Black Arrow Lord Ch 05

***The last chapter to the strange little tale. Check the tabs again, just sayin'. 0_o

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When they left the inn, the wind had turned into a vengeful banshee, moaning and shrieking, driving what fell from the sky hard enough to sting any exposed skin and obscuring everything that was more than perhaps a dozen feet away. The pair rode off together through the howling maelstrom, their heads hung as low as that of their horses, though Matsu could see that Valdemar looked up now and then to get and keep his bearings.

"I cannot see a thing in this," Matsu almost screamed to Valdemar to make herself understood. She saw a shadow that she thought she recognized and pointed, "See there? Let us stand by that building for a moment. I need to catch my breath."

He slowed his horse when plainly the mare wanted to go faster -- for once, and he took hold of the bridle of Matsu's horse with a calm hand to help her along and keep her a little close.

"Do not try to go there. Only hold on to your saddle. My mare knows the way, as do I," he roared in the wind, "Close your eyes down. We'll be there in a few moments!"

It felt like an hour, but it was only minutes before he stopped his horse and opened the door to the stable. Only his horse knew where she was and moved to enter thankfully. Matsu's horse balked, though she gave in to Valdemar's constant pulling and the steady sound of his voice.

When they were inside, Matsu dismounted and went to pull the door shut, a little surprised that she could already see the flare of his match to light the lantern hanging there.

The latch of the door gave her a bit of trouble because her hands were already well frostbitten. She struggled with it before she won the short battle at last and the wild weather was banished from the cold stable. When she turned back, she found Valdemar already tying her mount up and she strode over to help get her saddle off.

They said little, Matsu trying to come to grips with the residual cold that she felt and struggling to work with her wooden-feeling hands. Valdemar came to help her in a few moments.

"See to your fine horse," she tried to smile to him as she shivered, "the one with the best nose to guide her home in that mess. I think that she must be part hound."

"My saddle is off," he said, "We only need to get yours off and then I have blankets for them both."

She looked over; a little amazed to see that it was as he'd said. "How in, ... how did you do that so quickly?"

He smiled a little grimly as he tossed her a thick horseblanket, "I come from a land where the winters are often like this. I have learned to keep moving when I feel like only standing to shiver. Most of all, I know that on such a night, to lose your way and above all to stop for longer than a few moments can only have one ending."

As they stood between the animals, pulling the blankets onto them in order to smooth them out, Matsu looked over at the snow that she saw in his long hair. It didn't seem to bother him if he even noticed it at all -- likewise the cold's effect on him appeared as much the same to her ... just something barely noticed.

Whereas she was beginning to lose the battle to her shivers. They were out of the wind and snow, but ...

She remembered that he'd been speaking. "What ending?"

He stepped over and pulled his gloves off, placing them under his arm to hold them while he took her cold hands in his warmer ones and rubbed them very gently. Matsu looked down to stare for a moment before she looked up into his face.

"You will never reach where you try to go to," he said quietly. "If you stop for longer than a moment, you will never go on because it feels less severe to stand. You may not believe me, but the worst thing that you can do is to seek a sheltered spot unless you are within sight of where you wish to be, and if you are that close already, why stop at all?

If you seek a spot out of the wind that is really not shelter like this, the your next thought is that you want to only sit for a moment to rest."

He nodded once, "We have legends of evil female spirits who come to travelers then, sometimes changing themselves to resemble loved ones or beautiful maidens -- who appear to want the travelers, of course."

"Is this true?" Matsu asked, "Are these spirits all females?"

Valdemar kept rubbing her hands, bringing them up to his face so that he could blow on them a little before he went back to rubbing. The cold of the night and the wind tended to bring out his sailor's vocabulary, but he managed to bite it back after the first thought.

"Fuck no, that is only the legend, and most travelers who would be out on a night like this are men anyway, so the usual two-sided stupidity of men comes into play if they are thick or just don't know better, I suppose.

