by Noah Ward
It was understandable that Suzaku and Kit had chosen to keep their distance at the other side of the clearing. The scruffy man squatted in the snow; one hand held the scabbard of a giant blade, longer than he was, which he’d driven in the ground to use as support. His other hand stroked his stubble. Despite the cold, he only wore a jinbaori, a sleeveless vest that had a thick fur-lined collar, and baggy linen trousers. His sister Kit, the younger-looking of the two, wore a sleeveless hakama, cut short around the thighs and decorated in a striped pattern similar to the large, cat-like beasts that prowled the tropical climes to the south. Her blade was decidedly more normal, sheathed at her side.
“Satisfied?” Asami asked him. She began walking over to him, Kuma in tow. When the chain snapped taught, she gave it a yank. The thing with the box on his head gave a muffled cry and shuffled towards her.
“That there’s a camp full of bandits up there, yes,” said Saito. He dipped into his pocket and withdrew a small pouch.
The old man in the box cocked his head like a dog that had caught a whiff of cooked meat. He attempted to rush towards Saito but was violently yanked back before he could reach him. It didn’t seem to perturb the old thing, who was now repeatedly jabbing his finger towards the bandit encampment.
“Just where did you say you found this...man?” called Suzaku from behind them. He had risen from his squat, had his giant blade balanced on one reedy shoulder. His sister wasn’t far behind.
“My servants located him on their search for sworn,” Asami answered without bothering to look his way. “As many times as you ask that question, it will remain the same. I would be more than happy to write it down so you can refer to it in the future and not waste my time.”
“Can’t read,” said Suzaku as he made some obscene hand gesture behind her.
She rolled her eyes.
“Maybe you can draw it for him,” said Kit with a wide grin.
“As much as I’d like to see Asami’s artistry, I’m afraid it’ll have to wait,” said Saito, burying his rising smile. “I don’t want to keep our bandit friends waiting until dawn.” He jutted his chin towards Asami. “Shall we?”
“Finally,” said the woman and thrust the chain into Kuma’s outstretched hands. “I’ve been freezing my arse off in this place for too long.”
Saito looked over his shoulder at Mei. “Keep an eye out for our signal.”
Mei offered a nod before her elastic limbs stretched out and catapulted her to the trees above.
Moments later, Saito and Asami were walking along a craggy path that offered vertigo-inducing drops to the black, waiting mouth of the canyons below. For bandits, they were a cut above the rest of the stupid lot who tended to descend on any trader or family unfortunate enough to cross their path. This encampment had once been a lookout post, offering a clear view across the valleys below, to where smaller villages, towns, and fields dotted the long journey towards the now invisible horizon. The bandits had even fixed up what had once been a sturdy iron gate, and even now Saito caught glimpses of a few thugs patrolling the crumbling walls.
He checked over his shoulder, then around the dark, before whispering, “Other news?”
Asami waved him off. “Our emperor is more focused on what the other daimyos are plotting against him. As long as we are locating ur-krystallis for him, he could not care less, though I am sure he tries.” When there was no response, she turned to him, saw his wide eyes. “Still nothing to say, but you will be there first to know, Saito.”
The stiffness bled from his shoulders and he picked up his feet. Minutes later, they had approached the gate. Bows, crossbows, and the odd krystallis-powered rifle were busying eyeing them up, not to mention the quizzical set of peepers gawping at them through the gaps in the gate.
“Hello,” said Saito, giving the man a smile and a bow.
The bandit stood there with his mouth agape. Looked behind him to a few others who had amassed and then at those above.
“What...what you doin’ ‘ere?” the bandit spluttered.
“We’d like to come in,” said Saito. “It’s quite cold.”
“Eh?” offered the bandit.
Asami took a step forwards. Her hand lanced out faster than any of them could follow, scoring a slight cut across the man’s cheek. “So why don’t you open the gate?”
The bandit squinted at first, but then realisation seemed to dawn on him. “Yeah…”
“Then, the rest of you can begin slaughter--” A frown from Saito had her rolling her eyes. “You’re always no fun,” sighed Asami as the gate began moaning open.
8
Negotiations
The world was cold and pain and firing nerve endings and chastened, choked breaths tinged with bile. Shay had never appreciated the power of Isumi, shogen of raging squalls, still lakes, cleansing piety, and freezing one’s tits off, more than she did right now. Shaking, freezing, convulsing on the bank of the frozen river, her half-closed eyes fixated on the back of the man that dragged her to freedom, who began slowly disappearing behind thick tree trunks.
Shay knew one thing: if she stayed here, like this, she would die. Despite never having experienced hypothermia--often called Isumi’s embrace--taking a dip in a frozen lake to then lie in the snow, sopping wet, was a sure way to open the shogen’s arms wide.
Then just get up, Shay.
And go where, exactly? No krystallis, no weapon, no money, and the shirt on her back was conspiring to kill her. Just the thought of pushing her hands into the cold snow and shoving herself to stand was a titanic effort; it would’ve been easier to move a mountain.
All this way, to die looking bluer than Isumi’s ur-krystallis. The beasts of the south would soon make quick work of her, probably. Start with the eyes and tongue before opening her up like a parcel.
