The taller samurai called out down the hall. In a few moments an officer came out of a room with four samurai. He was young and taut. When he saw Blackthorne his eyes lit up. "Ah, Anjin-san. How do you feel?"
"Better, thank you. Please excuse me, but where my guards?"
"I am ordered to tell you, when you wake up, that you're to go back to your ship. Here's your pass." The captain took the paper from his sleeve and gave it to him and pointed contemptuously at Michael. "This fellow's to be your guide."
Blackthorne tried to get his head working, his brain screeching danger. "Yes. Thank you. But first, please must see Lord Ishido. Very important."
"So sorry. Your orders are to go back to the ship as soon as you wake up. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Please excuse me, but very important I see Lord Ishido. Please tell your captain. Now. Must see Lord Ishido before leave. Very important, so sorry."
The samurai scratched at the pockmarks on his chin. "I will ask. Please dress." He strode off importantly to Blackthorne's relief. The four samurai remained. Blackthorne went back and dressed quickly. They watched him. The priest waited in the corridor.
Be patient, he told himself. Don't think and don't worry. It's a mistake. Nothing's changed. You've still the power you always had.
He put both swords in his sash and drank the rest of the cha. Then he saw the pass. The paper was stamped and covered with characters. There's no mistake about that, he thought, the fresh kimono already sticking to him.
"Hey, Anjin-san," one of the samurai said, "hear you kill five ninja. Very, very good, neh?"
"So sorry, two only. Perhaps three." Blackthorne twisted his head from side to side to ease the ache and dizziness. .
"I heard there were fifty-seven ninja dead - one hundred and sixteen Browns. Is that right?"
"I don't know. So sorry."
The captain came back into the room. "Your orders are to go to your ship, Anjin-san. This priest is your guide."
"Yes. Thank you. But first, so sorry, must see Lady Ochiba. Very, very important. Please ask your-" The captain spun on Michael and spoke gutturally and very fast. "Neh?" Michael bowed, unperturbed, and turned to Blackthorne. "So sorry, senhor. He says his superior is asking his superior, but meanwhile you are to leave at once and follow me - to the galley."
"Ima!" the captain added for emphasis.
Blackthorne knew he was a dead man. He heard himself say, "Thank you, Captain. Where my guards, please?"
"You haven't any guards."
"Please send my ship. Please fetch my own vassals from-"
"Order go ship now! Understand, neh?" The words were impolite and very final. "Go ship!" the captain added with a crooked smile, waiting for Blackthorne to bow first.
Blackthorne noticed this and it all became a nightmare, everything slowed and fogged, and he desperately wanted to empty himself and wipe the sweat off his face and bow, but he was sure that the captain would hardly bow back, perhaps not even politely and never as an equal, so he would be shamed before all of them. It was clear that he had been betrayed and sold out to the Christian enemy, that Kiyama and Ishido and the priests were part of the betrayal, and for whatever reason, whatever the price, there was nothing now that he could do except wipe off the sweat and bow and leave and they would be waiting for him.
Then Mariko was with him and he remembered her terror and all that she had meant and all that she had done and all that she had taught him. He forced his hand onto the broken hilt of his sword and set his feet truculently apart, knowing that his fate was decided, his karma fixed, and that if he had to die he preferred to die now with pride than later.
"I'm John Blackthorne, Anjin-san," he said, his absolute commitment lending him a strange power and perfect rudeness. "General of Lord Toranaga ship. All ship. Samurai and hatamoto! Who are you?"
The captain flushed. "Saigo Masakatsu of Kaga, Captain, of Lord Ishido's garrison."
"I'm hatamoto - are you hatamoto?" Blackthorne asked, even more rudely, not even acknowledging the name of his opponent, only seeing him with an enormous, unreal clarity-seeing every pore, every stubbled whisker, every fleck of color in the hostile brown eyes, every hair on the back of the man's hand gripping the sword hilt.
"No, not hatamoto."
"Are you samurai - or ronin?" The last word hissed out and Blackthorne felt men behind him but he did not care. He was only watching the captain, waiting for the sudden, death-dealing blow that summoned up all tiara-gei, all the innermost source of energy, and he readied to return the blow with equal blinding force in a mutual, honorable death, and so defeat his enemy.
To his astonishment he saw the captain's eyes change, and the man shriveled and bowed, low and humble. The man held the bow, leaving himself defenseless. "Please - please excuse my bad manners. I - I was ronin but - but the Lord General gave me a second chance. Please excuse my bad manners, Anjin-san." The voice was laced with shame.
It was all unreal and Blackthorne was still ready to strike, expecting to strike, expecting death and not a conquest. He looked at the other samurai. As one man they bowed and held the bow with their captain, granting him victory.
After a moment Blackthorne bowed stiffly. But not as an equal. They held their bow until he turned and walked along the corridor, Michael following, out onto the main steps, down the steps into the forecourt. He could feel no pain now. He was filled only with an enormous glow. Grays were watching him, and the group of samurai that escorted him and Michael to the first checkpoint kept carefully out of his sword range. One man was hurriedly sent ahead.
At the next checkpoint the new officer bowed politely as an equal and he bowed back. The pass was examined meticulously but correctly. Another escort took them to the next checkpoint where everything was repeated. Thence over the innermost moat, and the next. No one interfered with them. Hardly any samurai paid attention to him.
Gradually he noticed his head was scarcely aching. His sweat had dried. He unknotted his fingers from his sword hilt and flexed them a moment. He stopped at a fountain which was set in a wall and drank and splashed water on his head.
The escorting Grays stopped and waited politely, and all the time he was trying to work out why he had lost favor and the protection of Ishido and Lady Ochiba. Nothing's changed, he thought frantically. He looked up and saw Michael staring at him. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, senhor," Michael said politely. Then a smile spread and it was filled with warmth. "Ah, senhor, you did me a great service back there, making that foul-mannered cabron drink his own urine. Oh, that was good to see! Thou," he added in Latin. "I thank thee."
"I did nothing for you," Blackthorne said in Portuguese, not wanting to talk Latin.
"Yes. But peace be upon you, senhor. Know that God moves in mysterious ways. It was a service for all men. That ronin was shamed - and he deserved it. It is a filthy thing to abuse bushido."
"You're samurai too?"
"Yes, senhor, I have that honor," Michael said. "My father is cousin to Lord Kiyama and my clan is of Hizen Province in Kyushu. How did you know he was ronin?"
Blackthorne tried to remember. "I'm not sure. Perhaps because he said he was from Kaga and that's a long way off and Mariko - Lady Toda said Kaga's far north. I don't know - I don't remember really what I said."
The officer of the escort came back to them. "Please excuse me, Anjin-san, but is this fellow bothering you?"
"No. No, thank you." Blackthorne set off again. The pass was checked again, with courtesy, and they went on.
The sun was lowering now, still a few hours to sunset, and dust devils whirled in tiny spirals in the heated air currents. They passed many stables, all horses facing out - lances and spears and saddles ready for instant departure, samurai grooming the horses and cleaning equipment. Blackthorne was astounded by their number.