by Dante King
“Lady Kai,” I said. I stepped around the Persona diagram and moved toward her, my hand extended palm upward in a gesture of welcome. “You’ve found us in the middle of our upgrading process.”
“So I gather.” She stepped up to look at the Persona diagram hanging in the middle of the clearing. She smiled at us both. “I hope you don’t mind—when Toshiro told me about what you could do, I thought it was just a battle technique, like using a sword or firing a bow. Now I see that it’s much more powerful and much more... intimate. You two have a very special connection.”
“I didn’t realize it was so obvious,” I said.
“Only to one who has seen such things before,” she replied, smiling enigmatically.
Cara and I glanced at one another, but said nothing. How could she have seen a Soul Binder upgrading Personas?
Lady Kai was reaching up to the back of her neck. Her low neckline showed the swell of plunging cleavage, and between her breasts a carved wooden amulet dangled from a woven leather cord. She was untying the knot at the back of her neck and drawing it forth.
“This,” she said, holding it out, “I was given by my mother. She was given it by her mother, and so on down the generation for years beyond count. It carries a legend of a great warrior, a warrior from so long ago that his name is forgotten and only his legend remains. He was the husband of one of the high priestesses of our clan. When he died, he imbued his essence into this object, with the instruction that it should be passed on as an heirloom until one could be found who could use it. He meant one like you, Leofwine of Saxe. A Soul Binder.”
“How do you know about...?” Cara began to ask, but she fell silent when she saw the little wooden disk in Kai’s hand. It was about three inches across, a thick chunk of pale wood shaped into the form of a strange bear.
I wasn’t sure what to say. Kai treated it with great reverence, holding it out as if it were a precious gift. It didn’t look like much to me. I thought I would just chalk this up to the difference between cultures and accept it, despite the humble nature of the thing. I reached out and took it. The wood was still warm from lying against the soft skin between Kai’s breasts, and the feeling of that warmth in my hand gave me a momentary thrill of pleasure through my whole body.
Suddenly, I felt an incredible thrumming of energy from the little medallion. A glance at Cara, and I knew she felt it, too. There was a sudden pulse, a blast of power that felt like the great shout of a hearty warrior in his prime. The voice shouted once, full of fierce joy, then faded to silence again. The raw, earthen power of that surge was shocking in its sudden rawness.
“You can hear the power contained within it?” Kai said as she studied our faces. “I knew you would be able to. I cannot Soul Bind myself, of course, and neither can any of my family within living memory, but enough of the magic remains in my bloodline that I can feel an echo of the relic’s power.”
“I hear it,” I said quietly.
“And I,” agreed Cara.
Kai held out her hand, and I gave her the little relic back.
“I want to give this to you,” she said, “but there is a little tradition in my family which I feel I must honor before doing so.”
“Oh yes?” I asked, catching a challenging glint in her big dark eyes.
“In my clan, we put great faith in the prowess of a warrior. I’ve already seen your fighting skill, and your ability with the Soul Binding magic. I have no doubt that you are the right person for the relic, but I feel I must still honor my family’s tradition. Before I give you this powerful heirloom, I must challenge you to a duel, and you must win.”
Chapter Fifteen
I smiled at Lady Kai’s challenge. “Very well! It’ll give me an opportunity to test my new weapons.” I slapped the kusarigama pair at my belt.
Her eyes widened. She looked both surprised and impressed. “You’d use a brand new weapon in a duel?”
“The Persona gives me the knowledge and skill I need to use it, and I’m keen to try it out. Or are you perhaps unwilling to face my new kusarigama?” I glanced at Cara and saw her grinning proudly.
Kai’s eyes flashed at my challenge. “I think I can still disarm you, Persona or no Persona. Come on, Saxen, let’s see what you’ve got!”
Quick as lightning, she drew her samurai sword and took up her stance, the graceful curved blade balanced finely in a practiced two-handed grip. She circled warily as the kusarigama leaped into my hands. With a controlled swing, I brought the ball and chain attachments up and into motion. They swung in circles around me, the heavy heads whistling through the air. Any enemy who tried to get close to me would risk becoming entangled in the heavy chains.
Kai was a highly skilled fighter, but I could tell that she could not see a way through my defense. She circled, and I turned with her, keeping my eyes on her blade.
Suddenly, she feinted to my right, and when I swung my kusarigama chains around to that side, she dived in toward my left. She was fast—deadly fast—but not quite fast enough for me. I caught her sword swing on the blade of my left kusarigama, and the swinging chain wrapped itself once around my arm and then twice around her arms, hands, and sword, binding us together.
With my right kusarigama, I swung downward, wrapping her legs in three loops of chain. A flip of my left foot, and I stopped the spiked mace head before it hit her leg.
All of a sudden, we were very close. She was immobilized. With my left hand, I could control the movement of her hands and wrists. My right hand controlled her bound legs and ankles.
I put the smallest amount of pressure on both control points to make sure she realized my complete dominance, then stared into her face. Her full lips were parted, and she was breathing heavily. There was a flush in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes that seemed to be more than just the thrill of the fight.
