Samurai; Lost in the time rift 2.3

2.3

Sun; the Hohei treasured his yumi with the equal care as all his weapon. He was not pandering them like his friend, Bento but he felt that in battle all of these weapons would determined if he was to come back alive. His master once told him, that a samurai by himself is a weapon and those tools he used are an extension of himself. He looked to his yari; a weapon of longer reach than the katana, proven in the barbarian invasion sometime back, the invading barbarians used the long spear against the shorter katana in length. It was from there, the samurai added in the yari and also the naginata.

The Yari carried by the Sun was characterized by a straight blade up to 2 feet in length. The blade; made of the same steel (tamahagane) that traditional katana forged with, and were very durable.The Yari blades (points) often had an extremely long end that were longer than the sharpened portion of the blade. The nakago protruded into a re-enforced hollow portion of the handle, making it into a stiff shaft nearly impossible for the blade to fall or break off. The shaft was made of hardwood and covered in lacquered bamboo strips, that came in polygonal cross section. These in turn were often wrapped in metal rings or wire and affixed with a metal pommel on the butt end. Unlike the more fanciful Yari of the noble samurai, Sun's own shaft was without the inlays of metal or semiprecious materials such as brass pins, lacquer, or flakes of pearl. His first master was his father but later when he was trained as a Hohei, he was trained by the Gunso Mita in the finer points of fighting with the Yari. The later master gave him a lot of personal training and made him a finer warrior.

He was assigned to stand guard over the campsite while the group rested. His yumi hung over his shoulders while in his right hand held the yari. He was tired but the years of training gave him endurance which exceeded that of a normal warrior. He caught the scent of the unusual smell, which he never caught before that scent.

"Who's there? Show yourself." Sun shouted. The ones who stood over him at the surrounding rocks where truly barbarians. These creatures are not man, although they have man's formed limbs, but their body are covered in hair with a larger head than that of man. They stand on at the height of one and a half of a normal man with their two lower limbs; bent at the knees, and their upper limbs are also as long as their lower limbs. Each creature have the facial expression of man but lacks the finer contour of it. Theirs were protruding out from the eyes level to the lower jaws. Their body frames were covered in some sort of leather wear that covered their upper body to the knees and in their hands are the curved blades or battle axe, or the twin pick with the wooden handle.

"Hohei Sun, stand to with your yari. They are bigger than us, the yumi may not hurt them." Taisa Mori gave the command.

"Slave....... Sori, fetch my kusarigama ( sickle chain ) to me." Taisa Mori called on the former slave which he had freed. He was without any yari and the katana may not be within reach but not his kusarigama. Sori took the weapon to the samurai. Taisa Mori released the lengthy chain with the head spike ball,and swung it in his right hand.

"Attack these creatures. I had not seen one which are friendly yet?" Taisa gave the command but Edo stopped him.

"No, before we fight, shall we not talked to them first?" Edo asked as he approached one of the big creatures but the later had swung the long handle mallet towards the farmer.

"You are right, Taisa. They are ruly creatures." Edo had jumped aside with his right hand holding the naginata to protect his back from the mallet. The mallet was deflected by the naginata but the force of the blow was enough to force the farmer to lose his balance. He fell onto the ground rolled over it to avoid the blows rained by the creature.

Gunso Mita had his tasks outlined for him; his yari was deflected by the other creature wielding the long curved blade. The creature was bigger and had wounded two farmers with his blade; their pitchfork was no matched against the blade. Gunso pulled back on his attack and worked on the strategy to find the weakness in his foe. Then he saw the moves by the creature was not so much of skill but of strength. He then saw the Hohei cut into the creature at its left knee causing it pain.

"Go for the left knee and then we can bring it down." Gunso Mita shouted as he continued his fight on the left knee. Across the clearing, the Taisa had his spike metal ball coiled around his foe, and trying to matched strength by pulling at it. The creature was armed with a blade like the one fighting the Gunso and it was harassed by three of the Hohei with their yari. One of the Hohei got his yari thrusted into the left side of the chest where its leather tunic did not covered well. The creature howled out in pain and arched its body to toward the skies. It was there when the arrow was seen piercing the exposed lower neck. Taisa Mori looked over and saw the archer was none other than Bento who returned to join in the fight.

