CHAPTER 1

In Hot Pursuit

Hooves slapped the surface of the swamp's water, splashing it everywhere and staining the fur that followed a murky brown. The majestic white steeds that the hooves belonged to were obviously from the realm of Eiganjo. Their fair white coats were combed to get rid of any knots and their long manes were braided with beads and ribbon for decoration. The steeds seemed to stare down in disgust at the swampland that was Takenuma as their riders navigated them through thick patches of bamboo and moss.

The riders themselves were even more elegant than their steeds. The armor they wore was bleached white and made of a combination between shaped iron and worn leather. The chest plates, shoulder guards and greaves offered the most protection, with blade catching wrist attachments on their gauntlets for added shielding. Each rider had a solemn stare, their eyes hidden behind the shadow of their kabuto, for the sun was just now beginning to retreat far behind them in the horizon. A quill of arrows were strapped to their backs along with pristine hankyu made from sturdy cedar, the weapon would be used for long range volleys. At their hips, a combination of no-dachi and daisho rested, to be used for hand to hand combat.

At the head of the platoon of some twelve warriors, Captain Ichi rode. His armor had been freshly polished, his daisho recently sharpened and his hair recently put into a rogue knot, allowing its long black strands to slither out from inside of his kabuto. The captain's eyes constantly darted in either direction, looking for the one he sought so desperately. He and his men had been tracking the nezumi Quick-Claw for several days now, chasing him from the gates of Towabara to the sickly swamps of Takenuma.

The rat man had proved resourceful, able to cover up his tracks and leave false ones in order to throw off his trail. However, Ichi strongly they were close to the thief now. A few minutes back they had found a patch of his grayish hair stuck to a bramble of swampland thorns. Up ahead, Ichi caught a break, approaching a desecrated temple in the middle of a clearing surrounded by bamboo. The captain held his hand up, motioning for his men to slow. They obeyed immediately, bringing their steeds to a slow saunter.

Ichi slid off his horse's saddle, sinking slightly into the murky swamp water. Looking the temple over with great detail, the captain determined it would be a suitable hiding place for a fugitive.

Stairs made of chiseled stone led up from the murky water and to a platform about twenty feet wide and forty feet long. Walls that Ichi imagined had once stood tall now were reduced to cracked, worn shadows of their former selves. Near the back of the temple, a statue of some ancient kami stood erect, it too withered and worn away by time.

As the captain's eyes scanned the temple's layout, he spotted what he was looking for.

The past few days of pursuit had taken their toll on Quick-Claw. Not able to simply outrun imperial horses, he had used what little of a head start he had to try and outwit his pursuers. The nezumi had stopped at the old temple for a rest, trying to catch his breath. But before he could prepare his departure, he heard the all too familiar sound of horses galloping through the swamp. Cursing his bad luck, the thief knew his time to run was over. It was either act now, or be captured.

Whatever soldier was in charge had been a cunning man, obviously skilled in tracking down outlaws. Perhaps that was why he had been chosen to find the nezumi.

Nervously, Quick-Claw fumbled through his grain sack until he felt the familiar shape of the bracelet. He began to wonder if this precious little trinket was truly worth all this trouble. Just then, his ears shuddered at the sound of a powerful voice.

"Quick-Claw of the nezumi, by imperial decree you are to surrender yourself to the mercy of the daimyo and accept retribution for your crimes!" Ichi bellowed. The captain saw a flash of the rat man's fur as he squirmed nervously behind the broken wall of which he hid. "Come out now, and without incident, and I will spare you the torture of the imperial dungeon!"

When no response came, the captain turned to his platoon and nodded. Each dismounted and formed a horizontal line behind him. Snapping his fingers, Ichi ordered his men to draw their hankyu bows. They did so without hesitation, notching arrows and drawing them back.

Quick-Claw's breathing was heavy now, his heart racing. How would he get out of this one? He was severely outnumbered and overmatched. Taking the risk to assess the true amount of danger he was in, the thief peeked over the wall he hid behind. A volley of at least a dozen arrows whizzed past his head the second he moved. Immediately ducking back down, Quick-Claw decided it would take a miracle to save him now. Then again, the rat had been lucky so far. Why then would fate simply give up on him now, when he was so close to accomplishing his goal?