Could it be that she was aroused by being immobilized by me in this way? I knew that it was not uncommon for women to be aroused by a strong, dominating male. In some women, that sometimes extended to being bound with cords or chains for pleasure. Was Lady Kai interested in that kind of thing? The thought made my loins burn with desire. I spared a glance at Cara, and she smirked at me, as though she too had noticed this not-so-hidden predilection of the Yamato woman.
Kai and I held there for a moment, looking right into each other’s eyes.
“Will you submit to me?” I asked quietly.
A shudder ran through her at the word ‘submit’, and she suppressed a smile. Her tongue came out and swiftly wetted her lips.
“Oh, yes, I’ll do that gladly,” she said, her voice husky.
I held her for one moment longer before stepping back. At a press of my will, the chains of the kusarigama swung back up and released Kai from her bondage. Cara was watching the interplay between us with shining eyes, and she made no attempt to conceal her broad smile.
Kai stepped away, bowed once, and sheathed her sword. “Thank you for helping me to honor my family traditions, “ she said. “You have bested me in a duel. You are clearly worthy. As promised, I now give you this, the ancient medallion of power passed down from generation to generation, waiting for a Soul Binder who can use it. Let it pass now from my hand to yours and cease its long journey through the ages at last.”
She handed me the medallion, and I raised the little pendant up to my neck and put it on.
With the explosive force of a charging horse, I was blasted out of this reality and into the spirit realm. Cara was by my side, but there was no sign of Kai.
This transportation was more forceful than either of us had ever experienced before, but after a moment, we found ourselves standing in the midst of what seemed a city shrouded in nocturnal darkness, lit only by a full moon and the stars hanging in the sky above us. The architecture was strange, all high carved columns, monumental sandstone buildings, and cobbled streets. Everything seemed laid out in orderly lines and angles.
We stood in a market square that would have likely been pack
ed with people during the day. At night, however, it was empty, and its shuttered wooden stalls and shop fronts surrounded us. In the middle, stood a statue of a man in armor.
Over the tops of the buildings, I could see the side of a great structure, something huge, a curved wall like the side of a massive circular building, bigger than any building I’d ever seen. The streets were dark and deserted, but the curved building was shining with light from many windows, and there was a loud roar as if thousands of people were chanting and stamping in a great open space.
A figure sat on a stone bench by a fountain some way away. He stood and approached us, and the moonlight shone on his rugged face.
“Ironside!” I said in surprise. It was indeed the spirit of the warrior who had guided me through gaining my very first Persona. He was dressed in a rich garment made of a single long white cloth, wrapped around him in many folds.
“What is this place?” Cara looked around in wonder at the strange city.
Ironside smiled. “This is a famous city which I enjoy coming to sometimes. Perhaps one day you will come here of your own accord. The people have a great destiny, but there is corruption and evil here too. If the Festering comes here, it may thrive, so I spend time here and keep watch. If it comes, I will tell the Keeper, and you may be called to cleanse this place too.”
He opened his hands in an expansive gesture. He looked solemn, but also pleased.
“But that is for the future,” he said. “For now, you two have done well. I can see that you have gained more Personas and discovered the way to share them, like the Keeper said you would. And now you have attained a powerful gift. I must teach you how to use it.”
“The medallion?” asked Cara.
“Yes.”
“If the way it brought us here is anything to go by, it seems incredibly powerful,” I said.
“It is. The medallion contains the essence of a warrior spirit so ancient that all sentience and coherence has gone from it. All that is left is a sense of the joy of battle, and the essence of his power in combat, bound up and reduced to its core with elemental magic.”
I thought about the medallion and received a flurry of emotions that came from outside myself. It pulled, like iron filings to a lodestone, as though the ancient hero spirit desired unity with others of its kind. It was, somehow, incomplete, and only joining with another Persona would fulfil its true purpose.
“I feel that it is drawn to join itself with the Personas,” I said to Ironside.
“Yes,” he said. “That is how it works. The oldest of the Persona spirits have forgotten even their own names, and the only thing that is left for them to do is to merge with a Persona which still has a coherent identity. Only a Soul Binder such as yourself has the ability to do this.”
“What effect will it have?” Cara asked.
“Who can tell?” said Ironside. “That will change depending on the user and the Persona you choose to merge it with. But it is a spirit of raw power, bound up with elemental earth magic.”
I considered what Ironside had said. This ancient hero could be merged with another Persona. Which one would be appropriate? Earth elemental magic was likely to bolster strength, in both defense and offense. The Kitsune depended on speed and sleight of hand, whereas the Tree Persona seemed adept at both magical attacks and ranged combat. The Ironside Persona was very much melee-based, although it did possess the enchanted throwing axes. I then had two options. Provide either the Kitsune or the Tree Spirit Personas with a boost to their strength via Earth magic, or double-down on the already substantial powers of the Ironside Persona.
I faced Ironside, my decision made.
“The Ironside Persona is the most appropriate place for a spirit like that,” I declared. “The nameless spirit will merge and become one with the Persona of Ironside.”
I held up my hand, and the medallion shone out brightly between my fingers. The whole strange square where we stood was illuminated, then, with a strong rising sensation, I felt the power flow through me and merge with the Ironside Persona.
