Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
And they all moved with the casual confidence of people who had spent their entire lives being the deadliest thing in every space.
We’ll see about that.
Yoichi spoke, “Assassins.”
Aki snickered, “Colorful ones.”
Yuki added, “How pretty.”
Reo nodded. “Let the Scales and Silent Ones handle all of the men in ranks, but you all are expected to take out the assassins.”
“Quickly,” Kenji added. “No dancing tonight. Kill them fast and without any mercy.”
Toma rubbed his hands together. "The red one is mine."
Kaede tilted his head. "I’ll take Mr. White. I like them clean before I make them bleed red."
The twins turned their masks toward the blue one in perfect unison.
Aki spoke first. "Blue."
Yuki finished. "Green."
I turned my masked face toward the twins. "Forget the assassins. Your only job tonight is to protect my brother. Whatever happens out there, you stay with Kenji."
The twins answered in unison. "Yes, Hiro."
Kaoru watched the violet assassin. "That one is wearing violet all wrong. I’ll have to teach him a lesson. Plus, one of my girlfriends hates that color. Her mother wore violet to her father's funeral."
The rest picked their men. Two were left.
Reo crossed his arms over his chest. “And I’ll take both orange and gold.”
Kenji looked at him and lowered his voice. “And your ribs?”
“Our Tora’s cheese is healing.”
Even with the mask on, I could see Kenji rolling his eyes.
I put my attention back on the assassins.
Akiro had brought professionals. That told me something far more important than how dangerous these ten were. It told me that Akiro and our father were tired.
War exhausted everyone eventually. The weak grew afraid. The proud grew reckless. The grieving grew desperate.
And the tired?
The tired gambled. They pushed harder. Risked more. Committed resources they would normally keep in reserve.
A tired man stopped thinking about the next battle and started thinking about ending the current one in the most desperate way. It shrank a man's vision until he could only see the finish line. The possibilities between here and there disappeared.
Traps vanished.
Warnings faded.
Patience died.
The desire for an ending became stronger than the instinct for survival.
And tonight. . .Akiro had basically emptied his hand onto the table.
Good. We’ll use that against you this evening.
Then Akiro stepped to the top of the ramp and scanned the field. The kusarigama rested in his hands. Chain and sickle. Curved blade gleaming under the moonlight. Ten feet of chain dragging behind him with the heavy ball at the end. His favorite weapon. The same one from many days ago that he had spun lazily through the burning theater while his men died around him and he smiled at us from a safe distance.
A growl tore out of my chest before I could stop it.
Kenji's hand landed on my shoulder. "Be patient, brother. Soon."
I forced my breath out slowly through my nose. I bit the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste copper through the honeyed yuzu. The lollipop stayed whole in my mouth.
Come on down, Akiro. You’re tired, and I’m ready.
Five men headed down the stairs with Akiro. They must have been his main guards.
I leaned toward Kenji. “Are you sure our father is on the plane?”
“Definitely.”
“Do you think he will come off?”
“No. Too much of a coward. We’ll have to go on and get him. He has guns.”
“You know this?”
“My dragon-shadow told me.”
I sighed. “I hope that’s true.”
Or you’re just as crazy as me.
Down on the ground, movement came at the front of Akiro's ranks. Small groups of men broke off and moved forward into the open ground between the plane and our tree line. They carried small dark objects in their hands, knelt every few feet, and placed them into the grass.
Reo leaned forward. "What are they doing?"
My brother spoke under his breath. "Goryū, go see."
I blinked. "Who the fuck is Goryū?"
Kenji remained quiet and watched the men in the grass. I doubt he even heard me. Then. . .seconds later, he sighed. "They're placing down mines."
"Fuck," Reo shook his head. "Smart. We have to go forward. We can't let them place too many. If they do, then they'll own our field. Not us."
My brother's voice stayed low. "Weaken them, Goryū."
I squinted at the field.
Suddenly, two of the men placing mines dropped. No shots or person had hit them. They simply folded into the grass like puppets with the strings cut at the same instant.
Did Kenji’s dragon-shadow do that? Fuck! He really does have control of it.
The other men placing mines did not notice the men lying on the ground for two full seconds. When they did, they looked around and then at each other. Their hands shook as they frantically whispered to each other.
Reo turned to my brother and nodded.
Toma's voice came confused. "What happened to them?"
Kenji spoke loud enough for all of us and even turned to the Silent Ones. "Get ready to head out. And be careful. There are at least ten mines out there now."