Black Arrow Lord Ch 03
- 3 years ago
- 10
- 0
Black Arrow Lord Ch. 02 free porn video
***So, … off to Japan. Not to a part that he’d ever really heard of, but one goes where the money is, after all.
Valdemar learns first hand what Cor had been talking about regarding becoming known and trusted.
In case you need to read it, the characters and placenames in this are fictional.
0_0
—————————-
When autumn came, they set off, Valdemar along for the ride to learn the way of things. It would be well into winter by the time that they arrived.
His mentor on the trip was the man named Jans — an open and very gregarious sort, which was why Valdemar didn’t trust him at all, though Jans was very valuable for the things that he tried to each his pupil. They sailed and landed at a very small seaport on Hokkaido, avoiding the Dutch establishment near Nagasaki entirely.
From there, they traveled on, hiding as much of their foreignness as they could from the locals and Valdemar was instructed to hide his hair under his coat while wearing a conical hat over top of everything. As they got a little closer to where they were going, Jans told Valdemar that he ought to disregard what Cor had told him.
‘They’d only see you as a challenge to their authority,’ he said, ‘It draws too much attention to us.’
He motioned to the landscape around them, ‘These people here live like bandits compared to how they live in the larger places. I don’t know why Cor wanted us to come here. I’ve been here twice before and I couldn’t wait to get out again.’
‘How many guns could we sell to the people in those other places?’ Valdemar asked.
‘Not many,’ Jans replied, ‘Other than to thieves and -‘
‘Bandits,’ Valdemar said quietly.
Jans nodded, ‘What is sold in the larger places is all done through our enclave in Deijima, far to the south.’
‘Is Cor allowed to sell there?’
Jans shook his head, ‘No. He has no license from the Royal Dutch family for that.’
‘I guess, ‘Valdemar said, stretching a little in the saddle, ‘that the bandits around here must only get the worst of the junk that these larger places have refused, the bottom of the barrel. Maybe that’s why Cor wants us to come here to sell.’
Jans’s head swung around to look over, but Valdemar was looking off in a different direction then.
‘Something to keep in mind there,’ the Dutchman said after a little while, ‘You can’t take anything from them at face value. Little is as it seems and you should be especially wary of their hospitality. There will always be a price.’
Valdemar turned then to look at Jans, ‘Are you always this cheery on these trips? You struck me as a much more open and friendly person back on Sumatra.’
‘I just want to caution you not to be too open with them. As I said, you really can’t take them at — ‘
‘Jans,’ Valdemar interrupted, ‘You’re talking to a man who’s mother was a whore his whole life long and never knew. I only found out about it on the day that she’d been beaten to death. I was fourteen then.
Do you think that the arrival of that knowledge wasn’t profound to me? It caused me to realize that I shouldn’t take ANYONE’S word at face value.
And not to put too fine a point on it, you’re also traveling with a man who was knocked unconscious and kidnapped into English navy service just for visiting a whorehouse himself. I hear what you are trying to warn me about.’
‘It sounds as though you have some bad luck,’ Jans suggested but Valdemar shook his head.,
‘Not really, because I understand it. My mother did what she had to do — what she’d always done to keep us alive. The bad luck was hers.
And as far as the other, I’m really thankful that I was allowed to at least fuck the girl before the press gang barged in. ‘
He looked ahead at the narrow pass they were headed for and hoped the snow in the middle wasn’t too deep.
‘If they’d have caught me after I’d paid but before I got to have any fun – THAT would have been bad luck.’
They rode in silence for a few seconds before Jans burst into laughter, nodding his agreement.
‘So tell me about where we are going and who rules there, who we will need to deal with, things like that.’
Jans nodded, ‘The local leader here is daimyo over a very small area in terms of the people, though there is a lot of land encompassed by it and most of that as you see is highlands. The people here originally were called the Ainu and were defeated by the southerners who represent the majority of the Japanese.
Lord Maeda is said to have some Ainu blood in him, but I have my doubts that it would be allowed and he doesn’t look anything like one of the Ainu.
In any event, he has some backers down in the capital of Edo because they know that they need him. We are on the most northerly island and not all that far from Russia. Lord Maeda holds the place as the northern bastion of Japan. There are islands even farther north which the Japanese claim as theirs, but there are already some large groups of Russians there, fishermen mostly.’
