by C. J. Anaya
The Samurai Wars started two years after my birth and had continued ever since. Though I hoped and prayed that one day the rebels would have the power to overthrow my father’s claim to the throne, I understood the gravity of the situation.
Breaching the palace walls was a near impossibility. Only a kami’s blood would be recognized by the walls of the palace. In the real world, palaces that lived and breathed were completely nonexistent, but in the empire of Kagami, The Ivory Palace contained its very own ki, or life force, and recognized that its purpose was to protect the kami that dwelled within.
If a samurai rebel did manage to find a way to breach the walls of the palace, he would be forever lost within its vast halls and corridors. The palace’s ki could sense an individual’s intent, and any rebel wishing to do my father harm would never reach my father’s rooms but would be led in circles throughout the castle until caught by the guards stationed everywhere. To fight against a living structure such as the Ivory Palace was suicide.
The only option, then, was to draw the emperor out and ambush him. Unfortunately, my father’s paranoia had left him a hermit within the walls of Zoutenotou, the palace’s proper name. I could count on my hand the number of times he had dared venture to take one step outside the palace walls.
My mother was the one who traveled the empire, doing her best to tend to the needs of the people, making them love her more and more and my father less and less. I never mistook her actions as anything having to do with love and kindness. She was a shrewd woman, understanding the voice and will of the people she ruled. Her motives were self-serving. She wanted to be the one the people turned to if ever the samurai rebels succeeded in imprisoning my father.
The war consisted of my father’s soldiers tracking and hunting down anyone suspected of involvement with the rebels, and he waged full-fledged battles with organized rebel troops. My father lost countless good men to the rebels and forced any male of sixteen years or older to join his soldiers for a minimum of five years. If they survived, they were allowed to start their own families and lead their own lives.
I often wondered how much longer my father hoped to rule as emperor without the other major kami getting involved. His behavior threatened the lives of innocent humans, and he was more than responsible for thousands of deaths. His hands were saturated in the blood of the innocent, yet the kami and their First Parents remained indifferent and silent.
It couldn’t continue on much longer. There had to be a way to stop it. For some time now, I had pondered the possibility that once I united with my betrothed and left the empire to fulfill my duties as The Healer that the other kami would step in and relieve my father from his duties as emperor. Then the people would be safe.
I also wondered if perhaps I could end it all now by escaping Kagami and joining the other humans in the main areas of Japan. Without my presence, my father would no longer be a necessary ruler of the empire, and perhaps it would be given to my mother, once she became a full kami. The gift of immortality was promised to her by my father on their wedding night. He had yet to deliver said promise, and I honestly doubted he ever would, but perhaps my mother could appeal to other major kami for the gift promised to her. It certainly wasn’t an unthinkable request.
I didn’t necessarily understand the process of a human becoming a kami with the help of another kami, though I knew it was called an ascension, but I felt uncomfortable with the idea that my ascension as a full kami was scheduled on my eighteenth birthday, the day I would meet my betrothed, Katsu, and be united with him by the god of love and marriage.
I couldn’t think of anything in the world I wanted to avoid more than that ceremony. My future husband would no doubt be just as pigheaded, domineering, and abusive as my father. Male kami were completely evil if my father’s behavior was any kind of indication.
For months now, I had thought of nothing but planning some form of escape. However, after having talked with Daiki, I no longer felt positive that leaving the empire was the best solution.
Staying and fighting my father for power over the empire held a certain amount of appeal, and would benefit thousands of people. I simply didn’t know where to start.
I glanced at the shift in the rising sun and hurried my steps, cursing myself for becoming lost in my musings and, as a result, slowing my pace.
I had nearly made it halfway through the forested path when I heard more scuffling and then an ominous sounding thunk cracking against the bark of a tree where my head had just passed. I stopped short and lifted my hand to the bark, wondering what could have possibly made such a sound.
My fingers touched the bark of the banyan tree and then slowly traveled a few inches lower until they came in contact with the cool feel of metal, jagged and edged with the sides moving out in a V pattern. I let my thumb and finger feel the two points at the top of the V and brought them together, almost touching before my fingers ran into the base of a small, metal shaft protruding from the V.
If I had possessed any sense at all, I would have recognized what had hit the tree and assumed that the weapon had been meant for me, but the idea that someone had shot an arrow at me purposely was almost too inconceivable to comprehend. Assassination attempts were always hazards for an imperial princess, but no one knew I was out here and most likely had no idea who I was. Therefore, it was reasonable to assume that there was a logical explanation for the black arrow protruding from the dark flesh of the tree.
It had to have been an accident, a hunter attempting to catch some local game and feed his family. I tried to pull the arrow from the tree, but when I wrapped my hand around it, I felt my skin begin to burn. I let out a hushed gasp and withdrew immediately. The slow rise of dawn made it only slightly easier to see the arrow. I studied the shaft, but couldn’t understand why it would have burned my skin. Then I looked to where the metal had embedded itself within the heart of one of the tree’s many curved prop roots. Black lines were spiraling outward from the point of impact and quickly singing the bark, leaving scorched patterns in its wake.
