by Guy Antibes
She shrugged and blushed. “Hold on to them tightly,” he looked at Shiro. “I’ll be back.” Ashiyo mumbled a few words and vanished with Ishura and her things.
“See?” Shiro said. “What can I do to help gather your possessions? We can transport from inside the house.”
Long past midnight, all seven of them surveyed the piles of furniture, kitchen equipment and heaps of clothing that sat by Tishi’s cottage.
She came out with a large pot. “Here is tea to refresh you. We will work out what we will do with your things tomorrow, but it’s past my bedtime and yours too. All of you arrived a bit earlier than expected.” She cackled like the old woman she wasn’t.
Miroshi, Chika and Shiro sat on benches, with grass under their feet.
“I will give you letters. There is a code that we use. Here is the list I made up before the soldiers arrived. It is a start. We only know a few of our sisters. That is why the Lord Sekkoro didn’t capture any to the east of his city. But now that Udishi is carrying on in his stead, we will have to liberate those in the east and those on the north coast.”
“We will start in Udishi’s domain since those sisters are the most exposed,” Shiro said. He looked at Chika who nodded, grimly. She had dropped her disguise, much to Shiro’s pleasure. “There is no time to lose. Unfortunately, I have to return to the village since I’ve never been to the east.”
Chika sat up. “Teach me to teleport. I know my old province as well as any.”
The prospect had never dawned on Shiro. He thought that women wouldn’t have enough power, but then Ashiyo told him that many men didn’t. Chika would. He knew it.
“Come with me,” Shiro finished his tea and held out his hand.
“Does this mean we will spend time in the grass?” Chika said, her lips curling.
Shiro grinned. Chika was back. “I’m so sorry. Only the soles of our sandals.” Shiro forced a mock frown. On the way to the nexus outcropping he told her the teleport spell.
“So you think I may be strong enough.”
“Indeed. But we will let you try it out. We’ll teleport from the nexus to Tishi’s. Your power will be filled up first.”
“Not quite betting on me?”
Shiro pursed his lips in the moonlit night. “You’ll be transporting both of us.”
As they approached the nexus, Shiro felt the humming, but his power topped out quickly. Chika put out her arms.
“This is wonderful.”
“Tell me when you feel… You’ll feel something like satisfied.”
“Oh, like after a long night of love?”
Shiro smiled. “Better.”
She scoffed but in a few moments hummed. “I know what you mean. I’m ready.”
“Let’s step away from the nexus,” Shiro said.
They clasped hands. Chika looked expectantly at Shiro.
“Go ahead,” he said.
She closed her eyes and in the next instant, they stood in front of Tishi’s cottage. Chika screamed and jumped up and down with joy and then clutched her stomach. “I shouldn’t have done that.” She sat down gingerly, but ended up getting sick.
Shiro laughed. He felt great. “You did it!”
Chika could only grunt, but she presented him with a weak smile.
“We leave tomorrow.” His elation dissipated quickly enough as he thought about the task he had accepted for the both of them.
~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
~
SHIRO AND CHIKA, IN THEIR GUISES, VISITED YORI before they left the area.
“Ah you’ve returned. The soldiers weren’t very happy yesterday when everyone left. You did a very good job at hiding your direction. They couldn’t discover which way you went. They had a sorcerer with them who interrogated the villagers and no one could tell them anything.” He waved his finger at them. “Don’t tell me where you are going!” He grinned as his wife brought some produce wrapped up in a cloth.
“Something to help you on your way. This won’t go very far in feeding all seven of you, but.”
Shiro put his hand on Yori’s arm. “Don’t worry about us. The women have been taken to a safe place where Udishi’s soldiers will never find them.”
Yori’s wife put her hand to her lips in shock. “Not the desert!”
“I’ll not tell you where.” Shiro laughed. “I wish you well.” Shiro and Chika bowed to them before they left.
“He’s a nice man,” Chika said, looking back at their house in the distance.
“And if his wife were a White Rose society member, he’d soon be a widower.”
“Not to mention what my father would do to me.”
Shiro nodded. That was a place he no longer wanted to go with Chika.
“I wish I had an army of sisters to fight them all,” she said through gnashed teeth.
An army? “Then let’s that be our goal. We’ll create an army of the White Rose. They can protect the valley and strike where women sorcerers are in danger.”
Chika bit her lip in thought and nodded. “I’d like that. I’ll be the captain.”
“Certainly,” Shiro said. “I have every confidence in your fighting skills.”
“And you’ll be our general.”
Shiro coughed. “I’m not a leader!”
“Don’t cut yourself short. Ashiyo didn’t take the women to Tishi’s valley, you did.”
“He makes things happen. He should be the general.”
“No. He’s the one that makes things happen, but you give him the opportunity to do so. You rescued him from the prison,” Chika said, kicking at rock in the road.
“We both did,” Shiro said, but he fought a losing battle. He only hoped it wouldn’t be the war. “I don’t know enough about tactics.”
“You told me you read the histories in the little library at the prison farm.”
“That doesn’t make me a general,” Shiro said. Scholars never led armies by what he had read.
