Journey Through Fire by Maya Snow

Author:Maya Snow
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Our journey to Kamakura took us through dense, sloping forests. The horses struggled with the steep descent and we had to take regular breaks to rest their legs. The warrior monks scanned the trees, keeping an eye out for attackers.

“Come on!” Moriyasu called excitedly. “We have two days of riding ahead of us.” His voice echoed off the trees of the forest. I turned my horse around. My little brother was right; we had much ground to cover.

As we traveled, we noticed that there were people among the trees. But they were not the enemy; they were the starving. Families had retreated to the forests to scavenge and find shelter now that their villages had been robbed and razed to the ground by Uncle. I felt ashamed of the clothes on my back and my horse’s polished saddle as we rode past. Wide eyes gazed up at us from families huddled among the roots of the trees.

We came across an orchard run wild where a boy was trying to scale an apricot tree to harvest some of the fruit. Anyone could see that the apricots weren’t ripe yet, but the boy was determined. His knees were grazed from unsuccessful efforts to scale the knobbly trunk and it was painful to watch him fall to the ground yet again. He kneeled in the grass, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. When he looked up at us, I heard Hana gasp at the dark circles under his eyes.

My little brother pulled up on his horse and leaped out of his saddle. He went over to the tree, one of the warrior monks following on his horse.

“Moriyasu!” Mother called after him. But it was too late; he had already unsheathed his bokken. The boy on the ground cringed away, backing up against the tree trunk and whimpering.

“Don’t worry,” Moriyasu said. “I only want to help.” He raised his bokken into the air and pulled it back behind his head, before hurling it into the branches of the apricot tree. The wooden sword circled through the air, neatly knocking an apricot, which fell to the ground at the boy’s feet. He pounced on the fruit and lifted the apricot to his mouth, biting fiercely into the hard flesh. He smiled as he chewed.

“Thank you,” he said, gulping down a piece of apricot. “Who are you?”

Moriyasu looked back questioningly at the rest of us. Mother shook her head at him. “Just a boy,” said Moriyasu, as he walked back to his horse. The warrior monks shared a glance.

As I guided my horse, I knew that Moriyasu wasn’t just a boy. He was born to be a Jito, and I swore that one day he would be able to extend his generosity of spirit far over the land.

I’ll make it happen, I told myself. I have to.

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