A Time to Kill

            by David Adams

 

            Two dark figures could be seen from the third story window of the University of California Berkeley Agricultural Institute. The empty sky shown down upon them, as they quickly sped across the well kept grounds. Had there been anyone in the window to see the two shadows darting around the campus, it would have made for a rather suspicious scene. It may have even warranted a quick jaunt down the 6 flights of stairs, and a stern inquiry as to the nature of their expedition. After all, students were supposed to be asleep at 2:37 in the morning. However there was no one in the window to witness the concise stealthy movements of the shadowy figures. The room was completely deserted. The well swept hall out side, lead down to the cavernous lecture hall consumed in inky blackness. It would have been quite easy for the two figures to quietly enter the building through the open window on the west side of the 2^nd floor and take any matter of expensive property from the university, but their business lay elsewhere on this night.

            Both men were dressed all in black, and carried black packs across their shoulders, along with a belt holding eight razor sharp throwing stars secured in a belt strung across each man’s chest. Each was athletic in build, and light in step. The taller of the two was known as David. David was a highly respected member of the order in the Ninja in the court of the Shogun Bye. Many powerful warlords had met their end, at the tip of his swift dagger and taste of his carefully mixed poisons. Their was a time when he was the most feared man in all of feudal Japan. All that had changed since the invasion of the West. That was 20 years ago. David was no longer as quick or strong as once was, but what he lost in physical prowess he gained back many fold in cunning. Now Shogun Bye was the last Shogun left in Japan to still employ the subtle art of the Ninja as a means to power, as opposed to the raw carnage and destruction of the musket.

            The other Ninja’s name was Jon. Jon was a good deal younger than David; he had less experience in the field, but was no less deadly. He had risen in the ranks of Bye’s Ninjas to join David on this prestigious mission, into the motherland of the westerners, but it was no mission of death that brought these two masked terrors to the city of Berkeley, California, on this dark starless night.

            The pair slowed as they approached a massive white tower in the middle of an open area. Its behemoth form gazed down upon the surrounding structures with power and grace. As they reached the base of the tower David pulled a map from his pack, and opened it to reveal a detailed lay out of the university.

            “It is here, that the sword is kept. In the office of the ‘warden,’ If the map shows truth, it is within the walls of this white building.” said David, as he continued to study the map.

            “Good.” Responded Jon, as he looked away, drawing a weary glance from David.

            “I sense your frustration, but we must complete the priority mission before, we search for the other.” Recited David with a mix of, annoyance and conviction.

            “I know the code just as you do, but it does not seem right to me, to leave him, while we go hunting for this broken heirloom.” Said Jon looking away into the night sky. David put the map away and let the words resonate in the air for a moment, before responding

            “It is no broken heirloom that rests in the high places of this tower. You know that just as well as I do. That the artifact is worth more to the sons and daughters of Japan than both of our lives. As for the other, he knows the code, he was trained just as you and I were. If he is still alive, then he will be alive in 30 minutes after we have retrieved the artifact, and if he is dead may he have died an honorable death.”

            This seemed to satisfy Jon who removed a long rope form his back pack, and began to uncoil it.

            The face of the tower was smooth, but the Ninjas were patient and well practiced. In a matter of minutes they had scaled the northern face of the great tower. The half moon shone a pale light on the two men, as they noiselessly slipped into the observatory level of the building. David quickly squatted and motioned for Jon to follow.

            “Past this point, we go bye hand signals only. Understood?” David looked for confirmation from Jon, with a quick glance. Who responded with a curt nod.

            “Good. Now we must search this place. The western devils are sly, and it may be in any number of places.”

            “Yes...” Jon hesitates “ I know it is not our place to question, but do you ever really look at this situation?”

            “What is there to look at? We are in the building, now we must find the artifact.”

            “No. I mean the big picture.”

            “It is not our place to look at the big picture, and if it was I would say that we are doing Japan a great service, and bringing much honor to our people, by taking back what the West has stolen.”

            “Bought, not stolen. The Westerners bought it with their gold, and the Emperor gladly sold it. Do ever wonder why all the other Shoguns no longer have Samari? Why they have embraced the west with open arms? And why, time after time, Shogun Bye is defeated in battle, by their riflemen?”

David stops coiling up his rope, and turns his head with a look of disbelief on his face, as Jon continues.

             “Now you know me David. I am not saying that we should cast away all the old ways and bring in all the new, but the west has much to offer. There is a fine line that we as a people must walk, a line of reverence for the old ways, but also one that looks at the reality of the situation.”

            “And what my young friend is the reality of the situation?”

            “That we would be fools to turn down the hand that West has offered to us.”

            David looks down, and slowly shakes his head. Then before Jon can react, David’s knife is lodged in his heart. A look of surprise and pain lies in Jon’s dying eyes, as David gently lays him down to rest.

            “It brings me great pain to do this, but it has become clear to me that you have forsaken your honor, and your homeland, you left me no choice. May your ancestors forgive you.” David quickly removes the knife from, the Jon’s trembling from. After a moment he stands up, and drags Jon’s body  to a dark corner, where he could be retrieved and more throughly disposed of after the mission.