“Go well, Soul Binder,” Ironside said, then he and the strange city faded around us into blackness.
We found ourselves back in our woodland glade, the sun still shining brightly. No time had passed. Cara and I jolted back to awareness as the power flowed through both of us. I was wearing the shinobi aspect of the Kitsune Persona, but I reached now for the Ironside armor.
It responded immediately, and heat washed through me as the armor slid into place. On my back was my two-handed axe, my smaller pair of axes, and my familiar shield. But in my hand there was something new: an enormous iron mace.
The thing was as tall as me. Its spiked head was as big as my own head, and its shaft was as thick as my forearm. It seemed to have been forged from a single enormous piece of black iron. As I looked at it, I could feel that it thrummed with raw power.
“It’s so big!” exclaimed Cara.
I hefted it one-handed and heard Kai gasp.
“How can you lift it?” she asked.
“Troll strength,” I stated. “I’ll explain later.”
Kai and Cara both laughed out loud as I stepped away from them.
“You should step back,” I said.
Cara took a small step back, but Lady Kai remained standing where she was. I smiled at her confidence.
I lifted the huge weapon and swung it in a lightning fast arc around my head before slamming it into the ground. The shockwave blasted through the ground around me, rocking the nearby trees and sending a flight of startled birds shrieking up into the air. Kai lost her balance and stumbled a few steps backward. Cara, who had been expecting the shockwave, reached out and caught Kai’s arm to steady her.
I swung the mace again, up and forward this time in a two-handed grip, as if deflecting a blow. With that thought, power rushed up from the earth through the soles of my feet, up through my chest and out through the mace.
There was a crashing sound like rocks slamming together. To my amazement and great satisfaction, a thick sheet of stone, smoothly curved and about six feet across, appeared in front of me. It looked like it was functioning as a kind of earthen barrier. I stepped away from it and swung the staff again at the stone shield. The rock-hard edifice shattered into hundreds of pieces, the whole thing falling harmlessly to the floor.
“To think I’ve been wearing that power around my neck ever since I came of age,” Kai marveled.
“The Persona magic is incredibly powerful,” Cara said to her. “It’s only through Leo that I’ve been able to discover just how powerful.”
“So you are not a Soul Binder yourself?” Kai asked. She seemed surprised.
Cara shook her head, smiling as she looked at me. “No, Leo is the Soul Binder. I am able to share the power through my... connection with Leo.”
“Is that right?” said Kai, and I could see her musing on Cara’s words.
“If you wished it, I’m sure Leo would be willing to share the power of the Personas with you also,” Cara suggested, her smile growing a little wider. “I’m sure he’d take great pleasure in doing so. Perhaps I could watch? Or, if you’re willing, I could join?”
“Perhaps I might have that honor one day.” Kai smiled politely as she said it, but I could see from her face that she was still not entirely sure what form the connection between Cara and I took.
I thought it might be time to change the subject. “Shall we test the new mace?” I suggested. “I think it would be good to test it out against some projectiles.”
“I know just the thing,” Cara said.
Kai stepped back a bit. “I think I’ll stay out of the way.”
“Ready?” Cara asked, looking at me.
I held the mace up and spread my feet into a fighter’s stance. “Ready. Give it all you’ve got.”
She whipped out her bow and nocked an arrow quicker than you could blink. I flipped the monstrous head of the mace up and drew the power from the earth to summon the stone shield
spell. A hail of arrows flew at me, but the shield sprung into being around me. This time, it was larger, like one side of a curved stone dome which had the potential to completely surround me, even though it didn’t do so just now.
The arrows rattled harmlessly off the outside of the stone. When I broke the spell, the wall shattered, but the pieces hung suspended in the air in front of me. I felt the power of the nameless Earth Persona surge through me, and I hurled the shattered shone-shield away from me. A wall of sharp stone shards flew across the clearing, where they hit a tree and scattered.
“That would cut an enemy to pieces!” Cara marveled.
“I can certainly see it coming in very useful,” I agreed. “Let’s up the stakes a little. Let’s try one of your ice and fire explosions against my stone shield.”
“Are you sure?” said Cara. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“In that case, the Ironside armor will protect me from the blow. Come on, I’d like to try it.”
The excitement of experimentation flashed in Cara’s eyes. “All right then,” she said with a smile. There was a shimmering around her, and she changed from her Tree Spirit Persona to her manifestation of the shinobi outfit.
“I’m looking forward to this,” Lady Kai said as she folded both arms over her ample breasts.
“Ready?” Cara called, her hand hovering over the shuriken belt.
“Ready!” I called back.
I slammed up my stone shield again, and Cara spun a flight of icy shuriken stars whistling through the warm air across the clearing at me. They thudded into my shield, and I heard the crackling sound as the ice sheet formed on the outside of the stone barrier. It took an effort of will to maintain the spell, and I braced myself for the impact of the explosion. A fire arrow hit the ice, and the thick orange flames rolled over the edges of the shield. It was very impressive to see the power of Cara’s fire and ice from this angle, and very satisfying to realize that my new spell could easily resist such power.
