“Well I suppose there goes our element of surprise option,” Riko said with a slight grimace. Several units of men were heading up the mountain towards the outer castle gate. They needed to move now, the longer they waited the more the Wada would be able to prepare. Kazu had taken off after the woman who had tried to shoot Sou but still hadn’t returned.

“Do you know who that woman was?” Sou asked Riko. Toshio was leading his men in the charge up the mountain. He never did like standing around doing nothing.

“I can’t say for certain as I only caught a glimpse of her, but I’d bet my younger brother on that being Wada Izue, sir. Kuniaki’s daughter.”

“You mean the…” he felt silly saying it, “… the witch?”

Riko tried to hide the grin forcing itself upon her lips. “You say that like it’s such a dirty word.”

“No, not at all, I mean… nevermind. How did she know we were here?”

Three units of men, one led by Toshio himself and two of Toshio’s own samurai had nearly reached the castle gates. There were no signs of movement from the castle.

“I don’t know the how, sir, but I think we can safely assume the why.”

“To assassinate me.”

“Exactly.”

Sou wasn’t new to assassination attempts, but until now he could say that at least they had never been attempted by a… he felt silly even thinking it. Many rumours existed about Wada Izue, the only daughter of former oil merchant current daimyo of fertile Bijo province Wada Kuniaki. They called her the second great witch of Yashima. She communed with demons. She had unexplainable powers granted to her by the darkness. She gave blood sacrifices to powers mortal man didn’t even know existed. It was all nonsense, of course, but it still made him feel a little uneasy. The truth of the matter was that she was extremely skilled at what she did, and what she did was espionage, murder, and chaos. A type of ninja without a clan, without morals.

“My lord!” Sou was drawn back from his thoughts. Kazu had returned, empty-handed.

“I’m couldn’t catch her my lord, I’m sorry.” Kazu bowed deeply. “I lost her along the way, she must have a secret entrance to the castle hidden somewhere on the mountain.”

A secret entrance? Sou turned to Riko. As though she had read his mind she nodded silently and disappeared into the trees.

“Thank you, Kazu. You saved my life. That won’t be forgotten.”

Kazu smiled. He was at times still overly formal and nervous around Sou, but he had already proven his usefulness. Sou felt justified in bringing him along. His father often berated him for his habit of ‘picking up strays,’ but Sou felt strongly in finding a person’s worth, regardless of where they came from or what they may have done.

“They’ve reached the gates.” Ayane made herself known, joining Sou and Kazu. Another of Sou’s ‘strays,’ an enemy that by all rights he shouldn’t be friends with, yet here they were, on campaign together. She could have slit his throat at any time over the last year, but she had been nothing but a good friend. He wanted to believe that was true.

Toshio had taken the main gate, sending his men forward. Some were hacking at the wood with axes, others were setting up ladders to scale the wall. There were still no signs of movement from within the castle.

“It’s as though nobody’s home,” Kazu muttered. He was still out of breathe from the chase.

“Maybe they heard you were coming and abandoned the castle?” Ayane suggested. It seemed unlikely. As Toshio had said, Daisen Castle had never in its history been penetrated by outside forces. There was no safer place in all of Bijo.

That was when it began. In an instant the castle itself seemed to come alive, eating his men. No, not seem. The castle was eating his men. A large section of wall near the gate broke off and began devouring his men. The ranks broke as men fled in terror. Long, thin arms picked men up with ease and tossed them into a huge, fang filled mouth. Bones crushed and blood spurted. The panicked screams reached Sou’s ears all the way from his vantage point.

“Nurikabe!!!”

Sou was both shocked and fascinated. He’d never seen a nurikabe before. He’d heard stories of them, of course. They liked to play tricks on people traveling at night, appearing suddenly in the middle of the road as though out of nowhere. There was no way over or around them. As a young boy his nurse had once mentioned that tapping the dirt in front of them was the only way to scare them off. Sou watched the yokai grab more of his men, moving with ferocious speed for something so large and ungainly. Discarded limbs and torn apart bodies littered the ground around it. He didn’t thinking tapping the dirt would work here.

Toshio signalled to his men to retreat. They were not equipped to deal with a yokai, and it had already torn through half of one of his units. The screams were horrific. As the panicked men tried to flee the monster something else caught Sou’s attention. There. In the holes in the walls. The Wada forces, waiting for their moment to strike. A shower of arrows began to rain over his men, one after the other, a constant stream. Then came the oil, just as Riko predicted. Those who had yet to flee soon found themselves burning alive.

“Oh my god.” Ayane eye’s widened in shock. Men were being eaten by monsters. Men were being burnt alive. Volley after volley of arrows from holes hidden in the walls felled even more as they ran. It was carnage.

From atop the castle walls they all spotted her at the same time. Izue. The Black Witch. She waved at them and unsheathed her bow.

Toshio was still running. He hadn’t seen her yet.

Sou tried to yell out, but Kazu was already running. There was no way he’d reach him in time.

Izue took aim and fired.

Toshio hit the ground.