by Ryan Kirk
Asa helped. The first guard was trying to get his feet underneath him, but she stepped forward and snapped a kick into his midsection. He collapsed again and decided to stay down. Daisuke gave her a small nod of acknowledgment, and they continued on.
Asa used her sense to make sure their little fight hadn’t been noticed. After they had taken a few more turns, she could feel they had a reprieve from being attacked.
She was so focused on what was happening behind them, she almost didn’t notice that Daisuke had stopped. Her sense warned her right before impact, and she halted just in time. Daisuke looked at her and whispered, “There is a nightblade around that corner. She’s waiting for you.”
Asa shifted her sense forward and felt exactly what Daisuke was talking about. If she stalled much longer, the nightblade would get curious and come around the corner for her. She guessed what Daisuke’s plan was. The intersection ahead was T-shaped.
Asa took the lead, crossing through the intersection of the hallways without paying any particular attention to the nightblade. As Asa had hoped, the woman called after her.
Asa turned around and hid a smile as the nightblade stepped into the intersection, her back to Daisuke.
The blade looked at Asa, a question on her face. “Who are you?”
Asa gave her name as she studied the other nightblade. She recognized her from the quarters she stayed in. The only odd fact about her appearance was that she had a red piece of fabric tied around her upper left arm. Asa assumed the fabric identified her as a blade who supported Minori.
She was so interested she almost missed the blade’s next statement. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to come with me. Minori is looking for you.”
Asa didn’t have to come up with an explanation. Daisuke slid behind the nightblade, as silent as the grave and invisible to the warrior’s sense, and with one strong blow, knocked her unconscious to the floor.
Daisuke took a short moment, and Asa assumed he was trying to sense their path ahead. “I think we should be safe now. We’ll need to move quickly.”
Asa didn’t need to be told twice. Before she left, she reached down and untied the ribbon from around the nightblade’s arm and tied it around her own. Daisuke gave her a short look. “It might work,” she responded.
Without another word they took off, Daisuke setting his confident pace once again. Just before they got to the front gate, Daisuke veered away. Asa knew better than to question him by this point. The front gate would be guarded, and Daisuke seemed to have another plan for getting out of the palace.
They paused at the entrance to a garden as a set of four guards walked past. Only moments after their footsteps faded, Daisuke crept into the garden, Asa right behind him. He pulled on a rope attached to the palace wall, and a ladder unfurled from the top. Asa was surprised but followed Daisuke up to the top of the wall.
Asa wasn’t sure what she’d find when she reached the top, but she wasn’t expecting what she saw. From the wall she was able to see much of Haven, and the night was quiet. The city wasn’t burning, and there weren’t any sounds of combat. The peace was disconcerting after the tension of their escape.
The duo waited for another set of guards to pass below them, and then Daisuke looked back at Asa.
“From firsthand experience I know you’re fine jumping from heights. Follow me.”
He leapt, and rolled as he landed in the street that surrounded the palace walls, and Asa followed suit. She came to her feet, and for the first time that night, Daisuke broke into a run. Asa ran, too, but their sprint was short-lived. As soon as they reached the line of buildings across from the palace, they stopped, and Daisuke took a moment to use his sense to scan the surroundings. A few moments later, Asa saw why they had fled. Another set of guards passed by the spot they had just occupied.
Daisuke gave his head a little jerk, indicating they should be off. Asa, following without hesitation, stepped into the shadows.
The two walked through the night, following alleys and backways. If Asa hadn’t been following Daisuke, she would have been lost almost instantly. It was obvious Daisuke had a deep understanding of all of Haven, and he never paused as he turned from back alley to back alley.
Asa couldn’t get over just how quiet the city was. Her heartbeat was returning to normal after their escape from the palace. Even though they hadn’t run except for at the very end of their escape, Asa felt as though she had just finished a long race. The tension of uncertainty had sapped her strength.
Outside of the palace, it could have been any other night. The streets were quiet. People could feel the potency of the situation, and they stayed in their houses, safe. But all the same, Asa could hear a few drunks wandering down roads, and she could sense the life in many of the houses. Her world might be upside down, but for tonight at least, she had little company.
Her thoughts turned from the city and its inhabitants to Daisuke. Even though she had spent a fair amount of time with him, his special ability was still disconcerting. Asa had sensed all the life around her for almost as long as she could remember, but here in front of her, the man might as well have not even existed.
His skill, as unusual as it was, wasn’t what captured her attention, though. What she was really surprised by was his competence. She was certain that even with her skills, she wouldn’t have had a chance of getting out of the castle as smoothly as they just had.
Daisuke was striding in his typical confident manner, and it seemed like he had a particular destination in mind. She considered asking about where they were headed, but decided not to. She trusted him.
They eventually stopped in front of a nondescript house. They were in a residential area of Haven, where many of the houses looked the same. She wondered what significance the house had to Daisuke and why he had led her here after their escape.
The change in Daisuke was fascinating as he entered the house. He took off his sandals and placed them neatly against the wall, where Asa saw a number of other sandals. She frowned.
