The Jade Lioness

by Christina Courtenay

  ‘Well, it seems fairly obvious they didn’t come this way. We must retrace our steps and look more closely at the surrounding tracks.’

  Tanaka had ridden hard, without any consideration for either his mount or his servants, but after receiving negative replies at post road stations number two and three, he realised that the foreign bitch and his former servant hadn’t gone south after all. Even if they had tried to pass by the stations unnoticed someone would have seen them, and there were no reports of them at all except at the first one.

  On the way back, they ran into another group of riders who appeared to be exchanging angry words with some of the Shogun’s officials. Tanaka drew rein and addressed the company in a loud voice.

  ‘What is happening here?’

  ‘Who wants to know?’ one of the officials replied in a surly tone without bothering to turn around. He and the others were staring at the foreign man, Haag, whose servants they had been arguing with.

  ‘I am Tanaka, chief adviser to the Shogun, and I suggest you look at me when you’re addressing me,’ Tanaka barked. That succeeded in drawing everyone’s attention and the officials blanched slightly when they noticed Tanaka’s clan motif on the banners held by some of his men.

  ‘My lord, forgive us, we didn’t know,’ one of them stammered, while they all flung themselves down onto their knees and tried to bow as low as possible.

  Tanaka scowled at them. ‘Very well, I’ll overlook it this once. Now kindly inform me what is going on here.’

  ‘This man claims he is searching for his wife, but he doesn’t have the necessary permission to roam the countryside at will. Foreigners are not allowed, as I’m sure you know, my lord. And they’re not supposed to bring their wives in any case. We were just about to apprehend him when you arrived.’

  ‘I see.’ Tanaka regarded Haag critically. He didn’t look like a trained warrior, but he had to admire the man’s tenacity. Perhaps he could come in useful at some stage during the search?

  ‘What are you doing here? I told you the woman is mine,’ he said to Haag in order to test his mettle.

  ‘“What God has joined, let no man put asunder,”’ Haag intoned in a superior sort of voice and his servant cast him a confused glance, then translated the sentence roughly for Tanaka’s benefit.

  ‘What utter rubbish! What have the gods to do with it? I paid in silver. The woman is mine, it’s as clear as day.’

  ‘It is against God’s law to buy another man’s wife,’ Haag insisted. ‘Our marriage will be blessed by the church just as soon as I find her.’

  ‘You see, my lord?’ another of the officials put in. ‘Not only is he a gai-jin, but a Christian as well. He must be put to death.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’ Tanaka rubbed his beard, deep in thought.

  ‘Shall I kill him, my lord?’ Tanaka’s closest retainer whispered. ‘That would solve the problem immediately.’

  ‘No, not yet. I may have a use for him,’ Tanaka hissed back. He turned to address the officials once more. ‘I will take this man into my custody and if he proves difficult I can always get rid of him. I wish him to assist me on a mission.’

  ‘My lord?’ The officials looked confused, but none of them dared question Tanaka directly.

  ‘Go back to Edo,’ Tanaka ordered. ‘I can deal with one measly foreigner by myself. I’ll not let him out of my sight, you have my word on that, and when I have finished with him, he’ll be taken to the proper authorities.’

  ‘Very well, my lord, if that is your wish.’ The officials bowed once more, and reluctantly set off for Edo, murmuring amongst themselves.

  ‘What do we want with the gai-jin?’ Tanaka’s chief retainer dared to ask, looking thoroughly puzzled.

  ‘I’m not sure yet, but I don’t want to risk him escaping from those fools. I want him where I can see him. Now let’s go, we have wasted enough time.’

  Just then, a shout went up ahead and Tanaka rode up to his scout, who was pointing at the ground. ‘There is a small track here, Tanaka-sama, showing signs of having been swept recently.’

  ‘Swept, eh? Do they really think they’ll fool us that easily? Honestly, this will be like child’s play. Lead on.’

  Temperance was lost. She knew that she had veered off the track ages ago, long before they even reached the stream, but she had thought that by keeping an eye on the sun she could follow roughly the right course without it.

