Ryuzen woke up before the rooster's crow this morning and it still dark outside. The winter cold gave him a chill as he moved to rise from sleeping and could feel the cold air hit his bare feet. As soon as he sat up, he placed his hand on his face to wipe away the sleepiness he was still feeling. Then his hand felt the scar left by chubby bandit on his face, though completely healed and yet he still thinks of that time even though 14 months has passed since the incident and how much everything has changed in just three short years from the time of his parent's death. His black hair is long combed to very straight and neat down to his shoulders he has made a long ponytail and places his black hachimaki (cotton headband) around his head. Now thirteen years old and he has finally hit his growth spurt now and Ryuzen has grown five inches in a over year now and is five feet six inches tall and is still growing. Small whiskers are starting to grow on his well-defined chin now. Though cold, and the nights were growing longer Ryuzen still would get up before the rooster's crow to meditate and practice his breathing and calm his mind before beginning his duties and chores for the day. Finally, after getting dressed and ready, he then reaches for Kurokane (Black Iron) his katana and Kageboshi (Shadow Monk) short sword both scabbards covered in black lacquer and gold layered hilt and handle. Jinsai bought them at a great expense and cost but presented it to his newly adopted son for saving his estate from the bandits and executing justice upon them. He had engraved on the katana, "Father's sacrifice and son's resolve" Jinsai stated it was to embody the sacrifice he made for his new son and the resolve his son showed in wanting to become a samurai.
Ryuzen slid his bedroom door open and walked silently as possible in the house so not to wake everyone still sleeping and made his way outside. He made his way to the small training area and stood in the middle of the training ring. Then after standing still and places his hands behind his back, he closes his eyes and begins slow deep breathing from his diaphragm he pictures in his mind's eye of letting go of the fear of death and performing his duty no matter the cost. He continues to meditate and breath slowly for what seems like only a minute has passed and then he hears the rooster's crow and apparently an hour actually had passed by. He then opens his eyes satisfied with finishing his meditation. Then he pulls out his katana and begins to practice precise strikes, footing, and movements and picturing an opponent in his mind. Although he is very young still and not yet considered a man, yet he has grown in skill and maturity very fast since the time he started living on Jinsai estate. He strikes have become more precise and less awkward and very quickly has worked up a good sweat and the sun has now fully risen into the sky and Ryuzen stops and finishes his practice and sheathes his katana. He makes way back to the mansion and joins Jinsai in the dining area for breakfast. Jinsai raises his head and bids his son good morning and continues to eat and Ryuzen has food brought before him by one of the servants and begins to eat also.
Jinsai then tells his son after they finish eating, he has an important job for him today. "I wish for you to join the patrol around our land and area to look for anything suspicious or signs of enemy samurai or bandit activity. We must remain ever vigilant for any threats and stop them before they become a major problem. You will work with two others and even though you are my son you will listen to these experienced men and learn from them." "Yes, father I will obey" "Good when you are ready join them at the stables to begin the patrol" "We will rotate the patrols, and you will be expected to ride at least three times during the week" Ryuzen bowed his head in acknowledgement and rose to his feet and went and outside to join his father's men for the patrol.
Ryuzen made his way to the stables and sees the two soldiers on their horses mounted and waiting for their young lord. Ryuzen bids them both good mornings, The lead scout in his mid-thirties and chubby smiling face with balding head of black hair named Tada calls Ryuzen forward to the horse he is mounted on "My lord it is good to see you. I am glad to see you join us on the patrol today. We will ride south toward the border with Suruga province and then turn around and ride back to the estate. You will ride in the middle between myself and Hidenaga" Ryuzen nodded in understanding and mounted his horse and looked at Hidenaga who was much younger than Tada at the young age of nineteen with baby face and young features and full head of hair parted in the middle and Hidenaga bowed his head out respect to his young lord. Both men had spears and katanas with them and Ryuzen felt confident these scouts knew what they were doing.
