Stormy Bamboo

Hikage, a noble Samurai, is convinced to join a conspiracy against his lord, a vicious man who cares nothing for his people. He wields the sword that strikes the man down, but he is startled by the master's daughter, and strikes her down as well. Mourning the death of this innocent girl and repudiated by his co-conspirators, he throws his sword in the River Han and sets out on the road with no particular destination in mind.

While traveling, he meets a mysterious woman who refuses to leave him alone until he agrees to be her bodyguard to a distant city. It is only after he agrees that he discovers that her eventual goal is magical, and that her enemies are also his own.

They must travel together by foot, mechanical horse, and dirigible across the country and back again, searching for a means to save the empire with their enemies in pursuit, and some of their enemies aren't human. If they fail, it isn't just their lives at stake, but their entire way of life.

Read an excerpt.