Nightblade (46 page)

Ryuu noticed that at that very moment there was no one looking at the path between him and Takako. Only Orochi was in the way. Ryuu didn’t hesitate, didn’t even give himself time to think about it. He darted forward, every step as silent as the grave he planned to send Orochi to.

He found the door to the building without difficulty and slid it open, revealing a long hallway with rooms off to the side. But his attention was grabbed immediately by the figure sitting cross-legged against the wall at the end of the hallway.

It was Orochi, every bit as big and strong as Ryuu remembered him. His heart quickened, and he grabbed his sword, but had enough control to not draw.

Orochi looked up with a curious expression. If Ryuu hadn’t known, he would have guessed he was being studied. Orochi’s gaze lingered on him for what felt like an eternity. He did not move or even flinch at Ryuu’s presence. The man was as cool as anyone Ryuu had ever met.

Orochi broke the silence. “She trained you in my techniques.”

Ryuu was caught off guard. He had expected anger, some form of evil, something dark. Instead, he felt a calm sense of strength and purpose. Of honor, even. It deflated all the anger he had brought into the hall. He shifted his stance into one less aggressive. He nodded.

“You are an apt pupil. You haven’t had long to study, but even I wasn’t sure until you stepped through the door.”

Ryuu didn’t know what to do. Here Orochi was complimenting his study skills, which was just about the last event he had expected to happen upon encountering Orochi for the last time.

“Did Shigeru talk about the techniques he had never mastered?”

Ryuu was shaken. The mention of Shigeru’s name almost caused him to draw his sword, but he restrained himself. His anger was overridden by his curiousness, but not by much.

“A little.”

“How did you learn them?”

“I haven’t.”

Ryuu realized it was silly to be having this conversation, admitting there were skills he didn’t possess. It was as if he and Orochi were solving a puzzle together.

Orochi nodded as if Ryuu had confirmed something he had long ago known. “I had wondered if that may be the case.” He patted his chest. “Underneath my tunic, I have a letter for you. I wrote it. It gives directions to the island where Shigeru and I grew up. They would be very interested in meeting you if you survive the day. As a hidden refuge, it is hard to find, but I expect you’ll manage. Do not trust them, but they may be able to offer you some guidance. I suspect their aims are different than your own, but they may help you harness your strength. If I’m right you have more raw talent than anyone currently alive.”

With that Orochi stood up. Apparently the conversation wasn’t going to last all night. Ryuu tensed and dropped into his stance. Orochi let out the hint of a grin. “Not now. I will wait here. You should say good-bye to the girl.”

Ryuu was shaken to his core. Here was the enemy he had driven himself to hate the past few moons freely offering what he most wanted.

Like Shigeru, it seemed like Orochi could read his thoughts.

“Did Shigeru tell you about me?”

Ryuu nodded, unable to form the words to converse.

“Killing him was personal. I am sorry for your loss, but I am not sorry I killed him. He had taken that which I loved.”

Ryuu found his voice. “He would have said the same about you.”

Orochi nodded. “I don’t know if he would have been wrong in saying so. I was young and headstrong, but she didn’t deserve what happened. She didn’t need to save me. Anyway, as I said, it was personal. If I had not given my word, I would leave you in peace. If you are what I think you are, it will be a very interesting fight. I can’t break my word to Akira. I made the same deal with the girl, but I want you to know it would have been clean. Not like this. That,” he gestured in the direction of the door, “is an abomination. It is not the mark of a warrior, and for that you have my sympathy. I would have struck him down myself.”

Ryuu understood what Orochi left unspoken. He was bound by honor. Ryuu found the name he had been missing. General Nori. He had been the father of the scum Ryuu had killed in the camp. This was personal for everyone. He was the strong swordsman Ryuu had sensed on the way in.

Ryuu found he trusted Orochi. He walked up to him and moved past him, completely open. Orochi did not attack and muttered another apology as Ryuu walked past. He stepped into the room and fell to his knees at the sight that greeted him.

