Chapter 10 – A Purposeful Storm
"Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality." Dalai Lama XIV
...
The clouds above flashed brilliantly as lightening raced sporadically within the entirety of the night sky. The flashing current was quickly followed by a rolling thunder that left ones ears ringing in the aftermath of its passing. The howling wind screamed insufferably as it drove the rain nearly horizontal before its unquenchable fury. Rei turned and, using a hand to shield her eyes, glared up at the angry sky even as the rain stung her cheeks. The storm clouds had built for two days prior to the current onslaught that beset the entire army. The storm had many within their ranks muttering about the irregularity of such a storm of this severity. The storm season was several months past and there should be nothing more than a few showers here and there at this time of year. As the worn General lowered her hand a sudden flash of lightening arched down from the clouds striking the ground out upon the distant plains. For a long moment Rei could see little more than the after image which had burnt itself into her vision. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with," she mumbled in an irritated tone of voice to herself as she waited for her vision to adjust once more to the darkness of the cold and rain filled night.
The battle had gone well, at least for their side, or so she had thought until news had reached her concerning Tooru. Their enemy, for the first time, was a combined force of Ookami and Kyuuketsuki. Tooru had known this day would come and had since the very beginning been drilling their forces to work together as one cohesive fighting force. The Ookami with their superior strength and the Kyuuketsuki with their greater speed, when paired together they were an unbeatable fighting unit. They had spent days going over the battle plans, tactics as well as numerous contingency plans, secondary contingencies and final stand scenarios. Rei clearly recalled the final meeting and the speech that had been delivered that day.
"This is the first time we've seen them join forces against us," Tooru stated matter-of-factly to those gathered. "We knew that eventually this would happen. We've been taking them on one group at a time and sooner or later they would realize that the enemy of their enemy was their friend." The aristocrat and former king's deep calming voice easily carried to the furthest corners of the war room. "We've been training for this day for nearly a year now and they have not. They will fight separately and in that is their inherent weakness," he proclaimed as his eyes swept over the entire room lingering only slightly longer upon the Queen seated at the opposite end of the table from where he stood. "Divided they will fall upon our shields and sword and be laid low to be left upon the field like chaff after the harvest!" Tooru exclaimed bringing forth a resounding cheer from the others gathered. "Stay to the plan, recall your training and we will all meet here once again afterwards." Once more his gaze spanned the room, meeting each pair of eyes and holding them for a moment, offering his reassurance by his gaze alone. The last to receive his attention was the queen herself. "For the glory of our Queen," he intoned respectfully only to hear it repeated by all present in a resounding pledge of fealty.
Rei grinned slightly to herself as she recalled how quickly the charismatic man had assumed control of their combined forces. It had not irked her in the least either to relinquish that control as she realized early on that he was better suited for the task. The General had instead assumed the position at his right hand and watched carefully, learning from the man who had led legions, even defeating the woman to whom he now bent knee and called his Queen. While the fact the she herself no longer was in command was a thorn in her cousin Yoshino's side, Rei was content to learn from someone she acknowledged as her peer in this arena.
A cold trickle of rain water running down her back quickly brought her thoughts back to the present. Turning towards the tent flap she paused long enough to order one of the sentries standing guard to pass the word along to watch for fires. The woman glanced at the torrential downpour and then back at the General before her with a look that clearly said she though Rei was insane. "I once watched an entire town burn to the ground in just such a storm. See that the word is spread to beware lightning strikes," she ordered once more before dipping her head and stepping into the tent and allowing the weighted flaps to close once more behind her.
Yoshino, who had been seated in a large chair off to one side quickly stood and crossed the short distance to her cousin and lover. "How are things," she inquired in a subdued voice as she assisted the taller of the pair with removing the heavy rain cloak Rei wore. Once free the petite woman with matching long two braids upon her chest walked over and hung the cloak on a nail near on the brazier that was used for heating as well as lighting the tent's interior.
