by Travis Bughi
Emily turned to see Belen peeking out from her cover nearby, her eyes staring furiously at Heliena.
“What are you doing bringing her?” Belen asked.
Heliena’s only response was to glare back, ice-cold with her blue eyes, and put a finger to her lips. It was a look that made even Emily’s blood chill. Belen snarled, but bit back her tongue and dropped out of sight again. If any of the other amazons heard the brief argument and were questioning Heliena’s judgment, they kept their comments to themselves.
So, Emily thought, there’s another thing the sister’s share. Acid in their veins when threatened.
Heliena brushed off her scowl and looked up toward the ship again. The moment her act was dropped, her beauty and radiance reappeared, and Emily was distracted by it. How odd it was to see this girl switch from one extreme to the next so easily. Right now, she appeared fragile, weak, and in need of caring, her luscious lips and curves begging for attention. Yet her glare at Belen had said otherwise, that she was a warrior under it all. Was that common to all amazons? Emily hoped so. She wanted to be strong when she didn’t appear to be, too.
Although the night was calm, the wind blew against the docks, which were unprotected by the buildings of the city. With that constant wind came the slap of water against wood and the rustle of waves rising and falling. Emily’s footsteps were barely audible above all the noise made by nature. The sound was a comfort, though, because it would make it less likely for Adelpha’s crew to be detected.
The ship swayed a bit at the dock, and Emily saw two men standing outside the ship, guarding the ramp that led up to the top deck of the vessel. The men stood vigilantly in the darkness, shuffling back and forth on tired feet. They seemed to be taking a break from sitting, because just behind them were two more crates pulled up to be used as stools.
Heliena drew her bow and nocked an arrow. Emily didn’t hear anything, but she pictured at least nine other amazons doing the same all around them. Then Heliena lifted the bow up over her crate, and that’s when Emily saw the other bows peek around corners at every angle. Heliena took a breath, aimed, and then released, pushing out her breath along with the arrow.
Her string slapped the air, and a fraction later, nearly a dozen other slaps echoed it. The air was filled with dark shafts, and in the space of a heartbeat, both guards fell back, their faces and throats slurping blood in with the air.
Heliena leaped over her crate, drawing another arrow and nocking it to her string at the same time. Belen and the other amazons were a half pace behind her, springing out of the dark to rush the docks. Cover was forgotten, and nearly Emily, too, but she remembered her place and broke into a run to follow. Their stealth was forgotten now, and they clattered across the docks only as silently as their speed would allow.
Heliena reached the guards first, one of whom was still kicking and gripping his throat while spurts of blood poured from the four arrows piercing his throat and face. She never paused in stride, slinging her bow and drawing her knife before plunging the blade into his chest. A quick twist and the guard went still forever. She withdrew it and wiped the blade on the guard’s clothes before sheathing it just as the other amazons arrived.
“Iezabel,” Belen whispered.
Iezabel appeared from the ranks and nocked an arrow to her bow. She lifted it up and aimed at the mast of the ship. With careful skill, she released the string, and Emily watched the arrow strike the swaying mast solidly.
“Adelpha should see that,” Iezabel said.
“Wow,” Emily said, eyes wide. “Great shot.”
“Thank you,” Iezabel smiled, showing gums again.
Belen scowled at Emily and turned to the others.
“You two with me,” she said. “You three through that door there, the rest down into the hull. If you meet up with Adelpha’s group, assist them. You two stay up on deck and guard. As for you, Heliena, stay on the docks and look out for your baggage.”
She clarified her statement by pointing a finger at Emily, who balled her fists at the comment but kept quiet as the amazons sprinted up the ramp and onto the ship to go their separate ways. The amazons disappeared into the darkness, leaving only the creak of wood, the rustle of water, and the rush of wind.
“What do we do now?” Emily asked. “I thought we were looking for a trap.”
“Those guards didn’t look like they anticipated us,” Heliena kicked one of them. “Looks like there’s no trap to me. Belen must have snuck out for another reason.”
