The Amtrak Wars - Ironmaster Part 3

The guard-captain led Toshiro along the path towards the open-sided summerhouse where Yoritomo sat crosslegged, lost in contemplation of the stone landscape. The five samurai seated behind him in a semicircle sprang silently to their feet, then relaxed their grip on the handles of their long-swords when they saw who it was. These men, like the guard around the garden, had been raised from birth in the Toh-Yota family household and were totally dedicated to the protection of the Shogun. The guard-captain bowed low and backed away as Toshiro mounted the wide lower step of the veranda and knelt down in line with the Shogun's left shoulder. Yoritomo continued to stare straight ahead at the garden. Toshiro placed his forehead on the straw matting covering the top step and waited.

'What kept you?" said the Shogun, in perfect American-English. It was a language he and his Heralds were able to speak fluently - although they were not encouraged to use the same colloquial mode of address.

The five guards, now ranged on the far side of Yoritomo, spoke only j.a.panese.

Toshiro a.s.sumed a cross-legged position. 'There were certain aspects of the situation that needed further investigation, sire. It wasn't easy. They're playing the cards close to their chest."

'Are they holding many aces?"

'I'm not sure, but. there's a joker in the pack."

Yoritomo dragged his eyes reluctantly from the pebble garden and let them rest briefly on Toshiro. The Shogun also wore a wig made from Mute hair but it was a more imposing arrangement made of coiled plaits combined with a small, flat pill-box hat and lacquered wooden combs - a design exclusive to his rank as the overlord of

Ne-Issan. 'Is this going to be as bad as I think it is?"

Toshiro bowed low. 'It's not good."

Yoritomo sighed and returned to his contemplation of the stone landscape. 'Okay, let's have it..."

CHAPTER TWO.

During the past six months, Toshiro's princ.i.p.al task had been to monitor the work being carried out at the Heron Pool - a new craft centre that had been set up to the west of Ba-satana. At the beginning of the previous year Lord Yama-s.h.i.ta, who held the licence to trade with the Northern Mutes, had persuaded Yoritomo of the need to rediscover the secrets of powered flight. His plan had been to seek the aid of the Mutes in obtaining a flying-horse and its rider. Much could be learned from a close examination of both, saving months, perhaps even years, of fruitless experimentation.

In pressing his case, Yama-s.h.i.ta had emphasised that there was little time to lose. The desert warriors of the south - called lone-dogs because of their height and their angular, bony features - were poised to move north into the lands of the Plainfolk. In a few short years, their powerful weaponry might be turned against Ne-Issan.

Through his contacts with the Mutes, Yama-s.h.i.ta knew that the flying-horses were an important element in the long-dogs' military strategy. Ne-Issan must equip itself with its own airborne cavalry in order to meet the threat when it eventually came.

Yoritomo promised to think the matter over. It all made sense, of course. Lord Hiro Yama-s.h.i.ta - who, with the merger between the Yama-Ha'and the Matsu-s.h.i.ta families, had become the single most powerful domain-lord in Ne-Issan - was a hardheaded realist. Any proposal put forward by him merited serious consideration.

It had been the Yama-h and the Matsus.h.i.ta, builders of the first wheelboats, who had opened up the lucrative western trading routes and had tapped into the seemingly exhaustible supply of Mutes - the strangely marked half-humans that made up the bulk of Ne-Issan's labour force. The licences, which gave them a virtual monopoly on trade with the west, had been granted by Yoritomo's grandfather. The Yama-Ha and Matsuos.h.i.ta had long been allies of the Toh-Yota and had supported them in their bid for the Shogunate. But the unprecedented marriage between the two houses had resulted in an unwelcome concentration of power and, if one looked at the map with the eye of a military commander, their combined domains were poised like a dagger at the heart of the TohYota.

Fortunately, the forty-year-old Yama-s.h.i.ta seemed to be more interested in trade deals than political alliances, but it was a situation that had to be kept constantly under review. The country had been riven more than once by factional disputes, and despite the era of firm central government inst.i.tuted by the Toh-Yota, the domain-lords had kept a jealously guarded measure of independence. While all had sworn oaths of fealty to the Shogunate, there were some whose word could not be taken entirely at its face value. As a result, Yoritomo, like the previous holders of high office, kept two lists in his head - one headed fudai, those considered loyal and trustworthy; the other, tozama, unreliable.

