Ryojin- the Bonded Blade

by Noah Ward

  “He’s just...gathering some things for our trip.”

  “So he gets to go out and you don’t? Me and my cousin are only a few buildings away. Come and have a drink! It won’t be long, I promise.”

  Her fingers drummed against her thigh. She didn’t want to be alone right now. Shay was tired, but nothing seemed to be helping. She knew people slept pretty soundly after they’d had a drink, and the prospect of doing something she’d never been able to so far was a little exciting.

  “Okay,” said Shay. “I’ll come.”

  “Great!” said Hachiko, then clasped her hands against her mouth.

  “Let me just get my things. Wait there.”

  Hachiko smiled and slid the door shut. Even though she knew Gin wouldn’t approve, she didn’t really care anymore. Being normal for a few hours wasn’t the worst thing in the world, and she would take precautions.

  Shay threw on her new clothes, cloak, and secreted her small blade where it would not be easily found. With her hat in place, she could feign being male, but it wouldn’t hold up under close scrutiny.

  Satisfied, she slid open the window and hopped through, to where Hachiko waited. The girl linked her arm in Shay’s, and the two wandered off around the back of the inn to the main street.

  Revellers were still out, wandering the streets even here, which was not as bustling as the docks. Hachiko led Shay to a nondescript inn, much like their own, and entered. The innkeeper paid them no mind as they passed to enter the common area, where men and women drank and talked.

  “Over here,” said Hachiko, gently guiding Shay off to the side, where there were several private booths separated by sliding doors. The girl opened them to reveal her cousin, who sat cross-legged on the floor, sipping from a small porcelain cup. There was an open bottle on the low table and a couple of cups.

  “Ah, so you convinced her, Hachiko?” said the cousin. His name was...Juzo she recalled. Out of his furs, he was quite a lean man with a sharp chin. His hair was shaved at the sides and done up into a ponytail. There was a dusting of stubble on his cheeks, like he was in the process of growing a beard, and he wore a tiger-striped jacket that looked like it would do him no good in the northern chill.

  “Come, sit,” said Hachiko, motioning to one of the pillows on the floor.

  Shay sat down as Juzo poured her a drink and proffered the cup.

  “Thank you,” she said with a short bow as she accepted the drink. It smelled quite strong, but she took a sip, not wanting them to think she’d never tasted alcohol. Shay had, on occasion...without her mother knowing.

  The rice wine burned a trail down her throat to light a fire in her belly. A warm sensation suffused her entire body, finally relaxing her. Though it did leave a slightly bitter taste at the back of her mouth, the first notes were that of honey. Shay smiled and took another sip.

  “Brought it all the way from the south,” said Juzo.

  “Where you’re from?” asked Shay.

  “No…” said Hachiko. There was no hint of sadness in her voice. “Our home--Yurigo--was...destroyed a long time ago.”

  “Oh…” Shay stared into her cup. “I’m sorry.”

  “Well, we’re not,” said the girl. She leant in.

  Juzo spluttered. “What I think my dear cousin is trying to say is that Yurigo was a place that...did not keep up with the times. It was a village of devout worship in the mountains. Our kin put too much emphasis on worshipping the shogens instead of fending for themselves…”

  “And can you guess what happened, hmm?” Hachiko asked Shay.

  The girl took another sip of the fiery wine to collect her thoughts. “I, er, don’t know.”

  “When the shogens fail people in a village where a select few say they speak for them, well, people want answers.”

  “Answers they could not provide,” said Juzo gravely. He topped up Shay’s drink, events having suddenly turned quite maudlin. The girl had expected joviality when Hachiko first presented the idea.

  “Don’t look so sour, Shay,” said Hachiko, catching her awkwardness. “It meant that people learned they don’t need the shogens.”

  “I’d keep your voice down,” said Juzo. “Not everyone--especially here--shares that sentiment.”

