by Noah Ward
Kitsune immediately crashed to the ground and lay still.
Gin looked around the empty forest.
Did you do that, Gin?
He looked beyond Kitsune to where Shay was standing, her mouth agape.
“Was that you, Shay?” he shouted over to her.
She looked around and then shook her head.
Not fully convinced she was actually unconscious, he withdrew one of his kunai, ready to launch it at her to see if that garnered a response. However, before he could act, something rather peculiar occured.
Kitsune’s hair began to grey. What was once lustrous and dark brown, tinged with red, was now thinning, bereft of colour. The exposed and once taught skin of her arms and legs withered. Her frame thinned under her clothes.
“Shogens…” Gin muttered.
He slipped his kunai back into the holster across his waist and cautiously approached Kitsune. When standing above her, he nudged the girl with his foot to turn her on her back.
The breath caught in his throat.
She was...old. Hollow, lifeless eyes stared at him from a gaunt death mask. Then it struck him. She had not aged: Kitsune had...decomposed? But how? There was a deep wound in her chest that was rotten. That could not have possibly been it, though…
“Her brother had saved her life,” said Shay.
Gin jumped at seeing the girl.
“That was his power, I think,” she said. “They didn’t truly understand it either. He just said that as long as he lived, so did she.”
Gin’s eyes widened. “She did it,” he said with a grin.
“What’s going on?”
Now what was the plan?
He couldn’t run off with Shay. Kaz would find them. And there was that irritating sense of honour behind it all. With the way things had gone, he’d need her help. He could still spin this in his favour.
“What’s happening, Gin?” Shay said. The girl looked up at him hopefully, her eyes threatening tears. She spared a look for the decaying body of Kitsune, and Gin finally came to his senses.
He ushered Shay away from the corpse and knelt. “Listen to me, Shay. Kaz is here--”
“She’s here!” Shay gasped. A great weight seemed to shift off the girl’s shoulders.
“She fought...and killed Suzaku. She will be here with us soon.”
Shay frantically looked around. “Then what are we going to do?”
“Our plan has not changed, we’ll--”
Gin was flying through the air and whacked into a tree. Pain closed on his body like a cacoon. His head spun and he tried to catch his breath. Where was his blade? Who had attacked him?
Before he could make sense of anything, a hand enclosed around his throat. Behind the limb, Shay was collapsed on the snow. His stomach sank.
“It’s not going too well, is it, Gin?” said a woman’s voice.
His vision cleared. A woman had hoisted him off the ground. His world collapsed in on itself.
“...Mei?” he croaked.
She nodded. He convinced himself there was a hint of sadness in the eyes looking back at him.
“But...you...No, it can’t…” he floundered. None of this made any damn sense.
Were there actual tears trying to squirm past his eyes or was that the result of this woman half-choking him?
“I gave you a warning back in Akimaru, Gin, but I know you never listen,” she said.
Back in Akimaru? A warning?
The fight in the warehouse. It was a kamen. A kamen working for Saito. Mei?
“Stop this, Gin. If you go any further, you will die,” said Mei.
Her free hand held a small rag. Gin knew what it was.
“No. Don’t. Tell me. Tell me wh--” She pressed the rag to his mouth. Drowsiness came on in an instant. Gin exchanged a world of confusion for one of darkness.
◆◆◆
Dawn light irritated Gin’s eyes and forced them to open. A small fire burned. He was on a blanket. At the other side of the flame, a figure clad in black armour sat perched on a log with their head bowed. In his confusion, Gin believed Shizanagi had appeared to dispense justice on his soul. After a brief start, he regained his faculties and realised it was the ryojin Kaz.
With a groan, he pushed himself onto his arse and wiped his face.
The momentary bliss of disorientation faded all too quickly. He remembered what had transpired. His gut lurched.
“I think you should tell me what happened,” said Kaz. She looked up at him, and he could have sworn she had been sleeping.
Gin swallowed. The back of his nostrils still held the hazy memory of the pungent rag Mei had held over his mouth to knock him out. His anger and confusion was still raw, however.
Kaz rose from her seat and wandered over to him, holding out a gourd filled with water. “I found you unconscious with the corpse of a girl and no Shay in sight.” He reached for the drink, but she snatched it away. “You were supposed to be protecting her.”
“I tried--”
“I should have never let you go to her. You were no match against Suzaku, either.”
Gin clenched his fists and rose. “That girl just...died. I was about to take Shay to safety when--”
Kaz dumped the gourd in the snow. “I can hear an excuse coming.”
He loosed a guttural growl. “Someone...someone ambushed me. There was nothing I could do…Mei...” Gin was too furious at himself to pick up the drink. “You think I wanted her to get taken? I came all this way for the shogens sakes!”
“You thought you were free from danger,” she said. “I thought that went against your kamen code.”
“So you waited all this time just to berate me? Why not leave me and pursue her?”
Kaz sighed and sat back on the log. “Because I know I can’t reach her on my own. If I could, I would have left you dozing by that tree.”
