Chapter 4 A dozen shadows and a welcome smile episode: 8

A hundred silhouettes flicker without a sound. Crickets and running water is all I can hear. Everyone is motionless in perfect rows waiting for something. A man dressed all in black emerges from the darkness beyond the fires light. No one moves. Anxiety now floats in the air that wasn’t there a moment ago and not a single breath is heard. Even the crickets and flowing water seem to become quieter in response to his appearance.

In one hand he holds a scroll and in the other a wooden bucket. With a flick of his arm the scroll unravels and he holds up the drawing of a man’s face. The image burns into my mind. Every detail from his thinning hairline to the shape of his nose quickly commits its self to memory. I feel all of my muscles tense knowing that I need to find this man quickly. Without a warning the scroll is dropped and the bucket of water is dumped on the fire enveloping the clearing in almost complete darkness.

A great wind blows from a hundred shadowy figures sprinting through the dead of night, with me among them. It is an amazing feeling to move as fast as I am without making a sound. I am a ghost in black. I know the way to go and I must get there before the others. I push myself harder and harder. There is a barrier inside my mind telling me I must not go faster or I will become too noisy but I push past it. A twig snaps loudly under one of my feet as I break into a full reckless sprint. I feel my mysterious companions falter for a moment caught off guard by my behavior. I break away from the pack of shadows and suddenly know that I am alone. I feel danger all around me as a large building comes into view in the distance lit up by the moon that seems to now penetrate what was before an almost undisturbed blackness. I gracefully climb the first wall that surrounds the outer courtyard. Hand over hand I glide through the air more like one might if they were swimming then climbing.

Somehow I lower myself down the other side of the wall and hide among some bushes without even one of the many guards noticing me. I pull a blow gun from the waist of my clothes and gently remove a dart that is carefully pinned to my shirt. I load my blow gun carefully knowing as I take the first shot that the dart will on cause the guards to sleep. There are five guards in this part of the court yard. I will have to hit them all quickly without missing because I have few darts and if the first guard drops while the last still has his wits he will surly sound the alarm and it will make getting to the man from the scroll that much harder.

I study the guards knowing that I only have moments to do so if I am to get to the man before those that began with me. There is one guard close to the wall where I let myself down only feet away from where I now crouch. Two more cross back and forth across the courtyard while a fourth one stands partially obscured from view by a corner of the main tower. A fifth one walks across the courtyard and continues around the tower. The fifth guard could be reporting to a post on a different part of the property, investigating a disturbance from one of the others that came with me, or he could be patrolling on a designated route around the tower but whatever he is doing I need to be prepared if he circles back around.

My fist shot hits the target and a guard a few feet from me swats his neck as if a bug bit him. Shots two and three closer to the main building land perfectly, Shot four is a harder aim the guard is part way around a corner and only part of him his visible but I manage to hit him in the arm. I am out of darts with a final guard still patrolling regularly near here. One by one the guards sit and then lie down and quickly become fast asleep.

 I run as fast as I can to the tower and climb to a third story open window and silently lift myself in making sure to close the window behind me. There is no one in the hallway and with nowhere to hide I quickly blow out all nearby candles until I am tucked in to a blanket of darkness. At the end of the hall I listen and wait. I hear no footsteps. I make my way down the next few corridors and up a flight of stairs until I come just short of my destination.

I crouch near the top of the stairs with only the side of the door I am looking for in view. standing sentry is an armored samurai. I have no time to wait or plan. I pull from a pouch a few sharp metal stars I throw them with deadly accuracy, each one snuffing out a candle. Before my samurai friend has much chance to process what has happened I run to his side silently and draw his sword and tuck it behind me in the clothe that holds my own sword. I hear his lungs fill with air in preparation to alert others to my presence but before any sound manages to leave his mouth I strike him in the throat. I recoil quickly after striking knowing that if he were to grab a hold of me I would be in fight for my life. He coughs and sputters and tries to yell to the other guards but only a rasp comes out. He now is in a fighting stance and is ready for my attack. I have the advantage because I am more accustomed to fighting in the dark but every moment I allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness is a moment I lose some of that advantage. I must act quickly. I run silently in his direction but right before he becomes aware of my position I leap in to the air, my hands and feet push against the walls and I suspend myself above his head. I hear his fist strike the air several times trying to find me.

