by Ryan Kirk
The two blades stood directly behind Katashi, hands on the hilts of their swords, ready to draw the instant they sensed Koji trying to move. Even encumbered, the sight of the nightblades stoked his desire to fight. Could he kill Katashi before they killed him? He saw them tense, even as he had the thought. No, he didn’t think he could, especially as slow as he felt these days.
“You’ve caused me no end of trouble.”
Koji wasn’t sure how to respond. In the past, he might have enjoyed antagonizing Katashi, but the gesture seemed empty now. Katashi would put him to death, and Koji could do nothing to stop it. Others might have felt courage, knowing their options were limited. Koji only felt resignation.
Katashi moved closer, and Koji suddenly realized he was being tested. Katashi was trying to push him. With the distance suddenly reduced, Koji wondered again if he could kill Katashi before he died. Now, the chance was better. Was it worth taking?
“Thinking about killing me? Why not? You killed my brother.”
Sometimes Koji forgot that Katashi was Shin’s younger brother. Now that it had been mentioned, the resemblance was remarkable.
Koji relaxed backward. He wouldn’t kill Katashi, not like this. The man deserved death; of that, Koji had little doubt. This was the man who had ordered Starfall burned to the ground. He’d killed countless blades and caused thousands to suffer. The crimes he’d committed against Mari alone were worth the most severe punishments.
But today, that punishment wasn’t Koji’s to dispense. “No. I will not kill you.”
That seemed to take the wind out of Katashi’s sails for a moment. He hadn’t expected Koji to act reasonably. It made Katashi seem ridiculous in comparison.
Even if Koji had gone against his expectations, it only sent him off track for a moment. Katashi would always have plans within plans. “What if I told you that everything you fought for is falling apart?”
Koji simply looked at the lord, trying to stare the man down.
“Mari is no longer the head of House Kita. She married Takahiro, making him the new lord. And Takahiro will fall, soon. Lady Mari has been a true delight to plot against, but she doesn’t know when to acknowledge that she’s been beaten. As we speak, I have an assassin hiding in Starfall, ready to move against Mari the moment I tell him to. You two have quite a bit in common, killing lords. He’s already killed Lord Isamu.”
Koji could feel the anger building within. His muscles tensed, and he forced himself to relax. He knew Katashi was trying to get him to react. Koji would never think fast enough to outsmart Katashi, but attacking the lord somehow played right into his hands. He forced his muscles to relax.
Katashi upped the stakes, getting right into Koji’s face. Koji couldn’t fight his emotions any longer. He snarled and leaned forward, and in an instant, two blades were at his throat. Koji blinked. He’d sensed the moves, but those nightblades were fast. Of course, they’d been expecting it.
Katashi leaned back and laughed. “You like them? So many of your kind are busy killing themselves for noble causes, but you’ve shown them a new way, Koji. They don’t have to be bound by tradition anymore, or by the laws our ancestors put into place. Thanks to you, they don’t have to be neutral judges any longer. They can fight and be rewarded as their talents dictate.”
Koji fought the guilt he felt. As much as he hated Katashi, he also knew the man spoke the truth. This was his doing. Perhaps the fault wasn’t his alone, but his actions had made it far more likely for nightblades to act in such a way. Koji hated himself.
“You know,” Katashi said. “I give my nightblades the best in everything. Plenty of money. The best food. The finest women. Perhaps you’d be interested in joining? With your skills, I have no doubt you’d live a life of leisure and enjoyment.”
Koji glared at him. He knew the man couldn’t be serious, but his seeming sincerity made Koji doubt.
Katashi broke out into another grin. “I don’t think so. You don’t quite have the qualifications I’m looking for, do you? You believe so deeply in Lady Mari, you just won’t know what to do when she dies and House Kita is mine, will you? Fortunately for you, you won’t live to see that day. In fact, you’ll be a part of her downfall.”
Koji finally found his voice. “Katashi, why are you here?” The lord had enjoyed tormenting him, but that couldn’t have been his only purpose. Katashi always had an ulterior motive.
