by Travis Bughi
The rain is so nice that it cleans up its own mess, Emily huffed. This rain’s pleasantness was becoming so overbearing that it hinged on annoying.
“The one and only,” Lei replied, “and now you have me at a grave disadvantage, I’m afraid. We ninja are supposed to be the wealth of hidden knowledge on Juatwa, knowing things others should not, and yet you know my name, and I know nothing of you. You must understand, this is absurdly embarrassing. Were I capable, I’d blush like a maiden on her wedding night. I’d be most grateful if you could relieve my pain, good lady.”
He smiled, and Emily put her hands on her hips. One brushed against the empty sheath of her pesh-kabz, and she became painfully aware she was still unarmed. She glanced back toward the clearing—the view was less cluttered because the trees had been ripped out of the way—but could not get a clear enough view of the campsite.
“We did save your life,” Lei said when Emily didn’t answer. “Can I least know the name of the woman we saved? I’ll even say please, if I must, and you should know that it is a rare offer from one who commands ninjas.”
Emily realized she was being rude.
“Emily Stout,” she said. “Where’s Takeo?”
“My other scouts are escorting him to where we’ll meet.” Lei waved a hand west. “It lies just on the other side of the clearing, a short walk away. Would you feel more comfortable if he were here?”
“I’d feel more comfortable if I was armed.”
“Ah, yes,” he said with a grin. “The amazons are nothing if not warriors, right? I’ve never met one of your kind before, but I’ve heard the stories. I can’t wait to see you use a bow. We may have to exchange secrets, you and I. Your gear will be there; you have my word. I have to ask, though, are all amazons so tense?”
Emily’s lips parted as she realized she was, indeed, tense. She felt uncomfortable and exposed, surrounded by three strangers shrouded in both literal and figurative mystery. She made a conscious effort to relax. They weren’t here to kill her, though the death stares from the female ninja suggested otherwise.
“No, I’m sorry.” Emily apologized wholeheartedly this time. “I really am grateful to you all for saving me.”
She looked at the female ninja when she said this, but those brown eyes did not soften.
What did I do to anger her?
“Apology accepted,” Lei said, covering his mouth with the black cloth. “Now, come! I haven’t seen my friend in too long, and I can’t wait to hear his story and test his memory. Takeo always was a great storyteller, and I expect his death-defying tale to be one for the ages.”
Emily smirked. You should hear mine.
Chapter 14
They met up as promised. Takeo was waiting with one other ninja at the edge of the clearing with all their meager gear neatly collected. His shortened hair, falling down straight from the rain and dripping on his shoulders, framed his hardened face, more serious than Emily remembered it being before. However, clear as day, she saw his soul through those dark eyes. Tense and unnerved, he seemed barely restrained until Emily came into view. Takeo sighed in relief when he saw her, and Emily’s heart beat a pace faster as she dared to hope he cared for her as she did him.
He came forward but stopped an arm’s length from her, looking over her body and then to her eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, how about you?”
She bit her lip after the question. Of course he was fine! Now she just looked stupid.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Thanks for asking.”
“Takeo!” Lei called out.
Takeo’s eyes widened, and he looked over Emily’s shoulder to the ninja. His lips parted, and the smile on his face stayed put.
“You recognize my voice, don’t you?” Lei said. “Even after all these years?”
“I recognize that humorous tone, actually.”
“Well don’t just stand there, then!” The ninja laughed, throwing his arms wide. “Formalities are for royalty and samurai, not ninja and ronin, or have I judged that shortened hair wrong? Get over here!”
Lei reached up and unwrapped the cloth that shrouded his face, revealing the toothy grin and more. Emily saw a young, clean-shaven man with black hair cut so short that it didn’t touch his small ears. His pronounced widow’s peak and large forehead were distracting, and the ninja was a hairsbreadth taller than Takeo. Takeo’s face flashed with instant recognition, and he hesitated for only a moment before stepping forward to accept Lei’s hug. Lei patted the samurai on the back before pushing him away roughly and slamming his hands on Takeo’s shoulders like a viking.
