The Dragon Geisha by Millar India

The Dragon Geisha by Millar India

Author:Millar, India
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Empress Publishing
Published: 2018-03-12T00:00:00+00:00


17

In sleep, body and

Mind become one. May I sleep

So we remember

I felt as helpless as a stray dog who howls at the moon in frustration. Long ago, when I had been a geisha in the Hidden House, one of my patrons had hunted wolves. It was his passion; although he killed them, he admired the ferocious beasts. And he loved to talk about them.

“To be cast out of the pack is the worst thing that can happen to a wolf,” he had instructed me. “To them, even death is not as terrible. To be a lone wolf is to be nothing. It has no home, no friends. It must try to hunt without support, to sleep with no warm bodies beside it. It is a lost soul, wandering until death comes to claim it.”

Then he lost interest in his favorite hobby and wagged his tree at me, indicating that a little twirling of the stem was in order. I had forgotten all his words, long ago, but now I recalled them. And I understood how that outcast wolf felt.

I had thought that Akira’s death would mean the end of everything bad. That all threats would be lifted, and I—and the other geisha in the Hidden House—could begin my life anew. And he was dead, I was sure of that. His yakuza had retrieved his body as soon as the ashes had cooled, and I had stared at it until I was sure beyond any doubt that it was him. There was little enough left to recognize, but Akira had twisted as he had fallen and his black moss and belly were relatively unscathed. It was ironic—although I had no desire to laugh at all—that I knew it was him by the tattoo of two hands cupping his tree, and the concentric lines on his kintama. The tattoo, and the fact that he had two of my kingfisher beak combs clutched in his hand so tightly that the tips of the beaks had broken the flesh on his palm before they had melted. Had they, too, taken a final chance to get their revenge on him?

But dead though Akira might be, still his power lingered. And still I was not free of him.

It felt strange beyond belief walking back into the Hidden House. Naruko and Masaki were, thank the gods, just as I remembered them. They had heard what had happened, of course. It was the only topic in the Floating World. But I was astonished to find that the twins, who we had all hated, thinking them Akira’s creatures, had suddenly become part of the enchanted circle of the Hidden House. It hurt me greatly to think that they belonged when I no longer felt that I did. Naruko saw my surprise and explained.

“We were wrong about them,” she said simply. “This is Hoshimi, and that is Sayo.” Both twins rose and bowed deeply as she spoke their names. I wondered how she could tell the difference between them. “They were Akira’s spies to begin with.



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