We rose at dawn – the roosters made sure everybody did – and had a quick meal of cold leftover fish and rice, then used the foul latrine trench in the trees next to the lake. The king and a couple of guards took us out to the hillside behind the village. It had been cleared of trees and was dried yellow grassland, buzzing with insects. We topped over a rise to find a corral made of rickety wooden posts, holding a bunch of tiny, scrawny dark-furred horses with long, thick manes and tails. None of their backs reached higher than my waist, and they swished their tails and bickered, putting their ears back, squealing and kicking at each other. Half-a-dozen men and women stood around grinning artlessly at us, and a couple of wooden pack saddles sat on the ground nearby.
I opened my mouth to say that these horses were way too small and none of them would be able to carry us when Haruka gagged and then noisily threw up next to the fence. The king had stomped up to a vertical pole further up the hill that I hadn’t even noticed while I was looking at the pathetic mounts. The pole had a crossbar with a man tied to it, and he’d obviously been up there for a while. His eyes were gone – probably pecked out – he was covered in dried blood and flies, and a long bamboo spike, barely wider than my thumb, had been driven through him from his abdomen in the front to his shoulder blade in the back.
The king kicked the man’s pole, making the flies rise in a cloud. ‘Still breathing? Won’t be long. If you’re still alive by midday we’ll shove another pole through you.’ He turned to Haruka. ‘Sorry you had to see that, Springblossom, of course a cultured gentleman would find it distressing.’
‘What did he do?’ Haruka asked.
The king turned back and watched as a couple of guards threw rocks at the prisoner, jeering and cheering when they hit. ‘He had a gang, and they’d been robbing the travelling traders for a while. May even have been the one that attacked you. He killed a couple of my soldiers in an ambush; the burial jars are for them, they deserve a ranking burial. This one had a thing for women . . .’ He stepped up the pole and glared at the bandit. ‘He grabbed my daughter when she was walking back from the lake. She was barely thirteen, only just a woman. She could spin, weave and sew silk, and was arranging her own marriage to the youngest son of that asshole Aterui next door to keep the peace between us. He took her’ – he kicked the pole in time with his words, and the bandit whimpered – ‘inside! My! Own! Capital!’ He turned away. ‘Killed her with a fence post. She wasn’t the first woman we found like that.’ He ran his hand over his face. ‘My wife blames me for not protecting our daughter . . .’ He turned and kicked the pole again. ‘And she’s right!’ His voice filled with anguish. ‘I’m their king and I’m supposed to protect all of them.’
‘No wonder the king’s wife reacted badly every time we mentioned children,’ Haruka said on comms. ‘The third jar is for their daughter.’
‘It’s particularly bad since the king is intersex – he’s XXY, and he’s sterile with reduced male characteristics. The children were adopted,’ Marque said.
‘Is that common?’ I asked.
‘About one in five hundred. Happens all the time,’ Marque said.
‘I scoured the countryside looking for him,’ the king said, still studying the crucified bandit. ‘He’d appear in a far village, steal food, murder my citizens, then disappear again. I chased him for weeks but never caught him – and then he did it again. Another young woman dead.’
‘How did you track him down?’ I asked.
‘I went to Himiko,’ he said. ‘She’s a powerful shaman. I asked for her assistance, and she used her magic to pull this nasty piece of shit straight out of the forest and dump him at my feet.’ He looked down and winced. ‘I promised her he’d see justice, but that I wouldn’t torture him . . .’ He looked back up at the bandit. ‘She was only thirteen!’
He hitched up his belt. ‘Let’s get you some horses and have you on your way.’ He nodded to Haruka. ‘The Empress really is a force for good in this land. Please, give her my regards, and my promise of eternal loyalty. She protects our most precious wives and children – this filthy animal will never hurt another loved one again.’
‘Give his sword to the barbarian,’ Itakap said.
