Part 38 (2/2)

When she opened her eyes again, both Ken and the monk were staring.

”Some day,” Ken said, ”you'll have to teach me how you do that.”

Annja laughed. ”Just as soon as I figure the whole thing out myself.”

38.

The monks showed them how to best exit the mountain, but kept Annja and Ken blindfolded the entire time, telling them that secrecy of the monastery was paramount and this way they'd never be able to reveal its actual location.

On the walk back down the mountain, Annja kept looking at Ken. She could see the happiness in his gait and spirit. Throughout the hike, he stayed fairly quiet, seemingly preferring to stay inside his own head.

Annja had a great deal to think about, as well. A lot had happened on this trip, and she had to process it all. She'd been concerned about how she was unable to bring the sword out to protect herself when she and Ken had been in the midst of the fog. But she guessed that it wouldn't come out because the monks hadn't meant her harm, despite giving the appearance of that. Had she been able to draw the sword, she definitely would have killed some of them.

So did the sword know when the danger was real as opposed to imagined? And if there was no true danger, would she be able to pull it out anymore and examine it? Or had that time pa.s.sed?

There was little doubt that things were evolving. Annja just wasn't sure where she fit into the whole picture. In some ways she felt like a tool to be used by the sword. And other times it seemed that the sword was the tool.

She still didn't feel that they were unified in body and spirit.

That, she supposed, would take many years.

”Are you all right?” Ken asked.

She smiled. ”I think so, yes.”

Ken stepped over a thick tree root and grinned. ”Some trip we've had ourselves, Annja Creed.”

”It certainly has been something.”

”What will you do now?”

Annja shrugged. ”The same thing I always do-go home, get myself stuck in the middle of something new, exciting and potentially dangerous.”

Ken laughed. ”You enjoy that, don't you?”

Annja thought about it. ”I suppose I do. Remember when you spoke about the moon's reflection on the water? And how we have a tendency as humans to see what we desperately want to see, not how things actually are?”

”I remember,” Ken said. ”It took me years to learn that lesson. Years to become comfortable with who I was-the man I'd become. It is not an easy thing to do, stare into the mirror of pure truth and be comfortable with what is reflected back at you.”

”I can see how it wouldn't be.” Annja shrugged. ”But I guess I'm starting to feel a bit more comfortable with who I am now. And I do enjoy taking risks. I have to accept that part of myself if I am to understand fully what it means to have this sword that I've got.”

Ken's eyes danced. ”I thought we weren't going to talk about that.”

Annja laughed. ”Is this going to be our special phrase from now on?”

Ken stopped. ”I didn't know there was going to be a from now on from now on.”

”Well, there's not,” Annja replied, momentarily taken aback. ”I mean, I just thought that, you know, if we ever run into each other again. It's a small world and all. And you know, you had been following me all over the place prior to this.”

Ken smiled. ”Then it will be our phrase. And maybe when we've both had some time to figure out our own personal destinies, maybe we'll see each other again.”

”I'd like that,” Annja admitted.

”As would I.”

They pa.s.sed the remainder of the trip in silence. Part of Annja hated the idea of leaving Ken. She'd had a lot of fun being with him. But she also knew that while it might be fun to hang out for a while, she'd grow restless. She had adventures to undertake. She had places to visit.

And evil to stop.

She frowned. Now where had that thought come from?

Ken reached the trailhead first and waited for Annja to come through the bush. ”You think our car is still there?” he asked.

Annja stopped. ”You don't think someone stole it?”

Ken shrugged. ”Hey, we're not immune to car theft over here, you know.”

”I am not walking back to Ueno,” Annja said. ”If the car is missing, you'll have to carry me back.”

”Deal.”

But the car was right where they'd left it. Annja was a bit surprised that none of Shuko's Yakuza thugs had demolished it on the way in.

”So, the Onigawa-gumi is all destroyed, right?” Annja asked.

Ken nodded. ”I'd certainly think so. The monks took care of them. Despite Shuko's insistence that they were going global, I don't think they were. One reason I chose to approach the Onigawa-gumi in the first place was they were smaller than other clans. I felt I could deal with them reasonably.” He laughed. ”Well, as reasonably as you can with Yakuza.”

”What if there are some left?” Annja asked.

Ken shrugged. ”I'll take care of them.”

Annja raised her eyebrows. ”You'll kill them?”

Ken fished the car keys out of his backpack. ”Annja, I don't ever look for a reason to kill. Neither would you. But if there's one thing I've learned it's that the universe has a scheme of totality to it. And places and events and people all fall into that scheme. Our destinies are designed so that we all intersect how we're supposed to intersect. It may be that I'm not supposed to kill them or it may be that I am.”

”But how will you know what the universe or G.o.d or whatever wants you to do?”

Ken pointed back toward the mountain. ”The same way we figured out what we were supposed to do in the labyrinth.”

”Instinct?”

”Sure.”

”I guess I'm not all that comfortable yet with the idea of using my instinct to guide me entirely through life,” Annja said.

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