Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2) (15 page)

“No, I want you to save him. I won’t leave Sekkoro without him.”

~~~

Chapter Nineteen

~

S
hiro panicked.

“Settle down, Kinoru.
I know the spell they used on us to reduce our powers. You can use it on them.” Shiuki whispered the spell to Shiro who repeated it back to her. “They are so stupid to think we don’t know how to learn their magic.”

“I have to leave now. I hope to see you again, soon.” He yelled in anger at Shiuki, partly to please the guards and partly because he really was mad. “Why would you possibly want that dishonorable man saved?”

“He’s my husband.”

Well that complicated matters. Shiro tried to think quickly. “Can the rest of these women assume disguises? Can Ashiyo disguise himself?” Shiro rubbed his knuckles on the rough rock surface of the dungeon to make them bloody. Shiuki nodded in the torchlight. “I’ll get him out.”

“Ashiyo is his disguise,” she said.

Now he’d have to break into a guildhall, rescue his betrayer, and then fight through how many more sorcerers to get him over to the castle!  The rescue mission became less and less possible. “Learn what the guards look like. Perhaps you can assume their guise and you can march out of here. Now scream and stop as if you fainted.”

She performed wonderfully as Shiro pounded on the door. “I’ve had enough,” he said. The guards unlocked the door and let him out. They looked a bit disappointed.

“I thought they would have put a spell on you,” one of the guards said as he locked the door and put a few coins in the other guard’s hand.

“They tried and look what happened,” Shiro sneered, showing them his bloodied fist. They backed away from him. “Don’t worry. She’s being treated by her sisters.” He passed them by and stalked up the stairs memorizing the way.

He tossed the key to the desk guard and began to climb the last flight of stairs up to the kitchen, but then he turned back. “Is there another exit from the dungeons? I’m afraid I’ll be sick smelling food after being down there.”

The guard rubbed is dirty bald head and laughed. “There is, through there.” He pointed at a dark corridor that ran underneath the stairs to the kitchen. “I wouldn’t take it. That’s where the dead ones go and where the slops are thrown out… it links to a sewer that empties into the sea.”

Shiro coughed. “I’ll chance the kitchen then…” He returned up the stairs, smiling to himself.

“We all do,” the guard said to his back. Shiro just shrugged, not turning around.

The kitchen activity had slowed by the time Shiro entered. Chika walked with him out into the practice yard.

“How is Shiuki?”

Shiro kicked at the gravel. “Well enough after getting beaten by the sorcerers. They all were. I don’t know why they were moved to the castle.”

She looked at his knuckles and her eyebrows went up in alarm. “You beat her, too?”

“An altercation with a wall. I needed to show some evidence of hitting her.” He shrugged and looked across the yard, his mind focusing on the Guildhouse blocks away. “We have to rescue Ashiyo from the Guildhouse.”

“He betrayed Shiuki. Why would we?”

“It seems that Ashiyo and Shiuki are a couple.” Shiro clamped his lips tight. “He comes with us or Shiuki stays.”

Chika put her hand to her forehead. “How are we going to do that? But you were just at the Guildhouse. Did your visit give you any ideas?”

“Yes, don’t try to rescue anyone. We don’t know what wards they have. There’s so much magic bound into a guild house that I don’t know. Apprentices are taught the basics, but…” He shook his head. He looked across the practice yard. The men were beginning to pair up with wooden weapons. Shiro could easily walk out of the castle and out of Sekkoro. No one would be able to find him if he kept shifting his appearance and shielding his magic. He could marry again and acquire a farm. Life could return to normal.

He looked across the courtyard, harried by a feeling that he didn’t belong anywhere in Roppon. His entry into the guard had been under false pretenses. Shiro didn’t feel inadequate, but the situation unsettled his mind all of a sudden. The revelation that Ashiyo wasn’t whom he thought. The man had betrayed Shiro and Boreko. Why should he save a stranger? Why should he save a woman who he only met weeks before? He had risked his life for these people.

Chika nudged him. “What’s next?”

Shiro knew Chika better than anyone since he met Boreko. He liked her spirit and she had driven him to Sekkoro, so did he do this for her? He really didn’t know. “I’ll come up with something tonight. An opportunity will present itself. Where are you quartered?”

