Nightblade's Honor (ARC)

by Ryan Kirk

  Her reverie was interrupted by Daisuke standing up. “Come, let’s get closer to them. I don’t sense that anyone is gifted among them.”

  Asa concurred, and together they walked toward the lights. If any of the other party had been gifted, the two blades would have been discovered. Daisuke could hide himself from the sense, but Asa couldn’t.

  The blowing snow and moonless night made the two nightblades invisible. They carried no fire, guided only by their sense and Daisuke’s knowledge of the area. They stopped about two hundred paces away from the party in the direction they were traveling. Daisuke and Asa both lay down, covering themselves with snow. They wouldn’t have long to wait.

  Eventually the band of soldiers passed in front of them. Their green uniforms marked them as Lord Isamu’s, but they looked sorrowful in the driving snow. Their leader drove the men forward, his voice carrying to Asa’s ears. He told them their destination was only a league away, and there they would have warmth and food.

  She felt a brief flicker of pity for them. The only destination within a league was open prairie or forest. No nearby settlements existed to host soldiers. Even though the stars were visible above, their commander had led them far astray.

  The infantrymen approached and trudged forward, some passing within twenty paces of Asa’s hideout, none even remotely suspicious of her presence.

  After the soldiers moved on, Asa and Daisuke rose from the snow. She looked to him for guidance.

  “They mean us no harm, and if they continue through the night, they won’t come any closer. We’ll take no action.”

  That was good enough for Asa. She, too, preferred to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

  As they watched, though, the soldiers stopped and started setting up camp.

  “Of course, they would,” Daisuke said.

  Asa felt as though she owed Daisuke, and she saw a chance to repay a small portion of her debt. “I’ll take watch tonight if you like. Just to make sure they don’t stumble upon your place.”

  He watched her for a moment, his face unreadable. He nodded. “Very well, thank you.”

  Just like that he turned around and started walking back toward his house.

  Asa wasn’t sure what made her call out. Perhaps it was the evening with his family. Perhaps it was that she knew they wouldn’t be overheard. “Daisuke!”

  He turned back to her.

  “I can’t tell you I’m sorry. I won’t lie to you, and my feelings are too confused to say how I feel. But he was a good man, and I am sorry that I’ve caused you suffering.”

  Daisuke’s eyes were harder than steel, and Asa worried she had gone too far. The wounds were still too fresh. In the entire time she’d been training with him, they’d never spoken about the fact she had killed Kiyoshi, the man who had sheltered and trained Daisuke since he was a child.

  His eyes softened just a little. “He wasn’t a good man. He was the best I’ve ever known.”

  With that, he spun quickly toward his house and walked away, the blowing snow causing him to vanish from sight.

  Chapter 15

  Mari heard the rustling of fabric outside her tent. “Come in.”

  Takahiro stepped in, looking grateful to be in the warm tent. “You sent for me?”

  “I did. Can I offer you some drink?” A bottle of good wine had been given to them by a wealthy man whose child had been healed by Jun. Mari saw no reason why it should go to waste. To her surprise, Takahiro accepted. She had rarely seen him imbibe.

  “How may I serve, Mari?”

  Mari poured two cups. They didn’t have proper wine cups on the road, but their dented travel cups worked just as well. She sniffed at the beverage, pleased with the fragrance it presented. Her first sip was delightful, and she fought a sudden urge to lie back and finish the entire bottle. She didn’t think Jun drank at all, but Koji would be disappointed in not being allowed a taste.

  “Mostly I need to talk.”

  Takahiro looked as though he’d been expecting as much. That was no surprise. Mari had called on him several times in the past half moon. Spring wasn’t long away, and she would need to decide on a course of action.

  “You’ve come no closer to a decision, then?”

  Mari sat down and looked up at her closest friend. “No. Every direction seems fraught with peril. There are days when I wish this winter could last forever.”

  Her forces had continued to grow. Although communication had been slowed by the harsh weather, she estimated that she had almost two hundred blades under her command, spread throughout the Kingdom. Jun wanted to summon them all together in the spring, to hold a gathering where they would announce the next stage in their revolution. Mari had agreed to the idea, but she still had no idea how best to use the immense power she found herself in control of.

  Attacking the armies of a lord was an option often spoken of in hushed whispers. Mari hated the idea of resorting to violence to achieve her ends, but she was in charge of a force made largely of warriors. Hunting on behalf of villages would only take them so far in solving the Kingdom’s problems.

  They needed to take a bold action. Her shadows had reported the lords already gathering up their armies. Katashi had been the first to summon his, long before the spring melted the snow and allowed the men to plant their fields. Hiromi and Isamu had no choice but to prepare as well. As soon as the weather turned, war would wash over the Kingdom, and Mari felt as though her small force was the only one that could stop the rising tide.

  She didn’t need to say any of this to Takahiro. He had been her counsel for as long as she could remember, and he knew her mind and situation as well as she did. She looked to him, begging him for answers.

  He sipped at the wine, a smile spreading across his face. “This is very good.”

