The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, Book 8: The Shadows of War

By Claire Youmans

Japan, 1877. She fought for her identity. She won her dream. Now she's not sure she wants it.

How can Toki-girl Azuki abandon what she's worked so hard to achieve when rebellion threatens to shatter the Japanese Empire's fragile internal peace and fracture its relations with the outside world?

Her uncle fears she's causing mysterious events sabotaging her family. Azuki's dual human-toki nature means something far more ancient and elemental could be at work, if only she can figure out what it is.

Birds teach dragons to dance. Eastern and Western dragons unite even as humans splinter in conflict. A princess wants to help the people she thinks she's failed. Her small brother can't keep a dangerous secret. Troops are on the move and tragedy looms as old ways clash with new hopes in Japan and the world.

Can Azuki stop the disruptions plaguing her family and help her nation prosper while trying to survive the rebellion shaking her country's very soul?

The Shadows of War is the eighth book in the gripping Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy series, where magical realism collides with historical fantasy in Claire Youmans' enthralling Tales of the Meiji Era.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Claire Youmans
• Release date: May 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781733902069

Claire Youmans

Claire Youmans first went to Japan in 1992 and was immediately captivated. After years of travel and study, she continues to be charmed and amazed by a fascinating history and a culture that is both endearingly quirky and entirely unique.In 2014, she started Tales of the Meiji Era with The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy's unparalleled blend of magical realism and historical fantasy in the first book of the series, Coming Home. She continues exploring the collision of magical realism, history and folklore to share her love and fascination with a very different country and culture.Exciting adventures continue to unfold in this delightful fantastical yet historical world. Follow these at www.tokigirlandsparrowboy.com, www.facebook.com/tokigirlandsparrowboy/ and on Twitter @tokigirlsparrow, linkedin at www.linkedin.com/in/tokigirlandsparrowboy, IG @ tokigirlandsparrowboy, and http://claireyoumansauthor.blogspot.com, for poetry and ruminations on life in Japan.

Book preview

Prologue

Japan is a real place and the Meiji Era is a real time, running from 1868 to 1912. This was a wonderfully exciting time around the world as new inventions changed how people worked and how people lived. New ideas and ways of thinking changed how people viewed the world around them, their systems of government, and their relationships with each other. Nowhere was this truer than in Japan, which leapt from a crumbling feudalism to a modern first-world power in that incredibly short period of time.

In the World of Make-Believe, however, there exists a Japan that incorporates both the objective reality and Japan’s colorful, adventurous folklore. It comes to life with stories that reflect the lives of normal humans and the not-so-normal folkloric beings who shared this space and time with them.

In the northern part of Kyushu at this time there lived a family that straddled the Artisan and Samurai classes, yet owned their own land without being either nobles or peasants. They worked hard, they paid taxes and they acquired, by adoption, their daughter, Azuki, who could become a Japanese Crested Ibis, or toki, and their son, Shota, who could become a sparrow. Greed and a lust for power resulted in the deaths of the parents and the flight of the children who found only war and tumult on their doorstep when they returned.

How they regain their human heritage, how they cope with their changing world while still remaining their individual and unique selves, how they make friends and help others despite the total lack of certainty in and about their lives gives rise to tales and adventures of the Meiji Era. The Toki-girl and the Sparrow-boy series combines history and folklore in a unique blend of magical realism and historic fantasy that allows an accurate portrait of Japanese culture and civilization with all its relentless integrity and quirks.

www.tokigirlandsparrowboy.com contains links to reviews of these enchanting books, a way for you to please leave your own and a glossary of Japanese words used—in a form that can be amended as the series progresses. It also has a list of characters, so they are easier to track through the successive books.

All the books are listed and updated there with information about what happens in each, to make the series easier to follow. There is also information about the art that illustrates the books and more about the history of this fascinating period. It was a time when anything could happen and most likely did.

Join Azuki, Shota and their friends in all their intriguing and captivating adventures as they live their own tales of the Meiji era!

