Heart of a Traitor

by Aaron Lee Yeager

  I’m too weak.

  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could feel her father’s disappointment.

  I’m only strong when I’m her.

  Nariko screamed out and stabbed out blindly at the image of Inami laughing.

  The image of Inami evaporated and became that of Mai jumping to the side as she blocked Nariko’s thrust. Nariko’s red eyes filled with malevolence and her red lips twisted into a poisonous smile. So stark was the change in her countenance that Mai paused for a moment while Nariko slowly rose to her feet, struggling against the ruined muscles on her back and leg.

  Mai spun her blade and slashed across, but Nariko caught her in a hilt lock, this time matching her strength. About halfway along its length, the blade of Nariko’s sword bent as if it were jointed, slicing deeply into Mai’s arm. Mai broke the lock and took a step back, but Nariko was still on her. Nariko held her sword up, the blade growing wire-thin as it reached twenty feet in length, then Nariko slashed with it, leaving a blanket trail of black fire that fanned out before her in a semi-circle, easily covering most of the arena floor and forcing many spectators to retreat from their seats.

  How am I doing this?

  Mai ducked below the flames and charged again, recklessly this time. At Nariko’s command, her blade became limp like a whip and she snapped it out, wrapping it around the ankle of Mai’s good leg as she ran. With another command the whip grew metallic barbs and Nariko yanked cruelly. The thorned whip ripped through the flesh and bone of Mai’s ankle as it pulled free.

  Mai cried out in rage and tried to regain her balance to keep from falling as she ran, but as she put down her ruined ankle again, the torn up bone and ligaments snapped and her foot broke completely off. Mai came crashing to the ground, her severed foot disintegrating into ash. Nariko whipped back her weapon and with a command it reformed into its proper shape.

  Nariko allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

  Suddenly Mai rose again, propping herself up on her good knee and began scooting toward where Nariko stood, the bloody stump of her ruined leg dragging behind her. Nariko was astounded.

  “You’re as stubborn as I am,” Nariko praised.

  Mai’s movements were slower, labored, but she brought up her weapon still and swung the blade above her head, in a chop aimed straight at Nariko’s heart.

  Nariko gave a command to her blade and the end split into a V shape wedge. Nariko caught Mai’s blade in the wedge. With another command, the two tips scissored deeply into the blade. Nariko’s arm screamed in protest as she twisted her blade. Mai’s weapon groaned under the torsion, its green fire entwining with the black fire of Nariko’s blade in a duel of energies and will. Nariko could feel the ruined muscles in her shoulders tearing and blood trickled down her forehead, but her face was alight with pleasure. Finally, with a whimper and a snap, the blade of Mai’s blade broke off and fell to the floor. The staff flickered and died.

  Nariko flicked away the broken blade of Mai’s weapon, then at her command her sword peeled open into five separate pointed blades. Nariko howled in triumph and thrust forward, impaling Mai through the torso with all five points, sadistically missing her vital points.

  Amidst astonished whisperings from the crowd, Misato held out the dagger again.

  “Final blood has been drawn. Does the loser submit?” she asked hesitantly.

  Mai breathed painfully and her body trembled and convulsed with pain, but her eyes were still defiant. Dozens of people in the audience began screaming, demanding that the duel be ended.

  “I can’t believe it; you are actually more stubborn than I am.”

  Nariko bit her lip and commanded the blades to begin slowly rotating. Mai let out a frustrated gurgle from her ruined throat and then her expression turned to fear. Nariko knew that moment well, the moment when pride and confidence give way to the most primal instinct. When all layers of reason and thought are reduced to a single thought.

  She wants to live.

  In that moment, Nariko saw herself in Mai’s face. She saw herself lying on the floor of the Carrion’s ship. She felt an odd connection to this person, although they had barely exchanged three words since Nariko arrived. Mai was of the Takaya family, but she possessed the spirit of an Amano. Although it went against everything she had been taught, Nariko felt a kinship with this person.

  Mai’s sharp eyes became dull. She weakly lifted one hand and tapped the floor twice.