  Mari gave him an irritated look as she took another sip. He was right. The wine was full-bodied and fruity, yet not too sweet. The bottle was even better than she’d assumed.

  He glanced at her over his cup and made a careful study of the tent.

  “If you have something you want to say, say it.”

  He grimaced, as though he was forced to do something he found distasteful. “Have you considered stopping?”

  She glared at him, but he had already begun and was determined to see his idea through. “When this all started, I was behind you. With a small group, we could wander around safely doing some good. I thought the danger was manageable. But this has grown into something beyond what I expected. I never imagined the blades would be so hungry to follow you. To follow anyone.”

  “So why should I quit?” Mari struggled to keep the anger out of her voice.

  “Because the danger is becoming too great, and you don’t have a vision for what you want to do. If only one of those was true, perhaps I’d be able to support you, but there’s nothing to support.”

  Mari stood up and almost hit him. He saw the motion as she drew her arm back, but he didn’t react. Though they were close, he was still hers to command, and if she decided to strike him, so be it.

  She stopped herself before doing something she would regret. If Takahiro had made her that angry, it was because he was right. Her only goal had been to help as many people as she could. An idealistic goal, but vague and undefined. She needed something to work toward. Otherwise he was right. She didn’t deserve the blades who followed her.

  “What if my goal was to see the Kingdom at peace?”

  Takahiro grimaced again, and again Mari almost struck him. There was no point being honest part of the time and hiding his feelings the rest. “Say it!”

  “I know how this sounds, but I’ve been thinking about the matter. All of us have been trying to imagine how to put the Kingdom back together, to make things the way they used to be. I think, however, that’s foolish. The lords will fight one another, and I don’t believe even our force can stop that. Although we are changing the attitudes of the people in regard to the blades, there is still a great deal of enmity toward them.�
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  Takahiro took a deep breath. “I don’t think we can go back to the way things used to be. We have to find a new way forward. We have to imagine a better future.”

  At first, Mari didn’t want to consider his words. His ideas were rotten and bitter to taste. But like eating sour food when she was a child, Mari forced herself to think about what he had said. All she longed for were days past. What Takahiro said was just as true for her as it was for the Kingdom.

  She had ignored her brother’s final offer and had no doubt he knew who the Lady in White was. Stonekeep and its thick, comforting walls could be closed to her forever.

  Mari sat back down and sipped silently at her wine. “Thank you.”

  She didn’t have the courage to say any more, but nothing else was required. Takahiro knew her mind. “I am sorry to be the bearer of difficult ideas, but it is my duty to protect you, including from yourself.”

  “I don’t suppose you have any ideas for a new future, do you?”

  Takahiro finished his wine. “I am but a lowly soldier, my lady. That honor falls to you.”

  Mari knew that the situation was already bad in the Kingdom and was only going to get worse. As she had feared in autumn, there wasn’t enough food, and there were too many mouths to feed.

  The four companions were in yet another village. Mari had been to so many she had lost track of their names. They had gone incognito, as had been their habit since separating into smaller groups. Being recognized when you were traveling with dozens of nightblades was one risk. Being recognized when you had only one was far more dangerous. Better to scout the land first before revealing her true identity. As such, she was dressed in simple traveling clothes today, with no white visible.

  When she had first heard she was known as the Lady in White, she had been surprised. She had chosen the costume as a symbol, but she had never expected it to spawn a title that spread from village to village before her. Names and legends had power, and she had come to recognize that her idea might live beyond her.

  This village was larger than many they had visited, a hub of local commerce, which was why they had come. While Koji’s hunting fed them all, the body and heart longed for more than just meat cooked over a fire.

  Some of the shops were still open. Mari imagined the ones that were closed had run out of supplies. Those that remained sold goods at exorbitant prices. She was certain people worked for days for less money than she had spent on rice and a few spices.

  If there was one resource Mari still possessed, it was her money. She had used a letter of credit to draw as many funds as she could before Hiromi froze her accounts. Since then they had traveled with saddlebags filled with gold. Mari often considered giving it away, but she didn’t possess enough wealth to change the reality that there wasn’t enough food for everyone to survive the winter.

  She stepped inside one last shop, her party more than happy to wait outside. Jun was arguing with Takahiro and Koji, a spirited philosophical debate on whether violence or medicine had changed the history of the Kingdom more. The shop sold ribbons, and Mari, in a rare mood, thought some simple fabric would be wonderful to tie back her hair, which seemed to be growing faster than it ever had before.

  The woman inside was ancient and matronly, and Mari instantly felt at ease. She flashed the shopkeeper a smile, which was warmly returned. Mari browsed the ribbons, trying to find one that spoke to her. While she looked, she struck up a conversation. After the customary introductions, she asked how the village was faring under the difficult conditions.

  The shopkeeper’s answer was much more challenging than Mari expected. “We’re doing well enough, so long as we don’t get any unwanted guests.”

  Mari frowned. In a small town, they were guests, and the woman’s comment was pointed. “Are you afraid they’ll take too much food?”

  The woman, who at first had seemed so kind, had taken on a hard and bitter edge. “You could say that. I’m afraid the Lady in White will come and take all our food, leaving us to starve.”

