And we're back! Did you miss us? Did ya? Oh moo to you then! Neither I nor Fortune Maiden own either Samurai Warriors or Sengoku Basara. We do however own the bandwagon until I have to take it back and cash in on the security deposit!
This chapter written by yours truly.
Chapter 3
Spiders. Large snakes. Freddy from Elm Street. I'd faced them all, never afraid to admit to being scared. But the one time I was truly terrified, my throat closed up.
After a glare filled journey, during which Fortune sat in the box with Kojuro, I'd talked myself through what I was going to say. How I would act. Even how much eye contact I should use. Truthfully, I'd been preparing for this moment for a long time, fighting every part of me that even tried to speak sense.
"You okay?" Fortune's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and back in front of our new destination. Behind me, I could hear a few of the bandwagon's occupants complaining again, only to be shushed by Keiji and Hanbei. "We could always go grab the other set."
"Nah, then there would be a riot." Snorting lightly to myself, I forced my feet forward ignoring the startled looks around me, stopping only when one of the on duty guards had the tip of his sword at my throat.
"State your business, strange garbed woman!" Yeah, we should really hurry and get changed.
"I wish to speak to Lord Oda. I-I have information he may find useful."
Furrowing his brow, the guard didn't let the sword drop, until he took note of the crossbow on my back. "Leave your weapons at the door. If you are merely here to waste time, Lord Oda will deal with you himself."
Nodding furiously, I unstrapped the bolt bag and crossbow, dropping them in the bandwagon. As I turned to leave, Masamune grabbed my wrist, "Are you sure we can trust this Oda?"
"More than we can trust yours." I smiled, already running back to where Fortune was waiting for me.
The smell of incense was thick in the air, pricking hard at my nose. Next to me, Fortune sneezed, a small reminder I wasn't alone here. "How long do you think we have until they get bored?"
"When there's an explosion from outside, then we know it's time to cut our losses." With that little joke out of the way, the tension certainly eased up, just as footsteps began to approach the meeting room. I tensed up, feeling my hands form into tightly locked fists as the door was opened. Against my better judgement, I risked glancing upwards, freezing almost instantaneously.
Tall, proud and intimidating were the only words my mind could form, watching Nobunaga breeze past us to stand at the front of the room. I could briefly feel Fortune's eyes on me, urging me to speak. So much for rehearsing.
"We wish to extend an invitation to you, Lord Oda." Fortune started, her voice filling the room with ease. "Forgive my friend, she has been looking forward to meeting you for some time now."
"Is that so? What kind of an invitation?"
"T-Time travel." I finally stuttered out, internally wincing at the pathetic sound trying to pass itself as my voice. "Not that you have much of a choice. There's an army marching here as we speak; intent on taking your head."
Now that had been an interesting conversation topic back on the bandwagon. Between dodging questions from Masamune, many of which were about the man standing before me, and thinking about this meeting, I'd been focusing on the first time I ever even heard Nobunaga's name.
June, 1582. Honno-Ji, Kyoto. Betrayed by his retainer Mitsuhide Akechi, Nobunaga Oda was swallowed in the flames of history.
"An army you say? Under whose banner do they march against Nobunaga?"
Now or never. I suppose the worst case scenario was that he refused, and I'd be left to ambush him in the fie- Wait, that was the Kojuro back up plan. I knew I was forgetting something! Of all the knuckleheaded, idiotic...okay breathe. I'll just adjust the plan a little. Ambush him on the battlefield, that should do it! Yeah. I should come up with plans all the time, especially on the spur of the moment. "Uh, Flaxen? You still in there?"
Snapping out of my planning reverie, I noticed two things. One, Nobunaga was gone and Two, Fortune was throwing me a look similar to the one I gave her when she was stuttering around Hanbei...oh dear. "Did I fangirl over him?"
"Nope, but you kinda zoned out, so I explained the situation. He's gone to find Lady Noh and Ranmaru now."
Groaning, I threw myself backwards, much to Fortune's delight. "I'll make you a deal. I don't tease you about Hanbei, and what happened here never leaves this room."
"Deal."
Well, whilst Nobunaga was warning the guards of Akechi's treachery, and making sure they would put up a good fight, worthy of Nobunaga, I was left appeasing the masses so to speak. If I was a liar, I'd say that the Date guys were discrete in their gawping as Nohime was helped into the wagon, but my mum did a good job keeping that habit firmly non-existent. I spotted the usual confusion over Ranmaru's exact gender, but the matter wasn't really pressed.
