by Ryan Kirk
“Who would you recommend to head my guards now?”
“Suzo. She’s talented and makes strong decisions. She’ll help you more than I ever could. And she wants the position.”
Mari nodded, and a short silence broke their conversation. “I imagine you’ll go after Koji now?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Probably only to me. If anyone can save him, it’s you.” Mari stood up. “Will you stay, at least until the wedding?”
Asa hesitated. “You know I can’t be there.”
“I’m sure we can find a place where you can watch. It would mean a lot to me, knowing you were there.”
It would mean delaying her departure by a day, but that wasn’t much. It would take Koji several days to arrive at the front in captivity. She needed to procure supplies anyway. She nodded, and Mari stepped forward and swept Asa into an embrace. “I don’t know if I’ll see you for some time. I know you’ve been wanting to join one of the expeditions and leave the Kingdom. If I don’t see you again…”
Mari’s voice trailed off. Awkwardly, Asa returned the lady’s embrace. She wanted to say everything to Mari, but nothing seemed adequate. Finally, she stepped away. “Thank you, Mari. It’s been an honor.” She took another step back and bowed deeply.
Mari returned the bow. “And thank you, Asa. I’ve also been honored to know you.”
With that, Asa turned and left, not wanting to prolong the moment. As the door closed behind her she took one last look at Mari, trying to imprint the vision on her memory.
Asa hadn’t gone far when she sensed a presence chasing her. She turned around to see Suzo. Just the sight of the woman was enough to put a smile on Asa’s face. Suzo caught up and matched Asa’s leisurely pace around the castle.
“May I speak to you in private?”
Asa led Suzo to her private quarters in the castle, which she assumed she’d have to give up soon. Despite the sadness of leaving Mari, she didn’t much mind. She’d never liked being in one place for too long.
As soon as the door closed, Suzo stepped closer, her voice low. “What happened? The guards on duty told me Lady Mari summoned you.”
“It looks as though you’ll be moving up in the world soon,” Asa replied.
Asa wasn’t expecting the anger in Suzo’s voice. “She took away your position? I thought she, of all people, would stand next to you!”
Asa shook her head. “It has nothing to do with standing next to me. Most of the Kingdom believes that I murdered Isamu. Mari might have been willing to keep me close as evidence of my innocence, but when she gets married, they need a new start, and they can’t be associated with me. I have nothing but respect for her, and you’ll make a better guard captain than I ever did.”
Suzo calmed down. “Thank you. It just hurts, knowing what you went through, and knowing that you’ll be punished for that.”
“Anyone who thinks life is fair is a fool. Anyway, it frees me to perform other duties.”
Suzo shifted, looking suddenly awkward. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, if I could.”
Asa waited for the guard to find her courage. It seemed unusual for this strong and determined woman to hesitate like this.
“Well,” Suzo began, “I should probably start by saying that I’m not exactly who I said I was.”
“What do you mean?” Asa’s heart raced, wondering if Suzo was another traitor. She couldn’t be, not after rescuing Asa.
“The story I told you about my family being poor, and about almost being sold? That wasn’t true.” She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I actually lost both my parents at a young age. I ended up falling into smuggling. That’s what I did before Lady Mari’s offer to women. I left my smuggling crew to try out. I already knew I was pretty decent with a sword, and I knew that I wanted something different for my life.”
Asa was stunned. She’d never suspected, but the story helped her understand some of the questions she’d had about Suzo. It explained why she’d taken to the sword so quickly. She’d already had some training, rough as it was. And it explained why she’d known about the tunnels. No doubt they were popular with smugglers.
In Asa’s mind, though, little of that mattered. If Suzo wasn’t allowed to put her past behind her, then any good Asa had done since killing Kiyoshi was meaningless. Suzo deserved the chance.
“Will you protect Lady Mari with your life?”
“With all my lives, if I could.”
Asa believed her. The woman had put herself completely in Asa’s hands. “Then it doesn’t matter. Was there something else you wanted to tell me?”
“I think I know where the man who killed Isamu is. At least, I know what area of town he’s in.”
She quickly related her efforts. After getting a description of the man from Asa, she’d spent the time after Isamu’s death trying to find him. She’d disguised herself and visited some of her old haunts. She’d spent almost every waking moment that she wasn’t guarding Mari trying to track the man down. Suzo’s story made Asa feel ashamed of her own efforts. In contrast, Asa had spent the last few days moping around the castle. She’d never even thought of trying to track the assassin down.
Suzo was uncertain. Asa’s description hadn’t been too detailed, but she believed she’d seen the man a few times in the same areas of town.
“I wasn’t certain enough to take action, but if you saw him, you could be sure,” Suzo said. “And, if it is him, I think you should have the opportunity to speak to him first.” The menace in her voice was unmistakable.
Asa was liking Suzo more and more these days.
Suzo led Asa to a part of Stonekeep that Asa hadn’t explored before. Asa found it fascinating that after all her time in the small city there were places she hadn’t been. Her routine had been a cage in more ways than one.
