Chapter 3 - Arrival at Edo

he ground thudded every time the wild cats paws drummed into the ground. Its body moved effortlessly across the road towards Domino. Domino lunged to the side, his whole body flew through the air for a second before it hit the hard dirt floor. The saber cat slid to a halt and turned to face Domino once again. He had risen to his feet and had drawn his sword, ready for attack.
Droplets of sweat fell off his body cascading into the ground. His entire body was strained and pushed to its limit. He was nearly out of magical essence and was thoroughly exhausted. This time he knew that he couldn’t evade it.
A violent battle followed, Domino and the wild cat lunged at each other, both threatening to kill the other. Domino’s arm had been scratched badly and was starting to bleed. Hurriedly he healed it with some Dragon Magic, Dragon Magic: Searing Flame Heal. The Samurai leader still remained unconscious. He was losing small amounts of blood from his many wounds. After several minutes of heated combat, Domino felt some magic essence returning to him.
“Dragon Magic: Dragon Ball of Blazing Fury!” Domino used the magical essence to form a large ball of blazing fury.
The ball was a colorful mix of purple, red and black. It rotated furiously in the palm of his hand. Sprinting forward he pushed it into the Saber Cat causing it to flee in terror. A few seconds later he collapsed to the ground, all his magical essence was drained and most of his life essence was also drained.
Everything around him became of haze of white, his vision was failing him. He could see the cat retreating back into the bushes and the Samurai Leaders limp body moving slightly. Suddenly he dropped to the floor as everything went black, Domino was unconscious. Several hours later he woke up in the back of a cart. The Samurai Leader sat beside him with horse reigns in his hands.
“Finally you have woken.” The Samurai Leader said quietly, his eyes focused on the road ahead.

“Uh huh, are we nearly at Edo?” Domino replied, still dazed from his encounter with the Saber Cat.
The Samurai nodded and pointed further ahead. Down in the valley below was the small port town of Edo. The waves from the sea crashed onto the shore. From the small mountain road they could see the tiny figures of people wandering around the town doing various things.
At the entrance of the main town was a large red gate. The gate was guarded by two statues of Japanese Orc’s called Oni. Oni were fierce creatures that ran wildly among the land. They wore heavier than men and could often wield both a club and a katana. They were easy to identify because of their blood red skin. Both the Oni had twisted looks on their faces. There was also a large wooden and golden gong which was used to sound the alarm when the village was under attack.
The buildings in the town were made from wood and were all fairly well maintained. There were large crowds of people wandering through and around the many shops and stalls in the centre of town. Several people watched them curiously as they entered the small town. They kept walking until they found the large Treasury. The Treasury had no windows, just a see-through sliding door made from birch wood. There were several katakana inscriptions and posters on the banks front wall.
Despite all the movement and bustling of the people in Edo there was a sad miserable atmosphere about the place. No one smiled or laughed, they were all solemn and serious. Inside the large treasure storage where they were going to leave the treasure was the same; the man in charge just nodded at them, took the chest and securely locked it.

“Why is everyone so sad? Was there a raid on the village?” The Samurai Leader asked the Treasure Keeper curiously.

“A few days ago we were raided by bandits, many died and houses were destroyed. They took everything of value. We were severely outnumbered and we had no soldiers or samurai, there were at least eighty of them.” He sighed sadly as he replied.
The Samurai’s expression was hidden by his mask but Domino knew he was thinking of something. Most likely the same thing he was thinking, the bandits who had attacked them on the road were the bandits who attacked the village. Later that day when they were travelling to the inn where they would stay the night Domino questioned the Samurai about the bandits.
“The Bandits may have been the ones that attacked us but we cannot be sure.” He replied.
It took them several minutes to arrive at the inn. It was a building made from cobblestone with strong spruce wood pillars. After hurriedly eating a meal of steaming hot noodles they went to their room to sleep. There room wasn’t much but it was better than sleeping outside. Two mats were rolled out on the floor with a small table in one corner. Soon they fell asleep, tired from their travels the previous day.