The Open Road

by Paul Kidd

  “Yes. I understand.”

  She took Little Sparrow, and held both of her hands.

  “I cannot stay, my darling. My host is strong, but she weakens.” The woman took on an expression of proud, almost ferocious joy. “But now she knows. The reibai knows.”

  She looked into Little Sparrow’s eyes.

  “Be happy, my daughter. Be safe. Live in joy.” Sura’s voice was proud. “Your father was a good man. And remember – you are samurai. Samurai!”

  Sura enfolded Little Sparrow in an adoring kiss. She lingered for a moment – then suddenly she released the girl

  Sura arched backward in a great, agonised spasm. The intruding spirit wrenched up and out of her, hovering once again in mid-air. The spirit swirled its trailing aura, and then plunged back through the rift into the Realm of Honoured Dead. The rift slammed shut, vanishing in a sudden flash. The enchanted circle blazed briefly and died.

  Tonbo was instantly through the circle. He swept Sura up into his arms and held her. Love and fear blazed on his face. Sura hung, her eyes rolled up and limbs twitching. Tonbo tried to make her focus on his face.

  “Sura!” Her head lolled against his chest. “Sura!” Tonbo summoned Chiri to his side. “Sakē, quickly! And deer horn!”

  Chiri came running. She flung herself down beside Sura, pulling a small vial filled with deer horn salts out of her belt pouch. Bifuuko and Daitanishi crowded close beside Sura, fanning at her brows.

  Tonbo forced sakē between Sura’s lips and made her swallow. The fox coughed. Chiri held the vial of deer horn salts beneath Sura’s nose. The stench jerked Sura awake. The fox’s eyes were wide, and she stared about herself in confusion. Tonbo made her look into his eyes.

  “Who are you?” He shook her as she tried to slip unconscious once again. “Stay awake! Who are you?”

  Sura was weak – terribly weak. She now hung limp in Tonbo’s arms, shivering with shock.

  “K-Kitsune…”

  “Who am I?” Tonbo sternly turned her face towards him. “Who am I?”

  Sura blinked. Her attention wandered. “I can’t…” The fox blinked, then looked about herself, lost and in a panic. “Phoenix. Where is Phoenix?”

  Tonbo determinedly made Sura breathe the deer horn again. The stench made her retch. As she jerked upwards, coughing, Tonbo looked into her eyes.

  “Who are you?”

  Sura’s voice was stronger. “Kitsune Sura! I am Kitsune Sura.”

  “Who am I?”

  “T-Tonbo.” Sura blinked, dazed and weak. “You’re my Tonbo.”

  She looked up, seeing Tonbo properly at last. She stared up at him, infinitely glad.

  “Tonbo…”

  Tonbo held her thankfully against his armoured chest. Sura clung to him, weakly – utterly exhausted and still trembling with shock.

  “They wrote it down. His name! In the handle of the sword.” Sura’s laugh had a faint note of hysteria. “Samurai! The short sword guards the soul of a samurai!”

  Sura rolled her head, seeing Grandma Pine, Chiri and Kuno. The fox was sick, weak and exhausted – and she had triumphed.

  “I saw her memories. I have his name. I know why they died…” She turned weakly towards Little Sparrow. “Sparrow was murdered by her firstborn son – your half-brother. He framed and betrayed your father…”

  Something suddenly hissed through the air. Tonbo whipped his head about and bellowed a warning. He shielded Sura with his own body.

  “Down!”

  Long arrows cracked into Tonbo’s back armour, some sticking in the neck plates of his slung helmet, and others penetrating an inch into his back plate. One arrow found a gap and struck him behind the shoulder, piercing his dense mail sleeve. The bloody point jutted far out through his front. Sheltered beneath him, Sura screamed in horror.

  “Tonbo!”

  More arrows came rippling and streaking through the sky…

  Chapter 5

  Arrows sliced towards Little Sparrow. Kuno whirled, his sword flicking from its scabbard. He cut down two arrows in mid-flight and then stood his ground, sheltering the girl. Bifuuko whipped up out of the grass and struck another arrow aside – an arrow that had been aimed at Chiri. Daitanishi shot up to hover above Chiri, poised in utter fury.