There are no spirits, Matsu-san, but the results are the same. The traveler sits and rests and never gets up again. I think that the death might not be too bad, once the agony of one's fingers and toes stops because they have frozen solid."

He blew onto her hands again before he looked into her eyes, "Matsu-san, the next time that I tell you something, please try to have a little faith in me. These are your lands, but they are on the same world as mine, and the same things happen here as they do there. I think that here, this does not happen as often, that is all.

I see you as a lovely woman under your armor and there can be no doubt that you are a proud and accomplished warrior as well, but I have been to more places in the world than you have. I am not a wizard or much of a wise man, but if I am certain enough about the weather to remark on it to you, then you ought to believe me at least a little -- at least enough to think to bring something for your hands on a night like this on the chance that I am right.

For everything else, I am like a child who must be led, not understanding what is meant behind the words that are spoken, but for something like this ... "

They stood looking at each other there in the flickering light of the lantern for a moment. Valdemar slowly let go of Matsu's hands as the moment lingered and at about the time when he was about to lead her to the door, she raised her arms to place them around his neck and she kissed him for a long moment.

Valdemar was a little slow to recover after Matsu drew back, but he surprised her when he thanked her.

"My kiss was that good to you?" she asked and then she smiled in pleasant surprise when he nodded, "I'd ask you for another, but it would only prolong the delay where we must think of the solution to the next problem."

Matsu kept her arms on his shoulders, "Then whatever the problem is, please hold me so that we may stand together as we delay and consider it."

Valdemar was no idiot, so he agreed.

The delay came anyway, since by their unspoken agreement, more kisses were obviously needed regardless.

"What is the next problem then, if you can even remember that there was one?" she smiled many minutes later, "I have almost forgotten most of my troubles."

He looked a little perplexed, "I have only my bed, and I am at least a little certain that when we enter, we will find the others in it -- unless they are far more respectful than wise on a night like this."

She chuckled a little, "That is not a problem, Valdemar-san. I brought my bedroll when I came. I left it inside, since there was no one here when I arrived and I saw no purpose in leaving it on my horse while the skies threatened to cause a wild Gaijin lord to be correct.

I did heed what you said. I just didn't think to take my gauntlets, since they are not warm to wear. I heard it before I even saw you today, and later when you said it to me as we rode, I only said little because I felt foolish then over not bringing gloves. Many people, the older ones anyway, could see that something was coming, and many others had heard by word of mouth of the kuroi yajirushi hanshu's prediction of foul weather."

She smiled, "You are becoming known for your wisdom as well as your prowess at other things. I heard it from the children that I saw as I rode up to the edge of the village. Even they had heard of it and when I asked, they were not shy at all to say that they'd heard of it from their parents -- whom you have likely never even seen. They said that it came from the large Gaijin.

This is a small place, Valdemar-san, and the doings of the Black Arrow lord fly on wings of their own."

She kissed him again and laughed a little, "Why, I have even heard it said -- not to me directly of course -- that there is a thought that the commander of the northern garrison has designs on the heart of the mighty Gaijin lord."

As she watched his eyes open wider at that, Matsu nodded with a clear little laugh, "Oh yes! It is so. I heard it and even I had to wonder over it, since until now, our dealings with each other have only produced angry feelings and hard words.

I see no problem here at all. To go anywhere else now would be beyond stupid -- even for one with too much pride such as me. Since you seem to be able to almost laugh at this storm, then I want to be where you are tonight.

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When they opened the door to the house and stepped into the dim light inside, they felt the heat of the fire immediately and Valdemar looked from it to the pile of sawn logs which was placed not too far from it, ready to be used.

Matsu looked elsewhere and she tugged at Valdemar's sleeve, pointing toward the bed.

Aiki lay in Kōichi's arms under the blankets as they both slept.

Valdemar took his cloak off and held out his hand for hers to hang them up. She handed it to him and then he astounded her as she pulled the long spines from her hair and it spilled down over her shoulders to hang far down her back - and that was over her armor.

