Chapter 1
A legend was told among the people of Tsuchimikado and Narukami, that one day a falling star would appear at the firmament, announcing the end of the raging war among both of the kingdoms. It would fall down on earth and split the Crystal of Stars into two. Two pieces of one form and shape would be shared between the kingdoms, ending their battle for the source of power at the feet of its pedestal.
So it was told for a thousand of years with the war going on relentlessly.
The thunder of hoes, frequently crashing into the solid ground, could be heard from afar. The air smelled like rain.
Excited she stood in front of her home, waiting for the arrival of the riders.
So long had he been gone.
Years had passed by since he left her mother and her to go on his mission.
They had expected him to be gone a few months. Instead many winters crossed their land, until they finally heard word from him.
She couldn’t wait to hear his stories about the land behind the horizon. A land that many stories were told about, painting the ugliest images of its inhabitants. She doubted, that Tsuchimikado people really had two eyes of a different color that would rotten you with darkness and pull your soul into the pits of hell, if you’d looked at it too long.
These were stories to scare of children and antagonize the people of Tsuchimikado. She was sure of that. Having studied all these years, since her father had left, Mayura had different ideas about the hostility between those people and the people of Narukami. It was all thanks to the Crystal in the legend, that this war was going on as it had for a thousand of years now. She was pretty sure of that. And she guessed that not one of Tsuchimikado’s inhabitants looked like the monsters, they were described to be.
Folding her hands in front of her, she waited as the wind pushed the long cloth of her kimono against her legs and gently caressed over her pinned up hair, which people called to be the one of an angel, since it was a sunny blond fading of into a freshly green.
The thundering noise grew louder as the riders got closer. Soon they would break through the small forest hiding the estate and dividing it from the main city.
Her father had left their city to her mother’s reign. All those years Mayura had learned and trained herself, never knowing when she would have to rule herself. So she’d studied politics, economics, rhetoric and warfare everyday for hours until her eyes hurt and her sight blurred.
She couldn’t wait to show her father the new skills and knowledge, she’d obtained.
“You will catch the death, if you stand in the wind like,” she heard her mother’s soft voice from behind her, as she walked towards her with a cape.
With a grateful smile Mayura turned around and helped her mother placing the cape over her shoulders of her brightly colored kimono. Her mother was a kind soul, always thinking about others. She could have sent a servant to bring Mayura her cape but instead the feudal lady of Narukami lowered herself to bring her daughter something to shield herself against the cold, heartless wind. That was why people of Narukami loved her and looked up to her. Nobody questioned the current lordship of the Amawaka’s. Even with their lord having been gone for so long. “Thank you, Okaasama.”
With only a kimono and a cape shielding her mother as well, she stood beside Mayura, both waiting for the riders to arrive.
And then finally Mayura noticed a motion behind the branches. A troupe of five riders broke cover and became visible on the path leading towards the house of the feudal lord.
Her father rode at its front, instead of being flanked to be shielded from all sides like royals were usually escorted. An indifferent and bored look was adorning his face.
Mayura couldn’t help but smile seeing her father after so many years being stubborn as ever.
At a trot the riders lead their horses over the court towards the main house. Mayura looked at the companions of her father. One she had known for a while.
Inanaki Arata-san had dark hair that looked blue, at the spots the sun kissed. He had been an old comrade of her father’s at the front. But Mayura had gotten to know him differently. When she was smaller, he would always read out tales to her from his books, which he cherished so much. Silly, trivial literature her father had called it with a snarl. Yet, Mayura enjoyed the beautiful fairy tales of lone samurai and unrequited love. Back then, when her father had left Narukami, Arata-san rode out at the side of her father. She imagined, he would be missing his books brutally by now, since he hadn’t been able to take them along with him.
Her eyes skipped over the other riders. Two in the row were soldiers of the Narukami force, she didn’t know the name of. They probably joined the other three, when they arrived at the coast.
And then there was one of the riders that stroke her attention. He wore white, oddly short hair and had skin so dark like she’d never seen it before. Was this a Tsuchimikado inhabitant? Intrigued she wondered, if they all had dark skin as his.
The riders stopped at the signal of her father, a few feet away from her mother and her.