CHAPTER ONE

Lily, the bay filly, snorted and stamped her left forefoot. Azuki, the girl who became a toki—a Japanese Crested Ibis—settled deep into her saddle, her feet resting in the flat, curved stirrups that provided a secure platform for a rider. Azuki held her reins in her right hand. She held a bow and a single arrow in her left. Two others rested in a quiver on her right hip. Azuki rose in the saddle, taking her weight on her feet, into the tachisukashi position. That took a lot of practice. The stirrups were foot-sized platforms, not enclosed on the sides.

Let’s go, she whispered mentally to Lily, moving her rein hand forward. The young mare took off at a gallop. Her part was to race swiftly and smoothly down the course, focusing only on reaching the other end as quickly as possible with a minimum of jostling for her rider.

Azuki dropped her rein, raised her bow and nocked a pad-tipped arrow into place, releasing it in one smooth motion. Without pausing to see where the arrow went, she did it again, and once more at the last target. Lily skidded to a stop at the end of the course and Azuki gratefully sank back into the saddle.

How did I do? she called to her friend, Renko, an Asian Dragon Princess now in her alternate form as a blonde-haired European girl. Renko rode the Palomino, Kiku. She shivered despite her coat; it was cold. Kiku blew out steamy breath. As the filly had pointed out when the two had met, they matched.

You scored two, Renko called, smiling. You missed the first one.

Azuki and Lily trotted back to where their friends waited. Azuki frowned. She shouldn’t have missed any of them. But there had been that little flash out of the corner of her eye again, and she was sure that affected her aim. Those flashes happened more often now, and it worried her. Her sharp vision was precious to her, but she wasn’t sure this had anything to do with her vision. Something else worried her, too, and the two together were tied in a knot she couldn’t unravel.

Are you ready to try it? Azuki asked when she and Lily pulled up by Renko and Kiku. "You’ve been practicing tachisukashi with Kiku and kyudo on the ground with Uncle and Aunt. I’m sure you can do it."

Try it, Renko-san, Azuki’s brother, Shota, the boy who became a sparrow, urged from the fence where he watched.

You can do it, Akira, the Eagle-boy, sitting on the fence next to Shota, encouraged. While Shota rode the stallion, Blackie, and also practiced yabusame, mounted archery, which was now more a sport than a combat technique, Akira was just learning to ride. Red Wind, the lead mare of the little herd, was willing to teach him. The tall teenager grimaced at the thought. Red Wind was a hard taskmistress, a disciplinarian who expressed her displeasure in bucks and kicks, and could easily dump him any time she wanted. Still, if he practiced, he’d catch up eventually. It looked like fun!

The buckskin, Phlox, strolled over to the archery pitch at the other end of the field by the village where Yuta-sensei, uncle and guardian of the Toki-girl and the Sparrow-boy, practiced kyudo, standing archery, with his wife, Lady Noriko. She was a displaced kunoichi—a woman shinobi or ninja—now a soke, a certified martial arts master, with her own school. Noriko stood to the side, watching Yuta’s stance, just as he had watched hers. Phlox sidled in to nuzzle Noriko’s neck. The woman absently reached over to stroke the mare’s nose, while noting where Yuta put his feet and arranging hers in the same pattern. He was better at this than she was, but she was improving.

When can we do that? Phlox asked, using the mental voice not all humans could hear. I like to run! I won’t let you fall!

When I’m a better rider, Noriko replied with a smile. She could ride perfectly well for normal transportation purposes, but was just learning the more advanced specialized techniques used in combat and the sports that derived from it. Women, even kunoichi, did not normally ride out to fight.

Let’s practice later, she said to her horse. "Perhaps Sensei and Red Wind would like to ride to the harbor and along the beach."

Can Cloudy come? Red Wind silently called, overhearing. Her first foal, now nearly adult size and feeling all the energy of the two-year-old he nearly was, needed instruction himself. Red Wind thought he needed to learn everything she and Blackie, his sire, could teach him, because soon the colt would be too old to live in his dam’s herd. He would need to leave and find a herd of his own.

Yuta shot off three arrows in quick succession, forming a neat grouping on the straw-mounted target.

Very nice! Noriko called. I can’t match that!

