the adventures of shinshin and seijin - contest

7/31/2019 The Adventures of Shinshin and Seijin - Contest

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The Adventures of Shinshin & SeijinBy Bethany Lindell

Prologue: The Charmed Meeting

I can’t really remember the first time I met Shin. I was alreadylosing consciousness by that point you see. The villagers had tied me totheir quickly assembled stake long ago and the dead kindling under mybare feet had already been lit by the angry mob surrounding me so I hadother things on my mind by then. The smoke didn’t help anything either. There hadn’t been any wind that day so it blew up into my face in great,bluish-gray, billows that clogged my nose and throat and made my eyestear up even more then they already were. I was afraid. Already I

couldn’t breathe right and I hacked and sputtered like the dying man Iwas as I tried to find clean air through the thick, suffocating smoke.Distantly, past the growing roar of the flames and the incessant prayerin my head, I could hear the villagers egging the fire on, as if it neededany more encouragement then the dry bracken they had already laidaround me.

I don’t know if I can adequately explain the fear I felt at thatmoment – when I was certain I would die burned alive but still ferventlyhoped that God would deign to let me live. I can only think to say that itwas a living nightmare that has since plagued and tortured me with itsmemory that, despite the many years that have passed since then, still

remains as sharp and as clear as the day it happened.I remember that’s when she appeared, when the smoke hadsuffused my chest and confused my head and the hungry flames hadbegun to lick my feet in earnest like eager puppies tasting meat for thefirst time. She came like some bodiless, avenging angel through thesmoke and the fire. Her shadowed, smoke-masked silhouette was thelast thing I remembered seeing before the heavy weight of the smokepressed the last remaining dregs of awareness right out of me.

That was the first time I saw Shin, but seeing as I was in theprocess of being burned at the stake for sympathetic alienism, andtherefore was too distracted to pay much attention to her, I am not sure

it should count as our first meeting. So moving on…But then, I suppose the second wasn’t much better. I remember

waking up, thinking I must finally be dead in Heaven, when I realized theshafts of bright yellow light weren’t coming through the bars of thepearly gates, but rather through the holes in a low wooden beamedceiling. In my smoke clouded mind I first wondered why Heaven lookedlike it was about to collapse in on my aching head when it finally beganto dawn on me that, against all odds, I was still alive. I didn’t truly



believe that right away of course – the smell of the smoke and the feelof the flames were still too fresh in my mind and I still knew that by allrights I should be dead – but somehow, I wasn’t.

Suddenly, her face appeared over mine and I thought, “Well nowthe question is settled. Here it is; proof that I really am dead. An angel is

leaning over me.” And I firmly believed it to be true for I have neverseen anyone so beautiful, before or since. Her face was strong, yet kind,with a red mouth I could see was usually given to smiling. Her hair was arich brown and long enough that if she hadn’t already bound it near thebottom with a dark ribbon – as was the fashion for young girls in thosedays – it would have fallen over her shoulders to touch the ground nextto me as she leaned over. And her eyes – her eyes were a deep browneven richer than her hair, only they were clear, like a forest lake. Withtheir unusual clarity, I saw in them a concern for me that I didn’t think Imerited. Looking back, I realized she was so young – just shy of fourteen– but then again, I suppose I must have looked the same. We were too

young for what was too follow – much too young – especially kindhearted Shin who, despite her calling in life, still believed that the worldwas fair.

But there in that little hut, having no idea what was to soon befallus, Shin smiled down at me, unashamedly and fully unrestrainedly.

“I’m glad to see you’re finally awake,” she said to me, her softvoice colored with the earthy accent of a born native of Owa, the landthat sat under our feet within a ring of mountains that played with thenatural force of the rock and had long ago magnetized it. “I was veryworried about you. For awhile there I thought you wouldn’t wake up atall,” she went on, concern laced through her curving words.

Her concern confused me as much as her words. Who was she toworry about me, a stranger with little family and no connections toanyone outside of the small mountain hamlet I had come from?

But my sluggish mind couldn’t focus on the question long enoughfor me to find an answer. Instead, a more pressing matter occurred tomy addled brain. “You mean…I’m not dead?” I asked surprised to hearhow thick and raspy my voice had become from all the smoke I hadinhaled.

She laughed softly then and shook her head, “No,” she told me,her tone still laughing, “you are quite alive, although maybe not quite aswell as you were before. The fire burned your feet and legs pretty bad. I

cleaned and wrapped them as best I could, but an infection got past meanyway. Fortunately it’s done little damage – a slight fever and such –but nothing really to worry about,” she told me. But then her full mouthturned down at the corners giving her face a very harsh look. “Or atleast as long as you don’t catch anything else from this,” and here shelooked around at the crumbing shack we were in with obvious distastethat bordered on outright revulsion, “ place, you should be well inanother few days. You would be well now,” she said sitting back on her



heels in a huff, “if the villagers had listened to me and let you recover ina house, or even a real building, instead, but none of them will even lookat you kindly. What on earth did you do to make them hate you somuch?” She asked, more curious then anything.

I was surprised she didn’t know already. Mine was not an easily

kept secret. The proof of it was tattooed directly upon my forehead andnot easily concealed, even though I had grown my bangs long like mymother in hopes they would cover my family’s shame.

I looked away from my rescuer for the first time since I had seenher. Not wanting to tell her my secret if I did not have to I simply said,“Nothing,” instead. “This is the first time I’ve been in this village. I comefrom the mountains to the east of here and I just left for the first time afew weeks ago.” I told her, feeling safe in revealing that much. Mymountain was one among many that were far away and difficult tonavigate, even to those like me and mine that had lived there forgenerations. It was doubtful this girl would find my home on her own

unless someone like me, who knew where it was, were to guide her.She snorted derisively and for an awful moment I thought she had

seen the mark on my forehead, right above and between my eyes, andknew I was lying. But when I looked over at her, I realized her contemptwas not for me, but for the villagers. “What kind of people go aroundburning people?” She asked out loud, but not to me.

“Frightened people.” I almost answered her anyway, butfortunately managed to hold my tongue, letting her continueuninterrupted.

