Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2)

by Guy Antibes

  “I thought…”

  “She hates me,” he held up his hand to forestall any comment, “I know, I know. We had some harsh words when she left. I admit. But she is my only issue. A daughter and a witch. Not the noblest of combinations. We will talk of it later.” Udishi barked out an unpleasant laugh. “Don’t attempt to escape. These walls are warded. You might find yourself in worse trouble should you try to break them. There are more appropriate clothes over there in that trunk. Please clean yourself and be prepared at sundown.” He walked out of the room without further comment.

  Shiro walked up to the paper-panel window and touched it. He felt a shock that left his fingers numb. Teleporting out might not work. He didn’t dare take the risk.

  Pacing back and forth, Shiro felt like a tiger in a cage. He vowed not to use his magic, yet… The shield spell came easily in the room and evidently did not affect the wards. He touched the wall and felt the barest tingling as if the wood had been covered with velvet, a much better result than his numb hand. He poked his finger in the waxed paper that covered the windows. His success made him smile. Shiro might not be able to use a blast of magic to leave his cage, but nothing would prevent him from merely using his muscles to break the window and walk out, not using magic at all.

  Now that Shiro felt more in control, he washed the travel soil that still covered his body and walked over to the trunk. Every article of clothing in the trunk exceeded the quality of any article of clothing he had ever worn in his life. What would be suitable for a mage? He settled on black breeches, black socks and a gray silk tunic printed with a black shell pattern and a darker gray over-robe. Finding a thin rope of yellow silk, he tied back his hair into a long ponytail rather than struggling to make the kind of topknot that the nobility wore. He found a matching yellow sash and tied it around his waist—a fitting outfit for the bearer of the Sunstone.

  Shiro wondered if he would ever get his sword back. He spent much of the day practicing his sword forms without his sword using stiff hands instead of blades. If Udishi caught a whiff of his sweat, so what? The thought brought a smile to Shiro’s face, but then he discarded the thought as inappropriate. He had to find a way to extricate them both from their captivity.

  The light of the sun had left the window and Shiro prepared himself to be marched to dinner, a likely discussion of Lord Udishi’s harangues at women with Affinity. The door slid open and a man in the costume of a noble walked into the room.

  “I am Tiriasho, Lord Udishi’s chamberlain. If you will follow me.”

  Shiro stayed where he was. “I’ll not leave this room with the wards in place. My fingers are still numb.”

  Tiriasho threw his head back and laughed. It seemed like an overreaction to Shiro. “Of course.” The man snapped his fingers and a scarlet-robed sorcerer stood outside the room and uttered a spell, too low for him to hear the words.

  Shiro tapped the doorframe lightly with his little finger and nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Follow me,” Tiriasho said, not looking as happy as he had just been.

  They walked wordlessly. The sorcerer seemed to drag along behind. The man in red must be his true guard. Shiro looked over their path through Udishi’s compound. They were kept indoors and he would imagine that the entire corridor had been warded. He regretted not being close enough to have heard the deactivation spell. For once, he wished he could have stayed a bit longer at the Guildhouse to learn about wards. Apprentices only were taught the effects of them by trial and error.

  Finally they reached a set of double sliding doors. An audience room, at least. Tiriasho dropped to his knees and glared at Shiro, who stood above both men. “Kneel!” Tiriasho said in a harsh whisper.

  Shiro lifted an eyebrow and did so. He would not satisfy this man to appear afraid, but he did kneel. Antagonizing Lord Udishi would only make his escape more difficult.

  The door opened and Shiro saw the back of a woman. Her hair had been ornately dressed. Spangles and jeweled hairpins held up the elaborate hairdo. She wore a formal silk costume. She had to be Chika, but the woman held her head bowed as Shiro entered.

  Udishi smiled and beckoned Shiro to sit by him. Shiro had to struggle to get past the wards at the door. They stirred up his mind and made it foggy. He had to get down on all fours until his mind cleared.

  “Tiriasho, on the other side of me. Sorcerer, stay outside my door and enter if I call.”

