Chapter Four
Jon woke once more in a panic, not because there were angry men surrounding him but because he was tied to a cart. He could only vaguely remember what happened but he was sure that whoever found him in the middle of a masicure would not be willing to listen to reason and just let him go.
The man who sat in the front of the cart hummed a strange, out-of-tune song that made Jon's toes curl, but it seemed like the man did not notice that Jon was awake. The man was short and a little thick. Jon doubted he was in the best shape to take on a young man in hand-to-hand combat. So, if worse came to worse, Jon fingured that he could just wrestle the rains from the man's hands or even leave him in the middle of the road incousious if he had to – still Jon hoped the man would just let him go without much bloodshed.
Remembering the room covered in blood made Jon's stomache turn. He heared the voice laughing in the back of his mind and swore that the demon would never get out or cause distruction again. Jon wanted nothing less than more bloodshed… but he had to get away. There was no way of knowing where this man was taking him or the reason for keeping him alive at all.
Jon shifted his weight and twisted his wrists to loosen the ropes. The knots on both writst were solid but the chaffing ropes were slowly slipping. Jon's left wrist was just about free. All Jon had to do was shift to the right and work the whole hand free. Unfortunately, the board Jon shifted onto was loose and it gave a loud CREAK as he moved his weight. Jon silently cringded and closed his eyes – hoping the man on the front of the cart would buy his act and think that Jon was still asleep.
"Glad to see you're feeling better."
Jon dropped his act and opened his eyes to stare at the man in amazement and annoyance. The man frowned at Jon's look and then burst out in a long, deep laugh seconds later.
"These eyes may be old, son, but they ain't blind."
Jon continued to pull at the ropes, practically daring the short, old man to try and stop him. The old man noticed the pulling but ignored the daring look in Jon's eyes.
"Looks like there's no reason to keep you tied now." The old man climbed over the bench to bend down and work the knots of the ropes. "I was afraid that you would fall out and hurt yourself – so the ropes were necessary."
Once the ropes were loosed and fell away, Jon was able to sit up.
"More comfortable now?" Jon watched the man werilly but did not say a word.
"Quiet guy, aren't ya. But that's alright. I'll talk – you just listen."
The man continued on in a cheerful voice ignoring the elephant in the room. "I'm Gigo by the way – just a wondering monk. I saw what you did to those samuri back there. That was amazing! Where'd you learn to do that?"
"It was a mistake to fight those samuri. I left home to stop violence. Now all of those men are dead because of me."
"They were worthless samuri thugs. The world's a better place without them!"
"They deserved a chance," Jon said in a quiet voice.
"Well, you win some and you loose some… folks would be crazy to call what happened back there loosing. You walked away and made the world a better place. It's a crazy world out there full of people who would kill each other for no reason."
The man stopped the cart to make a camp.
"The best thing you can do in a crazy world like this is take care of you and yours. Beat the odds, son."
"What are you doing out here?"
"The same thing that everyone else is doing – looking for more. I could be a man whose name lives on in history! The emperor is desperate to be a man who lives on forever and he's willing to pay anyone who is willing to help him do it."
"The emperor wants you to risk your life so that he never has to die?"
"That's the beauty of it! All I have to do is cut off the head of the Forest Spirit. Hunters from everywhere have been waiting to have a shot at this thing and I get to do it and get paid!"
"You would cut out the very heart of the forest?"
"I do what I have to do. Everyone wants everything but I might actually get it!" Jon stared at Gego in shock. The short man was sounding more and more like a spoiled child. Jon could see that the man had brains but he did not seem to use them all the time. Couldn't he see that killing the Forest Spirit would hurt everyone?
"I might share it, you know?" Gego continued, "I could use your help out there and I'd be willing to share the prize with you."
Jon opened his mouth to explain that destroying the Forest Spirit was a bad idea but Gego talked on and did not seem ready to listen.
"You don't have to answer now. I know that decisions of this magnitude require more than a moments' thought. We can discuss it more in the morning." With that Gego rolled out his blanket and slept. Jon followed suite.