“Above the kitchen. There are stairs to the right of the fireplaces. Barracks are up there. I have to be careful.” She smiled and blushed just a bit. “I’m seeing more of my fellow kitchen workers than I care to.”

“I can see your education expanding.”

“More times than I’d like to see,” she said, lips curling into a smile. A cook walked out of the kitchen door and glared at her. “I’ve got to go.” She ran back to her duties and Shiro walked across the courtyard and grabbed a staff.

~

Shiro buried himself in practice, not wanting to think about his dilemma. If he left what would happen to Chika? What would happen to the ladies of the White Rose who languished in the dungeons below? His exertions didn’t provide him with an answer. He still had no idea of what to do.

After washing up, he joined his fellow soldiers in the mess hall. Anata called out to the men.

“Lord Sekkoro has agreed to ferret out all of the women of the White Rose on the South Isle. In order to do so, he will be working with cooperative lords in the other prefectures. If you don’t have the stomach for killing women, you can remain as guards. For those lords who are less than cooperative, we may be fighting their retainers.”

That brought cheers from the soldiers. Shiro had finally found his purpose. He wouldn’t allow women to be killed out of hand. Would the women fight with magic to save their sisters? Shiro wondered about that. He knew Chika would fight, but what about the others? Shiro thought he could reverse the dampening spell that Shiuki told him. Perhaps he’d need to rescue Ashiyo in order to have an outside opinion.

He thought of the reaction that Chika’s father had. He banished her when she developed Affinity. Shiro pressed his lips together, feeling grim. He had found the short-term answer to his dilemma. He would take on the cause of the White Rose and save the lives of fellow magic users, even if they were women… perhaps especially because they were women.

Horiuki nudged Shiro in the ribs. “You got to have some fun, I hear!” He laughed.

“I did indeed. Those women were filthy—” He gave Horiuki a knowing wink.

“I don’t care if they’re filthy or not as long as they do what I ask!” Horiuki said. Shiro laughed along with him but wanted nothing more than to leave the mess and work on a plan to take Ashiyo out of the hands of the sorcerers.

Another nudge disturbed Shiro as he ate and contemplated his next moves. “We head out in two or three days,” Anata said. “Until then we are all on leave. Horiuki knows of a great place, wine and women.”

Shiro had to refuse. “I think I’ll take my traveling companion out if we’re about to leave on a campaign. He’s young and innocent. I want to know what he thinks about the campaign.”

“Suit yourself,” Horiuki said, looking at Shiro sideways. “Like boys? I know another place…”

The comment made Shiro laugh and shook his head. “Nothing like that. I lost my wife and children to sickness not too long ago, so I’m still not ready to carouse. Enjoy yourself.” He spotted Chika serving the soldiers across the room and rose from his cushion. “See you later.”

Chika looked at him too seriously not to have heard Anata’s announcement. “We have leave for two days starting tonight,” she said.

“I know. Once you’re through here, let’s go out this evening. I’d like to explain to you what this campaign means.”

“I’d like that. I’m not too keen on killing women who might remind me of my mother,” she said. A few soldiers overheard her remarks. One laughed and others looked pensively into their wine cups.

“I think I can get you through that. I’ll meet you at the courtyard gate in an hour.” Shiro left the mess and ran across Anata in the barracks.

“Are you excited?” Anata said. “I heard about your episode in the dungeons.”

Shiro looked at his scabbing knuckles. “I don’t like women to knock me over.” He tried to look angry. “But teaching them manners and killing them outright are two different things. I’ve got some thinking to do.”

“You do that. I want to see you out in the field. Horiuki’s a good man, but so are you.”

“I’ve only just joined your men.” Shiro felt uncomfortable with Anata’s compliments.

“Doesn’t matter. I know how to take a measure of a man. Other than your dungeon excursion, I take you for a person who knows how to stay focused.”

Shiro nodded. “I try to do my best, sir.”

Anata clapped him on the shoulder. “You do that. Always do your best and you will rise in the ranks.” He laughed. He turned as he walked out of the barracks. “If you need to talk, find me. You men can have a good time, but I have a lot to do before we head out.” Shiro noticed a dark look on his face. Shiro wondered if Anata entertained some second thoughts.

