The Amtrack Wars - Earth Thunder Part 20

Cadillac stared up at the ma.s.sive stone walls and the multi-storied wooden superstructure with its maze of galleries and tiled roofs. Two huge wooden doors decorated with spiked iron bolts barred the exit from the jetty steps. Flanked by stone towers, this was the keep - part of the outer defences like the surrounding moat. To reach the palace from the lake, you had to cross a drawbridge which could be raised to cover the equally ma.s.sive inner gates.

Preceded by the two flag-bearers, Tojo and Akori Yama-s.h.i.ta led the way up the steps. Cadillac and Roz, sandwiched between them and the rest of the welcome-home committee, had no choice but to follow. Cadillac edged shoulder to shoulder with Roz. 'This is the crunch-point,' he muttered. 'Are you going to be able to keep this up?"

'That's what we're about to find out,' whispered Roz.

'Just keep talking and leave the thinking to me."

Cadillac was not at all happy with this somewhat arbitrary division of effort. It sounded distinctly like a demotion, but he could not afford to take umbrage.

This was no ordinary joint enterprise; he had to stay glued to Roz's side - the illusion could not be sustained without her! Cadillac made an effort to compose himself but when they reached the top of the steps his heart was still pounding - and it wasn't due to the climb.

On they went, across the drawbridge and through the yawning palace gates into the courtyard beyond. A series of court officials of ascending rank progressively weeded out their entourage until only Tojo and Akori were left ahead of them in the stairways.

The wives and children - who had found their husbands and fathers 'not quite themselves' - were among the first to be left behind, and then their armed escort was replaced by samurai from the Inner Household; a group of young, expressionless look-alikes, dressed in loose flowing short-sleeved robes, drawn in at the waist by a wide sash into which the scabbards of their long and short swords were inserted.

Cadillac and Roz were still dressed in the clothes and armour they had acquired at Sioux Falls. Having found enough bits and pieces to fit him, Cadillac had declined the offer of 'fresh clothes at both O-shawa and Osa-wego - all of which were on the small side. Tojo and Akori had accepted his request to be allowed to retain their uniforms. He and his 'wounded' companion, said Cadillac, were bringing a report direct from the battlefield, and they wished to present themselves to the Regent, bearing the scars of that b.l.o.o.d.y conflict out of respect for their fallen comrades.

As senior military officers, Shinoda and Mitsunari were allowed to bear arms inside the palace, but when entering the presence of the ruling members of the family they served, protocol demanded that they carry their helmets tucked under their left arm, and their two sheathed swords in their right hand.

The small procession halted outside the two large sliding screens that led to the audience chamber. Six guards stood outside. After bowing to Tojo and Akori, one of them knocked on the wooden frame. The right-hand screen slid open a few inches to reveal another guard inside. Whispers were exchanged. The screen slid shut, then a moment later, both were drawn back revealing a large room covered in spotless tatami, with a raised dais at the far end.

Tojo and Akori entered the room, exchanged formal greetings with the Regent Aishi Sakimoto, then took their places on the low platform behind the six family council members already seated on either side of Sakimoto.

Cadillac and Roz strode forward on his signal to enter.

Six archers and six swordsmen were positioned around the edge of the room. The quartet of look-alikes stepped inside and the screens were shut by the guards in the corridor.

These people certainly believed in protection. Some of it was a sign of status, but it wasn't just that. Cadillac had visited the palace of Domain-Lord Min-Orota and it had been the same story. Like Min-Orota, Sakimoto and the people around him were at the top of their particular tree but at what price? They lived behind eight-foot-thick stone walls, guarded night and day, haunted by suspicions and the constant fear of a.s.sa.s.sination. What a way to live!

Bowing low from the waist, Cadillac offered formal salutations, explaining that he also spoke for his wounded companion. On receiving the nod from Sakimoto, he and Roz dropped to their knees on the special mats provided. Cadillac laid his helmet on the left hand side of his mat and the two swords on the right, parallel with each other and with their hilts in line with the front edge of the mat. Roz, following his lead, did likewise.

Sakimoto expressed his satisfaction at their safe return, but his brusque manner made it clear that their state of health was of minor concern. What Sakimoto wanted to know was how one of his top generals had apparently managed to lose an entire expedition.

Cadillac was only too happy to oblige. Having already tested his story on the Cheboygan Resident, Cadillac had added more colour and drama to the weaker pa.s.sages and was only too happy to step into the limelight with some spell-binding of his own.

Sakimoto, like the rest of Cadillac's audience, was impressed, but not to the point where he forgot the bottom line. When the person he thought of as Samurai-General Shinoda finished his story with a bow, Sakimoto eyed him pensively then said: 'This is, without doubt, a startling tale. And since it accords in many respects with other reports - albeit it from highly unreliable sources- I do not intend at this stage to question the veracity of the information you have laid before us.

'But I think it is right to question the state of mind of a person who brings such a story to me. You and Samurai-Major Mitsunari..."

Roz bowed as Sakimoto's eyes rested briefly upon her.

