Lady Samurai

Chapter 33

Anna was walking very fast, trying to put as much distance as possible between Morrison and herself. She had no illusions that he would keep silent. He naturally wouldn't tell anybody the truth about their encounter, but she was sure he was going to accuse her of something or other. If for nothing else, just out of pure spite.

The sun had risen soon after she left the city walls and now more and more people were around her on the road.

The original plan had her leaving at night, so she would have had plenty of time to find a nice sheltered spot to wait over the busiest time. But the circumstances were not in her favour and now Anna found herself surrounded by farmers going with their produce to the market and merchants on their way to other cities.

She had covered her hair with a bandana and pulled her straw hat lower over her face, but there was no guarantee that she wouldn't be recognised as a foreigner. She tried to blend in, not driving attention to herself and at the first opportunity she stepped off the road and hid in some bushes to wait for the heaviest of the traffic to pass and calm down.

When she was satisfied that the road was clear, some hours later, she stepped out of her hiding spot and started walking again. Soon she would abandon the road to travel the rest of the way unobserved, but for the moment she chose the speed over security.

The road was empty as far as she could see, except for a lone horse rider far behind her. She didn't worry about him though, as he was too far away for the moment. But after some time she wondered why he had not caught up with her yet.

She turned to look. He was now walking beside his horse, with about the same distance between them as before. This seemed strange to her. It was still quite early and the horse wouldn't be tired, in need of a rest just yet.

She sped up, noting that the rider fell slightly behind, but stayed in sight. If he was following her, she had little chance of losing him on the straight and now empty road. There was nowhere to hide. So she decided that the best thing to do was to confront him and to deal with the situation straight away.

Utilising her experience from the Wild West, she chose a place, where a bend in the road and a small copse of trees obscured his view and allowed her to briefly disappear. She sneaked through the undergrowth and with a gun in her hand waited for him to pass.

The rider reached the bend and, realising she was not ahead any more, stopped and looked carefully around.

She stepped out of her hideout and came behind him, aiming her gun at his head. "Who are you?!" There was no need to hide her face or her accent. If he was following her, he knew very well who she was.

He stood there motionless, not to provoke her in any way. He raised his hands slightly to prove he had no weapon.

"What do you want?!" She demanded, when he didn't reply to her first question.

Slowly he turned around to face her. There was a vague smile on his face. He appeared to be quite young, her age perhaps. Dressed well. A merchant?... Or an assassin?!...
His hair was cut just above the shoulders, not in the usual Japanese fashion. His features were soft and delicate, but the narrowed eyes and a grin gave his face a permanent ironic expression.

"My Lady." He bowed slightly, keeping his hands visible. "I have expected an ambush, yet you still managed to sneak behind me." There was appreciation in his low voice. "You are indeed a skilled warrior."

"Who are you?" She repeated. She was not deceived by his friendly manner. "And why are you following me?!"

"My name is Kazuki and I am in service of Lord Takeda."