Black Arrow Lord Ch. 04

Taro did it twice more, finally succeeding in causing a little more of the drink to spill. "I'd say that he must be a drunk bear then. He stinks of sake."

The other man began to try to imitate the snorts of a pig.

Valdemar ignored the remark and asked to be clear. "The farmer's boy is not a Samurai?"

Matsu shook her head just as Taro tried to shove Valdemar again.

The Dane grabbed Taro's arm without even looking and twisted it forward viciously. Taro was forced to lean forward to follow the distension or have his elbow joint torn apart. He grimaced in pain with his face only inches off the bar. Valdemar spoke slowly in his abysmal Japanese.

"Father is not here to protect you, Taro-CHAN," Valdemar hissed quietly, using the diminutive suffix reserved for when one speaks to a child. "Leave bears alone."

Valdemar reached over with his other hand and he slammed Taro's forehead into the bar three times in rapid succession, upsetting his own sake bowl. When he released the man, it was only to drive his fist into the side of his head. Taro landed on his back but rolled to stop lying face-down on the floor.

Valdemar heard a small crash then as his sake bowl exploded. When he looked up, the hopeful farmboy held a short cattle whip in his hand.

"Filthy Gaijin, you will regret that.

And I know how to tame a bear."

He pulled back the whip then but the Dane was already moving, coming around to run at him.

That man's expression changed when Valdemar's right hand came into view, slipping his axe out of its loop on his belt.

He made a hurried attempt to swing and he struck Valdemar's arm before he turned and ran out the door. Valdemar threw his axe with a roar then and there was a cry from just outside in the darkening gloom.

Valdemar stopped running at that point and only looked at the red line growing there on his forearm as he walked the rest of the way to where the man lay gasping on his face in the mud with the axe embedded in his back. Valdemar glanced up at the sky once as he noticed the wind before turning to his task.

The Dane pulled the other one up by his hair out of the mud. There was another scream as the axe was wrenched loose and then the cries became piteous as Valdemar hung on grimly and began to hack away at the neck.
He was almost half way through before there was silence and another three swings got the head off due to the bad angle.

He set the head down on the body and then turned to walk back to the tavern. The others backed away from him with wide eyes and he wiped the bloody axe on Taro's clothing for a moment without even bothering to look up until after he'd placed it back on his belt.

Taro was beginning to stir until the Dane lifted his head by the topknot and hissed loudly in Japanese, "Stay down, or the bear might eat you as well, Taro-chan."

As Taro tried to focus his eyes, Valdemar shut his lights off again with a rabbit punch to the face.

That done, he dragged the unconscious Taro outside and draped his body with his face over the crotch of the corpse. He set the head on the torso in front of Taro's face and then he walked back into the tavern to sit down next to an ashen-faced Matsu.

No one said a word as they stared.

"To get respect from stubborn animals," Valdemar said to Matsu quietly in English, "you might have to hurt them a time or two – if they are big enough to stand it. Those two were not.

Go on, Matsu-san. I will let it be your choice what you tell them now. I might be a wild and half-crazed demon; barely more than a beast myself. Or you might tell them that I am a criminal who has murdered many times and should be put to death.

Other than my sadness at ruining what was becoming a fine evening with you, I really couldn't care less what you tell them."

He smiled then as a thought came to him, while he scooped up a few fingerfuls of rice to his mouth. "Or you could tell them that I am a lord from a far-off land who dealt with their insults in the same way as is done where I come from – the lonelier parts, anyway."

He grinned a little then as he looked over at her, "And that one might be at least a little true.

For certain, I am a little sensitive to having someone threaten me with a whip."

After saying it, Valdemar looked in no other direction than Matsu's horrified eyes and he waited.

Matsu slammed her fists down against the bar, and she stood up to come around and tear the lot of them new places to shit from – especially the new ones in her command, promising punishment for only sitting there while their leader was embarrassed by a pair of besotted louts.

She railed at them that Valdemar-san was a Gaijin daimyo; there to teach them something important and that they'd embarrassed themselves - and more importantly their commander by their drunken actions and laughter.

"He," she seethed as she pointed back, "has more right to sit in here and be treated well than the dead one – who was no samurai at all, not a lord, and not possessing a single honorable trait whatsoever!"

Just as she wound down, there was a cry from outside as Taro got to his feet and retched out there in the mud before he pushed the door open again and drew his sword, rambling on and on at the top of his lungs.

"He is telling you of his heritage," Matsu said as she sat down in disgust, "the whole thing."

Valdemar got to his feet with a slow smile at the other man, "Please tell him that he ought to just begin. I have no interest in hearing of the deeds of others which are not his own. I see no connection other than to shame the memories of others by the actions of their foolish descendant.

My meal is already almost cold and anything that he says is only important to him. I would rather eat, but I am sure that I can spare enough time to kill him if it will shut him up. Spoiled little boys annoy me."

Matsu stared at him wide-eyed, but she translated and Taro shouted in his rage as a few of the others snickered.

Valdemar threw off his cloak then and drew his own sword and his axe. "Run, Taro-chan. Get father."

He took a step forward and stomped his foot. Taro started visibly and he watched several of his comrades shake their heads in disgust.

Taro felt the weight of his shame then and ran for his horse. He was off and galloping into the night before anyone could try to stop him.

"Bringing you here this night has caused me all sorts of trouble," Matsu said with a little humor, "I do not even know how to report some of this – but it was a very good show."

