'I'm sorry, Evanlyn. I behaved atrociously,' she said miserably. Her sincerity was obvious and Evanlyn, who was quick to anger, was equally quick to forgive and to see her own faults. She took the hand.
'My apologies too, Alyss. I shouldn't have kicked you. Is your shin all right?'
Alyss looked down to where a trickle of blood was running down her shin. 'Not really,' she said, with a lopsided grin. 'But I guess I deserved it.'
'No guessing about it,' Halt said. 'You definitely deserved it.' But he regarded the girls keenly and nodded in satisfaction. He was all too aware of the tension that existed between them and he'd known this day would come, sooner or later. Better to have it sooner and be done with it, he thought. When he spoke, his voice had lost the harsh edge of his previous statements.
'Perhaps we should forego further fencing lessons for a while,' he said and the girls nodded.
Selethen gave a deep sigh. 'I'm for that.'
There was an awkward pause. Finally, it was Gundar who broke it.
'I don't know if anyone's interested,' he said tentatively, 'but there appears to be a pirate ship heading our way.'
The party of Senshi riders emerged from the forest in a ragged formation and drew rein in the small communal area of Riverside Village.
Nothing stirred in the village. The forest birds, which had grown silent with the noisy passage of the strangers, gradually began to sing again in the trees around the little circle of cabins. The small river that ran on the far side of the village, and gave the place its name, gurgled and chuckled over the rocks in its shallows. The noise seemed abnormally loud in the silence.
The lead rider twitched his reins impatiently, glaring round at the silent, seemingly empty huts.
'Kikori!' he shouted. 'Show yourselves! We want food and drink and we want them now!'
The forest seemed to swallow his voice. There was no reply, only the birds and the river.
'There's no one here, Chui,' said one of the riders, using the leader's rank of lieutenant. The officer glared at the man who had spoken. He was tired. He was saddle sore. And he was becoming increasingly angry with these damned Kikori, who either refused to answer his questions or fled into the forest at the first sign of him and his men. Time these insolent peasants were taught a good lesson, he thought.
He dismounted stiffly, taking a few paces to stretch his tired muscles. Riding in this mountainous terrain, with its constant switching of slopes and angles, was an exhausting business.
'Dismount,' he told his men and they followed his example. He jerked a thumb at the man who had spoken.
'You. Go and search those cabins.' He indicated three of the larger cabins, grouped together and facing onto the common ground. 'You go with him,' he ordered a second warrior.
The two men, hands on the hilts of their long swords, strode with a stiff-legged swagger. They mounted the steps of the closest pair of cabins. The first man kicked open the door, shattering the doorpost so that the door hung crookedly from one leather hinge, and strode inside, his muddy boots marking and scratching the carefully polished wooden floor. It was the ultimate act of arrogance among the Nihon-Jan to enter a home without removing shoes. Those outside heard his boots ringing on the floor as he moved through the cabin. After a short while, he appeared at the doorway.
'Empty!' he called.
The other man had been searching the next cabin and now he too reappeared.
'Same here, Chui!' he said. 'They've all gone, it seems.'
The lieutenant mouthed a quiet curse at the absent villagers. Now he and his men would have to forage for food in the village, and prepare it themselves. That wasn't work for Senshi, he thought. It was work for the peasants who were born to serve them. He reflected angrily that the villagers would probably have hidden their stores before they fled. More time wasted. More inconvenience.
'All right!' he said curtly. 'Burn those cabins!'
The cabins, judging by their prominent position, probably belonged to elders of the village. Well, they'd learn not to make a Senshi warrior stand waiting when he required their service, he thought. There was a light breeze blowing and the odds were that if he burned the three cabins he'd indicated, the flames would spread to the rest of the buildings, destroying the village completely. Too bad, he thought harshly. Next time, they mightn't run away if they knew this could happen.
The men had taken a lantern from the verandah of the largest cabin and they were now busy with flint and steel to light it. Once they had a source of flame, they'd fashion rough torches and use them to set the timber and thatch cabins alight. The lieutenant rubbed his back with his clenched fists, stretching away the stiffness. He'd enjoy seeing the cabins burn, he thought. It always gave him a certain feeling of satisfaction to see a building flare up, then eventually collapse in upon itself in a pile of smoking ash.
The men had two bundles of straw and kindling gathered now and they set the lantern's small flame to them, letting them flare up. They looked questioningly at their leader and he made an imperious gesture with the back of his hand.
'Get on with it!'
As they turned towards the largest cabin, a voice called from behind them.
'Lord! Please! Don't burn my house! I'm begging you!'
A ragged figure, in a plain Kikori robe, came running from the trees that circled the village.
Two Senshi moved to intercept him but the officer curtly told them to let the man through. He stopped a few metres from the officer and dropped to his knees, head bowed.
'Please, lord. Don't destroy our village,' he said in a servile tone.
The officer's hand dropped to the hilt of his sword and he took a pace closer to the kneeling figure. 'Who are you?'
'I am Jito, lord. I am headman of this village.'
'How dare you keep me and my men waiting!' the officer raged at him and Jito's head sank lower. 'Where are the villagers?'
'Lord, they ran away. They were frightened.'
'And you didn't stop them?'
'I tried, lord. But they wouldn't listen to me.'
'Liar!' The word was shouted and the kneeling man flinched at the violence behind it. 'You are a liar! You ordered them to go! And you told them to hide any food in the village from me.'
'No, lord! I…'
'Liar!' The word was shouted even louder this time. The officer was working himself up into a frenzy of hate. His men exchanged glances. They had seen this happen before and they knew what fate lay in store for the kneeling village headman.
'No, lord! Please…'
'You are lying to me! And you have insulted me and my men! Where is your hospitality? Where is the respect due to members of the Senshi class? You filthy Kikori should be on your knees, begging us to eat your food and drink your rice wine. We honour you by coming to your village and you shame yourselves and insult us by running away into the forest like thieves!'
'No, lord! Please. We will be glad to -'
'Shut your lying mouth!' the lieutenant screamed. 'I'll show you how we deal with thieves. And then I'll burn your village to the ground!'
There was a ringing hiss of steel against lacquered wood as he drew his long sword from its scabbard, taking a two-handed grip.
'Kneel straight and bow your head, thief!' he shouted.
Finally, the headman seemed to accept that pleading would do no good. He had been sitting back on his haunches but now he knelt upright and bowed his grey head forward, resigned to the lieutenant's sword.
The lieutenant raised the long weapon above his head, preparing to sweep down. He emitted a grunt of animal pleasure as he paused at the top of the stroke. Then things happened very quickly.
The kneeling headman suddenly came up onto his right knee. There was another ringing hiss and his hand emerged from under the ragged Kikori cloak with a gleaming Senshi short sword. Using the purchase of his still-grounded left foot, he thrust forward, burying the blade in the lieutenant's midsection.