  She had submitted.

  Misato turned the dagger blade down and made a small incision on the back of her hand, allowing a drop of blood to fall on the floor, sealing her decision.

  “Amano has triumphed. The duel is decided and all will abide by it,” Misato declared, with regret in her voice.

  The crowd gave a mixed reaction of jeers, relief, and disgust.

  How can they be so loyal to Inami? Don’t they realize I’m trying to save them?

  Nariko moved to turn around, but her injured leg gave out on her and she dropped to her knees. Her vision began to blur and her mouth tasted like copper. It was only then that Nariko noticed the blood that was pooling underneath her.

  Something strange about these burns...some chemical...wounds not closing...feeling weak...

  Wobbling slightly on the high-heels she wore and carrying a liquor bottle in each hand, Inami walked down into the arena. “You’ve won the match, you can release my Chusa,” Inami said softly.

  “Why should I?” Nariko growled, savoring the sensation of the blades resting in Mai’s torso. It almost felt like her own fingers.

  “Because if you don’t, I’ll finish you off now, but if you do, I’ll let you heal up before we duel.”

  For several moments Nariko did nothing.

  “You can’t even stand right now,” Inami pointed out. “If you want to supplant me, you’ll have to wait.”

  Nariko wrestled and fought, her desire to topple Inami struggling with her need to continue inflicting pain.

  Inami leaned in close and whispered, her voice now deep and serious. “You think I’m blind? Don’t you think I can see what is calling the shots inside of you right now?”

  Nariko felt a hot bead on the back of her neck. Shifting her vision into the infrared, she saw that her body was covered with dozens of sniper beams.

  “Those aren’t just regular rounds they’re carrying.”

  Nariko growled hatefully and retracted her blades from Mai’s chest, blood pouring out of the deep wounds.

  “I will kill you,” Nariko swore, her eyelids becoming heavy.

  “Not today, kid,” Inami said, tapping Nariko on the forehead with a manicured nail.

  Nariko’s katana hung limply in her hand as the doctors began transfusing blood into her and applying synthetic skin onto her back and leg.

  Inami tapped the comm-rune on her collar so that her voice would be carried through the loudspeakers. She clacked the two liquor bottles in her hands together three times.

  “Gunsho Nariko Amano, I accept your challenge,” she said, her voice now high and bubbly like before. “However, you are in no condition to fight right now. Although it is my privilege, I choose not to dishonor myself by fighting an injured opponent at this time. Therefore, I will delay our duel until after a critical mission and I make my delayed acceptance conditional upon your success.”

  The crowd rumbled its approval and several more bottles of cherry-wine were distributed to toast Inami’s benevolence.

  Always the schemer...she would make a good demon. By making the announcement in front of everybody, she forces me to accept her condition or lose face. Is she going to give me a mission she expects me to fail? What is she planning?

  Inami turned to Mai, who was fighting to remain conscious as the doctors attended to her.

  “Chusa Mai Takaya, you are one of the most capable soldiers I have ever known, but my situation has changed and I require your skills elsewhere. You are no longer assigned to Mission Zurui. I am reassigning it to squad Shiro.”


  Although exhausted, Mai’s mouth shot open in protest.

  Nariko could hear the worried chatters of the medics. Mai was dying and they weren’t sure they would be able to stabilize her condition in time.

  “Do you swear on your life?” Nariko asked.

  “I cannot,” Inami responded. “It is no longer mine to give, but I will give you my word, you shall have your duel.”

  Slowly Nariko nodded.

  Inami clacked her wine bottles together again happily. “Nariko-sama, have your squad prepared to leave at 2015 tomorrow evening. Marcos Faust, head of the Agate Crime Syndicate will be holding a private auction for a very rare and dangerous artifact in three weeks’ time. You are to infiltrate their organization and ensure that you are present for that auction. You will retrieve the item and capture the buyer.”

