Disclaimer: JCA! Not mine! You no sue please!
Queen Of Shadows
A Jackie Chan Adventures fanfiction
Written by Eduard Kassel
Created by Nocturne no Kitsune
Beta'ed by Zim'sMostLoyalServant
Adopted from Nocturne to finish what he began.
Summary: Last chapter, Jade maintained her role in impersonating the Queen as she sought to uncover the secrets of the Shadowkhan fortress. Continuing to fool even the personal bodyguard of the missing queen, Jade began to discover more about the life and seeming role she has stepped into. But will this knowledge bring her the answers to how she can escape this time and place?
And unbeknownst to her, powerful humans from various classes and styles are converging on the castle-town of Tobe.
Warnings: Blood, light-to-mild violence, and possible light gore and cursing. If you're not one to like mental and moral issues, then this might not be for you.
Rated: T
Chapter Four: The Role of Royalty
The room was large and square, with blue paper wall panels held in dark wood frames. Much of it was taken up by a perfectly round basin sunk into the floor, filled almost to its grey stone lip with a steaming green-grey liquid.
A lump rose from its center, forming into the shape of a girl's head. Glowing eyes opened, obstructed by hair pasted to Jade's face. Pulling the wet hair out of her face, Jade slowly kicked her way from the too-deep-to-stand center to the shallow edges.
Reaching far enough to walk, she let herself drift on her feet, looking at the screen that had been erected to surround the entire bath. They called it a bath, but it was almost a small swimming pool at her size.
Lifting a green-coated hand, she rubbed her cheek. The green liquid was wonderfully warm, and had a strange, grainy, feel to it. It was as if just moving through it was slowly scrubbing her body.
She had been surprised when the ninja who brought her breakfast afterward had asked if she was ready to take her bath. Evil Queens did not take baths in her books. And she had better things to do. But it was another case of not quite daring to test the royal weight in actual decisions.
To her surprise, the bathhouse was actually in the main fortress, taking up most of a courtyard that seemed very small, with only a short walk over cobblestones from a stately corridor to the door to this one room.
He had then asked what scenery she would prefer. On a whim, she had asked for mountain forest, only for him to nod and clap. Two Sumo Khan had come from somewhere, carrying folded screens as tall as themselves. Before she realized it, they had surrounded most of the steaming bath with the screens. Bowing, they had withdrawn through the door, only for it to reopen and admit a sumo with a blue sash across his massive chest and a half mask revealing a shaved head.
That one had carried in and deposited what Jade recognized as one of her royal outfits. He placed them inside the screen and waited.
She must have waited a beat too long.
"Is there anything else General Ozeki's tribe can provide for your cleansing pleasure?" the sumo officer (?) had asked.
"No, this will do quite well," she told them. She had stepped within the circle of screens, only for it to be closed behind her.
And was surrounded by a painting of forested mountains. It was so real, yet unmistakably a painter's creation at the same time. Stylized clouds drifted before her eyes, birds took flight alone or in flocks. Even trees moved with the wind.
Stunned, she took in the wondrous sight for a bit before remembering she likely had a routine to hold to. Wrinkling her nose at the strange substance she was supposed to bathe in, she began to undress. She resisted the urge to scrunch her clothes and let her too clever hands fold them neatly.
Taking a deep breath, she had stuck her left foot into the bath. And the rest had followed naturally into the wonderful sensation.
It was only later she would appreciate and be a bit disturbed by how her mind drifted so lazily. No dwelling on anything or harsh thoughts. Just swimming and drifting around, appreciating the scenery and scrubbing herself with the potion every once and a bit.
Naturally, it couldn't last.
"Joo Heike, how's the green slime?" a man's voice broke her reverie. Jade jerked in surprise, trying to spin up, but in her position of drifting on her tiptoes it sent her head under the water as her legs failed to find purchase.
The dunk was a bit sobering; rather than popping right back up, she listened in the murky green. It sounded like he was… laughing?
Really?
Finding the floor with her feet, Jade stood up enough for her eyes and nose to break the surface. She saw the intruder kneeling at the pool's edge, one fist planted on the floor.
He looked quite thin. His arms were long and not muscled like the other Shadowkhan, seeming almost scrawny. His face was almost perfectly triangular, coming to a purple-blue point. He was grinning wide, drawing attention to a thick mustache and a pair of prominent canines. His hair being pulled into a ponytail, revealing a sharp widower's peak, enhanced his appearance of being made of points. His attire looked to just be black and ninja style, save for steel gleaming at his waist that she could not quite make out.
"Your faithful General of the Reza, Kamisori the Swift, has returned!" he exclaimed. Jade glared at him; weren't they supposed to knock? And what about the screens that had been set up? She noticed a gap in the mountains and cloudy skies, revealing the blue paneled wall.
Standing up, hands balled into fists under the potion, she glared at him.
"Why didn't you knock?" she demanded.
"Why start now? And I must say, Joo Heike, you are developing quite well," the Reza General shrugged. Jade frowned in confusion at his last statement, and then realized, from the navel up, she was naked save for the potion residue running off her.
