Emily's Saga

by Travis Bughi

  She swallowed and curled into a ball as much as the chains would allow. It hurt her back to move, but it felt better somehow. Her eyes rose up to look at Katsu.

  “How would you like to go free?” he asked.

  “WHAT?” Heliena jumped. “You can’t be serious!”

  “Heliena!” Katsu glared. “Would you like to be escorted out?”

  She stared at him aghast for a moment, then folded her arms and huffed like a child.

  “Good,” the shogun said. “Now, did you hear me, Emily? Would you like to go free? You and Takeo, together, just walk out of here alive. Would you like that?”

  Fresh tears came to Emily’s eyes, and as she continued to huddled on the stone floor, its cold embrace sapped the fire from her back and helped to console her from the harsh reality around her.

  “Yes,” she whispered, but her voice carried in the empty room.

  “I can give that to you,” he said, “in exchange for the colossus. I’m being honest now. You see? The sennin remains still. With the colossus under my control, I’ll have no fear of either of you. I’ll let you go free, both of you, to live happily ever after. I might even be inclined to throw in a small farm with bountiful crops. You were a farmer once, yes? Though you are a warrior now, and if you want, you could even raise another army and try to resist me; I’ll allow it. I’m okay with this, and I understand if that’s your plan. You can do it, any of it and all of it. All you have to do is hand over the colossus, and freedom is yours. All the pain Heliena has in store for you can be avoided if you’ll just cooperate. Takeo need never be sold as a slave. Surely you want this, don’t you? What’s that saying women love? You can grow old together.”

  Emily could no more lie to herself than she could to the sennin. She did want freedom, for both her and Takeo. The thought of them growing old together had only recently died, but its lingering memory returned, and she dared to hope again that it could be true. The thought made her heart stop and her throat thicken, and she felt weak and sick at the happiness the thought gave her.

  But to give up the colossus for it? How could she possibly do that? Her life was not her own. Quartus had given her this life, and the colossus, as well. She didn’t feel entitled to them; she felt indebted to them. If she gave up the colossus to Katsu, she would all but seal the world’s fate. He could conquer more than just Juatwa with that colossus. He could conquer all. Nothing would stand before him, not man, beast, or immortal. Emily could not bear that guilt, and Takeo could not either.

  Still, though, time was precious.

  “Even if I wanted to give you the colossus,” Emily said, “I wouldn’t know how to do it. I’m not even exactly sure how it was given to me.”

  “But you’ll agree to try?” Katsu asked.

  Emily glanced at the sennin. Damn, so close.

  “No,” she muttered.

  Katsu tossed the quill he’d been holding onto the scrolls and folded his arms across his chest. He gave a great sigh and then touched his moustache.

  “Are you really so foolish?” he asked. “Don’t you see that everything is lost whether I have the colossus or not? Juatwa is mine. Lucifan will burn. If I so deem it, I could conquer the world with my samurai, too. You, however, are making a choice between life and death, for yourself and Takeo. In the grand scheme of things, what I’m offering you is the deal of a lifetime. I’ll gain little, while you’ll gain everything.”

  “I won’t betray Quartus,” she said.

  “Quartus is dead, and the dead are owed nothing. I think you need more time to remember what’s at stake here. Miyazi!”

  Renshu came through the doors and bowed.

  “Take Emily back to her cell for now, but don’t unshackle her,” Katsu commanded. “She’ll be returning soon. Also, have a servant bring a mat and some wine. It seems we’ll be having a long night.”

  Chapter 31

  Emily’s vest chafed at her fresh wounds, making each step more painful than the last, but it was a welcome distraction from the aching in her heart.

  And now I go to tell Takeo that I will die, she thought.

  She wondered if he would go on living without her. She hoped he would, but his life as a samurai had made death seem a trivial thing to him. Takeo charged into every battle without hesitation, and she had once thought he lacked fear, but it was now apparent to her that this was wrong. He feared losing her, losing the fight, and living without a purpose. Had she taken Katsu’s offer and resigned them both to a life of hiding and surviving, she would have killed his soul rather than his body. She could only hope that when he became a slave again, he would discover a new purpose that didn’t involve her, one that would bring him freedom.