  She was wrong.

  She’d been worrying about Kazuo and had stopped several times to try and make him drink a little. Occasionally he would co-operate, but more often than not he would simply turn his head away and no amount of cajoling could persuade him to drink. As the day wore on, Temperance became increasingly disorientated, and every time she looked up the sun had moved yet again and she was heading in completely the wrong direction.

  ‘Damn it all!’ she shouted in English, wanting to hurl something in frustration, but she didn’t dare to move in case she dislodged Kazuo from his precarious position. It was difficult enough to support him as it was. Her back muscles ached with the strain of trying to keep him upright, as well as herself. ‘Now what do I do?’ she asked of no one in particular.

  But there was nothing to do, other than continue, so she plodded on.

  The mountains had come steadily closer all day and by dusk the weary horse was heading up a fairly sharp incline. She was certain it wasn’t the north-western mountain she’d been heading for originally, but by now Temperance didn’t care. At least there were plenty of trees to shield them from view and there must be somewhere they could stop safely for a rest.

  In order to spare the horse, who was beginning to sound rather wheezy, she dismounted and walked beside it. She retied the belt so that Kazuo was strapped to the horse’s back instead. He lay like a sack of flour, slumped forward, still muttering from time to time, but she knew that she couldn’t tend him now, much as she would like to. Instead, she scoured the countryside for any sign of a good stopping place. She had to find shelter for them before nightfall.

  At first there was nothing and as the light faded she began to despair. Then she spotted something in the distance, far up on the side of a rocky ravine on a wild, pine-clad mountain. It looked like a building, albeit uninhabited and in bad repair, and she wondered if it was the answer to her prayers. Heading in that direction, she soon found an overgrown path leading up towards it. As she came closer she realised that it was an old temple. The steep roofs with tip-tilted corners had been finely crafted once upon a time, although now there were alarmingly big holes in most of them. The place must have had a fine view before the nearby forest began to encroach upon the temple grounds. She wondered why it was no longer in use, and whether there were other buildings nearby, but couldn’t see anything in the gathering darkness.

  Trees surrounded her as she walked, so thick and high they made the fading light even more obscure, and she shivered. There was an eerie stillness about this place that made her want to turn and run, but she knew she had to go on. Even if the temple was haunted she would have to brave the night there. She simply must find Kazuo a place to rest that was warm and reasonably dry or he would die. She ruthlessly ignored the annoying voice inside her that said he might die anyway.

  As she came closer, she saw that the little temple, which was clinging to the hillside, was in even worse repair than she’d thought. With mounting despair she took in the dreadful state of it. There was a smell of decay and rotting timber all around and she wondered if any part of it would be habitable. It may even be dangerous. She was in two minds whether to try and find somewhere else to go, but just then Kazuo groaned and thrashed around restlessly on the horse’s back. She came to the conclusion that she didn’t have any choice but to make the best of this place.

  Some of the trees outside the temple had old bits of paper fastened onto their branches, most of which were in tatters and flapping forlornly in the breeze. Temperance knew they were prayers, tied there by hopeful supplicants wantin
g assistance from the gods. She wondered if they had received what they asked for? Perhaps she ought to tie one up herself?

  ‘No, it will have to wait.’ And besides, she didn’t have any paper.

  Leaving Kazuo and the horse at the foot of a steep stone staircase that led up towards the main entrance of the temple, she went off to reconnoitre.

  ‘Stay there for a moment, I’ll be right back,’ she murmured, although she was fairly sure he couldn’t even hear her.

  She took the steps two at a time and, as daylight was disappearing fast now, she hurried round the buildings, inspecting each and every room, looking for one that might keep them dry for the night. All the main rooms were in a sad state, the floors rotten and slippery, and the only thing that was virtually intact was a stone figure of a god. It grinned inanely at Temperance, scaring her half to death before she realised what she was looking at.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re laughing at,’ she told him. ‘You don’t have anyone to look after but yourself.’