You will if you keep practicing. Yuta smiled at his wife. "You always win in the dojo, anyway, so overall we’re even." A former sohei, Yuta had learned some martial arts but concentrated in shakujo stick-fighting and kyudo during his training as a warrior monk. Yuta collected the arrows and took her bow from his wife.

I heard Red Wind, he said as he headed for the shed where the equipment was stored. Shall we go for a beach ride?

Noriko smiled.

CHAPTER TWO

With Cloudy on a lead line ponied behind his dam, Yuta and Noriko rode down what had been a path but had grown to a narrow dirt road leading to the small harbor.

The village had been but a hamlet before, with some few small businesses and houses scattered along the little river. With the addition of a sento public bath, it had grown. The Maeda family property began further up the hill, stretching across an upland pass over to the much larger town with its bigger harbor to the north.

Yuta had become involved in education when he assumed guardianship of his nephew and niece. He first started a private school to benefit his wards, including girls even though very few schools did.

Yuta now had a part in Japan’s new and burgeoning national educational system. He examined the new Western-style school buildings with pride. There was more than the required elementary school here now. He had established an optional secondary school. Young people desiring further education trudged over the pass or boated around the headlands daily to attend. Because of his involvement in the first National Education Conference, where he had met his wife, his work was affecting curriculum development all over Japan, something that pleased him mightily.

"Sensei," a man’s rough voice called. Captain Minoru’s scratchy voice reflected the many years he had spent at sea and the pipe he habitually smoked. Minoru was initially hired to teach Shota how to operate what had been Shota’s boat. Now the boat belonged to Minoru, though Shota still sailed with him whenever he could. The sailor was also adopting Akira, saving the Eagle-boy from being conscripted into the new national military and providing him with both a human identity and a livelihood. Only one last formality remained for the adoption’s completion. Yuta and Noriko reined in their horses.

"Good afternoon, Sensei, Lady Noriko, the Captain said with a courteous bow. If you have a moment, I’d appreciate your opinions on something."

Yuta glanced at Noriko, who nodded minutely.

What it is? Yuta asked, shifting in his saddle to face the mariner.

I’ve been writing to Lord Eitaro, Minoru explained. Minoru was literate, though from a seafaring family. Seafarers were commoners, but to some extent socially mobile, outside the rigid social structure of outcasts, merchants, artisans, samurai, peasant farmers and aristocrats. They ran the gamut from ordinary sailors to owners and captains of fleets of vessels. Minoru’s literacy had helped him to be a successful captain before he lost his leg during a storm at sea that also cost him a ship.

Eitaro, formerly their liege lord, owned almost all the local property that wasn’t the Emperor’s or part of the ancient and unusual Maeda land grant. Eitaro’s holdings included the area on either side of the little river and the adjacent track wending down to the harbor where Minoru now led them. Minoru came to a halt, gesturing at a semblance of a path leading away from the river.

Lord Eitaro suggested a few places I might want to put my house. I wanted to see what you thought.

Here? Noriko said, looking around. Phlox reached down to chomp some grass, brown and almost dry from the cold of winter. Noriko loosed her reins and let the horse graze.

This location, Noriko saw, was almost covered by trees. Clearing them for a home site would provide building material, but a house built here might be damp much of the year, though well-shaded during the steaming summers. The small river flowed down the hill on the other side of the track as it made for the harbor estuary. It could provide a domestic water source.

Are all the sites on higher ground like this? Yuta wanted to know. Cloudy pulled at the saddle as he tried to reach some tasty-looking bracken, but Red Wind nickered a warning and the colt stopped and shook himself. In the spring, with the snowmelt, during the summer rainy season and also during any typhoons, flooding was a real possibility, endangering any structure not built on high ground.

Aye, Minoru said. I think Lord Eitaro was thinking about that. I’d like you to see the other two he mentioned. Because of his wooden leg, Minoru moved a little more slowly than he otherwise might have, but on land or at sea, Yuta thought, he’d worked diligently to overcome the handicap. The sailor stomped off, his breath visible in the chill air. The new year was just about to arrive—the real, lunar new year—and the solar new year marking the start of the Western year 1877 had recently passed, so it was still very much winter and cold. Snow lay on the ground in patches, and it was just possible to see the swelling buds on the ume plum trees that would soon be the first to bloom.