"Think about it, Matsu-san," Valdemar said, "I think that it would read best if you reported what actually happened." He took his first sip of his sake – the second one, since he'd never even had a drop out of the first bowl as he regarded her for a moment.

"I will do as we agreed tomorrow. For certain, I will have no trouble holding their attention this time. You said to me that you are the highest, save only your mother and Maeda-san out here.

Say what happened. Tell it the way that it came to be. The shame here is Taro's and a little of it will stick to Oda-san, I suppose."

He looked away for a moment, seeing the looks that he was drawing from the other men in the now-quiet place, "I would not wish to be any breakable thing in his household when he learns of this, and then I am certain, he will come wanting to kill me."

He sighed audibly, "Just another little thing to be happy about in this charming place."

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

Valdemar shrugged, "What was I supposed to do? To sit still and hope that they might shut up and leave me alone would never have worked. They were drunk. I think that they were past listening to reason anyway.

Even if you'd have howled at them to behave even earlier, they would have only seen that the Gaijin needed you to protect him. They have small minds when they are drinking. I wanted to eat in peace and anyway, ...

Now they have seen a Gaijin when he is annoyed."

He turned to her, "You might think that men are often stupid – and I would not disagree a lot of the time.

But where I come from, we try to solve our own troubles when we can."

He began to eat again as though nothing had happened. Matsu watched him for a few seconds before she shrugged and joined him. They actually came to enjoy each other's company for a time.

After a moment, she looked up at the others and almost roared as she asked them all what they were looking at, and after a moment, the place was just as it had been before the entire incident.

They heard the approach of horses about twenty minutes later and then Taro was back – with his father, of course, as well as lord Maeda, who wanted to know whether things were so quiet now that his soldiers could find no one to fight but each other.

Taro lost even more of the respect of the others as he stood pointing at Valdemar while speaking to his father and Maeda.

Valdemar watched for a little while as he finished his meal and then he wiped his mouth and got to his feet.

He stepped over slowly and stood unnoticed by Taro, who continued to jabber out his indignation until Valdemar tapped him on the arm.

When he turned and saw Valdemar there looking down at him with a smile. He was visibly startled and almost stepped away, barely catching himself in time, though his father had noted it with an expression of disgust.

"Matsu-san," Valdemar said slowly and evenly, his blue devil's eyes never leaving Taro's face, "Please tell Taro-san that I do not know the way that these things go here, but in the barbarian wilds where I come from, a man - once he is indeed a man - seeks to solve his own troubles and tries not to disturb the peace of his father, since he no longer needs his father's help – that is, ... " Valdemar leaned a little, "if he IS a man."

He stepped back then, still smiling as he drew his cloak back and gripped the haft of his sword and waited as he watched their eyes while Matsu translated for him.

Oda looked ready to explode and Maeda suggested to Valdamar that he sit and enjoy a little sake while he learned of the facts.

Valdemar nodded and bowed before he turned and walked back to sit with Matsu as their server brought them more rice wine. He noted the interested expression on the lord's face to see the barbarian drinking with his daughter.

"I will do my best when I am asked to tell of it," Matsu whispered to him.

"Thank you, Matsu-san, my friend," he smiled as he watched the proceedings, "It means a lot to me – especially as this might be my last night on Earth by the looks that I am seeing."

After Matsu was asked to speak and had concluded her remarks, she was surprised to see eight of her men get to their feet to respectfully ask their daimyo if they might speak as well. Maeda allowed it and what he heard went a long way toward negating the differing accounts that he'd heard from Taro's friends.

Oda did explode then – at his son for shaming him and he was sent off to live on his own for a year in order to hopefully learn what being a man means. Taro left in fury, and Oda glared at Valdemar for a moment, before he left as well.

Maeda walked to where Matsu and Valdemar sat and he asked for a bowl of sake as well.

"It seems to me that the Black Arrow lord is a little shrewd as well as being wise," he said, "What he did took some courage and belief in oneself and one's gods. I think that it was the only way to find a path out.

But please tell him not to kill any more of my men, Matsu-san. Even I can only look away for so long."

When she translated it and saw Valdemar nod with a smile, Maeda grinned a little, "Tell him also that he was correct. The weather has turned into a wild thing and the wind tries hard to suck the flames from many firepits tonight in its rage. You should come home to the hall very soon. Please do not tarry or drink too much and wander. Tonight is not forgiving in that way."

Matsu was a little shocked, "That bad? Truly? I mocked him a little for it, and you know how I hate to admit when I am wrong.

I plan to either return to the hall, or spend the night in Dane-san's little house, since Aiki-san and Kōichi-san are there waiting with enough wood to keep us all warm. You should know that I have learned many things about Dane-san. Among other things, I have seen that he has honor enough for even me to be able to respect. You have no cause to worry."

He almost laughed, "You hold the Northlands in your hands, ruling the men there in your command. I have no worries over you."

He laughed a little then and he slapped his hand down on Valdemar's wrist, "I worry for my friend here. I have not been on his list of friends for very long yet."

When Matsu translated it for Valdemar in a laughing voice, Maeda took his leave, reminding them that wherever they went, to have a care for the weather and not to leave it too long to go.

When he reached the body there on the doorstep. Maeda bellowed to the innkeeper that there was some filth to be removed.

Matsu and Valdemar enjoyed a little more of the evening and he made a point to ask Matsu so introduce him to the men who had spoken up for him over what they'd witnessed.

With the loud regards of the men, they opened the door to leave.

It was almost a challenge just to find the stables where their horses had been tied up.