Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 7 of 44

They rode east through the cold morning until the sun was high. Kuroba held the reins with one hand and his side with the other. Every rut in the ground put a knife in his ribs. Tish sat behind him in the wagon bed, watching the road they had left. Ona rode beside on one of the slaver horses, bow across her back. By midday Kuroba's breath came short and his hand on the reins shook. He pulled the horses off the track into a dry wash between two low ridges. "Here," he said. "An hour. Maybe two." Ona swung down and scanned the ridgeline. "They'll come," she said. "I know." "Then be fast." He climbed down from the wagon and sat cross-legged on the sand in the shadow of the wheel. He pulled the mask down and set the odachi across his knees. Tish crouched a few paces off with the water skin in her hands. Ona took the high ground on the ridge with an arrow already nocked. Kuroba closed his eyes and put both palms flat over the wound. He had not done this in front of anyone before. He had never needed to do this much of it at once. He breathed in through his nose and down into his belly and held it. Then he found the thread inside himself and pulled. The air around him moved. Sand lifted off the ground in a slow ring and hung there. Tish made a small sound and did not move. On the ridge Ona lowered the bow a half inch. Heat came off Kuroba's skin in waves the two women could see. The purple bruise along his ribs darkened, then paled, then paled again. A thin line of blood ran out of his nose and he did not wipe it. His hands glowed faintly under the palms. The bone under the skin shifted and set. He held it for a long count. Then he let the breath out and the sand fell. He opened his eyes. He stood up without using his hands. He rolled his shoulder once and felt nothing catch. Tish was staring. "What are you," she said. It was not quite a question. Ona came down the ridge slow, eyes on him. "You didn't tell me you could do that." “I learned when I was a monk.” he said plainly. He pulled the mask up. "Mount up. We’ll ride until dark." Ona nodded once and swung back into the saddle. Tish climbed into the wagon without a word. Kuroba took the reins in both hands. They moved.