Climbing the Dragon Gate by India Millar

Author:India Millar [Millar, India]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Empress Publishing

Chapter

Twenty-One

Can you hear the wind?

While ever we are apart,

It will call your name

Gen was obviously sincere. He sounded lucid, yet I could not believe his ridiculous plans. I spoke gently for fear of arousing his madness.

“I see. But I still don’t understand how you think I can help you. I am not part of your movement. I don’t hate the emperor like you do, and unlike you, I do not believe that time can be turned back.”

“You can come with me.”

His words were so unexpected that I gasped. “Come with you? Why would I do that?”

“Because you loved me once.”

I tried to school my expression but felt a flush rising in my cheeks and cursed my inability to control it.

“You did, didn’t you? I know we argued and did not part on the best of terms, but you always remembered me. I know that. Tell me, do you still have my book of haiku, Mi?”

I was saddened. Although I remembered that we had spoken of the book when Gen regained consciousness, he clearly did not. It was in my furoshiki. I had intended to give it back to Gen, but somehow it had slipped my mind. Now, I delved into the silk square with nerveless fingers and grabbed the book, thrusting it toward him as though it were burning my hand.

“Of course. It does not belong to me. I always intended to give it back to you, but this is my first opportunity. Please, take it.”

Gen shook his head and placed his hand over mine, wrapping my fingers around the smooth leather of the book’s binding.

“It is yours, Mi. A soldier has no place in his life for poetry, no matter how beautiful. Anyway, I would like you to keep it. Tell me, have you often read the haiku we used to read together?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “They are very beautiful.”

“They are the soul of Japan. They represent everything I am fighting for.”

His words were almost poetic themselves. I dared not look at him but took my hand away from his clenched fingers and pushed the book toward him.

“It is yours, Gen. It was never mine. Please take it. It may remind you of home on your long journey.”

“Come with me, Mi.” He spoke so softly that I would not have heard the words if he had not been close to me. “What is there left in Edo for you? You are a woman alone. And since when has a woman without a man mattered in Japan? Some things may have changed recently, but that has not. A woman without a husband and a family is less than nothing. Oh, I know you are a skilled healer, which must give you great satisfaction, but you are exactly the same as me. We have both put our past behind us. My mother died some years ago. I have no other close family. My friends are those of my comrades who survived. I have no one in my life who really matters to me—except you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.