Echoes of a Shattered Age (6 page)

Chapter Eight

Sekimaru awakened once again, Akemi made her descent down the mountain, allowing herself to enjoy the lush greenery, plants and trees, the insects, birds and the numerous animals and other forms of life that co-inhabited the mountainous forest. She came to a cliff overlooking a vast crevice partially hidden in a gray mist. On the other side of the crevice the mountain continued in its rolling, hilled pattern. She admired the plant life that had the strength and resilience to live on the edge of the mountain their entire lives as opposed to the ease of living on flat land. She thought about the hidden blessing of such a location. Although the plants and trees were living a harder life on the side of the mountain, they weren’t shadowed by taller trees and denied sunlight. They were never trampled, and were less likely to be eaten by a vegetarian animal in search of a meal. Akemi always contemplated the subtle lessons hidden in plain sight.

She often wondered what the chattering birds’ conversations were about. Perhaps they were warning their friends that she was headed in their direction. Being in the mountains brought a smile to Akemi’s face. She’d been born a warrior and had drawn her sword more times than she could recall, yet she still felt the need to stop and realign herself with nature.

As the ninja made her way around a bend in the path, she noticed that the birds had stopped singing. She went still, scanning her surroundings. A feeling of wrongness crept up her spine and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Suddenly her intuition screamed at her and she looked up just in time to see a tree branch falling from directly overhead. She leapt backward, narrowly avoiding the branch as it crashed to the ground, blasting her with dirt and leaves. She landed in a crouch and waited, one hand on Sekimaru’s hilt and her other hand across her waist, slipping her fingers in a small pouch on her right hip. Again she scanned her surroundings. When all seemed clear, she went over to inspect the tree branch. It didn’t take much inspection to see that the limb had been severed. What amazed Akemi was how something could cleanly shear through a branch that was at least eight feet long and larger around than she was!

She suddenly ducked, avoiding the swipe of a sword aimed at her neck. She spun on her heels, simultaneously drawing her sword to deflect another blade aimed at her heart. She could feel the presence of the sword quickening in her grasp, and knew the nature of her enemy. Finally, she saw it, a shadow wielding twin blades shaped like two slithering snakes glared at her with a face that was composed only of a pair of glaring eyes.

A smile crept across her face. “Now surely it has to be more than you who’s been causing me all this anxiety.”

The shadowy figure came at her again, and Akemi met it. Only wielding one weapon, she worked doubly hard to keep up with the quick pace of this new foe. In less than a few moments, she learned the creature’s patterns and began to match every attack, left to right. The shadow leapt back and thrust its swords forward in a one-two motion. Akemi rotated Sekimaru between the two blades with inhuman speed and knocked them wide, following up with three equally fast sideways kicks to the thing’s face. It staggered backwards and then she was on it, driving the creature back on its heels.

Even with two blades, the figure was still hard-pressed to match the speed and ferocity that was Akemi. Holding Sekimaru in a reverse grip, she swiped the sword left, then right, forcing the creature to lean away or lose its head. Smirking, she executed a right turning spin and stabbed backward to her left side. As she’d expected, the shadow had deflected her first attack, but as it did so, she’d slipped a smaller blade out of her waistband, and stabbed it in the hip. The thing hopped back and stared at her. Akemi glanced over her shoulder and smiled. She finally got a better look at her attacker and saw that the blades it wielded were actually part of its arms. Her smile widened as her eyes narrowed.

The dark figure analyzed its intended prey. It narrowed its red eyes, but it clearly held a bit more respect for the woman. The smaller blade did nothing to injure the creature, as it was not from this plane of existence, but it was still surprised at the woman’s skill. It glanced down, then up at her. The lack of pain from the little knife imbedded in its abdomen gave the demon more confidence. Though it could feel power emanating from that sword, it had not the intellect to reason out the difference between the two blades. One of its sword-arms reformed into a normal arm and hand, and it snatched the knife free and discarded it. It then stalked toward the woman, arm reverting to the wavy blade once more.

