by C. J. Anaya
Daiki’s son chose at that moment to let us know how hungry he was. His high-pitched cries reassured me that all would be well with him and Hatsumi.
“You had better take your son in to nurse with his mother. I should be going as well. It will soon be light outside.”
“Yes, you had better return quickly. I fear I may have kept you too long this time.”
I gave Daiki and his sweet babe a quick hug and headed for the door. As I stepped outside into the cold night, I thought I heard footsteps scampering to the left. I turned to look but could make out very little. Dawn would be here within the hour, but it was still quite dark outside. After standing there for a few seconds, I determined that I had most likely heard the rustling of some neighboring animal or possibly a small bird and quickly hurried to put distance between myself and the small village before any early morning risers ventured forth out of their dwellings.
Just as I was about to leave the road and enter the forest, I heard a small cry to my left and sensed another individuals fear mixed with worry. I looked and beheld a small figure lying upon the floor beneath a tree. I walked a few steps toward the cloaked mass, but I pulled back abruptly when a sword flashed from underneath the huddled cloak.
“Don’t come any closer.”
The voice was decidedly female but raspy. Her breathing was labored and heavy.
I lifted my hands up to show I held no weapon.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I just thought you might need some help.”
“Do you know the owner of that tavern, one, Daiki, by name?”
“I do. I just came from there.”
“I have heard tell of a medicine woman he uses to help people who are suffering. I need to get to his tavern, but find I am too injured to move.”
“It would seem fortune has smiled upon you. I am the medicine woman you are in need of.” I walked over and bent down next to the woman. She shielded her face at my approach, something I found odd. She tried to lift her sword again, possibly hoping to defend herself against an attack, but the weight of it pulled her weakened arm to the ground. She released it and sucked in air. I gently took her hand and connected with her before she could stop me.
I gritted my teeth at the pain and explored her injuries. Broken ribs, broken pelvis, broken hip, fracture on her lower spinal column. I had already gathered that this woman must have been a warrior, but I couldn’t understand what would have caused such extensive damage.
“How were you injured?”
She took in shallow breaths. “Horse…spooked…by something in the forest…rolled on top of me.”
I couldn’t believe she had managed to drag herself to the edge of the forest with the type of injuries she had sustained. I was sure she must have damaged her back further due to the exertion. As a result she would never walk again, and now I was faced with a serious dilemma. When Daiki had me heal people who were injured, I could teach their bodies to heal slowly so it didn’t look as if I had anything to do with it other than administering to their needs with herbs. I couldn’t instruct this woman’s ki to heal slowly and then leave her here for the next few days with no food, no water, and no shelter, and since the fracture and subsequent damage to her spine left her no option of mobility, she would stay trapped on the ground just inside the forest until she slowly healed or perished from dehydration.
Moving her to the tavern was out of the question. With the way her ribs had broken, her lungs would easily be punctured and she could bleed internally, expiring before we arrived. Besides, I knew for certain I would never have the strength to carry her dead weight. If I wanted to save her I would have to heal her immediately and risk my identity in the process. I could only hope I hadn’t inadvertently run into one of my father’s spies.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“That’s my business and has nothing to do with your taking me to the tavern.” She inhaled sharply and let out a small wet sounding breath.
I smiled at her guarded and suspicious behavior and decided I liked her. “I’m afraid moving you is out of the question. Your back is broken and prevents you from moving your legs. No…don’t even try. This will only worsen your situation.” At my words the young woman paused any movement she might have made and stilled. “Your ribs are broken and will puncture your lungs if you are moved.”
“I don’t understand…how you could know…the…extent of my injuries?”
In answer I let go of her hand and placed both of mine on either side of her head. She sucked in another shallow, wet breath in surprise, but I had already connected again. I instructed her ki to fix the ribs since one had punctured her lung in the few moments we had talked to one another. That accounted for her breathing.
We both screamed out in pain, and I realized that I had not anesthetized the area before instructing the mending of her bones. I had been so concerned with the amount of blood filling her left lung that my only thought was to remove the jagged end of the lower rib, assemble the break and redistribute the pooling blood.
I quickly instructed that her pain be blocked, but her screaming had already subsided. She had passed out from the shock of it. I continued on, feeling guilty that I had allowed her even a moment of such excruciating pain.
Once this life-threatening injury had been dealt with I focused on the small break in her lower spine. This particular break was very delicate in nature due to its position, and it wasn’t as if the intelligences within the cells knew exactly what to do. I always had to be so meticulous when giving directions and mental images to anyone’s ki, but especially when it came to injuries along the spine or within the heart and brain.
I could feel tiny droplets of perspiration beading along my hairline as I instructed the fusing of the fracture as carefully as possible.
This woman was a warrior, and though I had no idea if she fought for or against my father, at that moment loyalties and sides made little difference. When you stripped away titles and groupings, in the end, we were all human, and she deserved a chance to live. Without the ability to use her legs, she would never survive on her own, and I would never allow that to happen.
