Ryojin- the Bonded Blade

by Noah Ward

  Kitsune barked a laugh. “Well, she does have a point, Suzaku.” She shuffled in Shay’s direction and put a hand on her shoulder. “But that kamen is a sneaky one and didn’t leave us much choice. We’ve already dealt with him once before, and Mei says he can be a real pain in the arse.”

  “Gin?”

  “A false name, probably,” said Suzaku. He was busy skinning the hares with practiced ease. “His intentions, however, were not so unclear.”

  Gin was helping her reach her father. Kaz had made him swear it.

  “Whatever he told you was a lie,” said Kitsune. “He’s a kamen for the shogens sake. All they do is lie...or sneak in places...or assassinate someone. You can’t trust them, is what I’m trying to say.”

  “He said he would take you to Saito, yes?” said Suzaku. The man had expertly skinned the hares and was now gutting them. “You’re no good to him if he just gives you away. Your purpose would be that of a bargaining chip or leverage of some sort.”

  Shay’s stomach sunk. “But...he was...” Maybe these two were lying. Shogens, she didn’t know what to believe anymore.

  “It’s fine now,” said Kitsune, patting Shay on the leg. “Saito entrusted us to take you to him, so that’s what we’ll do. We promise.”

  “Where...is he?” she said.

  “Further north,” said Suzaku as he speared the hares with a couple of sharpened sticks before placing them across the fire pit. “I’m not familiar with Zenitia, but we have a map to guide us.”

  “Daikameda,” said Kitsune, which immediately rang a bell with Shay. “Some stuffy temple or other.”

  Maybe they were telling the truth. Gin had divined the location via the map, and it was extremely unlikely that someone outside of Saito’s circle would know of her existence and their final destination.

  “Will you untie me?” Shay asked. The rope had begun to chaffe her skin, and she wanted to see whether they would place their trust in her.

  “If you promise not to try to run away, Shay,” said Kitsune with a mischievous smile.

  “The nights are very cold and dark around here, and you may well become lost,” said Suzaku.

  “And we could quite easily track you,” said the girl as she severed Shay’s bonds. “I can’t really be bothered doing that.”

  Over her shoulder she’d heard the braying of the kevals--two of them. While Shay knew she had no hopes of escaping right now, she would not completely put her faith in these two, despite their attempts to sway her.

  Shay kept her silence as the food cooked. The smell of meat roasting in its own juices caused her stomach to rumble, and she reckoned it had been well over a day since she’d last eaten something. When it was soon cooked, Suzaku handed her a couple of legs, which she tore into.

  “You know,” Kitsune began as Shay started on her second leg. “We didn’t even know Saito had a daughter--any children for that matter.”

  Shay paused mid-bite. For whatever reason, Kitsune had foregone food and drink and seemed content to lounge by the fire pit.

  “Kit…” Suzaku said, warning in his voice, as he looked over his food. There was a wild, almost feral appearance to the man’s clothes and hair, which seemed at odds with his reserved demeanor.

  “What? We’ve been at the man’s side for summers and he never once spoke of it. To be honest, we didn’t even known he’d been with a woman for it to happen--”

  “Kit,” Suzaku snapped. He sighed and looked at Shay. “In Saito’s position, you cannot appear to have any weaknesses. It would have been dangerous for people to know such things. That is why your existence was kept a secret.” He levelled his gaze on Kitsune. “Even from us.”

  The girl pouted and then stared at the stars above.

  “Do not think it means he does not care,” her “younger” brother continued. “Though we’ve only known for a short time, amidst...everything else, he has done much to bring you to his side safely.”

  “I...never knew,” said Shay. If these people truly did know her father, how did they see him? “Is he...a good man?”

  Kitsune and Suzaku both exchanged confused looks at each other.

  “Do not think the pictures that those who did not know him paint are true,” said Suzaku. “Many people will call him a murderer or an inhuman monster, but they were on the losing side of Retsudan’s war of unification. Thousands now live better and more prosperous lives because of the sacrifices he--we--made.”