"Eiii!" she squeaked, ducking under the potion with a splash.
"What's this, tag-hahahaa!" he cried out as his head was jerked back.
Wide-eyed in surprise, he looked up into Hiruzen's growling face. The Yojimbo had grabbed the base of his ponytail, and was nearly pulling him onto his back with it.
"Ah, Hiruzen-dono, wonderful to see you again," Kamisori grinned.
888
Two Sumo Khan pulled the shoji doors leading into the bathhouse open. A second later, General Kamisori was flying out of it. The General hit the cobbles and rolled until he hit the courtyard wall with a thud.
The two sumo slid the door closed again as he picked himself up. Dusting himself off, he flashed a grin to the two stoic sumos, who crossed their arms and took one side step toward each other to block off the door.
"Well, that was different! But worth it. Maybe one of these days he will actually kill me. Oh well, time for paperwork! Don't want to waste time that should be spent enjoying a full Circle with ink-stained fingers, do I?" he asked the sumos. They did not look at him or respond.
"Ha, right, best get on that, don't go and sprout roots, you boulders," he called over his shoulder as he blurred out of sight.
888
"My Queen?" Hiruzen voice came from above the bath. Jade, even submerged, could hear him quite clearly; she was hoping to not have company after hearing someone throw the General out. Oh well, wouldn't do for him to "save" her from drowning.
Moving toward the lip, she rose to a kneeling position that put her head and neck out of the surface. To her irritation, soggy hair covered her left eye, so she had to pull it away. Hiruzen was kowtowing, looking at the floor. He was inside the ring of screens, which had been closed again, but he at least was not looking at her.
Sighing, Jade stood.
"That was rude of him," Jade told him.
"Do you want his head?" Hiruzen asked.
"No!" Jade shouted. Hiruzen sighed, and Jade was a bit surprised at her venom there. She should be pleased at getting back at the intruder, but the thought of him getting punished severely made her stomach queasy.
She was feeling a bit queasy in general, she decided, and she thought the bath was starting to cool, too. Hiruzen apparently picked up on this.
"Do you wish to dry and return?" he asked her.
"Yes, I am quite clean and refreshed," she told him in her queenly voice.
Stepping out of the pool using the steps ringing the edge, she lifted her arms as Hiruzen, with a towel, began to dry off the potion.
When the green stained blue girl stiffened, he stopped.
"My Queen, is there something wrong?" he asked. Jade shook her head and tried to loosen up as the male Shadowkhan toweled off her body.
'No, the Queen's perfect, wimpy body, not mine. Still, what kind of girl goes to lengths for privacy only to let some guy towel her off like this?'
Thankfully, he stepped outside the screen when she was dry and let her change into a purple kimono with matching geta. Rather than the usual hairpins, she let her hand use a silk cloth to bundle up her still moist hair on top of her head.
Pushing the screen aside, she nodded to the sashed sumo from before and followed Hiruzen.
888
Hair dry and done up with pins again, Jade sat on one of the stone benches of what she assumed was the royal garden. She was literally on top of it, the blue geta with red straps sitting on the cobbles while she had swung her sock covered feet to rest on the stone with her legs folded up.
She looked up into the branches of the plum tree she was under. Plums were ripening in the branches, but she had a feeling they were still a ways off. She had tried early in her captivity to recall the seasons for the fruit trees here. But then realized they may be enchanted to always be growing fruit or something.
Sighing, she looked out across the gardens and the base of the tower. She had completed her exploration, and it had yielded nothing useful. The garden she was wary of, more than the tower. It was too easy to lose track of herself and get calm out here.
Like in the bath earlier, she needed to stay focused. One slip up and… she was not quite sure what, but it would not be good for a long and happy life.
Lifting her head from her brooding thoughts, she swung herself around on her bottom and lowered her feet back into the admittedly comfortable sandals.
'They would be more comfortable without the socks,' she insisted in her head. One of those fancier ninjas came into sight, walking as directly as the paths through the garden and rock gardens allowed. She made a point not to look at him – being interested in studying the tower instead of paying him the dignity of attention seemed very evil overlord-y.
When he kowtowed, she deigned to look at him.
"What business do you bring before me?" she asked, affecting boredom.
"The returned General Kamisori of the Reza tribe requests a formal audience to report to you," the shinobi (minister?) reported. Jade frowned; now the jerk bothered to do it like he was apparently supposed to? Wasn't this Queen supposed to be some revered goddess-queen or something?
"Tell him I will receive him after I have taken audience with the next General to return," she told him, not keeping her irritation from her voice. From her position, she could not see the surprise on the blue man's face, or the smile that replaced it.
"As Your Divine Majesty commands, so will it be," he told her. If he left any quicker than normal, Jade did not notice, looking at the tower with genuine interest. If she could not escape out here, she would have to really get into research with what she had at hand.
And, she decided, recalling the helpless feeling of being intruded on, it was time to stop mourning her lost prowess, and train.