Akemi sent a shuriken spinning into its left eye. It stumbled back a few steps, more in anger than in injury. It removed the shuriken just in time to feel the sharp and intense pain of its essence being siphoned from its abdominal area. As it looked down on the incredible woman, it saw her embedded sword feasting upon its energy. The Kalistyi let out a hiss as it faded into oblivion. After the creature dissipated, Akemi held her sword before her eyes. Sekimaru had the power to completely annihilate a lesser demon. Though she had forged the weapon many years ago, she still felt that she didn’t know everything about it.

She took a deep breath and looked around. Everything seemed to return to normal, but she wondered where that thing had come from and how it came to this world. She had heard of the shadow demons called Kalistyi, but had never actually seen one. She would be a fool not to see this encounter as sign. Akemi returned Sekimaru to its sheath and looked around. After she was sure that there was no more threat, she recovered her dagger and shuriken.

“I think that was a warning.”

Akemi glanced in the direction of her brother’s voice, and saw Kenjiro leaning against a tree a few feet behind her. “Yes, it was,” she answered. “There will be more. I take it you heard our little disagreement?”

The samurai nodded. “I heard your swords clashing when I was moving through the woods not far away, so I thought I would come see what was going on.”

“You still move swiftly,” Akemi teased. “I guess age hasn’t taken its toll. You didn’t come to help?”

Kenjiro stared at Akemi. “I was unaware that a few years difference would put me at such a physical disadvantage, little sister. And what would I have done if I did come to help? That was a lesser demon and if I had interfered in your fight, I would have ended up taking the creature’s place, would I not?”

Akemi didn’t hear the question. “That demon was not a major demon, but it wasn’t a lesser one either. Kalistyi cannot come to this realm unless there is something causing imbalance to the veil between this world and theirs.” She ran a hand through her coarse black hair. “Lesser demons slip past the barrier between our two worlds from time to time, which is what keeps me in my primary line of work. If Kalistyi are roaming about, there is something more going on. And we need to find out. This situation will only get worse.”

“We will need to go and see Sensei Akutagawa,” Kenjiro said, pinching his chin between thumb and forefinger. “He may have some insight to all of this.”

Akemi couldn’t imagine what insight their teacher could have. He had trained them as warriors, but he was no demon hunter. Still, they had no other options. “Let’s go now,” she said, and the siblings set off back down the mountain.

They moved through the trees, the young ninja preferring the higher vantage point of leaping branch to branch, while her samurai brother moved quietly on the ground. When they rounded a bend and came to a steep hill, Kenjiro stopped at the sight of Akemi crouched on a high branch, staring intently at something. The ninja looked down at him and jerked her chin in the direction just over the hill.

Quietly, he made his way near the top and peeked over. About twenty-five feet below and in front of them were six dark figures. They looked exactly like the one Akemi had just fought. The six shadowy demons moved as if they were snakes slithering across the ground. Kenjiro signaled for Akemi to make her way around to the back of the group while he made his way in front of them. She slipped back out of sight and leapt from tree to tree, tracking her prey. The group froze, and Akemi suspected they had sensed the two humans were near.

The leading shadow looked around, then up. Kenjiro noticed a very subtle flick of light in his peripheral vision, and knew that Akemi was signaling to him that she was in position and ready. The samurai stepped out into the open in front of the demons. They eyed him hatefully.

Kenjiro drew his sword and held it before him, waiting for his enemies. He was samurai, a legendary warrior from the ancient history of Japan that had resurfaced since the End of Technology. The code of Bushido demanded that the samurai was to live, fight and die with honor. Kenjiro wanted the group to see their deaths and give them every opportunity to defend themselves fairly.

That sight brought a groan from Akemi, as she just watched and shook her head in exasperation. She was a ninja, and though her clan was trained with some similar principles as the samurai, they, like all ninja, specialized in stealth and assassination. Akemi would have dropped on top of the group, killing several before they knew what was happening.

“I grew tired of waiting for you,” Kenjiro stated as he eyed the group. He wasn’t even sure they understood what he said, but it mattered little. The important question was whether or not these fiends were pawns of some bigger and stronger monster.

