World's Edge (12 page)

He tossed these thoughts back and forth until the riders were out of sight. Ultimately, it didn’t matter to him right now what any of the kingdoms were doing. All three of them were in chaos, and he had to get to the island to find answers before events spiraled even further out of control.

Ryuu was beside himself with wonder. He had lived his entire life in the Southern Kingdom, and he had never seen the sea before. For the past day he had smelled the salt in air, a smell he had never experienced. He had spurred his horse the last few leagues to Highgate, covering the remaining distance at a fast trot. The poor beast was exhausted, but Ryuu didn’t care.

Ryuu was standing on the crest of a cliff overlooking Highgate. It was by far the largest city Ryuu had ever encountered, dwarfing even New Haven, and from his viewpoint it was incredible. He could hear the hammers of the smiths ringing through the city, and the sounds of civilization were loud. Even from this distance he could hear the mass of humanity below. It was shocking after so long on the quiet roads. But Ryuu barely saw the city. He had eyes only for the sea.

The smell of the ocean had been new, but to take the fresh ocean wind straight into his face was refreshing. He looked out over the sea of blue, sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight. Even in the harbor, the waves rose high, crashing against sandy shores and wooden boats. The air was cold and crisp, even though summer was just beginning here.

Ryuu stood and stared, trying to take in the endless blue, the salt in the air, the cool wind on his face. He listened to the sound of the waves breaking on the shore, and he found there was something hypnotic in their rhythm.

Ryuu glanced at the sun and saw he wouldn’t have time to get to the docks today. Orochi’s note had explained the boat to the island only ever left in the morning. Ryuu shrugged. He had nothing better to do with his time but to explore the area.

His first wish was for food. Ryuu went down into the city and followed his nose, which led him to a small shop selling cooked fish from the sea. Ryuu asked the cook to prepare whatever was best. He watched with rapt attention as the cook prepared fish Ryuu had never seen before.

The food was incredible. It would have been delicious at any time, but after a full moon on the trail, the fresh fish almost brought tears to his eyes. The fish was a pink and fatty fish he had never tried, and even raw its flavor was sublime. The rice and other food were all excellent, and Ryuu washed it all down with some of the best sake he’d ever tasted. When he was done he leaned back and took in his surroundings. From everything he had observed, the port town was orderly and well maintained. He liked it here. Paying for his meal, he stood up and walked towards the shore.

When he had been younger he had heard many stories about the ocean. He knew it formed the far northern border of the Three Kingdoms. He also knew the seas were very rough, even during the summer months. Because of that, there was little trade with areas outside of the Three Kingdoms. Everyone knew the world was much larger than the Three Kingdoms, but with only a little trade from the sea and the mountains to the south and east, the Three Kingdoms were isolated from the larger world. What was known about the land outside the kingdoms was largely rumor and legend.

As a young boy, he had tried to imagine what it would be like to see water as far as the eye could see. There were stories that told of sailors who, when they reached the middle of the ocean, couldn’t see any land at all. Ryuu had wondered what that must be like. To not see any land. Water was so impermanent. It didn’t keep any shape. Ryuu knew about navigating by the stars and signs in the sky, but they always pointed to landmarks on the ground. To navigate with nothing but the uncaring sky to keep you company seemed a terrifying prospect.

But as Ryuu reached the shore, he felt like he could understand the desires of sailors. They were wanderers, trusting only to their own abilities to keep them alive. Ryuu felt in a way that he was like them. He had Shigeru’s cabin, which he called home, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to spend his entire life there. His abilities prevented him from settling the way others could. He and Moriko had tried, but their enemies had found them. Ryuu viewed it more of an inevitability than an exception. And so here he was, wandering the land as the sailors wandered the sea. They had the stars to guide him, and he had his sense, intuition, and Shigeru’s wisdom, cut short as it was. Their enemies were the elements and the sea itself. Ryuu’s enemy, near as he could tell, was everyone.

