Ryojin- the Bonded Blade

by Noah Ward

He pinched the bridge of his nose and loosed a deep sigh. It was supposed to get easier the closer he came. It felt as if a winch was being tightened to breaking point instead.

  But Asami was right. His emotions were colouring his actions. He was being torn in two directions. One was selfish. It was not befitting of a leader, especially for what they had planned. This was merely the beginning.

  “Very well,” Saito said. He took hold of Asami’s shoulders. “Find her.”

  “We will,” she said. “The girl will not have gone far.”

  He removed his hands and nodded.

  “This is not a burden you must bear alone, Saito,” she said. “I will deal with our dog and join you shortly.”

  “I know.” His hand felt the outline of the box in his robes. “We have a boat to catch.” Saito jutted his chin towards the door and Mei followed him. They exited onto the streets a moment later.

  “You really trust that woman to find her?” Mei asked him.

  “If it were Asami herself--yes. That thing, however…” He glanced back at the inn. “Follow him.”

  Mei smirked.

  “What? I said I would not interfere. I said nothing about you.”

  “Of course,” said Mei with a curt bow.

  “And tell Suzaku and Kit to stay behind, in the event that fool requires help. I’m sure they won’t mind roving the markets in the meantime. You’ll be my eyes and ears here, Mei.”

  “As always,” said the former kamen before vanishing into the crowd.

  Saito took a deep breath and forged a path towards the docks. Not long now.

  37

  Shiromanzu

  Well, the kamen hadn’t been bullshitting her. Sure enough, the freak she had encountered with the girl in the clearing at Shiromanzu had somehow picked up her scent all this way. A part of Kaz told her it was impossible she’d survived, but it made a twisted sort of sense. The explosion in the house would surely have obliterated any normal human; there was no longer any doubt in Kaz’s mind to who had sent it. Now she could only pray Shay had not been caught up in the blast. Something inside told her the girl was not present and may have been spirited away in the meantime. The problem that had presented was now Kaz had no clue where to search for her.

  Luckily, she had a kamen who could provide those answers, except he was rather unconscious after dragging her out of the house.

  She recalled heat on her face, a blank stare in the eyes of her would-be assassin. Then all was black and it felt as if her soul had been rended from her body for an instant before once again reforming the real world. Words failed to describe the sensation...like her insides became noodles or someone rolled her thinner than gyoza dough.

  You really should have eaten, Kaz.

  Her surprise had piqued once again upon seeing the assassin alive but seriously unwell. While she had wanted to interrogate her, it would have gone as well as last time. It was frustratingly pointless, though when she saw the krystallis lodged in her chest, a chilling answer had arisen, paving the way for even more questions. Kaz’s head was such a mess she had not decided whether the bronze-coloured hunk of krystallis, larger than her clenched fist, led the way to hope or despair. Destroying it was the only option. If anyone held answers, it was Denjuro or Shay, and she’d find them.

  Right now, her priority was sheathing her blade to haul up the comatose kamen laying on a portion of a destroyed fence before Akimaru’s denizens decided to poke their noses in. With the man’s arm draped over her shoulder, she began shuffling across the broken area at the rear of the house. Appearing out of the first alley would raise too many questions, so she lay his body across her shoulders and proceeded to painfully and slowly pitch him over a couple of fences.

  Part of her wanted to simply leave him somewhere relatively safe and wait to see if Denjuro returned; common sense told her they wouldn’t bring that sort of attention down on their heads. Reflecting on it, she doubted the house was even theirs to begin with.

  You shouldn’t have let Shay go in the first place.

  Kaz huffed. Something had niggled at her, whispered that all was not as it seemed. But she’d been so damn close she’d pushed it down. No she was reaping her ignorance.

  Thankfully, before she had to brave the alley, the kamen on her shoulders mumbled and stirred. Kaz crouched to set him down. He brought a hand to his forehead, taking a deep breath, then looked up at her dazedly.

  “Thought you planned to kill me…” he mumbled as he got his bearings.

