The Emperor's Men 7: Rising Sun. Dirk van den Boom

a long time, and he had never been accused of thinking on a small scale.

      “What do you mean, Captain?” Aritomo asked.

      The officer’s body tightened. “That’s obvious, Mr. Hara. I don’t know what streak of fate has brought us here, and I don’t know if we will ever be able to return. Maybe we will never find out. Maybe we are stranded here forever. If that’s the case, we need to get set up here. And for us, given the current situation, this can only be achieved through absolute dominance. These are savages. They build very impressive buildings and certainly have their skills. But they are obviously inferior to us all, a race of natives who even consider us quite as being quite superior.”

      Inugami showed a joyless grin. His eyes remained cold, calculatingly staring at the four men working their way up the pyramid.

      “And how right they are, among us is the divine scion of the Emperor. All of this fits so well together, as if fate has chosen us to emerge here and play an important role.”

      Aritomo controlled himself so as not to shake his head involuntarily. Had Inugami been hurt? Given his situation, how did he come up with such thoughts, without any clue, without any foundation? He didn’t know any hard facts. And he planned …

      “Foreseen?” Aritomo echoed.

      “Foreseen, yes.” Inugami waved to the four men, who approached slowly and cautiously. “They want something they can worship? We will give it to them. And something worthy of it: the Prince of our divine Tenno, who also represents for us the connection to the heavenly powers. But worship will not be enough if we are forced to establish ourselves here.”

      “The boy is still a child,” Sawada pointed out.

      Inugami waved his hand with a dismissive gesture. “That shouldn’t stop us. He is a symbol and represents the significance of what is about to unfold – for us who are stranded here, and those who urgently need direction and guidance.”

      “We know too little …” Sawada wanted to object, but Inugami interrupted him harshly. Aritomo saw that the old man was plagued by the same doubts as himself, and they exchanged a brief, meaningful glance.

      “We know enough,” Inugami said. “And what we haven’t yet learned doesn’t change the situation we are in right now. There come the notables of this city, as I agree with Second Lieutenant Hara. If we now show weakness and willingness to compromise, sooner or later we will be at the mercy of these barbarians. If we show superiority and strength, then we have a chance.”

      Although there was some opposition to the Captain’s premature conclusions, Aritomo recognized the logic in those words. And the risk.

      “We don’t even speak their language!” Sawada complained.

      Inugami laughed. “Then we’ll learn it. It can hardly be more complex and demanding than our own!”

      Before Sawada could continue the argument, Inugami imperiously raised his hand.

      “Enough of the discussion. The savages are close enough. We don’t want to show any dissent, but only determined unity.”

      Aritomo nodded involuntarily. No matter his objections to Inugami’s vision, this was neither the place nor the time. Sawada, too, finally seemed to understand this. He lowered his head and said nothing.

      They watched silently as the four men approached the boat as far as the debris of the indented pyramid allowed. Inugami waved. A sailor let the prepared rope ladder slide down the edge of the tower. Inugami turned to Aritomo and Sawada.

      “You come with me. The two bodyguards give us protection from here.”

      The soldiers nodded and raised their Arisakas. At such a short distance, they would make short work of the four savages if they were cause trouble.

      Then Inugami began the descent.

      When he reached the bottom, the four strangers didn’t stir. They stopped waiting. Aritomo saw that they carried no weapons. That was a good sign.

      He followed his commander, then came Sawada, who needed a little longer.

      The two groups stood silently for a moment. Then Inugami stretched out his arms and said solemnly: “In the name of Tenno and his son, I take possession of this city for the Japanese Empire!”

      Aritomo stared first at Inugami – the man couldn’t seriously mean that! – and then the four savages, who made a confused impression. Of course, they didn’t understand a word. Aritomo understood the words but had massive reservations in regard to their content.

      Inugami pointed to the crumbling floor of the pyramid level in front of him, where they all stood. His gesture was imperious, his expression mild.

      “Kneel!” he said loudly and slowly.

      The four men looked at each other.

      “Kneel!” Inugami said again, and now his voice got a threatening undertone.

      As one of the men bowed deeply, Inugami looked pleased, nodded, encouraging him with his gestures. All four savages bowed, and the commander seemed to consider that sufficient. He had made clear who was in charge here.

      Then, returning to the undivided attention of the Maya, he patted his chest and said, “Inugami!” He then pointed to Aritomo and spoke aloud: “Hara!” Finally, his finger pointed to Sawada, and he pronounced his name clearly. It was hard to misunderstand, and the savages repeated the procedure on their side.

      For Aritomo, the names were barely understandable. The youngest man among the four seemed most able to express himself. Aritomo thought he had heard “Chitam.” Sawada pulled out a writing pad and began to take notes and the Maya, as the teacher had called them, watched with interest.

      The young man called Chitam turned his upper body to the city and made a sweeping motion with both arms. Then, very slowly and clearly articulated, he said, “Yax Mutal!”

      This was undoubtedly the name of the city. Aritomo repeated the name and the gesture and seemed to find agreement with his counterparts.

      “That must be enough,” Inugami mumbled. “We have to discuss the way forward. We’ll get back to the boat!”

      He waved to Sawada and Aritomo, who immediately climbed the rope ladder. Then the commander followed. As they stood up in the tower, the ladder was pulled up and the men gradually disappeared inside the boat.

      The four Maya made no move to follow them.

      Inugami closed the hatch of the bridge above them, and they all stood together in the control room. The young Prince joined them, looked questioningly at Sawada, then turned his gaze to Inugami.

      “Lieutenant,” the Prince said slowly. “I heard what was said outside. Where are we?”

      Sawada glanced at Inugami and answered instead. “Your Highness, there are two questions to answer: Where are we – and when?”

      If the Prince was afraid, he didn’t show it. His stoic composure was convincing, but how much of it was acting, hard training and what was his actual attitude? Aritomo looked around. On the faces of the other crew members was tense attention, a little fear but no panic. They maintained discipline.

      That was reassuring.

      “When?” the Prince repeated.

      “The civilization of the Maya we are confronted with has not existed in this form for many centuries. It’s just an assumption, but whatever brought us here took us not only through space but through time.”

      Everyone exchanged blank looks.

      “A daring claim,” Inugami said, though he seemed to have already accepted that explanation inwardly, as it offered him considerable opportunities to the extent of which he had already outlined. He felt, it was clear, as a conqueror who was chosen for great things, a man with a mission.

      “A claim that explains what we’ve just experienced.”