As his mind wandered, his body reached the shoreline, and Ryuu stood out looking at the sea and the sky and the line between the two that was barely distinguishable. He had wanted to experience the sea for so long growing up, and now here he was. At that moment he missed Moriko acutely. She wouldn’t have said anything, but he knew she would be just as awestruck as he was. It was hard for him to accept, but she loved him, and she was all he needed. At that moment he thought it was a mistake to send her south. The Southern Kingdom could take care of itself. He wanted her by his side.

The waves had a hypnotic effect on him. He stared at the waves, watching as wave after wave crashed against the sand of the shore. Ryuu was surprised, but he could sense there was a power in the sea, a life just as the land itself had life. He was awed by the scale of it.

As Ryuu watched the waves crash, he could feel his body relaxing, the tension of many days of riding melting off his body. He opened his sense and he could feel the fish off the shore, the small animals that crept along the shore line. He could feel the presence of the city at his back, but on this cool day he was alone on the beach. The sounds of the surf rolled against his eardrums, and he could feel all the patterns of life. It was almost like being in the deep old woods, so alive with life. But this was so much more rhythmic.

He couldn’t even tell when it happened, but without warning something in his mind slipped. He had no better word to describe it. It wasn’t the sudden snap he sometimes experienced in combat. This was much gentler, like Ryuu had somehow sidestepped the current of reality. In that moment he saw Moriko standing in a sea of her own, a sea of grass that stretched as far as the eye could see. She was walking, alone on the sea, to the south. And then the moment was gone and he was standing on the shore looking out at the ocean.

Ryuu stood as still as the rocks that bore the brunt of each wave’s demise. He glanced around him and decided that no more than a few moments had passed. He didn’t know what had happened. Ryuu shook his head, trying to clear the remaining fog from his memories. It was as though he had been there with her. He stood and watched the waves roll in, but no answers came to him. With one last, longing glance at the ocean, Ryuu turned his back to find nondescript lodging for the night.

Ryuu awoke before the sun the next morning, eager and nervous to begin the next stage of his journey. He ate a light breakfast at the small inn and went back to the stables. They were quiet, even the horses still asleep in the pre-dawn light. Ryuu drew his blade and went through his kata, the same exercises he did every morning. He lost himself in the movements, allowing all his attention to go to his blade and to his cuts. When he finished, he was glistening with sweat and his mind was calm. He was ready to take the next step in his journey.

He followed Orochi’s directions, arriving at the docks just as the sun was starting to rise over the ocean to the east. Ryuu drank in the vision, the colors unlike any he had seen before.

He drank in the beauty for a few moments before he began his search. The docks were large, and Orochi’s letter made note of the fact the ship Ryuu was looking for was rarely moored in the same place twice. Ryuu searched and searched, his impatience creeping into his positive attitude. Orochi’s letter stated the ship was usually in town, but there were only two that led to and from the island, and it was sometimes possible that neither would be in harbor. If that was the case, Ryuu would have to wait until one arrived, and he wouldn’t be happy about losing more time.

Ryuu almost missed the object of his search. It was a small, nondescript ship that didn’t attract any attention to itself by design. What gave the ship away were the two men who seemed to be casually lying around the docks, but Ryuu sensed them. The men were wide awake and alert, a small island of calm in the hustle and bustle of the harbor in the morning. He could feel the sense emanating from both of them. They were nightblades, same as him. The shock was immediate. It was one thing to learn other nightblades existed, but to encounter them in the middle of Highgate was something else entirely.

Not having much of a plan, Ryuu decided to walk right up to them. It was direct and simple, and his impatience didn’t allow for much in the way of planning. The two nightblades sensed him in unison and rose to block his way forward. Ryuu’s sword was strapped to his back, still hidden from casual observation. He held himself back from reaching for it. He kept walking forward, one calm step at a time. Ryuu stopped when he was about eight paces away from them. The two nightblades held their ground, only a short stretch of planking beyond them. After that was an endless sea. Crates and barrels were stacked around them, hiding them from the view of most of the harbor.

Ryuu examined them, his breath calm and even. They both held themselves well. He set his shoulders. If it came to a fight, it would be a difficult one. He wasn’t sure what to say. This was where Orochi’s instructions ended.

