Chapter 12:
Prisoner
Brynn awoke slowly, ascending through a long, dark tunnel of haziness and pain. Her whole body ached, but especially her right shoulder and thigh and her ribs. She lay on a bed of blankets in a room that smelled of herbs and incense. The light was bad, that or her vision had yet to clear fully, but so far she could tell there wasn't much to see, just the bare shoji panels that made up the walls and the woven mats that covered the floor. Through one of the wall panels she could see some people moving. One was carrying a lantern, and it cast as soft glow against the wall.
The panel slid open and two women entered the room. Both were young, but their hair was white as newly fallen snow. One woman hung the lantern that she carried on a hook in the center of the room while the other woman knelt down next to Brynn's bed.
"Ah, you are awake," said the woman. "Wonderful."
"Yeah, I'm awake," Brynn muttered.
"You speak our language too!" exclaimed the woman. "Few foreigners know it."
Brynn tried to sit up, but the woman pressed her back into the bed with strong but gentle hands. "Who are you, anyway? And why aren't I dead?" Brynn demanded.
"So eager to die?" asked the second woman. "Shouldn't you be telling us who you are first?"
Brynn scowled. "My name is Brynn Trueblade."
Both of the women frowned and struggled to speak the foreign syllables.
After having heard enough of them massacring her name Brynn said, "But it'd be easer if you just called me Brynn. So who are you, and why aren't I dead?"
The first woman said, "I am Hanabishi Asako."
The second woman said, "I am Hanabishi Yoruko."
Morning child and night child, Brynn thought to herself. She looked closer at the two women, and for the first time saw that they were identical to the last detail. Twins, then, identical twins. "I'd say I was pleased to meet you," Brynn said, "but I'm not."
"Excuse me?" asked Yoruko sharply.
"What did you think I was going to say?" Brynn returned. "Did you think I was going to tell you I was happy to be here, a prisoner and hurting like the blazes, just because it allowed me to meet you two?"
"No, of course not," said Asako. "Still, there are some standards of politeness that should be met. I am pleased to meet you."
"Oh, are you?" Brynn muttered under her breath in Common.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Brynn replied. "I'm sorry if I was rude, it's just… well, as I said before, I hurt and I'm a prisoner. Quite frankly I've never much enjoyed being either, let alone both at the same time." Not to mention the fact that the last time she was this helpless it was in Spellhold before Irenicus took her soul from her and plunged her into the darkest time of her life.
"Understandable," said Asako. Yoruko just nodded, her dark eyes narrowed appraisingly beneath her white brows. "Now, I will help you up and see how you are healing. If you are well enough the Emperor will see you today."
"I'm honored," Brynn said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
"Yoru-chan, bring that lantern closer, would you?" Asako asked her sister. Yoruko obeyed while Asako helped Brynn sit up and pulled the blankets away from her.
Brynn noticed now that she was dressed in a thin silk sleeping kimono. It was worn, and not of the highest quality, which was probably a good thing, because blood had leaked through the bandages that bound her wounds and had stained the silk in some places.
Asako made small noises of annoyance as she peeled the bandages away. "You must have moved in your sleep and reopened the wounds. I will give you something so that you rest better tonight. You will never heal if you keep tearing your wounds open."
"Yeah, 'cause wouldn't it be a shame for me to be anything but in perfect health when you execute me," Brynn said in Common.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," Brynn replied, "just a saying back in my land that pertained to this sort of thing. It doesn't translate well."
"Ah, is that so?"
Asako began to unwrap the last layer of bandages around Brynn's ribs and shoulder. Brynn's skin stuck to the bandage where she had begun to heal, and the slow, careful tugs Asako used to remove the bandage sent sharp tingles of pain through Brynn's flesh. She winced a little, but bore it well.
"This will scar of course, unless we take you to someone who is a more powerful healer than I," said Asako. "But you have many scars, Brynn-san," she said. "None that are so visible, but there are many of them nonetheless."
"Yeah, well fighting does that."
"None on your face though, that is a blessing, isn't it?"
Brynn nodded, a little uncomfortable with making small talk with her captors. "Yeah, I guess so," she said.
Yoruko said, "I heard the guards say you were a Kensai, is that true?"
"Uh… yeah," Brynn answered. She was definitely beginning to think she was being interrogated now.
"Ah, is that so? If I may ask, how did you become a Kensai if you are a foreigner?"
"My master came from Wa many years ago," Brynn said. "He taught me when I was young."
Asako stood up and went outside the room briefly. She returned with a jar of very pungent salve and knelt down next to Brynn again to begin applying the salve to Brynn's wounds. Whatever it was, it burned like fire on her raw flesh and it was all she could do not to squirm.
Yoruko took advantage of Brynn's discomfort to press her questions further. "What was your master's name, if I may ask."
"Kurai Touga," Brynn said, seeing no harm in letting the two women know that small piece of information.
"Is that so?" Asako asked suddenly. She paused in her duties to regard Brynn with wide eyes and arched white brows. "The infamous Kurai Touga was your master?"
"I knew he'd been exiled," Brynn said, "I didn't know he was infamous."
"Oh, the whole court was talking about it for months. Or so I hear. We were only children then," Asako said, indicating herself and her twin. "Oh, the Emperor will be most eager to speak with you when he hears this news."
On second thought, Brynn said to herself, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let them know who trained me.
"Did Kurai-san come with you?" Yoruko pressed.
