by NAK Baldron
The knife moved without her thinking about it. Three quick lines and her eyes refocused. Her hand had put a tip on the staff to make it a spear. It was right. It had to be.
She called out for Lance, but he wasn't around.
Damn it.
Her eyes fell on the pile of seals. At some point the whole pile had felt right. It made little sense to wait for him to watch her fail again.
Fuck it.
The seal felt right, righter than the previous ones. Her body tensed as it accepted what was about to happen. It was time to do it—with or without Lance. As the seal got close to her skin, it tingled.
This is it!
The tanned skin stuck to her stomach.
In an instant, everything shifted into a red tint. Even the green of the trees looked pink. The brown of the bark, like flowing blood.
Stinging pain erupted from the back of her skull, and down her spine, as small spikes grew from her back, ripping her shirt.
Her skin morphed into black scales that shimmered crimson in the direct sunlight. It was as if they had always been there just below the surface, waiting to come out.
Lance came running out of the trees. He'd changed himself into his blue-orangutan form. Kandice realized she'd grown to over eight feet tall. She was looking down on Lance. There was a smell of raw steak coming from him, and her stomach longed for food. She lunged at him, mouth wide-open hoping to sink her teeth into him and feast upon his flesh.
For several minutes they fought, tumbling over one another.
Kandice was stronger, but with Lance being trained and faster, he had the advantage.
Each time she grabbed hold, he would spin away out of her grip.
He kept reaching for her stomach and blocking her advances.
Lance pulled out another seal and struck Kandice's arm with it. Her arm burned and became immobilized. She snapped at him, but he was too fast—he pulled the seal off her stomach, and Kandice fell face-first into the earth.
When Kandice opened her eyes, her body screamed in pain. She bit down as hard as she could to avoid screaming out. Lance poured an awful smelling liquid on her that burned as it boiled her blood and outer flesh.
"Ouch!" she screamed.
"Sorry," Lance said, and wiped it off.
Her skin had already turned red.
"You put the seal on without me?" he asked.
"You kicked my ass," she said. "My whole body feels broken."
"It will, for a couple days. You're strong. I had to use a disabling seal."
"Was that what caused my arm to feel like it was on fire?"
"Yes," he said. "I didn't know you'd be so powerful. You about crushed me in one of your bear hugs."
The liquid Lance was rubbing on her smelled worse than roadkill, but it took the pain out of her bones.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to change without you. It just kind of happened. I wasn't thinking."
"I know," Lance said. "It's how it happens to all of us. It's all part of the test. Once you found the right symbol, you would never be able to wait. It calls to you."
"What?"
"It's part of you. At first, your body feels lost without it. Over time, you'll learn to live with the pain of separation. Until then, you can't keep a complete symbol on a seal. You'll have to finish it right before you use it."
Kandice thought she understood, but she felt so sleepy that it had become hard to think.
"I'm tired," she said.
"That's good. You rest, and I'll drive us home."
Kandice noticed the moon was already out, and the sun was close to going down. She walked to the SUV with Lance's help, and the moment she laid the seat back, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER FOUR
Sapphire Nation, Fencura
Purple banners danced against the stone wall. Shaya walked west along the wall of the Emperor's private estate. Leaving the security of the eastside always made her reflect on the fate of her father and brother. But with Akio at her side, not even an imperial guard would risk attacking her.
"Will you take the examination this year?" Akio asked. He didn't look at her, instead keeping his eyes on the strangers who moved aside to create a bubble around them.
"We'll keep a close eye on Ren after we get him out."
"Yes, Kaito-Tanken." He bowed his head without dropping his gaze.
"Are you nervous?" She stopped walking to get a better look at her First Sworn. Shaya allowed him free rein to question her on any subject. A necessary compromise when her First Sworn was her only sworn. She relied on his council.
"No, Kai—"
"Akio!"
"No, Shaya." He unsheathed a fencing dagger and twirled it around his index finger. A special metal guard allowed the dagger to spin smoothly.
Why is he lying?
"Then why do you ask?"
He twirled two daggers in counter circles allowing the blades to pass through each other's arcs without touching. "Your abilities have manifested, and your father—"
"No."
Akio dropped to one knee, head facing the ground, daggers held up in surrender to Shaya.
The surrounding crowds moved to the far side of the street, creating two single-file lines pressed against the shops. Every Shinzo citizen knew better than to get entangled with a Thief Lord and their First Sworn. They expected blood to flow in the street. Mothers pulled children down side streets and shop owners closed doors.
Shaya tapped his shoulder and whispered, "Stop being overdramatic."
Akio flashed a thin smile to her as he stood. The bastard had used etiquette to punctuate his point.
"Fine," she said. "You win. You're faster and smarter than the rest of us."
Akio twirled his daggers again. "I live to serve, Kaito-Tanken."
"Shaya, damn it!" Her blood ran hot, and she stomped the heel of her thin leather boot against the cobblestone street, sending a sharp spike of pain up to her knee.
"Shaya?"
"It's nothing." But she took his offered arm for a moment, while the sharpness of the pain dulled. "You know how to break my face of stone."
"Only so I can protect you better."
