THE SWORDS OF SILENCE
It’s 16th century Japan and the Shogun has shut his country down to any outside influence. Those who won’t recant or accept banishment face a death sentence.
“SHIGEMASA IS COMING! SHIGEMASA IS coming!” shouted a farmer. His eyes bulged as he burst into Father Joaquim’s quarters.
Onaga birds squawked and scattered to the skies before the rattle of hardened leather and metal armour, as hundreds of horses approached in the distance down a well-worn path at a steady, military pace.
Had the village’s early warning system – a child on the far edge of the forest, whose waving arms had been seen by another youth at the near edge – given them enough notice?
The villagers had just minutes, so they mobilised quickly as they’d done numerous times before. Several lifted floor planks exposing secret spaces, some just large enough to hide forbidden items not find him here. The Lord would protect his servants and keep them safe. Since Christianity had been officially banned more than a decade before, life had become more dangerous for the faithful.