When there were many choices, Ryuu cut straight ahead. “I seek passage to the island.”

The two nightblades shared a glance. Ryuu didn’t know what it signified. The one on Ryuu’s left spoke. “No.”

Ryuu sized up his opponents. There were others on the ship, so if he killed these two, there would still be people who probably knew the way to the island, but he would rather not start off his relationship by resorting to violence. He also felt strongly about fighting other nightblades. There were few enough of them left in the world as it was. There was no need for them to fight each other.

Both of them were strong. They were both built like Ryuu, not too tall or too large, but built with a wiry strength that would be much stronger than an opponent expected. Passerby would probably have mistaken them for down-on-their-luck seamen. Their clothes were in tatters, but Ryuu could see their sheaths almost sparkled in the early morning sun. The clothes were a disguise, but the blades would be very real.

He didn’t want to fight, but it seemed he wasn’t going to get to the island otherwise. Their initial response did not invite future conversation. His hand went to his blade. “Stop me.”

They shared another glance and the one that had spoken held up his hand. Ryuu kept his blade sheathed, his hand ready to draw, not sure of what was coming next. The nightblade went to the boat and gave an order Ryuu couldn’t understand. One of the deckhands went below and came up with a long cloth. The nightblade grabbed the package and came back to his original post. Glancing around the docks, he unwrapped the bundle and handed a wooden practice sword to his partner. He grabbed one himself and tossed another to Ryuu, who caught it with ease.

So it was to be a test, then. He didn’t show it on his face, but Ryuu was glad. Facing other nightblades excited his desire for competition, but he had no desire to harm them. Orochi had been enough. He grasped the sword lightly and waited for his opponents to come to him.

He didn’t have long to wait. As soon as he set his stance they came at him, their attacks synchronized perfectly. They were quick, but Ryuu also sensed them coming. He leapt towards one nightblade, throwing off their timing and entering the fray.

The blades knocked together in rapid succession. Ryuu knew he was better than either of them individually, but he wasn’t sure if he was good enough to take them both on. They passed and passed each other, wooden blades searching for any opening to strike. As the battle went on all the fighters put more and more energy into their attacks until they were striking at each other with as much strength as they could muster. Ryuu was holding a defensive position, able to block their blows, but unable to land a solid strike in return.

He was falling back and he knew it. Two nightblades were more than he could handle. He let one cut brush off his practice sword, but wasn’t in time to get the next one. He managed to turn enough to take the blow on his shoulder. Nothing in his shoulder collapsed beneath the blow, although he knew he would have a hard time moving it tomorrow. It wouldn’t have been a killing blow with real blades, but it was the hardest he’d been hit in many cycles of training.

The pain distracted him just long enough he was a moment behind reacting to the next cut. It was coming straight for his head, strong enough to crack his skull open and leave his brains drying on the dock. The world snapped and Ryuu was in a different, more vivid world. The blow slowed down, and he had enough time to move, dodging backward erratically.

He found his balance and thrust himself back into the fight. The momentum of the battle shifted. After the snap, their moves were too slow, and he began to gain the upper hand, driving them back towards the end of the pier. It was only a sliver of time, but it was enough. Ryuu moved cleanly within the guard of one of the nightblades and thrust the hilt of his practice sword deep into the nightblade’s abdomen. The man crumpled even as his partner took a desperate cut. It was a good cut, but just a fraction of a moment too early. It passed in front of Ryuu, rippling his clothes as he made his own cut. His strike was solid, knocking the other nightblade off his feet.

As each nightblade collapsed, the world sped up to its normal speed. After a few moments of groaning, each worked their way back to their feet. The one Ryuu had hit in the abdomen was using his practice sword as a crutch to stand up on. Ryuu stood ready, but the battle was over. The nightblades made a gesture with their left hand Ryuu didn’t recognize. They each made a fist with their left hand and then pressed it against their abdomen. Not knowing what the gesture meant, Ryuu bowed in return. He returned the practice sword to them as all three of them caught their breath.