walking across the barren desert in blazing heat. the sun beats at the wanderer like a hammer on a nail. each step becomes progressively harder. scorpions and lizards scamper across the hot desert sand like it is nothing. to them it is nothing. it is home. but for the wanderer it is a trial. a samurai from a distant land, far far from this barren place. the wanderer walks wearing his only possessions. a wide-brimmed conical hat, a pair of woodden sandal, a pair of black hakama pants, and his two swords, the katana and the wakazashi wrapped with his sleeping blanket strapped across his back. the only other possession he has is a water jug that went dry two days ago. for a week now he had been running from his pursuers. running from a crime that he did not commit. though his fate looks dim, he is glad that he grabbed what he could. and also glad that the constant wind made quick work of the tracks he left in the dunes.
wusaru tanaka is accused of killing the emperor's son. no proof could be presented other than the fact that tanaka was standing next to body with a bloodied sword. the evidence that they didn't have was the body of the man who really killed the emperor's son. the source of the blood on tanaka's blade. thrown into a cell awaiting the morning's sunrise, which with it would bring tanaka's death. stripped naked, the wanderer awaited his impending death. he sat in a corner and awaited the guards to come and check on him. on not seeing him they entered the cell to find his whereabouts. tanaka, with the speed of a mongoose, snapped both their necks. taking the guards' swords he quickly moved into the hall and to the table where his possessions were. his pants, sandles and his beloved, specially forged swords lay. he dressed and grabbed his swords, and silently left out of the castle and into the village that lay at it's feet. he had just enough time to grab his water jug and his blanket roll before the castle's alarms went off. silently but quickly tanaka moved through the village and out to the desert that lay to the castle's north.
the sun is quickly setting as tanaka nears a small gathering of trees in the middle of the desert. ming-sung's oasis. the heart of the desert. a relief to tanaka as well as a dreadfull thing. he still has another one hundred miles to go.
to be continued....