Daisuke stepped farther inside, and Asa could feel the other lives in the house. One source of energy, a child, ran toward them. Asa’s first reaction was to reach for her sword, but she realized the tension of the evening had her thinking foolishly. Daisuke wasn’t afraid or on edge at all.
A girl came around the corner and ran full-speed into Daisuke. “Dad!”
Asa’s jaw dropped for what felt like the hundredth time that night. She scanned the child with her sense, but she couldn’t feel anything unique about her. She wasn’t sense-gifted, or if she was, she hadn’t displayed any powers yet.
Daisuke knelt down and gave the girl, who was apparently his daughter, a big hug. He picked her up and swung her around. The little girl squealed with joy.
Asa tried to blink away what she was seeing. After everything she had seen from Daisuke—his strong fighting skill, his calm competence under the most stressful combat situations—she hadn’t pictured him as a man with a family. Daisuke turned to Asa, his daughter in his arms. “Asa, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Mika. Mika, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine, Asa.”
The little girl seemed to be paying a lot of attention to Asa. She turned to her dad. “Is she a nightblade like you?”
Daisuke laughed, a sound that still seemed completely foreign coming from the warrior Asa knew. “She is. How did you know?”
“She looks serious.”
Daisuke laughed again and looked at Asa. “Apparently you’re going to need to work on your facial expressions if we’re going to get you out of the city. Even my daughter can pick you out!”
Asa was still stunned speechless. She wondered if this was some sort of complex joke she didn’t understand.
Another person came to the front, drawn by all the commotion. “Daisuke, did you bring over a guest without warning me? I thought we had talked about this.”
The woman who came forth was younger than Daisuke by at least ten cycles. She was a short woman with lo
ng dark hair that fell below her shoulders, and Asa could tell from the way she stood close to Daisuke, she was very much in love with him. Daisuke was grinning from ear to ear. “Asa, I’d like you to meet my wife, Keiko. Keiko, Asa.”
The young lady looked at Asa, and from her expression, it was clear she wasn’t pleased to see another woman in the house.
Daisuke put Mika down. “Mika, I need you to go play for a little while. We need to talk about serious adult things. Can you do that?”
Mika nodded, and Asa saw the young girl was curious but obedient. A few moments later, Asa felt the girl playing in the next room, slowly working her way toward the door so she could listen to the adults.
Keiko seemed to know something was wrong. “What’s happened?”
Daisuke looked down at her. “Lord Shin is in the middle of a coup.”
Keiko’s eyes went to the unlocked door, and Daisuke seemed to understand her question. “All things considered, they’re doing a superb job. I don’t think anyone is going to know until tomorrow morning. But Asa and I just escaped from the palace.”
“Kiyoshi?”
“I assume he’s been captured or killed. Keiko, the nightblades are taking sides in this fight, and I’m worried about what will happen.”
Asa watched Keiko’s face as it went through several emotions. Eventually she stood up straighter, and Asa could see the strength of her character.
“What would you have us do?”
“I’d like you and Mika to leave town tonight. There’s a small chance that this will resolve peacefully, but I have a hard time believing in such eventualities. I suspect we’re going to see war soon, and Haven will be the center of activity. I can’t have you here, and I’m worried they will try to close the gates sometime before the sun rises.”
Asa expected Keiko to question Daisuke, to beg him to come with her, but she didn’t. Asa was impressed.
“What are you going to do?”
Daisuke glanced over at Asa. “First, I need to find out if Kiyoshi is still alive. If he is, we’ll need to rescue him. If the king is still alive, we must get him out, too. Hopefully, Kiyoshi has more of a plan than I do. I just need to give him the opportunity to make it happen.”
Keiko looked as though she wanted to argue. “We’ll get ready. Did you want us to go to my sister’s?”
“It is as good a place as any—yes.”
Keiko didn’t ask any more questions. She turned and went through the house trying to find her daughter. “Mika! It’s time for a surprise visit to your aunt!”
Asa and Daisuke sat in his dining room. She was still looking around, having a hard time accepting that Daisuke had a family. He watched her eyes wandering the room, smiling at her amazement.
“How did all this happen?”
Daisuke shrugged. “Where would you like me to start?”
“When did you meet Keiko?”
“A long time ago, more than twenty cycles. I was a boy, and she was an even younger girl. I rescued her from a bad situation. Kiyoshi helped me. It is one of many reasons why I owe him everything.
“I helped her escape, and because she was so young, she had a tendency to view me as some sort of hero. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but there was no telling her otherwise. She followed me for quite some time, and finally I gave up trying to convince her to leave. To make a very long story short, in time, she grew up and saw me as I really am. We found love and have been together for five cycles now. Mika is four.”
Asa was intensely curious. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a nightblade leading a life like this. What does the council have to say about it?”
Daisuke barked a short laugh. “I suppose Kiyoshi never had a chance to tell you. I was never a part of the census. The council doesn’t know that I exist. I serve Kiyoshi, not Starfall.”
Asa studied Daisuke carefully. He was perhaps the most interesting nightblade she had ever met. “How is it that Kiyoshi has earned such loyalty from you?”
