by Sarah Ash
Again and again, Naoki forced himself to lift his arms, gritting his teeth as the weight of the chains tugged at his half-healed flesh.
There was only one thought in his mind: I’ve got to get out.
***
Masao, hearing voices, reached out and touched Saburo’s arm. Saburo glanced around, one brow raised questioningly. Masao beckoned him over into the shelter of a nearby bamboo thicket. Peering between the slender stems, they saw a young man, about Naoki’s age, sitting on the ground, rubbing his ankle. Beside him lay a backpack, much like those worn by peddlers or travelling medicine men. A girl knelt on his other side; from the short cut of her hair and her sun-browned arms and legs, Masao guessed she must be his servant.
“We’re nearly there,” Masao heard her say. “Shall I run on ahead and fetch help?”
The young man looked up, wincing as he tried to move his foot. “No. I’ve got to do this on my own. I’ll be fine in a minute or two.”
“Suppose someone comes?” The servant girl kept glancing around anxiously. “Honou said he’d warn us, but he’s vanished.”
The young man managed a grin. “He’s probably run off chasing rabbits.”
Honou. Did they mean a dog? It was Masao’s turn to glance around uneasily; a keen-nosed hound would sniff them out in seconds.
“You can’t stay here,” said the girl. “Lean on me. It’s not far to the tunnel entrance.”
The tunnel entrance. Masao leaned forward, straining to hear more. The medicine peddler picked up his chest and then, with the girl’s help, lurched awkwardly to his feet. They started out down the track, moving slowly, he limping, she guiding him further into the bamboo thicket.
If I follow them, unobserved, I’ll discover the hidden way in to Kurozuro Castle. This was a not a chance to be missed. But stealth was essential and there was only one way to achieve it: the Kite Shadow. Even if he could only sustain it for a few minutes, it might be just enough to learn the Cranes’ secret.
Masao turned to Saburo. “I won’t be long,” he said in a low voice. “Keep watch.”
He laid down his pack and, closing his eyes, began to alter the pattern of his breathing. He pressed his palms together, then began to make the rapidly interweaving pattern of finger signs to open the pathways that would awaken his Kite skills.
For a heart-stopping instant he felt no flicker of awakening.
Is it still too soon? The medicine peddler and his companion were almost out of sight – and he could so easily lose track of them in the growing darkness.
Then came the familiar surge of energy through his body, and his senses sharpened. His keen vision pierced through the hitherto impenetrable bamboo thicket, detecting the slightest disturbance, even in the dim light. His hearing picked up the distant rustling of leaves displaced, the lurching, irregular footfall of the lame peddler, the sound of the girl’s hurried breathing.
Now I’ve got you! Masao launched himself into the air. Wind of the Seven Stars…
The dark energy of the Kite Shadow pulsed through his body, lifting him, concealing him as he sped silently above the thicket, scanning the land below for his prey.
***
The faint shaft of daylight that illumined Naoki’s cell was fading.
Another day gone and I’m still stuck in this stinking pit.
He picked up the sharp fragment of stone he had found and in the gloom scored another gash on the rock to add to the others, a record of his endurance. He had begun to fantasize about attacking the guard with it when he brought him his food – but there was no point making a bid for freedom until his shoulder was fully healed.
As he chipped grimly away at the wall, he suddenly felt a faint, familiar tremor of energy stir the air.
“The Kite Shadow?” He gripped the stone tighter. Has someone come to rescue me? His chest had gone tight at the thought. This sudden rush of hope was more painful than the dull state of despair he had been mired in
“Yoriaki? Masao?” He shouted their names aloud, not caring who heard him. “Here I am! It’s me, Naoki!”
***
Sakami kept looking back over her shoulder as she led Kai on through the bamboos.
“What is it?” he asked. And then he sensed it too, that faint flicker of fleeting shadow that had woken him from sleep at the monastery.
“Someone’s watching us.”
He nodded. “A Kite shinobi.”
Her eyes widened. “What should we do?”