The king harrumphed. ‘Good idea. Go get it.’ He turned to us as the guard raced back down the hill. ‘It’s a good iron sword, probably stolen from a Southern noble, but none of my people would touch it after it killed our own, particularly considering who owned it.’
‘I will take his sword and use it to kill . . .’ I raised my voice without looking at the criminal. ‘Many men like this one.’
‘Entirely appropriate that a barbarian woman should use it to take revenge for every sweet girl this piece of shit hurt.’
‘You are extremely scary sometimes, my love,’ Haruka said on comms.
‘Damn straight,’ I growled. ‘I want to take the sword home with me.’
‘Not happening,’ Marque said. ‘You’re going through the gate naked and with nothing in your hands.’
‘I’ll bury it near the jars and come back for it.’
‘Have Miko leave it in one of the jars for you,’ Haruka said.
I nodded. ‘That works.’
Haruka sighed. ‘So close. I cannot wait to see her again.’
I went to him and put my arm in his, to a delighted reaction from the spectators. ‘You and me both.’
He smiled at me, then nodded at the horses. ‘Those animals can’t carry us, they’re way too small.’
‘They’re strong enough, they’ll carry you,’ Marque said. ‘What I’m more concerned about is the saddles – they’re ridiculous, just wooden frames. The horses all have sores on their backs because the saddles don’t fit them properly.’
‘That explains why they’re so bad-tempered,’ Haruka said. ‘Can you do something for them?’
‘I’ll do my best, but if you’re taking a guide it can’t be anything too obvious.’
The king put his hands on his hips and studied the horses. ‘Pull out the three biggest ones.’ He pointed. ‘The two bays and the brown one.’
‘One of the bays is lame.’
‘The bastard then.’ The king nodded. ‘You know the ones.’
The men and women nodded and proceeded to dodge around the horses’ attempts to bite them, put straw rope halters on three of the horses and led them out of the corral. They tied them to the fence next to the saddles. They all had open sores on their backs, on either side of their withers, and flies obviously annoyed them.
‘The saddles are pack saddles; they’re really uncomfortable to sit on, but they’re easier to hold than bareback,’ the king said to us. ‘You have a choice. If you go bareback – just on a blanket – you can move faster and the horses won’t get the sores from the saddles. But it’s harder to hold on and balance if you’ve never ridden before.’ He studied us piercingly. ‘You said you had horses and bandits took them. If you were lying about that, tell us now and we’ll put pack saddles on for you.’
‘We can go bareback,’ Haruka and I said in unison.
‘Have you ridden a horse before?’ Haruka asked me on comms.
‘Once or twice. I’ve ridden zhingas on Hilming and estroipigs on—’
‘Close enough. Anything to avoid hurting these poor animals.’ Haruka nodded to the king. ‘We’ll be fine with blankets.’
The king nodded and gestured towards the workers, who proceeded to unfold cotton wadding blankets and place them over the backs of the horses, then tie them on with cloth strips. Cleverly placed knots in the makeshift girths acted as stirrups.
‘Did you have war saddles?’ the king asked Haruka. ‘Leather ones with frames underneath that protect the horses’ backs? I’ve heard about them and want to get one. I think there’s a man down south who makes them, or brings them in from Wei.’
‘We had two of them, worth fifty horses each,’ Haruka said. ‘Fine cow leather, engraved with silver fittings – they even had leather stirrups to put our feet in. If you find the bandits who robbed us, the saddles are yours.’
‘I miss mine,’ I said.
‘You’re the reason we lost them,’ Haruka said.
‘Take down ten men and it’s not good enough,’ I grumbled as I stomped to the horses.
‘Chikap will guide you to Aterui’s town; give him this,’ the king said, and handed Haruka a thin piece of flat bamboo, the size of his hand, with a symbol stamped onto it. ‘That’s my seal and endorsement. Explain where you’re going and he’ll give you fresh horses and a new guide.’
Haruka pulled the pouch from his belt and gave it to the king.