At that moment, Keiko stepped into the room, and from her expression, she had clearly heard the question. Her eyes saddened, and Asa realized that all she saw was connected. Keiko, Daisuke, and Kiyoshi were all intertwined, and she had just asked the question at the heart of the story.
Daisuke spoke softly. “There was a time, a very long time ago, when Kiyoshi and I would have been enemies. I was just discovering my ability to hide from the sense, and I was being groomed to kill blades. Again, it’s a long story, but Kiyoshi and I came face-to-face, and although I’m ashamed to admit it, he overcame me. He had the opportunity to kill me, and he should have. But he showed me mercy. Not only that, but he protected me and trained me for several cycles. Everything I am is because of him.”
Keiko interjected. “If not for him, our family and our lives wouldn’t exist. I owe him everything.”
Asa thought about the man she had met only a few times. “He is something unique, isn’t he? I don’t know if I’ve ever met a man quite like him before.”
Daisuke nodded. “He isn’t perfect. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s made horrible mistakes. But he tries every day to do the best he can, and I’ve never regretted a day in his service.” He paused. “And he seems to get me into the most interesting situations.”
Keiko seemed to read her husband’s thoughts. “We’re ready to go. Mika is tired and will probably fall asleep as we travel.”
With the family ready, they all sprang into motion. Asa noticed a slight edge to Daisuke’s actions. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, and she could tell he was worried they had waited too long for his wife and daughter to leave. Nevertheless, they prepared their horse for travel. Keiko climbed on top with practiced ease, and Daisuke lifted a sleeping Mika up to her arms. With that, all four of them left.
Asa scanned the area, but it was still too early in the morning for most people to be awake. Even so, she noticed a great deal of activity in the direction of the wall. Asa also worried they would be too late. She felt for Daisuke. It had been so long since she had been part of a family, but she knew Daisuke would lose focus if his loved ones were in the city, in danger.
When they got to the gate, Asa saw there was a commotion. The atmosphere was quiet but tense. The king’s guards were stationed at the gate, but a contingent of about sixteen of Shin’s men had come to relieve them. They were carrying orders, and there seemed to be a heated discussion between the two groups. Asa, Daisuke, and his family stopped a little way away from the gate. She was relieved that she couldn’t sense any blades nearby.
Daisuke’s mind seemed to be racing. He looked at Asa. “We can try to deceive them, but I doubt it will buy us more than a few moments. Will you help?”
Asa didn’t even have to think about her answer. She nodded.
Daisuke looked up at his wife. “Keiko, we’ll buy you a short window, but you might need to make a sprint for it. I will come for you as soon as I can. But be alert. I’m afraid that if the fires of war start, they will spread far faster than anyone thinks.”
Keiko met her husband’s gaze. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Travel safe.”
With that, their small group stepped forward. Daisuke’s voice was commanding, very much unlike his presence. Asa was surprised yet again by her companion. “What’s happening here?”
The guards all stopped and turned to see the two nightblades at the gate. One of the commanders turned and bowed. “I’m sorry, sir, but this group of men has come, claiming they are to take control of the gates. But I’ve gotten no such orders.”
Daisuke seemed to study the situation for a moment. If it came to a fight, Shin’s men looked as though they would win due to sheer numbers and preparation for combat. The guards at the gate had become far too used to peacetime, and they weren’t wearing the armor or weapons that would give them a chance.
Asa stepped forward, deciding to help Daisuke, and addressed the commander of Shin’s men. “Minori asked us to come here and take
charge of the gate. A small problem has developed to the west of the palace, and your help has been demanded.”
The commander looked doubtful. “Why send you here? Wouldn’t it be more reasonable if you went directly there?”
She frowned, her mind racing. “It was deemed unwise to send a nightblade into this particular situation. They need guards, not blades.”
The commander still looked doubtful, and Asa noticed he kept glancing down at her arm and the red band.
“Very well.” The commander turned to his men. “Men, new orders!”
Shin’s men soon turned around and marched the other way. Daisuke led Keiko through the gate, and they shared a few private moments on the outside of the wall.
Asa turned to the commander of the gate. “They’ll be back, and they’ll be angry. Shin is leading a coup.”
The commander looked as surprised as could be expected. His immediate reaction was to put on the mask of a brave soldier. “We’ll guard this gate with our lives!”
Asa shook her head. “There’s no point. At best you can hold out, what, maybe half a day? Shin has far more troops here than you would believe. Better to abandon your posts and live to fight another day. There’s nothing to be gained by sacrificing yourselves.”
Asa could see the doubt on the man’s face. Abandoning his post went against every precept of honor he held to, but frankly, she didn’t care.
She looked one last time at the gate. Asa knew that if she had any hint of self-preservation in her, she’d leave Haven now. But Minori was here, and she wouldn’t flee without killing him. The chaos of the coup would provide the perfect cover. She would bide her time until opportunity presented itself.
Daisuke came back and stopped next to Asa. “Now we need to find out if Kiyoshi is still alive, and if he is, where he is. Then we break him out.” He paused and smiled at her. “Ready?”
