Samurai

by Jason Hightman

  Other bikes were smashed apart as the cars banged into them, one after another.

  The whir of the motorcycle engines was like a mad, growling beast. Aldric didn’t even stop, smashing through the bikes, tossing them aside. In his armored sedan, Taro drove onward, too, but curved off onto an empty walkway.

  The motorcycles they passed were now swooping around to chase them. Simon looked back, and saw the motorcycles pursuing, smashing and clattering against the cars relentlessly.

  But Aldric stayed on course, never losing focus. Simon saw the old Serpent duck into an alley. The cars took the curve after him, and found a very unattractive dead end.

  Taro and Aldric hit the brakes. The cars screeched in agony, tires burning with resentment, brakes begging for mercy, as Aldric’s car spun sideways and smacked into a wall, where Taro’s screeching car crashed into it seconds later.

  Next, a speeding troop of runaway motorcycles rushed in, crashing, toppling, flying, clattering, and piling up in a horrid sculpture of destruction.

  Aldric tore his way out of the Citröen’s ragtop convertible roof.

  With Fenwick chattering in fear behind him, Simon joined his father on the street, as Taro and the others roamed the dead end in shock. Suddenly it seemed obvious where the Dragon had gone.

  Aldric’s eyes narrowed at the exact moment Taro spied the same thing—a flicker of motion high up on one of the buildings nearby. The Ice Dragon was going over.

  Stalactites formed on the building and ice rained down on the Hunters.

  Aldric started to climb a fire escape, but the Samurai were running around the outside of the building with Kyoshi in the middle of them. Simon again followed their lead. He looked back to see Aldric changing his mind and coming after him.

  Around the corner was a busy street clogged with traffic and people, and an old man weaving his way among them, trying to get away.

  Simon again saw a blur turn into a tail-whipping beast, running off into the crowd.

  “There!” shouted Aldric, rushing past, and they ran after the Dragon. Firing their guns was out of the question—too many non-combatants. So they and the Samurai chased on and on, waiting for a clear shot, with Taro and his men falling behind while trying to keep Kyoshi in their midst.

  The Ice Dragon fled, his black-and-white body a vivid optical shock as it slipped in and out of a population who saw him only as a doddering old man. Simon caught up to his father, and they gained fast on the old Dragon, even with his head start. But the Ice Serpent turned another corner, to a wide boulevard with traffic coming at him head-on. Simon saw the Dragon scurry down on all fours, crawling under the speeding cars and trucks—amazingly—sliding on his belly like an iguana, and missing any injury.

  Simon almost stopped with surprise, seeing the two-toned demon scuttling fast under the rushing autos, a huge torrent of motion coming straight at the Dragonhunters. Aldric yanked Simon aside, out of the path of the speeding cars, and the two continued their chase alongside the traffic, with Taro and the Samurai coming up behind.

  Suddenly the Ice Serpent was hit in the shoulder, a glancing blow from a rushing car. The beast tumbled under a parked truck, and Simon and Aldric saw their chance to catch him.

  They split up, Aldric taking the front, Simon the side, and both bent down to take aim under the truck.

  For one second, Simon stared into the ugly yellow eyes of the monster that had ripped into him in the putrid hold of his ship—

  But the Thing was about to descend into a sewer, and, without thinking, Simon grabbed its fat, squirming tail. His fist clenched around the soft, wrinkled flesh, and he held it tight. It wasn’t going anywhere.

  Or so he thought. It broke loose from its tail like a lizard, and dived into the sewer hole, leaving Simon holding what looked like a long snake. The tail wiggled and shook and looped around his neck, strangling him, but Aldric batted at it until it stopped. It fell to the ground and instantly burned into black ash and blew away in the wind.

  The Samurai had just caught up, gathering around the truck, but the Serpent had blown a fire up from the manhole. Quickly, Taro pulled at Kyoshi’s collar, like a cat, getting further back, and everyone fell in behind them, even Simon and Aldric, fearing the spread of the fire.

  “Where does that hole lead?” cried Aldric, staring back at the fiery opening.

  “It leads to pain,” said Taro.

