World's Edge

by Ryan Kirk

  Moriko stood up just in time to sense the first young man pull her knife from his stomach and throw it at her. It was a weak throw, and Moriko caught it easily. She studied the young man, impressed by his courage. He was clearly dying, but hadn’t given up. Moriko retrieved her sword and ended his life with one clean cut. It was what he deserved.

  When her world snapped back into order, Moriko was standing over the bodies of all the hunters that had been after her. She smiled. It didn’t matter to her that they were boys. She had won. She stared down at her sword, disgusted at the sight of blood on it. With a quick motion, she snapped it off the blade and found a clean piece of cloth from one of the hunters. She ripped it off his dead body and used it to clean her sword. She tossed the used rag onto the ground and looked around. The power of her blade was intoxicating. She had killed five hunters on her own. She hadn’t even realized how strong she’d become.

  Her sword taken care of, Moriko looked to her shoulder. She realized, as she looked down, that she had been cut several times. She examined her body. None of them were fatal. The shoulder was the worst, but even that cut had been more shallow than she’d thought. A day or two and it should be fine.

  She looked around. She could see the camp of the hunters a little ways away. There would be plenty of food there. There were horses too. From here it was a sprint to the Three Sisters, and all that mattered was speed. Moriko was free. She started walking back to the camp, eager to eat.

  When the shadow came up in front of her, she was too surprised to even react. She hadn’t sensed anything at all. He was a giant of a man, and in the moment she had, Moriko flashed back to her memories of the other hunters she had faced back in the Three Kingdoms. This man was like them. She knew what had been off about five hunters. They always traveled in pairs. She wasn’t given any time to rejoice about her discovery. His fist moved with inhuman speed, and Moriko’s world went instantly black.

  Chapter 27

  The morning after the duel, Ryuu and Rei left the island without much fanfare. Many people had approached Ryuu after the fight, either to introduce themselves or to say goodbye. Ryuu had met a lot of blades, and remembered a few names, but he was saddened he didn’t have the time to know them better. Most of his time had been spent with Tenchi or in training. Far too little of it had been spent getting to know the other inhabitants of the island, the thousands of others who shared his gift.

  Tenchi and Shika were at the docks to bid them farewell. Ryuu thanked Tenchi sincerely for all the guidance. He still felt like there was much more on the island to learn, more secrets he hadn’t uncovered, but he was called south. Moriko needed him.

  His parting words with Shika were short. She wished him well.

  “Like Tenchi, I also hope you return to us. But when you do, I won’t let you defeat me again.”

  With a final wave they were off, Ryuu relaxing into the back of the ship for the trip back to the Three Kingdoms. He took one last glance at the island as they sailed away, but then pushed the memories out of his mind. It was time to move forward. He laid back and closed his eyes. Good rest would be hard to find once they were on the road.

  They arrived at the Three Kingdoms without incident. Ryuu had spent almost all his time resting and relaxing, giving his body the break it needed after a season of grueling training. Rei was a different story altogether. She was excited by everything she saw and experienced. When Ryuu wasn’t sleeping, he was busy answering more questions than he thought possible for a single person to have. Many of the questions were easy to answer, questions about the day-to-day behavior of those who lived in the kingdoms. But there was much he didn’t know about history, politics or culture. Rei made him realize how much he didn’t know about the Three Kingdoms. He had grown up in relative isolation.

  They docked and Ryuu found the Southern Kingdom’s embassy in Highgate. Flashing his letter from Lord Akira, he borrowed horses and supplies for the journey back. They wasted no time, Ryuu pushing them out of the city as soon as they had supplies. The disappointment on Rei’s face was obvious, but Ryuu couldn’t care less. He was here for one purpose only, to get back to Moriko. There would be time for Rei to be a tourist later in life. They rode hard for the first few days, maintaining the fastest pace the horses could keep up.

