Yoshi and Nishi sat at a small shrine on the road, looking down at the coastal plain. To the west was the ocean; to the east the mountains rose quickly. The mountains were split by the Two Horses river, which rushed out of a deep gorge to snake across the narrow plain.
The castle town of Kubota sat on the far bank, a few miles away. Far upstream Nishi knew that it washed the mountain on which the great Hoden Monastery sat. It was also the southernmost border of the Arai fief. A straggle of huts and small shops on the near side of the river were the last remnants of the Arai lordship. There was a guard barracks and a posthouse, with a large bridge connecting the two.
On the other side the town straggled down the riverside to the windswept coast. Above the town, and the bridge, the castle brooded.
Kubota was safety, of a sort. Across the bridge, across the river, and they would be safe from Tetsuo's troops. They would still be in danger -- they would be foreigners in a fief without a travel pass, which could be very bad. But they would be out of the reach of the Usurper and his Black Priest.
Yoshi looked down at his short companion. "They will be looking for me, I expect."
"Yes..." Nishi stared at the vista before her and thought. The temptation to simply abandon Yoshi to his fate here at the border was a strong one, but... Giving Yoshi a quick glance, she gave a silent sigh, like it or not, she felt a certain responsibility for the giant youth. That, and his great strength was bound to come in useful further down the road. Nishi shook her head, she must be getting soft...
"I know I can get across the bridge Yoshi... but how are we supposed to get _you_ across?" Nishi gave Yoshi an appraising look, "Perhaps I could hide you in a wagon load of wood, ne?" She smiled, although there was no humor evident in her eyes.
Yoshi shook his head. "They'd check a wagon. And we don't have a wagon,either."
"Either that, or I could try and bribe a guard..." Nishi's expression became deadly serious as she considered exactly what she would have to use to try and bribe a guard.
Yoshi shook his head again absentmindedly. "We haven't got anything the guards would want," he said.
Nishi glanced at Yoshi with one eyebrow raised and a small smile on her lips,but said nothing.
"... and there would probably be more than one guard, anyway," Yoshi continued.
Nishi's smile disappeared as she considered bribing a whole squad. "Not if I find the right one," she said with a shrug.
The big youth looked at the Sun, low in the clouds over the ocean. "It will be dark soon. Once it is fully dark we can walk the rest of the way into the buildings on this side of the river. If we can find a boat we can get across the river easily enough, I think. If not, there will be a wine shop on this side. You can go into it and find out how the guards are behaving; whether they are searching for contraband or what. Something will come up."
Nishi grinned, "I'm sure it will Yoshi."
Making her way down the road and into small village that bordered Two Horses River, Nishi pondered the question how to get Yoshi across the river. 'Borrowing' a boat seemed the best option, especially since she wasn't sure if he could swim. She also wondered about her own chances of getting across the bridge. Were the guards stopping everyone, or would they ignore a lone woman? Would it be better to go across as Hotaru-no-suke? With a slightly disgusted grunt, Nishi shook her head, putting such useless questions to rest. First,she needed to find what ever passed for an inn in this tiny border village and see what she could discover.
Pulling her haori tight and pushing her straw sun hat back, Nishi glanced about at the scattered collection of buildings. The inn was easy to spot, being the only well-lit building in the vicinity. Checking her sleeve to ensure she had sufficient coin, Nishi went in.
As she reached the doorway, gusts of laughter and shouting swirled out to her. Her entrance passed unnoticed as the patrons gathered around a table which was the source of the noise. From the cries of encouragement and the grunts of strain that emerged from the crowd, it seemed that some sort of contest was in progress
Her curiosity piqued, Nishi made her way to the edge of the crowd. Standing on the tips of her toes, she tried to catch a glimpse of the action.
It required some discreet pushing, but eventually Nishi was able to catch a glimpse of two men wrist-wrestling. Facing her, a large powerfully built man forced his opponent's arm to the table, with such violence that the other fell sideways from his seat. The crowd cheered wildly, and then began to disperse,as bets were settled and the onlookers returned to their drinks. In front of Nishi, the victor rose and helped his opponent to his feet. Like several others, he wore a simple tatami-do, suggesting both that he was a guard, and that he had recently come off duty. However, her attention was immediately distracted as the fallen man lumbered to his feet, weaving and obviously a little the worse for drink. It was Saito. As he stood, his opponent laughed and slapped his back.
"Sorry to take back our money, priest, but you've drunk enough of it anyway! Want one last one?"
Saito waved his hand, and then paused as he saw Nishi watching. One eyebrow raised quizzically, then he shook his head. "No. Don' feel too good. Gonna go outside. Mi' be sick." He cast one last look at Nishi and then lumbered quickly for the door. Laughter followed him and the large ashigaru turned to scoop some small cash from the table. As she stood, she felt a gentle tug at her sleeve. It was the innkeeper.
"Excuse me lady. Please, I have a booth here at the back - away from the soldiers. What can I get for you this evening?"
Nishi suddenly realized that she was obvious standing in the middle of the room and that several ashigaru were looking at her with more than casual interest.