“Why would the writers of a victorious war campaign ever call their general a scholar?” Chika said letting one corner of her mouth curl in a smile.
Shiro shrugged. “We don’t have a library and I’m certainly not going to transport to Diakko Island.
“No, but perhaps Ashiyo might know of a good library that could stand a little pilfering.”
“I must admit the idea intrigues me, but we will have to talk to Ashiyo first. I wouldn’t mind reading a bit more about magic. Perhaps he might know of a book that will tell me more of the Sunstone. It doesn’t seem to do much other than disorient me when I touch it.”
“Won’t hurt to ask, Lord General.”
~
The village of Taiho sat nestled in the little valley. Chika had retreated further back into her shell as they ventured into her father’s domain. She had transported them here after walking a few leagues to the south from Yori’s farm. They wore the youth and the Kinoru disguises
Shiro looked at the fistful of scroll sticks in his hand. “Ryosha. She is a seamstress according to Miroshi.”
“I know that, General. You shouldn’t be so nervous for your first time,” Chika said, pursing her lips.
Well that was a little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day. “Let’s talk to her.”
In half an hour they stood at the door to a laundry. “Seamstress and washerwoman,” Chika said.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m sure our clothes need washing, don’t you?”
Chika pulled her tunic to her nose. “Definitely. I think I have a hole in a sock as well.” She nodded and walked in past the curtain to the open shop.
“Hello?” Shiro said. No one attended the counter. Paper walls kept the customer from seeing the activity within.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” A short woman, nearly middle aged walked in bobbing her head up and down with little bows.
“We have some clothes that need washing,” Chika said.
Shiro invoked the spell that allowed him to see through disguises and saw an old
er woman waiting on them. They were in the right place.
Shiro leaned against the counter. “I think we might have a mutual friend. Miroshi and her sisters told me all about you.”
The woman looked up, alarmed. “I don’t know a Miroshi.” Shiro noticed that she had lost her breath.
Chika looked at Shiro for direction and he nodded. She turned into herself. “We come to warn those of the White Rose. I’m one of you.” She turned back again.
The woman looked outside and closed the door of her establishment. “Come into the back.”
Shiro told them an edited version of what had happened to the west. “As long as you live in Udishi’s domain, you are in the gravest of danger. I can offer you a new life with many of your sisters.”
“Oh, if it were true,” Ryosha said. “We number fifteen in this village. Some of us are married and I don’t think those can leave. My two daughters and I will come with you. I’ve been worried about the new campaign. I have too many friends around here.”
Shiro raised his eyebrows. “How many?”
Ryosha shrugged, “Maybe thirty. Most are in Taiho.”
“We can take in men. Look at me! We are building a community that’s safe for the White Rose Society and not a valley filled with nuns.”
Chika nodded at that. “Certainly not nuns.” She winked at Shiro, who began to blush.
“Certainly not,” he smiled.
“Where is this valley?”
“On North Isle.”
“We have no money or time to travel all the way there.”
“I’m not without talent and neither is Chika, here. We will transport you. You might not be able to take all of your possessions. I haven’t attempted teleporting a house.”
Ryosha squinted. “I see no power within you.”
Shiro smiled and pulled out the marble. “Watch.” He blinded the both of them with the glow.
“I can be ready in a few days. You can stay at the Willow’s End, down by the river. It’s a safe enough place. I’ll want you to repeat what you’ve told me to a few key people, then I’ll spread the word, but not the location.”
“Miroshi said you were a good woman. She brings you honor and you bring her honor,” Shiro said as they rose.
On their way to the inn, Chika punched Shiro in the arm.
“Easy. That’s no way to treat a general,” Shiro said.
“The honor words. Very noble. I am impressed.”
“I’m going to have to figure out a lot of ways to get our hens all the way to the roost.”
“Who are you calling a hen?” Chika said and when she got Shiro to look embarrassed, she laughed it off.
~
“We are growing,” Ashiyo said. “Sixty new recruits and we’re still not out of the eastern prefecture. Very impressive, you two.” He shoveled some rice into this mouth at the campfire. “Going to have to do something about the ambience of our little village.”
Shiro nodded. “I have two requests for you. We need to build homes for these people, but I don’t want to strip the surrounding countryside bare. Winter will come soon enough and we need housing. Could you take a few of the men and teleport them to the South Isle and buy building materials?”
“Good idea! We can still do some buying around here.”
“As little as possible,” Shiro said. “I have one other request. On your expeditions, I’d like you to find some good books to read. I need to learn more strategy and more magic.”
Ashiyo smiled.
“What?” Shiro said.
“I haven’t been totally honest with you.”
Shiro’s stomach dropped. What new twist would the man surprise him with this time?
“My library in Sekkoro is secure and I can teleport in and out. I’d be happy to move it here.”
“Your library wasn’t particularly impressive, as I recall.”
“Not my public library, but my private library might be termed as more discriminating.”
Shiro shrugged. He’d believe it when he saw the materials. “Then build a library and fill it with your books.” The thought brought a smile to his lips and excitement inside. With more knowledge, Shiro could help ensure the success of their gathering.
