Zumaya Publications
ISBN: To Be Announced
Available April 2008!

Sanematsu Yoshihide walked the estate haunted by Tori’s specter, unable to drive her from his thoughts. She filled his dreams preventing sleep. As he watched the builders repair the North Wing that had been destroyed by fire the day she had been kidnapped, he fantasized he saw her walk out of the ruins, whole, safe, and very much alive. He wandered the beach and envisioned her emergence from the sea. Sanematsu found comfort by retracing steps he had covered with his seabird. Because he could not pronounce her name, Aderyn, he had inquired of its meaning. She explained it was Welsh for ‘bird’ so he changed her name to ‘Tori’, Nihonese for bird. Aderyn became his Seabird.

He rode Dai-tan, his battle trained stallion, out the coastal road to the glen Tori had found so pleasant. The hours of the day passed slowly as he rode and he returned to the yashiki walls as the sun set. The season of spring had come quickly to change the flora of the island and dry the rains of winter. Soon, great waves of humid vapors would rise from the forest.

In his silent room, Sanematsu removed his clothes and lay on the futon he had unrolled himself. He lay nude in the warm night, covering only his midsection. Nets draped around him to keep away the night insects that were plentiful to the season. A single candle illuminated a book of poetry that failed to hold his interest as the night's sounds echoed in his ears. He could hear warriors in the courtyard then as they entered the barracks to find their own futons. He wished them a good night's rest. It was useless for him to try to sleep as it eluded him every night. If sleep came at all, it was in brief naps when his over weary body took over his troubled mind.

Morning found Sanematsu as he stood at his open shoji. He looked Eastward to the sun peaking above the horizon. The early day's breeze was cool on his bare skin. The days of the hot and humid season would soon be intolerable. From the upper story vantage point, he could see the barley fields planted up the mountain's slopes. His stray hair stirred and tickled his shoulders as his eyes wandered to the far country. The new day's sun's ray silhouetted a rider on the road away from the city. Desperate for a way to find her, Sanematsu turned away from the outside world, not realizing he turned his back on the very solution he sought.

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Available soon from Zumaya Publications.