Soul Binder (Personas of Legend Book 1)

by Dante King

  I dropped the stone wall, letting the pieces fall to the ground.

  “Well, that worked!” Cara said, seeming a little breathless.

  “It certainly did!”

  Her eyes dropped to examine the Ironside armor I was wearing. “And your armor has changed, too.”

  I glanced down at myself. She was right. The Ironside suit had always been big, but since I’d merged the nameless stone-spirit’s power with it, the metal plates had expanded even further. Angular runes were intricately traced in glowing blue and black detail across the edges of the plates. Despite the increase in size, the suit felt like it had become streamlined. The angles had smoothed out, the sharp edges had become curved. It felt light and easy to move in, as if the suit of armor bore its own strength that was supplementing mine.

  “You look ready for whatever challenge life throws at you now,” Kai said admiringly. “I’m glad I gave you the medallion.”

  “So am I,” I replied.

  “Shall we go back up to the house?” Kai suggested. “I think Toshiro is keen to talk with you about what to do next.”

  “Shortly,” I said. “There’s one more thing to try. Cara, I’m going to use the Kitsune Persona.”

  She nodded. “Be my guest.”

  With a shimmer of cool sensation, I switched over to the Kitsune Persona and felt the black shinobi aspect envelope me. The twinned kusarigama were at my belt, but it wasn’t them I wanted to try just now. It was the misdirection power.

  Cara and Kai were standing next to each other, watching me. I took a breath, reaching for the place where I knew my new power awaited me. It felt similar in aspect to the power which allowed me to shift short distances instantly, but it was distinct. I activated this new ability and took two steps to the side.

  “Where is he?” Kai cried. “Leo?” She glanced around and grabbed Cara’s arm in her surprise. “He was there, then he was gone!”

  I let go of the power and felt it ripple around me as I stepped back into view. Cara was smiling. She guessed what I had done because she had seen me choose the upgrade, but Kai’s reaction showed me that it was certainly an impressive effect. For me, it was like stepping behind a screen. I did not disappear as it seemed. Rather, I placed a temporary image in front of myself which misdirected the eye of those who looked at me.

  “It certainly works well,” Cara said, once I was visible again. “You just seemed to step out of existence.”

  “That feels like it has great potential,” I mused. “But I’ll need to be careful not to rely on it too much. It doesn’t grant me full invisibility, and it wouldn’t stop a flying arrow, but it may allow me to pass unseen. I’ve not needed to use that kind of stealth yet, but I have a feeling it’s going to come in handy. Anyway, it feels good to add some powerful defensive spells to my skill set.”

  I focused on the Personas again and switched back over to the non-combat aspect of Ironside. Cara did the same, revealing the non-combat aspect of the new Tree Spirit Persona for the first time. This proved to be a revealing costume of green silks, low cut at the neck and back, lifting her breasts, and showing off her legs to good advantage. A belt of leather and gold graced her hips, and the shimmering tumble of fabric brushed around her bare arms. Low shoes of soft green leather finished the outfit.

  She stretched her arms. “Oh, that feels good!” she said. “I like everything about this Persona.”

  Kai was admiring Cara, her eyes traveling appreciatively up and down the other woman’s body. “It looks very good on you,” she said, and the two women smiled warmly at each other.

  “Shall we go back up to the house now?” Cara suggested.

  I glanced up at the sky. More time had passed than I had realized. It was now early afternoon, and my stomach was suddenly reminding me that I hadn’t yet eaten today.

  “Let’s do that,” I said. “I’m sure Toshiro will be wondering where we’ve got to, and we’ve still to decide on our next course of action.”

  Kai fell in on my right and Cara on my left. Striding up the path toward the house with a beautiful woman on each side of me, and a collection of powerful Personas at my command, I felt a sudden rush of confidence and pleasure in my situation. Life was good, and whatever came next, I felt that I would be able to handle it. By the time I was through, the Festering would be cleared from the land of Yamato, and many other places too.

  I had found my destiny, and it felt good.