  The surreal, black-and-white fire swept upward, and everyone fell further back.

  The truck exploded, split down the middle in ebony fire and snowy flames that immediately turned to ice, crystals stabbing out and lifting the truck’s pieces, glassy spikes rolling forward down the street, ice that mimicked flames.

  Chapter 18

  LIGHT WITHOUT HEAT

  “WE’VE LOST HIM,” GROWLED Taro, and he stared at Aldric as if it were somehow his fault.

  The ice-fire fascinated Simon, but the others seemed more concerned about its results.

  “I am very disappointed in the St. George abilities,” Taro mumbled to the men.

  They spent a good deal of time circling the area, but there was no trace of the Ice Serpent, neither in ripples in nature, nor in the moods of the ordinary Japanese people, who didn’t like being stared at by strangers.

  Giving up the chase, they went for safety to Kyoshi’s mansion home, where Aldric and Simon had seen him leave for school that morning. It was indeed different from the secret training base Simon had seen before—not a place for battle preparation, but rather, a welcoming residence decorated with Japanese art and comfortably furnished. Aldric seemed to know the way to the parlor, and he kept muttering to himself, looking at everything as if it were familiar from some cloudy memory, until Fenwick bumped his leg, snapping him out of it.

  None too pleased to see a fox prowling in his house, Taro slumped in a wide leather chair, in an elegant club-like living room adorned with Asian artifacts and paintings of warriors.

  “Our fortress is destroyed,” he said. “The tree went up in flames…. We could not even manage to save that…”

  “Of all things to worry about…” Aldric looked at him. “What’s another old tree?”

  Taro stared at his teacup, clearly trying to hide his anger. “It was where the Order was founded. Ages ago. It had great significance. The underground fortress had to be built around it, and the tree grew without light. It was all that was left of an original Samurai fortress where great Magicians once lived. Have you never had a connection to a tree before?”

  Simon thought his father might laugh. “A tree,” Aldric repeated. “No. Can’t say that I have.”

  Simon noted the Samurai seemed to have a deep connection to nature; every room was ornamented with plants and flowers, painstakingly arranged and presented. He leaned on a wooden tree planter, watching his father try to get comfortable on an Oriental settee, and then he stared at the floor, thinking, as Fenwick nuzzled up to him.

  “Why did he wait until that moment?” said Simon. “The Ice Dragon could have attacked at any time, but he wanted to see what we were up to. Don’t you think? He wanted to eavesdrop.”

  Taro looked at Simon, and again Simon felt small, like a little kid. Maybe the Samurai was just offended that a boy was allowed to speak at all.

  “We, of course, are a fascinating group,” said Taro. “I’m sure he couldn’t take his eyes off us. We’re a collection of the greatest Warriors on Earth, who couldn’t capture a sniveling, elderly Serpent, himself incapable of creating more than a single blast of fire, which melted into ice.”

  “I’m serious,” Simon insisted. “Look at the attack he made on us, it was everything he had—and he didn’t have a chance. So why did he bother?”

  “This one,” said Taro, referring to Simon, “does not understand such arrogance.”

  “Oh, I think he’s seen arrogance before.” One of the older Samurai chuckled, throwing a glance to Aldric. They’d picked up on Aldric’s blustery manner right away.

  The la
rgest Samurai, the heavyset man, said something in Japanese, and quiet laughter followed. Simon looked at Kyoshi, who buried a grin.

  “What’s that?” asked Aldric, distrustful.

  Taro translated with a smile. “He said next time you might not run directly into traffic. In Japan, at high speeds, cars are known to…smash people.”

  The huge, smiling man ran a fist into his other hand, dangling two of his fingers in imitation of a running man, giving the impression of a car hitting a person, as if he were explaining this simple fact to a three-year-old.

  The Samurai snickered again. It didn’t seem all that funny to Simon.

  Nor to Aldric. “Must’ve lost something in translation,” he said. “And I wouldn’t mind if we finished the history lesson about you blokes, top to bottom. If I’m going to be made a fool of, I’d like to know by whom.”

  “Was he in danger?” said a voice.