Kai thought a moment. “Mislead him,” he said without hesitation. “Draw him away in another direction.”
“Then I’ll go. If we split up, he won’t know which one of us to follow.” Before he could stop her, she was off, veering sharply to the right, in the opposite direction to the tunnel entrance.
“Be careful,” he whispered, silently cursing himself for being so useless at such a time.
***
The instant the girl took a sudden sideways turn, darting off and leaving the peddler behind, Masao knew that he had been spotted. But how? I’m moving so fast, so silently, they shouldn’t be able to see me in the dusk. In that brief moment of self-doubt, he lost concentration and felt himself losing height.
Even if you’re tempted to use the Kite Shadow again, resist it, Master Yoriaki had warned him. You’re not yet ready. And yet he had felt that familiar addictive rush as he rose in the air. Nothing else he had ever experienced could quite match that exhilarating soaring sensation.
I won’t give up. I can’t – not now that I’m so close. It was risky to try to generate more Shadow energy from his body but he had no other choice. If I can just rise a little higher, I can watch both of them…
The sky overhead had darkened from blue to violet-grey and the thickly wooded slopes below Kurozuro Castle were shrouded in twilit shade. It was getting harder to make out what was happening beneath him. If only there were enough moonlight to see more clearly… but the rising moon was merely a thin sliver of silver, casting a meager gleam. The bright crescent dimmed before Masao’s eyes; his sight was beginning to fail.
Damn it all, I can’t sustain the Shadow much longer. I’ve used too much energy. If I don’t come down soon, I’ll pass out and drop like a stone.
The light of a single torch suddenly flared up, illuminating the undergrowth below. A man’s voice rang out, shouting a challenge.
“Who’s there?”
Chapter 18
A torch flame flared up in the darkness, startling Kai.
“Who’s there?” Two Crane guards had appeared from the concealed entrance to the siege tunnel; the keen blades of their naginata glinted in the torchlight.
If that Kite shinobi is still somewhere around, he’ll have seen them too. Kai could not believe how unlucky their timing had been.
“Drop your weapon and come out, hands raised!”
There was nothing for it but to do as they ordered. He stood up, catching his breath as a stab of pain throbbed through his twisted ankle.
The guards leveled their weapons at his throat.
“What are you doing here, peddler?”
“Identify yourself.”
What do I say? Kai was dazzled by the sudden brightness. They’ll never believe me.
“Idiots!” A furious shout rang out as Sakami came running back. “What are you doing? Don’t you recognize him?”
“Sakami?” One of the guards lowered his naginata.
“This is Lord Kaito.” She was so furious that the words seemed to explode from her mouth. “He’s twisted his ankle. Help him – and Princess Asagao may let you off with a reprimand for your stupidity.”
Kai stared at Sakami, impressed; he had no idea that she was capable of such ferocity. The next moment, the two guards dropped to their knees, stammering apologies.
“There’s no time for this,” Kai said, only too aware of the danger they were in. “There’s a Kite shinobi nearby.”
“Oh!” Sakami clapped both hands over her mouth. “I forgot,” she
whispered.
“Put your arm over my shoulder, my lord,” said one of the guards, handing his naginata to the other. “Then you can lean on me. Yoshio – run on ahead and warn the general.”
As they set off, more Cranes emerged from the tunnel entrance: three archers, bows in hand.
“A Kite spy – over there!” Kai pointed up into the pines; he could still sense the Kite’s presence although now that night had fallen he could not see him any longer.
“Shun?” He heard Sakami call out to one of the archers as they ran past, each one pulling an arrow from the quiver on his back, aiming up into the trees.
“Get into the tunnel, Sakami!” The archer drew back his bowstring and the zing of keen-tipped arrows made the soft evening air vibrate as the three men fired and fired again in quick succession.
Sakami followed Kai into the tunnel, carrying the medicine chest. Kai heard her muttering, “Is that how a brother should greet his sister?”
“Your older brother?” Kai could not see her face clearly but he heard the irritation in her voice.