  At the edge of the tree line thirty yards away, a dozen armoured samurai surged out into the light. The men were armed with bows. At their head were Lord and Lady Tado, clad in matching orange and yellow armour. The Raiden samurai all reached for arrows, loading their bows to fire again.

  Chiri rose, reaching out into the air around her. Her robes swirled as a churning wind lifted up about her hair.

  “Little sisters of the air, I call you in my time of need!”

  - Sky dance!”

  Air elementals erupted out of the world all around Chiri, and flew dancing up into the air. They whipped back and forth, making a blurring wall of movement between Spirit Hunters and archers. Lord Tado waved his sword, yelling furiously at his men.

  “Fire! Keep firing! Kill them!”

  Kuno stood and drew out the golden billet of Imperial authority. The metal staff glittered unmistakably in the sun. He called sternly out towards the Raiden samurai.

  “Raiden samurai! I am Imperial deputy Asodo Kuno! I am investigating a crime. Any man who raises a hand against us is in direct defiance of the Emperor!”

  The Raiden samurai balked. Men lowered their bows, shocked and confused. The senior man flung a concerned look to Lord Tado.

  “My lord – he has an Imperial warrant!”

  “Ignore it!”

  The warrant was clearly visible – and Kuno’s stern demeanor was one of absolute dignity and authority. Another confused samurai turned to Lord Tado.

  “My lord?”

  Lady Tado surged forward, screaming in fury at her men.

  “Damn the Emperor! Kill them! Kill them all!”

  The Raiden samurai looked to one another, unwilling to obey. Orders from Lord Raiden himself were to keep the peace with Imperial officials. They wavered in confusion and left their bows undrawn

  Tonbo had collapsed, trapping Sura beneath him. Sura – weak and scarcely able to move, held him in her arms. She called to Lord Tado, and her voice carried venomously clear over to the Raiden samurai.

  “Shall I tell them, Lord Tado? Would these men like to hear your secret? How many will follow you then?”

  Lady Tado held up one fist. She halted the samurai archers in place, then waved her hand.

  “Back! Retire one hundred yards!”

  Raiden samurai looked to Lord Tado for confirmation. The man glowered and waved the samurai away.

  “Do as her ladyship says!” The man swirled his sword and smiled in cool anticipation. “We shall be quite safe.”

  The senior samurai signalled to the others. The men watchfully moved off towards a far point of the meadow. Lord and Lady Tado strode towards the Spirit Hunters, idly swinging their immaculate swords.

  Reeling with exhaustion, Sura kept a hand tight upon Tonbo’s wound. She spat at Lord and Lady Tado in contempt.

  “You do not want them to hear.”

  “The secret shall be safe soon enough, priest.” Lord Tado flicked a glance at Little Sparrow. “It seems I left a loose end. It is an error easily corrected.”

  Sura looked up from Tonbo’s body. Blood smothered and full of distaste, the fox tried to drag herself erect. She glared at Lord Tado.

  “You are the son of the banished ronin Yoshitori Yukio, and the Eta woman Sparrow.” She lifted her head, speaking to Kuno and Chiri. “Yukio was banished. An Eta girl took pity on him in the wilderness and helped him to survive. They married. Her name was Sparrow. She bore Yukio a son – this piece of bat puke here.” The fox gestured at Lord Tado. “Yukio’s battle comrade secured a pardon for Yukio. He searched for him – and found him as he lay dying of a fever. He swore to care for Yukio’s family, even though Yukio’s wife was a mere Eta. He took Sparrow into his home, and he fostered
Yukio’s son out into the home of a great lord to be educated as a samurai.

  “Yukio’s comrade fell in love with Sparrow. She was the widow of a samurai – and so she was now samurai. They married quietly, and she bore him a daughter – Little Sparrow. They lived in a peaceful backwater far, far away from the world.” Sura’s voice brimmed with bitterness. “But by then Sparrow’s son had discovered the wealth of the Raiden court, a great lord’s daughter – and ambition. And to his great dismay, he now discovered his mother’s origins.

  “Tado was tainted by Eta blood. It would blight his ambitions. But his lover spoke to him and showed him a way. A way that would hide the secret forever. And so Tado went to his lord. He lied! He said that his father’s old comrade had taken a new bride – a known and branded criminal! And when your mother tried to plead her case and prove she was unmarked, you intercepted her on the road and slew her! You left her with the brand of a criminal. The lord was outraged, and immediately ordered the woman’s husband to commit seppuku.”

