Blade of Retribution

by Lynn Francis

  The idea had been Shinji’s when Yoshitsune had demanded they do something to help with the battle. Inoue had felt the threat significantly less than Shinji. And yet she had developed feelings of fondness for the mortal and everything they had gone through. When Shinji suggested they use the rumor that was flying around that there was what appeared to be a sleeping human child beneath the waves to their advantage she had been hesitant but finally had agreed.

  “The only thing is I need to be rowed as close as possible to Tokiko no Taira’s boat. As soon as I enter the water the true Netsuke will know I am here.”

  And that is why she had been rowed out, herself calm among the chaos. Until she was close enough to leap onto the boat that sheltered Kiymori’s widow and his grandson the emperor Antoku. She refused to think about how she would get back if the men who had rowed her out were dead and unable to do so. Neither the water nor an encounter with Netsuke was prominent within her desires.

  When she landed she rushed by samurai but she dropped her hood to reveal her illusion of a woman covered in shimmering scales and she held up her hand.

  “I come to speak with Tokiko no Taira” she demanded.

  The men hesitated but the woman must have been watching and emerged herself.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “I am Netsuke: Daughter of Ryujin, the Dragon King of the Sea. We have an empress for Antoku. Join us, come live with us beneath the sea. We promise there a kingdom with power and freedom that this land one could never give.”

  Tokiko no Taira stood a few moments observing Inoue before she answered.

  “I will think about it, if the battle turns against us I will do what you wish. I will even go and prepare the emperor now in case it is the choice we must make. But I do not wish to make it unnecessary.” She bowed before adding “please do not be offended by my doubt great daughter of Ryujin. But I am a mere human who will cling to this life until all hope of it is lost.”

  It was enough for Inoue for the moment. She nodded and swiftly replaced her hood before rejoining the men in her boat and heading for shore.

  Once Riku left the safety of the woods and arrived on shore the Tengu swooped in and joined the fight. Although they concentrated their attack upon the Taira, they were not particularly discriminate against any of the humans.

  Ryūjin appeared from the waves not too distant from shore. “Come fight me!” he roared.

  “You come and fight me” demanded Riku as he took out his sword and bared his fangs at the dragon in the water.

  Ryūjin roared and as he did another dragon joined him. This one was female.

  “Inoue has dared to touch these waters” she shrieked and she flung a ball of compressed air with a small child inside of it to the shore. “I can no longer hold her and keep my promise to keep her as safe as possible! If you will not assume responsibility ashore she goes”

  Riku suspected a trap. Why would they throw a small child ashore. He had every intention of ignoring it although Lord Ishikawa did not. Even when Ryūjin demanded that he was to ignore the child.

  The child no longer landed ashore when the bubble around her popped. It was if it was only able to be sustained when the other dragon was near.

  Although Riku had no intentions of taking his eyes off of Ryūjin as soon as the child’s eyes were open he felt himself drawn to her, as if against his will.

  As soon as he locked eyes with her he knew.

  “Akimi” he whispered.

  Chapter 20

  Ryūjin was unsure who he wanted to kill more, Riku or his daughter for her impertinent defiance of him during a major battle. But as soon as he saw Riku’s defence stance drop upon seeing the girl he knew. He finally understood. “Riku is the reason!!! He is why she returned to this world too soon.”

  And he knew immediately that his daughter had not defied him on purpose but rather was playing out a part of fate that was even larger than they were. Daughter of a dragon god or not, fate had a stronger will and part to play.

  He made his move quickly, charging out of the sea to take advantage of Riku’s distraction, hoping that it was enough to make up for his loss of power out of water.

  Riku did not see him at all but the other samurai was not as blind to what was occuring in the sea, he moved forward and brought his sword down and across Ryūjin’s back.

  His roar brought Riku out of his stupor and he turned to see Lord Ishikawa take a blow that knocked his legs out from under him from the dragon’s tail before it snapped it’s jaws around Ishikawa’s body, completely severing it in half.

  The dragon king turned to face him.

  “You die now. Die and in that allow a rebalancing to return. Stop these vicious cycles of forcing your will onto nature! Stop the destruction of not only nature but of karma and the cycle of life itself!”

  Riku charged at the dragon, trying to ignore the screaming that was coming out of the small child whom from within her eyes he had recognized the soul of Akemi.