Nobody said a thing, as both parties stared at each other. That was until her father drawled in a monotone voice, “Oi, missed me?”
A bubbly laughter broke out of her and her feet moved on her own, as she moved to the side of her father’s horse and softly grazed a hand over its head.
When she had seen him off, her height had barely reached the stomach of the animal. Now six years later she had grown the body of a woman at normal height and could easily climb the horse’s back.
She looked up at the man most people knew as Amawaka Seigen, the ninth lord of the Amawaka dynasty. Of course she held a lot of respect for the man, who ruled a nation so flawless, his people would trust him to leave for a mission with unforeseeable results and without a fixed term. But mostly she held gentle feelings for the man with dark, tired eyes and long dark hair, which was wrapped up in a ponytail crossing the whole of his back. Gentle feelings, that now broke through the surface.
“Otoosama, welcome back,” she mumbled, while tears rose to her eyes.
She knew, he had never been the person to show his emotions. So when he faced her with a glint in his eyes, it was enough for her to understand, that he felt the same way she did.
Dismounting the animal, her father dropped to the ground. After stretching his neck, he nodded for the other riders to follow him. “It’s good to be home. I couldn’t stand the sight of the palm trees and sand any longer.”
“Palm trees? I think, I’ve read about them. Don’t they bear fruits with a skin as thick as stone?“, Mayura asked curiously. She wished, she could see them someday. Maybe, if this war would end, one day, she could.
“They do,” a dark, unfamiliar voice joined in, “and they conceal the most refreshing juice and delicious flesh.” She looked over the horses back at the foreigner. It had been him talking.
With a risen eyebrow she watched him. He didn’t have two colored eyes. He was a normal man speaking the same language as her. The only difference was the darker shade of his skin.
After staring a while his face broke out into a grin. He bawled out, “Oh, forgive me, you must be Hime-sama.”
She blinked in wonder at him. He was so straightforward and loud. She liked it. A smile broke on her face and she nodded at him. “Mayura would be enough.”
“I heard so much about you. I am Ioroi Narumi, warrior of a tribe of Tsuchimikado.”
Eager to learn more, Mayura inquired, “Warrior? It’s that what you call your soldiers?”
He grinned at her fully now. “If that’s what you call them here, then it is.”
“Good to see you again, Mayura-sama.” Turning around Mayura spotted Arata-san, who smiled at her friendly.
She was grateful to see him again safely returned. Again tears started to flood her eyes and speechlessly she nodded at him.
Like always he squeezed his shut. Never had she seen them fully opened. “You have grown into a fine lady.”
Her face grew warm at the compliment. Sometimes she was insecure about her figure being too womanly. Once she was told, she had a body many women would die for, thanks to her broad hips and large breasts. Most of the times she would find them rather annoyingly in the way. Receiving now a kind compliment without any suggestions, made her feel good. With a light voice she thanked him.
"Oi, enough with the greetings,” she heard her father say from behind her and she needed to turn around to look at him.
He stood beside her mother, who was in tears of joy at the return of her long gone husband.
Suddenly his eyes changed. In a much darker voice he told her, “We need to talk.”
“You can’t expect me to do this,” she yelled at her father, while kneeling on the ground. She believed it to be a bad joke. He couldn’t possibly be serious. After being absent for six year, he couldn’t actually come back and command her to get married.
“I do~,” he slowly replied, watching her from his standing point, looking down on her. His arms hanging down loosely at his side within the wide arms of his blue kimono. His armor had been taken off by the servants on their way inside.
When he had told her, they needed to talk, she wouldn’t have thought, it was something like this. All of a sudden she was on the brim of loosing everything, she had known. And all thanks to her father and the feudal lord of Tsuchimikado, who plotted their children to marry, for the sake of ending the war. Aggravated she inquired, “What about the legend? What about the falling star ending the war?”
Her father sighed obviously unnerved and shook his shoulders. “That’s just an ancient legend. Nothing but a fairy tale, that had been around for ages. Nothing happened so far and probably never will.”
She shook her head in disbelief. Looking down on the mats covering the floor of the main room, she asked herself, why people had fought for so long under the lead of a legend, that wouldn’t come true anyway. And this now, an arranged marriage, was supposed to be the solution to a senseless war? “I don’t even understand, why we’re in this war in the first place.”