  “Wouldn’t be polite after you stopped me from becoming a charred husk,” she said, glancing down the alley. Already people were moving towards the scene of the explosion. “Plus, you still owe me.”

  “Some would say forewarning and saving you from an explosion would count as fair recompense.” The kamen groaned as he shakily stood.

  “I tend not to listen to them. If you want to get technical, I dragged you away from there, so that negates your life-saving.”

  Gin shook out his limbs.“Of course, saving your life has taken a rather large toll on my faculties.”

  “I need to find the girl,” said Kaz as she set off towards the alley, beckoning him to follow.

  “Very well, but I need to…” He splayed his hands in front of himself. “Sit down for a spell.”

  “Now is not the best time for that,” she said, growing impatient at his tentative steps, like a newborn deer.

  “Don’t worry I have my connections. I know somewhere safe.”

  Kaz did not fully trust the kamen, despite his attempts to sway her. At the end of the day, he was out for himself; or, more specifically, his daimyo. However, he was vulnerable and she didn’t fancy letting him out of her sight until he came good on his promises. Not to mention, she was oblivious to his actual agenda.

  Kaz took him by the crook of elbow and began guiding him out of the alley. “You may have suffered a concussion. It is not good for you to be by yourself.”

  “I won’t renege on my offer,” he said, but made no effort to shake her off.

  “I’m sure whatever daimyo you work for is truly upstanding and keeps their word--just call me a paranoid fool.”

  He grumbled and let her escort him out of the alley where eyes were glued to the smouldering house. A small crowd had already gathered and more flocked down the street to inspect the growing inferno. If they were not careful, it could well engulf the surrounding buildings. Their only hope was that the wood was damp enough to stem any eager flames.

  As the two exited the street, Kaz guided him through the thickening crowd and back towards her inn. Denjuro may well have other eyes looking out for her or reporting back to him, but if the kamen hadn’t mentioned them, they were not explicitly searching for her. Still, she could no longer stay there now that the man knew and the sooner she left the better.

  By the time she reached The Resting Swallow, the kamen had regained the ability to walk unaided but had made no attempts to escape. In truth, she had no power to stop him from simply vanishing or whatever trick his ability allowed him to perform.

  Kaz strode in the inn with him in tow and headed up to her room. The food had been cleared from her floor. She headed straight for her possessions when a shadow caught her eye from behind the sliding doors that were slightly ajar. Gin had evidently noticed the same spectre as he touched her on the arm.

  She withdrew her wakizashi and crept along the mat toward the shadow. Steel sliced the paper and brittle wood. Kaz barged through the opening and wrapped her free hand around the intruder’s neck.

  They yelped, were shorter than Kaz expected. She frowned.

  “Shay?” she said.

  “Mfmmf,” the girl replied before realising she had her hand around the girl’s mouth.

  She let go and took a step back. “How did you get here?”

  “I escaped when I saw that woman--the one--”

  “From Shiromanzu.”

  Shay’s eyes widened. “Yes. And you told us where you were. But I, er...The
re’s something I have to--”

  The undamaged door slid open and Shay jumped when she saw the kamen.

  “We can’t stay here and chat,” he said, looking between the two of them.

  “Who’s that?” Shay said.

  “A kamen--” Kaz began.

  “Gin,” he said with a sigh. “And I have some questions for you, Shay.” She shrunk at his words and Kaz glared at him.

  Gin held up his palms. “It will be fine, I promise you. There is a safe house close by. We should go there. There’s no telling if the girl was followed or if one of us were.”

  Kaz couldn’t argue with him there. “We’ll follow the kamen. It will be fine,” she told Shay. The girl nodded but Kaz could tell she wasn’t fully convinced. It was not as if they had any other options, so she hauled up her sack and the three of them scurried out of the inn’s rear entrance.