  Eventually, Ryuu had to slow the pace, even though it pained him to do so. The horses were getting tired too fast. They kept moving at the fastest sustainable pace, but Ryuu wanted to do nothing more than to kick his horse into a full gallop until it collapsed from exhaustion. They were returning much faster than Ryuu had left, but it still wasn’t fast enough for him. Tenchi’s assessment of a full moon of travel didn’t seem to be as far off as Ryuu had hoped.

  Rei’s stream of questions was constant, and Ryuu was grateful. Her enthusiasm kept him moving forward, kept him optimistic. It was hard to be around her and not wonder at the simple majesty of new places. Occasionally, Ryuu was able to insert one of his own questions, like one that had been bothering him the entire time he was on the island.

  “If you agree with Shika so much about nightblades returning to the Three Kingdoms, why does Tenchi devote so much attention to you?”

  Rei paused to consider the question, as though she had never thought of it. “It’s not that I agree or disagree with either one of them. When you think about it, both of them want to return to the Three Kingdoms. Every blade wants to come back. Something about this land calls us home. They only disagree as to the timing.”

  Her answer gave Ryuu pause. He hadn’t ever thought of it in that way. Her answer reminded him he still had a lot to learn about the blades. They viewed the world in a manner fundamentally different than he did.

  The leagues passed under foot and hoof. There was conversation when possible, but there were also prolonged periods of silence, silence Ryuu appreciated. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to speak with Rei, but he had a lot on his mind, and travel was one of the few times he had to make decisions, to think his plans through. Tenchi’s words to him before the duel had gotten under his skin. He’d never been talked down to like that, and it affected him more than he cared to admit.

  When he wasn’t answering Rei’s questions, there was only one question running through his mind over and over again. What should he do next?

  He had left the island with a clear purpose, to rescue Moriko, no matter what obstacles he faced. But as they traveled further south, his mind was filled with doubts, no longer as certain as he had been when he had first sensed her in danger.

  Tenchi had been the spark. He had made Ryuu question his decisions, his motivations. His heart kept shouting that he needed to go rescue Moriko, but his mind kept whispering that he needed to think it through. The debate raged viciously in his mind, racking him with indecision.

  His mind was a giant scale, weighing his feelings. He loved Moriko, and he had sworn to himself he would protect her. He felt responsible for the trouble she had found. If it hadn’t been for him, she never would have agreed to go down to Azaria to scout. A part of him was convinced that if he had gotten her into this, it was his responsibility to get her out.

  But there were whispers of discontent within his mind, a whisper that said he wasn’t thinking clearly. The armies of the Southern Kingdom were being decimated, forced to retreat over and over again. He could influence the course of events there, but not if he traveled to Azaria to save Moriko. It was a choice between the Southern Kingdom and the woman he loved.

  Ryuu didn’t believe he could single-handedly change the course of a war, but he was certain he could save lives. If the Azarians were plotting to invade the kingdom, as his sense told him was happening, every life he saved would be a life that could stand against a much greater threat than the petty civil war currently raging. He worried saving Moriko would doom the kingdom.

  During the ride, he often reflected on his conversations with Shigeru after Takako had been kidnapped. He had been adamant that he should rescue her. He had believed if it w
as in his power to save even one person, it was his responsibility to do so. Shigeru had seen the error of the thought, had suspected Ryuu’s actions would have consequences far beyond what Ryuu could anticipate. He had warned Ryuu against it, but he had gone along in the end, sentencing himself to death. Ryuu wondered sometimes if Shigeru had somehow guessed how events would unfold, if he had gone forward knowing what was in store for him. Why had he allowed Ryuu to take the risk? It was a question Ryuu would never know the answer to.

  Either way, Ryuu’s decision had gotten Shigeru killed. Ryuu had accepted that responsibility. Was he making the same decision again, the same mistake? The first time he had sacrificed everything to go after one person. Now he was considering sacrificing the entire kingdom to save Moriko. The Great Cycle turned again, and Ryuu was as lost as when he’d been a child.

  Every night Ryuu put his hands to the ground and threw out his sense, hoping he would gather some small piece of information that would make his path clear, make it so there was only one rational choice.

