Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2) (18 page)

“You worked in old Yori’s shed?”

Shiro nodded.

“Come with me, please,” the woman said. Shiro didn’t like her unfriendly tone. She walked towards the witches’ cottage and then stopped.

“I’d like to know why a sorcerer is working for my neighbor.”

Shiro pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes as he tried to think of what to say. “I’m on my way to the east and decided to stop in the village for a week or so to rest a bit.”

“Did you pass through Sekkoro?”

“I came through there.”

“I knew some ladies that were visiting the city.”

Shiro broke into a sweat. “And?”

“They burned to death in the dungeons. Does the term White Rose mean anything to you?”

“It does,” Shiro said. “I had a friend that also burned in the dungeon.”

“Her name?”

“Shiuki. She owned the White Chrysanthemum in Rumoto.” He looked at the woman, wondering where this conversation headed.

Her visage softened. “Come in and have some tea. I’d like to introduce you to my sisters.”

Shiro rubbed his lips together. What did he have to lose, other than being burned to a crisp on the spot? Chika could do that to him at any time, but perhaps these ladies might help him get her back on his side. “I’d like that.”

The woman made introductions. “Miroshi, Mako, Ishura and I’m Gorisha.” They all looked tense.

“Shiro of Koriaki?”

One of the women whistled. “You are far from home, young man. Koriaki is on the North Isle, isn’t it?” She looked as if she were nineteen. They all must have worn disguises. He changed from Kinoru to his own form. “I know how to shield myself and disguise myself. Shiuki and another taught me these spells.”

The women relaxed and turned into a gaggle of old ladies.

“I hope you don’t mind talking to a bunch of old crones,” Gorisha said. “I thought you might be the one we’ve heard about.”

An alarm went off in Shiro’s mind like a blast of horns. “I’ve taken pains to remain anonymous.”

“We have our sources, but don’t worry. Two sorcerers saved Ashiyo from the Guild in Sekkoro. There were rumors that they all died in the castle fire, but those were rumors.”

“Let’s have them remain as rumors. Shiuki’s husband is in this very village with me.”

“And the other sorcerer?”

“She’s employed in the village as well,” Shiro said. He hated to give this information to strangers, but if they were to trust him, he’d have to reveal who they were and if Chika refused to carry on, he’d need new allies. Shiro didn’t want it to come to that.

“Daiki’s new cook?”

Shiro nodded.

“A woman? She must be powerful from what we heard.”

“More so than Himura.”

“Ah, you know his name. You speak the truth,” the woman said.

“Do you know him?” Shiro asked.

“I do,” Ishura said. “You must come here for your evening meal.”

“We will,” Shiro said. “I have things to discuss.” He rose. “I must give Yori an honest day’s work. If you will excuse me.” Shiro bowed.

“You have plans?”

“I do and I would like your opinion of them,” Shiro said. “Tonight.”

