SWORD
MAID ~剣術メイド菊田舞~
by Rawle Nyanzi
As the daimyo's samurai stomped
into the house, the maid Kikuta Mai hid in a dresser in her master's
bedroom. She knew what those sword-swinging goons wanted: to force
her master, the famed mage Yonekura Kyohei, to hand over his magical
research.
"Do not disturb my circles!"
Yonekura Kyohei shouted. Mai heard it loud and clear. A chair
crashed. A man grunted in pain. A sword tasted flesh. A girl
screamed. Angry chatter. A heavy tumble. Yonekura Kyohei had joined
his wife in the hereafter.
Someone approached Mai's hiding
place, but the steps were softer, lighter. The young maid jumped when
the dresser opened, but her worry melted away in an instant when she
saw the petite, short-haired girl of nineteen, none other than
Yonekura Kyohei's daughter Sana.
The diminutive girl entered the
dresser. "Oh, Mai!" Sana said tearfully. "They took
the other maids away, and my father…"
"I heard it all." Mai
embraced the sobbing girl.
Sana backed away a bit. "There's
only one hope now," she said. She reached beyond Mai and put her
hands on what, in the extremely scarce light, looked like a short
dress. The Yonekura household didn't hold to traditional aesthetics,
opting instead to borrow from the oceanic barbarians who had once
visited in days gone by. Sana went to the corner and grabbed a long,
thin sword with a hand guard, a barbarian blade known as a rapier.
"These are called the
Maiden's Arms. My father made them for me, but I want you to have
them. They'll even expand to fit you," Sana said.
The stomping came uncomfortably
closer. "Ah, there's no time to change," Mai said.
"Allow me!" Sana placed
one finger on Mai's stomach, then in an instant, Mai was in the
outfit, and she held the rapier unsheathed in her hand while the
sheath sat at her waist.
"Good," Mai said.
"You should be as strong as
ten men, but you can also-"
The door to the bedroom opened
with a loud thud. "Show yourself, you little rat. If you come
quietly, I'll let you be my plaything!" the samurai said.
With a bold push, Mai opened the
door to the dresser. She saw the enemy before her: men in gold-horned
kabuto helmets and crisp lamellar armor, their gleaming katanas
ready. A carved mask covered their lower faces, giving them the
appearance of demons.
Mai hesitated for the briefest of
moments, then sprang into action.
She thrust her blade into the
belly of a samurai, and it poked straight through him as if he were
paper. Mai kicked the samurai away, sending him into a bookshelf, his
gut bleeding profusely. The other samurai swung at Mai in anger, but
Mai dodged their slashes and pierced their hearts with ease. Sana
used her wind magic to fling the two remaining ones into a wall; Mai
stabbed them in the head to finish them off.
Emboldened by their victories,
Mai and Sana ran through the house, dispatching any samurai foolish
enough to confront them. None could challenge Mai's magical strength,
and those who made it past Mai didn't make it past Sana. In mere
moments, they fought their way outside the house, with plenty of
energy to spare. Mai and Sana burst out into the sunlit street, ready
to make their escape.
This time, however, the samurai
didn't only bring swordsmen; they brought archers as well. A samurai
in a white kimono and elaborate, over-designed armor stepped out from
among his men.
"I don't know how you
slaughtered my men, but right now, your life is forfeit," the
samurai leader said. He turned to his men. "Shoot her!"
In that moment, Mai saw her
chance at escape: she would jump right over their heads with her
augmented strength. With her free arm, she grabbed Sana around the
waist and jumped right before the arrows could strike home. Sana
assisted with a blast of wind from her hand, then both girls sailed
above the ranks of samurai swordsmen and archers and landed behind
their lines. The two girls made a run for it, but they failed to
notice that two of the archers had a clear shot at both of them.
Mai heard the whistle of flying
arrows. She kept up her pace, but a swift missile of wood and steel
caught up to her and punched through her back. Mai let out a cry as
she fell to her knees, blood leaking from the wound. To her horror,
Sana fell beside her, having taken an arrow to her side.
"I guess it's over for us,"
Mai said to Sana as the samurai rushed over to inspect their stricken
prey.
"It's not over. The Maiden's
Arms have one more secret," Sana said. Sana used her remaining
strength to place her finger on Mai's belly. She said a short chant,
and then a warm, pleasant energy coursed through Mai's body. Mai
strained as the arrows pushed themselves out and both Mai and Sana's
bodies healed. The miraculous feat had stunned the samurai, but once
they got over the shock, they drew their katanas. The gleaming blades
fell, all too ready to bite the flesh of the insolent girls.
Except the girls weren't there.
Mai had dodged at the last moment, taking Sana with her. Hunched over
with rapier in hand, Mai glared at the menacing samurai. Her level of
strength had greatly diminished, but she still felt stronger than the
average male warrior.
The white-clad leader stepped
forward, this time with katana drawn. "You bleed like the rest
of us. All the better to wash my blade," he said. The leader
rushed at Mai, but a mighty gust of wind flung him into his men.
"Great work, Sana!" Mai
said. She dashed over to the enemy and put her blade in the swordsmen
and archers before they could reorient themselves. Sana continued to
launch gusts of wind, keeping the archers off-balance and allowing
Mai to skewer them. Soon enough, only the leader was left, and he
loomed over the maid, the tip of his blade mere inches from her face.
Just the same, Mai's rapier pointed right at the captain's heart.
"Checkmate," the leader
said. Both swordfighters thrust their blades forward, hoping to
strike the fatal blow. Tempered steel flew, backed by the power of
their wielders. The leader gasped as Mai's rapier smashed his sternum
and ruptured every chamber of his heart. Mai had moved her head to
one side, avoiding the leader's katana by half an inch. Mai pulled
the blade from her opponent's body, and the leader, once so proud and
imperious, collapsed to the ground as an inert, bloody corpse.
"You'll never hurt anyone
again," Mai said to the fallen samurai captain. She hadn't
noticed in the heat of the battle, but many in the town had gathered
to watch the confrontation. When Mai and Sana had finally vanquished
the samurai, the spectators let out a mighty cheer. However, Mai
ignored the adulation and ran back to Sana's side.
"We can't stay here any
longer," Mai said.
"You're right -- we'll be
branded outlaws for sure," Sana replied.
"Then we'll have to make our
own way," Mai said. Ignoring the crowd, the two girls walked
away to forge a new destiny for themselves.
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