“He could at least have said ‘You’re safe,’ or ‘Welcome home.’”
***
A Crane arrow came whizzing toward Masao out of the darkness, then another and another.
He somersaulted in the air, swiftly twisting his body to left and then to right, feeling one barbed tip fly past close to his cheek, another almost graze his toes.
Only three archers and they can keep up such rapid fire? Impressive.
But they were shooting blind into the night and it merely took a couple more agile springs, zigzagging from tree trunk to trunk, to avoid their shafts.
The dark tracery of leaves and branches below Masao began to blur. He blinked but his sight did not clear. Must stay alert…
Wave upon wave of dizziness swept through him.
I’m at my limit. But what use will I be to Lord Naoki if I crash and get myself captured before I can tell Lord Toshiro what I’ve seen?
One more spurt of speed was all he needed; enough to get him far enough away from the Cranes before they called for reinforcements and started to search the mountainside.
Just a little longer, he begged his failing body.
***
Naoki stood below the grating, every muscle tensed, every sense attuned to the slightest vibration in the air. But the distinctive emanations of the Kite Shadow he had felt were fading away.
“No,” he whispered. The disappointment that swept over him was all the more bitter because he had dared to hope he was going to be rescued. “I’m such a fool.” His back against the rough stone of the cell wall, he slid slowly down to the floor. “The only way I’m going to get out of here is by using my own Shadow skills. I’ve got to become stronger.” But he was still too weak to draw out the Kite Shadow within him.
“He promised me,” he muttered. “He promised he’d awaken the Kites’ lost Shadow skill in me just as soon as I brought him the jewels.” And now even that dream had crumbled, a dream he’d cherished since childhood. One of his earliest memories was hearing the legend of the Red Kites for the first time.
“You’re very special children,” his mother Fumiko had told him and his brother Kiyoshi, gathering them close. “Once there were many red kites in the islands of Cipangu. But they were hunted for their beautiful fiery feathers and their numbers grew less and less. One day, a young warrior called Takadai came across a kite with a broken wing. It was fierce – and tried to attack him, but he persisted, in spite of the wounds inflicted by its sharp beak and claws. He took care of the bird, mending its wing and feeding it until it was strong enough to fly again. But before it flew away, the kite spoke to him.”
“The bird spoke to him?” Naoki had asked in astonishment. “What did it say?”
He could still remember the soft touch of his mother’s fingertips stroking his cheek. “The kite offered a special pact in gratitude for saving his life. A blood-bond that would gift Takadai and all his descendents with the power to move as swiftly and silently as a kite swooping on its prey.”
“The Kite Shadow!” Kiyoshi had cried out.
“That’s right,” their mother had said, smiling at him. “And it’s also said that the kite gave Takadai another secret skill: the Flame Feathers jutsu. But the art has been lost over the years and no one in our clan today has managed to achieve that level of mastery.”
“I’m going to become a master of the Flame Feathers jutsu.” Naoki remembered his proud boast and the way his mother had hugged him tightly, saying, “I’m sure you will, little Nao.”
Naoki’s eyes began to sting. No one else had ever called him ‘little Nao’ – and now no one else ever would. He blinked the salt tears away. This is no time to feel sorry for myself. I have to get back into training. I refuse to admit defeat.
***
“We need to barricade this entrance,” said Kai as he leaned against the guard’s sturdy bulk.
“Easier said than done, my lord. It’s our only escape route.”
“Didn’t there use to be a second tunnel?”
“We had a cave-in last winter. It’s not safe anymore.”
The archers came sprinting back into the entrance; he heard their heavy breathing echoing in the tunnel vault.
“Did you get him, Shun?” asked Sakami anxiously.
“Too dark to tell.”
“I can’t sense the Kite shinobi anymore,” Kai volunteered. “He’s either too skilled at hiding his presence or our archers’ aim was true.”
