Lady of the Castle

Lady of the Castle

A Tale from the World of Heathmoor

                "wake up... wake up..."

                The voice was distant. Simply a note in the ambient sounds that distorted around her. She barely noticed it. Her bare feet kissed the cold dirt as she skipped along through the forest. The trees were void of any leaves. Their branches old and withered, bark fraying and cracking. Her hair danced up and down, like it was floating in water. Like she was swimming in a lake. No. Not a lake. The deep. Where light dies and the dark thrives, where life ends and nightmare begins.

                "...wake up!"

                She stopped dead in her tracks, skidding in the dirt until her feet stopped an inch away from a cliffside. There was nothing beyond. Nothing but fog, so thick a blade could cut right through it. All stood still.

                Then she saw it: a shadow, as big as a faraway mountain, moving through the fog. Limbs bigger than clusters of tree trunks, moving closer. She wanted to run back. To disappear into the endless. But she was stuck there. Weighed by gravity.

                "Wake up!"

                The shadow had stopped moving. It was in front of her now, parting the fog as it neared. She could feel a foul, warm stench against her skin, clashing against the dense, cold air. Not sure why, she held her hand out, index finger outstretched, like she could touch the shadow. Then came a horrifying screech, layered upon itself like a thousand people screaming all at once. Burning red eyes sundered the fog, blazing straight through to her, and she let out a frightened, primal scream.

                "WAKE UP!"

PART I: THE ATTACK

                Lady Saori stood atop the castle wall, staring in disbelief at the size of the Samurai army laying siege to her home. Flaming arrows flew through the sky, catapults heaved burning projectiles streaking orange against the stark blackness of the night. What could be done against such a destructive force?

                "My Lady!" Junpei, her aide, yelled to her right. He was busy fighting off two enemy attackers. They had already begun to climb the walls. "I apologize for waking you."

                "We have much bigger worries right now, Junpei" she answered, before crouching and pivoting elegantly, evading an attacker. She twirled her naginata in one swift motion and sliced through them. The bodies were piling up at her feet, and more were coming up the ladders.

                "We must fortify our defenses!" she yelled. "We have to hold them!"

                "Yes, my Lady. Yes." He agreed, but even she could not ignore the worry in his voice. He knew, just like she did, that fate was not on their side. And how could it be? They had no army, and far too few numbers. Their enemy was cunning---and treacherous. Even from atop the wall, she recognized the banners of Katsuo and his clan.

                Katsuo, that cursed wretch. The few times she had met him, she knew he could not be trusted. His eyes were hungry. And now he had brought death to their door. His soldiers operated a massive battering ram which bared his mark, and every few moments, it would hammer into the large wooden gate keeping them out with a thunderous clasp. Every hit seemed like a countdown, bringing about annihilation.

                "We must hold them until Masaki returns!" Saori shouted, just as she cut down two rabid enemies.

                "Do you really think he will come?" Junpei grunted, holding off a lumbering Shugoki.

                "He will," she affirmed. "I know he will," she added, a low whisper to herself. A hope, or perhaps a prayer. She had no way of knowing. After being awoken to the sound of alarm bells and fire in the sky, she had quickly dispatched a messenger to find her husband. It was only a half-day earlier that Masaki and his army had left, after being called away by the Emperor. Something about overseeing some important new addition to the Imperial City. In doing so, Saori's home, Castle Chiyo, had been left with very few defenders. Katsuo answered to the Emperor as well. Or rather, he was supposed to. It would seem that, in his insatiable lust for power, he had seen an opportunity. Even if it came at the cost of fellow Samurai.

                With another three invaders dead at her feet, Saori rushed over to Junpei before he could get crushed by the Shugoki. She slid to the side, twirled and struck, and the Shugoki fell so heavily that stone underneath their feet shook. She reached a hand out to Junpei, and helped him up.

                "The moon still shines bright," she told him. "As long as the night lasts, so must we. With the morning light, my husband will come. Light will be our deliverance. We must simply hold the dark. For as long as we can."

                Junpei nodded, then lowered his head. "I am truly sorry I woke you," he said softly.

PART II: THE RETREAT

                Castle Chiyo had been part of the Myre's landscape for hundreds of years. It was said that the original stone that lay at its foundation came from a castle that dated back to the Before times---before the end. Before the Cataclysm. A single piece of history, carried over to start something new. Chiyo was not just a name, it was a monument to Samurai legacy. And it was a sentiment carried proudly by all those who called the castle and its village home. Whether walking through cacophonous halls or wandering through stone-paved roads and bridges, whether fishing in life-brimming ponds or gazing at luscious cherry blossoms, one could feel history come to life here. Respect, peace and honor. Those were the values imbued into Castle Chiyo by its founders - Lady Saori's ancestors.