  The medics propped Nariko up into a sitting position and continued working on her leg. As best she could with her injuries, Nariko bowed slightly, accepting the mission. Inami represented everything that Nariko hated about herself and Nariko silently swore that she would defeat this woman, no matter what it took.

  “In what way am I to accomplish this?” Nariko asked, barely able to keep her eyes open.

  Inami smiled devilishly. “You will go undercover as a buxom young courtesan and seduce Marcos’ son, Louie Faust.”

  Nariko was too shocked to respond. Several people in the crowd laughed cruelly and Mitchels whistled derisively, but Nariko did not hear any of it. Her world had shrunk down to only a foot around her body. Everything beyond that was darkness. She was only dimly aware that her mouth was hanging open.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Healing Halls

  We found the remains of one of the archeologist’s staff in what we estimate was the seven-score sub-level of the vaults. Her remains were so horrific that I will omit any description, for it haunts me even to this day. The catacombs beneath Terra are not to be treaded by mortals and the grisly malady that my staff and I suffer is a warning to others.

  -Excerpt from official investigation into the disappearance of Archeologist Terance Nicolt 31.04.6732rl

  The lights of the emergency ward had been dimmed to ease the strain on Mai’s eyes, which had received several micro-burns during the duel. Her body lay motionless in the healing-tank. A thimble shaped device clamped onto the stump of her leg, another like a brace covering her neck. Pulsating tubes came out of the wounds in her torso. It would still be several hours before Asfanţit would restore her body and the machines toiled to maintain her vitals until then.

  The doors swished open and Nariko hobbled in slowly, leaning on a cane. The large patches of synthetic skin on her back, arms and legs were tight and limited her movements.

  Nariko slowly came up alongside the healing tank. She could tell that Mai was aware of her presence, but she refused to look at her.

  Her aura is weaker than before and colder.

  “Um, Chusa Mai Takaya, I have come because I wish to speak with you.”

  Why am I being so formal?

  Nariko tottered carefully into a chair. For a long time neither one of them said anything. Finally, Mai turned and looked at Nariko as if to say, “If you are going to speak, do so.”

  Nariko involuntarily turned her gaze downward and began.

  “You fought very well today. I have never faced your equal before.”

  Mai only looked at her frigidly.

  “It was wrong of me to dishonor you by refusing to bow,” Nariko continued. “You were an honorable opponent and you deserved to be treated as such.” Nariko felt strangely timid.

  Why am I acting this way? It took her several moments to continue.

  “I...I apologize,” she finally added with some difficulty, bowing as deep as the skin on her back would allow. Her memories were so shredded she could not be certain, but Nariko was fairly sure that she had never apologized for anything and now she had done so twice in the same day. She hoped this would be the last time; it made her feel small.

  Hearing her apology, Mai’s expression did not soften. She turned her head back and returned to staring at the ceiling.

  “T-the Amano family used to be quite large, before the Gunoi. Second only to the Hoshi family in size and status,” Nariko explained. “It was not made up of only a single line, but several branch families, a few of whom were adopted into the Amano family by bond. I even looked it up just now. Did you know my paternal grandfather’s family was originally Tanaka before they were adopted and became Amano?

  Mai did not respond.

  “Although we never spoke of it openly, it was family law that no one outside of the Amano family was ever to be fully trusted, or be considered an equal. Not even the Hoshi family.”

  This doesn’t feel like me at all. Why am I being so candid with her?

  “The great Taisho Sumiyoshi once said that you can live with a person for a lifetime, but never really know them. This is because we filter our true selves and adopt a more socially acceptable mask to wear instead. But, he said, if you cross swords with them, force them into a corner, they will reveal their true selves to you and you will know them.”

  Nariko paused. Mai remained silent.

  “I should have that memorized, but I had to look it up.” Nariko admitted, almost smiling. “I guess what I am trying to say is that I...I feel like I can...”

  Nariko took out an exquisitely detailed silver ring similar to the one she wore on her own hand. Inscribed with incredibly fine lines along the inside and outside surfaces was the seal of the Amano family.

  Nariko held the ring for several moments. She knew what she had come to say, but found it difficult to proceed.

