At an Intersection Named After an English King and a Saint
A Six Sentence Story: Part 36
Under a Veil of Single Malt Whisky
Pierre’s getting right up my nose lately; he and the scent of linseed oil are wedged in my sinuses … (it’s like pine trees damp with rain; it’s a scent you never forget, and it never leaves you no matter what you breathe afterwards) … and he says, “T’es en train de draguer qui là ?” … which knocks me back a bit, “I’m not flirting with anyone, Pierre, I’m having a fish finger sandwich and a beer with Nick, the Gatekeeper,” and Pierre turns his back on me and returns to painting, and I return to the kitchen.
Hanzō and Nick are smoking Aurora cigars and sharing a bottle of “Nikka Yoichi Single Malt”, and without hesitation (or asking), I pour myself a thin amber veil in the bottom of a glass; a swirl of liquid clings to the glass leaving delicate legs as it slides back to the bottom.
Nick leans in toward Hanzō as if wanting to absorb every nuance and word uttered, “…and you were there,” Nick says in tone that one’s ear could decipher as either a statement or a question, “I’ve read about Tokugawa Ieyasu’s battles with Udono Nagateru and Takeda at Kaminogō Castle, but you were there!”
“Hai, I was there, the year was 1562, by command of my lord Tokugawa Ieyasu … Takeda’s forces laid siege to Kaminogō Castle, and overwhelmed us by number,” says Hanzō with a softened intensity, “so I was entrusted with a task: to infiltrate the castle and weaken the enemy from within … I dressed as a humble merchant, and slipped through the Takeda lines and into the castle’s heart.”
Nick shifts his weight in the chair and clutches his leg, massaging the building discomfort in it, as his eyes dance bright as the sun over Lut Desert … discomfort or no, he was going nowhere; he wanted to hear more – this was a period of time with constant warfare and political intrigue, and Nick felt a connection to it.
Hanzō sips his whisky and moistens his voice, “I moved silently, my every sense heightened, intense, my every step silent, each twist and turn memorised and calculated … the castle was a labyrinth of hidden corridors and diabolical traps, but I am Ninja; I am samurai; I am the hunter … I am quiet disruption…”
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Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Story including the word “wedge”. Some artwork is created using Midjourney AI, and is identified as such in the ALT text or captioned. Images are copyright and not to used without permission, which I willingly give when asked, and when not for commercial use. Imagery and poems/prose ©Misky 2006-2024.
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