Moon Guardian, J. V. Lisa [popular ebook readers txt] 📗

on it. It was very beautiful, too beautiful for me. The woman brushed my hair back into a half braid decorating it with a sparkly comb.
“You look beautiful.” She said taking a step back to admire her work.
“Thank you.” I whispered, not lifting my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” She asked softly.
“I’m just trying to figure out what is going to happen to me here.” I replied sounding wimpy. She looked at me with a pained expression, trying to choose her words carefully.
"It's best not to think about it." She said looking away. "Come on it's time to take you to Master." She put her hand between my shoulder blades and gave me a gentle push.
"Master" the word echoed in my mind. Over and over again it sounded growing in volume.
"No!" I shouted inside my head. "No one is to be my master."
"No one." I said under my breath.
"Did you say something?" The woman asked me.
"Oh, no nothing." I said.
She led me through many doors and hallways before stopping in front of two large doors. They opened and the woman guided me through, told me to stay then quickly left. In the room were two rows or people, one on either side of a walk way. At the end of the walk way sat him, my 'master'. I bowed slightly to the guests but not to him.
"Come forward." He commanded. I walked towards him, hearing the whispers as I passed. I stopped in front of with my eyes down. He motioned me to sit next to him. I did so, sitting as far away from him as I could manage, though he could still reach me if he tried. Food and drinks were then served. I wasn't hungry and just stared blankly at the food placed in front of me. My eyes drifted to the material of the kimono I wore following the colors of different threads used on the flowers.
"Why are you not eating?" The Man asked me.
"I'm not hungry." I mumbled.
"Well then," He replied looking pleased, "you can entertain us. Dance."
"No." I refused
"What?" He said though his teeth. His face started to turn red.
"I said no." I said deliberately looking him in the eye. I wasn't going to do anything he said. I was going to make him sorry for destroying my village and killing my mother. Since I couldn't fight him physically then I would publicly defy him and under mind his actual ability to command. If he couldn't make a young seventeen year old woman do what she was told then how could he really command his men? Some of his guests stared whispering, a few even giggled. His face got redder and his nostrils started to flare. He stood up, looming over me. He picked me up, grabbing a hand full of the kimono, and dragged me down to the center of the walkway. He dropped me then returned to his seat.
"Dance!" He commanded again. I slowly stood smoothing the wrinkles he had created.
"No." I said again crossing my arms. His face almost turned purple with rage. Many of his guests began to laugh as did I.
"What do you think you’re laughing at?”
“You should see your face. By the way that is a lovely shade of red.” I said having fun.
-yeah you’re probably thinking ‘oh my god you idiot,’ but don’t worry, I have a plan.-
He finally snapped rushing at me picking me up and throwing me out the doors.
“Take her to the chamber I’ll deal with her later.” He told a couple of guards before whipping around and reentering the dining room. The two men seized my arms and drug me back to the room with the women.
“Give her back her old clothes.” One guard demanded, “She has no more use for these.” The same older woman took me into the room and handed me my old clothes.
“What did you do?” she asked me as I changed into my old clothes.
“I said no.” I stated manner of factually. Her eyes went wide.
“Oh dear, but you’re going to be punished severely for that.” She sounded afraid.
“Oh well.” I shrugged as she pulled my hair back and started braiding it.
“How can you just shrug that off?!” she raised her voice.
“It’s not like he can do much more damage than he already has to me. He destroyed my home, murdered my mother, there‘s not exactly much more he can do.”
“Believe me, his cruelty doesn’t stop there, he will go after your body next and you pride. He will break you physically and mentally.” She almost sounded like she was pleading as she finished braiding me hair.
“Let him try.” I sneered. She closed her eyes and shook her head. The two guards reentered the room seizing my arms again with strong grips and forced me through some of the halls and rooms. We stopped at a large wooden door reinforced with steel sealed with a large metal lock. They shoved me against the wall, one guard pinned me as the other pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. They then threw me into the room and slammed the door locking it and leaving me in the dark. I was in there for a long while before I heard his footsteps in the hall. The lock rattled and the door creaked open. His large silhouette filled the doorway. He entered the room with the same two guards. They lit a couple of torches making the blood stained floor and walls visible. His face still looked red but this time he was smiling.
“Hope you haven’t been waiting to long.”
“Not long enough if you ask me.” I snapped. His nostrils flared again.