He looked around at the mountains and forests for a moment, ‘As you can see, there are not many people here to rule over.
Lord Maeda sees the need for firearms. Bows have too short a range effectively, and if the Russians do come, they wouldn’t be bringing any bows for damn certain. But being out on the edge of the world as he is here, there is not much support for the idea in the capital. The lord is not a stupid man. He knows that the Imperial court knows nothing of life here and he knows how badly it would go for him and the people here if there were to be an invasion.
The great armies would come from the south — eventually and far too late — only to be cut to pieces by the Russian forces — who would be using muskets and rifles, naturally. His backers understand this, but they are in the minority.’
He looked over at Valdemar, ‘Cor explained the different classes to you? Did he mention the Samurai?’
Valdemar nodded and Jans reply began with little more than a curt nod and a grunt, ‘The line is thin and a little foggy here. There are not enough people for the Samurai as a class to exist here very much. They could strut about all they wished and freeze for it. So the ones here are a little closer to Samurai farmers because they need to be, and there are commoners who are a little more like warriors at the same time, because they need to be.
Something such as this is not possible in the south, but here, well it is a common need to eat and stay warm and to keep what they all have. The few Samurai here are known and respected as is their due, but it isn’t a big jump to think that the majority are also not strangers to the work of farming. It is hard to live here.’
As they got closer to the place where Jans said they needed to be, Valdemar saw people here and there.
They were mostly watchers who were looking back at him from under the eaves of the nearby forests. Once or twice, he saw a man with a bow turn to trot to a horse staked farther into the trees and ride off.
‘If that is the kind of bows that they use here,’ he nodded, ‘I can see why this daimyo feels vulnerable.’
Jans hadn’t seen the men that his companion had and listened as Valdemar spoke of it. ‘Once again, you cannot trust what you think that you see. The Japanese have elevated archery to a form of art.’
The large man grunted back, ‘I once had a job looking after the house of a rich man who lived on the outskirts of where I was in Helsingborg. He was a bit of a poor noble, and a lot of what I did was dust and wipe the symbols of the older time of his, … nobility, shall we say. He’d mastered the bow like nobody that I have ever seen and his favorite bow was a gift to him from some Persians, like the one that I own.
He showed me a lot of things because he liked me and had little to do when he was there — other than manage his family’
s matters and he hated that. I know how to use a sword — as much as he could show to a boy as I was and I can shoot a bow.
But I had trouble even lifting that one bow. Try as I might, I could not even begin to draw it. He was very kind to me and told me that one day, when I was bigger and old enough, he would have one like that made for me so that he could have a hunting companion.’
Valdemar fell silent then and Jans looked over. ‘What happened?’
The blonde shrugged, ‘He died. He was hunting for boar and it went badly.’ Valdemar sighed, ‘So I lost the best job in the world and I became a warehouseboy.
But I know what I am looking at when I see a bow, Jans.’
Not long after midday, they were met by a party of men on horseback, led by a grim and dour person who tended to bark out his wishes in an authoritative voice which had the sound to it that he expected his words to bring instant action. It was the first time that Valdemar had heard the language spoken by a Japanese male in what he took to be a position of authority and he didn’t like it already.
After a rather rough and curt exchange with Jans and a long and carefully appraising look at Valdemar after the introduction, the men turned and rode off. Their guides looked to be a little apprehensive.
‘Who the hell was that?’ Valdemar asked and Jans grinned humorlessly, ‘A Samurai named Oda. The right hand of Maeda in a lot of things. He gave us permission to come to the village.’
Valdemar watched the group gallop off, ‘Is he always like that, or are his piles giving him trouble today?’
There was no humor in the Dutchman’s face as he replied, ‘That is how it goes here. He showed me as much respect as he feels is my due. To these people, we are seen as savages, or little better. They look at us and see not much more than savages who have come into possession of a few things that they might wish to trade for and they probably think that we stole them in the first place. Where we are going, it would be a little wise for you to keep your head down respectfully.’
Valdemar smiled, ‘I’ll try, Jans. But I’ve been beaten and whipped by men for only asking that they make it clear what they want — and I’ve killed for it in return. I prefer to give respect where I see that it is deserved.’
