Chapter 2.11

“Honestly, I don’t know Idasho,” and with that Katashi left the bar, leaving Idasho with his hand still in the air where a moment before it had lain on his shoulder.

 Katashi made his way through back alleys to a low portion in the city wall.  Hopping onto a small tool shed, he waited for the guard to pass outside and then scaled the wall.  He found the track running west, parallel to the main road and followed it through the dense bamboo grove.  Almost certainly Hayato had taken this track as well.

The clack and whisper of the bamboo masked any sound of his passing but then it would also cover the sounds of an ambush.  As a precaution, Katashi loosened his sword from the sheath, hand resting on the hilt, pace never slackening.

After a farsakh the grove thinned out and sparse woodlands lay to either side of the track, dotted with boulders and the occasional granite knuckle sticking up.  Katashi noted the boulders he passed, ready for anything that may lie hidden behind them.  As he neared one of the smaller boulders he noted it was a human form.  He crouched low near another boulder.

What was that?  Voices?

Katashi peered into the darkness.

~ by beinnsgriob on March 1, 2008.