I woke up, stiff both from my exertion yesterday and that I hadn't slept on a proper futon. The male gaijin still snored away on his makeshift sleeping mat, but neither the female gaijin nor Kazue were present. I rose, still wearing my swamp stained kimono. I buckled my saya, and checked that my katana was secure. My travel bag had been set beside my sleeping area, and still had my banner. I was glad, It was the last remaining thing I had of my honor. It also contained my armor, my kabuto helmet, and a small bottle of sake

I had been worried the entire time that we'd been on the run from the naga that not wearing my armor was going to get me killed. It had certainly killed more competent warriors than me. With that noted, I believed I was in a safe environment at this time. I strapped on my travel bag, and left the makeshift barracks.

The natives of this place were already up and about. Some were cooking some sort of food, others were working on some sort of armor, while others having their wounds bandaged. To my surprise, Kazue was not among them. I looked around, and found her sitting on a wooden bench near the edge of the swamp. Kazue nodded to me as I approached, and took a seat near her.

Kazue was a kitsune, a fox spirit from the realm of animals. She had recruited me, a ronin of all people, in order to explore one of the fortresses that had been claimed by the demons. The demons had invaded several places in Japan. We had tried to take it back, and though we were initially successful against the dishonored dead, we had been overwhelmed by the naga that had come from just about everywhere.

"This is Apoxpalon," said Kazue, nodding to the man in front of us.

The native looked like he'd been a warrior, once. He was older now, and time had sapped him of some of his prowess. There was a glint of wisdom in his eyes, the kind earned from a thorough life lived. He reminded me of one of the yamabushi monks that traveled our land. Most monks, however, still wore kimono, his very bare chest did not look like a comfortable way to live in a swamp.

Apoxpalon looked me up and down. "Good evening, samurai," he said, much to my surprise. His Japanese was good. Accented, perhaps, but good enough to be clearly understood. "What can I call you, samurai?"

"Hanako," I told him. I had a clan once, a family and a family name. That was before the Takobake slaughtered them. I had not been home. I had just seen the smoke of our family castle. Everyone, and everything, burning. They had sent out groups trying to find any stragglers. I ran. I have been trying to cleanse my dishonor ever since. "Just Hanako," I repeated.

"Hanako," he said, nodding. "Welcome to Jargono, such as it is."

"Where did you learn my language?" I asked.

Apoxpalon smiled at the question. "The portals through the void cut both way. I spent some time there lending my bow to your people in the endless struggle against the oni and the Shogun."

I nodded my appreciation.

"Have you rescued people from the naga often?" Kazue asked.

"No," Apoxpalon said. "It is the first time it has been attempted. All of the naga tribes have been kidnapping people from other worlds more and more frequently. Our shaman believes it is evidence that the naga are planning something, something big, and they are attempting to curry favor with their gods by bringing them sacrifices."

It took time to digest this. "Do you know what they are planning?"

"No," Apoxpalon admitted. "We do not know. The elder has a hope, though. That you, and those from America's west will assist in finding out."

"I apologize, Apoxpalon-sama," I said, "I do not understand that word. 'America'?"

"The gaijin we traveled with," Kazue said. "They are from a land known as America." The kitsune turned toward the Jargonoian. "How can we assist?"she asked.

"Many of our warriors were wounded in your rescue," he explained. "Perhaps you would be willing to secure the area around our village? The naga got very close to us, closer than they have before. I don't know if any survived to reveal our location, but the elders do not wish us to take the chance."

This seemed the least I could to repay them for saving our lives. But, my stomach rumbled grumpily. "I would be happy to give you my assistance, but perhaps I could trouble you for some food in return?"

"Absolutely. It may not be the fare that you are used to," he said. "But I think we can find you something."

They did not have rice. I should not have been disappointed by that. Instead, there was fish from a nearby river, cooked over a campfire, served with a drink made from some sort of brightly colored swamp fruit. It was a simple meal, and I appreciated that.