Have a look at this one, Minoru said and gestured to a plateau that rose on the uphill side of the track.

Noriko urged Phlox up a barely visible path. This was a good-sized site, rocky but boasting grasses and brush wherever sand and soil had collected. Noriko spotted a spring and rode over to have a look. The water was cold, not hot, but it was not frozen. Phlox stuck her head down to grab a quick drink. Well, of course, Noriko thought, any hot spring in the immediate area would have been put to good use by cold humans wanting hot baths. The village sento heated water from the river for bathing, which was returned to the river unharmed by its use. A house set here could harness this fresh water source for use. That made this one a very good site, she thought. At the first one, water would have to be obtained from the river or Minoru would have to dig a well.

Wife! Have a look, Yuta called to her, waving an arm expansively.

Noriko and Phlox turned. The view of the harbor, the headland, the estuary and the ocean beyond was magnificent.

Where’s the other one? Yuta asked Minoru while Noriko lost herself in the view.

Down by the harbor, the mariner replied. "Convenient to the boat, but it could flood or be wiped out by a tsunami."

Tsunami, giant sea surges caused by earthquakes, often overran the coast, sometimes flooding far inland, destroying all in their paths. If a tsunami was feared, or if a big typhoon was forecast, all the boats and many of the docks could be hauled out of the water into sheltered areas for safety. Houses, though, couldn’t be moved so easily. Minoru extended his arms, describing the dimensions of the property where they stood with his hands, showing off features with gestures, taking notes with his gaze.

You like this one, don’t you? Noriko said with a smile.

Minoru dropped his head, suddenly shy, and scuffled with his wooden peg. I do, he replied. I like being able to see the harbor and the sea. It’s a sizeable piece of land, too. Useless, though. I don’t think anything much would grow here. It’s open to the wind, and what soil there is might be too salty.

No trees to clear, Yuta pointed out.

Aye, Minoru nodded. That makes building more expensive. Plenty of rocks, though. Rocks could be used for foundation material and for setting the pillars on which the house would rest.

Perhaps Lord Eitaro might have some land he wants cleared, Noriko suggested.

We can ask him. In fact, we might have some timberland that needs thinning, too. I’ll check. Yuta looked at the Captain and nodded abruptly. This is going to be your home, he continued, addressing Minoru. It should be a place you’d like to be.

You don’t think it would be too hard to build here?

I’m the wrong person to ask that, Yuta laughed. Ask the builders who worked on the schools. They’ll know. But I like this. I think it would be possible.

I have students who wouldn’t mind some part-time work, Noriko said. They’d probably come cheap. And there’s the spring, so that means water’s easy. The soil could be amended to allow for some crops. Endo-san would know about that. Endo-san was the farmhand who tended the Maeda home fields, the horses, the decorative and the kitchen gardens surrounding the house.

Some of Noriko’s adult students came from far off to train with her. Her Shaolin training, plus the Ninjutsu she had to keep under wraps since ninja didn’t officially exist anymore, made her a sought-after martial arts teacher. The students boarded in the larger town and walked over the pass for their lessons. Ran, actually. It promoted their fitness, so she had made it part of their routine.

It’s a good location for Akira-san, too, Yuta pointed out. Minoru knew about the dual natures of several of the people surrounding him and had for some time. That his new son, Akira, was also a Steller’s Sea Eagle was something that both amazed and amused him. He only had one more thing to figure out before he could make the adoption final.

I’ll do it, then, Minoru said. He thanked them gracefully and they rode off, waving, leaving him standing on the property he wanted, watching the view, with a huge grin on his grizzled face.

CHAPTER THREE

Japanese Crested Ibis (Toki; 2021) by Melahn, Michael

Azuki-san? Akira, in his human form, was a tall boy of perhaps sixteen or seventeen years with fashionably short hair and a ready smile. He wanted to take the saddle from Azuki to help her put it away, but he didn’t. She wouldn’t want him to think she needed help with what was her responsibility.