  She waved her cousin off. “While our village isn’t there anymore, people learned to fend for themselves.” Hachiko held out her hands, gesturing the inn and the world. “Which led us to greener pastures. And we met you, Shay!”

  Shay blushed and took another long sip of the wine. It had started to taste better for some reason and had numbed her tongue. “Thank you…”

  Hachiko threw an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “Relax. You’re so tense.”

  A half smile cracked her lips. “It’s just been a...hectic few days...weeks?”

  “Things will get better soon,” Juzo said earnestly.

  “I hope so…” she said.

  The topic of conversation moved on to the more mundane after that. Juzo and Hachiko asked Shay about her life, which the girl was willing to divulge, though not at the cost of exposing herself. In turn, she probed the two about their journey so far, which had taken them from the south all the way to here.

  Despite the relatively short time they had spent drinking--with Shay making more of a dent in the bottle than the other two--the wine had apparently gone straight to her head. Her speech was slurring and her head felt like it had thousands of warm bees buzzing about. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, more like a gradual out-of-body experience. Anything aside from feeling sad and guilty was preferable.

  “Whoa,” Hachiko said when Shay managed to miss the mark of her own mouth as she attempted to take another sip. She’d lost count how many cups she’d thrown back. “I think that’s enough for you.” The girl confiscated the cup from Shay’s precarious fingers.

  “I’m not...wash jusht a mishtake…” Her articulation was the main casualty of the night.

  “I think we’d best take you home,” said Juzo as he rose from the floor.

  “No, no...ish fine,” Shay protested, waving them off. However, when both Hachiko and Juzo hooked their arms under shoulders, she found she lacked the strength to protest. The small room was a blur and her head swam.

  Hachiko and her cousin probably escorted Shay out of the inn. A distant notion described movement, and the chill against her skin hinted they were outside. From the tiny, blurry lights ahead, she vaguely recalled the path she had taken to reach the inn. But...

  “Ish...the wrong way…” Shay said weakly.

  “Don’t worry, Shay,” Hachiko whispered into her ear. “You’ll be fine. We’re taking you home.”

  Home? But home was nowhere.

  47

  A Disappearing Act

  Gin had the kevals secured at a ridiculous price, enough supplies to last them the journey, and some coin remaining to deal with whatever lay on the road ahead. The prospect of sleep before rising at dawn had uncovered a tiredness he didn’t believe he’d harboured. Upon returning to the inn, he crawled onto his padded pallet and fell asleep swiftly for a few precious hours.

  His body woke him some time before daybreak. He’d packed everything the night before, so all that was required was for him to wake the girl and then burden the kevals.

  “C’mon, Shay,” he said, loud enough to wake her. He moved to the door separating their space and slid it open. “We need to--ah fuck!”

  Jolts of panic and fury shot up his spine. He burst into the room, scattering the girl’s old clothes across the floor. “If this is some kind of joke, girl...” he warned while he threw the sliding doors aside from two thin cubbies.

  Shay was not in the room. She had been at one point. She had not snuck past him in the night--he would have heard it.

  A cool breeze announced itself thanks to the sweat on his brow. He turned towards the room’s only window, finding it slightly ajar.

  Images flashed of Gin when he was younger, sneaking out on midnight jaunts. After throwing o
pen the window, he poked his head out. Pitch black greeted him for a second before his vision sharpened.

  Two sets of footprints. One from the boots he had bought the girl. Aside from practically, he ensured he knew the distinct grooves for an occasion such as this. The others, while of a similar size, were foreign. A woman--no, a girl--if he had to guess.

  Gin slammed a palm against the wooden wall. “That girl…”

  More than just some precocious and nosy gossip--a spy. A successful spy who had a headstart on him.

  Gin vaulted out of the window, careful to avoid the still-fresh footprints. The snow during the night had been almost non-existent, thank the shogens. And at this time of the morning, there would only be a small window before workers rose to make the journey across the river.