I backed up quickly and shook my head. “Impossible!”
Weapons forged in the land of the dead were common tales amongst villagers and royalty alike, but they, along with their large, cat-like wielders were merely myths meant to frighten children into obedience.
I knew better.
I knew enough about the land of the dead to know that there were kami, once good and obedient, who had turned against our First Parents and aligned themselves with the demon god Amatsu. Their souls were corrupted, and the evil they so desperately wished to inflict upon the world of the living soon changed them into ugly abominations called nekomata…Amatsu’s skilled assassins.
Kenji had pounded every facet of the land of the dead, its history, its inhabitants, the god that ruled over it and their weapons into my head time and time again. I had to learn about these weapons and these assassins because I was The Healer, the one meant to heal the veil between the living and the dead, thus preventing Amatsu from crossing over and making the world of the living his permanent home.
I was the threat, the proverbial thorn in this demon god’s side, and I had been warned by my overbearing father countless times that an attempt on my life by one or more of Amatsu’s assassins before I united with Katsu and became a full kami was inevitable.
There had never been a single assassination attempt throughout my entire life, and I had begun to wonder if perhaps my father had made it all up to scare me into submission and keep me a prisoner within the walls of the palace.
The scorched scarring of the tree dispelled any and all previous doubts. I took another frightened step back and felt something scald me sharply against the top of my left ear. I heard another thunk and saw the second arrow embedded within the tree.
Then the whole tree went up in flames, an alarming sight considering the many prop roots it possessed. The heat exploded in my face, throwing me to the ground. My right wrist buckled under my weight as I tried to
get into a standing position. I managed to get up, but threw myself to the ground when I saw something large and ominous out of the corner of my eye. Another arrow, a different tree…all meant for me. This forest was filled with banyan trees. I would be surrounded by fire within minutes if I didn’t find a way to move faster.
I grasped the scorched terrain with my hands and quickly pulled myself to a standing position as I heard the padding of soft, stealthy footsteps creep up behind me. When I turned around and beheld the thing that hunted me, I could scarcely believe what my own eyes revealed.
Not fifteen feet away stood a huge monster, something that looked like a cross between a human and a large, black panther. This creature was all muscle and sinew, covered in a layer of scraggly black hair. Its feet and hands were capped with claws that looked like enlarged, curved fangs or talons even. He wore strange straps of some type of animal skin to keep his large sword secured at his side. The sharp blade gleamed wickedly in the breaking sunlight. His muzzle was ugly and scarred, no doubt from countless battles within the ranks of his own assassin brothers, and he had two large tails undulating up and down behind him. I couldn’t have fled from this monstrous apparition even if I’d had the presence of mind to do so.
“You don’t wish to flee from me, Princess?” His mouth looked unnatural, trying to form the words of my native tongue. “I expected more of a chase from you.”
I thought for sure the nekomata would end me right then and there. Instead, he took several predatory steps forward until his grotesque features were merely inches from my own. He pointed one long talon to my left temple and brought it slowly down my face, applying just enough pressure to draw blood. I had heard that the effects of fear could paralyze one so completely that no power of will in any measure could make one react to the most basic instinct a human might have, that of survival.
My fear held my feet firmly in place.
The nekomata’s green slits monitored my face as I felt the cut he administered slowly heal before his eyes. Surface wounds, such as scrapes and cuts were easily remedied by my ki.
The nekomata made an ugly, satisfied sounding grunt, as if what he had suspected had been confirmed, and pulled his sword from its sheath.
“I will make this quick, though I love the thought of spending hours torturing a soul with the ability to heal. My brothers are more interested in eliminating this problem as quickly as possible.” He lifted his sword high above his head. “And since I am merely a slave to the will of my companions,” he took one step forward, “I must comply.”
The nekomata let out a strange cry, and I knew my life was about to end, but I couldn’t close my eyes. Just before the nekomata brought his sword to bear against me, he stiffened sharply, his eyes flickering wide with pain. His hands slackened, and the sword he’d intended to end my life with fell to the blackened floor between us. He crumpled forward, with black blood foaming at his mouth and the front of his chest.
And then he died.
I stared at the grotesque, lifeless figure on the ground. My eyes shot upward, terrified anew as I heard the sound of a twig break, ringing loudly in the silent wake of the nekomata’s violent death.
I couldn’t have been more surprised with what I saw. Left standing behind the beast was a handsome stranger with an unhappy look on his face.
The man was about six feet tall, well-muscled with dark hair to his square chin and dark, stormy eyes framed by the kind of brows and cheekbones only a god could have possessed. The hatred in his eyes made me feel as if I had just traded one enemy for another, until I realized his hate-filled glance was directed at the large, lifeless beast in between us.
He finally lifted his eyes to mine, and I saw a slow softening of his features as he took me in. He didn’t hide his interest but took his time studying me intently. It was an uncomfortable feeling, as if I had been placed on display at some vendor’s market, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. I wanted to break the silence but still hadn’t gathered enough of my wits to form a complete sentence.
