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were also tracking them, and wishing to be quiet about it."
"What's Port Morninglight to you?" Grant de-manded.
The armored figure did not reply for a long mo-ment. It seemed the gaze behind
the molded, snarling visor studied Grant's face intently. "Perhaps," the soft
voice said, "we should take off our helmets and face each other like honest
warriors. I do not confide in anyone until I have looked into their eyes."
Grant's lips twitched in a fleeting scowl, which meant he appreciated the
samurai's sentiments. He unsnapped the underjaw locking guard of his helmet.
After a brief contemplative moment, Kane did like-wise, sliding his helmet up
and over his head. The samurai followed suit, thumbing open two toggles on the
bottom rim of the helmet and tugging it off.
Then Kane saw why the samurai's figure was so slight, the hands so small.
Glossy black hair tumbled down over the flaring shoulder epaulets. A small,
beautifully shaped mouth stretched in a wan smile,
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James Axler - Outlanders - Doom Dynasty above which was a smoothly curving
bone structure under sculptured flesh. The woman's complexion was a very pale
gold with roses and milk for an accent. The almond-shaped eyes shone as fierce
and proud as those of a young eagle.
Grant felt a sudden, disconcerting clenching in his chest. He didn't know why
except he was looking at one of the most beautiful and exotic women he had
ever seen in his life.
Her dark eyes swept over them in an appraising stare, and her lips curved in a
smile. "You can meet the most interesting people in the desert."
"May I ask the name of our rescuer?" Brigid in-quired.
The woman inclined her head on a neck that to Grant seemed to be as long and
as graceful as a swan's. "I
am Shizuka, first lieutenant to Captain Ki-yomasa. We are Tigers of Heaven, in
service to our high daimyo, Lord Takaun."
Scraps of memory, more like impressions, ghosted through the minds of Brigid,
Grant and Kane. The
Tigers of Heaven touched faint chords of recognition, of an armored security
force of samurai who traveled the spaceways
The recollection slipped through the fingers of their minds like smoke. All of
them knew the impressions weren't memories of events that had actually
hap-pened, at least not in their reality. They were the traces of their
experiences on parallel worlds, when their minds possessed the bodies of their
alternate uni-verse selves, their doppelgangers.
The three of them had no clear recollections of those mirror realities any
longer. Even Brigid with her eidetic memory could only consciously recall
discon-nected fragments.
Shizuka's dark eyes flitted from Grant to Kane to Brigid. "Is there something
wrong?"
Before any of them could reply, Domi said loudly, aggressively, "You bet your
ass something's wrong!
Who sent you to follow us?"
Very humbly, the woman answered, "My captain. When stealth and tracking skills
are required, I am always chosen."
Domi brayed a derisive laugh. "You need to prac-tice your skills. I heard you
from a mile away."
Kane tried to shush Domi into silence, but she ig-nored him. Rudely she
snapped, "Where did you come from? Are you working for a baron?"
Shizuka regarded her calmly. Although her eyes went cold, her voice was silky
soft. "I regret your confusion, but I have questions of my own. It is one
reason I went to the effort of saving you from the eta
, the handlers of offal."
Red rage flared in Domi's eyes. "We coulda taken 'em! Needed no help from
you!"
"Domi " Brigid began admonishingly.
"
Hai, so desu
. Yes, I understand." Shizuka bowed slightly, only a half bow, and she did it
in such a way that even Domi knew it was a deliberate insult. "I should not
have interfered. You alone could have saved your companions with the ferocity
of your words."
Domi's lips writhed over her teeth in a silent snarl and she lunged forward,
her knife whipping up. Steel met steel with a ringing clangor. Shizuka's sword
had slid from its scabbard with lightning speed. The flat blade blocked Domi's
knife, then returned to the scabbard. Shizuka had not moved from her bowing
posture. Although her face remained expressionless, she winked
conspiratorially at Domi.
Kane stared, replaying the blurred movements in his mind. Domi gaped, as well,
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James Axler - Outlanders - Doom Dynasty screech of humiliated fury starting up
her throat, she thrust for Shizuka's lower belly.
The sword rasped from the scabbard again, Shizuka stepped sideways in a
sliding dance motion and
Domi's knife missed its target. Instantly, she heeled around, leading with the
blade. Holding her sword in a two-handed grip, Shizuka parried the knife slash
almost negligently.
Kane and Grant started to rush forward to inter-vene, but Domi's maddened
voice rose in a shout. "Stay out of this! I won't chill her, but I'll put my
mark on her!"
Shizuka said calmly, serenely, "I promise not to harm the child. She is brave,
but she needs a lesson in manners."
"Look who's talking, bitch!" Domi growled an-grily. She sprang to the attack,
her knife weaving a web of steel in the air between her and the Japanese
woman. Shizuka caught all her blows on her sword, and ringing chimes rose
toward the sky.
Domi held her blade point upward as did all ex-perienced knife fighters, but
she might as well not have had it at all for the good it did penetrating
Shi-zuka''s guard. She tried a reverse slash, the flat of the blade lying
along her forearm, but the samurai beat it effortlessly aside.
Brigid, Kane and Grant knew Shizuka was treating Domi to an object lesson in
the art of the sword. Kane had to admit it was beautiful. Never had he seen
such a style, certainly not in the kind of swordplay
Quayle had demonstrated against him a month or so ago. Shi-zuka could have
carved up the one-eyed cutlass mas-ter like a turkey.
It quickly became evident that Domi's words to the contrary, she intended to
kill her opponent. Sucking in a lungful of air with a growl of frustration,
she rushed at Shizuka, striking wildly. She came on in a relentless surge,
ever the aggressor in any combat.
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