He chuckled, ‘But I will try.’
They rode into a rather small place in a bit of a bowl-shaped valley. There seemed to be a bit of fog hanging in the air and a great deal of frost covered a lot of the place. He asked about it and Jans said that there was a hot spring in the valley. Many of the people stopped what they were doing to get a look at the travelers. Jans was known to them and a lot of them smiled and nodded to him, offering little half-bows.
When they looked at Valdemar, they just stared.
But then they came to a bit of an open space and were told to stop and the same man looked at them from horseback with more barking and terse words. Valdemar thought that Jans sounded almost apologetic in his replies.
After a little more talk, the other man looked at Valdemar and spoke again.
‘Oda-san wishes to get a better look at you,’ Jans said carefully, ‘Take off your hat and try to show some respect. These men around us are all armed.’
Valdemar looked up and into the eyes of the man opposite from him. There was a long moment of silence before Valdemar smiled and nodded. Then he slid his conical hat back so that it hung by the chin strap around his throat. As the man’s eyes widened, Valdemar reached up and slid his fingers under his hair and flipped it out of his coat so that it spilled around his shoulders and he heard Jans’ quiet groan among the several gasps from the villagers.
It brought more words from the grim man.
‘You’re being stupid,’ Jans said, ‘He asks if you are a Gaijin daimyo — a barbarian lord.
How the hell are you going to answer that? A lord from another place would come here with many to show his might. There are only the four of us.’
Valdemar considered for a moment, never taking his eyes off the ones which tried to bore into him across the space. ‘Tell him that sometimes, life changes what we are and do, and that even lords with no lands have to eat.’
‘I do not think that –‘
‘Just tell him that please, Jans.’
The man’s eyebrows rose to hear it and then they were escorted to a house where the Europeans were to live while there were there. It was a little unremarkable and plain though it was large enough and it had a stable behind it. Their laden horses were brought there and tied up in it by their guides who left then and appeared to be very happy to go.
‘What are we supposed to do here?’ Valdemar asked and Jans shrugge.,
‘We are to wait here. It can take several days. The daimyo has to hear about our arrival and it will take even longer since there is a barbarian daimyo along on the trip,’ Jans said with a pained expression, ‘You should not have done that. I have found that it is best here to just trade and go.
So, … we wait,’ he said, ‘It would not do for Maeda to seem hasty in any way, so the assumption is that he is a busy man and will see us as he sees fit and finds the time for.’
The door opened and the grim man stepped inside out of the cold air. There were a lot of words spoken between them and Jans looked uncomfortable. The man said something else and pointed in an urging motion to Valdemar.
‘He asks why it does not seem to him that you treat me as your servant.’
Valdemar shrugged, ‘Tell him that I am no longer in my homeland and to act like a daimyo when one is all alone gets a man nothing but trouble and that even a daimyo may have trouble. Tell him that you and I are colleagues who work together.’
The man grunted with a nod when he heard it and asked another few questions then.
‘He wishes to see your sword. I told you to leave it on Sumatra. Now he has an interest in something which you have no skill at.’
Valdemar drew his sword, flicking it once in a lazy overhand motion before he held it out to the other man haft-first.
He bit down on his desire to tell Jans to see whether he might have the ability in him at all to have a positive thought.
‘Tell him that my people carry swords, the noble ones. Tell him that it is tradition with my people. He is a warrior. He’ll understand that.’
Jans was appalled, ‘But I’ve been to Denmark, it is not tradition. And you are no -‘
‘My last name is a noble one in Denmark. As it happens, my particular branch of the family is little known and mostly forgotten, but we were on the same level as kings once. We had lands and power, Jans. This is truth. Now I am all that is left of my clan. That is truth as well.’
Valdemar saw the way that the man with them watched them covertly as he examined the heavy blade, so the large Dane growled at Jans in a hard-edged tone, ‘It’s not the tradition now, and it doesn’t matter. Nobody here has been to Denmark or will ever go there.’
His tone turned menacing then, ‘You are causing him doubts with your actions. Just bow to me a little as though I’ve just had to dress you down for something and tell him. I know what I have skill at, Jans. Try to have a little faith in me.’