“I’m going to have to give their elder a good talking to before weleave here Chii. And you can bet Father will hear of this too when we get

home.” She said to someone I couldn’t see and was too tired to searchfor.

I wanted to laugh at her words but my lungs still hurt too muchfrom the smoke. “How bold this girl is.” I thought to myself as a deephealing sleep began to take over my muggy senses. But even as sleepwashed over me, I wondered uneasily how long I could keep my secretto myself. I already knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that as soon asshe found out, she would hate me too, just like everybody else.

~

I once heard this adage the people of old Earth used to say, backbefore the Kisei or even the Lulyii appeared in the skies over head; thirdtime’s a charm they said if I understand the old writings correctly. Buteven if my translation was off, I think the words are very apt for Shinand me. Our third encounter is the one I always consider the mostcharmed out of all of them, seeing as it’s the one where we first actuallymet .



I remember it was the morning sun slanting through the shoddyroof that woke me. I wasn’t surprised to see I was still in the shack,however I was surprised to see I was alone. Every time I had brieflywoken up before now, my savior or one of the village healers in training,a young girl named Taffy, had been sitting nearby, looking after me. But

now the hut was empty except for me.“I guess this means I’m getting better.” I muttered to myself as Istruggled to sit up.

I sure didn’t feel like I was better. My chest ached like someonehad sat a large stone on top of me. Sharper pains ran through my feetand lower legs as if I still stood in the fire. But it didn’t hurt so much tobreathe now, which I took as a good sign. It’s generally considered agood thing, breathing. I took an experimental deep breath and nearlygagged as a smell like dirty wet dog rose to greet my poor nose. Withsome humiliation, I realized the atrocious odor was coming from me. Iguess I’d been lying on this pallet longer then I had first thought.

Looking around, I saw a pile of dark indigo cloth folded neatly bythe door that hung slightly skewed on its rusted hinges. After hobblingcloser to them, I saw with some astonishment that they were my ownspare robes, the ones I had packed in my satchel before leaving home.Glad for the chance to change out of the clothes I had worn for whoknew how many days, I reached down for my spares.

I didn’t notice the skinny, scaled tale sitting lazily on top of mytunic until it moved; an idly threatening motion that made me freezeinstantly. I followed the dark blue, whip-like appendage across the frontof my folded robe and down under the squat, crooked stool it sat on. Icouldn’t see the rest of the creature because one of the stool’s three

legs was missing and it sat at a slanted angle, hiding whatever serpenthad decided to sleep in my shirt.

An old, splintered broom leaned against the wall behind me andwith exaggerated slowness I reached back and carefully found thehandle with my right hand. I gripped it tightly as I pulled it in front of mewith as little noise I could make, not wanting to alert the creature of myintentions.

The serpentine tail moved again, making a soft slithering sound asit slid across my clothes. Anxiously, I chocked up on the broom handlewith both hands. Then, with a deep breath meant to give me courage, Istruck the serpent with as much strength as my injured body could

muster. There was a mighty WHAK! followed by an even louder shriek that

sounded like the roar of a miniature lyontine. The force of my blow sentthe stool and my clothes flying, and I stumbled back as scaly hideratcheted past me through the aftermath.

The stool fell with a clatter as I landed hard on my backside, myspare robes landing on my face. I ripped them away swiftly, not wanting



to be taken by surprise if this creature turned out to be more aggressivethen I had first thought.

My eyes found it immediately. The creature I had thought hadbeen a mere serpent hiding under my clothes stood poised in the nowopen doorway, slender back arched in anger and slit pupil eyes staring

at me with inhuman intelligence. Except it wasn’t a serpent – it was adragon! A real, live dragon right there in front of me. A real, live, angry dragon…

I swallowed hard as all the old stories my mother had told me of how the dragons came to be all those centuries ago filled my head. Shehad said that the conquerors of the Earth, the hostile aliens we nowknow as the Kisei, had heard the old stories told by man and seen thepictures they had drawn in their old books, and then had decided togenetically engineer the ancestors of the creature I saw before me, thedragon. They were meant to act as the Kisei’s guard dogs, vicious andcruel in their killings so that no human would dare rise up against them.

But they had had handlers of course; the Kisei’s human henchmen, theSou, who, over the generations, had sworn loyalty to the alien race overand over again. However some of them had lied. They were the onesthat remembered that they were still human and so set some of thedragons free, “accidentally” of course. And if the creatures had beencaught and trained by human rebels, well, how was that their fault afterall? Dragons were foolishly loyal after all.

Of course, if you had taken those fearsome creatures with theirfoot long teeth and scales as polished and as strong as a star ship’s hulland wings that kicked up typhoons and then compared them to thepuny, little creature in front of me, you would have laughed and asked if

it was truly wise to hold a dragon to the same light as a little lizard.Not that the spitting creature in front of me would be pleased to

be called a lizard, despite the similarities. The only characteristics thatlet me know it was a dragon at all were the feet, with three toes andeach of those with their sharp, clawed talons and the thin semitransparent wings that were now spread threateningly above its skinnyback. The needle sharp teeth as long as my fingernails also helped toconvince me.

I remained perfectly still as my mother’s stories and the thoughtsof dragon teeth the size of my torso swirled through my head. The littledragon stared me down, its eyes rapidly changing colors from ember red

to burning gold to a blue as deep and hungry as the angry ocean. I feltmy eyes grow wide and the muscles in my shoulders and legs tensed,preparing to flee from his retribution. He opened his small jaws in a longfrightening hiss, showing his teeth as his two long, facial whiskers roseangrily up beside his thin, triangular face.

Then with a flurry of shining scales, he spun on his tail and ran outthe door, his claws hooking gouges in the wooden frame.



I sat there frozen, breathing rapidly for several long, slow minutesas my heart tried to remember how to beat slowly.

