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Water Dancer
Chapter Two
The Water Dancer of Kakureta
"It looks as if Hirohito is being beaten by an army that is led by a woman." Keishiro smirked. "How pathetic."
"My Lord, if I may?"
"Yes, go on."
"Hirohito has sent a message requesting your aid in the war."
Keishiro leaned back in his chair and folded his hands.
"Hirohito is a fool for fighting this girl's army. For all that she is female, she has a strong army, an army that would follow her to hell itself. I will not send my troops to help a fool and risk their lives."
"Yes, sir."
"Is there any other matters weighing on your minds?" Keishiro looked at each of his war generals individually.
"Now that you mention, sir," one man spoke up. He was the captain of the palace guard. "The men saw something strange last night. They said it was a creature as black as night and as evil as the devil himself."
"Oh?"
"But the strange thing was that they also saw another creature that seemed to shine with radiant beauty and that was as pure as white snow sat upon its back."
Keishiro looked thoughtful. Yes, he knew what was going on.
"Double the night guard. The next time they see this duet, capture them. But don't harm a hair on them. Not one."
"Yes, sir. May I ask why, sir?"
"No, you may not. Anything else?" His generals looked at each other questioningly, wondering if they'd forgotten something, then shook their heads at Keishiro. "Very well. Then I have business to attend to elsewhere." Keishiro stood and walked out of the council room. Yes, he had business. Business finding the Water Dancer. He would have her for himself.
"From the cannons, no doubt." She sighed again. "Sazanami, how are we ever going to defeat those cannons?" Sazanami snorted and pawed the ground. Why are you asking me?! I'm just a horse, I don't know what goes on in the minds of humans! "Well, excuse me!" Kori sighed. "Come on, we have to hurry. Hyah!" She lightly touched Sazanami's whithers with her feet, sending the stallion into a full-out gallop.
I can't believe I told him I was the Water Dancer. I gave that title up. To everyone's knowledge, the Water Dancer disappeared, died, returned to the Heavens, whatever nonsense they came up with.
The Water Dancer has many myths in her name. She's a Heavenly maiden, one myth says, while another proclaims that she was a water nymph. Neither of these are true. The palace researchers discovered the truth. She is but a young lady who loves water. She rides a black stallion that can never be found without her. She has raven hair as dark as night itself and eyes that are the color of ice. She dances in water, which is how she got her name Water Dancer.
He couldn't read on. The section defied all that he had ever heard of the Water Dancer and after seeing her himself, he couldn't believe that she was just a normal human. He searched more books the rest of the day.
"You'll just have to trust my direction, boy." She dismounted and unhooked one side of the rein to use it as a lead. She led the horse around the outskirts of the battle field. In a short time she heard the pounding of hooves. She looked up from observing the path she followed and saw a squadron headed her way. She stopped and waited paitently, studying the flag of the approaching horsemen, relieved to see it was her own.
The squadron stopped in front of her, the leader dismounting and walking over to her.
"Name, country and rank, soldier!"
"Do you really need me to tell you?"
The general glanced at his soldiers and nodded. In an instant a dozen spear tips were pointed at her. She sighed.
"I am called Kori, I'm of the country called Aestra, and I'm the commanding general of you all."
Without waiting for orders the spear tips were gone and the soldiers were hurriedly jumping off their mounts to bow to her.
"Get back on your mounts! She could be fooling you!" The men straitened from their bows but they didn't mount just yet.
"And what if she tells truth? We must pay homage to the Water Dancer."
Kori twitched.
"What did you just call me?"
The soldier that had spoken blinked. "Water Dancer."
"Boy, I am not the Water Dancer. Where did you ever get the idea that I was?"
"It's a story that the men tell each other to give themselves hope. That our leader is in fact the Water Dancer. Foolishness, of course, but it's best that they have hope, I suppose," andswered the general.
"And when I want you to answer, I shall speak to you."
The man hurrumphed and crossed his arms.
"Who's to say you're even our leader? Hm?"
Kori sighed. She reached behind Sazanami's head and undid the sash. It fell away and the men gasped.
"His eyes are gold. You can't fake that my lord!"
"No, I suppose you can't. But the leader's mount might have been stolen."
Kori was annoyed. She was glad that her army was cautious about imposters, but it was such a pain when she had to get passed their tests.
"General Taka should be here. He will confirm my identity."
"Very well. Soldier Genere, go and ask for General Taka's presence."
