At noon the next day, the team knew the Fox’s destination. It was the town of Toi on the west side of the Izu Peninsula. More specifically, he disappeared into a gold mine.

  The Toi Gold Mine belonged to the Tokugawa government. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, had a penchant for women. He would satisfy his hunger in many ways. One way was by inviting traveling dance troops to the castle to entertain. On one such occasion after the troop performed, Ieyasu was eating and drinking with them and lamenting the fact that running the country required money. Samurai were not good with money. It meant little to them by training. Unless he could figure out how to obtain it, his shogunate would disappear from history. He said he would give 100 ryu in gold coins to anyone who could solve his money problems.

  These types of musings were normally polite dinner conversation preparatory to Ieyasu bedding one or two of the female dancers. A male drum player took the challenge to heart. On the second night immediately following the performance, the drummer decided to seize the opportunity to change his life. He asked if the shogun was serious about the 100 ryu. Ieyasu was mildly amused to be conversing with a drummer, but given the amount of sake, he answered that he was indeed serious.

  The drummer indicated he had a way out of the shogunate’s money dilemma. When pressed, the drummer stated the shogun should seize all the gold and silver mines in Japan and start mining on a grand scale. Ieyasu loved the idea. He executed it. The largest gold mine was on Sado Island in the Japan Sea up north. The second largest was near the town of Toi on the Izu Peninsula, about a day’s travel west of Edo.

  Ieyasu not only paid the 100 gold coins, he put the drummer in charge of the Toi mine. The drummer was elevated to official status and began to change the way gold was extracted as well as how it was minted and in what denominations. Ieyasu soon promoted him to minister of gold mines for the whole country. Minister Okubo became a household name. If a merchant became very rich, it was said he had as much gold as Okubo.

  The original Okubo was now dead, but his son inherited his post. He had instituted the use of explosives to increase the production of the mines. It did not make him popular with the townsfolk of Toi because the town’s men died in the explosions. However, the townsfolk did prosper by the influx of gold poured into the local economy.

  Okubo doubled and then tripled the mining process. Now he oversaw three mines instead of just the one his father had run. In the first two mines, the gold veins disappeared. The tunnels were still in place, but there was no active digging. Now the minister’s focus was on the current mine and its yield. The escaped Fox Gang member disappeared down the abandoned shaft of the original mine.

  It took Myo longer than she wanted to gather her band. They spent the rest of the day watching the comings and goings at the mine’s entrance. It became obvious by the traffic that they had found the operations camp of the Fox Gang. People and supplies came and went all day. “We go in after dark. I will take two with me,” she said, pointing to Midori and Ao. “I want two lookouts to watch the entrance and be an active reserve if needed. One will commandeer a pushcart. I do not know what condition Hideki will be in physically. We may have to carry him back to Edo.”

  Once assigned duties, they all took turns sleeping.

  Myo and her two companions left their bundles with the lookouts. As soon as it was fully dark, they made their way to the entrance.

  Lanterns hung on the wooden beams used to prop up the shaft. They started at the entrance and ran as far as the eye could see. Myo and her team were in full ninja garb to include the head wraps that left only their eyes showing. The air moving down the main corridor moved the paper lanterns, casting shadows in multiple directions. To ninja on high alert, the effect was disturbing.

  Myo was amazed. There was no security. This violated basic survival protocol. She and her team inched their way along the dark mineshaft, clinging to the shadowed spaces between the lanterns. The further they went, the darker and colder it became. Water puddled all along the packed-dirt floor.

  Myo led and tried to peer into the darkness that slanted down and away from her. Midori was behind her. She and Miss Blue took turns watching their rear. Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, Myo came to the terminus of the shaft. Here the shaft emptied into a large cavernous area with two more shafts running left and right, perpendicular to the entrance shaft. In the large open area, miniature caves looked like huge dark spots in the rock. They were full of crates and barrels.

