Black Arrow Lord Ch. 03

What came to Valdemar's mind was that the three only needed to come to the thought that she couldn't deal with them all at the same time. He had no doubt that one of them would think of it at some point.

It was the bowman who Valdemar had a concern over. He strung his own bow behind a tree.

Moments later, the men formed a strategy and Valdemar could see that the plan didn't sit well with Matsu, not that there was much of anything that she could do about it.

In truth, Matsu had her own plan and that was to remove the threats piecemeal. She'd take the legs out from under one's horse and as it fell, she planned to kill the rider. She knew that she had to be quick so that she could be ready to engage the next.

But the one with the bow, ...

She wouldn't be able to get to him at all if he kept only a little distance between them. It didn't look good for that reason.

She tried to keep moving, seeing the bowman begin to draw his bow back.

Valdemar whistled with his own bowstring almost against his pursed lips. As the bowman began to turn his head, Valdemar released and with a yell of pain and surprise, the archer was off his horse and struggling on his back with a long, black arrow standing up out of his ribs. What made the shot memorable to the men and even to Matsu was the deep thudding slap of the arrow piercing the man's light armor.

The rest turned then, but the next black arrow was already nocked and the thick bow was mostly drawn back once again. As one rider turned, he caught the briefest sight of something coming to him and the blade of Matsu's polearm was in his open mouth as she swung and yanked back.

The last two exchanged glances and turned their horses to ride off, but one of them was already on Matsu's long naginata blade a fraction of a second later. She twisted the shaft a little and pulled it back and the man groaned as he slid from the saddle.

There was one man left and Matsu was nowhere near to him as he spurred his steed. Valdemar drew back fully and sent the last one's doom to him. The slap of that arrow against the leather was clear and the man was unhorsed and tumbled to the ground.

He tried to get up, but Matsu ended his worries for him an instant later.

Valdemar walked out into the clearing where a furious Matsu gored the first man to fall from Valdemar's arrows. Doing that to the rest of them to make certain that they were dead, she looked over and he could see that she was unhappy about something.

She thanked him for his help, knowing that without him, she'd been facing a losing fight as time wore on, but that wasn't the main thing. "These are dressed as ronin and bandits," she said, "but I have seen at least two of them before, Valdemar-san. They hide in the hills around here while I and my men are much farther out and not able to hunt them easily."

She bent down over one that she'd killed with her bladed lance and drawing a knife, she cut off his topknot above where it had been tied. She cleaned her naginata blade in the snow for a moment and then she tied the hair to it, not far below where the blade began. Now that he knew what he was looking at, he saw that there were already two other ones there.

"No one says anything," she fumed, "but I believe that these were friends of Taro, the son of Oda-san. I will tell of this to the daimyo, though I will probably be shouted down."

Valdemar nodded, "Then take the heads and if you have need of me, send for me and I will tell of what I saw and did."

She looked over and up at him for a moment in surprise, wondering why he'd make such an offer.

"Not so easy," Matsu muttered in thought, "You have killed two of these. Murder is a crime here, unless it suits the purpose of one in a bit of power. But that is my puzzle for now. In the worst case, I may be forced to lie and say that I killed them all. I hold the right to do it, but I doubt that I would even be believed, so it is still a problem. Thank you all the same."

She looked at Kōichi, who brought her horse for her, "Do not judge him, Valdemar-san. He is not permitted to have a sword, since he is not Samurai."

She sighed then, "But if Kōichi-san could have gotten one of their swords, he'd have sought to help. It would have been his death because I have not taught him, being stuck out on the edge of the world most of the time. I worry over this."

The door to the little house opened then and a girl stepped out onto the snow hesitantly. Kōichi trotted over with concern written on his face and they embraced for a moment. Kōichi walked the girl to Matsu's horse and they both helped her onto it in an instant before Matsu swung up herself. Valdemar saw them all speaking quietly between them for a moment before Kōichi began to walk away, back to where Valdemar stood.

"Kōichi-san," Matsu said, looking as though she now had to say something which she might regret, "When you are away from here, tell the Gaijin lord what must be told. I leave it to you, cousin."

She nodded to Valdemar and with that, she spurred her horse and the women were gone.

Valdemar watched them go with raised eyebrows and Kōichi asked.

The blonde man shrugged, "This is the strangest land that I have ever been to. Nothing makes much sense to me. People see my back and think that I am a criminal.

I kill a man with my bow to please a lord and I am praised for it."

He shook his head, trying and failing to make any sense of it. "I murder two men for no reason other than they looked to want to harm someone who mocked and taunted me a day ago, and from the way that she refers to me, it seems that I am not a criminal anymore."

It's a wonder that I do not try to stay drunk. It might make sense then."