Matsu didn't appear to notice the way that Valdemar's jaw seemed to hang a little unhinged, amazed as he was at the sheer volume of her lovely mane.

Instead, she immediately began to unroll her blankets, seeing the pile of others which had been brought from somewhere, she guessed. In moments, there was another place for them to sleep.

With their boots off, Matsu looked in her pack and came back with a few half-broken rice cakes. Valdemar stepped over and whispered to her, "You have gotten a chill tonight. I can see it in you from across the room. Sit here and pull the blankets over you as much as you can.

I will make some oatmeal. I even have some dried meat strips to add to it. Trust me this time, Matsu, and I will give you something that warms you from the inside."

She nodded with a smile, though she wasn't very hungry to eat then. But she did want him to see that she could listen to him and not always argue over everything.

Though she did manage a little grin as she sat trying to be rid of the last of her shivers, "I have a hope of something such as that, though I was not thinking of eating."

He caught her inference and smiled with a nod, "I think that I can see that as well. But without a hot bath to warm your bones, there is only me, isn't there?

I seek to give us the best chance."

They were a little frozen in time as they looked at each other then. Matsu ended the moment with her smiling nod, "Then do as you must, Valdemar-san."

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As he knelt stirring the pot as the oatmeal cooked, Aiki awoke and she lay on the bed smiling at them for a while. "You should let him warm you in another way," she whispered in Japanese.

Matsu nodded, "Why do you think that I am here, Aiki-san? But as in all things I must guess, our Gaijin seems to have strange rituals which must be performed beforehand, I think. It does smell good, though."

Valdemar looked around, "There is only one bowl."

Aiki nodded carefully, not wanting to wake Kōichi, "We shared a little rice after you left. I will get up and wash the bowl for you."

But he held up his hand and whispered to her, "No. That would be wrong to my mind, Aiki-san. Stay where you are, please. I will give this to M -- "

"THAT would be wrong, Valdemar-san," Matsu smiled, "Unless you have some reason, I would be happy to share out of one bowl with you."

They sat together as close as possible while they ate and Matsu looked over, her face showing her surprise, "What is this? You were right about how it seems to warm me."

"Oats," Valdemar smiled, "Milled oats, cooked in boiling water and I added a little milk afterwards. The pieces in it are dried bacon which the cooking softened and I poured molasses over the top to sweeten it a little. I think that it goes well with the rice cakes that you brought."

"I think that you are a walking and never-ending surprise to me," she grinned, "I can say that I can never guess what you might say or do next, but I am coming to really enjoy it. So I sit here eating horse food and I am pleased.

She leaned against him a little with a soft smile as she looked up, "This here," she said very quietly, "this to me, Valdemar-san, is not anything to do with who we are, you and I.

Tonight -- and I find that I wish to say 'at last', my large friend, it has everything to do with what we are, and that is only a woman who now has a want to be against a man she has come to admire and care for. I care nothing that I am Japanese and you are Danish, and I can now tell you that I care even less about the other things which are different between us, since I have come to like them very much.

You understand this, yes?"

Valdemar nodded, as he put his arm around Matsu, careful to avoid tugging at her hair with the weight of his arm, "I feel the same, though I might say that I always have, ... well, whenever the differences were not being thrown in my face by anyone. Thank you, Matsu-san."

"May I ask you something which has bothered me for a time?" she asked, "It changes nothing to me, but I am always a little confused when you tell me that you were a poor and illegitimate son, and with the next breath, I hear you tell me that I might consider you a lord with no lands and no people.

I truly do not care anymore, but if I might hear of what actually is, then I could tell my curiosity to be still and to leave my thoughts alone."

Valdemar smiled a little, wishing now that he'd never been asked by anyone here to explain himself from the first meeting with lord Maeda.

"Alright, Matsu-san," he nodded, "First allow me to complete your confusion by telling you that all of what I said is true, every word.

My name is an almost royal one where I come from, though few have even heard of it anymore. In Europe these days, it can be a little hard to maintain one's nobility without the application of a lot of money -- which my family's house has none of anymore anyway.

