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By Root 2329 0

an immense danger to you. Few lords have Sugiyama’s sense of duty or fortitude. Very many, I think, will now go with Ishido, however reluctantly, because of these hostages. Next, I think that Maeda will betray you, also probably Asano. I tally of all two hundred and sixty-four daimyos in our land, only twenty-four who are certain to follow you, another fifty possibly. That’s not nearly enough. Kiyama and Onoshi will sway all or most of the Christian daimyos and I believe they will not join you now. Lord Mori, the richest and greatest of all, is against you personally, as always, and he’ll pull Asano, Kobayakawa, and perhaps Oda into his net. With your half brother Lord Zataki against you, your position is terribly precarious. I counsel you to declare Crimson Sky at once and rush for Kyoto. It’s your only hope.

“As to the Lady Sazuko and myself, we’re well and content. The child quickens nicely and if it’s the child’s karma to be born, thus will it happen. We’re safe in our corner of the castle, the door tightly locked, the portcullis down. Our samurai are filled with devotion to you and to your cause and if it is our karma to depart this life then we will depart serenely. Your Lady misses you greatly, very greatly. For myself, Tora-chan, I long to see you, to laugh with you, and to see your smile. My only regret in death would be that I could no longer do these things, and watch over you. If there is an afterlife and God or Buddha or kami exist, I promise I will somehow bend them all to your side … though first I may beseech them to make me slender and young and fruitful for you, yet leave me my enjoyment of food. Ah, that would indeed be heaven, to be able to eat and eat and yet be perpetually young and thin!

“I send you my laughter. May Buddha bless thee and thine.”

Toranaga read them the message, except the private part about Kiri and the Lady Sazuko. When he had finished they looked at him and each other incredulously, not only because of what the message said but also because he was so openly taking them all into his confidence.

They were seated on mats set in a semicircle around him in the center of the plateau, without guards, safe from eavesdroppers. Buntaro, Yabu, Igurashi, Omi, Naga, the captains, and Mariko. Guards were posted two hundred paces away.

“I want some advice,” Toranaga said. “My counselors are in Yedo. This matter is urgent and I want all of you to act in their place. What’s going to happen and what I should do. Yabu-san?”

Yabu was in turmoil. Every path seemed to lead to disaster. “First, Sire, just exactly what is ‘Crimson Sky’?”

“It’s the code name for my final battle plan, a single violent rush at Kyoto with all my legions, relying on mobility and surprise, to take possession of the capital from the evil forces that now surround it, to wrest the person of the Emperor from the filthy grasp of those who’ve duped him, led by Ishido. Once the Son of Heaven’s safely released from their clutches, then to petition him to revoke the mandate granted the present Council, who are clearly traitorous, or dominated by traitors, and grant me his mandate to form a new Council which would put the interests of the realm and the Heir before personal ambition. I would lead eighty to one hundred thousand men, leaving my lands unprotected, my flanks unguarded, and a retreat unsecured.” Toranaga saw them staring at him flabbergasted. He did not mention the cadres of elite samurai who had been so furtively planted in many of the important castles and provinces over the years, and who were to explode simultaneously into revolt to create the chaos essential to the plan.

Yabu burst out, “But you’d have to fight every pace of the way. Ikawa Jikkyu strangles the Tokaidō for a hundred ri. Then more Ishido strongholds straddle the rest!”

“Yes. But I plan to rush northwest along the Koshu-kaidō, then stab down on Kyoto and stay away from the coast lands.”

At once many shook their heads and began to speak but Yabu overrode them. “But, Sire, the message said your kinsman Zataki-san’s already gone over to the enemy! Now