'Well, good!' Moon nodded. 'Unless they've been delayed somehow, what you feel must be my people!'
He studied the gorge. It was perhaps a hundred paces wide and forded by a narrow rope bridge, the kind that could only be crossed in single file. The four load-bearing ropes suspending the bridge looked worn, parts of them frayed, but overall the bridge appeared sturdy enough. There was nobody on the far side of the gorge. His Grey Light comrades would be hiding, keeping to cover until they recognised him.
The sky was clearing now but he still heard water; rapids roared below the bridge where the jagged stone walls of the gorge became narrow.
He peered into the depths below. Not a desirable place to fall, Moon thought. It was a long drop, and one's head might clip the unforgiving walls on the way down. Down into the path of a great weight of water, a million kan maybe, of angry, surging river. Which for final fun, he noted, was dotted with sharp boulders, many hidden.
Snowhawk pulled on his arm and gestured behind them. Strolling smugly down from the ridge, as if it had every right to be there, was a familiar animal.
'A temple cat? All the way out here?' she smiled. 'Has someone adopted us?'
'I don't blame you for following,' Moon told the cat as it purred up to his feet. 'Fushimi's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there either!' He chuckled at his own joke then turned to Snowhawk. 'You spoke of adoption? Well, who could have predicted this? Looks like I'm one orphan who's taking home two orphans of his own.'
'If any of us make it to your home.' The colour had drained out of her face. She pointed down at the rope bridge. 'Do you know who that is?'
Moon looked and gave a slow, grim nod. 'Yes . . . I think I do.' With a shudder he realised what he had forgotten, what some part of his mind had been trying to warn him of. One enemy, known to be in Fushimi, had remained unaccounted for.
Until now. The most lethal of them all. The Deathless himself.
There he waited. In the middle of the bridge loomed the one they had both dreaded meeting, one whose legend and fearsome reputation they each knew in detail. The tall, proud figure with the distinctive head-dress stood, his arms folded, staring up at them. Moonshadow and Snowhawk exchanged tense looks. They both knew who they faced.
'I see,' The Deathless shouted, 'that you didn't have the decency to fight each other after all! No matter. Just give me those plans and you can go.'
'Don't trust him,' Snowhawk said quickly. 'He murdered his own master once he had –' She realised that Moon was about to fight The Deathless and stopped herself.
'Once he had the secret of immunity to blades?' Moon scowled at the nemesis waiting on the bridge. 'Don't worry, I know what I'm up against.' He patted his backpack. 'No time to put on the armour, but maybe I can wing him first with a shuriken.'
'Forget that,' Snowhawk said firmly. 'My trainers told me: he catches shurikens.'
The cat meowed, brushing between Moon's legs. He pointed at it, forcing himself to sound brave and cheerful. 'If you're going to butt in, you can fight him!'
But Moon's heart was quickly becoming a war drum in his chest once more. This would be a harder match than facing Akira; if he couldn't hang on to his inner calm, to clear thinking, this enemy would finish him quickly. To survive such a foe would call for more cunning than he had ever shown. And it still might not be enough. He made a final attempt at bravado. 'If only he'd just go away, then I could spare him!'
'You can't face him alone,' Snowhawk swallowed. 'I can't let you.'
He squeezed her hand and said, 'You're still too affected by the potion to fight well. So I stand a better chance if I only have to watch out for me. If he kills me, run. Run, or he'll sell you to Silver Wolf.'
She bit her bottom lip, nodding as he let go and turned away.
With each step his fear grew greater. Desperate to control it, Moonshadow whispered to himself as he strode to face the greatest challenge of his mission. Of his life.
'Gather, tidy and align your doings and their karma,' he recited quickly as he descended into the gorge. 'Cleanse any lies made this day, scatter not one grain of life.' He swallowed as Snowhawk had, almost choking on his terror. This time, he need not worry about taking life. This . . . creature could not be killed! He mounted the bridge, its short wooden planks shifting under his feet. 'To end this path in happiness,' he finished off the furube sutra with an effort, 'make still your mind!'
'Aw!' The Deathless called as Moon approached. 'I hear you prepare, so you must come to fight! Unwise, Runt! Would you not rather give up the plans and live?'
'My name is Moonshadow, you who are called The Deathless,' Moon tried to sound casual but avoided his enemy's soulless eyes. 'And deathless or not, yes, I come to fight.'