They didn’t have much of a plan. Suzo had never been able to track the man without arousing suspicion, but she’d seen him twice in the same area since the assassination. Given a lack of options, they chose to wander the area, stepping into a few of the more well-known taverns. The strategy relied on chance, but the section of town was small, and if Suzo was right, they had a decent chance of encountering the assassin.
The two wandered all afternoon, talking and occasionally stopping in taverns for a single drink. Now that Suzo’s secret history was out in the open, they talked freely about their pasts. Asa found herself fascinated by smuggling routes, by ways to hide people and goods, and the culture of those who did so for a living.
Suzo found Asa’s life interesting, but not in the way most people did, which turned out to be surprisingly refreshing. Most people wanted to know what it was like to be a nightblade, to have the sense. But trying to describe the sense to someone who didn’t possess the gift was like trying to describe color to a blind man. Asa had always had it and didn’t know what life was like without it. As such, she couldn’t describe it well at all.
Suzo was more interested in the lifestyle of a nightblade. How did they train? Who decided where they traveled? How free were they to act? Asa enjoyed answering the questions, and from Suzo’s sharp attention, she had no doubt the guard was memorizing useful information.
Evening fell, and the two still hadn’t come across the man in question. They’d just left another tavern and Asa figured it would have to be the last for a while. She could feel the drink on the edge of her awareness. If they did find the assassin, she couldn’t risk losing her edge. Whoever the man was, he at least had the courage to take on a nightblade, even if he didn’t have the gift himself. That alone made him a rare breed.
Then they turned a corner and he was there. He looked up, and Asa saw that same half-smile on his face. If she hadn’t been certain before, she was now. He froze, realizing instantly that he’d been recognized. That smile never left his face, though. He looked at Suzo, then at Asa.
“I wondered how you’d escaped,” he said.
He looked behind h
im, as though he considered running. Then he shrugged and planted his feet in a warrior’s stance, facing Asa.
“I’ve always wanted to fight a nightblade,” he said. He drew his sword and Asa noticed that the blade glinted unnaturally in the light. She guessed a poison coated some or perhaps all of the weapon. She couldn’t allow herself to get cut.
Killing the man was important, but she needed answers, too. “Who hired you, and why?”
“Now, now,” the man said, “a gentleman never tells. As far as why, why do anything at all? It sounded like a challenge, something actually worth attempting.”
He leaped forward, his cut well executed. Asa sensed the attack and was already moving, her own swords clearing their scabbards with ease. She slid around his cut, and his timing was thrown just a little off by her sudden movement. She sliced once as they passed, then turned and snapped off a cut with the other sword once she was behind him.
The man fell, dead before he even hit the ground.
Asa cleaned her swords and sheathed them. She glanced over at Suzo, who watched the whole scene appreciatively. “I’d always figured you were good,” Suzo said, “but I never realized you were that fast. He never had a chance.”
Asa nudged the assassin’s fallen sword with her boot, making sure not to touch the blade itself. “He’d coated his weapon with poison. A single nick probably would have been enough to kill.”
Suzo approached and stared. “It would have been nice to know who he was working for.”
Asa nodded. “Yes, but he never would have told us. Lady Mari will always have enemies. Now, finding them will be your responsibility.”
Suzo looked at the corpse. “It certainly won’t be a boring life, will it?”
Asa shook her head. “No, I don’t think it will.”
“Drink?” Suzo asked.
Asa smiled. “Yes, please.”
Asa stood high above the dining room, in a small alcove protected by a dark sheet. Takahiro had shown it to her that morning. Mari had really wanted her to be part of the ceremony, and this was the closest she could get, given the political situation.
While most of the guests remained outside, Takahiro and Mari joined hands in the dining hall. Arata had been asked to perform the ceremony. They each took a turn reciting the words that would legally bind them together. Then they took three sips of wine. The first sip was offered by Arata, officially finalizing the ceremony. The second sip was taken alone, with each participant sipping from their own cup. Finally, the third sip was first offered by Mari to Takahiro, and then from Takahiro to Mari.
With that, the ceremony was complete. Arata moved to the door to invite in the guests. As he crossed the hall, Mari looked up to where Asa stood. Asa bowed, and a small smile appeared on Mari’s face. Asa knew Lady’s Mari’s struggles were far from over, but her marriage to Takahiro solved or delayed most of them. The decision had overjoyed her allies and frustrated her rivals. Officially, Mari had no power anymore. In reality, Asa expected the two of them would rule the house together. Takahiro knew Mari’s worth, unlike those who constantly underestimated her.
The guests came in, each bowing deeply to the new lord and lady. Even this gathering was small. Most weddings of this magnitude would draw hundreds, if not thousands. But the land was in crisis, and the couple had desired a small, quiet ceremony. Asa didn’t doubt the crowds on the streets were taking the opportunity to join in the revelry in their own way, but they hadn’t been allowed into the castle.
Various nobles sat down to enjoy the feast. Asa noticed that some of Mari’s most vehement enemies weren’t present. Idly, she wondered if they hadn’t been invited, or if they’d declined to attend. Before she could think too much about it, she stopped herself. This wasn’t her world, and she didn’t care why they weren’t present. After so long in Mari’s company, she’d started to develop her own political understandings. She’d be happy to lose them and return to a world where right action was far more obvious.