888
The phrase "easier said than done" seemed to apply to Jade's circumstances far too well. She had set two goals for herself – to begin training her body, and researching to find anything useful in the library. Progress on both was poor to be complimentary.
Still unwilling to dare the big scary looking book, she had carried on just going through the assortment at random. Her hopes that some cool or at least useful knowledge would be at hand were dashed with the easiest to reach shelves, dominated by maps and scrolls and books dedicated to cartography. Oh, and a bunch of poetry books she practically discarded.
Oh, it wasn't that there was no information on the Shadowkhan, but she did not care to learn about the Great Mountain War, the Days and Era of Daigoro the Bold, or the architecture and physical philosophy of a stronghold. Or an apparently dead Queen's memoirs of going to China!
She needed something on the current problem. The problem with that being, she guessed the Queen was regularly updated on the war, so she would not have details lying around. Apparently, she wanted to read poetry and draw maps!
She didn't even want to think of the pathetic excuse for training.
She had cleared some room by moving a table in the hobby room, and had assumed some basic stances and strength building exercises would do the trick to get started.
"Started" was all it had amounted to. The stances were awkward, the Queen seeming to have never quite assumed such positions. But that had not been unexpected; Jade remembered being a beginner.
But once the exercises started to work up something like a sweat… it was like her energy was a tub and someone pulled the plug out of the drain. It was all she could do to not collapse in a heap. Then came the cramps.
Oh, by Jackie Chan's khaki pants, the cramps!
And so here she was, receiving another General, having made no progress in her great escape in the making.
She sat enthroned again. The same imposing table under the giant pedestal, and with Hiruzen standing at the foot and to the side of the stairs leading up to the important chair.
But this time, only one figure was waiting across from the table, two guards – escorts – at his back.
Bugs, specifically mantises – that was what these Shadowkhan reminded her of.
The General looked more human, in a way. It was like a mantis centaur; his upper body seemed human, wrapped in purple and black robes, with dark red beads draped across his chest and wrapped around his wrists, but below the waist it was a blue black bug.
Making matters worse, or better, his head was hidden under a basket-like mask.
"Sanshobo, General of the Kamikiri Tribe, Grand Keeper of the Shrines and First Master of the Rolls of Ritual; you are welcome once more into the presence of royalty."
The four insect legs bent and he bowed deeply, putting his basket out of sight beneath the table.
"Oh, divine 97th descendant of the progenitor Kagehime, this unworthy one is honored beyond his ability to say to once more be allowed into your presence," he said. His voice had a clicking quality to it. Was that the right way to put it? Anyway, it made her think the basket was a good idea.
"Please rise at least a little. We would not be seen as if we were taking to a table, however fine it might be."
"This unworthy one wishes to know, shall we begin the lessons soon? The time for ritual draws near, despite the others' tardiness," the Kamikiri General asked. Hiruzen answered for her.
"Yes, and do not so lightly berate your peers, shrine keeper. They serve the Empire in the war always; they will arrive on time and when their duties allow."
"Of course, most honored Yojimbo of Shinobi. My tribe is ever at the Royalty's service, I would remind you."
"General, your report, if you please," Jade frowned, interrupting what looked like an old argument. Granted, it was impressive that this Sanshobo was willing to practically challenge Hiruzen; the others all seemed to defer to him.
The bug man called her a bunch of flowery names, not all of which struck her as aging well from whenever they were given. What was with the peach theme?
Thankfully, his report was fairly light on atrocity. He skimmed past the seeming support role his men had on the front to tracking down human magic users not aligned with the Empire and spying on those who were. Oh, and the status of a bunch of shrines and the scrolls and artifacts there. Hmm, more scrolls and potential magic weapons might help her cause.
"Is there anything you believe would be useful to me and the Empire?" she inquired, trying to not sound too interested.
"Divine 98th, the magics in our keeping are too vulgar and masculine to be allowed to linger in your divine presence. Your priests and monks stand ready to harness what may be useful, and seal what is neither or superfluous."
Was that genuine, or butt kissing? No, she had a fanatic on her hands, it seemed. Well, it was bound to happen, Jade guessed.
Still, those lessons should at least shine some light.
"I want to begin the lessons as soon as you are ready. In the meantime, which book out of all in my possession would you recommend I study to prepare?" she asked. She made it sound like she was testing him. Big Bads do that kind of thing.
"The History of Eternal Shadow, the most sacred text of all," he answered swiftly.
She just knew he was talking about that big scary book. Drat.
888
General Ozeki was doing one of his favorite things – sitting in his grand office, doing his paperwork, while drinking a fine sake, warmed to just the right temperature. It wasn't the paperwork itself he enjoyed; it was the feeling of creating order out of chaos. Understanding, unlike his more hands-on colleagues, how processing this information and sending appropriate orders or redirecting it to the proper posts caused order to replace chaos with greater efficiency.
Even among his own tribe, it was preferred to do the jobs rather than oversee; he had been chosen, due to his talent and willingness to step back and see the big picture, to become the new Ozeki. And he felt it was no exaggeration that no other Shadowkhan was better suited to converting their conquests from territories with varying levels of desolation into a productive empire.
