Traitor's Hope

by Virginia McClain

  Kusuko had dutifully reported all of Taka’s actions since arriving at the camp. She didn’t feel that any of that information would be of great importance to the Rōjū, or to her father. Taka’s healing prowess was already well spoken of within the New Council, and the spies her father had in place there were already quite familiar with it. Perhaps having further confirmation of just how powerful she was would prove useful to someone, but she understood Inari’s point. They had other spies who could easily have (and perhaps already had) confirmed Taka’s healing prowess. She hadn’t yet proved herself useful on this assignment, and she well knew what sort of response failing to be useful inspired in Mamushi-san.

  “I believe I can get more information from Taka-san,” she replied at length. “I’ve already helped her considerably with a few threats around the camp. She may be more open now to…some of my other charms.”

  Inari chuckled.

  “Surely your other charms are quite potent, after so much time in the world of winds. Practical of you, but I thought you preferred to avoid romance whenever possible.”

  Kusuko smiled a smile that said nothing.

  “I don’t mind as much when the target is female,” she replied. It was a truth she didn’t mind giving Inari, as she was fairly certain that her father was already aware of it, so perhaps Inari was too.

  She stood up to leave, though, as she didn’t wish to give Inari any more truth than that for today.

  Inari’s face turned somber then.

  “Guard your healer well, Kusuko-san. There may be…trouble ahead.”

  Kusuko merely nodded and turned toward the door.

  “And guard your heart, Kusuko-san,” he added, just as she was leaving. “Our hearts can be traitors to our plans.”

  Having no reply to that, Kusuko simply walked away.

  Had she already told Inari too much?

  Mishi felt the rough bark cut into the skin of her palms, and she tried to relax her grip on the branch beneath her. It had taken her a full day of running and fighting to get away from the sanzoku who had been chasing her. Ultimately, she had been forced to stop and fight the five men who had still been tailing her as the sun went down. She had been beyond exhaustion, and knew that her only chance at rest would be to dispatch them. It hadn’t been pretty, as the small gash on her left arm attested, but it had been mercifully short. She supposed that the men had assumed that she would be too tired to fight all five of them after such a long pursuit, and that was why they had closed ranks on her when she finally turned to face them. She hadn’t been altogether sure that they were wrong, but she’d fought hard, reminding herself of the pile of bodies in that village every time that her energy had almost failed her. In the end, desperation and rage had borne her through.

  That night she had slept deeply, although she was still plagued by dreams. She had dreamt of the usual violence that haunted her, and then—suddenly, in the way that only dreams can turn—she had been talking to Tatsu again on his mountainside. When he had asked her why she had come, she had told him that she hadn’t, that she was asleep. He had told her that if she was there at all, in dreams or waking, she was there for a reason. So, she had told him about all the killing. About how it didn’t seem to matter if she wore her swords or not, she still killed without hesitation. Despite the visions that had haunted her in daylight, and still haunted her at night, her instant reaction, when faced with battle, was to destroy the enemy.

  She had killed more men a few days ago, she explained, and then again today. She told Tatsu that she was sure that there was something wrong with her.

  Tatsu had stared at her for a long moment, his giant reptilian eyes regarding her with silent consideration, and then, in his calm voice of distant thunder and rolling earth, he had reminded her that the men she had killed had executed an entire village: men, women, and children; the elderly and the young. They had shown no mercy, and they’d had no provocation. They killed as a means to an end; they did it with little thought and, seemingly, no regret.

  The men she had killed deserved no mercy, he explained, and they certainly didn’t deserve the remorse that their deaths were causing in her.

  She had woken up then, and after contemplating Tatsu’s words for a time, wondering if they were truly his or simply an extension of her own conscience, she had risen in the predawn light. Not knowing what else to do, she had started back toward the last camp she had shared with her companions. Her hope was that either Mitsu or the children would return to it, seeking out the rest of their party, just as she was. Her fear was that it would be full of sanzoku waiting for precisely that.

  So, instead of waiting in the open where anyone could see her, she waited here, high above the camp, with an excellent view of every point of entry. She didn’t have Mitsu’s tracking prowess, and since they hadn’t established any other meeting place, her only chance of finding her companions was to see if any of them returned to camp. She supposed that there was a chance that Mitsu might lead the children to the Zōkame estate or Yanagi’s forest, but that would only happen if he was with them, and not also trying to find her. Besides, it would take a tenday to get to the Zōkame estate from here, and only a few days less to Yanagi’s forest, so if Mitsu and the children didn’t show up by midday tomorrow, she could head that way anyway. For now, she would wait.

  She did not have to wait long, as it turned out.

  She had arrived around midday, and it was before sunset when she sensed someone else’s kisō approaching. Mitsu must have known she was there, and must have been trying to make sure that she knew it was him coming and not some sanzoku returning to finish what they had started. Certainly, he could have snuck up on her as usual, if he’d tried, or she assumed he could have, although perhaps her perch in the tree would have prevented him. Either way, she thought it was wise of him not to try, as she was just as likely to stab first and ask questions later, at this point.