Brynn began testily, "I really would rather not…" Asako chose that moment to slather another dollop of salve onto Brynn's ribs, and there was no time to prepare for the stinging pain of it. Brynn let out a sharp shout. She had no doubt that Asako had done what she had done when she had done it in retribution for her lack of forthcoming. She felt anger well up in her, but put it neatly away. There was no point in calling the other woman out; she would deny it, and nothing Brynn could say would make her change her mind, but there was a point in using her wits to keep from giving the two women any critical information.
"Did Kurai-san come with you?" Yoruko asked again in a sweet voice.
"Well of course he did," Brynn told her. "Though he's probably long gone by now along with all the rest of my companions."
"The loyalty of foreigners and ronin is fleeting, yes?"
Brynn chose to ignore that. "I suppose so," she said casually.
Asako took clean bandages and began to wrap Brynn's chest and shoulder again. Then she started on her thigh, and again the sharp tugs of the bandages coming off sent jolts of pain right up to Brynn's eyes.
"So, why did you come here anyway? Surely you must know that you are not welcome here," Yoruko said.
"My master wished me to," Brynn replied. "So I came."
"What did your master want here?"
"I don't know." Brynn sat with a straight face as Asako gave a particularly hard tug.
"Oh, I'm sorry? Did that hurt much?" she asked.
"No, not at all," Brynn said evenly. You'll have to try harder than that to get me to talk, she thought. I won't betray my friends over as little pain as that, and if you think I will, you're dead wrong.
"So, you don't know what your master wanted on this island?" Yoruko asked again.
"No, just that he wanted to come here," Brynn said. Another sharp tug and the bandage came free.
"He told you nothing?"
"Did he have to? He's my master, and so I did as he wished."
This time Asako was not so gentle in applying the salve as she had been before. The pressure was mounting for Brynn to start answering or else face the consequences. Brynn smiled inwardly, welcoming the pain. Let it come. A little sting was nothing compared to what she had endured before.
"Really? I suppose foreigners can be loyal sometimes then."
"I suppose so."
Yoruko smiled with false warmth. "How honorable of you. Asa-chan, are you almost done?"
"Yes," Asako replied. She wrapped Brynn's leg up again. "You will be well enough to see the Emperor this afternoon," she said to Brynn. "He will be very pleased." She stood and gave a slight bow. "I will see you again, Brynn-san."
"As will I," Yoruko added. It sounded more like a threat than a promise.
"Looking forward to it," Brynn told them with a grin. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!
Both women smiled tightly and exited, taking the lantern with them and leaving Brynn alone in the empty room once more. She gingerly laid back down on the futon and one-handed pulled the blankets up to her chin. She groaned quietly, her wounds burning from the salve. She closed her eyes then and began to plan. She wasn't a diplomat by a long shot, but neither was she ignorant of the games diplomats played. Those games, she knew, were exactly the sort of games Asako and Yoruko had been playing with her. Games of power, trust and authority. Well, she could play too, and damned if she wasn't going to win.
***
Back at the hidden cove the Blades had gathered on the beach to hear what Yoshimo, Anomen and Haer'Dalis had to tell them. A great surge of energy filled them all when they heard that Brynn had been captured, and the general feeling was that storming the prison to rescue her would be the most appropriate thing to do. Then they calmed down and realized the futility of such a move. It was clear that a frontal assault was hopeless, but still, there had to be a way.
So they huddled together and plotted and came up with a plan.
Then they waited for night to fall.
***
"You crept away like a coward."
Yoshimo jerked his head up, yanked rudely out of his private hell by Touga's sneering voice.
"You heard me, thief, you slunk away like a rat while Brynn was taken prisoner," Touga said, his dark eyes narrowed until they seemed no more than two obsidian chips. "You are lower than I ever expected. Does loyalty hold no meaning for you?"
"Don't taunt me, old man," Yoshimo said in a soft, dangerous tone. "Don't you dare taunt me."
Touga's lips twisted into a mocking, hateful grin. "And now," he said coldly, "now you sit here and do nothing. They probably torture her as we speak…"
Yoshimo moved so quickly Touga didn't even see him. The old Kensai only felt the icy cold razor edge of Yoshimo's katana pressed up against his windpipe. "I warn you again, old man. Don't taunt me. I would tear your head from your body with my bare hands now, but I may need you yet, and the questions would be hard to answer."
"Prove a coward again then," Touga pressed, baring his neck to the blade. "Kill me now and we shall never know the truth. Kill me now and you will never know who would have really won in a fair fight. But then, you never fought fairly did you?"
Yoshimo withdrew a step and lowered his sword. "We will settle this, old man. When Brynn is safe again, we will settle this. But not before. You may be willing to risk her life over your stupid pride, but not I. Mark me, Kurai Touga, I will best you again, and not even Brynn will stop me from giving you what you have earned."
"I welcome your attempts, fool, but know you will not succeed." Touga gave him a superior smile and walked away down the beach.
Slowly, Yoshimo unclenched his fists. It would take no more than a moment to draw his bow, knock an arrow and let fly. No doubt Touga wouldn't be expecting it, no doubt the arrow would strike true, and then the old man would be out of his hair forever. He kept his hands at his sides. He could strike the old Kensai down, but what would be the point? As much as Touga did, Yoshimo wanted to prove he was the better man, if in nothing else but sword fighting. There was a time and a place for everything, and it was not the time for Touga to die.
Soon though, very soon.