Daidoji Tsurumatsu

Yojimbo (bodyguard) for the Lady Tomiko in her travel to Kyuden Bayushi

Noon, Beiden Pass, the rocky track already littered with the bodies of the fallen. Dust swirled in the sudden wind which had sprung up from the North. There were eight riders… Lion Clan.

Daidoji Tsurumatsu quickly scanned them all and recognised the one…They had met before. He focused his mind on what his eyes could not yet see: The gap, tiny but vulnerable, the space between nose guard and cheek plate. Breathing slowly and lightly he pulled back the bowstring.

He had been taught well. As he cleared his mind and focussed on the void within, images flashed before him:


 * As a young child, sat beside his father as they travelled the Crane lands selling the weapons they had made.


 * At 14, the Nagamaki thrust which despatched Tomiko’s would be kidnapper.


 * The sudden notoriety, and long days in the Dojo among strangers.


 * Then, other times like these, the noise of battle and cries of men in hurried border skirmishes.


 * His Master’s recent words: “I choose you because of your past. The honour you have has been earned, not given by birth. Your loyalty and obedience to me is not tempered with desire for personal glory, and… You have already saved my daughters life on one occasion… There is no man better to ensure she arrives safely at Kyuden Bayushi. “

Tomiko was now safe with Arimoto, she would escape the canyon and the carnage of battle.

He exhaled slowly and held a half breath. His fingers loosed the arrow as lightly as if he released a small bird. There was no sound, his hand instinctively reached for the second arrow, but all else was absorbed in the void he had created around him. The arrow struck Matsu Kenji in full charge. His helm pierced, the body arched backward in spasm the sword dropped, legs flew upward then backward. The body hit the ground, bounced once like a broken doll and was still.