The Flood Dragon's Sacrifice Read online

  “I speak for the whole clan of Nagamoto when I say how honored we are that your imperial highness has decided to choose my daughter as your consort.”

  Was that a choked-back sob in her father’s steady voice? Ayaka didn’t dare to raise her head. She was in a daze. I’m going to be Hotaru’s bride.

  And then she heard Hotaru speaking softly to her through the murmur of many voices. “I hope this wasn’t too much of a shock. I wanted to speak to you in person first, but I’ve been burdened with all the formalities of my brother’s abdication.”

  As he raised her to her feet, she risked a glance at his face and saw, to her relief, that the hard, desperate look she had glimpsed when they were trapped by the flood tide had gone. This was the gentle, sensitive scholar with a poet’s soul whom she had idolized from afar for so very long.

  And now they were to be married. She forgot all her uncertainties as she gazed adoringly into his eyes.

  “I’m asking a great deal of you, Lady Ayaka. The life of an empress will not be an easy one. Are you prepared to do this for me?”

  “I’d do anything for you, your highness,” she answered with utter conviction. “I’ll stay by your side no matter what happens.”

  ***

  Masao flattened himself against the cell wall, gesturing to Kai and Naoki to keep out of sight as he risked a quick glance across the courtyard outside.

  “What do we do now?” Naoki brandished the knife. “Fight our way out with one knife between us?”

  “It’s not the imperial guard,” Masao said. “It’s the warrior monks.”

  “Kaishin?” A man’s voice penetrated the gloom. “Are you there?”

  Kai thought he recognized the nasal tones. “Garyo?” he said uncertainly. Garyo, a lean-faced Crane, had been Kakumyo’s lieutenant.

  “We’ve come to get you out. Stand by.”

  A moment later, a white-hooded monk flitted in and opened the cell door, frowning at the broken lock. Kai moved to meet him, only to find Naoki’s hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

  “Can you trust them?”

  Kai shook Naoki’s hand off and made his way outside, followed by Masao and Naoki. The monks surrounded them.

  “We saw what you did, Kaishin,” said Garyo. “You calmed Flood’s fury. You were the one who saved us. Take back what is rightfully yours.” He brought out the ebony flute and pressed it into Kai’s hands. Kai looked down at it and felt tears pricking at his eyes again.

  “Thank you,” he said. “I thought it was gone for good.”

  “Now go, Kaishin. Take the cliff path. We’ll cover for you.”

  Kai bowed low to him in thanks. “I’ll never forget this, Garyo.”

  “It’s what the captain would have wanted,” Garyo said respectfully.

  ***

  Filmy clouds drifted across the face of the moon as Kai and the two Kites entered the abbot’s garden, filtering its light to a pale, uncertain glimmer.

  He had gone there so often to play the ebony flute to the dark sea, losing himself and the cares of the day in the music. His hands tightened around the instrument, wondering what had become of Flood. The tide was quietly coming into the bay below…but where were the Tide Dragons?

  Masao suddenly quickened his pace, breaking into a run, making straight for the abbot’s summer house.

  “You’ve no time for this,” Naoki called after him in tones of exasperation. “You have to go.”

  A white-robed figure was lying on the stone seat inside, his long strands of pale hair bleached silver by the moonlight. Masao reached him and took him in his arms, crushing him against him. Kai heard him murmuring, “Yū, Yū” again and again, his voice hoarse with distress, as the shaman’s head slumped against his shoulder.

  “What’s happened to him?” Kai asked Naoki who was watching with folded arms.

  “Hotaru,” Naoki said bluntly. “He placed a seal on his powers. He didn’t do it too gently, either.”

  Kai was suddenly, painfully reminded of his own lost Sakami. He cast a sidelong glance at Naoki, unable to reconcile the conflicting feelings at war within him. Naoki was the one who killed her. Perhaps he had only meant to stun her. Perhaps the Flame Feathers jutsu was too powerful for him to control…

  But how can I bring Sakami’s memories back to her when I’m a wanted man on the run?

  A clamor of men’s voices broke out in the distance. Had the imperial guards discovered their prisoners had fled?

