Blade Song

Chapter 23- Itchy Fingers

The next day, we continued the journey to Paradise Bay. The tension that existed the day before was still evident, but at least it seemed to have faded a little bit. There were new priorities to worry about. Whether or not the fox made the right decision was irrelevant. The choice was made. There was nowhere to go but forward, and forward meant everyone doing the best they could for the former slaves, who were at more than a little risk by stepping foot in the bay.

By late afternoon, the land started to flatten out and the trees started becoming a little less dense. A giant gate, with a wall that seemed to stretch out for miles in each direction, had just come into view beyond the trees when Kiyoshi called us to a halt.

"We'll wait for everyone else to catch up here." He folded his arms and leaned against a tree, watching the gate.

"Do you think they'll let us use that dingy old house, like old times?" Mitsuo asked.

The fox snorted. "If it's still standing, probably."

"What is that smell?" I sniffed the salty air.

"The sea," Kiyoshi said. "Do you hate it?"

I took a deep inhale of the briny scent and shook my head. "No, I've just never smelled anything quite like it before."

"I suppose you've never seen the ocean before, then?" He smiled. "It's too bad. The waves can be very relaxing, but you certainly won't find peace here."

I laughed. "You're telling me that like it's a bad thing. You know I can't wait to split a few people open, right?"

He snickered. "Best to keep it low key. They won't hesitate to kill a half-breed for the smallest of offenses here."

"Have it your way." I shrugged. "But if someone starts something, I'm finishing it."

Mitsou sighed. "You're going to get us all killed, aren't you?"

Kiyoshi chuckled.

"Don't worry, blondie. I'll save you from all the big bad men." I gave him a wink.

"I'm somehow less than optimistic," he said.

"Oh, lighten up," I said. "I love any excuse to make someone bleed, but I wouldn't put others in danger to satisfy my own appetite. I'll keep it 'low key.' "

After a while, the rest of the group caught up, including Takahiko and Fuyuko.

Kiyoshi gave heavy sigh as he pushed himself off the tree. "I hate this part," he muttered, before continuing at a higher volume. "As you all know, things didn't go exactly as planned. I meant to leave you at the inn, but there's been a slight change of plan, and now I have no choice but to take you into Paradise Bay. It is a very dangerous place, especially for humans and half-breeds. Because of this, you are going to have to go back to pretending to be slaves for the duration of the visit."

There was a lot of loud murmuring, and the unease in the air rose up to a level you could practically feel on your skin.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling some ropes from the gear. "This has to look authentic."

The murmuring picked up to the point where even I could pick out some of the random comments floating through the air.

"Is he serious? He's going to tie us up?"

"This must be some kind of joke."

"This was a lie the whole time!"

"We should run."

"You're just like the rest of them!" A booming voice broke through the chatter, bringing the rest of it to silence. Gakuto, the man who was causing trouble at the bird demon's hot spring, stepped forward with a hard look on his face. "Admit it. This has been a farce the whole time. You're going to take us in there and sell the lot of us." He thrust his finger in the direction of the gate.