“A dragon…” I found myself muttering, “a real dragon…the bookscertainly don’t prepare you for that...even for a little one…”

A familiar voice drifted through the cracks in the doorway then,

shaking me out of my shock. “Oh there you are Chii. I was wonderingwhere you had gotten to. Say, take a look at this. Isn’t it funny looking?”Still feeling a bit stunned, I managed to push myself off the ground

to my burning feet and opened the door. The sunlight fell bright on myface, making me squint as I stepped outside. Shading my eyes with myhand, I took in my surroundings and saw the girl from the fire sitting alittle ways away under the shade of a large oak tree, my bag sittingopen against the trunk next to her and an open book in her hands. Itwas one of mine I saw; the one on the history of the world before thealiens appeared. It was open about halfway through and I could see alarge, faded, color picture on one page. She was showing the picture of

the old earthlings to the skinny little dragon, somewhat to my chagrin.“Look at their clothes.” The girl – dressed in the traditional tunic

garb of a down to earth Owaian, colored cream with thick bars of darkbrown lining her shoulders, the v of her collar, the hems of her sleeves,and the numerous rectangular cuts of fabric that covered her legs in apeculiar, disjointed skirt – was saying, pointing at the people in thephotograph. “The girls are wearing boys’ clothes.” She said with a littlelaugh. “The people of old Earth sure were weird.”

The dragon gave a little growl of affirmation. I saw with someunease that tiny wisps of smoke blew out of his nostrils when he did.

I was halfway up the hill by now and my legs were burning

uncomfortably, but it was still nothing to the feeling of the fire under mybare feet. But I must have made some sound because the girl looked upand saw me. She smiled easily and, after moving a pair of strangecylinders colored dark blue with little pearl and pink enamel flowers onthem tat were surrounded by green leaves, patted the grassy groundnext to her. “Good morning,” she said happily, “I was just looking atyour books. I hope that was okay. I went looking through your bag forfresh clothes and found them in there.”

I nodded as I sat down next to her, slow as an old man withrheumatism. Finally I made it down to the ground and, with a long sigh,stretched out my legs in front of me, wincing as the pain spiked at the

movement, then eased mercifully. “It’s fine.” I told her as I adjusted thesleeping robe I was dressed in over my legs. It had been the only thingthe villagers had left me with when they had stripped me down beforetying me to the stake. “Can you read them?” I asked curiously.

She shook her head. “No, I’ve never seen this language before.”She admitted.



I nodded, looking over at the book. “I’m not surprised. Thislanguage died out during the first war with the Kisei. The only peoplewho speak it now are scholars,” I told her.

She looked at me strangely. “Can you then? Read it I mean?” Sheasked me as she gestured at the book with one, long fingered hand.

I nodded somewhat bashfully, feeling the color rise in my face.“Yes,” I admitted, “but I’m no scholar mind you. My parents arearcheologists.”

She tilted her head at me, confused.“They study objects found from the past, before the Kisei took

over.” I explained.She nodded sagely. “Ah, you’re Dirtdiggers.”I managed to keep my sigh to myself at the slang term. “Yes,” I

said instead, keeping my annoyance in check, “I’m a Dirtdigger.”A familiar slithery movement made me freeze. I looked over to see

the frightening form of the little dragon coiling around the girl’s neck in

a protective position that had the hair on the back of my neck rising inapprehension. Curiosity inched up on me at the close contact betweenthis country girl and a ferocious mythological animal, but comprehensionquickly over took it, flaring to life so fast that I almost hissed in surprise.Briefly I berated myself for not seeing it sooner; the small dragon, theenameled cylinders, the supposedly ordinary girl…

“You’re a Peacekeeper.” I said in wide eyed shock, hoping that Imanaged to keep most of the accusation out of my voice. Peacekeeperswere what remained of free humanities vigilance against the Kisei andtheir Sou. They protected Owa almost as much as the magnetic groundthe people lived on, standing ever watchful against the aliens and their

lab created monsters. The fought the invaders with relatives of their ownmightiest creations the dragons, much like the one currently growing atme, and their traditional weapons, the stick-like shsa, which had littlemagnets of their own beneath their wooden skins that could defeat eventhe most technologically advanced of Kisei weaponry.

If the Peacekeeper girl was offended at my tone she hid it well. The girl only reached up and idly petted the dragon’s iridescent scales,his whole head nearly disappearing under the palm of her hand. “Yes,”she answered me. Then her eyes went wide and her red mouth droppedopen in an astounded ‘o’. “Oh forgive me I haven’t introduced myself yet have I? My name is Shinshin Soumin and this is my dragon, Chiisai

Ryuu.” She placed a hand on her chest before gesturing to the stillsteaming dragon.

“Yeah, we’ve, uh, met.” I stuttered, hesitant to tell her the wholestory. or even to talk with her much longer. The dragon just narrowed itseyes at me. Quickly, I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “So,ah, his name means ‘little dragon’ then, yes? It suits him.” I said.

Chiisai Ryuu glared harder.



Fortunately, Shin laughed. “Yes it does, but don’t let his size foolyou. He’s wicked good in a fight,” she said, a hard edge entered hersmile that had my stomach clenching uneasily. “She’s a Peacekeeper after all,” I thought to myself as I swallowed hard but tried to hide it,“she’s probably been in lots of fights already. Defending the land

against those heartless alien sympathizers that want the Kisei back in power after all.” I thought sorrowfully.Shin continued to stare at me. “So what’s your name?” She asked

when I didn’t speak on my own.I blinked at her, startled out of my thoughts. “Huh? Oh, my name’s

I’seijin Rhapsodorian, but everyone calls me Seijin.” I told her, not forthe first time glad that it was not my father’s foreign surname that wascursed.

That made her smile, the easy smile I had first seen and not thewarrior’s grin. “’Alien’ huh? Your parents just not like you orsomething?”

I drew myself up in a modest display of boyish pride. “Oh yeah?And what does your name mean?” I demanded.

She smiled, knowing she had me beat already. “My name means‘little star’.” She told me proudly. Then she leaned in closer and in aconspiratorial whisper told me, “and you can call me Shin by the way.”

I felt my face turn red. Sitting that close to her, her face onlyinches from mine, it was hard to remember that she was a Peacekeeper,that she was dangerous, especially to my health.