  The darkness outside was all encompassing—no moon fought back the night—and when Emily was thrust into her cell still shackled, her eyes were already used to the lack of light. She waited a few moments until the guard was gone, then wiggled free of her restraints and picked the locks. She went to Takeo.

  “What did they do to you?” he asked.

  “He let Heliena whip me,” she whispered, “and he offered us freedom for the colossus.”

  “What’d you say?”

  “What do you think? I told him no.”

  He gave a sigh, which Emily determined to be in relief, and kissed her forehead.

  “Stand back,” she said. “I’m unlocking your cage. I don’t care if they find us.”

  He didn’t argue. His hands released her, and she found his cell’s lock in the darkness. She wanted to tell him that this might be their last night together, but couldn’t muster the words. Saying them out loud might make them true, and a part of her wanted to go on believing there were was still hope. Yet here she was, picking the lock of his cage all because she wanted to hold him one last time.

  There were so many she’d never get to say goodbye to. So many she had let down. At least no one else would die in her place this time, not like those knights in Lucifan or those amazons in Angor. Her failure would be her own burden to bear. No angel would save her this time.

  Takeo didn’t move or say anything as she slowly picked away. He was so silent that she wondered if he was still there. She had to start over twice because her hurriedness made her fingers shake. Either that or the pain from her back went deeper than she thought, and it didn’t help that his lock was different than hers. The unfamiliarity was frustrating.

  “Emily,” Takeo whispered so suddenly she jumped. “Go back.”

  “Hm?”

  “I hear something,” he whispered again, urgently. “Go back.”

  She hesitated for one defiant moment before sliding her lockpicking tools into her hair and retreating to her cell. Just as she reached it, she heard what Takeo had: voices through the door. It sounded like yelling, or a scream, and then nothing. Her heart quickened, and she bolted into her cell and shut the door. Before she could lock it, though, the door to their solitary room burst open.

  Oh no, my shackles, she tensed. They’ll know!

  One of the guards stood in the entryway with a ring of keys in his hand. He looked terrified, and his hand was shaking. Emily noted that his chin was tilted unusually high, and then she gasped as a red gash was torn across the guard’s throat. He crumpled to the ground, grasping his neck, trying to stop the flow of blood. He wiggled only a few seconds before he stopped moving, and over him stood Lei Gao dressed in a soldier’s armor with a dripping dagger in hand.

  “Thank you, my good man,” he said to the dead guard. “I knew you’d get the right key eventually. Wait a moment . . . Takeo? Emily! Is that really you?”

  Takeo came forward from the shadows into the flickering torchlight that silhouetted the ninja. The samurai’s face was like glass, ever smooth and calm. In his eyes, though, Emily saw the look of shock mixed with anger, but Lei seemed not to notice as his jaw fell open and he laughed.

  “You’re alive!” he said. “I can’t believe it! You’re alive!”

  Emily’s hand touched he
r side, finding no knife, but lingered there nostalgically anyway. She glanced to Takeo and saw him pressed up against the bars. His face was changing slowly from calm to disbelief.

  “Lei,” he said, voice strained, “what are you doing here?”

  “Why, I’m saving you, of course!” Lei laughed, throwing his arms wide. “I think a good thank you is in order, my friend.”

  A brief flicker of hope touched Takeo’s eyes. It was bright and raw, and Emily couldn’t blame him for daring to believe. It almost pained her to crush it.

  “How can you be saving us,” Emily said, “if you didn’t know we were alive?”

  Lei’s lips twitched, and the light in Takeo’s eyes went out. Emily’s hand itched at her side again, and she wished for something sharp. Lei’s fingers danced while he paused, and then Ehuang appeared beside him, dressed in a guard’s clothing.

  “Takeo!” she said with a gasp. “It really is you! Oh, and the amazon, of course.”

