RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN IN
“SHOGUN”
© 2003. Okihei Enterprise, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Tribute to Richard Chamberlain

 

 
Mariko:"What is it?"
Blackthorne:"Nothing, my love -- nothing. Go back to sleep.
Mariko:"No. I wish to be with thee".
 Blackthorne:"Asleep or awake, thou are with me constantly".
Mariko:"In our private world".
Blackthorne:"Yes -- our private and special world. 
Would that we could live there forever.
Mariko pulls him to her.

 

 
Alvito is eating hungrily from the well-stocked table -- Rodrigues seated across from him.

Rodriques:"and where is the Ingeles now, Father?
Alvito:"At one of the inns south of Mishima. 
They should reach the city tomorrow --even at their leisurely pace".
Rodriques:"Is he fit, the Ingeles?"
Alvita:"More than fit. You would be surprised to see him".
Rodriques:"Surprised that he is still alive. Listen, Father, I know the Ingeles is an enemy and a heretic, but he saved my life -- and he's a pilot before he's anything else. And one of the best that's ever been. It's not wrong to respect an enemy, even to like one".
Alvita:"The Lord Jesus forgave his enemies -¬but they still crucified Him, if you remember. And worse, he is becoming Toranaga's confidant. At this moment, he may be the most
dangerous man in all Japan.
Rodriques:"The Ingeles -- why is he so dangerous"?
Alvita:"Toranaga is planning to give him back his ship and his men and his cannon".
Rodriques:"Serious? The Erasmus would blast the hell out of us if she caught the Black Ship twixt here and Macao - - or anywhere else for that matter. We're no match for her. She'd just dance around us and weld have to strike our colors".

 

 
Blackthorne:"How many people live here"?
Mariko:"Sixty thousand. Mishima is only a small city".
Blackthorne:"Small--In Europe, sixty thousand would not be considered small.
Mariko:"And would you rather be in Europe -- at this moment?"
Blackthorne:"I am exactly where I choose to be - and that is at your side".
Mariko:"And in our world?"
Blackthorne:"That is the only world that exists for me.
How far is Yedo?"
Mariko:"Only a matter of time".
Blackthorne:"How much time?"
Mariko:"Not enough".
Blackthorne:"No. You are wrong, my love. There is all the time in the world".
Mariko:"I wish that I could touch thee now". 
Blackthorne:"And I thee".
Mariko:"Tonight".
Blackthorne:"And every night in this world".

 

 
Mishima Inn House
Blackthorne is sitting on a cushion, a pretty maid slides open the inner shoji - - carrying a tea tray.
Maid:"Shitsurai shimasu, Anjin-san. Moo sukoshi ocha wa ikaga desuka"?
Blackthorne:"Iye".
Blackthorne consults the dictionary quicky.
Kore de -- Kore de moo kekko desu".
Maid:"Ojama shite sumimasen deshita".
Blackthorne:(to himself) I'll be damned. It worked".

 

 
Mariko lies in Blackthorne's arms, his fingers moving over her -- the room dark.
Blackthorne:"I love to touch thee".
Mariko:"I love thy touch. I have never known the feeling. My body and my soul have learned so much from thee".
Blackthorne:"Then let me touch thee more. Beyond the First Bridge at Yedo".
Mariko:"No, my love. But do not speak of that now. Tonight the First Bridge does not exist. It is ten million times ten million sticks away. Reality is only here".
Blackthorne:"I am trying -- but how can you stop a thought from coming into your head? Sometimes that dark mist creeps into my brain like a night fog and then there is no peace within me".
Mariko:"Yes. You must learn, my love, to drink tea from an empty cup".
Blackthorne:"How can you do that"?
Mariko:"You take the cup in your hands and you think reality into it, you think the tea is there -- the warm, pale green drink of the gods. You concentrate and you believe that it is there. A Zen teacher could show you. It is most difficult, but so easy. And in those moments of sadness or loneliness, the taste or that unreal tea seems to give a meaning to life".
Rodriques:"Hey, Ingeles! Where the hell are you"?
Blackthorne:"Rodriques"!
Mariko:"Go quickly, my love. Before Captain Yoshinaka comes"!

 

 
The Guards in front of the house have their weapons ready, Yoshinaka coming up the steps onto the veranda -- as Blackthorne comes out.
Rodriques:"Hey, Ingeles! Tell these monkeys to let me pass".
Blackthorne:"Hey, Rodrigues. I'm coming".
then, to Yoshinaka "He's my friend".
Rodriques:"Madonna you. look good to me, Ingeles".
Blackthorne:"Where did you come from? How did you find me"?
Rodriques:"I'm anchored at Nimazu. Father Alvito told me you'd be here, so I took a horse and rode as if the devil himself was after me. This is the fifth inn I've been to -asking where the great Anjin-san was -- the big barbarian bandit.
Blackthorne:"Come on".