  Chapter Sixteen

  When we got back to Toshiro’s house, I looked around at the progress on the cleanup.

  “They’ve done more than I would have thought possible in an afternoon!” Cara exclaimed.

  “They may be mercenaries, but they are hard workers,” Lady Kai said.

  The mercenaries and the Byakko had worked together to clear the battlefield of Tengu corpses and smashed tree-demons. The Tengu had been buried in a deep grave over by the tree line, and a couple of Kai’s soldiers were filling the grave in with earth. There was no sign of the corpses of the Gaki.

  Under General Koshu’s direction, the mercenaries and Kai’s soldiers had gathered up all the human dead to burn. Black smoke still rose from the pyre, and most of the mercenaries and soldiers worked here. I could see that it would take some time before they were finished. The smashed tree demons—of which there were many hundreds scattered around—provided an ample supply of fuel to the fires. It was a grim sight, but at least the human soldiers had all died honorably in battle. In Saxe, that was the best end a fighter could ask for.

  General Koshu was conversing with Toshiro’s old manservant on the front step of the house. As we approached, Koshu saw us and raised a hand in greeting. The old servant hurried off into the house as Koshu approached us.

  “Leofwine, Cara, Lady Kai.” The General bowed in turn to each of us. “We’ve made a lot of progress on the clear up.”

  “You certainly have. But what happened to the Gaki?” I asked, looking around. There was no sign of their corpses anywhere.

  Koshu shrugged. “They were spirits. Shortly after you left, they faded into oblivion. Such is the nature of the dark magic that summoned them.”

  “And the Tengu are buried over there?” Kai pointed to where the men worked at filling in the last of the pit.

  “Yes,” the General replied. “None survived the battle. The Byakko dug the pit, and the mercenaries and your soldiers helped to bury the Tengu. I believe that burial is the custom of the Tengu people.”

  Kai shook her head sadly. “Yes. It’s a waste. The Tengu should have known better than to fight on the side of the Festering and the tree demons.”

  “What do you mean?” Cara asked.

  “Are they not demons themselves?” I asked. “They certainly carried the foul taint of the demonic.”

  Kai looked at Cara, then at me, but she didn’t answer straight away. “Let’s go into the house and find Toshiro. There is some explaining to do.”

  “I will continue out here,” General Koshu said.

  Kai and Cara followed me through the main hall and out back of Toshiro’s house, crossing the practice courtyard and entering the peaceful garden. Here, we found Toshiro sitting at the table where we had talked the previous evening. He was still wearing his samurai armor, but he had taken off his helmet and laid it on the ground beside him. The old warrior was deep in thought, but he looked up at us and smiled as we approached.

  “Ah, here you are,” he said. “My servant Win told me you were on your way. I’m glad to see you. Leo, Cara, I trust you have profited from the recent battle? You have gained more upgrades?”

  “More than that,” I said to him. “We gained a whole new Persona.” I gestured to Cara.

  She held her arms out to show Toshiro the beautiful costume she was wearing. As he looked appreciatively at her, she summoned the combat aspect. The Persona shimmered and transformed into the hunter outfit, with the long bow and twinned blades looking impressive in the bright afternoon sun.

  “I am very
glad to hear it!” Toshiro smiled as Cara changed back to the non-combat aspect. “You will need every advantage to fight and defeat the evil that is in this land.”

  “You mean ‘we’,” I said. “I’m hoping you will come with us when we go.”

  “I’m honored by your request, but surely you will not want a non-magic user like me along with you...?”

  “On the contrary,” I interrupted him. “As you say, we will need every advantage. I’d like you to come along with us. If you are willing, of course.”

  If this had been Saxe, and I was working for Thane Johan, I could have forced this warrior to take up arms and join me. But this wasn’t my homeland, so I went for a request rather than a command.

  “I plan to go with them,” Kai put in, “and I’m no magic user.”

  “Not yet, at least,” Cara said under her breath.

  I glanced at Cara and found her giving me a private smile. Her meaning was clear. She seemed keen on the idea of me sleeping with Kai to give her the power to use Personas.

