The lord of the Kurokawa was starting to grow weary of debating this tiresome samurai and considered whether the wait was really worth the trouble.

“Your lord’s rebellion will fail, Yamaguchi-san.” Kurokawa said plainly. “He was most foolish to tempt fate. Now he will lose both his land and his sons.”

“My lord?” chirped Masahiro, fear strong in his voice.

That only earned him a tired glance from the master of the clan. “Do not trouble yourself, Masahiro. I’m sure I will find some use for you.”

Sensing the lord’s annoyance, but not being one to let that kind of thing stop him, Jiro continued the debate. “The people are starving, they can’t afford any more koku of rice in taxes. What else is he supposed to do?”

“Why ask, of course. That’s all he needed to do.” Kurokawa answered, then added with fake sincerity- “Ask me for help, and as a good neighbour I would be most happy to give him what he needs.”

That brought an unkind smile to Jiro’s lips. “And how much land would he have to secede to you to pay for that, kind lord?” He shook his head. “It’s a devil’s bargain, and you know it.”

“Oh, where is that servant?” Kurokawa cursed, looking about for the young man.

“Please, my lord.” Gempei urged him to be calm, not wanting to lose his chance to show off his prowess to the lord’s temper. “I’m sure he will return soon enough.”

“He…” Then Kurokawa spotted the servant rushing into the torchlight.  “Ahh, here he is.”

Gempei stepped forward, and bowed to his master. “My lord, with your permission?”

“Oh, you have it.” Kurokawa said with a sneer, then added- “Try not to be too quick, Gempei. I want to study his art.”

“Of course, my lord.” And Gempei stepped down off the platform to walk over and stand facing Jiro in the firelight.

But, as the young servant approached, he did not go to Jiro, but in fact went straight to stand before the feudal lord himself.

“Honored lord,” said the young man, offering out the wooden practice sword with both hands. “I believe I have brought the sword you requested, but could you please check it?”

“It is a wooden sword, servant. Just give it to him.” Said one of Kurokawa’s retainers who stood nearby.

Masato just shook his head. “B-but…My lord. I wouldn’t want to give him a poor sword and have it break. And…I am not a good judge of these things. Your servant does not want to take chances.”

Used to inspiring caution in his minions, the lord of the Kurokawa nodded and gestured for Masato to approach. “Yes, fine. Bring it here and let me see it.” He said, leaning down to take a closer look at the bokken held up by the young man.

“The bokken, my lord.”

But, no sooner had Kurokawa leaned in than the wooden sword was dropping to the ground and a knife drawn from Masato’s sleeve appeared at his throat!

That brought a series of startled gasps from the people around them, a disgusted look from Jiro, and a surprised whimper from the lord himself.

“Stay back everyone! Or I’ll cut his throat!” Masato shouted, pulling the lord down off the raised stage with a sharp tug. Then he looked at Gempei, “You! Give Yamaguchi-sensei your sword, now!”

Gempei crossed his arms with defiance. “I would rather die.”

It was at that point that Jiro decided he’d better take control of the situation. Lunging forward, Jiro punched the momentarily distracted Gempei across the jaw and sent him tumbling to the ground, then drew the other man’s sword before he could react and pointed it at his throat.

“Lucky for you, Gempei, I don’t have time to oblige.” He told the swordsman, then turned and walked over to where his own young master still knelt. “Here you go, young lord. Let me help you up.”

“Thank you, Yamaguchi-san.” Taro said, casting a hesitant glance at his cowering sibling nearby. “But…My brother?”

“Don’t go with them, Taro!” His brother urged. “Not if you want to live.”

Jiro shook his head, then grabbed the boy’s shoulder and said with sympathy. “I think your brother has made his own choice, young lord. Now come, we need to go before anyone tries anything stupid. Masato!”

“Yes, sensei?”

“It’s a beautiful night, Masato.” He gestured in the direction of the front gate. “Let’s take Lord Kurokawa for a walk.”

*                             *                             *

Some time and distance later on a forested path, three horses hushed the crickets with their pounding hooves as they raced through the night.

Finally, confident that their pursuers had been left far behind them, Jiro signalled to the two boys to pull back on the reins and stop. Lord Kurokawa had been exchanged for horses, and been left some distance behind- nothing hurt except for his pride. Jiro had been tempted to finish the Daimyo there and then, but that would be both dishonourable, and accomplish little. One of Kurokawa’s sons -or worse his wife!- would have taken the man’s position and launched a campaign of vengeance against the Inuyama that could never have ended in peace. Better to have an overconfident sadist on the throne who cared so much for his own skin and that could be negotiated with.

However, that still left another detail for Jiro to take care of, and as he slid off his horse, he motioned for Masato to do the same. Taro followed suit.

Masato was smiling, clearly proud of himself and what he’d accomplished. He stepped forward to claim his reward- and Jiro punched him only slightly softer than he’d punched Gempei earlier.

“What the hell kind of plan was that? Are you stupid?!?!”

“Yamaguchi-san, what are you doing?” Gasped Taro.

Jiro shook his head. “Sorry, young lord. This is between me and the lad.”

“But…But Sensei!” Masato protested, holding his jaw. “I got us out of there!”

“You idiot! Next time set fire to the stables as a distraction and let me escape on my own! If Kurokawa’s men weren’t such cowards there was no way that would have worked!”

“Oh.” Replied a downcast Masato. “Yes, sensei. I will…sensei.”

Jiro sighed. “I just hope I live long enough for you to outgrow your stupidity!” Then he paused and looked around. “Alright, at least we’ve got horses, so we can put some distance between them and us. It’ll take us about a day to reach the river if we ride hard, maybe longer if we have to avoid patrols…”

“Sensei, may I speak?” Asked Masato, and his master eyed him for a moment.

“Is it an excuse?”

“No, sensei.”

Jiro gave him a nod of approval.

“Sensei,” Masato began, quickly forgetting his pain. “While I was a servant I overheard Lord Kurokawa and Gempei talking. They said that our lord is meeting Lord Sugura.”

Jiro had learned as much from the talkative Daimyo as they waited for Masato to return. “Yeah, seems they’ve got everything figured out.”

“But sensei! They said it was a trap! They said Lord Sugura promised our lord to them, and then they were going to take Lord Sugura after he caught our lord for them!”

For the first time that evening, Jiro didn’t know what to say. Sugura was a trusted ally, if the meeting was a trap their lord would be helpless to avoid it before it was too late. Thinking quickly, Jiro recalled what he knew of the upcoming meeting- there wasn’t much, but he knew it was happening in the next few days. This made it twice as important that they get across the river border as fast as possible, but recent rains had made it fast and deep, and there were few places they could cross safely unless…

“Sensei! We have to warn them!”

Jiro patted the boy on the shoulder to reassure him. “You bet we will, lad.” Then he motioned towards the horses. “Saddle up and hang on, young lord. This ride is about to get a lot rougher!”

---

*      *      *       *      *      *      *      *      * Want to put a little something in my tip jar out of appreciation? Click here and donate!