  Naturally the god didn’t reply, but she thought for a moment that she saw its bronze eyes glance to the left and she felt compelled to walk in that direction. She came first to two rooms with a magnificent view overlooking the valley, and a long balcony outside that must have caught the last rays of the sun each evening. It was lighter there than in the rest of the temple, but Temperance didn’t dare go outside, as it was sure to be unsafe. Instead she turned right and ended up in a tiny room that had to be behind the statue of the god. Although it was very dark since it had no window, the roof was mercifully sound.

  ‘Oh, thank the Lord!’

  Temperance got down on her knees to feel the floorboards and was relieved to find them dry. Just to be on the safe side, she walked round the room, jumping on some of the planks to make sure they weren’t about to break, and then, satisfied that they would hold, she rushed back outside to fetch Kazuo. She had to go slowly down the stone steps, which were slippery with moss and lichen, but she made it to the bottom without falling and Kazuo was still where she’d left him.

  ‘Now then, how are we going to get you up there to the temple?’ she murmured to Kazuo. This was indeed the next question. Temperance decided that her only hope was to try to cajole the horse up the steps, as she couldn’t possibly carry or drag Kazuo all the way herself, but it wouldn’t be an easy task. The horse was an extremely good-natured animal, however, and when offered a bribe in the shape of bits of rice cake, he followed her up without protest. Temperance held on to Kazuo’s jacket with one hand so that he wouldn’t fall off, while bribing the horse with the other.

  ‘Good boy! You’re a wonderful horse, absolutely marvellous,’ she encouraged the little steed, and he seemed to respond to her voice and continued steadily up. At the top, outside the entrance to the temple, there was a small paved area with grass sticking out between the slabs, and the horse stopped there, starting to munch happily on whatever he could find.

  Temperance half dragged, half carried Kazuo into their temporary abode. Once she had him settled on a horse blanket in the corner furthest away from any draughts, she collapsed next to him, panting for breath. She had never been so tired in all her life.

  ‘Can’t sit here all day though,’ she muttered. She still needed to find some water for herself and the horse, and the animal would need rubbing down as well, or he would catch a chill. Wearily she rose to her feet and set to work.

  It was full dark by the time she’d finished everything she needed to do, but she was pleased with what she had achieved. The horse had been watered and cared for and left outside with a blanket for cover, and she had enough water for her own needs as well. In one of the rooms near the balcony she had found a stone trough, which she’d pushed and pulled into the back room and then filled with sticks and bits of wood. After much effort, she managed to get a fire going and the little room immediately seemed more cheerful, if a tad smoky. Soon the tendrils of smoke found their way out through cracks in the roof though, which helped. She manoeuvred Kazuo closer to the fire, then made him sip some more willow bark, properly prepared with boiling water this time.

  For the first time that day she felt in control and although she knew that Tanaka might catch up with them at any moment, at least she had done her best. All she could do now was pray for time and for Kazuo to recover, then perhaps all would be well.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  All the hard work took its toll and Temperance soon fell asleep lying close to Kazuo. Several times during the night she was woken by his shivering or muttering, and each time she got up and put more wood on the little fire before sponging him with cold water. He talked a lot of nonsense, but she paid no heed to it. He obviously didn’t know who she was, so she was sure he wasn’t talking to her.

  After a while it began to rain and Temperance rushed outside to bring the little horse into the main temple chamber where she found a reasonably dry corner for him to shelter in. She thought that this might possibly be sacrilege and glanced at the statue of the god which gleamed faintly in the darkness.

  ‘Please forgive me, but needs must,’ she murmured to the god, but really she didn’t care if she offended him. It was more important to keep the horse healthy than to worry about superstitious nonsense. And yet …

  ‘I do hope you understand?’ she whispered to the statue, before hurrying back to Kazuo.

  As the wind began to howl around the corners of the temple and the rain fell in great torrents, drumming on the roof and running in through the various gaping holes, she began to wonder if perhaps she should at least have asked the god’s permission before bringing the horse inside. The wind made an unnatural noise, as if a thousand voices were complaining about her behaviour, and she cowered in the back room, holding tight to Kazuo and closing her eyes.

