Dragon's Cage

by Daniel Potter

  Three more warriors advanced on her, the rear guard, threading between the trees in as tight a formation the terrain allowed. Two bore spears but the middle held a long-curved blade of a katana. All were very similar to the weapons the dragon Sworn had wielded. Hawk surged forward to meet them, roaring like a great bear. Yet they did not break. The spears holders set their spears to meet her. Hawk stopped short to avoid being skewered and the trio leapt to the attack. The three were very skilled, attacking as one, katana chopping as the spear wields jabbed at her mid-section and legs respectively. Without accepting one of their blades into her flesh all Hawk could do was give ground. Words of song came to her lips as she danced side to side.

  All the morning

  All the night

  My feet are earth

  My eyes are sky

  Between the two is life.

  Hawk found herself laughing as the half-remembered words flowed. How long had she been since she sang? Never once while she fought for treasure in the sky. Each strike of her opponents had a beat to it, the thunder of her feet echoed through the forest. She opened herself to it. Memories flooding back of the land singing with her as she twirled her stick. Songs both silly and sacred spoke in her veins. The world opened to her she perceived her opponents not through her eyes but though the forest's breath.

  Shiny boy had regained his footing. His humiliation turning to dripping malice that leached into the ground he stood on. The Archer and the sword barer watched with growing awe. It would be so easy to ask the roots the trees to trip her attackers or ask a bird to peck at the back of their necks.

  It shouldn't be like this. Not in a land where the Two Rivers did not dwell.

  Hawk plucked Shiny boy's spear from his hand without looking. His cry of surprise cut off as seize the back of his neck and slammed into the dirt. The glorious connection with the all ended with the snap of his nose. The left spear man hesitate a for instant. That was all Hawk needed, she grabbed the other spear as it came and thrust it into the sword's path. Following her hand down the shaft of the spear. Hawk cupped his firm butt cheek and tossed him bodily into his fellows. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. "Three, four and Five." She counted the coup.

  "What are you?" Shiny spear boy asked as Hawk kicked him over onto his back.

  "Not from the mountain." Hawk smiled as she bopped him with her feathered stick but didn't really feel it. After a week of biding her time in that awful place, it should feel good to win without any strings attached. Yet, to find the All again after so many years made old responsibilities, now wrapped in a decade of guilt, stir in her stomach.

  Still, old wounds were no reason not to be gracious. Hawk extended her hand to Shiny Boy and he, after moment to collect himself, took it.

  Chapter 6

  She had to have it. A golden Torii pendent caught Yaki's eye as she set off to do some shopping the morning after their arrival. Something about the way the yellow metal caught the morning light and shined brighter than the rest of the trinkets in the dingy vendor stall.

  "Good eyes." The vendor grinned before Yaki asked him his price as her teeth stripped the last bit of meat from the fourth skewer she'd eaten since leaving the boarding house. He parted with it for half of a ridiculously first offer and tossed a cheap chain to hang it around her neck. For a gaudy foreigner like Run Away Feather, it looked good. For a savvy up and comer Yaki hoped to become after this shopping trip, it would be both gaudy and tacky to wear. Yet something about what the pendent signified appealed. She needed something to balance sense of uncleanliness that had clung to her since that priest had brushed her with that wand. No amount of scrubbing in the boarding house's bath had banished the feeling either. The image of Yaz'noth's mechanical heart pumping sludge through her veins stuck in her head like a barbed arrow. She let the small Torii settle on her chest, marking her heart as a sacred place and felt a little better. I'm not a monster, I'm simply ill. She told herself. That the priests didn't appreciate the difference was not her problem.

  Splurging over, Yaki focused on her purpose, to upgrade Run Away Feather's wardrobe to at least last season's fashion. And if Golden hills had one thing that was rich beyond comparing to either Valhalla or Lyndon it would be the fabrics. From lightest linens to the silkiest of silk, to the warmest wools, no country could compare. At least in their exports. The fabric industry was housed in within the market district and was one of the few areas where every class of Golden hills rubbed elbows. No single family had managed to dominate the industry so dozens of minor houses scuffled for space and contracts. The most luxurious silk dye house could be found sharing a wall with a shop that sold mass produced kimonos of course linen. Several times the bright colors the Five Great families forced Yaki to change her course. Mother had exhibited her to all of them in one way or another before the exile and a chance encounter with anyone she knew could be a disaster.

