The Ronin and the Green Maiden Read online

  Then she sat up, gathered her robes, and stood.

  And kept standing higher.

  And higher.

  Shoulders thickened. Her hair burst into a great dark bush. She towered over him now.

  He scrambled back, leaping to his feet, snatching his sword free of the earth.

  Her arms lengthened, her back broadened.

  She turned toward him. Her legs turned to pillars, her arms to hairy tree branches. The emerald-green menpo appeared on the warrior’s face.

  Ken’ishi raised his sword, naked from the waist down.

  The massive warrior stood motionless, hands on hips.

  “What are you?” Ken’ishi cried.

  “I have returned to see you fulfill our bargain, samurai,” the man said.

  “What do you want?”

  “Very simple. The stroke that you promised me.”

  Ice-water dashed through Ken’ishi.

  The man drew his massive greatsword from the scabbard across his back. With thick-muscled arms, he handled it as if it weighed no more than a dagger. “Honor demands that you fulfill our bargain.” His voice darkened with promise and threat.

  He saw now that this man’s eyes flickered with emerald-green, something he had not noticed before.

  His mind swirled with questions about this bizarre turn of events, but there would be no denying this man. Ken’ishi had made a bargain; honor demanded that he fulfill it. This was never the end he had envisioned for himself. He had always fantasized about dying in battle for a lord, not here on some wilderness mountainside, at the hands of some nameless warrior. Nevertheless, ultimate death was the culmination of the Warrior’s Path.

  Ken’ishi nodded and sheathed his sword. “Take your stroke.”

  Without hesitation, the great blade swept up and slashed toward him. He imagined that he would be cleft from shoulder to waist to fall in two neatly severed pieces. But instead, he felt only a brushing whisper against his breast. His kusode fell open.

  The warrior sheathed his blade.

  Warm wetness flowed and spread down his chest, soaking the lips of the slice in his kusode. He tried to swallow the lump of surprise in his throat. “Thank you for my life.”

  “You might not be so quick to thank me in future.” The warrior pointed to the wound, directly over Ken’ishi’s heart. “This will be your undoing, samurai. You have failed this test.”

  Then the warrior began to shrink. The menpo on his face grew fur and whiskers, his bushy mane turned reddish-brown as he knelt to all fours, diminishing, until the stern, wise eyes that glimmered up at him were those of a fox.

  A fox with not one but three black-tipped bushy tails.

  Faster than lightning, it spun and raced off, disappearing among the bamboo stalks.

  Ken’ishi was left with the aching pain in his breast from the cut. It was a clean cut, but deep enough for bone to peek through.

  The stallion stirred, and Ken’ishi moved to survey the damage the boar had done. Thunder said, “The beast has done for me, warrior.”

  Great gaping slashes split the flesh of the horse’s legs and chest. A length of entrails peeked through a long, bloody gash in the horse’s belly.

  Ken’ishi said, “I am sorry, dear friend. You have been a brave mount. Any warrior would be proud to have you.”

  “And you a courageous master. We have found vengeance together.”

  “Farewell,” Ken’ishi said, and with a quick, almost painless slash, opened the stallion’s jugular.

  The front of his kusode was a wet mass of scarlet. Fortunately, among his meager belongings were a fish hook and some thread with which he could sew the cut. The wound would not be fatal, but he would have a scar over his heart for all time.

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Freelance writer, novelist, award-winning screenwriter, editor, poker player, poet, biker, roustabout, Travis Heermann is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and the author of Death Wind, The Ronin Trilogy, The Wild Boys, and Rogues of the Black Fury, plus short fiction pieces in anthologies and magazines such as Alembical, the Fiction River anthology series, Historical Lovecraft, and Cemetery Dance’s Shivers VII. As a freelance writer, he has produced a metric ton of role-playing game work both in print and online, including the Firefly Roleplaying Game, Legend of Five Rings, d20 System, and the MMORPG, EVE Online.

  He enjoys cycling, martial arts, torturing young minds with otherworldly ideas, and zombies. He has three long-cherished dreams: a produced screenplay, a NYT best-seller, and a seat in the World Series of Poker.

  In 2015, he moved to New Zealand, but intends to return to U.S. shores after claiming Hobbiton as his own.

  DON’T MISS A SINGLE VOLUME OF THE RONIN TRILOGY!

