Chris reached into the cart and grabbed the collapsible shovel. He'd had a bad moment when Penelope had started to rummage through her store of adventuring equipment, but she hadn't noticed the fresh dirt. He'd knocked as much of it off as he could, but you couldn't disguise that rain-garden soil smell.

He straightened the shovel out, and went to check on the pod. He had dragged it thirty metres through the undergrowth, turning back to try to cover his tracks, sweeping the leaves around with his hands. Then he'd moved the cab to another clearing.

It wasn't that well disguised, a big mound of dirt and leaves; there hadn't been time to dig more than a few feet deep. Still, it wouldn't be visible from above, and you'd have to decide to search the forest to find it. No one knew where the thing was, except him.

He'd done it. He hadn't got it into the monastery, but it was safe for now, and no one could find it.

Chris followed the trail he'd created in his mind. The big pine, with a chunk missing where he'd whacked it with the shovel. The oddly shaped stone.

The pod was quietly digging its way out of the ground.

148.

Chris gawped at it. Little chunks of dirt were leaping up into the air at irregular intervals. There was already a line of dirt around the shape of the pod, like a bath ring.

For a moment he expected something to come clawing up out of the earth, like a vampire out of its coffin, knocking the lid free and digging its way towards the light. Towards him.

He took a few, hesitant steps towards it. 'Hey,' he said. There was no answer. 'I thought you were inert or something. I hope you didn't mind being buried. . . '

There was silence for several seconds. Chris listened, as hard as he could, but there was nothing.

Another little piece of dirt flew up into the air.

He sighed, and went to dig the pod back up.

The chief monk was a wizened old fellow with a stare that made Penelope want to blink a lot. She knelt on the floor of his large, empty room. The monk had helped her carry the time conveyance here.

'Why are you here?' he said.

'Is this a philosophical question?'

'No.'

'Oh.'

Penelope put her head in her hands for thirty seconds.

'Very well,' she said. 'I'm here because Gufuu-sama asked me to break into the monastery and find the secret entrance. This is because an alien pod is being brought here by a time traveller from the thirtieth century.' She began to count on her fingers. 'Gufuu-sama wants the pod, Umemi-sama wants the pod, the Kapteynians want the pod, the Caxtarid wants the pod, and the Doctor. . . ' she trailed off. 'He doesn't want the pod he just doesn't want anyone else to have it.'

The old monk nodded, as though she'd just commented on the price of rice.

'The reason I'm telling you all of this. . . ' she said. 'Actually, to be honest, I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. I'm not entirely sure why I'm doing any of this.'

'Perhaps that is why you are telling me about it,' said the old man.

Penelope folded her hands in her lap. 'I am at a loss,' she admitted.

Kadoguchiroshi considered. 'What do you want?'

Penelope said, 'A divorce.' And broke into a huge smile.

'Then what steps must you take to accomplish that goal?'

I need to go home,' she said, in a small voice.

'And how can you return home?'

149.

'I can't use my time conveyance,' she said. 'It doesn't work properly. I'll have to. . . ask the Doctor to take me home.' She put a hand over her face.

'Oh, no.'

'You can trust him,' said the monk firmly.

'Who is is he?' Penelope breathed. The Roshi didn't answer. 'What must I do? he?' Penelope breathed. The Roshi didn't answer. 'What must I do?

What is the right thing to do?'

The old monk said nothing.

'Then I must ask the Doctor,' she said. 'Swallow my pride, put up with his his pride, and ask him.' She sighed. 'If he has a redeeming feature, it is that he always knows what to do.' pride, and ask him.' She sighed. 'If he has a redeeming feature, it is that he always knows what to do.'

Te Yene Rana had dragged the Doctor down from her horse. He lay on the damp gra.s.s in the shadow of the ridge. They were a little distance from Umemi's army, the soldiers lined up in neat rows, paralleling the enemy.

'Aren't you going to join in the fight?' said the Doctor. Te Yene Rana was an angry silhouette against the sun, stalking back and forth. 'I would have thought wholesale slaughter would be just your cup of tea.'

'Don't be stupid,' she said. 'You might like getting mixed up in their d.a.m.ned politics, but I've got more important things to worry about. Thanks.'

'Yes. This pod of yours. I expect your superiors will be very annoyed if you don't return with it.'

'Nah,' said the Caxtarid. 'This is personal.' She crouched down beside him, tugging his bonds to test them. 'Those scrawny flea-ridden Kapteynian slaves almost destroyed my ship. I want them. And they want the pod. If I find it, I find them.'

'But what if they use it against you?'

Her pointed teeth flashed in the afternoon light. 'Once they get to it, it'll be useless. a.s.suming they still have that Technician bird with them. He's first on my list. I'm going to frica.s.see him.'

'Is that that SO?' said Talker, landing on the Caxtarid's head. SO?' said Talker, landing on the Caxtarid's head.

The Kapteynian knocked Te Yene Rana flat, kicking her gun away. The Doctor snaked out of his ropes and s.n.a.t.c.hed the weapon up. In a moment he had ripped loose the power source and smashed it under his heel.

Talker was screeching, battering her enemy with powerful blows from her wings. The Caxtarid was swearing mightily, bruising her knuckles on Talker's beak.

More of the Kapteynians arrived. 'Stay back!' Talker squawked, ducking a punch. 'Mine mine mine!' The other birds hovered at a distance, watching the fight.

'What's happening?' The Doctor caught the attention of one of the Kapteynians. 'Tell me the situation.' The bird peered at him with black eyes, wondering 150 who he was. 'Tell me!'

'The two armies aren't moving,' said the Kapteynian. 'The monks are making ready for siege. There's a small band of peasants entering the valley. Other than that, there's n.o.body '

'Where are the peasants?' said the Doctor. 'We've got to warn them away.