"Wet," Rei replied as she followed the smaller girl over to the heat source and then held her hands out over the red glowing coals to warm her hands. "We've lost several herds of horses due to being spooked off by the storm. A couple broke their legs and had to be put down," Rei said with little emotion. "The army is bedded down and should be alright for now. The supply wagons should have been here yesterday though," she added in a slightly worried tone. "The fact that they have not arrived as yet worries me."
"They'll get here," Yoshino replied in what she hoped was a positive sounding voice as she attempted to reassure her cousin. "I'm certain it is just this storm that is holding them up." Rei offered her an appreciative grin for her efforts however they both knew that neither would rest till the supplies arrived. Most of the supplies they had brought with them had either already been used or had been destroyed during the intense fighting days before. If something wasn't done soon the necessities such as food and drinkable water would run short and people would start to die regardless of what they did. Yoshino saw Rei's eyes look towards the draped off section of the royal tent. "No change as yet," she provided without being asked.
"It's been three days," Rei stated looking back to her cousin, the fact of which neither of them needed reminding of having spent the majority of that time within or near the Queen's tent themselves. How much longer can he hold out? Lesser men would have expired after the first day. The General of their forces, Ogasawara Tooru, had been near death when he had been carried from the battlefield. The surgeons had attempted to remove the arrows from his back however the shafts had been broken off while transporting him to the surgical tent. Due to the severe wound to his stomach area they had not wanted to lay him on the stretcher upon it and had opted to break the shafts instead. They had been able to extract one of the arrowheads however the other two had become lodged within bones and refused to be removed. While they had managed to stitch up Tooru's wound inflicted by the Queen's sword he had lost a great deal of blood and had as yet regained consciousness. "How is she?" Rei asked as her eyes once more turned to regard the curtained off area that the Queen's bed, upon which lay Tooru, was contained within.
Yoshino shrugged slightly as she stepped to Rei's side and slipped her arms around the taller woman waist in a loose hug as she rested her head upon Rei's chest. "She hasn't left his side since they brought him here," she said as Rei shifted in her arms and she felt the warmth of her cousins arms settle around her own small shoulders. "She hasn't eaten a bite or slept more than a bit here and there the entire time. Other than the brief moments it takes to relieve herself, I doubt she has even released his hand."
Rei tightened her embrace as she leaned down and lovingly kissed the crown of the smaller woman's head. "I best report," she said as she reluctantly slipped from the arms she would have preferred to remain within. "Wait for me?" she asked.
"Baka," Yoshino replied with a soft smile. "As if I could possibly fall asleep in this storm without you there to hold me?"
Rei held the brown eyes of the woman she loved for a long moment before turning after a slight nod and stepping past the edge of the curtained area. A single brazier burned on the far side of the large bed, which was a luxury the Queen afforded herself when in the field. Situated next to the bed was a large wooden high-back chair that more resembled a throne than an actual chair due to its size and sturdy construction. The light from the brazier cast the queen's face in profile as the woman Rei loved nearly as much as her cousin and certainly more than herself held silent vigil over the dying man within the bed. In the defused lighting it appeared to Rei that the woman before her had aged several life times. The queen's eyes, once alight with life and humor were dull and hollow as they stared at the face of the man covered in blankets up to his chin upon the bed. Tooru's right hand lay upon the edge of the bedding nearest the chair in which the queen was seated. Her slender fingers were wrapped around the pale hand that lay there limp and unmoving. Rei quietly cross the small area and knelt next to the chair. "My Queen," she intoned softly as she raised one arm across her chest in salute.
The slender brunette's head shifted slightly after a long pause, the flowing brown hair moving slightly as the Queen's head turned to regard the woman kneeling next to her. "Rei," Miki said in a soft cordial tone that clearly indicated she had no clue how long Rei had been there. "How are you?" the Queen inquired politely as if they were at some courtly function rather than camped upon a battlefield while the foul weather hammered at their spirits continually.
"I'm well," Rei replied only to realize that the Queen was no longer looking at her but had her eyes once more affixed upon the figure in the bed.