  “If it weren’t for him…” Kitsune said, as the girl’s jovial demeanor took on a darker edge. The firelight danced off the moisture welling under her eyes.

  “We were not lying when we spoke of Yurigo--our village,” said Suzaku. “Our village was deep in the mountains, and we worshipped Mudan. Our father, a bosan, led the village. We didn’t know it at the time, but our shrine held deposits of highly valuable krystallis.

  “All those years ago, my sister here was training to become a bosan under my father, if you can believe it.”

  Kitsune spat. “It was never my calling.”

  “My father was not a servant of the shogens. He was, however, a servant of power. Many in our village would flagellate themselves under his order, believing it would create a better harvest or bring prosperity to Yurigo.” Suzaku took a breath. “Something all the village was not exempt from. It was all a ruse to discover who was sworn, as those abilities tended to manifest in such situations. Those found out they were deemed unworthy and sacrificed to Mudan.”

  Shay swallowed. It sounded barbaric. Were people actually capable of that in this day and age? That was not how the shogens worked. There was no blood toll or revelling in pain. At least, not for most.

  “Our father soon found out that he could also make a tidy sum selling the krystallis in the village to be made into yakura. You know what that is?”

  “A...drug?” Shay hazarded.

  “Correct. Very powerful. And worth a lot of aians.” He looked up to Kitsune, and she caught his eye. “My sister soon learned of this, and she was the only one brave enough to try to stop it. But our father had other plans.”

  “He took me into the shrine and drove a dagger into my chest,” Kitsune said, all rather matter-of-factly. “Everything a father should be…” She pulled down the shift she was wearing to show thick scar directly where her heart was. It did not look like a wound someone would survive.

  “I discovered what he intended to do too late,” said Suzaku, and his gaze had dropped to the ground. “When I arrived at the shrine, my sister was far from saving.”

  Was Kitsune some kind of figment of his imagination? Of their imagination? No, that didn’t feel quite right.

  “I died,” Kitsune said bluntly.

  “Two things happened that night,” said Suzaku. “I discovered I was sworn, and your father and his comrades descended on our village.”

  “You’re...sworn?” said Shay.

  The man nodded. “All I know is that after Kit died, I brought her back to life, as if my father had never killed her.”

  “But...she…” Shay tried to articulate.

  “We don’t really know how it works,” said the girl. “Only that it does work.”

  “I have not tried it on anyone or anything else in fear of it somehow breaking the bond I share with my sister. All I know is that as long as I live, so does she.”

  “And I have yet to age, which is a rather nice part of it all,” said Kitsune with a broad smile.

  “How wonderful for you,” said Suzaku. “But your father, Shay, he saved us. We owe him our lives and still do. We have been with him for over a decade and I do not regret one day of it.”

  Shay’s chest felt constricted. How could this man be so at odds with what Kaz or Gin had described? It just didn’t make any sense.

  “He has been like...not a father, but, perhaps, an uncle,” said Suzaku. “He cared for us, trained us, and welcomed us.”

  “He’s okay,” Kitsune said with a grin.

  Shay felt her chest swell wi
th pride and she could not say why. Their impassioned tale had given her hope.

  “Do you think, if there was, erm, someone who had wronged him, that he could, um, forgive them?” Shay said, thinking of Kaz.

  “I do not see why not,” said Suzaku. “I think he would do whatever you ask of him, Shay.”

  A genuine smile crept upon her lips. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Everything could, maybe, work out. She didn’t have to worry about Gin anymore and these people were taking her straight to her father. All she had to do now was wait.

  “How long until we reach Daikameda?” Shay asked, containing the urge to beg them to set off right away.

  “Not too long” said Suzaku, looking off into the forest. “We will leave the kevals. I prepared other means of transport. We’ll meet your father and the others there.”

  “But first…” said Kitsune.

  The fragile ember of hope Shay had been kindling met with a breeze that had the potential to turn into a hurricane.

