She was in an alley, squatting with her palms resting above her knees and panting. He was using magic or some arcane sorcery. Somehow the Sword of a Thousand Suns always knew which way she had gone.

How does he know?

She couldn’t escape him. Every time Haku thought she had lost him, he turned up again. Once he had nearly cut her in half in a surprise attack. She was in this alley now just resting for a quick moment.

Had he been an archer rather than a blade master, surely she would be dead now, skewered in a street somewhere lying in a puddle of her own blood.

She stood up, looked about for any signs of her enemy. He was nowhere to be seen, yet she knew he wasn’t far behind. He was faster than she was. If not for her ability to glide across the rooftops, surely he’d have caught her by now.

To keep him from gaining on her, she had run across the rooftops taking erratic courses, then she moved to street level and did the same. So far it had a slight effect on his ability to keep up with her, but at this rate she wouldn’t be able to escape the city and expect to stay ahead of him. The sword of a Thousand Suns would run her down.

My only option is to tire him out, she thought, or reach the emperor’s army at the temple.

As it was, she had serious doubts about who would run out of stamina first. Haku’s throat was parched. She stopped next to a fountain for a moment to drink a few mouthfuls of water and then move on. She jumped atop a terrace, then to another, and then another, until she reached the rooftops, changed her direction of travel, and began to run, glide, run, flit and run.

She was nearing the Western Temple, the army at its base a mass of moving soldiers indistinguishable from their individual forms. The temple itself wasn’t visible for the fog.

Perhaps I can lose him in that.

Directly behind the mountains were dark rainclouds. Finally some of the fires in the city would be put out. Hopefully that would presage the end to this sudden attack on Yukai City.

Instead of heading straight for the temple, she decided to go west and skirt through the foothills to avoid the enemy army camped at the base of its perch atop the plateau.

As she soared across the open space to another roof, she saw a small group of samurai interspersed with city dwellers fighting some enemy agents. She doubled back, glided from the rooftops like her reputation bespoke and landed behind her ally’s foes and cut them down. One turned, tried to defend himself, but her blade ended him before he could bring his own katana to bear against his sudden attacker.

The samurai gasped, the other non-warriors had clubs and sticks, one had a large knife. They were afraid. Two of them were dead in the street.

“Arigatou,” one of the samurai said with a bow, a balding man with a long beard and shaved cheeks. “I am Omo. I serve Daimyō Karu,” he said. “We’ve been trying to find our lord, but we cannot.” He bent to use the sleeve of a fallen foe to wipe his blade.

Haku did the same and together they sheathed their sabers with clean, fluid movements that bespoke their warrior skills, except the White Feather was distinctly lacking the daishō, the katana-wakizashi pairing. She was not a samurai, and so she had no short blade to accompany her sword.

“I’m on my way to the temple,” Haku said. “I’m being pursued, so I cannot linger. If you head in that direction for the warrens you will find Daimyō Sakuraichi. He can use every able bodied fighter he can get. You’re useless out here on your own.”

Omo nodded stoically, glanced toward his samurai companions and then said, “We will head for the warrens then.”

“Be careful, Omo-san,” Haku said. “My pursuer will cut your group down without effort.”

The samurai was taken aback. “Truly?”

“It is as I say. Avoid him. He will not pursue you since he is after me.”

“We will.”

“I must warn you, he has dozens of samurai and ninja under his command. I would avoid them by taking this road several blocks before changing direction. Be wary. The enemy is all over the city.”

“Thank you, lady,” he bowed respectfully.

Clearly he knew who she was, but she was known as the White Feather, not Haku, her birth name, which she tried to keep as private as possible.

She nodded and set off, leaping to a balcony, and then to another as she got more and more height before reaching the tiled rooftops. She had lost valuable time in aiding those men and directing them where to go.

But it was worth it, she told herself honestly. I hope Ujio is all right…