  Still despite some nobility dodging Yaki had found the clothing she wanted and was on the hunt for a different species of artisan.

  Yaki stood in front of an embroidery shop and pulled the torii pendent out of her mouth. She grimaced at the tooth mark in the shiny yellow metal. How long had she been sucking on the damn thing? Like a child... Ishe's voice mocked her from memories of their last hours on the Fox Fire. She let it fall by to her chest and scanned the windows of the shop again, the work in the window had fine stitching and lovely details but a sort of rough style. Sprinkled among the traditional geometric designs and imperial wolves were the more swooping tribal designs. A Jacket featured the visage of a bull buffalo, its flicking impatiently as it watched her examine the lesser works.

  Yes. He'd do. A breeze stirred the strips of red and yellow paper that curtained off the shop from the rest of the world. From the center strip, a wolf snarled out at Yaki. It seemed to be an odd place for a drawing, Yaki brushed the curtain aside, pulled the pendent out of mouth again and entered the shop.

  “I need it exactly like the tattoo.” Yaki told the embroiderer.

  "That’s... quite complex. And you want it smaller?" The tone of his voice spoke of the frown on his face. "On all of them?"

  Yaki pulled out the note of accounts from the Noguchi house from her bag and placed it on the counter. Delicate fingers picked it up and the embroiderer studied it through the circular lenses of his glasses. The wooden frames spoke of the trades man's middling means but he had several pieces in his small shop that spoke of a higher skill than the prices indicated.

  "I will need to send a runner to verify this." He said.

  "Of course." Yaki shot the man a gracious smile.

  "And you need at least one by morning?" He asked, copying the account details to a chalk slate.

  "I will pay you for the candle light required." Yaki stated.

  He grunted agreement. "Then I only have one question for you then. Who's chimerage do you carry and will they object making their symbol?"

  Yaki's smile faltered for a fraction of a second before she put twice the amount of effort into it. "She is called the Death Panther and..." She paused waiting for the mark to do something that would indicate an objection but nothing happened. "She does not object."

  "Never heard of her. Is she with you? Have you registered with the ministry?"

  "We cleared them at customs." Yaki answer in a tone that stated that was none of his business.

  "Of course you did." The man smirked.

  A rustle announced the arrive of a newcomer to the shop. Yaki turned to see a long limbed young man enter the shop clad in the yellow robes of the script academy. "Is it-" he burst out and then attempted to choke back the words as his eyes registered Yaki's presence. His prominent Adam’s apple dipped. "Ah, finished?" He said in a much quieter voice.

  The Embroider sighed, "I did what you asked." He took a shirt from below the counter and laid it on top of Yaki's pile of clothing. "But I'm afraid he was less than cooperative, Sir Gama."

  The young man named Gama cast a weary glance i
n Yaki's direction before circling around her and stepping up to the counter. He stepped up and picked a shirt up by the shoulders. A simple black shirt, it sported a small dusky colored fox curled up on the left breast. "It was supposed to be on the shoulder." Gama gave the Embroider a severe look.

  "He didn't want to be on your shoulder, he wants to be there."

  "My instructors will see him!" Gama's voice pitched high. Yaki had didn't bother suppressing her own smirk.

  "You'll have to work that out with him." He held out an account ledger and a pen.

  "I thought if you stitch them they don't move." Squinting through thick glasses, Gama took the pen and signed his name. Yaki studied him. The robe was a standard issue but around his waist he wore a beaded wampum belt, studded with pictograms.

  "Tricker's break rules. Particularly the ones you don't want broken." He refolded the shirt and thumped it into Gama’s chest.

  Gama took the shirt and shoved it into his satchel. "Maybe it will be useful outside of class." He grunted and turned. His eyes bugged, filling his lenses with their whites. Yet nothing occupied the empty space he stared at, next to where Yaki waited. Flashing a nervous smile, "Nice Kitty. I'll be going now." With swiftness and not turning his back, he exited through the doorway.

