Nightblade Page 4

  It was during a hunt that Ryuu began to get a clearer idea of the man he was traveling with. When Shigeru would motion for him to stop he would keep moving forward, and Ryuu, despite his best efforts, couldn’t even hear a whisper in the grass as he moved. It was rare that Ryuu even saw what Shigeru was throwing at. His hand would snap forward, always surprising Ryuu, and wherever the knife landed they would inevitably find small game, a hare or squirrel. Ryuu realized he was with someone who wasn’t even supposed to exist in the Three Kingdoms anymore.

  It was the hunting that pushed Ryuu’s curiosity past the breaking point, and he began asking questions as he had of his parents. He wanted to know how Shigeru found the prey, how he moved without a sound, and how he threw so well. Although they never stopped walking, Shigeru would often take the time to explain, at least in basic terms, what he was able to do. Shigeru talked about the sense and what it was, how it worked. Ryuu didn’t understand what Shigeru was saying, but he listened to every word, doing his best to memorize everything. He didn’t understand it today, but he figured it might save his life tomorrow.

  Their journey continued, taking them from the new woods Ryuu had fallen in love with to older woods. Where the young woods maintained an atmosphere of welcoming embrace, Ryuu felt claustrophobic among the old trees. Their branches extended impossibly high into the sky, blocking out light and sound. The creatures made noises Ryuu did not recognize, and every shadow held danger. Again, Ryuu wondered where their final destination would be.

  It came without warning or fanfare at a small hut. The building was small and had been built not too long ago. Ryuu had some small practice taking care of their farm and recognized that the hut was well built. The wood had been joined together well and there weren’t seams what would allow rain or snow to get in. The thatching was well done. It was apparent that great care had been taken in the construction of the building.

  Even after living in the open plains, the hut was more secluded than any place Ryuu had ever been. He had known little but the farm and was used to empty space, but this was different. Once they had entered the old woods any trace of humanity disappeared. It was more than not seeing a town or house. They hadn’t even seen footpaths that denoted human travel. Ryuu, his curiosity overflowing, hounded Shigeru. Even at five, Ryuu could tell that it was excellent land and that there should be people everywhere.

  Shigeru grinned at Ryuu’s curiosity. Ryuu had noticed that his attitude was more relaxed now. “Most people avoid the old woods. Throughout the Three Kingdoms there are stories told to scare people from going in. People still fear them. These trees have seen more of our lives than we can imagine. These were old woods before your grandfather’s grandfather was even born. They are full of darkness and shadows, and people believe that these woods are haunted. They fear what they don’t understand.”

  As Shigeru explained, Ryuu glanced around and believed he could feel a chill in the air. He chided himself for letting his imagination get the better of him, but the shadows cast by the trees still seemed threatening. The question had to be asked. “Don’t you believe in the ghosts?”

  Shigeru laughed, the first time Ryuu had heard him do so. The sound startled him in his already nervous state. “I’m not sure. I’m open to the possibility. I’ve never encountered anything that would provide proof of ghosts. The old woods have their dangers, but ghosts aren’t one of them. That being said, I do sometimes help the nearby villages believe in the superstitions. My privacy keeps me safe.”

  “No one knows you’re here?”

  “No. I only go to the villages occasionly, but I go to different villages, only returning to one after many moons have passed. They believe I’m a traveling doctor. I sell some mixtures that I make here, heal when I can. It’s nothing special, but my techniques are effective and some are beyond what is practiced here in the Three Kingdoms. It provides me some money when I have need of it.”

  Shigeru brought Ryuu into the hut. He wasn’t surprised that it was bare. A small collection of cooking necessities was stacked near a wall, but otherwise the space was empty save for a mat on the floor. Ryuu looked around and was bored in a moment. He had hoped for more weapons.