We took a tour of the village from there. Most of the sleeping quarters, outside the makeshift barracks where we slept, were small individual canvas tents. It appeared that wood was in limited supply, as there seemed to be plenty of space for more buildings. With that said, there was a large fire in the center of the village that seemed to be the focal point of meetings. A small garden growing mushrooms sat in an area near the wall.

There was also a storehouse, where they kept drying meat and fish. There was also a small supply of weapons, axes with darkstone blades, and bows. I picked up one of the bows. I'd trained in using a small one, back before I lost everything. This was slightly larger, but a comparable example.

"Would you like to take one with you?" Apoxpalon asked. "I am sure we can work out something to trade from you. I would say that it's not valuable, but weapons are not always easy to come by."
"We are doing this favor for you," Kazue said, "Perhaps you can do us this favor? Or perhaps just a loan?"

Apoxpalon was about to reply, but the two gaijin walked in, accompanied by another one of the village residents, speaking in a shared language of their own. The female gaijin pointed at a small of makeshift bandages, reeds woven together to create a kind of cloth. She offered a few gold coins to their translator, who nodded and let her take the wrappings.

The female gaijin looked over at me, noting the bow in my hands. She considered for a moment, then pointed at the bow, holding up the remainder of the coins she found on the way in. Apoxpalon talked rapidly in a language I did not understand with the other native. The came to a conclusion, and the other nodded to the gaijin. She handed the coins over. "Go ahead and keep it," Apoxpalon told me.

"What do you do with the gold?" Kazue asked.

"At the moment, nothing," Apoxpalon admitted. "We are hoping, however, to find a stable portal that will allow us to open supply lines to other worlds. If we manage it, we will need things to trade. Gold appears to be a universal currency."

Kazue nodded at this information. "Will these Americans be joining us to secure your village?" she asked.

More native conversation ensued. "Yes," Apoxpalon said. "If you are okay with it. It is safer to travel in numbers."

As much as I didn't look forward to traveling with the gaijin again, especially the reckless one, I couldn't argue that it seemed to be wiser to travel as a larger group, the better to be prepared for any challenges that lay ahead. "Shall we leave now?"

"Before you go, I should provide you with a map of the immediate area," he said. "The pathways can change with the rains, but there's certain landmarks you can use when you've cleared the surrounding area." So saying, he went to one of the tents, retrieving a piece of reed cloth, decorated with dyes. He pointed out a few things where the tribe wanted us to search, and led us to the village entrance.

I took the time, with Kazue's help, to strap in my armor and helmet. The male and female gaijin were waiting with us. The reckless one looked at my helmet and armor with interest. He said something to his companion. She gave him an exasperated look, and nodded a hello to us.

"Oh. One last thing," Apoxpalon said, "Look out for caches. Sometimes the naga leave supplies in the swamp for later use. Any supplies you can take from them and use for yourself will make your lives easier."

"Very well," I told him. But it was time to make our way out. The swamp had not gotten any cooler or less smelly as we moved into the swamp proper. I had the lead, with Kazue by my side. It was immediately apparent that it must have rained overnight. The passage out of the village was not the same as the one we'd taken in.

The causeway expanded back into a more jungle-like area. We separated briefly to begin to look for the caches we were told about. I slashed a jungle vine with my katana, then moved to examine something that caught my eye in the muck, but it turned out to be just some brightly colored feathers. I tried to lift my foot to move on, and very nearly stumbled over another thick vine.

The male gaijin shouted something in alarm, and I felt it. The vines around my left ankle tightened, and tried to pull me under the muck. My armor threatened to overbalance me, but I managed to dig in with my other foot, slashing madly to cut myself free. I inhaled a good mouthful of swamp water, before I completely broke out. My companions all had similar problems, with all of us spending at least a little time underwater.

"What are you doing, Hanako?" Kazue asked as I plunged my hand back underwater.