  The tradesman grunted, "He's an odd one. Apologies my lady for the interruption. I wanted that shirt out of my shop."

  "It’s-" Yaki's thought process stuttered back to life as she stared at the empty space next to her. The press of a warm body against her thigh confirmed her thought. "-Fine. We are done here anyway. Deliver the first dress to my current address. I will send someone, to pick up the others." As Yaki spoke she drifted towards the door.

  She didn't really hear the embroiderer's reply because she passed through the doorway, casting about for Gama. If he'd seen the Death Panther, how long did he have? A day? A week? He was easy to spot in the crowd, his tall frame and the yellow of his hori marked him as not being part of the district's usual fauna. This isn't really my business. Yaki told herself but her feet continued to follow in his wake. Would he be run over by a carriage? He didn't look sick. Several times he paused, took out the shirt and fingered the embroidery. He never even looked back. It was clear he was going back to the Scripts Academy but his route proved to be reluctant.

  Yaki's stomach gurgled, and she nearly choked herself attempting to swallow her pendent. She resolved to get a much shorter chain for it as he traded some more coin for snacks enroute from a vendor whose menu sported that broken wolf again. A new tribal sign? She didn't have time to ask, Gama was turning a corner.

  Chapter 7

  Gama's destination was not the academy, but Suri park situated outside its walls, one that beneath of the scent of tight rows of flowers, a certain note of foulness lingered. Dedicated to Suri Hana, one of the Golden Hill's most notorious duelists, the entire reason why the Katana had been outlawed for dueling purposes and led to the adoption of the Lyndon rapier. Suri had killed nearly every single one of his hundred and one opponents before being beheaded by the last one, the Steward of the era.

  The park appeared to shaped like a cross, two tree lined paths led to a depression in the center where the largest dueling ground stood outside the Steward's private residence. Beyond the cherry trees stood a row of tall hedges. Yet concealed by the trees gaps in the walls of greenery could be found. Through one of these gaps Yaki followed Gama and into a strange patch of seemingly untamed wilderness. Yaki momentarily lost track of her quarry among the trees and shrubbery. No one had maintained this portion of the park in decades and the flowering plants had grown feral. Flowering shrubberies seemed to fight with one and other and fruit trees bowed with the burden of still ripening produce.

  "Hey! There ya are Gama. You're late." A voice rang out.

  "Master Sen noticed you were absent from land management." Said a second with a slight squeak.

  "The man is jealous that I know more about crop rotation than he does." Gama snorted.

  Yaki carefully plotted her path towards the voices. A little voice told her that this was now officially none of her business. Whatever threat to Gama life existed couldn't be here, could it? Guro would be worried if she didn't meet him back at the boarding house. Resentment flared at the man, her leash. The Death Panther had wanted her to come here. Hadn't it? Slowly she worked her way into the brush. Sparrow had once told her that stealth wasn't about not making any sound but making expected sounds. Then he'd do a shockingly accurate bird call.

  Not helpful Sparrow. Yaki brush the memory away, working her way up behind thick apple tree. Looking around its trunk she found herself staring down into an overgrown dueling arena. It had only single ring of seating around it and it appeared the local kami had taken insult to the stone benches, which were choked with vines and debris. Yet the dueling circle stood nearly pristine, excepting a long crack across the stone surface. The simple arena consisted of a stone disk, twenty feet wide, a white ring marking the out of bounds line and a central dot. The rules were simple. When someone was driven out of bounds it was a point for their opponent if points were the determinate.

  Two young men were doing stretches. They both wore pale blue gi's over leather vests. Gama was hurriedly putting on his own gi. While Gama's limb length gave him an awkward quality, his back had a nice tapered shape to it. His friends would not have been a more of a mismatched pair. The first was broad and muscular, the look you expect from a naval recruit, not a scribe, Yaki named him Wolf in her head and the last one she gave the name Mouse. Much more typical of the type sent to the scripts Academy, Mouse was so short that most of the girls in Mistress Mana's school would have towered over him. He reminded her of Mr. Goshling, a visiting teacher from Lyndon, a tiny man whom the girls tittered constantly over as he vainly attempts to lecture them on the varieties of Lyndon teas.