~~~

Chapter Twenty

~

S
hiro stood in the gathering darkness
of the barracks. He liked Anata, but not for what the man would be doing in the near future. Following orders. He’s just following orders, but Shiro knew that he couldn’t kill innocent people, even if it was to maintain his disguise. Sometimes in wars, that happened, but he didn’t see how women sorcerers constituted enough of a threat to exterminate them… or even confine them to prison.

He took enough of his belongings so that if he wouldn’t be able to return, for whatever reason, he could escape. He’d wear his uniform, but he could disguise that if he needed to.

Chika waited for him at the gate. Soldiers were already filing out for the evening’s festivities. Both of them exited the castle along with nine other soldiers. The soldiers went to the right and Chika and Shiro walked straight ahead to an alleyway that would take them to a road passing the Guildhouse.

They sat on a bench in front of a tavern across from the entrance. Where would they have Ashiyo? Shiro thought of the Guild’s headquarters in Boriako and it’s stone walls and two basements. But would a common guildhouse have a lower level? He didn’t see any suitable stone foundations in evidence as he looked at their ultimate destination and didn’t remember any when he picked up Shiuki earlier in the day.

“Guards at the entrance. When they stop anyone, they test their powers or read a pass. We have the magic, but we don’t have a pass,” Chika said.

“I don’t trust my new powers of disguise to come up with a convincing sorcerer’s robe,” Shiro said as a serving girl came with a hot bottle of wine and two cups along with a bowl of pickled vegetables. If they were captured or killed, at least Chika would have a last taste of her favorite food.

Chika laughed when the serving girl went back inside. “Perhaps we should just kill a couple of sorcerers and take their robes.”

Shiro knew she didn’t mean it, but what if they captured a pair and interrogated them? “Do you know any spells that will make a person to tell the truth?”

She brightened up. “I know two that we can use. I’m not powerful enough, but there is a spell that will cut off Affinity and I can perform a truth spell, but it’s not totally reliable.”

“We can’t afford to work off of bad information.”

“Isn’t it better than a total lack of knowledge?”

“I see your point,” Shiro said.

“I’ve seen too many…” Chika said, waiting for Shiro’s laughter.

Shiro ignored the comment as he noticed three sorcerers leaving and took a deep breath. He never judged himself to be an action-oriented kind of person, but perhaps the more passive part of his life had ceased to exist, at least for the present. “Time to see how our magic works. Walk on the this side of the street until I signal.”

Chika nodded and took the last bit of pickled vegetables and finished up her cup of wine. Shiro threw some coins on the table and got up. As Chika walked away, Shiro stretched and sauntered across the street. Once he was out of sight of the gate, he picked up his pace until he nearly caught up to the sorcerers. Chika walked slightly ahead of the sorcerers, but she went unnoticed as the sorcerers began to bicker among each other.

They turned a corner. The road was little more than an alley and the coming night had already smothered it in darkness. A merchant and a servant passed the sorcerers. Chika moved up to Shiro’s side as soon as the two men had passed.

“I’ll throw a spell on them,” Shiro said as he triggered the magic-dampening spell that Shiuki had taught him, not sure that it would work.

The sorcerers stopped in the middle of the lane and began to urgently whisper between themselves. Their faces looked concerned. Shiro thought that the spell must have worked rather well.

“I’m in need of some information,” Shiro said, now wearing Horiuki’s face.

“So are we,” one of the sorcerers said. “A person of power has, uh, used Affinity close by. Have you seen anyone in robes?”

Shiro looked back to see the merchant and his companion turn the corner and disappear. No one would witness what was to come. “Those two,” he said. “Is there anything wrong?”

Alarm showed on the sorcerer’s faces. “Would you escort us back to the Guildhouse? We have forgotten something.”

