Splinter (Trapped Souls Book 1)

by Ricki Delaine

  The Emperor wore only one sword, no armor and a simple black kimono. The weight of his own sword lay heavy across Theron’s back, so it would not get in the way. Though the passage was too close to fight effectively with swords, the Protector might risk it, sure he could take the Emperor alone and win. Almost as though reading his thoughts, Tatsuo smiled. “Ah-ah, Mamoru. That would not be wise. Trust me.”

  He snorted. “Trust.” Theron still held the bloodied knife. Two breaths. That’s how long it would take to reverse it and throw it. He couldn’t miss at this range.

  “There are many reasons to resist your impulses, here.” Something in his tone set warning bells off in the Protector’s mind. “Perhaps most compelling would be that besides ensuring your death, it would also ensure hers.”

  The certainty in his voice was chilling. If Theron had learned anything these past few days, it was that nothing was what it seemed. Crouching, he methodically cleaned the blade he held on the coat of the dead ryouken. He could see his ruler’s brow tighten, eyes narrowing. He didn’t bother to retrieve the sheath, sliding the knife into the looping layers of his leather belt.

  “I have a solution,” Tatsuo continued conversationally, pausing before casting another enigmatic smile in Theron’s direction. “A simple one, really, that would both spare the life of your beloved, and prevent the nightmare you fear.”

  Prevent the nightmare I fear? Was he taking a guess and hoping Theron would fall for it? Somehow the Protector didn’t think so. The wording was too precise, too close to what Kitsune had told him. The Emperor meant to trap him. Surely the “solution” he offered came at a price Theron wasn’t willing to pay.

  Maybe the Protector should have been afraid, standing here, bleeding and surrounded by the evidence of the dark creatures the ruler had at his disposal. But what rose in Theron’s mind like a tide was fury, and the memory of the vision he’d been shown by Moss Beard. Fire. Smoke and screams. “What do you want?”

  “A small thing. Hardly worth the effort to send you, when so many others might do it as easily.” The ruler’s eyes hardened. Glittered. “Retrieve a jewel for me. An emerald.”

  Theron’s eyes narrowed. The emerald was a sign of the Imperial house. It was the reason the color of the Eiji clan was green, as brilliant as the jewels mined in this country for generations. Even now, the Emperor’s fingers reflected that startling color from the rings on his fingers. The comb he’d given Lynea was littered with them. “Why send me to fetch something you have in ridiculous amounts?”

  Snatches of the conversation he’d overheard came back to him. He would examine it closely later. He didn’t understand all that talk of centuries passing. “Why not your soldiers, or your pets?”

  “Because it pleases me.” The Emperor opened his mouth to say something else, but instead drew in a strained breath. The muscles in the ruler’s jaw clenched. He seemed to be struggling against something. The man’s gaze shifted away and he muttered under his breath. The words were almost a rebuke. Now, though, the sounds of running footsteps could be heard coming towards the corridor in which they stood. It pulled the ruler’s attention back to the moment and he faced Theron once again. “So. Decide, Protector. Will you do it?”

  “If I say no?”

  “You may, but then why should I let you live?” When Theron remained silent, the Emperor’s eyes narrowed and one side of his mouth turned up. It was a chilling expression. “You doubt the lady’s safety. I can offer you a gift, in good faith.”

  Uneasy, Theron glanced around the hallway. Voices joined the footsteps, orders were being given, in muted, tense, voices. “What is it?”

  “The lady’s company. I’ll entrust her to you, until you return with what I ask.”

  “And why would I bring her back here?”

  He smiled, and it was ugly and full of teeth. “Something tells me you will be eager to do so. Regardless, you’d be wise to hurry. You’ll need to bring it to me on the eve of the solstice to meet the bargain.”

  So Theron had been right, the summer solstice was the linchpin of all of this – this evil planned by the Emperor. But the ruler was still speaking. “Of course, you will need to keep her safe until then. If you can.”

  It was a trick, it had to be. But he would be foolish to say no. “I’ll do what you ask. Where is she?”

  The Emperor grinned and said, “So, the child of outlanders can be made to see reason.”

  Voice low and almost a growl, Theron said, “The mine is just north of here, I can be back in hours.”

  Laughing darkly, Tatsuo replied, “It is not just any stone. Not the largest, nor smallest. But it is unique, with a star in its center. It disappeared from our house like the thief that stole it.”

  Gods, a stolen gem. How much time would it take to search out a thief? He could not keep the frustration from his voice, now. “You don’t know where it is? How long ago did this happen – at least I’ll know how far they may have gotten.”

  One side of the Emperor’s mouth turned up. “Long enough that the criminal is long dead, and his descendants guard it on a cliff at the ocean’s edge.”

  There was only one place in the province he could mean. But, for it to have been so long, it would mean years, decades, perhaps, since this stone had been taken from the House of Eiji. Who knew what kind of resistance he’d face to get it back? More importantly – why had it been stolen?

  With an irritated shake of his head, Theron asked again, “Where is she? Will we have safe passage off the grounds?”

