The Scarlet Kimono (Choc Lit) (30 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Taro stopped in the middle of the forest and dismounted.

‘Look for signs that anyone else had passed this spot recently,’ he ordered his men. They fanned out around him, studying the ground.

‘Over here, Kumashiro-
sama
,’ someone called out eventually and they set off once again in what Taro hoped would be the right direction. It was a slow process to try and track the abductors, despite the fact that they seemed to have been careless, and he had been searching for hours. Several times they’d lost the trail and had to turn back, but somehow they had managed to find the right track once more and keep going.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and tried not to think of what might have happened to Hannah. A woman alone at the mercy of
ninja
or
ronin
. He’d never been this scared for someone else before. In the short time they had spent together, Hannah had somehow become supremely important to him. He finally had to admit to himself he no longer wanted her to leave. Not ever. He couldn’t imagine life without her.

He must find her.

They stopped again to search for clues – broken branches, hoof marks or horse droppings. Taro caught the sound of thundering hooves in the distance. Shortly afterwards Kenji
burst through the trees behind them and rode up to his master, panting and heaving, his face suffused with colour.

‘My lord,’ he wheezed, ‘they’re heading for the mountains.’ Kenji gasped for breath and held up a hand as if he had more to say. Taro contained his impatience and didn’t growl at the man that he hadn’t told him anything he didn’t already know. They had been going in the direction of the mountains for the last hour or so.

‘The old man came,’ Kenji continued at last.

‘Yanagihara-
san
?’ Taro cursed silently. Of course he should have thought to ask the old seer if he’d had any visions, but in his hurry to leave it had never occurred to him.

Kenji nodded. ‘Said … look for pine tree on the crest of a hill with large bird on top … ravine nearby. Keep heading north.’

It still wasn’t very much, but it was better than nothing. Taro clapped the man on the back. ‘Thank you, you’ve done well. You may return when you have rested.’ He turned back to the others. ‘Let’s go.’ They set off once more.

Hannah didn’t know if she had fainted from fright or if it just felt as if she fell though the air for an eternity. In either case she came to earth quite literally with a bump.

Her body bounced on a protrusion of some sort, hurting her shoulder and her already bruised ankle. Whatever it was felt springy and she was catapulted into a bush, ending up on her back among the tangle of branches. The bush cushioned her landing a little, but the air was still knocked out of her lungs. Hannah was on the verge of panicking before she managed to draw a shallow breath at last.

‘Ouch, ouch, ouch!’

She tried to move, but it was some time before she was able to shuffle into a sitting position. Looking around, she realised she was on a ledge halfway down the ravine. It was impossible to judge how far from the top it was, but when she peered over the edge it was only to ascertain that the bottom was a very long way below her.

‘Oh, dear Lord. I know I asked you to save me, but I didn’t mean in this way. Please, help me out of this somehow.’

Hannah’s hands were still bound behind her back and her first priority was to get rid of the ropes. There were some sharp stones on the ledge, so Hannah began to saw her bonds against the best of them. It was a long and tiresome task. Several times she could have wept with frustration, but her hard work finally paid off and she felt the bindings give way. She rubbed her wrists, trying to massage the blood back into its normal channels and hissed in deep breaths when her fingers stung painfully.

‘Scum! Did they have to tie it quite that tight?’ she muttered, gritting her teeth.

After resting for a moment, she set about trying to find a way to climb back to the top of the ravine. There were plenty of bushes growing out of crevices and several other footholds nearby. As she began her ascent, however, Hannah soon came to the conclusion that unfortunately the bushes had very shallow roots and most of them weren’t able to bear her weight. She tried her best nonetheless, but when her fourth attempt ended with another spectacular fall onto her back, and she narrowly missed certain death by clinging on to the larger bush on the ledge, she had to admit defeat. It was impossible.

While she had been working so hard, first to remove the ties and then to attempt the climb to the top, Hannah hadn’t felt the cold. As soon as she sat still for any length of time though, it became apparent that nightclothes weren’t nearly enough to keep a person warm on a cold autumn day. She hadn’t noticed while they were riding, as her captor had held onto her and thereby shared some of his body heat. Now she was alone, it was a different matter.

There had been frost on the ground that morning and the air was still exceedingly fresh. Hannah was forced to stand up and try to keep moving her body, blowing on her hands and stamping her feet. She didn’t know how long she would be able to keep it up for, nor how strong the ledge was. She could only hope it wouldn’t give way and that someone would come to her rescue, slim though her chances may be.

‘Oh, Taro,’ she whispered into the wind, ‘where are you?’ But she knew that he had planned to go hawking that morning. It would be evening at the earliest before he even found out that she was missing. ‘Dear God,’ she prayed once more, ‘please, please help me …’

‘Look, my lord. Two horses stopped here for some time.’ One of the men pointed to the ground and Taro dismounted to look for himself. He nodded. A nearby branch showed signs of having been used to tether the animals and the earth was trampled.

‘It would seem so. All right, men, spread out to search this area. There might be some more clues hereabouts.’

They had been heading north for hours and as yet there hadn’t been any signs of large birds perched on pine trees. There were plenty of trees, but none stood out in any way. Taro ran a hand over his brow, closing his eyes for a moment. He didn’t want to give up, but he was beginning to think the search was hopeless. Hannah could be anywhere in this wilderness.

