Lady Samurai

Chapter 13

The next morning the weather had turned bad. It started raining and out of nowhere there came an unpleasant wind.

All of this didn't appease Anna's foul mood and as soon as she was confident that her companions were up, she marched into their rooms, almost spitting with anger.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" She barked angrily, staring at Morrison, who, unfortunately, was slightly worse for drinking too much saké the night before. He was pale and held his head in his hands, as if nursing a headache.

The others looked at her in total incomprehension.

"I was just trying to make sure you were all right." He answered petulantly, wincing with pain at her raised voice.

"And what could have happened to me?!" Anna's anger caused her to almost choke on her words.

"Ms Mitchell, please tell us what happened?" Captain Norton asked in a calm voice.

Making an effort to compose herself, Anna breathed deeply a few times.
"Last night he..." She pointed at Morrison, "...decided to force his way to my room, alarming the whole household."

"I was worried!" Morrison tried to defend himself weakly. "You looked yesterday like something had happened to you and they were preventing me from checking up on you."

"That is true, Ms Mitchell." Mr Johnston confirmed. "You didn't look all right last night."

"Has something happened?" Norton, as always, tried to calm everyone down.

"Nothing happened! It's only a small wound..." She stopped herself mid-sentence, but decided to tell them the truth. "Yesterday, just before the meeting, there was an attack on Lord Takeda. The assassin missed. But I was in the line of his shot..."

"You were wounded?!"

"Assassin?!"

"Shot?!"

They were exclaiming, shouting over each other. Anna raised her hand stopping them with a single gesture. She had regained her composure and once again adopted a commanding demeanour. She sat down to explain what had happened the previous day.

"I don't think the Lords will want to publicise the incident. But you should be aware that, whoever they were, they might try again. I believe that Lord Takeda was the intended target, but you should be vigilant... Just to be on the safe side."

"Who is this Lord Takeda?" Mr Bracknell was the first to realise they hadn't met him yet.

"He is a powerful lord, a Daimyō from the north. He is visiting Lord Matsuda." She tried to give as little information about him as possible.

"But why did the guards behave like you were the target?" Morrison was still sulking.

"I saved his life." She murmured with a strange reluctance. "I assume he tries to demonstrate his gratitude."

Questions followed and now she had to tell them the whole story. She only withheld Lord Takeda's visit on their first day in Kanagawa.

"Are you sure that your wound is really not dangerous?" Captain Norton asked, when she was preparing to leave.

"I was examined by the doctor." She smiled warmly, touched by his concern. "I will be fine... Apparently, I only need a rest."