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knew how to bathe, at least. I wasn't betting that there was
going to be a daily bath in my future, from the looks of this
place. Not that I was fanatic about stuff like that. It then
dawned on me that I was sort of insulting Wolf's ancestors.
"Shit, man, I liked the gardens and the cute chicks," I said.
"Not trying to diss your people or shit like that."
Wolf nodded and relaxed. I wasn't going to remind him
that I grew up in a west-bum-fuck area like this before I was
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sent to prison. It wasn't quite as poor, but it was sure as shit
out in the back end of nowhere South Dakota.
I didn't like the fact that everyone and their uncle had
come out to stare at us. Mostly at me, it seemed, because
there was a lot of pointing in my direction and nudging going
on. Finally, a really big guy came hurrying over to us. "I'm
Grima Njalsson," he announced in halting English. "This is my
farm. Welcome."
"I'm Wolf Larsson and my wife Caitlynn. My men Logan
and Mason. We are travelers."
"And where did you travel from?" Njalsson asked while
walking us into one of the grass buildings. I wasn't surprised
to find that when I got in there, the inside was smoky and
dark.
"Far away," Wolf told him vaguely.
"And your boat?" Njalsson asked, like he was trying to be
polite and not fishing for information.
"We have no boat, because we were dropped off here by
other travelers," Wolf said.
It wasn't really a lie. Whatever hoodoo dropped us off here
was done by someone else. Njalsson looked like he bought
the story, though.
"I can give you guesting rights for six days," Njalsson said
almost reluctantly. I don't think it was because he didn't trust
us, but because we were "weird" to him, with McGann in
pants and me looking the way that I did. But he was going to
do his duty if it killed him. I almost felt sorry for the guy.
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"We're grateful for your hospitality," Wolf told him. Hell, he
even managed to sound humble about it too. There was a
reason he was the boss of this op.
* * * *
Keno
It took close to nine days for us to get to the eastern shore
of Nippon. We had stayed at decent inns along the way,
traveling in comfort more than style, it seemed to me. I was
just glad I didn't get sick in the kaga, and I got used to the
sway of it after the first day. I was still happy to get out of it
at the end of the day. I even felt myself relax when Mawatari
didn't attempt anything with us. That could have been
because we had Seki and his squad with us. Or it could have
been that we were still in Tamazusa's territory. It didn't look
this big on the map. But I do admit that I was spoiled by
being able to travel in the shadows with Aboshi and not have
to deal with how long it took to get anywhere when there
weren't cars and superhighways. And then there was the fact
that in the real world, I would have made this trip in a couple
of hours on the bullet train. The only good part was that the
other traffic had to get off the road for us. I guessed we made
a pretty impressive sight, the samurai marching along and
Tamazusa and I being carried in the kaga.
We got to the end of the road that we were taking, ending
up on the eastern ocean side of Tamazusa's holdings. The
place was run by a daimyo named Takaneda Kosaburou, who
was one of the daimyo, the lower-ranked lords, who had
pledged his loyalty to Tamazusa. I met the man; he seemed
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to be nice, but dull. He was overjoyed that we were going to
stay the night with him before boarding Iida's ship and sailing
to his kuni.
I knew which ship was Iida's when we got to the dock
midmorning. I was grateful for a late tide, because that had
allowed me to sleep in. What I didn't like was the look on
Seki's face, because he knew we were leaving him. I believed
the only thing that allowed him to let us go was the fact that
he knew I was with Tamazusa and that I was armed with a
couple of knives and my fan. I didn't know if I could actually
kill someone if she was attacked, but I knew I had the skills
to do so.
Seki knelt in the outer courtyard of the castle. "I wish you
a safe journey," he said. "I look forward to your return."
She bowed to him, and I followed suit. "You have done a
fine job of escorting me," she told him. "I will see you when I
return."
Mawatari looked disconcerted by all this ceremony. I
guessed Iida wasn't this formal. I didn't think he would get
very far with Tamazusa if he didn't learn to be. I wasn't being
prejudiced; it was something that he should learn to deal with
in working with any of the lords here. For example, I knew of
no one here but Tamazusa who would have accepted the fact
that Mason was a really casual guy who prided himself on
being casually rude.
We walked out of the castle walls and down to the dock,
our escort only a handful of Reavers and two squads of Iida's [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]