They continued their walk, Shaya lost in thought, and Akio playing with his daggers while he kept watch. He made a point of stooping to greet the children they passed. Despite being the deadliest blade on Shinzo, he remained the same kind child who'd seen Shaya's pain at her brother's funeral and rushed to help.
If not for those circumstances, they could have easily married.
"I think Shirou means to offer a marriage proposal." Shaya broke the silence.
It was a slight stumble, but Shaya noticed his blades nearly slipped from his fingers. "Are you sure?"
"No." Her voice trailed off. "But why else would such a new Thief Lord use his honor to defend ours?"
"Would you want to marry him?"
Shaya noticed the glance he threw her way. "No."
They turned south toward the ocean, and the guards' tower where Ren was being held.
"But I must accept, it will be expected of me to choose soon. I must produce an heir before the Time of Daggers, or I risk Clan Kaito entirely."
Akio sheathed his daggers. "Don't choose him or any of the Thief Lords."
"Then who?"
Akio popped his thumbs. "Miku has many sons. Choose one who won't inherit. Don't weaken your title by marrying another Thief Lord."
If only he didn't have to be so selfless.
"There's still time to think." She waved the conversation away. "This leads us back to your initial question. I can't take the examination and leave Clan Kaito unrepresented. We'd lose everything we've fought to hold on to."
"But you'd live," Akio muttered under his breath.
As they took the first step of the tower's entrance, three guards greeted them in unison. "Halt."
The guard tower stood fifty feet tall, made entirely of the slate-colored stone abundant on the island. A symbol of law and order, the E
mperor's authority manifested in physical form to intimidate the commoners into obedience. Underneath the entrance stretched level upon level of jail cells and dark dungeons some prisoners never emerged from.
Shaya pushed her shoulders back. "Step aside. We're here to retrieve a prisoner."
Two of the guards whispered franticly to each other before the third—their leader—convinced them to allow Shaya and Akio to pass.
"Apologies, Kaito-Tanken Shaya." The youngest guard bowed as they passed. "Only following orders."
The inside was lit with Amethyst Lanterns—the Emperor spared no expense to display his strength. The youngest guard followed them inside.
"Apologies again. Which prisoner are you here for?"
Had Shirou lied?
"His name is Ren," Shaya said. "He's young, from the Pearl Nation."
"Ah, yes, of course." The guard stepped closer to Shaya and Akio slipped the flat of his blade eye level between them. The guard showed his hands. "No offense meant. I only want to point to the door."
"Lead on," Akio threatened.
The guard didn't need to be told twice and kept several paces between them. A new guard could earn as much as two-and-a-half marks tax-free—a tidy sum for any commoner—but dead men spent no coin. Thus, why guards toasted a drink to the dead over their first pints after hours.
On the fourth floor down, Ren lay alone in his cell. He didn't move as they stepped off the stairs.
"Stop," Shaya said, as the guard was about to bang his club against an iron bar. "Leave us. We'll find our own way out."
The guard walked away, but Akio stopped him with a dagger. "The keys?"
The guard handed over his key ring, with the correct key held up. Akio took the set of keys and gestured for the guard to run along.
Shaya crouched at the bars of Ren's cell. "Ren."
He didn't wake, but he began to thrash about. An orange glow flickered around him.
"Akio!" Shaya slammed the sheath of her sword against the bars.
Ren jolted upright into a sitting position, and the orange glow vanished, darkening the cell.
"Shaya?" Ren rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It'd been four days since her last visit. "Is that really you?"
She gave him a warm smile. "Ready to get out of here?"
"Fuck, yeah." Ren grabbed the box she'd given him from within the scrap cloth he'd been using as a pillow, hopped to his feet, and threw the cloth aside. "Did you bring food?"
"No, but we can stop at a restaurant first thing."
"Has the examination happened? Damn guards wouldn't tell me."
"Tomorrow."
Akio turned the key in the cell door, and the magical properties faded, allowing him to open it. "Shall we?" he asked Shaya.
"He's right," Shaya said. "We shouldn't linger. Just in case the guards decide to take offense, or orders change."
The brightness of the midday source-light blinded Ren, and Akio was forced to guide him down the steps of the guard tower. By the time they reached the first available restaurant, his eyes recovered, and he could walk unassisted again.
They spent the better part of two hours letting Ren of Clan Kaito recover his strength.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sapphire Nation, Fencura
Dinner came early for Ren. Despite a large lunch, he found himself hungry again by the time they reached the Bloody Square. Shaya invited him to join her for a private meal at home. A relief for Ren, because he didn't know what to tell the innkeeper yet. He hoped the man hadn't lied about holding onto his trunk while they imprisoned him.
A hard lesson sank in for Ren—it's harder to trust people than he'd first thought. Back home honor meant speaking and protecting truth, but here honor was weighed with a different scale.
"Shark Ramen," Shaya said as she placed three large bowls on the table. "My mother's recipe. She would make this when I was sick and needed color back in my cheeks. I think today would qualify."
"Sueun's blessing." Akio tilted his head in a curt nod before using a large, flat-bottomed spoon to slurp the fish broth.
