“That you shall never do,” Kenji said. He circled around
the Samurai, who put his back to a tree. “For you see,
Samurai, my blades are poisoned. Even now you feel the
sharp fingers of its grip, which will soon crush your heart.
Even if I let you go, and you ran as fast as you can-you
would not make it back to the castle. And there is no
antidote.”
The Samurai leaned more heavily against the tree. “Then
I will shout until one of the patrols hear me!”
The Samurai opened his mouth to yell, but it was filled
with Kenji’s fifth dagger. Expertly thrown, the blade pierced
the back of the man’s throat, effectively nailing his head to
the tree. The corpse convulsed and sagged. Kenji retrieved
his knives, stripped the bodies, and hid them as bandits
would. The men would not be missed or found until the next
day at the earliest. By that time, the counterattack on the
invaders would have begun.