Katashi stopped smiling, and Koji thought for the first time he was seeing the man as he was. His voice changed, becoming steady. “I’m here because you and your kind need to be humbled. I wanted to ensure that you know what you’ve become. You’ve killed nobles in cold blood, and while you accuse me of evil deeds, you don’t see your own. I’ve had to do horrible things to become a lord, but at least I know they’re horrible. I commit my crimes with wide-open eyes, knowing that I will unify the Kingdom and bring an era of peace unlike any before it. But you are a demon who doesn’t realize how black your own heart is. Your actions have plunged this Kingdom into chaos and cost thousands upon thousands of lives. You have abused your strength and torn families apart, mine included. I will end you and all those who put their hope in you.”
Katashi paused, then made sure Koji met his gaze. “By the time I am done, I will be king. Lady Mari will be dead or exiled, and a friendly noble from House Kita established, ending her line. Every blade who stands against me will die. And tomorrow, your death will be the start of it all.”
With that, Katashi stood and left, the traitorous nightblades following him out.
Koji wasn’t sure he’d ever been in a darker mood. As much as he hated to give Katashi the victory, his words had cut Koji deep. Combined with the doubt he already felt, he was beginning to look forward to his execution the following day. Although no one knew exactly what happened after death, Koji had been around enough fighting to sense the energy in a person returning to the Great Cycle. He didn’t believe death was the end, but simply an ending.
Lacking options, he tried to make peace with his upcoming end. He had made many mistakes in life, and the least he could do was die with dignity. He would miss some things, like the time spent with Asa, but perhaps even she would be better off without him. If he did get another chance at life someday, perhaps he would have the wisdom to see farther ahead.
He sensed one of the nightblades from the tent get up and leave, called away by some duty. He shook his head, trying to clear it of distractions. If this was his last night alive, he could spend it in meditation.
For a while he managed to focus on his breath, but it didn’t last long. His mind refused to be controlled. In the past, he’d always had some feeling of purpose he could cling to, something to guide him. Now, at the end of his life, he found he had nothing left.
The blade headed back to the tent beside them. Or at least, that was how it seemed at first. Before the nightblade got to the tent, he detoured and came toward Koji’s tent. Koji ignored the information his sense provided, cutting himself off from the world.
That only lasted a few minutes as he heard the soft sounds of a scuffle outside. Koji frowned and embraced his sense once again. Now that he was trying to pay attention, he felt foolish for not having noticed earlier.
Asa.
As soon as he thought of her, she stepped into the tent, wearing the red uniform of Katashi’s soldiers. He had always found her attractive, but at that moment, he thought she was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. She gave him a look. “So, it seems that Katashi has some nightblades on his side.”
Koji realized she hadn’t killed the guards outside. He was only confused for a moment. If she had killed the blades, the other blades sleeping in the tent nearby would have noticed. Turning his mind to the present, he nodded. “He does.”
“Anything else I should know before trying to get you out of here?” She dumped a red uniform in front of him and went to work unlocking his manacles.
Even as she brushed against him, freeing him from captivity
, he realized how much he’d missed her. He shook his head. “Not that I know of, but I’m probably not the best source of information at the moment.”
They worked quickly, and it didn’t take them long to drag the unconscious guards into the tent and get Koji changed.
He glanced at her. “How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t too hard. Everyone’s been talking about the execution, so I figured you were with the main army. I simply disguised myself and wandered toward the middle of the camp. Before long I sensed the other blades. I didn’t know how to approach without giving myself away, but Katashi also has a few guarding him. When the nightblades rotated their watch, I ambushed one, so my approach wouldn’t be remarked on.”
Koji nodded. No one was better at infiltrating enemy encampments than Asa. Her training with Daisuke had given her some enviable talents. “How much of a problem will we have getting out?”
Asa shrugged. “The guard patrols are focused to the east, where Katashi’s forces face Lady Mari’s. I approached from the south, but had to kill two guards. I don’t think the bodies have been found yet, but I’d suggest leaving to the north. Then we can work our away around the army and make our way to the nightblade encampment. I assume Hajimi will want to meet with you.”
Koji thought back to his conversation with Katashi. “I’ve learned things I need to tell Mari, too. Perhaps he will let me send a bird.”