She could just sleep...that sounded nice…
No. Get. Up.
The man was moving farther away. Within seconds they would have disappeared for good and Shay was surely a corpse. All this way for nothing.
Through a grunt, Shay rolled over onto her front. She planted her hands in the mud and snow and pushed. Shogens it was an ordeal; her legs shook under her weight but they did not break. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her midsection as she began stumbling into the forest in pursuit of her rescuer.
The effort to crane her head up to focus on the trees would have wasted too much precious energy. Instead, she kept her eyes glued to the ground, where a set of footprints marked the earth next to a keval’s hoofprints.
One foot in front of the other, Shay. Just like that. Don’t collapse. That’s just what the wolves and ravens want. Mother always said you had beautiful eyes...blue as the waters you’d nearly drowned in.
Time became molasses, so focused was she on her task. Dawn musn’t be far off now. One step in front of--
Ooof.
Shay’s skull bounced off something firm and she fell on her arse, though she couldn’t even feel it.
She swallowed; the effort needed to speak was like pushing through a physical wall. “I...I was…”
“Following me,” said the man. “I gathered that. It is not as if you were on a nightly stroll and happened to cross my path.”
“Please…”
“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to know why you were in that carriage, who you are, the tearful story you have to sing.” He crouched in front of her. “I am leaving. I wanted to save the krystallis--it just happened to be attached to you. So I thought…” He stood. “Don’t mistake it for anything else.” The man turned on his heel and wandered back over to the keval a few steps away.
He’s going to leave, Shay. Leave your frozen backside behind.
What did she have to bargain with? It was obvious this person was only motivated by financial gain. And what did Shay have to offer him?
A handful of nothing and then some. If only she’d kept hold of that krystallis…
Then, somehow, from her frigid, inert synapses spark
ed an idea.
Idea is a little generous, Shay. Better ideas had been drunkenly scrawled on sopping parchment in fresh ink.
“Krystallis...you want krystallis,” muttered Shay.
“Yes,” said the man offhandedly as he checked the saddlebags of the keval. “It would have been nice.”
“I can...I can--achoo--I can get you krystallis.”
“That so?” he said. Though Shay was knackered she was still cognisant enough to sense the eye roll.
“I swear it on all the shogens,” she blurted, inadvertently begging for heavenly retribution. Her hand dug into her soaked clothes and seized the chain around her neck. Her shaking digits held it out for the man to see; a few seconds later her muscles relented and she dropped her arm.
Snow crunched, rapid, coming closer. He grasped her wrist and held it up to better look at the shard of ebony krystallis hanging from the silver chain. The man’s hand tightened on her wrist, becoming painful. She was too exhausted to protest.
“Where did you get this?” he demanded, shaking her hand.
Shay couldn’t muster the strength to answer. Speaking felt like such an effort right now.
“Where?” he hissed.
Warmth was seeping into her bones. She felt so much better than before, almost relaxed. The ground beneath her beckoned. Mudan was making a soft bed for her and it would be rude not to accept.
The man was saying--maybe shouting--something. It was all white noise. Shay closed her eyes and relented.
◆◆◆
“Shogens…” Kaz muttered under her breath. She held the piece of krystallis before the crackling fire, watching the flames play off its polished edges.
It was genuine, that was for sure.
She clasped the fragment in her palm, holding it so tight it could’ve drawn blood. Pressing it to her chest, Kaz looked up to the roof of the cave, imagining she could glimpse the stars in the sky above.
Thinking about thanking the shogens for your luck?
Never. You make your own fortune, and Kaz had been toiling away at that piece of work for winters. She knew it would happen sooner or later. But she wasn’t foolish enough to think she had reached the end of the road just yet. This was the beginning, the first step, ages in the making.
A soft moan broke her reverie.
Ah yes. There was just one girl-shaped problem.
After kindly losing consciousness before she could elucidate just how the krystallis had found its way around her neck, Kaz had been forced to throw the girl over the back of her keval and find shelter. Thankfully, it had not taken too long. A little before dawn, Kaz had entered a clearing where the inviting mouth of a cave had beckoned.
Starting a fire was easy enough: wooden debris blown into their temporary den had escaped the wet, and she’d used her whetstone to spark the flame. The girl’s clothes dried over rocks next to the fire and Kaz had covered her in the keval’s saddle blanket. The beast currently rested near the cave’s exit because another blizzard had kicked up just before dawn. It showed no signs of abating just yet, a short time before midday.
Another moan; the crunch of twigs and rustle of a blanket scraping against dirt.
Finally.
Kaz had spent several hours dismissing the urge to prod the girl awake to interrogate her. In her defense, the girl was on the verge of Isumi’s embrace so better that Kaz wait so that she lived through the interrogation.
“You’re...a woman?” the girl said groggily.
Kaz frowned, before her eyes widened in realisation. She had removed the bandanna around her head and the balaclava from her mouth, which typically only left her eyes uncovered. Face exposed and hair drawn up into a rough ponytail, it wasn’t difficult to distinguish her high cheekbones and slender jaw.