  Aldric turned, and Simon saw his reaction. Aldric looked as if he might recognize the woman who had quietly appeared behind them. Simon was struck by her beauty. A Japanese woman in a sharply tailored black blazer and skirt, her long dark hair tied up behind her head, she had an expression of tired sadness.

  “My mother,” said Kyoshi. “Sachiko.”

  The woman bowed slightly, and turned to Taro. “Tell me now, was he in danger?” She repeated her question.

  Taro’s eyes went to Kyoshi, who looked nervous, and sidestepped the issue. “He never left our sight,” he answered. It put the woman only slightly at ease.

  “This is Aldric St. George, and his son, Simon,” said Kyoshi.

  Sachiko nodded. “I know who they are,” she said. “Please be welcomed, gentlemen. Were there proper introductions? Have we…told them about ourselves?”

  Taro looked embarrassed. “We were tracking one of the Things, there was no time to—”

  “Leave it to men to forget such simple manners,” said Sachiko, with just the slightest touch of fire in her voice. “Let’s set that straight, shall we? This…is Akira.” The fiercest looking warrior, his head shaven, his face stony and cold, stood and bowed. “This is Mamoru.” The hefty one lifted his bulky frame and bowed with a jolly smile. “Kisho, and Toyo,” said the woman, and the other two warriors bowed; one small and lean, the other fit and capable, but older, with graying hair.

  “And my husband, Taro.”

  Simon looked to Taro, who bowed again, as if he’d never met him before. Such formality in this place, Simon thought.

  “Would it be impolite for me to say that I did not expect to see you again?” the woman asked, with a smile that made the question seem like a delicate joke.

  “You have the better of me, I’m afraid,” answered Aldric. “I’m not altogether sure that I know you…”

  “My face is not familiar?”

  Aldric paused. “I wouldn’t say that…but I can’t quite place it. I’m sorry. I ought to have remembered someone so beautiful.”

  Taro cleared his throat, as if Aldric’s attempt at gallantry had caused him to choke.

  “I feared you might forget…” said Sachiko, and her snowy face looked nervous. “And Ormand as well, I should think.”

  “My brother Ormand has passed away. He was killed just over a year ago. In battle.”

  Sachiko looked at him blankly.

  “But I don’t remember him speaking of you,” Aldric added. Simon wanted to wince at his bluntness.

  “I suppose,” said Sachiko, swallowing hard, “it’s pointless to chat before getting to such intimate matters, and as I recall, niceties are not your forte anyway. Ormand is the father of my son Kyoshi. That much you have learned?”

  “I hadn’t known before…I’m still not sure I can believe…” Aldric’s voice trailed off. Simon and Aldric both looked at Kyoshi.

  Aldric said quietly, “It’s hard to get your mind round it, isn’t it? I must say I don’t see much of his father in him…”

  “I’m his father,” Taro retorted.

  Simon could see Aldric looking apologetic, but Sachiko said quietly, “Taro has been here with us since Kyoshi was five years old. He is the only father he’s ever known.”

  “Forgive me,” said Aldric. “But it’s hard for me to believe that Ormand St. George would leave behind his own son. That’s not my brother’s way.”

  “He never knew he had a son,” answered Sachiko, in such a low tone Simon had to lean forward to listen. “When you came here, the first time, so many years ago, you and your brother stayed not for one night, but for three months.” Aldric looked quizzical as she went on. “You were recovering from serious wounds, and the Dragon you pursued was cunning and hard to find. It took time for you to track him. In that time, Ormand and I became very close.” Simon saw Taro look distastefully at Aldric as she said this. “To your surprise, as I recall, I was able to help you in locating this Serpent. I have certain strengths as well. You see, I have a…I don’t know what to call it, a divine gift, I suppose. All my life I have had dreams that foretold the future, and at emotional times, I found I could even move objects across a room, using only my will…a strange power…something my mother called ‘elemental wishes.’ You and your brother gave me a different name: Magician.”

  Simon was a bit startled. The hearty and eccentric Alaythia was the only Magician he had ever known, and this delicate Asian woman somehow did not look the part to him.