                "This is my home," she yelled at an invading Orochi. "You are not welcome!" she added, slitting his throat. Blood splattered profusely in the air as the body fell to the side. She was surrounded by cries of pain, and it tore at her very heart - for she knew the ones crying out were not her enemies, but her people. Villagers, subjects and friends she was sworn to defend.

                Then came another sound. Distant, but rising in volume. A splintering shriek unlike anything she had ever heard. And yet, it somehow felt... familiar. It shook every fiber of her being. All she could do in answer was scream herself. Palms pressed against both sides of her head, on her knees, she screamed. Tears filled her eyes. She was stuck. Unable to move or speak. Until---

                "My Lady!"

                It was Junpei, kneeling beside her, worry plastered all over his face.

                "Are you alright? Have you been hit?"

                The shriek was gone.

                "What was that sound?" she asked.

                "What sound?" He helped her up.

                "You mean you didn't hear--"

                "My Lady, look." He pointed behind her. "I... don't..."

                She turned to see the worst had come to pass. The horned ram of Katsuo and his army had smashed through the castle's gates. Wood had shattered and splintered, fire spread, and warriors flooded through like water through a crack in a dam.

                Saori saw it all unfold---what would come to pass. The warriors would kill everyone. Her home would burn. Her family's legacy would be erased. And over the ashes, the loathsome Katsuo would reign. Anger and despair bubbled inside of her, both fighting for dominance. Was she to crumble, or fight?

                "My Lady," she heard Junpei, but he seemed far away. She felt it all. The despair. The hopelessness.

                "My Lady!"

                The rage.

                "My Lady!

                Wake up!

                "WHAT?!" she yelled at Junpei with a burning gaze. He was visibly shaken by her reaction. This wasn't like her. He knew it. And she knew it.

                "What..." he started, hesitating. "What should we do?"

                She took a deep breath, and thought of her son, Yoshiro. She had found his letter. At least he was far away from all of this. She needed to keep going. Needed to fight. For him.

She decided. It was not over yet. The night still had a bit of life left in it.

                "Sound the retreat. We may survive this yet."

PART III: THE FALL

                The retreat to the castle had been excruciating. Saori had stepped over countless bodies, and she had tried her best to ignore their faces. But despite herself, she had recognized so many of them. A baker she would visit nearly every morning for warm, fresh bread; a sweet old gardener who would bring her colorful flowers for her bedroom. Too many of them to count. With every step, someone she had let down. A trail of death, of broken promises and failures.

                Tears roamed freely down her cheeks by the time she reached her family shrine, at the center of the castle yard, surrounded by the peacefulness of cherry blossom trees. A place of beauty. There would be no retreating any further. This was it. This was where she would stand and fight. For her home. For her family.

                The shrine was something entrusted to her by her mother. It chronicled history and honor. She was meant to contribute to it---not watch it be eradicated by fiends of insatiable hunger.

                The first hints of sunlight appeared over the mountains. Brushes of pale orange pushed back against the black, banishing the night away. Saori swerved and sliced an enemy's head off, before turning to another and stabbing twice, then thrice. Her allies were few and far between. She was almost by herself now, fighting off an invading force that seemed unending. She felt all alone. She had even lost track of Junpei. What if he was dead? What if she had failed him too, just like all the others?

                As another wave of Samurai swarmed her, she lashed out angrily. Her hits were vicious, aggressive, desperate. Heads were severed, ruby-red blood spewed and covered the once polished stones under her feet. And yet, more soldiers came.

                She was exhausted, her strength depleted. Her will, extinguished. All that was left now was sorrow. She looked at the sky above and saw shades of yellow and purple. She hadn't even realized the night had fully passed. She had put hope in the light, believing that her husband would magically arrive with reinforcements to turn the tide. But she now knew this was a lie she had told herself. There was no army. No deliverance. Only death. The castle was lost.

                A warm, soft breeze plucked a cherry blossom flower from a branch and carried it gently through the air. It landed gently in front of her. She cusped it in her hands.

                "I am sorry my loves," she whispered, aching for the presence of the two people she loved most. Masaki. Yoshiro.

                Beyond the Samurai that stood in front of her, she heard the sound of rushing footsteps and saw him: Katsuo. He removed his helmet to reveal a twisted, breathtakingly fury-inducing, smug smile that turned into a boisterous laugh. It haunted her, pierced her like an arrow to the stomach.

                She crushed the flower in her hand.

                "No..." she said, low at first. Then, "NO!"

                The anger was too much. She was drowning. In sorrow, in hate---a dark abyss wrapping tendrils around her, enveloping her in a black curtain of despair.

                "NO!"

                The dark whispered to her, with blazing red eyes.

                It... smiled.

                And she gave in.

                ...

                ...

                ...

                "Wake up."