The Heart of a Fox

by T. Isilwath

  “If it is an army, Hanyou, how many can you kill?” the headman asked.

  “Kill?” her fox answered, one eyebrow raised. “I don’t kill humans, Hiroshi-dono. My mother was human. I don’t hurt them unless I have no choice. I leave the killing of humans to the humans; they’re so good at it.” It was a put down and, from the look that crossed his face, Hiroshi knew it, but the headman was shrewd and said nothing. He knew as well as she did that their chances of survival were greatly increased if Akihiro was on their side.

  “Who do you think it could be?” she questioned him in English again, wondering when their attackers would make another move.

  “My guess is that it’s a band of bandits. If it were an invading force from a rival daimyo, they would have announced themselves. Usually they’re all for big entrances. It makes them feel important,” Akihiro replied in English with a sneer she had never seen come to his face.

  ‘It sounds like he’s been through something like this before…’ “Why are they attacking us? This is just a small village,” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Lots of reasons. Women and food are usually part of it. The time is about right for gangs to attack villages for their harvest,” He gasped and looked at Hiroshi. “Hiroshi-dono! The rice!”

  The headman looked at them, then his eyes opened wide as he realized what Akihiro was saying.

  “Is it still in the threshing barns?” her fox asked.

  Hiroshi shook his head. “No. All but the last sheaves were bagged last night and moved to the storehouse.”

  Akihiro grunted that he understood, and she guessed that it was a good thing that the rice had been moved.

  “Where is the storehouse?” she asked, still speaking in English.

  “It’s here at Hiroshi’s house. In the back.”

  “So theoretically they haven’t gotten to it yet.” He shook his head. “No.” She saw him look up, his ears perked. “Riders on horseback. Several of them coming this way. Hiroshi-dono, we need to get the villagers out of here!”

  The headman nodded. “Use the tunnel leading to the stables!”

  Akihiro turned to her and grasped her forearm. “There is a tunnel from Hiroshi’s house to the horse barn. Hiroshi’s wife, Kaiya, knows the way to it…”

  “I’ll lead the woman and children out,” she offered, cutting him off.

  She saw him consider arguing for a brief moment then give in.

  “Take them to the shrine. The central building also serves as a secure place in an attack. You can close the heavy wooden doors and be safe,” he told her.

  “Okay,” she agreed, squeezing his hand briefly as the headman barked orders to his wife and the villagers.

  Akihiro released her arm and turned his head to look at her with worry and love. “Please be safe until I can come to you, Joanna-sama.”

  “The same goes for you, Akihiro,” she answered, speaking in English and using his true name.

  As the respected priests of the village and the honored wife of the headman, Ichiro, Kaemon and Kaiya were able to secure the cooperation of the villagers almost immediately and organize them into an escape party. They were eerily calm as they followed their leaders’ commands, and soon the courtyard was emptying faster than she had thought possible with so many people. Hiroshi’s wife and Ichiro headed up the quick march into the house and down to the tunnel while Kaemon stayed in the rear with her and supervised the evacuation.

  The group was mostly made up of women, children and elderly, and she found it ironic that most of them didn’t think a public whipping was too much of a spectacle for children. But that meant that they weren’t home when the bandits came, so being at Akihiro’s whipping had probably saved their lives.

  Once everyone was inside Hiroshi’s house, she hurried to the front of the group to take point just in case the invaders had discovered the exit to the tunnel and had someone waiting. She was the closest thing they had to a guard because all able-bodied fighters had stayed behind with Hiroshi. Ichiro gave her a short nod as she came up, a knife in one hand and her palm on another, and Kaiya looked a little frightened, but seemed to be holding it together.

  The tunnel entrance was behind a false wall, and she lit two torches that were just inside the opening, handing one to Kaemon while she took the other, and together she and Kaiya led the people down the long, earthen corridor. The silence of the villagers surprised her. There were no complaints, no crying of children, just the steady shuffle of hurried feet and a few muffled moans of pain from the two people who had been injured.