He finally broke it for me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, still not daring to speak, barely able to look him in the eye.
He waited, continuing to stare at me, but he was confused. He seemed to be vacillating between anger and recognition.
“Are you from this area?”
I swallowed hard. “The village.”
“The village. What were you doing in the forest?”
“Ah…I…was gathering figs for breakfast.”
“This far into the forest? Surely you could have found some closer to your home or to the path, at least?”
“Well…I was being hunted by that monstrosity and must have come much farther than I thought.” This was not good. I needed to end this conversation as soon as possible and return to the palace before my father discovered I was missing.
“Yes, and that brings me to my next question,” he said, placing his sword point down into the earth and then leaning on it. His posture was that of one feeling casual, but his tensed muscles and strained features told a different story. This man was always prepared for battle, a warrior by the look of his sword and sheath. “Why was an assassin from the underworld wasting his time with an insignificant peasant girl?”
His obvious slight didn’t offend me in the least. I welcomed being mistaken for a peasant, relished it with all my heart. It made my job of healing others significantly easier. Having powers, being royalty or simply being different was something I couldn’t afford to have anyone outside of the palace discover.
“I couldn’t say, only that I may have interrupted him while he was pursuing his real purpose.”
The warrior quirked a confused eyebrow at me.
“He wasn’t hunting you? He didn’t make contact first?”
“No,” I lied easily. ”That is, not until I managed to stumbled across his prone form. Maybe he was sleeping?”
“Nekomata never sleep. They can’t. They can, however, lie in wait for what they are stalking to make its way over to them.” He eyed me shrewdly. “I don’t believe you.”
I felt my heart deflate. I was never going to get home in time with my identity intact.
He made his way over to me, stepping over the nekomata and placing his large frame right in front of my small one. Instinctively, I backed up a step and then stopped, realizing the movement was futile. I kept my eyes fixed on the forest floor but sucked in a sharp breath as he lifted my chin with his finger. Now he was forcing me to look up at him. I couldn’t help but feel slightly resentful toward him for that.
“Your manner, your dress, and your bearing indicate that you are far above a mere peasant’s class, and nekomata are sent by the demon god for one thing and one thing only.” The handsome warrior gently grabbed my right hand with his left and lifted it to his heart. “The Healer,” he whispered softly. “He was trying to kill the one meant to heal the veil.”
I shook my head defensively and tried to pull my hand from his, but he brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it.
I felt a shock go through me at this overbearing man’s bold and callous behavior. My father would have had him executed immediately.
“You will release me at once…please.” It was difficult to assert myself with a man. I simply wasn’t used to it.
The young warrior merely leveled me with a suggestive glance and then quirked his lips in amusement and turned my hand over, laying a kiss on the soft pulse at my wrist. He couldn’t have failed to notice how my heart rate sped up at this inappropriate contact.
I forcefully pulled away. “How dare you? You may have saved my life, but that hardly gives you the right to handle me in such an inappropriate manner.” I used the only threat I could think of that might be powerful enough to stop the young warrior’s idea of conquest. “I am betrothed to someone else, and…and he will no doubt kill you for touching me.” I had no intention of following through with my union to Masaru Katsu, but he didn’t have to know that.
/> The young warrior didn’t look at all frightened. If anything he looked happier with news of my union.
“Your devotion to a man you have never before met does you credit, young princess, but I’m not overly concerned about my demise at the hands of your betrothed.”
I inched backward, getting ready to flee the moment he attempted to touch me again. “And why is that?”
“Because, my dear, I am your betrothed. I am a kami, a warrior god and keeper of the Grass Cutter Sword.”
I looked up in horror as he inched closer and placed both his hands at my waist, pulling me to him.
“I am Katsu.”
Chapter Three
I shook my head several times, trying to take in this bizarre and rather unwelcome twist of fate. This man—couldn’t be Katsu. He wasn’t anything like I’d imagined. I had expected the man to be large and intimidating to be sure, but I hadn’t once considered the possibility that he might be beautiful to look upon or that I would be attracted to him in any way. I had pictured someone somber and remote; someone unwilling to address me unless it was absolutely necessary, but this man looked at me like I was the only thing he would ever want to look upon the rest of his life.
I fairly squirmed under the intensity of his gaze.
Katsu’s eyebrows narrowed ever so slightly. “Are you not happy to see me, Princess?”
My mouth opened in surprise at this unexpected question. Why would he care about my feelings? I clamped my mouth shut when I noticed him staring at it hungrily. I’d never before been kissed, but I knew what desire looked like.
Oh dear! This first meeting wasn’t anything like I’d thought it would be.
I cleared my throat with some difficulty, realizing that he had wrapped an arm around my waist during my awkward silence. “Forgive me, sir, but I was under the impression that the warrior god wouldn’t make an appearance until my eighteenth birthday.” I lowered my eyes to his chest when his smoldering gaze became too much for me. “I was told our union wasn’t to be finalized until then. So you see, I…wasn’t expecting you.”