Not when I could help her.
It took about fifteen minutes to heal the fracture to the spinal column. Had the break been any worse, I most likely would have been missed by my father. Once I accomplished that tedious task it was only a matter of seconds for the break in her hip and pelvis to be remedied. I’d had plenty of practice mending such injuries with my father’s soldiers. Of course, he would have me heal them only to break them again; one of his favorite torture methods.
I sickened at the thought and became more determined than ever to crawl out from under my father’s tyranny and find some semblance of a life for myself.
Once I finished healing the most debilitating injuries, I read her ki again to make certain I hadn’t missed anything that might significantly impair mobility. Other than some bruising, her body had healed perfectly. I let out a happy sigh and pulled my hands from her head. I felt the dusky light from the early morning dawn shift just a bit, and I almost lost my balance. Closing my eyes, I waited for my ki to correct the weakness in my body.
I had pushed myself to the limit within the last few hours. Upon opening my eyes again it seemed as if the sun had risen an inch in the last few seconds. I panicked, knowing I was pushing my time limit. My disappearance would be noticed within an hour. I knew I couldn’t leave the poor woman on the outskirts of the forest for any traveler passing by to see and possibly attack her. I stood up and positioned myself behind her slumped over frame, then bent low, wrapping my arms around her mended chest and dragging her backward deeper within the forest.
After making sure her cloak covered her completely, and then covering her with a blanket of fallen leaves for good measure, I stood up, gave her ki a blessing of protection and continued my hurried journey toward the palace.
If I hadn’t been the emperor’s daughter, I could have watched over her to make sure no one d
isturbed her while her body recuperated. As a normal peasant girl, things could be different…easier…less complicated.
It took only a few minutes to reach the marked trail and begin my familiar journey down the path toward the palace. It was important that I reach my room before Aiko came to wake me. Even though she knew about my excursions, and sometimes accompanied me, it was her responsibility every morning to wake me and ready me for the day’s events. If she could not find me, she would most assuredly be blamed for it. I quickened my pace at the thought of Aiko receiving punishment due to my tardiness.
Aiko had been my companion since I was a baby and she sixteen, a nursemaid and mother of sorts, and then trained as my handmaiden as I grew older. She was a bright light against the constant darkness within the palace walls. I never wanted to lose her, but our permanent separation was inevitable once I was united with Katsu.
She would not be allowed to come with us, and though it pained me to consider never seeing her again, I certainly didn’t want her to ever face the same fate as myself. She would be able to have children when she married. Once I became a full kami, that option would no longer exist.
At least she would be free to leave the palace and make a new life for herself. With my father ruling the empire with his iron fist, there was scarcely an opportunity to experience joy or happiness. His presence always seemed to snuff out such things.
The empire of Kagami was a part of Japan within the island of Okinawa, but cloaked in a way that prevented the rest of the inhabitants of Japan from finding it. In other words this vast empire existed in a different sphere in order to keep the land of our kind hidden from the rest of the world.
All the inhabitants of Japan knew of this empire, and revered and respected its sacred purpose as a home for their gods, but very few were able to find it. The humans who lived in this empire had been brought here thousands of years ago to cultivate the land and keep it safe from outside influences.
For centuries, Kagami had been a home of peace and prosperity, ruled by Hachiman the god of war, agriculture and farming, and the divine protector of Japan and its people, until it was time for the preparation of my birth. The empire was placed in the keeping of my father, Fukurokuju, the god of health and longevity, whom it was prophesied would unite with a human empress, Chinatsu Mori, from another region of Japan, and together they would prepare the empire and its people for the birth of their savior, The Healer.
When my mother was brought to live at the Ivory Palace, she was immediately accepted by the people and loved for her role in giving birth to their savior. My tutor, Kenji, told me the events surrounding my birth were filled with happy days of prosperity for the empire and the inhabitants that dwelled therein, but soon after my birth, my father began to grow suspicious and paranoid of other kami, worried that his position as emperor would be challenged now that his duty had been performed and a daughter born.
According to Kenji, the relationship between my parents disintegrated, if there ever was one to begin with. Arranged marriages were not known for giving consideration to the preferences or personalities of the parties involved. My father became obsessed with power and greed, and the empire slowly dwindled to what it was now—a province full of repression and injustice, ruled by a tyrannical emperor.
The Samurai Wars started two years after my birth and had continued ever since. Though I hoped and prayed that one day the rebels would have the power to overthrow my father’s claim to the throne, I understood the gravity of the situation.
Breaching the palace walls was a near impossibility. Only a kami’s blood would be recognized by the walls of the palace. In the real world, palaces that lived and breathed were completely nonexistent, but in the empire of Kagami, The Ivory Palace contained its very own ki, or life force, and recognized that its purpose was to protect the kami that dwelled within.
