Wall of Spears (10 page)

‘I hate it when they do that,’ Asami muttered, closing her eyes against the dust and debris clattering across the hall.

‘Are you safe?’ Retsu asked roughly.

‘For now. When they come, watch my back,’ Asami told him.

‘Shouldn’t I take the lead?’ Retsu asked indignantly.

A pair of dark-clad figures raced into the hall, swords in hands. Asami sprang to meet them when they paused to take in their surroundings. She slashed down at the back of one’s legs, opening them to the bone and sending him screaming to the ground. The other reacted swiftly, turning and cutting at her head. She blocked smoothly and stepped into a lunge, driving her blade under his ribcage and up into his lungs, dropping him dead to the floor beside his howling companion.

‘You seemed to have that in hand,’ Retsu admitted as he joined her in looking down at the wounded warrior. Even in the dim light of the hallway they could see he was bleeding out.

‘Who sent you?’ Asami asked harshly.

The warrior glared up at her, eyes glistening, face covered in dark cloth.

‘We don’t have time for this,’ Retsu said crisply.

‘What do you mean? He won’t die yet,’ Asami said fiercely.

‘No, but we might.’ Retsu took her arm and she looked up to see more figures easing through the doorway, swords in hands.

‘Come on, we need to get out into the garden,’ Asami said, backing away and flicking blood off her sword.

‘Is there a way out there?’

‘No, but there I can use magic better,’ Asami replied.

They turned and ran, their attackers close on their heels — and then they heard screaming and shouting coming from the garden.

‘Asami has not answered us. I don’t know what else to do.’ Rhiannon shrugged.

Sendatsu paced up and down beside the long table. ‘Something is very wrong,’ he said. ‘I can feel it. She might ignore the odd message but not as many as Rhiannon sent.’

‘Or maybe she could.’ Huw yawned. ‘Don’t forget how you all parted. She and Rhiannon screamed at each other and then she kicked you out of her home and said she had chosen Gaibun over you.’

Sendatsu stopped walking. ‘Rhiannon, I need you to send me through an oaken gateway into Asami’s home.’

‘Wait a moment!’ Huw leaned back in his chair. ‘I thought she had ripped your heart out and you wanted nothing more to do with her?’

‘I know,’ Sendatsu agreed. ‘But something feels very wrong. I can’t shake the feeling Sumiko will be trying to kill her — maybe even attacking her now.’

‘And what if she’s not? What if you arrive there and she and Gaibun are merely having a romantic night together?’ Huw pushed.

‘Then I will apologise and return here,’ Sendatsu said quietly.

‘You said that part of your life was over.’

‘I know,’ Sendatsu mumbled.

‘You said you could not bear to see her again.’

‘I know,’ Sendatsu said loudly.

‘You said you could not stand the thought of her with Gaibun.’

‘I know!’ Sendatsu shouted.

‘So you still have feelings for her, despite everything you said, despite asking us never to mention her name again?’

‘I cannot stop loving her. It’s as much a part of me as breathing.’ Sendatsu sighed.

‘I still think we should give it more time. After all, it has only been a little over a turn of the hourglass since the first bird arrived,’ Huw pointed out.

Sendatsu turned to Rhiannon. ‘Please, send me to her,’ he said. ‘I feel like time is running out.’

Rhiannon pushed back her chair and stood. ‘Why not? It is only a mile’s ride in the cold, after all,’ she grunted. ‘Maybe I should get some of my Magic-weavers to help. Maybe Bevan could practise —’

‘No time for that! Just the two of you — quickly. Asami’s life may depend on it!’ Huw cried.

Rhiannon grimaced but did not argue.

Sendatsu hid a smile. Mentioning Bevan’s name had changed Huw’s attitude instantly.

‘Come on, hurry, the pair of you!’ Huw hustled them both outside and helped Sendatsu saddle a pair of horses. Between Sendatsu’s fears and Huw’s urgings, they were soon riding out to the oak tree.

‘I see you two are getting along well,’ Sendatsu observed as they rode.

‘If you want my help, you won’t mention that again,’ Rhiannon muttered. So they rode in silence until they reached the tree.

‘I’ll send you through first. If you want me or need me to come through, knock the staff, otherwise I’ll shut the gateway and reopen it again in a turn of the hourglass,’ Rhiannon told him.

‘You don’t have an hourglass,’ he pointed out.

‘Well, about one turn. Or until I get too cold and bored.’ Rhiannon smiled.

She closed her eyes and placed one hand on the trunk, using the other to push an oaken staff through the heart of the tree, although it did not come out the other side in Vales — it would be at the gateway in Asami’s garden, Sendatsu knew.

