Moon and Star Episode Two: Book Two of the Moon and Star Saga (The Jakai Chronicles 1)
Page 7
Sora walked down the streets, turning corners at average speeds. Eventually, he noticed the lack of guards following him. He felt a stab of guilt for a brief second, but it passed. They were, after all, only Yoritomo.
What father saw in them, he did not know. He supposed it was a necessary evil. The Minamoto were quick to throw away with Kachaku customs while the Yoritomo had taken a more conservative approach to governance and social status.
He spotted a tavern nearby. I wonder if I can get some sake? He'd have to drink it there. There was no telling what father would do to him if he caught him drinking inside the castle. It would have less to do with his age and more the fact that he brought demon water into their home.
With nowhere pressing to go, he entered the tavern and placed his money on a wooden countertop. The coins rattled as a few of them took their time falling down and remaining stationary. The noise caught the attention of everyone if the bar. So much for stealth, he thought.
"Can I help you?"
Sora nodded. "One bottle of sake, please."
He smiled. The lady raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and fetched him a bottle from the back.
While she was gone, Sora turned around to see if anyone had followed him. No one he recognized at least. Good, father still doesn't know I'm gone.
The tavern woman came back with two bottles. She walked right past him and to another man in the far corner of the room. The nerve of some people. Didn't they know who he was? The son of Eiji Daigo always got served first. When the lady came back to him, he tugged at her apron. He looked her straight in the eyes.
"Oh right," she said. "Here's your damn sake. Now leave before I get in trouble with …"
The door burst open. His father stood outside. The two guards from before standing behind him. Their faces showed no emotion, but his father was a different story.
"Boy!" he said.
Sora hunched down, embarrassed and scared. How did he find out? The two guards couldn't find him, so what gave it away? He tried to come up with an answer to his father's barrage of questions he knew would assault him at any moment. Sora's walk was slow, his eyes fixated on the floor.
"Faster, boy."
Sora picked up the speed, exiting the tavern before he even realized he was outside. He looked up at his father's frowning face. A couple awkward seconds later and he threw a knife at the bar keep's neck. She went down in an instant, blood staining the top of her clothes and the front of her chest.
Sora opened his mouth but no words came out.
"Let this be a lesson to all of you." He locked eyes with each and every man, woman, and child. After his message had got across, he placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.
Sora flinched. His father ignored his sudden twitch and pushed him outside, forcing him to drag his feet all the way back to the castle.
When they finally reached the steps, his father said nothing. The silence lasted longer than Sora would've liked. Eventually, his father closed his eyes and sighed. Sora closed his eyes as well.
The sound of flesh cut open, and the screams—two of them—caused him to open his eyes. The guards who had followed him before were dead. One of them still hung to his father's blade.
"But … why?"
The last words were faint and trailed off into a whimper as Sora's father removed the blade from the man's chest. Blood splattered on both his and his father's face. He didn't bother wiping it off. The moment Sora wiped the blood off and looked at the blood on his fingers. Memories of his mother flooded back to him.
The night she died, because of him.
"We're those men traitors?" Sora asked, trying to fight back a whimper. "Why did you kill them?"
"They weren't Yoritomo if that's what you're asking. I killed them because they failed to keep an eye on you."
"But killing them?"
"They're lucky I made it quick and painless," he said. "As for you, I've told you before not to go into town. What did you think would happen?"
"I don't know. I just …"
Sora looked down and moaned. There was no point I arguing with him. He knew why he did it. He was curious, and that wasn't a good excuse.
"I'm sorry, father."
He could feel his father's eyes watching him as he walked towards the palace.
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Author Bio
Already a hybrid author and no soon after he published his first novel on Amazon at age 24, Michael Bergonzi grew up with a love of all things fictional. Stories by Brian Jacques and J.K. Rowling inspired him at a young age to write, and get a mouse–which he named Luke, after the father of Martin the Warrior from Jacques’ Redwall series. He also got the first Harry Potter book in Scotland before it became big in the U.S. He was one of the few people at his school on halloween to dress as Harry Potter that year.
He is the founder of Audio Drama Reviews–a weekly review site dedicated to all things involving audible storytelling. His first novel, Moon and Star, is the first book in The Jakai Chronicles, a secondary world fantasy influenced by Feudal Japan. His favorite recent works include Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Series and Dan Wells' John Wayne Cleaver Books. Both of which amaze him and make him question his own sanity.