  Tiriasho walked on his knees to his place leaving Shiro behind. He didn’t know if he should stand and walk or move as Tiriasho did. After the briefest of moments, he bowed deeply to Udishi and walked to his place, a bit unsteadily, and sat down. Then he noticed Chika. Her face had been powdered white with high, thin painted eyebrows and ruby red lips, but one eye had swollen shut and her lower lip appeared all puffed up. She looked up at him with red eyes, rimmed with tears, streaking the face powder.

  Shiro balled his hands into fists and breathed slowly. He glanced at Udishi, who had the Sunstone sword in his sash. A new sharkskin-wrapped hilt poked out of a new sheath that had a cutout to show off the Sunstone in the blade. Udishi brought him here to gloat. He couldn’t fathom why the lord had lied to him about not touching his daughter. Shiro never did generate much hate for his fellow man, but Udishi instantly became a man he would love to throttle. Guildmaster Yushidon and Roniki had never brought out such anger and revulsion. Were all nobles as cruel as this man?

  Beating his own daughter and loving it. What a monster! He glared at Chika, who had returned to staring down into her lap.

  “No magic to attack me?” Udishi said. His mocking tone grated and Shiro looked towards the door. It had been closed, but he could see the faint silhouette of the sorcerer through the paper panes.

  If he’d been caught on his own, Shiro would be able to use what little offensive spells he knew to take care of Udishi and Tiriasho. “If I practice magic in this room, I’ll be disabled. I touched the wall in my room and my hand is just awakening from its numbness.” He shook his right hand slowly, although he had his full strength.

  Udishi laughed and then with a combination of smugness and arrogance, he said, “Of course. You might even die!” He laughed again. Tiriasho smiled, but didn’t quite look as comfortable as his lord.

  Chika suddenly looked up and threw flames at her father. Lord Udishi cried out and began to burn. Tiriasho began to pull out his long knife. He didn’t have a sword.

  Shiro leaned over and pulled the entire sheath out of Udishi’s sash, drew the sword, silently and quickly, dispatching Tiriasho. He had been looking closely at Udishi and assumed his image, while flames engulfed Chika’s father.

  “That bitch!” he yelled. “Sorcerer! Get in here!”

  The door opened and sorcerer entered the room. Hopefully, the man would think he saw Lord Udishi standing with Shiro burning and Tiriasho bleeding on the floor. Shiro silenced the Sorcerer with his power before he could bring up a defense.

  “Get up, Chika!” Shiro whispered. She barely nodded and looked as detached as when he had entered.

  He pulled her to her feet and cut her bonds, and then he half dragged her out the door as more guards converged on the room.

  “The captured sorcerer managed to take my sword and overcome Tiriasho. Then the two of them fought with flames. I’m taking this thing out of here. She can’t even act the part of a loyal daughter anymore.”

  “What are we to do?” a guard said.

  Shiro glared at the man. “Put out the fires and clean up the place, of course!” He hoped his angry voice would cover up the difference. Chika swayed on her feet. The wards that protected the Lord’s audience room must have scrambled her brain.

  How could he escape if Chika wouldn’t even help? He passed a maid. “I no longer want to look at her as my daughter. She needs to be put into her old clothes before I finish what I started. Take her to her quarters.”

  The woman looked at Lord Udishi in fear and immediately went down to her knees, touching her forehead to th
e wooden floor. She rose and Shiro shoved Chika into her arms. The woman staggered with her barely-responsive burden down the corridor. He followed at a distance until the woman slid open a door. He waited for a few minutes, looking to pace angrily. While he did so, no one dared speak to him.

  He charged in to Chika’s room. The woman was tying on Chika’s sandals.

  “Where are her weapons?”

  The maid’s eyes grew round with fear. “I do not know, my lord!”

  He couldn’t wait to search. They wouldn’t be in her room. “Stay here until you are summoned.” Shiro said as he took Chika out into the courtyard. She hardly resisted, but if he acted angry, perhaps no one stop them.

  Horses whinnied and Shiro headed towards them and found the stables.

  “You!” He pointed at a stablehand, who immediately dropped to his knees. “Saddle two horses. I’m taking her out of here for the last time.”

