Black Arrow Lord Ch. 03

He looked over, seeing the hopeful expression there. "You still want to try, do you?"

When Kōichi nodded, Valdemar held out his cigar, "Very well, but don't blame me if after two puffs, you find yourself trying desperately to avoid filling your pants."

The boy took the cigar and tried an experimental puff. He grinned then and puffed some more, trying to look older and more sophisticated in emulation of the way that he saw Valdemar.

But his expression changed then and after a bit of coughing he was suddenly dizzy. As he reeled a little to avoid falling over, Valdemar snatched the cigar from Kōichi's fingers, pointing to the treeline. "The nearest place for the next part of this," he smiled.

Kōichi looked off in that direction and then he began to walk. That only lasted for several seconds and then he was running as off-balance as he was to get there in a hurry. Valdemar turned away, grinning and he wished Kōichi luck over his shoulder.

He puffed on as he took in the scenery, thoroughly enjoying this now and remembering the first time that he'd tried to smoke a cigar with the old nobleman whom he'd so loved to work for.

At least Kōichi had gotten as far as the woods.

He heard the swishing of the snow behind him a few minutes later as his young servant returned to him. They said nothing between them.

Valdemar turned and held out the cigar once more, but Kōichi, his face looking just a little green, declined then and Valdemar only chuckled quietly to himself. "I did try to warn you, my young friend."

But at that point, they heard the sounds of a number of horses approaching and as they looked over, they saw the riders. He thought that they made a bit of a striking sight, riding in their armor with their curious horned helmets in the Japanese style. Together, they looked rather formidable, but if he isolated one man at a time in his view, he thought that they looked a little like reindeer.

The group rode past them into the trees and began to dismount and tie up their horses and wander over in small groups. As Valdemar began to greet them, he found that something bothered him and it was the attitude among some of the men.

There was barely-concealed scorn toward him from several and almost all of them regarded his assistant with scorn which wasn't concealed at all. He stopped at that point as a lone rider approached a few minutes later, long after the main body had arrived.

Valdemar was a little startled to see that it was a young woman, dressed in rough and well-used dark armor which, once she'd gotten closer, looked to have a very subdued tiger-stipe pattern to it, though there was a thick collar of fox fur on the cloak she wore over everything. She dismounted and tied up her horse.

As he watched, he saw that she was perhaps not the epitome of beauty, not with that stern look on her face at any rate. She hadn't come wearing a helmet and her armor fit her differently than the armor that he saw on many of the men. He looked over at his young assistant and the boy nodded once, "The Lady Matsu."

Matsu wore her long hair tied up in a way which confused him at first until he saw the long metal spines which seemed to hold a lot of it together and off her shoulders. When she'd been on her horse, he noticed that her face wasn't held in the more normal or usual serene expression. He even knew what he'd been looking at as he'd seen her riding up.

He didn't know quite who she was, but he could tell a few things from her face and the way that the men seemed to defer to her. Her expression on horseback had been about seeing everything at once, of scanning with her eyes and having a little care and concern over others.

She must lead them, Valdemar thought to himself.

It changed a little as soon as she was off the horse, becoming much more relaxed and that was when her beauty hit him. She was astoundingly attractive to him in a strange and slightly mystifying way however, and based on nothing but that, Valdemar decided to try to put his best foot forward for once. He just knew that none of it was going to buy him a thing.

She wore that look.

The one which spoke of how she and others regarded what he was.

Kōichi bowed and they exchanged quiet greetings for a moment. "Dane-san, this is Matsu-san, "Kōichi said quietly, "the daughter of the Lady Hoshino."

The woman turned toward him, looking at Valdemar with a critical eye, "I am here for my, ... 'lesson' and I make my apology if I am late. I only heard of it a few hours ago and after gathering up the ones that I wished to send and sending them off, I had other matters to see to before I could leave myself. The men here with me today are about half of my guard. It is my task to patrol the northlands."

