Chapter 3 -- Beginning of conflicts

Netali woke from her nap to the sound of a howl. A scout had spotted something. Within a few minutes the scouts were reporting that both groups could be seen. Lord Taisho had not brought many with him, only about twenty, while Netali had brought closer to fifty. Shortly after, the army was up and ready to go. They made their way to the groups, and there was little time to react when they came within sight of the two groups. They had already engaged each other and Lord Taisho was outnumbered enough that they had been almost completely surrounded. After a second of consideration, she told General Ramsee that they would hit them at the side to push them away from the smaller group. Netali unhooked her bow from her side and moved her quiver into position at her waist.

When they were close enough to the group for Netali to loose, she pulled three arrows and held the bow sideways. The arrows glowed with a silver-gray energy and when they contacted the group all within five feet of where each arrow had hit was destroyed. The attackers quickly turned their attention to the new group and many of their numbers broke off. It didn't take long for Netali to be surrounded by foes, but instead of thinking of her lack of protection she focused on getting into the small circle that was beginning to lose ground. Just as she entered the small circle, a spear pierced through her shoulder and the impact knocked her to the ground. She reached over to grip the spear in order to pull it out. She pulled at the spear and knew that she didn't have the strength to pull it out herself.

A moment passed and she saw someone step over her, so that one of his feet was on either side of her. All that Netali could see was that he had long silver hair and wore dominantly white clothing. He blocked an attack that was directed towards her, and with his back still turned he reached behind him to grip the spear. With no warning, he pulled the spear out and spun it around so that it was poised above his shoulder. When he threw the spear the same grayed energy wrapped around it and as before, when it contacted someone, all within five feet of it was instantly destroyed. The man turned back towards her, a hint of surprise still in his yellow eyes, and with a quick nod he sidestepped. Netali took the cue and rolled so that she could stand. Quickly, she hooked her bow to her side, not able to use it with her shoulder hurt, and removed her sword from the harness on her back. At this time, Netali was thankful for all of the time she spent at the forge, due to the fact that she had a lot more strength in her arms then she would have had any other way. The blade was oddly shaped for the region, the first foot of the blade was straight it then curved out as a crescent, both sides of the crescent sharp. Because of the odd nature of the blade, her opponents had no idea how to defend against the heavy sword. Most that tried to block it found their sword shattered against the more powerful blade. Netali didn't know how much time passed or how many people they had fought against, but the sun told her that a couple hours had passed by the time the attackers had been dealt with.

Netali looked over the field and as she turned to look at her own men, she was hit with a wave of dizziness and a sharp pain in her shoulder. It was at this time that she noticed an odd sour smell. She took her hand and wiped some of the blood from the wound, which oddly enough was still bleeding. While she analyzed the smell coming from the wound, she felt one of her knees give out and she dropped to a knee.

"Hasan-sama!" Ramsee shouted, a short distance away.

Within a moment, he was knelt in front of her. Netali held out her hand and spoke, "Dog poison."

Her energy spent, Netali began to feel herself fade, and knew she was falling over. Weather she hit the ground or not, she never knew. In her unconscious state, she did not know that Ramsee had caught her and lifted her from the ground. The man that had pulled the spear from her shoulder told Ramsee to follow him, and soon they were at a small encampment. The man knew the poisoned blade had been meant for him and he silently cursed for letting it pass him by him. Ramsee quickly unhooked the bow from her side and set it on the floor, and unlatched the harness that held her sword. It took only a couple minutes longer to take off the armor, but was very mindful not to touch the crooks as he removed the waist armor.

"I need a cloth." Ramsee asked the man.

When the man pointed to a table nearby he moved towards it to retrieve the cloth. Cloth in hand he returned to Netali and removed the crooks from their loop. The man looked at Ramsee with question as he handled the items so carefully.

"It's not a pretty sight when a non-Hasan touches the crooks." He informed him.

"Ramsee, the men are asking of her condition." One of the generals questioned from the doorway.

"Tell them…" Ramsee began, not sure what to say.

After a moment of silence, the man decided to speak. "Tell them her blood loss has caused her to sleep so that she can recover." The general looked to Ramsee who nodded in agreement, causing the man to leave.

"Thank you, Taisho-sama." Ramsee stated with a nod.

"It is doubtful that she will recover from that poison." Taisho-sama stated after a moment of silence.

"She's been given immunities from a very young age, she can beat it." Ramsee responded with confidence.