I quickly cleared my throat. “So, ah, w-what were you doing overthis way then, in the backwoods of nowhere? I thought thePeacekeepers lived in the south.” I babbled, grabbing for any kind of

subject at all.Shin shrugged and, fortunately for my overloaded brain, leaned

back against the trunk of the tree that shaded us. “Yeah we do, but Chiiand I were looking into some rumors of loyalists for Father. He and theother elders heard that a couple, power hungry idiots were stock pilingplasma weapons near the mountains up here.”

Chii suddenly hissed at me from where he sat, his head hoveringin the shadow of Shin’s chin. Shin stopped and looked over at me likeshe had just remembered that I was a complete and utter stranger.“You’re not one of them,” she said slowly as if she couldn’t believe that Iwas an alien loyalist that would do anything to gain power over others,

“are you?”Despite my fear of being found out, I smiled at her like she had

just uttered perfect nonsense. “Who me? Of course not. Dirtdiggers arenotorious bookworms, not a speck of useful muscle on me.” I told hersomewhat truthfully, holding up my thin arms for inspection. “Couldn’teven lift one of those plasma staffs even if I knew where one was.” I toldher truthfully. I had seen plasma staffs before at the fairs and shows thatoccasionally rolled through our part of the mountains. They were



positively huge and only the strongest men with shoulders as wide as Iwas tall could even hope to lift them. Now if you gave me a normal staff,that was a different story altogether, but Shin didn’t have to know that.

Shin laughed at my stringy arms and I felt my heart flipembarrassingly in my chest. Mortified at the deep red color I knew my

face was turning, I looked away, suddenly finding the grass on my otherside very interesting as I pulled at it nervously.“You know,” Shin broke the silence after a long stretch of quiet on

both our parts, “there are these huge storage houses of old books andodd trinkets from old Earth that nobody understands back at our village. They just sit there gathering dust and taking up space and no one knowswhat to do with them. Maybe…” I looked over when she didn’t continueand thought I saw the lightest hint of blush staining her cheeks, but thenthat could have been a trick of the light as it filtered through the treeleaves overhead, “maybe you’d like to come and look at them. I’m surethere’re lots of things a Dir- an archeologist like yourself would find very

interesting. I’m sure Father would like to meet you as well.” She saidlooking at me out of the corner of her eye, whether to entice her offermore or just out of a coy demeanor I hadn’t seen in her before, I couldn’ttell. Either way, I was very interested in what she had said.

“Uh, well, that is-I mean to say-,” I sighed, giving up on any longgrateful speeches, “Yes. I mean to say yes. That would be wonderful. Iwould love to visit your village with you.”

She smiled at me and my heart did that funny, little flipping thingagain.

Chii growled at us, exhausted with our nonsense I’m sure. Thesmoke was coming out of his mouth now, as well as his nose.

I eyed him nervously and leaned away without thinking. Shinpulled her head back to try and get a good look at him, but it wasimpossible with Chii sitting directly under her chin like that. “What hasgotten into you Chii?” She asked him with some confusion. “I swear he’snever been like this around normal people before. I wonder why he’sacting this way.” She murmured as she gently stroked the little dragon’ssmall head, probably in the hopes of calming him down.

I coughed nervously and looked away. “Yeah, um, weird.”Chii narrowed his eyes at me and blew a mouthful of acrid smoke

in my face. I glared back at him as I coughed painfully, trying to wavethe smoke away with my hand. “Wonderful.” I thought angrily.

“Wonderful Seijin, just look at what you’ve gotten yourself into. A week long trip with a pretty Peacekeeper and her over protective, vengefuldragon. You’re a freakin’ genius.”

But despite my anxious self bereavement and Chii’s surly attitude,the journey went much smoother then I had expected. We set out thenext day since there was nothing to keep us in the little village, not tomention I ran the risk of exposure every minute I spent there.



It was a fine enough journey, much better then eating driedbiscuits on the cold windy roadside alone like I had done before meetingShin. Of course the biscuits were still dry and tasteless and the wind stillbit you with the coming autumn chill, making me nervous about Shinseeing my bare forehead, but the company of another human being, and

even her sulking pet dragon, was too much to casually pass by. Shinlivened up the monotonous days of travel where all we did was walk andtalk with small breaks given over to eating and sleeping.

We made good time too. Shin was eager to be home again and I,well, I was eager for companionship and the prospect of a village withpeople to talk with, who didn’t know what heinous sins my great-something-grandfather had committed, besides old artifacts to discover.I was down right giddy those last few days of our trip, not to mentionnauseously nervous.

“I think you’ll like Father. He’s into some of those old things too.Sometimes I’ll find him in the warehouses when he’s trying to avoid

talking to the Elder Gammen.” Shin was saying that final day as weswiftly walked through the thinning forest not half an hour from thewalls of her village. She had started talking more the closer we got andwas now going practically non stop. She told me about everyone andeverything in her home from the old dragon mother Nan that lived in thegiant tree in the middle of the town right on down to Gramma Ine’srabbit stew. But mostly she talked about her father. Her mother haddied when Shin was born and he had raised her all her life. She was allhe had, and even if she hadn’t told me anything about him, her lovewould have poured through her voice even when she mentioned him inpassing.

“I hope so.” I answered her, not really knowing what else to say asI smiled like a spring loon. Shin’s exuberance was rubbing off on me andI couldn’t wait to arrive at this promised land of good people andinteresting historical objects. I had managed to bury most of my nervesthis morning by not thinking about them at all. So far it was sort of working.

The last of the trees came into view now and we walked out of their green shade onto a long stretch of empty meadow land, covered ingreenish-yellow grasses that grew up to my waist. In the distance,standing white and tall above the meadow, was the fortified town of thePeacekeepers that had stood since the fall of the Kisei that odd handful

of centuries ago.“There it is!” Shin cried animatedly and Chii gave a gruff, eager

whistle from where he was draped over her shoulders. He was happy tobe home as well. Even from this distance, the town was magnificent tobehold. I could just see the faint puff of smoke that I assumed camefrom one of the many fires that the village women would use forcooking. The hairs on the back of my neck rose on end when I saw it andunease began to coil in my abdomen, but I quickly shook it away. So



smoke made me nervous now, where was the problem in that? The stuff had almost killed me a few days ago after all. If I didn’t have a reason tofear it then who did?