"Hmm? Oh yes, thank you." Nishi bowed and followed the innkeeper to the indicated booth. "I'll have something hot for dinner, tea and sweet chestnuts, please."
Removing her hat and placing her sword beside her, Nishi knelt before the low table, carefully scanning the ashigaru that were scattered about the inn. It was odd, she thought, to see Saito here. Was he on the run from Kura too, or was she simply imagining things?
All such thoughts were pushed aside for the moment as the innkeeper arrived with a bowl of yosenabe, green tea and a bowl of sweet chestnuts. Quietly eating her dinner, Nishi glanced carefully around the room. Several of the ashigaru were still looking at her, but it seemed to more of casual interest than outright staring. There were at least four of them in the inn, although it sounded like two or three more were out back. Of the ones in the inn, two were still in their mud splattered armor; which probably meant that had come straight from duty to the inn. Nishi grinned, that was not a sign of well-disciplined troops, and getting Yoshi across may be less of a problem than she had thought. All of them were drinking, and at least one looked to approach Yoshi in size.
Of the other patrons, there were two merchants accompanied by a pair of servants and what looked like a couple of farmers. None seemed to giver her more than a passing glance, a situation which was just fine with Nishi.
Finishing her food, Nishi pushed away from the table stood up, gathering her sword and hat. Walking over to pay her bill, she stopped at the table where the ashigaru sat drinking. Bowing, she addressed the tallest of the four, the one who had been wrestling with Saito.
"Pardon my intrusion gentlemen, but I mean to cross the bridge in the morning and was wondering if you had any news concerning the far province?"
The assembled ashigaru stared at her in astonishment. Eventually one of them mumbled "The far province - you mean Kubota? All is fine, although the harvest was as poor there as here...." His voice trailed off.
Another spoke up. "With the bad harvest, there are many bandits on the road. A pretty lady might be in trouble if traveling alone. Where are you going? Why are you traveling by yourself?" His friends grinned, as his voice became less uncertain.
Nishi gave the four men a smile and bowed again, "Kubota is it? Well, good sirs, I am heading for Edo where I hope to find employment. As to why I am traveling alone? I..." She paused for effect, and swallowed before continuing, "I lost my husband in the fighting..." Keeping her head down, Nishi wiped at her eyes.
The men facing her sobered for a minute. The months since the battle had not completely effaced the memories of that day and its aftermath. But after a minute the largest of them pushed one of his fellows roughly aside and made a space for Nishi.
"If you are traveling by yourself, I'm sure we can be of assistance. You don't have to waste money on an inn - we would be honored to offer you a place to stay at the magistrate's house." He tapped himself on the chest and grinned broadly. "I'm his personal guard."
Nishi smiled warmly and knelt beside the guard. "Why thank you, I am unworthy of your kindness."
The other guards all grinned as Nishi sat and took the small cup of sake that had been poured for her. She sipped sparingly, taking her time over it and the cup that followed. The ashigaru had no such inhibitions however, drinking more and more heavily. They soon forgot their initial reserve as Nishi sat quietly, and answered her questions readily enough. It seemed that things were as quiet as they got at the border. There were obviously plenty of ashigaru stationed here, with the main task of watching for refugees from the new regime, but now, several months after the battle, there was hardly anything for them to do - and they were watching for warriors - not lone women.
That explains the state of their discipline, thought Nishi. When discussion veered to close to the magistrate, the ashigaru lowered their voices slightly and the conversation quickly ran into other channels. Nishi got the impression that the ashigaru really didn't want to discuss their local master.
When Nishi cautiously broached the subject of staying in his compound, her burly companion, whose name was Hikaru, made a brushing-away gesture and said grandly. "He won't mind - anyway, we hardly ever see him. He leaves running the garrison up to me." He pointed one sausage-sized finger at his companions and growled "And don't you guys forget it." He pulled at Nishi's arm. "C'mon. I'll show you my quarters. It's really something." After a brief show of reluctance, Nishi rose and followed Hikaru out of the inn. His companions shouted cheerfully drunken advice after the pair of them.
Dawn was just tracing the sky when Nishi cautiously opened the door of the wood storage shed.
Yoshi's brows were lowered and menacing as he came from behind a cord of wood. "Where have you been? I thought you weren't coming back, that you had crossed by yourself."
Nishi grimaced. "These things take time Yoshi. I was trying to bribe a guard, not steal a change of clothes." Reaching into her kimono, she held out a folded sheet of paper, "Here, this is your pass to cross the bridge and to leave Kubota. We will need to use them before they find the mess I left behind."
Yoshi goggled at her. "You got passes?"
But Nishi had already bent to her pack and started to pull fresh clothes from it. Yoshi shook his head and shouldered his crude staff and the small bag of clothing tied to it. Then a question occurred to him, and he stopped.
"What mess? What did you mean, leaving a mess behind?"
Glancing up from her pack, Nishi undid her obi and slid her kimono off her shoulders. Underneath she wore a second thinner kimono. A dark blood stain was splashed across the pale fabric. "This mess," she answered flatly.
Yoshi grimaced and nodded.