Emily's House: Book 1 of the Akasha Chronicles

Chapter 34: The Three Little Ninjas

Chapter 34: The Three Little Ninjas

I ran from the training room and out into the mist and fog. Another scream and a shout.

“Help! Emily, we’re here.”

Jake. I ran toward the voices as fast as my legs would take me. I felt like I was in a dream, running and running but going nowhere. After a while it occurred to me to stop running and instead think about being where they were.

Out of the mist and fog another building came into view. It was a small cottage, much like Madame Wong’s only slightly larger. I stormed through the door, the Sword of the Order still in my hand.

Inside it was dark like night, the only light coming from the grey haze of the Netherworld through the small window openings covered with carved wooden screens. In a corner of the large open room I had stepped into were Jake and Fanny, their hands bound behind them. They were lashed together with a thick rope, and their feet too were bound tightly.

“Emily, look out!” screamed Jake.

It was a good thing he warned me. I had been thrown off my guard, and was not focused and aware like Madame Wong had taught me. With Jake’s warning, I sprung to the air and did a back flip so that I could see my attacker.

Correction. Attackers. There were three small men, dressed in black from head to toe, all brandishing large, curved broadswords like the ones Madame Wong had said were for brutes. The three little ninjas. They turned to face me as I gently landed on the wooden floor. I planted my feet, right foot in front, left behind. I held my sword horizontally in front of me, my left hand up and vertical in front of my face. Focus. Breathe.

They all lunged for me at once, charging like bulls, their swords swinging wildly as they screamed their warrior cries. I felt the blade coming before I could see or hear it, like the movement of the swinging disrupted the molecules in the air around me. I thought only of my blade connecting with theirs, and my arm swung powerfully in a large arc. There was the loud crash of steel as the Sword of the Order swung true and hit the first blade.

The man wielding it looked down in shock as he saw that my sword had cut clean through his thick broadsword. But he was a trained fighter, not a novice. It took him a matter of seconds to recover and grab another sword that he had strapped to his back.

In the meantime, my arm swung like it was a machine, connecting time after time with the blows coming from the three men. I lifted myself gracefully into the air and came down behind them. As one of the ninjas came at me, I thrust forward and dashed to the side so quickly that I cut his arm clean off. He screamed in agony but then vanished from the scene entirely. His cries of pain lingered even after his body was gone.

There was no time to think about it. The other two didn’t miss a beat as they both came at me at once. I swung left and right, parried and turned. I took to the air, but they followed right behind, our blades connecting the whole time. Sparks flew, ignited by the steel grinding on steel.

As we touched the ground, one ninja to the left of me, the other on the right, I swung my arm in a tight figure eight like I’d seen Madame Wong do. I fended off the attempts of each of the ninjas to do me in. I sensed the one on my left was ready to thrust hard. I pitched myself straight up like I was shot from a cannon.

I looked down, and the one ninja’s thrust landed straight in the heart of the other as the second ninja’s sword, which has already been in the motion of a wide arc intended for me, swung clear through the torso of the first ninja. Both vanished even as the sound of their anguished cries lingered.

Then there was silence. My chest still heaved from the exhaustion of the battle with the three ninjas. But there was no time to waste. I had to get Jake and Fanny out of their bindings.

“That was amazing,” Fanny said. I looked at Jake who said nothing, but his clear blue eyes showed their appreciation and awe.

“I didn’t know you could fight like that,” he finally said.

“I didn’t know either.” I cut the ropes around his wrists with my sword. When his hands were free, Jake caught my hand with his. He looked in my eyes with a look I’d never seen before. His hand was warm and as he held my hand in his I felt a slight tingle run up my spine. Time was frozen for a moment as I let Jake keep his hand there, the first true warmth I’d felt in so, so long.

But the moment was cut short by the sound of a large, low voice.

“You’re not finished here, Youngling,” he said. Instantly Jake’s hands were once again bound together.

I turned and there before me was a large man, standing at least six feet three. His upper body was bare, his barrel chest smooth and rippled with muscle. His biceps were two of the most powerful guns I’d ever seen, his stomach a washboard. His dark hair was tied behind him in a smooth tail, his chin covered in a well-groomed goatee. His black eyes glared at me as he stood with his legs spread wide, his sword in his hand.

I hadn’t finished getting Jake and Fanny out of their bindings, but that would have to wait. It occurred to me at that moment that I was going to have to keep fighting until I finished what I came here for.

I had to keep fighting until I killed.