by I. J. Parker
His hands trembled as they worked, and when they were done, she came to him, passionately, pushing him back onto the floor, possessing his body with her own urgency, and bringing them both to gasping orgasm. When they were finished, she rose and dressed, grimacing with distaste, while he turned away abruptly and buried his head in his arms.
“Now what’s the matter?” she asked. “Come! We’re almost done. Don’t get weak-kneed now. You know what must be done next.” She went to a travelling box and picked up the sword that lay on its top.
“I can’t,” he muttered, watching her, his handsome face distorted with fear. “I can’t look at her. You do it!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! In her condition she won’t feel a thing. You would think a man with your background wouldn’t balk at using a sword.” She pulled it from its scabbard and extended it to him.
He shuddered. “We shouldn’t have done it here. The spirits won’t like it.”
Coward, she thought, and cursed under her breath. She turned to draw the sharp blade across the dead girl’s throat. It bit deeply, nearly severing the head from the body, but there was very little blood. Then she said softly to him, “Please get up!”
When he stood, she came to him, the bloodied sword in hand, and looked up into his eyes pleadingly. She knew he could not resist her. “Come, my love. I have made a start. You are strong, and must do the rest. Just do this one last thing, and we can put the past behind us and live like princes the rest of our lives.”
His eyes wavered before hers. He nodded. She pressed the grip of the sword into his limp right hand and gave him a little push. He took the few steps to the corpse, raised the blade high, and brought it down. The bright steel flashed in the candlelight. Again and again he slashed, in a kind of frenzy, until the blade was black with blood and the girl’s face was no more.
She stopped him then, and took the dripping sword over to the sleeping man, to wipe the blade on his clothes before placing it into his limp right hand. “There!” she said with a nod. “It looks well. Now quick, back to your quarters. I’ll join you at dawn.”
He gulped, his eyes on the horror he had made of the girl’s head.
Opening the door cautiously, she listened, then waved to him.
When he had left, she glanced once more around the room, pushed the bloody head a little closer to the body with her foot, then extinguished the candle. Moving to the door, she raised the latch, listened, and slipped out.
The moist, chill night received her. Her nostrils flared with the excitement of this moment. It was done! She was free. Then she pulled the door shut behind her, tried it and when she found it still unlocked, slammed it more sharply. This time, the latch dropped into place with a click.
For a moment she stood undecided. The distant light caught her beautiful face, moist lips smiling, but the eyes were hard and bright, the mountain lioness returning from a nocturnal hunt, her bloodlust slaked, but every sense alert to danger. Then she slipped away into the shadows quickly, gracefully.
Silence hung over the night-shrouded roofs until, faintly from a distant courtyard, the high, clear note of a temple bell called to morning prayer.
About the Author
I.J. PARKER was born and educated in Europe and turned to mystery writing after an academic career in the U.S. She has published her stories in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, winning the Shamus award in 2000. Several stories have appeared in collections, such as Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense and the recent Shaken. A collection of eleven stories, AKITADA AND THE WAY OF JUSTICE, is offered electronically. The award-winning “Akitada’s First Case” is also available as a podcast.
The Akitada series of crime novels features an eleventh century Japanese nobleman/detective. It now consists of nine titles. Many of these books are available in audio format and have been translated into twelve languages. They are also published electronically.
A historical trilogy, THE HOLLOW REED, tells the story of a young woman and two men during the final years of the Heian era when the Heike wars ended imperial rule and marked the beginning of the age of shoguns.
Also by I. J. Parker:
The Akitada Novels (in chronological order):
THE DRAGON SCROLL
RASHOMON GATE
BLACK ARROW
ISLAND OF EXILES
THE HELL SCREEN
THE CONVICT’S SWORD
THE MASUDA AFFAIR
THE FIRES OF THE GODS
DEATH ON AN AUTUMN RIVER
The HOLLOW REED trilogy, a Kindle exclusive:
DREAM OF A SPRING NIGHT
UNSHEATED SWORDS
DUST BEFORE THE WIND
Short Stories in collections and as electronic books:
“The O-bon Cat” (Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense)
“The Kamo Horse” (Shaken)
“The Water Sprite”
“The Fox Spirit”
“Akitada’s First Case”
“The Curio Dealer’s Wife”
AKITADA AND THE WAY OF JUSTICE
(Eleven Tales of Crime in Imperial Japan)
You may order any of these from Amazon.com
