift example of the oaf!
Abruptly the places they had vacated beside the palanquin
were filled with armed men who seemed to have sprung from the
earth-or from the ranks of the peasants, much the same thing.
Fifteen, eighteen, twenty men, swords raised-admitted by
the careless interruption of the regent's defensive formation.
But the troops of Lord Ii outnumbered the intruders by more
than two to one, and those of the two princes were converging on
either side to lend their assistance. Though caught completely by
surprise, and hampered by their poor position, they were welltrained
samurais. Quickly they reversed direction and attacked.
Their swords reaped flesh with deadly efficiency. Many fell in the
first few seconds, but very soon the tide was turned and the attackers
driven off. Men fell into the moat, breaking the thin cover of
ice, dyeing the water red with their blood. The palanquin was safe.
Then there was a cry: "Yaaaa! Mito!" A lone figure ran along
the causeway, waving a gory trophy. It was the head of one of the
regent's troops.
"That's Yonezuka!" someone cried, recognizing the fugitive.
"Head of the Mito clan! They're behind this outrage!"
"Lord Ii will have his head!" another cried. Five samurai detached
themselves from the dwindling fray and pursued Yonezuka.
Two of the Mito clan tried to stop them, but both were already
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