  Mari was taken aback. How had such rumors spread? Had some of her people overstepped the boundaries they had set? That had always been one of her greatest fears in sending people out in her name. She couldn’t lead them all directly.

  “I thought the Lady in White was trying to help the villages,” she responded, forcing uncertainty into her voice.

  “I don’t know where you heard that, but we have it straight here in this village. We’ve heard how her people go around killing those who disagree with them and taking food from those who agree, sentencing them to death just as well. No. If she comes here, she’ll be captured and executed for her crimes. To think, she does all of that with nightblades! Beyond horrible.”

  Mari had been fingering an ivory ribbon she thought would go well with her Lady in White outfit. Suddenly she wasn’t very interested.

  She was here, though, and would do anything to allay the older woman’s clear suspicions. She chose a red ribbon and had the woman cut a length.

  Mari stepped outside as quickly as she was able. She looked at her companions. “We need to get out of this village as quickly as we can.”

  They had left their horses in a stable on the outskirts of the area. None of her friends questioned her. They just turned and started walking out of the village the way they’d come. Koji and Takahiro were on alert, searching for any possible threats. Mari had a bad feeling.

  Koji drew his blade with blinding speed. Mari didn’t know what was happening, but she heard a soft sound of metal striking metal. Koji had turned to one side and looked like he was going to sprint away, but Takahiro yelled at him. “Koji! We need to protect Mari!”

  The blade stood up straight, seeming confused. He was used to fighting, not guarding. Takahiro’s instincts were right. The bodyguard yelled again, “We need to get out of here now. Run!”

  Mari looked down and saw a slim needle sticking out of the snow. She recognized the shape as one designed to be used as a blow dart. Her mind put the pieces together as Takahiro grabbed hold of her and started running. What would have happened to her if Koji hadn’t been with them?

  They ran toward the stables, each of the homes of the village a shade of brown in Mari’s vision. Everything seemed blurry, her eyes unwilling to focus. How close had she come to death?

  Four men appeared at the stables, figures dressed as everyday villagers but who clearly didn’t belong. Takahiro grabbed Mari’s shoulder and brought her to a stop. Koji sprinted forward.

  Mari had seen Koji fight before, but she didn’t trust her memories. In her dreams, he moved as fast as lightning. As she watched him defend her, she realized that she had exaggerated his fighting only slightly.

  His cuts were so fast she didn’t see them. All her eyes caught was his sword flashing and reflecting light. For a few moments in time, Koji was in the heart of the four enemies, swords flashing all around him. No one could survive such an onslaught.

  Then the battle was over, and the four men were on the ground, dead or bleeding out. Koji stood alone, unharmed.

  Suddenly he darted off behind the stables. Another man was getting on a horse and trying to escape. Before he could get his mount turned around, Koji was there, leaping up and cutting him down with one graceful movement.

  They had a few moments before the entire village was on them. The companions flipped over the bodies and examined them. Mari steeled herself, surprised when she recognized one of the men.

  Takahiro heard her sharp intake of breath. “What’s wrong?”

  “I believe these are my brother’s men.”

  Takahiro had been searching through their bags, throwing out food and trail supplies. He stopped and looked at the faces. “I think you’re right. I recognize this man,” he said as he pointed to the one Koji had killed first.

  The realization almost knocked Mari to the ground. She had known that her brother would piece together who the Lady in White was. He knew she was traveling with blades, and there weren
’t many women in the Kingdom involved in that distinct activity. She had never considered that he himself might try to have her killed.

  She could even see the reasoning now that her eyes had been opened. If her identity were discovered, it would be used against him. Blades were still considered outlaws, and traveling with them made you one as well. She could be used to discredit his claim to the throne.

  But assassination? Despite everything, they were still blood.

  Her eyes wandered over the bodies, and her thoughts wandered in circles. She watched as Takahiro went over the corpses, taking all the food he could find. Something tickled in the back of her mind, a half-formed idea. She tried to relax and let it continue, and when it did, she actually laughed. The plan was brilliant in its simplicity. She knew what she was going to do.

  Takahiro looked at her, clearly worried the pressure was causing her to go mad. Mari turned to Jun, who was busy checking to ensure that Koji hadn’t been wounded in the fight. “Summon everyone for the gathering. The time is now, and I know how to break the lords.”

  Chapter 16

  Koji’s mornings had become much more complicated in the past few days. After their ambush in the village, Mari had decided on her strategy. Even now, thinking back to that time, the blade had to smile to himself. Part of Mari’s plan wasn’t new at all. In fact, it was a fairly standard tenet in warfare. But the second half, that was something only Mari would have come up with.

  Before the blades under her had separated, they had figured out a way to get messages back and forth. There was little need for the most part. Each small group was fairly independent, and Mari had made sure they knew that they had her trust. The messages were used mostly to pass along important intelligence.

  The downside of the network was that it was slow. Mari and Jun set the date for as early as they dared but knew that by the time the message reached the farthest edges of the Kingdom, the blades who received it might not be able to return in time.