            Killing was unpleasant, but necessary. In this case it was exceptionally unpleasant, but exceptionally necessary. Traitors deserve death, just as a thief, or a murderer does. If it were under more gentle circumstances, he would have taken Jon to Shogun Bye, and had him decide his fate, but out in the field he did not have that luxury. If they were to come into a sticky situation the traitor would have been a liability.

            After wiping his knife clean, David slowly walked across the room, and slipped through the door adjacent from the slumped body of Jon. The stairway is dark, but for a single shaft of light coming from a thin window on the right several meters down the hall. He made his way quickly down until he arrived at the next level. A brown plaque on the door read ‘Warden’s Office’ U.S. government property. A thin stip of light is visible under the door. Someone was inside. This was unexpected, but still workable. He slowly took a throwing star from his belt, and griped it in his hand. This was the moment of the mission where he had to be flawless. Any mistakes here could cost him his life. Centering him self, he took a deep breath. He turns the door knob, then simultaneously pushes the door open, and rolls into the room, and takes aim at the flustered figure behind a cluttered desk. Before he can launch the deadly projectile the man does a very peculiar thing. He himself rolls, produces a sharpened throwing star from his well-pressed suit, and hurls it with astonishing accuracy hitting the star out of David’s hand. David quickly scrambles behind a chair, and takes another star from his belt. The man from behind the desk does like wise. Both men, take a moment to analyze the situation. The other is obviously well trained, and ready to kill. The answer is simple.

            “So Greg. I see they have you pretty chained up here.”

            “You never were much one for wit David, and I must say your roll was clumsy, and your hesitation cost you a kill my friend.”

The man from behind the desk slowly stands. With a malicious smile on his face.

            “Do you really think that I could fall to these Westerners? I was not captured my friend. In fact as you can see, I have been living quite comfortably.” He gestures to the well furnished room, and extensive liquor cabnit on the west wall.

            “You are no better than the rest of these Western pigs.” spits David

            “ Am I ? Well one thing is for sure, I am better off than the likes of you. You and your backwards tradition, will drive our country into the ground. We would be the laughing stock of the world. You would do well to go home and tell Shogun Bye to follow the example of the rest of the shoguns and join the West. I saw the error in my ways, in the simple contrast between the two cultures. Upon my arrival I saw the power of the West. Not only the power to kill, but the power to heal with their new medicines, the power to educate in this very institute. The power to do more good then we ever dreamed with the old ways.”

David only stares with hate in his eyes, at the betrayal of his old friend.

            “ I know your mission, just as well as u do. For it was once my mission. Take back the ancient Sword, bring honor to the shogun.  Is that not it my old friend.”

            “Yes. But tell me, friend, where in the mission did it say to join the enemy? I see you have been blinded by the power of the West. So blind as to forget the beauty of tradition. Life may have been hard before the invasion of the West. But life was good. Life was simple. Life was beautiful. Life was ours. Now a man can no longer live with simple honor. There is no honor any more. Only despair.”

            “Haha. I see you are stuck as ever in the old ways. There is no use arguing. Let us fight.”

            Greg pulls walks to the cabinet and removes an ornate package. He slowly unwraps it. Then opens it to reveal the most perfect sword ever crafted, in the country of Japan.

            “You took the sword for your self you bastard.” Growls David, as he pulls out his own blade from his back strap. The two blades hang in the air humming, as if alive with the tension. The two men circle each other. Each staring into the others eyes with an intense concentration. Then Greg breaks the stillness. He lunges forward only to have his blow cast aside by a swift strike form David, who then uses the momentum from this motion to strike again from a different angle. Greg quickly dances away only to find David right on his heals. The swords cut through the air, but neither one finds its mark. They are both continually deflected by the skilled strokes of the other. David continues his advance until Greg is up against his cabinet of expensive liquor. Then in a move of desperation Greg rolls to the side, and pulls the cabinet crashing down on David’s position. David only just manages to roll out of the way out Taking advantage of David’s hasty retreat, Greg moves in. David is only just able to turn his blows aside as the ferocity of the attack increases.

 

            The song of blades playing off each other drifted into the hall, as Jon slowly crawled down the stair case and approached the door. His face pale from blood loss and contorted in pain reflected the warm glow of the open door. How could David do such a thing. David was a strong man. David was a good man. David was a man of honor. He had known all these things but now he knew something else. David was completely and utterly insane. The mission didn’t matter any more, Shogun Bye didn’t matter any more. Jon would never leave this place and he knew it. All he wanted to do before his spirt was ripped form his body, was make sure that David’s was ripped from his as well. When he got to the doorway neither of the other two men noticed, each was consumed in the dance of the sword. David had Greg backed up against a wall, and it was obvious that Greg’s strength was waning. Finally David  made contact with a quick down stroke across Greg’s left shoulder, leaving him with one arm. David then takes advantage of Greg’s momentary shock, and slices off his head with one quick deft stroke. As Greg’s broken body collapses to the ground, David simply stands above him. Jon quietly removes a throwing star from his belt and carefully takes aim. His line of sight runs from the top of the star straight to David’s head. Then with a quick flick of his wrist the star hurtles through the air and finds it’s mark in-between David’s eye’s. With that the flame of Jon’s soul was extinguished, in the same wind as David’s.