Echoes of a Shattered Age (25 page)

“To the end,” the samurai said to his younger sister.

“Nonsense!” came a yell from behind, and Kita raced by in a blur to slam into one of the fiends. He scored several stabs to its chest before leaping back. The sight of their new friend brought renewed strength to the siblings, and they attacked with renewed fury.

Kenyatta knew he couldn’t block such powerful blows, so he avoided or parried. Still, every parry resulted in him rolling to absorb the shock of the blow, and the shock was slowing him down. He tried just avoiding the attacks altogether, which was the only advantage he had. It slammed the ground and swung right to left, then hurled a small fireball at him, which he barely avoided. Kenyatta screamed at a sudden searing pain in his ankle, and looked down to see a flaming whip wrapped around it and burning his flesh.

Akemi managed to cut many gashes in the hide of the beast, but it seemed not to notice. It continued to advance on her despite the damage she dealt it. Its hand began to glow, and a club of fire formed in its hand.

Uh oh
, she thought.

It swung the club down and she hopped to the side and slashed its wrist. It looked at her with something akin to amusement in its cruel eyes, then spat a stream of fire that nearly scorched her left side.

Kenjiro had received several injuries as he worked to keep his enemy at bay. The pit demon continued to push him back with savage attacks that the samurai could scarcely avoid.

“I’ve had enough of this,” he growled.

The demon roared and produced a club of fire in its right hand. The club descended, and Kenjiro, with a mighty yell, brought his sword up to answer the blow. Sparks of fire erupted, and the pit demon was shocked to be held at bay by a mere human. The muscles in his arms strained as Kenjiro used all his strength to hold the monster back. He felt his strength beginning to ebb, but then a warmth trickled through his body, building until a surge of power filled him and exploded outward, sending the fiend stumbling in one direction and the samurai flying in another.

* * *

“Amazing,” Sensei Akutagawa said.

“Yes,” Taliah agreed.

Sensei looked at her, surprised. “I think Kenjiro just accessed a power within himself that had lain dormant till now.”

“If only the others can do the same,” Taliah replied.

Sensei could only nod in wonder as they both looked back to the wall that showed them the struggle of the five mighty warriors, and Takashaniel’s best chance at survival.

* * *

Kita parried and countered with his staff. Because of the two-handed weapon’s length, he was afforded more leverage to absorb the shock of such heavy blows. The pit demon’s chest glowed with red fire from the many wounds he had inflicted upon it. It seemed the fight would never end, but finally, the beast fell to its hands and knees.

It had barely fallen when Kita thrust his staff into the monster’s throat. He pulled the weapon free and separated it into its chain form, whipping it around his back, then swinging it wide to wrap about the demon’s neck. With a grunt, he yanked the chain free, shredding the pit demon’s throat.

Kita drew the chain back and snapped it into a staff once more, and with a final thrust sent it deep into the monster’s chest, sending it back to the dark realm.

* * *

The pit demon dragged him closer to it with its whip. The fire was gone now, but the pain from the burned skin was screaming at his senses. On top of that, a ring of fire now surrounded the monster, and it was pulling him into it. He tried cutting at the whip but it was made of unearthly material. In desperation, he launched his left sword into the monster’s chest and it released the whip and howled, stumbling back.

Kenyatta and the fiend seemed almost to have fought to a stalemate, each injured but determined to kill the other. Just when Kenyatta had run out of ideas, the monster staggered as it succumbed to the enchanted sword embedded in its chest. He charged in and stabbed the beast with his remaining blade and then withdrew the other and stabbed continually before it could recover.

Kenyatta then brought his blades up over his head in a cross to block the descending club of fire that the pit demon had formed in its right hand. To his surprise, he was in too close and the monster had overreached, catching its arm on the blades. Without a moment of thought, and with all the power he could muster, Kenyatta pressed the blades deeper into its arm and then slid them apart.

The demon shrieked, and its body burst into flames as an expression of its fury. It tried to push the flames outward, but it was too late. It had sustained too many injuries in this world, and the fires surrounding its body died. It crashed to the ground and melted into black mist, returning to the dark realm.

