Temperance waited around the corner until she heard the warning cries of the guards as they spotted the fire from inside. Then she sprinted round the other side of the house and out through the gate while they were occupied with putting out the flames. She appropriated the smallest of the boats as before without hesitation, and quickly cast off and began to row. Like the last time, she waited out of sight until all was quiet, then set off with sure strokes along the mainland.
As she looked back towards the island of Dejima, she was pleased to see no signs of life, nor any pursuit. Contained in the bucket, the fire would have gone out by itself as soon as the blanket had finished burning, so darkness had returned as well.
Temperance smiled to herself. She had succeeded.
Chapter Six
There were plenty of other vessels floating in the bay outside Nagasaki, but Temperance dodged them easily despite the darkness. If anyone keeping guard on board the larger ships saw her, they didn’t pay much attention to what looked like a servant in a small rowing boat. She kept her head down and sculled for all she was worth, heading for the opening of the bay and then around the headland in a northerly direction. Once away from the busy harbour, the shore quickly became deserted and wild, with only the odd fisherman’s dwelling to be seen. It was just a dark blur which she kept at approximately the same distance.
Temperance continued doggedly up the coast, her arm muscles burning with the effort, until at last she spotted the small bay surrounded by pine trees and cut off from the rest of the sea by a long promontory that shielded it from view. It was very distinctive and even with only moonlight to guide her she knew it was the same one as before. She headed towards the shore, landing her little craft on the beach, then jumped onto the sand. Pulling the boat up as far as she could, she tied it to a nearby pine tree for added security.
Taking the bundle out of the boat, she made her way onto the large, flat rock near the shore where Kazuo had stood, and she lay down to wait for dawn to break. It was eerily silent, the only sound to be heard the shushing of the waves as they hit the shore, but Temperance wasn’t afraid. Excitement kept her from imagining any dangers lurking in the forest around her, and she lay still, staring at the sky. There were no clouds and stars twinkled far above her. Temperance felt as if it was magic. God had brought her here. He would keep her safe until Kazuo came.
Before she knew it, she was fast asleep.
When she woke, the sun was already beating down, despite the early hour. As soon as Temperance had finished eating a few of the sembei, she walked along the shore, looking around to see whether she could find the sign Kazuo had said he would make if he came back to the bay. She didn’t find anything, despite checking all the trees in that area, and finally had to acknowledge that perhaps he would never come. She’d been deluded, naïve, trusting a man she hardly knew. Her spirits sank further as she also realised what this meant – her only hope of evading Haag was gone. She’d been unable to come up with any other plan or proposition, so the alternatives were to do as he’d asked and marry him or let Nico and Midori arrange to have him silenced.
She couldn’t have that on her conscience.
‘I acted wilfully, insisting on coming here,’ she muttered. ‘Now I have to accept the consequences of my actions. It is obviously God’s will, my punishment.’ So much for her grand adventure.
There was nothing for it but to row back to Dejima again, but since she couldn’t go until after dark, she decided to pass the time by going for a swim. The water was as refreshing as last time and for a while she forgot about everything except the wonderful feeling of cool water against skin. It was definitely not as enjoyable to be swimming on her own though, so she soon made her way to shore and dried herself before putting her garments on once more.
Just as she had finished tying the belt of her jacket, she noticed movement to her right among the pine trees. Her heart began to beat faster in anticipation of seeing Kazuo again, but its rhythm soon changed to one of intense fear when she realised the man coming towards her was not him.
‘Konichi-wa.’ The stranger stopped a few feet away from her and looked her insolently up and down. ‘What have we here then?’ he mused in Japanese. ‘A gai-jin lady dressed as a boy? Interesting, most interesting.’