“After twilight has just passed,” Gorisha said.

~~~~

Chapter Twenty-Five

~

H
imura looked at the shovel.
“What have you done? Iron will crystallize if you hammer it too hard. Your magic has done the same. That is a handsome edge, but notice where even that has chipped off? All that can be done is melt it down and hammer out a new one.”

“Can you do that?” Shiro said.

His friend glared at him. “The smith has enough work to keep me busy for a month. He makes his money shodding wheels with iron. I’m doing horseshoes and straightening out cheap knives.”

“Then I’ll have to pay for it.”

“I’ll do it, but at the cost of your lesson time. What else happened today?”

“I met four women of the White Rose society. They have a cottage that overlooks Yori’s property. We’re eating our evening meal there tonight.”

“Can we trust them?”

“Yes. I’m sure of it,” Shiro said. “We can tell Chika about them after she comes home.”

“You can. I haven’t worked so hard in years. I suspect I’ll be fast asleep as soon as I lie down.”

After a few lessons on spells, the pair of them walked in the twilight to the witches’ cottage.

“Ashiyo!” Mako said.

Himura removed his disguise.

“You are Himura,” Ishura said throwing her arms around him.

“I am indeed and you are?” He disengaged and backed away.

“You don’t know me?”

“Should I?” Himura began to sweat.

Why did he look uncomfortable? Shiro thought. He even backed away from the woman.

“You don’t know your own sister?”

“Ishura?”

She stepped away and folded her arms. “This is Ashiyo, not Himura.”

Mako squinted at Himura. “Speak.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Ashiyo’s voice, definitely.”

Voices!  Shiro realized that voices were never disguised. Now that he thought about it, Chika did disguise her voice. Shiro had been using his own in each of his disguises. He wondered how often Chika laughed about it behind his back. He chuckled.

“What’s funny?” Ashiyo/Himura said.

“Nothing. Ishura, what profession was your father?”

“He was a baker.”

“And Ashiyo’s?”

“The best blacksmith of any around Rumoto. He won all of the competitions.”

“You are Ashiyo, then,” Shiro said.

“Caught in my own web of deceit,” Ashiyo said, frowning.

“Then what about Himura?”

“He died. I was attracted to Shiuki as much as he was; yet he won the race to her heart. When he died suddenly, I took his identity when I could around Shiuki. She never knew.”

“She’d know,” Ishura said. “She probably loved both of you and let you continue your deception.”

“Does it matter?” Ashiyo’s eyes began to redden. “I loved her as much as her husband did and grieved for her death as much as he would.”

Shiro thought back to when he met him. “What about the marble? If you reached sorcerer level, why did the marble show so weakly?”

“Do you have it on you?”

Shiro pulled out his coin pouch and pulled it out.

“Piki, Paki, Poki!” The ball glowed faintly in Ashiyo’s hand. “Now watch.” The glow grew until a radiant red flower showed within. “I can adjust my magical shield.” He shrugged. “It’s easy enough to do.”

“After my incarceration, the Guild seized all of my belongings. I thought it easier not to fake my identity.”

Shiro blinked as the shock of the revelation still roiled in his mind. No one had played him straight. Now he didn’t know what to believe.

“Dinner, my friends,” Gorisha said. “We can talk about this astounding revelation while we eat.

“Great! I’m famished,” Ashiyo said. He had never let go of his Himura disguise. Shiro looked askance at him. “Himura was better looking.” All of the ladies laughed.

Ishura took a sip of tea. “It’s all right. I already thought my brother to be dead, so I only had an instant of…” her eyes watered, “of reunion. I don’t mind that you use his guise at all, Ashiyo. Himura was a handsome man.” She said it with a wistful eye.

“If it bother’s you, let me know,” Ashiyo said. “I last saw you when you were but twelve?”

Ishura giggled nervously. “If that.”

“Well, that’s interesting. Perhaps you two might carry on your reunion in private,” Gorisha said. “Now, Shiro, why are you in our little village?”

“We are passing through, but one of our number needed some time to herself.”

“The woman?”

Shiro nodded. “She also cooked in Shiuki’s establishment. She now cooks at the village inn. We, uh, had a discussion that made her uncomfortable and she is deciding if she wants to continue with Ashiyo,” Shiro looked at his companion now talking with Ishura. The woman giggled again, less nervously. “Uh, with Ashiyo and me. We are concerned about Lord Sekkoro’s interrupted program to eliminate the White Rose Society.”

The women gasped, except for Ishura, who looked up to see what alarmed her sisters. “Elimination. They were to come this way?” Gorisha said.

Shiro nodded. “If the lord hadn’t died, we would have been through here days ago, telling you to flee. Yori called you witches. That would be enough for the lord’s soldiers to eliminate you.” He didn’t want to scare them over dinner, but Shiro had to tell them.

“That is very disturbing news.” Gorisha pulled out a fan and began to wave it in front of her face. “What did you intend?”

He scratched his head and tried to frame his thoughts. “I’m proposing that exposed White Rose members come with me to North Isle. I know of a valley that we might be able to relocate to. It has an outcropping where the nexus comes to the surface. The lord of the prefecture, where I used to live, is rather tolerant about magic and I think that living on the South Isle might become too dangerous for your group.”

Mako turned red. “Who are you to come in here and tell us what we have to do!  We’ve lived in peace for many years. I, for one, am not willing to pick up and leave our cottage.”

Gorisha gave her friend a worried look. “Regardless of what Mako says, I’ve been anxious about this happening for some time. When I heard of the White Rose members being taken in the west, I felt it only a matter of time before the same thing happened here. The lords of the east are no friends to women with power, especially Lord Udishi, horrible man that he is.”

Chika’s absence seemed fortuitous. He didn’t know how she’d react to Gorisha’s statement about her father. If they joined in the group, Shiro would have to let the women know that Chika was Udishi’s daughter.