Kenyatta sat for a moment, panting and looking around. He knew it was not over, so he stood once more and limped as quickly as he could to the remaining fight.

As he approached, Kenyatta couldn’t help but be impressed at the power and skill the siblings displayed as they tore through their adversaries. They worked as one, even when facing separate enemies, they fed from each other’s energy.

Akemi worked even harder than before in a blinding display of speed and agility. Sekimaru was a blur in the air as she whirled around to attack, parry and counterattack. It was amazing that such a small sword so easily matched the power of that enormous club of fire, and the two behemoths that were the pit demons who wielded them.

Kenjiro avoided a horizontal swipe by his adversary, then came up with a diagonal upward thrust with his sword. The sword left a body-length scar that stretched from the fiend’s right leg to its left shoulder, that sent the demon staggering away.

Kita saw the blow land, and could have sworn he saw something that looked like surprise on the demon’s face. It gave an angry roar and plunged its fist deep into the ground and ripped out a bed of solid rock. It hurled the flat rock at the samurai, and Kenjiro leaned forward and whipped his sword up and over in an overhead chop, slicing through the rock as if it were butter.

Kenjiro charged at the beast with a series of vertical and horizontal swipes, which it blocked with its naturally armored forearms. It waded through the assault and grabbed the samurai, lifting him up to eye level. Kenjiro could see the fire in its eyes, as well as the fire dancing in its mouth.

He needed to think fast. His sword arm was pressed to his side, but his other arm was free. The pit demon drew in a deep breath, and Kenjiro struggled to turn the sword upward and stab the beast in the wrist. It loosened its grip just enough for Kenjiro to slip his arm free and grab the embedded sword. He pulled the sword free, reversed the grip, and stabbed the beast in the top of its hand between two of its four fingers. The fiend reflexively dropped him, and as soon as the samurai touched the ground, he shot forward and thrust his sword deep into the midsection, then with all his strength, cut out sideways and hurled himself to the side and rolled back to his feet.

The monster made an angry, moaning sound, clutching its torn abdomen. It stared hatefully at him, then whipped out a hand and hurled a bolt of fire at the samurai, who stood crouching and holding his ribs. Just before the bolt hit its mark, Kenyatta tackled Kenjiro aside just as the flaming ball passed. Kenyatta’s back was singed, and he lay there, eyes clamped shut, groaning against the sting.

“Don’t say I never did anything nice for you, samurai,” he growled through clenched teeth.

* * *

Akemi darted left to right, avoiding the pit demon’s tireless assault. Although it was far stronger than she, Sekimaru still held true, and met every bit of the monster’s power with its own fury. Finally tired of the game, the beast raised its fiery club into the air and, before bringing it down, stomped its foot into the ground, creating a small tremor.

The ninja was thrown off balance, but kept her feet as the monster brought its club down with enough force drive her into the earth. Sekimaru flared to life, and when Akemi brought the sword up to deflect the blow, it destroyed the flaming club.

The demon went into a fit of rage and brought its hand down to slam the ninja into the ground, but again she brought Sekimaru forth and ran the sword through its palm. The monster had never known such pain and tried to pull free, but the sword drained its dark life force.

Akemi was overwhelmed by the surge of dark power and her strength faltered. Just when she could no longer withstand the struggle between the fiend and the hungry sword, she heard the strider’s sword slice through the air
.

The demon stumbled backward and fell to the ground, and Akemi saw Shinobu standing behind it, holding his head with one hand and barely standing upright. He managed a glint of a smile before he turned his gaze back to the fiend, trying to rise. Sekimaru had drained a great deal of the pit demon’s material energy, and it was having a hard time maintaining itself in this dimension. Black mist seeped from its many wounds, and it began to dissipate. The ninja went in for the killing blow and cut the beast deeply across the neck. Its roar turned into a sickening gurgle. Then, in dying revenge, it threw its hand in front of the ninja. Red light glowed from its palm, and Akemi drew her sword in front of her and braced her other arm behind it just as the flames engulfed her.

“No!” Kenjiro ran toward his sister, but there was nothing he could do. The monster descended back to the dark plane, and when the smoke thinned, Akemi stood with her arms crossed, Sekimaru in a reverse grip, and tendrils of smoke slithering from her body. Then her knees buckled and she fell to the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Kenyatta said once he reached the samurai, crouched over Akemi. “I did not want to interfere in your battle so I hesitated.”