Temperance found that her tongue refused to form any coherent words and she couldn’t return the greeting. When at last she managed to make her vocal chords work again, she stammered out, ‘Wh-who are you?’ answering him in his own language. She wondered fleetingly if Kazuo had sent someone to give her a message, but if so, the man seemed in no hurry to deliver it. Then she remembered him telling her about other outlaws roaming the area. How could she have forgotten? She mentally kicked herself but it was too late now.
The man was short – no taller than herself – but he was broad-shouldered and obviously strong, and a pair of lethal-looking swords hung at his side. She didn’t like his face. It was oblong and thin, with a large, slightly crooked nose and a small mouth which did nothing to add to his attractions. The man’s eyes were decidedly unfriendly.
‘Yamato Ryo, da yoh,’ he said. She noticed that he didn’t bow; he obviously didn’t think her worthy of any politeness. That wasn’t a good sign and she felt her stomach turn into knots. ‘Not that it’s any of your business.’ Temperance stifled a gasp at his tone. ‘Give me your name.’
It was an order, not a request, and Temperance thought for a moment about refusing or giving him a false name, but she realised that it made no difference whether she told him or not. ‘Temi,’ she said, not bothering with her surname or the longer Temperance. He didn’t seem to care.
‘Ah soh, Temi. Well, gather up your things, you’re coming with us.’
Us? Temperance had until that moment focused solely on the man in front of her, but she now realised he wasn’t alone. Several other men materialised from behind tree trunks and large boulders, all staring at her with menacing expressions. To a man, they were armed with swords or knives that reflected the glare of the sun onto the perfectly honed blades. She shivered violently, her eyes flickering from one possible attacker to another. Her own puny knife, the only weapon she’d brought, would have availed her nothing, even if she hadn’t left it in the boat.
‘I … I can’t. I have to go back or I will be missed.’ She inched towards her boat, but one of Ryo’s henchmen moved to block the way.
‘It wasn’t a request,’ Ryo sneered. ‘Now pick up your belongings if you want to take them with you, otherwise we’ll leave them behind.’
Temperance reluctantly did as she was told, and the moment she had the bundle in her hand Ryo grabbed her arm in a vicious grip and tugged her into motion. ‘Go!’
‘Where are we going?’ Temperance asked.
‘Never you mind.’
They began to walk inland, through the dense forest, leaving the sea behind. The scent of pine trees and steaming greenery enveloped them, and the ground, which sloped upwards, was soft underfoot, a profusion of mosses growing in the oppressive humidity. If she hadn’t been so frightened, Temperance would have found it fascinating to explore this foreign landscape, since there were only a few trees on Dejima and not much else. Pines, majestic cedars and what she took to be beech trees passed in a blur. Clumps of bamboo as well, taller than she had imagined, but as she was hauled along willy-nilly by Ryo she barely registered anything of her surroundings at all. She concentrated on keeping up with the man holding her arm while thoughts and conjectures swirled around inside her brain. Where were they taking her? What would they do with her? Her mind shied away from the answers, but still kept on asking the questions.
How could she have been so stupid as to come here alone again?
If only she had listened to Midori and Nico. She should have let them deal with Haag, not run off on a fool’s errand.
Temperance was used to wearing geta, as they were practical footwear during the summer, but she had never walked any great distances in them before. She found
the fast pace of Ryo and his men difficult to match for any length of time and stumbled frequently. The only replies were some muttered oaths instead of assistance. When they came upon a clearing where a number of small horses were tethered, she breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t going to have to walk all the way to wherever they were taking her.
‘Thank the Lord for small mercies,’ she muttered to herself in English.
Ryo himself pulled her up behind him, on the horse’s rump, and Temperance made no protest. She knew that resistance was futile, at least for the moment. Even if she managed to escape from him, she would soon be caught by the others. She had no choice but to go along meekly and try to lull them into complaisance while waiting for an opportunity to present itself.
‘Don’t try anything,’ Ryo warned, as if reading her mind. ‘You are being watched all the time.’
He kicked the horse into motion and Temperance glanced back the way she’d come, wishing once again that she had listened to Midori. This was definitely not the kind of adventure she had been looking for.