“I am,” said Kaz. “But it’s generally easier when the world, especially those in my line of work, believe otherwise.” She instinctively moved to touch the blade laid across her lap, but instead busied herself with fabricating a rollup.
“I am Shay,” said the girl. Her hand touched her neck; eyes widening for a moment.
“I have it,” said Kaz just before she licked the paper cradling the tobacco. “Call it insurance.” She held the rollup to the fire and let the paper catch. “Now, I think you can tell me how you came about that krystallis and how you intend to provide me with more--”
“Your name, er, please,” said Shay.
Kaz took a puff of her rollup and exhaled the smoke over the fire in the girl’s direction. Her eyes watered a little, but she held her gaze.
“Call me Kaz,” she said, examining the rollup.
“It is--it was my mother’s,” said Shay.
Dead, probably, but Kaz didn’t have time for that story. She prayed the blizzard would calm itself down soon. She itched to get back on the trail.
“Then where did she get it?” said Kaz.
“I...don’t know. She just...gave it to me and now I’m here.” She looked around the cave. “Where are we?”
“A cave. Used to be used by woodsmen felling the trees to sell, judging by what’s left. Lucky for us.”
Kaz scrambled inside the pack on the ground to her left and pulled out a water skin. “So where do you plan on getting me more of it if you don’t know where it came from or how you came about it?” She eyed the girl over taking a swig. By Shay’s hungry eyes, that dip in the water had made her thirsty.
Kaz held the skin towards her, around the fire. Upon reaching for it, she yanked it away. “How will you get me more?”
Shay swallowed the dryness in her throat, looked from the water to Kaz.
“I was travelling towards Akimaru when Retsudan’s soldiers took me…” Shay shuddered at the thought. “I don’t know the land...didn’t know I was trespassing.” She choked off a laugh. “I was thinking I’d done okay getting this far. It was bound to happen.”
Kaz puffed on the rollup, contemplating. The questions were there all right, she just knew better than to ask them. Instead, she handed over the water skin. “Why Akimaru?”
Shay practically snatched the skin out of Kaz’s hand and began gulping its contents down.
“I should have just left you in the water,” said Kaz. “Looks like you would have been fine.”
“Why?” Shay gasped.
“Because you are part fish.” The girl frowned, the comment flying over her head. Kaz rolled her eyes. “Why Akimaru?”
“You know it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Do you always question people who rescue you this much?”
Shay looked off, weighing the answer. “It depends.”
Kaz took another puff. “Just believe me that I know.”
“Well, my uncle lives there and he’s a trader.” She shuffled around on the blanket. “He has money, krystallis, things to...trade.”
Kaz scoffed. Shogens this was beginning to stink. “Yet he doesn’t have the aians to have you take a boat or ride up here with an escort?”
Shay stared at the ground. “He...may not know I am coming. I never intended to leave but…” She swallowed and steeled herself. “My mother--”
“Dead,” she said for her.
“Yes…”
At least that wasn’t a lie.
“But I believe the krystallis was from him, so I am sure he will know more about where it came from and can reward you too!”
Kaz’s tongue moved around the inside of her mouth. The krystallis was worth a small fortune, more than the job had been initially worth if she had just planned on collecting the money. There was surely a kernel of truth in all of the girl’s bullshit. A lead was more than she’d had all this time. If nothing else, the piece she had was a break.
“You don’t know an old man, do you?” said Kaz, staring at the rollup between her fingers. “Wide hat, little beard, smokes a pipe?”
Shay frowned at her and shook her head.
“Worth a try…”
Kaz flicked the spent but
t into the dying fire and rose, stretching her legs. By the mouth of the cave, the keval whinnied and brayed. The blizzard had died down, making travel possible again. After scooping up her blade, she wandered over to the exit; she could hear the blanket rustling, announcing Shay’s arrival.
“We’re leaving?” the girl asked.
Kaz sighed and tied the blade to her hip. “I’d love to, but something tells me they’d have a problem with that.” Then she headed out of the cave and into the crisp mid-morning air.
9
An Uninvited Guest
Kaz inhaled a lungful of crisp morning air, finding it a welcomed change to the muggy, soot-choked cave. It was a shame she’d have to spoil it by bloodying her blade.
The sun was nearing its apex, still hidden by a few thick belts of grey clouds. A soft breeze whipped the snow about the air. Each step Kaz took across the flat ground was deceptively deep thanks to the recent blizzard. Nature would work in her favour for once...as long as she wasn’t forced to run much, anyway.
The stalker stood at the fringes of the forest, no doubt the one that had chosen to forego a dip in the river. Though Kaz could not see its rider, a snake of familiarity squirmed in her gut. She bet aians she didn’t yet have it was the one who’d carved up Goro at the shrine. Not a person she fancied fighting, at any rate.
However, she had no intention of taking the stalker and its rider on. At least not in a fair fight. But Kaz had been prepared--expected--this eventuality.
She distanced herself from the cave, just over to its right was the spot she recalled. While the stalker did not move, its rider’s head tracked her. Feeling something solid by her foot, she stopped and drew her blade, prayed the person was as direct as her now-dead compatriots.