I didn’t mention my wariness to Shin, not that I had much of achance to. She turned to me before I could even think of opening my

mouth, her face shining in her joy, and said with a child’s glee, “Raceyou there!” Then she was off, running giggling through the grass toward the

city’s outer wall. My brain had just enough time to ask, “What?” before Irealized she was leaving me in the dust. I bolted after her, leapingawkwardly at first when she caught me flat footed.

We raced across the field, our laughter mixing with the wind thatpushed at our backs. I don’t know if I have ever been so carelesslyhappy.

Suddenly the wind changed, hitting us full in the face. It sweptacross the Peacekeeper-stead bringing the harsh smell of fire and smoke

and blood with it. The smell slammed me back and suddenly I was backon the stake, fire under my feet, crawling up my legs, smoke in mymouth and the harsh bite of rope on my arms.

Only Shin gagging next to me reminded me of where I truly was.“What is that?” She asked, her voice muffled by the sleeve she hadpressed over her nose.

I couldn’t answer her as I struggled to release myself from mymemories. But in my frightened mind I knew that was too much smokefor cooking fires.

Shin must have realized the same thing. The fear that rose ontoher kind face was unadulterated and had no business on the face of a

half grown girl.“Father!” Shin yelled at the top of her lungs and not a second later

she was running again, only her joy from just moments before was gone.I chased after her like before, my legs smarting in pain with each

pounding step. They burned more now, as if the memory of the fire hadrekindled the burns that snaked down my limbs.

It wasn’t even a few minutes later when we came to the frontgate, although it felt much longer. The great wooden door, taller thenShin and I standing on top of each other, was splintered and pocked withscorch marks. I stopped at the sight of them, afraid to go on, but Shinhardly slowed as she wriggled through the gap left between the great

doors.She gave a shriek from the other side, and not thinking of myself, I

followed her through. The devastation that faced us hit me like a blow to the chest.

Bodies were thrown everywhere, men and women dressed inPeacekeeper clothes lay scattered about like dead leaves in the autumn.Some had bled out through the slashes on their chests and the front of their bodies from when they had tried to fight back against whatever it



was that had attacked them, but there were others – most of the others– that had blackened scorch marks on their backs. With horror, I realizedthat some of the bodies were too small to be adults. Whoever had donethis hadn’t been interested in leaving any survivors.

Shin looked like she had been slapped by her dearest friend in the

world. She looked over at me, tears welling in her eyes before fallingunchecked down her face. She didn’t say anything, but walked on in adaze, like she was still hoping she was only sleep walking. I followed herthrough the sea of bodies of people she had once known, until we cameto a large house that was more badly burned then the others. It was thePeacekeeper leader’s house I reasoned as I followed Shin inside.

The inside was even worse then the outside, if that was evenpossible. The door had been blasted away and the walls were black withburn marks, furniture had been thrown aside as easily as if theybelonged to a doll, pages had been torn out of books and were flutteringin the breeze blowing off the fires burning outside.

“Father?” Shin whispered uncertainly in front of me, thenpanicking she screamed, “Daddy!”

She took off through the house so quickly that Chii fell off of hershoulders. He spread wide his wings and caught himself easily, but Shindidn’t even notice his absence, she just kept screaming for her father.

I didn’t follow her. I already knew what she would find. Attacks likethese had been common subjects in my books and I had heard horrorstories of them from the village grannies. If she found anyone alive Iwould be very surprised.

I went in the opposite direction of Shin, into the kitchen. A little oldlady, the Gramma Ine Shin had told me about maybe, was crumpled

against the far wall like a wrinkled, broken doll. There was a smokinghole in the wall to my left, wide enough for a cart to pass through, and Iquickly went through it, not wanting to look at the poor old woman anylonger.

From Shin’s descriptions I reasoned I was in the center of townnow. Before me, a large tree was burning. That’s what had been givingoff most of the smoke. Through the flames and the darkened boughs Isaw the slender form of a dragon. Unlike Chii, this one was full grown,easily wrapping around the wide branches of the tree two or three timeseach. She was the dragon mother Nan I was sure. Her long facialwhiskers drooped lifelessly toward the blackened earth and there was

blood in her teeth. I smiled lifelessly to think that it probably wasn’thers.

A soft, leathery fluttering made me look around as Chii glidedtoward me. Somehow I wasn’t shocked when he landed on my shoulder,his pale yellow eyes wide in recognition.

“I’m sorry.” I told him honestly.If he understood me, or even heard, he didn’t react. Instead he

jumped to the ground and slinked closer to the tree. He stopped where



one of the dragon mother’s whiskers touched the ground. Slowly heleaned his small head back and gave a long, high pitched, bird like, cryof mourning at the sight of his mother.

I heard Shin’s scream even over Chii’s wailing. Thinking that thevillage was not as empty as I had first thought, I turned and ran back

toward the house. After somehow making it out of the maze like roomsof the main house, I stumbled out into the back courtyard. Shin wasstanding in the middle of the yard between the koi pond and the largeweeping willow that was now missing half of its whip like branches. Aman’s body was at her feet, shsas still held tight in his hands. Shin waslooking at him in horror, unable to believe that her father was reallydead.

She looked up at me when I stepped close enough to put a handon her shoulder. “Who would do this?” She asked me, her voice tightand raw.

I opened my mouth to give her some kind of answer, hopefully a

comforting one, but another wind blew across the yard, stirring my hairand lifting it off of my hot face.

Shin’s eyes widened first in shock then in a fierce anger and Iknew that she had seen.

“You.” She said her voice a growl. Faster then my eye could followshe had her weapon in hand and pointed directly at my open throat. Hereyes were cold and hard, her mouth set in a tight, angry line. This wasno longer the girl I had traveled with, laughed and shared family storieswith, this was someone completely different, who didn’t care aboutstories or smiles, only destroying the person that had killed the onlyfamily she had ever known. Shin the girl was gone, replaced by Shinshin

Soumin the Peacekeeper.I backed away, open hands held up in front of me. “Shin, no-” I

tried to tell her.“You have a Sou mark on your forehead.” She accused me, not

letting me explain.“Yes but-” I tried.“You did this.” She bit.“No!”“You’re with those hateful aliens aren’t you?”“No I’m not!” I tried again as I bumped into the wall behind me.