“Hey! Hey!” a muffled voice shouted from within the hull. “Sound the alarm! We’re being boarded.”
Emily and Heliena’s heads both snapped up to stare at the ship. The two amazons up top drew back-to-back and looked to either end of the ship. No one came running, though, and the voice didn’t shout again.
“What now?” Emily asked.
“They must have noticed my sister,” Heliena gritted her teeth. “That clumsy oaf, she’ll ruin everything! Come with me!”
Heliena sprinted up the ramp, and Emily followed. They darted past the two amazons, who balked at Emily but said nothing, and then down a flight of stairs into the ship’s hull. Emily’s feet pounded on the wooden steps, and by the time they reached the bottom, they were noticed.
When the amazons had first planned to invade this ship, they’d theorized what the layout would be. One of them had fathered a son by another samurai and provided the best guess. The ship would likely have cannons—small ones made to disable ships and fight off pirates and vikings on the high sea. They would be stowed below deck, along with most of the weapons and ammunition for the heavy cannons. This assumption proved correct.
As Emily and Heliena hit the lower deck, they saw three men. Two were dressed in linen pants like the dead guards outside, but one dressed in the strange gown-like clothing and wooden shoes of a samurai, though he was not Okamoto. Two were sitting on overturned buckets around a pile of cards, while one was leaning on a cannon, looking outside at a rope that led from the cannon to the water.
There was a brief pause that lasted only long enough for someone to make the first move. It was Heliena, and she drew up her bow and reached for an arrow. The samurai stood up and drew his sword, holding it in front of and across his body. The man next to him drew his own shortsword and, quite cowardly, took a few steps back to place himself behind the samurai. The other man, who had been leaning on the cannon, screamed as a hand from outside reached in, grabbed his collar, and then pulled him out through the porthole. Emily heard a splash, one last scream, and then the slice of knife of through flesh.
Adelpha’s head came into view. The samurai looked from Adelpha to Heliena to Emily, apparently astounded by what he saw. He looked at Adelpha, and Emily could tell he was contemplating killing her, but Heliena held steady. Then the samurai stepped back and lowered his sword, a sign of submission in Emily’s eyes.
Heliena released her arrow.
The shot went wide, just barely, and, at first, Emily thought Heliena had missed. Then she saw otherwise, or rather heard, as the arrow passed through the samurai’s gown and struck the leg of the man behind him. The injured one screamed, dropped his sword, and clutched the arrow that buried deeply into his leg. The samurai leapt back and raised his sword again, this time leveling it for combat as his face hardened. The guard behind him cried out again and turned to hobble down a set of stairs leading further into the bowels of the ship.
“Coward,” the samurai said over his shoulder.
“Is that Okamoto?” Heliena asked.
“No,” Emily replied lightning fast.
Heliena drew another arrow and went to nock it, but the samurai saw her, and as fast as Emily could blink, he had leapt across the deck and swung his sword sideways to cut Heliena down.
Emily had never seen anyone move so quickly. His entire body reacted like a gunslinger’s finger. Deathly still one moment and then blindingly fast the next—so incredibly unlike the knights she’d seen fight in Lucifan, w
ho’d swung heavy blades with arms weighed down by heavy armor. It was a wonder Heliena dodged the samurai’s swing at all, but she managed it by dropping the arrow she’d been trying to nock—a wise decision to remain alive rather than to remain armed.
However, her enemy was fast on her heels. The thin blade he carried was already poised for another strike, and Heliena’s back was against the wall. Emily pulled an arrow from her quiver too late, but another arrow came soaring through the air and struck the samurai right between the shoulder blades. He twisted, and the tip of his curved sword struck the wall before it struck Heliena. The victim became the attacker, and Heliena drew her knife and plunged it into the samurai’s gut. He collapsed to the wooden deck and shuddered his last breath. When Emily looked back, she saw that the shot had come from Adelpha. She’d finished climbing through the cannon porthole with just enough time left to save her sister’s life.
“Well done, little sister,” Adelpha said, still holding her bow high and at the ready, but then smirked. “You could have at least killed the other guard before he ran downstairs to warn the others.”