  ‘They’ve been through this before. They know their lives depend on staying calm and following orders,’ she realized.

  “We should send a rider to Suzuki-dono. My eldest son is studying weaponry with him,” Ichiro said in a hushed whisper. “He can send back help.” He was speaking to Kaiya, but she understood as well. “Okay.” She took the biggest risk and moved aside the trap door that hid the exit to the tunnel. Climbing out of the small opening, she listened hard to the noise and moods of the horses to try to judge if there was a stranger in the barn. The animals were agitated by the scents coming into their stable, but none of them were acting as if there was someone new there.

  Deciding that the way was safe, she nodded an okay to Ichiro and the people began to quietly climb up. While the priests and Kaiya supervised the others, she grabbed one of Hiroshi’s fastest horses and saddled him.

  ‘We need your help and your speed. Are you brave?’ she asked the bay.

  The horse snorted, but not with fear, and she took that as a yes.

  ‘You will have to carry a rider as fast as you can go. The life of your herd depends on it.’

  The horse snorted again and pricked his ears towards the closed stable door. A boy no older than eleven was presented to her as the horse’s rider. She thought his name might be Tenchi, but she wasn’t sure, and she helped him into the saddle. She didn’t let him go, however, but kept one hand on the bridle as she led them to the door. Flipping one of her daggers over in her palm, she carefully slid the door open just a hair and peered out to see if there was anyone guarding the exit. The horse flicked an ear to the left, telling her that there was someone out there, then the subtle scrape of a booted foot above her revealed the location of the threat.

  ‘He’s on the roof…’

  Taking a deep breath, she shoved the door open and released the horse as they both shot out of the building. Spinning on one heel, she turned to the left and looked up to see who was there. It was an archer, his bow drawn and ready to fire, but she was faster. She aimed and threw her dagger as hard as she could, and the knife flew true, landing solidly in the man’s shoulder. He let out a small cry as he dropped his bow, and toppled off the roof to land at her feet.

  He was still alive, but she doubted he would stay that way once Hiroshi and his men got through with him. Sneering at him, she bent down to pick up his bow and the quiver of arrows that had become dislodged from his back when he fell. She also yanked her dagger out of his flesh, ignoring his gasp of pain, and kicked him in the chin just hard enough to knock him out. The last thing they needed was for him to sound the alarm.

  To say that the villagers were slack-jawed was an understatement. Those who had seen her throw the knife were speechless and staring her with wonder, and not a little fear. Seeing Hachi at the forefront of the group, she decided to play with their heads, and she scraped the fresh blood from her blade with her fingers, streaking it onto her face like war paint in a single red stripe on each cheek. She wiped the remaining blood off the blade by scraping it against the unconscious bandit’s sleeve, and then turned her head to look expectantly at Ichiro and Kaiya.

  “We… we should head for the shrine. It’s defensible and my daughter is there,” the elder priest stammered.

  She nodded and shouldered the bow and arrows, blatantly sliding her dagger back into her leg sheath. “Okay. We go.” As she passed him, she turned to Hachi, glancing at his splinted arm, and gave h
im a feral smile.

  “You touch me, I break your other arm.” The man’s eyes opened wide and he took a step back. Her smile broadened and she winked at him before taking the lead with Ichiro beside her.

  “Let’s go.”

  By her accounts, the battle lasted just over two hours. That was how long it took Tenchi to ride to wherever he was going, and for the lord to send back reinforcements to rout out the bandits. In the intervening time, they had made it to the shrine and closed the heavy doors of the main sanctuary. Suzuka had been there, safe and sound thankfully, and had set about treating the wounded.

  With everything seemingly in hand, she had wanted to go join Akihiro, but Kaemon convinced her that her skills as an archer and fighter were more desperately needed at the shrine so she had stayed. She had numerous opportunities to further demonstrate her abilities as a warrior when several of the bandits decided to lay siege to the shrine.

