Free Jade Palace Vendetta by Dale Furutani

laughter.
    H ishigawa couldn’t understand what the two louts were laughing at and shouted “
Yakamashii!
Shut up!” at them. The two peasants sobered up at the command, and Hishigawa invited himself into the relative warmth of the crude farmhouse, demanding that they serve him breakfast.
    “Please come in, Samurai-sama,” Goro said, bowing low. He went to the cook fire in the hut to stir the breakfast soup, where he was joined by Hanzo.
    “Do you think we should have let him in?” Hanzo whispered.
    “What choice do we have? He’s wearing the two swords.”
    “Yes, but he’s covered in mud. He doesn’t look like any samurai I’ve ever seen. He looks more like a merchant. In fact, I’m not even sure he’s human. He might be a
kappa
. He’s covered with mud, like he just crawled out of a pond.” Kappa were creatures who lived under bridges and in ponds who drowned children.
    “What are you whispering about?” Hishigawa shouted. “Where is my breakfast!”
    “Coming, coming, Samurai-sama,” Goro said soothingly. Then, whispering to Hanzo, he said, “How can we tell if he’s human or kappa?”
    “Kappa have little saucers of water in the top of their heads. They have to be near water or they grow weak, so they always carry water with them. If we knock him down so the water spills out, he’ll be helpless.”
    “A saucer in his head?”
    “Yes. Made of flesh.”
    “I’ll check,” Goro said.
    He took the bowl of
miso
soup and walked over to Hishigawa.Hishigawa reached up for the bowl, but Goro, intent on peering at the top of Hishigawa’s head, kept moving the bowl as Hishigawa reached for it. The merchant made a couple of ineffective grabs for the soup bowl, but Goro unintentionally moved it each time as he shuffled to the side to get a better view, just to make sure a fleshy saucer of water wasn’t hidden in the man’s thinning hair.
    Finally, in exasperation, Hishigawa shouted, “What is wrong with you?”
    Snapping to attention, Goro said, “Oh, nothing, nothing, Samurai-sama.
Gomen nasai
, excuse me. Here is the breakfast soup. It is humble, but please enjoy it.” He gave the bowl to Hishigawa and scurried back to the fire and Hanzo.
    “Well?”
    “He’s going bald, but I didn’t see any saucer on his head. He doesn’t have lice,” Goro added helpfully.
    Hishigawa drained the soup and held out the bowl for another helping. Goro gave it to him, scraping the bottom of the pot in the process. When he had finished the second bowl, Hishigawa asked, “Is there a village near here?”
    “About two ri away, Samurai-sama.”
    Hishigawa moaned. That was too far to walk. “Are there porters or samurai at the village?”
    “No, Samurai-sama. It’s just a small village. Nothing but poor farmers.”
    Hishigawa sighed. “I have need of porters and fighting men.” He looked the two scrawny peasants over and decided they were better than nothing. “How about you two? Do you want to earn some money? I’ll give you four coppers to go to Kamakura.”
    “Kamakura?”
    “Yes. I have a pushcart that I need moved to Kamakura. With this mud, I need help.”
    The mention of a pushcart raised alarm bells in the two peasants. The men who came by the night before were searching for a party with a pushcart.
    “But we have our farm to tend. In a few days the fields will be dry enough for us to work them.”
    “All right, six coppers,” Hishigawa said.
    Normally six coppers would have gotten their cooperation, but the memory of the men made the peasants hesitate. “But all the way to Kamakura! We’ve never been to Kamakura,” Hanzo said.
    Hishigawa glowered at the peasants. Peasants were shrewd, but these two wouldn’t know the value of making a dangerous journey. “Ten coppers, my final offer,” Hishigawa said sternly.
    “I’ll take it,” Goro said hastily.
    “That’s for both of you,” Hishigawa added.
    “What about it, Hanzo? Let’s go to Kamakura. When we get there, we’ll have money