  Keeping low, he began tracking the two sets of footprints. They led him by the rear of his inn and into the main thoroughfare. Dozens of footprints had left their mark on the snow and completely obscured others. Though painful, he was just about to decipher a path--that turned left out of the alley. The prints continued, patchy in some areas, a short way.

  An inn.

  Gin slid aside the door, ensuring his face and body were hidden behind his thick cloak. There was an innkeeper at the wooden desk ahead of him, as well as patrons busy eating breakfast beyond him to the left. From the long yawn the innkeeper offered Gin, he had probably been working a long shift.

  “No rooms, I’m afraid,” said the innkeeper, a thin man, who was all but slumped on the desk. “Have to wait until these folk have left.”

  “I’m not looking for a room,” said Gin.

  “But this is an inn.”

  Gin grunted. “I’m looking for a person--people, actually.” The innkeeper’s eyebrows rose at that, and he knew what was next. Gin, however, did not have time for a verbal sparring session so instead greased the gears of conversation in the most expeditious way. “That’s a gold aian,” he said, placing it in front of the innkeeper. “If you want it, answer my questions.”

  “Aye, aye,” said the innkeeper, all pretence of tiredness now an afterthought.

  “Two people entered this inn late last night. One was...a boy in thick brown cloak. The other was a girl--they were both around the same number of summers. The girl was foreign--”

  “--Like you?”

  Gin shook his head. “Browner skin, wide eyes.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  Gin’s fingers clenched into fists. “She was lodging here?”

  The innkeeper looked towards the sky. “No...they just wanted a place in the bar.” He stuck a thumb over his shoulder.

  “They?”

  He nodded. “Her and him...” He shrugged. “Older...looked related. Brother and sister, maybe. Had this big wooden pack with him. Said they were sellin’ herbs or somethin’.”

  There was a man involved?

  “Are they still here?” asked Gin.

  “Hmm...no. The boy was with them, they carried him out. He sounded pissed. Too much,” the innkeeper mimed drinking.

  “When did they leave?”

  “Good few hours ago, I reckon. Had the boy get their kevals.”

  “Can they get a boat?”

  The innkeeper scoffed. “Not at that hour. Probably went on kevalback.”

  “Any idea where they were headed?”

  “Well…” he began, examining the coin.

  Gin leant forward on the desk. “Where.”

  The innkeeper instinctually backed off. “Only one way out...north.”

  “My thanks,” Gin said, then turned his back and rushed into the street.

  The older and younger kidnappers had taken Shay out of the city via keval. They were taking the girl somewhere...to someone. A brother and sister, perhaps.

  “Shit,” Gin spat, startling a woman crossing his path. “Brother and sister. Suzaku and Kitsune.” Part of Saito’s sworn. Heading north. “Daikameda.”

  With all pretense crumbling, Gin bolted along the dark street towards his inn. The brother and sister were isolated but could be meeting up with a larger force. While he was sceptical of the latter, given how discreetly the man’s plans had played out so far, it was by no means certain. Perhaps, he was simply waiting for the right moment: as soon as he had Shay.

  Shogens, he wouldn’t have minded dragging that ryojin along. She would have come in handy right about now, her mental state notwithstanding.

  Instead, Gin hurriedly collected his belongings and strapped them to one of the two kevals he had purchased. He had entertained the thought of leaving one of them behind, but taking into account he may have to ride them into the ground just to keep pace, being able to switch steads worked in his favour.

  Dawn had still not broken by the time he was trotting up one of the wide streets towards the tall, gated exit of Kikori. There were several guards--more than simply uniformed thugs--stationed at the base of the gate, as well as a few along the walkways higher up. The gate was already open, perhaps to accommodate trappers, hunters, and those who made their money in the night.

  “I have a question for one of you,” said Gin as he magicked another gold aian into his hand. The men and woman on the ground looked at him with a hint of confusion and hunger. “I drank a little too much last night and awoke late. However, my companions--a man carrying a large wooden case and his sister, accompanied by a young boy, left town early this morning, correct?”