The king opened it, checked inside, then closed it again. He clapped Haruka on the shoulder. ‘Thank you. You’ll be fine with that barbarian watching your back. Oh. Here’s the criminal’s sword.’
I couldn’t help myself; I made a loud sound of delighted avarice as the men carried the sword to us. It was a Chinese-style jian, straight and slender with a hilt that had cloud decorations on the butt. The scabbard was made of leather, etched with dragons and painted to highlight their scales and eyes.
‘That was stolen from a Chinese noble,’ I said on comms.
‘It will belong in a museum if we take it home,’ Haruka said.
The soldier walked right past me and gave the sword to Haruka.
‘The craftsmanship is exquisite.’ Haruka saw my reaction to being so obviously snubbed. ‘Remember they think I’m a prince and you’re a soldier.’
I subsided because he was right. He handed me the sword and I drew the blade from the scabbard and held it out. ‘That’s quality steel. These people can forge steel this good? I thought everything was bronze.’
‘They can,’ Marque said. ‘The Yayoi learned a few advanced techniques that other civilisations had yet to master. The rice farming, the steel working . . . historians say it was influence from China. I think we know better.’
‘Miko,’ we said in unison.
‘It’s a fine weapon and beautifully balanced,’ I said out loud. I put the sword back in the scabbard and saluted the king Chinese style. I had the bronze sword slung across my back, so I removed it and held it out to the king.
The king waved one hand at Haruka. ‘Give it to your Prince, both of you should be armed on the road.’
I held the bronze sword up to thank him and passed it to Haruka, who used the thick straw twine to sling it across his back.
The bandit’s sword had a loop on the leather scabbard with red silk thread attached to it. I tied it to my belt.
One of the workers stood grinning at me next to a tiny horse. I approached and he put both hands together to give me a leg up. The twine from its head only went around one side of the horse’s neck and wouldn’t stop it if it decided to run.
‘Don’t worry I have them,’ Marque said.
‘They can’t do anything.’ They helped Haruka onto his horse – both of us were so big on the tiny mounts that our feet nearly brushed the ground – and another man was helped on as well.
‘Wait,’ the king said. ‘Before you go, Springblossom.’
Haruka picked up the string. ‘Yes?’
‘The things.’ Shinrichi touched his temple. ‘On the side of your head. Should we be worried? Is it contagious? My wife’s concerned.’
‘It’s not a disease, don’t be concerned,’ Haruka said. He brushed his hair back and shifted his head so the green scales shone in the early morning sun. ‘My father fucked a dragon. I’m half-dragon, which gives me greater height and strength and these scales on my forehead.’
The crowd made loud sounds of wonder and then started discussing Haruka’s revelation.
‘Does that happen often in Wei?’ the king asked, incredulous.
‘I am the only one in the entire world,’ Haruka said. ‘My dragon mother loved my father and then returned to the Heavens, leaving me behind in a golden egg.’
‘Kami!’ one of the women shouted loudly.
Haruka laughed. ‘I’m not a god, I’m just a man.’
‘He’s a fucking monkey,’ I said loudly. ‘His father was a monkey, not a man, and his mother was a dragon.’
Everybody laughed at that.
‘Did you just deliberately sow the legend of the Monkey king?’ Haruka asked me on comms.
‘Better than having people running around ancient Japan claiming to be half-dragon,’ I said.
‘They’ll do that anyway, Japanese legends are full of the children of gods,’ Marque said. ‘But it was a smart move.’
The King saluted us. ‘Safe travels, Monkey Prince.’
The guide grinned at us and wrenched his horses’ head to one side, kicking it into a walk. Our horses followed without us needing to do anything
‘Give the Empress my regards,’ the king shouted at us as my horse started to trot and I had to grab its mane as I nearly fell off from the bone-jarring gait.