As if in response to his thoughts, a haze of purple fog and energy materialized just in front of him, between his position and the statue in the temple. The fog began swirling like a cyclone, drawing in toward a center "eye". Magic and light crackled out of the center as the fog began spinning faster and faster.

Staring at the odd sight in awe, Captain Ichi became nearly hypnotized for a moment. Shaking a feeling of inertia off, the captain came back to his senses. "Stand down men," he said. "In a few moments a kami will manifest and take care of our problem for us. Then we came sweep in and collect our bounty afterwards."

Quick-Claw listened as his pursuers retreated, not daring to test the power of whatever was about to appear. He gulped. He was probably better off dealing with them than a malevolent spirit.

From the purple haze, an arm emerged. Long claws like that of a wolverine or a badger rested at the end of spindly fingers. Flesh like that of a burn victim's stretched tightly across bulging muscles. Three more identical arms protruded from the haze, followed in suit by the rest of the kami. With the lower body of a hairy kumo and the upper body of a man, the kami seemed rather insidious. A pair of pincers clicked together just outside of a maw of dagger-like teeth. Eight scarlet red eyes stared down at the scraggly creature before them.

"Sh-Sh-Sheiro," Quick-Claw stammered out. "K-kami of the Lost Souls." The kami flashed a toothy grin at the mention of its name.

Feeding off the nezumi's fear, Sheiro reached down with a powerful arm and grasped Quick-Claw's cranium roughly. Cringing in a sudden, sharp pain, the thief's body became very tense and stiff.

"Please merciful Sheiro, spare me, I mean you no harm!" the rat man begged.

The kami clicked its mandibles together closely to the nezumi's face, even running them through his coarse hair. Quick-Claw nearly began weeping on the outside.

Discretely though, he reached down for his dagger. The kami may have been ethereal in the spirit world, but now that it was in the mortal realm, it was just as vulnerable as he was.

Sheiro roared a bestial cry into the air and reared his head back, preparing to finish the nezumi off. Not willing to let that happen, Quick-Claw growled back and drew his dagger. In one fluid motion, the thief shoved the winding blade of his dagger into the kami's exposed chest. Violet blood and gore began streaming out along the sides of the blade. Quick-Claw pulled the dagger from its victim just as Sheiro dropped him, writhing in pain.

Seizing the opportunity, the nezumi lunged at the wounded god again, this time using the dagger as a shank and sticking it in the kami's gut. As the kami clutched at its side, trying to stop the spill of his insides, Quick-Claw climbed onto his chest. Kanji magic had run in his family for quite a while, since his grandfather had been one of the first nezumi shamans. Using the very tip of his dagger to scratch a symbol into Sheiro's chest alongside his stab wound, Quick-Claw also began drawing on what little magical power he possessed.

The kami's magic rich blood responded to the kanji magic with surprising speed. No sooner then Quick-Claw had finished the symbol and fed mana into it, the spell began taking effect. The kanji symbol for "rot" began glowing a blood red as it activated.

Sheiro screamed as he looked down at his chest. His sickening flesh became even more disgusting as a plague of rot spread across it. With each passing second, the kami's screams became more prominent and the festering boils that had appeared spread more and more across his body, turning it a deathly brown. Finally, it spread across Sheiro's face, ending his suffering. The kami's body turned to ash and blew away in a powerful gust of wind.

Quick-Claw sighed in relief. He had survived. Though his robes were covered in gore and his dagger was now officially useless, completely dull from its recent constant use, the rat man smiled in triumph. He had survived the wrath of a god, not only that, but clearly bested the spirit. If he could do that, he could easily finish the rest of his trek to Henzo Mansion and deliver the bracelet.