“It’s so good to see you,” Lei said, a twinkle in his eyes. “I didn’t think I ever would. I had heard you were dead! I even said a prayer for your spirit, that you might finally find peace.”
Takeo laughed. “You always were thoughtful, but peace will have to wait. War is a vocation I can’t seem to escape so easily.”
“Well, believe it or not, I’m glad to hear it. You must tell me what happened!”
“I will, my friend, all in good time. First, though, congratulations are in order.”
Lei frowned deeply and furrowed his brows. He glanced at the fourth ninja, the one who’d escorted Takeo, but that one just gave a shrug.
“Lei,” Takeo carried on, “you did it. You became a ninja.”
Lei’s lips pursed as he resisted the urge to smile, but his effort was for naught. He broke into a triumphant grin, held his arms wide, showing off his black, tight-fitted clothing, and bowed low. Takeo nodded when his friend returned to full height.
“I always told you I was going to be a warrior like you,” Lei said. “Did I disappoint?”
“I don’t know,” Takeo replied. “I haven’t fought you yet.”
“Oh, you will see,” Lei promised, his grin turning wicked. “I’ll not boast, though. You will beat me. However, this time around, I think you’ll find I’m a tad more difficult to subdue. Not until we’re safe at home, though. This place is too exposed for such activities. That is what you wanted, right? To contact the ninjas through me? That’s what my scouts tell me.”
“Your scouts?” Takeo looked bewildered. “You’ve risen further than I thought. Looks like we both have stories to tell.”
“Then let us tell them! Come! We’ll talk as we travel.”
Through the rain and mud, Takeo and Lei told their stories. The ninja went first upon Takeo’s insistence.
Lei’s tale began when Takeo left the village to go to war when they were both fifteen years old. Lei was nothing but a common villager then, slaving away on his widower-of-a-father’s old farm and hunting kappa in the rivers. Without his samurai friend there to regale him with stories of adventure, Lei came to the decision that he would not retire to a life of mediocrity without first attempting to create his own stories. Since he lacked the birthright to be a samurai and the training to be a mercenary, he left everything behind to seek the nefarious ninjas of legend. It was the only path available to him, and he promised not to regret the decision.
However, once his food stores ran out, that promise became difficult to keep. Even Juatwa had a limit to its benevolence, as Lei soon discovered. He barely survived his first encounter with a gashadokuro, only doing so by falling into a valley and knocking himself unconscious on a rock. He was a tad bit luckier when he encountered a komainu pack. He had a reed with him and hid underwater, using the reed as a straw for air. He had to hide for nearly an hour in the water just to be sure, and that cost him precious time foraging for food. Fruit seemed plentiful enough, until it suddenly wasn’t, and he began to grow desperate.
The ninjas found him first, of course, and they had been watching him as he traversed the wild forest, trying to survive. Always on the lookout for new recruits, they finally decided to alleviate his suffering and take him in when he was seen stalking a komainu cub so quietly and carefully that his prey only escaped when the wind changed direction. Lei was giv
en training, assignments, and eventually command. This part of the story was glossed over rather quickly, Emily thought, but neither she nor Takeo protested. Lei ended his tale with a brag, saying that he had five ninjas under his direction, one of whom was a mutual friend.
When Lei said this, he pointed at the female ninja. The cloth guarding her face fell away to reveal a young girl, perhaps a year or so younger than Emily, with hair cut like Lei’s, so short that it didn’t touch her ears. When Takeo looked upon her, the ninja’s full lips pulled back into her first smile, but recognition did not come easily to him. He stared at her for a long moment, blinked, and then his eyes softened.
He smiled back. “Ehuang.”
“Takeo,” she said, nodding.
Emily noticed that Ehuang’s voice did not have the harsh, brash tone that had stained it when she’d spoken to Emily. It seemed that it truly was just the amazon she hated.