'... are the sole survivors of a military expedition numbering some two thousand men, carried into action aboard five of our largest wheel-boats! Someone less charitably disposed towards you than myself might be tempted into thinking that this story of "Mute magic" was concocted to conceal a degree of incompetence bordering on the criminal!" -'On the contrary, sire,' said Shinoda with a deep bow.

'We seek to hide nothing. Those who in the past dismissed Mute magic were ignorant, misguided fools! It exists!

And we have brought you proof of its terrible power!" 'I see .... '

Sakimoto exchanged cautious glances with the six members of the family council seated with him on the dais. 'And what shape does this proof take?"

'Ourselves, sire."

Shinoda and Mitsunari went forward on their knees and touched the tatami with their foreheads. When they resumed their sitting position, Sakimoto and the other dignitaries found themselves looking into the painted faces of two gra.s.s-monkeys - wearing samurai armour!

Hhhh-awwwwhhh. I The sixteen swordsmen and archers who formed the Regent's personal bodyguard leapt to their feet, hands on the hilts of their weapons, arrow notched to bowstring, their spear-point tips aimed at the intruders' hearts.

Mastering their surprise, Sakimoto and his fellow-councillors stood up and backed slowly to the rear of the dais. The two gra.s.s-monkeys remained sitting calmly on their heels, hands on their thighs, heads raised, their eyes locked fearlessly onto Sakimoto and the other n.o.bles.

For ArmyzGeneral Miyame Yama-s.h.i.ta it was all too much. Drawing his sword, he stepped forward off the dais to confront Cadillac and Roz.

'You vile insolent dogs!

By what right do you presume to wear the dress and the swords of n.o.ble samurai?! And how dare you look upon us in this fashion! Lower your eyes this instant or - I' The threat died on his lips and was replaced by a roar of pain. The hilt of his sword had become red-hot! He could smell his flesh roasting! Throwing his long-sword down, Miyame clutched his right wrist and stared unbelievingly at his charred and blistered right hand. The pattern covering the decorated hilt was seared deep into his palm! 'Kill them!" he shrieked.

'NO!" bellowed Sakimoto.

The archers paused uncertainly, the swordsmen froze, blades half out of their scabbards. The two gra.s.s-monkeys no longer knelt on the mats.

They had vanished. In their place stood Domain-Lord Hirohito Yama-s.h.i.ta, arms folded, his thin, cruel mouth set firm, eyes blazing with unnatural brilliance.

'Do you threaten me, your liege-lord?" he cried.

Sakimoto and everyone else in the room fell to their knees. This was no wraith-like apparition, this was solid flesh and blood. Hirohito returned from the nether-world to life!

'M-m-my l-lord!" stammered Sakimoto.

As he spoke, the pair of gra.s.s-monkeys appeared at the far end of the room. And then another, and another, and another, until the entire room was ringed by painted samurai, leaving the Yama-s.h.i.ta family council and their bodyguard completely surrounded and outnumbered three-to-one! Worse still, every man-jack was rooted to the spot, trembling like palsied ancients! Hhhhawwwwhhh!

Then Lord Hirohito vanished. In his place were two more gra.s.s-monkeys, standing on the mats from which the original pair had vanished. Were they the same?

It was impossible to tell! Sakimoto felt physically sick.

His mind was reeling, but by a supreme effort of will he managed to maintain a dignified posture.

The one who had been Shinoda raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The gra.s.s-monkeys lining the walls of the room vanished. 'You are powerless against our magic,' he said. 'We come in peace, to meet with you as friends and allies to help you avenge the great wrongs visited upon the House of Yama-s.h.i.ta by the traitorous TohYota!

'But we do not come as slaves! We are the emissaries of a new breed of Plainfolk who demand not only to be treated as equals but also the right to converse in your language. If the House of Yama-s.h.i.ta is willing to receive us on those terms, and with the hospitality you would accord your fellow domain-lords, command your men to leave this room. We have many weighty matters to discuss." Aishi Sakimoto thought he would burst a blood-vessel.

Army-General Miyame Yama-s.h.i.ta nearly did. Never in their lives had they dreamt of being addressed with such disdainful authority by a gra.s.s-monkey - and in j.a.panese to boot! Their own sacred language, which outlanders were forbidden to use under pain of death! A death which began by having the offending tongue clamped and pierced several times by a white hot iron before being torn out of the offender's head!

It was outrageous! But what could they do? First they had been faced by Shinoda and Mitsunari, then two gra.s.s-monkeys who could disappear and reappear at will, then multiply in the twinkling of an eye to become a small army! And now, where were the two faithful samurai?

Or had they never been there at all?

Oh, yes. this was indeed magic- of a very powerful kind!

And that was not all. Shinoda/Monkey #1 had uttered a magic phrase: '... avenge the great wrongs visited upon the House of Yama-s.h.i.ta by the traitorous TohYota'.

Words like that, falling from the lips of anyone, were music to Sakimoto's ears. It would be worth enduring some small indignities just to hear what these painted upstarts had to say for themselves.