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David Kudler

Not all assassins wear black

Some come wearing silk

A young Takeda warrior meets a servant who is much more than she seems. And teaches him what a warrior truly can be.

(Historical adventure short story. Teen assassin, love in a time of war, medieval Japan)

This is the second of the Kunoichi Companion Tales, prequel stories to David Kudler’s historical novel Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale:

1. White Robes — Mired in her own grief, Lady Mochizuki Chiyome encounters two young women who give her a whole new, much more interesting opportunity (now available!)

2. Silk & Service — A young Takeda warrior meets a servant who is much more than she seems (now available!)

3. Waiting for Kuniko — Mieko is waiting at a rendezvous behind enemy lines. In the rain. Without a hat. The person who comes up the road is the last person she expected to encounter.

4. Wild Mushrooms — A Hōjō commander is delighted when two pretty young shrine maidens enter his camp on the evening before a battle. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been.

5. Ghost — At a banquet to celebrate a new alliance, Chiyome contemplates murder, and discovers a new servant (now available!)

6. Schools for Talented Youngsters: Monthly Headmistresses’ Dinner — Three unique ladies get together once a month to share the joys and challenges involved teaching young ladies with very particular… talents. (Historical fantasy/crossover — now available!)

Coming soon: Shining Boy — Plucked off of the streets of the capital, an orphan girl tries to figure out what story she’s wandered into

Coming soon: Blade — Toumi doesn’t want anyone messing with her business

Coming soon: Little Brother — Returning to the monastery turns out to be as hard as leaving it was

Preview:

“Get my purse, boy!” growled Captain Oniyama, “And more sake!”

Masugu watches the girl appear as if from out of the floor to pour the rice wine into the captain's cup: smooth gait, smooth hair, smooth—

“Boy! My purse!”

Masugu shakes himself, blushing, and leaps to his feet. “Yes, Oniyama-sama!”

The captain is usually patient and polite, but at these regular mahjong games with the other Imagawa commanders, he drinks. And Masugu doesn't like being around him when he's drunk. Doesn't like watching him lose at games.

Also, the girl…

Stillpoint/Atalanta

Kunoichi Companion Tales

Silk and Service

A chance encounter behind enemy lines

A Risuko prequel short story

Mieko is waiting at a rendezvous behind enemy lines. In the rain. Without a hat. The person who comes up the road is the last person she expected to encounter.

Preview:

Mieko wanted to leave.

She was waiting on a worn stone shrine beneath a dripping red pine. Rain was falling, and she had been waiting here, slowly getting wet, since the clouds had sloshed in around midday. She and Kuniko had split, Mieko searching the area on the south side of the valley while Kuniko searched in the village on the north side. They were looking for young Sachi and Hoshi, the two newest kunoichi, who were supposed to have checked in from their mission at dawn.

Mieko wasn’t worried — not really. Kuniko was more than capable of taking care of herself, and Sachi and Hoshi weren’t stupid. Their mission was a fairly simple one: wander up to Tiptown, where the Uesugi commander kept the headquarters for this part of the province, and see if any of the soldiers might let something slip to a couple of pretty girls. It was a mission that Mieko and Kuniko could have done in their sleep — had done more than once — but it seemed like a good, straightforward test for the two younger girls.

The two newly initiated kunoichi.

But they were behind enemy lines, and they hadn’t arrived at the rendezvous at the roadside shrine this morning. And while Mieko had wanted to charge up to Tiptown to make sure the girls were safe, Kuniko had sensibly pointed out that they had probably just lost track of time or gotten turned around. And so she had suggested that they split up and search this part of the valley before heading into the enemy’s stronghold.

They’d agreed to meet up on the main road at this battered old shrine to some nameless forest god. They’d agreed to meet at the hour of the horse — noon, which would give them plenty of daylight to make their way to Tiptown, if they had to. And Mieko had quickly confirmed that no, Sachi and Hoshi weren’t at either of the forest shrines further off the road, nor at any of the farms that dotted the southern side of the valley. And then she’d returned to their meeting point and, as the rain began to fall, she waited.

And waited.

She wanted to leave, but she couldn’t. She was waiting for Kuniko. And Sachi and Hoshi.

Mieko sighed, wiping the drizzle from her eyelashes. She should have worn a hat.

A movement to her left startled her —

Waiting for Kuniko: A Chance Encounter

When eternity comes to visit

A Hojo commander is delighted when two pretty young shrine maidens enter his camp on the evening before a battle. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been.

A Risuko prequel story showing Mieko and Kuniko on a mission — at their sweetest and at their most deadly.

Preview:

Sugi wasn’t given to fancies. He was a good Buddhist; the old gods and spirits had never interested him much.

But […] these two girls, in their miko garb, standing on the edge of what would be a battlefield the next day, popping up like wild mushrooms — they gave him exactly the same feeling. The feeling that he was face to face with the eternal.