  “The caves must have once housed the gold for shipment,” Myo thought. That would explain the thick wooden bars across their front. In the furthest cave on the right, Myo could see torches, lights, and three people. She made hand signals to her team and slipped through the shadows. In the cave opposite the three people, she applied oil to the hinges of the door. She and her team members slipped through the door silently, letting the darkness hide them. They took up positions behind large kegs.

  What Myo saw in the cave across the open area disturbed her. In the well-lighted cell across hung a naked man suspended from an overhead beam. He was immobile with arms lashed behind him. Ropes passed around and under his shoulders. His toes swayed in the air as he twisted. Bruises and welts crisscrossed his skin. There were cuts on his face. His hair had come undone and fallen around his shoulders. He appeared unconscious. It was Hideki.

  Two others were in the cell with him. One was a woman. She poured water onto Hideki’s face to revive him. Hideki shook his head from side to side to clear his thoughts and get his bearings. Once he realized where he was, Myo saw fear in his eyes.

  The woman stood in front of Hideki and seemed to be taunting him. The other person in the cell-like cave across from them was in Fox Gang brown, but his face was visible as his Fox mask clung to his back.

  The Fox Gang member was a very large man. He looked extremely powerful. Despite the dominating presence of the large ninja, the woman stimulated Myo’s curiosity. She was dressed in a multi-layered robe. Myo had never seen one and only heard of them from actors. She looked like the drawings seen on temple byobu, hinged room dividers displaying painted scenes. She was dressed like one of the noble women of the Kyoto court. On her face was a mask. It was not a fox. It looked like a bird’s head, complete with long brown beak and brown feathers streaming back onto the sides of her face. It was quite striking. She had an iron fan in her hand, and she struck Hideki on the head and shoulders with it repeatedly. Hideki tried to dodge the blows, but he had nowhere to go.

  Myo noticed Hideki’s cell was sparse. Near the cell door lay a pile of freshly cut bamboo. Closer to the far wall were two wooden buckets. Myo knew what the bamboo was for when the woman barked a command and the large ninja selected a bamboo shaft from the pile. He sliced the air with it several times, as a swordsman might with a bokken. Myo heard the distinctive swish as it cut the air in its path.

  Retrieving a razor sharp tanto from within his jacket, the large ninja placed one end of the bamboo shaft on the cell dirt floor. To the end of the bamboo, now waist high, he placed the cutting edge of his knife. With his free hand he pounded the back of the tanto until the cutting-edge had sliced down to the next joint in the bamboo. He repeated this several times until the long end of the bamboo resembled seven-inch razor-sharp knives. Then he stepped behind Hideki and struck him with full force on the back and the back of the legs.

  Hideki screamed with each strike. Myo stifled the urge to lunge from her hiding place and kill her lover’s tormentors. During their vigil Myo’s team had counted 20 people entering the mine. The ones who had exited were not the ones who had entered. There was no way of telling how many Fox Gang ninjas were further down the two shafts. If she attacked too soon, all could die. Her training told her it was best to wait until they tired of torturing Hideki. Then she could free him. But would he be alive?

  Myo bit her lip each time the bamboo flail struck. She tasted blood in her mouth. She tried to shut out the screams of her lover. She could not. For the first time in her life, Myo felt out of control. She thought she was above caring for others. She had made decisions before, like the one she had just made, to wait in order to survive. Now someone she cared about was in jeopardy because of her decision. Intellectually, she knew she had made the right choice for herself and her team. That did not make her lover’s screams any easier to bear.

  The air in the dark tunnels tasted stale and thick. She felt cold. As a child she had learned to shut out pain and noises she did not want to hear. She tried to shut out Hideki’s screams, but could not. Finally the beating stopped, and Myo breathed again.

  “Well, Lord of the Yoshinobu. You do not appear so proud now,” the bird woman said, looking at the pool of blood at her feet. “You bleed like everyone else.”

  Then Myo heard Hideki’s strained voice. “Just kill me and be done with it, witch.”

  The bird woman laughed. “Why would I kill you? You have many screams left for me. Nevertheless, you could stop all this pain. Just sign this letter that I have prepared that tells your brother to return to Kii, and your life will be spared. Simple.”

