The Black Blossom: A Young Adult Romantic Fantasy (The Healer Series Book 2)

by C. J. Anaya

  “You will meet him this evening, my child. Your engagement ceremony will bring joy and happiness to our people. Of this I am certain. I am proud of you, young daughter. Fulfill your duty and your destiny.”

  I looked at him blankly for a few moments. My engagement ceremony? Hadn’t that happened two years ago? Betrothals and engagements were basically the same thing. Why were we repeating the process?

  His uncharacteristic behavior, coupled with the unexpected announcement of another ceremony, left me feeling slow and speechless. Had he not been made aware of the assassination attempt on my life and my subsequent meeting with Katsu?

  “I thought the ceremony took place when I was fifteen.”

  My father’s happiness melted away as he looked at me sharply. I had spoken without permission. I bent my head quickly and lowered my eyes to the floor. “Forgive me, Father.”

  He let out an unhappy grunt.

  “That frivolous occasion was more of a coming out party. Katsu could look upon you and decide if he wished to go through with it. Not that he had a choice in the long run, but traditions must be upheld.”

  In other words, I truly had been paraded around like an animal. Such a pity for Katsu, he didn’t have the luxury of choosing his own bride like most men did.

  “The engagement ceremony will take place tonight. This will allow you to train with Katsu unchaperoned. He will teach you how to harness your powers and combine them with the Grass Cutter Sword in order to heal the veil when the time comes. If you have questions, ask them now.”

  I wanted to ask him why he had sent Katsu away and refused to allow him to train me until now. Instead, I lifted my head but kept my focus on the floor. “How much time does the warrior god feel we will need for training?”

  “He wishes to train you until your eighteenth birthday, six months from now. In any event you will do all he requires of you and more in order to be ready for your future together. Is that understood?”

  I nodded.

  I felt a little easier, knowing I still had a few months to figure another way out. I hadn’t minded my first meeting with Katsu. Honestly, I was surprised by his kind attitude and protective feelings toward me, but after speaking with Daiki, I couldn’t help but feel that I was meant to make a difference in some other way. If I could stay here and help the suffering of my people, just as Daiki had mentioned, then maybe joining forces with the rebels was the only way to bring about the overthrow of my father. It was a dangerous idea, but it was also another option, and one that I could make for myself.

  “Excellent. Now, there is another matter most urgent and pressing for which I need your particular skill set.”

  I wasn’t surprised that no mention of my near death with the nekomata was brought up. My father had most likely had all of his questions answered by Katsu. Nor was I surprised that my father didn’t appear worried or overly concerned about my well-being, though you’d think he would have shown some consideration since his one trump card allowing him to remain in power had almost been assassinated.

  I continued to remain leery of his behavior, however. He was happy to the point of being near giddy. Clearly, he’d accomplished something important, and that knowledge worried me.

  “One of my generals has been wounded in battle. He has important information needing to be relayed to me and my other officers, but he is unconscious and incapable of sharing this information. I need you to come and heal him immediately. Lives may hang in the balance.”

  I was sure lives did hang in the balance but that he cared very little for whom those lives belonged to or if in fact those lives were saved. I did nothing to acknowledge my agreement. It would have done little good if I had agreed with him or not. The idea that I might refuse him would have been so foreign to him as to never have crossed his mind. I had no choice. I never did. I nodded my head with feigned acquiescence.

  “You will follow me to the healing room.”

  The mention of the healing room triggered a wave of anxiety. The room was little more than a secret chamber beneath the palace where various forms of torture were used to extract information. It didn’t matter to my father who the subject was or what side he was on. If there was information worth gleaning, he would use every avenue available.

  He turned and walked quickly toward the back door, never once doubting my attendance directly behind him. I would play the part I had played until it was no longer necessary for me to do so, and I would play it just as convincingly as if my life depended on it…which I was sure it did.

  He turned and made his way to the back of the long, rectangular room. His study was little more than a front for what lay directly behind the massive back wall laden with samurai adornments. He pulled roughly on the front of a solid gold sword firmly attached to the ivory wall, activating a mechanism within that unhinged a hidden door to our immediate right, slowly swinging it forward. The opening of the wall revealed a stone staircase descending toward a gaping maw of darkness.

  As a little girl I’d had nightmare after nightmare of descending these very steps. Aiko would wake me and stay by my side for the rest of the night, never telling either one of my parents how terrified I was. She knew my father would only punish me for such cowardice and my mother would show very little, if any, concern for the impact such a place might have on a child’s subconscious.

  I followed my father down the stone steps, noting, as I usually did, that the palace’s ki felt different in this particular area. More remote and less watchful. It made me wonder if it had abandoned this area of itself due to the way in which my father disrespectfully abused it.

  We must have traveled fifteen feet before the staircase leveled out onto a black cobblestone floor with moss covered walls. It smelled of mildew, death, and decay. Not many made it out of this hole with their lives.