The Deathless gave a low, sinister laugh. 'Tell me, was that not one of the teachings of the first level that you just recited? How quaint! I would show you something from the ninth level, but if you won't give up the plans, then it's urgent that I kill you instead.'
A meow came from just behind Moonshadow. The Deathless peered around him.
'The temple cats of Fushimi are both odd and starved,' the killer marvelled. 'Look! It has a tail! So it is a freak and a girl who will witness your passing, Moonshadow.' He threw his head back and laughed. 'Why does the beast join us? It looks hungry. Perhaps it intends to feast on you once our business here is done!'
Moon's heart seemed to beat in his mouth now. He summoned up his dwindling shard of courage and drew his sword. 'That's unlikely,' he stepped closer, 'since they don't eat the living.'
'Hah! You have spirit!' The Deathless sniggered as he drew the blade from its sheath on his back, 'but it won't save you.'
The Deathless sprinted forward, his speed and agility surprising Moonshadow. The gap between them closed in an instant. The bridge shook and swayed at the killer's charge. His shinobi sword turned horizontally in one hand and sliced for Moon's neck, its twin blood grooves making a sound like tearing paper as it streaked through the air.
Moon barely ducked the attack. His foe's blade hissed overhead and as its tip reached the end of its arc, Moon sprang to his feet and hacked at The Deathless's arm. He felt his blade meet its target. Moonshadow gasped, amazed that he had actually been able to strike his legendary foe.
The tall assassin grunted and bolted back a few paces, jolting the bridge hard. A big cut appeared in his sleeve and skin showed through the gaping cloth, but there was no sign of blood, nor even of a wound. Moon's elation turned to horror and he flinched hard. So it was all true! Immune to blades!
He glanced back at the end of the bridge. Snowhawk had crept down to it. The cat was still behind him, hunching low fearfully at every buck and swing of the bridge. Moon waved at Snowhawk to run. She shook her head. He turned back towards The Deathless, raising his sword. Moon ground his teeth. If she wouldn't run, then she might just have to watch him die. He shuffled for his enemy, frowning with concentration. But not if he could help it!
The Deathless volleyed at Moon once more, parrying his sword as he landed almost on top of him. Moon was thrown off balance by the speed and closeness of the attack. Before he could recover into a defensive stance, The Deathless turned his sword like a striking snake and hacked at a sharp angle. Moon growled with pain as his foe's blade dug into his shoulder. He struck it out and away with his own sword as a searing wave of heat spread outwards from the cut. The Deathless lunged and, locking swords with Moon, started pushing his lighter opponent down and backwards. The bridge swung hard. The temple cat let out a terrified hiss.
'Poor Runt! Is this the best you can do? Moonshadow, neh? Then let's see you shove me off, turn and strike!' The big killer gave a heartless laugh. 'Come, show me your fastest move, the way you showed poor Akira. Or are you tired now?' Forcing Moon's sword down, The Deathless leaned over it sharply and headbutted his victim. There was a deep thunk. At the end of the bridge, Snowhawk gave a strangled scream.
Moon sank to his knees, badly stunned, The Death
less towering over him. Their swords were still locked together, but Moon was quickly losing strength and with it, he knew, the fight. But despite the awful blow to his head, his mind still worked with unexpected clarity. Think fast, he ordered himself, reason it out, as Mantis would say. Every fighter has a weakness, and even here, there is a way.
Most of his body had been conditioned to withstand tremendous impacts, but just one head-butt had swept him to the edge of mild concussion. How? There was only one explanation: that had been no ordinary head-to-head impact. So The Deathless wore an armoured forehead band under his bindings. Groggy as he felt, Moon realised what that gave away. If The Deathless secretly wore any armour, then there existed some weapon or cut that he feared. So he could be cut. And what could be cut might also be scratched.
Moon turned his aching head quickly. The cat was still there. He forced himself to split his failing energy two ways: half to sustain the sword clench, the rest to link with the cat as fast – and as completely – as possible.
So The Deathless liked to brag about levels of knowledge? This, Moon thought with angry determination, was the eye of the beast, level three: sight-control.
'Enjoy it!' Moon snarled up at his looming foe.
'Enjoy what?' The Deathless frowned.