‘Nearly there,’ our guide said, and I stretched my legs under me. My butt didn’t hurt, but the tendons on the inside of my thighs were protesting after sitting with my legs spread – and gripping – for so long. The trail went through the middle of a bamboo forest, and the sound of the bamboo clunking together was deep and melodious. The sunshine filtered through the bamboo and there was the occasional birdcall. It was cool and green, but the swarms of insects drove the horses – and our guide – mad.
A pair of guards in dark blue kimonos and straw sandals, holding swords, stood at the side of the road.
‘These are Aterui’s men, I leave you here,’ our guide said. ‘Please return the horses.’
‘Thanks for your assistance, Chikap,’ I said to him as I hopped down off my mount. I rubbed the back of the pony’s neck and he snapped at me. ‘Go home and eat food, horrible pony.’
Haruka dismounted and did a few stretching squats, then nodded to Chikap. ‘Thank you.’ He gestured to me. ‘Give him a tip, Straightsword.’
‘Oh.’ I reached into my pouch and gave Chikap a piece of copper, and he grinned broadly. ‘Thank you!’ He gathered the strings for our two mounts, turned his own, and headed back to Shinrichi’s town.
‘Wait,’ Marque said before we could talk to the guards. ‘I’ve been mapping the area, and I think I’ve found Miko’s compound. It’s on a hillside forty kilometres away. And before you ask, Jian . . .’
I closed my mouth on the question I was about to ask.
‘No. I can’t carry you that far. I’m running low on energy, I can probably carry you twenty kilometres and then this sphere will be dead. If that happens, I will be vulnerable, so please protect me until Miko carries us home and I can recharge.’
‘Of course,’ I said.
‘Can we walk?’ Haruka asked. ‘Just bypass all the negotiations and partying and walk the twenty k’s until you can carry us?’
‘I think that might be the best option,’ Marque said. ‘If you do that, you’ll be close enough for me to carry you at nightfall. I’ll carry you through the night and you’ll arrive there before dawn.’
‘How long do we have left?’
‘Twenty-four hours. Plenty of time.’
‘It’s about midday now, right?’ Haruka asked, looking up.
‘It’s just after one. You have until midday tomorrow.’
‘We can do it,’ I said. ‘Let’s go talk to them and then walk through.’
The guards saw us approaching and grinned broadly.
‘Jian and Haruka!’ one of them said. ‘I heard about this; the king talks about it. No Jians and Harukas have made an attempt in nearly fifty years. Why are you even trying?’
‘Uh . . .’ Haruka and I shared a look, then turned back to them.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Haruka said, holding the bamboo piece and bowing to them with it held in front of him. ‘My name is Prince Springblossom from the Land of Wei, and this is my barbarian bodyguard, Straightsword, from the lands west of Wei.’
‘People stopped doing the Jian-Haruka thing years ago,’ one of the guards said. ‘Why are you even bothering?’
‘You’re supposed to have green hair, as well,’ the first guard said, pointing at Haruka. He pointed at me. ‘And you’re black enough, all right, but you’re supposed to be a soldier, not a fatass.’
‘Why do you think our names are Jian and Haruka?’ I asked.
‘The king will know. He’ll want to see you,’ the second guard said. ‘Come with us.’
The guards grabbed our arms in a strong grip, removed our swords, and pulled us into town. People looked out of their houses and I heard our names a few times.
‘What’s going on, Marque?’ I asked on comms. ‘We’re being treated like criminals.’
‘They knew to expect us, but they’re not being very welcoming,’ Haruka said.
‘Is it possible Miko offered a reward if you showed up and were escorted to her presence, and people—?’ Marque began, but both Haruka and I realised at the same time and said ‘Oh, shit.’
‘She described us and people have been dressing as us and claiming the reward,’ Haruka said. ‘They’ve been doing it for fifty years?’
‘We are in serious trouble,’ I said.
‘How long has Miko been here?’ Haruka asked.
‘Empress Himiko’s reign lasted roughly fifty years,’ Marque said. ‘And it’s at the approximate end of her reign right now, so the timing is correct.’