  “I found the Serpent for you by looking into a still-water pond. Through the use of meditation, over many weeks, I saw reflected in the waters the den of the Dragon beneath the Earth, but that is not where you found him. He came for us. As Ormand and I drifted in a boat in a pond not far from here, I sat staring into the water, searching for something that would lead us to him. And out of the sky, the Thing attacked. He nearly killed us all. A terrible fire burned blue on the pond’s surface, in broad daylight…bright, vicious…We swam beneath it for a long time, until we found our way out. You and Ormand decided to pursue him, and I made a fateful decision: to erase your memory of this place. I wanted this so badly, as painful as it was, and so the mist I called to your mind swept away the images in your head. Your emotions, though, are strong, and I think they kept a little piece of my world in your memory.”

  “I could swear,” said Aldric, “that I had spent only a night here.”

  Sachiko smiled, with some pride, Simon thought.

  “But why do it?” Simon asked her.

  Sachiko’s eyes moved away from them. “I learned much from your brother, Aldric,” she answered. “And one of the things I learned was that when a Magician falls in love with a Knight, they cause a stirring, so to speak, in the waters of life…. They cannot disguise their emotions, and these feelings are like lifting a shield from your arm. The Dragons begin to feel your presence. They want to find you, they need to…”

  The pictures in Simon’s mind’s eye floated immediately to Alaythia, and his fear for her grew as he listened.

  “I could accept my own death,” said Sachiko in a steely voice. “But not your brother’s.”

  “So you wiped our memories clean, and sent us on our way,” Aldric said, his brow furrowed, as Simon figured he was trying to retrieve a trace of this history that had vanished from him. Her power must be considerable to have worked so strongly.

  “Then my son was born, and he began to show signs of knowing,” Sachiko went on. “He was a St. George, and there was no denying it…though I tried. I did not want him in jeopardy. Time passed, and jeopardy came to us, despite my efforts. The Things perhaps sensed my love for my child. So…then…that was when Taro found us. He brought some warmth to us, he gave us a new life…” She smiled at Taro and he looked away. “And a sense of safety, if you can have it in this world. But to call Ormand back would’ve been out of the question. I could not face him. He would not remember me. And my life had changed.”

  Her voice had hardened with resolve.

  “Your situation with Ormand,” said Aldric carefully, “that kind of difficul
ty is what started us on this journey. There is a woman out there who works with us. She has a power such as you have, and she believes she puts us in danger from the Serpents. I’ve started to think maybe you and Taro, and the others…might help us with this problem.”

  She nodded. “Hiding such emotion is a difficult magic, but possible. I didn’t know that then.”

  “She’s lost,” said Simon. “She’s out there somewhere in Asia, looking for the Black Dragon. She thinks he can help us. She’s out there alone; we have to get her back.”

  Taro cut him off. “We have our own work to do. This entire business has interrupted one of our most important operations.”

  “What?” snapped Simon. “What’s so important?”

  “We are to destroy once and for all the worst Serpent I have ever known.”

  Chapter 19

  HEAT WITHOUT LIGHT

  “HE IS THE SERPENT of Japan. Najikko Mok Voko. Death-Doctor. Demon-Snake,” Taro explained. “He has moved throughout the island of Japan for many, many years, taunting us right here in our own land, and we have never been able to bring him down. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Sickness. Accidents. It is mass death that he is after. He always slips free of us; eight times we have met, and eight times he has slithered out of our hands. The last time we fought, he left Akira with a severe memento…”

  The seething, sharp-faced Samurai presented his arm, to reveal terrible scarring. Simon tried not to wince.

  Taro continued, barely able to contain his anger. “In many burned buildings, in cities across Japan, the Dragon leaves behind Samurai armor, a sword or a helmet—badly scorched, as a warning to us. He humiliates us. We’ve missed him too many times to let him go now. We believe we’ve found him, settled in Tokyo. You see, Toyo here has been having trouble with his heart…”

  “Don’t tell them that,” complained the eldest Samurai.

  “And he needed a hospital,” Taro continued. “Kyoshi went there, and saw in one of the hallways the Serpent, walking among the sick. He disguises himself as a surgeon.”