  The bandits that had made it into the house had to be hunted down on foot, and she and Suzuka split up. She worried about the young priestess because she was no good at hand to hand combat, but she took some comfort in knowing that Kaemon was with her. She had no idea how proficient Kaemon was, but at least he knew something of weaponry from his older brother. As for herself, she hamstrung two of the bandits and knocked out another, but not before the man got a lucky swipe in and sliced her across her side. The wound wasn’t deep, but she knew Akihiro was going to go ballistic over it anyway.

  By the time Ichiro’s oldest son, Hitaro, arrived, they had already disabled or otherwise incapacitated at least a half a dozen thieves, and had managed to protect the shrine from looters. With Hitaro’s regiment of forty mounted soldiers, the rest of the fight wrapped up relatively quickly, and all that was left was the clean-up. Because she had no desire to see anyone’s head lopped off, she opted to stay at the shrine and help with the wounded. All in all, she had to say that it could have been much worse.

  Many of those coming to the shrine had tales to tell of her fox and his fighting skills, and she listened avidly while she treated their wounds. Apparently, Akihiro had single-handedly saved the rice by protecting the storehouse, despite the fact that he had been shot twice with arrows. And when the bandits had tried to burn down the building, Akihiro had fought the flames with his foxfire. Hearing what she was hearing, she had no doubts that her fox was probably exhausted and in pain, and she couldn’t wait for him to make his way to the shrine.

  She also heard many people talking about her. Word of her own fighting skill was quickly spreading, and people were giving her a wider berth. Given her reputation as a simple-minded woman, she imagined that many of them were reassessing their original impressions. Either that or they were wondering if she was someone with more brawn than brains. Frankly, she didn’t care what they thought as long as they left her and Akihiro alone.

  She was helping to clean up a nasty knife wound on one of Hitaro’s men when her fox found her. She heard him coming before she felt the tingle of Other that she associated with him because he was approaching at an amazing rate, and she realized that he must have caught wind of her blood. She was just getting ready to explain and calm him down when she felt a buildup of electricity in the room she was in, and she suddenly remembered the Seals that kept Akihiro out of most of the house.

  ‘Aki no!’ she thought frantically, but she was too late.

  “Joanna-sama!” she heard him call, his voice desperate and full of concern, but then she felt him hit the barrier.

  There was a pulse of power, then Akihiro’s cry of pain, followed by the sound of a body hitting the dirt.

  “Akihiro!” she cried, shoving the washcloth into the injured soldier’s hand and racing out to see him.

  The shock from the Seal had blown him clear off the engawa, and he had landed on the ground next to the house. He was lying on his back just off the porch, and she jumped down to kneel by his side. He was motionless with his eyes closed, and, for a moment, she feared that he was unconscious.

  The sight of him brought tears to her eyes, and she almost started bawling because he had been shot twice, but no one had bothered to tell her that the arrows were still in his body. One of them must have been in his back, but when he landed on the ground the force of the impact broke the shaft and shoved the remainder of the arrow clear through his ribs.

  “Oh god! Akihiro!” she sobbed, looking at the bloody arrowhead protruding from the right side of his diaphragm. “Are you okay?” Akihiro moaned, brought his hands up to put pressure on the wound, and opened his eyes to look at her. “Joanna-sama…” he whispered, then frowned, his brow creasing in confusion. “Why do you have blood on your face?”

  “Why do I?... Akihiro you idiot! You stupid idiot! How can you ask me that when you’ve got an arrow sticking out of your chest!” she yelled.

  Unbelievably, he smiled. It was just a small smile, but a smile nonetheless, as if he was happy that she was so upset. “In English, please, my vixen,” he replied, speaking in English himself.

  He was reminding her that there were others listening and she was duly chastised. How he managed to stay so calm and collected was beyond her because she knew that she would be screaming if she had been in his condition.

  The second arrow had landed in his shoulder, almost exactly where he had been shot on the day she had met him. He’d broken off the shaft, or something had broken it at least, but the last three or so inches and the arrowhead were still embedded in his flesh.

  “Joanna-sama, I can smell your blood. Are you all right?”