‘We could make a run for it . . .’ I began.
‘And they would come after us on horseback and cut us down,’ Haruka said. ‘We have no soulstones. We need to talk our way out of this.’
‘Shit shit shit shit shit,’ I said under my breath as the guards escorted us through town towards a house that was similar to Shinrichi’s.
‘How come Shinrichi’s people didn’t know about us?’ Haruka asked.
‘I can see King Aterui – he’s in his seventies,’ Marque said. ‘And half a day’s ride is the other side of the world for these people. They don’t have much interaction.’
‘Shinrichi’s younger and doesn’t remember,’ I said.
‘We’re an old man’s ramblings,’ Haruka said, then changed to out loud. ‘I have silver; how much to forget that we tried this and let us go at the edge of town?’
The guards stopped and I had a jolt of hope. I pulled my pouch from my belt, and the guard grabbed it and checked inside. He whistled through his remining teeth, then showed it to his compatriot.
‘Thieves as well,’ he said. ‘The king will love this.’
The guards escorted us to the forecourt of a larger house. A few other guards came out, saw us, and ducked back inside again. A minute later an old, bald wiry man, wearing a blue kimono and geta, stomped out grumbling.
‘This had better be good, I had—’ He stopped when he saw us and his expression went grim. ‘I know that sword.’
Haruka bowed and held out the bamboo. ‘King Shinrichi gave us that sword and this endorsement and wished us well on our journey. I am Prince Springblossom from the Land of Wei, and this is my barbarian bodyguard, Straightsword.’
‘And I’m supposed to believe that it’s a coincidence that you two look exactly like the Jian and Haruka that Empress put a reward out for fifty years ago?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Haruka said.
The king came to me, grabbed my hand and rubbed it. ‘How did you stain your skin? Walnut juice?’ He pushed my sleeve up. ‘How far did you colour yourself?’
‘It’s natural, I’m a black woman from the lands west of Wei,’ I said.
The king turned to Haruka, wrenched his hair from his forehead making him yelp with pain, and tried to pull one of the scales off. ‘And these? How are they attached?’
‘They’re part of me!’ Haruka said. ‘They won’t come off, stop trying!’ He pulled his head away and the guards tightened their grip.
‘They had a pouch full of stolen silver and copper as well, Majesty,’ one of the guards said. ‘Should we put them on a pole outside town to warn others against doing this?’
‘We really are who we say we are, we have no idea who this “Jian and Haruka” are!’ Haruka said. ‘Take us to your Empress. She will vouch for us.’
The King stepped back and studied us. ‘Why do you want to see the Empress so much?’
‘The Land of Wei wishes to establish friendly diplomatic ties with the people of Yamatai,’ Haruka said. ‘We’ve already been robbed once; the bandits in Shinrichi’s kingdom were vicious. Shinrichi helped us, lent us horses, gave my bodyguard the sword that the bandit had been using, and this endorsement to present to you.’
‘Shinrichi’s absolutely worthless, his kingdom is full of bandits, and I should have invaded him a long time ago instead of signing a peace treaty with the bastard,’ Aterui said. ‘The Empress brought us peace, but Shinrichi’s a rubbish king and she should replace him.’
‘He said his daughter was arranging a marriage with your youngest son,’ I said. ‘She sounded like a wonderful young woman, and it’s a tragedy what happened to her.’ I gestured towards the sword in the guard’s hand. ‘I will use this sword to take revenge for every woman that bandit hurt.’
The king hooked his thumbs in his belt. ‘That part’s true.’ He stepped forward to study me again. ‘How did you know about Jian and Haruka? You two weren’t even born when the reward was posted.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ Haruka said. ‘But it’s well-known that the Empress is a powerful sorceress – maybe she prophesised our arrival to ensure our good treatment?’
‘They really are Jian and Haruka?’ one of the guards said, incredulous.