  “Masao.” Kai beckoned to him. “We have to get out of here.” His leg was aching badly; the rigors of the last few days were beginning to take their toll. He wasn’t even sure if he could make it down the steep, stony path to the shore.

  “I’ll find a way to undo the damage Hotaru has done to you, Yū,” Masao was saying urgently. “I’m coming back for you. Lord Naoki will protect you while I’m gone.” Masao looked up at Naoki, his eyes glinting more dangerously green than before. “Won’t you, Naoki?”

  “Yes, yes,” Naoki said. “You’d better take back your katana.” He held out the sheathed sword to him. “You’re going to need it.”

  Masao received it with a nod of the head and stuck it in his belt.

  “Now get going.”

  Kai had begun to limp toward the sea gate when he saw torch flames bobbing toward them.

  “Split up! Search the gardens! They can’t have gone far.”

  Masao caught up with Kai at the sea gate. White-hooded figures silently appeared, waving them through.

  “May Ryūjin guard and guide you, Kaishin,” one of the warrior monks said quietly. As Kai and Masao passed beneath the gate, Kai heard the imperial guards challenging the monks on duty.

  “Let us through!”

  “Identify yourselves first.”

  “No time for that – we’re on the emperor’s orders!”

  “How long can the monks stall them?” Masao said to Kai. And then he added, “Why hasn’t Hotaru set his shikigami on our trail?”

  “You mean Kurika?” Kai said, breathless already from struggling to keep up with Masao’s pace. “Perhaps Hotaru’s hold over him is weakening. I can’t sense his presence here at all.” The worrying thought that Kurika might have gone back to Kurozuro kept nagging at his mind.

  “We need a plan, Lord Kaito.” Masao’s voice was breathless too. It was hard to see the narrow path clearly as clouds slid across the face of the moon again.

  “Let’s drop the formal speech.” Kai was getting a stitch in his side. “We’re in this together, after all. Call me Kai.”

  “Kai.” Was that a wry note of warmth Kai detected in the Kite’s voice? “I’m damned if, after all this, I’m going to let Hotaru get his own way.”

  “Prisoners – you’re outnumbered!” An officious voice hailed them from higher up the path. “Give yourselves up.”

  Kai stumbled and felt a strong, muscular arm go around him, supporting him.

  “Don’t listen to them.” As Kai leaned against him, he could feel Masao laboring for breath too. “They’re still some way off.”

  “Unless they’ve stationed men on the beach below.” No sooner had Kai spoken than he spotted torch flames flaring up on the sands. “What do we do now?”

  “You could play your flute.”

  At first Kai thought Masao was adopting the same sarcastic tone as his master Naoki would have done. But looking into Masao’s eyes, he saw that Masao was speaking from the heart; he might be unshakably loyal to his young lord, but he had remained untouched by Naoki’s cynicism.

  “But what good would it do? Shiohiru and Shiomitsu are gone.”

  “But gone where?” Masao placed his hands on Kai’s shoulders, staring into his eyes. “To the next world? Or are they still here, within us? There has to be a way to find out.”

  Over Masao’s head, Kai saw the flicker of torch flames growing brighter as the Imperial Guard hurried down the path toward them.

  “Within us?” Kai repeated. He took the flute from his belt and
with shaking hands lifted it to his lips. His breathing was so unsteady that the first notes issued as a toneless whisper – and then, as his fingers moved over the holes, he coaxed the next hesitant phrase out onto the night air. As he played on, he saw the Flood Dragon seal light up, radiating a blue shimmer of light. And as the light grew, he felt a current of energy flow from the brilliant seal and flood throughout his body, filling his ears with the rhythmic pounding of deep waters, as the energy centered around his left breast. Masao was staring at his own left wrist, lifting it so that Kai could see. Sea-green radiance pulsed from his seal, enveloping him in a swirling column of light. A second seal began to glow above his heart, letting out a piercing verdant beam.

  “Wh - what’s happening?” he stammered. “I – can’t – control –”

  Imperial guards came around the corner of the zigzag path, skidding to a halt, spearheads lowered, as they were dazzled by the brilliance.

  “It’s just a trick,” Kai heard the officer in command saying. “Arrest them.”

