BALLAD OF THE SANGREAL
Disclaimer: I do not own Sword of the Stranger.
Important Author's Note: This story is a historical romance set in Japan during the Sengoku era. Portugal first "discovered" Japan in 1542 or 1543 when a ship crashed on its shores. Soon after, the Japan and Portugal began a trade agreement for Western firearms and Chinese goods, as well as a slave trade. The Japanese called the Portuguese namban or southern barbarians. While I read several books on this period, this is still fanfiction, so it will not be one hundred percent accurate. I always found history fascinating, especially the fact that one rarely thinks about things happening at the same time. King Henry VIII's reign was during the Sengoku period. Martin Luther King Jr. and Anne Frank were both born in 1929. The Wild West and the Meiji Restoration both took place in the late 19th century. Shew.
Ballad: a slow sentimental or romantic song.
Sangreal: Holy Grail or royal blood; a thing that is being earnestly pursued or sought after.
Consult Wikipedia or me for questions, I reply to every review I get. I hope you enjoy. Without further ado…
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Somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond any experience…
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Your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me
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Or which I cannot touch because they are too near
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Sengoku Japan
December
The samurai is always sleeping when she comes to him.
She changes his bandages every few hours, placing the blood soaked cloth into the water and wringing it out before placing clean, crisp bandages in their place. Her brother says the wound was not fatal, but blood loss and exhaustion had taken its toll on this nameless samurai.
Nanashi… a name in itself, really.
She sat in semi-darkness and silence, the only source of light coming from the embers of the dying fire in the middle of the hut, and the only sound from the light breathing of the samurai who lay before her.
"Very lucky, samurai-san," her voice was faint, barely a whisper, so that even in his unconsciousness he would not hear.
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But he was waking up.
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The snow had settled by the time Kotarou and an unconscious Nanashi reached the town.
"Where is a medicine man?" Kotarou swallowed anxiously as the man pointed in a random direction, and they took off again. Gossip was all around him.
"Blue eyed demons in Akaike Province."
"Wakou pirate raids…"
"The Ming emperor banned trade."
"Yellow and red haired foreigners here from a strange land…"
"Slave trade,"
At the last remark, Kotarou perked his ears. His wounds were still too fresh and he recalls when he was almost sold into slavery in Ming. At that next moment, he saw a line of Japanese women walking fearfully. They were chained together. Kotarou shivered and cursed the southern barbarians.
Nanashi was nothing like them.
Tears welled in his eyes as he looked upon the unconscious man. He would live. He was going to live, and they were going to travel and see the world.
There could be no other option.
He knocked on the medicine man's door urgently, and an elderly woman answered.
"Obaa-chan, where is the Doctor?" Kotarou said with the impatient manner of a child.
She glanced at Nanashi with pity in her dark eyes. "He is gathering herbs in the mountains. He will not return for some time." Kotarou slumped.
Her eyes softened, and she pointed toward a wisp of smoke in the distance. "See that smoke? There are foreign Doctors here, and I can vouch for them. There is a man here named Arekisandaa," she stumbled slightly over the name, "that can help him." She looked him in the eyes, and then looked at Nanashi again. "Go quickly."
Kotarou hesitated. "Nanashi can't go to southern barbarians! No!" He was done with foreigners.
The woman once again looked at him with pity. "Then the samurai will die," she sighed. "Bring him inside. I will do what I can."
Kotarou readily thanked her and helped her drag Nanashi from the horse and inside the hut.
"Go to the foreign camp and ask for Arekisandaa," she told Kotarou softly without looking at him. Kotarou eyed her warily. She continued, "You don't want to see this. These foreigners are from a stranger land. They are not southern barbarians. Do you want him to live?"
Kotarou relented grudgingly with a stubborn nod. If it meant Nanashi would live. He pointed at her, "But you have to tell the Doctor immediately when he gets back!"
Her eyes dissolved with sympathy. "Of course."
All this time, Tobimaru had been silently by Nanashi's side. Tobimaru barked, and Kotarou, with his breath fogging into the crisp air around him, took off toward the smoke in a dead sprint.
Nanashi would survive. He would make sure of it.
There could be no other option.
Tobimaru sprinted beside him along a stretch of river toward the smoke, and the little dog was quickly out running him.
Suddenly Tobimaru's ears perked and he turned toward the water. With a giant leap, the little dog was swimming toward what Kotarou just noticed was violent splashing.
"Tobimaru?" Kotarou stumbled slightly and stared.
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Someone was drowning.