  Another stablehand arrived and in moments, the two had mounts ready. Shiro commanded them to put Chika into the saddle. She listlessly took the reins in her hands.

  “Now leave!”

  The two men nearly ran out of the stable. Shiro didn’t dare transport from inside the lord’s mansion. He tried to smother their magic with the cloaking spell and led Chika’s horse out of the gate. He looked back and could see tendrils of smoke reaching up from over the wall. He took another turn, not remembering how to get out of the city. He couldn’t get caught again.

  “Chika!” She didn’t respond to him but collapsed on her horse as soon as they left her father’s mansion. Shiro couldn’t ride with any speed or she’d fall off the horse in her state. He wished the maid would have taken out the hair ornaments and washed her face. She looked horrid.

  “Stop!”

  Shiro could hear the sound of horses clopping on the cobbles getting louder. He turned into a large square and saw the road that led out of the gate. People began to run away when he reached a central well. No one was close, but soldiers began to enter from the direction of the mansion. The smoke had dwindled. There’d be no repeat of Sekkoro’s fire.

  He led her out the gate and as he did so, she collapsed on the neck of the horse. She couldn’t ride out of the city draped senseless over the neck of her horse. Shiro had no choice but to jam his steed next to hers. The horses bucked a bit, but Chika stayed on. Riders surrounded them. The Sunstone blade had to stay in it’s ornate sheath, for Shiro had to hold the reins of the horse with one hand and Chika with the other.

  ~~~

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  ~

  SHIRO TOOK A DEEP BREATH AND TELEPORTED CHIKA and the horses along with himself to the North Isle. In his haste, he had fixed the location of the burnt out inn, but when they arrived, the inn no longer existed. All of the timbers had been removed and the ground had been cleared of debris.

  While Shiro realized the inn had been demolished, Chika fell to the ground, unmoving. The horses’ eyes rolled and they nervously pranced around at the abrupt change in location. Shiro vaulted off of his mount and grabbed Chika, shooing the horses away. She didn’t say a word and acted as if she were in a deep slumber.

  “Chika, can you ride?” She remained passive in his arms. Shiro winced at her lack of response and calmed both of the horses, throwing Chika over her saddle. She didn’t even complain about the rough handling while they proceeded to the valley.

  Now that he had time to think, he looked over at Chika’s body, flaccidly swaying to every movement of her mount. He knew her relationship with her father had brought out odd behavior, but he never once thought that she would end up in such a state. He worried for her, but had no idea how to give her any sort of comfort. He had learned to treasure their relationship, whatever that might be at present or, hopefully, in the future.

  Chika had exhibited temperament and prickliness, but she also had saved him as he rushed southward in his vain attempt to save Shiuki. He had thought they made a formidable team with the both of them possessing high expertise in magical and martial arts. And now? He shook his head. He only hoped the White Rose Society could help bring Chika out from whatever place she now resided in her mind.

  He pulled up outside Tishi’s house and lifted Chika down from the horse.

  Miroshi and Tishi ran out. “What happened?”

  “We went one village too far and were led into a trap. Lord Udishi, who is now dead, tortured his daughter while they kept me prisoner in another part of his mansion. The lord loved to gloat and Chika snapped out of her haze just long enough to kill her father. She’s been like this ever since. I think we ran through some wards that damaged her mind. We teleported with these horses when we were surrounded by the prefecture troops.”

  “So the Udishi’s prefecture is finished with us?”

  Shiro managed half of a smile. “Perhaps not yet. We will be more careful, but we won’t drift as close to the capital as we did. There will be a new lord, of course. We managed to come across a village too close to the city that had already been compromised.”

  Tishi nodded her head. “We can talk about it later. I recommend that all of Udishi prefecture not be visited by anyone for a while. You wash up or something. We’ll attend to Chika.”

  With a feeling of utter helplessness, Shiro took the horses and sought out Ashiyo. In the few weeks they had been gone, the tent city had been moved and piles of building materials had taken their place.