  The throbbing in his left wrist was almost too painful to bear – and now his heart had begun to pulse in rhythm with the sound of the sea filling his ears.

  “Masao – ” he managed to gasp out. “The sea – it’s calling us – ”

  As the guards made a grab for him he felt his body melt into flecks of sea foam, rising into the air and falling, as the enchanted rain from the dissolving Tide Jewels had done, into the sea.

  And then he was gliding below the surface, powering away from the shore toward deeper water, rejoicing in his newfound speed and strength. Free. Free of his earthbound, twisted, clumsy body. Free to streak through the waves, exhilarated and intoxicated.

  After a while he became aware that he was not alone; another sleek form was streaking through the water alongside him.

  He broke the surface, shaking off a fountain of water drops, to see who was matching his speed and daring. The other swimmer broke the surface alongside, raising his head from the waves. Kai found himself staring at a great horned dragon head, sparkling with foam-white scales. Two sea-green eyes stared piercingly back at him.

  “Masao?” Kai said, stunned. “Is that you?”

  “Kai?” came back the reply, in a voice that was as deep as the rolling of stormbreakers on a shingled shore. “Or Flood?”

  Kai looked down at himself. He saw a sheen of shimmering azure scales covering his long, slender sea dragon body; as he lifted one hand to touch his face, he saw three cruel, curved talons in its stead. “I still feel like Kai,” he said slowly. “But I’m not sure I know how to change back into Kai’s body.”

  “There was light,” said Masao in Ebb’s voice. “Light flooding from pulse and heart… and then I was here.”

  Kai looked back to land. Torch-bearing figures lined the cliff path; he could just make out the gleam of their spearheads and hear their distant angry shouts.

  “We’re free, Masao. Free to go wherever we wish.”

  And he dove down beneath the dark waves, turning his back on the land and heading straight out toward the open sea.

  ***

  “This was all we found, imperial majesty.” The officer in the imperial guards presented Hotaru with a plain black flute and a katana.

  “A flute,” said Hotaru, examining the slender instrument, “and a sword.”

  “There was a burst of dazzling light…and when we could see clearly again, the prisoners had vanished.”

  “I see.”

  “If they jumped into the sea from the cliffs, I doubt they would have survived the fall. We’re searching the shore to see if any bodies have been washed up.”

  Naoki, watching with Yūgiri at his side, said, “That katana belongs to Lord Masao, my brother.” He sensed Yūgiri flinch as he said Masao’s name but the shaman remained mute.

  “Then, Lord Naoki, please receive your brother’s sword; perhaps your father would like to have it in his keeping until we can discover what has become of its owner.”

  Naoki bowed his head as he took the katana in both hands and returned to Yūgiri’s side.

  “And I will look after Lord Kaito’s flute,” said Hotaru, handing it to Kobai who stood behind him. He turned away from the cliff, saying as he left, “Interrogate anyone who was on the shore – or the cliffs – at the time. I want to know if anyone witnessed anything unusual.”

  Epilogue

  Why do I feel so strange? Sakami lay with her eyes closed, listening. Everything was so distinct; she could hear the breeze whispering in the pine branches overhead, the distant splash of the stream, even the soft whirr of a moth’s wings passing above her head… And the scents of the forest tantalized her, wafting across her nostrils, making her nose twitch. She could smell the sweetness of overripe cherries rotting on the grass, the musty odor of tree bark and fungi… And what was that strong, virile foxy musk so close by? It made her suddenly skittish and giggly; it stirred unfamiliar longings deep inside.

  Who’s there? She sat up suddenly and saw Honou lying in the grass beside her, watching her intently. He rolled over onto his stomach, smiling lazily. “Welcome to our world,” he said. He reached out suddenly and caught her hands in his, pulling her close.

  “Honou?” Sakami felt a delicious little shiver run through as he kissed her. She slapped him – but not too hard.

  “That was just a welcoming kiss,” he said, affecting an aggrieved expression. And then he laughed and she laughed too, because it had felt so good. She wanted to kiss him again, to run her fingers through his auburn hair. But there was something nagging at the back of her mind. Something she had promised to do…

  “Well, now…” Honou sat up, stretching sinuously and showing off his lean, well-muscled torso. “You’ve slept most of the day away. We can’t lounge around here any longer. Lady Inari’s given us a job to do. We have to go back to keep watch over the castle shrine in case Kurika returns.”