‘Uh . . .’ Haruka took a deep breath. ‘The truth is, that my name, “Springblossom” is actually “Haruka” in my own tongue. Her name, “Straightsword”, is “Jian” in hers. Your Empress is obviously a powerful seer, to see our names in our own language as well as our appearance. Take us to her, I’m sure she’d be delighted.’
The guards looked to the king for guidance.
Make it work, make it work, I willed him silently, then had a brilliant idea.
They are my guests, Jian and Haruka, that I foretold fifty years ago, I said to all three of them telepathically, trying to nail Miko’s sweet voice and vaguely Japanese accent. I sent them an image of me and Haruka, glowing like angels. Guide them to my palace and you will be richly rewarded.
‘The Empress just gave me a vision,’ the king said with wonder. ‘She spoke her own language, and I didn’t understand it, but the image was definitely these two.’
‘I saw it too,’ one of the guards said. ‘They glowed!’
‘We are blessed,’ the other guard said.
‘Oh, well done, Jian,’ Marque said on comms, at the same time Haruka said, ‘Brilliant.’
‘That was incredibly difficult,’ I said. ‘I wanted all three of them to see it so the king wouldn’t doubt himself – but I’m seriously out of practise. Talking through comms is much less effort and I haven’t used group telepathy in ages.’
The guards relaxed and smiled at each other.
‘She’d given up on you,’ the king said. ‘She scoured the countryside looking for you fifty years ago and posted the reward – and when hundreds of people showed up in costume she stopped doing it.’ His voice softened. ‘We all owe her a tremendous debt; she cares for the daughters that would otherwise go to the gods.’
‘If this is really Jian and Haruka, can we claim the reward?’ one of the guards asked the king.
‘Absolutely – anything within her power to give, and that includes her sorcery,’ the king said. He gestured towards us. ‘Give them their money, but keep the sword until the Empress vouches for them. Benni, you and Resak will escort a cart to take them to the Empress. Find a couple of servants to pull them.’ The guards didn’t move. ‘Go!’ They scampered away.
‘We’d prefer to ride, we don’t need to be pulled,’ Haruka said. ‘Can you rent us a couple of horses?’
‘I’ve seen frauds before, some of them can make you see stuff that isn’t there with mushrooms and shit,’ the king said. ‘I won’t give you a couple of valuable horses, you can go in a cart. I’ll stay here, if you people really are Jian and Haruka then the Empress can use her magic to take me to the palace, she’s done it before. And if you aren’t . . .’ He grinned. ‘We’ll bring you back and put you on poles and you’ll provide entertainment for the town for many days.’
Haruka nudged me awake and I grunted and looked up. The trees towered over us as the cart rattled through the forest. I was so exhausted that even with the bumpy ride I’d passed out curled up in the bottom of the cart, and I ached all over. I was itchy from insect bites, my head throbbed, and I could smell my foul unwashed odour – and Haruka, who smelled vaguely sour from the vomit that he still hadn’t had a chance to completely clean off.
‘Are you sick?’ Haruka asked me on comms.
‘No, I’m all right, just exhausted, and Marque’s insect repellent is wearing off,’ I said, sitting up and looking around. ‘So many trees in ancient Japan.’
‘Look at our historical handcrafts and our building methods,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘All wood and paper. How far, Marque?’
‘I asked Haruka to wake you because we’re fifteen kilometres from the Empress’ compound, and it’s five p.m. The workers won’t travel at night; they have no lanterns. They’ll stop for the night in an hour and make the final ten kilometres in the morning. Haruka wants to leave them now and fly direct.’
‘How do we leave them? They won’t let us,’ I said.
‘Marque will make us invisible then lift us straight up,’ Haruka said. ‘They won’t know what happened to us, it will be like we disappeared.’
‘Carrying you for fifteen kilometres will use the last of my energy,’ Marque said. ‘I hope I’ve estimated correctly. If I start to run down, I will lower you so you don’t fall. You may have to walk the final few kilometres – if that happens, please carry this sphere and take it home with you. I don’t want to forget any of this.’