On cue a soldier mounted his horse and headed in the oposite direction where Kori knew her army's camp was hidden. Now all she had to do was wait and hope she hadn't changed much since the last time she and General Taka had been in the same place at the same time.
"We need to get organized," he complained. "I can't find anything!"
He saw a blue book that interested him. He pulled it out and nearly dropped it in shock as the book case next to the one that had held the blue book swung open to reveal a secret passage.
"I swear, I'll never get used to all the surprises my father planted in this place." He was going to put the book back but curiousity got the better of him. He slowly entered the passage, testing the floor to be sure it would hold him. He never knew when he would stumble into one of his father's traps.
"The crazy old man," Keishiro mumbled. As though the sound of his voice activated them, torches lining the passage were lit ablaze all at once. "Another of my father's tricks, no doubt." He continued on, getting confident that the floor wouldn't sink down at some point and drop him into a pit of lions. You couldn't blame him for thinking such a thing would happen. It already had. And that was how he found out where all his 'run away' guards had gotten to.
The passage was made of old stone and had stalactites growing on the ceiling and in the crevices. He was looking up at the ceiling as he walked, which was his undoing. If he had been watching his feet he would have seen the big gaping hole in the middle of the floor. Alas, that was not his fate. He had the misfortune to fall into it, but amazingly enough, the fortune to land on a small, soft pillow at the bottom.
"Hmph. My father. Always prepared for everything."
Although the pillow had cutioned his fall, he felt a resounding pain in the rear end. With a groan he pulled himself up. It wasn't until he was standing that he realized that what he thought had been a vine, had, in fact, been a snake. With a yell he flung the hissing thing away from him. But misfortune seemed to follow him, as the flying snake disrupted a hoard of bats that, screeching all the way, flew into Keishiro, around him, and past him. The flying hoard didn't seem to stop for eternity, but was, in fact, only five minutes.
Keishiro had succeeded in bruising his rear end, nearly getting bitten by a venomous snake, and getting drenched in bat poo. With a self-pitying groan, he looked around. Lucky him, there was a ladder sitting against the wall. And, if he had noticed the large gaping hole before he fell, he would have also noticed that he could have climbed down using that very ladder. Ah, how cruel fate is.
He was about to ascend the ladder when something caught his attention. A green glow shining on the stone wall that surrounded him. For it was a seperate chamber in itself, it seemed, with a hole in the ceiling for passage. He turned around to find a book shelf sitting against the far wall. And in this book case sat several books. Keishiro walked over to these books and read their titles.
"I don't believe it. My father actually used his craziness well." The books on the shelf he had never seen before. His father must have hidden them in fear that they would fall into the wrong hands. For these books were those written by a family over many years, and this family knew everything. You couldn't hide anything from them. But this family was also a myth. They never interacted with others, except to take a bride or groom to carry on their family.
One book caught his eye. It was the one giving off the green glow. He pulled out from the rest of the books and opened it. He flipped through the book, stopping on a page that had the words "Water Dancer" written in large letters. He turned the page and found that the text began there.
The greatest secret of the Water Dancer is that she came from Kakureta. She and her sister are the only survivors. When their people were killed, the Water Dancer's younger sister was two months old, so it was left to the Water Dancer to raise this child.
It was a practice of the Kakureta people to do what others thought of as magic. The Water Dancer had the skill of water. This skill pertains to controlling water, purifying water, and making mist. The Water Dancer's favorite activity was singing and dancing. At night she is called by any near water and is urged to dance and sing. This practice helps to control her powers, and make them stronger.
Some select few have caught sight of the Water Dancer at night, dancing and singing. But many have seen her in the day, thinking her just a normal human.
The writing seemed to stop. The bottom half of the page was blank and seemed to be waiting for more information. He slowly turned the pages, looking for more information. The pages were blank until he arrived at a page titled The Kakureta.
The most famous of the Kakureta was the Water Dancer. She was a born leader, and more fair than any could ever imagine. She was unusual, even to the Kakureta people themselves, blessed with more powers than all, some human traits, and some supernatural abilities. The Kakureta were positive that she was one of them only, but the blood of her father wasn't of the Kakureta and wasn't human either. The man lived with the Kakureta and thought he was one of them. But this was not true. As a baby he had been swept into the Kakureta land on the waves of the ocean. No one knows exactly where he comes from...
Keishiro stopped. It was unbelievable. Not even the ones that knew everything knew where the Water Dancer's father came from. His mind whirled. He shut the book, deciding that was enough for now. He climbed out of the chamber with the book in hand and made his way back to the library, shutting up the passage.