"I saw something under there. We haven't been the only ones to come this way." I finally found what had caught my eye, a small shard of dark stone. I suppose I would rather have it than not, but I still felt a little disappointed.

As we progressed, I noted Kazue calling on the earth to heal the gaijin woman. She must have spent more time under the water than the rest of us. But we trudged on, keeping an eye through the swap. The reckless one must have spotted something in the muck, as he began to dig through some of it. But he came up with nothing but mud, much to the entertainment of his companion.

We emerged from the jungle into a flatter part of swamp, highlighted by corpses wrapped up enormous strands of silk. What was worse, the spider's cave took up most of the causeway, forcing us to try to sneak past it.

Before I could blink, it snapped from its cave, slicing at my chest. I managed to block part of the blow, and my armor absorbed most of the rest. I could still feel the strength behind the blow. The spider swiped at the female gaijin next, and I thought she was going to get sliced through that soft clothing she wore. Except the other gaijin wasn't watching what was happening, and bumped into his companion at just the right moment to push her out of the way. She took the opportunity to line up a shot and fire straight down into the hole.

The spider gave a roar of pain, and retreated back down into its lair.

I could only shake my head at the strange luck he seemed to have.

On the far side of the spider's cave was a massive statue of a naga. There was something wrong with that face, though. It wasn't just the glittering emeralds in its eyes, there was a feeling of malevolence in its gaze. It quickly occurred to me the easiest way to stop him staring was to remove those eyes. I approached it fearlessly, and reached in to pull one of the gems out.

I must have been angry about the spider blow, because it popped out without really trying. The glow faded as it came loose, and not without scratches. It was still a valuable gemstone, but not as much as it could have been.

The male gaijin joined me in pulling out the other gemstone. He struggled a bit more to get it to pop out, but it popped out perfectly clean. That gem was going to make some artisan really happy. We put our gems in our bags, leaving the now blind statue behind us. Kazue looked at me in a mixture of shock and maybe just a bit of anger. "That statue was sacred... maybe not to us, and perhaps not to a deity that should be worshiped. But still, sacred."

"That 'deity' was going to take sacrifices of living people," I retorted. "If I have attracted its anger, let it come." Kozue didn't look particularly impressed by this, but didn't say anything further.

We continued in silence, down a narrow potion of causeway. As it widened back out, we were shocked by a sudden screech. In a bog-like area of the swamp was a large creature. It had a pointed, reptilian head with beady eyes. At its sides were massive leather wings. It was trying to flap them, futilely. I could see holes pierced into wings. Something had attacked it, and merely left it for dead. It didn't take Kozue's soft cry of alarm to tell the creature was in a massive amount of pain.

I drew my katana, prepared to put the creature out of its misery. But there was instant shouting from both the female gaijin and Kozue. Sighing, I sheathed my weapon as the kitsune slowly, gently, approached the wounded creature. She spoke softly, soothingly, and while the creature squawked in alarm, it didn't actually attack. Kozue invoked the Earth, healing energy flowing from her fingers. The gaijin retrieved the bandages from her knapsack, beginning to wrap them around the bloody wounds.

By the time they had completed their ministrations, the creature once again flapped its wings experimentally, and this time, lifted smoothly into the sky. It cawed, perhaps in thankfulness, as it circled above us three times, then departed for parts unknown. The two gaijin discussed something.

But there were two ways to go at this point, and the map we were given wasn't particularly clear. So we spread out and searched the area. Kozue soon called us over, pointing out a spot where the causeway raised above the water, and a trail led deeper in. The trail consisted of what appeared to be single large canals in the mud, the kind one might expect to see left by naga. It was the other tracks that put a pit into my stomach. They were boots, and very similar boots to the ones I was wearing. I didn't know what it meant – not for sure. But it certainly indicated a way that we should go.

Right by these tracks, Kozue pointed out another irregularly shaped mound in the mud, and moved to dig around in it. But again, it turned out to be just mud with a bone at the center, and it was my turn to give a slight smile. Kozue was in less good humor, flicking mud off her paws.

