Fire and Water | A Blue Eye Samurai Story

Chapter 16

A thin layer of snow coats the midnight ground as Ryuu peers up at the intricately built castle Fowler resides in. Ryuu had followed Mizu somewhat closely for the last 6 hours and he's glad that they reached the destination. Ryuu inhales slowly and deeply to center himself and focus his thoughts. He lets his eyes fall closed and he drops to his knees.

My quest is nearing its end. The man who's sworn to secrecy by contract is within my grasp. Mizu's quest is also coming to its end. Should this contract be already expunged, then I will do everything in my power to help Mizu kill the man we seek. Ryuu inhales and exhales once more before opening his eyes. Gods be with us and guide our path to its most absolute end. Ryuu opens his eyes and stands, looking out at the half-frozen waters.

He glances to the ground and notices footprints that lead off to the shore. His brow furrows and Ryuu starts to walk in the direction of the footsteps. The footsteps lead closer and closer to the shore and Ryuu walks carefully so as not to be heard by Mizu. Mizu's footprints take a sudden turn to the right and Ryuu glances over, hearing Madame Kaji's words in his head about where to go.

"A hundred paces north is a door covered by tide." That's what she had said about how to infiltrate the castle undetected. Ryuu squints his eyes as he looks off in the distance to where the footprints lead. From where he's standing, he can see a faint sign of a black rectangle about 100 paces away. There. It seems Mizu has found the door. Ryuu looks around the area for any signs of life, and when he doesn't see anything, he rushes over to the door in a dead sprint. Just before reaching the metal door that's embedded in the ground, Ryuu slows to a stop. Not even an ounce of exhaustion on his breath, Ryuu peers down into the black tunnel that's supposed to lead to the belly of the castle.

When he can tell Mizu isn't standing directly under him, he feeds his fingers through the metal grate and jolts his arm forward. The door gives and he gently lowers the grate dangles open. He pulls his fingers free from the door and drops into the dark tunnel. Ryuu lands and immediately notices the moisture that coats the floor of the tunnel as the splash echoes down the hallway. He winces at the volume of the splash and he hopes that the noise was a lot quieter than it really was. Ryuu stands and reaches upwards to gently close the door behind him. He reaches behind him and pulls out a small torch that he purchased on the way to the castle. Ryuu pulls on a small piece of twine and the torch bursts into a small flame.

Ryuu blows on the torch to make sure that the fire stays lit, and then he holds it out in front of him once he knows the flame will hold. He begins his almost silent walk through the tunnel and hopes that Mizu isn't too far ahead of him. After walking for several dozens of feet, Ryuu comes across multiple skeletons that line the floor of the tunnel. Many rats scurry around at his feet and he nudges them away with his feet. Ryuu takes a few steps forward and the bones don't seem to end. Something quickly catches his eye and Ryuu's gaze darts down to see a skeleton that's holding an infant-sized skeleton in its arms. The edges of his lips curl downwards and his jaw tenses at the sight of a mother and child that perished in this very tunnel. Ryuu shakes his head and forces himself to look away from the bones.

Gods that's so sick and demented. I can't believe that bastard just let them die in here like this. And even wrapped up in each other's arms. Ryuu exhales sharply and he forces his feet to move forward. I can't see any more of this. I need to find Mizu. Ryuu inhales and launches himself forward into a full sprint down the tunnel.

Mizu takes the roll of tools off her back and unravels it on the ground in front of her. A large spread of different tools line the inside of the roll. As Mizu reaches for a lockpicking set, her gaze snaps up towards the tunnel at the sound of footsteps approaching at an insane speed. Mizu's eyes widen and she rushes over to the right side of the room to get a jump on the enemy. She presses her body as close to the wall as she can and she waits, listening to the footsteps get louder and louder by the second. Mizu blows a small breath out of her mouth as she hears the footsteps get within feet of the room she's in.