 

 
Rodrigues starts to follow Blackthorne up the steps onto the veranda -- but Yoshinaka moves forward, holding up his hand, blocking Rodrigues. Yoshinaka turns to the Samurai Guards. Instantly the Samurai Guards leap forward and Rodrigues reaches for his pistol. Blackthorne steps between them.
Blackthorne:"Let them have your weapons. It's not because of me. It's Lady Toda -- she's in the house. You know how touchy they are about weapons near one of their lords or ladies. There's nothing I can do".
Rodrigues:"Why not. After all, I'm among friends".
Rodrigues removes his pistol and rapier and offers them to Yoshinaka -- who hands them to one of the Guards. Rodrigues starts up on the veranda steps, but Yoshinaka stops him again.
The Samurai Guards seize Rodrigues, pinning his arms and searching him quickly -- finding knives in both boots, another strapped to his left foream and two small pistols inside his coat.

 

 
Blackthorne:"Is this how you usually visit your friends"? 
Rodrigues:"The land's hostile. You know that. Tell them to let me go".
Blackthorne:"Is that the lot? Everything"?
Rodrigues:"Of course. Tell them to let me go, Ingeles".
Blackthorne:"And this? Answer me honestly -- or I'll have them search the way a Spaniard would".
Rodrigues:"In my hat band".
Blackthorne feels the band next to the feather -- and pulls out an even thinner stiletto from the hatband.
Blackthorne:"Before God, Rodrigues -- is that all"?
Rodrigues:"Madonna, I told you"!

 

 
Rodrigues:"Is it all right to sit down, Ingeles"?
Rodrigues sits next to Blackthorne, shaking his head, sourly.
Rodrigues:"Searched like a common criminal -"
Blackthorne:"You lied about your weapons".
Rodrigues:"Yes, well -- you were right and I was wrong. Even so, it's good to see you".
Blackthorne:"And you".
Rodrigues:"But the world's a foul place when you can't trust anyone. I came in friendship and now there's a hole in the world".
Blackthorne:"Armed -- in friendship"?
Rodrigues:"I'm always armed like that. That's why I'm alive.
Listen, Ingeles, we have exchanged many insults -- all in friendship, no? Tonight I came to see my friend and now I have no friend".
Blackthorne:"No"?
Rodrigues:"Perhaps it's just as well. Being friends with thee complicated my life extraordinarily. Thou art too dangerous, Ingeles".
Blackthorne:"So you came here to kill me"?
Rodrigues:"My people and my country would both be better off if you were dead. Sad but true. How foolish life is, eh, Ingeles"?
Blackthorne:"I don't want you dead, Pilot. Just your Black Ship.
Rodrigues:"Yes, I know. Listen, Ingeles, if we meet at sea, you in your ship, armed, me in mine -- then look to your life. That's all I came to promise you -- only that. I thought it would be possible to tell you that as a friend and still remain your friend. Except for a sea meeting, I am forever in your debt.
Blackthorne:"I hope to catch your Black Ship at sea, Rodrigu-san. And when I do, I will still think kindly of you".

 

 

 
Rodrigues:"Then it's all said. Except one thing. That night on the frigate when I threw you overboard -- that night your Lord Toranaga sold you to Captain Ferriera. Who are your friends now"?
Blackthorne:"That night on the galley when you swerved into the wind -- that night you tried to put me overboard".
Rodrigues:"Yes -- yes, it's true. And I don't ask forgiveness. Not anymore. With thee, heresy has come to Eden".

Rodrigues turns and walks away -- back toward the gate. Blackthorne doesn't move -- just watching him go.

Mariko:"He was going to kill you, neh"?
Blackthorne:"I don't know -".
Mariko:"What did it mean -- to search like a Spaniard"?
Blackthorne:"They probe in private places - and not gently. The call it to search with significance. Sometimes they use knives".
Mariko:"It is the same here, Anjin-san. That is why it is never wise to be captured. If you are captured, you have dishonored yourself so completely that anything the captor does -- well, it is best not to be captured".
Blackthorne:"Captain Yoshinaka was right to search him. 
Was that your idea"?
Mariko:"Please excuse me, but I was afraid for you".
Blackthorne:"It is sad, isn't it, not being able to trust anyone".
Mariko:"It is not sad, Anjin-san. It is just one of life's most important rules -- no more, no less".

NEXT: CHAPTER 37 SHOGUN

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