  “The castle shrine.” The nagging grew stronger. “Have I been there before?”

  “Ah. Your memory’s still a little hazy.” Honou’s smile faded. “This could be tricky.” He stared deep into her eyes. “Do you remember Shun?”

  “Shun.” The name sounded familiar; it stirred warm feelings unaccountably mixed up with a distinct sense of exasperation.

  “He’s your older brother.”

  “My brother…” For a moment, a hazy image appeared in Sakami’s mind: warm, dark-brown eyes smiling at her as a large hand reached down to tousle her hair…

  “How about Yuna? Mai and Mami?”

  Sakami shook her head, baffled.

  Honou let out a little sigh. “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  Sakami nodded dutifully, although she would have preferred to lie back in the grass and watch the moths.

  “We’ll get there much faster if we go in fox form.”

  “Can I do that?” Sakami said doubtfully. “And what about my clothes? I can’t turn up stark naked in front of all those people.”

  “It’s easy. You’ll learn how. I’ll show you. It just takes a little practice. Let’s try it now.”

  He gave her another strong-scented foxy kiss and Sakami closed her eyes, willing herself to change. It felt as if a hot spiral of wind enfolded her, drawing her in to its spinning heart. I’m shrinking! She shook herself. She was much closer to the ground than a few moments ago. Where her hands had been were two furry paws. Her hearing had become even more acute – so that when Honou’s voice said What a pretty little vixen you’ve become she was so startled that she jumped. He stood before her, proudly swishing his two tails. So – how does it feel to be a fox?

  Sakami glanced behind her and saw that she had acquired two glimmering tails of her own. Different, she said warily, giving them a little twitch.

  Time to go, he said. And don’t let yourself be distracted. Rabbits, berries, moths…just ignore them, no matter how tasty they smell, or we’ll never reach the castle in time.

  He set off and she followed, scampering
down the mountain slope, following Honou’s glimmering tails into the summer dusk.

  - * -

  Cast List

  Cipangu is the name that Marco Polo gave to the country we now recognize as Japan. However as much of Marco Polo’s writings is now thought to be speculative fiction, so ‘Tide Dragons,’ which is set in Cipangu, should be read as an historical fantasy inspired by the myths and legends of Japan.

  Clan of the Black Cranes (Black Crane – Kurozuro)

  Princess Asagao, widow of Lord Morimitsu, and leader of the clan

  Takeru, her elder son, 21

  Kaito/Kaishin her younger son, 16 – currently a novice at the Sea Dragon Monastery

  Sakami, 16, a servant girl

  Shun, 20, her elder brother, an archer

  Rikyu, 21, his friend and fellow archer

  General Tachibana, Princess Asagao’s right-hand man

  Isamu, 18, Takeru’s squire (Iwaki no Isamu)

  Susumu, 16, his younger brother (Iwaki no Susumu)

  Iekane, in command of the castle archers

  Clan of the Red Kites (Akatobi – Red Kite)

  Lord Toshiro (Akatobi no Toshiro)

  Naoki, his son, 17

  Masao, 21, Naoki’s loyal retainer and bodyguard

  Okitane, Masao’s uncle and Lord Toshiro’s senior retainer (Takanaga no Okitane)

  Yūdai, master of martial arts

  Yūgiri Hisui, 21, a shaman healer

  Yoriaki, Kite Shadow Master

  Chikaaki, senior shinobi

  Lady Fumiko and Kiyoshi her eldest son (deceased)

  The Tide Dragon Temple and Monastery

  Abbot Genko

  Seishi-sensei, Kaishin’s mentor and tutor, an elder healer monk

  Kakumyo, captain of the warrior monks

  The Imperial Court

  Emperor Suzaku

  Prince Hotaru, his younger brother, a scholar

  Lady Ayaka, a rich heiress, 16

  Reika, her maid and bodyguard, 18

  Princess Omiya, Ayaka’s mother

  Lord Nagamoto, the Minister of the Right, Ayaka’s father

  Lord Kiyomori, the Minister of the Left

  Immortals