Reclaimed – Chapter 11

We’re only about five kilometers from the outskirts of Owari, and today I’ll make my way into Oda’s mysterious city.

I have a vague idea of what to expect. The orbital images we had were both at night and in the morning. At night, the city was busy with neon lights, cars, and shadows of people in the streets. The morning images showed a slow start to the day, stores opening, people cleaning sidewalks, and trucks making deliveries. The sun had only just risen, and along the border of the city, a strict dark line snaked in and out of the boundaries. From the way the shadow was longer on one side, I believe it’s a fence or a wall. I’ll have to see it for myself to be sure.

Our camp stirs awake, each tent coming alive with movement as everyone rolls over and gets dressed. I let Jiro sleep in this morning and join Oyama next to the fire. He hands me a steaming cup of coffee, and I clutch it to my chest to keep warm. In between sips, I take long, deep breaths and enjoy my surroundings with Kumo at my feet. Birds chirp and dive into the grass, soaring to the trees with worms in their beaks. The sun breaks over the distant hills spilling light across my eyes.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Oyama stirs a pot of oatmeal over the fire before pulling it from the flames and setting it aside.

“Much better. I haven’t felt nauseous in two days. I think it may be over finally.” Kumo lays his head on my lap and snuffles at my sweater. I dig my fingers in his fur behind his ear and scratch. He’s so warm and loving.

“That’s good news. Do you want me to cease with the cake additions to your diet?”

“Yeah. Let’s save the cake for Arata and recreational use. It’s not like we drink a lot any more. Saké is hard to come by.”

“It’s difficult to stay on alert when one is drunk anyway.”

A loud laugh escapes me before I can quiet it. “Some of the most dangerous moments of my life have happened when I drink. I wish I knew why.”

I set the coffee mug down so I can yawn and stretch. When I relax and train my eyes on the forest at the edge of our clearing, movement in the trees catches my attention. Julia emerges from the tree line, three dead rabbits over her shoulder on lines, but two other women follow her out.

“Mark!” I call, jumping to my feet. He rises from his mat where he was practicing yoga and strides towards Julia and Miura’s two daughters, Naomi and Yuka, the heiresses to Clan Taira. Naomi, the taller of the two women, looks like she’s been dragged through the mud for days. Her dark, wavy hair is a halo around her head, bits of leaves and dirt stuck in it. The bottom of her Nishikyō gray pants are ripped to shreds and dried blood covers her right calf. Her sister, Yuka, supports her under her shoulder and she does not look any better. Her chin-length hair and shirt are both caked with mud.

I’m right behind Sakai, but I pop into my tent to shake Jiro awake and grab my sword first. “Miura’s daughters are here,” I whisper harshly at him, and he blinks at me in response. “Go out the back and circle around to make sure we’re not about to be ambushed.” He’s slipping on his boots when I leave to join Sakai.

“What’s going on?” Sakai asks Julia. “Do you know who these two are?”

Julia shakes her head. “No clue but they’re unarmed. I made sure to search them. They said they’ve been walking for over a week, looking for Yamato.”

“You’re a far cry from Yamato,” Arata says, joining us at Sakai’s side with Kentaro.

Yuka heaves a few labored breaths, tears pouring from her eyes. “We’re trying to join our mother there.”

“Your mother is in Yamato?” I ask, and Yuka winces at the sound of my voice.

“She left our father after you were kidnapped.” Yuka begins to sob. “She wanted nothing to do with the whole business. We didn’t know what to do, so we stayed, but this isn’t what we hoped for on Yūsei.”

She helps her sister sit on the ground and none of us move to accommodate them. This could be a trap. I scan the trees expecting a force of soldiers any minute. These were the women who stood silently behind me while I was berated by their father every day, right before he sold me to Fujiwara.

“I was going to be a botanist, and Naomi wanted to design kimonos.” The tears sluice down her face, drawing tracks in the dirt on her cheeks. “I know our families never got along, and you should hate us for the way our father treated you, but I swear to you…” She sinks to her knees and bows at my feet. I can only stand in stunned silence. “We just want our lives back. I’ve never been so horrified watching people die. I tried to be brave because I was afraid my own father would kill me if I said anything.”

I squat down and place my hand on her shoulder, scanning the trees once again. This time I see Jiro making his way towards us alone from deep in the forest. “How did you even get here?” I reach past her and check Naomi’s pulse since she has passed out. The beat is weak and slow, and her skin is hot and slick under my fingers.

“We snuck out of our camp in the middle of the night and just ran. We figured we’d find our way eventually and anything would be better than being with our father.” She wipes at her face with her dirty hands, all her fingernails cracked and covered with mud. “But we got lost in a thunderstorm and were attacked one night by wild dogs. I think they were wild dogs?”

Sakai squats down next to Naomi and rips the rest of her pant leg up to the crotch. Tiny, red lines snake up her leg from the puncture wound in her calf.

“She has a blood infection,” he says, twisting Naomi’s leg to each side and examining her skin. “We need to get them both back to Yamato now.”

“Were you looking for me?” I stare into Yuka’s eyes, certain I’ll find deception there. How can I trust enemies that stumble out of the forest and claim they’re my friends?

“You? No. We… we were sleeping last night when a group of these animals, tall, brown, long legs and some of them had horns?”