He frowned, considering the latest reports from the slave masters in the east. Tsume was causing trouble, as usual. That glutton and his tribe were eating more slaves than their quota allowed. The Queen was too intimidated by the savage to rein him in, and it was the policy of the Empire that the tribes no longer fight among themselves save for duels. And Tsume's men would defeat his in fair combat, and perhaps even eat them!
"What is it this time? An invasion, pirates?" Kamisori asked from the mat he lounged on. It was opposite Ozeki's low-lying desk, squeezed between two rows of the scroll shelves that held Ozeki's records. He also noted the Reza had taken the bottle of sake.
"Nothing so exciting; merely an outbreak of pests cutting into supplies. I will need to request Kuro to increase his efforts. It is so infuriating when the mindless disrupt the plans of the thinking," Ozeki lied somewhat.
"Infuriating? I don't think you would be furious if I set you on fire. And do you really never get anything exciting, or do you just invent boring problems to get on my nerves?" Kamisori demanded.
"Would I do something so inefficient as lying?" Ozeki asked.
"Yes, if it was more efficient than honesty.
"By the way, what is with the 98th? She is acting strange, don't you think?" Kamisori asked.
"Hmph, stress no doubt. It is the Ritual, after all, and her mother wasn't able to prepare her for it. Not since the time of Daigoro has a Queen died so far before her time as the 97th did," Ozeki admitted.
"Still, she let Hiruzen throw me out!"
"I understand that in most species, females take exception to male intruders in their baths."
"Well, true, but normally she gets surprised; then calls the old man off. Then I tell her about where I have been and what I have been doing. And when I get dismissed he goes in to grumble while I leave."
"I told you not to become accustomed to liberties; perhaps she is outgrowing your foolishness. Tread with care – many dislike your familiar nature with our goddess," Ozeki warned.
"Well, I dislike keeping our most sacred member locked up like some exotic bird in the Mikado's court. Hiruzen I trust with that power, but…"
"The paranoia is well founded – these are not the old days, the sooner you embrace the new order like the rest of us, the better."
Kamisori looked around them at the paperwork and took a swig from the bottle. His drink done, he put it back on the desk next to the saucer.
"It's not that I don't believe in the 96th's ambition, I just wonder if you all appreciate the cost of it. Thanks for the sake, excellent vintage, as always," the Reza said. Blurring out of slight, the wind he kicked up stirred the papers on the desk. Ozeki smacked them down with one hand while picking up a brush with the other.
He doubted Kamisori believed in his own fears. The Queen was absolute; no male would ever try to undermine her authority. That would be a sickeningly human act.
888
Jade did not like taking her lesson in the library. One, it kept her from an excuse to see more of the fortress. Two, having a crazy guy whose lesson plan was hindered by a need to go on at length about how awesome she was just might put her off the one productive place she could go.
At least it looked like she was finally getting some answers to the much talked about ritual.
So she hadn't worked up the nerve to open the big scary book? Last time she was near something like it, she ended up here. What might happen this time – back into a monkey on a world ruled by monkeys?
Taking her thoughts from simian warlords, she watched as Sanshobo rolled out a scroll on a cleared table for her to see. It showed a circular pattern dominating the piece, with eight characters surrounding one she recognized; it was the only one written in red. "Queen", and she could assume from the ones she recognized that the characters stood for each of the gathering Generals.
"As with your mother, the Ritual will take place in the Court of Beginnings. Under the light of the sacred half moon, when merciful Tsukiyomi balances light and dark, the time agreed upon between him and Kagehime during the Ordeal of the First Hiruzen.
"All subsequent rituals should take place there. But as you know, not all Generals will be required after your first time. Indeed, such an assembly may not happen again in your reign," Sanshobo told her.
"Subsequent rituals?" Jade asked, hoping her affected irritation covered her surprise at this return. The monkish Khan bowed his head again.
"But of course. Naturally, you will excel and produce many new Shadowkhan when the Generals put their chi into you. But the race must be renewed as more men fall and as we hope to increase our race's power and might through numbers."
"Chi, into me?" Jade choked.
"Yes, the elegant art of a higher race's reproduction, as each tribe's essence returns to the pure shadow chi that exists only in a mature female of our race. And from the corrupt base male chi and the pure divine female shall come dozens of new – Joō Heika!" Jade heard him yell as she fell back, the world going dark.
Not bad day. Worst day.
888
The first thing Jade noticed as she revived was the bad smell. She could feel her face wrinkling at the heavy scented smoke that seemed to be hanging around her. The buzzing, chanting noise stirred her; eyes opened up to an unfamiliar ceiling of beams and vaults. Sitting bolt upright, she saw she was in a large rectangular chamber, surrounded by chanting Mantis Khan, working cords of beads over their arms.
'What the-?' she thought, wide-eyed in shock at the scene.
"The foul spirits have been banished, she is awakened. Praise to the Queens before, Kagehime, and the Prime Patron Kami!" Sanshobo called. The Shadowkhan bowed their heads and picked their chants up to another degree, and it sounded like someone was ringing a chime nearby. Jade tried to scoot back, but her hands found empty air. Clutching the edge, she realized they had put her on a pedestal.
