The Samurai by Barry Sadler

Author:Barry Sadler [Sadler, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

It was nearly half an hour before Muramasa returned, bearing a grisly package of two human heads. He held them by the hair with one hand and Well Drinker clean and shining in the other.

"I brought these back so you would not fear that they had escaped to spread the word of our presence."

It was then he noticed the dead maid, in the bushes off to the side of the road where Casca had dragged her with the other corpses. He planned to move them to where they'd be out of sight and smell for a time.

Casca pointed to Yoshiko in response to Muramasa's unasked question. Grunting, Muramasa nodded his head in approval. "It is well. She will trouble us no further. If the goke'nin of Taira are looking for a young woman with two males and one female companion, it will be that much better for us."

Bowing his head respectfully to Yoshiko, he acknowledged the courage of her act and the difficulty in performing it. She had gained much respect in his eyes. She was what a woman should be. She was samurai. The best of her kind.

He helped Casca drag the bodies farther into the woods and cover them with stones and rubble. It would not be long before someone discovered them, but by then they would be far away. Time was what they needed most, perhaps this would buy them a little more.

Yoshiko joined them as the last of the stones were piled over the dead. She joined Muramasa in saying prayers for the spirits, asking their forgiveness for taking them from this life in order to appease their spirits. It was always wise to do this when time permitted. In violent times such as these, this was done very seldom.

They encountered no more difficulties. Eventually they had to leave the mountain trails and take the more traveled roads leading to Bitchu where they would find, they hoped, the aid that Yoshiko had spoken of.

The temptation to stay at an inn for wayfarers was great but had to be avoided. Instead, they slept under the stars, thankful that the rains had not come.

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.