“I almost didn’t recognize you with your hair cut so short,” Takeo said. “It hung down to your back when last I’d saw. You were also much shorter then.”
He put out his hand to show her former height, and Ehuang laughed.
“I was a lot younger then,” she replied. “I’m still growing, actually.”
For a moment, Emily’s temper rose as she watched the casual exchange of words between Takeo and Ehuang. They spoke so plainly and freely to each other that Emily feared she’d lost Takeo before she’d had a chance to try for him. An image of the two as old lovers conjured itself in her mind, and a sense of loss weighed heavily in her heart.
Then a blessed thing occurred. Lei took a step closer to Ehuang, his body bumping against her as they walked, and placed a hand on the small of her back.
“She became a ninja, too.” Lei smiled proudly. “She followed me no more than a year later.”
A shine came to Takeo’s eyes, and Ehuang blushed before turning her head up to plant a small kiss on Lei’s cheek. Takeo slowly shook his head. Emily sighed in overwhelming relief.
“You two did it,” Takeo said. “I’m happy for you both. Your parents didn’t get to marry you to that daimyo’s son, huh?”
“Pssh!” Ehuang spat. “Did you forget how I would play samurai and oni with you two? I have better things to do than become some lord’s home keeper. Now, enough about us, really. I want to hear where you’ve been. I hear you went west. What is it like?”
And so Takeo began his tale. He started at when he’d left the village, glossed over the battles he’d been in, but explained in detail how his brother had died in Lucifan at Heliena’s hands. The ninjas were surprised to hear that it was Katsu’s own wife that killed the legendary samurai—they had heard he’d died dishonorably to an arrow in the back, but nothing else—but they kept what opinions they had to themselves. Takeo explained that he, himself, was betrayed next and sold into slavery in Savara.
Emily was about to interrupt Takeo, fearing he might share details about her, like how an angel had sacrificed himself for her, but when Takeo steered away from such truths, she kept quiet.
Takeo told the ninjas how they’d worked together to escape from slavery, rather than him freeing her, and that she’d chosen to accompany him. He left out Emily’s personal reasons for going after Heliena, how they’d met, and really anything to do with Emily at all. She was thankful for this, at first, until her mind inserted a vicious thought. Is he embarrassed about me? Maybe he doesn’t want them to know about me, as if I’m just a temporary ally. For a moment, Emily changed her mind and wanted Takeo to go into great length about her, but she shook that feeling free.
You want this, she reminded herself. Be thankful.
Throughout the long exchange of stories, which filled the time until they reached the ninja camp, neither of the other two ninjas spoke, not even to introduce themselves. Eyes occasionally glanced at the speakers, but they remained solemn and steady in their journey deeper into the forest. Their faceguards were never lowered, either, forcing Emily to distinguish them by size and eye color alone.
The biggest one had a lazy look in those gold-flecked eyes. Emily began to suspect the ninja was male, judging that his chest was too shallow for his size to be female. It was amazing how difficult it was to tell with their entire bodies so thoroughly covered. Emily wondered if they thought her odd the way so much of her skin was exposed due to her leather skirt and vest. If so, the big ninja did not show it. He never gave Emily anything more than an occasional glance, and even then, Emily was sure it was accidental. His shoulders were constantly bowed, as if they’d gotten stuck that way from perpetual slouching. He carried both reels of rope, each slung diagonally over either shoulder, but the extra weight didn’t seem to bother him at all. He never breathed hard, not for the entire day they spent traveling.
The other one was of average height and build. Tiny slivers of facial hair poked out from behind the face covering. It could have been the ninja was the first bearded female Emily had seen, but she wagered it was more likely the ninja was male. His eyes were a dull brown, like Ehuang’s, and gave nothing away. They were hard and yet glossed over, floating between uninterested and attentive like a shifting dune in Savara. They were the complete opposite of Takeo’s.