  After traveling another twenty feet or so, we turned left into a small room where three of my father’s servants surrounded a table with a young man lying unconscious atop its wooden surface.

  I noted the blood oozing out of a gaping wound that traversed the entire breadth of his broad chest and shuddered at the pain such a wound must be causing him. I waited for my father’s permission to approach the young soldier and moved forward when he motioned his hand toward the table.

  The servants quickly dispersed at my approach, pushing into the shadows and dark recesses of the room. None of them wished to have any accidental contact with me. To touch a royal princess, even by accident, would have meant immediate execution. I hardly noticed, being used to such treatment by male servants.

  I tried not to look at my subjects’ faces so as not to get attached in any way. I didn’t want to know them or their identity, and I didn’t want to feel anything for them or their current, and I might add hopeless, situation.

  I placed my hands on either side of the young man’s head and closed my eyes, connecting with his ki immediately. The wound in his chest would be easy enough to repair. I sent images and instructions to his spirit to teach it how to accomplish such a feat in such a rapid amount of time.

  Any other injuries present were in no way life-threatening, and I knew my father would not wish me to expend any unnecessary power on trivial wounds, but I couldn’t prevent myself from addressing his broken wrist on the right side. I sensed from his ki that this was the hand he used to fight with, and if he could not hold his sword he would be considered unfit for his post and bring shame and dishonor to his family, providing he actually left this room alive. I hurried with my task, not wishing to raise any suspicion from my father, and then backed slowly away from the young soldier with my head bent and eyes to the floor.

  The soldier sputtered and coughed up some left over blood from the wound he had received and then opened his eyes. I wasn’t allowed to pay attention to the things that came after, but I wasn’t sure why my father thought I would be able to block everything out when I stood in the same room. Immediately dismissing me didn’t mean I ceased to exist.

 
I sank into the shadows and watched as the soldier surveyed his surroundings with a shrewd eye. He didn’t appear to be afraid like most soldiers upon finding themselves placed in this room. Instead, he let out a low, deliberate laugh and slowly sat up. He didn’t need to look at my father to know he was there. I sensed he felt very little fear, satisfied with his circumstances.

  I was convinced he’d gone mad.

  “Emperor Fukurokuju, this is quite the honor. I must have done something terribly heroic on the battlefield to have been brought here instead of the regular healing area.”

  I was astounded at his sarcastic tone and frank manner. The disrespect and unveiled hatred he exhibited toward my father was so foreign to me it nearly had me coughing and sputtering to try and distract everyone from this man’s egregious error. There were many who hated my father, myself included, but I’d never witnessed anyone brave enough to show it.

  I waited for my father’s explosive response, but it never came. Instead, he surprised me by letting out a boisterous laugh.

  “Isamu, I see you are no longer keeping up this tiring façade. Tell me, how long is it that you’ve worked with those samurai insurgents? Have you gathered sufficient intel to dispose of me and my thousands of loyal subjects?”

  I nearly let out a disjointed laugh. I couldn’t think of one living being in my father’s kingdom who would have considered themselves loyal to him. Then I realized what he was accusing this man of. He was a rebel; a samurai insurgent.

  This young man would never again see the light of day. I wanted to curl up into a ball on the floor and disappear into oblivion, knowing full well what would be required of me within a few moments.

  “Oh, we’ve done much better than that, but why share such information and spoil the fun that awaits you? I think silence at this point is a more satisfying option.” The man spoke with an easy assurance that didn’t fit with the dire circumstances he found himself in. He knew he was going to die, yet he didn’t seem to care.

  My father approached him, his pace slow and deliberate.

  “I think, young Isamu, you will find that willingly sharing what you know will be a less painful option than the methods I will use to ferret out what little you claim to know.”

  The soldier glared at him and bared his teeth.

  “I am aware of your methods and do not fear your torture.”

  My father stared at him for a few more seconds. A happy look lit his eyes; a morbid expression considering the circumstances, but I knew that look far too well.

  It was time.

  “Daughter!” my father barked.

  I jumped and hurried to collect my composure. Walking swiftly to the table, I placed my hands on either side of his head and prepared myself for the unpleasant part of my gift. I wasn’t sure what possessed me to do it; I’d certainly never allowed myself this liberty before, but I looked right into the man’s eyes and acknowledged that he did, in fact, exist. He stared back at me with no hint of fear or hatred on his part; just a strange kind of intensity that made me feel as if he were lending me some of his strength for the task that lay ahead of me. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my hands as I connected with him again.

  I was immediately hit with a loud voice calling out my name.

  “Princess, can you hear me?”

  I felt a wave of shock ripple through my entire body. The soldier was communicating with me. In all my life this had never before happened.

  When my father wanted information he would force me to connect with a person and command their ki to give up every detail of their life and transfer it to mine in order to extract any and all pertinent information that would help my father in winning this insufferable war. Anything that might give him an advantage was fair game.