Jans looked as nervous as a thief with his hand in a policeman’s pocket, but he bowed and then said what was desired.
The man grunted and smiled very, very slightly as he handed back the sword. Then he bowed as though it was killing him to do that and left.
‘Are you insane?’ Jans hissed quietly, ‘He’ll tell Maeda everything that he saw!’
‘I know that,’ the larger man said quietly, ‘But I don’t think that you’re seeing this correctly. Whoever he is in the pecking order around here, he didn’t come here to ask questions like that out of his own interest. I can tell that he’d like to just kill us and forget about us.
He was sent here to ask what he did. Now he
will report on what was said and what he saw.’ Valdemar smirked then, ‘I’m a little surprised that he didn’t ask you why I allowed you to speak to me that way.’
Jans looked down, ‘He did. I told him that I was here to guide you, but that I was not your servant.
He said that if he were you, he’d have killed me for it anyway.’
There was a knock at the door a few minutes later and the man was back, pushing a very nervous-looking boy of about fourteen in ahead of him.
If that was so, Valdemar reasoned, then he would be tall for around here when he finished growing, and it made him think of himself at that age, though he knew that he was far taller than this boy then. The boy looked around and stared at Valdemar with wide eyes as the man spoke a little more, pointed to the boy and then left.
The boy fell to his knees and bowed.
What he really felt like doing was to run, but that was plainly out of the question, and cowering — which came in at a very close second — was off the list as well, for Oda-san likely would have killed him for it.
‘What the fuck is going on now?’ Valdemar asked Jans.
The Dutchman looked to be at a loss for words for a moment while Valdemar looked at the boy.
He was dressed in the same rough and dark fabric as most of the villagers that he’d seen. At this latitude and in winter, the emphasis shifted a few degrees from ornate to plain and warm clothing. He wore some pants of a sort and he had high boots on, up to a little below his knees. They looked nothing like the elevated sandals which the gruff man wore. His hands were bare and what could be seen of his arms showed that they were a little thin. His hair was tied in a sort of ponytail, and not a topknot.
At the moment, the boy was straightening up from bowing, his hands on his thighs as he looked back, taking in the strange barbarian lord before him. He felt a slight sense of wanting this strangeness to end. He had a reason to feel that way and he knew that out of the whole village, only he and perhaps his mother would have understood it.
There was something there before him which he thought should not feel so alien — and yet it did all the same.
Because for certain, it didn’t feel anything at all like familiarity.
Valdemar looked back at Jans. ‘Well?’
Jans spoke in little more than a shocked whisper, ‘Lord Maeda says that a daimyo — even a barbarian one with an impossible name who travels alone and far from his land — requires a suitable servant and not a cheating trader.’
Valdemar thought that he’d heard something in that. ‘What does he mean by that?’
Jans said, ‘I sold him some rifles the last time which might not have worked reliably. I didn’t charge the full amount.’
Valdemar couldn’t believe it. ‘That was a very poor plan to have, Jans. I can’t think that it wouldn’t come to you at all, but a man comes to believe in his weapons. Indeed, in many instances, he would want and need to be able to rely on them. These people don’t look to be the sort who could be very understanding about something like that.’
‘I know,’ the Dutchman muttered, ‘I didn’t think that Cor would ever send me back here again.’
Valdemar cursed and the boy jumped visibly, seeing that the large barbarian was looking a little upset.
‘So you thought to sell for near the regular price for faulty goods and what? Pocket the difference and everything would be fine?’
He swore again as he walked away trying to think, ‘What if I had been sent here alone? What if any other of Cor’s traders had come here after that?’
He walked over and grabbed Jans by the throat of his shirt and coat to lift him up, ‘Do you know what I’d be thinking if I bought a weapon from you and if was useless the very first time that I needed it?’
He almost roared as he shook his companion, ‘I’d be thinking that if I somehow survived my predicament, that I would want very much to kill the man who sold it to me!’
He let Jans fall to the floor and he looked over to see the boy with wide eyes now, ready to open the door and run.
‘Did you try to do the same thing with the guns for this trip?’
He reached to grab Jans again. ‘Answer me!’
Elissa
- 18.07.2020
- 9
- 0