  “Is that so your boy will be shogun?” Hideki asked as he writhed in pain. The bird woman froze, as did the large ninja. Hideki saw their reaction through the pain. His back and legs were throbbing, burning masses. “Oh yes, we know who you are, O’Fuku. Your perverted son will never be shogun,” he managed in shallow breaths.

  The bird woman reached behind Hideki and took the flail from the large ninja.

  “You know, bamboo has many uses. It can be a flask to capture water. It can be food. It can be a practice sword or a sword’s target. I like the more refined uses for it. Your knife please, Hakunnsai,” she commanded.

  The large ninja produced the tanto. The bird woman cut large slivers from the side of the bamboo shaft. These she collected carefully and dropped into one of the buckets.

  “The buckets contain an extract of coal from China. It burns brighter than our whale oil and with a much more intense heat. The only problem is, it is expensive to import. But I find it admirable for my purposes.” She carefully retrieved the three long slivers of oil soaked bamboo. “Let’s see, you are right-handed, correct?”

  Hideki saw what was coming. He kicked out at the bird woman, but she dodged his blows. The large ninja behind him kicked Hideki between the legs. Hideki screamed again and started to vomit.

  “Nasty animal,” the bird woman said.

  Hakunnsai bound Hideki’s legs with a length of rope and ran it through an iron ring in the floor. Now Hideki could twist but he could not kick.

  “Get his right hand open and fingers spread,” the bird woman commanded. Hakunnsai obeyed.

  Myo started up, but Midori placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Myo stopped. Midori was correct. She could only hope that Hideki would survive this ordeal.

  The bird woman shoved a bamboo sliver under the index fingernail of Hideki. Hideki screamed again and tried to twist away from the pain. The large ninja held him fast. Then the bird woman shoved the second sliver under the fingernail of Hideki’s middle finger. Again, Hideki screamed and tried to get away. There was just nowhere to go. The last sliver went under the ring fingernail. The screaming stopped as Hideki fainted.

  Hakunsai released Hideki’s hand as the young samurai slumped against his bonds.

  “Oh no, I will have none of that. Revive him Hakunnsai,” she commanded.

  The large ninja grabbed the second bucket and threw a ladle full of water into Hideki’s face. He regained consciousness slowly and moaned softly.

  “That is a good samurai,” the bird woman said. Then she went to one of the torches lighting the cell and brought it close to Hideki.

  “If you think you know pain, you are wrong … but you will.” She placed the flames to the three bamboo slivers still protruding under Hideki’s fingernails. They burst into flames as Hideki screamed and thrashed and thrashed.

  The bird woman laughed and clapped her hands like a young child. “Try to take my boy’s castle, will you?”

  Hideki passed out again. Hakunnsai brought the bucket up to the still-burning slivers and extinguished the flames. The bird woman replaced the torch on the wall.

  “I have to get back to the castle,” she said.

  “What do we do with him?” Hakunnsai asked.

  She smiled. “He doesn’t seem to like fire, so burn him alive. I only wish I could stay and see him roast.”

  The bird woman then bent over, stepped through the small cell door and walked back towards the entrance of the mine.

  Hakunnsai stepped out of the cell and out of sight, walking down the corridor to the right. When he returned, he had an armload of wood. This he placed at Hideki’s feet. He then gathered some of the loose straw in the back of the cell and placed it over the wood. He went to the wall and retrieved the lit torch. He stood in front of an unconscious Hideki. “This should wake you up.”

  He bent down to touch the flame to the straw, but he never quite got there. Hakunnsai felt red-hot lightning in his lower back. His face registered pain and surprise. He collapsed forward into the wood at Hideki’s feet. Myo turned the large man on his side and bent close to his ear.

  “It is a dart in your vertebrae. You are immobilized. You cannot feel much now. But you will in a little while, I promise,” Myo said.

  Ao and Midori surveyed the damage to Hideki. “I think we had better get him out while he is still unconscious,” Midori whispered.

