Then he lunged.
Ichizo could barely track his cousin’s movement, Hiro’s prosthetic a blur, his blade smashing aside his foe’s guard, the Daimyo spinning on the spot and bringing his katana in a sweeping arc across the man’s ribs. The wooden blade cracked against the samurai’s breastplate, denting the metal, a spattered, damp exhalation leaving his lips as the man fell to his knees, clutching his side, face twisted in pain. Hiro stood above him, sword raised above his head for the would-be deathblow.
The samurai raised his hand in surrender.
“Yield, great Lord,” he rasped. “I yield.”
Ichizo’s applause mingled with that of the servants, Hiro’s four other sparring partners, bent and bruised and hovering at the training dojo’s edge. Their Daimyo had been beating on the men for the best part of an hour, Ichizo hovering outside, listening to the sharp cries, the grunts of pain, until he had finally lost patience, entering to seek words with his clanlord.
Hiro helped his opponent to his feet, and noticing Ichizo amidst the retinue, raised an eyebrow in question. The Daimyo was fighting unarmored, all muscle and sweat, flesh gleaming in the fading light. Long black hair was drawn back in a tail, a sodden river trailing down his chest, clinging to his skin. A short puncture scar marred the taut pectoral muscle above his heart, just a few inches shy of a killing blow. The flesh at his right shoulder was inked with a mangled tiger tattoo, an iron collar affixed around his bicep, hiding the union between his flesh and the prosthetic the Guild had gifted him. Ichizo was unnerved by the sight—the union of meat and machine far too akin to a Lotusman for his tastes.
Shōgun Yoritomo had always kept his distance from the chi-mongers—always kept the delineation between throne and Guild clear. But it seemed Hiro had thrown in with them without so much as a backward glance. He knew the power the Lotusmen offered his cousin, knew how much rode upon this union between Hiro and Lady Aisha, what would become of the nation if the clans fell to civil war. And yet, unease at this overt alliance with the Guild grew in him daily—more than the threat of Kagé insurgents hiding in the shadows, the Stormdancer fermenting discontent from the north. And he wondered what price the Daimyo would truly pay for his throne.
And yet Hiro was his cousin. His blood. His Lord. To think such things— “You wish to speak with me, Ichizo-san?”
Hiro dropped his bokken to the floor, the wooden sword striking the boards with a sharp clatter. A servant scuttled from the periphery with a cup of almost clear water, hovering by his Lord’s side.
“It is no matter, great Lord.” Ichizo bowed. “I should not have interrupted your training. It can wait.”
“Well, you have interrupted now. We might as well kill two birds with one stone.”
The Daimyo motioned to the row of wooden katana, the training dummies clad in practice armor. A small smile on his lips.
“I fear I would prove little contest for you, great Lord,” Ichizo said.
Hiro grinned. “Since when did that stop you in the past?”
“Oh ho.” Ichizo grinned in return. “I recall besting you once or twice, at least.”
“Make it three times, then. Or are those magistrate’s robes I put you in sending you soft?”
Ichizo bowed with a wry smile, walking to one of the wooden figures and slipping on the training armor, a servant buckling it in place. Hiro sipped his water as Ichizo suited up—heavy gauntlets, breastplate, a cowled helm—watching his cousin test a half-dozen practice blades before he found one with balance to his liking. The Lord Magistrate finally stepped into the sparring circle, raised his sword in salute. The Daimyo tossed his cup to another servant, swept his ponytail back over his shoulder and flourished a new bokken with his iron sword arm.
“Defend yourself,” Hiro hissed.
The Daimyo charged across the room, footsteps echoing floor to high ceiling, bringing his sword down toward his Lord Magistrate’s head. Ichizo parried, impact jarring his wrists, knocked aside amidst the hiss and whirr of Hiro’s prosthetic. A foot to his chest sent him stumbling back, hissing and coughing, opening his eyes just in time to fend off another flurry of blows from Hiro’s blade—face, chest, gut.
He backed away, astonished at the ferocity of the attack. Hiro smiled, watching him over the edge of his blade, waiting for his counter.
“So,” he said. “Speak.”
Ichizo lunged, once, twice, Hiro fending off both strikes with practiced ease, the sharp notes of wood cracking against wood ringing in his ears.
“It is of little import, great Lord.”