Shoukaittou:
Song of the Sword

Chapter 5

Alone

By:
Night~Mare

With many thinks going out to:

Akai_Kitsune

 

 

It was hot and muggy. Low gray clouds oppressed the sky, keeping even the smallest of breezes from cooling her. The horse shook its head and Shoninne clutched at the saddle. Earlier, she hadn’t even been able to open her eyes without stabbing pain making her head pound. Snake-man had consented to let her ride with him. Now Shoninne wanted down.  Sitting on the horse felt strange and with every unexpected movement, she felt like she was going to be thrown off.

           

The horse shook its head again and seemed to slow down a bit. All the animals seemed fidgety today. The mules had balked three times, causing both scouters to shout a flurry of words that she had never heard before. Fat-man had beat one of the ragged men half to death before Snake-man stopped it. Dagger-man seemed especially tense. He walked with his hand on his dagger and was constantly whipping his head back and forth to the forest on either side of the road.

 

            Even if the adults hadn’t been so worried, Shoninne could tell something scary was going to happen. Everything was so still…even the birds had stopped singing. It was as if the whole world was waiting for something terrible to happen. Shoninne closed her eyes wishing she were back home, curled up in her father’s arms. A strange, terrible thought poked into her mind. What if her father had wanted to give her away too? What if that was the reason he’d told her to stay in the village?

 

            He wouldn’t do that!  A small voice inside her said.  He’s honorable!  

 

            But still there was that pressing thought. Her father was honorable. If he hadn’t been cast out of his family, he could even be a samurai! Her father would be the best samurai ever if he could.

 

And fathers like that don’t need dishonorable daughters, another part of her said. Shoninne had no time to figure this out as the Dagger-man’s gravelly voice broke her from her thoughts.

 

            “There’s an ambush up ahead. We need to double back and cut through the forest. Out on the road is too open.” Even though Dagger-man had pitched his voice low, Fat-man seemed to have heard every word. He plowed up to them, red spots growing on each wobbling cheek.

 

            “We can’t double back now! If we’re not in Edo by tomorrow, the boss isn’t going to be happy and I’m not taking the fall for it,” the man practically shouted. Dagger-man looked like he wanted to punch the other man right in his overflowing stomach.

 

            “Keep it down you fool!” he spat. Fat-man and Dagger-man faced each other down. Fat-man seemed to grow redder by the minute while the only sign of Dagger-man’s mood was narrow, glinting eyes.

 

            “How do you know there’ll an ambush?” Fat-man said, not changing the tone of his voice at all. Shoninne really wished he would be quiet. She wasn’t quite sure what an ambush was but she knew that it wasn’t something good.

 

            “Because I know. Because I can feel it. If we continue down that road we’ll be walking right onto their blades.”

 

            “More ronin nonsense.” Fat-man turned toward the horse and glared up at the leader. “Look, we can’t backtrack five miles just because some idiot ate bad fish last night.” Dagger-man tensed at that.

 

            “Can’t you feel it? There’s no movement. The birds aren’t even singing.”

 

            “He does have a point, Hashi,” Snake-man said. Fat-man shrugged.

 

            “So a couple of birds have sore throats? So what? The point is we’re wasting time. And the boss isn’t going to be happy as it is. I distinctly remember some venerable leader-san who said that’d we’d show up with at least a dozen women. All we have that even comes close is this little morsel,” he said, pinching the back of her leg hard. Shoninne yelped and jerked her leg. The horse snorted and pranced, ears back a little.

 

            “Any slaves are good slaves,” Snake-man said, but he was looking thoughtful.

 

            “It won’t make any difference if we’re dead,” Dagger-man grumbled.

 

            “Oh come off it,” Fat-man snarled. “If there was an ambush ahead the scouters would have-“

 

            Suddenly there was the sound of shouting up ahead. It sounded like there was a whole village of men coming toward them from around the bend. The first thing to appear though was a mule in full gallop; Scouter two was half hanging off of it, blood pouring from the place where his arm should be. Suddenly the Dagger-man’s rough hands were pulling her off the horse. The world became a blur as he swung her then let go. Any scream she could have uttered was cut short when the ground hit her. There was a moment where everything was confusing and she couldn’t seem to open her eyes or get her lungs to work. The moment soon passed and she opened her eyes to find herself on the side of the road. The sound of the scary men was even closer and she looked desperately for somewhere to hide. There was a scrubby bush by the side of the road. She scrambled for it, fear making her faster then she’d ever been. She climbed inside and curled herself into a ball. There was a little space in the branches that she could see the road through. She curled herself tighter and hoped no one could see her.