Edo who was rolling on the ground came to a halt against a boulder and had to pushed him up to avoid the oncoming blow, in which Taisa Mori came to his rescue. The Taisa charged at the rear of the creature and jumped up with an overhead downward slash that cut into the creature's right shoulder; severing the arm from there. Upon his landing, the Taisa braced himself with the feet balanced apart to twist his body for a right swing at the lower back of the creature. The blade of the samurai was sharpen by experts cut in deep and for the first time, he noticed the blood that spurts out were green in shades like those of the serpents.

"These are the same as the serpents! Foul creatures altogether!" Taisa Mori shouted out as he laid down the final cut on the side of the neck on the creature. That last cut was the coup de grace to the foe.

Gunso Mita had his focus on the creature who was hobbling on the wounded knee, and while he distracted it, he noticed Edo was going for the kill at the rear. The naginata swing down and cut at the wounded knee and caused the creature to dropped down on its front. The farmer then jumped on the fallen body and thrust the naginata onto the back of its head.

There was a third creature that went down with the Hohei and farmers working together to bring it down. The rest of the creatures fled from the campsite while the group of warriors all cheered.

"Fools! We have our deads to count too." Edo stopped them as he looked to the numbers who were on the flooring. There were five but four would not be waking up. One of the death was a Hohei. The fifth was a farmer who had suffered a broken leg smashed by the heavy mallet. Now the group was nine samurai including the cowardly Teishin, ten able farmers with one wounded and eight ex-slaves.

Edo then looked to the slaves who had stood away from the battle.

"Where were all of you?" Edo shouted at them. Sori stood out and bowed his head.

"We were guarding the supplies. We are not warriors and hence we stayed out." That statement by Sori angered the farmer who rushed at the slave but Taisa Mori stood in between the two.

"Restraint yourself, Edo-san. We have enough death here. Let the slaves licked at their own shame while we take care of these." Taisa Mori held back the raging farmer. "I lost too one of my men, and he would be remembered for this battle."

"Yai! They are cowards. They deserved no more than death." Teishin rushed forth as he drew on his katana, but Gunso Mita stopped him with the blunt side of the Yari.

"Teishin, your involvement was minimal with the feet of yours hardly in the battlefield, but fleeting on the rims of it." Gunso glared at the Teishin.

"Gunso Mori, your words are an insult to my honor. I demand that you retract those words or I shall be forced to defend my honor." Teishin shouted back in anger as he focused on the Gunso. He then noticed the other Hohei had all stood to the back of the Gunso and had their weapons raised.

"Insolent dogs! How dare you fight me?" Teishin Buke looked for the Taisa who was had released the farmer. The Taisa stood there and then walked away.

"Taisa, are you not going to command your men to stepped down?" Teishin asked of the leader.

"No, they are all warriors here with their own mind. I can only asked of them to stepped down but they would decide on their own." Taisa replied as he checked the dead samurai. "That includes also the slaves."

That last line prompted the slaves to draw their weapons and sided with Gunso. Teishin cursed out before turning to walked away. He had been shamed and should do the self immolation but he was scared of it. He walked to the rear and sat down there by himself.

"Gunso, if you may. Check the bodies and retrieved their weapons. And personal effects to be given to their families on our return." Taisa ordered his aide. Taisa looked to his own numbers, seven Hohei with him and Gunso, Edo still have eleven but one would not walk. He knows that he still have Teishin but that one shamed him in bravery and efforts. He cornered Sori.

"Next battle, tell your men to fight or die by my sword." Taisa cautioned him. Across the campsite, Teishin still sits alone but he was not really alone. He did not see the hands that grabbed his mouth and hauled him over the rocks until it was too late.