The Ring of Water - Chris Bradford [24]
Hana bristled at this and stood her ground. The lady, no longer paying Hana any attention, began to preen before a small looking glass. She adjusted a large gold pin in her hair so that it sat beside the butterfly for the greatest effect.
‘I can’t express my joy enough at your new gift,’ said the lady to the merchant. ‘My friends were so envious. They’d never seen a black pearl before.’
Hana gasped in outrage when she spotted the gem now mounted on the end of the lady’s hairpin. ‘Isn’t that the pearl I sold you?’ Hana demanded of the merchant.
Jack squinted through the gap. It might just be a coincidence, but he thought it highly unlikely that there were two identical black pearls in this town.
‘Oh, that pearl,’ acknowledged the merchant begrudgingly. ‘It’s not for sale.’
‘But my master wants it back,’ insisted Hana.
‘The pearl now belongs to my wife.’
‘His wife!’ Ronin muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘She’s half his age. He must be rich …’
‘What’s the problem?’ demanded the merchant’s young wife.
‘Nothing, dear,’ replied the merchant, trying to steer Hana out of the store.
‘But I must return it to its rightful owner!’ cried Hana, looking nervously in the direction Ronin was concealed.
‘I’m its rightful owner,’ snapped the young wife. ‘There’s only one of these in the whole province and it’s mine.’
‘Please … my life depends upon it.’
The lady laughed shrilly at Hana’s plea. ‘Your life’s not worth the dirt on my sandals – let alone my pearl. Now get out before my husband calls the dōshin.’
The merchant went to throw Hana into the street.
‘I beg you! It belongs to a samurai,’ said Hana, struggling in his grip.
The merchant pulled her close until they were face to face. His narrow eyes had widened in concern at the revelation. ‘Which samurai?’ he hissed, hoping his wife hadn’t heard the exchange.
‘The … gaijin samurai.’
The merchant laughed. ‘Nice try. Even if it were true, that gaijin traitor would be long gone by now … or else dead.’
With that, he kicked Hana out of the store.
‘And don’t come back!’ said the merchant, wiping his hands of her. He turned to his wife, who was now glowering at him.
‘I thought you said you handpicked this pearl yourself, Isamu!’ she scolded.
‘I did! I did!’ he insisted, fussing around her. ‘The girl’s lying. She’s a thief … a nobody! Now, my darling butterfly, have you seen this beautiful gilded comb? It only arrived today …’
While the merchant tried to placate his wife with gifts, Hana dusted herself off and rejoined Jack and Ronin in the alley.
‘I tried my best,’ she said defiantly to Ronin. ‘Now either cut my throat or let me go!’
‘Well, your best wasn’t good enough,’ Ronin replied, his fingers grasping the hilt of his sword.
Fearing for Hana’s life, Jack stepped forward to protect her, but Ronin had already grabbed her wrist and forced her against the alley wall.
‘You’re a highly skilful thief,’ reminded Ronin, prising the coins from Hana’s trembling hand and grinning at the panic in her eyes. ‘You’ll just have to steal the pearl back. Won’t you?’
14
BREAKING AND ENTERING
The streets of Kizu were virtually deserted, an autumnal chill to the night air. The merchant’s house, a two-storey building with an ornate balcony to its rear, was situated within a walled garden on the outskirts of town.
‘Are you sure we should be doing this?’ whispered Jack, peering through the impressive wooden gates.
‘It’s not stealing if it’s stolen from you in the first place,’ Ronin replied.
Jack couldn’t argue with that, but it didn’t allay his fears.
‘Besides,’ Ronin added, ‘she’s the only one breaking the law.’
Hana stood sullenly next to Ronin. They had spent the afternoon discussing the best way to retrieve the pearl. A daylight robbery was considered too dangerous. There’d be witnesses, the possibility of a violent and unwanted confrontation, and a good chance of being caught by dōshin. A night-time burglary, on the other hand, should give them enough time to make their escape before the pearl’s disappearance was discovered.