Movement behind Moon forced the killer to look up. Just as he did, a black-and-white ball of fur and fury landed on his upper chest. Locking its hind claws into his jacket, the temple cat attacked, fore-claws slashing again and again at the face of The Deathless. In between the frenzied strokes it hissed, spat, and tried to bite him.
Moon saw his opponent reel backwards. Breaking the sword clench, The Deathless nearly dropped his blade as he tried to prise the cat off. Such an attack presented any swordsman with quite a dilemma. Using his razor-edged blade on a thrashing, wriggling target stuck to his own body was just too risky. Vainly The Deathless struggled, briefly pulling the cat free only for it to spring back, renewing its assault.
His vision muted now by both the head-butt and the sight-joining process, Moonshadow haphazardly gripped his sword and swung it at The Deathless's closest leg. As it struck home he realised that he had mistakenly attacked with the blunt edge leading. He was startled then when a red line appeared on his foe's leg, exactly where his edge had clubbed.
That was it! The secret of the dark science The Deathless lived under. Moon set his jaw and struggled to his feet. The Deathless was immune to cutting edges. They were as blunt edges to him. And the reverse was also true.
Moon raised his weapon. The Deathless was protecting his eyes with his sword hand, snatching blindly for the scruff of the cat's neck with his other. Moon swung his sword, blunt side leading, low at The Deathless's belly. Again it felt as if he had merely clubbed his opponent. Then a line of blood appeared where Moon's dull edge had struck.
The Deathless threw his head back, roaring with pain and anger. And something else perhaps, just a trace, of what Moon never thought to hear in his voice. Fear.
His mind churned, trying to hatch a follow-up plan. Now that he knew how, he could wound The Deathless enough to make a run for it. But the killer still blocked the narrow bridge. How to get past him without risking another cut? And what about Snowhawk? Moonshadow's strength was ebbing fast, his wound and the demands of sight-control draining the ki from him by the second. But he rallied himself, aiming wild strikes at his enemy's legs.
Cutting the air with frenzied strokes, The Deathless fell backwards onto the bridge. It twisted and swung, making Moon snatch a grip on the nearest rope.
'I'm right behind you!' he heard Snowhawk snap. 'Jump him, jump him now!'
The Deathless lay struggling, still trying to fling the cat off. Moon hurdled over him, shaking the bridge, and the killer sensed his position. The double-grooved sword flashed up, cutting Moon's thigh as he sailed overhead.
Moon's wounded leg buckled as he landed. Stumbling, he fell to the bridge.
Snowhawk landed behind him unharmed. Now they were both on the rendezvous side of the bridge, with The Deathless and the cat, still locked in battle in the centre of it. The formerly invincible killer now thrashed about as if gripped with panic, sustaining new cuts from the blunt edge of his own sword. Obviously unaccustomed to the wounds most shinobi were trained to bear, perhaps to pain of any kind, he swatted at the cat with weakened, flailing strokes.
Together Snowhawk and Moon looked back and he handed her his sword.
'I'm calling the cat off now,' Moon said through gritted teeth. His eyes watered with pain and as he blinked, tears were forced down his cheeks.
Strands from a fraying support rope dangled to the foot planks of the bridge. Moon began winding the thickest one around his wrist. 'Do the same, then cut the bridge's main ropes,' he told Snowhawk. His eyelids fluttered. 'Then hang on! It should come apart.' Moon's head sagged. Snowhawk cut the first of the four main ropes. The bridge lurched violently.
'Get out of there now!' she called to the cat. 'Come on, play time's over!' The cat ignored her, sustaining its crazed attack on The Deathless. Snowhawk cut the second of the main ropes. The bridge lurched again then pitched to a scarier angle.
Hanging on desperately, Moon looked up, willing the cat to break off its assault. It finally jumped from The Deathless and started bounding to Moonshadow, but behind it, The Deathless scrambled to his feet. Cursing, he swung wildly at where he thought the cat was. His fiery stroke narrowly missed the animal but cut the third main bridge rope.
'Hold on, Moon, hold on!' Snowhawk yelled, snatching a wrist-tie for herself. The bridge twisted sideways and shuddered. It hung briefly by the fourth and final load-bearing rope while the thinner overhead supports snapped free noisily one by one. Then, with a nerve-wrenching sssnap! the last main rope broke and the bridge came apart near the middle, each end of its ragged halves trailing straggly ropes as they dropped.