“Shin would you just listen to me? It was my ancestor that sympathize-”

“No!” She yelled, eyes closing for half a second in grief, but thenthey were open and angry again, scorching me with a fire not sodifferent then the one she had saved me from. “NO! I won’t let you getaway with this, this murder!” She screamed her voice cracking.

I was very still. Then slowly, I reached out and covered her handswith mine and said in the clearest, most convicting voice I possessed,“Shin, I didn’t do this. I didn’t know. I swear on my life, on everything Iam, that I had nothing to do with this tragedy.”



She stared me down a moment longer, her angry, dark browneyes swimming in salt water, her weapon pressing tight enough againstmy throat that I had to hold my breath or gag. I stared back, trying tomake her see the truth in my words.

Then with the jerky haste of someone who is only beginning to

comprehend how much they have lost, she dropped her shsa and paceda few steps away, nodding her head rapidly to show she believed me.Her eyes were turning bright red and I could see from the tight set of hershoulders how hard she was trying not to give into her grief, how shewas trying to think past the shock that was surely overriding her usualmental powers.

Without thinking I stepped forward and pulled her close in a hug.She went stiff for a moment, still trying to be brave, but then she all butcollapsed against me. She cried for what felt like hours, until theshoulder of my robe was practically soaked through, her sobs mixingwith Chii’s mourning wail in the distance. And I, in my helplessness,

could do nothing but hold her and wait.

Chapter 1: The Lindworm

As morbid as that might sound, that was the beginning of our journeys together – Shin and Chii and I. We stayed in what remained of the Peacekeeper’s village long enough to bury the dead and give themwhat little honors the living can before Shin turned and left withoutlooking back, and I followed her.

“Hey Seijin, it’s here.”Shin’s soft voice brought me out of my light sleep and the

memories of that day. I blinked a moment as my eyes adjusted to theinfiltrating dark of the small town night. Silent, nightmarish, images of the Peacekeeper village melted away into the night and it wasn’t longbefore I could make out the confines of the small inn room Shin and I satin. The single bed stood next to the closed door and the dresser with itswashbasin on top rested against the opposite wall to my left. I sensedmore then saw Shin kneeling tensely next to me, her shsa – the blueenameled cylinders I had first seen with her as she sat under the treereading my book but now knew were the traditional stick-like weaponsof the Peacekeepers – were ready in her hands.

Quietly, so as not to attract our foe’s attention, I turned around soI could see out of the slight opening in the window between Shin andme. Outside, the world was as dark as the inn room Shin and I sat in. The only light came from the curved sliver of moon, a cat’s mysteriousgrin hanging overhead, and the glowing eyes of our opponent.



My mouth dropped open at the sight of the creature. “Neverunderestimate a fully grown Lindworm,” Shin had told me when we hadtaken this job after I had foolishly asked how hard one little lizardderivative could be to exterminate.

Well I was choking on my words now. The creature was huge,

almost a full fifty feet long, with a bulky head that was larger then I wastall. Armored scales that practically glowed like burnished gold, even inthe lack luster light, covered the creature’s long, heavy set body. It hadno back legs but rather two sets of front legs. And, thick and sturdythough they were, even they were hardly strong enough to drag themonster’s thick body through the, thankfully, very wide street. Insteadthe creature dragged its bulk forward, leaving a long trail of snakelikeslither marks behind it. Each step was like a small earthquake, thesecondary front legs creating the after shocks. Even on the second floorof the inn I could feel the thunder-like ba-boom, ba-boom as theLindworm slowly dragged itself toward the middle of town.

The beginning of the monster’s tail was just passing underneathour window when Shin turned to me, the hard look of a Peacekeeperwarrior entering her eyes.

“You remember the plan?” She asked me in a near whisper.I nodded, the hard set of her mouth making me uncomfortable.“Good. Wait for my signal.” She said, a fierce grin coming onto her

face.“Right,” I responded. “And Shin,” I said quickly as she turned to

leave, “be careful. Don’t lose your head.” I whispered urgently.Even in the dark room I saw Shin smile at me, the true smile of the

girl not the warrior. She giggled softly in the dark. “I will. And you make

sure to do the same. I’ll see you when this is all over.” And with that shewas gone, disappearing without a sound around the edge of the door.

I sighed quietly and quickly prayed for her safety and our success.Shin had developed a tendency for taking unnecessary risks in situationslike these. The blood of the Peacekeepers burned bright in her veins Iknow, but that never eased my mind. If anything it made me worrymore.

With one final heave, the Lindworm’s tail passed underneath theinn window. Firmly setting aside my thoughts I stood and, borrowed staff in hand, quietly made my way to the roof.

There was only one floor above me and I rushed past it, easily

finding the door to the roof that had purposefully been left unlockedearlier today in preparation. The cool night air that met me was awelcome relief from the stifling warm air inside the inn. Not taking thechance to breathe deep and enjoy the coolness on my hot, anxious face,I quietly slunk across the flat roof to the thick ledge that ran around theperimeter that had been added after the birth of the innkeepers’ firstchild, a girl about a year old now.



Ducking low so the Lindworm wouldn’t see me if it chanced a lookup, I stopped by the roof ledge and, after a long moment where I didn’thear anything too unusual, I peered over the rough sandstone thathedged in the rest of the flat roof. The inn was the tallest building intown, so despite the others that thickly surrounded it, I could still see

the Lindworm as it dragged itself closer t the large pile of miscellaneousobjects – I could see everything ranging from fresh baked bread to awoman’s family jewelry to a child’s play sword in the heap from where Icrouched – piled in front of the town’s main hall. I wasn’t too surprisedby all the stuff the villagers had thrown together for the monstrouslysized reptile. Lindworm’s were notorious hoarders, threatening townslike this one with its large teeth and heavy tail to force the people torelinquish their guarded, and sometimes even rare, possessions into thelizard’s already vast collection. From what the town council had told usearlier this bullying had been going on for some time. Shin and bothagreed it was time to put an end to the monster’s pillaging.

