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[Silent Poet]

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Just before dawn, the rain had started. It was the time of the monsoons in Tokuno. The rains struck down with full force on two men who were all but crawling as they studied the ground.

“Bloody ‘ell, they couldna have picked a better night. This rain is makin’ it verra difficult ta’ follow them” Hugh Kinley said.

“Exile may darken the eyes, but the stars shine brightly as ever” Master Po looked up to Hugh’s face with unseeing eyes.

“Ye know old man, I told ye long ago, tha’ yuir wee saying’s dinna affect me much. Mostly cause they dinna make a bit o’ sense” Hugh said leaning down and sniffing the print on the ground.

“Death is like a clear pool, it can be entered from any side” Master Po says as he fluidly nocks an arrow and draws his bow string taut.

Hugh rolls forward out of his line of aim and stands up as a gale force wind surrounds him. His hands crackle with blue energy, and the glowing green pentagram burned into his chest flares bright enough to be seen through his leather tunic.

Master Po’s arrow flies true and a ninja falls from the nearby tree.

The Wordsmith, closes his eyes and chants in a tongue that had died out more than a thousand years before. He shrugs his burly shoulders and grits his teeth as he opens his old lash wounds, the source for his power. The back of his leather tunic is immediately soaked in blood.

Hugh screams as bolts of lightning leap from his outstretched hands causing several ninja in the trees to be revealed and knocked from the trees. His right hand that had the celtic word for love burned into the back of his hand glowed bright crimson and barriers of fire surrounded the fallen ninja. He falls to one knee as his left hand glows a shadowy black and insect swarms fly from his hand and strip the ninja to the bones.

Master Po gently helps Hugh back to his feet.

“A centipede dies but never falls down” Master Po says, his hands trailing green energy as they heal the Wordsmith’s wounds.

“Look old man. Me best friend’s wife an’ his unborn children are in mortal danger. Do ye no understand this” Hugh says angrily.

“Eagles and sparrows inhabit the same sky” Master Po says as he taps his walking staff into the mud thrice.

A pale golden trail flairs up leading to a portal. Hugh blinks at it a few times.
“One o’ these days, old man ye are goin’ ta’ teach me tha’ trick” Hugh says as he begins to follow it.

The two approached the portal, Hugh taking the point position with Master Po protecting from behind. They stepped through and were transported to Homare-jima. Hugh took note that the golden trail pointed due east.

Hugh pulled his staff from where it was slung across his back.

Master Po reached out and gripped Hugh’s arm so fiercely that Hugh thought his forearm would break.

“The world rises and falls and never stops rolling. It is so bright yet it can be broken like glass, and inside, we never stop rolling, balls within th ball, and we too can be broken” Master Po says releasing Hugh’s arm.

“Bloody damn samurai, ye never speak plainly” the Wordsmith says as he clenches his right fist over the golden glowing trail dropping a few drops of his blood into it. The trail flares a bright crimson, then a shadowy grey. Hugh staggers back, and screams in rage.

He runs to the Shrine of Honor, abandoning all caution. He tosses fireballs and energy bolts to the left and right dropping Yomatsu Warriors. There in the center of the shrine just before the ankh was a bubbly pit of burning sand.

Standing around the pit were four men wearing formal kimonos. They were Ichiro, Takeshi, Shoichi, and Satoru. The were surrounded in a pale purple glowing field.

Hugh’s magicks and Master Po’s arrows seemed to have no effect.

Growling with rage, Hugh dove into the bubbling sand pit. He came back up bleeding and burnt badly with a male babe in his arms.

“I canna find a heartbeat. Ye better save them old man” Hugh says as he flips backwards into the pit.

He staggers back up with another male babe, grey and blue in color.

“Do somethin’ ye fekkin’ monk” Hugh screams as he dives in a third time.

His body covered in many small fires he crawls out dragging the body of Rryn with him. Her face is calm and serene as she cuddles a final female babe.