As they hurried onward through the winding siege tunnel, Kai had a sudden vivid memory of the first time he had encountered Sakami there. He could still remember the thin little girl he had found crouched in the corner, bitterly sobbing, could still hear his nine-year-old self telling her solemnly, You mustn’t play hide-and-seek. It’s a secret escape tunnel. If any of the castle garrison found you, you’d be in big trouble.
He glanced at Sakami and saw her smile at him, a shy, secretive smile that told him she had not forgotten either.
“Not much further now, my lord,” said the guard who was helping him along.
“That Kite spy mustn’t be allowed to be report back to camp. I want him eliminated.” Kai heard an authoritative voice ahead giving out orders. “And double the sentries at the tunnel entrance.”
“It’s the general,” said the guard in awed tones.
Around the next turn in the tunnel, they emerged into the main courtyard and a brilliant blaze of torchlight. Dazzled, Kai saw an armored figure striding toward him, followed by armed guards carrying the black and white standards of the clan.
“Lord Kaito; welcome back.” General Tachibana and all his retainers knelt down, bowing their heads.
Kai was overwhelmed; he had not expected to be greeted in such a fashion. Wherever he looked, he saw the members of the clan of the Black Cranes, from the lowliest villager to the most seasoned warrior, kneeling before him. He had often dreamed of returning to the castle – but he had never imagined that it would be in such desperate circumstances.
“I’m home,” he said softly.
***
“Masao – wake up!”
A sudden splash of water soaked Masao; spluttering, he opened his eyes, blinking the cold liquid from his lashes. He could just make out Saburo’s face in the gloom, hovering close to his own.
“I’m wet through,” he heard his own voice protesting as he tried to sit up.
“We can’t stay here,” Saburo hissed. “There are Cranes out searching the woods for us. Can you walk?”
Saburo’s arm slipped under his shoulders, hoisting him up.
Masao felt as if he had been awake all night drinking sake at a moon-gazing party. He tried to put one foot in front of the other without losing his balance. And then the full impact of what he had seen sank in.
“We’ve got to leave a marker.”
“We’ve got to go!” For the first time Masao heard the normally calm Saburo genuinely agitat
ed.
“But Saburo – the siege tunnel. I’ve found the entrance.”
The sound of distant voices shouting to each other carried down from the higher ground. Torch flames flickered further up the rocky steps on which the castle was perched.
“If we don’t go now, you’ll never be able to tell Lord Toshiro about it.”
But Masao was not to be dissuaded. He drew his knife and scored a swift series of marks in the bark of the nearest tree trunk: one of the Kite shinobi’s secret signs, the mark of the talon.
Saburo had already started off down the track. Light-headed, Masao stumbled after him, brushing against tall bamboo shafts as he went. He had forgotten that using the Kite Shadow could produce an effect similar to inebriation: first came the intoxicating rush of speed and sharpened senses – and then came the drunken stupor, followed by a state akin to a bad hangover, and even collapse. “And now I’m in the d – drunken stupid state,” he heard himself proclaiming to the night.
Saburo stopped, grabbing hold of him by the shoulder. “Masao, what’s up with you?” he whispered as Masao swayed drunkenly on his feet.
“I overdid it,” he admitted. The faint moonlight barely penetrated through the branches, making it hard to see the track. “I used too much of my Kite Shadow.”
“Shh.” Saburo went very still, listening intently. The fiery gleam from the Cranes’ torches grew brighter, lighting the forest behind them. “We’re in trouble. If they find us, we’re dead.”
The Crane shinobi must have split up, Masao reckoned. Three separate trails of torch flame were coming toward them through the tall pine trunks.
“You’re surrounded, Kite spies!” A harsh voice hailed them from close by. “Throw down your weapons.”
Masao swore under his breath.
“What now?” Saburo whispered.
“He’s bluffing,” Masao whispered back. “He’s way ahead of the others.”
A fistful of razor-sharp kunai whistled through the air and landed in the tree trunk just above Masao’s head.
“Saburo – run.” No time to think. He gave the armorer a shove in the small of the back. “I’ll hold them off. Get that saltpeter back to camp.”