  The fox glared at Lord Tado in savage contempt.

  “You lied! And then you murdered your own mother.”

  The young lord had come closer. He stood now and gave a great, searing laugh of derision.

  “A great eagle does not spring from the nest of a carrion bird.” The man slashed out his hand. “She should have fled! Fled with him back into the cesspits she sprang from!”

  Kuno and Chiri stood before Lord and Lady Tado, blocking their path towards the others. Kuno coldly looked Lord Tado in the face and pointed to the man’s wife.

  “So you made a new nest. This woman had you adopted into another family once you eliminated your own.”

  “He was a fool.” Lord Tado spat the words in hate. “He slept with an Eta! He defiled our family! He risked everything for love!” The man slashed at the grass with his sword. “He should not have died! It was I who sent the wooden sword! It was an invitation to run – but the fool was too proud! Who would have thought the man could kill himself with nothing but a wooden sword?”

  “Enough.”

  Lady Tado circled, trying to trap Kuno between herself and her husband. Chiri drew out her two gleaming, hooked natagama and blocked the woman’s path.

  Armoured in leather and steel, tall and lithe, Lady Tado examined the rat in disdain.

  “Brush cutters against a trained samurai? And a mere deputy against the great Lord Tado?” The woman sneered as she drew her helmet on over her long, streaming hair. “We shall kill you both, then make certain of this meddling reibai.”

  Lord Tado held out his exquisite sword. He faced Kuno and admired the light glittering upon his own blade.

  “Magnificent, isn’t it? A Yusashi original – like its partner.” He turned the sword, and light flashed along the perfectly honed steel. “A shame to blemish such a blade with the blood of fools…”

  Lord Tado whipped forward in a lightning-fast attack. Kuno streaked his sword out of its sheath, glissing the strike aside then whipping his own blade down. Lord Tado somehow caught Kuno’s sword and met the attack. The two swords rang as both swordsmen struck and countered. The big blades whipped through the air with enough power to cleave clean through flesh and steel.

  Lady Tado circled Chiri, her sword changing guard position as she tried to take the measure of the calm white rat. Suddenly she whipped her sword up and down, flinging herself forwards to try and slice Chiri clean in two. The rat flashed sideways, weapons blurring. The natagama whirled – one catching Lady Tado’s blade, and the other hooking over, slicing at her forearm. Lady Tado wildly spun into the strike, just managing to avoid the vicious forward hook of Chiri’s blade. The rat was already stepping in, a natagama gaffing towards Lady Tado’s face. The woman sped backwards, fending off the rat as Chiri came at her again and again. Sparks flashed as sword and natagama crashed together. Lady Tado tried to cut over into Chiri’s head, her sword moving with stunning force. Chiri caught the weapon with both natagama, sinking down beneath the force of the blow. She tried to wrench the sword clean out of Lady Tado’s hand, but the woman kicked at her, staggering Chiri back. Lady Tado leapt forward, but Daitanishi whirred past Chiri’s shoulder and crashed into Lady Tado’s helmet, making her curse and fumble.

  The Raiden samurai in the distance crowded forward, held back by orders but driven to intervene. But the lead samurai held his comrades back, watching the combat with intense interest.

  Kuno and Chiri fought their opponents to a standstill. Sura tried to drag herself out from beneath Tonbo’s massive, iron-clad weight. She glanced over to the tree line nearby, where a dark mist had suddenly appeared.

  The mist surged and ebbed – becoming more and more solid. It now moved the leaves and branches as it flowed forwards, cracking and shattering the underbrush.

  Lady Tado struck again and again at Chiri. The rat spun aside, her hooked blades ripping at her opponent, stabbing through armour and springing blood. Lady Tado staggered back in panic. She saw the black mist flowing towards her, snapping and crackling with dark bolts of energy. The woman panted in panic, snatched a short dagger from her belt and hurtled it at the rat. It flashed overhead as Chiri dropped and dove away.

  The rat was out of Lady Tado’s path at last. Lady Tado turned on Sura in triumph, ready to kill her where she lay. She lunged forward, and then staggered as a hot flash of pain tore through her thigh.

