Samurai Summer (17 page)

“I think we’d better get out of here now,” said Janne.

We went deeper into the woods. It had grown darker, and it felt like we were walking deeper into the night. There were no rules that applied any more. There were less than two weeks to go before the summer camp closed down for the season. But not even that applied now.

The wall looked like a dinosaur’s spine in the dim light. The reserve castle was not much more than the wall and a lean-to where you could shelter from the wind. I could see the field and the edge of the trees on the other side. The field was like a lake. I thought of the explorers’ canoe. The grown-ups might have found it by now, but the explorers didn’t seem worried. They had become a part of our troop. Maybe they were tired of being on their own. There’s strength in numbers.

“How many of them are there?” asked the archer out of
the blue. He seemed to be reading my thoughts. “Grown-ups at the camp?”

I thought for a moment. Matron and the counselors. And Christian. And the cook.

“Seven altogether.”

“And we are…”

“Nine,” I said, “with you two and Kerstin.”

“Good. What weapons have you got?”

“Only the ones we took with us from the castle.”

“No hidden supplies here?”

“Not yet. We’ve thought about it.”

“There’s one other thing,” said Lennart, who was standing beside me. “Weine’s troop. And Micke.”

“What about them?” asked the one with the hat.

“They’re our enemies too,” said Lennart.

“Do you think they’d fight on the same side as the grown-ups?” asked the archer.

“Are we really going to fight?” wondered Sausage.

“Haven’t you understood anything?” said Janne.

“We can’t trust anybody apart from ourselves,” I said. “Everyone standing here.”

Although not everybody was standing. Kerstin had sat down inside the lean-to and was gazing out over the field, as if she thought somebody might approach from that direction. But if they did come, it would be from inside the woods behind us.

I was sure of one thing. This wasn’t a game—if it ever had been. They wouldn’t call the police. They would try to catch Kerstin first. And us. I felt my sword. It was just as heavy and sharp as before. The sword was ready. But was I ready? Was the troop ready? If we really were samurai, we were ready for anything. I heard a sound. It could have been a twig snapping. Sound travels a long way in a silent forest. Then I heard another noise.

“There’s somebody out there,” whispered Janne, nodding toward the trees.

We couldn’t see anything moving. We waited, but there were no more sounds.

“What is it?” whispered Sausage.

“We don’t need to whisper,” I said. “They know we’re here.”

“It could be a deer,” said the archer.

He had his bow ready with an arrow in place. He was prepared to shoot at anything that emerged from the trees. The point of the arrow was as sharp as a needle. Anybody hit by that would be in trouble.

There was another crack that was louder this time. Whoever was moving around out there wasn’t trying to creep up on us. It must be an animal that, maybe, was heading away from us.

“Kenny!”

I gave a start. We all did. If it was an animal, it could talk.

I could see something moving over by a tree twenty yards away. It was a white hand waving at us.

“Don’t shoot. It’s Micke!”

He must have seen the archer. The arrow was aimed straight at the tree. The archer didn’t lower his bow.

I recognized Micke’s voice, but that didn’t mean I trusted him.

“Are you on your own?” I shouted.

“I’m here with Weine. And his troop.”

“What do you want?”

“We want peace.” I thought I caught a glimpse of his face. “We’ve come in peace.”

“You’ve betrayed us, Micke.”

“Can I come and explain?”

“Where are the others?”

“They’re waiting a little farther back in the trees. Kenny! You’ve got to let me come up and talk to you. It’s important. Life and death, Kenny!”

I listened for Weine and his gang but couldn’t hear anything. No disturbed birds or other forest animals. If Weine’s soldiers were there, they were very skilled at moving through trees.

“Lower your bow a little,” I said to the archer, “but keep the arrow in.”

“I’m coming out now,” said Micke. “Don’t shoot.”

“Hold your sword over your head,” I said.

It was strange, but I was pleased to see him. But we were still keeping a close eye on him. Nobody cheered when he made it to the wall. Micke kept an eye on the archer who was standing at the ready, but he didn’t ask who he was, nor who the one with the hat was either. He asked about somebody else.

“Is Kerstin here?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You should see what it’s like at the camp, Kenny!”