“Save your apology for the day that you do interfere in our fight,” the samurai responded. “She would rather die than accept help in a fight that she was confident she could win.”

“Why did she not burn?” Kita asked. “The demon engulfed her in flames.”

“The pit demon’s flame,” Kenjiro answered. “They can control how it affects this world. The fire that burns her is inside, not outside.” He looked down at his unconscious sister as he spoke. “If the pit demon was not already weakened, it might have killed her. The only thing that prevented the flames from consuming her completely was quick thinking on her part. Her sword absorbed some of the energy from that thing, but whether it was enough to save her …” He trailed off, holding a hand to her forehead.

“Is there something we can do?” Kita asked.

“I know of some herbs that may help, but I don’t know how effective it will be against this. Watch her,” Kenjiro bade them. “I will return shortly.” Kita rested a hand on the samurai’s shoulder and nodded. Leaving his younger sister in the care of the other three warriors, Kenjiro left in search of the proper herbs.

When he returned, the others had laid her under a tree in the shade and placed a cool, wet washcloth on her head.

“She’s burning up,” Kita said. Shinobu looked up at Kenjiro, who sat and riffled through a sack of supplies. Kenyatta neither looked up nor said a word. A cloud of grief had settled over him and he could lift his gaze no higher from the ground than to Akemi.

“I would rather her anger than her death,” he said solemnly.

“We want neither,” Kenjiro replied, and there was a hint of comfort in his tone.

“We must move her from this shade into the sun for a while,” he said at length. The others looked at him, incredulous.

“She singes to the touch and it is a hot day,” Shinobu said. “Why bring her into the heat when she has too much already?”

“A different kind of heat,” the samurai answered, never taking his eyes from his sister. “The sun heals and replenishes, and its rays will help burn the taint from her.”

Kenjiro carefully lifted Akemi and moved her out of the shade. Her skin had turned red as if she were sunburned. He started a campfire, then boiled some water and crushed some leaves in it, then added the herbs he had found not far away.

“What is all of this?” Kita asked.

“I am making a solution made from kokoya leaves and some other herbs that I have. She must drink some of it, then we let the rest sit until it forms into a balm, and we will apply it externally.”

Kita watched as Kenjiro worked on the remedy. Although he appeared confident, Kita could see that the man was worried. The lines in his forehead ran deep, and he never lifted his gaze from his sister except to attend to the medicine. His hands moved quickly and carefully and he always laid his hand on her head. Kita looked over his shoulder at his friend. Kenyatta had climbed a nearby hill by himself and had been there for a while. He hoped for Akemi’s sake and for his friend’s, that she would recover. Kenyatta would never forgive himself regardless of what the ninja wanted.

* * *

Kenyatta stared absently down the hill. It was not very high, but he could see for miles. He knelt and picked up a rock and let fly.

“You can’t blame yourself.” The strider’s voice was gentle, almost comforting. Shinobu moved beside him and picked up a rock and hurled it into the distance. “It was her fight and hers alone. If you had interfered she would have been furious.”

“And alive,” Kenyatta added.

“She’s not dead yet, my friend. You have fought beside such warriors before, and you know the reality of battle. Every time we unsheathe our swords, we expect nothing, but are prepared for anything. I would rather die defending rather than being defended.”

Kenyatta slid a few stray locks from over his forehead and leaned his head back, closing his eyes and feeling the sun warm his face. “You interfered in the fight, did you not?”

Shinobu looked at him evenly. “That was to save her from her sword, not her adversary.” At Kenyatta’s questioning look, he explained. “I have sensed a power about that sword since first I met them, and it is a wild power. She has a measure of control over it, but she hasn’t mastered it as she believes. If I had not done what I had, the power influx would have overwhelmed her.”

Shinobu placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Whatever the outcome, we must face the future together without regret, else we might join her, supposing she does not recover. The sick are sometimes aware of those around them, so stay strong even if only for her benefit. She can likely sense our feelings and it will help her to feel our strength.”