""That's good," Miki replied. "How is the army holding up?" she inquired as a gust of wind hit the tent causing its canvas walls to shake and quiver.
Rei inwardly gave a sigh of relief, heartened by the Queen's concern for the army. Rei realized that the Queen was not as far gone as she looked or Rei had first assumed. "They are holding up well enough, my Queen. The wounded are being cared for in the larger tents. Those that are uninjured are helping where they can or standing watches."
"I see," was the short thoughtful reply when it came.
"The supply wagons have been delayed," Rei continued with her report, "However I believe that is to be expected with this storm."
"How long can we hold out with what we currently have," Miki asked without removing her gaze from the bed.
"Several days if we start to ration what we have," Rei answered knowing that would be pushing things as far as they could go.
"Do what needs to be done, Rei. Also see if there are any of the uninjured that have hunting experience and if so then send them out to forage for game," the Queen advised. "There may not be anything in this weather but it is worth a try. Gather a company together to go inspect the enemy's camp site to see if anything of use was left behind."
Rei nodded her understanding, glad to have ordered to follow. "I'll see that it is done right away, my Queen."
"You're not to go yourself Rei," Miki told her. "I want you to take that cousin of yours and go back to your tent and keep her there." The Queen's head swiveled once again to regard the kneeling woman beside her. "She's been hovering about me like a mother hen and quite frankly it's a little annoying," Miki added as the corners of her lips turned upwards ever so slightly.
"Perhaps if you would eat something she wouldn't worry as much," Rei dared to reply with only to see the Queen's lips move further into the semblance of a smile only to see it halt and then disappear from her face.
"I'll eat when he does," the Queen replied as once more her eyes returned to the injured man upon the bed.
"If he doesn't wake?" Rei asked softly. It was a question she hated to ask but also one that warranted thinking about.
"He will," Miki replied with calm certainty. "He saved me," she told the other woman in the same calm voice.
"From the archers. I was informed of such," Rei replied with a nod of her head. I will gladly thank him for that once he's awakes, she mentally told herself as she added it to the growing mental list of things to be grateful for. "They were not able to remove all the arrows, were they?"
'Yes, the arrows," the Queen continued to speak as if she had not really heard her General at all. "I was losing it Rei. I had nearly slipped over the edge. I was running on pure instinct and mistook him for the enemy when he landed upon my back. I had not heard the call that there were archers," she confessed as her eyes studied the contours of the pale face of the man within the bed next to her. "Given more time I may have lost it all together. When…when I saw who I had run through with my sword, the shock of it must have jolted me back to normal. Do you know, h…he actually smiled at me right at the end. That typical 'All is right with the world because I'm in it' smug smile of his that can be so damn infuriating at times," she said with an amused smile.
"I'm sure the surgeons have done all they can for him, my Queen," Rei offered, her words sounding lame and ineffectual in her own ears.
"They have," Miki confirmed. "It won't be enough though I fear. He hasn't drunk anything since before the battle. It may very well not be the injuries I inflicted upon him but rather that fact that finally kills him." The Queen's eyes dipped and regard her hand where it rested upon the bed holding his. Tooru's pale skin was a stark contrast to her sun darkened bronze tone. "His kind needs to ingest blood, and often, to remain alive. In his current state he cannot take in the very substance he requires to continue living."
Rei's brows creased in concentration as she thought about that last. "Can we not just force it down his throat?" she asked in frustration.
"It is not as simple as that I fear," Miki replied sadly. "Until such time as he awakes and can feed himself there is little we can do."
"Perhaps I can assist with that," said a feminine voice from the shadowed corner of the room behind the brazier.
Before the final words were spoken Rei had lunged to her feet and her Nodachi was free of its sheath and pointed at the white robed and hooded figure that was only now becoming visible as it stepped forth from the shadows which had concealed it. "Who are you and how did you get in here?" Rei demanded even as she sensed the curtain behind her move aside as Yoshino charged through it with weapon drawn, the sound of Rei's sword leaving its sheath alerting her to the fact that something was amiss.