It was not an easy feeling.

He smiled to cover his discomfort. “Young ladies, how may I help you? This is not a place for such lovely girls. ”

Biting her lip, the delicate one glanced over to the tall one, who gave an impassive nod. Apparently reassured, the smaller girl turned back to Sugi, her eyes decorously downcast. “My lord general, sir. We didn’t mean to be here. We’re on our way from Estuary to the shrine at Picnic Lake. We were told by the priest to follow the road up that valley, there. ” She tipped her head past the Takeda garrison. “Those soldiers over there, they were… not very nice. ”

The tall, square-faced girl gave a grunt and scowled. “Took our food. ”

“I’m sorry to hear that, ” said Sugi, solemnly. He lifted his chin. “Would you lovely ladies care to join me and my soldiers for our evening meal?”

The smaller, prettier girl held a hand in front of her mouth. “Oh. My lord. We could not —”

“I insist. And you shall sleep in my tent. I will… guard the door. ” He gave a slight bow. Since, after all, they were spirits.

The pretty girl started to object, but the bigger one put her hand on the other’s shoulder. “We’re hungry. ”

“Of course, my dears. I am sure my soldiers would be delighted to have you join them this evening. ” In his mind, Sugi could see it: these two young beauties (well, one beauty, the other… handsome), laughing and singing with his soldiers on this, the night before their legendary victory. It would become part of his fame. And perhaps…

He smiled at his own runaway imagination. “Come. It smells as if the supper will soon be ready. ”

(Historical adventure short — Japanese Civil War era, battlefield romance, women assassins, Shintō spirits)

Wild Mushrooms: Meeting Eternity

Mochizuki Chiyome wants someone dead

And someone wants to serve her

At a banquet to celebrate a new alliance, Chiyome contemplates murder, and discovers a new servant.

(Teen assassin, historical fiction, love in a time of war, Japan)

Extract:

The Way of the Warrior, Chiyome knew, teaches that one must fight without anger and kill without hatred. That a warrior must act always out of duty and never out of personal need. She knew this because her mother had taught her so. She knew it because her father and her husband had died acting so. She knew it because because her annoying servants Mieko and Kuniko always seemed to act so.

And yet, staring across the shōgun’s banquet hall, all that Mochizuki Chiyome could think was that she hated Uesugi Kenshin; that she wanted to cut off the far-too-pretty lord’s nose, wanted to strangle him, wanted to rip out his heart.

She considered it a great act of restraint to have remained sitting through the long feast commemorating the new alliance.

Lord Uesugi leered at her, and her restraint shattered.

“Mieko?”

“My lady?”

Chiyome leaned closer to the young woman who looked like nothing so much as a perfectly sweet companion for a perfectly harmless old lady. “If I were to ask you to kill that insufferable fop Uesugi, could you do it?”*

Kunoichi Companion Tales

This is the fourth of the prequel stories to David Kudler’s historical novel Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale

1. White Robes — Mired in her own grief, Lady Mochizuki Chiyome encounters two young women who give her a whole new, much more interesting opportunity (now available!)

2. Silk & Service — A young Takeda warrior meets a servant who is much more than she seems (now available!)

3. Waiting for Kuniko — Mieko is waiting at a rendezvous behind enemy lines. In the rain. Without a hat. The person who comes up the road is the last person she expected to encounter.

4. Wild Mushrooms — A Hōjō commander is delighted when two pretty young shrine maidens enter his camp on the evening before a battle. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been.

5. Ghost — At a banquet to celebrate a new alliance, Chiyome contemplates murder, and discovers a new servant 

6. Schools for Talented Youngsters: Monthly Headmistresses’ Dinner — Three unique ladies get together once a month to share the joys and challenges involved teaching young ladies with very particular… talents. (Historical fantasy/crossover)

Coming soon: Shining Boy — Plucked off of the streets of the capital, an orphan girl tries to figure out what story she’s wandered into

Coming soon: Blade — Toumi doesn’t want anyone messing with her business

Coming soon: Little Brother — Returning to the monastery turns out to be as hard as leaving it was

Ghost: A Dream of Murder

Assassination. Espionage. Theft. 

Across the ages, the headmistresses of three very unusual schools (along with their very unusual students) share a meal

Lady Mochizuki Chiyome plays host to two of the only women across all of history who can understand why she teaches young women to do very unladylike things. Like her, Locusta the Poisoner and Ma Mandelbaum run schools for very particular students gifted with very particular talents.

Inspired by a conversation with Mackenzi Lee, author of Bygone Badass Broads, this short historical fantasy explores what would happen if three of history's most bloodthirsty schoolmistresses had been able to share a (very carefully checked) meal.

Kunoichi Companion Tales

Kunoichi Companion Tales

Books in order

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