Dreamlands (13 page)

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DREAMLANDS

But they were sending more than two dozen people through this gate thing. Was I the only one who thought it was a one-way trip because Fairinox wasn’t coming with us?

WE were suited up and ready to go the next morning. Forty-pound pack on my back along with enough firepower to stop a rhino in its tracks, with all the guns I was dragging along. We were all loaded for bear, and I noticed that Fairinox was doing his little fucking voodoo thing on the floor above us.

I thought he didn’t want to take a chance on one of us shooting him for what he was doing. I was certain that most of them didn’t know what this was costing us―what it was costing some poor fucker.

McGann looked like she was gonna be sick, and I didn’t blame her.

I knew Fairinox was done killing his victim when the sparkly fucking circle showed up, like out of some bad sword and sorcery movie. Murphy had us hustled through it before you could say

“motherfucker.” All of us ended up puking our guts out on the other side, feeling like it had been the worst rollercoaster ride in the universe.

I didn’t see the damned thing close, but I felt it. I didn’t like that feeling. And I sure as hell didn’t like where we ended up.

We were in a forest without any signs of human habitation. No trails that I could tell, just a lot of trees and rocks and leaves on the ground, looking like it should be someplace in New Hampshire or Vermont, but with bamboo as well as pine trees. The place was hot, and it was raining. I was miserable after the first minute, since my clothes soaked through that fast in the rain.

Murphy started swearing when he got his shit together. I could see why, and I wanted to laugh. McGann looked like she was scared shitless, and Romejinoff was glued to Wolf’s side, looking as white as a ghost.

The linguist who had been behind me, Thompson, hadn’t made it.

Or most of him did, but he didn’t survive the journey. He was missing FELICITAS IVEY

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below the waist, cut off and fused neatly, like he was the top half of a store dummy or something. Not here five minutes and we had our first casualty. I lost the urge to laugh.

We were missing other people too―the rest of the strike team.

That was eighteen people, and I had no clue where they ended up. I hoped it was just that the sparkles shut down before they got through and not something else, like they were trapped in that rollercoaster ride.

“Take care of him,” Murphy said tiredly. “Then we got to figure out what to do.”

I nodded, and Wolf came to help me. I was pretty sure Murphy had a plan, but he wanted input from McGann before telling us.

Digging a grave was a lot better than figuring out what to do. When we were done, Murphy grabbed Wolf to scout the place out, leaving me to shovel dirt on top of Thompson alone.

Digging in a forest with roots and shit wasn’t fun with an entrenching tool, so Thompson didn’t get much of a grave. When I was done, I went back to the group. Murphy went over and muttered some things over the grave, being a good Catholic boy.

We were all spooked.

“We’re going to try and make contact with the natives and see if we can find out who that woman is,” Murphy said. “There seems to be a small holding a couple of klicks to the east, from what Wolf saw when he climbed up a tree to survey the area. We can start there.”

“How the fuck do we know that she’s the bad guy?” I asked.

Murphy glared. I didn’t back down. “What she did was wrong, but it ain’t like we’ve got a leg to stand on with the morals crap.”

“That’s enough!” Murphy snarled.

“He has a point,” McGann said softly. They stared hard at each other.

“No,” Murphy finally said.

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McGann shrugged. She had protested, and between what the two of us had said, the other two would hopefully start asking questions about what it was we were supposed to be doing here. I did a head count. Of the two dozen who were supposed to go on this thing, five of us were here. Wolf, Murphy, and me as the grunts and McGann and, God help me, the ice bitch as the brains. We were so fucked.

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SAMOJIROU

THE rainy season came, and we were trapped inside. Keno proved to be a fairly decent Go player―a strategy game he said was still popular in Japan today. And we took turns reading aloud to each other, the classics and other books. But even during the rainy season, there are entertainments in the cities, and so we went out once or twice a week. I didn’t want to travel further than the borders of Nippon with Keno right now. Next rainy season, we would travel farther, and I would show him the beauties of this place in the other lands.

Keno had met all of the
Hakkenshi
at one time or another at the gatherings we went to. He had not broken from his public persona while he was with me at any time. Keno was the perfect companion, attentive and discreet, enjoying his time out with me more than I had ever imagined. While he was having issues with intimacy, he had stopped acting like I was going to abuse him when we were alone. He showed no curiosity about sex at all, unfortunately, but he was losing his fear of it. Kissing became much more enjoyable. We settled into a comfortable relationship, discovering all we could about each other, but it was almost as passionless as the one I had with my lady. However, I had hints from Keno that he was beginning to feel for me also, from the way he was responding to me now.

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DREAMLANDS

I took Keno to a
koto
performance put on by one of the neighboring lords one night, several weeks into the rainy season. The
koto
performance had two of the
Hakkenshi
in attendance also. While Fuse had retreated for a time from the game of discovering who Keno was, she still sent her sons out to spy for her. There was usually one or two of them at the same event when and wherever Keno and I appeared in public. This time it was Inuta Konbungo and his nephew-brother Inue Shinbee. Inue was the son of his sister and had become one of the
Hakkenshi
after her death.

They watched us. I wanted to snap at them to leave us alone, since I was tiring of their attentions. Keno ignored them, flirting with me shamelessly. I was amused and hopeful. It was a beginning for us, because he had never acted like this in public before.

The place was crowded, since when the rains came many wanted to leave their estates and castles. The performer was also talented and beautiful, which was an additional attraction. Her patron was strutting around in his pride. The others here were all men of breeding, accompanied by well-mannered and beautiful companions. It was like we had never left Edo, and I could see why Tamazusa hated these things at times. Before, I simply went when I tired of my own company, but now I wanted to show Keno a good time. I was no better than any of the others here, but Keno was enjoying himself.