  Her drawn wakizashi was dripping blood onto the floor. She stepped around Lei and into the room, keeping to the middle between the two cells, just out of reach. Emily and she shared a mutual gaze of disdain.

  “Should we kill them now?” Ehuang said.

  “Oh, for crying out loud!” Lei sighed, throwing his arms in the air. “Why don’t you consult with me before you speak your mind? I just told Takeo we came to rescue him.”

  “Oh, stop it, Lei. Look at her! She knows. They both know. Do you see relief on their faces?”

  “Lei,” Takeo said. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

  Lei and Ehuang ignored Takeo and stared at each other. Lei folded his arms and gave Ehuang a frown full of disappointment. She pouted back at him, and then blew Takeo a kiss before walking out of the room.

  “Remember,” she whispered to the ninja, none too quietly, “the Old Woman paid for his death, too.”

  Lei rolled his eyes. “I remember. Now go check the others.”

  He watched her leave and then entered the room, stepping over the guard to pick up the keyring. He shook some of the blood off of it and then pocketed the keys.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re here,” Takeo asked, “or do I have to figure it out?”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Lei said. “We have plenty of time, actually. Sacking a fortress of this size will take some time.”

  He turned and stepped towards Takeo’s cell, stopping just out of arm’s reach. Takeo stayed pressed up against the bars, but did not bother to reach out for his old friend.

  Behind Lei, Emily stood up in her cell.

  “Katsu has made a mistake,” Takeo said, his eyes burning deeply into Lei’s. “I don’t know how, but the Old Woman has outsmarted him. He thought himself safe here and marched his weary army like a slaver until they reached his home. I’m guessing that this was Lady Xuan’s plan all along? The Old Woman meant to slay him here, when he was weakest, at the place he thought himself safest. He’ll be lucky if he leaves here alive, won’t he?”

  Emily paced slowly toward the door, spreading out each step and ignoring the pain in her back. Her fingers twitched again, itching for a blade.

  Quiet, she whispered to herself. He’ll be faster than you, and stronger. You must be smarter.

  “Close! You’re always so very close, but ultimately wrong.” Lei tisked. “Actually, there’s a very good chance he’ll escape. This war will go on, one way or another—Lady Xuan doesn’t think so, nor does she seem to care if Katsu lives—but no one listens to me. She only wants the prisoners secured. They are mostly kin of the daimyo who supported Lord Jiro and are thus great hostages. These ones combined with the ones her samurai will capture tonight from Lord Katsu’s side will make Juatwa hers, at least until she dies, and then war will begin anew. That’s just my opinion, though.”

  A sudden, heavy thud echoed off the walls from outside so deep that at first Emily mistook it for her own heart and stopped. A moment later there was another thud, and a wisp of dust shook loose from the ceiling to clog the torchlight. Outside the room, the other prisoners began shouting and murmuring loudly. Ehuang yelled at them to be quiet, and Emily crept forward until her fingers touched the hinge of her cell door.

  “The Old Woman tricked Katsu and Jiro into slaughtering each other,” Takeo said with a shake of his head, “and now she’ll finish off the survivor. In this castle, though? Even with his army weary from their march, I’d say he has a fair chance of repelling her. Her army should be just as weary, even if they haven’t fought a battle.”

  Lei sighed. “So close, yet wrong again. Do you honestly think Lady Xuan marched here? Her army would have been seen, and Katsu would know. It’s almost comical how quickly everyone forgets there are other ways to travel. You would make as terrible a general as Lord Katsu, Takeo. The Old Woman came by ship.”

  The surprise on Takeo’s face showed clearly this time. He blinked, bewildered, and then shook his head. Lei chuckled, then laughed outright.

  “That’s the same face I expect Katsu has right now,” the ninja mused. “But what would I know? I’m just here to uphold my contracts. You see, delivering you to Jiro was actually very beneficial! After dropping you off, my crew and I infiltrated Jiro’s army and then, after the battle, infiltrated Katsu’s army—or rather, should I say during? It’s difficult to keep track of things during war. It was the perfect way to get into this keep; though how I could have possibly missed you being brought in, I’m not sure. I probably talk when I should listen.

