CHAPTER THREE
"They're here, we've got to go."
The merchant sat aghast on the tatami mat, the geisha draped over his shoulder.
"Move or die." Kenshin couldn't be any clearer than that.
Tomahizo finally understood that his dreams of retirement were over. Cursing, he rolled to his feet, brushing the woman off as if she were a bit of lint. He ran to the tonsu cabinet in the corner, opened it and began frantically pulling things out. A brief flash of hurt crossed the woman's face before her features smoothed out, but she stayed on the floor where the merchant pushed her.
Ignoring Tomahizo for the moment, Kenshin grabbed Chokichi by the arm and hauled her to her feet. He wasn't about to leave her to the same fate as Tomahizo's wife and child.
"Come!" He ordered, dragging the girl as he rushed toward the doorway.
There was a sound of triumph, then Tomahizo was at his side, stuffing a bag under his kimono's lapel. Kenshin led them down the hall to his room. He shut the shoji screen behind them to slow down the pursuit. It would take the soldiers time to check each room.
"Follow me."
Shoving open the window, he rolled across the sill, landing on the first floor porch roof outside. From there it was a short drop to a shed built into the side of the hill. He held his arms out, expecting the girl he'd left at the window to take his hands, but Tomahizo shoved past, grabbed his hand and landed on the roof, bounding down to the shed without looking back.
The girl came next, sitting on the sill and swinging her legs over. She caught his hands and landed on the roof. Kenshin stepped back and dropped to the shed, bending his knees to cushion the blow. Because he still held Chokichi's hands she came with him, nearly stepping on his feet as she landed. Twisting, he suspended her by her hands and lowered her to the hilltop, ignoring her gasp of surprise. There was no time for talk; they had to leave. A moment later and he was on the hill next to her.
Tomahizo was just turning around when Kenshin caught up with him. With a jerk of his head, Kenshin indicated the direction, and set off through the trees. Within minutes they were at the pasture where he'd left the horses.
Kenshin left his companions at the fence, saddled and bridled the horses, and removed them from the stable without alerting the stable keeper. For a large man, Tomahizo mounted his horse with remarkable alacrity. Kenshin boosted the girl onto the second horse and took the third one for himself. Then they were off, not back towards town but towards the mountains where there'd been a thin line on Kenshin's map showing a path.
The path was there, but it was the faintest of tracks, little more than an impression in the dirt. Since there was no other choice, that was the route they took.
Clucking softly to his horse, Kenshin led the way. The trail led between trees and around rocks, climbing ever upward. Originally it must have been an animal trail judging by the circuitous route.
The light faded and died. It became too dangerous to continue. Kenshin couldn't risk the horses breaking a leg, or careening down the mountainside so he stopped to camp for the night.
Tomahizo slid off his horse with a groan, staggering away to land on the ground in an untidy sprawl. A clinking noise from his kimono revealed that the packet he'd shoved in there at the inn contained coins.
"How did they find us?" he asked wearily.
Kenshin ignored him, dismounting and moving to assist Chokichi. She didn't say thank you, she merely flashed him a brief unfathomable look before rushing to coo over Tomahizo.
"How brave you were, it's as if the spirit of Nobunaga himself were with me," Kenshin heard her murmur.
Resisting the urge to snort at the absurdity of comparing Tomahizo to the legendary warlord, Kenshin turned his back on the couple. He saw to the horses, removing their saddles and rubbing them down with handfuls of grass. They'd ridden them hard up the mountain. A trickling stream nearby provided water. A faint mineral stench wafted off it, but the horses didn't seem to mind.
By the time Kenshin got back to Tomahizo, Chokichi was giggling with her hand over her mouth, and he appeared to be in a better mood.
Kenshin dropped a saddle blanket at Tomahizo's feet. "Rest now. We'll leave at dawn."
The merchant huffed and grabbed the blanket.
"Fine," he said, making a show of pulling the blanket around himself and the girl.
Kenshin slumped down by a tree, removing his katana from his obi and resting it against his shoulder. The last thing he saw was the girl's almond eyes gazing curiously at him over the edge of the blanket as she lay beside Tomahizo.
o-o-o
With the dawn came drizzle. It was a steady mist of moisture that left minute droplets on clothes, soaking into them inexorably. The horses didn't mind it, but Tomahizo's complaints became a steady accompaniment to the raindrops. Kenshin ignored him, while the geisha tried to soothe him with words until he snapped at her and she fell silent.
Then it began to pour. They took shelter for an hour under a cliff until the rain slacked off, then remounted and continued.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" asked Tomahizo in an aggrieved tone. He prodded his horse to bring it alongside Kenshin's.