Thinking of that reminded her that she should be going. Her plan had been to leave before the evening fell and possibly make it down to the blade encampment below. She could get more information, then be on her way. As disappointed as she was to leave Lady Mari’s side, the idea of being out on the open road, on her own again, was powerfully appealing.
Below, the feast went well. For a single afternoon, the worries and cares of the house were put aside. They would still be there in the morning. For now, friends and allies mingled, sharing food, wine, and laughter. Part of Asa wanted to be down there, too. Had she not been such a dividing presence, she probably would have been invited.
But such was not her lot in life. She stood above the gathering, watching but not partaking. She was removed from the flow of this world, and she keenly felt like the outsider she was.
Asa focused her sense on the couple. Not being nightblades, their energy was weak, but she could still pick them out. As she shut out the other noise, focusing only on them, she could sense their hands touching. Perhaps it was only her imagination, but she thought she could sense a trickle of energy passing between them.
Asa waited until Lady Mari looked up one more time. Their eyes met across the room, and Asa bowed one final time, saying her goodbye. She wasn’t sure she’d see Mari for a long time, if ever again. Mari seemed to understand, dipping her head just a little.
It was enough.
Asa turned and left, leaving the sounds of merrymaking behind her without a second glance.
20
The trip to the front was uneventful. General Emon might have hated Koji, but he was a man of his word. As soon as Koji was in chains, the rest of the blades were allowed to return to the lands of House Kita without injury. A small group of cavalry followed them to ensure they kept their word, but they were otherwise left alone.
As a prisoner of war, Koji wasn’t treated with much respect, but he also wasn’t harmed in any way. He rode in a cart surrounded by Emon’s troops at all times. His wrists and ankles were manacled and chained to a bolt in the cart. While he had some freedom of movement and wasn’t uncomfortable, he wouldn’t be running or fighting anytime soon.
They didn’t take any chances with him. He was never allowed to take his chains off, his weapons were never near, and a minimum of twenty men constantly surrounded him.
Recognizing his inability to escape, Koji quickly gave up thinking about it. He kept alert for mistakes, but stopped trying to create elaborate plans.
Sometimes General Emon came to speak to him, to ask what knowledge Koji possessed, but he continued to be disappointed. Koji had no secret intelligence, and couldn’t really give Emon the answers he wanted. He didn’t know where the blades were or what they planned on doing next. He didn’t know when Mari would launch her next offensive. He didn’t even know who was in charge of House Kita at the moment. Apparently there was some disagreement even about that.
Koji worried for Mari, and for Asa, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.
Beyond the occasional conversations with the general, Koji remained silent. He could see the looks of hate and disgust on the faces of his captors, hostility deeper than he was used to. These men didn’t just hate him for being a nightblade. They hated him for being a monster.
Koji wallowed in self-doubt, the same he’d had since attacking the sleeping cavalry group. He’d always thought himself a warrior, but his actions, seen at a distance and through the eyes of others, certainly didn’t seem like those of an honorable man. He’d killed nobles and men at sleep, and while it had been to serve another, he wasn’t so sure that it justified his actions.
The guilt, which he’d managed to bury under his devotion to Lady Mari, had returned with a vengeance. He had killed a lord and a king, and if any one person was responsible for the suffering seen throughout the Kingdom, it was him. And instead of fixing the problem, he had become a demon. Perhaps he deserved his death.
He didn’t have answers, but the questions that consumed him tor
e at him, demanding a resolution he couldn’t give.
At some point he stopped asking, and his mind slipped into numb observation of the world around him. He didn’t have much longer to sit with the questions, anyway. He breathed deeply and tried to take in as much of the world through all his senses, while he still could.
When they reached the front, Koji was transferred from the cart to a tent. At first, he thought he would have a chance to escape. But once there, Koji encountered his first real surprise in some time: he had nightblades guarding him. As near as he could tell, there were at least five nightblades working with Katashi. During the day, one would guard his tent with a few cavalry officers. At night, when they seemed most worried, two guarded his tent at all times. Any thought of escape disappeared. Worse, the other nightblades slept just next to his tent. Even if he did somehow manage to kill the two guarding him, the other three would immediately wake up to their friends dying. Katashi took no chances with his prize captive.
Koji considered talking to the blades, but their occasional jeering comments made it clear no conversation would be possible. He kept his silence until Katashi himself showed up, escorted by two more blades.
Katashi looked as though he’d never had a hair out of place in his life. From the way he dressed, it would be easy to assume he’d never held a sword, but Koji saw the callouses on his hands and watched the way he moved. Katashi might not be as strong as Koji, but Koji knew he could defend himself. His manicured appearance, like everything else he did, was contrived. Everything was a calculation in his games, and he stood alone as a master of them.
Katashi looked Koji up and down, then knelt in front of him, outside of easy range. Koji’s manacles were now attached by a longer chain to a heavy rock in the center of his tent. He had free range of the tent and a little outside, but beyond that he’d have to carry the rock. He could, but between the weight and his reduced stride, he wouldn’t make it very far if he tried to escape. He figured if he was lucky he could run for three or four tent-lengths before someone caught him or cut him down.