Valdemar thought that her English was easily on a par with Kōichi's, but that didn't matter, he supposed as he listened. It sounded a lot better than his own.

"Please forgive me, Matsu-san," Valdemar said very cautiously, "but I was told that I would be instructing Samurai today. I know nothing of -- "

"Gaijin," she said as he watched her attractive features tighten a little until she glared at him a little coldly, "in case you have no knowledge of things -- for which I will forgive you this one time, the word for the warrior class here extends to the females of that class as well. As it happens, I am a higher Samurai than anyone else here excepting only my honored mother and the daimyo himself.

Any of these country Samurai are beneath me. Moreover, as far as the men of the northern watch are concerned, I am their commander.

You were told to instruct Samurai. So? Instruct me, and we will see the value of your teachings."

He made no sign of it, but he shrugged in an internal way to himself. He wondered if her demeanor was what she adopted when she was with the men of her command, or if she really was that prickly. He supposed that it didn't matter very much at all.

"Very well," he smiled a little artificially and then he began speaking to them all, allowing pauses fairly often so that Kōichi had the time to translate .

"I am a foreigner among you in your land, and I have come far in order to get here. In truth, I come from even farther away than that, and I can say something which I believe ought to make you feel a little pride. I come from Europe, where there are many nations. Each one of them has warriors of renown.

But before I came here, even I had heard of the Samurai of Nihon. You are known and a little famous -- even that far away - as wondrous swordsmen and fearsome archers.

But you are not known as good marksmen with any sort of firearm. That is what I am here today to begin to remedy. You were instructed to be here today because your daimyo has benefited from this teaching -- and really; it is not so much a lesson as much as it is a way for you to bring these new weapons into what you already know as Bushido.

These things are no more or less than weapons. You all know how to care for the more traditional weapons. All that I teach today is what is needed to make you fearsome with firearms."

As he waited for the last bit to be translated, Valdemar looked around and saw that there were some who had no interest at all, so he focused on them -- including the young woman.

"I can see that you do not like the thought of having to listen to a Gaijin," he said, "I know that you are only here -- a lot of you -- because the daimyo has ordered it."

He waited while Kōichi translated and then he pointed to a tree some yards distant, "You see that bird there? Is there one person here who can shoot at that bird and hit it? Is there even one noble Samurai here who can tell me that he -- or she - can do that with the weapon that was given to each of you?"

There was no reply from them, other than stony silence. He walked to his things and took up his own rifle. Stepping to where the rest stood, he knelt on one knee and pulled back the hammer.

An instant later, the gun discharged and the bird fell from the branch in a small cloud of feathers.

Valdemar got to his feet and pointed again, "Do you wish to learn of this or not?"

When they heard that, they all nodded but Matsu. She stared at the bird in amazement.

"Then all that I ask is that you see that there are many different people in the world. Some of them even have something for you to learn from them -- even though they might be Gaijin and not as noble as you."

He pointed at Kōichi, "The boy will help me to make clear what to anyone -- even most of my kind -- would be only unimportant details. But we are in a land where little things are treasured. Where I come from, no one makes an art out of only drawing a sword and the way that it is done. We either draw it or we don't. Here, it is considered a noble pursuit.

I cannot teach this without him, and I know that he will say everything as closely as he can to what I say. If this is important to you, then you should be straining to listen to him, and try to remember that no one -- even a lord or a king or an emperor -- is given the choice of which family that he wishes to be born into.

Kōichi-san may not be what you all are, but to you, right here as I try to help you, he is so very important. Your success hangs on the way that he says what I teach and how closely you listen."

One of the men said something then and Kōichi said, "They have heard that you are the Black Arrow lord. Why do you speak this way?"

It confused Valdemar for a second, so he brushed his confusion aside for the moment and considered his reply to Kōichi , "Tell them that here, among them; I am only a man who has something to show them. Tell them that they have been given guns by their lord, but that the trader taught them only to load and shoot a little.