  The next few days were uneventful. The hut and the surrounding forest was a young boy’s perfect playground, and Ryuu took full advantage of the space. He explored the woods as far as he dared and was delighted to find a small waterfall only a short walk through the forest from the cottage. Shigeru told him not to wander beyond the distance of the waterfall and let him know that the evening meal would be just after dusk each evening. Beyond that he gave no further rules and allowed Ryuu to do as he pleased. He let Ryuu have the mattress and slept sitting up against the wall of the hut, his sword held in front of him.

  The lack of interaction suited Ryuu perfectly. He had always been fascinated by the world around him and the new environment provided countless days of exploration and wonder. He hated chores at home not because he hated work, but because they took away his freedom to explore. Here he spent his days as he wished, digging under rocks and studying plants and animals he had never seen before. When that became boring he allowed his imagination to take the best of him, and he was Shigeru, slaying groups of bandits and making them serve him at his leisure. Innumerable trees felt the sting of a sword shaped branch against their trunks as Ryuu reenacted battle after battle.

  Shigeru stayed near the hut, working in the garden and going through his movements every morning. Sometimes he would leave for a short time, but Ryuu didn’t ask why. Despite his growing familiarity with Shigeru he still wasn’t comfortable. Shigeru was so strong and quiet it was hard not to be a little intimidated even if Ryuu knew it was foolish. He accepted that Shigeru was some sort of nomadic wanderer, and he always reappeared in the evenings in time for the meal, which was all that mattered to Ryuu.

  When the sun set Ryuu struggled to maintain the illusion of control he felt during the day. Evenings reminded Ryuu of his family. Night had been the time when his family would come together for their meal and share the events of the day. It hadn’t always been fun, but it had always been family, and Ryuu didn’t realize what that meant until he didn’t have one anymore.

  During the day he convinced himself that he was fine and he just had a couple of days off from chores to run around and be a child. He kept himself active enough that it was easy to do. Being busy and throwing himself into a new environment kept his mind off of what had happened. But at night there was little to do except speak with Shigeru. And while Shigeru was certainly polite and the most interesting man Ryuu had ever met, he wasn’t mother and father. It was at night that Ryuu remembered the images burned into his memory: the death and corpses of his mother and father, the last stand of the merchant’s son. He kept seeing his father turn around with his last breath, trying to warn his loved ones, but it was too late.

  It was at night he would cry. It would start as a single tear, but he knew from experience that once the first tear fell, he would lose all control. His sobs wracked his body, but he didn’t dare make a sound. He didn’t want Shigeru to know this weakness. He knew Shigeru was a man who had withstood everything that had been against him in life. And although Ryuu had only been with Shigeru for about a moon, he knew that Shigeru had never cried.

  The days began to pass in a manner that could almost be called routine, if life after trauma can ever be considered routine. Ryuu spent the days outside wandering in the wilderness or helping Shigeru tend the gardens. As he settled into the routine he started to help out with more of the chores. Not because Shigeru asked, but because it was the right thing for him to do. Shigeru had taken him in and saved his life. The nights, despite the heat of the fire in the hut, were cold and lonely, and Ryuu felt every minute of them, tears falling down his cheeks in silence.

  While Ryuu passed the days in relative peace, Shigeru was busy. His life for almost ten cycles had been structured. He raised enough food for one. He wasn’t worried about more food, but it d
id require more work. It was another mouth to feed and another body to clothe. The garden which he maintained was larger than he needed, but could not support two through the cycle. It would have to be enlarged. Clothes would not be an issue. He had more money than he would ever be able to spend from selling medicine in surrounding communities.

  Shigeru also had to gather more information. The journey had taken him much longer than he had expected. Of course, he hadn’t expected to come back with a child in tow. He needed to make a circuit of the surrounding villages, both to ensure the safety of his hut and to gather the latest news in the Southern Kingdom. He stayed alive by staying silent and aware of everything happening around him.