I waited until I was sure that the Lindworm had seen the mountainof unwillingly given goodies sitting at the end of the street in front of itbefore I carefully straightened up.

Slowly, careful not to make a sound that would attract the giantlizard’s attention, I backed up to the other side of the roof. I stoppedwith I felt the back of my knees bump into the far side of the ledge. Then, trying not to think about the severe act of stupidity I was about tocommit, I dashed forward at full speed. Then when the solid floor beganto grow short – I jumped off of the roof.

Inertia flung me into the air, far out from the safety of thebuilding. Miraculously I didn’t shriek as I plummeted through the empty

space, wind rushing past my face fast enough to fill my ears with adeafening roar. It was absolutely terrifying.

Then the flat, clay roof of the shop next door started filling myvision. I was torn between fearing I’d miss my landing altogether oractually making it and hitting the floor with enough force to turn me intoa pancake. But I didn’t have time to say my final prayers ether way asthe building top rose up too fast for me to think.

My body took over where my mind failed. I twisted in midairbefore tucking into a roll that spun clear across to the other side of thebuilding.

I stood up somewhat shakily once I’d stopped, glad we had had

enough forethought to clear the shop roof of its numerous woodenboxes earlier that day. That landing could have been a whole worse if we hadn’t.

I fumbled into a crouch as son as my head stopped spinning longenough for me to tell which way would dump me the two stories back tothe ground. I felt a little surprised that the Lindworm hadn’t heard me. Iguess I had managed to keep the majority of my screaming inside myhead.



Carefully I padded over to the boxes stacked around the side thatfaced the street. Another precaution to keep the Lindworm from seeingme too soon.

I peeked through a little gap purposefully left in between twosplintery crates to check the monster’s progress. Much to my surprise

he hadn’t gotten much farther then I had. He was about two thirds upthe thoroughfare now, the bulk of his tail just beginning to pass the storefront.

Suddenly that heavy-looking tail whipped out faster then my eyescould follow. There was a tremendous crash and the building shudderedviolently under my feet and I was thrown off of my feet with the force of a mountain shaking earthquake. Frantically I covered my head as boxestried to bury me alive. Their rough sides scraped my palms and innerarms, tearing away my skin like I was made of wet paper. Already Icould feel the bite of the cuts on my bare arms and my not so bare legs,not to mention splinters too numerous for me to count.

After a moment of shear terror where I thought the building wasgoing to come crashing down around my ears, the tremors ceased and Iwas left there breathing hard, trying to steel myself for the next blow.

But it never came.After what felt like an eternity I lowered my hands enough to see

the mess of broken wood and scattered packing straw around me.Shaking from heard to toe I managed to pull myself up just far enoughto peek around the box that had almost crushed my left leg. TheLindworm was still out there of course, but he was moving as steadilydown the street as he had been before. My eyes widened as I realized instupefied shock that the blow had just been a twitch of the animal’s tail.

“If that was just an accident I’d hate to see what a true attacklooks like.” I muttered before thinking better of it.

But too late, the Lindworm had heard me. He stopped cold in histracks, head spinning around much faster then I had first given himcredit for. I froze as beady, near-sighted eyes tried to pinpoint meamong the shadows of boxes and dimming moonlight. I remainedperfectly still, afraid to move lest it catch his attention even more.

The Lindworm just stood there in the middle of the street, sniffingthe air greedily.

My heart pounded hard in my chest, threatening to break myalready battered ribs. Even in the cloud shrouded light I could see the

quick movement of his reptilian eye as he tried to pick me out of thewooden wreckage. What was I supposed to do if he saw me? It’s not likeI could run anywhere imprisoned as I was by a bunch of boxesthreatening me with broken ends on top of a two story building. Besides,one more wallop from his tail like before and there wouldn’t even be abuilding anymore.

“Hey ugly! I’m over here!”



Both the Lindworm and I turned to see who was hurling insults inthe dead of night.

It was Shin of course, standing at the end of the street now infront of the villagers’ offering to the worm’s collection. She stoop proudand confident, back straight, fists propped on her hips, feet squarely

apart, with Chii growling at her feet as if she only faced a garden snakeand not a fifty foot dragon cousin that was ready to add her to hiscollection along with the sentimental treasure at her back.

The Lindworm growled curiously when he caught sight of herstanding in front of his prize.

“Yeah that’s right, I’m talking to you pal. I am PeacekeeperShinshin Soumin and by the new law of Owa I am here to tell you that if you do not stop stealing and terrorizing the people of this town then Iwill be forced to take drastic measures. I will give you only one chanceto leave peacefully before I resort to force. Please take the offer andgo.” She told the creature, her voice and eyes never wavering.

Briefly I wondered if the full speech was necessary. I mean, sure, itwas tradition for the Peacekeepers to warn their opponents before theytried to take them down, but this was a Lindworm, not a human being. Itcouldn’t understand her. At least I didn’t think it could.

The beast abruptly threw its massive head back and roared with aharsh, hissing, reptilian laughter, and suddenly I wasn’t so sure about itslack of brain power.

Soon its serpentine laughter slithered into a long, drawn out shasasound that ended in a mouthful of clipped off consonants that mighthave been a coherent language to something other then my humanears. I don’t know how exactly, but something in the creature’s tone

made me think that if it had been human it would have said somethingalong the lines of “silly girl-child”.

Chii’s growl turned into a hair raising snarl and even from thisdistance I could see his pointed eyes change colors furiously, goingthrough half of the rainbow before settling on their angry red-gold color.I guess he had understood exactly what the Lindworm had said.

The little dragon hissed what I felt safe in assuming could only bean insult to the beast’s mother because the Lindworm shriekedsomething foul I its twisted tongue at a pitch almost too high to hear andI clapped my hands over my ears as the sound pierced my skull withoutthinking, almost braining myself with my staff in the process.

At the end of the street Shin just stood there, resolute andunblinking, not even flinching at the horrendous din. She had told meonce after a nasty run in with a gremlin in the infamous Black Forest –more commonly known as a Shrieker Demon – that she was deaf tosome rather peculiar frequencies. Now I knew precisely why.