“I’ll teach you to talk back to me.” He said uncoiling a whip he had hidden behind him. I glanced at it then back at him.
“I doubt you’ll get far with that.” His hand came hard across my face sending me face down to the ground.
“Hold her.” He commanded the two guards. They pushed me into the ground by my upper arms and help my forearms up. They both grabbed hold of the back of my shirt and ripped it open.
CRACK!!!
The whip cracked as it made contact with the bare skin if my back. I cringed and bit down but for some reason did not cry out in pain. This seemed to anger him further as his strikes became harder and harder. Finally he ran out of steam, panting he stood straight.
“Throw her in the stables. Let her spend the night with the beasts.” He turned and left the room. The two men guard drug my limp body through the through the many corridors. Soon I felt my legs drag against the dirt. They lifted over the stable wall and dropped me on my back. Pain radiated through my body causing a small grunt when I hit the ground. They laughed as they walked away. I laid there for a good while as the pain eased slightly. I felt very weak but somehow managed to stand up. My back burned and I felt blood running down as I looked around at my surroundings. The fresh air told me was outside.
“Yes.” I thought to myself, suddenly all my pain went away as I started find my way towards the woods using the fence for support. I saw the trees on the far side of the stables. I stared running towards them but was stopped by a soft whinny. I turned to see the white crescent moon of the black horse I’d met earlier coming toward me.
“Hey there boy.” I said reaching out to him. He smelled it then pressed his muzzle into my palm. I rubbed his neck with my other hand. My hand brushed the silver piece in him mane, and I was glad it was still there. “Do you want to escape with me?” he whinnied softly and it even looked like he nodded. He turned his side to me. I jumped on his back swinging my leg over him gripping tightly with my knees. I took hold of the strap on his harness. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He started slow to make sure I was securely attached then took off toward the woods. He jumped the wall and galloped fast to the trees.
“She’s escaping, stop her!” I heard one of the guards shout as an alarm rose.
“Shoot her.” I heard The man shout behind me. A second later I heard an arrow wiz by my head and hit the trees in front of us. Soon there were dozens hitting the trees. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my left shoulder as an arrow slid into place followed closely by another in my lower back. Almost all my strength left my left arm. It fell to my side limply as each stride brought waves of pain.
“Come on boy, faster.” I whispered to the horse. He started picking up speed. I gripped him as tight as I could but my strength and consciousness were quickly fading. When we hit the forest the horse stared darting around trees making us a harder target, but at the same time making it harder to hold on.
“Stop!” I heard The man command faintly, “she won’t get far, not with those injuries. And when I get her back…” We were too far away to hear him anymore. I felt so tired and weak, like I hadn’t slept for days. We came across a large clearing, about midway I lost everything I had left and hit the ground. The horse back came around nuzzling my neck and face. Finally the pain went away and I lost consciousness.

* * * * *
I started hearing faint sounds, voices, general rustling and a crackling fire. I sleepily opened my eyes to find that I was lying on a couch in a small cottage lit by what was left of daylight. I looked around a bit. The cottage was cluttered with shelves of herbs, spices and old books. There was a fire burning with a boiling pot over it. Suddenly ever thing came back to me. The memories of my mother’s death, my capture, and treatment, my escape and the arrows all came back in a rush. I sat up quickly but was stopped about half way by a set of strong hands on my shoulders. I gasped thinking the worst.
“Whoa there, not so fast.” An old man’s voice behind me. “You’re not healed yet! You need to lie still or you will reopen the wounds on your back.” The muscles in my back and shoulders had already tensed up sending waives of pain through my body. A quiet groan escaped my lips as the pain spread. The hands tightened slightly and pulled me back down until I was lying completely down again. I looked up to see an old blind man, I was surprised but greatly relieved.
“Who are you? Where am I?” I asked finding my voice.
“My name is Oota Soku, you may call me Oota, and this is my home.” He told me reaching for his walking stick. He missed it on his first try but found it after a short sideways movement of his hand. “And may I ask your name young one?”
“My name is Liza Kiyuki, people usually call me Izzy or just Iz.” I said timidly.
“Well nice to meet you miss Liza.” He said.
“Pleasure to meet you as well sir, would you be so kind as to tell me how I got here?” I asked politely
“My apprentice found you unconscious in the woods along with a rather feisty horse…”
“My horse!” I interrupted, as my heart started racing. “Where