The Dark Divide Read Free Page A

seemed much taller. Her hand rested on the dog’s head, which was higher than her waist.
    ‘ Warewareniha shogunha imasen ,’ he said, repeating what he’d told his captors when they’d first discovered them several hours ago, just after they had come through the rift from Ren’s reality. ‘ Warewareha mayoteiru tabino monodesu .’ We have no lord, we are lost travellers.
    The woman stared at him for a moment and then produced a small square of paper from the pocket of her kimono. With brisk, rapid movements, she folded the paper back and forth until it took the vague shape of a heart. Once it was done, she tossed it into the air, closed her eyes, and a moment later the little origami heart vanished in a puff of tiny white flakes.
    ‘His heart is true,’ she announced. ‘He speaks the truth.’
    Her declaration seemed to have little effect on their escort. Or the fixed stare of the huge dog. There were no lowered bows or sighs of relief. The men continued to glare at them from undertheir highly polished kabuto with suspicion and mistrust. One of them even spat on the ground muttering, ‘ Ronin .’
    ‘He knows your name,’ Trása whispered with alarm.
    Ren shook his head. ‘He means mercenary, I think,’ he told her. ‘It’s almost the same word in Japanese.’ At least he hoped that was the case. It was too scary to contemplate the alternative.
    Ren took a step forward, feigning a confidence he didn’t feel, and bowed as low as he could to the woman. He ignored the dog, figuring unless she commanded it to attack, the mastiff would not bother him if he did not bother it. Clearly, this woman was in charge and she’d just magicked up a bit of origami to determine if they were telling the truth. The warriors were probably her minions. Even the stern Lord Hayato seemed to defer to her. Ren grabbed Trása’s hand and tugged her down into a bow as well, addressing the woman as he bent over.
    ‘We are honoured to be in your presence, kakka ,’ he said, hoping that calling her Your Excellency was a compliment and not an insult, if her rank was higher than that. Ren wasn’t sure about this reality, but he’d seen his mother almost run out of Tokyo a couple of years ago for mispronouncing an honorific when she met some local dignitaries during a banquet held in her honour after she won her Oscar. He didn’t want to make the same mistake.
    ‘And from where have you travelled, muhousha ?’ she asked coldly.
    Ren frowned. He’d granted her a title of great respect and she had responded by suggesting he was some sort of criminal. He wondered if the truth-telling spell was still in effect, because suddenly he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to confess they’d stepped through a rift from another reality.
    ‘From a very distant place, kakka ,’ he said as he straightened to look her in the eye. She was a woman in her late thirties, he guessed, and well-used to being in command. ‘One wherethe customs are much different to yours. I trust we have done nothing to offend you.’
    ‘What is your name?’
    ‘Ren Kavanaugh.’
    ‘That is a yabangin name,’ she said, studying them even more closely. Her gaze shifted to Trása and her frown deepened. Abruptly she turned to Hayato and spoke so rapidly, Ren was only able to catch every third word or so, and they weren’t promising as far as he could tell. As soon as she finished speaking, Hayato signalled to several of his men. Four of them immediately dismounted and converged on Trása, one of them unsheathing his katana as he went.
    Trása screamed as the men grabbed her and forced her to her knees. The mastiff began growling. One of them pulled her long blonde braid aside and pointed excitedly at her delicate, almost pointed ears.
    ‘Hey!’ Ren cried in English, rushing forward. ‘What the hell?’
    ‘She is Youkai !’ the samurai cried out. ‘Look!’
    Another man raised his katana . Trása screamed as her hair was pulled and her head jerked back to