For a brief time, I sat there, unable to believe what Surei had said. That was not my childhood friend, not my first love.

I had known people like the woman who had just left. Hard and cold, they were survivors, winners, but they didn’t care about the bruised and broken people they left in their wake. It was a bad idea to get involved with someone like that.

My eyes closed in pain. I almost wanted to believe Stone was right, that Surei was possessed by a demon, but that would be too easy. A demon would not want me to help Akiko.

That much, at least, hadn’t changed. Surei had always taken care of Akiko.

I wanted to leave immediately, to head back out into the city, and at one time I would have. But Surei was not the only one who had changed. I had spent far too many cold, hungry nights to go racing out into the storm wearing nothing but a lightweight robe like an angry child. So, I just sat there.

I opened the bundle she gave me. It contained a black hakama and a set of light gray robes with a hyacinth pattern on them, similar to the robes the other male members of the staff at the Spring Palace wore. They looked nearly new and were of a nice, heavy fabric. Much better than what I had been wearing.

As I finished dressing, there came a knock, and the door slid open. A large man filled the doorway. He was in Surei’s entourage when she met me in the capital.

He was impressive. The man was tall as Yamada, but not nearly so fat. His well-muscled hands and arms had the scars from years of hard weapon practice. A kodachi hung from his belt. It had a serviceable hilt covered in leather and a blade as long as my forearm. It was the weapon of a man who knew how to use it. A bushy black beard mostly obscured the lower part of his face. The abundant hair on his body was as dark as his beard. He reminded me of a large ape.

“I’m called Professor, and I serve as the head yojimbo here. I am in charge of all the yojimbo working at the Spring Palace. Hyacinth-sama asked me to take you to the kitchen and get you something to eat.”

His vocabulary, diction, and accent were those of an educated man, a scholar. Surei’s father had spoken like that. It was surprising to hear a man of Professor’s size and brutish appearance speak in a manner more suited to a classroom or lecture hall than to a saké house.

It’s a shame I’m not staying. It might be interesting to spar with him.

He led me to the kitchen, a large building with several counters at which women readied elaborate meals for patrons of the Spring Palace. In one corner of the room, some of the staff sat and ate much simpler fare.

A short, heavyset woman carrying a large kitchen knife in her right hand seemed to be the chief cook. She went from place to place, giving orders. She stopped to watch us as we entered.

Walking over, she barked questions in a strong Kyuushuu accent. “What are you doing here, Professor? You already ate once tonight. We feed you twice, no more food for anyone else.”

She laughed at her own joke.

Looking at me, she asked, “Who is this?”

As she spoke, she waved the knife for emphasis.

Professor leaned back to get the knife out of his face. “Easy, Cook. The mistress told me to get him some food. You must have something you can give him, right?”

The woman turned away and snorted, “Hmph.”

She stomped over to a counter with a large pile of fresh fish on it. She began removing the heads with her knife. Her hands flew in a blur, the fish-heads separating from the bodies at an unbelievable rate.

As she chopped the fish, she talked to herself. “Oh fine! Yes, I got plenty time to cook for anyone who comes by! They don’t need food for the dining room, not at all! I don’t have fish to get ready for the Minister’s party! Not busy! No, not at all!”

Taking this tirade as acquiescence, Professor seemed anxious to leave. “Well, good, that’s all right then. I’ll see you later.”

He hurried out.

Not looking up, Cook continued to chop the fish with short, vicious blows. She severed one fish head with such force it went flying through the air and landed on the floor.

I got the distinct impression she was unhappy.

She worked silently for several moments, then pointed her knife at me accusingly. “You were cross with the girls. They tell me you yelled at them when they were just trying to help. Why did you yell at girls that never did nothing to you? Who are you anyway, and why does Mistress want me take care of you?” She stopped chopping and pointed the knife at me. “I wish Mistress would really let me take care of you. You won’t be yelling at girls when I’m done.”

She went back to hacking fish.

Unsure how to respond to her diatribe, I stumbled over my words. “Well, yes, I suppose I was mean to the girls. I’m sorry about that, but I wasn’t feeling good, and things hadn’t been going well for me, and…”

Cook gave me a withering look, and my voice trailed off.

I tried again, “Su— Hyacinth-sama wants me to do something for her, that’s why I’m here. I haven’t eaten in a while, and the girls burned my clothes…”

I realized that wasn’t much better.