Ramsee heard someone enter the tent and saw that they had brought water and a rag so that the wound could be cleaned. Once they had left, Ramsee picked up the larger crook with the rag and touched it to the water. It lightly began to glow with the silver-gray energy that had been seen around here many times now. He sat down next to her on the mat and began to clean the blood off of her, the blood purified as the water touched it.

"One so young should never have been on the battlefield." Taisho-sama stated.

"You of all people should understand that she had to be here, regardless of gender, age, or experience." Ramsee stated before returning to his task.

"Do you really believe that she will be able to stand up to the other lords?" He questioned.

"She might be young, but she is wise. She may not be fully mature, but even now she has strength. She may not have experience of her own, but she has the experience of her predecessors to follow. So, yes, Taisho-sama, it is her birthright and she will hold what is hers against all of you." Ramsee stated without even turning to look at him.

Once the blood had been removed from her, he lightly soaked the cloth and allowed the water to drip onto the wound. As soon as the water touched, the poison began to come to the surface and the wound began to bubble green. Ramsee gently dabbed the poison away until it no longer bubbled to the surface. Having done everything he could do, he knew he needed to go to the other generals. Once again, he picked up the crook with a cloth and laid it across her chest, and then picked up her hand and wrapped it around the crook.

"I will return as soon as I can." Ramsee stated, and when Taisho-sama nodded, he left the room.

Taisho looked at the bowl of water Ramsee had used, and out of curiosity he dipped his hand into it and saw a scratch disappear. He then looked over at the crook, wondering how it could have such power. As he gazed at the crook, he saw her shiver slightly. He stood up and walked over to a chest across the tent from her and took out a blanket. Walking back over to her, he opened the blanket and covered her mindful not to touch the crook or to cover her wounded shoulder. He then sat down on the mat and looked at her for a moment.

"Your general believes me to be your enemy." He stated, as if she could hear him. He smiled inwardly; speaking to an unconscious person was against logic. However odd, he thought of this girl as an equal, and it had been a long time since he'd had an equal to talk to. Against his logic, he decided to continue speaking, "You'll have an easier time against the lords then you think. Show them that you cannot be intimidated and they will leave you be." He paused for a moment, as if to let the information sink in. "Since you're female, they all will be too curious to see how well you will do to think maliciously of you. Only Bunto will cause you problems, and the rest of us can take care of him." He paused again before speaking further. "Rest well, Hasan, and if your general proves correct, I will see you awake in a week."

Taisho stood up and began to leave the tent. He glanced back before exiting, trying to decide weather it was her age or her gender that made him feel as if he needed to protect her. Unsure of an answer, he decided he would come to a conclusion when he met her again. It didn't take long for Ramsee to return to Taisho's encampment. The two of them spoke on weather it would be better for her to rest here, or for her to be taken back to her mansion. They decided that the group would head back to the estate around dark, so that when she woke she would be back in the comfort of her own house.

Netali woke close to mid-day at the mansion. She thought about what had happened and remembered why she had passed out. Strangely, she'd heard a voice in her dream, but couldn't remember anything that they had said, or who the voice belonged to. She pulled back the blanket to look at her wound. Even though it was mostly healed, she was sore all over, very tired, and very cold. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to make her way to the wardrobe and pulled out a dress to change into. The dress was white, and extended down to the floor. The top of the dress had no sleeves and nothing to cover the shoulders, a band that clasped behind the neck held it up. Being satisfied with her current clothing, Netali pulled her hair back and decided to go to the study. The guards throughout the house looked at her a bit differently as she made her way through the house. She knew that going into battle had been her only choice. The soldiers had no respect for her because they had never seen her fight. A leader that did not go into battle with their army was never respected. She saw the stacks of paper that Ashina had lain out for her as well as several others. Ashina herself was within the room cleaning and gasped with surprise when she had entered.

"My Lady, you're awake! Is there anything I can get for you?" She questioned.

"Tea." Netali answered, and Ashina quickly bowed and left the room.

It was now time for her to look through the papers on each of the lords to find what she could about her upcoming guests. The first stack of papers concerned Lord Hinotetori. "Lord of the east, a fire bird or phoenix which ever term you chose; red hair with black streaks, red eyes, 600 years old, I wonder if that's old for a phoenix? Non-aggression papers, trade agreement, trade agreement, scout reports of military movements. Nothing of very much use. Next set, Lord Kumori, Lord of the Northeast, shadow demon? Have to see what I can find out about that. Black hair, black eyes, age unknown, wow is that surprising or what? Trespass notice, no aggression or non-aggression papers, no trading, scout reports alone. That was a waist of time."