 

            The scary men were there, and they were yelling and metal was crashing against metal sounding like a thunderstorm. The slaves were desperately trying to get free of their bonds, but Fat-man still held the rope that was binding them together. Suddenly Fat-man appeared and shoved a slave in front of him. Before the slave could move, a scary man rushed into view, swinging a sword that looked like it had been dipped into red dye. He slashed the sword through the helpless slave, making a fine spray of blood fly into the air. Shoninne was too scared even to close her eyes even though the sight of the body toppling to the ground made her stomach knot. The slaves began to scream. Shoninne clapped her hands to her ears, tears smarting in her eyes. Stop screaming! Her mind yelled. Stop! Stop!

 

            She wanted her father. Why couldn’t her father be here? Why didn’t her father love her any more? Why was he letting all these scary things happen to her? She sobbed without thinking, then froze as the scary man turned toward the sound.

 

            “Go away,” she whispered, making herself as small as she could. “Go away. Go away.” But he kept coming closer, sword dripping circular patterns onto the road. Suddenly all she could see was ragged hakama. The color Dagger-man wore. Both men screamed. Shoninne closed her eyes tightly…not wanting to see anymore. Now matter how hard she pressed her hands to her ears she could still hear clashing of metal, except this time it sounded like it was right above her.  There was a muffled thudding sound and a sickening gurgle…then a loud thump. She cautiously opened one eye and saw the scary man on the road, blood pouring from his neck and pooling on the ground. The ragged hakama quickly blocked the sight. Suddenly there was a bload coated dagger quivering in the ground a few inches from her face.

 

            “Use that when you have to,” Dagger-man said. “And keep damned quiet.”  The hakama moved away. Shonnine looked away from the sight of the fallen man and stared at the dagger. It smelled funny, like the air all around them did. She couldn’t even touch anything that smelled like that. But…what if another scary man came for her? Her hand, with almost a control of it’s own, jerked the dagger from the ground. She held it in both hands, clutching the unfamiliar hilt tightly. The yelling seemed to be dying down and a few moments later, it was gone.            

           

Shoninne staid in the bush, the dagger trembling in her hands. It was quiet. Then, somewhere high above her, a bird began to sing. Others soon joined in. They all seemed to be telling her it was safe to come out. She hesitated a moment, straining her ears for any sign of a scary man coming back. Finally satisfied, she crawled out of the bush.

 

            The clouds rumbled and fat drops of rain began to fall on the dusty street. Shoninne stared, not sure what to feel. The Snake-man was lying further up the road, blood staining the back of his gi. All the slaves were lying tangled together on the road. They looked as if they were screaming. She shuddered and looked quickly away. Dagger-man was on the opposite side of the road, blood covering one side of his face. All the scary men were gone, including the one Dagger-man had fought…and so was Fat-man and the horse and mule. The rain was increasing now and the clouds grumbled overhead, as if they were angry at seeing the blood.

 

Shoninne glanced up, then pushed her soaking bangs from her eyes and went over to the Dagger-man. His face didn’t look scared. He looked as if he knew what was going to happen. She reached out and closed the one eye that wasn’t covered with blood. His skin was still warm. She wondered for a moment if he really was dead. She’d never seen death before. No one had died in the village…at least that she could remember. If he wasn’t dead then he would sit up, then turn his head and glare at her with his good eye while the blood ran down the other side of his face. 

 

A loud crack of thunder made her scream. She scrambled to the bush again, sliding a little in the mud. Once safe, she curled up and began to cry. When the tears had faded she just lay quietly in the rain until at last, too fearful to leave her little nest, she slept.

 

---

 

            Shinta leaned against the wall and watched the rain. It had only started calming now after a nearly all day thunderstorm. He wondered if Shoninne was watching the same rain. Maybe someone had rescued her. Maybe some nice person had realized that she wasn’t really a slave at all and taken her in. Maybe Shoninne was sitting in a nice warm house, watching the rain and wishing he were there with her. One day he would be. One day when he was old enough he would go out and look for her. When he found her again he wouldn’t let anyone take her away. They’d go live somewhere, where no one could hurt her, and play all day.

 

            Suddenly there was the sound of hoofbeats over the rain. Shinta’s heart jumped and he was on his feet without thinking about it. Maybe the nice person who had found her was bringing her home! Maybe she was back! It was getting dark but he could still see the road. He strained his eyes for that familiar figure that he’d missed so much. His heart sank as a single man leading a broken down horse plodded into view. Suddenly man and horse stopped and turned toward him.

 

            “Konbanwa!” the man shouted. “It’s nice duck weather isn’t it Hatake-san?” Shinta jumped. Both in recognizing the man’s voice and noticing his father behind him. That was Iro-san, Shoninne’s father. Maybe he knew where Shoninne was! His father put a hand on his shoulder and Shinta decided it was best to save the question for later.