  Spring was dawning on the land, which meant war. The Three Kingdoms remained at relative peace although there continued to be talk of unusual troop movements. The Lord of the Southern Kingdom, Lord Azuma, was well known as a cunning leader. He ruled by strength, and although there was often talk against him, the Kingdom was peaceful and prosperous. Yes, those who spoke too loudly against the Lord had a tendency to disappear, but the Kingdom was stable. It was that very stability that brought Shigeru to the Southern Kingdom in the first place.

  Last fall, Lord Azuma hadn’t allowed his men to return from their annual campaign in the Three Sisters. Talk in the village closest to Shigeru was that Azuma had moved the deployment schedule. Typically troops returned from the Sisters in the fall, allowing families to be together and the harvest to get finished. Shigeru noted that having the young men back in the fall always seemed to produce a strong batch of offspring the following summer. Shigeru doubted that was an accident. Rumors were that the troops would now be coming home in the spring, but Shigeru didn’t believe that. Azuma was massing for a campaign.

  Last fall there had been nothing to do but wait and see. Odd troop movements by themselves didn’t concern Shigeru. However, if Azuma was plotting a major action in the Three Sisters, Shigeru would consider leaving the Southern Kingdom. Stability was part of his cloak. If there was a chance of the Kingdom falling into outright warfare, he would need to leave. Caution was the better part of valor.

  Despite Shigeru’s need for information, the actions of a Lord hundreds of leagues away did not concern him as much as Ryuu did. Taking him in had been an impulsive move, the sudden and unexpected culmination of his journey. The boy was different. He possessed the gift of the sense. That much was obvious in the first few moments Shigeru had laid eyes on him. But the boy didn’t know it. He watched the boy from a distance as he played in the woods. He observed the boy’s reenactment of battles, slaying all the trees surrounding the hut in the process. He assessed the boy’s intelligence through conversations at meals and while in the garden. Ryuu had an impressive thirst for knowledge, a trait Shigeru assumed had been cultivated by his parents. Shigeru appreciated the constant stream of questions even though he wasn’t ready to answer many of them yet. He had much still to decide.

  It was the evenings that were most difficult. Shigeru sensed the boy at night while he cried. It was almost impossible for him not to. The boy was quiet, and even Shigeru’s practiced ear could barely catch the sound of the boy sobbing night after night. But his sense was almost overwhelmed by the boy’s power. The boy had the gift of the sense, but it manifested in the old way, a way Shigeru hadn’t sensed since coming to the mainland. Most with the gift shone like bright candles, burning the space around them with their abilities until they learned the rudimentary levels of control taught in the monasteries. Any individual attuned to the sense could feel them coming from leagues away.

  The boy was an anomaly, at least here. Shigeru could feel the overwhelming strength of the boy’s sense, but instead of a burning ball of energy, it was as if he was extending whip-like tentacles of energy around his body. They were faint but at the same time stronger than any lines of sense Shigeru had felt in many cycles. The boy was gathering in more information than he could imagine, he just had to open his mind to it. Shigeru knew the boy was five cycles old. He should have been tested by the monks by now. At first it was difficult to believe that Ryuu had not been taken by the monks, but Shigeru wondered if the very nature of Ryuu’s sense hid him from a monk’s rudimentary tests. What Shigeru would have given to meet Ryuu’s father and mother.

  Regardless, Shigeru was faced with the most significant decision he had faced since he escaped the island. The boy had no family, immediate or extended, that he could be returned to. Shigeru knew people that would welcome the boy into their arms. He could grow up to live a more normal life. But Shigeru sensed something greater unfolding before him. Shigeru wasn’t a big believer in fate, but it could not be a coincidence that when he left on his journey this boy was at the end of his path. Fate seemed to be twisted around this boy, leaving little doubt in Shigeru’s mind that this was meant to be.

  The decision would impact him beyond just training the boy. It would mean stepping out of the shadows some day. He had avoided the Blademasters for so many cycles by disappearing. He did not hunt for bandits or display his skill in the courts. Every part of his life was structured around the practice of not arousing attention. Adding a second life to that mix complicated matters and left the door open for circumstances beyond his control. Taking on a student who could carry on his legacy could be the very act that killed them both. That fear prevented him from acting decisively. Instead, he continued to watch from afar, giving Ryuu as little direction as possible. If he believed in anything, Shigeru believed in the power of choice.

