John Flanagan - The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

But the girls knew they were still there, still watching.

Halt and Will made their way carefully along the narrow ledge. It was wise to take care. The rock was wet and glistening, with patches of ice in places. Fifty metres below them was the floor of the narrow, twisting valley that led to Ran-Koshi.

Mikeru moved ahead of them, unmindful of the sheer drop to his right. He strode casually, sometimes breaking into a trot, occasionally taking a short cut by jumping from one rock outcrop to the next, and all the while looking back and urging them to catch up.

'He's like a damned mountain goat,' Halt muttered and Will grinned.

'He grew up in this country.' Even though he had an excellent head for heights, Will couldn't match Mikeru's easy, almost casual approach to moving along this precarious path.

'Just as well he did,' Halt replied. 'And just as well he's got a restless nature.'

Since his success in finding the secret gully that led down from Ran-Koshi, Mikeru had spent his days exploring the cliffs and mountains around the valley-fortress, searching for new secrets, new hidden paths. The evening before, he had approached Will and Halt as they sat discussing the progress of the Kikoris' training. He was beaming with pleasure and pride at his new discovery.

'Halto-san. Wirru-san. I have found a lookout place. We can see Arisaka's men from there.'

This roused their interest. Since they had beaten the Senshi back after the first attack, they had been unable to gain any further information about Arisaka's movements. Halt had been on the verge of sending a small party down through the narrow secret entrance to see what the rebel lord was up to. He hadn't done so to date, because sending a group down carried the risk that they would reveal the existence of this secret way in and out.

This, however, promised to be an easier way of seeing what Arisaka was up to. But the light was fading and it was too late to inspect Mikeru's find that day. They agreed to leave it overnight.

Accordingly, the following morning, as soon as they had breakfasted, the young Kikori was waiting impatiently to lead them. He hurried to the eastern wall of the canyon, gesturing upwards.

'Track is up there. We climb up little bit, little bit.'

They had told Horace and he had decided to accompany them. But he looked up in alarm at the sheer rock face. He could just make out the ledge some twenty metres above them, now that Mikeru pointed it out.

'Little bit, little bit, my eye,' he said. 'That's a big bit, big bit.' He began to back away from the cliff but Mikeru took his arm and grinned encouragingly at him.

'Easy climb, Kurokuma. You do it easily.'

'The hell I do,' Horace said, as he gently disengaged Mikeru's grip. 'That's what we have Rangers for. They climb up sheer rock walls and crawl along narrow, slippery ledges. I'm a trained warrior and I'm too far valuable to risk in such shenanigans.'

'We're not valuable?' Will said, feigning insult.

Horace looked at him. 'We've got two of you. We can always afford to lose one,' he said firmly.

Mikeru was still puzzling over Horace's last remark. He frowned. 'Kurokuma, these shenanigans…what are they?'

'Shenanigans are what Rangers do. They usually involve doing things that risk breaking your neck or your leg.'

Mikeru nodded, filing the word away. 'I will remember this word,' he said. 'Shenanigans. It is a good word.'

'If we've finished the language lesson for the day,' Halt said dryly, 'can we get a move on?'

Horace made a mock bow and waved a hand in the direction of the cliff face. 'Please. Be my guest.'

The ledge hugged the cliff face, and gradually rose higher and higher as they moved along it. Will estimated that they must be close to the mouth of the valley, but any sight of Arisaka's men was hidden behind a large rock outcrop that blocked the ledge. Mikeru, seeing them hesitate, scampered to it.

'Easy!' he said. 'Like this!'

He flattened himself against the rock, reaching out and around with his right hand, all the while keeping a firm grip with his left. He searched for a few seconds, then obviously found a new handhold on the other side. Without warning, he stepped off the ledge, leaving his left foot hanging in space while his right foot found support somewhere on the reverse side of the outcrop.

Then he set his left foot in a tiny vertical crack in the rock and swung himself around to the far side, out of sight. His voice came back to them, cheerful as ever.

'Easy! Plenty of room round here! Come now!'

Halt and Will exchanged glances. Then Will repeated Horace's bow.

'Age before beauty,' he said to Halt.

The older Ranger's eyebrow rose slightly. 'Pearl before swine,' he replied, and stepped towards the outcrop, repeating Mikeru's actions. After a few seconds groping, he swung out and disappeared round the bluff after the young Kikori. Will moved to the outcrop. He glanced down, then ignored the drop below. He knew that if the others could manage this, he could. He'd been an excellent climber all his life. He reached his right hand around, groping at the sheer rock face on the other side. A hand gently seized his and guided it to a firm handhold in the rock. He stepped off the ledge, hanging by his two hands, stretching his right leg around. Almost immediately, he encountered a horizontal ledge some five centimetres wide that gave his foot firm purchase. He moved his left foot to the vertical crack, then was free to reach with his right hand, then his left, swinging his body round the outcrop as the others had done. He found them waiting for him on a wide section of the ledge they had been following, a roomy platform in the rock. Judging by the drill marks visible in the hard surface, the platform had been constructed to serve as a lookout.

And there, below him, was the Senshi encampment.

He frowned. 'There can't be more than a hundred and fifty of them.'

But Halt pointed further to the south. 'The main body's back there.'

Now that Will looked, he could see a much larger camp set among the shelter of the trees, almost two kilometres away. Between that point and the valley mouth, the ground was a high, bare plateau, unsheltered open ground that was swept by the constant wind.

'Not the most comfortable spot,' Will said, gesturing to the smaller of the two positions.

Halt nodded. 'No point in Arisaka keeping all his men – and himself – exposed down there. He's left a force to plug the mouth of the valley and keep us contained, while the rest of them are sheltered in the trees.'

Will was looking keenly at the small encampment at the valley mouth. Very few of the men there were moving around. Those he could see were bundled up in heavy clothing and furs. He guessed that most of them were huddled inside the meagre shelter of their tents, dispirited, cold, resentful. After a while, all they would care about would be finding warmth and shelter from the persistent wind. That meant their vigilance would be lowered. After all, nobody really expected Shigeru and his tiny force to move out from behind the protection of the palisade – unless it was to attempt an escape. And a few sentries could keep track of any such attempt. As Halt had said, they were the cork in the bottle neck, placed there to prevent the Emperor slipping away.

'They're kind of vulnerable, aren't they?' Will said.

Halt glanced at him. 'To the weather?'

Will chewed his lip thoughtfully. 'Yes. But also to us, if we were to attack them.'

Halt studied the rows of tents below them without speaking. Will was right, he thought. The men in that camp would be preoccupied with the task of keeping warm. Judging by what he'd heard of Arisaka, they probably included the survivors of the attack on the palisade, placed there as a punishment for their failure.