Dale Furutani - Jade Palace Vendetta

“We take the left path,” Hanzo replied.

“No, we should take the right path,” Goro said.

“The left path is flat and the shortest way to the barrier.”

“We know bandits are looking for the cart. They’ll surely be waiting along the left path.”

“But the right path is much longer. You have to circle the entire mountain before you get to the barrier. Along the left path, we’d be at the barrier late today or early tomorrow. The right path will be at least another day of hard travel.”

“But-”

“Yakamashii! Shut up!” Hishigawa screamed. “You two bicker like an old married couple. It is intolerable!”

“Perhaps intolerable, but in this case interesting,” Kaze said. “We have a choice to make.”

“The faster path,” Hishigawa said. “The faster we get to the barrier, the faster we will all be safe, along with my gold.”

“All right,” Kaze said, “the left path. But we should remain alert, because if the bandits know anything about the paths in this district, they will surely set an ambush before we get to the barrier.”

The men started moving the cart down the left branch of the trail, and within minutes Hanzo and Goro were arguing about some past dispute. Kaze sighed but continued pulling on the cart, while Hishigawa ground his teeth.

For most of their journey, the path went between wooded patches punctuated by open meadows. The tree branches converged over the path, providing the illusion of shelter and safety and highlighting how exposed the group was in the open areas. As they came to each meadow, Kaze stopped the cart and advanced to reconnoiter the territory. Hishigawa protested the first stop, calling it an unnecessary delay, but Kaze’s look was enough to silence him.

After several hours the path left the woods, went down a long slope, and passed into a marshy valley filled with tall reeds. At the fringe of the remaining woods, Kaze stopped the cart and told the three to wait. Hishigawa opened his mouth as if to protest again but closed it without voicing his frustration over the delays.

Kaze started down into the valley. Soon the reeds were above his head. It was the perfect place for an ambush, because the reeds could conceal any number of men. He didn’t like the looks of this part of the journey and returned to the edge of the woods and the pushcart.

“Well?” Hishigawa demanded. “Can we finally continue our journey? We could have been at the barrier by now if it weren’t for these constant delays.”

“I don’t like the feel of what’s ahead.”

“Feel? Feel? That’s no reason to stop us!”

Kaze made no response. Instead he stood looking at the valley, searching for some clue of what was ahead. The valley stretched before him like a sea of green and brown. In a slight breeze, the reed stalks swayed with the grace of a Noh performer. The brown heads of the reeds rippled as the wind caressed them, revealing the green stalks below. A soft rustling sound emerged from the waving sea of stalks. At the end of the valley, Kaze saw a flight of birds ascend into the blue sky, startled by something. In a few seconds, Kaze saw another group of birds leaving the safety of the reeds, just a short distance from the first.

“There are men in there,” Kaze said.

“Where?” Hishigawa asked.

“Moving. Watch the far side of the valley.”

As he talked, a third group of birds flew up from the reeds.

“There,” he said.

“I don’t see any men,” Hishigawa said.

“Neither do I,” Goro said.

“Me, neither,” Hanzo echoed.

“You don’t see the wind, but you can see its results on the reeds. You can’t see the men, but you can see the results of their progress through the reed field. When Minamoto Yoshiie led an expedition against Kiyohara Takehira, he was able to detect an ambush from geese taking flight from reeds, disturbed by men getting into position. Here three groups of birds have also escaped from the reeds, fleeing the approach of men.”

“They could be fleeing the approach of a badger or tanuki ,” Hishigawa said.

“Are you willing to take that chance?” Before Hishigawa could answer, Kaze added, “If you die, you will not see your wife, Yuchan, again.”

That seemed to convince Hishigawa. “What should we do?” he asked.

“We don’t know how many men are there, so there may be too many to fight. Also, it’s likely they haven’t seen us yet because they’re among the reeds, so their view is blocked. I think we should return to the fork in the road and take the mountain path.”

“But it will take hours to get back to that path, and we won’t reach the barrier today,” Hishigawa protested.

“Is your life worth a few hours of travel?”

Hishigawa sighed. “All right.”

“When we go back, try to keep the cart in the same ruts. Perhaps we can fool them if they get tired of hiding in the reeds and come down this path looking for us.”

Kaze went into the bushes and cut a branch from a bush and a stave from a small sapling. When he returned to the road, the three men had turned the cart around and were already moving it down the path, following Kaze’s instructions to try to keep the cart in the same ruts.

Kaze used the branch to smooth out the soft mud of the path, erasing the evidence of the cart having been turned around. Then he used the sapling as a staff, gouging out false ruts in the dirt road to make it look as if the cart had been taken off the road and into the woods. This was the same technique Kaze had used to fool the bandit who had been following them earlier, making it look as if the cart had gone off the path and miraculously been able to pass through a tree. Kaze continued making the false ruts into the woods. When he reached ground rocky enough to stop the creation of the ruts, he threw the staff away. Now it would look as if the cart had been taken off the road again.

Come on, fools,” Hishigawa said.

Hanzo stopped pushing and motioned to Goro to do the same.

“You shouldn’t call us fools,” he protested.

“What are you talking about?” Hishigawa snapped.

“I think you’re really a merchant, not a samurai. You don’t act like that other samurai, Matsuyama-san. If you’re not a samurai, you shouldn’t be calling us such rude things.” By rights, peasants actually ranked higher on the social scale than merchants, right under nobles and samurai.

“My family is a samurai family,” Hishigawa said.

“But you’re not a samurai, are you? You’ve given it up to become a merchant. Isn’t that true?”

“Why, you little-”

“You really should control your temper,” a voice said.

Hishigawa, Hanzo, and Goro looked about them.

“Up here.”

They looked up and saw Kaze sitting on the branch of a tree above their heads. He was balanced in the lotus position, completely at ease at a height twice that of a man. He had circled ahead of them and had been waiting.

“We need the help and hard work of Hanzo and Goro,” Kaze said reasonably. “It’s not much to show politeness. When dealing with customers, you must do it all the time, even when you don’t feel like doing it.”

“I…” the merchant started, then thought a bit about what he was about to say. “You’re right,” Hishigawa said to the samurai. “There’s no reason for us to fight,” the merchant said with forced affability to Hanzo and Goro. “We all want to get out of here.”

Goro looked up at Kaze. “Do you think the bandits are gone now?” he asked.

The samurai shook his head. “They won’t rest until they get that chest of gold. I laid a false trail for quite a distance. Eventually they’ll figure out that the cart didn’t go through the woods. Then they’ll come back to the point where we took the cart off the road and start searching.”