stopped for a second, turned to face Kara and his commander, and with a swift move ended the man’s life, chopping his head off. He stepped to the next one and once again raised his sword and swiftly decapitated the man. The third man started begging, but Inei walked up and ended his pleading with one move of his katana.
When the execution was done, Inei bowed to Kara and his commander and walked inside again.
As he was walking past Kara, she caught his arm and he froze mid-step.
«Thank you, Inei.» She said and the man gently freed his arm, turned to her and bowed before walking away to the doors.
«Now that this is done…» the lord commander smiled. «Would you like to join me for dinner tonight? I will be able to answer any questions you have.»
«It would be my honour.» Kara replied, bowing to him.
«Ayame! Please be so kind and find Mariko an appropriate haorihakama for tonight.»
«Yes, Lord Ryuu.» Ayame bowed.
As the lord of the castle left, Kara followed Ayame again. Inei walked behind her and she felt grateful for him being there. He did not only protect her that night, but went even further to help her understand that what those men wanted to do was not tolerated among the samurai living in Lord Ryuu’s employ.
It was a lot to take in, and she now felt a little safer having the shinobi by her side.
«Do you have any preferences to your clothing? Colours, ornaments?» Ayame asked, making Kara dive back to reality from her thoughts.
«Black, red, dark green.» Kara replied, naming her favourite colours. «As for the ornaments… I don’t know. Something without flowers. I don’t do well with flowers on my clothes.»
Ayame glanced at her for a second and smiled mysteriously.
«I think I have a perfect haori for you.» She said.
Kara was taken to the bath again, but this time there was a servant girl who helped Kara undress and bathe, since her shoulder was still injured. And when Kara got out, Ayame was already waiting with her new haorihakama.
At first glance Kara understood that this one was far more exquisite than the one she wore before. It was made from fine silk – plain black hakama and silk black haori with a beautiful tiger on one of the sleeves – with its head on the right shoulder.
Ayame helped Kara to get dressed, and the servant girl tied Kara’s long red hair into a beautiful braid.
Even though Kara had never been dressed, she knew – without help she would have taken forever to get into the clothes, since she still had her arm tied to her torso to let the shoulder heal.
«I found this in your old clothes…» Ayame showed Kara a plain leather string with a sword hanging on it. «I think you should have it back.»
She put it on Kara’s neck and smiled.
«Thank you.» Kara whispered, feeling very relieved that she got this little trinket back.
«Now you are ready, Mariko. Follow me.»
Kara didn’t object and very soon Ayame entered a small hall, where Lord Ryuu was already having a conversation with one of his men. He looked at the women and nodded, then sent the man he was speaking to away and gestured to the table.
«Please…» he said with a faint smile.
Kara watched as Ayame left, closing the door behind her. Feeling a little insecure, the young woman took her place on the opposite side of the table from Lord Ryuu.
«I know that we have started on a…» Lord Ryuu stopped for a moment, trying to find the correct words. «Bad page… is that how you say it? But I want you to know that we took you here not because we needed a captive.»
«Then why?»
«Well…» Lord Ryuu gestured to someone and a couple of servants began serving the table. A few minutes later, as they exited, Lord Ryuu continued, while having a bite of meat. «You see, your realm is lost. It’s broken. It is dying. And we were scouting. But we found you.»
Kara frowned a bit, not understanding his reasons still.
«Usually we kill anyone who attacks us. You, however, are different matter entirely.» Lord Ryuu explained. «You have… potential.»
«So you took me prisoner because I have… potential?!» Kara twitched her eyebrow.
«We took you, yes. Prisoner? No.» the man smiled. «For the moment you are my guest.»
«Who sleeps in a cage, yes.»
For a second she thought that some servant or guard would jump out and strike her down for talking so rude to the lord of the castle. But no one came – and Lord Ryuu started laughing.
«Only because you managed to kill four of my men.» He finally replied. «As I said before – potential. I could not let it go to waste in that graveyard of a world.»
«I still don’t understand why…»
«I am looking for people like you, Mariko. If you get to know my people better, you will find a lot of those who don’t come from this realm. They were stranded, and they were taken – just like you, and they have prospered here. Just like you can. You have skills that can blossom into something great. We can help each other.»
«But how do you travel between worlds?»
Lord Ryuu immediately became collected and serious.
«We do not travel on purpose.» He said. «The gates open once in a while and always lead to different realms. Sometimes we walk through the gates to scout if it is connected to the Dark Realm. On that day the gate took us to your world.»
«And you can’t open them again?»
«People do not open them.»
«Then who does?»
His black eyes pierced Kara to her heart with a cold and long stare before he answered:
«Oni.»
Kara froze – oni were demons in the vilest way they could ever be described. Destroyers and murderers that left nothing but blood and bones. She knew that – because she had seen them. Oni came through her world and kept coming in groups through some of the Shadow Rifts that were left after the dreaded experiment gone wrong.
«How long have you battled the oni?» she asked.
«Generations. Our gates started appearing a long time ago.» Lord Ryuu replied, concentrated on his food. «But we manage as best we can. And we find fighters like you and bring them here from their dying worlds.»
«Inei?» Kara whispered more to herself, but the lord heard her and chuckled.
«Yes, he too was a lost soul a long time ago. But he is now one of the most powerful men in the castle.» The man twitched his eyebrow and gestured towards the food. «Are you not hungry?»
Even