Adelpha’s first words held forced kindness; her second ones dripped with contempt. Emily’s skin prickled at the ice in the air.
“Sorry,” Heliena muttered, then added after a pause, “for saving your life.”
“And you brought Emily!” Adelpha finally realized. “No wonder you were just standing there. Fantastic! Damn it! Why do I issue orders if you won’t obey them, huh?”
Adelpha clenched her jaw and glared at Heliena, a stare Heliena returned briefly before she looked down at her sandaled feet. The other amazons were climbing in through the porthole, and Okamoto had yet to be found.
“Someone has to identify Okamoto,” Emily replied. “I’m here to help.”
“You’re here to get killed,” Adelpha said, stepping up and towering over Emily. “How can you identify Okamoto if you’re dead? Get off this ship before I throw you out the porthole, both of you.”
“I’m sorry, Adelpha,” Heliena said, teeth gritting. “I’ll take Emily back upstairs.”
Adelpha nodded, scowling with a hard gaze. She led the amazons after the escaped guard, while Heliena and Emily began to slowly climb the stairs with Emily leading the way. She kept her head lowered, ashamed at Adelpha’s reaction to her presence and also at her inability to save Heliena’s life. The samurai had moved so fast, and Emily had done nothing except stand there in shock. If it hadn’t been for Adelpha, Heliena would have been lying on the ground dead, and Emily would have been right beside her a moment later.
Adelpha and Chara had been right. This was no place for an inexperienced farmer’s daughter.
It wasn’t until she almost slipped on the top step that she realized that the color of the wooden deck was wrong—darker and reddish, even in the shadows—and it left a trail. Emily followed the trail with her eyes across the deck until they rested on the motionless bodies of the two amazons who were supposed to be on guard. Over them stood Okamoto Karaoshi, sword drawn and dripping blood over their corpses.
Chapter 22
Okamoto Karaoshi’s face and body stood calm, confident, and callous over the two dead women. Despite the blood that coated his sword and ran slowly in thick drops to create its own separate pool, he had managed to get none of it on his white robe. Somehow, he had not yet noticed Emily and bent down to wipe his sword clean on one of the amazons. Then, from the decks below, battle shouts erupted from Adelpha’s raiding party.
Okamoto looked up and saw Emily, locking gazes with her, and she could see the recognition in his dark, black eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Heliena asked from where she’d stopped behind Emily and was unable to see Okamoto.
“It’s him!” Emily yelled, louder than she’d meant to.
At her words, Okamoto leapt forward, sword raised. His movement made the previous samurai’s attack look like a behemoth’s. Emily had time for only one action; she dropped, preferring to take a beating from the stairs rather than risk the samurai’s sword. It turned out to be a good decision and, as Emily took Heliena down with her, Okamoto’s sword swept across the opening where Emily’s neck had been a moment earlier.
The swing was nothing more than a flash cutting the wind, and Emily realized that if she’d blinked, she would have missed the strike entirely. Then she and Heliena hit the wood and tumbled down the short staircase to the cannon deck. A few arrows scattered from their quivers, but they landed on none of them. Instead, Emily’s fall was broken by Heliena.
“What are you doing, you stupid girl!” Heliena screamed, and shoved Emily off of her.
Emily scrambled to her feet and stepped back from the stairs. She looked around the hull for a weapon, anything that she could use. Then she felt like an idiot and pulled out her bow.
The steps came alive with the loud clip-clop sound of the samurai’s odd wooden shoes as he bounded down the steps. Emily tried to pull out an arrow—thankfully, some were still left—and managed to grab only two this time instead of three. She quickly dropped the spare one and nocked her arrow. Okamoto landed on the final step and swung his sword up. He looked directly at Emily, and then he noticed Heliena.
She was right next to him, maybe two hand’s width away, and he paused for only a second in surprise. Heliena, though, her face burning with anger, wasted no such time. With eyes alight with fury, like none Emily had ever seen, Heliena drew her knife and lunged at him.
“Wait!” was all Emily could scream before what happened next.
