Standing in the courtyard, the elder priest Ryosen bowed deeply before Kiba Gempei, as did the other senior members of the temple.
“We are honoured by your presence, my lord. It is a most unexpected pleasure.”
Gempei looked at the monks with disdain- he considered them loafers and men who had failed to make something of their lives. The fact that this one seemed a little drunk only confirmed his suspicions of these men as a class. As he saw it, they were of little use except as political pawns and occasionally as go-betweens when a message needed to be delivered covertly. Tonight they were neither, and he intended to get this over with as quickly as possible.
“The signal flame,” he said, looking around. “Why did you burn it?”
“Ah?” Ryosen said, and Gempei saw a look of surprise on his red face for a moment. “Yes…we…have visitors that may be of interest to the Kurokawa.”
“Who?”
“A samurai and two boys.” Said elder with a polite bow.
Gempei couldn’t help but clutch the hilt of his sword in anticipation of success. “Take me to them,” he ordered, and the elder lead the Kurokawa samurai and his warriors through the series of courtyards to the guest quarters. It was getting toward dawn, but the corridors were still dark, and the temple dimly lit.
Upon arrival, Gempei had his men fan out, covering the exits, then he sent two men up to the room’s sliding door. They crouched by the door, slowly pulling it partially open to look inside, then the one who looked in turned to Gempei and shook his head.
The room was empty- they were already gone!
* * *
Jiro lead his charges on a run through the early morning temple, pausing at corners and doorways to watch out for monks and finding none. He didn’t know how the Kurokawa had found them, but he knew they had only one way out- if his suspicions were correct.
Finally, the trio came to the edge where the temple grounds met the river. There was no wall here, because none was needed, the rushing waters and the roaring waterfall were a defence against all but the most suicidal.
Just back from the head of the waterfall, the two stone pillars that marked the entrance to the temple bridge could be seen. Each pillar had a lantern with a lit flame inside carved out of stone at its head, and thick ropes wrapped around its base to anchor the bridge. Beyond the pillars, the rope bridge disappeared into the fog shrouded night.
Before the bridge, under the flickering light of the two lanterns, a pair of broad shouldered monks brandishing staffs stood like the twin warriors who guarded the gates of hell.
Inwardly, Jiro gave a little sigh of relief at seeing the guards. Even though they were an obstacle that would have to be overcome, they meant that the bridge was in fact crossable- after all, who guards a broken bridge?
With a motion to stay back, Jiro turned and looked at the two boys crouched in the mouth of the alley.
“Masato,” he told the elder boy. “There’s two guards and a fight would take too much of our time. I will distract them- you and Taro will flee across and wait for me on the other side.”
“But…Sensei!” Masato protested, and behind him Taro also looked worried.
Jiro cut them off with a motion of his hand, and then rested it on Masato’s shoulder. “I’m counting on you to protect the young lord. Can you do it?”
Masato looked at his teacher with worry in his eyes, but then he sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “I will, sensei.”
“Good lad,” Jiro patted his shoulder and turned, preparing to go.
* * *
Masato watched his teacher approach the guards, using the stubby bushes that grew near the water as cover. At first he considered that his sensei was going a rather poor job of sneaking up on the guards, but then it occurred to him that this was in fact the point.
Sure enough, when he’d come to the edge of the misty lantern light, one of the guards suddenly spotted him and raised a call in challenge. This made Jiro leap up, and sprint past the guards, fleeing toward the falls, and away from where the two boys hid.
Seeing that both guards were now following Jiro, Masato turned and looked at the shivering Taro, who stood there clutching his travel sack of scrolls. Masato wasn’t sure if his shivering was because of the damp morning chill, or if the boy was just afraid, but he knew he had to do something.
“It’ll be okay, my lord.” He said, reaching back to pat Taro on the shoulder just as Jiro had done to him. “Sensei will meet us on the other side, so let’s go.”
The boy, still clearly unsure, nodded his head in agreement, and Masato turned, taking one last look to make sure the guards were still gone. Seeing nothing but the empty pillars, and the lanterns glowing ghostly in the fog, Masato started to run for the bridge with Taro close behind him.
They were almost to the bridge when it happened.
Art by Brushmen
There was a thud behind him, and Masato suddenly skidded to a halt on the wet stone, then looked back to see Taro flailing on the ground. At first his heart shook with fear at the thought something might have happened, but then he saw the younger boy pull himself upright and realized he’d only slipped.
Returning quickly, he found Taro quickly stuffing fallen scrolls back into his sack. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Taro half-cried, clearly very afraid, but Masato ignored the boy, helping to gather the scrolls.
Emotion wouldn’t help, he knew from his teacher, he needed to just focus on getting the job done. Those who became emotional couldn’t do anything well and he fought to keep his feelings under control for his young lord’s sake.
“Let’s go,” he told Taro as he helped him up. “We need to…”
The arrow whizzed through the air and struck the ground just in front of them, lodging there with a sharp “twang!”
Like an army of demons, the black-clad armoured samurai materialized from the foggy darkness behind them, causing Masato to nearly faint.
“Don’t move boy,” ordered Kiba Gempei, notching another arrow and pointing it at Masato. “Or the next one goes through your heart.”
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