I was eventually separated from Keno, which didn’t worry me. He was able to take care of himself, and there was no one here who would harm him or even offer him a discourtesy, since all knew he was my companion. While I was not the power my lady was, I was still someone to be feared. I didn’t worry until I also lost sight of Inue and Inuta. I broke off my conversation as soon as I was able and went to look for Keno. I trusted Fuse, but I didn’t trust her sons at all. To have both of them missing wasn’t something that I liked, and I wasn’t going to let them take Keno from me.

I found the three of them in the corner of the garden. The place was deserted because of the night and the rain. There was a faint mist that gave everything an unearthly glow. Inuta and Inue had managed to trap Keno, and he was huddled in a corner. I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t get closer until I saw the knife in his hand.

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“What are you doing?” I hissed. Even in the dim light, I saw Keno shaking. “Get away!”

I was on them before they realized it. Keno made an odd sound and shrank back further. I pulled Inue back, shoving him on the ground with a growl. I probably wasn’t calming Keno’s fears, but I was furious to see him like this. “Sakura-chan,” I said in a low and, I hoped, calming voice, “what is wrong?”

“They want to do
that
to me!” he cried.

“I assure you that they want you for quite a different reason,” I said. It didn’t reassure him. It wasn’t meant to. I didn’t want him to relax quite yet.

Inuta looked confused, like the ox he was. Calm and friendly, I doubted he thought beyond what he had been told about myself and Keno. He was clever, but not one for deep thought. I blamed this entire incident on Inue, Fuse’s favorite. He had frightened Keno, and I didn’t like that at all. Inue bounded up, and thankfully, Inuta held him back.

I didn’t know when I had become more than fond of Keno, but there was something about him that attracted me, something different than his ancestor or his power. Love had snuck up on me again.

“He wouldn’t talk to us,” Inuta said. “I simply―”

“I told your mother that if she wanted information, then she should ask my lady,” I snarled. “Sakura-chan―”

“He does look like a flower,” Inuta remarked, trying to defuse the situation.

“Only you, Samojirou-sama, would indulge in such perversions,” Inue sneered. “A man dressed as a woman. A whore. He should be called Chrysanthemum.”

I wasn’t surprised to see Inuta slap him on the back of the head after that statement. Inue had just insulted Keno in front of me, implying that he was a low-class whore and not my consort.

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“You have no manners!” Inuta exclaimed, embarrassed and annoyed. “Your mother would be so ashamed. Go back into the house and wait for me. I will try and straighten out this mess. Or do you want Samojirou-sama to call on our mother tomorrow?” Inue stomped out of the garden, acting as if he were a child instead of a warrior.

“Do not think that you can smooth this over,” I hissed.

He shrugged. “Shinbee spoke without thought. We are curious about your companion. I had hoped that he would speak with us if he was not with you. I did not think that he would react so badly.”

“He has been abused in the past,” I said reluctantly.

“You just sought to protect him?” Inuta asked in surprise. “We thought that―”

“That I was being selfish?” I said dryly. “That I was tormenting you for spite? While I do not like all of you, I have come to terms with the anger I had for your grandfather. Especially after I saw how he treated your mother, you, and the others. The man was scum.” Inuta grimaced. Satomi hadn’t been accepting of the fact that one of his grandsons had been a lower-class samurai, barely above a farmer, before he discovered that he was a
Hakkenshi
. “Mother wanted to know more about Sakura-dono. When I came out here, Shinbee had already driven him to this. I wanted Sakura-dono to calm down before I sent Shinbee to look for you. I… I did not trust him alone with Sakura-dono. He was not very nice to him.”

I motioned for him to step back, and I went over to talk to Keno.

“Do you want to go home?”

He shivered and huddled further. “I am sorry I ruined your evening, Samojirou-sama.”

“This is not your fault,” I said gently.

“I… I’m….” Keno stuttered. “Can we go home?”

“Did you answer their questions?” I asked.

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I kept my tone gentle, though I was furious. What had Shinbee done to frighten Keno like this? What had he said to him? Keno had gained a lot of confidence in himself over the last few weeks, and to see him reduced to this was disturbing. But he considered his place with me home, and that was comforting.

“I told them to talk to Tamazusa-sama,” Keno said plaintively.

“But he wouldn’t stop. He kept getting closer and closer, and he was frightening… threatening me.”

Keno started crying, sobbing, and he dropped his knife. I leaned in to scoop it up, wondering where he had been carrying it. I knew
why
.

Only a fool would wander around without protection. I handed it back to him, and he looked at me in confusion.

“We had better go home now,” I said.

Keno nodded. I turned to Inuta. “You and your mother will be hearing from me about this,” I said coolly.

Inuta nodded, bowing deeply before kneeling to humble himself before me. “I apologize for Shinbee’s rudeness. I will inform Mother of why you will be calling upon her. I am sorry that we… I have frightened Sakura-dono.”

“You are a brave man,” I said. He smiled, knowing that Fuse would be furious with him and Inue. “Give my regrets to our host.” Keno stood up and went willingly into my arms. I smiled down at him. “Hold tight,” I said as we stepped into the shadows.

MASON

WE were about a half a mile from where we started when we were surrounded. The rain had stopped, but the air was still moist and nasty.

We were slogging through woods that barely had a path, and I was glad 93

DREAMLANDS

I had boots on, because I spent most of my time tripping over rocks and roots. The weak glow that passed for moonlight was useless to see by.