  But every night the story was the same. The battle for the Southern Kingdom was coming to its inevitable conclusion. All of Akira’s armies were retreating to the same point, and all of Tanak’s armies were pursuing them. It would come down to a final battle in the eastern foothills. Terrain would be an advantage for the southern army, but the western army had more numbers. It would be a difficult victory for either side.

  At the same time, Moriko was being hunted. He could sense her alone on the prairie, men circling around her, trying to find her. She was on the move, but it seemed like a small miracle she wasn’t caught every evening when Ryuu threw out his sense. He kept expecting to sense her captured or dead. Every evening he breathed a deep sigh of relief when neither was true.

  Ryuu had kept all his worries secret, but Rei wasn’t fooled. There was no way for him to hide the complete distraction he was suffering from. She pestered him with questions until he broke down and told her the debate running through his mind.

  She sat and listened to him explain both sides of his reasoning. She let him prattle on for longer than she should have, allowing him to reiterate several of his points. He concluded by shaking his head in misery. “I just don’t know.”

  Rei laughed, her attitude reminding him a little of Tenchi. “Ryuu, you are a fool. If what you say is true, what you’ve sensed is accurate, Moriko doesn’t need rescuing. If anything, the men who are chasing her need the help.”

  “They’re very dangerous.” Ryuu was about to warn her about underestimating them, but she interrupted.

  “And you can’t seem to see she is just as dangerous. If training against her allowed you to defeat me in the dark, I would bet she’s one of the most dangerous nightblades in her own right. Don’t let your own strength deceive you. Men,” she scoffed, “always thinking they need to rescue us. It’s women who are always rescuing the men.”

  Rei could see he was still disturbed, so she didn’t say anything more on the subject, letting Ryuu ponder her words and their wisdom.

  Ryuu still hadn’t reached a decision, but either way, they kept moving south, making good time. Rei had never seen any geography other than that of the island, so the jagged and broken terrain of the Northern Kingdom was a delight to her, even though it slowed them down. They were riding through a crack in the ground, one of many that seemed to tear apart the landscape of the Northern Kingdom. It was as though the earth itself was splitting in half, sheer rock on either side of them, the path in front of them only wide enough for a single horse at a time. Ryuu rode in the lead, Rei behind.

  He sensed the presence above them, tracking them ten paces above their path along the western ridge of rock. Ryuu brought his horse to a halt, Rei following suit behind him. They exchanged a glance and Rei shrugged her shoulders. Ryuu dismounted. He suspected an ambush, and he fought better off his horse than on. He could only sense one person. If a bandit was hoping to take them by surprise, he would be receiving his own soon enough. They waited. Then Ryuu felt the tendrils of the sense emanating from the person above. If he hadn’t been so distracted by thoughts of Moriko, he would have noticed a long time ago. The warrior was strong.

  The day was bright and sunny, one of the glory days near the end of summer. A shadow detached itself from the rocks above and dropped down in front of Ryuu, about ten paces away. Ryuu noted the grace with which the shadow moved. The landing was soft and controlled, indicating considerable strength and skill. He had a suspicion about who he was about to meet.

  Rei confirmed it. "Renzo." She dismounted and stepped to Ryuu's side.

  Renzo bowed. "It's been a long time, Rei."

  Ryuu could sense Rei tense. "What are you doing here?"

  "It's none of your concern. I'm here to kill the boy. Stay out of my way. We'll talk when I'm done."

  Rei stepped forward, blocking Ryuu with her body. "I can't let you kill him."

  Renzo stood up straighter, staring at Rei. "You would fight me for him?"

  Rei nodded.

  Renzo considered for a moment, then lowered his center of gravity, preparing to strike. Ryuu held his blade, prepared to draw. Rei's shoulders slumped, as though she had hoped to stop him without a fight. For a moment they stood there, a tableau on the edge of violence.

  "I'll give you one last warning, Rei. You know your tricks won't work on me. I don't want to hurt you, but I will to get to him. He has to die."