‘Of course.’
Haruka disappeared, and the guards running alongside the cart didn’t notice. Marque lifted us, and my own body disappeared as well. Marque pulled us higher, soaring through the massive trees, and the worker pulling our cart made a loud sound of wonder and stopped. The guards saw that we’d gone and ran back to see what had happened to us.
‘It breaks my heart to leave that lovely sword,’ I said with regret.
‘I can synthesise you an exact replica when we’re home,’ Marque said.
‘Not the same.’
Something tapped my hand and I looked. Marque had grabbed the sword and lifted it for me. I took it and nodded my thanks.
‘That probably reduced my lifespan by an hour,’ Marque said. ‘We need to hurry.’
We topped out over the trees – a hundred metres up – and Marque carried us over the forest, away from the setting sun. I looked around and Fuji wasn’t visible, hidden by clouds.
‘I’m going to stay quiet to save energy,’ Marque said. ‘Keep still. I’m cutting it close.’
We whizzed over the tops of the trees, and I closed my eyes again. My mouth tasted foul and I was seriously dehydrated – Marque had stopped giving us water that morning.
We reached the edge of the treeline and passed some smaller trees that weren’t the massive cypress – these trees had paths between them and looked like fruit trees. The view opened up and rice terraces filled the landscape, throwing me back to my early days in Wales building them for my mother. These covered the hillsides for kilometres, and women with straw hats were working on them.
‘Himiko introduced rice farming,’ Haruka said on comms.
‘Stay off comms, speak out loud,’ Marque said. ‘I’m nearly done.’
Marque lowered us and slowed. We were only five metres above the ground, and some of the terraces had lines of perfectly round green bushes, each waist-height.
‘Tea,’ Haruka said out loud. ‘The same tea that everyone served us on our journey.’
‘I’m looking for a path for you, I don’t have much left,’ Marque said.
Its ability to hold us was failing – we dropped in the air, and then lifted again. Marque took us to the top of the terraces and Miko’s compound appeared on a flattened area on the peak of the hill. It had guard towers at each corner, a high wooden barricade, open gates, and houses with vegetable gardens inside.
Marque gently lowered us into a field of tea plants.
‘I have an hour before my battery is dead,’ Marque said. ‘You can see where to go. I’ll translate for you until you meet Miko.’
We walked through the tea plantation. There was a raised earth barrier at the edge, and we scrambled over it onto a neatly raked path covered in gravel. We followed the path up to the compound. The first guard tower at the corner was made of timber, two storeys high, and had a ladder leading up to it. A woman with a bow stood on top and shouted down inside.
‘Strangers at the southeast tower!’
‘We’re here to see the Empress,’ Haruka shouted up to her. ‘Can you let us in?’
‘Go on in,’ she said. ‘Emi will speak to you.’
We went past the guard tower to the gates. Another woman archer stood on the tower on the other side and watched us carefully. We went through the gates to a compound with raked white gravel on the ground and a few one- and two-storey wooden houses on poles, and a longhouse, the width of the compound, at the back. It was impeccably neat and well-maintained, and few women, some of them only young girls, worked on raking and weeding, or carried baskets through the buildings. The general air was of peaceful industry.
A woman in a blue kimono and straw sandals came out of one of the houses. She was in her mid-thirties, and her step quickened when she saw us. She stopped, stared at Haruka, then shook her head and spoke.
‘The Empress no longer accepts supplications from Jian and Haruka,’ she said. ‘Go home, you’re wasting your time.’
Jian and Haruka, I said telepathically, and she took a step back.
‘What is the name of your sphere?’ she asked, and I turned to see if Marque was visible. It wasn’t.
‘Marque,’ Haruka said.
‘My name is Emi. Come this way,’ she said, and gestured for us to follow her into the one of the houses.
Haruka clutched my hand and squeezed it. We’d made it.