He continues to cough lightly but refuses to leave his post in front of the door. I pull my blow gun from the waist of my clothes and toss it a few feet away. I hear the head of the samurai jerk in the direction of the sound. With the samurai still not moving I give up on stealth and let go of the walls nimbly removing the samurai’s helmet as I fall. Once on my feet I crouch to avoid several strikes the samurai throws into the air. Before he can regroup I stand and strike him in the temple with my elbow and catch him has he falls unconscious to the ground so that he doesn’t make a sound. I open the door in time to see a dark figure dressed like me standing in the middle of a poorly lit room. He is holding a dagger over a bed where I assume the man from the scroll is. with his hand already raised high, the dagger plummets down toward its soft unaware target. Half way down the hand recoils in pain from a sharp metal star that I manage to throw. A dozen figures emerge from the many shadowy places in the room and I know that I have made a dozen enemies.

With the same speed that had blown through the clearing earlier a flood of shadows rushes toward me. I struggle and strike deftly and must be forced to the floor in order to be contained by the small silent mob. The end will come soon and the last thing I will see and smell is the dusty wooden floor. I hear a man talk quietly but I cannot understand him, he speaking in a language I do not understand. I have failed…

I expect the end to come but instead a hand shakes me gently on the shoulder and I open my eyes. Suzy stands over me with an encouraging smile motions for me to follow her.

“Come on sleepy head” she says “it’s time for me to take you home”. I yawn and stretch then nod my head in acknowledgment. the shadows and ninjas fade away like any other dream.

“Ok” I say simply, too tired to think of anything more clever with which I could impress her with. I grab my back pack and shuffle after her. 

In the parking lot I see lots of cars in neat rows. Yellow light from lamp posts holds everything in a surreal glow that makes it seem almost dream-like. I kick lose pebbles and bits of tarmac as I swing my feet lazily as Suzy leads me to her car. As I follow her I wonder which car is hers. I see a cute little yellow car much to girly for my own taste and assume it is hers but we walk right past it. I make one wrong guess after another and decide to stop guessing. Eventually we get to the far end of the parking lot and she puts her key into an old pickup truck to unlock the driver’s side door. I walk over to the passenger’s side and she leans over to unlock my door. I pull myself up and in to the big truck and shut the door.

“Why do you park so far from the diner?” I ask as she pulls out

“The owner wants to save all the close parking for customers” she says shrugging. a few moments pass and all I can think of to say is

“Thanks again for giving me a ride”

“It’s fine, not a big deal, I know you live on this side of town but you’ve got to give me better directions” she says. I describe where my apartment complex is and sit through the remainder of the ride staring out the window. I don’t mind not feeling obligated to talk because I am so tired but at the same time I wish I had the energy to be more impressive.
eventually we pull in to the parking lot and up to my building. I grab my bag and open the door only to hear Suzy say unexpectedly
"hey, wait a moment"
I pause and turn toward her
"If I am going to be giving you rides it might make it more pleasant if we got to know each other" she begins 
"me and my friends are going to the school next weekend, you should come with us"
"sure" I shrug with awkward hesitancy
"of course you don't have to" she quickly adds
"no, it will be great. I was just caught a little of guard" I admit
"oh really, why is that?" she asks with what appears to be sincere curiosity. feeling tired and distracted I fail to censor my feelings before I speak.
"well, you being the prettiest girl in school I wouldn't think you would want to hang out with some one like me" I reply simply. the awkwardness hits me right after I finish the words 'like me'. I turn and look at her only to see a confused expression on her face. my stomach turns into a knot and I wish I was invisible.
"do you really think I am that stuck up?" she asks accusingly. I quickly try to salvage the situation and sputter and for what seems like an eternity before I close my eyes, the way you do when you expect something heavy to fall on your head, and I blurt out
"no, I just thought that you must have the pick of anyone to join you and your friends at the carnival, why would you ask someone as unimpressive as I am. that's all."
"oh Jake, you are more impressive then you realize. I mean you would rather hide the beating of a lifetime and risk another one rather than make your mom's life harder. its crazy, but impressive to say the least. In any case, I try to be nice to everyone if I can manage it even if they aren't impressive."
"well, thanks" I say thoughtfully, lowering my self out of the truck. right before I close the truck door she adds.
"Thanks for saying I was pretty" we both smile I close the door and she drives off.