Once the battle starts if the battle starts there won't be anywhere near here that's safe.'

The Kaptyenian shrugged and squawked. Talker and Te Yene Rana were still beating the stuffing out of each other.

'Please,' said the Doctor. 'At least tell me where you saw them.'

The bird pointed a wing. 'Coming up beside that river to the south-east.'

'Should we try to stop the fight?' one of the birds asked.

The Doctor said, 'It's too late for that. Hopefully the two daimyo will confine their attentions to one another.'

'I meant Talker and '

'I know,' said the Doctor. He grabbed Te Yene Rana's horse and vaulted up on to it. 'You'd better think of something, because there are four samurai riding down the hill towards you to see what's going on.'

Talker and Te Yene Rana looked up, frozen in position. When they looked around, the Doctor was gone.

151.

17.Time's arrow

Joel knew he was safe while he was with Hanagami. The huge samurai was one of Gufuu-sama's personal guard. The eight fighters stood around their lord, glaring out at the enemy, as though defying them to try to harm him.

Hanagami had been given specific instructions to look after Joel.

Joel peeked out from inside the fence of armoured men. Gufuu-sama was utterly unmoved by the raging battle below, watching with the same cool interest with which he had watched a Noh play the night before.

A really good Games Master could get you to imagine you were in the thick of battle. They remembered to go beyond hit points and metal figures, and remind you of the smell of blood and gunpowder, the shouts and screams and pounding hooves. Of course, in a role-playing game, you were usually (a) fighting imaginary monsters and (b) in your living room, with a pizza.

Joel suddenly knew that if he ever got back to Little Caldwell, the Thursday night AD&D campaign with the guys from Newbury was off.

There was a group of enemy samurai racing across the foot of the ridge. As one, the riders turned towards them. Arrows were suddenly raining down.

Joel screamed. Hanagami took a bullet, grunting.

Oh G.o.d, Joel prayed silently, stuffing his knuckles into his mouth, oh G.o.d, I don't belong here, get me out of here.

Kame could smell the gunpowder for an hour before the villagers reached the valley. 'I don't like this,' he told Mikeneko. 'If the daimyo discovered Kuriisu-san's mission, the monastery might not be the safest place at the moment.'

Mikeneko glanced back at the surviving villagers. They were footsore and miserable and had no food. 'We must go on,' she said. 'There's nowhere else we can go.'

'At least allow me to scout ahead,' said Kame.

'But O-samurai O-samurai,' she said, 'what if we're set upon while you're away?'

Kame considered. 'The forest ought to be safe,' he said.

153.

The armies had crashed together like a pair of waves. It had taken Chris's breath away. One moment they were standing at opposite ends of the plain, perfectly still, and the next they were roaring towards each other.

He'd been kind of hoping that they'd do the traditional thing, some of the high-ranking samurai riding out to challenge their worthy opponents to single combat. Showing off, and gaining glory, and making sure their families got the reward if they were killed.

None of this was about honour, or any of that stuff. This was all about economics. About who owned the land and who got the rice, and whether the peasants had something they could use to stand up to you.

And besides, he thought, it was kind of childish to hope they would kill each other in a cool way.

The two armies didn't muck around. They just smashed right into each other and started hacking and slashing. Arrows rained down. The harque-busiers fired in synchrony, mowing down rows of charging hors.e.m.e.n. Small groups broke off from the main battle, shouting and wheeling.

The pod wouldn't stay buried. Could he get the cart up the hill without its being noticed? He doubted it there were so many people down there that someone was bound to spot him.

Kadoguchiroshi. He needed advice. Surely the old monk would be able to think of a way of protecting the pod.

Though Chris wasn't sure what the point was any more. He took one more look at the battle. The hors.e.m.e.n were riding over the dying and dead to reach their foes. He turned and went into the forest.

Kame rode to the top of the winding road, where the hill turned into the valley. He left his horse sheltering beside a great rock, and crept forward. The sounds coming from the valley made his heart sink.

The valley was filled with soldiers. The great crowd rippled with violence.

Two armies locked together, after years of minor skirmishes, the dams of their hate and ferocity bursting open. Standard battle tactics, nothing fancy, a lethal spray of bullets and arrows followed by a head-on charge.

Kame shook his head. This would have happened eventually, he felt sure of it. He merely wished their timing had been a little better.

He glanced down to the river, worried. The peasants were huddling together in a hollow, too afraid to make a fire in case the smoke drew attention to them. For a moment he imagined that each of them was a small, precious statue, easily destroyed if dropped or dashed to the ground. Fragile. 'Unlike you, Ese Kame,' he snorted.

There was no safe way to the monastery. They could go through the mountains, but it would take days he wasn't sure the villagers could survive that 154 long. No, their best strategy would he to press on, staying under cover, and praying that the battle held the attention of the warriors.

Kame went back to his horse. With any luck, the tiny group was too unim-portant to slaughter.

His hackles rose as he made his way back to the forest, carefully, watching for the enemy any samurai was their enemy now. He could smell gunsmoke, too close, and there were sounds of fighting but the troops would avoid the forest, preferring the open plain where everyone could see their bravery.

'Me villagers were careful to keep their heads down. Even they could smell the guns. 'Quickly,' he told them, 'we'll go deeper into the forest.'

Nearby, a samurai screamed an order to his troops. The villagers started to their feet, looking around. As one, they heard the hoofbeats coming up the path towards them.

'Everyone!' Kame stage whispered. 'Run and hide!'

He leapt down from his horse, and slapped the beast's flank, sending it meandering off into the trees. The poor animal was almost as exhausted as they were. If there were troops nearby, they'd be distracted by the horse.