"Do you really think there's caches out here?" Kazue asked.

I shrugged. I had been looking, but there hadn't been anything I suspected of being a cache. "Probably? I mean, the natives seem to think they exist." Through the bog we continued, past stone pillars and an area that looked like it contained destroyed eggs.

Perhaps it was the fact that we hadn't heard anything in some time that should have alerted us that we were walking into a new danger the swamp had decided to throw at us. Rising up from some burrow-hole in the swamp were a pair of mammoth slugs, the scent of which immediately assaulted my nostrils. I had thought the bog gas from before was bad, but this was worse. It was all I could do to keep from retching.

Kazue did retch, and the slug that had emerged beside her took the opportunity to gore her directly in the chest, leaving bloody gashes in her fur. The other one had set its sight on the female gaijin., also scoring a heavy blow.

The male gaijin was the first to return fire, emptying his small gun into the one that attacked his partner. It recoiled, making me sure the bullet had found its target, but the wound wasn't as deep as it should have been.

"That skin is tough," Kazue said. "We need to focus our attacks to take one down as quickly as we can." So saying, she dashed from the one that had attacked her to the one that the gaijin was attacking, with only a brief pause to call on the earth for healing. That seemed like a good strategy, so I followed suit. I charged toward the wounded slug. While one of my slashes didn't find purchase on the slimy hide, the other buried itself, at least somewhat, into the hide.

With Kazue and I providing cover, the female gaijin pulled back to a distance, unshouldered her long gun and fired, but missed. Perhaps her aim was off due to the pain – and the stench.

As I pulled my katana for another blow, the slug we were attacking decided to raise the level of torment by spitting directly at us. The spit burned, causing both of us to cry out in pain, and in my case, begin to slightly dissolve my armor.

We unloaded another barrage of blades and gunfire on our unfortunate target, not quite enough to fell it, but it staggered with each new wound we put into it. The uninjured one, had focused on the already wounded gaijin, and she received a second goring. She tried to back away, but she was trapped against the edge of the causeway, and instead pumped a long gun blast directly into the creature's slobbering mouth. The other tried to gore me, but I managed to side step the attack just in time.

The spit though, the spit stung like a wasp, and this time I did retch from the stink. It was just that disgusting. Kazue was in deep pain, trying to channel her magic to keep the worst of it at bay. But the gaijin had no such defense – and there was only so much pain bandages could stop. She dropped into the mud just as our opponent did.

I could hear the male gaijin scream in anger. I could not blame him. I went to work on him, letting my rage quicken my blows, Kazue hanging back just long enough to make sure that I, and my armor, had the slug's near full attention. It was a painful fight – but we managed to drop it with no further casualties.

While Kazue caught her breath, I went to see to the gaijin. She was still breathing – thankfully. I assisted her in standing, but her wounds looked serious. She looked at me, tried to say something, and immediately stopped. She shook her head, tried to say something else, and stopped again. She raised her hand, pinching her forehead.

"Can you help her?" I asked Kazue, as the male gaijin moved to take her hand.

Kazue shook her head. "No, that kind of injury is beyond my magic to help. She will need to see a trained healer, or perhaps a true shugenja. I can help with the pain, at least."

I nodded. I reached into my bag, pulling the small container of sake I had. I sniffed the container, letting the scent cleanse the slug's stink from my brain. After giving the container a look, I drank the alcohol down.

After about a minute, the kitsune and two gaijin walked over to me. "Are you okay?" I asked, looking at the injured one. She looked at me for a moment, guessing at what I said, but shook her head. She indicated the way forward, but the reckless one pointed at the area right where the slugs had erupted from.

Kazue nodded. "It's worth checking to see if anyone else had the same experience we had. So we took it in turns to search the area. I found – again – a small shard of darkstone. The female gaijin found another.

