Chapter 21
Kyoko and her brother pulled me through undergrowth, over rocks, around trees and into a damp rocky cave. My feet and ankles swelled angrily at the constant motion; my body not used to such a strenuous walk. It wasn't a particularly long walk, we can't have been more than a kilometre from the village, but the terrain was rough and unforgiving. Once in the cave the brother and sister pulled out their supplies from behind a large rock. Pushing me to the ground roughly they bound my hands and feet, the rope dug into my swollen skin roughly.
"What now?" Kyoko asked her brother as she took a drink from her waterskin.
"I have already left the ransom note, so now we wait," Her brother explained, sitting on a nearby rock. I didn't understand the full extent of his words.
"When do we kill her?" Kyoko asked with a huff. I understood that, more tears streamed down my face as I listened to their on-going conversation.
"Kyoko if we kill her, we don't get the money," her brother expressed, his tone clearly annoyed.
"I do not care about the money," Kyoko spat, "I want to hurt her,"
"No, you want to hurt Ujio," Her brother sighed, leaning back against the rocky walls of the cave. I tugged and pulled at my binds as the siblings spoke but the knots would not budge.
"I want to cut out his child and leave it at his door, along with her head," Kyoko hissed as she sent me an angry stare. Dripping water echoed through the cave as the siblings continued to talk and bicker, I tried to listen in but eventually I became too overwhelmed and simple cried through gag and curled up into a ball, I prayed silently that Ujio would come soon.
"Arabella?" Ujio shouted from the screen door, he noticed I had been a considerable time. He stepped down the porch steps slowly listening for me. "Arabella?" When he reached the outhouse, he saw no sign of me, but he did find a scribbly written piece of paper pinned to the outhouse door. Upon reading its scruffy writing he grasped the hilt of his sword and ran as quickly as he could up the hill to the temple in search of Katsumoto.
Katsumoto called for his son Nobutada as well as Nathan and Nakao to join him and Ujio at the temple. The three men stood before Katsumoto as Ujio stared distantly into the temple garden, his back to the men. Ujio's hand still tightly grasped the hilt of his blade, his face was cold, almost emotionless.
"Arabella-san has been taken," Katsumoto announced solemnly. Nobutada's mouth fell open slightly as Algren sighed.
"Taken by who?" Nobutada gulped.
"We do not know," Katsumoto spoke softly, he glanced over his shoulder to his friend, Ujio was radiating internal rage, Katsumoto could feel it. "All that was left was this ransom note," Katsumoto handed the scruffy note over to his son.
"Whoever wrote it was not samurai, the writing is ill-practiced, most probably someone of lower class," Katsumoto explained, Nobutada nodded in agreement. He lifted the paper to his nose and sniffed it.
"Charcoal, not ink," He commented, this just added to the possibility of the kidnapper being lower class.
"What does the note say?" Algren asked, he could not read the scruffy symbols scrawled across the home-made paper.
"It says," Katsumoto hesitated as his eyes flickered to Ujio, "we must pay ten thousand yen and leave it by the yakusugi tree by dawn, or they will kill the girl,"
"Do we have that kind of money?" Algren breathed.
"No," Katsumoto said.
"Do we have any idea who would do this?" Nakao asked.
"Kyoko, she has shown hatred towards Arabella," Nobutada inputted.
"Kyoko cannot write," Ujio stated roughly, he did not turn his attention away from the garden, its plants slowly coming back to life in the spring sunshine.
"Maybe someone is helping her, I have no doubt it will have been her invention," Nobutada spoke.
"We cannot assume it is Kyoko, not everything is the obvious choice, but as of yet we have no leads," Katsumoto spoke, he had a feeling Kyoko had a hand in my disappearance but he could not be completely sure.
"Nakao, go to her brother, Ryuki's, home see what you can find, if you find Kyoko bring her here for questioning," Katsumoto ordered, Nakao bowed and left straight away. "Son, gather a party of men, search the woods around the large yakusugi tree, look out for anyone watching the tree," Nobutada nodded and bowed to his father, then he too quickly left the temple and headed down the dirt track to the village, his feet carrying him as fast as he they could.
