Uncertainty was rife among those called out into the wake of the raging storm. Dense clouds of grey blotted out the sun above, casting a dreary shade on an already miserable day. Blustery torrents of wind and rain lashed at Fuu as she made her way from the Hall of Heavens into the sodden courtyard along with Yu and the others, all thoroughly soaked within moments of leaving the comfort of the inside. Blood stained the boards beneath her feet where thorns had left deep grooves in the wood. Swallowing her dignity and closing her mind to the dreadful possibilities tormenting her imagination, the Jishu set foot into the knee-high waters below the veranda.

Strange, irregular chunks of corrupted meat were scattered and submerged across the courtyard, alongside a staggered line of dishevelled corpses clothed in robes and dresses. All were shredded, torn. A deep red tinge dyed several patches of water including that nearest to Sio, where the maiden Tsuya held a limp body within her arms. What remained of the corpse’s head was unrecognisable, it was a deconstructed mess of blood, bone and broken teeth. Tsuya too had been the victim of a terrible affliction, her upper face was entirely seared and swollen, her skin was a sickly yellowish-white and the shapes that had once been her eyes were shrunken and blackened like charcoal. Fuu’s stomach somersaulted at the sight; Tsuya simply sat motionless in the stained rainwater.

Slowly lifting another body from the water and carrying her carefully through a swamp of bloodied body parts, Sio regarded them with an unseeing gaze and nodded toward Tsuya.

“Bring them inside,” she ordered, her voice unusually hard.

“Lady Sio, what happened? What are these things?” Fuu asked.

“Ignore them and do as you are told. They’ll be gone soon enough.”

Holding her burning questions in her throat, Fuu moved to Tsuya and stooped down to lift the maiden’s corpse. Tsuya jerked away at her touch.

“Leave her alone! You shall not have my sister. Leave her,” she hissed manically. Fuu’s words of reassurance did not seem to reach her.

“She does not have to agree for you to bring her inside, Jishu,” Sio reminded her from the thorn-slashed entrance to the Hall of Heavens. Fuu clenched her teeth.

It did not come unexpected when the maiden shrieked in distress as Fuu slipped her arms underneath Ashi’s body and wrenched her away. Tsuya lashed out blindly with nails and balled fists, landing a few glancing blows and leaving painful grazes across Fuu’s face. Try as she might to concentrate her focus on returning to the veranda where Lord Toku and his attendant stood and watched, between the grief-stricken maiden’s assault and the sickening sight of Ashi’s demolished head, her task seemed near impossible. Salvation came in the form of her lover. Yu took hold of Tsuya’s wrists, overpowering her as she changed her target of attack. Once restrained, he lifted the maiden over his shoulder and followed Fuu back into the Hall of Heavens while his back was beaten relentlessly.

“What is all of this? Explain yourself,” the Emperor demanded. Sio sat her daughter against one of the hall’s pillars before giving an answer.

“Do you remember your father’s words, Naga? There are things in the dark that must not be found. He was a man of poor choices, but those words were not one of them. One might find terror incarnate lying in wait, or otherwise secrets so dire that some would snuff out the light to hide the truth. Our dear Tsuya found both.”

Toku’s face hardened at the mention of his father. “Explain yourself,” he repeated slowly. Sio turned from Lin with a frown.

“If you will not listen to what I have to say, then why do you continue to ask?”

Fuu noticed abrasions and tears in the woman’s dress as she arose, slight areas of fraying at first, but she soon caught sight of deeper, more substantial cuts that had been opened in her dress and flesh both.

“Can you remember what you saw in that courtyard a moment ago?” Sio asked, posing the question to nobody in particular. None gave an answer. “Of course not. They were not of your mind, so why would they remain there? What attacked the girls originated from within their thoughts, their ideas, the mental image of what they could see, and was born into a brief life of instinctual malice. Ideas of Heaven.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“And what was it that they saw, Lady Sio? Heaven itself?” Toku pressed.

“If you hope to avoid the same fate by knowing your enemy, you are gravely mistaken, for it is that very knowledge that led to the tragic deaths of all those men and women lying in the rain outside. Even these few words threaten you more than you realise,” she warned.

“You were unaffected by all of this?”

“Heaven holds its benefits.”