But the reckless gaijin found something far more interesting. It was a large polearm, with a nasty looking hooked blade at the end, made completely of dark stone. But the whole thing had a sickly green glow to it, as if it had absorbed something from the swamp. "Is that... magic... a nemuranai?" I asked.

"If it is," Kazue said, staring as well, "The spirit within it is not well. I would be very cautious with that weapon.

Kazue held an amulet in her hand, unconsciously weighing it. It looked very similar to the one the reckless gaijin was wearing, except it was made of a single piece of topaz. But there were no gemstones set into the eyes of hers. "What did you find?" I asked.

"A magical focus of some type," she said, fastening it around her neck. "I can feel the energy in it."

"If you're sure it's safe," I said.

There wasn't much else to do but move on. We followed the causeway around a bend, and through another narrow passage. But as we progressed, we came to a complete stop, we could hear drums in the distance. It sounded just like the drums that we heard when we were being prepared to be sacrificed. We swallowed, but we knew time was moving against us. We unconsciously picked up the pace.

In the center of this area was a stone monolith. It looked like it had been recently wiped clean, with runes showing, though there was no showing what any of it could mean.

Both the female gaijin and Kazue stepped forward to examine it, only for the woman to clutch her ears and shake her head. She stepped back, letting Kazue take a look. She traced a pattern around some of the symbols. "I think it's directions," Kazue said. She pointed at one of the trails from the area. "It's pointing that way. Is there a reason why?"

We searched, and found another set of tracks, both of humans and naga. It was hard to tell, but they may have been fresher. It felt like we were catching up. We pressed forward, through the swamp. "Do you see that?" Kazue asked.

We had found our goal. It was a meeting, we could just see them across the swamp. There were three powerful looking naga, They were larger than the ones that had assaulted the natives' village. They carried large maces with dark stone heads, and were wearing armor that I didn't want to think about. These naga were meeting with a group in armor that was very much like my own. Three of them carried spears. One of them, however, carried the twin blades of a samurai.

All of them wore a mon, symbolizing a samurai house. They were wearing that mon. The black on yellow mon of the Takobake clan. I'm pretty sure I heard Kazue calling me to focus. But I only had blood in my eyes. The spearmen charged us, and the kitsune and I charged them. The spearmen struck first, one of the spears finding purchase through my armor. I almost didn't feel it. My swing bounced from their armor, but the backswing cleanly separated the ashigaru's head from his shoulders, it squished into the mud.

One of the others had charged the gaijin's position. He pierced the woman's shirt with two quick strikes, blood dripping from the mutant ashigaru's spear. She raised her gun and shot point blank into the spearman's chest. It flinched, but didn't fall.

The final one charged at Kozue. But he was too slow, and she expertly deflected the spear with her kama.

I drove past the remaining spearman, I could hear myself screaming in range, accusing him personally of the destruction of my family. We both drew our katana and they struck each other with a clang that rang out through the battlefield.

The large naga were not as fast as the smaller ones we'd fought before, so they were only now reaching the fray. One of them bashed me with a club, directly in the back. My armor took most of the blow, but it still left me sore.

More gunfire rang out behind me, I think they were focused on bringing down the naga. But I didn't care. I wanted the Takobake to pay. I wanted to make every single Tobake pay for the destruction of my family. We traded blows, both of our katanas finding purchase, blood oozing from our open wounds. The difference is that his wound began to close immediately. One more reason to hate them.

Again, and again, we struck. He struck a massive blow down my leg, leaving me barely able to stand. I channeled my rage into rapid fire swings, driving him down to one knee. We traded blows to the exclusion of all else on the battlefield.

In the end, he fell. He dropped face down into the muck and brine. I looked around at the rest of the battlefield. I didn't see any naga... and I fell over myself. I was completely exhausted.

An Author's Note: At the time of this writing (10/4/23), FF.N is not recording hits on stories. If you are enjoying the story, please consider leaving a favorite, review, or message. I'm an aspiring writer, and would love to be advised on how to improve my craft. - TZ