“You know, it’s because of the Crystal,” he drawled.
Of course she’d known. It didn’t mean she understood it. She had read so many stories about the Crystal and its powers, which affected the two kingdoms equally. Yet, despite all her studies, she could not comprehend the reason, why people had started to spill their blood over it. “Doesn’t the Crystal serve both Tsuchimikado and Narukami? Doesn’t it give life to the flowers in spring in both kingdoms? Doesn’t it rule the sun’s course for both our kingdoms to be bathed in light at day? Doesn’t it let rivers flow and lend us the air we breathe in the west as well as in the east?”
“It does.” Her father’s gaze skimmed to the side. In a low voice he murmured, “Thing is, people always want things for their own.”
She didn’t believe this was her fate, being forced to marry a man, she’d never seen and not once spoke to. There had to be another way. “But you’ve been there! You’ve been in Tsuchimikado for so long, negotiating peace, haven’t you?”
“I have~.”
“So why is the war still going on, when both kings want to end it?” she inquired harshly.
“It’s not easy,” he said rather quickly for his usual slow drawl, “Listen, you can’t just end a war that has been going on for so long on a whim. People are used to fighting for generations. How could they understand?”
Tears were clouding her eyes. Angry and disappointed tears. “And you want to do that by setting me up?”
Her father put a hand on his hips and looked at her with an unwavering gaze, “You will do that by making an example. If both kingdoms are joined in heritage, they’ll both be joined in heart.”
She wiped her head to the side and grumbled, “This is foolish.”
“It may be so to you. I’d hope, you understand and spare the next generation of soldiers any more pain,” he said in a sigh. After closing his eyes once, he tore them open again with a glare, directed at her and continued, “But until you do, you will do as I say.”
Blinking the tears, that were threatening to fall, away, she buried her fingers in the silky material of her kimono. She muttered, “As the returned ruler of Narukami?”
“As your father.”
“As my father, you shouldn’t set me up to marry against my wishes.” She raised her voice against her father. The man she always looked up to, who she had always believed was giving his best as a lord, as a leader and as a husband and father.
He looked taken aback. His gaze dropped to the ground and in low voice he replied, “I wish for you to find love in your marriage. It doesn’t mean, you won’t. I’ve got to know your fiance pretty well. He is kindhearted, a bit too soft on the inside, but a good man with pure beliefs.”
“Even if he is. It doesn’t say, I will fall for him,” she exclaimed.
“I am sorry, I couldn’t be the father, you needed. Not even now.”
She couldn’t bear it anymore, the sadness in her father’s eyes and voice. The regret breaking through the surface. She couldn’t stand the need to comfort him, while she wanted to stay angry.
In one swift motion she stood up and turned away. “I’m not angry at you for not being there. I understand, why you weren’t. I am angry for you forcing this onto me, because you weren’t capable of ending the war yourself.”
Without a second thought, she went straight to her room. As she shut the shoji behind her, she felt desperation pushing her down, making her slip to the floor. A deep sigh pushed its way out of her lungs through her lips.
What was she going to do? What could she possibly do?
She didn’t want to marry a stranger. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to marry at all. She had just turned sixteen, just arrived at the age suitable to marry and had not put one thought to it. Because of the stories Arata-san had told her all these years ago, she had imagined her future husband to be virtuous and kind, strong and fearless like the lone samurais. Right now she would be happy, if she just could choose herself.
Was it truly hopeless to end the war just like that? Did the people really need a symbol to lead them to peace?
No, she couldn’t, wouldn’t believe that.
Rising to her feet, a plan formed itself in her head.
This time she would go and make the negotiations.
She wanted to have a word with the feudal lord of Tsuchimikado himself. What was the house called again? She had read it somewhere. Was it Ikruga? Ikaga?... Ikaruga. That was right.
If her own father wouldn’t listen to her, would he?
It was a low chance, she got, but it was all she had to save herself from getting trapped in a marriage, she didn’t want.
Walking to her table, she grabbed for a piece of paper and ink, after she knelt down.