“What’s that got to do with her?” I asked.

“What do you want?” It was Kerstin’s voice.

I turned around. She was standing next to the lean-to with the blanket wrapped around her.

“Kerstin!” He took a step forward, still with his sword above his head. “You’re here!” He looked at me. “Thank God.”

“What’s going on at the camp?”

“Can I lower the sword?” he asked.

“Put it on the ground.”

The archer was aiming at Micke as he put the sword down at my feet. I didn’t want to look at it. I didn’t like it when somebody was forced to lay down their sword.

“The other one too,” I said.

He took out his
wakizashi
without saying a word and put it down beside the
katana
. He was almost naked now, but it didn’t seem to bother him—at least not yet.

“What’s going on?” I asked again.

“They seem to be out of their minds,” he said. “Matron and Christian. Especially Matron.”

“What are they doing?”

“All the children have been forbidden to leave their dormitories. Nobody’s allowed out.”

“What’s so strange about that?” asked Janne, who was standing next to Micke. “It’s always like that.”

“But now they’ve put out guards. Matron and Christian are patrolling outside. And the cook, too, I think. They’re going in and out of the main building. If you get in their way, you won’t make it out alive.”

“But you made it out. And Weine and his gang,” I said.

“Exactly,” said the archer.

“We never went in,” said Micke. “We slipped away after the search party got back.”

“How do you know they put up guards then?”

“Ann,” he said. “She hid under the steps when they ordered everybody to go upstairs. I don’t know how she did it. You’ll have to ask her.”

“Is Ann here?” I heard Kerstin ask. She’d been standing behind me the whole time. “Where’s Ann?”

“She’s waiting with the others,” said Micke.

“What do you want us to do?” I asked. “You and Weine.”

“We have to join forces and fight them,” said Micke. “We won’t be able to do it if we don’t.” He looked at Kerstin. “There’s something damn—very strange about Matron. More than usual. And Christian too.”

“Have they called the police?” asked Janne. “Do you know? Reported her missing?”

“Not as far as I know,” said Micke. “But we can ask Ann.”

T
hey came out of the trees one by one with Weine leading the way. This time he didn’t look like he wanted to trip anybody up. He was looking around all the time as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.

“Who are they?” asked the one with the hat. “Are they samurai too?”

“No,” I said. “They’re just bandits.”

“Do you trust them?”

“About as far as I trust the grown-ups.”

“Then maybe we should start disarming them?”

“We can’t keep them as prisoners,” I said. “If we did, we wouldn’t be able to do anything else apart from guarding them.”

Weine had reached the wall. He looked at me but wasn’t smiling. He looked scared. But it wasn’t me or us he was
afraid of. He looked around again to see if whoever he was scared of had been following him and was lurking in the shadows.

“So you found your way here,” I said.

Weine gestured toward Micke.

“It was necessary,” said Micke.

“What’s so necessary?” I asked.

“That we join forces,” said Weine.

“How are the other kids, the little ones?” I asked.

“Locked inside.”

“What are they doing to them?”

Weine shrugged. “They’re scared.”

I saw Ann cross the path and run up to Kerstin.

“I’ve been so worried,” said Ann.

Kerstin hugged her without speaking.

I went over to them.

“Ann?” I said.

She looked up. I hardly recognized her close-up. Her face looked older. It seemed like she’d aged ten years over the last few hours. Her brown hair was glued to her forehead as though she’d swum here. She wasn’t cocky anymore, that was for sure.

“I heard you went and hid,” I said.

“Yes… under the steps.”

“Didn’t anybody look there?”

“No. They were in such a hurry.”

“To do what?”

“To lock everybody inside.”

“Why did they want to do that?”

“To stop any more of them running away, I think.”

“Why would anybody else want to run away?”

I felt like a detective interrogating her.

“They were… trying to hit us,” said Ann. “Chr-Christian and Matron. They were going crazy.”

She looked at Kerstin when she mentioned Christian’s name. Kerstin looked away.

“What about the counselors?”

“They were gone by then,” she replied. “They drove off in a car.”

“A car? Is there a dance tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“But Matron and Christian are still there?”

“Yes. And the cook.”

“They’re really crazy,” said Weine. “Worse than before. Out of their minds.”