In a terrifying display of skill, Okamoto deflected the knife with the flat of his blade and, in the same stroke, struck the pommel into Heliena’s forehead in retaliation. It was a direct hit with such speed that Heliena didn’t even have time to flinch. She took the full force and collapsed to the ground motionless, like the fragile thing she appeared to be, with the knife falling harmlessly out of her hand.
At first, Emily was stunned. Heliena, a girl the same age as her, had seemed invincible despite her meek nature. She’d helped kill two guards and another samurai just moments ago, yet now when her anger showed, she was brought down with one clean hit. Okamoto, on the other hand, remained calm and emotionless. His moment’s hesitation had disappeared, and he focused again. Carefully, he sidestepped Heliena’s unconscious body and took his first step towards Emily.
Fear flooded the shock from Emily instantly, and she pulled back into the starting position Chara had shown her. This samurai was no knight; he was fast and agile, but also unarmored. Emily didn’t hesitate to take advantage of Okamoto’s distance from her. She held the arrow level with her eye and pointed it squarely at his chest. He, in turn, took another step. He was not afraid, not yet.
Then Emily drew the arrow back even more, until her arm was shaking. Only then did he stop.
“Who hired you?” Emily demanded.
“I serve the shogun,” he replied, voice flat as water, “Ichiro Katsu.”
“I’m talking about the woman you escorted last night,” Emily said, arm shaking. “Tell me!”
Emily tried to make her words bite, but it was all she could do not to release the arrow she had strung. It wasn’t loosing the arrow she feared; it was the prospect of her likely miss and then immediate death at Okamoto’s hands. There was no way she could string another arrow before this samurai took the final step that was needed to strike her down.
Okamoto considered Emily’s question, and then tilted his head and flashed her the faintest of smiles. He found her amusing. He pities me, she realized.
“Who is the traitor in your ranks?” he clarified. “Why, it’s you.”
“Me?” Emily blinked. “Stop playing. Who is it? What’s her name?”
“Emily Stout,” Okamoto said.
“Stop lying!” she screamed.
Then Okamoto turned, slowly, and looked back at Heliena. Emily looked, too, and was shocked to see Heliena was awake, bow drawn, arrow nocked and aimed at the samurai.
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�We have you now!” Emily yelled. “Now tell us who the real—”
Heliena released her arrow. It flew through the air faster than Okamoto’s sword strike and hit him square in the chest. The force sent him sprawling back, tripping over a reel of rope, and crashing to the ground. He gripped the arrow with his free hand but kept a tight grip on his sword with the other. Emily could hear the sound of gasping, the sound of someone trying to breathe with a punctured heart. Okamoto let the arrow shaft go, his hand coming away bloody, and his stainless white gown began to redden around the wooden shaft. With both hands, he gripped his sword tightly. He yelped and gritted his teeth but, overall, made far less noise than Emily expected from someone with an arrow through his chest.
Okamoto reversed his sword and pushed the point into the wooden deck. With great effort, he tried to stand, but the task proved too difficult. He clattered to the ground, hands still on his sword, took a few short breaths, and pushed his sword down again, trying to lift his body once more. Emily was amazed and astounded at his will to survive and continue fighting. He would not lie down and die while he still had moments of life left. However, no amount of effort could deny that his life was fading fast and that each rapid breath came shorter than the last. He fell once more and, before he could attempt to stand again, released his final breath before going still forever.
He never let go of his sword.
“Why,” Emily mouthed, wide-eyed, loosening her bow and arrow. “Why did you kill him?”
She turned and saw Heliena rushing toward her, knife drawn.
“Heliena!” Emily yelled and put up her hands.
The amazon outmatched her and smacked Emily’s hands away before placing the knife to her throat. Emily backpedaled until she slammed up against the ship’s wall. With malice in her eyes, Heliena followed and kept the knife pressed tightly to Emily’s throat. There was so much hate—so much anger—in her eyes, that Emily sputtered before she spoke.
“What are you doing?” Emily said voice strained with the blade pressed against her throat. “Why are you doing this?”