“And what of us? How can we be sure they won’t attack again?”

Sio pointed a bloodstained finger at Tsuya. “The scenery you witnessed was no freak accident. She brought it about under my instruction. You are safe, Tokugawa.”

The edges of Toku’s mouth twisted as if chewing upon a tough shred of meat, but he lowered his head and conceded to the host’s will.

“I trust that you are more learned in such matters than we are. If it is your wish that we remain unaware of what you do, then we shall ask no further questions.”

“You have my thanks. It is not unusual to covet the truth, but understand that it is a fickle thing. Confronting it directly will not always lead to the answers you seek.”

Sio approached Toku as she talked, reaching slowly for the dao upon his hip. He followed her movements with a cautious eye. Sliding the sword out of its scabbard just enough to expose the fine edge, Sio ran her thumb upon the blade and allowed it to draw a glistening crimson tear. She offered thanks before returning to her daughter’s side and lifting the girl’s head by her chin. Yu cursed loudly, noticing Lin’s injuries before they had even registered in Fuu’s mind. She echoed his profanity when the realisation finally set in.

The girl’s eyes had been crushed. Two streams of clear fluid ran over her cheeks accompanied by red streaks of blood. Her eyelids looked sick and misshapen covering the deformed orbs that occupied their sockets. Clenching her jaw, Sio prised open her daughter’s mouth and squeezed several droplets of blood from the opening in her thumb onto the girl’s tongue. She cast a glance at Tsuya, who had given up her struggle and now sat defeated and stricken.

“I will offer you no further help. Understand that your wounds are both the price and prize of your faith,” she said to the maiden. Tsuya gave no response.

“As for the rest of you, listen carefully, for the Traitors’ Summit and its preparations must soon close. The Sanzan alliance begins its invasion of Han at winter’s end under the banner of Emperor Tokugawa Naga. Sukh Mengu must be found before that time comes. Without his forces offering resistance against the Sky-Chosen’s armies, our prospects of crossing the Hangu Mountains become quite bleak.”

“Khara came here in his place. He knew about this summit. How do we even know if Chieftain Mengu is still alive?” Yu interrupted. Sio glared through narrow eyes.

“Questions, questions, and none of their answers are your concern, Diao,” she replied. “Sukh Mengu is a man of dire importance. We cannot afford to presume him dead without first looking for ourselves. Whether you help in that search is up to you.”

“I have not agreed to join you,” Fuu reminded her.

“Yet you shall. The decision was made by that mark across your sternum, whether you agree with it or not. Responsibility is not always a matter of choice.”

Fuu covered her chest defensively. A hard lump formed in her throat.

“What mark do you mean, exactly?” she replied carefully, unable to shake the feeling of a terrible accusation.

“For you it is a brand that brings with it a fate worse than death itself. It will not disappear should you ignore it, nor can you remove it by means of mutilation. The mark is a crushing burden. For your brother, it is the key to everything he dreams of- so he wishes to believe. I do not need to see your secret to know what it is, Jishu Jie. Can you not feel our bodies resonate?” Sio asked, but Fuu could only feel her heart thumping violently against her ribcage. Puzzled looks began to flicker between the two from the others, all except for Toku, who maintained his measuring gaze upon Fuu.

Sio continued, “I do not intend to harm you. You are not someone that would pose a threat by rallying forces behind the Mandate. Support our search or make your way back to Hanshi. I shall have your brother do the same if he ever wakes.”

“Return to Hanshi, what- why?” Fuu stuttered.

“Because attacking Han as they are now would be like striking stone with a bare fist; they must first be weakened if they are to fall. That, and we cannot conquer an entire continent with the strength of Lord Naga’s army alone. Each of us must play their own part in fighting for a better future, even you. Do you understand?”

Fuu nodded reluctantly. Pretending to give the woman what she wanted was easier than arguing something she knew they could never agree on. Running home like a scared child after the two year struggle across hundreds of miles, through seasons of rain, wearing sodden clothes in the cold of night, and seasons of scorching heat when the cleanest water that could be found was in a river or pond that animals polluted with their filth, it did not seem possible to simply turn back.

Two years had not changed the world, but the girl that had fled the capital was no longer the same. The daughter of Han would never return to the city as anything more than a memory.