A literal wooden pedestal! This somehow seemed familiar, in an irritating sort of way. Regardless, she stood up carefully, looking around at the strange Shadowkhan muttering chants and clinking beads.
A section of the wall slid aside, revealing itself to be one of those doors that just look like more wall. Hiruzen stepped through and the chanting stopped.
"You are well then, my Queen?" the Yojimbo asked.
"Yes, an unusual fluke. I wish to retire to the tower for the day," she told him. Hopefully he took the hint that such a move would not include these freaks. Who responds to a fainting spell like this?
'Shit, what am I doing fainting, just because of… crap.'
"One more thing, I have a task for the Kamikiri tribe if they are up to it," she announced as the bugs made way for the advancing shinobi.
"Oh, Your Divine Grace, that you would deign us worthy-" Jade cut him off before he could get started.
"I believe it is time the royal library was reorganized. I desire an efficient structure of distribution, by category of knowledge contained ideally. And you shall do this while I am not in the library so as to not disrupt my routines, is that within your capabilities?" Jade asked. The basket masked mantis seemed to swoon as he turned it into praise.
"Great Queen, 97th Descendant, you honor these unworthy ones far…" Sanshobo praised her. He was still going strong when Hiruzen carried her out in one arm and closed the door behind them.
"Your Majesty, excuse the familiarity, but I believed you may wish to not exert yourself," the Yojimbo told her, four more of his shinobi falling into step around them, more mantises were watching out of alcoves in the hall they were walking down.
'Did they take me to their wing of the fortress or something? Creepy! Note to self, watch out for basket head,' Jade frowned.
"It's quite alright, my yojimbo. Have the Book of Eternal Shadows brought to my personal chamber. And dinner," she ordered him.
888
Jade sat before the table in her… the Queen's room. The Book of Shadows, or something like that, resting on it. It looked out of place; she wished she had not asked it be brought here. If it was still down there she could at least leave it behind – if she wanted it gone now, she would have to ask someone to take it. She thought she could have hauled it off before all this, with some difficulty.
The Queen's body was not up to it, she knew that much.
She touched the latch, wondering if she was supposed to know where the key was. A jolt of static shock made her pull her hand back. The latch fell away, and before her eyes, the book opened itself.
She read the title page:
"The History of Eternal Shadow, Created by the Seventh Queen, with the Aid of Hiruzen the First, to record the Race in its ages for the benefit of all royals thereafter.
"Here in are listed the Queens that came before and all those to come after, and the Yojimbos that watch over them and the Race.
"Herein are listed the Generals of the Tribes that are, were, and will yet be in their turns. Herein are the list of worthy names and stories of Shadowkhan.
"Herein the Rituals and Sagas will be recorded by the Queens yet to come.
"Guard it well, daughter of life and death, keeper of the shadows of the living and one day the dead.
"-The Seventh Queen of the Shadowkhan, with confidence and love for those to follow her."
Jade finished the reading and looked up.
"Wow, was that flowery, or can this thing tell the future?" Jade wondered. She didn't want to think about that last line from the long dead Queen. They called her the 98th Queen, so… wow.
Turning the page she was greeted by the visage of an imposing shinobi with white hair and amber eyes. It read Hiruzen, Shodaime Yojimbo, The First. He looked a good bit like the present Yojimbo, but he wasn't. He was holding out a peach with one hand while a dagger was held in the other at his waist.
Several pages later she found another picture. This shinobi had dark hair and looked a bit constipated to Jade's eye – certainly not as impressive as the current or first. Even if he was planting his foot on top of a pile of very inhuman skulls, daggers in both hands.
"Nishi, Nidaime Yojimbo, The Oni's Bane," Jade read. It did not take as many pages to reach the next picture.
This was no ninja; it was a Reza this time. His arms were crossed, hands filled with lethal looking steel claw blades, and he seemed to lean against the frame of his picture, surf around his geta-wearing feet and a cleaved mountain looming in the background. There was some additional text under the picture.
It was different from the rest of the flowing characters, it seemed to have been added by a scholar of far less skill than the rest. Jade read it before moving onto the official looking text. She was amused at the thought of some queen or other scribbling in this book.
"Pride's strength and pride's wisdom to distant shores.
"The white bat's wings to carry homeward.
"The mountain falls and darkness ends.
"Drum and blade, alas never again."
"Daigoro, Sandaime Yojimbo, The Bold," Jade read. Something about the tribute tickled her memory. But she flipped on and felt a strange sadness that this Yojimbo had so few pages to him. It seemed too soon to come to the next Yojimbo.
A samurai this time, short sword drawn, hand on his katana, and much of his gaunt, scaly face hidden by a horned helm. It looked like a fortress was being built in the background; nothing near as grand as this fortress, though.
"Masaki, Yondaime Yojimbo, the Restorer," Jade read before moving on. More pages than Daigoro had, but still too few it seemed.