  “Contracts, though, contracts! There’s two, actually. One of those I’m fulfilling tonight is to make sure Lady Xuan gains possession of Jiro’s surviving lords, but the other is an older contract that I hope she’ll still uphold. As it turns out, both Katsu and the Old Woman wanted you dead when I sent them letters of your survival, they just were not willing to pay as much as Lord Jiro was to have you alive. Do you think Lady Xuan will still pay for your corpse?”

  “Can you at least tell me one more thing?” Takeo asked.

  Lei shrugged. “Depends.”

  “Were we ever friends?”

  “I never had a friend, Takeo. Only a young acquaintance who laughed when I said I wanted to be like him.”

  “I was just a boy, Lei, a product of my brother. I never meant to hurt you.”

  “Hurt me!” Lei laughed. “This isn’t revenge! It’s just business, Takeo, and you are simply worth more dead. Be thankful. I’m finally granting you what you’ve sought all these years.”

  Lei’s hand reached into his clothing, and Emily made her move. She thrust open the cell door, making it screech like a banshee, but that was only just audible over the shouting of the prisoners outside. Lei heard it too late as Emily barreled into him, putting her shoulder into the charge and ignoring the blinding pain that flashed through her back. The ninja stumbled and slammed against the bars of Takeo’s cell. He let out one desperate yelp before Takeo’s hands were at his throat and Emily’s hands were at his dagger.

  Lei choked, trying to muster the sound to scream, but Takeo’s hands gripped his throat like iron. Emily heard him struggle uselessly for air while she wrestled with the ninja’s dagger. It was shaped like a very small katana, and the blood it was coated with made her first grasp slip away, but her second held Lei’s hand in a grip born of years of bow practice.

  He kicked and struggled as she twisted his arm behind his back. He fought hard to keep his grip and lashed out at her with kicks, but she was better than that and pulled his hand up high until the pain weakened his grip and he began to shake. The dagger was ripped free of his hold soon after.

  “Good bye, old friend,” Takeo said.

  Emily slid the dagger into Lei’s side, just under the arm and through the ribs, right into his lungs. His death was swift, and he shuddered as he expelled his last breath. Takeo was gracious when he lowered the corpse to the ground, and Emily fished the keyring out from Lei’s garb to open Takeo’s cell.

  The samurai never took his ey
es off of the dead ninja while Emily cycled through the keyring, trying the keys one at a time. She knew he was in pain and that he was trying to bury it deep. She knew the feelings of betrayal he was facing, but she also knew that he’d faced them before.

  I’ve been there, too, Emily thought to say. It was Heliena whom I wrongly trusted.

  “If he brought his whole squad,” Takeo said, voice steady, “then there are still four of them out there. I wish you had your bow.”

  Ehuang is out there. Do you want me to kill her, too? But she left this unsaid and tried another key. “I wish that, too. It’s an open space. What do we do?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said with a grimace.

  The next key turned out to be the right one, and Takeo was released from his cage. As the door swung open, another low rumble shook the room. Emily tensed and held Lei’s dagger tightly.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “It’s a siege weapon,” Takeo said. “Lady Xuan is assaulting Katsu’s keep. I don’t know how, though. Lei said the Old Woman came by ship.”

  “We have to hurry,” Emily said. “I know where Katsu is. We have to reach him before he moves.”

  Takeo exited the cell and drew Lei’s wakizashi. It was shorter than the katana he was used to, but Emily had no doubt he’d put it to good use. Then Takeo dug into Lei’s clothes again and brought out four star-shaped objects.

  “Remember these?” he asked.

  Emily looked at them for a moment and then back to Takeo.

  “You want me to throw them?” She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t throw things.”

  “I think you’ll find yourself surprisingly proficient. Your aim is far better than mine. Aim to distract.”

  She bit her lip, sheathed her new dagger, and took hold of the ninja stars.

  “Are you ready?” he asked, rolling his wrist and testing the wakizashi’s weight.