I was breaking one of my father’s cardinal rules. “Never get the cook or the quartermaster mad at you,” he used to tell us.

I was already off to a poor start. Deciding to quit before I got myself into any more trouble, I shut up.

Cook chopped for a little bit longer, then put the knife down. She walked over to me and grabbed my left wrist in her hand. With her other hand, she squeezed my left bicep. Her grip was surprisingly strong. Then, she poked me in the belly.

Cook dropped my arm and went back to chopping. I waited, sensing she had something in mind.

She finished with the fish. Going over to a stack of dishes, she grabbed a bowl, scooped some rice into it, and handed it to me. “No wonder you are yelling at girls. You need food. You feel like a scrawny chicken, not enough meat on you.”

She gestured behind her to a large pot simmering over a cooking fire. “Get something from there. You eat plenty, so you don’t yell anymore.”

I meekly accepted the bowl, dished out several spoonfuls from the pot onto the rice, then sat down to eat. The pot held a stew-like dish with vegetables and fish. It was the best thing I’d eaten in a long time.

As I ate, I thought about what Surei had said. She blamed me for what happened to her after I left. I promised her I would come back, but I never returned. At sixteen years of age, I hadn’t realized what a girl without resources or protection would go through. Now, at twenty-eight, I realized all too well what it entailed. I never intended to abandon her. Things just got out of hand.

My father’s voice echoed in my mind. He had called us together and was reading an imperial proclamation.

“On this day, second month, tenth day, of the fourth year of the Imperial era Kouji, I charge the Seiwa Minamoto with the eradication of the pirates bedeviling our subjects in the Saikaidou region.”

I shook my head. Surei was right, as usual. It really had been eleven years, not ten.

The family had been arriving all morning. I stood in the practice yard behind my uncles and brothers. Rumors of upcoming battle were flying around, and I could hardly contain my excitement. When the last assembly like this took place five years previously, I had to watch from a veranda with the women and children. But finally, after training every day for as long as I could remember, I would get to test my skills.

My father continued reading. “You will go with the spiritual protections of the gods as you carry out my commands.”

When he finished reading, the men discussed the imperial proclamation. Barely more than a boy, I kept quiet and tried to imitate their calm demeanor as fear and excitement battled inside me. It would be a short campaign, they agreed. So long as the pirates had no warning and could not flee, we should be done in a matter of a month or two.

I surged to my feet. Not again. More saké was needed. A lot more saké. I walked over to a serving girl cutting fish and asked for a jug.

She gave me another small bottle, but warned, “This is all you get. If you want more than this, you will have to purchase it. Mistress Hyacinth does not approve of drunkenness.”

I took a sip. “If I purchase some, will it be as weak as this?”

She gave me a brief glare. “Yes.”

I went back to my table and sat down. I couldn’t purchase anything. I had no money. Filling my cup, I gulped the saké down.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A short campaign … well, it had certainly been short.

*****

The clan members made their way separately to a rendezvous point on the island of Kyuushuu. Everyone rode their horses down in small groups. The plan was to gather quietly so as not to alert the pirates of our intentions. Everyone arrived without incident and the travel groups combined into a single military force.

A small section of men led by my father set out before sunup. We were the designated scout element—the main body of troops would move out later in the morning. Our job was to check for ambushes and mark the route for the main formation to follow.

I rode by my father’s side. I was a combined messenger, scribe, and errand runner—the least experienced person in the group who got things for everyone else. My older brothers had been placed in command positions, but then, this wasn’t their first campaign. I chafed at the role. How was I supposed to capture or kill an enemy pirate captain if I wasn’t ever in the battle? My plans for impressing my father with my military skills weren’t working out the way I had hoped. But, I was learning how an army worked, so I supposed it was good experience.

Around mid-morning, we had reached a place where the road passed through a narrow defile between two cliffs, then opened out again into a broader valley between the cliffs. After some distance, it narrowed back down again.

My father stopped the column and eyed the cliffs rising around us with suspicion. “Nice place for an ambush,” he commented.

I looked around. The further we rode, the higher and steeper the ground around us was getting. “We would have to ride a good distance back to get out of this. Are there any other ways we can go?”

He grimaced. “There aren’t many maps of the area. This is the only road marked.”

So, we rode on, watching the cliffs above us. The vanguard had just reached the second defile on the road when archers appeared on the cliffs on either side of us. Arrows came raining down on the lead riders, killing them instantly.

A sound like thunder came through the pass behind us.