The uncles chuckle at the spectacle. Hugh and Master Po struggle to breath life back into the children and Rryn.

They say in unison, “Let this be a lesson to the cur that thinks he is the ruler of the Three Countries.” Then they fade into the shadows.

“It is a miracle to walk on water or fly through the sky, but the real miracle is to walk on earth” Master Po says as he slowly wraps the bodies in silk.
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"When he spoke, what tender words he used! So softly, that like flakes of feathered snow, They melted as they fell." - John Dryden

[Tai Kwan Leap]

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Tai stood there at his wife and children’s grave.

“I failed you somehow. I do not know where or when I did, but I have failed you and our children” Tai says to the tombstone the fresh mound of dirt was quickly becoming mud in the monsoon rains.

“I wrote something I wanted you to have. Hugh-sans has assured me you will awaken. He says you are one of our kind.”

Tai tears a page from his journal and drops it into the mud there at the grave.

I am stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever
With your hands held in mine
I'd be sure we'd not sever
My apple tree my brightness
'Tis time we were together
For I smell of the earth
And am stained by the weather

When my family thinks
That I'm safe in my bed
From night until morning
I am stretched at your head
Calling out to the air
With tears both hot and wild
Oh I grieve for the girl
That I loved as a child

The priests and the friars
Behold me in dread
Because I still love you
My love and you're dead
I would still be your shelter
From rain and from storm
And with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm

Tai kneels in desai postion and continues waiting.
_________________
"He's been fired from the Shrimp Boat?" -- Charlaine Harris "Living Dead In Dallas."

[Guest]

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Deep below the grave a small spark of subconscious begins. Rryn's body lays there , her heartbeat so faint as to be non-existent. She dwells in an ethereal place, where souls should move forward into their eternity. She starts forward , yet cannot proceed. She knows she has died. Small flashes of the events leading to her death run through her mind.

Standing in the Zento Town Center among her people to welcome a New Year and say the Blessings of Prosperity for all in the coming year. The added security measures in place after the threats began. The small twinges of pain announcing the arrival soon of the unborn children. The children....
She was beginning her blessing , the townsfolk all wishing each other well and hugging all around. She felt a presence behind her, turned and saw nothing. As she turned back to face the people, she was suddenly enshrouded in a large cloak, her mouth covered as she screamed. In the ensuing shock and scramble of the guards after her disappearance, those that had taken her managed to drag her away into the shadows. They slowly made their way to a portal. Several times , guards stood within arms reach of her, but they could not see her or her captors.They traveled in circles, to not make a trail.
Exhausted, hungry and thirsty she suddenly found herself face to face with the Uncles. They approached with concern, conveying they meant no harm , they just wished to address Tai-san . The small elaborate tent she was given and the servant girl arriving with tea and sweetbreads. Too late she realized the tea had been tampered with. The rainy night a blur as she delivered the first two children, both sons. Her only help the young servant girl. Hearing no cry , knowing they had both been born still of heart and breath. She held each closely, saying goodbye to them. The last child, a daughter, arrived as the first of the new days light arrived. Rryn had held her in her arms smiling as they both took their last breaths.

Her subconscious state slowly expanded and she felt confined as if wrapped up in her silken bed sheet. Her heartbeat quickened a bit as her consciousness became more aware. She realized she could hear Tai talking to her as if from far away. She tried to call out to him, to scream, anything to get his attention. No sound would come from her lips. She suddenly heard him more clearly,....
"..you are one of us " he said.
The signal of awareness among them. Of course!
Rryn concentrated deeply sending out a ringing of awareness. It was much to weak, her attempt leaving her drained. He would have to be very near by to sense that, but she tried again knowing she needed to be released from this and breath again. She managed to work her hands free of the silk and tried to move the soil around her. She realized that someone was above her frantically pulling away the soil. As the silk was finally removed from her , she felt the rain on her face and opened her eyes to see her husband. She took a ragged breath, her only word before passing out ... " Tai..."