"Would you rather go back and ask the Bakufu soldiers for directions?" Kenshin asked pointedly. Enduring hours of Tomahizo's complaints left him short on patience.
"You're supposed to be taking care of me. I'm going to get sick out here in the rain!"
Suppressing a sigh, Kenshin dug his heels into the warm flank of his steed and drew ahead.
"Katsura will hear of this!" the merchant threatened.
The geisha remained silent, following Tomahizo at a slight distance, the picture of quiet obedience. Kenshin pitied her intensely, then felt foolish for doing so. Finding a rich sponsor was a geisha's dream. It was just bad luck that the one who chose her was in trouble with the Bakufu. He shrugged it off. His job was to return Tomahizo to Katsura. The man's personal life and problems were none of his concern.
The trail rounded a boulder with tree roots wrapped around it like an octopus embracing its prey. Then the trail turned into a series of rocky steps, too steep for the horses.
"What is it, what's wrong?" Tomahizo asked testily as he noticed Kenshin reined in his horse. Chokichi stopped her horse behind Tomahizo's and waited.
Kenshin nodded toward the steps. "From now on, we walk."
"What?" Tomahizo's cheeks quivered with indignation. Then he saw where the trail led and began to curse.
He sat on his horse and swore angrily while Kenshin dismounted and removed his horse's saddle and bridle. He cursed as Kenshin helped Chokichi off her horse and tended to it as well. Tomahizo only stopped when he realized he was the last one on a horse and had to scramble off.
They left the horses to wander back down the trail and set off. At times they were more climbing than walking, and Kenshin began to be concerned about the rotund merchant, who wheezed like an old woman.
The rain began to pound down, only this time there was no shelter apart from some straggly trees. They stood as close as possible to the spindly trunks and waited it out.
"Come on," Kenshin said when the downpour abated.
Tomahizo looked up with eyes dull with fatigue but could only manage one short pungent curse as he lumbered to his feet. Chokichi stood as well. The rain had washed her makeup off, the faint traces remaining by her eyes making her look like a child playing at being a grownup, dabbling in cosmetics. She looked infinitely younger without the makeup.
Soon the trail led them to the top of the peak, then switch backed down the other side. Kenshin turned for a last look, trying to catch a glimpse of the horses. They were still there, milling around, grazing. It was the other horses that caused him concern.
Further down the mountain four other horses with soldiers atop them were racing up the trail. Chokichi noticed Kenshin's sudden stillness and turned to look as well. Her startled exclamation caught Tomahizo's attention.
"No, no! They found us?" His voice was incredulous.
"Let's go."
Tomahizo didn't need a further invitation, starting downhill without waiting for the others.
At least the threat got him going, Kenshin thought. His next concern was Chokichi, but the geisha set off without comment, pausing to glance back on occasion to be sure he followed.
He caught up to the couple and moved past them. According to the map, there was a bridge up ahead.
The bridge was a rope and wood slat construction. It crossed a steep gorge littered with rocks, a river trickling around the boulders below. On the far side a herder's shack huddled at the top of a slight incline at the base of a cliff.
"It's so far down," murmured Chokichi, peering over the edge. She clutched at the neckline of her kimono.
"Just follow me," snapped Tomahizo. He stepped onto the bridge, hands tightening on the rope handrails convulsively as the bridge swayed underfoot. Kenshin waited for the geisha to follow, then took a breath and put his foot on the first slat.
Like a ship, the bridge quivered and rolled. Kenshin kept his balance and walked upright, willing his spine straight.
Then he heard it. They all heard it, a sound like a colossal gunshot coming from the mountains. The bridge shook as if a giant had grasped it and shoved. It was an earthquake. The shaking seemed to go on forever, but Kenshin knew it was only a few seconds.
They remained frozen on the bridge, waiting until it stopped swaying from side to side, their hearts pounding.
Typically, Tomahizo was the first to regain his voice, blistering the air with curses. Chokichi merely sobbed tearlessly, gasping out her fear until the merchant turned his ire on her, demanding her silence in a burst of profanity.
Something twisted and tore inside Kenshin's heart. Ducking under Chokichi's arm, he marched forward, forcing the man to back up. He stood between Chokichi and Tomahizo, tilting his chin slightly so he could glare flatly into the merchant's eyes. Whatever Tomahizo saw there shut his mouth.
The wall of water was heralded by sound, not a sharp breaking noise like the earthquake, but a rumbling that shook the air as the quake had shaken the ground.
Shocked, Tomahizo broke away from Kenshin's stare as both turned to look. Some upstream dam had burst, releasing a torrent.
A mass of brown tumbling water rushed down the gorge in a wall. It was a tall, roiling mass rushing angrily down the gorge.
It was headed straight for the bridge.
To Be Continued.