  Suzaku nodded and stood. “I must deal with an intruder.”

  Shay jumped to her feet, battling a rush of blood to her head. “Who? What is it?”

  “Your kamen friend,” said Kitsune, also rising.

  “If he’s here, then, let me speak to him. I’ll tell him--”

  “I am afraid that will not work, Shay,” said Suzaku as he hoisted his large wooden pack on his shoulder. “That man has come here to kill my sister and I, and I can’t let that happen.”

  “But--”

  “Please, Shay, trust us,” said Kitsune, and draped her hands over Shay’s shoulders in a move that was supposed to be empathetic but was, in truth, to stop her from running off.

  “Don’t worry,” said Suzaku. “I will not be long.” The man disappeared into the forest, leaving Shay with a sinking feeling in her gut.

  “Gin…” she murmured.

  49

  Prey

  Gin had left the kevals hitched to a tree under the cover of the forest. The beasts were shattered and deserved what fleeting rest he could provide. Soon, he may need them to take flight once again.

  Following Suzaku and Kitsune’s trail had been folly, and soon he knew it was by no fault of theirs: They were luring Gin out into the open.

  He had suspected as much after the first day’s pursuit. While they did not stick to the roads but chose to slowly navigate the forests for a more direct if sluggish route, he knew it was a show for an audience of one.

  From what little he knew of the siblings--scratch that--from what he knew of all of Saito’s sworn, there was enough intel to paint a picture of people from the southern mountains. Tracking was in their blood, and, considering they had functioned as scouts in the war, they knew how to conceal their passage.

  Shay had probably told them who he was and what he had promised her. The fact he was a kamen did nothing to jeopardize his position--there were over a dozen houses. He hadn’t told the girl what he intended to do when he found Saito and supposedly reunite her with her father. For all they knew, he wanted to work with the man. In truth, he was only gathering information and would then report back with Shay in tow as a bargaining chip.

  Right now, however, as he slipped through the shadows afforded by the forest canopy, Gin could complete none of those objectives. Honestly, he could not decide what was best: attempting to kill the brother and sister or simply following them to their destination where they would reveal someone was following them, potentially scuppering everything as Saito went underground. Still, he’d know the location of a piece of ur-krystallis, and that was valuable enough.

  The problem that Gin soon realised was that he had been envisioning himself as the predator, when it should have been the other way around.

  He had picked up the trail not far from where he believed they had camped for the night. He could just identify the faint scent of cooking meat on the breeze. His reconnaissance had also revealed two stalkers in the forest. Gin had been travelling in the shadows constantly for over a mile, so had needed a break, and materialised from the dark atop the thick branch of a fir tree.

  His hands tapped his person to ensure he had his arsenal of weapons with him: smoke bombs for an escape, a few kunai to launch from afar--though unfortunately only a couple were bonded--and his tachi. While he’d debated something like caltrops to stick in their feet, he figured they could well sink into the snow and do little damage in such an open environment. He did, however, bring a few explosive spheres. You could never go wrong with firepower like that.

  Gin was about to delve into the black ocean once again, when a figure stepped around the trunk of a hulking tree. He had a wooden slab strapped across his shoulder, which he shucked off into the snow. It was heavy enough that it made quite the dent.

  Suzaku.

  Gin chewed his lip. Had he been waiting, tracking him somehow?

  “You can come out now, kamen,” Suzaku shouted, his voice echoing into the night.

  If Suzaku was here, that meant Shay and Kitsune were probably back at camp. Gin guessed that, even at full pace, Suzaku could not reach there before he could. By confronting him, Suzaku had left his quarry open.

  “Don’t think you can escape,” Suzaku shouted again. He unlatched several brass clips on the block of wood, but Gin didn’t fancy sticking around to find out what the wild-looking man had in store. “We have a kamen of our own, you know?”

  How nice for him. Suzaku could give Gin their regards when he’d recaptured Shay.