"We're certain that these Odas won't try to kill everyone?" Sasuke asked in a low tone, pulling me into the back as he did.
"They're not angels." I admitted, "But they're not the monsters you know."
Once we were properly seated in the bandwagon, and Kojuro started getting us out of there, Fortune took the satnav, inputting the next destination. "Ready to finally start fixing history you guys?"
"Now we're talking!" Hanbei cheered, inadvertently causing Nobunaga to give one of the greatest expressions I'd seen outside of comedies. It was a cross between disbelief and astonishment. From now on I will label it the 'Holy-(insert divine being here)-my-subordinate's-strategist-who-died-three-years-ago-is-actually-alive-and-sitting-in-front-of-me' expression. Maybe I should work on the label. Hanbei should be able to help seeing as he's the one causing it. "Ah well, nice seeing you again Lord Nobunaga! And always a pleasure to see you, my Lady!"
The satnav's computerised voice broke Nobunaga out of it, his head whipping round when it announced the destination was set. Once Kojuro had taken it back, I recovered my crossbow, loading a bolt in preparation.
"Where are we going?" Keiji yelled over the horses.
"Nagashino. In your world." Nodding to me, Fortune took position at the side of the wagon, hanging her arms over. "Sasuke, I'm going to need a hand."
Once the light had died down, and we were no longer blinded, the Basara crew and the Odas quickly took cover, which meant that for the two minutes we would be near another Masamune and Kojuro, we were going driverless. Don't want to mess up the time stream too badly, right?
Nonetheless, we were on a rescue mission, and hopefully we'd be able to prevent a large chunk of emotional scarring for one character.
The plan was that before dropping down into the wagon again, Kojuro would get us in close, at a speed fast enough to avoid most of the bullets, but not so fast that we wouldn't be able to grab Nagamasa. "And why are we saving my brother in law?" Nobunaga asked, not fazed at all by his first time travelling experience. Which I shouldn't be too surprised at, but y'know, these guys didn't experience much technology.
"Because in this world, Mitsuhide is a backstabbing sociopath, who kills him with the rifles that were supposed to help Tokugawa against the Uesugi and Takeda." Fortune explained, her fists opening and closing in anticipation.
"Not to mention he does it in front of your little sister, which causes her to become some kind of a dark sorceress, which admittedly helps her grow a spine and kill your wife, no offence my Lady. But before she can kill you, you put a bullet in her, just as Sanada Yukimura and Date Masamune show up. In other words, we're trying to prevent a scary Oichi."
If my information overload was well, overloading, no-one blinked. Though, that could also have something to do with the fact that Kojuro and Masamune had leapt into the wagon, a hand still on the reins. "Get ready!"
The next few seconds passed somewhat in a breeze, but Fortune and Sasuke managed to grab Nagamasa, helmet and all, whilst I took my shot at Mitsuhide. It went wide, but provided enough of a distraction for us to get out of there. With steady hands, Kojuro urged the horses forwards, the flash of light coming quicker this time, Nagamasa dropping to the ground safely.
Massaging their arms, Fortune and Sasuke fell back against the side, breathing again. "I think it's time to open those snacks." Keiji smirked, already searching through the bag. As the wagon returned to some semblance of order, with Kojuro returning to his driving position with Ranmaru next to him as navigator, I put my crossbow back in the case. My eyes met Fortune's, and I grinned, bursting into laughter. Within a second she'd joined me, leaving the others to stare blankly at us.
"Well everyone," I started, calming down again, "Welcome to the Time Travelling Bandwagon Extravaganza!"
Bonus Scene- While Flaxen and Fortune continue the recruiting, the members of the bandwagon muse over security.
"I'm surprised at how much resistance the guards gave them over entering the temple," Keiji said, stretching out into the temporarily available space.
"I know. Don't those guys know of the ancient proverb?" Hanbei remarked indignantly, "Guards must be kind to horses and never question lone travelers."
"Takenaka, Maeda," Kojuro, ever the voice of reason, grumbled, "Just what part of "lone travelers" does our bandwagon of time-travelers, feudal lords, retainers, vagabonds, ninjas, and strategists fit?"
An uneasy silence passed through the wagon as the occupants processed that bit of information.
Finally, Sasuke spoke, "Well so much for that gag."
The others agreed.