“Count me in,” Gorisha said. “Mako, if you wish to stay here, I won’t blame you. I wish life could always remain blissful.”

“I’ll join up,” Ishura said. Shiro didn’t even know when Ashiyo and she had stopped talking and began to listen.

Miroshi just nodded her agreement. He counted her as the shy one of the group since she hadn’t said anything.

“I’m not sure what we will do. We can’t gather as a traveling group,” Gorisha said.

“Why don’t you and Ashiyo transport to the north and make a few arrangements. If we travel by twos or threes, we should be able to make it,” Miroshi said.

Gorisha nodded in acquiescence. So Miroshi led the group and not Gorisha. Shiro would have never guessed until the group made the decision.

“Himura didn’t have the power to transport,” Shiro said, looking over at his friend.

“He didn’t, did he?” Ashiyo smiled. “Ashiyo can and I think the Lady Miroshi has a wonderful idea.”

Shiro cleared his throat. “But I don’t know how.” He didn’t want to admit his lack among these people, but he didn’t want to disappoint them. Perhaps Ashiyo could do it himself.

“Ten minutes worth of instruction Shiro. You are more than powerful enough. Do you remember where we need to go?”

Shiro nodded. He knew exactly where the nexus lay and the inn owned by the old woman. Perhaps he could get things started by knowing how much money they would have to raise to buy the nexus valley or one close to it. “We’ll go midday tomorrow. If you could think of any good approaches to collect the Society members who wish to relocate, I would appreciate it.”

Miroshi pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “I think we can come up with something, young man.” Her gaze drifted to Ashiyo. “You might think about how we might stymie the Guild.”

“Certainly,” Ashiyo said, bowing to Miroshi.

“Now that our business is concluded for this night, I suggest we turn our thoughts elsewhere until we have more to talk about. Shiro, what kind of winter do you predict…”

~

“Ashiyo. Now are you Ashiyo or a crafty Himura?” The pair walked back from the witches’ house an hour later.

“I am Ashiyo. I had no idea little Ishura would turn out so well,” he said. “You saw the power marble.”

“But Himura could have a great deal of power as well.”

Ashiyo shook his head. “No. The Guild is too sensitive in the south. An untrained man with much Affinity won’t go unnoticed for very long here. Himura had enough for a few good spells, but,” Ashiyo shook his head. “Not powerful. You, on the other hand have more than what’s good for you. I’m tempted to quit the smithy and spend all of my time training you so you won’t kill yourself.”

Shiro shook his head. He had to believe that the man in front of him was Ashiyo. An idea came into his mind. “If you know so much, can you see through a disguise?”

Ashiyo laughed. “Indeed I can. Oh!  You probably wondered why I would pay attention to Ishura. She is a very beautiful woman and was even as a girl. You’d like to learn that as well?”

“Before we leave. I’d like to know what you really look like.”

“Fine,” he said as he opened the gate to their house.

They stood in the middle of the main room of the house. Ashiyo gave the proper words and mental picture. Shiro intoned the spell and Himura’s disguise faded to show Ashiyo’s face.

“I can still see traces of the disguise.”

“Certainly. That’s the brilliance of my spell. Then you won’t make the mistake of letting on how the person looks underneath their disguise. You do need to incant the spell each time you seek to see through it. I know it’s a bit inconvenient.”

Shiro nodded and cancelled the spell and then invoked it again to make sure he would remember it. “Amazing. Do the sisters know of this?”

Ashiyo shook his head, smiling. “No and don’t you tell them. I devised this when I met with Shiuki. We will need every advantage we can get with those women.”

“What women?” Chika stepped into the house. “Where were you two tonight? I got worried so I cooked some extra food for the evening and left early feigning sickness.”

Shiro had to suppress a smile, seeing through Chika’s middle-aged disguise and seeing the young woman beneath. “We visited the local White Rose Society.”

“The witch house?” Chika said.

Ashiyo nodded. “They will come with us,” he said.

“I don’t think so,” she shook her head. “Too dangerous.”

“We’ve decided not to travel as a group. Twos or threes, one of them said. We’ll give them directions and off they will go to the North Isle.”

“If they have the money and if they don’t get caught,” she said. “I’m afraid for us all.”

Shiro pursed his lips and wondered. “What will happen if we don’t do anything?”

Chika blushed. “They’ll be caught and killed, eventually.”

“That’s the ugly reality. We need to spread the word, but I don’t know how best to do that. The ‘witches’ are going to think about it.” Shiro peered into Chika’s lovely eyes. She averted his gaze. “Any progress on your decision?”

She lifted her chin. “No. Not yet. I’m just glad you haven’t yet been killed or captured by the Guild.”

“Thank you,” Ashiyo said and bowed. “I’m glad you are of that opinion.” He chuckled. Chika merely grunted. “So what’s next?”

Should Shiro tell her about Ashiyo? It really wasn’t his to tell so he just feigned a yawn. “Time for sleep for me. You might do well go to sleep a bit earlier. You are sick, you know.”

Chika looked a bit put out, but nodded. “I think you’re right. I am tired and there’s always lots to do in the kitchen.” She threw her hands in the air. “I shudder to think how it will look when I return tomorrow.”

With that, they all retired. Shiro tossed and turned for a while, with Chika’s real face blazing at him in his mind until he finally drifted off.

The house was empty when Shiro rose in the morning. He yawned and went outside to wash and prepare for the day. He made his way to Yori’s house. After a morning working on the damaged dike, he spied the figure of Ashiyo walking towards him with a shovel in his hand.

“Is this better?”

Shiro looked at the edge and then tried out a few shovelfuls. “Much.”

“Took me an hour. The smith had other business this morning so I took advantage of getting this done before we left. My work on the shovel even drew the attention of the blacksmith.”