  Ashiyo stood in front of a cleared area talking to three men and a woman. He noticed Shiro and grinned while he sent the others on their way. He walked up to Shiro. “How was your trip?” His smile melted while he looked at Shiro’s face. “Where are the new recruits? What happened?”

  “We were captured by Chika’s father. He beat her so thoroughly that her mind seems to have gone to some other place. Despite that, she killed her father giving me the ability to escape. I just arrived minutes ago.” Shiro couldn’t help shaking his head.

  “You took her to Tishi?”

  Shiro nodded.

  “That’s probably for the best. She’s quite an administrator. She talked all of us into moving the wood from her inn to that pile over there.” Ashiyo nodded to a pile of blackened timber. “We can salvage quite a bit of lumber and stone. I didn’t know anyone could get so many people to move at once.”

  “What did she do, teleport?” Shiro said.

  “She didn’t teleport, she levitated one big mass of debris and walked with it all the way to that pile.” Ashiyo chuckled. “She did stagger around a bit after her amazing feat. The woman is something else. If anyone can help Chika…”

  Shiro produced a weak smile, as he didn’t know if anyone could help her. “I need to wash up and rest a bit.”

  “You can share my tent. It’s the big one over there,” Ashiyo said, pointing to a large brown tent with red pennants flying from two of the tent poles. “I’ve got to continue to supervise our work. Your idea to go buy materials at different places was brilliant. It makes it much easier buy a little here and a little there.” He grinned again and then moved off with a wave.

  On the way to Ashiyo’s tent, Shiro passed a corral with a few horses. He put the two he had taken from Lord Udishi in with the others and put the saddles on the wooden logs of the fence. The weight of the world seemed to bear down on him as he stepped into his friend’s tent. Why did Ashiyo need such a big place to sleep?

  Shiro’s mouth dropped open as he entered and beheld basket after basket filled with books and scrolls. Piles of scrolls littered the surface of a large table set up on trestles with an upright chair. The books drew him in, but his mind and a troubled heart restrained his desire to go through Ashiyo’s library. He tore his attention away from the scene and found a bowl of water and towel that he used to wipe the sweat off of his face and traces of white powder from his hands. He didn’t even remember when he touched her face. Two cots were laid out on opposite sides of the tent. He laid down on one of them and wrapped his arm around his face to dim the waning sunli
ght that tried to fight its way through the tent cloth. Soon he let his mind go and surrendered to sleep.

  The flickering of a bank of candles startled Shiro from his slumber. He rose up on one elbow, looking at Tishi peruse an old book. He cleared his throat and Tishi’s eyes rose to meet his.

  “Ah, the hero has risen from his sleep. I wish I could say the same for your poor friend.”

  Shiro shook sleep from his eyes and got up from the cot. “How is Chika?” He took a stool on the other side of the table from Tishi.

  “Her father might not have been a sorcerer, but his claws went deep into her mind. She hasn’t stirred since you brought her in. You said she helped you escape?”

  Shiro described the scene at her father’s ‘feast’. “At least I could lead her. She walked where I pointed her and rode out the gate. Then she just collapsed. The entire episode had finally overwhelmed her.”

  “The gate you say?”

  He nodded.

  “Ah. My guess is that the gate had a ward that caused her condition. I suspected something of the kind when you brought her in. Despite the bruising, her condition is admirable, as it has always been.” Tishi squinted across the table at Shiro. “Physically she is fine, but her Affinity has been stripped from her. It’s much different than a shielding spell that will keep you from performing magic. You don’t lose your connection, just your ability to project your power. I’m looking for a restorative.”

  Shiro furrowed his brow. “A restorative to bring back her Affinity? How will that help her?”

  “She’s had too many shocks and the shock of losing Affinity has turned her into a mindless shell. The mind is still there, but in some way, it’s not connected.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand.” Shiro’s stomach flipped and he felt a wave of nausea. He forced Chika through the warded gate and caused her condition. His attempt to dampen the magic had failed. First he destroyed his family and now Chika.

  “I can see you are blaming yourself. Don’t. What was your alternative? Her father would have killed her if she hadn’t acted and you’d likely be joining her in the grave.”