"Algren and I will go to your house Ujio," Katsumoto spoke as he turned to his right-hand man. "We will try to find tracks," Ujio turned to face his Lord, his stony face stared up at the bald man, Katsumoto saw nothing but rage and sadness in his eyes, he feared for his friend, wondering what would happen to him if I was never returned.
"I will come with you," Ujio declared, but Katsumoto shook his head no.
"You cannot Ujio, you are full of emotion, you cannot think clearly, you will stay here and pray for your loves safe return," Katsumoto ordered, he hated that he had to do this but it would be more dangerous to allow him to come. Ujio's face twisted unpleasantly, hating the words he was hearing, but he gave his Lord a nod and bowed, he would follow his lords command.
"Come Algren," Katsumoto beckoned the American as he strode towards the temple doors. Algren hesitated, he turned to the man he once called his enemy and spoke sincerely.
"We will find her Ujio," Algren spoke, he nodded courteously at the samurai and then followed after Katsumoto. Ujio turned back to the garden, he remembered the day he thought I had escaped, but I was just there in the temple garden. He remembered back to how beautiful I looked among the flowers. Ujio's heart pumped hard in his chest, a lump developing in his throat. He shook off the dreaded feeling and decided to sit and pray as Katsumoto requested.
The brother and sister criminal duo cooked rice over a campfire within the cave, its smoke dispersing up through the cracks of the rock. I watched them carefully through teary eyes, I waited for an opportunity but none came. I decided to try something, anything to get out of that cave and into Ujio's arms. I began to scream and groan into my gag, its muffled noises alerting my captors.
"What does she want?" Kyoko spat as she glared.
"How should I know? She is gagged," Her brother replied haughtily. He threw down his wooden spoon into the pot of rice and pushed himself up from his crouched position.
"Do not scream," He warned me. He pulled out the rag that gagged me and cocked his brow.
"I need to go to the toilet," I sniffled. Kyoko sneered at my words.
"It's a trick, she just went not long ago, its where we snatched her from," She spat.
"I am with child, I go so often, I can't hold it please," I begged. Kyoko's brother pondered for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. He pulled me up by the ropes that encircled my dainty wrists, and cut the ropes binding my feet with his blade.
"Ryuki, be careful she doesn't escape," Kyoko warned her brother as he dragged me out of the mouth of the cave. We didn't walk far; he took me to the nearest bushes and pushed me forward towards them.
"My hands how am I to-"
"Find a way," The man hissed, crossing his arms over his chest, he smirked as he watched me.
"Please turn around, you shame me by watching," I said softly, reluctantly he turned around and faced the cave entrance.
I thought this was my chance, I scrambled through the bushes and broke into a run, I didn't care what direction I travelled in as long as it was away from him, but he was wise to my tricks, I could hear him pursuing me not far behind.
"Help! Help!" I shouted as I ran, I scrambled over rocks and dodged around trees as I made my way through the wilderness, my hands still bound together in front of me. Ryuki caught up quickly and grabbed me from under my arms.
"No! Let go! Please help!" I shouted and screamed as Ryuki wrestled me to the floor. I tried to hit him with my tied hands, hammering my fists into his shoulder, but he pushed me to the forest floor effortlessly and knelt on one of my legs, his left hand held down my shoulder while his right fiddled for a blade. Whipping it out he held it to my stomach threateningly.
"Shut up or I'll cut it out of you," The stable hand seethed. Tears fell from my eyes as he hauled me back to my feet, I sobbed quietly as he pulled me back towards the cave.
"You are good tracker?" Katsumoto asked the American as the two men rounded Ujio's house and headed for the outhouse.
"I grew up on a farm, I wouldn't say I'm an expert but I'm not bad," Algren admitted. When they came to the small wooden structure Nathan dropped to the floor, kneeling on one knee he inspected the dirt before him.