  She pushed her own kisō out to him so that he would know she had sensed him, but she didn’t move from her hiding spot. There was always a chance that he had been captured and was being used to lure her into a trap.

  Mitsu walked into the small clearing where they had made camp two nights before, and sat down on the fallen log beside their fire circle. He held up two rabbits by their legs, waving them in her direction.

  “I’ve caught us the evening meal, but I could use some help with the fire,” he said.

  Mishi might have laughed, if she hadn’t noticed the absence of the two children.

  “The children?” she asked, not yet moving from her perch.

  “I followed them far enough to determine that they’ve been taken.”

  “Taken, or killed?”

  “There was no blood on the ground, but beyond that I can’t be sure. It seems reasonable to think that they might keep them alive in order to lure us into a trap later, now that they know we exist.”

  “And Riyōshi?”

  “He found me last night,” Mitsu said, already beginning to prepare the rabbits. “The sanzoku had spotted him, so he led them on a merry chase through the mountains. They must have multiple teams of scouts, though, since the men that were chasing him were still following him as of yesterday, and he was not close to this camp.”

  Mitsu sighed, and finally looked right at her, his green eyes piercing the distance between them as though she were sitting right next to him instead of high in a tree ten tatami lengths away.

  “I thought they had killed you,” he said, his mouth a hard line. “I came back here thinking I would track you to wherever they had finally cut you down.”

  Mishi climbed down from her perch in the tree as he spoke, dropping to the ground once her legs dangled near head height.

  She lit the fire as she approached Mitsu, locking her grey eyes with his.

  “You have that little faith in my fighting ability?” she asked.

  He didn’t smile, but his eyes seemed to brighten, and he stepped closer to her as she drew near. Sh
e felt a small flip in the center of her stomach, despite all the worry, all the guilt, and everything else these past few days and moons had wrought.

  Would she throw Mitsu if he tried to kiss her again? She hadn’t the last time, but she had been distracted then. Was she actually expecting him to try? Surely the last time had only been to pull her from her visions. He wouldn’t want to do it again…and why did she care, anyway?

  “May I kiss you?” he asked.

  She felt her head dip in a nod, even though she hadn’t decided on an answer. Apparently, her body had made its own decision.

  His lips met hers, and she didn’t throw him, or punch him, or stab him. She didn’t feel like running away, either. She leaned into him, and let his arms wrap around her. Gradually, she held him in return. After a long while, during which Mishi decided that kissing might actually be a thing that she enjoyed, he pulled away, but she still felt the warmth of him despite the distance.

  “What now?” he asked.

  Mishi thought for a moment.

  “Now we figure out how to rescue Mizu-chan and Tsuchi-kun.”

  10th Day, 3rd Moon, Cycle 1 of the New Council

  KUSUKO HAD BEEN surprised to find herself a capable healer’s assistant, a role she’d never expected to play in life, despite the number of roles she had needed to portray as a spy and assassin. Yet she found that the work involved was strangely satisfying. She’d certainly done many jobs as bloody, and filthy, as this before. Her various assignments had led her to do everything from cleaning the palace latrines to mucking out horse stalls. She was familiar with most of the unpleasant substances she was asked to deal with when she assisted Taka in her work, and she found that the end result, helping people to heal, was surprisingly gratifying to someone who had spent most of her life doing precisely the opposite.

  Perhaps that explained why she looked at Taka with an admiration that grew daily. The young healer spent all of her time dedicated to bringing life back to the dying, the sick, and the injured, receiving nothing in return, as far as Kusuko could tell. It was that point that had prompted the questions that Kusuko had started asking her daily. She told herself that the interviews were simply an attempt to gain information that would make her more useful to Mamushi-san.

  “When you haven’t been ordered to heal soldiers by the New Council, what do you do for your living?” she asked one day, as she helped Taka fold newly cut bandages.

  “I live in a small cave in the mountains. I hunt when I need food, and I heal the animals of the forest when they need it. I have everything I need there, so I suppose I don’t have much of a living, at least not in the way that most people would talk about it.”

  “So, why are you here, then? If you don’t need the housing and food, what sway does the New Council hold over you?”

  Taka had quirked an eyebrow at that, and had looked at Kusuko sidelong, even as she continued to fold bandages.

  “They don’t have any hold on me, I suppose. Tsuku-san is a friend of sorts, but I wouldn’t say that she has a hold on me, no. And the New Council holds no more sway over me than any governing body, but…well, I suppose you could say that I have a vested interest in seeing them succeed.”

  “Because of Mishi-san?” Kusuko asked.

  Taka shook her head.

  “No, she has her own reasons for helping them, and I have mine.”

  Kusuko could tell that Taka didn’t trust her enough to say more on that subject, so she tried another tack.

  “I’m still not sure how Mitsu-san fits into all of this,” she said, hoping that Taka would jump at the change of subject.

  Taka did seem to warm to this alternate topic. She smiled, even as she said, “Where indeed?”

  She paused, folding yet another bandage in silence, before continuing.

