Underneath the Red Trees

CHAPTER 36: DASHI'S RETRIBUTION

Keijiro nudged his horse forward. To him, it felt like the horse was gradually getting slower, but the truth was that the horse could only gallop so fast. The messenger had long since fallen behind.

The Fujimaru residence was farther away from the bamboo forest than the town.

When Keijiro finally arrived, the flames had already climbed toward the moon. The fortress was blanketed in flames, consumed by smoke and destruction.

As soon as his eyes landed on the fiery destruction Keijiro lost control of his horse. It reared its front legs. Keijiro was thrown from its back. His shoulder collided with a tree trunk. The horse galloped away.

Keijiro clutched at his dislocated elbow. His leg had also been wounded. It hurt. The pain worsened as the moments fled by, but Keijiro had no time to worry about it. He limped toward the burning fortress. His eyes were wet. Fear gripped his mind.

What of his father? Was Shunichiro still inside?

Keijiro could not abandon him. Never.

The smell of burning wood filled his senses. He saw no one through the haze that had covered his sight like a veil. The smoke waded its way into his lungs, but he pushed himself forward, through the halls of the fortress.

Any hope for his father's survival vanished when he saw the blood stains.

The violent coughing fits came. Tears slipped down his cheeks. His knees buckled beneath him. His throat choked with sobs and coughs. "Father...!" he gasped. The smoke was so overbearing that Keijiro's eyes began to burn. His vision started to blur. Would he die here? As his father had?

He felt arms enveloping him. He struggled against the stranger, but they were stronger.

He was dropped at the same moment he felt air come back into his lungs. He cowered on the ground, head pressed to the grass. Coughing and gasping as he held his head. His eyes still burned but he was able to make out a face illuminated by the flames. Ryogetsu's clothes had been burned and ruined but his skin was untouched.

"Lord Getsu," Keijiro coughed.

"Keijiro," he said, his voice grave, "I am so sorry."

His eyes widened. He clutched onto Ryogetsu's clothes, staring with trembling lips. "Lord Getsu," he choked, "Who did this?"

"It seems to me that it was Dashi."

Keijiro's grip on Ryogetsu's clothes loosened. If Ryogetsu was here that meant the town was burning too, did it not? All the sounds around him were drowned out by his thoughts. His body trembled. His own fingernails dug holes into his scalp. And he shrieked.

Ryogetsu cursed and balled up the letter. He threw it, but due to its lightness it only bounced, doing little to placate his fury. In his anger he grabbed the ink grinder and threw it against the wall. It shattered, staining the wood black.

Half a month had passed since the Fujimaru clan's annihilation. Ryogetsu had sent out soldiers to hunt down Dashi, but she was nowhere to be found.

However, he never would have expected this turn of events.

The letter in question was from the Madou clan. A vassal of the Inoue clan. They had just declared war on Naguchi. Hiroto of Madou was blaming Ryogetsu for Shunichiro and his clan's demise.

"What is the matter?" Yuuki asked worried. He was standing by the door staring at the ink stain.

"We are going to war," Ryogetsu said. His fingernails dug into his palms. His knuckles were white.