  Theron saw a flash of triumph move across the man’s face. He bowed briefly, tipping his chin towards the leftmost hallway. “She awaits you. Provided you can free her.” He chuckled darkly. “Safe passage? So long as you can resist any additional transgression, then I will have my men stay their hands.”

  The click of claws become apparent as the tread of heavy footsteps grew nearer. Ryouken, too, then. Theron was not confident at all that being given a task by the Emperor would protect him from ryouken chasing the scent of blood. Nor from the men he’d angered in the first escape, reacting before their obedience to the Emperor kicked in. Besides, Theron had heard the caveat in the offer of safe passage. No further transgressions. Well, he’d already broken that by freeing his father. It was inevitable that the Emperor would find out. “I accept.” He didn’t care, he only needed to get Lynea out of here. Once he got her out, he’d make sure she would never set foot here again.

  The Emperor seemed satisfied and amused with his response. He gave a mocking little smile and bowed again, turning to face the direction the men would be arriving from, at any moment. Theron took that as his dismissal and pivoting, he took the corridor the Emperor had indicated. Even with the Emperor’s assurance, he half-expected a shout, half-expected the Emperor to come after him, or the men who were arriving now to follow, catch, and kill him. None of that happened. And quickly, he found himself in an area of the tunnels that was familiar.

  Dim light gave way to true torchlight and the sense of emptiness gave to the sense that there were others nearby. A subtleness of sound that was too quiet to pinpoint, but enough for his brain to acknowledge. He was close to the room of beast pens, which meant that he was also close to the room where that voice in the back of his head said they were holding Lynea.

  Soon he reached the spot where he and Ria had entered this underground labyrinth. Where he knew that if he reached out his hand, it would pass through the “wall” to a dark room and a ladder, leading up to a trapdoor. He could just barely see the outline of enchantment on the wall, now that he knew where to look for it. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch it, to physically confirm that the doorway was still there.

  The door he sought now was up ahead. Carefully skirting the entrance leading to the pens, he stepped up to it. And what he saw made him doubt. Maybe this wasn’t the same place, for unlike what he and Ria had found, this door was intact, solid and heavy and cut from what looked like a single piece of wood. Had he gotte
n turned around? This place was confusing and after coming across Tatsuo and what looked like another tunnel leading even further under the mountain, apparently the tunnel system was also more vast than he had dreamed. He looked back the way he’d come.

  But no, the hidden door was right there. This was the place, it had to be. The door had been repaired and set back on its hinges. Unlike before, the burnt wooden frame of the door was now etched with markings, in a script he did not recognize. Something about them was sinister and made him wary of getting too close. If Lynea was there, how was he going to get past whatever those symbols meant?

  He needed some way to test the door. Darting to the room with the pens, he risked a look in. There was a lone guard there, staring balefully at the creatures across from him. With the man’s attention focused away from the door, it gave Theron an opportunity to really examine the creatures in the room. He took it. It may be useful to know how many the ruler had at his disposal.

  The answer was too many. More than a dozen pens lined one wall, a dozen on another. Each with its own pacing, winged horror. Each was as distinct and individual as any man, different in size, shape and even color. Their eyes were the worst. He had the eerie sense that there were thoughts behind those dark black orbs. Thoughts and personality, wishes and dark desires. Theron remembered too well the eyes of the one he’d killed as it died, too human in its agony. He did not want to know why they seemed that way.

  The stone-walled room was deceptive in its size. What Theron had originally taken for another wall, at the back of the room, actually only separated this section of the room from another. The rattle of more movement, probably more pens, with more creatures. The sounds, though, were different. It made him curious to see what lay beyond that far wall. He didn’t have time for curiosity, he needed to get through the door across the hall. Preferably without giving himself a nasty surprise.

  Taking a steadying breath, he reached for the power. It was there, waiting. He felt an anticipation in using it again that he had not expected. Once again pain blossomed in his shoulder, an ache that built quickly to a burn that was just enough for him to question. Was there another risk in the gifts that he didn’t know of?

  But the pain was already beginning to fade and it was a pointless worry now. This was to free Lynea. So, he pulled at that energy, telling it – shield me from view.

  ˜ ˜ ˜

  “May I ask you something, Kino-san?” The village girl’s voice came from ahead. Although his eyes were as adjusted as they would get in this darkness, he could barely make out her form.

  “How far are we from our destination, Iriana?”

  “Not far.” He huffed his frustration at the vague answer. The girl heard him apparently, for he heard a smile in her voice as she added, “Just a bit longer.”

  She was silent then, as they worked through the brush. So far, there had been no further sounds of pursuit. Kino dared to hope they might escape the immediate danger of the guards and they would meet up with Theron when he returned. The elder did not know what to feel about that just yet. He was furious with the way things stood and uncertain about Theron’s motivations and the part he’d played in the wrongness of it all. It occurred to him then, that Ria had asked a question. “What did you wish to know?”

  “I’ve heard that you once served at the palace,” and her voice trailed off as he heard her stumble with a rustle of leaves.

  She muttered something under her breath that sounded distinctly unladylike. Kino smiled and then sighed as he answered. “I did, my dear. A long time ago.”

