Blood Ninja by Nick Lake

Author:Nick Lake [Lake, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division
Published: 2011-03-22T03:22:58+00:00

CHAPTER 31

Taro’s emotions were in turmoil. He had grown up in Lord Oda’s territory. He supposed that had been rather clever of Tokugawa—of my father, he corrected. But it also meant that he had been brought up to see Oda as a kind of minor deity, a just leader and a skilled fighter, a sword saint no less. Yet … it was clear that only Oda could have ordered the attack on his home, the murder of his father.

His own attempted murder.

In his mind’s eye, an image flashed. His father’s head, the pool of blood. He recoiled from it as from a snake, but the snake was inside him, and it was a lord who had murdered a fisherman for nothing but power.

Taro fought to reconcile what he had thought he knew with what he had only now learned.

Lord Oda is the murderer. He killed my father.

So Lord Tokugawa was right to hire those ronin to try to kill him. He is noble and wise …

But try as he might, the thoughts wouldn’t stack up in his head, only kept falling down, like smooth pebbles laid on top of one another.

Because Lord Tokugawa ordered Lord Oda’s assassination before those ninja attacked.

Taro looked up at Shusaku. “Lord Oda learned about me. About where I was hidden. And he sent those ninja. There was no danger in assassinating me, because as far as anyone knows, I don’t even exist. Right?”

Shusaku gave a sad smile and nodded. “Yes.”

Taro thought some more. “Lord Tokugawa wished to protect me, but he couldn’t send his samurai because I was in Lord Oda’s territory, and because he couldn’t publicly admit that I was his son. So he sent you.” The words tumbled from his mouth in a rush, spiky and as hard as a landslide.

The ninja nodded.

“And why didn’t my—I mean, Lord Tokugawa, send more men with you?”

“That, I truly don’t know. He wished me to go alone. He was very clear on that.”

Shusaku looked at Taro, his head cocked slightly to the side. Taro took a breath. “You weren’t supposed to change me, were you?”

Shusaku shook his head. “Of course not. I was forced to when you were injured. I was supposed to save you and take you back to the Tokugawa castle. Now I cannot. For a man like Lord Tokugawa, to have a vampire for a son would be worse than if I presented him with a corpse.”

A tear welled up, unbidden, in Taro’s eye. “If that’s true,” he said, “why did you save me? Why not just leave me to die?”

Shusaku coughed, embarrassed. “Lord Tokugawa may prefer a dead boy to a vampire boy. But I do not.”

Taro looked away, touched. “So my true father doesn’t know I’m alive,” he said, changing the subject.

Shusaku shook his head again.

“But Lord Oda knows. The pigeon, remember?”

“Yes,” said Shusaku. “But he won’t tell Tokugawa. Even if he wanted to, he can’t admit that he tried to kill his ally’s son! They must both pretend the incident never happened.

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