Sarah K. Campbell 
The Kappa’s Blade [EPUB ebook] 

Japan, 1357. A merciless drought ravages the land, leaving a desolate trail of dust and despair. Yet, amidst the skeletal landscape, the Minamoto clan’s rice paddies flourish, an impossible emerald anomaly in a dying world.  Their secret? A pact with the kappa, ancient water spirits whose magic nourishes the clan’s ambition while poisoning the surrounding countryside.
Ren, a disgraced ninja haunted by betrayal, is tasked by her rival clan to infiltrate the Minamoto fortress and uncover the source of their unnatural prosperity. Disguised as a wandering herbalist, she navigates a treacherous web of secrets, gathering whispers of strange illnesses and twisted wildlife, each a fragment of the encroaching darkness mirroring her own internal struggle.
Within the Minamoto’s lush domain, Ren encounters Lord Hiroki, driven by a ruthless vision of power; Akari, his daughter, torn between loyalty and a growing unease; and Kenzo, the village elder, burdened by the terrible knowledge of the pact.  As Ren delves deeper, she uncovers a hidden library containing ancient scrolls that reveal the kappa’s true nature – beings far more volatile than folklore suggests.  Their magic, a double-edged sword, threatens to unravel the delicate balance of nature.
As the drought tightens its grip, the kappa’s magic begins to corrupt the very land it sustains.  Grotesque maladies afflict the villagers, the rice takes on a sickly glow, and the once-fertile soil turns to ash. Ren must choose: expose the Minamoto’s deceit and risk a bloody clan war, or attempt a dangerous ritual to sever the pact, a gamble that could unleash the kappa’s full, destructive power.
In a heart-pounding climax of ninja subterfuge, supernatural confrontation, and moral reckoning, Ren must confront not only the enraged kappa but also her own past.  Allied with Akari and guided by a guilt-ridden Kenzo, she embarks on a desperate race against time to restore balance to a land teetering on the brink of collapse. The whispered drought becomes a silent promise, a reminder of the delicate harmony between humanity and nature, and the enduring power of redemption.