The Wind and the Void Read Online Free Page A

tried to use his sense, but it still refused to cooperate. It hadn’t worked since his final fight with Renzo. His ankle still twinged a little when he walked on it, but it was nothing compared to the nakedness he felt as he walked through the woods without his sense. Ryuu didn’t know what had happened. All he knew was that when he awoke from the battle he couldn’t use his gift. He had tried meditating every day for a while, but when it hadn’t created any results, he gradually stopped trying. Now he barely attempted it at all.
    The woods were beautiful. Reds, oranges, and yellows were everywhere. It was almost winter, and most of the leaves had fallen, but there were still enough in the trees that one would have to be blind not to appreciate their beauty. Even so, the woods seemed stark and barren to Ryuu. He knew he was surrounded by life, but for the first time since he was a young child, he couldn’t feel any of it. To his remaining senses, he may as well have been alone in the woods.
    He was returning to Moriko, but he wasn’t sure what would happen when he did. He was a different man than when he had last seen her. Not only had he been to the island, but he had found incredible strength and then lost it. Would she still care for him if he wasn’t strong enough? The last time he had sensed her, he could tell she, too, had changed. She was stronger, more dangerous than ever before. And he was broken.
    Ryuu’s thoughts raced round and round as he walked. He thought of Shigeru and Takako, those he had loved and lost. He thought of Moriko, the love he was afraid he had lost. And he thought of Renzo, Shika, Rei, Tenchi and all the other nightblades he had met on the island. There was so much conflict, so many dreams colliding with one another in the Three Kingdoms. All he wanted was to live in peace.
    He slept outdoors for the next two nights, not coming across any more villages. It was getting cold, but he had enough gear to sleep comfortably for a while yet. On the third day he crossed paths with a military unit, marching to the east. Their uniforms were those of the Western Kingdom, the new conquerors of the Southern Kingdom. He stepped off the road, careful to hide his face from their eyes. They paid him no mind. His sword was hidden on his back and he was dressed in poor traveling clothes. He would look to be no more than a peasant to them. In fact, he smiled grimly, he really was no more than a peasant anymore. Without the sense he wasn’t a nightblade anymore. He found the idea didn’t bother him as much as it once had.
    As they passed, Ryuu had a strange thought. They couldn’t call the land the Three Kingdoms anymore. There weren’t three kingdoms. Would they call it the Two Kingdoms? Ryuu shook his head. It sounded wrong. And what would they call the land he was walking in? Would it be the Southern Kingdom or the Western Kingdom? He hadn’t ever thought of it before, and wondered what was happening to the east, where the treaty was being signed.
    The sounds of the forest returned as the troops marched away, and Ryuu pushed the thoughts out of his mind. It didn’t really matter what they called the land. The only thing on his mind was Moriko. He needed to find her and figure out where they stood. The thought frightened him, but he had to know. He tightened the straps on his pack and kept moving forward.
     
    The forest gradually turned into plains as Ryuu continued walking west. He knew if he kept going, he would eventually find woods again. As he expected, wanted posters started appearing, but they were few and far between, almost as though the effort to find him was half-hearted. He figured it was Akira’s doing. He had to hunt Ryuu to satisfy the terms of the treaty, but his heart wasn’t in it. Ryuu had taken the measure of Akira and found him to be an honorable man.
    Ryuu had been on the road for almost a moon, and he guessed he was less than a hundred leagues away from the hut. He hadn’t been