"Three foot prints, all different sizes," Algren stated,
"Arabella and two kidnappers?" Katsumoto asked. Algren eyed the tracks and followed them away from Ujio's house.
"They went this way, whoever they are they didn't cover their tracks, they're definitely not professionals," Nathan said as he followed them down the field.
"Why did Arabella go with them so willingly?" Katsumoto wondered, "Ujio was not far away,"
"They probably had weapons, she is with child, they could have threatened her, or they could have gagged and blindfolded her. She may have thought it would be easier to cooperate," Nathan replied as he tracked the footprints through the field.
"This way,"
Kyoko slapped me hard across the first, I yelled out, pained and surprised by the sudden impact.
"How dare you try to escape you little witch," Kyoko screamed, slapping me once more, "You think us stupid to your tricks? You cannot bewitch us," Kyoko went to slap me again, but her brother caught her wrist.
"Enough," he declared, staring down at his little sister.
"You said I couldn't kill her, you said nothing of hurting her," Kyoko sulked, snatching her wrist back.
"We are doing this for the money, not for the thrill of hurting this girl," Ryuki tried to remind his sister. She muttered something under her breath as she stared me down, it was inaudible to me but I had a feeling I knew what she said.
"Enough lets eat, we will take turns watching through the night and at dawn we will go to ridge that overlooks the tree," Ryuki told his sister as he began to dish out the bowls of rice. He went to spoon some into a third bowl when his sister stopped him.
"None for her, she can go hungry," Ryuki sighed at his sister's request and divided up the remainder of the rice between the two of stomach grumbled furiously as I watched the duo eat their meal by the amber light of the camp fire. As darkness engulfed the sky the cave grew darker, the moons rays could not reach the inside. Only the warm light of the fire lit the rocky room. With the darkness came the cold, spring nights were still freezing, the wind picked up a terrible chill as it whistled through the cave. Goosebumps covered my skin, I only had on a cotton night dress, it was thicker and warmer than my silky one, but not by a marginal amount. My teeth chattered as I tried to edge my way closer to the duo, hoping to feel just an ounce of heat off the fire.
Kyoko slept first whilst Ryuki kept watch, he avoided my gaze and instead watched the flames dance in the darkness. I shivered in the shadows; cold tears fell down my cheeks as I tucked my knees into my chest. Ryuki stood suddenly and fetched a blanket, I expected him to wrap it around his shoulders and sit by the fireside, but instead he moved over to me and draped it over my shivering form.
"A-arigato," I shuddered, Ryuki returned to his seat by the fire, occasionally glancing over to his sisters sleeping form, she had curled up by a rock close to the fire, a blanket wrapped tightly around her.
"I apologize for my sister's unnecessary cruelty," Ryuki whispered as he stared into the flames.
"Why are you doing this?" I whispered in return, the light from the fire lit up my watering eyes.
"Money, we need the money for your return," Ryuki told me. "We want to go live in Tokyo but the cost is great,"
"Ujio has no money, he is not a rich man," I told the stable hand.
"No but he has a large collection of kimonos, you should know, you wear them," Ryuki told me, "Did you know that some of those kimonos would take a life time of wages to buy?" I didn't know that, Ujio never told me their value, I did not know much about Japanese fashion, I just knew that they were beautiful.
"Ujio cannot sell the kimono so quickly, how long do you plan to keep me here?" I asked.
"Then he will have to ask his Lord for the money, Katsumoto is a rich man. I gave him until dawn to pay me my money," Ryuki informed me.
"And what if he doesn't pay? You kill me?" I asked the man.
"That would be my sister's preference, but no, the Emperor has put out a small reward, not much, two thousand yen, for you to be handed in to the palace," I stopped breathing momentarily as I pieced together his words. "It seems you have been a naughty girl,"
Writer - I hope its spicing up a little for you, I can't wait to play out more of the ideas in my head, thank you for your feedback and comments, they honestly mean so much, thanks for reading.