  The process wasn’t painful for either myself or my subject, but once their memories were transferred to me, my father wouldn’t allow me to give them back and the person was left with nothing; no memory of their life, their loved ones or their sense of self. They were stripped of everything, becoming mere shells of what they used to be, and their ki almost always terminated itself within minutes afterward. It mistook the loss of self as irreparable damage to the brain, and death seemed like a logical conclusion to come to.

  That part was painful, for both of us. I always felt their ki searching frantically for some signal from the brain, some sign that it was still functioning properly. It would wait for me to share insightful information, and when nothing was given it would give up and rip away from the body.

  It had to be the worst kind of invasion a person could ever experience. It made me vomit every time.

  “Princess, we haven’t much time. Can you hear me?”

  I mentally shook myself and responded.

  “Yes, I can hear you, but how is this possible? I’ve never had anyone communicate with me before?”

  “There is no time for me to explain. I must get this message to you. Akane, the woman you met last night in the street, the one you healed, you remember her?”

  I thought of the woman I had quickly healed as I headed into the woods on my way back to the palace. I knew it had been a mistake to heal her like that. I’d given my identity away. I could only hope this woman had not revealed to the village that Daiki’s medicine friend was in fact, The Healer.

  “I remember. How would you know about her?”

  “I am her first in command. She feels we can trust you with our cause, with our mission to undermine your father and free our people from his tyranny. Was she wrong in believing this?”

  My mind was reeling from this information. He had called the woman Akane. Daiki had mentioned she was the leader of the samurai insurgents.

  “Your commander is correct. I have no desire to continue living under my father’s rule. I had been planning on leaving the empire sooner rather than later.” I couldn’t believe I was relating my plans, but my guard had completely lowered.

  “We need you here. If you leave now all of our planning will come to nothing. Are you willing to reconsider?”

  I kept my eyes closed and tried to keep my body still. I knew my father couldn’t hear this conversation, but having it right under his nose with his eyes studying me made me feel as if he knew everything.

  “You need to begin slumping forward ever so slightly. Your body, under normal circumstances, would be weakening from the memory transfer.”

  “Ah, yes, I had heard mention of your father corrupting your gift in such a manner. It’s for this reason I allowed my true sympathies to be discovered. We needed to speak with you.”

  He slumped forward a little and let out a soft moan.

  “Don’t overdo it. This part isn’t supposed to hurt.” He stopped moaning and slumped further down. I had to rest his head back on the table before I could continue my discussion with him. “You were prepared to die in order to communicate with me? I could easily refuse your request, and then what have you accomplished?”

  “True, but Akane and I both felt that our current predicament warranted taking such risks?”

  “What predicament?”

  “Our time is running out. If you wish to join our cause, leave your window unlocked tonight. Further instruction will await you.”

  “It is impossible for you to breach the palace wall and enter through my window without kami blood running through your veins.”

  “We know, and we have found a solution to the problem.”

  I nearly raised my eyebrows at this, but remembered to keep my face still at the last second.

  “Fine. I will honor your request, but that doesn’t mean I will join your cause. I am, however, willing to hear you out.”

  His relief was palpable and transferred through our link with surprising force.

  “I have just one more request, Princess.”

  “Yes?”

  “Please, when you receive my memories don’t share any information that would compromise our plans.”

  “I will have to tell the emperor something.�
�

  “Feed him false information. Tell him we plan on attacking his soldiers he recently sent toward the north. That would help our cause tremendously.”

  I wanted to ask how, but knew we didn’t have much more time left. My father had forced me to perform this particular procedure so many times previously, he was now familiar with how long it normally took.

  I was loath to do it. This young soldier had been willing to sacrifice his very life merely to pass along a request from his superiors, and I admired his honor and courage. I couldn’t imagine what they thought they could accomplish against an immortal kami such as my father, but they were willing to fight for what they believed in. I’d never fought against my father. I’d merely planned on running away. I felt shame course through me.

  “I will tell him what you ask, but perhaps there is a way to return you to your commander with spirit intact.”

  “How?” I felt his hope burning small and steady, as if he were afraid to believe he could possibly survive the outcome of this situation.

  “I will instruct your body to slow your breaths and your heartbeats for one hour. You will become unconscious and appear dead to all who look at you. Your body will be taken and placed in a cart and driven several miles from here where it will be dumped into a mass grave site reserved for the poor and seditious traitors of my father. They won’t burn your body to release your spirit to the gods or even bury you out of respect for the dead. My father has none, and will most certainly not pretend to have any for a traitor in his army.”

  “Then when I awaken I will be free, and your father will assume I am dead.”

  I felt his hope heighten as he realized this plan could work. I hurried to caution him.

  “This plan is not without risk. They may be very harsh with your body. You might awaken with broken bones or severe lacerations.”

  “I’ll take that over certain death, Princess. Thank you. I knew The Healer could be nothing like King Fukurokuju.”

  I may not have been like my father, but I certainly wasn’t planning on being The Healer for much longer. That title had haunted me my entire life. I wanted nothing more to do with it or what it signified.