Hiro Yama-s.h.i.ta, despite his family's links with the Toh-Yota, occupied a grey area in between.

After consulting Ieyasu (the Chamberlain had known Hiro since he was a boy), Yoritomo agreed to the acquisition of a flying-horse and its rider. Through Yama-s.h.i.ta's trading activities, a number of long-dogs 'had fallen into their hands. Their interrogation had enabled the Shogun to build up a partial picture of the strange underground domain known as the Federation.

But their testimony was flawed. These captive long-dogs were criminals, renegades - like the small bands of rootless ronin that lurked in dark recesses of the forests blanketing the slopes of the western hills. The pale warriors of this underground world could also be disloyal to their masters. Even so, the threat from the south could not be ignored. Hence the chosen strategy, put into effect through Yama-s.h.i.ta, to arm the Mutes, who were numerically superior to both sides.

Because of their alien culture and backwardness, the Mutes could never be considered as allies, but their concept of warrior-hood was worthy of respect. The years of trading had brought about a state of friendly neutrality. No pledges had been exchanged, no plans were ever discussed but, over the last few years, Plainfolk territory had become a buffer zone protecting the frontiers of Ne-Issan. The warrior clans were now armed auxiliaries who, if everything went according to plan, would wear the long-dogs down in a slow war of attrition.

On Ieyasu's advice, Yoritomo had awarded the manufacturing licence for the flying-horses to Kiyomori Min-Orota, whose lands, bordering the Eastern Sea, lay just across the water to the north of Arongiren.

Kiyomori's father had married one of Yoritomo's aunts and the Min-Orota were on the list markedfudai.

As the snows deepened, burying the old year, Toshiro had returned with his first dispatch: a flying-horse had landed near Bu-faro, a harbour on Lake In on the western border of Lord Yama-s.h.i.ta's domain. It carried two riders: a long-dog called Brickman and his escort, a female Mute warrior from the clan M'Cail, who were the donors of this long-awaited object.

Without more ado, the craft and its riders had been shipped via the ca.n.a.l and river system to Ro-diren and from there by road to the aptly named Heron Pool, the site chosen for this new enterprise. The workshops had not yet been constructed at the time of Toshiro's first visit, but he had brought back sketches of the alien craft together with verbal portraits of Brickman, the brown-skinned long-dog, and Clearwater, his blue-eyed Mute escort.

After an initial hesitation, Brickman had proved remarkably co-operative and eager to please. The Mute, on the other hand, had informed Yama-s.h.i.ta - with all due deference and through the usual intermediaries-that the clan M'Call had delivered the flying-horse on the understanding that she and the long-dog were to be shipped back to her homeland when the wheelboats made their next voyage across the great lakes.

But there had been no such understanding. The eventual fate of those delivering the craft had never been raised by the white-haired leader of the M'Call's trade council. And Yama-s.h.i.ta had no intention of renegotiating the agreement with a female Mute. Once they set foot in Ne-Issan, Mutes were slaves; non-persons with no rights whatsoever.

But even if this had been the case, by the very nature of the enterprise, Clearwater's request was bound to fall on deaf ears. It was vital that the Federation should remain unaware of what was afoot for as long as possible. If she and the long-dog were to return to the Plainfolk and subsequently fall into enemy hands, it would be a secret no longer.

As the Mute had no further part to play, she had been placed in the custody of Consul-General Nakane Toh-Shiba, nephew to the domain-lord of that name.

Nakane was the permanent representative of the Shogun to the House of Min-Orota. Military men, appointed by Yoritomo, held similar posts in all subject domains.

They occupied imposing residences on private estates maintained by the Shogunate and which also served as a base for a team of provincial administrators, tax inspectors, and a regiment of government soldiers.

