The Battle of Black and Orange: A Rucksack Universe Story: Rucksack Universe

By Anthony St. Clair

Sword Fight Showdown

 

In Kyoto, world-famous business leader Guru Deep runs from a stalking shadow. Fleeing into the subway, he finds himself trapped by his arch-nemesis, Rucksack, not only in a fight for his life, but a fight for the truth.

 

The Rucksack Universe series combines alternate history, speculative fiction, myth, adventure, globetrotting, and intrigue—all with well-poured pints of beer. Library Journal says Anthony St. Clair's storytelling has "universe building reminiscent of Terry Pratchett," and readers say they love the Rucksack Universe's unique combination of "quirk, wit, travel, and magic."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rucksack Press
• Release date: Aug 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781940119458

Anthony St. Clair

Anthony St. Clair creates compelling fiction and non-fiction for a curious world full of everyday discoveries, endeavors, and surprises. He is the author of the ongoing Rucksack Universe series; covers craft beer, food, business, and more for various publications; and is a copywriter and content manager for select clients. When not at his desk or in his kitchen in Oregon, Anthony is on an adventure with his wife, son, and daughter.

Book preview

The Battle of Black and Orange

The Battle of Black and Orange

A Rucksack Universe Story

Anthony St. Clair

Rucksack Press

Contents

1. Let the Tiger Come

2. The Red Door

3. On Slow Unhurried Feet

4. In Defense of Fog and Mud

5. The Blade’s Last Plunge

6. Long Live Guru Deep

Thank You for Reading

Become a Wanderer

Also by Anthony St. Clair

Acknowledgments

Special Features

Sneak Peek

About the Author

Guru Deep is dead. Long live Guru Deep.

—Guru Deep, The Real in the Dream: A History of Deep Inc.

1

Let the Tiger Come

As the door closed behind Guru Deep, the open dark of Kyoto’s three a.m. streets gave way to the compressed downward void of the gray subway staircase. Whatever was following him surely hadn’t seen him come in here and was still searching the dark streets for a shadow in orange. Outside, even the brilliant whites of the spring cherry blossoms had dimmed to black under the night, as if some final frozen blast of winter had withered them.

A raspy chill had come through the doorway with Guru Deep, and the cold air tickled and grated as it cooled his lungs. He panted. Exhaustion cut through him, exacerbated not only by the late sprint through sharp-shadowed streets, but also the long boat and train rides to get from London to Japan. For a moment Guru Deep rested his broad strong hands on his knees, golden-brown skin on bright saffron orange silk. Winded, yes, but relieved.

Guru Deep reached a hand to the wall and braced himself. The cool-yet-humid night air was less intense this deep in the night, but combined with the thickened air of the closed-in darkness, it was hard to breathe in the gray stairwell. Knees trembling under the weight of the night, the weight of the fear, the weight of his own larger-than-life personality, Guru Deep swayed. Maybe this was it after all. The moment of the crumbling and falling. The end of it all.

Finally a thick breath flowed into him. Like sunlight it sent brilliance and warmth throughout his tall, solid body. Beneath the lapels of his bright orange silk jacket, his matching orange silk tie curved and the chest of his gleaming white silk shirt rose, straining at the pearled buttons. Straightening his legs, Guru Deep let go of the wall and stood to his full height. Turning, he glanced out the small window in the door. A couple of carriages clopped down the streets. A few cars, boxy and open-topped, were parked in front of buildings. But Guru Deep saw no one. And for the first time in hours, a small gleam of his usually beaming and blinding smile returned to his face.

He reached out toward the door handle. Even at street level, the close air of the subway station made him feel small and trapped, as if the stairwell were a prison cell. Walking the empty streets back to the hotel would have been so much better than taking the subway.

Yet he thought of all the narrow side streets, with so many doorways and alleys and things someone or something could hide behind. Tonight’s bristling dark came with too many flashes of teeth and steel, and a coppery taste on the night air like a reminder of how thin was the skin that kept blood in veins and not in full red view of