  “Aye,” one of the guards--a woman--was quick to say. “Headed north along the road. Could catch ‘em if you’re quick.”

  “I’ll do my best,” said Gin with a smile as he flicked the coin her way. Her gauntlets caused her to fumble it, but she snatched it up from the snow as he broke the kevals into a gallop.

  Out on the open, snowy road, thick forests rolling out into the horizon, he found the tracks from their keval. Now he simply had to follow them and hope he was not too late.

  Best leave this part out of the eventual retelling, eh, Gin?

  48

  Perspective

  Shay’s eyes fluttered open, then snapped shut when faced with the bright light of a burning campfire. Her world had turned horizontal, thick fur trees like fingers brushing the sky, sticking out of a white palm.

  She lay on a thick blanket. Her hands had been tied behind her back but her legs were free.

  Her mind tried to recall a hazy collection of events. She was at the inn...then went for a drink with…

  “You’re awake,” said a voice from behind.

  Hachiko. The older girl with her cousin. They’d captured her. But why?

  Shay shuffled her shoulders to ungracefully turn herself to the girl, who was perched on a log with her legs crossed, a smile on her face.

  “Don’t worry, you’re quite safe out here,” said Hachiko.

  Shay swallowed. Her throat was dry and she’d just realised that pounding in her head. “Why am I...What’s happening?”

  “I said not to worry,” the girl said. She sprung off the log and picked up a gourd off the ground. While Shay was hesitant to let Hachiko hoist her up to a sitting position, there was nothing she could do about it. She could only take comfort in the fact that the small blade Kaz had bought for her was still securely hidden underneath her thick robes.

  Or you could always conjure a sword out of the ether, Shay?

  As volatile as that ability could be, it may well be her only source of escape.

  “Drink,” said Hachiko as she brought the gourd to Shay’s lips.

  Shay backed away. “Hachiko, why are you--”

  “My name’s not Hachiko,” the girl replied with a laugh. “It’s Kitsune. Call me Kit.”

  “Kit--” she began to say, before the girl shoved the gourd in her mouth.

  “It’s just water,” said the girl calling herself “Kit” when Shay showed some resistance. “We have no need to drug you now.”

  Shay gulped down the liquid to stop herself from choking rather than a display of trust. It was cool and refreshing
, alleviating some of the soreness in her throat. She gasped when Kitsune gently moved the gourd away.

  “Better?” she asked.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  Kitsune sighed and plonked herself down next to Shay. “Because it’s what Saito ordered us to do.”

  Shay’s heart jumped at the mention of her father. However, she could not be certain these two worked for him. Perhaps they had just uncovered his secret and were attempting to blackmail or coerce him in some way.

  “Who is the man?” Shay asked.

  “It’s my younger brother, Suzaku.”

  Shay frowned. He certainly looked as if he had a good few years on the girl, who could not have been much older than Shay.

  Kitsune chuckled to herself at the apparent confusion.

  “And you say my father sent you?” Shay said. She looked into the dark forest surrounding them. “Only you two?”

  “Well, there’s an old saying,” Kitsune began.

  “Don’t use a sledgehammer to kill a fly,” said a man’s voice from within the woods.

  Shay whipped her head around to see the man once called Juzo, now apparently Suzaku, come wandering out of the woods with a couple of hares in his grasp.

  “Exactly,” said Kitsune with a smile.

  Suzaku strode over to the other side of the fire, where he set the hares on the ground, before sitting down himself with a huff. “I see you’re awake,” he said to Shay. “Apologies if my sister’s incessant rambling woke you up.”

  Kitsune rolled her eyes. “If you’d given her much more of that drink then even I wouldn’t have been able to get her up.”

  Suzaku mumbled under his breath and withdrew a serrated knife from under his thick, striped robe. “Unfortunately, our rather underhanded tactics were the best way to get you away from your captor.”

  “My...captor?” Shay scoffed. “You drugged me, tied my hands behind my back, and kidnapped me.”