  “I came to offer you Hyaki.” Nariko placed the ring gently on the table next to Mai. Hyaki signified a member of another family, who was esteemed enough to be considered a blood member of the family.

  Mai turned her head back and examined Nariko strangely, as if trying to discern her motives.

  “You don’t have to decide right away,” Nariko said, before hobbling painfully to her feet.

  This was a mistake, Nariko thought to herself as she limped out of the room.

  With a pleasant whoosh the door to the small fire control room opened and Nariko slowly shuffled in. On the storage racks sat rows of high-yield torpedoes and opposite them was the launch tube. There were hundreds of such rooms running along the sides of the ship. Normally they would each be crewed by a dozen people, but on the Onikano the whole process was automated, so the room sat empty.

  Nariko tapped in her override code and the targeting system came alive. Before them was a star. Some unremarkable ball of light that they had ended up near to while the ether drive recharged.

  Nariko entered some instructions and a heavy lifter removed a torpedo from the racks and laid it on the auto-loader. Two smaller robots crawled on top of the torpedo and removed the seals from its compartments. After several minutes of cutting cables, removing fasteners, and spraying the bonded areas with solvent, the warhead was freed and lifted out, leaving an empty compartment four feet in diameter and seven feet long. Big enough for Nariko to lie in comfortably.

  Nariko stood there looking at the empty space for a long time.

  I wish I was brave enough to do it. I talk real big, claiming that I want to protect others from harm, but right here when I stand before an actual opportunity, I realize I can’t do it. I’m just a coward.

  But that isn’t why you came here, is it?

  No, it isn’t.

  Nariko stepped over to the firing engine and opened the hatches, revealing the logic engine that guided the torpedo’s trajectory. Nariko mumbled out the prayer of authority and began the rite of segregation. Cables were disconnected and the power system was diverted to the backup auxiliary batteries. The firing tube was now isolated from external control.

  Nariko took out her data slate and plugged it into the external port of the logic engine, loading the information that would guide the
torpedo as it hunted. The logic engine chirped in acknowledgment and displayed the center of the star as the target. The logic engine chirped a warning that the torpedo’s magnetic shielding would not protect it past the star’s troposphere, but Nariko overrode it.

  Nariko tapped the loading rune and the breach opened.

  Nariko had always lived her life in terms of what was expected of her. If felt comfortable, it felt safe. Like a protective box. What lay outside it felt too vast and daunting to even comprehend. Nariko felt so small at the size of it.

  Nariko reached behind her and pulled the demon sword Dral’eth off of her back. Unwrapping it from its dried and burnt cloth wrapping, the glowing form of the scabbard bathed Nariko’s face in unnatural purple light.

  Why discard a weapon of such unparalleled power?

  Nariko knew what she wanted. She wanted nothing more than to unsheathe the sword from its scabbard and claim it for her own. The draw of such power was absolutely irresistible. She could reshape the universe the way she wanted it to be. She could raise an army so great that she could conquer every blasphemous planet within the Uragan. She would still the life of every tyrant and overseer and claim it for her own.

  Nariko could see herself standing over the slain bodies of her enemies. Surrounded by fire, sitting atop a throne of skulls, the very skies dyed blood red. History would record her name alongside those of Heinrich Verräter and the Luminarch himself. The champion who destroyed the Uragan.

  But it wouldn’t stop there, would it? I wouldn’t be destroying the Uragan; I’d only be replacing it with another dark empire, substituting one dark lord with another. It would accomplish nothing.

  Nariko placed the sword into the compartment of the torpedo and closed the hatch.

  Why am I am discarding it? Because if I don’t I’ll start using it.

  The auto loader placed the torpedo into the launch tube and the breech closed. There was a hiss as the tube was depressurized, then the torpedo struck out into the night, leaving a light dusty trail as it sped toward the star.

  That was Dral’eth, the bane of Hydra-solanis, the sorrow of Indiganis. You do realize that the heat of a star will not consume it, or dim its blade?