Free The Gilded Fan (Choc Lit) by Christina Courtenay Page B

breaking point; this was all taking too long and he wished himself a hundred miles away.
    ‘Very well, I will let him go,’ the man said at last. ‘Perhaps you could take him back to where he came from? I can spare you a small escort in case he becomes troublesome, but most of my men are needed here at this time.’
    ‘Back to where?’ The civilian peered at the guard, as if he didn’t quite understand.
    ‘To the island of Dejima, of course,’ the man snarled. ‘Take him to the gate there and tell the fool of a guard on duty that next time he lets one of these idiots on to the mainland, he’s a dead man.’
    ‘Oh, I see. Very well, we can do that, can’t we?’ The civilian looked at his friends, who all nodded. Two of them came forward and took Nico by the arms, dragging him along.
    ‘Come, it’s time for bed. Bed, understand?’
    ‘I want
sake
.’ Nico frowned petulantly and dragged his feet. ‘More
sake!
’
    ‘Yes, yes, we’ll find you some, now come along.’
    The man waved away the guards, saying, ‘We’ll be all right, we don’t need help. It’s only one man, and a foreigner at that, we can manage.’
    ‘Very well. Thank you.’ Everyone bowed politely, including Nico whose head was unceremoniously pushed downwards by one of his new friends. The prison guards then began to disappear into their compound once again, like ants into a nest. The drunken party wended its way along the street and turned a corner. Out of sight of the prison they all began to run as if the hounds of hell were after them, and they didn’t stop until they reached the very darkest part of the harbour.
    At first, sunk in misery, Midori barely resisted the pull on her arms and didn’t look to see where she was being taken. She assumed she was to be tortured, and it didn’t matter where that was to take place. All she could pray for now was that they would kill her by mistake. Better that than …
    Her mind suddenly rebelled and a steely resolve spread through her, taking her by surprise.
No, I don’t want to die!
And she most certainly didn’t want to be tortured.
It’s up to me to do something about it.
Acting on impulse, she hurled herself at the guard on her right, taking him by surprise. She flung her arms round his neck from behind so the rope her wrists were tied with cut off his air supply. She crossed her hands behind his head, making the improvised garrotte squeeze him with all her might, her strength born of desperation and fear. Exhilaration flowed through her. She was in charge of her own destiny again and it felt good.
    ‘
Chikusho!’
She shouted out her father’s favourite curse.
    She thanked the gods she was still wearing
hakama
and not hampered by a
kimono.
With her legs wrapped round his waist the man was hard put to stay upright, never mind shake her off. He struggled to pull her hands and the deadly rope away from his windpipe. In his frantic attempts to dislodge her, he swivelled from side to side. This protected Midori to a certain extent from attack by the other guard, who was trying to lunge at her. She kicked out several times, aiming for the second man’s most vulnerable parts, and had the satisfaction of hearing him grunt.
    The guard whose back she was clinging to suddenly charged backwards and slammed her into the wall, knocking the air out of her lungs and dealing her head a heavy blow against a door post. She blinked to clear her vision and gasped for breath, but didn’t loosen her hold on the man’s throat. She could feel him panicking now, then weakening, and prayed he would die quickly.
    As he fell to the ground at last, however, the other guard pounced on her and she wasn’t quite fast enough to escape his vice-like grip. His face was a contorted mask of fury only inches away from hers and he snarled, ‘Get up,’ and yanked her to her feet. She tried to resist, kicking out at him again, but this time he was ready for her. ‘Oh, no you don’t, you little
ama!
’
    He grabbed