  Mouse chattered at his fellows. "You shoulda seen it Gama. Ryouta sauntered right up to your pretty Xu this morning."

  "He did not!" Gama exclaimed. "And she's not mine."

  Wolf chuckled, "Right, you'd been needing not to get your tongue tangled up in your balls when she within twenty feet for her to be yours."

  Gama glowered at his friend.

  "ANYWAYS," Mouse said, grabbing hold of the conversation. "So Ryouta saunters right ups to Xu while she walking. Strutting like." Mouse heaves his chin in the air and wobbles from side to side as if his face is too heavy to bear. "And he's all like, I need a date for the ball and you're so prettah you'd be perfect." Mouse gave a stiff bow, his muscled expression cracking into a smirk as Gama leaned forward.

  "And?" Gama asked, his own voice nearly cracking. "What dunno?"

  Mouse shrugged. "Dunno, you know Xu. You can only hear her if your standing right next to that girl. Buuut..." Mouse's face broke into a wide grin.

  Wolf rolled his eyes as he drew his sword, and skewered a small rubber ball on the tip. "Stop stalling Mouse."

  "Maybe I should save the ending for after I win the bout." His eyebrows waggled. "Ehh fair and impartial judge?"

  "If you don't tell me now I'm going to run you through before Wolf has a chance." Gama said, wrapping his beaded sword belt around his gi.

  "Fine. So, I sees Xu's pretty lips move and truth to the gods, Ryouta flinches back as if she'd punched him in the nose. He turned red as a monkey's rump and went stiff as tree. The good lady Xu stepped around him, her button nose held high."

  Gama sagged in relief. "Don't scare me like that."

  Wolf scoffed as he and Mouse squared off. "You do have to speak to her to have any hope."

  "Why ruin my own hope? If I speak to her I'll likely wind up worse than Ryouta." Gama said, clasping his hands behind his back and assuming the space of a judge in a bout. "Begin."

  Mouse open his mouth to say something but Wolf slid forward with a stab and the comment became a squeak as Mouse leapt back to avoid the blow. The sounds of steel against steel replaced the conversation. Wolf went after Mouse with savage streng
th, striking out hard against Mouse's defense, knocking aside his parries. Mouse for his part tried to step around Wolf but only managed to put Wolf on the defensive for a moment at a time before he'd be staggered by the force of Wolf's parries. The match stayed even for about a half a minute, neither landing a blow. Then Mouse began to tire, Wolf grinned and with a wild swing, smacked Mouse's sword so hard that his torso spun with it. Mouse had no chance to get his sword back under control to dodge the incoming blow. The rubber tipped sword flexed as it punched at a spot over Mouse's heart.

  "Kill!" Gama Croaked.

  "Lucky shot!" Mouse retorted, rubbing at his chest.

  "Just like the last ten. You gotta bulk up Mouse." Wolf flexed.

  "Or stop trying to parry. Foot work Mouse." Gama offered as he capped his own sword.

  "Hmpf." Mouse grumped. "Easy for both you lummoxes."

  Yaki bit back her own chuckle from her hiding place. She hadn't even known these circles existed, the only time she had been able to practice dueling had been under strict supervision at the finishing school. She ached to join them. Memories of her own afternoon teas trading banter with the other girls swirled. A heart ache developed that was very different from the sizzling pain of the mechanical heart's operation.

  Mouse took up judging position as Wolf and Gama touched their swords together to start the bout. Setting his jaw, Wolf attacked aggressively but kept his attacks more controlled. Still blows slid off the Gama's sword as if there was no weight at all to the Wolf's blows, nothing Wolf did penetrated Gama's guard. Gama's greater reach and leverage carrying the day.

  Mouse yawned. "So failing the courage of asking Lady Xu, who's barely a bottom anyway, got yourself a backup plan for the Bottom's Ball?"

  Gama grunted, faltering a bit, Wolf drove him back toward the line. "I'm sure your mum can find you a nice Tribal girl in a heartbeat. Whatever happened to Rainbow the Plain?" Wolf grin wickedly as he battered down Gama's defense.