"Wake up, Your Majesty! We’ve brought some subjects for you!” The taunting voice of the guard echoed off the dank walls of the Shogun’s prison, and reached Ji Nu’s ears. The jailers were amused by the haughty pirate captain. When first brought to the prison, she had demanded to see their Shogun, as if she were the Empress herself! Naturally, her request was not granted, and thus she languished in a dark corner of the Shogun’s prison, her spirit unbroken, despite the dreadful surroundings.

The cell door scraped open. Ji Nu could hear the shuffling of feet and the muttering of oaths, as the guards wrestled with six of the worst ruffians that prowled the docks of Kamakura. Some were missing eyes, others teeth and ears. Their bodies were muscled and scarred from years of hard labor, and though prisoners, they remained quarrelsome and had to be induced to enter the large common cell by the guards beating them about their heads and shoulders and kicking them inside.

“It’s the executioner for the lot of you, including you, Your Majesty,” one guard sneered. He shut Ji Nu in with the dock ruffians, and made to walk away, but paused when he heard footsteps approaching.

“Wait, there’s one more!” His companion called out to him, as he brought another prisoner along.

“Eh? What’s that you’ve got there? It looks more like a mouse than a criminal! Hurry up and throw her in there with the rest of them.”

The cell door yawned open once more and a small form was shoved through so forcefully that it fell forward and landed on the dirty straw floor with a groan. The last prisoner was a girl, wearing a torn and bloodstained kimono. Dark hair was disheveled; one side of it was secured with a blue ribbon and adorned with a wilting flower and the other was hanging loosely. Her middle was swaddled with bandages and around her neck was a heavy iron collar, engraved with a Taoist spell. She sat up with a gasp, and started patting the straw around her with her hands, in the manner of a courtesan looking for a favorite bauble that she’d dropped.

“Eh? What’s the matter with her?” one of the ruffians wanted to know. So intent on they with the girl, that they took no notice of the other occupant of the cell.

Though dazed and still hurting from her combat with General Munenori, Utsuri heard the sound of voices, and her nose was assaulted by the vile stink of unwashed bodies and filth. She knew she must be inside a prison cell. She wondered who, and, more importantly, what was in there with her? Struggling to stand, she thrust out her hands in front of her, seeking to learn more about her environment. She took a tentative step towards where she heard the noise of the door closing, and staggered forward, seeking what she knew must be there. As her hands touched the coolness of the door, her heart sank. Trapped…she was trapped in a cage, and with the terrible collar around her neck suppressing her ability to manipulate the elements, she had no chance of escape. I have failed my Master, she thought, for the first time allowing herself to despair.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Another one of the ruffians was more perceptive, as he watched the girl feeling the outlines of the cell door with her hands. “She’s blind. She can’t see a thing.”

A chorus of mocking laughter rang out and the girl whirled around. There were many men, but the echoes inside the cell were making it difficult for Utsuri to determine exactly how many were present. More than she wished to fight in her current condition, that much was certain.

“What are you doing in here, girl? Are you some kind of prostitute?” One of the dock ruffians snorted, looking her over. “You’re kind of skinny for a prostitute.”

“I am no prostitute,” the girl retorted, cocking her head to the side and listening intently. The voice came from her right. There was one.

“You smell…clean.” Another voice, this one from the left. Two men…

“Yes, she does. And if we were to eat her, I wonder what she’d taste like…” She could not see it, but the men were making motions to each other. One was creeping towards her, while the others were attempting to keep her distracted by talking.

Her eyes narrowed and she took another deep breath, feeling her ribs grating against one another. She was in no mood for combat. “Are you so foolish that you think that I cannot hear you?” The creeping man stopped instantly, spooked, for he was sure the others’ voices had masked his movements.

But one of his companions wasn’t intimidated in the least. “Someone needs to teach you a lesson, wench,” he spat and sprang at the girl...