“Like your powers?” Chika said as she walked up. “You all look pretty impotent to me.” Shiro had to keep from smiling.

“Watch your tongue, boy.”

“I’ve found that somewhat hard to do. Have you ever tried it?” Chika smiled as she turned back into the image of Shiuki’s cook that Shiro knew.

“A White Rose!”

“And a powerful one,” Shiro said. “We need two robes.”

“Whatever for?” a sorcerer said.

Chika threw a spell at the defenseless man. He clutched his heart and fainted. His two companions backed into a wall, holding out their hands. “Please don’t kill us!” Their eyes were wide with fear.

Shiro walked up and pushed the taller of the two back into the wall while Chika dragged the body out of the middle of the lane. “As I said, we need some information. A former sorcerer, Ashiyo, currently resides within the Guildhouse. This lady would like to speak with him. Do you have any idea how we can do that?”

Chika dragged the comatose sorcerer into an alley and returned to fold her arms, glaring at the sorcerers.

Beads of sweat ran down their faces. “We can’t tell you that.”

Shiro pulled out his dagger. He wouldn’t show them his sword. It was too unique. He’d have to remember that the next time he accosted guild members prior to breaking out a prisoner of the sorcerers. He shoved the sorcerer back up against the wall.

“It’s an easy choice. Your life or give me some useful information.”

The sorcerer sneered at Shiro. “I won’t tell you what you want.” The sorcerer’s eyes grew as he clutched his throat. He slid down the wall.

Shiro looked back at Chika and glared. “We won’t get anything out of them if you keep up with that!” Chika shrugged and then Shiro turned to the last of the trio. “Well?”

The last sorcerer threw up his hands as Chika took the feet of the recently dispatched sorcerer, dragging him in a tiny alley to join his colleague. “Your turn?” Chika said. “Do you think two times are enough for a girl? What do you think, Horiuki?”

Shiro furrowed his brow. Now wasn’t the time for jokes. However it seemed to work on the sorcerer.

“In the back. The cells are underneath the storage building.”

“Is there a posterior entrance?”

“A what?” the sorcerer said.

“A door in the back,” Chika said.

“Oh. Yes. Our deliveries come in the back of the building. The kitchen and the storage building are next to each other.”

Shiro nodded and Chika put the last of the sorcerers to sleep. Shiro took this one to the alleyway and conjured up a light. “I’ll take the tall one’s robes and you’ll…”

“Come up a little short?” Chika said. “Look how limp this robe is. I’m embarrassed.” She smiled.

“As well you should be.” He had already removed one of the robes and threw it at Chika.

She gasped. “You expect me to wear this? The sorcerer isn’t wearing anything underneath!”

Shiro made a downward motion with his hand. “Keep it down. Don’t let it bother you.” He had to repress a sigh of relief when he discovered the tall sorcerer had at least worn underclothes. “Follow me.”

They both gripped swords in their hands as they hurried out of the lane and onto a dimly lit street. The guildhouse took up an entire block. No one took notice of the pair as they walked slowly along the peach-colored stucco fence. He could sense magical wards along the top. He looked at Chika and then up at the top of the wall.

“Not a good idea to climb,” Chika said.

“That’s why there is a door.” He stood at the door and wondered how to get in. “It’s time to change our appearance. Do you have another disguise model?”

“What do you think I’ve been doing in the kitchen?”

Shiro now looked at the ugly face of a cook who had yelled at her just hours earlier. He changed back to Kinoru as they approached the door. “How long do you think the sorcerers will be out?”

“An hour? Two? Four? I don’t know. I’ve never used the spell before. I just noticed what the sorcerers did at Shiuki’s inn. I didn’t put as much into it as they did. Seemed to work. Those sorcerers didn’t die on us, did they?”

“I suppose not.” Shiro shook his head. He didn’t like improvising so much, but they had no choice. He came to the door and found a rope to pull. “There must be a gong on the other side. Let’s see if we can get in without a fuss.” He pulled on the rope and did, indeed, hear a gong.