They were more than halfway through the afternoon and soon the light would start to fade. Even if Hannah was out here somewhere, he had no chance of finding her in the darkness. By morning the trail would probably be cold, as would she. Too cold. He wanted to shout with frustration, but instead he set off through the forest, scowling heavily, but determined to keep searching for as long as he possibly could.

‘There has to be some way,’ he muttered. ‘There must.’

The forest closed in on him and he could hear the rest of his men moving about nearby. Branches crunched underfoot and the scuffling sound of feet stirred up leaves. He tried to head north, although it was difficult to get one’s bearings inside the dense foliage. Soon he slowed down to peer at the ground and study the trees all around searching for signs. As he passed a dead bush, the sharp branches caught him unawares and made a scratch on his right cheek. He swore and put his hand up to protect himself from further damage, then stopped as something caught his eye. On one of the other branches something coppery glinted in the late afternoon light and Taro reached out a hand to pull it off. A strand of Hannah’s hair.

‘To me!’ He bellowed for his men, who came crashing through the undergrowth, ready to defend him against attack. They stopped short and blinked in surprise when he held up his hand with what looked like nothing at all between his forefinger and his thumb.

There were murmurings of ‘
Nan desu ka?
What?’, but Taro cut them short.

‘Look, I have found some of Lady Hannah’s hair. See?’

They stepped closer and nodded as they caught sight of the distinctive colour. ‘
Ah, soh.
’

‘She must have been here, so search this area thoroughly. Don’t leave a single stone unturned and keep an eye out for more of these. It’s very likely she would have caught her hair on a branch again.’

‘
Hai, Kumashiro-sama.
’ They bowed to acknowledge his orders.

The search continued and Taro moved forward with the others, but veering slightly to the right. He kept his eyes open, walking slowly so as not to miss anything. Without warning, one foot suddenly encountered nothing but thin air and he bit back a curse as he managed to throw himself backwards, away from the edge. As he looked up and out across a valley he saw the top of the next hill.

There was a pine tree with large bird on top of it.

‘
HANNAH
!’

He shouted out her name at the top of his voice and heard it echo around the mountainsides. Despite the sign described by Yanagihara, he didn’t have much hope left of finding her alive. In despair, he clutched at a tussock of grass, yanking it out by the roots. If this was the way she had come, he was too late.

Hannah opened her eyes reluctantly and blinked, trying to clear her vision. Her exhausted body had finally given up. Since she didn’t have any strength left to move, slowly she had accepted defeat and slumped into a sitting position. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep now and she wished this was all over with. It was obvious God considered she had sinned too much and he was punishing her accordingly. It was no more than she deserved, she fully accepted that. She closed her eyes once more.

Something disturbed her and she frowned in annoyance. Couldn’t she even be left to die in peace? With an effort, she squinted up at the heavens and thought she heard her name. Was this how it should be? Did Saint Peter call out your name before you were judged? She couldn’t remember.

‘Hello!’ she shouted. ‘Is-is anyone th-there?’

The words echoed all around her and it took a moment for her to realise that when they came back she heard something else as well. Someone really was calling her.

She struggled to her feet and yelled, ‘HELLO!’ once more, then waited for a reply.

‘Hannah-
chan
! Are you all right? Are you hurt? Where are you?’ The voice that came back was achingly familiar and Hannah felt tears of joy spill down her cheeks. It wasn’t Saint Peter, thank goodness, and she wasn’t dead yet.

‘
Taro
,’ she called back. ‘I’m d-down here, on a-a ledge. I’m not s-sure how far. I’m n-not hurt, not m-much anyway.’ Hannah’s teeth were chattering so much she had trouble forming the words. ‘I’m j-just so c-c-cold.’

‘Wait there. I will fetch a rope.’

Hannah almost laughed at this silly command. What else could she do after all but wait? Her heart thumped wildly and she suddenly found the energy to jump up and down again, trying to warm up her freezing body.

‘Hold on Hannah, I’m coming down.’

‘B-be careful!’

A small avalanche of stones and soil clattered past and Hannah ducked and waited. She heard the sounds of Taro’s progress, but didn’t dare look up in case he dislodged any more debris. After what felt like ages, she heard a thud as his feet touched the ground next to her. She turned and stumbled into his arms at last, drawing a sigh of relief. He held her so tightly she thought he would break her ribs.

‘Whoa there, I-I’m feeling a b-bit fragile,’ she chided, but she was grinning from ear to ear.

‘You’re shaking, you must be frozen. Someone fetch some blankets,’ he bellowed up at his retainers.

‘Let’s get you up,’ he said to Hannah. ‘I’m going to tie a rope around your waist, then I want you to put your arms around my neck and hold on. Can you do that?’

‘Yes.’

Taro had a rope for safety as well and after shouting further instructions to his men, they began the slow ascent. Hannah marvelled at his strength as he propelled the two of them upwards while bracing his feet against the side of the ravine. Even with his men pulling from the top, it must have been hard work. Eventually, they reached the top and collapsed to sit on the ground for a moment.

‘Th-thank you,’ Hannah whispered.

Taro only nodded, but the look he gave her told her how relieved he was to have found her. Soon afterwards, he picked her up and carried her towards the horses. She was wrapped up in the spare blankets they had brought and hoisted to sit in front of Taro, and it was a far cry from the nightmare ride of the previous night. She leaned back with a sigh of contentment and his strong arms wrapped around her protectively.