by NAK Baldron
Back in the Pearl Nation, there was never the option to bet more than your opponents had on the table.
"Trust me," Shaya said. "You'd rather owe me, than him. But you can always fold."
Fuck that, I have quads.
"Agreed." Ren and Shaya shook hands.
Ren pushed the rest of his coins forward, and Shaya used her pile to cover the remainder.
Ragi rolled his hand over without being asked, revealing a spade flush.
Ren flipped over his hand before realizing Ragi held a straight flush, not just a flush. Six through Ten of spades. He'd drawn a straight flush. Ragi had intentionally scrambled his cards.
"Oh." Ragi faked surprise. "I thought my flush was good. I didn't realize it was a straight flush."
Ren leaned over to his right and puked up everything he had in his stomach on Ragi's black velvet shoes.
* * *
Back above ground, Ren realized how beautiful the Bloody Square was at night. He'd gladly accept any distraction from the mess he'd made of things. Somehow, he'd lost that hand of poker, but more important, all his money. Providence had cursed him.
"Don't worry." Shaya gave Ren a pat on the back. "We'll pick you up in the morning, recover some missing jewels, and pay off your debts by dinner with enough left over to cover your expenses for the examination."
"Thank you."
Ren had no choice. There was no one else he could ask for money. Even if he could bear the shame of asking Brandon, there was no way to get the message to him in time. His fate was sealed. Tomoko had tried to warn him, but he'd been too curious about the island and foreign culture.
"What do I have to do?" Ren asked.
"Not much," Shaya said. "You'll play a minor role in the recovery of the jewels. Akio and I will be close at hand to keep you safe."
"What about the law?"
"What law?" she asked.
"The laws against stealing?" Ren asked. "Why not have the authorities collect the jewels?"
"This is not the Pearl Nation," Shaya said. "Here in Shinzo, theft is legal. Did you think we were a gang of criminals?"
Akio laughed, but kept his eyes focused on the square at large, as they kept walking toward the west gate.
"I'm not sure," Ren admitted. "I guess I thought it was a don't ask, don't tell policy."
Shaya laughed this time. "I like that. No, the clans are more of a balancing force—a tax on the rich. Sueun blesses all commerce, especially that of theft."
"What of the poor?" Ren asked.
"I don't steal from the poor." She stopped walking and her voice grew stern. "Nor would any other clan member. We're a people of honor. Your very question questions my honor and that of my people. Look around you!"
Ren did and saw a square full of men, women, and children as they enjoyed a cool evening, talking amongst themselves. The scent of cooked seafood filled the square as families enjoyed fresh hot food after a long day—these people were happy.
"Do they seem worried?" Shaya asked. "Do they watch their purses as we pass?"
"No?"
"Exactly." She pushed on his shoulder, and they began to walk again. "Only those with too much wealth in the first place have anything to worry about. Sueun doesn't look kindly on the poor, but he looks even less kindly on the rich. We're the scales that balance the two. Keeping the rich humble and the poor employed."
They stopped before the inn Ren was staying at. Inside were the sounds of men drinking and eating. Outside, the streets were desolate, leaving the three of them standing alone.
"Get a good night's sleep," Akio said. "I'll retrieve you before first light."
"Don't keep him waiting," Shaya added as a final farewell.
INTERLUDE V
Sapphire Nation, Fencura
SWEAT STUNG THE SIDES OF AKIO'S EYES, but he fought through the pain as the two masked swordsmen circled him. Shaya lay unconscious on the cobblestone street, bleeding from a thin cut above her right eye. The taste of iron lingered in his mouth from an elbow strike—he'd bit through the inside of his cheek.
"Surrender and you'll live," the first man said as he lowered himself into hidden eel.
Akio kept silent—knowing better than to become distracted. Planting his left leg behind him, Akio crouched into kraken. Master Takumi would forgive him for displaying the most secret of stances. After all, it was in protection of Shaya.
The second masked swordsman continued to circle behind Akio. "We only want Kaito-Tanken Shaya. Step aside and you'll live brat!"
Akio spun his stilettos in response and relaxed his gaze to take in more of his surroundings.