  Inoue saw Netsuke coming at her and cursed. She had spotted Riku when he first appeared on the distance shore of Kyushu and risked being detected by beginning to cross again. She thought about engaging but instead took her chance and leapt, landing a short distance from the shore and felt revulsion penetrate her very bones. She made it ashore before Netsuke could catch her and saw the the torn body of Koremora Ishikawa on the sand and Riku and Ryūjin about to go to war.

  “Stop!” she cried.

  Both hesitated and Inoue cried “By both of your honours should you have any, please! LISTEN. Then attack.”

  And she began the story of the emperor Sutoku and his request for revenge, but also about the love of her sister for a man whose family had been torn apart by the conflict between the Taira and the Minamoto, and from the desire to help her lover they had been led to the Tengu and the bargain that Sutoku made.

  “My sister’s child was the only body that would be strong enough to host a demon and survive” Inoue said. But once pregnant she no longer wanted to keep her side of the bargain. So she sent a message to her husband’s brother for help. “Shinji came to her rescue.”

  Riku’s eyes narrowed. “Shinji is my uncle?” he asked.

  Inoue nodded. “And Lord Ishikawa was your father.”

  Riku felt his stomach twist as his eyes began to swim. His life, his world, every time he thought it was impossible to shock himself any further, life presented a new way to confuse him.

  Chapter 21

  The tides were no longer working in the Taira’s favor and Yoshitsune felt his spirits soar as the battle began to shift from certainly lost to certain victory.

  Ahead of him he saw the ship that hid the young emperor.

  “Are you sure that is the correct ship?” he asked. Shinji nodded. “That is where Inoue went to pretend to be Netsuke and convince Tokiko to jump into the sea.”

  Yoshitsune nodded, glad that the monk and the fox spirit had proven to be useful. Antoku and the regalia would soon be his. He had every intention of retrieving the regalia and the young emperor to present them to his brother, the rest would depend on how things played out.

  He was never to get the chance to do either. Seeing their ship bearing down on them and knowing the promises Netsuke had given her, Tokiko knew that she owed it to her grandson to let him reign beneath the sea as he would not be allowed to do above it.

  Gathering the sacred sword, mirror and jewel she declared to her grandson that he was to rule beneath the sea, and she finally gathered him to her as well before jumping.

  Yoshitsune saw them spring and swore but by the time he got to them they were gone.

  “Mark this spot” he bellowed even though he knew how hopeless the request would be. We will send divers to retrieve the regalia!”

  “That was all a nice story fox spirit” Ryūjin replied, “but what am I to do with it.”

  “To know that this boy was never meant to be caught up in this. That he has been twisted by it. And that I reques
t that instead of you and him killing each other, you allow him the right to kill himself.”

  “And what makes you think I will agree to that?” Riku asked.

  “Because it is the only way to redeem your soul and begin a natural karma re-balancing as a human rather than the twisted being you currently are.”

  “I have found Akemi!” Riku cried “why would I leave her again?”

  “Because she is a child!”

  “I will wait!” Riku cried, “I was ready to wait for eternity, a few years for her to grow up is nothing now.”

  “Riku” Ryūjin said, “she is terrified, she herself will require a number of reincarnations before she is where she would have been before you caused her to come back far too soon. You may not have realized this, but your desire to keep a hold of her dragged her spirit back into a body that was not waiting for her. None of this is natural or Ok. I will accept you making your own death to allow a re-balancing. Otherwise we will fight now to the death. And even on land I believe I can win.”

  “What about the tengu?” he asked.

  “Not a problem for myself and Ryūjin to handle.”

  “And the girl?”

  “I will return her to her mother and leave her alone for the rest of her life” Ryūjin answered.

  Riku nodded.

  He then knelt and drove his sword deep into his stomach cutting it across and then up, allowing his entire insides to fall out.

  “He can not die just from that, he will just live in agony before he eventually heals” a voice said from behind them and they turned to see Takiyasha-hime standing there.

  “I can help” she said.

  “Do not play a trick witch” Inoue said.

  “No, I just saw the emperor Antoku drown beneath those waves” she ignored the strangled noise from the dragon god and continued “and most of his ships have been destroyed with many more men dead. The Taira have been destroyed. I am content. I will release Riku and Sutoku and the remaining parts of the soul of your sister. That which she embedded in him to protect him. “All can be released. My anger too.”