A worker dressed in the whitish clothes of a cook opened the door. “No deliveries until tomorrow.” The man yawned and then noticed that he spoke with sorcerers. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day. You know it’s against the rules to let guild members through this gate.”

Shiro grabbed the cook’s shirt. “You don’t understand. Bandits have accosted three of our brothers. They are lying in an alley along a lane that way.” Shiro pointed in the opposite direction from where they had come. “Get some help!” He pushed the cook back inside the guildhouse grounds.

The man ran into the darkness, appearing as he ran past a lit window. “Help!  Help!”

Shiro pulled Chika through the door and looked at both of the buildings. Cooking smells came from their right, so they sneaked to the back of the storage building on the left. Shiro forced a sliding window open and climbed inside. He helped Chika through.

“I could have done it myself,” she said.

Shiro merely grinned and put his finger to his lips. He led her towards the light. A lantern illuminated a wide archway over stone steps. No one stood guard as he adjusted his robes and began to descend. He walked into the light of another lantern. A sorcerer sat eating pickled vegetables.

“I like those,” Chika said. “Can I have some?”

The sorcerer sneered. Shiro hadn’t recalled any classes in sneering during his apprentice training, but it seemed to be talent that most sorcerers expertly picked up.

“Where is Ashiyo?” Shiro said. “We’ve been sent down to ask him a question.”

“Who sent you?”

“The Guildmaster,” Chika said.

The man put out his hand. “No one sees the prisoner without authorization.”

“I’ll give you authorization.” Chika pointed at him and the man fell into a faint. She smiled as she took his pickled vegetables. “We should hire the cook. These are better than mine!”

“You and your pickled vegetables. Let’s see where they have Ashiyo.”  Shiro quickly stripped the robe from the comatose sorcerer.

“Ashiyo!” Shiro called as he pulled the sorcerer along the corridor. He had only found one key so all of the doors must have used the same lock. He stopped when he heard a muffled voice.  When he opened the door, a scrawny old man stood only wearing underclothes.

“Ashiyo?” This couldn’t be Shiuki’s husband.

“If you think I’m Ashiyo, you’re an intruder!” The old man pushed Shiro back against the wall with magic and scuttled past him and up the stairs.

“Why didn’t you stop him,” Shiro yelled back at Chika.

Chika poked her head around the corner with her cheek full of vegetables. ‘Who said I didn’t?” she said with her mouth full.

Shiro hurriedly pushed all of the dungeon doors open and found Ashiyo asleep on his pallet. He shook the man awake.

“Hurry!  We’ve got to flee. Shiuki sent me.”

Ashiyo stood up and shook the sleep out of his head. He wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothes. Shiro threw the guard’s robes at Ashiyo and helped him into them. The robes were much too big. “Can you assume a disguise?”

“Very well.” The man grew in height until the robes fit much better. He was of a size with Shiro with a thick head of gray hair and clear eyes. This is the husband. “This is my real visage,” he said, smiling. “It’s good to be myself again.”

He still didn’t look quite right, but the light did strange things in the cells. “I’ll go ahead. You stay between Chika and I. Then we’re going to the castle to rescue Shiuki.”

The three of them crept up the stairs and past the body of the old man. Shiro led them to the back gate. This time a sorcerer stood there.

“Hold this,” the man gave a marble to Chika.

“Piki Paki Poki,” Chika said. The marble glowed.

“Ok.”

“Now you.”

Ashiyo took the marble. “Piki Paki Poki.” The tiny globe glowed quite a bit dimmer than Chika’s attempt. Ashiyo put the marble in Shiro’s hand.

“Piki Paki Poki,” Shiro said, willing the marble to glow dimly, but it didn’t work. A brilliant white rose appeared in the marble and lit up the door.

“You’re a Master?” The sorcerer gave Shiro an astonished look. Chika put the man down as she had all the others as they rushed into the back street. Shiro kept the marble and pulled the door shut.

“Now would be a great time to teleport,” Chika said.

“Well?” Ashiyo said, looking at Shiro with a bit of awe. “He’s certainly powerful enough.”