Dale Furutani: Jade Palace Vendetta

“We should be there by tomorrow,” the merchant answered.

A day, a night, and part of a day again. Plenty of time for the bandits to regroup and plan another attack.

Kaze pushed the cart a bit faster. The cart lurched forward and struck the merchant in the back. He looked over his shoulder. “Be careful,” he said. “Don’t push so energetically.”

“The bandits are following us,” Kaze answered. “If we pick up the pace they either have to come out in the open and start following us on the road, where we can watch them, or they can stay in the woods and start slipping behind us. In either case the result will be good for us.”

“You’ve seen them?” the merchant said, looking around.

“Stop looking,” Kaze said. “They’re trying to follow us in the woods in an effort to prevent us from knowing that they’re following. If you make it clear that we can see them, then they’ll start trying to be more clever. We don’t need them to be more clever. We’re the ones who should be clever.”

Kaze continued to push the cart down the road while the merchant pulled it using the bamboo handrails. Kaze could tell the merchant was not used to extended periods of physical exertion and that they would not be able to keep up such a rapid pace for very long. He bent his head down as he pushed, not because he was already tired, but so he could peek under his arms and see the bandits who were following them. He caught brief glimpses of them through the brush and trees that bordered the road. It took several sightings, but he became convinced that there were only two of them following. He looked at the other side of the road to see if he could see the other two bandits, but either they were much better at following than the first two or they weren’t there.

“How far away did you say the barrier was?” Kaze said.

“A day and a half,” the merchant said, panting.

The barrier was a checkpoint along the Tokaido Road, a way of controlling and monitoring the movement of people. It was a place where there would be guards and large crowds and where the merchant would find safety. Kaze mulled over why only two bandits were following them and asked the merchant, “Do you know if the road ahead cuts back or curves?”

“It’s fairly straight for quite a distance,” the merchant said, panting even more heavily. Then he added, “I don’t think I can keep this pace up.”

“We’re going to have to get off the Tokaido Road and move onto one of the secondary paths,” Kaze said.

“What are you talking about?” the merchant asked. “Moving this cart will be even harder if we get off the main highway and onto some kind of side road.”

“We have no choice.”

“Why do you say that?” the merchant said, looking over his shoulder at Kaze, slowing down his pace with the cart.

“Because there are only two bandits following us.”

The merchant looked puzzled. “What does that mean?”

“It means that if the road cut back or curved ahead, then the other two might be moving across country to cut us off and ambush us.”

“But the road is straight.”

“Yes. That means that the two have probably gone to gather more men. There’s a day and a half of travel ahead of us. We can’t move very fast with this cart. If we stay on the highway, there’s ample time for them to get more men and attack us. The two following us are just to shadow us and make sure they know where we are.”

“But what good does going off the Tokaido onto some side road do us?”

“It’s simple. They have to leave at least one man where we branch off the highway to guide the rest of them.”

“But one of them will still be following us.”

“Then we can branch off again, and if he doesn’t stop to direct them at our second turn, then I can take care of him. In any case, it will be hard for the bandits to find us if we are taking some of the side roads instead of the main Tokaido.”

“But which side road should we take?”

“The first one that seems to be going in the general direction of the barrier. We’ll eventually work our way back to the main highway.”

“But on the main highway we might meet others.”

“How many people are traveling the Tokaido today? If you do meet others, do you think they will help you?” Kaze asked. “Do you think another merchant will risk his life for you? Or perhaps you think a group of other ronin would be less dangerous than the bandits following you, especially when they find out you have gold in this chest?”

The merchant was silent, apparently considering his dilemma.

“What if you’re wrong about where the other two went?” he eventually asked.

“And what if I’m right?” Kaze answered.

After a few seconds, the merchant said, “All right. If nothing else, if we get on a side path maybe we can slow down this murderous pace.”

“No,” Kaze said, “we shouldn’t slow down. At least not yet. If the two men following us split up, as I anticipate, I want our remaining shadow to fall behind us more. I want a little time between us.”

The two bandits following them had a short argument when Kaze and the merchant pulled off the Tokaido Road. The one who won the argument got to stand by the road waiting for his fellows to join him so he could direct them. The one who lost continued to follow the pushcart.

As the bandit followed, big, thick drops of rain started splattering the dusty surface of the road. Within a few minutes, the rain started coming down in a steady curtain. The bandit pulled his kimono about him tightly. But the rain made it a lot easier to follow the push-cart.

He could clearly see the fresh ruts of the pushcart’s wheels going down the track. He slowed his pace and fingered a large scar on his cheek as he thought about the situation. He grinned to himself, because he could now follow them at his leisure. They couldn’t get away leaving such an obvious trail.

The bandit had followed for a distance when the cart’s ruts pulled off the road. Puzzled, he followed. He watched the ground before him, intent on following the ruts in the rain-soaked earth. It wasn’t as easy as the road, but the ground was now sufficiently soft that he could continue his shadowing without difficulty.

The ruts continued off the road and into the woods for a short distance. He soon came to a place where a large tree was growing right in the middle of the cart tracks. A rut from one wheel clearly passed to the right and the other to the left of the tree trunk, and the bandit stood for a moment, stupefied, trying to understand how the cart could pass through a sturdy tree.

As he contemplated this problem, he heard a rustling in the tree above him. Blinking against the heavy rain, he looked up to see the soles of two straw sandals rushing down on him. Before he could get over his surprise, the feet hit him on the chest. The bandit’s arms flew in the air, and he fell backward into the soft mud with a loud squish.

The breath was knocked out of him. Gasping, he looked up and saw the ronin who had killed his companions staring down at him. The ronin was holding a freshly cut staff, probably from a sapling growing by the side of the road. Fear gripped the bandit’s bowels.

“ Konnichi wa . Good afternoon,” the ronin said pleasantly.

The bandit reached to pull his sword from its scabbard. The ronin used his staff to give the supine bandit a hard rap on his wrist, causing paralyzing pain. The bandit yelped and withdrew his hand from his sword’s handle.

He then tried to sit up, but once again the staff came into play. The butt of the staff thumped the bandit on the chest, pushing him back into the mud.

“What?” the bandit finally was able to say.