The two falling sections of the bridge swung outwards from the breaking point, pendulum-like, heading for the gorge walls their ends were still anchored to.
Starting to drop, The Deathless released his sword and snatched for the nearest escaping strand of rope. But the force of the swinging bridge whipped it away from his hands and he plunged.
As their half of the bridge swung towards the rock wall, Moon glanced down into the gorge. He caught a last glimpse of The Deathless, tumbling head over heels into the white water below, but saw no sign of the cat.
The severed section of bridge slapped against the gorge's rocky side, and Moon and Snowhawk cried out as they were jolted hard. The ropes wound about their wrists tightened sharply and burned their skin.
For half a minute they dangled, summoning up their last reserves of strength for the climb to safety. Then painfully, each fighting exhaustion as well as injuries, they unwound the wrist-ropes and clawed their way up, using the bridge's remaining planks and lines as a ladder. Snowhawk reached the lip of the gorge first and held a trembling hand out for Moon's. He gripped her wrist. She pulled him up.
Leaning on each other, the pair staggered uphill to the edge of the next forest.
'We rest here,' Snowhawk propped Moon against a log. She took a scarf from inside her jacket and tied a field dressing on his shoulder wound. 'Is there a back-up meeting place, in case –' she looked over her shoulder. 'Wait. My head is clear now and I know I sense shinobi energy.'
A bush rustled about ten paces behind her. Moon turned his head wearily. He and Snowhawk were in pretty bad shape. If it wasn't his people, could they defeat even some old cleaning lady now? He wasn't sure.
Groundspider rose from the centre of the bush. He wore a tree-and-leaf patterned camouflage suit with the cowl pulled back, a large backpack and a sword slung from one shoulder. He frowned and pointed at Moon.
'So it is you!' Groundspider broke into a grin. 'The girl here had me confused. What's the story with her? A hostage?'
Moonshadow and Snowhawk exchanged tired, relieved smiles.
'Not a hostage,' Moon told Groundspi
der, 'a new ally, with valuable knowledge. She comes back with us, or I don't come back.'
'Really?' Groundspider's eyebrows arched. 'Haven't we grown bold on our first outing? An ally, neh? Well then I assume one of you has the plans?'
They both nodded. Moon patted the bamboo tube inside his jacket.
After heaving a relieved sigh, Groundspider bowed to Snowhawk. Then he turned to Moon and shook his big head with envy and astonishment. 'And to think I was wondering how you would cope, out here in the unfamiliar, wide world!'
Moon glanced at him sideways. 'Let's talk about it later. Were you late?'
'Yeah, but not my fault. I was caught up in an incident on the highway while travelling in disguise. Some idiot ronin tried to make me hire him as a bodyguard. Hah! Do I look like I need protection? Well, he wouldn't take no for an answer and it led to swords.'
'Some people never learn,' Moon smiled knowingly. Snowhawk gave him a questioning look. 'Tell you another time . . .' he whispered.
'But that was not the worst of it!' Groundspider cracked his knuckles. 'Just because I cut this fool's ear off, a passing inspector made me file a report. For a while there, I thought I'd have to fight him, too! Convinced him it was self-defence, and my skilful cut a bit of mere luck on my part. But I still had to pay a price. Paperwork! It took hours. And the forms, you should have seen the forms! Whoever makes those things up must be a madman –'
'You must be Groundspider,' Snowhawk laughed. He blinked at her with surprise.
'Filling out forms? You have truly suffered,' Moon sighed. 'Any idea what's keeping the others?'
'They shot me a coded message arrow three hills back. They were delayed by roadblocks manned by a scruffy bunch of drunken gangsters. But they're only about ten minutes away now.' Groundspider glanced at Snowhawk then gave Moonshadow a strange, respectful smirk. 'Wait till they hear about this!'
Silver Wolf motioned to the samurai guard to send his visitor in.
'Then close the doors, keep all others away,' he ordered, examining his empty sake cup. His head ached from drinking too much sake the night before. At least it had helped him forget things for an hour or two. His empty audience chamber was eerily silent; yet another reminder of his terrible defeat. Silver Wolf hung his head and paced to the small padded platform. He sat down, dropping the cup onto the dais beside him.
Moonshadow Page 16