Tada rides out of the first followed by Ryuzen and bringing up the rear is Hidenaga. They ride at a steady pace but not too fast that they would not tire the horses too quickly. After a while Jinsai estate and his surrounding fields and after twenty minutes of riding Tada signal the other two slow the pace of the horse to a much slower movement that they are now moving slowly with the horses. Ryuzen observed Tada is scanning the landscape looking for any out of place on the landscape. Tada has lived here his entire life and knew everything within 25 miles of Jinsai estate from the placement of the rocks to the trails into the mountains etc. Finally, another 10 minutes had passed, and Tada stops his horse and Ryuzen and Hidenaga also stop and both look at Tada curiously as to what he is looking at but neither say anything so not to alert anyone nearby of their presence. The road they were on was mountainous and forested on both sides of the road and they were about to turn on a bend in a corner into the road and Tada noticed on the road before the bend a torn piece of cloth from what looked like a silk red kimono and an arrow into the ground. Cautiously Tada dismounts his horse and moves cautiously toward what he sees. He gestures Hidenaga to look behind them and guard their backs to makes sure they are not taken by surprise from behind. He motions Ryuzen to follow him after he hitches the horse on a nearby tree. As they get near the bend toward the arrow and piece of cloth they hear commotion in the distance. farther down the road. Both of them crouch and move past the piece of clothing and arrow and peer around the bend. What they see almost completely shocks them.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
They see two bandits on the ground both dead and bleeding out and standing over them is a young girl of maybe age fourteen or fifteen holding small, short sword covered in blood. Even more shocking is the girl's appearance is unusual as she has blond hair and blue eyes with a beautiful face with no blemishes, and she was wearing torn red silk kimono. Besides the trio there is also a blonde-haired blue eyed older man in his late thirties with a blonde beard with an arrow in his collar bone laying on the ground still breathing but passed out. They have cart with different chests inside the cart, and it is obvious the bandits were trying to rob them and Tada and Ryuzen assume they are Portuguese merchants. Ryuzen is intrigued by them and orders Tada to approach the girl cautiously and let her know they are no threat. Tada stands up and walks out around the bend and lays his spear to the ground and raises his hands and tells her he means no harm. Surprisingly the young girl speaks Japanese and tells him to move slowly toward her. As he gets close enough within arm's length he says he is not alone and has his young lord with him and another scout who are patrolling this area. Tada smiles at her and she lowers the short sword and falls down to her knees and starts to cry. Ryuzen comes out of hiding followed closely by Hidenaga with the horses. Tada pulls a blanket from his horse wraps the young girl to preserve her dignity and picks her up onto his horse. Tada then with Hidenaga pick up and put the man into the horse cart with the chests and Hidenaga jumps in the driver's seat and moves the cart around the bend and stops where their horses were previously hitched and went back around the bend to help Ryuzen and Tada move the bandits' bodies into the forest out of sight of the road. Tada tells Ryuzen we should turn around and get back to the estate to get their new guests help. Ryuzen agreed and told Tada ride back with the girl quickly to inform Jinsai of what had happened and to bring more men to help escort the cart back to their estate. Tada bowed and quickly left with the girl. Ryuzen stated to Hidenaga "Get back into the cart and start moving toward the estate, I will bring up the rear with your horse and make sure we are not being followed" "Yes, my lord although I would suggest you tie the harness of my horse to the cart so it will follow and keep your hands free to move" "Good suggestion" Ryuzen did as Hidenaga said. They began the slow ride back to Jinsai estate.
It was almost mid-day when Tada arrived and Jinsai was out in the courtyard meditating when he heard the rider riding hard fast toward his mansion. Jinsai ran toward the house and to his surprise he sees Tada with a foreign girl wrapped in a blanket. Tada sees Jinsai, "My lord we found them on the southern road going to Suruga province and they appear to have been ambushed by bandits. Your son requests additional riders to help escort another foreigner with a merchant's cart" Immediately Jinsai called two additional soldiers to ride down the southern road to meet his son. Tada took the young girl to the servant's quarters to be attended by the female servants and immediately departed on another horse to help meet Ryuzen on the road.
As Ryuzen and Hidenaga were slowly moving back to the estate, Ryuzen is getting an uneasy feeling, and his experience has taught him to listen to his instincts and looks back and sees birds in the distance flying out of the trees and clouds of the dust rising in the air. Ryuzen does not believe it is coincidence that they are moving in the direction of his little escort and fast. Ryuzen realized they were still at least another hour cart journey away from the estate. Ryuzen instructed Hidenaga to move the cart faster. Ahead of them they could see two riders approaching from the direction of Jinsai estate and Ryuzen assumed they were his father's men. Luckily, they were closer than the group riding behind them and joined Ryuzen behind the cart and both were armed with spears. As they just joined the other group moving behind them Ryuzen could finally see who they were and to his surprise they were not bandits but samurai and it was a group of five riders. As they got closer Ryuzen could see based on their clan symbols from the flags behind their backs that they were from the Imagawa clan. Tada also arrived and now they were four riders against five. The Imagawa saw the increasing numbers of opposing riders and decided to turn back south back to Imagawa lands in Suruga province. Ryuzen now knew this was definitely strange as Imagawa would not travel so deep into Takeda lands unless it was because of these foreigners. Even though technically the Takeda and Imagawa were allies by marriage yet they are still rivals and with the Imagawa being defeated by the Oda clan at the battle of Okehazama and they had lost a lot of power and prestige with the death of their leader Yoshimoto Imagawa, but they were still a dangerous clan. The rest of the trip back to the estate was uneventful and Ryuzen had so many questions left unanswered but with the young girl resting and the man passed out from his wounds he would not get the answers he was seeking tonight.
Finally back home Jinsai breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his son back home. Ryuzen conveyed the events after Tada left with the girl what happened and just like Ryuzen he was very confused as to why the Imagawa were riding so deep into their territory after these foreigners. Jinsai decided to go to the stables and look at these chests the merchants were carrying. He had his men open the chest in front of him and they broke the lock and the answer finally reveals why they were chasing them. It was chest full of matchlock rifles. One dozen rifles in this one chest alone and all new and very rare in Japan and Jinsai realized this would put his clan at risk with what they possessed and swore his men to secrecy and set a guard around the cart. For now, questions would have to wait until the foreigners woke up from there rest and most likely not until the morning. Inside the mansion in his room with Ryuzen he told his son he did well getting the cart and the occupants back here but told him of the contents of the chest and to be prepared that some hard days may be ahead. Ryuzen nodded and bid his father goodnight and went to his room to rest. For tomorrow will be an interesting day with these surprise guests.