‘No, I don’t believe it – gone again? Damn it all!’
Pieter Haag pricked up his ears and stopped just outside the door to the Chief Factor’s office, listening shamelessly to his employer’s conversation with his concubine. The man sounded extremely cross.
‘Well, I haven’t seen him all morning. I was busy with the children and when I finally had time to look for him, Akio told me he wasn’t there. He must have gone swimming again. Honestly, he doesn’t listen to a word I say.’ Haag heard clearly that Midori’s voice veered between exasperation and anxiety, but he was impressed that she still remembered to refer to Mistress Marston as a ‘he’ for surely she must be in on the secret?
‘I thought I’d made him understand how dangerous it was. I warned him expressly.’ Nico Noordholt sighed. ‘Foolish!’
‘What are we to do? He’ll have to be severely punished this time in order to make him understand. I know he’s an adult now, but really, he’s gone too far.’
Haag smiled to himself. He liked the sound of that and it might be to his advantage. If he could persuade Noordholt that the girl was better off married, her relatives would perhaps coerce her to accept his suit as punishment for disobeying them and he wouldn’t need to implement his other threats. He could say that as his wife she’d be his responsibility and even though she would have to continue to be disguised as a boy, he’d keep a close eye on her. He would demand her services as clerk for himself – Noordholt could find someone else.
‘I agree,’ he heard the Chief Factor say. ‘I’d better go and find him though. It’s too risky for him to come back at night like last time.’
‘But what if someone sees you? You’re not supposed to be going up the coast either.’
‘I’ll be careful. I can always say we’ve lost some cargo or something. It floated away and we’re looking for it.’
‘At least take someone with you. Please?’
‘Very well, if that will make you feel better, my love.’
Haag didn’t stay to hear any more. He planned to be the first man Noordholt set eyes on so that he could go along. It would give him great pleasure to see Mistress Marston humbled when they caught her in the act of swimming. And the sight of her wet wasn’t one he’d be averse to seeing either.
He smiled to himself. It was turning out to be a good day.
They rode for hours, up and down winding paths that zigzagged the sides of the steep hills and crossed the valleys in between. They stopped only once to eat. Temperance was given some food and allowed a brief time behind some bushes, but other than that she was kept under constant surveillance. The looks she received from some of the men made her feel distinctly queasy. They must have been watching her while she swam since they clearly knew she was a woman, as Ryo had said, and her male clothing made no difference now. Her stomach churned unceasingly as the disquieting thoughts continued to plague her, giving her no respite, and her legs had a tendency to shake whenever she had to stand up or walk. She tried to bolster her courage, telling herself that she would find a way to escape, but she was afraid of what might happen to her before then. What if her chance came too late?
They stayed well away from all villages and settlements. From time to time they saw or heard the sea in the distance, and Temperance surmised that they were skirting the coast, albeit slightly inland. Judging by the position of the sun and the fact that the sea always seemed to be on their left, they were heading north and then east. Just before nightfall, Ryo signalled for the men to halt and make camp. A few oiled sheets of material were rigged up to form an awning, in case it rained during the night, and after another quick meal of dried food Temperance was ordered to lie down and go to sleep.
‘Can we not have some sport with her first?’ one of Ryo’s men asked with a leer, but to Temperance’s huge relief Ryo snarled an emphatic ‘no’ at him.
‘She’ll be worth far more to us as a shojo,’ he said. ‘Besides, do you really want to bed someone who looks like an evil kami? She may put a curse on you.’ Ryo laughed and it wasn’t a nice sound.
Temperance knew that shojo meant ‘maiden’ or ‘virgin’ and sent up a prayer of thanks to God for Ryo’s greed. At least if she was not molested immediately, that would give her more time to devise a plan of escape before any harm befell her. She didn’t care that he thought her as ugly as a spirit. She realised that with her blonde hair she must resemble a ghost to these people. What she couldn’t figure out, however, was who would want to buy her from Ryo? If everyone thought as he did, then surely she wouldn’t be worth much even if she was a maiden still.