  ‘He has two arrows sticking out of his body and he’s worried about me?’

  She touched the knife wound, turning to show it to him. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. You’re the one who’s seriously hurt,” she replied in English.

  “I’ll be fine,” he answered.

  “Akihiro, how can you be so calm about this?”

  “This? This is nothing. These arrows aren’t even poisoned.”

  “Nothing? Aki, are you crazy?” she gasped.

  “You… shouldn’t worry about me, Joanna-sama,” he assured her as he gripped the arrow shaft poking out of his ribs and tugged on it. Blood spilled from the wound and stained his hands, then his face contorted in pain as he pulled the arrow free by yanking it clear through his body.

  “Aki!” she whispered hoarsely, stunned and appalled.

  “Ah. That hurts…” he admitted, tossing the broken and bloody arrow on the ground as he slumped down, his breath coming in shallow gasps.

  ‘Oh, Aki…’ “Stay there. Don’t move,” she ordered, then hopped to her feet and ran into her room.

  She grabbed the turtle shell she and Akihiro had brought back from their first trip to the beach and filled it with hot water from the kettle in the irori fire pit, then she tossed a couple of rags into the water and hurried back outside.

  Akihiro was sitting up when she returned and was working on pulling the arrow out of his shoulder.

  “I told you not to move,” she scolded in English, setting the shell down.

  He cringed and lowered his ears. “I’m sorry. It hurts.”

  “I’m sure that it does. Here, let me see. I don’t want you doing more damage to yourself than you already have,” she said, reaching to grasp his shoulder and hold it still while she got a closer look at the injury.

  He whined, but allowed her to poke around the wound, sticking her finger into the hole and trying to see how deep the arrow had gone.

  “Just pull it out,” he told her, grimacing.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t. I’m a hanyou. My wounds will heal quickly. Just grab it and yank it free,” he reminded her. “Here, Joanna-sama. Like this.” He reached up, grasped the broken shaft and pulled it out just as he had done with the arrow that had gone through his ribs. As she watched him yank it out of his flesh, she noticed that he did so with the confidence of someone with experience, and she had to swallow the lump in her
throat.

  “You’ve done this before,” she whispered sadly.

  He gave her a tender look, but nodded. “More times than I’d care to admit,” he answered as the second broken arrow joined the first.

  She lowered her eyes and took a deep breath to get her emotions under control, then took him by the wrist and tugged him forward.

  “Come on. Come sit on the porch so I can better clean these wounds.”

  “You don’t have to…” he began, but she cut him off with a look.

  “Yes, I do. You fought hard against those bandits and you were hurt. I will see to your wounds,” she stated firmly as he obediently rose to his feet.

  “You were hurt too…” he argued a little sullenly as he slumped down on the engawa, his feet dangling over the edge.

  “Yes, but my wound is just a scratch.” He huffed, but didn’t reply as she set the shell full of water down next to him and began wiping the blood from his ribs. By now they had a small audi-ence made up of villagers and wounded who were at the shrine. Most of them were keeping their distance, and for that she was grateful. She didn’t give a damn what they thought about her tending to her fox, but the last thing she needed was for them to get too close and trigger Akihiro’s protective instincts.

  She finally got fed up with their openly rude stares and decided to show them that she could be as protective as he could. She still had the blood on her face, plus the splatters of blood on her leathers from the fights she had been in, and she knew she looked dangerous. Hopping down off the engawa, she drew her large hunting knife and placed herself between Akihiro and the onlookers.

  “What you look at?” she growled, curling back her upper lip and snarling.

  “My fox. Get lost.”

  The spectators took the hint and scrambled away, passing Kaemon in their efforts to escape the “wild witch.” The young priest also had no taste for execu-tions so he had remained with Suzuka at the shrine. He gave the running gawk-ers an amused look, and she responded with a brilliant smile as she flipped her hunting knife deftly over in her hand and slid it back into its sheath. Kaemon bowed slightly to her and went along his way, leaving her alone with Akihiro.