Death before dishonor!
The sound of their attacker's breath grew stronger, while the city bustle, the birds of the dock, even his own heartbeat faded away. Master Takumi would be proud. Akio manifested his death circle, and his consciousness filtered out everything outside of his stilettos' reach.
A pebble skipped against the cobblestone toward Akio. Dropping his weight, he sprung off his left foot—right-hand stiletto extended straight toward the gut of the masked swordsman, and left-hand stiletto held above his face to parry away the man's sword.
Blood exploded into Akio's eyes, and he lay crumpled on the ground blind, buried under the weight of the swordsman. Shuffling feet told him the first swordsman was throwing Shaya over a shoulder. Blood drenched Akio's boyish frame as it gushed forth freely from the man's groin. Blind and clumsy, his hands slipped under the weight of the man as he tried to push him off.
"You bitch!" the masked man screamed.
Shaya's awake.
An icy fear chilled Akio's blood. Using his stilettos as climbing picks, he crawled out from underneath the dead man, with the man's ribs as leverage points.
She needs me.
Blood still clung to his eyeballs—literally turning his vision red—and with his tunic drenched in blood there was no way for him to wipe them clean. Resigned to his blindness, Akio brought his focus back to within his death circle. The staggered steps of the masked swordsman vibrated through the cobblestones beaconing his position to Akio. Shaya must have injured him, but he couldn't sense where she was. Was a seven-year-old girl too small to sense? Akio offered a silent prayer to Sueun she was safe.
"Leave now," Akio spoke with a conviction he didn't believe, "and I'll let you live."
"Fucking brats," the man spat.
Is he bleeding?
A soft pattering of footsteps let Akio know Shaya was free from the masked swordsman. It was his duty to protect her. If that meant he died in this alley, so be it. Three swift steps placed Shaya to his back and the masked swordsman ahead.
In his mind Akio heard the mantra of Master Takumi, "Calm your breath."
On cue Akio's breaths became slow and steady through his nose, and he felt his heartbeat dampened. A moment earlier his heart had been pumping hard and fast, like the oars of a longboat. The new clarity of thought that came with his calmer presence allowed Akio to sense how the masked man favored his right leg, meaning he should attack on the left.
"Last chance," Akio swore.
The man raised his sword in answer and charged.
Akio was prepared for the attack, and parried the sword with both stilettos. The man was twice as tall as Akio—placing him at a great disadvantage—but Master Takumi had prepared him for this. A nine-year-old boy was no match for a full-grown man, unless he knew how to turn his smaller size into an advantage.
With the force of the sword pushing down on him, Akio switched footing and allowed the sword to push him past the swordsman's legs. Akio's left-hand stiletto sliced at the man's left ankle. A loud crack—like stone splitting—meant only one thing: the mask swordsman's tendon was severed.
The swordsman fell forward toward Shaya, but with his left leg immobilized he was forced to use his sword as a crutch. Akio pointed his stilettos at the man, but it was Shaya who attacked and kicked the man's sword out from under him.
"Watch out," Akio said. "He could
have a concealed dagger."
Shaya had been about to take the man's mask.
Akio closed the gap and placed himself between the masked swordsman and Shaya.
"Allow me," Akio sheathed his right-hand stiletto—with the left pointed at the man's throat he reached down and pulled back the mask.
There was nothing remarkable about the man's face—no scars or tattoos—he looked like any other man from Shinzo. Only his clothing gave away the fact he was from the Bloody Square. No one on the island outside of the square would risk imprisonment for wearing masks. The Emperor forbade it.
"Who sent you?" Shaya stepped forward.
"Kill me."
"You'll live," Akio said. "Though you'll always be a cripple."
"No!" the man screamed. "Please, kill me."
Becoming a cripple would place him in the fifth caste, a fate worse than death for most. Akio pushed aside the pity he felt for the man and forced himself into face of stone as Shaya had taught. The man had tried to kill them, they must know why.
"Answer her." Akio lowered his dagger to the man's eye. "Or I'll make you a blind cripple."
"No. Please. Kill me."