  The choice was too big for him to make by himself and wasn’t really his choice to make at all. Instead he would follow the Path of the Blademasters. The boy would be given his own choice to make. Shigeru would explain everything as clearly as possible and Ryuu would have to decide. It was a lot to ask of one who had only seen five cycles, but it was the only clear path forward. The decision made, Shigeru didn’t hesitate, but brought it up at that evening’s meal.

  At supper that night, Shigeru found he was more nervous than he had been in many cycles. Despite the thought put into his decision, he wasn’t sure it was correct. Giving the boy a choice was uncertain and Shigeru found that in the course of the past moon he had developed a certain level of affection for the child. He tried to hide his indecision, but apparently wasn’t succeeding. His young companion was able to pick up on it. Although, Shigeru argued in his own defense, Ryuu wasn’t a typical child.

  “Shigeru, what’s wrong?”

  Shigeru hesitated. He had rehearsed this moment over and over through the day, but the words no longer seemed right. He struggled to articulate what he wanted to say. Struggled to find the tone he wanted to say it with.

  Ryuu looked up from his bowl of noodles. He waited patiently for Shigeru. Shigeru respected that about the boy.

  “Ryuu, what do you know about me?” Mentally, Shigeru shook his head. He had wanted to start assertively, to come from a place of power and responsibility. Instead, he had come forward with a question that only indirectly led to what he really wanted to ask. When his own Blademaster had given him this choice, it had seemed much more formal.

  The boy looked up. He paused before answering, considering what he had put together. “You’re a nightblade, even if they are supposed to be gone from the Three Kingdoms.”

  Shigeru was surprised to feel an unknown weight lift off his shoulders. The boy spoke without a hint of judgment in his voice. It had been almost ten cycles since anyone had known the truth about him. In this land his kind were hunted without end, the public convinced they were the monsters responsible for the collapse of the Kingdom. In time, stories which had held the truth had become legends and propaganda with little regard to historical events. But Ryuu knew and didn’t care. He was the child of farmers though, so perhaps he had never been exposed to the prevailing attitudes. Shigeru hadn’t expected such relief at the revelation of his secret. It solidified his resolve.

  “Ryuu, you have the skills to become like me. There is a path forward
which I can offer. It is one choice out of many. I will offer them to you today, and if you choose to stay with me, I will offer the same choices twice more. It was the same for me when I was growing up. Everyone has three choices, three chances to walk away.”

  Ryuu answered with conviction, “I would like to stay here with you.”

  Although Shigeru had expected this, hearing it out loud sent a surge of emotion through him. He checked himself. He had been away from people for far too long. Too much attachment to the boy would cause problems for both of them.

  “I understand that, but I want you to understand the choice you will be making. You are young, but the decision must be yours.”

  Shigeru took a few heartbeats to pause, collecting his thoughts. “Your first choice is to leave this place,” Ryuu started, but Shigeru held up his hand for silence. “I know you don’t want to leave now, but hear me out. I know people, good families who would love to have a child, or another child. You would be treated as one of theirs and you could live a normal life in relative peace, comfort and prosperity. You could choose your future as you see fit. You would have a last name and status in this world as you grow older.”

  “And my other choice?”

  “You can stay here and I will take you on as my apprentice.” Once again Shigeru had to hold up his hand before Ryuu could commit. “You must understand what that means. I myself am masterless, hunted and an outcast both from the people of this land and my own people. I have no last name, nor would you. Life would not proceed as it has this past moon. Training will be difficult. You will wake up early and train mentally and physically all day. There are no breaks and no second chances. You will be cut and you will bleed. I will not abuse you, but neither will I take it easy on you. You succeed or fail on your own terms, and you may die. If you do succeed in the training, you will be hunted and hated for the rest of your life.”