Tell them that when I am finished -- if they can listen and learn -- then all of them might have been able to hit that bird easily, and if, not, then at least cause it to wonder about the sudden wind from how closely they missed. Tell them that even if they cannot hit that bird when I have finished teaching them, they should think that if that bird were a man, he would be as dead as the bird now."

Valdemar found himself with a suddenly eager bunch of students.

The first thing that he made clear was that any man who did not understand something must ask to have it explained, for to remain quiet and think that he would sound like a fool to ask anything was the same as a fool to a Gaijin.

"I cannot think that it would happen, but if I ever found myself facing Samurai who have rifles and wish to kill me, I would be hoping that all of them had been too proud to ask questions when they were taught."

It produced a lot of nodding laughter from the group and Valdemar got down to teaching then.

It took most of the day because Valdemar was intent on taking them from men who had been given weapons of questionable value to them to warriors who could see the need to refine their skills with this foreign technology. He made a point of stressing that Samurai to the south were already farther on this path, but there was no reason why any of them couldn't master this.

Though she gave him an often questioning argument at perhaps every turn, needing to have the reasons for the adjustments made clear to her, Matsu found that with patience and her seeing the results as her groups of shots moved closer to where it had been that she was aiming at, she understood at last why shooting one of these things had always been an exercise in futility and a test of her limited patience.

When he was done, they all went their separate ways leaving him until he stood almost alone with only Kōichi and Matsu, who now wore a pleased look.

"I came with the same scorn in my heart as the rest, and perhaps even more," she admitted seriously, "I see that it will take some practicing to get better, but you have given me a real use for this stick which I was given and have hated from the first moment.

Something else," she said, "I was impressed when you insisted that everyone pay attention to Kōichi-san. He is perhaps my oldest friend save one. But he often comes in for a lot of scorn and ill-treatment because -- "

"Because everyone -- no matter where -- requires someone to look down on," Valdemar said, "Around here, it seems to be his job -- when it is not mine. I understand."

She actually smiled then, "Tell me your name, Gaijin, and I will try to speak it properly. I see the value of the teaching in these unimportant details so I wish to learn the true name of the Black Arrow lord which I have heard a little of."

"If I may ask it," Valdemar began, "how did I come to be saddled with this strange name? Do you know?"

Matsu nodded, "Lord Maeda began it after what you did with your bow. He and Oda-san have told many of it."

Valdemar bowed and smiled, "Do you wish to know my first name only, or the whole thing, Lady?"

"The whole name, of course," she nodded.

But she stared after he said, "Valdemar Reventlow" slowly. Kōichi looked to be straining to hold in his smile.

Her eyes widened and he smirked, "You see now why they only call me Dane."

Valdemar shook his head after a moment, "I begin to regret the name which I seem to be known by here. It was said of me by Maeda-san over something which I regard as little more than murder."

"Not so," she said seriously, "You have tied the name to an event. Forget the worthless trader. It was given because of what was seen of another of your skills and now I learn why. Maeda-san needed a name for you because he saw that you are worthy of respect from your background and also because, ..."

She laughed for just a moment, "Because you really do have an impossible name."

Her features reverted to a more serious expression then. "I wish to have a meal with you but in a place away from the hall. If you are not afraid of the chance of a little adventure, I would buy you a drink as well. Rather than cut my strength in half a second time over, would it be possible for you to return with me to the north? You would see more of Maeda-san's lands and perhaps understand our ways a little better. Would you come?"

He nodded, "I'd welcome the chance to slip the leash which holds me here a little. But I was only given the freedom to go about the village and the area. Lord Maeda-san - "

"Leave the daimyo to me, Dane-san. I can be very persuasive when I hang on his ear," she said.

-------------------

Valdemar was in his home packing a few of the things that he thought he might need while Matsu was off to the hall trying to get a brief audience with the daimyo. Kōichi was with Valdemar, but said that he would not be able to go with him.

"If you are not here," he said, "then I go back to my duties for Lady Hoshino. You would not need me along anyway. Matsu-san can speak English very well. My father taught us all as children -- Matsu-san, Aiki-san and me. Aiki-san also learned from her father. We enjoyed having other ways to speak which no one knew.

