by James Harden
Ryu
The monster was slowly making its way back towards the house. It was taking it’s time, like it was enjoying the hunt and the chase and the kill. It walked slowly yet each step covered a lot of ground. We did not have long. We needed to hide. Running was not an option. We would not last five seconds on the run. My heart was racing, my hands were shaking. I was breathing hard and loud.
My stepfather grabbed me by shoulders and put his finger back up to his lips.
“What the hell is that thing?” I asked.
“Ryu, be quiet!” my stepfather whispered through clenched teeth.
He put his hand over my mouth and looked outside the window.
I followed his gaze.
The monster was now bent over the carcass of the horse it had ripped in half. It was feeding. Eating the raw meat, eating its guts. Drinking the blood.
The color had drained from Kimiko’s face. She had her hands covering her mouth so she wouldn’t scream.
My stepfather swore under his breath. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I snuck out. I went to Aso. I wanted to see if the rumors about the Shogun were true.”
Before I could tell him what had happened at the village, about the massacre and the Dark Shogun and the shadow warrior, he stood up and moved over to the far wall of the bedroom. Hanging on the wall was a drawing that my father had sketched the night before he fought in the Great War. It was a drawing of a dragon twisting and flying through a bamboo forest.
My stepfather reached behind the drawing and pulled on some sort of hidden lever.
The drawing had been concealing a cupboard. It now swung open to reveal a set of Samurai armor. Sitting in front of the armor was a short sword. Sitting next to the sword was a scroll.
“What is all this?” I asked.
“This was your father’s armor and his short sword.”
I didn’t understand. “Why would you hide this from me?”
He took up the short sword and the scroll and handed them both to me. The short sword was deceptively heavy.
My stepfather looked at me and held my gaze. “Take this scroll to the House of Fire. Deliver it to Lord Sato Okinaga.”
“What is it?”
“It is knowledge. It is power.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You must guard it with your life,” he said, ignoring my question. “A war is about to begin.”
“A war?”
“Yes. And now, we go into battle.”
I took a step back. “What? You can’t be serious? That monster, that thing is out there.”
“We have no choice.”
“But I don’t even know how to use a sword.”
“You will learn. It is in your blood.”
I could not believe what my stepfather was saying. He had been so against me learning about any sort of martial art and now he wanted me to go into battle against these monsters?
“We should run,” I said. “We should hide. There are more demons coming this way. I saw a shadow monster for crying out loud. And the Shogun, he snapped the innkeeper’s neck with one hand. They killed everyone, the entire village of Aso. They burnt it to the ground. Not just the men, not just the Samurai. They killed everyone.”
I was rambling so my stepfather grabbed me by the shoulders and punched me in the jaw. I fell back on my ass.
“We have no choice,” he repeated.
“But they’re killers,” I said, holding the side of my face. “They won’t stop. They can’t be stopped.”
“They can.”
“How?”
Kimiko had remained below the window, keeping a watchful eye on the monster. “Guys, that thing is nearly done feeding.”
We had nothing to fight with but a couple of swords and blind courage.
It sounded like complete madness.
It was complete madness.
“Ryu, unsheathe the sword,” my stepfather instructed.
I did as he said. I did not ask questions.
As I unsheathed the sword, my stepfather explained the history of the weapon to me, talking about it as if it were a sacred thing.
“This sword belonged to your father. Together with its longer companion, the katana, it is the ultimate symbol of the warrior, of the Samurai. The blade is perfect in every way. It has a perfect killing curve; it is lightweight and yet incredibly strong. It is easily carried, it is easily concealed and it is deadly. The wave-like pattern that follows the length of the blade tells the story of the sword. If you master it, the sword will sing you its story. It will tell you its secrets.”
My eyes followed the pattern along the edge of the curved blade. I imagined the battles the sword had seen, imagined the lives it had taken, the duels it had survived. Carved into the steel on the lower part of the blade just above the hilt was a symbol of a two dragons circling each other.
“What is that?” I asked, referring to the carving.
“Those dragons are the symbol of complete mastery. They represent the perfect harmony of ying and yang, of internal and external elements.”
I looked at the small carving. It reminded me of the drawing on the wall.
“Your father was a dragon. He was a warrior of the highest level.”
I held the sword in my right hand and slid the scabbard in the waist of my pants. I thought I could feel some of the sword’s spirit, maybe even some of my father’s spirit flow through the blade into my body. But then again maybe it was just fear and excitement and nerves flowing through my body, speaking to me, telling me to run. Telling me I should be anywhere in the world but here.
“Ryu,” my stepfather said, “This is your sword now. It belongs to you.”
“But I’ve never even held a real sword before. You didn’t want me learning this stuff, remember?”
“That does not matter. All you have to do is open your mind.”
“And then what?”
“And breathe. The sword will speak to you.”
Kimiko ducked below the window. “It’s coming back. It’s close now.”
“Go,” my stepfather said. “Find the other horse. He’ll be in the back paddock. Near the river. I promise you.”
“And then what? Where the hell are we supposed to go?”