The leering man must have been thinking along the same lines because he asked, ‘Who’re you planning on selling her to anyway? Nobody’d want her.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Saburo. I know of just the right person, name of Imada. He owns a very prosperous tea house and inn just outside Kobe. Does a little business on the side, buying and selling girls for men who want unusual mistresses, something out of the ordinary.’ He jerked his head in Temperance’s direction and chuckled. ‘Now you can’t get more extraordinary than that, can you? I reckon he’ll pay a good price for such an unusual female. So hands off!’ He shouted the last words and they echoed round the small clearing, bouncing off the trees. His men blinked, but no one seemed inclined to argue and they all settled down for the night.
Saburo threw Temperance one last look, but lumbered off to his place without further rebellion. She drew a sigh of relief and, wrapping herself in her drying cloth since she didn’t have a blanket, she lay down on the ground with her food bundle as an uncomfortable pillow. Ryo lay down next to her and took hold of her arm, tying a piece of rope around it and securely knotting the other end around his own wrist. It would seem he wasn’t taking any chances and he gave her a long, hard stare before closing his eyes and falling instantly asleep.
Temperance stared back at him in the darkness, hating him more than she had ever hated another human being. She swore she would escape, if it was the last thing she did.
Chapter Seven
‘He can’t have gone much further. It’s hard work rowing and he’s a lot weaker than I am.’
Noordholt was scowling while scanning the shoreline for any signs of the fugitive. Haag did his best not to show his mounting excitement. His imagination was running riot, picturing the scene they might come upon at any moment – Mistress Marston bathing, gloriously naked, wet … Desire flamed inside him, almost painful in its intensity, and he shifted on the bench, uncomfortable in his suddenly very tight breeches.
He tried to calm down and concentrated on rowing for a while. As he’d hoped, he had been the first person Noordholt ran into when exiting his house and Haag was asked to accompany the Chief Factor on what he’d called ‘a delicate expedition’ to recover ‘the varmint’ who’d sneaked off for some illicit swimming somewhere up the coast.
It took a while for Noordholt to p
ersuade the guards by the sea gate to allow them out, but they finally swallowed his tale of needing to row out to the mouth of the harbour to check for some goods which he claimed had floated away. It hadn’t sounded very plausible to Haag, but the two of them were on their way now, alone.
This seemed a good time to show his hand, since there was no chance of them being overheard out here on the sea. Besides, Noordholt would find out soon enough anyway so Haag said casually, ‘No need to pretend with me, mijnheer. I know she’s a woman.’
Noordholt’s head whipped round and he scowled ferociously. ‘A woman? You have proof of this?’ There was frost in his voice which made sudden chills run down Haag’s back, but he stared back. He was the one who had the upper hand after all.
‘Yes. I’ve, er … seen her.’
‘You mean you’ve been spying on your fellow workers on Dejima? I could have you whipped for that.’ Noordholt’s expression was severe, something which would normally have Haag quaking, but he knew the man was bluffing so he tried not to let it affect him.
‘Let’s just say I had my reasons and they don’t matter now. The fact is I’ve asked her to marry me and seeing how disobedient and wilful she is, doing things like this,’ he gestured vaguely towards the sea, ‘I’d think you would be glad to be rid of the responsibility. I can deal with her for you.’
‘And if I prefer to do that myself?’ the Chief Factor’s eyes held a challenge which Haag accepted with alacrity.
He shrugged. ‘Then I’m afraid I’ll have no choice but to denounce her to the authorities. I’m sure you realise the implications for your own position if I have to do that …’ He let the sentence hang between them, but to his surprise Noordholt didn’t look as intimidated as he’d hoped.
The Jade Lioness Page 6
