“I need to look through the records from twelve years ago.”
Adan looked up. “What?”
“I need the 2093 records.”
“Which month?”
Lord Kashi leaned forward. “July to September. Maybe October. It’s not rocket science.”
Adan immediately handed over the books and a list of numbered names.
“Why did you ask which ones I wanted when you already knew?”
“Just making sure. That list is which prisoner’s in which cell.”
“I never forgot who was who in the whole thing, or their cell numbers.” Lord Kashi took the books and left. He wanted to study them immediately, but he dared not leave Bryant alone in the house too long, even sleeping. Only one who had lived in the house could find and open the doors from the outside, but that was irrelevant when the enemy possessed modern technology.
Several graifseng followed him, as they had always done. He mostly disregarded them, but he knew they would give an indication of any danger. He was unable to prevent a young one from slipping through the door behind him when he entered the house. It perched on a chair and ignored his attempts to shoo it back outside, simply squeaking at him until he let it be.
He set the books on the table and opened the first. Although he knew the records of the months by heart, he felt an inexplicable need to review them. It was almost as if by going over the text again, he would find the details which had never been written down.
“I’ve never gotten over what was recorded in these books,” he told the graifseng, “because I blame myself for letting it happen. Of course, you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about.”
The graifseng, happy to have attention, chittered and flew to Lord Kashi’s shoulder. He moved it to his lap, where it purred contentedly.
“I wish I knew where William is. I need him back, and Bryant needs him even more. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I would find him if I didn’t have to take care of Bryant, but I need to find him because of the poor kid. I can’t take him anywhere; I can’t leave him alone. My best option is to give him to Ulfur Maelstrom for a while. Bryant won’t like it, of course, but he’ll be safe.”
The graifseng, naturally, did not respond. Lord Kashi opened the first record and began to read. Swift motion from behind jolted him back to full awareness, but upon looking, he saw nothing. He noticed that the light was filtering in from a different angle- he had been reading for over an hour. The movement could have been either Bryant or a mouse. The graifseng left his lap and flew to the other side of the room, causing Bryant to show himself as he caught it.
“There you are,” Lord Kashi said. “Go see if your sensei has anything for you to do.”
Bryant, still holding the graifseng, walked away. Lord Kashi went back to reading with a slightly disturbed feeling. It was a few minutes before he realized what was bothering him- the graifseng, which had stuck its head in his pocket before Bryant had come, had seen Bryant when Lord Kashi couldn’t. No wonder he, in his highly convenient graifseng soulform, had seen the boy so easily in the forest. He filed away the discovery and reminded himself to send a short letter to Snowpoint.
He was suddenly struck by how convenient many circumstances were for him as well as Bryant. It was reminiscent of a bad fantasy series. He had a flying soulform- an extra-large one, at that- Adan had a flying soulform identical to William’s, and they were both human. Winged soulforms were supposedly rare even among air kitsunekage; it was one in a billion humans who were lucky enough to be given a soulform by a kitsune. William was a rare-variant. Bryant was also rare-variant, completely unheard of among any but half-kitsune. Rare-variants showed less kitsune ancestry than the common variant; they were somewhat smaller; they literally had more firepower. How powerful Bryant would be was anybody’s guess.
Added to that, Bryant was half Maelstrom. That family was possessed of its own extraordinary abilities, as well as a lot of musical talent. The convenience of so many useful coincidences was overwhelming. It was ridiculous. It was…
Lord Kashi forced himself to stop thinking about it lest his brain hemorrhage. There were more pertinent subjects that required his attention at the moment. To move Bryant unobtrusively to Rasen would take a large amount of preparation. While it was going on, he would have to stay somewhere out of the way. Halfway up the cliff, perhaps, would be appropriate. The cleft was suitable for that purpose.
Getting Bryant up the cliff would be no problem. Making sure the boy didn’t catch wind of his final destination and try to run was another matter entirely. From what Lord Kashi had seen over Rasen, with his other grandfather was one of the last places Bryant wanted to be. Fortunately, the man seemed to know how to handle him. Lord Kashi was glad for Ulfur’s high intelligence; had the man made a single wrong move, some amount of bloodshed would have been certain. As it was, Lord Kashi did not know how Ulfur had put Bryant under control so quickly; he himself still had trouble with the balky teen.
