Days passed as Sou’s forces recovered from the nurikabe attack. Sou himself spoke little of the encounter, although Kazu hadn’t stopped raving about how amazing it was. Toshio had lost use of his arm for the time being, but was otherwise healthy and redoubled his efforts to come up with a new plan.

“I just don’t think allowing Ayane to join us in battle is a good idea.”

“Why’s that?”

“She’s your hostage, not your friend.”

Toshio was either unaware or couldn’t care less that Ayane was sitting outside the main camp tent. Knowing him, probably the latter.

“You sound just like my father.”

“In this case your father is correct.”

“I brought her here, it’s my decision. She’s a skilled fighter. She’s joining us.”

“Don’t blame me when she takes off in the middle of battle then.”

“I’ll blame you for many things but I was never planning on blaming you for that.”

Ayane had nothing against Toshio herself, but he was a bit of a stick in the mud. He never liked how friendly Sou was with her, and if he wasn’t outright ignoring her he tended to treat her with utter contempt. Yet what he was saying was correct. If she were in Sou’s position would she bring a hostage along, friend or not, knowing they might use the opportunity to escape?

Would she try to escape? It was true, she had not been treated poorly. Sou had become a good friend and she had learnt a great deal during her stay in the Yashiro stronghold. She was free to pursue whatever extracurricular activities she wanted, and the finest tutors provided to her. But at the end of the day she was still a hostage. She couldn’t just freely leave whenever she wanted to. More than that, she missed her family. She missed her father, her younger brother and sisters. They must have gotten so much bigger now. Did they miss her? Did the youngest even remember her anymore? And what of her dog, Haruto? Was he well? Were the younger children looking after him?

Given the opportunity, would she actually take it and run?

The sounds of screaming and swords clashing drew her from her revelry. It was close. That wasn’t the sound of men practicing their swordsmanship. That was the sound of battle. Of men dying. Of ambush.

Sou pushed his way out of the tent. “What is that?”

A spear flew passed his face, passing through the tent. Ayane looked up at him wide eyed.

“We’re under attack!”

It was Riko. She came running, a hand on her shoulder trying to stop the blood that was flowing down her arm. Sou grabbed his helmet and sword. “Get in there. Watch Toshio,” he said to Riko. “Ayane, come on!”

He was difficult to lose. Even amongst the camp tents he towered, in full armour and helmet he appeared twice the size of a normal man. Fighting had broken out on the outskirts.

“But where did they come from? How did no-one see them approaching?”

Sou grabbed a man by the throat, a strangled choke escaping as he drove his sword through his abdomen. He tossed the man like a rag doll.

“I don’t know,” he said, chopping the head clean off another man. “We’ll worry about that later.”

Sou’s forces were once again in disarray. The men wore no crests on their armour, and most of Sou’s men were simply sitting around, relaxing, playing games, entirely unprepared for battle. It was chaos, and extremely difficult to tell friend from foe.

A man charged Ayane. Sou had given her armour before they left, although he had been respectful enough not to make her wear the Yashiro family crest into battle. Still, it was not difficult to tell which side she was on, and she dropped to a knee as the man’s sword swung overhead. She thrust upwards and the man fell, blood running down her sword. She yanked and blood splattered her face. He looked down at her, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as his final breaths left his body.

His life was the first she had ever taken.

It took a moment to sink in as the sickening realisation hit her. Ayane was only 16 when the Yashiro had captured her. She’d had both her 17th and 18th birthdays in their company and never once participated in a real battle. The look in the man’s eyes as her sword left his body and the life drained out of it, it wasn’t something you could train for, or something you could prepare for. Time seemed to slow down around her. All of the noise, the chaos, it faded away. She had killed a man, a real person, and she had done it for her enemy.

A head fell on the ground at her feet.

“Mourn the dead after, not during.” It was Sou. He threw a punch into a nearby soldier’s face and crushed his nose. The man fell, struggling to breathe as one of Sou’s men finished him off. Sou stalked through the crowd, cutting down men left and right, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. A soldier swung his sword wildly at him, the blow glancing off Sou’s gleaming red armour. How much of that red was blood now? Sou punched him with his right fist and thrust his sword into his belly with the left, discarding the body and moving on as though he had been a mere nuisance, not a serious threat to his life.

To her left Ayane spotted Kazu. In complete contrast to Sou he was smaller, faster, more furious. He wore little armour and moved much faster for it, mounting men in single bounds, jumping and rolling through the enemy like an acrobat. He fought not with a sword but with two daggers, allowing him to stab and move on before the body had even hit the ground. He smiled, a gruesome, bloody smile, as though enjoying himself thoroughly.

To her right Ayane spotted a clearing through the dead men. A clearing straight through to the forest. Her hands felt sticky with blood. The metallic tang in the air was sickening. Toshio’s words came back to her. ‘Don’t blame me if she takes off in the middle of battle then.’ It was as though the gods had heard him and were now testing her. Sou had his back to her, busy dealing with three men at once like they were children’s toys and he was no longer in the mood for games. In the chaos she could easily slip by and no-one would know until it was too late. She could be halfway home before anyone could mount a decent search party to find her, and even then they might not have the resources to spare for it.

She could escape. She could get home. It had been over a year since she had seen her father. Her younger brother and sisters. Her dog. Even her tutors and the castle servants. Over a year since she had seen the blue robins, the symbol of Misen province playing in the sakura trees that decorated the castle’s inner garden. Every spring she looked forward to their arrival, the sound of their beautiful singing as they played in the light pink trees. She loved sitting in the garden with her father and a cup of tea and watching the birds flutter from branch to branch. Was he sitting there now, watching the birds without her?

Sou screamed out in pain, a sword piercing his side through his armour. He grabbed it with his bare hands and pulled it out, blood gushing out through the hole. He smashed the handle into the soldier’s face, crumbling his body like his bones no longer had the strength to hold him upright. He threw the sword down in disgust but another man was upon him.

Ayane looked back towards the forest. She looked towards Sou. Either decision was going to cause her regret, but which regret would she be able to live with right now?

She sighed and ran towards Sou, thrusting her sword through a soldier’s neck. Sou backhanded another, sending him crashing into a pile of dead bodies.

“Thank you.” He looked down at her. She smiled despite herself. Even though she knew Sou was underneath it his oni kabuto was still terrifying. Even moreso now that it was covered in the blood of his enemies.

“Let’s finish this,” she said. Sou picked up a man, his legs kicking in the air beneath him, and tossed him at two oncoming men.

“Let’s finish this,” he repeated.

The path to the forest was still clear. Ayane turned and threw herself back into the battle.