Gin finally relented to his thirst and snatched up the gourd. “Then maybe it’s best not to lament the person you want help from, eh? Did Saito not teach you that?”
Kaz was out of her seat in a flash. Her blade cut the air in a whip of silver. Gin stared in shock and confusion for a moment before the gourd in his hand was decapitated, spilling water all over his hands.
Maybe don’t intimidate her, Gin.
“And I’d be equally careful of how you speak to me, kamen,” she said, fixing him with a stare colder than the snow surrounding them.
Now was not the time to bring her past allegiance with Saito into the mix. Despite the dubiousness surrounding its veracity, poking that bear was idiotic. Diplomacy was the better option.
Gin held up his wet palms. “You’re right. We need to find Saito and Shay--”
“I am only going so far as to find the girl,” said Kaz. “What you do with Saito and the rest of his sworn is beyond my caring.”
And Shay? He’d shelve that for later.
Gin nodded. “As you wish. Right now, we need--”
Kaz held out her hand to her left. Tied to the tree was one of Gin’s kevals and another one he did not recognise. “I let the others go free,” she said. “They’re no use to us and I’m not riding on a beast meant for a child.”
“I have something a little quicker in mind,” said Gin as he strode into the forest. “Follow me.”
53
Prints in the Snow
Shay was developing a bad habit of blacking out, or being captured. She hadn’t decided which was worse yet.
The world undulated around her and she opened her eyes to find she was on a keval, galloping across stark white plains. In the distance, jagged mountains rose into the clouds, with patchy forests at their base.
Someone had a hand wrapped around her chest, keeping her from being jettisoned from the saddle. Shay turned her head slightly to find a pale woman with raven hair down to her shoulders. She wore a thick white cloak and was quite striking for someone who had knocked her unconscious.
“I expect this is becoming the norm for you, Shay,” said
the woman. She spared a glance for the girl as the keval ate up ground.
Shay wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question.
“I am one of your father’s friends,” continued the woman.
“The kamen,” said Shay.
“Once. Now I’m simply Mei.”
Shay pulled her cloak as tight as she could given the arm wrapped around her. When Mei noticed, she allowed the girl to better cover herself.
“If you are friends with my father, then why did you not help them?” asked Shay, only then recalling Suzaku and Kitsune showed open animosity towards her.
“My mission is to make sure you reach your father--just like the two of them. However, I arrived too late to act. And, to be honest, I didn’t expect Suzaku to fall to one warrior. I know they may not be fond of me, but it is only because your father trusts in my skills despite being with him for a few summers.”
The keval approached the beginnings of a copse of trees, where Mei banked to the left and guided the beast around its outskirts.
Kaz...She was there. Shay entertained the thought of hopping off the keval, but she’d have an easier chance trying to convince this woman to let her go back for the ryojin. After all that happened, she’d just about given up.
Might as well make the most of it, Shay. If you’re going to meet your father, then the sooner the better for Kaz’s and Gin’s sakes.
“You...didn’t recognise the warrior?” Shay said.
Mei raised an eyebrow. “No. Should I have?”
Then a vague memory struck her, just before she’d lost consciousness from a strange scent…
“You know Gin, though?”
Mei’s lips drew into a tight line. “A long time ago.”
“Do you think my father will want him dead? The woman too?”
“Gin--the kamen--was warned to stay away.” Mei tilted Shay’s chin to look at her. “And that is what you will tell your father, do you understand?”
Who was this woman to ask a favour of her after so little time? Granted, she was taking her to her father, but something was amiss. She had been a friend of his, and the others did want him dead, so perhaps they were both doing each other a kindness.
“If it keeps him safe,” Shay said.
“Thank you. But, the woman…”
Shay gulped.
“Hanza, Suzaku, and Kuma have died by her hand. These people were not just comrades, they were friends. Well, not Kuma, but the other two. And I don’t know if he can forgive something like that so easily. If I were that ryojin, I’d be staying as far away from you and Saito as possible.”
That didn’t sound good. But it wouldn’t stop Shay from trying to reason with her father.
“You’re taking me to Daikameda.” said Shay. She pointed towards a maw-like protrusion in the mountain and thought of the map Gin had possessed.
“I am. You’re father should already be there.”
“He’s gone for the ur-krystallis.”
Mei frowned at her. “And just how do you know that?”
Shay gulped. If she said that Gin had figured it out, then it might give them all the more reason to kill him.
“I’d heard in the war that they had thought krystallis was there but never found it,” she quickly clarified.
“Well, they didn’t look hard enough,” said Mei as they tore towards their destination. By Shay’s reckoning, they would reach the temple as night fell.
◆◆◆
Kaz slapped herself across the cheek to alleviate some of the pain from her back and side. The chill did what it could, but it was not enough, and she had not been able to apply any salve to her wounds to give her a much needed boost. She had more important matters.
Her and Gin had been travelling since daybreak. It was not difficult to pick up the trail of the lone keval that had broken through the forest and onto the wide, empty plains. By her reckoning, the kidnapper and Shay had a several hour head start. Kaz harboured no illusions that the two of them would reach the temple ahead of them, so a discussion would need to happen about what insane plan they intended to enact.