  Little Sparrow had struck at her with Sura’s spear. The orange blade had sliced clean into Lady Tado’s thigh guards. The woman snarled and struck out at the spear, knocking it out of Little Sparrow’s hands. She whirled, blade raised, ready to slice clean down into Kitsune Sura.

  “Die!”

  Sura flashed – changing into fox form. In one brilliant flicker she was free from beneath Tonbo. An instant later, she was in her half form, naked, her kodachi whipping up out of its scabbard. Sura rammed it up beneath the skirts of Lady Tado’s armor and deep into her belly, shoving the blade upwards with all her might. Lady Tado goggled, frozen – gagging. Sura surged upwards, snarling as she ripped the bloody weapon free and rammed it up beneath the other woman’s chin.

  Lady Tado fell.

  Lord Tado and Kuno crashed blade to blade. Lord Tado raged forward, striking against Kuno, full of hate. Kuno held his ground, immaculate and calm. He shifted his weight and grip by a tiny whisker, and his sword slithered around and almost sliced off Lord Tado’s wrist. The slice became a lunge, piecing an inch into Lord Tado’s shoulder. The man fought free, staggering backwards, panting hard.

  “You have some small measure of skill, deputy. I commend you.”

  The man swirled his weapon, confident in its magnificent edge and balance. Kuno ignored the weapon, interested only in the man.

  “You rely too heavily upon the quality of your blade, my lord. Mere objects can never match a pure heart.”

  Tado lashed forward, his kiai shout thundering. Kuno raised his sword, intercepted the cut and guided it down, turning his weapon to swirl around Lord Tado’s blade. Lord Tado made an immense cut for Kuno’s waist: Kuno whipped his stance backwards, checking the attack and rolling his sword over. He slid forward, the curved blade slicing into the inside of Lord Tado’s wrist, gushing blood onto the man’s sleeve. Lord Tado staggered backwards, now holding his sword in his left hand.

  Suddenly the air became as chill as ice. The black mist roiled forwards, searing and crackling with power. It whipped towards Lord Tado – rising up as if to strike. Lord Tado stared at it in horror, all life draining from his face. He staggered backwards, dropping his sword. The mist reached forward, ice-cold and terrifying. Lord Tado dropped nervelessly to his knees, staring at the mist in abject terror. He croaked out to Kuno, trying to crowd away from the terrible cloud.

  “I shall confess it!” The mist came closer. Lord Tado shrank away in terror. His voice carried over to the Raiden samurai nearby. “Spare my life – I shall confess, and I shall retire! I will shave my head and pray for their souls!”

&
nbsp; Kuno glowered down at the man, then stepped back and sheathed his sword.

  “So be it.”

  Kuno turned towards Tonbo. Lord Tado instantly attacked. He leapt upward, trying to draw his short sword and slice into Kuno. But a wisp of darkness clung to the blade. It cleared only an inch from its sheath and stuck fast. Kuno whirled, his sword already clear from its sheath. He sliced the man’s head off with a single blurring stroke.

  The headless body staggered, then crashed into the grass.

  Kuno looked down at the corpse in cold dismissal, and sheathed his sword.

  “The short sword guards the heart of the samurai.”

  Sura had fought her way into a robe. She worked with Chiri, heaving Tonbo’s armour aside and tending to his wounds. One arrow pierced clean through his shoulder was dangerously close to his heart, and two more had penetrated an inch into his back. Chiri staunched the wound as Sura lifted Tonbo’s face. The man blinked, dazed with shock. Sura wiped a cloth across his face.

  “It’s alright. We can deal with it. It’s just a pin prick or two. Chiri can summon some water elementals.” She lovingly caressed his cheek, cradling Tonbo’s head in her lap.

  “You idiot.”

  The Raiden samurai marched slowly forwards. They approached the Spirit Hunters, casting cold eyes at the bodies of Lord and Lady Tado. The senior samurai faced Kuno, and gave a stiff, formal bow.

  “Deputy. Your investigations are at a close?”

  “We believe so, samurai.” Kuno bowed in return. “In the Emperor’s name, we thank you.”

  “In the Emperor’s name.”

  The Raiden samurai bowed together. Sura looked up to find that the dark mist had drawn back away beneath the forest eaves.