The Gilded Fan (Choc Lit) (9 page)

‘Is everything all right?’ he asked irritably, when she opened the door to his furious knocking.

‘Yes, I’m just practising.’ She swished the blade around in a series of movements which had the sword whining through the air within inches of his nose. He took a step backwards and frowned at her.

‘In here? Are you out of your mind? There’s no room!’

‘Nevertheless, I have to try. How else am I to keep my skills? You did say you weren’t sure you could defend me, so I must be on my guard.’

He opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again with a snap and walked away without a word. Midori frowned after him.

‘I’m very well, thank you for asking,’ she grumbled at his retreating back.

‘Sword practice? Whatever next?’ Nico muttered, although why he felt so aggrieved, he had no idea.

He ought to be pleased she wasn’t completely helpless or defenceless, but the thought of a woman wielding a sword as sharp as that made his insides tighten. What if she hurt herself? Or someone else, like the cabin boy, by mistake?

Admittedly, he’d seen her defending herself the first time they had met and it did look as though she knew what she was doing. Still, it didn’t seem right, and he couldn’t stop the worries from niggling at him.

Damn, but she was magnificent, fighting like a fury, her beautiful hair flying out behind her like rippling silk.
He’d like to spar with her himself, learn a few of her techniques and then show her that not all foreigners were as easily beaten as Barker and his cronies.
But I can’t spend time with her and she’s better off staying in her cabin.

‘A pox on it!’

He had to stop thinking about her at all or he’d never get this ship home safely to Amsterdam. Let her play with her swords, what did he care?

I’m going to stay the hell away from her.

Nico’s resolve not to talk to Midori or even go near her lasted two days, then something occurred which made him forget all about it. On the third day he paused for a moment by the ship’s railing, leaning his elbows on it to gaze out to sea. Some people found the vastness of the ocean intimidating, but to him the endless horizon represented freedom, and he never tired of looking at it. At the moment the surface of the water was fairly calm, the north-easterly breeze blowing in exactly the right direction to take them towards Java. Nico drew in a deep breath of salt-tinged air, then frowned. He could smell smoke.

Bending over the railing, he looked right, then left and noticed puffs of smoke wafting out of two portholes not far below him. It didn’t take him long to realise whose cabin it was.
Midori!

‘What in Hades is she doing playing with fire on a ship?’ he muttered and set off towards the hatch at a run. Had she set her bedclothes on fire?
No, that’s impossible. The candle of her lantern would never last all night.
What then?

He found Jochem sitting cross-legged outside her door, mending a sail while whistling softly. Nico’s sudden arrival had the boy scrambling to his feet, blinking. ‘I-is everything all right, Cap’n?’

‘No, can’t you smell it? Her cabin’s on fire!’ Nico rapped on the door, shouting, ‘Midori? Midori, can you hear me?’ He felt his stomach muscles clench. What if she’d been overcome by the fumes already?
Of all the stupid things …

In the next instant, the door opened, however, and Midori stood there regarding him with slightly raised brows. ‘Of course I can hear you, Captain. I should think most of the ship’s crew could as well. What’s the matter?’

Nico peered into the tiny space behind her and saw smoke curling upwards from a low wooden table. Understanding dawned, but although his anxiety lessened, anger coursed through him instead. ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing? You brought a
hibachi
?’

He stared at the little Japanese brazier, which looked like a boxy table with a square, copper-lined cavity in the middle. He hadn’t thought to check her belongings when they were carried on board, but realised now he should have done.

Midori’s eyes narrowed a fraction, but she stayed calm. ‘My brother and I thought it would be best if I cooked some of my own food. You did say you would have trouble making the ship’s rations last the entire journey, didn’t you?’

Nico scowled at her. ‘Every captain has the same problem. That doesn’t mean I want my passengers cooking for themselves. It’s not safe, you could easily start a fire and the whole ship would go up in flames. The only place where fire is allowed is in the cook room, which has a brick floor.’

‘I assure you I’ll be very careful. Look,’ Midori pointed at the
hibachi
, ‘I use only a few pieces of charcoal each time to grill fish, which Jochem has been kind enough to obtain for me from your cook, or to heat some water for rice or soup.’

‘And if the ship pitches violently, what then? You’ll end up with burning coals all over the floor, which, in case you hadn’t noticed, is made of wood. Or you’ll scald yourself. I’m sorry, but it’s out of the question.’

‘If the waves are high, I won’t cook anything,’ she insisted.

‘I don’t want you cooking at any time!’ Nico felt his jaw tightening as he held on to his temper by a thread.