“Well, you should know,” said Janne. “They’re buddies of yours.”

“They are not!”

“Why aren’t they out in the woods?” I asked. “Why didn’t they follow you?”

“They’re making plans right now,” said Micke.

“What are they thinking of doing?” wondered Janne.

“Maybe they’re going to call in some more grown-ups,” said Micke.

“Holy crap,” said Weine.

“I thought you liked grown-ups, Weine,” said Janne.

Weine reached for the sword he had in his belt. It was a clumsy sword—like a little kid’s.

“Cut it out!” I shouted.

Weine let go of the handle.

“I don’t want him to say things like that,” he said.

“Why should they want to call in more grown-ups when they’ve let the counselors leave?” I asked.

“Maybe the counselors are too nice for them,” Micke looked at me. “Maybe they want some other ones.”

“No,” I said, “they don’t want any more. They don’t want any more witnesses.”

“Witnesses to what?” Sausage asked.

I didn’t answer.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds. I could hear the wind in the treetops. It had picked up even more over the last half-hour. The sky was darker. It felt almost like an autumn night. All the faces had turned into white patches.

“So what do we do now?” asked Sausage finally.

I looked at Janne and then at Lennart. Sausage looked
at me. Were we all thinking the same thing? That Weine had been sent out by the grown-ups as a spy? I eyed Micke up and down. Could he be a part of it too? In that case, he’d become a grown-up as well in just a few days.

But I noticed how he kept glancing back into the trees with a worried look in his eyes. He didn’t look like a deserter. Deserters’ eyes aren’t like that.

“Guess we’d better rescue them,” said the archer from the other side of the wall. He raised his bow. “This’ll take me pretty far.” He pointed at my
katana
. “And you have your swords.”

“We ought to be able to take them by surprise,” said Micke. “They’re not expecting us to come back.”

It felt like everybody was looking at me. I could see the white patches glowing like dim lights in the darkening evening. Soon it would be night. Then what would happen? We had to do something. I tried to think—think really hard about what we should do. And why we should do it.

I understood that we were in danger. We all did. The kids at the camp were in danger. But I wasn’t quite sure how.

“We have to do something, Kenny.” It was Kerstin’s voice. “We can’t just hang around here.”

She had let go of Ann and had come toward me. She looked like a ghost that had transformed into a human being. Her face was no longer a white patch.

“I feel better now,” she said.

I think she even gave a little smile.

Maybe it was just something she said. When we were sitting in the lean-to, she didn’t look like she was feeling all that great. But she wasn’t silent any more. And it wasn’t silent outside either. I could hear sword striking against sword. Micke and Janne were practicing.
Kendo
. The way of the sword.

At one time, there were hundreds of sword-fighting schools all over Japan. It was always taken seriously. Nobody treated it like a sport.

The explorers had each been given a sword, too, but I knew the archer wouldn’t use his if fighting started.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Kerstin.

“I told you, I’m all right.”

“Have you got… any pain?”

“No. Not physical,” she said looking me in the eye. “He, Christian… tried to… but I got away.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“Have you got any more swords?” she asked after a pause.

We could hear the sword practice continuing behind the lean-to. She stood up and so did I. We could see the outline of the swordsmen against the sky and the forest. It was like a theater stage with cardboard cutouts. Shadow theater.

“I want a sword.”

“Then you’ll have to practice,” I said.

“Give me one, then.”

We practiced in the clearing. She was fast. Sausage and I had made the
bokken
she was using at the same time we’d made his. It was a twin.

“This is
kenjutsu
,” I said as I slashed through the air alongside Kerstin. “It means ‘the art of the sword.’”

I showed her a few of the sixteen different sword moves that the samurai used. They each had their own name: “Thunder,” “Wheel Attack,” “Pea-Slicer.” The Chinese had even more names for how you could strike with your sword—names that sounded like poems: “Tigers lurking at the front door;” “The black dragon strikes with its tail;” “The white snake stings with its tongue;” “Hold the moon in your hands;” “Stir up dust in the wind;” “Paint a red stain between the eyebrows;” “Turn around and hang up the golden bell;” “Pick stars with a hovering hand.”