Chapter 18

Blackie trotted briskly up the cobblestone street. He felt all war horse today, eager and excited to get back to some action. He liked Shota, and felt bound to him by duty, but everything Shota wanted to do was boring. All they did was travel all day, stopping to eat and rest. Shota's singing was the only thing that kept him from breaking into a run just to feel the sheer, heart-pounding joy of it. Blackie missed the mounted archery drills, the sword fighting contests, the galloping down a hill to meet an enemy and kick it into next week. Face it, he told himself. You're a war horse, and if you had a choice, you'd go back.

"Slow down, Blackie," Shota said from behind his ears. Blackie dropped to a walk. He'd become over-excited even thinking about his former career. "We're in town."

"Sorry. I was thinking about something else." The horse stopped and looked around. "Where do you want to go?"

"I need to get to that island out there. Can you see it? It's just barely there on the horizon. I think we should go to the docks."

***

It wasn't that the toki weren't nice, Azuki thought. It wasn't that they hadn't welcomed her to their community especially the boys, for Azuki was more of a grown-up as a bird than as a girl. The life she led with the toki was pleasant, except that Azuki found herself longing for miso soup and pickles with hot rice. She wasn't cold or hungry, either. Her feathers kept her warm, and there were plenty of fish and small sea creatures. She just wanted something hot and something else to eat.

What she was, she had to admit to herself, was bored. Nobody here cared about their feathers, the fabulous things that could be made with them, or cared to trade with humans. They didn't even like humans, keeping them at a wary distance while they talked about who was nesting where, how many eggs someone else had, when the chicks would fledge, who had moved where, and most of all, where the best fishing was. She longed for her loom, where she could practice the intricate weaves she'd begun to learn from Hachibei and Chizuyo, where she could see the completed fabric unroll in wonderful patterns beneath her hands, touch its softness, feel pride in her accomplishment.

Azuki wasn't very happy being just a toki.

***

The docks were crowded and noisy. Blackie stepped softly, trying hard to keep his big feet out of trouble. There were plenty of boats, Shota saw, but how was he to get passage on any of them? He saw people unloading one boat, not a huge one, but one that could be sailed by just a couple of crew and carry some cargo or a few passengers. Whatever they off-loaded was extremely heavy. They hefted it onto ox-carts for a short journey to the gates of a big house by the landward end of the pier.

"Gold," Blackie breathed.

"That's gold?" Shota was shocked. It was gold in massive quantities, more than he had ever imagined.

"They get it on that island you want to go to." Blackie huffed. "Talk to the animals instead of watching the humans. That's what I'm doing."

Suddenly, with a clatter of hooves and the ringing of metal, several mounted Samurai thundered up the street. They came to an abrupt halt by the open gates. Servants ran to grab the horses' heads and help the riders to the ground.

"What ho?" Blackie neighed, coming to attention.

"We're going to war!" a roan mare whinnied. "Aren't you?" She rounded to look at Blackie, then stopped and stared. "That is your rider?" Her look spoke volumes.

"He saved my life," Blackie said in reproving tones.

"Well, then you have your duty," the mare admitted. "Oh, but it's going to be wonderful! We have."

The mare started giving Blackie military details Shota didn't understand. He was surprised and a bit appalled. Blackie wanted to go to war?

The dismounted riders clattered out the gate accompanied by a well-dressed man waving his arms in high dudgeon.

"I have no suitable horse," this man cried angrily. "I cannot come. My best war mare just foaled and cannot leave the baby."

Blackie's ears pricked up.

A job for a war horse, Shota thought to himself. Well, why not? No boat he saw here could transport a horse safely, and passage for them both, should such a boat appear, would be prohibitive.

"Boy!" the well-dressed man called out, as one of the armored riders pointed to Shota and Blackie. "It that your horse?"

Without Shota's even asking, Blackie walked forward.

"Yes, sir, he is."

"How did you get him?" one of the riders asked. "He's gorgeous," another rider said in a soft aside to his companion that only Shota's bird hearing picked up.

"Traded, sir. He was lame. He isn't, now."

"I need a horse," the man from the house said. "We are being attacked from the west, and I must ride to defend our people! Will you trade with me?"

"Blackie?" Shota thought at the horse. "Do you want to go?"

Blackie snorted and pawed the ground. "I do." His silent voice held longing. "This is my proper job, but I owe you"

"What do you offer?" Shota said aloud.

"Anything!" The man glanced around distractedly. "Whatever you need that's mine to give."

"That boat," Shota said, pointing to the small trader tied up at the wharf. "Someone to teach me to sail and help me get to Sado, and boot."

"Boot?" The man sounded puzzled. Another whispered to him. The man continued, "You want boots? Some kind of shoes? I don't know if we have them."

"You don't use that expression here? I don't mean those tall shoes. It's extra money in addition to trade goods."

The man glanced at the nearby cart, not yet emptied of its share of the boat's cargo. He grabbed a package. "You know what this is, boy?"

Shota nodded.

"Will this do?"

"Make it two," Blackie thought. "I am a very valuable horse."

"Three," Shota said, going for broke, "and you have a deal."

"You provision yourself," the man countered.

"Bargain." Shota slid to the ground.

"Fare you well, Blackie," he thought. "Thank you. I am glad to be your friend."

"And I yours," Blackie responded. "Thank you for letting me go. This is my true destiny." Blackie let a groom take his halter. "Good journey to you! I hope you find your sister."

"And to you. I hope we meet again." Shota could feel the warmth of Blackie's return smile as the stallion followed the groom through the gates.

Shota accepted the packages of gold and almost staggered under their weight. No matter how fine a horse Blackie was, this was an incredible trade. All of this gold, and the boat, and

"Who will take me to Sado Island and teach me to sail this boat?" Shota asked the man, who had already begun to hurry away.

"Oh." The man turned and gestured vaguely to the gathered sailors. "Who wants to go? I pay the wage and return; the boy buys gear and provisions."

"I'll take him," said a man more weathered looking than the others as he approached. "That's the coaster I sail that you're giving him. I'm out of a job."

The boat's owner clapped the sailor on the shoulder. "There's a new one building. It's yours when you get back." He turned on heel, and, calling, "My armor!" strode off into his house.

"Well, boy," the sailor said, dropping a friendly pat on Shota's arm. "Let us get you to Sado. We can leave on the tide."