The next was another samurai. His background was unadorned blue, simply a bulky samurai with a shaved head, save for prominent sideburns, katana drawn and held at ready. The sideburns did not look good with the blue scales, she thought. He had green eyes, but they didn't look nearly as intense as Ikazuki's.
"Ikeda, Godaime Yojimbo, the Strong," Jade read his title. Fortunately – though she wasn't sure why it was fortunate – Ikeda had plenty of pages, almost as many as the First Hiruzen. That brought her to a picture of the current Hiruzen, standing arms crossed with what she guessed was an outside view of the Fortress she currently was kept in as the background.
No title was given, simply his name and status as Rokudaime Yojimbo. Apparently you got the title after retirement.
He had served even longer than Ikeda, rivaling his namesake apparently. She wondered if he had gotten the name as an honor of some kind like the Ozekis seemed to? Or maybe he had just lived up to the name he had been given?
Anyway, after that it seemed to be the end of the Yojimbo section. Apparently the book did not tell the future after all.
She had intended to keep going until finding the information on the ritual, but was stopped by the heading of the next section:
"The Tragedy of Izanami and Kagehime, The Creation of Hiruzen, and the Birth of the Shadowkhan."
In the upper left corner a tree branch was drawn, a single peach growing on it, being plucked by a blue hand.
Giving herself a shake, Jade passed on by the myths. Knowing more about the Shadowkhan would help. Particularly the current Hiruzen, who was no stranger to the Queen she was impersonating. But right now, she needed to know what exactly they intended to do to her at this ritual.
Everything else could wait.
Passing by several more stories/histories – some looking interesting, others sounding dull – she reached the section on ceremonies and rituals. And finally, what she wanted was right in front of her.
"The Most Holy Rite Of Izanami for the Renewal of the Race of Shadow," Jade read the title written in elegant red characters. Looking at it, she recognized – from what she was thinking of as the "Queen" file – that these words had been written by someone very skilled in calligraphy applying all their skill.
Again, she thought it was wasted effort to make words seem fancier. Still, at least it was legible, unlike her encounter with the Demon Archive.
Under the title was a drawing of a half moon, the light side with the character for Queen written on it, the dark side labeled Izanami.
To her relief, the text was very straightforward. Apparently the long dead Queen who wrote it had wanted to leave clear instructions in the event of big talkers/poor teachers like those bugs.
The Rite can only be conducted at the apex of a new moon. This allows Tsukiyomi the Moon to coerce the Queen of the Underworld to allow her living descendant to create new designated such nights, though offered little explanation to the first Queen beyond it being necessary.
Sounded like something one of the old gods would do, Jade thought.
The light of the half moon must shine uninterrupted on the Queen, so the Rite has to be conducted outdoors. Storms would also render it unusable, as part of Susanoo-no-Mikoto's ongoing feud with the Race of Shadow. It is strongly advised to use magic to ensure the wrathful storm god does not interfere behind his brother's back.
For the ceremony itself, the Queen must stand on a pedestal, preferably one made from peach wood. The first Rite requires all Generals to encircle her at the proper distance.
Here, a chart was included showing how many Generals warranted what radius in the circle.
The ceremony should be held after the young Queen has her first chi climax, which is easily noted by all living Shadowkhan. At this time, the Queen is capable of not only producing the life sustaining shadow chi for the Shadowkhan race, but of mingling her excess with the chi of a tribal General to produce male offspring.
"Climax? Ewwww!" Jade wrinkled her nose. She was glad the Queen had gone though that before she got here.
When the Queen's chi reacts to the moon, she must move chi into her shadow, forming into a circle around her feet. When the Generals connect their shadows to the circle, the Queen must then pull her shadow into her body. This will result in a brief period in which the body will be covered by the attached shadows, dulling all senses to the outside world.
A chi rise will follow, which the Queen will direct into the shadows. It can be aided by visualizing water flowing out from a central point with a canal for each shadow.
The shadows will react with the shadow chi, causing instability that will prompt a General to pull back his shadow. Once connection has been terminated, all other connections become untenable.
The coating will retract and in the wake of the Generals' shadows, new shadows will be left behind. These will shortly form into fledgling males with functional knowledge but lesser wills.
Fatigue will set in rapidly, along with a loss of balance and coordination. Remain standing until collected by Yojimbo, and ideally remain conscious until removed from public.
If seeking to produce an heir, abstain from ritual for a minimum five lunar cycles, but do not exceed seventeen under any circumstances as excess may result in…
Jade closed the book, not caring about the health advisory.
'Well crap on a bad day,' she thought, looking at the book. She clapped her hands loudly, and sure enough, a Samurai Khan entered the chamber through the door and bowed. Affecting disinterest, she waved at the book with two fingers.
"I am done with the Histories. Return them to their proper place in the room of knowledge," she ordered. The samurai seemed to hesitate, then bowed again.
"I shall send word to Hiruzen-sama at once to return it to its place," he said. Jade frowned; that was the first time they had not obeyed an order. Was only a General allowed to touch it? Or the Queen and the Yojimbo?