  “There are ways you can gain the power of the Personas,” I said ominously, sparing a quick wink in Cara’s direction.

  “There are?” Kai asked, genuinely intrigued.

  “If this is so, then I must learn them!” Toshiro’s excitement far outweighed that of Kai.

  “Uh,” I said, not realizing that Toshiro would be as interested as Kai. “Well, you see, I don’t exactly enjoy the feel of a man’s flesh, and I prefer to penetrate rather than be—”

  Cara slammed an elbow into my side, and I shut up right then. I knew of some Saxen men who enjoyed the company of other men in their tents at night, but I was certainly not one of them. A pair of breasts and a tankard of mead was all I desired. Well, perhaps more than a single pair of breasts.

  The thought of such things made my attention turn to Kai, whom I realized was staring at me, her eyebrows knitted together as she waited for me to speak.

  “There are ways,” I said. “Toshiro, I don’t believe you could achieve them. Kai, however, may yet be capable of wielding Personas.”

  “Very well!” Toshiro said, standing up suddenly, as though to hide his disappointment. “I will go with you. I will be glad of the opportunity to free my old friend Yakuna from the influence of the Kanosuru.”

  “Yakuna?” Kai asked. At the mention of this man, she seemed to have forgotten how I hadn’t really answered her question about how she could wield Personas like Cara and me.

  Quickly, Toshiro explained to Kai about Yakuna, the brave samurai who had traveled into the hills behind Otara to fight the Festering and had never returned. Kai listened thoughtfully, nodding her head.

  Servants brought cool drinks for us, and more chairs. We sat around the little table to discuss our course of action. Kai told us that she had been through Otara recently, and that the Shogun there was under the influence of the Festering.

  “The way it manifests in him is different to the others,” she explained. “For Shogun Morai, it’s more like he has control over it, not the other way around. There is no sign of the chaos and terror that the Festering usually brings. Yet there are strange tales of dark spirits that roam the streets at night. These monsters eliminate any of Otara’s rivals in dreadful ways.”

  “What did you mean when you mentioned the Tengu earlier?” Cara asked. “You said something about them fighting on the wrong side?”

  “That’s right,” Kai answered. “I was coming to that. The mindless, enslaved creatures that we have seen and fought on this battlefield are a corrupted form of Tengu. In Otara, there is a group of Tengu who are the main players in the resistance against the Shogun’s tyrannical regime. The resistance fighters are led by a Tengu woman, a charismatic leader named Nika. She is a friend to me. The Tengu are persecuted in the city, and that makes them less willing to submit to the Shogun’s decrees. But Nika has disappeared. We need to find her before we can do anything about what is happening in the city. We will need her help to rally the resistance against the Shogun.”

  “The Keeper mentioned four enemies in Otara that we would have to face,” I said.

  “The Keeper?” Kai asked.

  “He’s the man who sent Cara and I into your world. I’m not sure exactly who—or even what—he is, but the one whom I serve on my homeworld—the Thane—commanded me to go on this quest.”

  “Keeper,” Kai mused on the word for a moment. “I believe there are legends in Yamato of such people. They protect the realms, ensuring that the peoples never stray from the True Path. This Keeper, he mentioned you would face four enemies?” She leaned forward, keenly interested.

  “Yes,” I replied. “I believe the Kitsune I fought in the temple was the first, and the Tree Spirit the second. Yakuna is the third. If what you say is true, this Shogun Morai might be the fourth and final foe in your world that we must face.”

  “Then, my friend Nika is essential if you’re to complete your quest.” Kai gave a regretful sigh. “It was partly in search of Nika that I came traveling in this direction. I didn’t find her at Otara, but I thought that I would come and see my old friend Toshiro.” She glanced at Toshiro and smiled. “I wanted to find out if he knew anything about what was happening in this part of the land. I’m glad I arrived when I did.”

  “As am I!” I said with some feeling. I was not only grateful for Kai’s help in the battle; I was very pleased to get to know the beautiful Yamato woman.

