by NAK Baldron
Kasai-Tanken Shirou—a young man of twenty who inherited the title less than a month ago after the death of his brother—took the circle and placed his arm around Shaya's shoulder, but without touching her. "Kaito-Tanken Shaya is brave and honorable for bringing this matter before the council. We should acknowledge her honor and assist in the recovery of her protected man. Clan Kaito's honor is at stake, but if we stand by while the emperor," he spat toward the ground, but a small part of his spit fell on his chin before he wiped it away.
Shirou cleared his throat, "The honor of this council, and all Thief Lords is called into question. Yes, proof must be found before we can conduct the fire cleansing ritual, but we can act now about clan Kaito's man."
Shirou gave Shaya a small smile, and bowed far too low for proper etiquette before taking his seat again.
Does he see me as a future wife?
Nothing prevented the marriage of two clans—other than tradition—but it had never been done. How would the titles and holdings be split? What if they both died during the time of daggers? Regardless, Shaya appreciated his words of assistance regarding Ren's freedom. As for marriage, she'd worry about it only if he made a proper proposal.
Miku tapped her cane to gain the attention of the other Thief Lords. "Will we aid Kaito-Tanken Shaya for the honor of all Tanken?"
As one the lords cried out, "Fire, Salt, and Blood!"
CHAPTER THREE
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 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 over dramatic."
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 boots 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 Emperor'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 scr
ap 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 FOUR
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 scolded 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 bowl—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 to 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 FIVE
A LARGE GLASS PITCHER of sweet rice wine rested between Shaya and Ren on a short mahogany table. They relaxed in two oak chairs, built from the same Emerald Nation's forest as the ships anchored in Shinzo's bay. Through the narrow window above the table, Shaya watched the last citizens stumble home. The only light to be seen came from a few lanterns in windows across the cobblestone street. Darkness of the night engulfed the sky and would remain until the source-light rose in the morning ushering in the start of a new day.
Akio left them to return home—an apartment of his own on the second floor of the west wing. Two floors under Shaya and only six doors north. He'd given her a look which spoke volumes of his concerns, but he would never question her in front of others—even Ren, though he was now named clan member.
"This is quite good." Ren poured himself another glass and offered to top hers off.
Shaya covered her glass—she needed to keep her wits about her. Tomorrow was important and the last thing she needed was a hangover to dull her mind and slow her reflexes.
A strong breeze blew through her front shutters, and the Amethyst Lantern overhead rocked slightly, casting a dance of light and shadows between the two of them. Ren admired her in the way so many men before him had done. She could see his cheeks were flushed red from the wine.
He can't handle his liquor.
&
nbsp; "Thank you," he said.
"For what?"
"For everything."
"Nonsense," she took a sip from her glass. "It's I who should thank you. You could have betrayed me to the guards and forsaken your bond to my clan. I'm sure the emperor would have paid dearly to place an enemy in my midst."
"I mean I wou—"
"I know," she cut him off. He stumbled over his words, either from drinking or being caught off guard. "Still, thank you. Akio and I have been alone for so long, I'd forgotten what it meant to lead a clan." She took another sip from her glass, before she embraced herself.
"I know what you mean," he sat his glass down on the table. "My whole life I've been the orphan boy. Kids at school looked down on me because I'm not inheriting anything and have little chance of success within the Pearl Nation. My only hope is magic, and the slim chance that I could be the one to break the curse . . ."
Ren looked at his hands, avoiding her gaze. Shaya didn't move—she knew all too well the pain of losing family and being the only one left.
"Tomorrow . . ." he found his train of thought, "is the most important day of my life. If I fail, I'll be ruined. I can't go back, and even if I did, there isn't anything there for me. Either I become a sorcerer, or I'm nothing."
"You're Ren of clan Kaito," her tone was stern. "You will always have a place here."
"I know you just did that to help me out of a tight spot."
"Nonsense." She brushed his comment away. "When we first met, I knew you were special. I sensed your magic for days and had been searching for you. I'm confident you'll pass the examination and become a great sorcerer, but even if you don't, you'll stay here and be one of us. Akio and I could use someone with your talents."
Ren's face was nearly as red as a crab. He tried to hide his embarrassment with a large drink and emptied his glass of wine.
"I need some fresh air." He stood up clumsily and staggered to the front door.