第56节

briefly to the Mute slave

population. The Lost Ones. What would happen to them if Ne-Issan

became embroiled in a civil war?

It had been foretold that one day they would cast aside their chains

and rejoin the Plainfolk- before the climactic moment when Talisman

would draw the clans from each of the bloodlines together under his or

her banner.

When it came, their departure would trigger another round of

bloodletting. Ne-Issan's prosperity was based on the concept of

firstand second-class citizens, underpinned by a pool of slave labour

non-persons. The Iron Masters would not let them go without a fight.

But even if they did escape what would happen when they returned

home?

A considerable majority of the Mute slaves had been born in

captivity.

Would they cope with their new-found freedom when it came? More

important still was the question of their reintegration into Mute

society. Would they be able to adapt to a way of life they had never

known? Would they even want to or was it the Plainfolk who would be

forced to adapt to accommodate them?

Sweet Sky Mother! As if he didn't have enough to worry about!

Cadillac silently berated himself for having dredged up yet another

insoluble problem. That was what happened when you sat on your butt

while other people did the work. Ever since Sioux Falls there had been

too much talking and scheming. Too much 'How about?" and 'What if?",

and not enough 'Who cares?" What he needed was some action. A chance

to get out from behind the fancy dress, the wig, the stupid pasty-faced

mask and into some mindless mayhem: the kind of thing his rival,

Brickman, enjoyed. Roz was right when she'd said he sounded like

Steve; he was beginning to think like him too.

Before leaving the junk, Mishiko had secured a number of tarred torches

from the captain. With the moon now back behind the clouds, four of

these had been lit and stuck in the sand to provide some

illumination.

With the exception of Mishiko, her children, Cadillac and Roz, everyone

helped to turn the boat over, then got ready to carry it into the sand

dunes. Cadillac and Roz picked up two of the torches and walked

alongside to light the way as mi'lady's servants staggered off under

the weight of the boat like a tipsy centipede. When they got to the

dunes, they lowered the boat onto its port side, then propped up the

hull with the oars to make a shelter from the wind.

Leaving Roz standing on top of a dune, Cadillac went back to Lady

Mishiko and her children. Giving five-year-old Miyori the torch to

hold, Cadillac hoisted her onto his left hip. Katiwa, the nurse

carried Narikita, and Lady Mishiko in a breath-taking display of

egalitarianism, gathered her son Toshi into her arms and actually

walked the fifty or so yards to the upturned boat, while the guards and

the maidservants transferred the baggage from the beach to the dunes.

Roz beckoned to Cadillac as he passed. He set down Miyori in the

shelter of the long-boat then scrambled with as much decorum as he

could muster to the top of the dune. 'What is it?"

Roz pointed inland. 'There's a light over there.

See... ?"

Cadillac sighted along her arm and peered into the darkness. 'Can't

see a damn thing. Where is it?!" 'There! But it's just gone out!'

'For chrissakes, Roz - I' 'No, look! There it is again! See? It

keeps moving about!" Cadillac caught sight of a minuscule point of

orange light and hugged her shoulders. 'Well done. Keep your eye on

it." He turned towards the long-boat and called out a string of words

in japanese to the samurai who led Mishiko's guards.

Hearing that a light had been seen, the samurai and a couple of other

guards scrambled up to the top of the dune to check it out. Agreeing

with Cadillac that it could be from a house, they got a bearing on it

with the aid of a pocket-sized compass box.

Cadillac and Roz followed them back down to the upturned long-boat

where Mishiko and her children were now installed, surrounded by her

precious luggage. A small fire, started with the aid of some