Chapter 14
Sheiji walked down a side street, looking for the sign with a picture of an axe. He found it with little difficulty and walked around to the back. After looking about him carefully, he knocked on the stout wooden door. It was rough and splintery, not as fine as the front door, but Sheiji thought there could be no stronger door in all of Imatsuro.
Sheiji heard the bar being drawn back and then the door creaked open. A slim man with a scar on one cheek opened it and peered suspiciously at Sheiji.
“Sir, I bring you news!” Sheiji cried, thinking quickly. “The cygnet in the city pond has grown into a swan.” Since swans were thought to bring good luck to the city where they lived, peasants often provided ponds and places of safety for them to nest in.
“Indeed, lad?” the man asked. “It is good news. A grown swan may have less predators than a cygnet. The Falcons shall not hunt forever.” The man artfully dropped a little charm on the floor and bent to retrieve it. Sheiji saw it was a white lotus flower over a purple lotus.
Sheiji lowered his voice. “You are the Woodcutter, then?”
“So I am called,” the man replied. “Come, young Swan, I will take you to a room where you can rest.”
The Woodcutter opened the door wider and Sheiji slipped inside. He followed his host past the kitchen door and down into the cellar. Sheiji thought it was only an ordinary cellar, until the Woodcutter pulled back a wall panel to reveal a small room. In it was a straw pallet, a small table and a chamber pot. Otherwise it was empty.
“I wish I could give you more, Vua,” the Woodcutter said, closing the panel and bowing low before Sheiji. “I am not a rich man, Vua, but I shall give you what I can, and most of all, I give my loyalty. When the time comes to fight for your throne, Vua, I shall give you my life.”
“Thank you, Woodcutter,” Sheiji replied, “for your trustworthiness and your help. Even this simple pallet is like a featherbed to me after sleeping in the jungle. You know you are in great danger, sheltering me like this. The guards are already searching those entering the city and soon, I fear, they will begin searching houses.”
The Woodcutter bowed his head, “My life is forfeit, I know. But I would rather die by the hand of a soldier, Vua, knowing I have served you, than die a natural death knowing I have not. I was worried you would not get past the soldiers, but your disguise is good. Very good.”
“That is thanks to my advisor, Woodcutter,” Sheiji replied. It was becoming more difficult for Sheiji to keep his eyes open, and the Woodcutter noticed it.
“Forgive me, Vua,” he apologized. “You must be weary. I will bring you food and then you can sleep. I will wake you at dusk.”
Sheiji nodded and the Woodcutter slipped back out. Sheiji removed his sandals and his turban and sat cross-legged on the bed.
The Woodcutter returned with a large bowl of spicy lamb stew and rice. Sheiji thanked the Woodcutter and asked him to sit. “No, Vua, I dare not,” the Woodcutter replied, eyes wide. But Sheiji insisted and finally, the Woodcutter sat.
“You said I would leave at dusk,” Sheiji began while eating ravenously, “But the gates are closed at dusk. Wouldn’t it be wiser to leave before supper with the peasants? I could get past the guards much more easily.”
“No, Vua, no. I know a secret exit through the city wall. Almost no one knows about it and it is never guarded,” the Woodcutter explained.
Sheiji smiled, “Good, that is better I suppose.” He finished his supper and returned the bowl to the Woodcutter. With one last bow, the Woodcutter exited the room. Sheiji lay down and before he even had a chance to think over the recent events, he was asleep.
Sheiji opened his eyes. He was in a dark room, very empty and quiet. It took him a moment to remember that he was at the Inn of the Axe. He sat up and his stomach rumbled audibly.
There was a soft knock on the panel and the Woodcutter entered with another bowl of lamb stew. He held a torch, which lit the small room nicely. The Woodcutter bowed low before Sheiji and presented the food. Sheiji once again told him to sit while he ate.
“Were will I go next, Woodcutter?” Sheiji asked.
“To the home of one called the Bear, Vua,” Woodcutter replied. “His home is in the village of Kayamatsu. You should easily make it in one night.”
“How will I know his house?” Sheiji questioned.
“Over the window there is the skin of a sun bear,” replied the Woodcutter. “You will speak the code as you did to me.”
Sheiji nodded as he licked his bowl clean. The Woodcutter gave him a small ball of rice and a hunk of cheese, which Sheiji slipped into his pouch for the road.
“If you are ready, Vua, I will take you to the wall,” the Woodcutter offered.
Sheiji slipped on his sandals and wrapped his turban around his head like Fa-Ying had showed him. “I am ready,” he replied resolutely. The Woodcutter moved the panel, darted a quick look to the left and right, and motioned for Sheiji to follow.
The inn was deserted; everyone was either in bed or in the front room drinking until they fell unconscious on the earthen floor. The streets were equally quiet; no one would dare to step out of their houses after dark, for thieves and cutthroats ruled the night. With the exception of a stray dog, a mangy cat and several well-fed rats, they met no one. Even the soldiers, it appeared, feared for their lives at night.
After winding through the dusty streets for some time, they reached the wall. The Woodcutter stopped, lit a torch and began to search among the vines that grew thickly along the rough, stone wall. Sheiji heard him grunt as he pushed back the weeds and jerked open a high window in the wall. Sheiji wondered what such a window could be for. It only served as a means to let enemies into the city, as far as he could see…or fleeing kings out, he thought to himself.
“Many years ago,” the Woodcutter whispered, “the governor of Miyazu caused this escape to be made and hidden in the city wall. He feared for his life because he would not give his daughter in marriage to your grandfather’s youngest brother. He planned to flee should an order for his death be written. It never was, for a more beautiful girl was found and both the governor’s daughter and this window were forgotten.”
“Lucky for us,” Sheiji replied. He placed his foot in the Woodcutter’s cupped hands and the Woodcutter hoisted him to the level of the window. He slithered through the window, which was nearly wide enough for him to sit up in, and turned himself about so that he would land feet first. “Thank you once again, Woodcutter,” he said just before he let go of the still-warm stone and dropped nearly ten feet to the ground below.
Sheiji sat quietly on the ground, catching his breath, which had been pounded out of him by the fall. He looked around to get his bearings. He was on a patch of green turf. Ahead of him was more of the same lush grass in rolling hills and deep valleys. The road rose and fell with the terrain, a gray snake through the green grass.
“Well?” Sheiji stood and shuffled to the road. There were no trees in this part and nothing to shelter him should a late-night wanderer happen along. But it had its high points too; as much as it would not shelter him, it couldn’t shelter thieves and murderers either. But Sheiji didn’t know which he feared more; being killed by thieves or being killed by his brother’s soldiers.
The moon came out and the stars began to dot the indigo sky like one of Sheiji’s royal robes. He could have enjoyed it more though, if he had not been fleeing for his life.