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And Tobimaru saved the life of yet another stranger.
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BALLAD
OF THE
SANGREAL
Nanashi woke in the dark to a heavy weight on his chest. He flinched and swore, and a dizzying ache came from his side. He coughed, his voice coming out chocked and raspy.
A sliding door to his left carefully opened and a man entered, and Nanashi froze and drew his hand to where his sword should be. It came back empty, and in their place were thick bandages.
His sword was gone, and the blond demon was at his side.
"Relax," the stranger spoke in Nihongo, his blue eyes glittering. Nanashi noticed they were not cold and ambitious like the stranger from Ming, but warm and sun-strained. "I am the Doctor." He entered slowly. "Kotarou will be pleased to see that you live."
"Where am I?" Nanashi replied a little helplessly, and winced.
"The next Province over, sir." Nanashi blinked at the foreign word. "Forgive me. My name is Alexander."
After looking him over, Nanashi decided he really looked nothing like the man from Ming. His hair was of similar coloring, but drenched down his back in a long tail. He wore a green yukata.
"Where is Kotarou?" Nanashi muttered.
Alexander smiled. "In the market. He has rarely left your side since you came in a few days ago. My sister has been caring for you, Nanashi-san. Your little dog saved her from drowning." He looked at him pointedly. "That's a life debt."
Nanashi smiled hauntingly, but did not answer. She was not the only one, it seemed.
Alexander breathed and nodded. "Your injuries were not fatal, but the amount of blood you lost should have killed you. You were very lucky."
Nanashi paused in thought. Living life by the sword had led him to a life of solitude, but in the past couple weeks he seemed to be heavily relying on others. Nanashi drowsily pulled himself into a deep bow. "Arigatou gozaimashita."
Alexander waved at him in protest. "None of that, samurai-san. Thanks to your son's dog, my sister lives."
Nanashi didn't know if he had the heart to correct him, but something in his eyes must have let Alexander know he was incorrect.
"What are you to him?"
Nanashi felt an unfamiliar warmth in his chest. "His bodyguard."
Alexander only smiled. "Come, he should be back soon."
He helped Nanashi up and together they went outside into the sunlight. It blinded Nanashi and it took several moments for him to blink away the sunspots behind his eyelids.
Kotarou had returned, and brought with him another pale haired stranger.
End chapter 1.
Additional Author's Notes: Thank you for reading. Please review and tell me what you think, or any predictions you may have!
Timeline:
1298 Marco Polo publishes his tales of China.
1347 Black Death annihilates 20-40% of Europe.
1368 Ming Dynasty.
1405 Chinese Naval Expeditions of Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean to Eastern Africa begins. First of seven Ming Dynasty sponsored expeditions, lasting until 1433.
1444 First public sale of African slaves by Europeans takes place at Lagos, Portugal.
1467 to 1477 Onin War.
1482 Portugal founds the first European trading post in Africa (Elmira, Gold Coast).
1513 Sino-Portuguese relations.
1535 Henry VIII breaks from Catholicism and names himself head of the English Church.
1536 Anne Boleyn executed, 19th May.
1539 In Japan, trading monopolies end and a free market begins.
1542 The Ming emperor, Jiajing, has focused on Taoism and immortality, but his spiritualism has not made him worthy in the eyes of eighteen of his concubines. They detest him and conspire to strangle him while he sleeps. All of them are executed except the one who warned the empress.
1542 or 1543 First Portuguese in Japan. Beginning of namban or southern barbarian trade.
1547 Henry VIII of England dies.
1549 Arrival of Catholic priests and missionaries to Japan.
1553 Henry's successor, Queen Mary (Bloody Mary), re-establishes Roman Catholicism as England's state religion.
1555 Church made note that many Japanese women enslaved in Portugal for sexual purposes.
1558 Queen Mary dies and is succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth re-establishes Anglican Protestantism as the state religion.
1566 In China, Emperor Jiajing has been withdrawing from governing for long periods. He has been pursuing a Taoist search for everlasting life by taking potions. This leads to death by accidental poisoning.
1587 Some Japanese have adopted European dress, and Christianity in Japan has been growing. Hiseyoshi and some others dislike this trend. Hideyoshi prohibits Christianity and expells Jesuit missionaries.
1595 Portugal banned enslavement of Japanese and Chinese.
1600 Arrival of Dutch to Japan. Known to the Japanese as Koumou or Red Hair.
1602 The Dutch government (United Netherlands) grants the Dutch East India Company a monopoly to pursue trade in Asia.