  ‘Don’t be a ninny,’ she admonished herself. ‘Ghosts can’t hurt you, only the living.’ But it only made her feel marginally better.

  Towards morning, Kazuo’s breathing calmed slightly and she lay with her arms wrapped around him, waiting for the dawn. When the rain and wind eased off a little to make a more soothing noise, she fell into a dreamless sleep at last.

  The sun was high in the sky when she finally woke again and all was quiet apart from the sounds of nature all round them. The rain had stopped completely, but water was still dripping into the building and onto the ground off the nearby trees. The air was moist and fresh, with a tang of clean vegetation which had replaced the odours of decay. Through the doorway, Temperance could see tendrils of mist floating lazily outside, caressing the old buildings.

  She lay still and listened, soothed by the peace, then sat up suddenly as her ears caught another sound, one she’d been dreading. She could hear footsteps. Someone was walking around inside the temple.

  Extracting her knife from the sleeve of her jacket, she stood up and tiptoed over to lie in wait by the door opening. The quiet footsteps were coming closer now and any moment the intruder would spot Kazuo. She waited, and at the last minute threw herself over the person entering the room, causing a surprised yelp from her victim.

  ‘Peace! I come in peace,’ she dimly heard, but it wasn’t until she had gripped him round the throat from behind and forced him onto the floor that she realised she’d caught a monk, not one of Tanaka’s henchmen. Slowly she released the man and stood up, knife at the ready despite his statement. There was no knowing who they could trust.

  ‘I beg your pardon, but we were not expecting anyone,’ she said curtly.

  ‘I was, but you startled me,’ he replied, standing up and fingering his throat while grimacing with discomfort. ‘I saw the smoke from your fire last night and thought I would come and see who was here.’

  ‘You saw the smoke?’ This was bad news. If the monk had seen it, then so could others. Temperance bit her lip.

  ‘Yes, but only briefly. I live in a hut further down the hill. Hardly anyone comes here any more, but I have retreated to this place for solitude.’ He bowed to h
er. ‘Please, put your knife away, gai-jin lady. I swear I mean you no harm.’

  ‘How do you know I’m a woman?’ The gai-jin part was easier as he must have seen her eyes when she released him. She cursed herself for not being more careful.

  ‘I, er … felt your curves against my back when you were trying to throttle me.’ The monk raised his hands in an apologetic gesture as if he was at fault, when really she should have thought of that herself.

  ‘Ah, how stupid of me.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, understandable if you had other things on your mind. Now will you trust me? I really do come in peace.’

  She nodded, convinced by his sincere tone of voice, and put the knife back inside her sleeve. She swept a hand to indicate Kazuo and said, ‘I’m sorry if we’re trespassing, but my friend here was too ill to go on. We had to stop for the night.’

  ‘So I see. May I have a look at him? I have some skill at healing.’

  ‘Please, feel free. Nothing I do seems to help. I’ve given him willow bark and sponged him repeatedly with cold water, but the fever refuses to leave him.’

  ‘Do you know what has caused it?’

  ‘He is wounded in the thigh. I must change the dressing I think.’

  ‘Let me. I have some clean bindings here.’ The monk took some things out of a leather satchel, which Temperance hadn’t noticed until then. With gentle hands he uncovered Kazuo’s wound, which looked angry and raw and was oozing pus. ‘Hmm, that doesn’t look too good. I think we need to do something about that or he’ll never recover.’

  ‘Like what? It has already been stitched.’

  ‘I know, but I believe we ought to open it again and cauterise it. It’s the only way. If not, he may lose the leg, if not his life.’

  ‘Oh, no! But the pain?’

  ‘Is better than dying, surely?’

  Temperance nodded mutely and watched as the monk set about the task, laying out what he needed on a clean piece of cloth ready to hand and putting a small iron rod into the still hot fire. While they waited for it to heat up he said, ‘What is a foreign lady doing here of all places, if I may ask?’