Seasons of the Sword

After a century of brutal civil war has torn Japan apart, Lady Mochizuki Chiyome gathers together the most unlikely army imaginable to unite the empire and bring an end to the bloodshed: an army of girls clad in the red and white garb of miko, shrine maidens.

An army of kunoichi.

Together, these girls work as spies, as bodyguards, as assassins — going where no soldier could go, doing what no soldier could do.

Here are six stories of the kunoichi, set before the award-winning Seasons of the Sword novels (Risuko and Bright Eyes):

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