None of the ninjas let loose a grunt or huff of exerted effort nor a thud of fallen weight, including Ehuang and Lei, despite their chatter with Takeo. They defied the laws of nature. The mud never squished under their step or sucked as they pulled away. No puddles splashed, and no tree limbs creaked. It was impressive to watch, but even the watching became difficult because, in the darkness created by the clouds, the ninjas sometimes seemed to melt into the forest, and Emily would lose sight of them for a moment before finding them again.
Emily was also curious about their weapons. Each ninja carried a sheathed sword on their back. It was slender and slightly curved, like a katana but shorter. As the day drew to a close and the darkened sky grew darker, Emily decided to ask about the sword. They called it a wakizashi, and it was, quite literally, a shortened katana.
“Long swords are useful on the battlefield to reach an opponent before he can reach you,” Lei explained, “but in narrowed hallways and darkened alleys, the ninjas find smaller blades to be just as useful yet less cumbersome.”
“Is that the only weapon you carry?” she asked.
“Hardly! It’s just the only weapon you can see.”
Emily could have taken offense by the way he laughed at his own joke, but she was used to exposing her ignorance.
“What else do you have hidden, then?” she pressed.
He stopped to look back at her and released a clever grin. They’d reached the shadows of a large boulder wedged between two trees atop a shallow hill. He stepped around to the left side of the boulder and gestured for Emily to have a look.
“An entire clan, for one,” he replied, and disappeared around the corner.
Emily and Takeo followed, making the turn and coming into view of an entire village that they had never seen or heard coming.
The ninja camp was planted within a shallow yet wide indentation in the ground. It looked like the perfect site for a small lake or large pool, and the constant rain had caused several such shallow pools to form in long trenches along the edge of the camp. Offhand, Emily guessed there to be fifty people, in all, going about various tasks in the area. Some were training, either sparring against each other or throwing small objects at targets, while others were working, setting up new shelters against the rain, carrying buckets of water, cooking meat over tiny fires, or crafting any number of items: from clothing to weapons to tools. They worked in absolute silence in a way that made the place eerie with its lack of sound.
There were no actual buildings, from what Emily could see, only tents, both large and small, packed tightly together because the clearing was barely large enough to house all the inhabitants. The tents were crude, erected by poles shoved up into dark green canvases with hardly more than a single thin rope to tie them down. It looked like nothing m
ore than a quick kick would be needed to collapse even the largest one, which was only as big as Emily’s old room, by her guess. Some were so tiny that they were nothing more than raised covers for one to sleep under, and from more than a few, she saw bare feet sticking out to lie in the mud—their owners seemingly unconcerned.
As Emily and Takeo came into view, the residents gave each of them no more than a fleeting glance. Like the other two who’d yet to be named, the ninjas here did not seem to care much about the new arrivals. A vague memory surfaced in Emily’s mind of the elven village she’d visited in the Forest of Angor, of how the elves had avoided curiosity, as well.
“Go on, admit it,” Lei said, standing next to them and grinning. “You’re impressed.”
“I shouldn’t be,” Takeo replied, “but I am.”
Emily nodded as she took in the sights, her eyes drifting from one individual to another, lingering on them with a thirst for knowledge she’d never been able to slake. She was instantly curious about how they could all stay so silent, about how they could so easily hide an entire camp, and about all the unique weapons she saw. Broken up across the camp, ninjas in groups of two or three were practicing with all sorts of things she’d never before seen. Some were throwing palm-sized, star-shaped objects with the kind of speed and accuracy one expected of archery; another was swinging two small sticks attached by a chain at a whirling speed that left Emily’s eyes hazed; and yet another was spinning dagger-sized, three-pronged weapons that looked more like dinner utensils than anything else. Emily’s jaw fell open, unabashed, and Lei chuckled at her.
“I see you’re also impressed,” he said.
“Curious,” she replied, “but yes, also impressed.”
She gave him a smile and saw his chest swell with pride. He led the way into the camp and touched an arm to Takeo’s shoulder.