Free The Disfavored Hero by Jessica Amanda Salmonson Page B

soul,” said Ugo. “It has the blessing of the Mikado, who says Tomoe Gozen will be his samurai if she throws down forbidden weapons and takes up this. You will never see the Mikado, but you will serve him with vigilance and loyalty.”
    Tomoe’s face flushed, and she spoke with anger, “I have always served him through the warlords. All samurai are his servants.”
    â€œThat is both more true, and less true, than you may understand. Already you have served the Mikado better than other samurai.”
    â€œEh?” She cocked an ear, interest gathered.
    â€œFar more. You are too far from the center of Naipon’s intrigues to realize the levels of internal conflict. The Shogun vies for the Mikado’s power …”
    â€œThat is not so!” She could not believe such treason of the highest personage of samurai caste.
    Ugo threw the undrawn sword with its sheath upon the ground, and half-drew his own. “It is so! If twice you call me a liar, I will kill you for my honor and for nothing else! The Shogun undermines the Mikado, would reduce him to an honored figurehead. But without faithful warlords and fighting samurai, the Shogun cannot prevail. Today, you helped weaken the Shogun by more than eight thousand of those samurai who were swayed to his will, reducing four powerful clans to a few dozen ruined members.”
    This made awful sense to Tomoe, and she said, “This is why the Mikado treatied the sorcerer Huan! So that samurai would die!”
    The executioner did not reply.
    Tomoe rose from her knee, her two swords still in hand. “If the Mikado kills samurai, how can I hold faith in him? How can I throw down two good swords for one untried?”
    Her words were blasphemy and treason, for Huan had filled her mind with heretical notions: the Way of the Warrior was not for the honor of samurai, but for the power of whoever would rule, whether it be Shogun or Amaterasu’s godling child.
    â€œThis is your choice,” said Ugo, and drew his sword full length. He held it upward and to one side, and slid nearer the two-sworded woman.
    Anger was intense within Tomoe, but she knew that this was true: the Mikado was Naipon, the supreme ancestor incarnated. Whatever Tomoe did in her life, she did it for Naipon the Eternal Isles, and thereby for the Mikado. Even if bushido were a lie, still must she serve the living flesh of Naipon. Even if a Shogun stole power from a Mikado, still must that Shogun use the stolen power to serve Naipon’s highest personage.
    She threw down her swords, waited to see if the executioner would still kill her.
    Ugo’s sword re-entered its scabbard, and he stood impassively, watching. Tomoe picked up the new sword, judged it by its scabbard, drew it and weighed it in her hand, then sheathed it once again.
    â€œYou will not feel your prowess for a while,” Ugo said, “for you have incorporated much of Ho into your fighting style—ki’ung fu instead of jujitsu, two butterfly-longswords instead of one daito. But when you regain all of your samurai spirit, you will reclaim your previous strength, and more. Until then, you may think you have tied your limbs, for the forbidden style has become a part of you and will beckon exercise, will tempt you with its seeming merits. Never trust it! Never weaken. Never use it again! You will discover that skills born of Naipon are the best borne by samurai.”
    She did indeed feel unbalanced as she discarded two scabbards and placed one new one at her side. But it was a disorientation she knew would pass with time, once she learned again to find balance at her center rather than at the width of her arms.
    â€œYour honor can be saved by one deed,” Ugo began. “Now that you bear a weapon forged, tempered and blessed in Naipon, the sorcerer of Ho will have no more control over your mind. Huan has served the Mikado unbeknownst, but now will be a threat unless you intervene. No one