  “For my part,” I said, “I want to cleanse the Festering, wherever I find it. But I believe we should face Yakuna before the Shogun. If the Shogun is as dreadful as he appears, then I will need every opportunity to grow in power before facing him.”

  “I understand,” Kai said. “It makes sense to me that you should deal with Yakuna first. Then, when we go to fight the Shogun, we will at least know that we don’t have the threat of the corrupted Yakuna at our backs.”

  “Well, that’s agreed then,” I said. “I propose that we spend what’s left of the day getting some rest and set out as early as possible tomorrow morning.”

  Everybody agreed to that. Cara kissed me and headed up to our room, where Toshiro assured us that there would be food waiting. Kai bowed to us all and left to see her warriors and camp with them.

  “There’s one thing I want to attend to before I go to my rest,” I said to Toshiro. “Will you come with me?”

  The old samurai nodded and followed me through the house. We went outside and headed for the lake. There, in the shade by the water, the remaining Byakko rested in the shade of the trees. There were only twenty of them. Yasei lumbered to his feet and came over to me, and I put my hand on his great head as he bowed it to me.

  “Your fellows have departed, then?” I asked him.

  “Yes, they have gone. They will travel back north to our homeland. The ones who have decided to stay are all here.”

  I looked around at the remaining tiger spirits. They were very impressive creatures, as big as horses, and much fiercer. Now, they seemed docile, dozing in the shade by the lake, but once they were back in battle, I knew that they would be a force to be reckoned with. I was glad to have them as part of my retinue.

  Once I had explained to Yasei what my plan was and he had agreed, Toshiro and I walked back toward the house. Toshiro took his leave, saying that he wished to take a walk around in the wooded valley and see how things had changed. He made as if to bow to me, but I stopped him and clasped hands with him in a warrior’s grip instead. He looked at me questioningly.

  “The others may bow to me if they wish,” I told him, “but let you and I treat one another as equals.”

  He nodded to that.

  I made my way alone through the big house and up the steps to our top floor room. I pushed the screen aside, to find Cara lounging on the sleeping mat. She had taken off the Persona and was wearing the revealing green dress which had been given to her the night we arrived. A sleepy murmur from her told me she was aware of my arrival. I thought of waking her, but decided a
gainst it.

  There was food on the table as promised, and I spent some time satisfying my hunger. I undressed and washed in the warm water that had been provided, then lay down beside Cara. She rolled over and put a hand on my bare chest, then snuggled into me with a happy noise. I was dozing off when she spoke quietly, her warm breath tickling the hairs on my chest.

  “You like her, don’t you?” she asked, with a smile in her voice.

  “Who, Kai? Yes, actually, I do. She seems honest and strong, and a good fighter. And did I mention her breasts and her bronze skin?”

  Cara laughed. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

  “She is,” I said. “As are you.”

  “I was thinking that if you were to bring her into our Persona-using circle... well, I’d like to be there when you do.”

  The thought was exciting. I imagined the two women making love with me at the same time, Cara getting pleasure from being with us while I filled Kai with my seed and transferred that incredible power to her in the process.

  “It would be an honor,” I said. “To have you both riding me, one on my cock and the other on my face. . . it would be almost enough to make me forget about Saxe.”

  Cara made a high, lilting laugh. “I can’t decide which I would rather be, top or bottom.”

  “What would you like to do if you were there?” I asked her playfully, reaching over to push the slick fabric of the dress up past her hip, revealing her shapely thighs.

  “To taste you,” she said. “To taste of your power.”

  She reached over and took my hand in hers, guiding it down between her legs. She gasped as my hand found that she was slick and wet already. I gently pleasured her with my fingers as she continued.

  “I’d like to work with her to pleasure you,” she said breathlessly. She wriggled, pushing the dress up and over her head. Her nipples stood out big and dark in the warmth of the quiet room.

  “I’d like to—oh!—I’d like us to both use our mouths to pleasure you. And I’d like to... to...” her voice trailed off into a moan of pleasure as I lifted my hand away and mounted her. Listening to her fantasies about sharing herself with me and with Kai had made me hard as a rock.