Evanlyn shrugged. 'Not as widely as in other countries. The Nihon-Jan have kept themselves a little…isolated…over the centuries. And my father thought it might be a diplomatic touch,' she nodded in Alyss's direction, 'if the Emperor was addressed in his own language.'
Alyss nodded. 'We try to do that wherever possible.'
'I still don't see what Horace would hope to learn from the Nihon-Jan about weapons and methods,' Will said. 'After all, he's a Swordmaster himself.'
'The Nihon-Jan warriors – they call them Senshi – use a different technique,' Halt interjected. 'And their swordsmiths have perfected a method of making extremely hard blades. Our Ranger weapon makers learned some of their techniques many years ago.'
'Is that why your saxe knives are so incredibly hard?' Alyss asked. It was a well-known fact that saxe knives could put a notch into the blades of normal swords.
'It's a technique where several iron rods are heated and beaten, then folded and twisted together to form a composite whole. Over the years, we've made it a practice to adopt good ideas from anywhere we can find them,' Halt told her.
'Our swordsmiths in Dimascar developed a similar technique for creating extra-hard blades,' Selethen put in.
'You're talking about Dimascarene blades, I assume?' Halt said. 'I've heard of them but never seen one.'
'They're very expensive. Not many people can afford them,' Selethen told him.
Halt nodded thoughtfully, filing the information away for future reference. Then he turned back to Evanlyn. 'I'm sorry, Evanlyn, we're digressing here. Please go on.'
'All right. Just to cover any further interruptions…' She looked meaningfully at Will, which he considered to be a little unfair. After all, it had been Halt and Selethen who had prattled on about super-hard sword blades, not him. But his indignation went unnoticed as she continued.
'I take it you're all familiar with the Silasian Council's fast message system?'
They all nodded. The Silasian Council was a cartel of traders based in the eastern part of the Constant Sea. They facilitated trade by instituting a central credit system so that funds could be transferred between countries, without the risk of actually sending money overland or by sea. In addition, they had realised some years prior that fast communications could be as beneficial to trade as efficient money transfers. They had set up a network of carrier pigeon services and express riders to take messages almost from one end of the known world to the other. Distances that might take weeks for a ship or a rider to cover could be traversed in a matter of days. Of course, the service was extremely expensive, but in emergencies, many users felt it was worth the cost.
'We received a message via that service from George several weeks ago,' Evanlyn said. 'It was only brief and he sent it from a port on the Ooghly River in Indus – which is pretty much the eastern limit of the message service. Apparently, there was a rebellion against the Emperor of Nihon-Ja, and Horace got caught up in it. The Emperor's forces are badly outnumbered and he's a fugitive. When last seen, he was heading north into the mountains, to hide out in some legendary fortress. Horace has gone with him.'
Will sat back and whistled slowly. It would be just like Horace, he thought, to get involved in such an idealistic venture.
'And what are you planning to do?' he asked, although he thought he knew the answer already. Evanlyn turned a steady gaze on him.
'I'm going to find Horace,' she said.
Nihon-Ja Horace's announcement met with a hail of protests from the others. Most vocal of all was George.
'Horace, you can't stay here! Don't you understand? We have no right to interfere in internal Nihon-Jan politics!'
Horace frowned at his countryman. 'This is a little more serious than just politics, George,' he told him. 'This is a rebellion against the lawful ruler. You can't pass that off as a matter of politics. It's treason for a start.'
George made an apologetic gesture towards the two Nihon-Jan leaders standing close by. He realised that his words could be deemed as undiplomatic.
'My apology, your excellency,' he said hastily. 'I meant no offence.'
Shigeru nodded. 'None taken, George-san. I understand your point of view. Whether this is a case of politics or treason, it's an internal Nihon-Jan matter.'
'That's right,' George said and he turned back to Horace. 'It's not as if Araluen has any sort of formal treaty with the Emperor. You and I were simply here as diplomats. We're granted freedom of movement throughout the country but we have to maintain our neutrality. If we get involved, if we take sides, we'll invalidate those credentials,' he cried. 'Don't you understand? We simply can't afford to do that!'
'As a matter of fact, I do understand,' Horace said. 'But it's a little late to start worrying about what will happen if we take sides. I'm afraid I've already done it.'
George frowned at him, not understanding. 'I don't -'
Horace cut him short. 'While you were having your little nap beside the track back there,' he said, 'I killed two of Arisaka's soldiers. I think he might see that as taking sides, don't you?'
George threw his hands out in a gesture of bewilderment. 'You what? What could have led you to do such an incredibly stupid thing, Horace? Surely you knew better than that! Why? Just tell me why?'
The Emperor coughed politely before Horace could answer and stepped forward to lay a calming hand on George's forearm.
'Perhaps it was because they were trying to kill me at the time,' he said.
George, once again, looked suitably chastened. As an expert on protocol, he wasn't performing so well, he thought. Horace, seeing George momentarily stumped for words, followed up his advantage.
'I just didn't think, George,' he said, with a hint of a smile flickering at the corner of his mouth. 'I should have checked through our credentials to see what I should do if someone tried to kill the Emperor. But, gosh, I just dashed in and stopped them the best I could.'
Shukin began to smile as well. But the Emperor's next words quickly dispelled the expression from his face.
'In fact, Arisaka might well view the act of saving my life as a bigger affront than the killing of his two men,' Shigeru said.
'His excellency is right,' Shukin agreed, all seriousness now. 'That will establish Or'ss-san as his sworn enemy. Arisaka doesn't like to have his plans thwarted.'
George looked from one face to another, desperately trying to see a way out of this predicament.
'But he doesn't have to know about it, surely? We're miles from anywhere, in a remote forest on a mountain! Who's going to tell him?'
'Maybe,' Horace said, 'the ambushers who escaped will mention it. I know I would, in their place.'
George, seeing the ground crumbling under his feet, shook his head in disgusted resignation.
'Oh, great!' he said wearily. 'You let witnesses get away! If you were going to join in, Horace, why didn't you make a complete job of it?'
Horace frowned at him. 'Are you saying that our diplomatic status would be in better shape if I'd killed twice as many of Arisaka's men?' he asked. The logic of George's position seemed to escape him.
'No. No. No,' George said, finally accepting the inevitable. 'Well, I suppose you've made our bed. Now we just have to lie on it.'
A silence fell over the small group. Shukin and the Emperor exchanged awkward glances. Horace looked at them and nodded almost imperceptibly. He sensed what they were thinking.
'I wonder would you excuse us for a moment, your excellency?' he said.
Shigeru inclined his head and Horace gestured for George to ride a few metres away from the group gathered round the Emperor. George followed him, looking mystified.
'What is it now?' he asked as soon as they were out of earshot. 'What else did you do when I was unconscious – because I was unconscious, you know. I had a whacking great arrow stuck in my arm!' He added the last with a little heat. Horace's joking reference to his 'little nap' had struck a raw nerve.
Horace made a placating gesture. 'I know. I know. I'm sorry I said what I did. After all, you did save my life.'
George looked a little mollified. There weren't too many people who could claim to have achieved anything like that, he thought. Horace normally didn't need anyone else to save his life. He was pretty skilled at doing it for himself. Now he thought about it, George found himself wondering if even his former wardmate, Will Treaty, famous as he might have become, had ever actually saved Horace's life in such a definite manner.
'Well, yes. All right. But what did you want to talk about?'