She would at least have him know, where she was going.
Mayura knew, she could trust her best friend to keep her whereabouts a secret. After all she was doing this for him in some ways, too.
If she succeeded, she would spare him a life as a soldier at the front. Something Rokuro had signed up for in a foolish moment of heroic ideals. When he’d told her, what he had done, she had given him a speech. He wasn’t cut out for being a soldier.
Resolution formed in her heart and words on the paper.
It was time to end this infinite war for good.
Putting away the letter, she grabbed things, she would need on her quest, recalling the things she learned thanks to Arata-san’s stories. On her way out she would grab some books about the wildlife, too.
After leaving her room, she first walked to the wash house, picking up a yukata, garments and bindings of the maids, that were spread out to dry. There was no way she would make it far, dressed in the colorful kimono of a princess.
Having collected all things needed, some food, a dagger, a part of her savings, books and clothing, she sneaked through the main house to the back.
When she came across the tea room, she spotted her mother there, hopefully smiling and sitting in front of a table, on which three cups were placed. Two of those were neglected.
Mayura’s heart ached and tears started to constrict her throat. The pressure on her chest was painful. She knew, she would see her mother again, but leaving her for an unknown period of time and without a notice, felt so cruel, it made her want to drop her pack and the plans of adventure, run up to her mother and hug her.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed out these thoughts and went on with her plans.
Luckily she made it fast out of the building and through the back of the estate to the small forest shielding her home, knowing the positions of the guards by heart.
Quickly she hid the letter in the trunk of the tree, she and Rokuro had chosen years ago for their correspondence.
A heavy sigh left her, when she looked back one last time at the estate, that was now mostly hidden behind a wall of trees.
‘I’m sorry, Okaasama and Otoosama,’ she thought and turned her back on her home, facing the start of her journey.
He seethed with rage. An arranged marriage? Was his father being serious?
When his father had called for him and his siblings, Shimon had not expected this news.
After six years of negotiating and planning, the rulers of Tsuchimikado and Narukami had decided to end the war and give the people of both kingdoms a symbol of unity: An arranged marriage between both their houses.
Enraged Shimon walked back and forth along an invisible line next to the table in the counsel room. Usually he wouldn’t loose his temper so easily. It took much too make him as angry as he was right now.
He couldn’t believe his father. And he couldn’t believe Seigen-dono.
These past six years the feudal lord of Narukami had been a welcome guest under the roof of the house Ikaruga and he had also become Shimon’s sensei, teaching him the traditions of Narukami and training him in the fight with the katana with finesse. The wise and strong man from another land had become his consultant and idol.
When Seigen-dono had left a few days ago, Shimon had been sad. Someday he had hoped they would live in a world, where the people of Tsuchimikado and Narukami would meet each other as allies and no more on the battlefield as enemies.
Shimon didn’t want to believe, that the man he looked up to was part of planning this.
“Nii nii-sama, please, calm down,” his little sister said from behind him.
He turned around and rested his gaze on the girl sitting on the ground with her knees pulled to her body. She looked so small in her pretty kimono, with the long hair that was in a darker pinkish shade than his own.
Of course he wanted to end the war. Not only for his people’s sake, but also for his little sister, who suffered from the Crystals powers.
The Crystal granted all things life. But with Chiiko it was different. She received too much of the powers, tiring her out from the inside. The physicians had foretold, that she wouldn’t even reach the age of ten. Now she was twelve years old, after having been barely pulling her from death’s graps once, thanks to an old acquaintance of Seigen-dono. Shimon wondered, how long she could trick fate.
If only the legend be fulfilled. With half of the Crystal, the chances were high, that a less potent power would reach Tsuchimikado and its inhabitants.
Nobody knew for sure, but Shimon would rather believe in gain than in loss of the legend’s promise.
Ending the war was one thing, saving his sister was another.
Even if an arranged marriage would have the effect Seigen-dono and his father hoped, the legend wouldn’t come true. Wouldn’t their actions defy the legend and deny the split of the Crystal of Stars? Wouldn’t the people defy the god they prayed to?
“I can’t,” he told his little sister. He couldn’t calm down. He didn’t want to. Since their father had left them, after telling him the news, his brother and sister had stayed silent, watching Shimon walking up and down.