"Stay thy weapons Hasekura Rei and Shimazu Yoshino," the cloaked figured stated in a calm manner. "I mean neither you, nor your Queen harm."
"It's a trick," Yoshino yelled suddenly sprinting around the foot of the bed and lunging towards the intruder. Drawing near the robed woman the petite girl did not hesitate but thrust forward with her sword, intent upon killing their adversary before they could inflict any harm upon the Queen..
A stiff breeze blew through the confined space and as tip of the sword made contact with the intruder their body disintegrated into a swirling substance that still vaguely held the image of their body but was surprisingly insubstantial evident by the fact that Yoshino's sword passed through it without any sign of injury being inflicted. Before anyone could move the mass shifted as if blown by the air and reformed in the opposite corner of the room where it once more returned to the solid body it had been but a moment before. "Once more I say I mean you no harm," the person said in a soft and calming tone. "You can no more harm me than you could catch the wind in your hand," the woman said with an amused chuckle, "and I would no more wish to harm you than I would want to harm myself."
Everyone turned at the sound of the woman's voice now behind them startled to find her there when she had just a moment before been in the opposite corner near Yoshino. It had taken less than a heartbeat for the robed woman to move across the tent. Rei spun, her long sword poised and at the ready only to feel a restraining hand upon her forearm. "What then is your purpose here?" Miki asked as she regarded the stranger.
"I come as a friend and one who would offer aide to the one who lies there now upon deaths threshold," she said with a tilt of her head towards the bed and Tooru. Reaching up slowly to indicate she meant no harm the woman slowly slid back the hood of her white robe revealing long flowing silver hair that appeared to shimmer as she moved. Strands of hair shifted and moved as if there was a soft and silent breeze tugging at them playfully though there was no such wind felt by the others present. Features that were both foreign as well as breathtakingly stunning turned to regard the three women in the room.
Rei relaxed her stance only slightly upon seeing the woman's face. "A human," she intoned with neither contempt nor excitement but rather disappointment. "She is merely a human and hence there is nothing she can do for us, my Queen," ready to dismiss the woman as nothing more than an intruder who had wandered into their camp.
Thin near translucent lips turned up into a soft grin. "I would not have suspected the General of the Houribe clan to be so narrowed minded and thick headed. Do you really think that a human could have entered this camp and made their way here undetected, General?" Rei's cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment as her hand flexed on the hilt of her sword even as she realized the error of her rash assessment.
"You will pardon us if we seem overly skeptical of your offer," Miki said as she slowly climbed to her feet and turned to face the woman with silver hair. "If there is one thing life has taught me over the years is that there is nothing in this world which is free."
The woman held her grin as she nodded slowly. "As with all things in life there is payment to be made. If something is given for free then it is of little or no value for it was not earned," she explained softly. "Perhaps we can sit and discuss this matter like rational adults?" she asked as her gaze flickered from Rei to Yoshino before returning to the queen once again. "You are more than welcome to keep your weapon's drawn on me if it will make you feel more comfortable?" she offered slightly amused by the thought.
Miki gestured and Rei and Yoshino slid their swords back into their sheaths reluctantly. Both understood that from the display of but a moment before it was doubtful that their blades would even touch the woman at all and so they really weren't required. "I'm afraid I have little to offer you in way of hospitality," Miki said even as thunder seemed to explode directly overhead, nearly drowning out her words. "With the weather and all our supply wagons have not reached us yet."
"Yes, about that," the mysterious woman replied with. "My apologies however the storm was necessary to ensure you did not move from this location." All three woman looked are her in shock. "Your supply train will not be joining you as it was attacked several days back. Had you moved to join it you would have fallen into the trap they had laid for you," she quickly explained. "Even now they lay in ambush, merely awaiting the storms ending to spring their trap."