He received a hiss in reply, and the demons rushed at him. Behind them, Akemi leaped from the tree in pursuit. One of the shadows stopped abruptly at the realization that the one running next to it had suddenly dissipated. The group skidded to a stop and turned to see Akemi standing behind them amidst the dissipating black mist. She had Sekimaru at her side and ready. And then Kenjiro was there, and the two warriors were on them.

The Kalistyi quickly morphed their arms from the elbow down into steel wavy blades, identical to the ones wielded by the shadow Akemi had killed earlier. The ninja came in at the Kalistyi at the back of the group with a horizontal slash at the demon’s throat. It leaned back, then countered with a forward stab with its right sword arm. Akemi sidestepped, at the same time blocking a right-handed sweep aimed at her back. She then stepped into the shadow’s reach and punched it in the face. It took a step back and looked at Akemi as if wondering why she would even bother. That split-second pause was the instant Akemi needed to thrust Sekimaru deep into the shadow’s midsection. It hissed as it began to dissipate, and she turned and deflected another sword-arm coming for her neck. She then hopped over a low swipe at her legs. This new threat came in at her in a fury of stabs, thrusts, and swings in unusual and fast combinations that drove the ninja back on her heels.

* * *

Kenjiro fared well against the shadow that challenged him. Although the beast came at him with well-placed thrusts and swings, they were telegraphed, and the samurai had learned its patterns. The Kalistyi stepped forward inside of Kenjiro’s defense and attempted to use an upward thrust straight through his chin. The samurai spun to the right and slashed down with his sword. The fiend rolled forward to avoid the blade, then sprang back in Kenjiro’s direction and executed a series of one-two stabs. Kenjiro’s sword was a blur as he deflected the stabs each time, winding and twisting his blade to meet every thrust. As the Kalistyi pressed him backward, another fiend ascended from a shadow on the ground and stabbed at his back. The ever-alert samurai sensed the presence behind him and in the last instant, brought his sword around in a powerful two-handed parry, causing a ricocheting effect in both weapons.

The Kalistyi in front of him was temporarily stunned by its vibrating weapon. Anticipating the force created from the parry, Kenjiro used the ricochet to spin him around to block the new attack at the rear. The force knocked the new attacker off balance just as the stunned demon recovered. Kenjiro leaped into a roll, and came back to his feet in a counterclockwise spinning block with his sword, deflecting all four of the sword arms directed at his upper torso. The two demons tried to overwhelm the samurai with their two to one advantage, but Kenjiro’s sword flashed fast and true.

* * *

Akemi glanced over her shoulder and smiled as she saw her brother gracefully dance with the two demons who looked as if they could actually be breaking a sweat, if that were possible. She returned her full attention on the unfortunate Kalistyi in front of her that must have begun to realize it was outmatched. It ducked a high swipe by the ninja and countered with a thrust with both its sword-arms that was becoming repetitive to the ninja.

Akemi snickered as she jumped over the attack in a forward flip and kicked the demon in the back of the head as she passed. As it stumbled forward, Akemi’s feet touched the ground and the hard muscles in her legs flexed and propelled her backward toward the fiend. The shadow demon’s head fell back and it hissed in agony, then looked down at its dissipating torso. The last thing it heard before it succumbed to oblivion were two sweetly spoken words. “Good-bye.”

* * *

Kenjiro had no such luck in seeing his younger sister’s amazing skill, for he had his hands full holding off these two shadows while devising an attack. The shadow to his right jumped to the side and moved in diagonally in hopes of catching the samurai off guard. Its partner came in with a series of low swipes at his feet, forcing him to adjust his stance, which put him off balance. The strategy would have worked had Kenjiro reacted a split second slower. Instead, he leaped to the right, avoiding the low strike and flying past the other shadow’s diagonal stab. As he passed, he brought Kenzo around in a one-handed backward swing and decapitated the demon. Kenjiro understood little of the power that coursed through his sword, but he knew that it was somewhat different in nature than Sekimaru. While a killing strike from the latter would completely obliterate a demon, a similar strike from Kenzo would not destroy the demon, but simply send it back to the abyss.