  38

  Safer Houses

  Kaz had hurried after Gin as he led them towards his safe house, which turned out to be a rather swanky inn on Akimaru’s third level. Despite the two of them not being in the best state to identify threats, she believed that two half competent people made a whole competent individual. No one was obviously tailing them, though that provided little comfort. Neither did Gin’s assurances they would be safe at the inn.

  Still, when he guided them to a room in the inn and slid the doors shut behind him, a sense of temporary safety enshrouded her. Her mind had been on edge during their flight and no one had spoken more than a few words. Kaz could tell that Shay had something on her mind by the way she had continually stared at her on the short journey.

  Kaz all but collapsed on a soft pillow on the floor next to the room’s low table. Shay refused to sit and kept clenching and unclenching her hands.

  “I’ll give you two a moment,” Gin said with a bow. “I need to report recent developments.”

  A fleeting thought harboured the idea he went to get back up to swarm on them, but she dismissed it. As much as she disliked it, she had no choice but to trust the kamen.

  Kaz fished in her sack for a small clay bottle of rice wine that had survived the journey. Shay spoke just as she was lifting its rim to her lips.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted. “I lied to you. I’ve lied about everything. I--” A choking sob wracked her. She kept her eyes to the floor. “I just…”

  Kaz took a sip of the wine and then placed it on the table. She wanted to be angry at someone else so as not to blame herself for ever getting her hopes up. Foolishly, she couldn’t bring herself to extinguish the last embers of hope. There was some truth in there somewhere.

  “So, there never was an uncle in Akimaru,” Kaz said while playing with the rim of the clay bottle.

  Shay sniffled. “No.”

  “Then why did you want to get to Akimaru so badly you’d travel hundreds of miles by yourself?” Truth be told, Kaz had been impressed the first time she’d heard. That was a serious well of reserve and perseverance.

  “Shirocairn…”

  “The old temple?”

  “My mother used to tell me a story about meeting my father there.” The mention of her mother seemed to nearly tip her into another bout of sobbing, but she restrained herself and settled for a sniffle. “I thought...if visited that place.” Shay sighed. “It’s stupid. My mother...died not so long ago. My swordmaster too. I had no one else. Someone would find out I was sworn soon enough. I couldn’t hide it forever. I took what money I had and...left.”

  “All by yourself?”

  Shay shook her head. “My swordmaster, he was sick, but he arranged what he could and paid for it. He knew he didn’t have long left. But when I was travelling, they said it would be more and I couldn’t pay so they left me near the border. Said Zenitia was getting too dangerous to smuggle in to.”

  Kaz rubbed her chin and then took another sup. “Your mother and swordmaster were the only ones to get ‘sick’?”

  “There were a few others in the village. We had traders. People said they brought it with them.”

  Something didn’t quite add up, but now wasn’t the time to pursue it. Instead, Kaz had to ask what had slowly been chewing up her insides.

  “The kamen spoke of a man named Hanza. Do you know that name?”

  Shay, looking deflated, came and sat opposite Kaz. The woman slid the wine towards her and nodded for the girl to take a sip.

  “I don’t,” she said, grimacing at the taste of the alcohol.

  “The kamen said he came to take you away when we stopped at the temple.”

  Realisation dawned on Shay’s face. “Denjuro said you killed him to stop him from taking me away.”

  “We let our blades do the talking, but he never mentioned you.”

  “Then you think he was lying?” she said. To Kaz, it almost sounded like Shay didn’t want to believe it.

  “It...depends,” she sighed. She took another sip of her wine to wash down the bile rising in her throat. “Who do you think your father is?”

  Shay met the woman’s eyes. “I never knew. My mother never told me. But…”

  “Denjuro told you something else.” Her heart was hammering against her chest.

  “He said...a man called Saito Kitagami was my father.”

  There it was. Kaz felt herself shrinking. Her hand instinctively latched on to her blade. She felt she was going to be sick.

  “What is it?” Shay asked, standing and ready to walk over. Kaz’s free hand flashed out to stop her.

  “Don’t,” she gasped.

  “What did I say? He was probably lying. Forget I said it. I’m sorry, Kaz.”

