'Can't feel a thing." His voice sounded slurred.

'Ssshhh!'

He lowered his voice. 'Don't worry. It's all going well.

We're on our way, lover."

'On our way where?"

'Out of here."

'How? I don't understand."

'Explain-a-you la'er,' gurgled Steve, as he scooped up hot rice with one hand and vegetables with the other.

'Can' spea' now. Gob my mou' full..."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

At some point during the middle of the night, Steve was roused by his gaolers. They gave him a moment to shake off the torpor induced by fatigue, sake and a bellyful of hot food, then instructed him in sign language to gather up his meagre possessions: the stolen cotton quilt, his water-skin and the waist-bag containing the bundle of pink leaves that could turn him back into a long-dog.

Emerging from the cave into a pool of lantern light, Steve saw that Clearwater and her two minders were back in the saddle, bound and blindfolded. A fourth horse awaited him. Steve hauled himself aboard, gritting his teeth as his b.u.t.t hit the unyielding leather. Deprived of the electrifying energy that flowed from the quarterstaff, all his acc.u.mulated aches and pains had returned to plague him. Steve drew some comfort from the fact that he was now able to cross hunger cramps off his list of ailments and that - for the moment at least - no one was threatening to cancel his card.

That had been a bad moment but, with some fancy footwork, he had been able to sidestep disaster yet again.

He shuddered to think what would have happened if he had taken a second shot of sake. He would have to watch that stuff. n.o.buro and the other ronin were able to knock it back like there was no tomorrow, but that first cup had practically pulled the floor out from under him. It was true it had given his tongue a reckless edge, but there had been a terrifying moment when it had almost lost its way around his mouth.

Close I A d.i.n.k carrying a length of cord came around the head of the horse. Steve offered his wrists to him and was tied to the pommel of the saddle. They left his feet in the stirrups and made sure they stayed there by looping a second length of cord round both ankles.

Steve experienced a moment of anxiety as he thought about the steep descent they had to make on leaving the camp.

If the horse went down, that was it. He would go down with it.

n.o.buro Naka-Jima and eleven mounted ronin appeared out of the darkness.

Four riders gathered up the reins of the waiting horses and prepared to lead them out. n.o.buro and the three men who had attended the private interview positioned themselves at the head of the column and moved off in single file across the arena.

The other four came into line behind Steve.

The door was opened and shut by one of a small group who had been sent ahead to make sure that it was safe to exit through the cleft on to the slope beyond. There was a muttered exchange with each of the mounted ronin as he pa.s.sed by, then the foot patrol withdrew, closing the door behind them.

Clearwater, Su-Shan, Nan-Khe and Steve were led down the bare precipitous trail under a thinning moon which hung in a cloudless sky.

Steve felt they were helplessly exposed, and what made it worse was the realisation that he was sitting there with his hands tied.

But there was no deadly shower of arrows, and no sudden trumpet blast to signal a ferocious charge like the one he had witnessed in the river valley. The nerve-wracking descent seemed to go on for ever and he remained on/edge, his stomach freezing every time his horse missed its footing, until they entered the tree-line.

For the next three hours they headed northeastwards, along narrow winding forest trails, over hill and valley, across streams and small rivers until finally, in the grey twilight that preceded the dawn, they descended a tree-covered slope and came in sight of the highway. The old Pennsylvania Turnpike that Steve had been keeping an eye on since leaving the wheelboat at Pi-saba.

n.o.buro raised his hand, signalling the column to halt.

Clearwater, Su-Shan and Nan-Khe were untied and lifted off their horses. Still blindfolded, they were led to within about a hundred yards of the road, then pushed into a kneeling position and harangued at some length in j.a.panese by six ronin. The female minders bowed repeatedly, bobbing up and down as if their bodies were on springs, then prostrated themselves at the ronins' feet, pulling Clearwater to the ground between them.

Steve, who loved to know everything, found himself wishing he could understand what was being said.

The six ronin closed in and loosed off a final tirade, underlining their words with several toe-jabs to the ribs and thighs. Nan-Khe and SuoShan lay there, silent and unresisting. Satisfied that the women had got the message, the ronin swaggered back to the rest of the party and mounted their horses. n.o.buro led them back up the forested slope.

Steve glanced back as the trees closed round them and saw that all three were still lying flat on their faces, their heads towards the road.

Nan-Khe and Su-Shan counted to one hundred twice as instructed, then sat up and removed their blindfolds. The ronin had disappeared.

Untying the cloth covering Clearwater's masked eyes, they ushered her on to the highway, and set off towards the east.