With nothing better to do, he grabbed his sword and headed to the training clearing. Bryant was already there, training with his friend. When the larger boy finally struck a blow that knocked Bryant flat, he bent over and helped him up, then asked a question Lord Kashi didn’t quite catch. The boy glanced over, but he pretended to be too focused on warming up to have noticed.
He began to practice on one of the posts- one far enough away not to make Bryant’s friend too nervous, but not too far away to hear what they were saying. He continued to watch from the corner of his eye. Repeatedly, Bryant was knocked down until his friend sat on him and refused to let him up, demanding answers.
“What is wrong with you? Was it what happened yesterday? You’re normally so fast! If you don’t answer me this time, you’re not getting up.”
Bryant squirmed, but could not escape from beneath the other boy’s greater weight. He sighed and admitted, “I’m weak after yesterday. I went too far, too fast- all the way to Rasen city.”
“Sensei didn’t tell you to practice, did he?”
“No. He just said to take it easy-”
“This wasn’t taking it easy! You’re going to make yourself sick! Go play with the sparrows; they’re about all you’re tough enough to handle today.”
“Mikael…”
“Oh.” The boy got up and pulled Bryant to his feet. Bryant fled into the trees, leaving his friend staring at the empty space where he had been. Mikael remained paused only briefly before he turned and walked away as if there was something he had forgotten.
Up in his tree, Bryant stroked a friendly graifseng and tried to find hope in his situation. It would be easy to blame people for the hardship that had been thrown his way; in fact, most of it was caused by people. He could blame Adan for letting things happen that could have been prevented, but Bryant had never had the self-esteem to tell him of anything. He couldn’t blame his mother; she had always been there whenever possible- sometimes simply based on intuition. Easiest to blame would be his father, who had never been present for anything. But there were reasons he had left in the first place, the same reasons there were prisoners kept underground who had been there for eleven and a half years- reasons for which Raven had always told him to stay inside with the doors locked whenever those prisoners were taken out to work in the hidden fields of Cohron.
A movement on the ground caught his eye. It was a ranger, not a forest ranger but the comic-book style camouflaged, bow-and-arrow wielding Ranger, rare to encounter but easier to spot than a ninja. He’d known there were a few patrolling the ninja territories, but he had never expected to actually see one. In Whiterose, they were employed by the government to help collect data about something and prevent organized criminal activity such as smuggling or drug farming, which they did successfully when the ninja couldn’t, and to help monitor air activity passing over the territories from other city-states. Their success in the latter was debatable.
The ranger was moving right toward the village. Bryant would have to sneak past the formidable tracker to warn Adan of him. It shouldn’t be too hard, but the Whiterose rangers had ninja-level wilderness skills.
As silently as possible, he climbed down the opposite side of the tree from the ranger. Keeping his head low, he moved away at an angle until he was a safe distance ahead of the ranger, then made his way to the village with only slightly less caution. He found Adan in his office, delivered the warning, and found a dark niche in the thorny village wall in which to hide and wait.
He heard the villagers fall silent as Adan and the ranger entered. He couldn’t see them, but their scents drifted through the village, exciting the dogs to barking point. It was clear that Adan would not take the ranger inside his house to talk; they were already discussing Ketsen’s most recent flyovers.
“I’m afraid he’s a bit shy. He’s hiding somewhere, but I wouldn’t try looking for him right now. Still, he managed to evade two centipede mechs for a distance that would have defeated most people.”
“Centipede mechs? They’re determined, if they’re sending those. I can’t believe he escaped.”
“There were originally three. One of them found a weakness in our wall and snuck around the back of my house. It was destroyed when it reached the front. Nobody wants to touch it, so it’s still mostly there. If you want to see it-”
“Oh, not quite yet. If you want help, I’ll need a signed statement in your own handwriting with at least one witness signature.”
“I can’t do that.”
“No?”
“I’m not currently the highest-ranking ninja in the territory.”
The ranger sighed, sounding as if he would rather remove his own toenails with acid than deal with anything remotely beaurocratic. “Then take me to your superior.”
“I’ll tell him you’re here. Just wait here and nobody will bother you.”
Adan hurried off. The ranger leaned on his staff, glanced around casually, then said, “You might as well come out now.”
Bryant didn’t even twitch, but Mikael stepped from behind the nearest tree. His eyes flashed sideways for just an instant, but it was enough to alert the ranger.
“What were you looking at?”