She squared up to him. ‘This is
my
cabin, paid for with enough silver to make it my business what I do in here—’

‘And this ship is under
my
command,’ Nico interrupted, his voice rising now. He saw Jochem stealthily making his way towards the stairs. ‘Stay!’ Nico barked at the youth. ‘I want you to remove the brazier this instant.’

‘No.’ Midori crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground. ‘I refuse to eat that disgusting mess your cook serves up until I have to.’

Nico was just about to argue back, when he noticed her expression soften. She put out a hand and placed it lightly on his arm, the gesture making an unexpected jolt shoot through his veins. At the same time she looked up at him with those beautiful cat-eyes, so large and luminous in the light reflected from the sea. He felt his antagonism melt away as he drowned in their green depths.

‘Can’t we come to some agreement?’ she asked, her voice low and persuasive. ‘If I swear on my honour never to use the
hibachi
in bad weather, surely you can allow me to keep it? I’m not a fool, Captain. I won’t go risking my own and everyone else’s lives on purpose.’

She held his gaze and although Nico tried to hang on to his anger, somehow he couldn’t. He knew she wasn’t an imbecile. She’d shown herself to have both intelligence and integrity. And from his short acquaintance with the Japanese, he was sure if she swore something on her honour, she would stick to it.

He capitulated. ‘Oh, very well, but if I send word that you’re not to use it, you will obey instantly, understand? The weather can change very quickly.’

She nodded and gave him a beaming smile that had his senses reeling. ‘Agreed.’

‘Good. Well, er … I’ll just … Good.’ He stomped off towards the hatch and up the short flight of stairs, cursing under his breath. ‘I should never have let her on board,’ he muttered, but deep down he knew the cause of his anger wasn’t so much her use of the brazier as the way she fired his blood.

He’d wanted to snatch her up and kiss her senseless.

Midori stared at the
haiku
poem in front of her, then threw down her calligraphy brush in frustration. It didn’t sound right. There was something vital missing, but for the life of her she couldn’t think what it could be.

O distant shoreline

Rocky, unforgiving, hard,

Welcome me back soon

‘Help me, Father,’ she whispered, looking round for guidance. Her father had been a master at poetry, writing an entire collection dedicated to Midori’s mother, and he’d tried to teach his daughter to follow in his footsteps. No inspiration or help from the spirits was forthcoming at the moment, however, so she had to give up in disgust.

There was a knock on the door and she went to open it. ‘Who is it?’ she asked, her thoughts still on poetry.

‘Jochem,’ came the muffled reply and she lifted the heavy bar with a smile.
Someone to talk to at last.

Jochem wasn’t alone, however, and she barely had time to see his frightened eyes before the boy was shoved roughly aside, his head smashing into the nearest wall. Taking the youth’s place in the doorway was Barker, the man she’d fought at Dejima. There was no mistaking the large, porous nose and the leering expression. The welcoming smile died on her lips.

‘So I was right then,’ he murmured. ‘The cap’n’s been keepin’ you all to hisself. That don’t seem fair to me. Share and share alike, is my motto. Least when it comes to whores.’

Midori took a step backwards and glared at him. ‘I’ll have you know I’m a lady. And I don’t belong to the captain; I’m merely a passenger on this ship. Kindly leave my cabin.’

‘A likely story,’ Barker scoffed. ‘And still as hoity-toity, are ye? You’ll soon change your tune.’ He grinned at her and just before he advanced, she noticed most of his teeth were missing. She tried to duck and reached for her swords, but she wasn’t fast enough and he had her pinned to the wall in no time. ‘Now then, let’s start where we left off, eh?’ He imprisoned both her hands with one of his, while his other hand began to grope its way along her body none too gently.

Midori fought back, twisting and turning and trying to kick his private parts, but all to no avail. He may be useless with a sword, but at close quarters he was much stronger than her. She cursed. She had mistakenly thought any attack would come at night, if at all, and had let down her guard. And now she would pay for it. She let out a blood-curdling scream, more furious with herself than afraid. At the last moment, she turned her head to the side to avoid the disgusting mouth which was coming towards hers.

‘Get away from me! I’ll kill you … swine …
bakajaro
 …’

He wasn’t listening and Midori felt the panic build up inside her as the anger subsided and fear took its place. Apart from her short time in prison, she had never felt so vulnerable before. She’d always been able to defend herself, but this man wasn’t giving her a chance. He didn’t fight fair and kept hold of her arms, his big hand a vice around her slim wrists. When she bit his shoulder in a futile attempt to escape his clutches, he threw her down on to the bunk where she landed with a thump. Her knee came up quickly and she managed to hurt him at last, but by now he seemed too far gone to care. It only made him more hell-bent on taking her.

