Daughter of the Sword

PRAISE FOR

DAUGHTER OF THE SWORD

“A noir modern Tokyo overwhelmed by the shadows of Japanese history…a compelling multifaceted vision of a remarkable culture, and a great page-turner.”

—Stephen Baxter, author of
Stone Spring

“A sharp and superb urban fantasy,
Daughter of the Sword
is the perfect melding of skillful prose, fascinating characters, and compelling story.”

—Diana Rowland, author of
Sins of the Demon

“
Daughter of the Sword
really captured my imagination. The interweaving of historical Japanese adventure and modern police procedural, Tokyo-style, caught me from two unexpected directions.”

—Jay Lake, author of
Green
and
Mainspring

DESTINY EMBODIED

Above the bed, on a black lacquered rack on the wall, was the sword.

He went to it, took it down from the wall, and handed it to her. It was surprisingly heavy, and much bigger than she’d expected. But then, she’d never held a real sword before. She’d seen them in museums and castle tours as a girl, of course, and in truth she’d always wanted to open the glass cases and pick them up. It was strange to hold one now, sort of a girlhood fantasy brought to life. A tiny part of her wondered what that meant about her. Saori’s girlhood fantasy was to have a pony.

“Unsheathe it,” Yamada said.

She obliged him, laying the polished, cord-bound scabbard on the mattress. The sword’s naked steel reflected everything in the room, distorting and stretching the images. Mariko could hardly imagine fighting with it, but as soon as that thought entered her mind, she immediately sensed how easy it would be to cut through bone and muscle with a blade this big. And of course the samurai that fought with such weapons were assuredly larger than Mariko’s fifty kilos and 165 centimeters. The sword might not have been all that big to them.

“Impressive,” she said, hefting it.

“It ought to be. It guides the forces of destiny.”

A moment passed before that sunk in. “The forces of destiny?”

“That’s right.”

“Sir, are you suggesting that this sword is magical?”

“That’s one word for it.”

Mariko returned it to its sheath. “And that’s why the thief came to steal your sword?”

“Why, of course.”

DAUGHTER

OF THE

SWORD

A NOVEL OF THE FATED BLADES

STEVE BEIN

A ROC BOOK

ROC

Published by New American Library, a division of

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

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First published by Roc,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, October 2012

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

Copyright © Steve Bein, 2012

Book Two was previously published in a slightly different version as “Beautiful Singer” in
L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future
, volume XIX (Galaxy Press, 2003;).

Quotes on page 276, 278, 279, 287, and 288 from Sun Tzu,
The Art of War
. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. London: Oxford University Press, 1963.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Bein, Steve.

Daughter of the sword: a novel of the fated blades/Steve Bein.

p. cm.

ISBN: 978-1-101-61542-3

1. Women detectives—Japan—Tokyo—Fiction. 2. Detective and mystery stories. I. Title.

PS3602.E385D38 2012

813’.6—dc23   2012002730

Printed in the United States of America

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

Table of Contents

Book One: Heisei Era, The Year 22 (2010 CE)

1

2

3

4

5

6

Book Two: Kamakura Era, The Year 124 (1308 CE)

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Book Three: Heisei Era, The Year 22 (2010 CE)

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

Book Four: Azuchi-Momoyama Era, The Year 20 (1587 CE)

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

Book Five: Heisei Era, The Year 22 (2010 CE)

40

41

42

43

44

45

Book Six: Azuchi-Momoyama Era, The Year 20 (1587 CE)

46

47

48

49

50

Book Seven: Heisei Era, The Year 22 (2010 CE)

51

52

53

54

Book Eight: Shōwa Era, The Year 17 (1942 CE)

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64