  “Well, yes, Kino-san, I know it was long ago,” she said, and added quickly as she heard him chuckle, “I mean, you have been at your farm for as long as I’ve known you.” She paused, before saying quietly, “I meant no disrespect.”

  He laughed. “It has indeed been a long time.” Looking down, he saw what she had tripped on, just before doing so himself. Stepping over the tree root, he continued, “I served the Emperor in the way that my son does, as the Mamoru.”

  Her response was threaded with confusion. “How is that so? The Mamoru protects the future Empress, I thought.”

  “He does.”

  “Then how could you have performed the same duty? The Emperor has no bride. No children.”

  “That is true. The lady I protected died in childbirth.” His voice cracked when he said it, surprising him. He had been her Protector for seven years, but it had been so long ago and now he could barely recall Lady Surein. Except after rare dreams that faded almost immediately, when he awoke to the memory of the sound of her laugh, or the sparkle in her eyes. The ache in his chest on the day she was wed.

  The night sounds of the woods and their footsteps was all he heard for a few quiet moments. Then the girl’s steps paused and her voice floated back to him. “I’m sorry.”

  He nodded, swallowing around the lump in his throat. It made sense that Theron would want to hold on to the life he had built, protecting Lady Lynea. However, defying the Lord Emperor and abandoning his duty, these were things Kino could not accept.

  “Here we are.” Ria turned to face him and he looked up, straight into the face of the apparent third member of their party, Mako Akiyama.

  Eyes widening, Kino bowed, as much as his aching muscles allowed him. “Lord Akiyama,” he murmured.

  “Lord?” Ria asked.

  Mako seemed more surprised at Kino’s appearance than at the title. He nodded, saying, “It is good to see you, Isao-sama.”

  “Lord.” Ria said. Kino thought her voice sounded a lot like a mouse being squeezed. It was curious, and he watched as her eyes moved back and forth, back and forth, between the two men. “But. Mako’s a guard.”

  Kino frowned. “Iriana,” the older man said slowly, “This is Lord Mako Akiyama.”

  She shook her head. “He’s –”

  Tilting his head at the floundering village girl, Kino finished, “Our Lord Emperor’s only living relative.”

  “…” Ria squeaked. “What?”

  Chapter 18

  Imperial Guard Ochiro took a sip of water from his cup and set it back down, scowling. When he was assigned this post, he had felt so privileged. Not many knew about the tunnels under the palace, fewer still had seen them. It helped too, that this position was much higher paid than the Imperial Guard position he had come from.

  He remembered that day and the thought that ran through his mind. Be grateful. And he was. This honor is bestowed on very few.

  He had not realized that he would be watching monsters. That he would witness horrors that should not walk the earth, under the eyes of the gods, hidden from the eyes of men and who worked and ate and stained this land in shadows. Worse, he would not be able to tell anyone about them. Especially his family, if he wished that they live.

  And so here he sat.

  Two of the Nephil were as restless and unhappy as he was, apparently. One decided it did not like the other, for suddenly they were snapping at each other, clawing at the fencing of the pens. They could only whistle through the reed-like bones in their wings, but the cages made enough of a racket.

  “Oi! Cut that out!” Grabbing up his cup, he threw the contents at the animals. They didn’t notice, fangs showing as they tried to get to each other. Alarmingly, the bars in one section of their shared wall began to give, the metal tearing from the effort of inhumanly strong, claw-tipped fingers. “Stop!” He stood, bringing his cup with him. Slamming it against the pen, he yelled once more, careful to stay out of reach in case one tried to catch him through the walls of the cage. They stopped, solid black eyes turning to face him. Still silent, for they had no vocal chords, the only sounds were the shifting of their feet on the bottom of their cages and the faintest whistle as they folded their wings back around their bodies.

  Dropping his eyes from that black-eyed gaze, he stepped back, refusing to shudder. Who was he kidding? He thought accepting this post was serving the Emperor. The Emperor was divine, so by extension, he was doing
the will of the gods. But how could that be so, looking at this evil?

  His mind shied away from the rest of that train of thought. Because if he thought it through, he would have to admit that he hated serving the Emperor.

  How could he hope to stay touched by light, tending to creatures so obviously born into darkness?

  He looked into the cup he’d hit the cage with and frowned, remembering he’d thrown the contents at the fighting Nephil. Of course. And now he was thirsty. I need something stronger than water.

  Muttering under his breath, he turned and headed toward the inner room, where the food and drink for the animals and the captive were kept. Not his fault he’d had to use his water to keep them under control. The palace owed him something better after this awful assignment, in any case.

  It was early (very early) in the morning, but not too early for a drink. Oshiro reached for the wine, filling his cup. Feeling the breeze of something move nearby, he started, the wine sloshing to spill over his hand. “Ah!” irritated, he held the cup away from him until the dripping stopped.

  There were pens in this area too, but they were too far to have caused that sensation of movement. He looked around, trying to see where the breeze had come from. There was nothing. No movement, no sounds, other than the incessant pacing of the creatures. He felt his breathing speed up. Perhaps now would be a good time to check on all the pens. And the lady.