Henzo Mansion was quite an impressive sight. Built atop many pillars of wood that held the structure out of the swamp below, the mansion was roughly three stories high. With a large deck on the left side and a balcony in front, the mansion was designed to give the owner a good view of the swamp wherever they were. Two guards stood at the front doors, wielding spear-like o-naginata weapons and carrying multiple throwing axes on their hips. The guards were some of Boss Henzo's reckoners, the thugs he used to deal with any problems he had. Quick-Claw had often seen the reckoners in action, they were brutal, efficient killers with no remorse.

Approaching the front doors, the nezumi was stopped by the guards.

"Halt, what business do you have with the Boss?" one of them asked.

"I've got a package to deliver" Quick-Claw answered, holding up the bracelet he had stolen.

The guards looked at each other and nodded, opening the doors for the nezumi as he made his way inside. The main room at the front of the mansion was by far the biggest. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the rest of the room. Several lounge chairs and other antique pieces of furniture dotted the room, along with a stone statue of the Boss himself. Even more reckoners were positioned inside the room at each entrance to different rooms and the stairs that led to the top floors.

About to head up the stairs, Quick-Claw was stopped by an all too familiar voice.

"Ah, Quick-Claw, good of you to come," Boss Henzo said. "Especially since I know you wouldn't dare show up without the bracelet. You of course know that if that was the case, I'd peel the flesh from your bones?"

The nezumi turned around to see the Boss standing in the doorway leading to a back room. Henzo was a withered old man, but he was still far more intimidating than even his reckoners. A scar ran across one of his eyes, the wound it was left over from having caused him to be blind in it. Though his skin was wrinkled and saggy, Quick-Claw could clearly make a smirk on the old man's face. Broken, yellow stained teeth rested inside his mouth and the Boss had a rather raspy voice from too much pipe smoking. Henzo had always been a rather aristocratic man considering the fact that he ran one of the biggest underground criminal rings of the Takenuma Swamp.

"Of course Boss, I've got it right here" Quick-Claw said, tossing the small band to the old man.

Henzo caught the bracelet and looked it over thoroughly, finally nodding in satisfaction.

"You've done well, my servant," the old man said. "I would assume it was no easy task to recover this." Henzo snapped his fingers and a reckoner quickly ran over to him, kneeling on one knee. "Bring me the sword."

The reckoner scuttled into the other room for a moment, quickly reappearing moments later carrying something.

"Originally, I was going to pay you gold for this little escapade, but then my guards found this katana in the swamp outside and I remembered your dagger was a little worn" Henzo said. "I thought I'd give you a choice between the sword and the gold."

The reckoner stepped toward Quick-Claw and held out a sheathed weapon caked in thick layers of muck and grime. Quick-Claw grabbed the sword by the hilt and withdrew it from its sheath. He could've sworn he heard the blade growling as it retreated from its cover.

The hilt of the katana ended in the head of a golden dragon, very well crafted and decorated with several jewels. The blade itself was lined with gold along the bottom, with a serrated edge that reminded the nezumi of teeth. The second Quick-Claw wrapped his hand around the hilt, he felt a great sense of power sweep through him.

"I'll take it" the nezumi said, greedily seizing the sheath from the reckoner.

"Good," Boss Henzo said. "Now, how easy was it to steal this little wonder?"

"About that," Quick-Claw began, "I was followed by some of Konda's toy soldiers since I left."

"They're here, at the swamp?" Henzo asked.

"Yes" the nezumi answered.

"How many of them?"

"At least a dozen, they're led by some righteous captain, he's quite the tracker."

"No worries, my loyal servant, they will be dealt with" Henzo said. The two shared a devious laugh.

Captain Ichi and his men approached the temple cautiously, worried that the kami might still be around. When they saw nothing, however, Ichi quickly ordered a search party for the body of the nezumi. After searching the entirety of the area, the soldiers found only two pieces of evidence as to what happened. The first was a pile of ash blown against the temple wall by the wind, the second a puddle of purplish blood and entrails.

The captain determined that the nezumi had survived, even managing to kill the kami.

"What are your orders sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

"We find where the rat bastard is hiding and who he's working for, then we bring them both to justice, for Konda" Ichi said.