Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 4 of 44

They abandoned the wagons at the edge of the rail line and walked the last mile on foot. The tracks were rusted and the ties half-buried in sand. Ona kept her bow strung. Kuroba kept his mask up. By late afternoon they saw the black stone rise out of the flat, vines choking its upper windows, the name still visible above the doors. A train station, or what was left of one. Kuroba told Ona to wait at the platform edge. He heard voices inside before he crossed the threshold. Four men had a blonde woman backed against a bench. Her heels were braced on the tile. She had a shard of broken glass in one hand and was not shaking. The leader wore a battered helmet with a crown welded to the crest and carried a greatsword veined with red light. He was not shouting. He was speaking low, the way a man speaks when he already owns the room. "Step back," Kuroba said. The leader turned. He looked at the mask, the odachi, and did not step back. "Walk out," he said. "This isn't yours." "It is now." Kuroba drew. The white thread ran the blade. The three men at the flanks moved first and he took the floor from under them, sliding low across the tile, cutting the leader's line to the woman. He put himself between them. The greatsword came down and the tile split where Kuroba had been. He was already at the man's shoulder. He cut once, deep across the ribs under the armor. The man grunted and swung backhand. The flat caught Kuroba in the side and threw him into a pillar. Something in his ribs gave. He came off the pillar and cut again, low, into the thigh. The man staggered. Behind them, boots on stone. More men, coming through the far arch. One of them had Ona by the arms before she cleared the doorway. She got her knife out with her left hand and opened his cheek, but a second man caught her wrist and twisted. Kuroba turned toward her. The leader used the turn. He grabbed the blonde woman by the throat, threw her sideways into Kuroba's path, and limped for the far door with his men closing around Ona. Kuroba caught the woman before she hit the ground. When he looked up, the leader was through the arch and Ona was gone with him. Kuroba ran to the platform. Empty track. Dust already settling. He stood there with one hand pressed to his ribs. The blonde woman came up behind him, still holding the glass. "They took the redhead," she said. "I saw. Four of them. He's called Kazrik." Kuroba lowered his hand. Blood on the palm. He turned back into the station. "You'll come with me," he said. "You're not safe here." She nodded once. He wiped the odachi and started walking.