“Look at the bright side. Finally the war will end,” his brother said from another corner.
Shimon looked at his old brother, who seemed relaxed leaning against the wall despite the news. As always Keiji seemed all charming and gentle, a small smile on his lips. His hair was the same color as Chiiko’s and hugged his head in perfect lines. They were unlike Shimon’s unruly hair, that he simply couldn’t get control of. His were spiky and wildly rising from his head like a thistle.
Optimistic as ever Keiji looked at him. He was probably trying to lend Shimon some hope, while facing this twisted agreement. But Shimon had never been that optimistic himself, believing in facts instead of wishful thinking. He didn’t think it was a fact, something simple as a marriage would smooth down the consequences of ending this war. In a low voice he asked, “Don’t you understand what this means?”
For a thousand of years people have believed in a legend. It had been their religion and hope. Now this legend should be cast aside giving the people another symbol to place their beliefs on?!
There was no guarantee, that this would suffice. That the people would cross out their hate and prejudices for their enemies. That the warriors would return like nothing happened, like they never faced the horrors of war. That they would forget the bloodshed and forgive the murderers of their next of kin and friends.
Keiji blinked once, his smile only faltered for a second. “I do. But this could be a chance at peace. How could we deny that to our people?”
Taking chances as low as this, was irresponsible in Shimon’s understanding. And this ostensible solution wouldn’t save Chiiko. The thought of loosing her, made his teeth clench and his stomach clench painfully and so he lashed out at his brother, “What about our sister?”
Sadness crossed his brother’s eyes.
“It is okay, Nii nii-sama,” Chiiko’s voice softly called to him. The tender tone fed the feeling of hopelessness and inadequacy.
He couldn’t take it.
With a click of his tongue, Shimon turned away from his siblings and growled, “No, it’s not.”
Anger and despair spurred on his steps leading him to his room.
This couldn’t be it.
This wasn’t the solution to this war.
This wasn’t how Chiiko would be saved.
Besides he didn’t believe in arranged marriages. Forcing two people to wed, to live an unhappy life, was going against his virtues. He didn’t like the idea of being thrown into a life like that.
It wasn’t, that he thought the heiress of Narukami was a bad person. During his stay Seigen-dono had often talked about his daughter, since she was only two years younger than Shimon himself, which was the reason, as Shimon had figured, for why Seigen-dono had granted Shimon the most attention out of the three Ikaruga siblings.
No, she couldn’t be a bad person, he thought, as he entered his room and stopped in its middle.
Amawaka Mayura was very likely a nice and kind girl, but without any knowledge of the world outside and no fighting spirit, having been raised as a princess of Narukami.
Perhaps not the worst suitable wife.
But thanks to his idols, thanks to Seigen-dono and his parents, Shimon had learned, how much love mattered in a marriage.
He didn’t think an arranged one could caught up to that.
Even this factor of the solution, his father and Seigen-dono had cooked up, was pointless. It wouldn’t bring peace, wouldn’t save Chiiko and would lead to a likely unhappy marriage between two houses, which could lead to yet another conflict.
What was the solution then?
Standing now in the middle of his room, he did not know, what path was there to follow. His feet were planted on the ground, as he recognized the truth. He had no focus at all.
He loathed this helplessness. Was there no way out of this cage of cruel fate?
Biting his lips, he wondered, what could bring the war to an end, save Chiiko and be a reason to call of this foolish agreement.
And just in this moment the answer filled his mind, as clear as never before: The legend.
The fulfillment of the legend would accomplish all that.
He walked to the wall, displaying his collection of katanas.
Choosing the sharpest and lightest of them, he picked the katana, graced with the name “Vermilion Sword”.
It was a sword as old as this dynasty itself and as long in his family’s possession for just as long. It was given its name for his merciless and undefeated number of victories in battle, having bathed the blade in blood time and again, coloring the sword’s guard into a vermilion red.
He would find a way to fulfill the legend.
He would make sure the Crystal to be split in two and end this war.
He would save his sister from her fate.
And with this action he would call of the marriage.
With fierce determination he schemed his leave and his journey to the Crystal of Stars.
