AS SOON AS THEY WERE across the echoing bridge and inside the cool walls of the castle, the foot soldiers disappeared. It was a sign of the vastness of the fortress that more than a hundred men vanished completely in less than a minute.
Grooms and servants scurried forward to take charge of the horses, leading them away under another archway, toward the rear of the building. The samurai all stalked off, walking with a splay-legged gait under the weight of their armor, the tips of the sword scabbards scraping on the cobbled floor.
Only Toyotomi Hideyoshi waited with them in the huge courtyard.
He removed his helmet and handed it to one of the bowing, scraping servants, revealing a broad face, with thinning hair and a deep scar across his cheek that puckered the corner of his mouth into a permanent sly grin.
“It is hot work,” he said, wiping sweat from his forehead with a brilliant vermilion silk kerchief. “We will dine and refresh ourselves after you have had the great honor of meeting with Lord Mashashige.”
“He knows we’re coming?” Ryan asked.
“Of course. What a stupe question. Lord Mashashige knows everything.”
“Everything?” Doc asked innocently. “Does he know the EMF of a Leclancte cell?”
The warrior scowled. “It is a mistake that could bring serious punishment to try and make a fool of Lord Mashashige or of any of his heroic samurai.”
“Yes, I am sure that you are right,” Doc said, putting his hands together and bowing.
The drums and gongs had finally ceased, though they could all hear the plaintive keening of a number of flutes, floating through an open window.
Ryan looked around awed at the sheer size of the place. The roof towered over them, made from tens of thousands of handmade tiles, with subtle changes in color. He could see through to some of the internal walls, which appeared to be formed from sliding panels of some sort of thin, translucent material.
“What are they made from?” he asked the samurai, pointing across the courtyard.
“It is oiled-and-waxed paper on some walls. Those of the higher ranked, such as myself, have embroidered silks and satins around them.”
“Can we go in?” Jak asked.
“No. Not until the lord sends for you. I will go and report to him. You wait here.”
He swaggered off, disappearing into the shadowed interior between a row of bowing servants, who bobbed up and down like stringed puppets.
“Reminds me amazingly of some old Japanese art movies I saw when I was at college,” Mildred said. “Ichikawa and Mizoguchi. Like stepping back five hundred years.”
“Think it’s safe, Ryan?” J.B. asked. “Got so many men here we’d be wiped away like flies if they decide to do some serious swatting of the infidels.”
“I haven’t felt any threat.”
He turned to Krysty. “You feel anything, lover?”
She shook her head. “Apart from some serious unpolitical antifeminist emotions.”
“Amen to that, sister,” Mildred echoed. “Going to be difficult here for me and Krysty to keep a tight rein on ourselves. Triple hard.”
Ryan pointed a finger at her, his voice low and urgent. “I know that. Fireblast, we all know that! But we can’t afford to upset them. Trader used to say that there were times you had to play the game by the other man’s rules.”
“Yeah, men’s rules,” Krysty said.
“I know. Easier for us than for you two. But this seems to be a place where a wrong word could get you three feet of razored steel through your guts.”
Four young women in brilliantly colored silk kimonos tottered by on little clogs, their tiny feet bound tight with strips of linen. Their heavily painted faces were mainly hidden under the hoods, and they waved painted fans to aid the concealment. As they went by, they were giggling together, sounding like a quartet of caged budgerigars.
“Pretty looking,” J.B. commented, wiping his glasses on his sleeve.
“My college roommate used to quote me some old Japanese saying. ‘This morning’s pretty face is this evening’s corpse.’ Kind of grim, huh?” Mildred watched the young women until they were out of sight.
“Gaia knows what kind of a miserable life they have here,” Krysty said.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108