  He dove into the shadows, intent on brushing right past the man. Brazen, yes; but Suzaku stood there in an attempt, however futile, to stop Gin advancing in that direction. Too bad he didn’t know Gin’s ability.

  Gin was just surging past Suzaku when the man flung several clay spheres to ground. Explosions would not harm him in this state, though.

  And there was an explosion--several, in fact. Of light. The shadows cowed, just for an instant, but it was long enough to jettison Gin from the safety of the dark and flail as he stumbled to the ground.

  Flash grenades.

  White spots barraged his vision. He instinctively flung out his hands, went careening into a tree trunk. His cheek throbbed but he was quick on his feet. As his vision cleared, he searched for the shadows and instead found a huge, serrated blade swinging for his throat. Gin just managed to duck in time as the sword struck a tree and nearly felled it in one swing.

  He stumbled off to the side. Suzaku followed, that ridiculous blade giving him an extra six-feet of reach.

  Gin needed darkness, subterfuge. The problem was the grenades still burned brightly, turning shadows from the trees thin and long, making navigation troublesome. He needed to head deeper into the forest, where the shadow was thicker, to survive.

  That was easier said than done, however. Especially when you had a maniac with a massive sword trying to cleave you in twain. But at least a giant sword was difficult to swing in a forest.

  It was the little miracles you had to be thankful for.

  Gin fell back on his natural agility when Suzaku took another swing. He leapt into the air and landed on the flat of the sword as it sunk into bark. From there, he hopped up into the branches and began putting some distance between himself and Suzaku.

  While it was working, and the man was following him, Gin had, at best, attempted a feat like this in the rain, and never in the snow. His foot touched a branch and slipped. He was smart enough to only scream internally as he plummeted.

  The snowy earth did not stymie a broken neck; the shadow did. He’d put enough distance between himself and those flash grenades so he could hide safely once again.

  Get your bearings. Focus. Strike first--

  Gin watched as another grenade arced through the air.

  Blinding light.

  Shit.

  Fuck your bearings. Don’t focus. Run.

  Gin bolted. This was not a fight he could hope to win like this. Branches whacked him in the face, his should
ers collided off tree trunks, and more than one exposed root ensnared his feet.

  Behind, more grenades exploded, stealing shadow. At least his vision had cleared and he could rush ahead unhindered. He just needed to peel off to the right, towards their camp, and he’d be--

  Gin burst through a thick covering of trees and found himself staring at an expanse of white ground.

  A frozen lake?

  Not good.

  Rather than go back where he came, Gin bolted to the right, hoping to slink into the shadows.

  Branches rustled in his periphery. Striped fur flooded his vision. A sturdy shoulder collided with Gin’s chest and sent him sprawling and skidding along the frozen lake, the wind knocked out of him.

  He instinctively drew his tachi and plunged it into the thick ice to arrest his movement while Suzaku was already dashing across the lake. Gin was severely outmatched and he knew it. It was a different kind of fear from being spotted or a ruse collapsing--there were no viable shadows for him to elude capture nor could his tongue save his head.

  Gin rolled and managed to whip his blade up in time as a fierce sideways slash came his way. The tooth-like notches on the serrated blade tore the weapon from his grasp. It spun in the air and lodged itself into the ice. Backing up, yearning for distance, he launched one of his kunai towards Suzaku’s face. The man flipped his giant sword so the flat of the blade absorbed the projectile’s impact and sent it harmlessly to the ground.

  Having that huge sword was supposed to make Suzaku less dextrous, but the warrior wielded it with the ease of a twig.

  A tactical retreat was the only viable option.

  Gin slipped one of his smoke grenades from the pouch around his waist and hurled it at the ground. Gouts of grey clouds flooded the small area around him, but in such a wide and open space, he knew his pathetic attempts at subterfuge were poor at best.

  Gin fled to the side--

  And was met with the arc of the giant sword as it cleaved smoke and air to cement itself in the ice. Spurts of water leapt upwards and the frozen ground cracked and moaned. But the blade had become stuck.