 

            “It is Iro-san. Why don’t you come in? Asagao is just making dinner.” 

 

            “It’d be my pleasure.”

 

            Shinta used all his willpower not to ask the question burning inside him. It was hard though. Especially when Iro-san rubbed his hair and asked:

 

            “And how are you doing Shinta-kun?”   

 

            “I’m fine,” he said, managing to cut himself off after the word fine. Dinner was a long, agonizingly silent meal.  He wanted to ask so badly he couldn’t even eat. Finally he gave in and opened his mouth. The look Father gave him made him shut it again. Shinta didn’t understand. He just wanted to ask one little important question. 

 

            “Is it just me or is it unusually cold in here tonight?” Iro-san said. Shinta blinked. He didn’t feel cold. Mother had just finished cooking so actually it was pretty warm.

 

            “Is it?” Father said.

 

            “What’s wrong? Did something happen in the village? Did someone die?”

 

            “The slavers have been through,” Mother said. Father shot her a look. Mother matched it calmly. They had one of those silent adult conversations that no matter how hard Shinta tried to follow, he just didn’t understand. Finally Father’s shoulder’s slumped a little.

 

            “Yes, they have,” Father said. Iro-san’s face darkened.

 

            “Who did they kidnap this year?”

 

            “No one… But someone was sold,” Father said, staring hard at Iro-san. Shinta looked too. Iro-san’s eyebrows shot up.

 

            “Really? That’s odd. Did old Oka finally decide to do something about his nagging wife?”

 

            Suddenly Shinta couldn’t take it anymore. He had to ask!

 

            “Iro-san, do you know where Shoninne is?”

 

            “Shinta!” Father snapped. The boy flinched away from his parent, but kept steady eyes on Iro-san. The pit faced merchant looked even more surprised.

           

“I assume she’s at home. Speaking of her, I need your advice on something.”

           

“Oro?” Shinta said with a blink. Iro-san smiled, pulled something out of his kimono and sent it spinning across the table. It was a top. A red one. Shinta blinked again; thoroughly confused. And adult wanted his advice on toys?

 

            “What do you think? Would Shoninne like it? You, no doubt, have played with her more then I have.”

            “Iro-san I-“

 

            “So it wasn’t your plan then?” Father interrupted. Iro-san looked confused.

 

            “What wasn’t my plan?”            

 

            “I…” Father trailed off, looked at Shinta and his frown deepened. Then his father stood and gestured toward the door. “Would you come with me?”

 

            Iro-san stared up at him for a long time without moving…a strange, almost frightened expression coming over his face. Finally he stood and they both walked swiftly out. Shinta took a bite of fish to pretend he wasn’t interested in the conversation that was obviously not for his ears. He chewed as softly as he could and finally stopped all together. Father was speaking so low.  He could barely hear. Mother put a hand on his arm making him jump. One look in her face told him that he wasn’t fooling anyone. He blushed, feeling guilty and jumped a mile when Iro-san suddenly yelled.

 

            “You can’t be serious!”

 

“I’m sorry, but there was nothing we could do,” Father’s voice was raised now but didn’t really sound angry. “The paper was written by your wife. I may not be able to read, but who else can write in this village? The ink was still wet.”

            Iro-san yelled something that Shinta didn’t think a husband was ever supposed to say about a wife and there was the squelching sound of someone running fast in the mud. The sound soon faded and when the door opened again. Only his father stepped inside.

 

“He knew nothing about it.” Father sat down heavily and massaged his forehead. He sounded like he did when the harvests were going to turn bad. Sad…and a little tired. “You should have seen his face Asagao. It was like I’d stabbed him with his own dagger.”

 

Mother said nothing but put a delicate hand over Father’s. Shinta took the top off the table and cradled it. Poor Iro-san must be as sad as he was that day. As he still was. Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he sat straighter.

 

“Father…if he didn’t sell her…he can go get her back can’t he?”

            “Shinta…” Father said. He was angry again. Despite the threat, Shinta pressed on.

 

“He can just explain and…”

            “No he can’t!” Father shouted, jumping to his feet. Shinta shrunk back from the look on his father’s face. He’d never seen him this angry before. “Even if he did find her, he can’t buy her back! It would be ten years wages for him. If not more. Get it through your thick head, boy! The girl- is- gone!”

 

Shinta’s lip trembled and a tears spilled over his face. He looked down at the top. Maybe she was gone…for now…but he’d find her again. One day he’d find her again. When he did they would be happy forever. He wouldn’t let it happen any other way.