If a samurai rebel did manage to find a way to breach the walls of the palace, he would be forever lost within its vast halls and corridors. The palace’s ki could sense an individual’s intent, and any rebel wishing to do my father harm would never reach my father’s rooms but would be led in circles throughout the castle until caught by the guards stationed everywhere. To fight against a living structure such as the Ivory Palace was suicide.
The only option, then, was to draw the emperor out and ambush him. Unfortunately, my father’s paranoia had left him a hermit within the walls of Zoutenotou, the palace’s proper name. I could count on my hand the number of times he had dared venture to take one step outside the palace walls.
My mother was the one who traveled the empire, doing her best to tend to the needs of the people, making them love her more and more and my father less and less. I never mistook her actions as anything having to do with love and kindness. She was a shrewd woman, understanding the voice and will of the people she ruled. Her motives were self-serving. She wanted to be the one the people turned to if ever the samurai rebels succeeded in imprisoning my father.
The war consisted of my father’s soldiers tracking and hunting down anyone suspected of involvement with the rebels, and he waged full-fledged battles with organized rebel troops. My father lost countless good men to the rebels and forced any male of sixteen years or older to join his soldiers for a minimum of five years. If they survived, they were allowed to start their own families and lead their own lives.
I often wondered how much longer my father hoped to rule as emperor without the other major kami getting involved. His behavior threatened the lives of innocent humans, and he was more than responsible for thousands of deaths. His hands were saturated in the blood of the innocent, yet the kami and their First Parents remained indifferent and silent.
It couldn’t continue on much longer. There had to be a way to stop it. For some time now, I had pondered the possibility that once I united with my betrothed and left the empire to fulfill my duties as The Healer that the other kami would step in and relieve my father from his duties as emperor. Then the people would be safe.
I also wondered if perhaps I could end it all now by escaping Kagami and joining the other humans in the main areas of Japan. Without my presence, my father would no longer be a necessary ruler of the empire, and perhaps it would be given to my mother, once she became a full kami. The gift of immortality was promised to her by my father on their wedding night. He had yet to deliver said promise, and I honestly doubted he ever would, but perhaps my mother could appeal to other major kami for the gift promised to her. It certainly wasn’t an unthinkable request.
I didn’t necessarily understand the process of a human becoming a kami with the help of another kami, though I knew it was called an ascension, but I felt uncomfortable with the idea that my ascension as a full kami was scheduled on my eighteenth birthday, the day I would meet my betrothed, Katsu, and be united with him by the god of love and marriage.
I couldn’t think of anything in the world I wanted to avoid more than that ceremony. My future husband would no doubt be just as pigheaded, domineering, and abusive as my father. Male kami were completely evil if my father’s behavior was any kind of indication.
For months now, I had thought of nothing but planning some form of escape. However, after having talked with Daiki, I no longer felt positive that leaving the empire was the best solution.
Staying and fighting my father for power over the empire held a certain amount of appeal, and would benefit thousands of people. I simply didn’t know where to start.
I glanced at the shift in the rising sun and hurried my steps, cursing myself for becoming lost in my musings and, as a result, slowing my pace.
I had nearly made it halfway through the forested path when I heard more scuffling and then an ominous sounding thunk cracking against the bark of a tree where my head had just passed. I stopped short and lifted my hand to the bark, wondering what could have possibly made such a sound.
My fingers touched the bark of the banyan tree and then slowly traveled a few inches lower until they came in
contact with the cool feel of metal, jagged and edged with the sides moving out in a V pattern. I let my thumb and finger feel the two points at the top of the V and brought them together, almost touching before my fingers ran into the base of a small, metal shaft protruding from the V.
If I had possessed any sense at all, I would have recognized what had hit the tree and assumed that the weapon had been meant for me, but the idea that someone had shot an arrow at me purposely was almost too inconceivable to comprehend. Assassination attempts were always hazards for an imperial princess, but no one knew I was out here and most likely had no idea who I was. Therefore, it was reasonable to assume that there was a logical explanation for the black arrow protruding from the dark flesh of the tree.
It had to have been an accident, a hunter attempting to catch some local game and feed his family. I tried to pull the arrow from the tree, but when I wrapped my hand around it, I felt my skin begin to burn. I let out a hushed gasp and withdrew immediately. The slow rise of dawn made it only slightly easier to see the arrow. I studied the shaft, but couldn’t understand why it would have burned my skin. Then I looked to where the metal had embedded itself within the heart of one of the tree’s many curved prop roots. Black lines were spiraling outward from the point of impact and quickly singing the bark, leaving scorched patterns in its wake.
I backed up quickly and shook my head. “Impossible!”
Weapons forged in the land of the dead were common tales amongst villagers and royalty alike, but they, along with their large, cat-like wielders were merely myths meant to frighten children into obedience.
I knew better.
I knew enough about the land of the dead to know that there were kami, once good and obedient, who had turned against our First Parents and aligned themselves with the demon god Amatsu. Their souls were corrupted, and the evil they so desperately wished to inflict upon the world of the living soon changed them into ugly abominations called nekomata…Amatsu’s skilled assassins.