White Wind, Black Rider

Oboko finds Matari like a blur of darkness lying in the snow of a blizzard. After he carries her lifeless body into an ancient abandoned temple he is astonished when she opens her eyes. What had seemed a frozen lump of silk is transformed into a beautiful woman. Matari says softly, “I didn’t die.” Thus begins the most dramatic and moving of Luke Rhinehart’s books. He has woven an exciting story of three samurai and the beautiful woman they each love, trapped by their very virtues into deadly conflict. Oboko is the poet of the wind, a peace-loving student of Zen; Izzi, the lusty, life-loving court poet on his way to serve the great Lord Arishi, a proud samurai who has vowed to kill Matari, who he believes has been unfaithful. When Lord Arishi’s samurai pursue them, Oboko, Izzi and Matari each must choose, with each of their lives in the balance.