The Dragon Scroll by I. J. Parker

smaller door in the rear wall and went through it into a dirt courtyard. It was empty also, but a short bamboo fence separated this area from a kitchen yard adjoining a neighbor’s tall plastered wall. When Tora peered over the fence, he saw the girl. She had her back to him and was bending over a basket of cabbages. He would have recognized those shapely hips anywhere. Calling out a greeting, he vaulted over the fence and came up behind her.
     
    She paid no attention to him until his foot kicked over a pail of water that spread quickly toward her. When it reached her foot, she spun around and stared at him. He repeated his greeting. Her eyes were quite large and very beautiful, but she made no sound and it suddenly occurred to Tora that she might be mentally deficient.
     
    “Don’t be afraid, little sister,” he said slowly, smiling at her. “I am Tora. The Rat told me where you live.”
     
    She shook her head and backed away.
     
    “Stop running away.” Tora was losing his temper and glowered. “Why don’t you answer me? You’d think you could at least say thank you.”
     
    She looked frightened and turned to run toward the house. Tora reached for her shoulder, but before he could stop her, his other arm was seized violently and he was pulled off balance; he received a very painful kick to the back of his knee and a sharp blow to his lower spine, and was then lifted, spun about in the air, and tossed. He landed against the trunk of a tree with a thud. By sheer instinct, he rolled and prepared to launch himself against his attacker, a dimly perceived shape coming at him. His lunge was met by a raised foot. The heel caught him squarely on the chin, knocking his head back against the tree, and turning day into sudden night.
     
    When he came to, he felt, through a painful haze, gentle hands on his face. A cool, wet cloth was pressed to his lips. He licked them, tasted salty blood, and opened his eyes.
     
    He was propped against the tree, and a girl was bent over him, not his girl, but a stranger. He looked past her for his attacker. There was no one else around.
     
    “I am very sorry about this,” the girl said in a strong, clear voice. “I thought you were annoying my sister. I keep an eye on her because she cannot call for help.”
     
    Tora recalled the ungrateful wench and glared. “What do you mean, she can’t call for help? There was no need. I called out to her several times. I introduced myself. She knew me. Not to mention that I had just saved the silly skirt from being raped. Why the devil should she call for help? What’s the matter with you people? And...” Tora pushed her roughly out of his way and got to his feet. “And who knocked me out? What, by all the demons from hell, is going on here?”
     
    There was no sign of his attacker, but he picked up a handy length of bamboo just in case.
     
    “I said I was sorry.” The girl bit her lip. “My sister, Otomi, is a deaf-mute. That is why she cannot hear or speak. I am called Ayako, and our father is Higekuro. He teaches martial arts, and we get a lot of rough characters walking in here because of our business.”
     
    Tora noted that she was good-looking, though not the beauty her sister was. But at the moment he was too enraged to care. “Oh, so I’m a rough character now!” he snapped. “Thanks a lot! Well, you can tell your father it’s customary to inform a man of the reason before knocking him out. Jumped at from the back, too! No wonder you get thugs here. No honest man would fight that way.” He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. “And to think I listened to someone called the Rat!” The girl flushed and rose to her feet. She opened her mouth to say something, but Tora was just hitting his stride. He was outraged. “And what’s more,” he shouted, “you would both be better employed looking after the poor girl than sending her alone to the market where any villain can lay his hands on her. Two bastards in