‘Little bitch,’ he muttered, and she had the distinct impression he was enjoying himself.

Midori screamed again, only to have the sound cut off by his calloused and filthy hand covering her mouth. She sank her teeth into it, but so hard was the skin she barely made a dent. ‘Shut up, woman! This won’t take long.’

She felt him fumbling with his breeches, but in the next instant he was lifted off her bodily and flung at the opposite wall. Midori looked up into the furious face of Captain Noordholt, who gave her only a cursory glance before bending down to haul the attacker up by the scruff of his neck. He gave the man a savage shaking as if he were nothing but a sack of grain.

Midori closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing slowly. The thought of Barker’s hands on her made her feel violently sick, but somehow she managed to swallow the bile that rose in her throat.

‘
Godverdamme
!’ In a torrent of words, the captain roared furiously at Barker in Dutch, before seemingly remembering the man was English. As she listened to a further tirade in her mother’s language, Midori reflected that it was perhaps just as well she hadn’t understood the first part, although the general meaning was certainly clear. Her attacker tried to defend himself, and even took a swing at the captain, but was swiftly knocked down again. Evidently, Captain Noordholt knew a thing or two about fighting.

He bellowed something out of the door and several other crew members came running. Barker was carted off and at last blissful silence descended on the cabin.

‘Are you much hurt? Did he …?’ The captain looked at her with stormy blue eyes, the light of battle not yet faded away.

She shook her head. ‘No. No, he didn’t. Thank you, you came just in time.’

‘Thank Jochem, not me. He came to fetch me, despite his wound.’ She looked around, but Jochem was nowhere to be seen. ‘He’s having it seen to,’ Captain Noordholt explained. ‘You’ll be without a servant for a while. He’s got a large bump on his head.’

‘I see. Well, please thank him for me until I see him again.’

The captain glared at her. ‘Why did you let him in?’

‘Because I thought it was only Jochem, of course. Barker made the boy pretend everything was as normal.’

‘You should have checked. Didn’t I tell you to be careful?’

‘I did! How was I supposed to know he wasn’t alone?’ Midori snapped.

The captain clasped his hands behind his back as if trying to restrain himself from further violence. A muscle in his jaw twitched. ‘I told you this would happen. Do you understand now the difficulties I was speaking of? Why I didn’t want you on my ship?’ He was almost shouting again, his eyes shooting sparks at her. Midori felt her own anger rekindle.

‘I assumed you would be able to control your men during the day, at least, and therefore I wasn’t on my guard. I’ll not make the same mistake in future.’

‘See that you don’t. You’ll have to arrange a password with Jochem or something.’ He was silent for a while before adding, ‘Barker will be punished. No one attacks my passengers or harms another crew member aboard my ship. You shall watch. Perhaps it will show you the consequences of your actions.’

‘My actions? I did nothing!’

He ignored her protest. ‘Kindly bar your door again and don’t let anyone else in except me. I will come for you when it’s time.’

The lash whined through the air and descended on Barker’s back for the tenth time. The man screamed, but still the lash continued its onslaught, relentlessly, rhythmically. His body jerked each time it found its target and blood, mingled with perspiration, ran down his naked back into the waistband of his breeches where it soaked the heavy material.

Nico glanced over to where Midori stood, her face an impassive mask. She stared straight at Barker without so much as a shred of pity or disgust and showed none of the expressions of horror mixed with excitement which were usually to be seen on the faces of a crowd watching someone being flogged. Nico was amazed.

The minute he had left her cabin, he’d regretted his hasty words.
A flogging is no place for a woman.
In a rational frame of mind he would never have insisted on her presence, whether she was the cause of it or not. The problem was that he didn’t seem to be able to think rationally where she was concerned and the words had just come tumbling out. The thought of what might have happened to her had horrified him, and he’d taken his anger out on her, even though he knew she wasn’t to blame.

He had expected her to retreat to her cabin, faint or even plead for mercy on Barker’s behalf after only half-a-dozen lashes. When that happened, he would have been prepared to escort her himself and offer her an apology for subjecting her to such a gruesome spectacle. She hadn’t done any of those things. Instead, she remained standing in full view of the rest of the crew, and he could see more than one of them glancing at her in awe and confusion. While some of them flinched in sympathy with their fellow
crewmember
, she didn’t move so much as a muscle.

She looks almost regal.
Nico was pleased to see she had exchanged her usual clothing for a more feminine garment. Although her
kimono
was of plain, dark blue silk, with no adornment other than a clan motif and a matching
obi
, nevertheless the material shimmered in the sunlight, indicating its fine quality.
Besides, it’s not what she wears, but her bearing which makes her stand out.
No doubt she would have looked the same in homespun wool.