At the Heron Pool, the necessary buildings were completed and a team of long-dogs, recruited from mines and quarries, was set to work under the supervision of local craftsmen. The dark-haired, brown-skinned Brickman quickly revealed himself to be' an ideal overseer, totally dedicated to the task he had been a.s.signed. He was, moreover, endowed with a formidable intellect and displayed a keen interest in, and appreciation of, every aspect of Iron Master society; its art, culture, custom and tradition, its spiritual ethos. His grasp of these matters was so instinctive, Min-Orota was moved to seek permission to allow him to be taught j.a.panese.

Ieyasu had pa.s.sed his written request to the Shogun with an appended note recommending its rejection. For once, Yoritomo and his Chamberlain found themselves in agreement. Despite his willingness to share his skills and knowledge, the long-dog was an alien, a renegade, and was thus without honour. The language of Ne-Issan was a sacred relic from The World Before that had to be zealously protected. Never again was it to be debased by foreign influences and, above all, it must never be allowed to issue from the mouths of the unworthy.

Yoritomo, like his Heralds, might speak what the long-dogs called 'Basic' but that was merely a means by which they could discuss confidential matters in the presence of others.

Brickman, unaware of the representation made on his behalf, continued to work like a man possessed, and by early March, a much-improved version of the craft he had delivered was ready to take to the air. It was to be launched from high ground, gliding like a sea-bird from its clifftop nest. Preparations had also been made to produce several more but, before they could be completed, a suitable mechanism had to be found to move them through the air. Steam was a possibility, but none of the existing engines was small enough, and the craft could not be fuelled by logs or coal whilst in the air! If steam was the answer, then a special lightweight engine using entirely new principles would have to be created. Undaunted by the problems, Brickman set to work.

Lord Kiyo Min-Orota, impressed by Brickman's energy and his impeccable demeanour, which was the equal of a samurai's in every respect, sought some way to reward him for the host of useful devices created by his restless pen. This was a goose driven by some inner compulsion to lay golden eggs. The bird must be kept well-fed and given a comfortable nest until it was time to wring its neck.

Like Mutes, long-dogs had traditionally been accorded slave status, but Min-Orota felt that Brickman was a' special case meriting more favourable treatment. And so it was, as if by magic, that Brickman was installed in a small but elegant dwelling-house, staffed by Korean female body-slaves. Lord Min-Orota accepted his effusive thanks without telling him that Koreans, along with Thais and Vietnamese, were one of the 'unpure' breeds who inhabited the lower strata of Iron Master society. To a true Son of Ne-Issan - a samurai from a n.o.ble family the provision of such inferior servants would have been a mortal insult; to the long-dog, unaware of such subtleties, it was an undreamt-of luxury.

During an earlier visit, Toshiro had tactfully conveyed to the domain-lord the Shogun's feeling that Brickman's unprecedented elevation from slave status was both unnecessary and inappropriate.

Lord Min-Orota had been at pains to rea.s.sure him that it was purely a temporary arrangement which could bring important material benefits not only to his house but to the Shogun himself.

And the long-dog's eventual fall from grace would provide an amusing diversion.

But there were other aspects of the present situation which were less amusing and it was upon these that Toshiro proceeded to report. The female Mute who had been taken into protective custody by Consul-General Nakane Toh-Shiba had mysteriously dropped out of circulation.

By diligent detective work and with the help of the local network of agents and informers, Toshiro had uncovered an illicit s.e.xual liaison which, although disturbing in itself, had turned out to have far more sinister ramifications.

Toshiro reported on Brickman's latest work, then made a casual reference to the fate of his Mute escort. 'I regret to tell you I have received information from an unimpeachable source that the Consul-General of Masahusa and Ro-diren has given a new meaning to the phrase "protective custody"."

The Shogun reacted with a sharp-eyed glance. 'Are you sure of this?"

'Absolutely. By all accounts he has been gripped by a grand pa.s.sion.

The, ah... "lady" in question has been set up in some style with her own body-slaves. Picked from the gutter, of course."

The Shogun's face showed no sign of the wave of revulsion that swept through him. His eyes remained fixed on the garden. 'Where?"

'His estate includes a lake with a small island in the middle.

Apparently there is a house on it. The trees which surround it make it difficult to see from the sh.o.r.e. I believe it has been put to similar use before."