“Yoshi, tell Taro to head back through the pass and get up on those cliffs.”

“Hai!” I rode through the confused ranks of men to my oldest brother. An arrow hit my uncle just ahead of me, he clung desperately to his horse bent over in pain, but I couldn’t stop. Behind me, I could hear my father rallying the men to charge.

Taro was riding to the front of the column. I stopped him and relayed the order.

“I will come with you,” I offered.

He gave me a sharp look. “Did father order that?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Then return to him, he will have need of your services.”

Clang! An arrow hit my helmet with tremendous force. The concussion dazed me, spots appearing before my eyes, spinning like falling snow. I nearly fell from my horse.

Shaking my head, I watched as Taro rode back to his men at a gallop.

I hurried to rejoin Father. This was not at all what I expected from battle. I was scared and felt helpless. But I had faith. I knew Father would win the day.

The ceaseless rain of arrows continued to wound and kill our men. The archers weren’t particularly skilled, but there were so many of them the sheer number of their arrows were taking a toll.

As I came riding up to my father’s position, I heard the captains shouting for us to charge. Heart racing, I kicked my horse into a gallop. I didn’t get far before a horse went down in front of me. Mine stopped abruptly and nearly threw me.

I heard the clash of metal and screams ahead of me. I circled the fallen horse and rode to the top of a rise. Below was a barricade across the road ahead of me. Archers manned the barricade and cut down any riders as they approached.

Taro rode up behind me. “Where is Father?” he shouted.

I searched the riders ahead of me. “There!” I kicked my horse into a gallop, and we rode to his side.

“What are you doing here, Taro?” Father yelled.

“We almost got through the force behind us, but there is a whole army coming in behind them!” An arrow flew through the space between Taro and my father. “We can’t get through!”

My father sank into himself, becoming somehow both smaller and older as I watched. When my brother finished his report, my father told him, “Go back and see if you can make it out. Avoid the fight. We must get word to the clan leader of this attack. It is vital you get through.”

“Hai!” Taro bowed and rode off.

Father shook his head and turned to me. “Yoshi, I ask the impossible, but there is no choice. We have been betrayed. No one could have gathered together a force this size on short notice. I need you to climb out of here and and carry the same warning to our lord. He is in great danger. Now go.”

I was appalled at the thought of abandoning my father and brothers and the rest of my clan. “Father, you can’t ask me to leave you here to die! Let me stay and fight with you!”

He gently wiped a tear from my cheek and said, “Yoshi, one more warrior is not going to change the outcome of this battle. It must be you. I have seen you and Surei climb cliffs I would have sworn were impossible to scale. If you can get word to our clan leader, then we may yet be able to salvage the situation. Do you understand me, Yoshi? Do this to give our deaths some meaning.”

I numbly nodded my head, still crying.

“I am proud of you, my son. Now go and do your duty.”

He briefly put his hand to my face and then rode away. I heard him yelling, rallying men to his banner as he galloped towards the fight.

I rode along the wall, looking for a place where I could climb. I wanted a place the archers in this side wouldn’t be able to see me and providing some cover from the archers on the opposite side. Finding a suitable spot, I dismounted, stripped out of my armor and then fashioned my few belongings into a small pack. I slung it and my naginata over my shoulder to give me free use of my arms and legs.

It was a difficult climb. I felt like a lizard exposed on the side of a wall as I hung there, trying to obtain better holds for my feet and hands. A few archers on the opposite wall tried to hit me. One arrow pierced my clothing, but at that distance, accuracy suffered. Every so often I looked back over my shoulder to see how the battle was going.

My father and brothers fought like demons, but one by one, they were overwhelmed by the enemy’s numbers.

Finally, I reached the top of the cliff. For a long while, I lay on my stomach, trying to get my breath back. When I finally felt like I could move again, I looked back over the cliff to see what was happening.

Even as I watched my father strike down a man in front of him, two more attacked him from the sides. He went to his knees. Refusing to give up, he swung his tachi and lopped off the arm of one of the men who stabbed him. When last I saw him, he was buried under a writhing mass of men who had rushed in to finish him off.

Sick at heart, I picked up my belongings. I heard a low chuckle up ahead of me. I had been so focused on my father and climbing the wall, I had momentarily forgotten the enemy at the top of the cliff.

Dropping to my belly, I unslung my naginata, took the sheath off the blade, tucked it in my belt, and crawled forward to see what was ahead of me.