Ashina reentering the room brought Netali out of her reading and speaking to herself. Once the tea was set down, Ashina went back to her cleaning, and Netali went back to reading. "Lord Nakamura, Lord of the north, elemental. Blue/green hair, water elemental, green eyes, 830 years old, wow. Scout reports. I wonder if there's a reason my father never interacted with any of them… Lord Bunto, Lord of the south, Snake. Black/green hair, yellow eyes, 550 years old. Oh, I can see problems now. Trespass notices, aggression papers, border skirmishes. Lord Itou, Lord of the northwest, wolf. Not so bad. Brown hair, brown eyes, 300 years old. Lord Taisho, Lord of the west, dog. White hair, yellow eyes… wait a minute…" Netali had a flashback of the man she'd seen on the battlefield, the one that had taken the spear out of her shoulder. "200 years old… That was Lord Taisho. Non-aggression papers, land exchanges, trades agreements. My father had a lot to do with him, no, his father. He just came into power… twenty years ago." Netali mulled over all the information she had read over, and decided that she knew everything that the papers would teach her.

"Ashina," Netali called, drawing the woman's attention immediately. "Please inform the kitchen that I would like the evening meal soon."

"It will be done." She stated and left on her errand.

After putting away all the papers she had taken out, Netali decided to go down to the dining room. When she arrived she simply looked out the windows for a while. One of the kitchen staff brought out tea and set the tray to the side of the table. Soon dinner was brought out, and Netali finished the meal quickly. Netali sat in the dinning room until it was near sunset, even though she had slept for a while she still felt tired. She knew that it was very hard on you when you recovered from poison. Her immunities had been built slowly, but there had been enough poison in her system that she knew the common effects of it. She decided to go to her room and take a bath before going to sleep. She felt as if tomorrow was going to be a very long day and she knew that she would need her rest.

When Netali awoke the next morning, she felt much better then she had the day before. She was still cold however, so she decided to wear a dress similar to the one she had worn yesterday, only this one was light gray in color. She drank her tea out on the balcony as she normally did, and soon made her way to the dinning room. Once she had finished eating, Netali made her way up to the study; she had some talking to do with Ashina. A few minutes after she had entered the study, the guard outside came in and informed her that General Ramsee was here to see her. When Ramsee entered, he bowed as usual and then made his way to sit at near the desk.

"I should first inform you that you were asleep for nearly a day and a half, which means, in four days the lords will be arriving. Scouts are in place to watch for their coming, and you will be informed at least a couple hours before they arrive." Ramsee stopped for a moment before continuing, "With all that said, how do you feel?"

"Sore, mainly. What happened after I blacked out?" Netali questioned.

"Taisho-sama lead me to his encampment so that I could dress your wound. Once we saw to all the soldiers, it was his opinion that we not wait for you to wake. It was nearly dark by the time we left to come back to the mansion. Taisho-sama wished for me to extend his thanks to you for your assistance as well, and he regretted the fight taking place on your lands. He described to me that the enemy was an old foe of his fathers, at the time they fought before, the land belonged to House Taisho." Ramsee responded.

"That would explain why he crossed into our lands to fight them, and why he sees it as we helped him instead of the other way. Tell me Ramsee, what can you tell me of the lords? I've read through all the paperwork that contains them, so is there anything that you can add to it?" Netali questioned further.

"I do know that your father and the late Taisho-sama wrote back and forth quite a bit, and that he went to House Taisho shortly after his passing. Other then that, the house has not dealt with the other lords much." Ramsee answered.

Knowing that she would get little else from Ramsee, he was dismissed, and Netali quickly sent for Ashina. The next couple hours were spent learning everything within the study, the locations of maps, the law books, correspondences with the villages, and scout reports. Netali's main concern was the villages. There were so many administrative problems with them that she knew that it would take some time for everything to be straightened out. After thinking for a while she decided that since soldiers were being sent to assess threats to the lands right now, she would use their presence to her benefit. She wrote out a paper of everything she wished to know about each of the villages; the name, how many people there were according to gender and age, how many people were trained in the different trades, as well as supplies and demands. With the paper finished, she put Ashina to work transcribing the paper, and once she had finished quite a few she was sent to give them to general Ramsee to give to the soldiers when they were to be sent out. Once all of that was complete, and Netali had filed away all of the paperwork that had come in the past few days, she decided that she needed to rest and retired to her room for the remainder of the evening.