‘Thank you for this, for trusting me,’ he said softly as he grasped the staff.

‘Less talking, more walking. Opening gateways is not fun,’ she told him through gritted teeth.

He pulled himself along the staff, emerging out of the Velsh woods into a beautiful Dokuzen garden, lit by a score of lanterns. He looked around, seeing and hearing nothing and breathed a sigh of relief — before something sprang out of the shadows at him.

He raised his sword instinctively to block an attack but this was no warrior, it was a vine, which fastened itself around his wrists and dragged him to the ground.

‘Asami! It is me, Sendatsu!’ he shouted, but there was no response and another loop of the vine wrapped itself around his neck and began to tighten. His next cry was choked off and all he could manage was a kind of strangled howl.

He forgot all about rescuing Asami and concentrated on saving himself. But the vine was holding his hands tight and he could not tear free, even using all his strength, while the one around his throat was choking him. He tried to summon his limited magic to loosen the vine but this was obviously powered by Asami, for his feeble efforts did nothing. Desperately, he tried to swing his sword at the vine but it jerked tighter still and he lost hold of the hilt. He cursed himself, thinking he should have struck at the staff and brought Rhiannon through to help. He fell to his knees, lungs burning now and the fear of dying here filling his mind, preventing him from summoning any more magic to use against the vine that was killing him. With his vision beginning to dim, he summoned thoughts of Mai and Cheijun and used them to heave upwards, driving his shoulder into the staff before falling to the ground, bright lights flashing in front of his eyes.

Rhiannon stepped through a moment later and summed up the situation in a heartbeat. She pointed and the vine fell away from Sendatsu, allowing him to rise to his knees, where he sucked in deep breaths and felt his hammering heart calm down.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked.

‘I am now. Asami obviously put a ward around the tree after all. I should have let you go first.’ He coughed, feeling his breathing return to normal.

‘Not much of a rescue mission, is it, when you have to be rescued before it even began?’ Rhiannon smiled. ‘Luckily there was a helpless maiden standing ready to save you.’

Sendatsu cleared his throat and spat, reached for his sword and stood again.

‘You have never been helpless,’ he told her.

‘Well, thank you, but shouldn’t you be saving the pretty words for Asami?’

Sendatsu began walking towards the main house. ‘Where is she? Surely she should have realised there was someone in her garden?’

‘Maybe she and Gaibun are out. Maybe that’s why they are not replying …’ Rhiannon suggested.

Then they heard the scream, long and bubbling, from inside the house and began running.

‘There’s people coming through the oak tree in my garden!’ Asami cried, skidding to a stop on the tiles.

‘Can you stop them?’ Retsu asked.

‘They will find an unpleasant surprise waiting for them, one I learned from Sumiko herself. We should be safe from that direction,’ Asami said with grim satisfaction.

‘Then we stand here,’ Retsu said, bringing his sword back into the attack position.

‘No, we still need to go to the garden, I can use magic there!’ she called but the first of their attackers was almost on Retsu and he could not turn his back without opening himself to a strike. She rushed back to join him — and felt someone using magic on her wards, ripping them apart. It made her stagger for a moment, then she recovered to block a ferocious swing at her head. She cut down, slicing open her assailant’s stomach, ignoring his long, bubbling scream as he tried unsuccessfully to keep his intestines inside himself. Perhaps the narrow corridor was the best place to defend themselves.

To her left, Retsu used the dragon-tail and cartwheel strokes to take the head of one attacker and the arm of another, the second warrior getting in everyone’s way as he bellowed with agony and sprayed blood over those behind. There were plenty more pressing forwards; Asami lost count of the number of them pushing down the tiled corridor. She blocked sword blows to her front and right then went on the attack, driving back a warrior trying to get around behind them and finishing him with a straight thrust to the throat.

‘Retsu! Back! There are too many!’ she called.

But Gaibun’s father showed no sign of wanting to retreat.

‘I will not show my back to these dogs!’ he roared, his footwork sure and certain on the slippery floor as he cut and thrust and blocked. One of his attackers slipped, going down on one knee, and Retsu pounced, driving his sword through the neck and deep into the chest beyond.

Too deep. His sword stuck in the warrior’s ribs and he was forced to bring up his leg, bracing his foot on the dead man’s shoulder to tear his sword free. But it all took too long and another warrior lashed out at the exposed leg. Retsu jerked it out of the way, saving his leg from being cut off but still suffered a wicked wound above the knee. Retsu cursed and staggered back, struggling to keep his balance with a leg that threatened to collapse under him.

