Page 24 of Son of Shadows

The reality sunk in even harder than the blow he’d received.

Katsu turned angry. “Too slow. Too stubborn. Too stupid. You’re a mess! I thought you said you’d been trained.”

Ryuichi thought he had been trained. Until now. “I was. And if Koichi were here, he’d take offense.”

“And that is part of the problem with your training. Where is your sensei?”

Probably sleeping.

Koichi hated getting up in the morning. It was why the Kai-dan Koichi had commanded at Master Hanzō’s had been a night patrol. If Ryuichi didn’t know any better, he’d swear Koichi had offended the goddess Amaterasu and had been banished from daylight. And given how much Koichi cursed both, Ryuichi wouldn’t be surprised if she had.

But it would be dishonorable to speak ill of his sensei. “Koichi-san is indisposed.”

Shaking his head, Katsu gestured at the sword by Ryuichi’s feet. “You are meant to close the gates. But if you can’t defeat Orochi’s army, you won’t even get to breathe.”

That was something he didn’t want to hear, but it made him curious. “Have you ever fought him?”

“Long ago, and my warriors lost. He’s a vicious enemy, and given your current skill level, he will be your killer.”

That was unnecessarily harsh. It might be true, but it was kind of cruel. Was that the best way to motivate him?

“How did you survive your fight with him?”

He pointed to a jagged scar near his heart. “I almost didn’t. All that saved me was another tengu who gave his life so I could get away.”

That also wasn’t encouraging.

Ryuichi rolled his shoulder. “That was one strike you gave me. You can’t tell what kind of fighter I am from one strike.”

Could he?

Katsu sighed heavily. “I learned all that and more. Your stance is slovenly. Your eyes lazy. Even your words are made with so little consideration that all the world might as well be deaf for how much they matter. You are a child playing soldier, nothing more.”

His pride stung from those blows. Lifting his chin, Ryuichi tried not to let them go any deeper. “I’m the son of the Ryukage and the goddess Haruka.”

“And I’m the son of crows. A blade couldn’t care less whose blood it drinks. God or peasant—it’s all the same to a sword.”

He was right, and Ryuichi knew it.

Maybe this was all part of an elaborate ploy to bring out the best in him so he’d try harder.

Why disappoint him?

If he was counting on Ryuichi to whine more or quit, Katsu would be in for a long wait.

Because no matter how much his pride hurt right now, he needed this tengu’s help to survive what was coming.

Dropping his sword, Ryuichi sank to his knees to give the tengu master a proper bow. “Katsu-san, I need your training. Help me become the warrior I need to be to succeed. I throw myself upon your generous mercy.”

Ryuichi knew he was being a bit dramatic, but he was hoping it would appeal to Katsu’s sense of authority.

But the tengu appeared unmoved. He stared down at Ryuichi from the end of his long beak. “Why do you care about the world so much?”

That question surprised Ryuichi. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I care? I live in the world. Of course I care about it.”

“Yes, but wars come and go. Lords die and new ones rise to power. These sorts of things have a habit of working themselves out with or without the blood of others. Whether you’re here or not makes no difference. Very few are the men born to alter history, and fewer still are those who live long enough to do it. Why do you care so much about being one of those men?”

Honestly, Ryuichi never thought about it that way.