"Who sent you?" Shaya asked.
"No one. My gang agreed amongst ourselves." Tears were pouring down the man's cheeks. "We knew killing you would buy our acceptance into a clan."
The man brought his hands together in a plea, "Forgive me Kaito-Tanken Shaya. Your death was to be quick. Please. Kill me."
"What clan sent you?"
"None." The man shifted to sit up, but Akio pressed his stiletto against his throat.
"Let him sit." Shaya placed a hand on Akio's shoulder.
"Now," Shaya continued in a calm voice, as if they weren't standing in an alley surrounded by blood. "What clan sent you?"
"None. I swear to Sueun."
"Which clan did you plan to take my body to then?"
"Please kill me."
Shaya looked to Akio, who stepped up and cut the top of the man's ear off. He screamed in pain and held the side of his head with both hands as blood ran down his cheek.
"Which clan?"
"Please," the man pleaded.
Akio pointed the tip of his blade to the man's right eye.
"Last chance," Shaya said.
"Goruden-Tanken Hiroshi," the man spat. "Please not the eye."
"And how did you know he would accept your gang into his clan?" Shaya asked.
Akio pulled his stiletto back and twitched it in front of the man's face. It had the desired effect.
"Everyone knows," the man said. "It's the talk of the market. He's promised a named position to the head of any gang who'll bring him your head."
Shaya leaned toward Akio and whispered, "What should we do?"
"Make an example of him?" Akio whispered back.
Blood began to pool on the ground where the man sat. Shaya had managed to nick the man in the gut with a concealed dagger. Just like Master Takumi had trained.
"Silence him," Shaya said.
The man's eyes grew cold, and he tried to scurry away. Shaya crouched on the man's bad leg and he screamed in pain. A quick right hook with the pommel of Akio's stiletto knocked the man out cold. He twitched on the ground, but another hit from the pommel stopped that too.
"Hold this." Akio passed Shaya a stiletto. "If he wakes stab him."
Akio searched the alley until he found an oil lamp, which he stole from its perch. Lamp in hand, he knelt down beside the man.
"Ready?" he asked.
Shaya nodded, and Akio went to work. Using his stiletto to slice at the man's tongue—it took three attempts before the bloody red chunk of meat lay on the ground. He broke the lamp against the cobblestones and poured the oil into the man's mouth as he began to stir. Afraid the man would wake before he finished, Akio dug through his pocket and produced a piece of flint. He struck it against his blade to produce a spark, but each time the spark failed to ignite the oil in the man's mouth.
"Too wet," Akio said, as he continued to strike the flint.
"Wha . . ." the man spoke.
"Hurry—"
A spark flew into the man's mouth as he began to speak, but the sudden explosion of fire shut him up. The man's mouth burned for only a handful of seconds, more than enough to cauterize the wound and send a message.
An aroma of cooked sausage filled the alley and the two children stood still as stone, watching the man writhe in agony. Screams snapped Akio out of his stunned state and back to larger ramifications. They had to run.
Akio clutched Shaya's hand and led her away at a full sprint. Once they reached Master Takumi's villa they'd be safe.
CHAPTER TWO
"HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE THESE SACRED SANDS with your enemy's blood." Master Takumi pointed to the bathhouse at the back of the estate. "Go wash away your transgressions."
The estate formed a square around the center courtyard of sand, where his students trained to become weapon masters. Akio and Shaya had been under his tutelage daily for the better part of a year. But still he didn't approve of Akio's natural talents with daggers, rather than swords. In his mind daggers were for street urchins and not suitable for his students.
Akio found a rough bar of soap beside a clean bowl of spring water, and fought against his trembling hands as he grabbed for it. A small mirror the size of Akio's head lay on a shelf underneath the bowl of water. Using it to make sure the blood was gone, he found his face looked sullen. With an asserted effort of will, he managed to put on a brave face and return to the sands. Shaya could never know how his duties affected him.
"If not for Akio's quick work I'd be dead," Shaya said.
"Obviously I am pleased that you are unharmed," Master Takumi said.