Ryuu had slain before. It had been a gut-churning experience, but it had been necessary and defensible. He could never imagine doing something like this, something so grotesque.

Takako was on the table tied by each wrist and ankle, but she was almost unidentifiable. The calculating portion of Ryuu’s brain took over to compensate for what he was seeing, trying to catalog the injuries. Broken fingers and toes. Fingernails pulled. Skin flayed from all of her sensitive areas. Burn marks. The thick bones in her legs were broken as were some of her ribs. She was covered in blood, and Ryuu had to suspect she had been raped as well. She was breathing, but barely.

It finally dawned on him that he was too late. He had always been too late. She was dead right now, her body just hadn’t figured it out yet. Even if he did manage to kill everyone here and carry her out, her body was in no condition to move anywhere. She would breathe her last before he could pass the walls of the fort.

He should be angry, but he didn’t have the strength anymore. It was unbearable. The world continued to conspire against him, to take away everything good he had encountered in his life. His parents, Shigeru, Takako, all of them shared the distinction of dying in front of him as he watched helplessly. All his power, all his strength, was nothing but the greatest joke the Great Cycle could play on him.

The tears streamed freely from his face, and his body was wracked by sobs. He knew Orochi could sense him, and he felt the corresponding sorrow in Orochi’s aura. It was comforting, but not enough. It would never be enough.

He almost didn’t hear her over the sounds of his sobs.

“What are you crying for?”

Despite himself, he laughed as he cried. He could feel her spirit had been broken as well as her body, but he appreciated the effort.

Ryuu crawled over to her, unable to summon the strength to stand. His robes picked up Takako’s blood on the floor, but he didn’t care, didn’t even notice. He knelt at the table and made a move to comfort her, but couldn’t find a spot he could touch without causing her more pain. He laid his head down next to hers and let himself cry.

The two of them laid there, silent except for the sounds of Ryuu’s sobs and Takako struggling for breath. Outside, Ryuu could sense Moriko had begun her attack on the other side of the compound. Men were dying, and the other strong presence, Nori, was rushing headlong to attack her.

The action calmed Ryuu’s mind as he focused on action he could not see. Moriko would be able to hold out for a while, but not for too long. He knew she was trying to give him time, not knowing he was safe for now. Their plan had gone to hell. He was supposed to be fighting Orochi, not crying in the middle of a fort.

Outside of blood, the room was bare. Every time he glanced back at Takako, his mind reminded him of the truth, even if his heart couldn’t accept it. Takako would never leave this room alive. The thought brought him right back to the edge as red swam in his vision.

“Takako, I’m so sorry, so sorry for everything.”

Takako managed to open her eyes and look at him. Her mouth moved slightly, trying to form the words, but as she did she coughed up a thin stream of blood. Her lips moved, but Ryuu couldn’t make out the words. He wasn’t sure she was even making the words she was trying to.

Ryuu leaned close. “Takako, I love you. I love you so much, and I’m so sorry for everything. I only wanted you to be happy.”

Takako smiled, an effort that seemed to take all of her energy.

So he had come after all. Takako wasn’t surprised. He was that kind of man. He would never give up, always try to make things right.

He didn’t touch her, and for that, Takako was grateful. Everything hurt. If he tried anything, she would give up completely. She was ready and blackness was already beginning to cloud the edges of her vision. She didn’t want to die, but she was ready. She would get to see her family again. She tried to tell him it was okay. She forgave him. She cared for him and was fine, but she couldn’t hear her own voice. Hopefully he’d heard her.

Through the cloud of her thoughts and the pain, she heard his voice again. Claiming he loved her. Saying he was sorry, over and over again.

And then she couldn’t focus on his voice anymore. She could hear him talking, like the buzzing of a fly around her ear, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. The pain had gone away as well. That was nice.

She realized then, at the end of all things, that she was content. Her time with Ryuu hadn’t been wasted. She hoped he would realize that. She smiled then and gave up the fight. Darkness rushed in on her vision, and in the very last moment before the end, she felt the presence of all life surrounding her, embracing her.