The title and the name came down to my uncle -- whom I had never met. From what I learned, he was a drunkard and guzzled the last of the family's fortunes away before he drank himself to death. At some point, he threw his young sister out into the world where she had no idea how to live with little more than the dress that she wore.

She kept at least her name and did her best. Sometimes, the best that she could do was to sell her body. "

He looked down then, wondering how Matsu might take the next part and if nothing else, he guessed that to hear it might test the words that she'd spoken to him a few minutes before, so ..

"I never knew my father, who I must suppose was only a man and who only used my mother -- for that was the sister of the last of the lords of my family -- for his pleasure. I do not know if there was a relationship there at all, or if my being conceived came about from only one evening.

I never knew for certain what I was until the day that my mother was murdered by two men. I killed them, the first men that I ever killed. I beat them to death with an iron fireplace poker. I was fourteen then and I knew nothing of my mother selling herself sometimes even then to keep us alive.

After that, I hired on to a Danish ship and never went back. What happened to my back came later at the hands of Englishmen.

Before my mother died, I had a job working for an old Danish noble who had some money troubles himself. But he knew my family and he told me one day that my uncle had drunken himself to death one night.

He taught me to shoot with a bow and a rifle and to ride a horse and many other things, saying that I ought to know of them even as I was.

So to finish my tale, I am -- as far as I know -- the bastard son of a very poor whore who came from a noble family. Since I never knew my father, I took my mother's last name and as far as I am aware, I am the last living person descended from that family. The name will die with me."

He looked at her, trying hard not to look a little expectant to see her shock and disgust.

But she only leaned against him a little more and, carefully cradling their shared bowl of oatmeal, she reached around to pull his face so that they might look at each other and she kissed him softly for a moment.

"What you have told me changes nothing for me, Dane, "she said in a whisper, "Though I promise you that I will never speak of it to anyone. Leave this secret with me, Valdemar-san. To me, the fact remains that I sit here with a lord all the same, and I will never speak of it again, even with you."

She looked down then at what they shared for a moment. "Is this what you would be eating where you come from?"

"On a night like this, probably, if I had not eaten by this time. It depends on one's circumstances, Matsu-san. If I were living in a town or city, or if I were a little wealthy, I'd eat this more for breakfast than a late meal. My dinner would have many vegetables which store well then. I'd tell you, but you have likely never heard of most of them. There would be much more meat then, to be sure. From what I have seen here, we eat far more meat than your people.

And of course, we wouldn't be sitting like this then, if we were there together. We'd be sitting on chairs at a table and looking at each other in the soft light of candles a little hopefully."

He smiled a little then, "And I could forget my troubles over eating with little sticks of wood. I have come to like the way that it is done here, but sometimes I almost ache to feel a knife in one hand and a fork in the other and a grand-looking roast before me."

He smiled at her and the way that the light of the fire cast her in a warm glowing light, "But that is there, many thousands of miles away, and if I was there and was asked by someone, I would probably tell them of the time that I sat in a drafty little house with the wind trying to howl everything down outside, sitting next to you and eating something like this together with the hardest warrior woman that I have ever known and feeling like a lord only to be that lucky."

Matsu smiled, "If I can cause you to feel like that while I only sit with you to eat like this, then let us hurry to finish so that I can try to make you feel even better. But, ... tell me, is this what a Dane man feeds to a Dane woman if he has a hope for a little love with her?"

Valdemar shrugged with a helpless expression before he smiled at her very slowly, "Not unless he worried for her health after seeing her half-frozen and cared for her enough to worry at all. At most times, he would feed her whatever he thought gave him the best chance for it between them. Strong alcohol seems to work well at removing their doubts -- as well as their clothing."

Matsu laughed quietly, nodding, "And I poured that in all by myself at the inn. You might have a good chance, my friend."

The room wasn't really cold at all, and it grew even warmer from the additional wood that Valdemar had thrown onto the fire as it began to burn, but neither of them wanted to get up to remove their clothing.