  Available Now from Open Road Media

  "A fusion of historical fiction and adventure fantasy, the first volume of Heermann's Ronin Trilogy is a page-turning folkloric narrative of epic proportions…. [His] writing style is confident and fluid, his characters well developed and his serpentine story line anything but predictable. Numerous tantalizingly unresolved plot threads will have readers anxiously awaiting the second installment in this gripping tale of ill-fated love, betrayal and destiny." – Publishers Weekly

  "Full of sword battles, intrigue, romance and fantastic elements blending well with historical ones, Heart of the Ronin is a very impressive opening in the Ronin Trilogy. It's also a page turner that you can't put down and will leave readers begging for more."– Fantasy Book Critic

  Thirteenth-century Japan is a dangerous place, even in a time of peace. Capricious gods, shape-changing animals, and bloodthirsty demons are as real and unpleasant as a gang of vicious bandits. From the wilderness emerges a young, idealistic warrior with his father's mysterious sword on his hip, a wise, sarcastic dog at his side, and a yearning in his heart to find a worthy master. He dreams only of being samurai.

  Finding a master should be easy for a warrior as skilled as Ken'ishi, but the land has settled into an uneasy peace and cast multitudes of proud, powerful warriors to the four winds. These masterless warriors, ronin, often must stoop to crime and banditry to feed themselves. Ken'ishi finds himself plagued by the hatred and mistrust of peasants and samurai alike.

  When he saves a noble maiden from a pack of bandits, he and his faithful dog become enmeshed in the intrigues of samurai lords, vengeful constables, Mongol spies, and a shadowy underworld crime boss known as Green Tiger. But Ken'ishi has a few secret weapons of his own, granted to him by his mysterious past and his magical upbringing. If only he knew more about his mysterious past, his parents' murder, and the sword that seems to want to talk to him....

  Heart of the Ronin is an action-packed historical fantasy, set against the backdrop of ancient intrigue and impending war, the first of a sweeping three-part epic filled with deadly duels and climactic battles. Creatures of folklore and myth are as real as the katana in one's hand. And just as deadly.

  Available Now from Bear Paw Publishing

  "From the first sentence, Travis Heermann weaves a tale that sucked this reader into a rich Japanese tapestry full of ronin, samurai and magic. It was hard to put this book down to sleep." – Patrick Hester, Hugo-Award Winning SFSignal.com and the Functional Nerds Podcast

  "Travis Heermann takes everything I loved about Heart of the Ronin (adventure, intrigue, sympathetic characters), puts it in a pressure cooker and serves it with a side of Awesome. Sword of the Ronin is his best novel yet and won't disappoint." – Shaun Farrell, Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing

  "Sword of the Ronin is a raw and energetic adventure that explores deep and eternal themes such as honor, love, and betrayal while maintaining an engaging, humorous, living world. It also has an awesome ronin hero who hacks lots of bad people to bits, if you’re into that sort of thing. Which you definitely should be." – Rich Wulf, former lead writer for Legend of the Five Rings and author of The Heirs of Ash Trilogy.

  "A rich, engaging, morally complex histo
rical fantasy, deeply embedded in Japanese culture.... Sword of the Ronin balances action with more intimate drama as both reader and hero question the way forward, and move through a landscape of war and legends to just the right moment of balance before the third volume. I, for one, will be looking forward to it." - E.C. Ambrose, author of Elisha Barber, The Dark Apostle series

  "Those interested in Japan’s culture and history, including ancient mythology will find this book an extraordinary read. It is certainly not a story for the fainthearted, but which touches you with its truth-drawing and starkly poignant meaning. As a work of fantasy I enjoyed it very much, although at times it did cause shivers to run down my spine and turned my blood cold." - Goodreads Reviewer

  In 13th-Century Japan, a land of ancient spirits, shapeshifting animals, and demons, Ken’ishi is a warrior without a master. Orphaned in infancy, he has only one link to his past—Silver Crane, his father’s sword. When Silver Crane is stolen, Ken’ishi must go on a quest to recover his very identity.

  The crime lord known as Green Tiger knows of Silver Crane and dreams of the day when he can destroy the shogunate and restore his shattered clan, with intrigues stretching to China, where the Mongol emperor Khubilai Khan builds an invasion fleet.

  With his only weapon a wooden sword, Ken'ishi enters the shadowy world of flesh houses, Chinese smugglers, and Mongol spies.

  To succeed and unleash Silver Crane’s power, he must face the darkness in his own soul.

  Available Now from Bear Paw Publishing

  “When you actively watch out for new writers with potential, every so often you're pleasantly surprised by one who has simply Got It, whose work is ready to push up to the next level. Travis Heermann has simply Got It.” – James A. Owen, author of Here, There Be Dragons

  “Lovely details, an honorable character, and great action… Travis Heermann’s Spirit of the Ronin is a rich and entertaining story.” – Kevin J. Anderson, NYT bestselling author of Blood of the Cosmos, Navigators of Dune, and the Jedi Academy Trilogy

  A CLASH OF HONOR, LOVE, AND AMBITION

  In thirteenth-century Japan, the ronin Ken’ishi’s fondest wish has been granted—he has found service with a powerful samurai lord.