Asami smashed the hilt of her sword into a covered face and then chopped down, taking off a hand at the wrist as she pivoted away from a disembowelling cut. Bodies and wounded warriors clogged up the corridor and they had a moment’s respite. That was all she needed.

‘Retsu! Lean on me! Now we need to go!’ She grabbed him around the waist and dragged him towards the garden. Whatever waited out there, she had a better chance of defeating it with magic than fighting so many attackers with swords.

Then she heard footsteps racing towards her from the garden and slowed, horrified. How many more were there?

‘Asami!’ a familiar voice shouted and her heart leaped. Was that really Sendatsu?

‘We’re here!’ she cried, then spun to see their attackers had caught up with them once more.

‘Let me deal with them,’ Retsu growled, hopping on his good leg. She ignored him to block one slice and duck under another.

One swung at Retsu and she glanced that way, seeing him shuffle backwards, catch the assailant’s sword on his and roll his wrists over to open their throat with a reverse cut. She flicked her gaze to see a sword coming from her left and although she tried to intercept it, the blade still skidded over hers and sliced into her forearm. She felt the steel grate against her bones, sending a shudder through her whole frame, before it burst out the other side.

For a moment she felt nothing other than shock, then blood exploded out of her torn kimono and the pain sprang up her arm, aching and shocking. Disbelief followed a moment later to be replaced by fury and she stepped forwards to chase the attacker with the bloody sword, taking his blade away from him with a feint and then ripping low, sinking her point deep into his groin, and moving upwards. His hideous scream made everyone take an instinctive step back.

Asami felt the strength drain out of her arm as blood dripped down across her fingers. She was torn between wanting to see how bad it was and not wanting to know. She glanced across at Retsu, who was wobbling on one leg, his face determined, then back at the pack of attackers, still clustered thickly in her corridor, easing past the thrashing, dying body of the one she had mutilated.

‘Come on then! What are you waiting for?’ She invited them with her blade before taking a deep breath and reaching into the magic.

For the first time, shockingly, it was hard to find, obscured by pain and blood. But she pressed on and reached out to the blooms on the table, sending them flying towards the pack of attackers, trying the same trick Rhiannon had used.

But the flowers hung in midair, rather than fastening to throats, as she had intended, and she could feel them working together to stop her. She gritted her teeth and pushed on, expecting to overpower them with her greater ability. But the magic seemed to be leaking out of her as fast as the blood dripped down her hand and splashed onto the floor. She had to work hard just to keep the flowers away from her and Retsu.

The attackers took a step forwards but Asami felt like she could not move or she would fall.

Then the flowers whistled through the air and struck half-a-dozen of the warriors, fastening around their necks and hands, choking them and preventing them from freeing themselves. As the pack fell back, someone hurtled past Asami and slammed into them. Asami watched dully as Sendatsu fell on the attackers, unable to feel even relief, let alone joy.

Sendatsu ignored the ones lying on the floor or staggering around, trying to get long-stemmed flowers from their necks and hands, and concentrated only on the ones with swords in their hands. He shoulder charged one down then used the waterwheel stroke to take an arm, the zigzag to open a chest. The last pair tried to come at him from either side but he kicked the legs out from the one on his left and took the head of the last. He wiped blood from his eyes and looked for the next threat. Most of the remainder were choking their last on the floor as Rhiannon tightened the flowers around their throats.

‘Keep a couple alive. We need to know who they are,’ Retsu called.

The two downed attackers tried to rise and Sendatsu used the flat of his blade to strike one, then kicked the other in the head. Once they were down, he raced back to Asami’s side.

‘Looks like we got here just in time.’ He tried to smile at her.

‘Earlier would have been better,’ she grunted.

‘Let me see your arm.’ He took it before she could answer and ripped open the bloody kimono sleeve. They both looked at the wound, pulsing blood and showing the white of bone beneath the torn flesh.

‘What do you think?’ she asked faintly.

‘I’ve seen worse,’ he said, tearing off more of the kimono and wrapping it around the wound. ‘But I think you need to see a priest.’

She dropped her sword and reached across to grip the bandage and help him stop the flow of blood.

‘Did you not get our message? We were trying to warn you that Sumiko would attack.’ Sendatsu looked back at the groaning, bleeding pile of intruders filling the corridor.

‘We were just going to look at it when the attack came,’ Retsu said behind them, sliding down the wall until he was sitting with his wounded leg straight out, the foot twitching slightly.

Rhiannon took over with Asami, letting Sendatsu go to Retsu, tearing his jacket and using it as a rough bandage.