“Deer,” Arata explains.

“Deer came through and stopped next to us. They slept in a circle around us and about an hour ago, they all got up and waited for us. It was strange. They didn’t run off. We followed them for maybe fifteen minutes and they all took off at once. We ran into her not long after.”

Julia shifts the rabbits from one shoulder to another. “I should take these to Oyama.” She turns and leaves muttering, “Not my problem,” under her breath.

Trust me, Julia. I wish they weren’t my problem either.

—-

We create a stretcher for Naomi, Sakai calls in the emergency medical situation, and we backtrack five kilometers to a designated landing field between Owari and Rittō. When we arrive, a shuttle waits for us with a medical crew to take Naomi and Yuka back to Yamato. We load them in carefully, the shuttle lifts off from the field, and, watching it go, my stomach hollows out. With Miura’s daughters and his wife in our capital city now, I bet he will work even harder to overthrow us and take over the town for himself. Victory for Clan Taira at all costs.

“This is a bad idea.” I wring my hands while everyone picks up their backpacks and supplies for the walk to our horses. We left them deeper in the woods so the shuttle wouldn’t spook them.

“I agree, but I’m not in the business of letting colonization members die if I can do anything about it.” Sakai places his hand on my shoulder and directs me away. “Yuka was being honest. I never heard a peep from them in all the years of dealing with Miura. They minded their own business. Not many people understood how the clans worked in Nishikyō. Miura, Minamoto, and Maeda were in charge. Everyone always bowed to them, even the minorities. But unless you owned property or had a business, you had no idea how powerful they were. Looks like Miura kept his secrets from his family until the very end.”

“It’s not the end of Miura, though. It’s just the beginning.”

I ride Kagemusha all the way to the outskirts of Owari. I’m usually not so selfish with my horse and let other people ride him so we’re not all forced to walk, but today my thoughts are hundreds of kilometers away. What’s going on in Yamato while I’m gone?

Julia whistles from ahead and snaps me back to our caravan. The path we’re on ends at a road.

“From here we turn right and then it’s only a kilometer to Owari,” Arata says, his horse coming up next to mine.

“What should we expect?”

“Well, it’s hard to say. I haven’t been here since I was a kid. My parents brought me here when I was five but that was the last time I visited before Fujiwara attacked and we were forced into Takayama.”

Arata pulls up on the reins of his horse and slows down. Kagemusha falls into step next to him.

“The Oda have done everything possible to maintain the technological initiative of the first settlers here on Orihime. Rai Oda considers it his mission in life to bring us back into the stars, and he has spared no expense to bring that about.” He strokes at his beard, and I wait while he thinks about his next words. “I’m sure you must realize that I am against the chip. I love animals, and I know all the animals here have been genetically engineered for our benefit, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea of putting technology in my body.”

“I can understand this. On Earth, invasive technology was only for medical purposes.”

Like Helena’s nano recovery or my birth control implant. Nishikyō doctors and scientists also worked on prosthetics for amputees or those with birth defects. A microchip to talk to animals would be one of the last things on their agenda.

“But Arata, on this world, I can see why the chip would be a sure advantage to anyone willing to have it implanted. With so little technology and a lunatic of a leader, I’d want the animals on my side. I do want them on my side.”

“Well, not everyone is an ideal candidate for the chip, and the Oda have a rigorous screening process. Only sixty percent of applicants can get one.”

I bite my lip but shrug off my insecurity. I can feel I’m a good candidate. The animals talk to me and want me to understand them. They follow me wherever I go. I’m meant to get this chip. Leaning forward, I pat Kagemusha on the neck and he snorts with happiness.

We round a bend in the road and a guard station has the road in front of us blocked. The gate is manned by men with swords and men and women with bows and arrows are on parapets on each side of the road. Julia strides right up to the gate but her hands reach up to cover her ears.

“Be careful here, Sanaa. They use a directed sonic field to identify unchipped people before they approach the city. It’s merely a security screening.” Arata’s face contorts, and my ears start to ring, lower to higher, as we get closer to the gate.

“Halt!” calls the main guard. He marches forward and examines everyone in the group. I dismount from my horse and cover both my ears, diminishing the sound but not blocking it completely. “Arata Sasaki?” The guard stops and embraces Arata. “Wow, I haven’t seen you in ten years, not since I was last in Takayama. How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Arata shouts, bowing with his ears covered. The guard turns towards the gate and makes a cutting gesture over his throat, ending our torture. My ears cease to ring and I shake my head to clear the echo. Interesting. The horses didn’t even flinch. “Thank you.” Arata bows once more and the guard bows back.

“It’s not like you to bring a bunch of unchipped people to Owari. What’s the occasion?”

“Special envoy here to see Rai Oda. I can’t imagine he’s expecting us, but knowing how easily he gathers information from his network, he’ll probably be waiting.”

The guard nods, sweeps his eyes over all of us, and lands on me. His eyes narrow for a moment, so I smile back at him.

“She the one who escaped Fujiwara a few week’s back?”

“With Rokkaku help, yes, she did.”

“Hello,” I say, nodding my head from Kagemusha’s side. “Please tell Rai Oda that Sanaa Itami wishes to speak with him and enter his fine city. I’m really looking forward to it.”