  There was a way to find out, to know for certain…

  Kaz caught her breath. “What is your ability, Shay?”

  She shied away.

  “Tell me. No, better than that. Show me.”

  Shay stood up and turned her back to Kaz. “I don’t want to…Why does it matter?”

  “Just...please.”

  “I don’t want you to be mad at me…”

  A pang of guilt mixed with her apprehension. Whatever the answer, it wasn’t Shay’s fault, Kaz knew that. But…

  You’re frightened, Kaz.

  She stood and walked over to the girl. “I won’t be mad. I promise.”

  Shay looked over her shoulder. “Will you tell me why you want to know so badly if I do.”

  Kaz took a deep, juddering breath, looked at the bottle on the table then back to Shay. “I will.”

  Still appearing timid, the girl walked a few steps away. She held out her right hand in front of her, palm up. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a smoky, purple light coalesced. It became a short blade. When Shay saw Kaz’s eyes widen, she immediately dismissed the weapon, as if it had never existed in the first place.

  “You’re Saito’s daughter…” Kaz whispered. It felt as if the ground opened up beneath her. Her weak legs took her back to the table and her bottle.

  How could she have been so blind to it? Even the girl’s blade work reminded her of someone…

  “Does the name Senzen mean anything to you, too?”

  Shay frowned. “The name of my swordmaster, but…” She waved a hand in front of her. “You’re saying I’m Saito’s daughter? I don’t know. That’s what they told me. Denjuro said he was a war hero who--”

  “Was one of Retsudan’s sworn,” she said after taking a lengthy gulp of wine, content to gawp into nothingness. “No, that’s not fitting enough. He led them--leads them. In Retsudan’s war of unification, him and his other generals were responsible for the murder of hundreds of Zenitians and more besides.”

  Shay kneeled opposite Kaz. “But...but people know that. Why does his name make you...You’re not--”

  Kaz stared into the girl’s eyes. “Because I was one of those generals under his command.”

  The girl’s mouth hung open; the revelation acted like a hand rocking her back. To Kaz, it was if an anvil had been shoved off her chest, which was soon replaced by fearfu
l acknowledgement.

  “You...knew my father?”

  “Yes,” she confessed. “I fought for him for several winters until…”

  Shay leant forwards. “Until what?”

  “His mind was...poisoned by Retusdan...and another I fear is more dangerous. He believed by fighting for the emperor it was demonstrate that sworn were not the enemy, that we could coexist. We captured towns, cities, ambushed, raided store houses.” Kaz dragged a palm down her face. “But some relished the killing a little too much. We were supposed to be a symbol of hope in some twisted way--that was how he got me--but all it did was make us appear less human. Death squads, tales to tell your children in the night. Retsudan used us and many did not notice. I couldn’t be a part of that. But she revelled in it...used it for her…”

  She took a lengthy swig from the bottle and wished she had more. Instead, she rose and rifled through her sack for her tabacco. When she came to roll it, she found her hands were shaking and willed herself to calm down.

  “Who was the other?” Shay asked gently.

  “The woman...his right hand.” Kaz swallowed, stared dumbly down at her tabacco. “Asami. She has been obsessed with krystallis for as long as I had known her. No doubt before that. The woman has...she can control your mind, have you act in anyway she sees fit. But make no mistake she is a manipulator regardless of her ability.” She allowed herself to calm down for a moment before looking Shay in the eye. “Asami sought the krystallis. But it wasn’t enough to have it, so she attempted to infuse it with people.”

  “Like they do with weapons and machines,” Shay offered.

  Kaz sighed and nodded. “She created these...things. You saw them--the creature I fought in the forest. That was something Asami had created. Whether it was under her or Retsudan’s control, I don’t know. I didn’t want to know. But in the war, she created these monsters to fight for her...to slaughter indiscriminately, then cast them aside. Saito let that happen. I do not trust that woman...She is evil. Do you understand me, Shay?”

  “I...don’t know what to believe…” said the girl.