  Myo nodded. She took cloth from her jacket and wrapped the three bamboo slivers so they would not cut her hand. She yanked all three out forcefully and straight down. Hideki stirred but remained unconscious. She then went to the bucket of coal oil and smelled it. She brought it to Hideki and submerged his wounded hand in the liquid. Then she bandaged the hand with the cloth. She and Midori cut him down. Myo emptied another ladle of water onto his face. He revived.

  “Myo?” he asked.

  “Yes, Takezo. We are here to get you out. Can you stand and walk?”

  “I can try,” he said. Then he tried. Myo and Midori caught him. He tried again. After the third time, he could stand on his own.

  Midori got busy stripping Hakunnsai and passing the clothing to Myo. Myo took the contents of the various packets they found in Hakunnsai’s jacket. She smelled each, making certain she knew what they were. She kept two and emptied them onto Hideki’s back and legs. The cuts from the bamboo were plentiful but not deep. The salve would coagulate the blood and offer a numbing effect. Then Myo helped Hideki cover his nakedness.

  Ao stepped into the cell and passed her hand in front of her face several times. The shaft was clear of people. Myo signaled for Midori and Ao to help Hideki to the entrance. She had some work yet to do. She watched as the two female ninja flanking Hideki helped him toward the entrance.

  Myo moved back to the team’s original hiding place across from Hideki’s former cell and picked up a length of rope she had seen there. When she bent over to grab it, she noticed the markings on the wooden kegs she had used as cover and smiled.

  Myo returned to Hideki’s former cell and tied the large ninja as he had tied Hideki. Then she gagged him with a short length of rope and started the fire at his feet. The large ninja could not feel any pain. Once the fire was going well, Myo reached behind him and yanked out the dart. The large man thrashed and twisted, trying to flee the flames. She had put enough wood on the pile that his legs were already beginning to blister. Myo smiled at his huge, unbelieving eyes and departed. She made one stop. Then she raced to the front entrance.

  She caught up with her comrades and Hideki just outside in the daylight. She told them to hurry. When Midori gave a questioning glance, Myo explained. “The cell we were hiding in was loaded with gunpowder. There is about to be an explosion.”

  The four moved as fast as they could with the burden they carried. They had cleared the entrance and were moving to the compound gate when a tremendous explosion knocked them to the dirt and continued to shake them like dolls. A huge fireball billowed out of the mineshaft and passed over them.

  When the rumblings abated in the mine, Myo pushed herself to her hands and knees. She worked her jaws back and forth trying to clear her ears as she rose and knocked the dust from her clothing. The other ninja women rose and checked themselves for missing and broken body parts. Myo looked around and found Hideki still on the ground. There was blood on his forehead where he had struck a large rock.

  “By the Buddha, not now,” Myo cried.

  She raced to him. There was blood oozing through the jacket she had placed on his back and, more importantly, there was blood on a rock.

  Two black-clad male ninja appeared with a pushcart. Gently, the troop lifted Hideki onto the cart facedown and covered him with canvas, then they all reversed their clothing. In just a few seconds they were all Abe couriers once again.

  Mr. Brown inspected Hideki’s wounds, then looked at Myo. “He is in bad shape. I suggest we transport him back to Edo via boat. The road trip would take longer and probably kill him.”

  Myo agreed immediately and sent Mr. Aka to the port ahead of them to acquire about a vessel. The Abe couriers renting a vessel would not raise eyebrows. However, they needed to get on board quickly as every government official in a ten-mile radius would be at the mines to inspect the accident. Myo thought of finding a doctor and borrowing him for Hideki, but decided against it. She had no idea how many Foxes she had killed in the mine explosion. It had felt like she had brought down the whole mountain.

  Getting to the boat and back to the Yoshinobu compound was her priority. She could treat her lover with her own medicines once on board the ship. Edo was still a very long way away.

  Chapter 26: Decisions

  “Are the Lord Hideki and Miss Myo lovers?” she asked her son-in-law.

  Yoshi’s wife looked up from her sewing to hear the answer.