Akio took his place beside Shaya. As First Sworn, he stood as her second in all matters.
"The worst part is they're not the only ones after us," Shaya said. "Goruden-Tanken Hiroshi has made it clear that any gang that brings him my head will be welcomed into his clan."
"You must hide—"
"Never!" Shaya spat. "Kaito-Tanken Shaya hides from no fight."
"Nor does First Sworn Akio." He stepped forward to emphasize his willingness to die protecting Shaya.
"Very honorable," Master Takumi said, "but what will you two do when you are outnumbered and out matched? You can't hope to fight off an entire gang if they're determined to kill you. Next time they will send more than two men. You had an element of surprise. They did not expect children to be so well trained, but now they will."
Shaya looked at her feet in contemplation, leaving Akio alone to face the gaze of Master Takumi.
Perhaps he's right. Maybe we're foolish to think we can win.
"Parley," Shaya said.
"Excuse me?" Master Takumi asked.
"I'll parley with Hiroshi," Shaya said. "He can't honorably refuse a formal request to speak, and you'll be the one to deliver the message. You're the most famous weapons master in all of Fencura."
"On Shinzo yes, but perhaps not all of Fencura."
"This is not the time for false modesty." Shaya stepped forward to stare the master in the eyes. "You will go to his Golden Court and deliver my message. Tell him I wish to parley and that it will be of great financial interest for him to do so."
"What do you—"
"That's not your concern," Shaya cut him off.
Akio also wanted to know what she planned to give him to call off his hounds.
"Very well," Master Takumi bowed, "as you command, Kaito-Tanken Shaya. When shall I go?"
"Now," Shaya said. "We must check on my mother. Street gangs have honor, but a desperate individual might use the opportunity to attack, thinking me distracted. As if I would let my guard down."
Shaya laughed at her own joke, while the master and Akio joined in. Only a fool would think a Thief Lord would drop their guard, but if they were bright in the first place, they'd already be a clan member. Akio appreciated her insight, and not for the first time, wa
s proud to be her First Sworn. That decision had elevated him from the life of a fisherman's son, and he'd never forget the debt he owed her because of it. If they were to die, at least they would die with honor!
Master Takumi retrieved a set of swords from a wooden trunk underneath the patio and secured them tightly to his person.
"You can stay here as long as you like," Master Takumi said. "The boys will lock up when you leave."
He left without looking back. He was a servant through and through, once Shaya gave a command, he was honor bound to obey. Akio hoped the master was successful.
With the master gone Akio asked, "What are you planning to offer Goruden-Tanken Hiroshi?"
"Everything," Shaya said under her breath.
"What?"
"I will give him everything but my apartments," Shaya turn to face him. "All the islands I own and their incomes. If he's not already, he'll be the wealthiest Thief Lord who ever lived. How can he refuse?"
"What will you do for gold then?"
"Oh," Shaya waved his question away, "trust me. I have a plan."
Akio bowed. "As your First Sworn I'd die to protect you, but I can't protect you if I don't know what you're going to do."
"Trust me," Shaya commanded.
Akio bowed lower. There was no more room for debate. If she said it was a matter of trust and he wasn't to know, then that's how it was. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Whether from the heat of the afternoon source-light or the anxiety of what was to come, he couldn't be sure.
"Should we go check on your mother?" Akio asked.
Shaya nodded her approval.
CHAPTER THREE
SHAYA'S MOTHER WAITED IN THE LIVING ROOM as they entered the apartment. "The square is gossiping that you two were in a fight with the dock boys. Is this true?"
Akio kept his face blank—it was Shaya's place to tell her mother or not. In fact, it could be argued it was none of her business as Shaya was Kaito-Tanken and her mother was only an honorable widow.
"It is." Shaya walked past her mother to the kitchen where a kettle of tea waited.
She returned carrying a tea tray and placed it in the center of the table which sat low to the ground. Gesturing for him to join, Akio sat crossed legged next to her at the table, while Shaya's mother stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest. He knew better than to get involved, and instead poured three cups of tea—offering the first to Shaya and placing the second before her mother's usual seat, before taking his own.