  And so she sat with her hand on Riku’s stomach and the other on the land, and she began to chant a release that allowed him to pass and she faded from view.

  And the crabs on the shore took on the faces on their backs of all the men that had been sacrificed in the war.

  Epilouge

  Akemi looked up from her keitai. The boy who was standing in the front of the class looked embarrassed to be there. She expected him to start mumbling his introduction but when he spoke he spoke clearly if not a little tongue in cheek.

  “He is so cute” she thought to herself as she watched him introduce himself as Riku to the class. He was new in town as his father had had a job transfer. He scanned the class and when his eyes met hers she felt a blush sweep over her face and down to her toes.

  “Chikushō” she thought to herself at her body’s betrayal. “I look like a 12 year old who has never set eyes on a boy before!”

  A smile tugged at the corner of the boys mouth but he continued on telling everyone a little about himself before the teacher instructed him to sit at his desk.

  Akemi was furiously aware of him throughout the rest of the day and could barely wait for lunch when she would be released from her seat and find freedom from his presence.

  When the bell rang however she was to have no luck. He waited for her outside the door and immediately fell into step with her, causing her girlfriends to break into hysterical giggles.

  “You know my name but I do not know yours!” he said to her.

  “Because I have been here for years and do not need to introduce myself to everyone” Akemi said.

  “But I still need to ask for it” Riku countered back.

  “I’m Akemi” she said.

  Riku smiled at her. “It’s a beautiful name.”

  This made her friends laugh hysterically again and Akemi again felt the blush light her face aflame.

  “Can I talk to you again?” Riku asked.

  And Akemi smiled and said simply “yes” before splitting off with her friends to eat together and to leave the new boy starring after her, beaming as if he had just discovered a great and rare treasure.

  The Kitsune Wife

  While you are waiting for the sequel you can visit www.lynnfrancis.com for your free copy of The Kitsune Wife, a Blood Samurai short story prequel.

  The Kitsune Wife

  Natsuko is not an ordinary woman. She is Kitsune, a fox spirit in human form. What she does in the name of love will send shock waves through Japan to be felt for centuries to come.

  1164 Japan.

  The final decades of what is known as the Heian period have been one of civil and political unrest for Japan. The Fujiwara (advisors to the emperor and the power behind the throne) have slowly lost control of the country thanks to the power the samurai class have allowed individual Lords to amass. In particular, two families; the Taira and Minamoto, both of imperial blood, have risen to be rival powers for control of the country.

  The political struggle is bloody and messy with no one left unscathed, with casualties from the peasantry to the imperial family.

  Ambitious families formed political alliances in bold moves for a share of the newly opening power and although sometimes it paid off, other times it resulted in the loss of everything.

  The Kitsune Wife begins after a minor noble named Koremura Ishikawa has made a play for political advancement and has paid dearly for his failure.

  The bargain he and Natsuko have struck in the name of vengeance will reverberate through Japanese history.

  Sutoku's Story

  Enjoyed ? Please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads! Reviews help authors know that their books were enjoyed and that we should write more!Blade of Retribution

  While you wait for more books to appear in the Blood Samurai universe you can read about Sutoku’s transformation in the short story . The Kitsune Trap, A Blood Samurai Prequel Short Story

  When a small boy is neglected by everyone at court but the nine tailed fox in disguise Tamamo-no-Mae, the seeds are sown for the revenge and creation of one of Japan’s most devastating Yokai.

  Prince Akihito just wants to be accepted. As the next emperor of Japan the small child should be dotted upon and idolized. The true nature of his birth means his “father” the emperor openly dislikes the child and the entire court follows suit.

  Everyone that is except for the emperor’s favorite consort, the beautiful Tamamo-no-Mae, a woman so beautiful and talented that she can not be human.

  Together the two inadvertently start the young boy down a path that would lead to the rise and fall of his powers and a pack with a Shinigami that will be felt throughout Japan for all time.

  The Kitsune Trap is a short story prequel in the Blood Samurai series. It tells of how Sutoku came to choose the path of vengeance that lead him to become one of Japan’s three evil Yokai and his need for the Kitsune’s child Riku to complete his revenge.