  Renzo twitched, and Ryuu fell into his combat trance, finding the energy surrounding him and dropping into it. He could sense Renzo's attack coming. Renzo's speed was unbelievable, but Rei was there, drawing her blade and in his way.

  Ryuu watched, horrified at being unable to do anything fast enough to change the outcome. Rei flashed her energy, trying to blind Renzo's sense, but it was no use. She didn't have the power to surpass Renzo's will and skill with the sense. Renzo ducked underneath her weak cut and drove his fist into her stomach. She collapsed and Renzo drew against Ryuu.

  Steel met steel in the narrow confines of the crevice. The crack was narrow, and both Renzo and Ryuu had to be careful not to have their strikes blocked by the rock walls surrounding them. They cut and spun around one another, their cuts and blocks forced close to their bodies by the tight space.

  It was Renzo who took to the walls. He used the walls as vertical ground for a moment at a time, adding an extra dimension to the fight. He would push off and strike from above, then bounce off the other wall and strike from the other direction. Ryuu had never fought in a crevice like this, never seen anyone use walls to plant and kick off of. His sense and his reflexes kept him alive, but Renzo had the upper hand as steel flashed closer and closer to him.

  Rei struggled back to her feet. Ryuu wanted to shout at her, tell her to stay down, but he didn't have the time to give a warning. He couldn't tear his attention from Renzo, not even for a moment. Renzo’s strikes were coming from all different directions, directions no fighter on flat ground would have to consider.

  Ryuu took to the walls. He wasn't as experienced as Renzo, but he was young and agile, and the dance of swords was bright in the light of the sun.

  Ryuu could sense Rei looking for an opening, but she didn't have the power and speed of the two nightblades in combat. Ryuu could sense it wasn’t going to stop her though. She was determined to stop their fight.

  She thought she saw an opening and leapt for it. Both Ryuu and Renzo sensed the approach. Ryuu stepped back, giving ground in the hope she'd have space to pass through their battle safely. Renzo tried to cut at Ryuu as he retreated, coming just a hair's width away from cutting Rei's neck. He stepped back as well, torn between his desire to kill Ryuu and his desire to leave Rei unharmed.

  Rei attacked Renzo, but she was too slow. Renzo struck her twice with the flat part of his blade, but she kept on coming. Finally, his fist landed against her cheek in a blow that sent her reeling backwards.

  Renzo shouted a curse. Ryuu held his stance, waiting to see what would happen
. Renzo wasn’t faster than him, but his experience was greater. Ryuu wasn’t sure he’d win in a straight fight, but in this tiny space, Rei would continue to get between them, and Renzo clearly didn’t want to kill her. Renzo seemed torn between attacking and walking away. He stood up and sheathed his sword.

  "It's not over, Ryuu. Your days, and Lord Akira's, are numbered." He bent over Rei, ignoring her feeble attempts to slap him away. "If you get in my way again, I will kill you."

  With a final glance, Renzo turned and walked away, leaving a confused Ryuu to care for Rei's injuries.

  That evening, Ryuu came to a decision. He wouldn’t go after Moriko, as much as he wanted to. She was getting closer to the Southern Kingdom, but Ryuu also felt the hunters coming down out of the mountains to intercept her. Either way, he was still a half-moon of travel away, no matter how fast he rode. As he looked on Rei sleeping, her words ran through his mind. He knew Moriko had gotten stronger, could sense she had somehow changed, somehow grown.

  He could do more good if he stayed in the Southern Kingdom, helping Akira decide what was next. He needed to protect Akira. If he didn’t, Renzo would kill him and the Three Kingdoms would descend into chaos. Ryuu could still sense the Azarians moving north, although he wasn’t sure they’d get to the pass before it snowed. He wasn’t sure they were an invasion force either, but he couldn’t imagine what else they would be.

  Akira’s need was greater, and the odds of Ryuu getting to Moriko in time were slim. His decision angered him, but it was right. He held back his tears of frustration, hoping Moriko would survive.

  His decision made, the rest of the journey passed quickly. Ryuu appreciated not being torn apart by indecision. He liked having a path laid out in front of him, a straight way forward.