Anyway, after he left two ninja entered, carrying a table identical to the one the book was resting on. Behind them came two more, with trays of dishes and a large pot of tea. Setting the table down, her dinner was soon set a respectable distance from her current spot. She conceded to being impressed when they produced a mat for her to sit on before the table.
"Very good," she acknowledged with a nod.
As soon as she was alone, she went to the new table and poured herself some tea.
In addition to seeing the Shadowkhan had a history to go with these complications, she now had a real idea what the much talked about ritual was. At the very least it wasn't involving the birds and the bees talk that Jackie had unwisely delegated to Uncle.
She shivered a bit recalling that little chat with uncle. Had Jackie been getting back at her or the whole sock incident she sometimes wondered?
Anyway, Jade was happy she wouldn't actually be giving birth to anything; it was just some wacky spell to create new Shadowkhan. And she did not want to be a part of it regardless.
"Do I have a choice though?" she dared to wonder aloud. Delicately eating some noodles, savoring the rich flavor, she glanced back to the book. It said nothing about what to do in the case of failure. It did say she could abstain, if she wanted an heir. That was not in the picture.
Escape, then? She was all for taking stupid risks, really, even without Jackie and the others to back her up! But it was zero percent with these odds and all but her wits taken from her. She would have to increase her training.
Jade had been using the hobby room, pushing a table aside to make room, maybe there was more there she could make use if? She could use some of the long pieces of wood like a staff for training. Maybe get some of those locked cabinets unlocked to make sure there weren't some more destructive hobbies as options?
An annoying part of her mind demanded to know what difference a piece of wood would do when Hiruzen would either be frantically searching for his Queen, or looking to capture an impostor. And the other Generals weren't exactly pushovers, from what she could tell.
Escape would probably blow her cover, successful or not. Which would earn a torture chamber or worse. She wondered if the book had a section for penal codes, crime: impersonating the evil overlady?
Apparently she was a stress eater, or the Queen was. She had inhaled the dinner by the time Hiruzen arrived for the book. She remembered nodding to the entering shinobi and yawning at the warm fullness in her stomach.
Then she was blinking at the canopy of the Queen's bed and drifting into dreams of candles and mountains. The mountains were beautiful, clouds weaving through the trees. It was beautiful, not a wall in sight. She turned her face away and drifted along, a black cloud sharing the sky with the white clouds. It was pleasant to drift in he wind among the trees and peaks, and finally the dream faded to formless, soothing darkness.
Southern Honshu:
The young samurai held out his hands, stumbling when a large sake gourd was smacked into them. He was fresh faced, the saya sheaths on his belt smooth and unmarked with use, like him.
"Heh, weak, might as well be drinking well water. Hopefully there is something stronger inside," his leader said, wiping his mouth with the back of an enormous hand. Kneeling and practically crossing his arms, the boss ducked into the inn.
The samurai stepped back to join his fellows by the horses, him holding the sake, the others holding their swords at ready. The young man looked up at the clear sky and round at the forest that looked so beautiful today. His father had told him death could come under any sky. Still it was strange that so many would perish on a day blessed by kami so.
Men cried put in the inn; he heard a table topple. The building seemed to rattle with booming laughter as the sounds of battle rang out. Soon enough the sounds of battle gave way to cries of terror and pain.
The first bandit to emerge didn't even have his sword drawn. A samurai ran forward, cutting the man down before he even realized danger was outside as well as in.
Some were better prepared, others were wounded – all fell the same to the efficient unit of warriors. The last fell to his knees as the next samurai in the line up walked up to the raider, sword held at ready. Bowing his head, the fool raised his hands, clasped for mercy.
For his trouble, he lost his hands before his head.
"Hahahaha!" the boss laughed as he squeezed back out through the door. Smiling broadly, he held up his hands, revealing eight sake bottles held between his fingers and thumbs.
"Too late for the innkeeper and his wife. Such a shame, he always had such a good nose for sake. I think he wouldn't mind his avengers drinking down the last of his stock," the massive samurai rumbled. His great iron club was still strapped to his back, the swords at his belt.
Once again it seemed he had not needed to use his weapons, the young gourd carrier thought with awe.
The other samurai accepted the invitation, taking seven of the clay bottles to share among themselves. The commander took a horn from his belt and gave a blow, signaling the rest of the force. The young man looked back down the road, though he knew it would be some time before the others moved from camp to catch up with them.
"Here lad," the giant ordered, gesturing for the gourd keeper. He took a seat on the bench, which creaked under his weight. Not daring to share what little room remained, the younger man took his spot standing ready to serve his master.
"A fine fight, Gurando-dono," he bowed his head.
"No, just killing off some pests. They weren't all real bandits or ronin, either. Too well fed, and lacking that desperate feel ronin who fall in with bandits have. No doubt they were sent here to test the strength of the Shirogeta clan. Fools – the Shirogeta face the Shadowkhan and they think Lord Rokutaro will tolerate his so-called peers meddling?
"I would advise the lord of Tobe to let me reduce their castles to ruin for the impudence, but I think he wishes to go after a greater prize!" Gurando laughed.