The keening reptilian howl stretched on for an eternity, setting mybrain on fire and rendering me as paralytic as Chii, who was writhing asShin’s feet like a rope in an energetic child’s hand.



Not giving up on his paralyzing cry, the Lindworm chargedforward, his whip like tail crashing through the wooden buildings on theopposite side of the street in his attempt to get at Shin. Once themassive tail was clear o the splintered timber and falling shards of glass,the Lindworm’s tail lashed out at Shin so fast that I didn’t even have

time to shout a warning out.But Shin wasn’t there anymore. The whip like appendage coiledaround only empty air where Shin had been before crashing into thehoard of objects left for its collection, scattering them wide across thetown, creating an even bigger mess of things.

The Lindworm’s piercing shriek turned into a howl of rage, freeingmy mind of the creature’s disabling cry enough for me to look up.

Shin was practically flying in the air above us, the many panels of her warrior’s skirt flurried around her, her pale knees poking through theuppermost layers of her skirt making it look like she was kneeling on apale, cream colored cloud. I watched a she rose a few more feet in the

air before coming to the peak of her leap. She hovered a long momentmore as if held there by an invisible force. In that brief instant, Shingrinned, enchanted at the flitting feeling of weightlessness.

Then she was falling, gravity finally regaining its hold on her. Shetucked into a spin as she began to plummet, one knee coming around ina tight circle, giving her fierce momentum. Then when she was only afew feet off the ground Shin came out of her spin and landed with avicious kick to the soft spot behind the Lindworm’s bony plated head.

The beast let loose a monstrous howl of pain that shivered my skinbut fortunately didn’t pierce my brain like before, although I thought myears would start bleeding any second.

With a somewhat startle shriek of her own Shin fumbled herlanding and instead tumbled off the creature’s broad back. But with itsthick armored skin the Lindworm didn’t notice she wasn’t on its backanymore. Instead he thrashed his tail again, trying to whip at its headand destroying the surrounding buildings in the process. Seeing thewooden shrapnel headed her way, Shin ducked beneath the creature’slegs for cover.

“Seijin! Now Seijin!” I heard her shout over the thrashing din. “Andhurry up!” She added as the tail demolished another large pane of glassand wood.

“Easier said then done.” I muttered to myself breathlessly.

Regardless I struggled to my feet and with a deep breath I leaptfrom the roof edge to the adjacent building. Fortunately, these weremuch closer together, only a yard or so versus the ten foot drop I’d firstdone, and I made it easily to the neighboring construction. Before long Iwas roof hoping down the street, well out of the Lindworm’s range of attack thankfully.

By the time I’d reached the last building on the street theLindworm had realized that Shin was no longer on it, but rather under it



instead. I could practically hear the heavy cogs of its over worked brainturning as it realized this problem was much easier to deal with. With agleeful growl, it raised one set of feet into the air and began stompingwith as much of its incredible strength as it could muster.

I heard Shin scream as one of the scaly feet came perilously close

to crushing her. “Seijin!” She screamed.She had no way to defend herself, I realized. If she tried to use hercymbals to leap away like before, she’d only end up smashing herself against the underside of the worm’s chin. And if she dared to leave herprecarious shelter to attack it, she’d end up being at the mercy of thecreature’s iron teeth.

I looked over the roof edge but it was no good. Jumping straightoff would only get me a pair of broken legs. There just wasn’t a way togo help her quickly from here and no time to try and think of anotherway.

A high, bird of prey like shriek grabbed my attention. I looked over

just in time to see an angry blue streak shoot through the air at theLindworm. Chii landed with a snarl on the gigantic creature’s head andwith vicious precision began scratching at its soft eyes before it couldshield them with its thick eyelids.

The Lindworm screamed again and forgot Shin in its attempt topry Chii off of its face.

“Good boy Chii!” Shin yelled. Then she spotted me still on the roof from in between the creature’s legs. “Hurry up Seijin! Now’s yourchange!” She yelled, somehow sounding encouraging even under thethreat of possibly being stomped to death.

I nodded at her sharply then strategically retreated to the far side

of the building. I gripped my staff hard near the top with both handsbefore dashing forward. Like the inn, this building had a lip around theedge, and when I was close enough, I jammed the foot of my staff at thecru where roof met edge. Letting my staff do all the word, I rose into theair, vaulting over the edge and the empty air in a jump that my legsalone couldn’t have managed.

I didn’t bother to hold back my shout this time as I sailed throughthe air.

Then with a thump forceful enough to send the air from my lugs, Ilanded square on the Lindworm’s broad back. Gasping in air, I scrambledup the scaly hide towards the creature’s neck, my staff the only thing

keeping me on the rocking surface on several occasions. The Lindworm was shrieking and rocking and stomping like it was

possessed by the time I reached its throat. Carefully but quickly, Istraddled the creature’s neck to make sure it would have a difficult timeunseating me. Then with a loud yell that made me feel foolish later, Iswung my staff around and through the lizard’s open mouth like a bit.

Furiously, the Lindworm bit down on the annoyance with teeththat could reduce bone to dust in an instant. But my staff was made of



centuries old iron wood. If time itself couldn’t destroy it, then there wasno way one lizard derivative could.

I held tight to each end of my staff, despite the bone numbingtremors that cut through my palms and up my arms each time theLindworm bit down on the aged wood. Then before the beast could

shake my hold loose, I pulled on one end of the staff, pressing hardwood against the soft, vulnerable corner of its mouth.With a deep groan of pain the Lindworm turned its head to try and

relieve the pressure, but I kept my staff firmly in place. Soon neckfollowed head, then the body, until finally the Lindworm was turningaway from the town hall and down the nearest side street instead.

With a startled laugh I realized I was guiding the Lindworm justlike I could a horse. Well, maybe it was more like riding a two ton, scaly,flesh eating horse, but still.

We were well down the side street now. Through the buildings upahead I could see the open grassland that separated the won from the

forest that I was aiming for. We were almost there.“Woohoo! Go Seijin!”

the adventures of shinshin and seijin - contest

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