The Dragonblade [On Hold]

Chapter 7: Camp

Shigeru dug his heels into his horse's shoulders and grimaced. He hated to mistreat the animal, but it was its welfare or his life. The horse accelerated to a gallop, and in his peripheral vision saw Hitoshi and Kameko do the same to their mounts. The two looked utterly exhausted, which perfectly reflected how he felt.

He reflected on what had happened since they had left the academy. Had it only been four days? It had felt like an eternity.

When they emerged from the tunnel, they had been seen by the guards posted on the wall. This wasn't helped by the fact that the head of security was after them too. They had quickly been followed by mounted horsemen, and they had almost been caught twice already. It was only a mixture of Kameko's skill at hiding, a forest, and extremely good luck that had saved them so far.

The three of them had only had a few short rests since leaving the academy. They had sold their old horses in a town yesterday after losing their pursuers for about an hour and a half, buying new ones with the money they had received

Shigeru twisted in his saddle to look behind him. Through the plume of dust his horse was kicking up, he saw another cloud about three hundred meters behind them.

He cursed, then shouted to his companions, "They're still on us. Kameko, do you think we can lose them in the woods?"

Kameko thought for a moment, then nodded. At least, the boys assumed it was a nod. It was hard to tell if any movement was accidental when they were all seated on galloping, plunging horses. She hastily amended the statement. "Yes, I think we can lose them."

"Okay then," Shigeru replied, shouting over the drumming of hooves hitting the ground.

He slowed his horse to a canter, then trot, and guided it off of the path, into the woods. Hitoshi followed, and Kameko brought up the line at the end. They moved about fifty meters off of the path, then stopped their horses and dismounted, ducking behind trees or, in Hitoshi's case, under a bush.

They all stayed completely still as the drumming of hooves hitting compacted dirt got louder and louder. One of the horses neighed, and Kameko moved to silence it, petting it softly on the nose while whispering gently to the horse.

Hitoshi looked back briefly, then turned back to the road. He listened intently for the sounds of approaching horsemen. Hearing it, he turned back and signaled to Shigeru. Shigeru nodded, then hissed at Kameko, "get undercover. They're here."

As she dropped back behind the tree, Hitoshi peered through the bush towards the road. He saw the first of their pursuers flash by, and he signaled to Shigeru behind his back. He saw another two people flash by, and he started to relax.

As the rest of the group went by-Hitoshi counted a dozen mounted horsemen in total-the trio and their horses remained completely quiet. After the last person went by, Hitoshi counted for about thirty seconds just to make sure that there was no one else. When no one appeared, he motioned to the other two to come out from their hiding spots. They emerged and, moving as quietly as they could, mounted their horses again. They rode back toward the road and turned back toward the direction they had come from.

As they set off again, this time at a gentler pace, Hitoshi motioned to the other two. They nudged their horses, and they closed the gap between themselves until they could talk to each other without having to yell. "I know of a clearing in the woods, about two kilometers back," he said, "We should set up camp there."

"I agree," replied Shigeru, "we're all exhausted, and going on like this is going to hurt us more than it will benefit us.

They reigned their horses on the road and dismounted, rubbing their sore backs and groaning all the while. Hitoshi took the lead, and the other two followed, guiding their horses behind them.

They followed Hitoshi over a game trail, tripping and stumbling on the uneven ground. After about twenty minutes, they rounded a corner and entered a clearing. Shigeru estimated that they had walked about a kilometer and a half, although their progress as the crow flies was much less. The trail had had a lot of turns and had doubled back on more than one occasion.

"Here we are," Hitoshi declared, throwing out his arms and grinning, "the perfect place to set up camp."

Kameko surveyed the clearing. It was about 20 meters square, surrounded by trees, and hard to find if you didn't know where it was. She looked around and saw three or four different game trails that led out of the clearing. "This is great Hitoshi," she said, "but how did you find out about this place?"

Hitoshi's grin faded a little. "Oh, I grew up around here," he replied. "I spent a lot of time in the woods, exploring and hunting."

"Really?" Shigeru asked, turning towards his friend, "I didn't know that you lived around here."

"Yeah, well, I never really talked about it with anyone," Hitoshi answered, "I don't like talking about my past."

An awkward silence fell across the clearing, no one knowing what to say. After a couple of minutes, Kameko broke the silence. "Guys, if we're going to get the tents up before dark, we have to get moving soon." This was untrue, seeing that they had about an hour and a half before sunset. But the boys recognized her attempt at making things less awkward, and they both acknowledged it.

"Yeah, let's get these tents set up," Shigeru said. They walked back over to the horses and opened the saddlebags. Each of them was carrying their one-person tent, and they all pulled their tents out of their bags. Before they set up the tents, they pulled pickets from their bags and tethered the horses to the pickets, ensuring that they wouldn't wander away.

They all set up their tents, then carried out the necessities. Hitoshi went to go get water from a nearby stream, while Shigeru collected firewood and Kameko made a fire pit out of rocks, digging up the grass in the area to make sure that the fire wouldn't spread.

Two hours later, they were sitting around the campfire, nursing cups of hot green tea. Hitoshi had set up snares earlier, but they hadn't caught anything, so they ate the food that they had taken from the academy. 

"So, what happens next?" Asked Hitoshi, voicing the question that was on the mind of all three of them.

"Well," Shigeru said, his tone indicating that had thought out his answer carefully, "as I see it, we have two options on what happens next. First, we can go out by ourselves and try to find the other pieces of the dragonblade by ourselves. The other option is to try and find Hōrō-sha and try to get them to help us."

Kameko leaned forward. "The Hōrō-sha?" She asked incredulously, "that's your plan? Try to find the Hōrō-sha and see if they will help us?"

(A/N: Hōrō-sha is Japanese for "The Wanderers." It seemed appropriate. :P)

The Hōrō-sha were a group of rebels that had formed a year after Hanzo had taken power. Almost nothing was known about them, except that if you were in trouble with the authorities or the emperor, then they would welcome you in. The only problem was finding them.

"You know what people say about the Hōrō-sha," Kameko continued. "Until we learn more about them, and we know how they function, I strongly suggest that we continue on this quest ourselves."

"I agree with Kameko," Hitoshi inputted. "I don't want to put our lives into the hands of people that we don't' even know."

"Well, I guess we've come to a decision," Shigeru said. "We'll rest here for a couple more days, then we'll start looking for the dragonblade fragments."

"Don't forget that we have to keep training," interjected Hitoshi, grinning at him. 

"And that," replied Shigeru, returning the smile. "Let's get some rest."

And with that, they each crawled into their tents, and with the uncanny ability that all warriors have, fell asleep within minutes.