He was taller than any man he had ever heard of outside of legend, nearly as tall as two men together! Everything about him was huge, from his powerful armor-clad legs, to thickly muscled arms and the tree trunk chest with its thick scarred and patched armor. His bald head was on display, a top knot barely peeking over the dome of his head from the remaining hair encircling it, and the ugly face with it often broken nose and dozens of tiny scars across it.
He was adorned with two ropes of plum sized stone beads crossing over his chest, and serving as bracelets around his wrists. Draining the bottle, he raised it and shattered it on the ground.
"Drink up that gourd, boy, I want to keep that fine taste for awhile.
"Drink wisely men! It is time for Gurando Botsuraku to return to Tobe at last!" the huge samurai laughed.
Empire of Shadows Territorial Waters:
The captain looked out over the bow of the ship, taking in the sun rising over the waves, revealing the coat of Shikoku. Feared waters; men were no longer permitted to ride the waves they had once ruled so casually. His one eye drank it in as the light hit his weathered skin, tugged at his straw hat, and stirred the gold coins worked into his beard.
Putting the last of the pickled vegetable in his mouth, he crunched it casually in his teeth as he turned to look out over the deck. One of the helmsmen had survived and was at the ready in his new post. The other men were looting quietly, giving the dead from both sides to the sea, as was his law.
A very fine vessel indeed, well worth two ships and some well seasoned pirates to take.
He looked up at the sky blue sail; though it was folded, he could see the signs of the banner – a black sun with the kanji for "Shadow" written on it in red, with an ornate tree of gold in the corner. The banner of the Empire of Shadows, "death on the waves and wherever the waves touch."
They did not seem to understand that that title belonged to him, he thought. Other men might smile at the situation, but he did not. He descended the stairs to the main deck, his men pausing in their tasks to come to attention.
He glanced to the highest-ranking survivor. The man bowed crisply and gave his report.
"A full stock of the black powder captured, sir, and the thunderers seem to be in working order. Many fine grade weapons as well. The cargo hold has many riches; the log says they were raiding north under the Shadow Admiral's orders.
"One survivor, the captain."
The human captain moved past the officer to where four pike men stood ready, weapons lowered toward a dark spot along the railway.
The captain recognized one of the tentacled, legless Khan that served as the backbone of the Shadowkhan navy. This one was only half masked, revealing his grotesque face, and his garments, adapted from the standard uniform to a maritime appearance, showed him to be no mere commoner.
Four pikes pinned the Shadowkhan to the wood, all but one with a broken shaft, but still piercing him for all that. Its eyes narrowed at him and spoke in a gurgling, deep voice.
"You are the one who calls himself the Pirate King?" the monster demanded.
"Others gave me that title. I prefer the title I have earned, The Butcher of the Japanese Seas, Kyouaku Kirite," the captain told the monster.
"Why capture me? I will tell you nothing!" the Shadowkhan captain roared, before coughing.
"I know, but your capture proves a point to my men, as does the capture of this vessel," he answered the fury calmly.
"Hehehehe. You have made a fatal mistake. You only annoyed the mighty General-Admiral Kuro-Ri-Chi by taking the dregs of our fleet. But this insult will be avenged. In the name of the glorious and divine Queen of Shadows, he will bring destruction down on you wherever you run!" the Shadowkhan laughed. Kyouaku answered him in the unchanging calm tone.
"I am not running, I am fighting to win. As I was saying, men fear your kind, and forget that for all your derision for mortals, you die quite easily when men know how to fight you. Men would say it's more than mortals can do to capture one of you alive, or take a prize ship under your banner.
"Your Queen is divine? The gods are nothing to me, why should I fear one so weak it hides behind walls and armies that men can defeat?" Kyouaku asked, turning away.
"Scuuuum!" the creature raged behind him. He pulled his sword from its sheath, stepping aside as he turned. The pikes flying and his men screaming, the Shadowkhan lunged toward him, its tentacles hanging limp. As it passed through where he had stood, the curved steel cut through its neck, sending the head falling back.
Sheathing the sword, he heard the body hit the deck and walked on to the prow while his men panicked and began to calm.
"Helmsman! Take us to the rendezvous. We need something less conspicuous – we would not want to throw Tobe into a terror. This is not the time for me to inspire fear in men," he told his crew.
*Jade has stepped into the life 97th descendent of Kagehime. Kagehime herself is counted as the First Queen, which makes Jade the 98th Queen. Thus the two number Jade is referred to by.
Author's Note:
Well here we have another chapter. Not much action still I am afraid. When Nocturne and I worked on this story we knew Jade would be forced to think more with problems not really solvable by butt whooping on her part. Which doesn't mean she won't get plenty of chances to show her awesome, but we will be seeing that keen mind of hers having to do more work.
Anyway, when all Eight Generals arrive we get the ceremony and with it the Queen and thus Jade taking a more active role.
But before that next chapter the much discussed Tobe will makes its appearance as we reach a scene years anticipated. Here is a clue: S.i.t.S.