Three poorly dressed men sat on some rocks. Their dialect was nearly incomprehensible, but from what fragments of their conversation I could decipher, they were pirates. They had gathered together with most of the other freebooters in the Inland Sea region to put an end to our forces. They thought it a great joke that they had the opportunity to kill so many bushi who had been sent to kill them.

My vision grew red and I gripped my naginata as if to crush the shaft. Silently, I rose to one knee and readied myself. Springing up from my hiding place, I swung the naginata with all my strength at the nearest pirate. With no more than a brief moment of resistance, the blade passed cleanly through his neck, sending his head flying up into the air. The detached head had an open-mouthed look of foolish surprise that would have been humorous under other circumstances.

Taking one step forward, I reversed the direction of the weapon and caught the second pirate while his gaze was still following the arc of his former companion’s head. This time, the blade didn’t cut quite so cleanly through the neck, and the head tumbled sideways, driven by the momentum of the swing.

The third pirate, realizing his peril, attempted to stand and draw his weapon. Turning the blade of the naginata parallel to the ground, I rammed it between his fourth and fifth ribs, driving it completely through his chest and out his back.

He made a low burbling sound and went to his knees. I pulled the naginata from his chest, and he fell over, dead. I wiped the blade off on his clothes and walked away without a backward glance.

After I had put some distance between me and the ambush, I began worrying less about concealment and more about speed. Before long, I was running back towards the main camp at a full sprint.

I couldn’t sustain that level of effort for long, so I compromised by running until I was out of breath, and then walking long enough to recover.

I kept expecting to meet the main body of our forces, but the road remained stubbornly empty. My feeling of dread grew the closer I got to the camp. Carrion birds circled high in the air, visible from a long way off. Lazy plumes of smoke drifted nearly straight up in the still air.

All right, so they were attacked, that’s why they haven’t left yet. They’re probably regrouping after the battle.

As I came around the last bend of the road, the bivouac came into view. I stopped and dropped my weapon, stunned by the sight. When we had left that morning, tents, corrals, food stores, and weapon racks were distributed evenly around the camp. It was all very neat and precise. All had been quiet, most everyone still asleep before the start of the day.

The camp was still quiet. However, where there had been hundreds of shelters with men sleeping, there was nothing but tattered cloth and scattered bodies. The corrals had been torn down and the animals taken as loot. The food and weapon stores had been broken into, and anything not carried away either burned or scattered for the animals and birds. Looters stripped the bodies disturbing the thousands of ravens and crows fought over the moldering remains of the dead. A haze of smoke lay over the camp, lending an unreal, macabre aspect to the scene.

I had no clan leader to report to. The large group that reinforced the initial attack against our rear must have already wiped out everyone in the main force. Our small group was the last of our clan, and I was the sole survivor. I remembered the stories of looters and hid. Numb, I stared from my hiding place at the ruin, unable to comprehend the scale of the disaster.

*****

My breath was coming in ragged gasps. I suddenly became aware of the stares of the people in the kitchen with me. Looking away from them, I poured the last of the sake into my cup with a shaking hand. I could still smell the smoke of the fires and the stench of hundreds of rotting corpses. Focusing on the sake, I waited for it to go away. It wasn’t the first time the memory claimed me, it wasn’t likely to be the last.

Why did I come here? I should have known it would bring back the nightmare.

I got directions to the single men’s sleeping quarters—a warehouse on the northern wall. I found some robes and wrapped myself up in them. As I lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling, I hoped there would be no nightmares tonight.

Surei was right. I didn’t consider that she might need me. Instead, I decided I had to be the one to find who had betrayed my clan. I would find the villain, expose his treachery, redeem my family name. It was as close to carrying out my father’s final command as I could get. I remembered our times together, dreamed of reuniting with her after I had dealt with the traitor. But, I was truly only thinking of myself. Whatever she had become was my doing.

I spent years chasing shadows of rumors, whispers of secrets, and worthless leads. I learned the pirates had gathered days before we arrived. They knew well in advance we were coming. But I never found anyone who could tell me how they knew. Despite my burning need to avenge my family, I finally ran out of ideas. After spending more than a decade drifting around more out of habit instead of any real purpose, it finally occurred to me to look for information in the capital.

The Great Sage, Confucius, had said, “Before you embark upon a journey of vengeance, dig two graves.” Considering all that had happened to Surei and me, it appeared I should have dug three, for Surei was dead to me.