The thought of not reaching Shay beforehand churned her stomach. Despite wanting nothing to do with Saito, every move had taken her further towards him. She could not surmount the thoughts of confronting him and Asami, so instead pushed it out of her mind.
The pain was helping capitalise on intrusive thoughts, so much so it dislodged her from the stalker’s platform and sent her crashing to the ground close to a nearby copse of trees.
Her face struck the snow and she rolled several times before righting herself and standing. Gin yanked a level on his stalker to bring the mechanical legs to a stop. Thankfully, without a ride on it, Kaz’s stalker had ground to a haly. He grimaced and grabbed his ribs, something clearly wrong with him, too.
“What’s wrong?” he said, skidding to her side and then crouching.
“I’m fine,” Kaz replied and batted his proffered hand away.
“We’re both not fine,” he said. “I haven’t had time to wrap my damn ribs after that man was done with me and I’m guessing you took a few hits, as well.”
She couldn’t stop. Her mind still entertained the fact she could reach Shay before Saito had her.
“She’s gone but not lost,” said Gin. “If we try to get her back like this then both of us will die. You know what they’re capable of.”
“Shit…” she muttered.
“What?”
Kaz rose to her feet. “You’re right…” She wasn’t healing as quickly as she liked. Weakness was seeping into her. She was useless.
“I have some supplies in my pack.” He tapped her on the shoulder. “Come one. We might as well take shelter and eat while we can before moving on.”
Kaz obeyed numbly and led her keval a short ways into the trees where she secured it to a sturdy branch. Meanwhile, Gin was already crushing some herbs together and mixing ointments into a small metal cup.
“There are bandages in one of the saddlebags,” he said, busy playing the herbalist. “Get them.”
She rifled through the pack attached liberated from her old keval and took out a white roll of clean cloth. By the time she had wandered back over to him, he handed her the cup.
“Forgive me but I’d like to take care of myself before playing the doctor,” he said. Gin removed the thick cloak he had originally left with his keval, then slipped out of his thin yet armoured dark blue robes. Steam rose off his torso, which was athletic and sported more than a few scars. Suzaku had claimed a clean hit on the man’s ribs, but nothing appeared broken; a large bruise cascaded up his right side.
Gin dipped his fingers in the cup and began smearing the mixture across his flank, wincing a little as he applied it.
“Would you?” he said, motioning to the cloth.
Kaz began wrapping his side. “So,” she began, finding herself feeling rather awkward, “you know the one who took Shay?”
Gin’s arms fell a little and he grimaced before looking away. “What gave you that idea?”
“You knew her name.” Kaz nicked the cloth with her shorter wakizashi and then tied the binding into a knot. “I don’t ask to pry. I want to know what I am getting into. If you have some connection to her, it may prove difficult when you have to kill--”
“Has it ever stopped you?” he countered as he suited up. Kaz’s eyes narrowed at him. “Sorry...You’re right. It’s just…”
The kamen was being reactionary. Emotions drove his words. Whoever this woman was or had been, it went deeper than a face he recalled.
“I’ll...I’ll tell you what you need to know.” Gin pointed at her chest. A jolt of fear went through her. It soon passed when she realised he was indicating her wounds. “There’s nothing to be squeamish about. Not like I was using this opportunity to get a look at you. I could’ve snuck in during your baths if I cared that much.”
Kaz rolled her eyes.
Gin chuckled. “Just trying to allay your nerves.”
>
“Far be it from me to question your honour. Get on with it.” Kaz turned her back to him. “My back and side.” She hoisted her robes and light armour over her head, keeping her chest covered. The chill bit at her exposed, sweating flesh, and she wished they were somewhere warmer.
Gin grumbled. “You should have seen to this right after your fight.”
“I was a little busy taking care of an unconscious kamen.”
“How inconsiderate of him…” Gin emptied some water from a gourd on a piece of cloth and started wiping away the dried blood from where Suzaku’s weapon had bitten into her flesh. “I’d expected worse for damage so fresh…”
“I heal quickly,” she said, and left it at that. “Tell me about the woman.”
He sighed, breath warm on her back. “Mei was a kamen. From my clan. Don’t bother asking me which. I knew her for summers--since we were children. Let’s say that we considered ourselves as outcasts from the others.” Gin began applying the salve around the tender and bloody pits in her skin. “We trained together, snuck off--acted like children. Anyway, time passes, kamen very rarely work together, aside from large-scale missions, which meant I did not see her for some time.” When he had covered her back and side, he dropped the cup to the snow and began unfurling a length of bandaging. “One day, I heard that she had been killed, along with several others, around the capital. That was summers ago. I’d never thought that she would…”
“Defect,” Kaz provided.
“If that’s what really happened.” He handed her a length of bandaging so that she could wrap her midriff.
“You don’t sound convinced.” Kaz held her armour and robes in one hand and fed the bandage around her front to Gin’s awaiting hand.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to believe. If she is now my enemy...which is how it looks, then I have my orders. But…”
“You want to know why.”
“Yes…”