“I will.”
The next few days were spent organizing the camp. With the addition of the new members came new skills and Shiro felt that they had a good core to start the town he knew would grow in the valley. The women set up a council. One of the men had been a headman of a village and they asked him to join Miroshi, Ryosha, and Tishi. Ashiyo declined a place on the council and that made Shiro more comfortable about the whole reorganization.
Shiro shunned any leadership position, but they voted to name him their overall leader.
“You don’t get to vote, but you get to veto,” Miroshi said. “You’ve earned it.”
What to do with Chika? He felt that she needed a position of responsibility, but she had to accompany him on their journeys.
They were nearly ready to go to South Isle again. “I want you to think about what you’ll need for your army, Chika,” Shiro said. “We’ll need a militia. Men and women, fighters and sorcerers.”
She blinked. “I didn’t think you were serious.”
“I am. I’m still the General though, Captain.
“Yes, my Lord General. We’ll need weapons.”
Shiro thought of Ashiyo again. The man did know smithy work. If another didn’t accompany a sister, perhaps they could hire or train one. What was he thinking? If he didn’t know himself better, he’d have to admit that he now thought as a leader and that meant keeping a watch on potential problems with possible solutions.
“We need more than innkeepers, which seems to be the ideal profession of your sisters.”
Chika shrugged. “If we create a town, we’ll get people wanting to work here.”
“And we have some very selective council members,” Shiro said.
“We do indeed. They can make a lot of the mundane decisions that are beneath you, my Lord General. We need to concentrate on growing our community. Anything I can do to thwart my father and the Guild.”
~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
~
AFTER FINDING AND TRANSPORTING NEARLY ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE, Shiro and Chika would have to travel closer to Kyohama, Lord Udishi’s capital city. They sat at an inn, with a fistful of scroll sticks with more names. This time, the names were written with lemon juice. A candle or lamp would activate the writing and then they could read where they needed to look for more sisters.
They had just run into their first village where the sisters had been routed out. Their principal contact had been killed.
“Are you sure you want to continue?” Shiro said. Their exposure to danger had just risen.
Chika sat drinking a cup of wine, staring into the candle flame at their table. “More than ever. If I run into my father, I won’t hesitate to kill him.” Her grim demeanor had returned in full force. “We have to save these women.”
“Even if the Captain of the Army and the Lord General are taken off the field?”
She glared at him. “They can sacrifice along with everyone else.”
“We must keep our wits about us, Chika.”
“I’ve been able to manage for quite a while,” she said.
“But the stakes are higher. People depend on us.”
“On you, Shiro. I’m just a sidekick.”
He didn’t know how to deal with her when she retreated into her black moods. He couldn’t bear having her become the cook again and push him away.
“Very well, sidekick. We will continue on as before. But after tonight, we will spend every night in Tishi’s valley. We’ll tell them where we are going, so if we don’t show up, they can decide if it will be worthwhile to save our miserable skins.”
Chika grunted and nodded. “After tonight, I’m too tired to go there.”
~
“You are Chukio?” Shiro asked a hard looking woma
n who dyed cloth for a living.
“I am. Will you excuse me for a moment? I have to make sure a batch of cloth isn’t left in the vat too long,” Chukio said.
“Look at her fingers,” Chika said. “No disguise.” Shiro had taught her the way to look through disguises as a way to brighten her attitude. It didn’t work today.
The woman returned. Shiro looked at her hands. They were not laborer hands. No dye stains and not rough from washing and rinsing the fabrics. She wore no disguise. He looked at Chika.
“I’ve got a message from a woman we met a few weeks ago. We told her that we were on our way to Kyohama and asked us to give it to you.” Shiro made a show to find the message on his person. “I must have left it at the inn. We’ll be right back.”
He stepped out of the building and soldiers wearing Udishi colors stood up and down the street. The door slid closed behind Chika and Shiro heard the wooden bar sliding shut.
“That took less time than I thought,” Shiro said.
Chika snorted. “I’m ready.” She twirled her staff and held it ready. An arrow sped down from the roof and landed in her staff.
“No you’re not.” Shiro pulled his sword from his back and his long knife from his sash and laid them on the ground.
She sighed. “I suppose an arrow cushion isn’t quite my look,” she said as she did the same.
Three sorcerers stepped out to their left and intoned a spell that stole their senses from them.
~
A very well dressed older man slapped Shiro awake. “I never expected to see the Sunstone in my prefecture,” he said. “I am Lord Udishi and you have brought my daughter and a priceless artifact to me. It’s a shame that I can’t treat you with the respect such an act might otherwise deserve.”
The man stood taller than Shiro, but didn’t carry as much weight. Shiro squinted at the man and could see that Chika had inherited the same shape of eyes. How did he know Chika was with him? She had worn her disguise.
“You will be reunited with her tonight.”
Shiro grunted. He rose from a sleeping pallet upholstered in silk. The room hardly looked like a dungeon, but he didn’t doubt that it would be warded.
“She is unharmed?”
The man looked insulted. “Would I harm my own daughter?”