Miki was the first to speak. "You say that this storm is of your doing and that it keeps our enemies at bay?" The woman only nodded slightly, an apologetic expression upon her face for the harshness of the storm. "If you have the ability to control the weather then can you not cause it to cease? We have injured people who require attention which is extremely hard to provide in these near gale force winds. Additionally if the enemy would attack us I would prefer the injured be moved as far from harm as possible."
"I am truly sorry for the weather as I said, it was required necessity or far more would have perished in the resulting ambush. While I do not have the ability to dispel the storm I know someone who does." The woman paused and looked down. "It's alright, you can come out. They won't harm you," she said in a kind and gentle voice as if she was speaking to the ground near her feet.
The three members of the Houribe clan watched as a small hand slipped from behind the woman at about knee height and grabbed tightly onto the fold of the white robe the visitor was wearing. Hesitantly a mop of sandy blonde hair appeared followed slowly by a pair of large frightened grey eyes that regarded the room at large. "O…Onee-sama?" questioned a small child like voice.
"It's alright," the woman said as she reached down and laid her hand affectionately upon the top of the small girl's head, rubbing it affectionately. "These are our new friends. It's only polite to introduce yourself to them," she instructed the child behind her.
A small female child, no more than three to four years of age slid partially out from behind the woman, though not entirely into view. It was apparent to those gathered that the child was ready to bolt back behind the robed woman at any second. Small hands clasped together before the child's chest as she bowed at the waist. "Pweased to see you," the girl said shyly as her large eyes sparkled in the dim lighting.
"Tell them your name and what do we say?" prompted the older woman who the child had called Onee-sama but moments before.
"Sowwie for intruping. Pwease take care of us. I am called Satō Sei," once again the tiny girl bowed before quickly inching her way closer to her Onee-sama again. Rei thought the small child looked like a deer caught out in the open.
"You'll have to excuse Sei-chan," the woman offered as she gazed down affectionately at the child she spoke of. "She's not used to being around anyone but myself. It has been many years since last we were with others. The poor child was treated rather harshly by others before she found me so she isn't very trusting of strangers."
"We are very pleased to meet you, Sei-chan," Miki replied with a warm smile towards the adorable little girl as she squatted down so that she was on the same eye level as the child rather than towering over her. "This is Rei-san," the Queen said with a gesture towards the named woman. "That scowling woman over there is Yoshino-san," Miki continued with the introductions. Sei, upon seeing the scowl upon the petite girl's face, quickly grasped a handful of the woman's robes and leaned in close laying her head against the woman's leg beneath the robe she clutched. "You may call me Miki Oba-san." The Queen stood after a long moment and then turned and looked towards Yoshino. "Please see if you can find some warm tea and perhaps something sweet to snack on for Sei-chan." Yoshino nodded slightly and did as instructed, walking out of the curtained off area to the other side to fulfill her Queen's request. Miki turned back around and regarded the woman in the white robe. How may we address you?" she asked.
"I have been known by many names over time," she started with, a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "I think for now it would be best to refer to me as Maria."
Miki nodded slightly in acknowledgment. "Perhaps we should move to the other room where the lighting is better and there are better seating arrangements?" The Queen offered with a wave of her hand towards the slit in the current.
Maria made to turn to make her way to the other area only to feel two tiny hands frantically grasp her leg. Smiling lovingly at the child affixed to her leg she tried to be reassuring. "It's alright, I'm right here with you and they are our friends now."
"O…Onee-sama will stay with me?" the child asked in a quivering voice.
The woman in the white robes nodded. "What have I always told you, Sei-chan?"
The small child known as Sei smiled warmly with adoring eyes at the elder woman before answering, "Maria-sama is always watching over me."
Author's Note:
I hope that from here on in I'll start answering the numerous questions everyone has had. By that I mean starting with the next chapter of course. ;-)
Work has been insanely busy and will likely remain so till April-May of next year. I will make every effort to return to weekly updates for this tale however please try to be understanding should that schedule slips now and then.
Kind Regards,
EJ Daniels
All characters within this story, unless otherwise stated are the sole property of Oyuki Konno the original writer of the Maria-sama ga Miteru light novel series.