The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

and let an arrow fly in the direction of the middle gate. Then he nodded and ran over to her. Suzu reached out her hand. He wrapped his hand around hers and she pulled him onto the sansui's back. The sansui neighed with obvious irritation. Suzu patted his neck to calm it down. "That's a good boy, that's a good boy. Don't be so disagreeable. Sekki, are you all right?"
    "I'm okay," came his voice behind her. "Suzu, when I give you the signal, lean forward in the saddle. I don't want to hit you when I fire the bow."
    "Got it." Suzu spurred on the sansui. When they passed through the gate, Koshou raised himself to his full height and thrust his broadsword into the air. "If all our number are here, then close the gates! Onto Shoukou's quarters!"
    The answering cries shook the ground.

    People ran along the wall walks, weapons raised, breaking down the doors of the turrets and guardrooms along the way.
    Confident that their comrades occupying the ramparts had their backs, they overwhelmed the onrushing praetorians. The men accompanying Suzu charged into the depths of the prefectural offices. In the innermost heart of the castle they found themselves facing Shoukou's official castle residence.
    Every time Sekki said to jump, Suzu nimbly launched the sansui into the air. From the elevated vantage point, they could take in the full extent of the panic gripping the compound. People rushing in and people running for their lives, all crashing about in extreme disarray. The overwhelming majority comprised those fleeing the scene, but Sekki pointed out that they likely anticipated the arrival of the provincial guardsmen and praetorians currently racing toward the city.
    "Will they really come?"
    "For sure. But with our allies manning the ramparts and guarding the gates, it will take them some time. If we can capture Shoukou before then, they may well lose the will to carry on the fight." Sekki yelled at the top of his lungs, "Suzu!"
    Suzu glanced ahead of the sansui's landing area and caught her breath. Two sentries wielding battle axes awaited them. The sansui couldn't launch itself again without touching ground, and there wasn't time to turn aside.
    The blades flashed at the sansui.
    She instinctively shut her eyes, barely managing to swallow the scream that came to her lips. The sansui bellowed. The next sound was the heavy thud of the collision. They hit the ground. The sansui's descent came to a halt.
    "Youshi!"
    At the sound of Sekki's voice, Suzu opened her eyes. The two sentries lay sprawled before them.
    "You saved us!"
    "I only took out one of them," said Youshi. "Your sansui kicked the other one into next week. That's one smart animal."
    "And the estate?" There was not the slightest hint of relief in Sekki's voice.
    "They're hanging in there. They were doing such a good job holding the fort, I left things in their hands for the time being."
    "Holding the fort--"
    In contrast to Sekki's tone of voice, Youshi's was rather cheerful. "I'd estimate that we've reduced the troop strength of those heading our way by at least half."
    The two battalions (1000 soldiers) and five hundred praetorians surrounding Shoukou's country estate were in complete disarray. Despite all the watch fires lit, places remained in darkness. And in that darkness, something moved.
    The enemy barricaded inside the main hall of the estate in front of them was not the problem.
    Screams burst forth from the darkness, and when they ran to see they found their fallen comrades wailing pitifully, deep wounds in their limbs, wounds that had been inflicted by no moral weapon, but resembled the teeth and claw marks left by beasts. Yet they caught no sight of whatever creature had caused them.
    All they knew was that something was out there, and there were many of them. Fear seized them until they quailed at the sound of their own footsteps.
    They began to retreat in ones and twos. When the arrows ceased to fly, they realized that they were now too far from the main hall for a bow to reach. The order had not come to withdraw, but no soldier had any desire to hold that ground. They whimpered and cried like children. Accustomed to preying on the weak, they had no experience going against an enemy whose fear of them was so much less than their own fear of the darkness.
    "The prefectural castle is under attack!"
    At the height of the tension, the word raced through the rank and file. Profound feelings of relief gripped all the soldiers equally. The battalion