The ronin had told them they were less than five miles from the nearest post-house. Once there, they would be able to discover the fate of the convoy from which they had been kidnapped. If it was still in one piece and had not travelled too far along the road, they might be able to catch up with it and continue their journey. After attacks like these, there were always delays while the local authorities took statements from eye-witnesses and recorded details of the stolen goods.

Had they been able to reveal that they were trusted servants of the Consul-General of Masa-chusa and Ro-diren, brother-in-law to the Shogun himself, every a.s.sistance would have been offered to them without delay. But they could not do so. Their employer had threatened to have their tongues torn out if they dared to utter his name. Their papers identified them as house-women of a dried-fish merchant residing at Nyo-poro. If anyone asked, they had been told to say they had escorted 'Yoko Mi-Shima' to visit her relatives at Kari-faran and were now returning with her to join said merchant at Fin, where he was due to attend the next slave market.

But no one had told them what to do if they and their charge were carried off by ronin. No one had foreseen a situation in which 'Yoko Mi-Shima' might be taken from the sealed carriage-box and released on to the highway where she would be exposed to the prying eyes of the general public - and to official scrutiny.

It was all very worrying, and things were made even more precarious by the fact that Su-Shan and NanKhe were duty-bound to report their kidnap and release to the local magistrates' office - and answer any questions put to them. The greatest danger lay in the fact that they had been left stranded in one of the western domains which easterners such as themselves regarded as the boon-docks. If one of these unsophisticated provincial clerks insisted on seeing who was under the mask, instead of treating the 'lady of pleasure' with the customary discretion, it could prove extremely awkward.

And it was bound to happen, because their charge could not speak j.a.panese and thus could not answer any questions put to her. Once the long-dog was discovered, it would be immediately obvious that her papers were forgeries.

Su-Shan and Nan-Khe both knew that the use of false doc.u.ments was a serious criminal offence. Trusted servants they might be, but as Vietnamese, they were permanently relegated to the lower half of Iron Master society. In essence, that meant they had neither the social leverage nor the money needed to halt any legal proceedings. If the deception was discovered and they were arraigned before the magistrates for questioning, they could find themselves facing the removal of their ears, noses and other extremities if they refused to answer - and losing their tongues if they did.

Aie-yie-yieee . . .

The risks were real enough but, on this occasion, their fears proved groundless. Unbeknown to them, a member of the Se-Iko family who was linked through various business enterprises with. both the Ko-Nikka and Lord Yama-s.h.i.ta had ordered his samurai-captains to keep a discreet watch on the road convoy as it pa.s.sed through the areas under their command. It was for this reason that, when the raid took place, the response had been unexpectedly rapid. It was only n.o.buro's tactical skill and experience in covert operations that had prevented it from turning into a disaster.

Hideyoshi Se-Iko, the good neighbour whose task it was to ensure peace and tranquillity in the domain's southern sector, had not been informed of the reason why this particular convoy was of interest to Yamas.h.i.ta.

He had merely been asked by the Ko-Nikka to use his good offices to ensure its unhindered pa.s.sage through his family's domain. When the news of the raid reached him, he dispatched two trusted officials at the gallop to advise magistrates and other officials stationed along the route that any enquiries into the affair were to be made with the utmost circ.u.mspection.

Translated into Basic that meant: 'Don't ruin your career prospects by trying to solve this one, boys. If the case lands on your desk, just close up the office and take a long time over lunch."

For the nervous Su-Shan and Nan-Khe, it meant that when they reached the post-house at Kara-li and explained what had happened, they found the innkeeper both sympathetic and concerned. Although not officially part of the law and order system, innkeepers were required to keep a beady eye on all comings and goings.

It was in their interests to do so. As a result, they usually got the word on any sensitive issues or investigations ahead of everybody else.

Such was the case now.

Ordering a room to be placed at the disposal of their mistress - who was so distressed by the experience that she was unable to speak - the innkeeper arranged for them to be conveyed to the nearby magistrates'

office and insisted on coming with them.

Filled with trepidation, Su-Shan and NanKhe presented their papers to the clerk, together with those of their mistress, and recounted their ordeal at the hands of the ronin. The innkeeper confirmed that the lady Yoko Mi-Shima was in no fit state to answer questions.

To their utter surprise - which they hastened to conceal the clerk appeared to accept this without demur. He made a note of what little they were able to tell him about the raid on the convoy and the ronin who had carried them off, made a cursory examination of their papers, then handed them back without comment.

Su-Shan and Nan-Khe could hardly believe their luck.

The good kami had certainly favoured them today.

Bowing gratefully, they enquired about the fate of the convoy from which they had been taken.