  “He’s a bit of mystery, Mitsu-san. He was quite different when I first met him, even though that was only a few moons ago. He was…angry. But I suppose that’s not what you asked. He was sent to help me find Kuma-sensei, which wound up leading me to Mishi-san. I believe you’re familiar with that story?”

  Kusuko only nodded, not wanting to interrupt, and also preferring not to remind Taka of why she was familiar with that story.

  “Well, he did that, and in doing so…it turned out we had more in common than we thought.”

  Kusuko waited, but Taka said no more. Was Taka in love with the man? She hadn’t seen any signs to suggest that she would be, indeed, she had reason to think that Taka’s romantic interests ran similarly to her own. What did that mean then, that they had more in common than they had thought? She pondered it for a moment, and almost laughed aloud when her mind gave her the answer.

  “He’s your brother?” she asked, before she could stop herself.

  Both of Taka’s eyebrows rose to her hairline, and her hands stilled mid fold.

  “Mishi-san said once that you were much smarter than you made yourself appear,” Taka said, and Kusuko was pleased to see her cheeks redden after the words escaped her mouth. “That is, she meant it as a compliment, or at least…she was explaining that you did a very good job of playing the empty-headed courtesan when you wished.”

  Kusuko smiled.

  “I pride myself on my ability to make others underestimate me,” she admitted.

  Taka nodded, smiling softly.

  “I only said it because no one else has guessed, not even Mishi-san.”

  Kusuko wasn’t overly surprised. Mishi had so much else to concern her.

  “You look a bit alike, when I think about it. Not so much that I would have guessed without additional clues, but I can see it now that I have reason to make the comparison.”

  Taka’s eyebrows rose once more. She still hadn’t resumed folding bandages.

  “I hadn’t even thought that we looked all that similar. In fact, we’re still not sure that we’re related, it’s just a theory. I don’t know who my parents were.”

  Kusuko regarded her for a moment, then said, “If I were a gambling woman, I would put money on you being brother and sister.”

  Taka laughed at that. Kusuko had just opened her mouth to explain her comment, when a series of shouts at the front of the tent cut through their conversation. They both turned to see what was happening.

  “Taka-san,” called Inari, from the front of the tent. “They’re attacking the camp. We need to leave.”

  Taka was not going to let these men die just to save her own skin.

  Two other healers had followed Iruka-san when he insisted on leaving the camp to its fate. The other seven had stayed with her. She was still amazed that they hadn’t all abandoned her the moment Iruka had said he was leaving, but Kusuko had stood beside her and asked how she could help, and then most of the men had simply stayed as well.

  The battle was close enough that they could hear the shouts and cries, and Taka was reminded of the way she had felt during the battle at Rōjū City. There was a certain single-mindedness behind what one had to do in these situations—the details of what was necessary became exceedingly clear, and the rest just faded into the background.

  In Taka’s case, what she needed to do was assess and treat the stream of injured men that now flowed into the healing tent. There weren’t enough healers to keep up with the number of men who were limping their way into the tent, and Taka didn’t want to think about how many other injured men must still be lying in place out in the camp. Unlike most days, there were no free hands to help the injured who couldn’t manage on their own to make their way to her. Today, all hands that were able held weapons, and had no time for the fallen.

  She didn’t have time to wonder why the Rōjū zantō had chosen to invade the camp, she didn’t have time to consider what that might mean for this campaign, and she certainly didn’t have time to think about what would happen to her if the men who had attacked them succeeded in overcoming the New Council’s troops.

  She only had time to focus on one soldier at a time. Seek out internal blood loss, assess
for high priority injuries, heal anything that was life threatening until it was stable, then move on to the next patient.

  She would not allow herself to become overwhelmed with how many men were still waiting, or how much closer the battle sounded now than it had when they had first started. She simply kept going, one assessment at a time.

  ~~~

  When she finally raised her head from the last patient who had seemed likely to die without immediate attention, she could no longer hear fighting in the distance. In fact, she couldn’t hear much of anything, save the soft night sounds outside and the small grumbles and twitches of sleeping men.

  She turned and was almost surprised to see Kusuko beside her, proffering a damp cloth. The former assassin was still here…after all this time? She had been so focused on what she was doing that she hadn’t paid much attention to who was handing her the supplies she requested. Yet now that she had a moment to appreciate it, the fact that it was Kusuko was…interesting. She hadn’t expected the woman to stick around at all after the fighting had started, let alone stay by her side and hand her bandages, healing salves, and water.

  “Why are you still here?” she asked, before she could stop herself. Her cheeks colored as she realized how rude that must sound, but she’d said it now, so she just waited for a reply.

  “It is difficult to defend someone who is not in the same room with you.”

  Taka smiled. “And it’s your job to protect me?” she asked.

  Kusuko raised an eyebrow at that, winking as she said, “Just in case you can’t render everyone unconscious before they reach you.”

  Taka didn’t particularly like the idea of needing protection, but she couldn’t argue with the fact that she wasn’t a warrior. She was good at many things, but she had never wanted to learn to fight. However, her life lately had made her question that choice. She was surrounded by violence, it seemed—perhaps it was time for her to learn how to protect herself better.