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Everything that was within Shiba Sawaken screamed at him that something was wrong. He did not know what. He only knew that as he watched his Champion prepare to duel her enemy, that something was deeply, fundamentally wrong. It was only a lifetime of discipline and adherence to rigid protocol that stayed his hand, that kept his blade within his saya. The image in his mind, of himself drawing his blade and rushing to her aid, was so powerful that it seemed like something he had actually witnessed or done, a memory rather than a merely wish.
The sunlight glinted of the enemy’s blade. Right into Tsukimi’s eyes. The Phoenix Champion blinked.
The enemy struck.
Sawaken screamed.
****
Sawaken and two other men carried Shiba Tsukimi into a small, crude watch tower nestled amid the peaks. She stirred and clutched at their clothing, but she did not cry out. Sawaken could not imagine the level of will required, because merely looking at the wound on her face caused his stomach to churn uncontrollably, and he was a man who had seen a great deal of combat so far in this conflict. Leaving his Champion with the others for a moment, Sawaken threw open a number of emergency supply crates and retrieved several thick winter garments. He spread them out across the low tables, and then helped the others move Tsukimi to the table. “Make her as comfortable as you can,” he instructed one of them, then fixed the other with a pointed stare. “We will head down the mountain for help. If anything happens to one of us, the other must proceed regardless.”
“I am no healer,” the first man protested.
“Your mother is, so you have been exposed to more than the rest of us,” Sawaken said sharply. “The others from the command staff will be here shortly, and they will help you, but we will not wait.” He pointed to Tsukimi. “She cannot wait.”
The second man looked away. “She will not survive long enough for help to arrive,” he said quietly. “Look at her.”
Both men were older than Sawaken, but he would not accept their meek response. He slapped the second man across the face with such force that he fell into the floor and stared up at Sawaken in mute horror. “We will not abandon our lady!” Sawaken shouted. “I will do all in my power to protect her from any threat, no matter what the cost!”
The man on the ground looked at the young warrior piteously. “It is not your fault this happened, Sawaken.”
It seemed as if Sawaken’s blood would boil from his veins. Why could they not see it? They could still stop this! He raise his hand as if to strike the other man again… and someone took him gently by the arm.
Sawaken turned and found himself face to face with an incredibly serene woman. “There is so much anger in your spirit,” she said sadly. “Release it. Do not let this tragedy change who you are.”
The rage flooded from him in an instant, and his eyes filled with tears. He looked down at the other man and shook his head. “I did not mean… I would never…” he looked back at her. “Please Master Kimi… you have to do something.”
Isawa Kimi, Master of the Void, looked so deeply into his eyes that it seemed as if she could see everything he had ever been. “I will do all that I can, brave yojimbo.” She moved to the crude mat where they had laid Tsukimi, gently ran one of her hands along the Champion’s bloodied face. “The poison in her system is very powerful, very subtle,” she said sadly.
“Poison?” Sawaken said, his hand hovering near his blade. “He poison her?”
“There is little in the world that the Scorpion Champion would not consider to achieve victory,” the Master of the Void said. “His heart is filled with a poison more virulent than anything ever found in the world.”
“He must pay for his crimes!”
“What crimes?” Kimi asked. “He will take affront at the idea, and the war will continue.”
Sawaken gestured to the Champion. “Will this be proof enough?”
“Only if we allow her to die,” Kimi replied. “If she is to live, I must erase all vestiges of the poison from her. It is the only way she can survive. As it is, the poison has taken her eyes.” She looked at the other three samurai. “Decide now what is more important… her life, or justice?”
“Save her,” Sawaken said at once.
“Then be silent, please,” Kimi said, “and ensure no one else enters. This will prove extremely difficult.”
****
Hours later, Shiba Tsukimi sat up suddenly, inhaling sharply as she did. She reached up to her face at once, feeling the bandages that covered her eyes.
“Tsukimi-sama!” a voice she recognized as Sawaken said. “Please, try not to move. your wounds are very serious.”
She looked about at the strange colors and shapes, things such as she had never seen. She could see the energy within Sawaken, flowing from him to the table, to the watchtower itself. “My eyes,” she said softly.
“I am sorry, my lady, but… they could not be saved.”
Tsukimi held her hand up in front of her and looked at it. “I no longer need them,” she said.