Shaya followed suit and Ren did his best to do the same, but the soup scalded the roof of his mouth. He dropped his spoon into the soup, embarrassed by the mess it created.
"You have to slurp the soup." Shaya took a long, exaggerated slurp as an example.
Ren tried again and found the soup was just cool enough to not burn his throat if he slurped correctly. As he ate, Ren allowed his eyes to wander the room and lingered on the two swords hanging on the north wall—shared with her neighbors. They looked like Shaya's, though their hilts were both ornately decorated with runes he didn't recognize. Unlike the lavish decor he'd grown to expect in Shinzo Shaya's home was modest—bare even—by comparison.
"This is delicious." Ren took another slurp and chewed on a piece of shark meat.
Shaya bowed low over the table before continuing her own slurping.
Together, they sat on benches recessed into the floor, surrounding a low wooden table in the center of the room. Two wooden chairs straddled a small window against the western stone wall. The kitchen took up the opposite left corner along the western wall. While the eastern wall—facing the interior of the courtyard—comprised the front door and large wooden shutters. Had they been open, the room could spill onto the fourth-floor balcony. Just past the kitchen's edge was a small hall with three doors—Ren assumed one was Shaya's room, and the other, perhaps Akio's?
When their bowls dropped below a third left, Shaya and Akio placed their spoons inside their bowls—holding it against the lip of the bowl with one finger—and tilted the remaining soup to their lips. Finishing it in three large gulps. Ren rushed to catch up, and when he gulped the soup down a tight burning sensation scraped the back of his throat. The warmth he felt spread through his body afterward was worth a level of discomfort.
Akio stretched his arms in a large arc across the back of the bench to crack his back. A loud sound echoed throughout the room, which made Ren's eye twitch.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked.
"He's fine," Shaya said. "After so many battles, Akio finds it hard to sit still for any length of time without growing stiff."
"How many men have you fought?"
"Seven-hundred and forty-five." Akio swelled with pride. "At least since I've learned to fight with these." He produced his daggers and laid them upon the table on either side of his empty bowl.
"Wow," Ren said. "How do you keep track of so many?"
Akio rolled back the sleeve of his shirt to reveal numerous black tally marks on his skin. "For every victory."
"What about your losses?"
"What losses?" Akio shot him a grin. "I've never lost. That's why men from all over Fencura come to Shinzo to challenge me."
"Akio, is the greatest swordsman." Shaya cut in. Akio covered his arm and bowed his head in reverence. "His fame is justified, but it brings unwanted attention on us, and unnecessary risks."
"Yes, Kaito-Taken Shaya." Akio bowed his head even lower.
Shaya waved away his chastised posture. "We have more important matters to discuss." She turned her attention to Ren. "Are you prepared for the examination tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't have a choice."
"True," she said. "But now it's a matter of clan honor. To protect you from the Emperor and get you out of jail, I was forced to formally recognize you as Clan Kaito. You're now a part of my family and a member of the right people."
Ren sat dumbfounded, opening his mouth to speak, but finding no words would come.
"You should be honored," Akio said. "You're the first foreigner to be inducted in over twenty years."
"Thank you," Ren muttered after a pause.
"You're welcome," Shaya said. "But there's no need to thank me. Honor demanded I protect you after what happened. Clan Gin betrayed us. The other Thief Lords and I will deal with Nori, and his fucking shadow-walker wife. We'll turn them back into salt and insure they act as an example to all of
Shinzo. Especially the damn Emperor."
"What's a shadow walker?"
"They're not exactly sorcerers because they don't channel magic, but they're able to use their minds to travel anywhere in the world. There are rumors they can even visit people's dreams."
She spat dry spit on the seat next to her, and Akio did the same. They looked at Ren, and he realized after an awkward moment, he was expected to spit to. His was less than dry, but they said nothing about it.
"I'm confused," Ren said. "What does this mean for me and the examination?"
"You'll represent Clan Kaito at the examination," Shaya said. "And by proxy all the Bloody Square. Your actions will affect our reputations with all of Shinzo."
"I won't let you down."
"I know." Shaya had felt his magical strength from the first day they met. He may need training, but his potential was evident. "Akio will go with you to collect your belongings from the inn. It will be best if you sleep here tonight, and tomorrow we'll attend the examination together."
CHAPTER SIX
Texas, Earth
Sunday, September 18th
Sunday Morning, Kandice woke with a splitting headache as Slava was applying a metal seal against her back.
"What the—" she said, not understanding what was happening at first.
"We did not expect you to wake until this afternoon," Slava said. "How do you feel?"
She relaxed her body. "My head hurts."
"Yes, that is to be expected." He reached over to the coffee table and grabbed a glass of vodka. "Drink. It will help."
Kandice was reluctant, but Slava tipped the glass up, so she took a small—then large—drink of the vodka. It burned her throat worse than usual, but the relief to her throbbing head was instant.
"Where's Lance?" she asked.
"He is out," Slava said. "He said he would be back with food and more vodka."
"If it's not too rude. How much vodka do y'all drink?"
"Maybe," he said, pausing a moment. "Five, six bottles a week."
"Together, or each?" she asked.
"Each. You will too. I heard how well you did. We are both proud of you."