Dane-san," Kōichi said with a little concern, "I must warn you a little. Matsu-san is a little wild and she is fearless as well. Where you would go -- if Maeda-san agrees, is a place which has even fewer traces of our culture than this one. It is easy to get into a fight there, and even easier to die.

Matsu-san can be trusted, but the rest, .... Who is to say? I am trying to tell you to be a little careful. If Japan is an empire, then we stand near to the fence here. Where you will go is to walk along the top of the fence in many ways.

There are even fewer Japanese there and there are others. We call them Ainu and they are peaceful most of the time. But there has been trouble. It has been less than thirty years since the last uprising and tempers are always high."

Valdemar nodded, "I'll try to take that into account, but that's only if I go. Matsu-san will first need to get his agreement and I have a feeling that it's a little unlikely."

"Perhaps not," Kōichi smiled a little, "She was truthful about her persuasiveness with Maeda-san. He sees the importance of the northern watch and she is his daughter, though if you value your skin, you will never mention it to her. She does not want to be known that way. She prefers to stand on her own merit and her own name."

Valdemar was truly surprised, "I thought you told me that she was the daughter of Lady -- "

"I did," Kōichi nodded, "Matsu-san is the only one of us three who still has her father. It is little-known here and never spoken of. And there are a few others things that you should know.

She feels herself to be the equal of any man and she enjoys shaming them if they are too boastful or loud in their manners. I have heard it said that she has also done it for nothing other than her own enjoyment, though I have never seen that and she has never done it to me.

Matsu-san is very much her father's daughter and if I know her at all -- she will test you even more than her honored father did."

Valdemar nodded and said that he'd keep it in mind. He'd just pulled off his shirt to change when Matsu walked in and he wondered what had happened to the famous politeness that he'd heard and seen so much of.

"So, you have permission to come along with me to the North country for a few days," she said, "We may not boast as much civility, but I can sa-"

She stopped there as Valdemar turned away to pick up his simple singlet and Matsu stared at the marks on his back.

"I was told that you are a lord, but what I see marks you as a criminal," she said.

Valdemar smirked, "You are only a Samurai as long as you are in Japan. Try to think of where your own power comes from. Here, you are someone.

But the world is a large place and I assure you that there are far more places where you are nothing, no matter what outrage you might put into your voice as they whip you like a dog.

In the part of the world where I come from, you would be seen as the same thing that I am in this place to you and other people -- a curiosity at best. Someone to stare at and little more.

If it matters to you at all, this was not done to me by my countrymen. This was done on the ship of another land far out at sea where one can do anything to another person and get away with it."

"Why did they do this?" Matsu asked, "Were you a thief who was found out?"

He turned then and looked at her as he pulled the singlet down over him, "You would probably not care, but that was done to me because I did not understand what I'd been ordered to do. I could not speak English at all at the time.

That didn't matter though," he smiled, "The one who did this had many men to hold me."

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing for a time," Valdemar said, "I spoke even less after that."

He decided that he was now a little annoyed at her assumptions, so he looked at her with an even gaze as he picked up his cuirass and began to strap it on.

He stopped then. "For you -- since you are more doubtful than charitable, I can offer a different way to look at me, Lady.

Think that I am no lord. If it makes things easier for you, then think that I am the bastard son of a very poor whore. I must be a criminal because only criminals are ever whipped, aren't they? Truly; the world over, that is the only reason why anyone ever whips another person, isn't it?

Why, I must have DESERVED to have this done to me."

"Well?" she asked, "Which is it? A lord or a criminal?"

He already regretted agreeing to go with her, "Take your pick and believe what you will. I will answer nothing more over it to anyone."

The spaulders went over the cuirass and he decided that it would suffice for a ride on horseback in the winter sunshine. His cloak went over everything else.

Matsu wondered a little about where the warmth had gone in him, "Why do you wear that?"