“Get to the top of the mountain. Get to Lord Sato’s residence. Give him the scroll.”
“What about you? What are you going to do?”
He turned to Kimiko, ignoring my question. “Can you use that bow?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered confidently as she removed the bow from around her shoulders. “I was taught when I was very young.”
“Good.”
He went back over to the secret cupboard and retrieved a handful of arrows and handed them to Kimiko. “Be careful. These are not normal arrows. They’re explosive tipped.”
“Where did you get these?” I asked in disbelief.
Again, he ignored me.
“I need you to fire them at the stable,” he instructed Kimiko.
The monster came back to the ruins of the horse stable and continued to sniff the air. “Come out!” he shouted. “I know you are in there. You have been breeding war horses. War horses are outlawed by order of the Emperor and the Shogun. Come out here and face your punishment.”
Kimiko loaded one of the explosive tipped arrows and crouched below the window.
My stepfather held up his hand telling her to wait.
“If you give me the girl,” the monster continued. “I will spare the rest of you. I have followed her for a long time. I have tracked her over many miles.”
My stepfather nodded, giving Kimiko the signal to fire. She rose up and shot the arrow right at the wreckage of the stable. The explosive arrow hit the wooden beams and burst into flames. She then fired two more arrows in quick succession.
Despite the flames and the explosions, the monster did not move. He did not flinch. “This is your last chance. Give me the girl.”<
br />
“What is he talking about?” I asked. “Why does he want you?”
“Ignore him,” my stepfather said. “He is a demon. He will offer you temptation. He is a liar. Ignore him.”
All around us I could feel the heat of the fire grow and intensify. The flames snapped and cracked.
I lowered my head. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
My stepfather nodded. “That is a good thing.”
“What? How is that good?”
He moved back over to the window but did not bother to hide. He was staring at the monster. “You must get to Lord Sato’s residence,” he ordered. “The House of Fire. Give him the scroll.”
“What the hell are you doing? Get away from the window!”
“I am facing my enemy. I am going to war.”
“You’re going to fight that thing?”
“Yes. It is my destiny. It is what I was born to do. Now go. You won’t have long. Go! Run!”
My stepfather jumped out of the window, unsheathing his sword as he flew through the air. Before he landed, he threw a fistful of explosives at the feet of the monster. Smoke and noise completely engulfed its massive frame.
The monster just laughed. A deep, bellowing laugh.
My stepfather sliced downwards with his sword, slashing open a huge cut on the monster’s bare chest. He then ran the sword right into its body, right into its gut.
But again, the monster did not flinch. It kicked my stepfather in the chest, knocking him off his feet. It grabbed the sword that was still deep inside his gut. He yanked it out and broke the blade in half.
The monster then picked up my stepfather and began pulling his arms out of their sockets.
My stepfather screamed in pain. “Ryu! Go! Get out of here!”
The roar of the fire and the explosions overwhelmed me. The mixture of sounds made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, made me turn and run.
I grabbed Kimiko and closed my eyes. I tried to think of some place safe, any place but here. We had to get away.
The forest.
The caves near the volcano’s crater.
The floorboards shifted under our feet, but we didn’t move. Just as I feared, I was too tired. I couldn’t focus. I didn’t have the strength. I fell to my knees and hunched over. I was completely exhausted.
Come on Ryu! Focus!
I needed to concentrate. If I couldn’t get us out of here we were dead.
Kimiko moved back over at the cupboard.
“What… what are you doing?” I asked, between deep breaths.
“We need to slow him down,” she said. “We can’t outrun it.”
She had grabbed another explosive tipped arrow. The last one.
She swiftly loaded the arrow into the bow. She took careful aim and launched it directly at the monster’s eye.
She did not miss.
Flames exploded in the monster’s face and the arrow stuck right into the eye socket.
This time the monster flinched. But as it did, it tore my stepfather in two and threw his lifeless body into the flames.
I wanted to scream out but it all happened so fast.
The monster held its injured eyeball, roaring in pain and fury.
I stood motionless in front of the window. My stepfather had just been brutally murdered. Torn in half by a monster from hell.
A war was about to begin.
My stepfather had sacrificed himself, given his life so we could get away. So we could escape.
But I couldn’t move. I was frozen. My feet were nailed to the floorboards.
“That should slow it down,” Kimiko said. “Let’s go.”
I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t help but feel we had just made things worse. I couldn’t help but feel we had just made the monster angry.
And I couldn’t leave. I tightened my grip on the short sword and fantasized about revenge. I would slide the blade through the other eyeball of the monster. Take its sight. And then I would take its life.
Kimiko grabbed me by the arm. “Come on! We need to go! You can’t fight it. You can’t. Your stepfather gave his life so we could get away. So come on!”
She was right of course. But I still couldn’t move. I had entered this weird state of shock. I was completely stricken with grief. I felt as though my entire body was made of stone.
If Kimiko hadn’t pushed me down the stairs and forced me to run, I would have died there, alongside my stepfather. I would’ve been ripped in half and eaten by a monster, a demon from hell.