Yes? The Toki-girl turned to smile at him over her shoulder as she stepped into the shed that served for equipment storage and tack room. At the other end of the field, Shota collected the targets and padded yabusame arrows, passing them up to Renko, who still rode Kiku.

Would you like to go fly? He grinned. Akira and Azuki could do something only similarly sized birds could properly manage: they could dance in the air.

Oh, yes, she answered, matching his grin. She handed a brush to Akira so he could help her brush out Lily. Toki often flew in coordinated flocks, but the partnered maneuvers eagles knew weren’t something she’d ever heard of until Akira showed her how the eagles did it. She loved it. The more they practiced it, the better they got at it, rising above the differences between their avian species.

What Akira didn’t tell Azuki was that this was, among Steller’s Sea Eagles, a courting ritual. It didn’t matter, he told himself. He couldn’t court Azuki anyway, and she wouldn’t want him as a suitor even if he could. People said social class didn’t matter anymore, but that wasn’t what he’d observed. They weren’t even old enough for a serious relationship. Being her friend was enough, more than enough, really, since they could get to know each other and do things together. Many young people didn’t have that opportunity. Things changed so fast that social class might really cease to matter, and now that he had a human identity, well, one never knew. And, since she was a toki, not a sea eagle, there was no reason they couldn’t fly together as friends, which they could also be as humans.

Thank you for your help, Shota-san, Renko said formally, underlining her gratitude. After we get everything put away, will you help me brush Kiku down and then come fly with me?

Since Shota as a sparrow was so very small and Renko as a dragon was so very large, the best way they’d found to fly together was for Shota to perch on the antler-like skull features he had dubbed Renko’s crown. Every once in a while, he’d ride on her shoulders as a boy, but that didn’t feel nearly as satisfactory, and he couldn’t drop off and fly away when necessary as easily. Nonetheless, Shota and Renko were the best of friends, so they did their utmost to accommodate the differences in their sizes and species so they could enjoy each other’s company and have fun together.

I’d like that, Shota told her, and retrieved the archery equipment from her to race for the shed. Kiku broke into a smooth amble to chase him. Azuki shot her younger brother a sidelong glare to make sure he put everything away neatly rather than just shoving it all in, but Captain Minoru’s training had paid off and Shota put the equipment away properly. Even as a human he was smaller than Renko, but she didn’t object when he took Kiku’s saddle to clean it off and store it on its rack while she began currying the mare. She knew he liked to help. The faster they finished, the sooner they could fly!

Go have fun, Renko said, nodding at Azuki as she and Akira took their leave. Shota-san and I will finish up here and we’ll join you. We’ll probably head out over the water, though, so don’t wait for us.

Wave-jumping, Shota cried with a grin as her sister and their friend waved farewell and started up the hill.

Is something wrong, Azuki-san? Akira thought she looked dejected.

No, not really, Azuki answered. She shook her head, not wanting to reveal her concern. Little yosei, a kind of yokai, or supernatural being, had turned up before. Perhaps that was what she was seeing. But those yosei proclaimed themselves friends and Akira, who knew them better, considered them friends. They had promised to help them find other dual natured beings like themselves. Though they didn’t have heads as such and could not speak, the ones she had met could write a little and while they popped up anywhere, they didn’t flash on the periphery of existence. It didn’t help that she had too much to do without adding this complication.

It’s nothing, she said, mentally shaking herself, Here’s the turn.

Almost halfway between the village and the Maeda compound, a narrow path branched off from the steep one that ascended to the Maeda house and Noriko’s dojo to join the upper road at the very top of the hill. This little path led to a large plateau that was barren and rocky, another piece of largely useless ground. For dual-natured beings who wanted to keep their changes of form private or who needed lots of room, it was very useful indeed.

In the barren field, Azuki turned to face Akira and they both grinned as the air shivered around them and they changed forms. Azuki was looking forward to this!