And then she joined the Great Cycle.

He wanted one last word, something he could remember her by. Some aspect of forgiveness, some sense of closure. But as she smiled, he knew it was over, that her smile was her goodbye.

And then he felt her energy leave her, and he was no longer looking at Takako, but the shell of the body that once held her. He collapsed into her, ready now to touch her, to try to comfort her. His tears mixed with her blood as he lay there against the table, unable to move, unable to forgive himself for the pain he had brought into the world.

Moriko sneaked inside the camp before she was noticed. The sentries had been professional, but there were always gaps and it had been a simple, if physically challenging, job to enter the premises. Their plan had been for Ryuu to be the distraction, to draw the attention of the guards and warriors.

When she made it into the camp, she waited for a moment and let her sense expand. What she sensed made her doubt all her abilities. The camp itself was awake and alive as they had expected, but she swore she felt Ryuu and Orochi, talking. Everything else in the camp was as she had expected.

Moriko focused her sense on a guard she could see. Everything about him felt right. She returned her focus to the center of the camp where Orochi and Ryuu were, and the two of them were still not fighting. Despite herself, she believed it. Perhaps they would all live through the night.

She settled back in the shadows. There was no reason for her to announce herself if there was no need. She would sit and wait and see how the situation developed. She kept her sense focused on Ryuu as he walked past Orochi. When he reached the room with Takako, Moriko wasn’t prepared for the wave of anger and despair she felt from him. It almost knocked her senseless.

Her curiosity wanted to see what he saw, to know what could generate such feelings. But she knew better. She knew Takako had been broken by her experiences here. Maybe as a rape victim. Whatever the reason, she felt like she had seen enough and more pain would be unnecessary.

She sat confused as Ryuu refused to move and Orochi patiently waited for him. She had never felt Ryuu so inactive before. Moriko shifted her attention from him to Takako and she understood everything. Takako was in incredible pain and was dying. It had been torture then.

Moriko’s own experiences flashed through her mind. Being beaten and stabbed by the Abbot, tied to his floor. Takako had suffered through worse torments during her one day here. And she was innocent, having done nothing more than be loved by a nightblade. Hardly worthy of the pain and suffering she had undergone. It had cost her her life, and unlike Moriko, Ryuu had not come along in time to save her.

Moriko’s anger took hold of her then, a fiery grip that squeezed all the rage out of her. She was stronger than those who were here, and it was time to let them know the nightblades were not dead and would not be hunted like this. Her hot fury froze as cold determination, and she used her sense one last time to get the lay of the place.

She took just a moment and waited for a roving patrol to come too close to her hiding spot. She slid out as they walked by, and with two quick, clean cuts, she severed the life from their bodies. They didn’t even know death was coming until it embraced them, a stranger reaching out from the shadows.

Moriko gave the guards a small amount of credit. Even if she had hoped to, she wouldn’t have been able to return to her hiding space. The alarm was raised in an instant, and she could feel the entire attention of the outpost being turned in her direction. She felt even Orochi’s sense as he noted her presence. Her greatest satisfaction was the small sense of surprise she felt from him. He hadn’t been able to detect her, not even this close.

All thoughts flew through her mind and left without the slightest disturbance. She let them go as she fell into her favorite stance and focused on the present. She kept moving, both to avoid archers and to prevent the guards from trying to box her in. She focused on another pair of soldiers leapt towards them.

The guards may have been prepared, but fear still emanated off them like a stink. Their defense was slow, unfocused, and Moriko moved through them as easily as she would pass between two trees. They fell behind her, but Moriko was already moving on to the next pair.

When Takako died, even Moriko, in the midst of combat, felt it. It felt like a flickering but bright candle had just gone out. The darkness flooded the edges of her vision, and the distraction was almost fatal. Moriko deflected the cut just in time and grimaced as she took stock of her situation. More and more soldiers were converging on her location, and within moments she would no longer be able to pick them off one at a time.