“A bird.”
“I don’t see a bird.”
“It’s gray and sneaky.”
The ranger humphed. “Tell me what you meant by eavesdropping just now.”
“I’m a curious person. And you’re talking about my friend. What am I supposed to do when I feel kinda responsible…” Mikael’s hand went to the back of his neck, and he looked down abashedly.
“You feel responsible?” The ranger pressed closer.
“Somebody’s got to feed him when Sensei’s too busy.” Mikael’s whole demeanor changed. He stood straight, arms crossed, ready to shift to a fighting stance in a instant. He and the ranger eyed each other even more closely, reaffirming the sizing-up that had already gone on. “So what do you want with my friend?” he asked.
“I want to know why Ketsen came after him.”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Are you talking about his mother?”
“Raven Maelstrom-Fallenson? Yeah. They wanted her more, but-” He sighed.
“But what?”
“But I’m not the ninja you need to talk to. Ben, the smith, saw most of it, I think. Oh, I have chores, so I need to go before I’m too behind.” Mikael hurried away before the ranger could stop him.
Somewhere above, a catbird called. Bryant and the ranger knew better than to look for it. The elusive bird would likely be invisible- but no, there it was, hopping down through the foliage and onto the ground next to Bryant. It vanished in a flash as a gloved hand shot through the small opening in the vines to sieze the ninja by his shirt. He was yanked into the open roughly, kicking and punching, forcing the ranger to fend off the blows with his free hand.
He saw Adan and Lord Kashi approaching in the periphery. Adan shouted, “No! He’ll-”
The ranger looked up as Bryant bit down, penetrating leather and tough fabric. He let go with an exclamation, and Bryant darted off into the shadows. He looked down at his arm then, as if he weren’t sure what had happened.
“Well,” Lord Kashi remarked, “we’ll just have to talk in the infirmary.”
“That kid hits hard for a featherweight.”
“Lesson one,” Adan said. “No touchy.”
“And that bite- how did he get through my glove? A rabid wolf couldn’t penetrate that.”
“Snowpoint’s been trying to figure it out for years.”
“Just who was that, anyway?”
Lord Kashi sighed. “Bryant.”
“He was probably hiding in that spot before you got there,” Adan said.
“Hmm. I didn't know he was kitsunekage. When we’re done here, may I speak with him?”
“You can try,” Lord Kashi said, “but I can’t guarantee he’ll do anything more than sulk and hiss at you. It’s been a few days, and he hardly obeys me.”
“You’re lucky,” Lisa interrupted, “that he didn’t bite you harder. I’ve seen him crush bones for the Snowpoint scientists- only a pretty sight to them. If you’d thrashed around instead of releasing him, you would have taken significantly more damage.”
“Does he do that a lot- bite people?” the ranger asked.
“No,” Adan replied, “but you certainly provoked him enough. How did you find him, anyway?”
“A bird gave him away. I followed its motion and then I spotted him. It’s been a long time since a ninja hid so close for so long and I couldn’t see them.”
“Yes, he’s a stealthy one, to put it mildly.” Lord Kashi crossed his arms. “Now that he’s upset, it’ll take double effort to find him, and he could be anywhere by now. He has everywhere to hide, no reason to come out.”
“Will it help if I search as well?”
Adan shook his head. “Don’t worry so much. We have dogs, and he will return or find shelter before sunset. You may stay until your business here is resolved- but leave him to us.”
“I’m afraid he is my business here.”
Lisa finished stitching the ranger’s arm. “He knows. It’s why he hid so quickly after noticing you.”
“What about me is he so scared of?”
Lord Kashi snorted. “It’s not you- mostly. That mech incident was only yesterday. The first episode happened three days ago.”
“Just three days?!”
“It’s been very upsetting for Bryant,” Adan said. “You had best be prepared to accept responsibility for whatever comes of another attempt to interact with him.”
The ranger stood and shook his head. “I just didn’t know enough. I was hoping to talk to a parent instead of him.”
As they walked out, Adan excused himself to find Bryant. He went to a clearing just beyond the vine wall and pulled out his dog whistle. He looked at it as if for the first time, examining every silver inch of its polished surface and remembering the day it had been given to him. It wasn’t an item one could obtain in the ninja territories. He looked away and tucked it back inside his shirt. A samurai van was on its way to patrol the skies, and Bryant could take care of himself for a night.
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