Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1)
Author: Lian Hearn
Desc: In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace. But unbeknownst to him his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe an ancient network of families with extraordinary preternatural skills. When Takeo's village is pillaged he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And with this knowledge he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor—and to his own unimaginable destiny...