  But the underworld crime boss known as Green Tiger lurks in the shadows of Lord Tsunetomo’s retinue, and Ken’ishi’s honor is tested when learns his new master is married to Kazuko, the only woman he has ever loved. His unknown lineage holds dangerous secrets that could destroy him, and his sword, the magical relic called Silver Crane, holds the key to his past…and his future.

  With enemies, temptation, and strife assailing him on all sides, Ken’ishi’s very soul falls into jeopardy—even as Khubilai Khan’s Mongol hordes plot their next attack.

  Can Ken’ishi defeat Green Tiger, defend his homeland from the barbarian invaders, and remain true to his heart, his lord, and his honor?

  If you love romance, intrigue and action on an epic scale, don’t miss this stunning climax to the Ronin Trilogy.

  OTHER TITLES BY TRAVIS HEERMANN

  Snakes

  From Damnation Books

  The easiest path usually leads straight into a minefield.

  Eddie, a young, pretty single mom, is trying to do the right thing by her three-year-old daughter. She really is. With no education, no job, and a string of loser boyfriends behind her, she faces hard decisions every day. Gas for the car, or food for Joy? She’s already been forced to move back into her mother's decrepit old trailer in Shady Acres Trailer Court in rural Arkansas.

  Should she get a normal job working long hours for minimum wage, or should she put on her stiletto heels, bikini bra and micro-skirt and go back to exotic dancing so she can bring home fistfuls of cash for a few hours’ work? When she catches her daughter playing with handfuls of baby copperhead snakes behind the trailer, the choice gets a lot easier: get out of there by the quickest means possible.

  But at what cost? And is that strange man the devil or her knight in shining armor?

  “Snakes provokes a gut-wrenching emotional response, perhaps because by using snakes as a motif, it speaks to one of our most primitive fears. ... For a 30-page story to have such a deep, powerful and abiding effect shows that Travis Heermann is a master, ranking up there with Aesop and the Greek myth writers.”-- Rose Cimarron, Goodreads Reviewer

  The Wild Boys

  From Damnation Books

  Can a 16-year-old girl stem the tide of a lycanthro-pocalypse?

  When three younger boys show up on the doorstep of Mia's everyday suburban existence, naked and on the run, she is drawn into a shadow world where a series of strange disappearances heralds a slowly spreading plague of lycanthropy. Mia must save the three orphaned boys from their brutal Alpha, a man-beast who believes humans are food.

  A war is brewing for the top of the food chain.

  Mia doesn’t know it yet, but she holds the key to the future of the human race.

  "A fast-paced novel about love, loss, and the unforgettable scent of once being human, The Wild Boys is impossible to put down." - Shelly Li, Scholastic Award-winning author of The Royal Hunter: Throne Under Siege

  "I recommend The Wild Boys for people who like thrillers, people who like horror, and people who want to read wild chase scenes with plucky heroines (and a dog)." - Kater Cheek, author of the Kit Melbourne series

  Rogues of the Black Fury

  From Open Road Media

  When a band of shadowy fanatics abducts Javin Wollstone's little sister, Bella, from his care, his only hope to bring her home is turning to a hard-bitten band of special warriors, the Black Furies, led by Commander Rusk. Javin follows Rusk and his men through a maze of political intrigues, religious fanaticism, and centuries of distrust. Little do they know that little Bella Wollstone could be the spark that sets off a war of Armageddon.

  The investigation unfolds into a frantic chase that leads Javin, Rusk, and the Black Furies across trackless, pirate-infested seas into the ancient heart of Fartha, the religion-steeped land of prophets and priest-kings. Using stealth, guile, and sheer audacity, the Furies fling themselves into the teeth of the serpent, trying to snatch Bella back before she is swallowed forever. Javin finds himself torn between his genteel, noble upbringing and the raw, brutal necessity of what he must do to save her life.

  “Bold, colorful characters pull the reader into an unforgettable adventure with the perfect mix of suspense, intrigue, and action.” – Jeanne Cavelos, author of The Passing of the Techno-mages

  “Rogues of the Black Fury mixes a berserk action thriller sharp as a mercenary’s sword with hard-bitten fantasy so gritty it might scour your bones clean by the time you’re done.” – Matt Forbeck, author of The Amortals and Carpathia

  “Heermann’s Rogues is epic, exciting, and a hell of a lot of fun! From the very beginning, the world he crafts feels alive and real. By the last page, I didn’t want to leave. Adventure at its finest, honed to a gleaming bloody edge.” -- Marcus Pelegrimas, author of the Skinners series

  “A rollicking read choc-a-bloc with pace, action, and adventure.” – Fantasy Book Critic

  “A very entertaining read ... For fans of Glen Cook or Jeff Salyards, Rogues of the Black Fury could be a great read for a dark winter afternoon.” – A Fantastical Librarian