Akira thought Azuki beautiful with her white and peach toki coloring, but she only noticed that he didn’t seem to see that her toki face was, as she thought it, simply silly with its long, turned-down black beak and the orange patches around her eyes. She might have thought him fierce, with his immense raptor’s beak and piercing long-sighted gaze. Except he was Akira, and he was her friend. As one, with leaps and powerful strokes of their wide wings, they took to the air.

They circled around each other, climbing, seeking a good thermal that would give them support as they rose. By unspoken agreement, they moved out to sea. Suddenly, an enormous being broke the surface, spreading her wings and heading for the sky.

Look, Azuki called, tilting her wings so Akira would know where to look.

That’s her Majesty, Akira said. They used the mental speech that allowed them to communicate with other dual-natured beings and some few humans.

Azuki peered at the rising dragon. Gems studded her earth-brown hide, catching and flashing in the light. I think so, too. She’s beautiful in flight, isn’t she?

Rizantona, the Dragon Queen of the West, had huge wings tipped with tiny claws at the ends and joints, four limbs tucked close to her torso and a long, distinct, barbed tail. Azuki thought she’d probably been visiting Ryuujin, the Dragon King of the East, in his undersea palace. Though Rizantona claimed she did not like the cold and damp of Ryuujin’s home, it was with his father that Renko’s full brother, the little Prince Suoh-Sugaar, called Susu by everyone except his mother, currently lived. Rizantona was almost out of sight when she vanished.

Akira-san? Azuki-san? a small mental voice piped up. Both birds circled to see Susu. The little dragon was Western in form like his mother, only much, much smaller since he was still very young. Even at that, he was enormous compared to them, though they were both enormous birds. Susu hovered. Dragons could do this; birds couldn’t, something of which Azuki was often envious.

Have you seen Mama? the dragon child asked.

Her Majesty flew out of the water and away, Akira told Susu, but then she vanished and we don’t know where she went.

She said I could come with her if I could keep up! The small dragon grimaced. I can travel like that, but it’s not fair if she doesn’t say where she’s going!

Where would she go? Azuki asked. Her home? You could go there.

I could, Susu admitted. He looped a loop. His flight skills were improving. Something of a prodigy, like Renko, he had learned to travel virtually instantaneously at a very young age. He was now agitating to be allowed to travel through time, but his parents and older siblings agreed he was much too young for that. It took physical and intellectual maturity to manipulate time.

Could her Majesty have gone to visit Prince Irtysh? Akira asked. Akira knew the prince fairly well; he’d only seen his, and Susu’s, mother up close a couple of times. Akira dodged beneath Susu’s wings to catch a thermal with two tremendous strokes of his mighty eagle wings. Susu giggled and ducked away as Akira rose.

Mostly when she goes to see my brother, she says it’s Official Dragon Business, and I’m not old enough for that, either. Susu frowned. He didn’t like not being old enough to do everything he wanted, even when he suspected those things would bore him. He liked his half-brother, though. The much older dragon prince was not dual-natured, but was accomplished in inorganic chemistry, and more recently had acquired expertise in organic chemistry, too. His residence glowed with mineral wonders and his Lake of Jewels was a fantastic delight.

Here’s Renko-san, Azuki said, as her friend and her brother flew up.

Susu-chan! Shota called, for though a prince the young dragon preferred his friends to address him informally.

Little brother! Renko cried. What are you doing here?

Trying to find Mama, he told his full sister. But she flew up into the sky and vanished.

Does Father know where you are?

Papa doesn’t care, Susu said. Renko knew their father cared very much, but also that Ryuujin knew the futility of trying to keep a child who could transport himself and his friends anywhere, almost instantaneously, confined. Anyway, Mama said it was all right.

Hang on, Shota-san! Renko swerved into a dive that she rose from to face her baby brother. Shota gripped her crown. Riding like this meant that even if he came loose, he could just fly away, but he didn’t want to need to, so he hung on and worked on anticipation and balance. Since Renko knew Shota was safe, she didn’t need to be cautious when it was just the two of them. This arrangement suited them both. Less care meant more fun!

Azuki and Akira, gigantic birds dwarfed by the dragons, circled around the huge siblings. Children of the same parents, Renko looked like a European girl, though she was an entirely Eastern dragon, with