Asa nodded and gave Koji one last appraising look. Seemingly satisfied, she turned and slipped out of the tent, Koji following close behind her. Soon the darkness of the night swallowed them up.
Back in the blade camp, Koji and Asa relaxed together in a small tent found for them. Koji rested his head on Asa’s lap, enjoying the feeling of her hands running through his hair. Upon his arrival, they’d been whisked to Hajimi, where Koji had written Lady Mari a letter while suffering Hajimi’s relentless stream of questions.
In return, Koji hadn’t received much, if any, information at all. His presence in the camp was being kept quiet, and he’d been asked to remain mostly indoors for the next few days. Koji had the feeling that important events were unfolding around him, but for now, his only duty was to wait.
In the past, he would have fought against the lack of activity. Today, though, he didn’t find it much of a problem. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he had no desire to rush out and take part in the world’s problems. He was content, here with the woman he cared for.
“Is this how you feel?” he asked.
She gave him a confused look.
“I know that a storm is coming, but for now, I’m happy just to be here. I don’t care as much about what happens outside this tent.”
She nodded. “Sometimes. Perhaps it is selfish, but sometimes I think we are so concerned with trying to create a better world we forget to stop and enjoy the one we’re in.”
He glanced up at her. “You’ve changed, too.”
She just continued playing with his hair, not responding. Once they’d gotten beyond the patrol lines, they’d spoken softly as they made their way toward the blades’ encampment. She’d caught him up on her adventures, but he noticed that she didn’t say much about her own captivity. Koji knew her well enough to know that she’d tell him in time, if she ever desired.
“What’s next?” he asked, thinking aloud.
“I would like to join one of the next groups out of the Kingdom,” Asa replied.
Koji surprised himself by not being upset about the decision. After his own experiences, the idea of leaving it all behind sounded more tempting than ever. But hope still died hard. “You don’t think Hajimi will be able to work out an agreement?”
She shook her head sadly. “No. I think, after the events of the past few cycles, there won’t be a home for us in the Kingdom anymore. Especially not with Lady Mari ceding her throne to Takahiro. There are so many rumors surrounding us that no one knows what is true or not. And I don’t think many people care anymore. They believe we burned Haven to the ground, that we’ve killed kings and lords, and that we now massacre nobles in their homes.” She gave Koji a pointed look.
He held up his hands in surrender. He’d been involved in far too many of the beginnings of those rumors.
“Yes, there’s truth to some of the stories,” Asa continued. “But the truth doesn’t matter. I think we’ve gone too far. People believe we’ve destroyed the Kingdom, and I don’t think that trust can be repaired. I think if we stay we either get wiped out in one big push, or we get slowly hunted to extinction. Our only hope is to leave.”
Koji found himself agreeing with Asa. For once, their views aligned. He couldn’t shake the way Katashi’s soldiers had looked at him as they’d transported him. He was used to hints of fear and sideways glances, but he’d never seen such disgust before. If those soldiers were indicative of the rest of the Kingdom, Koji couldn’t imagine enough acts of goodwill to repair the damage.
“If you’re going,” Koji decided, “then I’ll come with.”
She looked at him with surprise. “Did they hit you on the head when they captured you?”
He grinned ruefully. “Sometimes I wished they would have. But no, I simply understand your reasoning better than before, and I’m not sure what we can do to make it better. At the very least, we need to protect our people.”
Saying the words still made him shudder. “Our people,” in his mind, should be everyone. But when the rest of the world didn’t agree, what good did his idealistic view do? Koji didn’t see blades as being particularly different than anyone else, but he stood alone in that decision.
Asa leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Thank you. I didn’t want to leave you again.”
He reached up and pulled her closer. “And you’ll never have to.”
21
Mari sat across from Hajimi in her private receiving chambers. Ideally, she would have liked to meet him in the office space she used to use so often, but the space had become Takahiro’s. He labored in there now, meeting with various nobles and advisers, trying to plan for the seasons ahead. Summer drew to a close, and the harvest this cycle had been particularly poor. Mari didn’t know if it would be hunger or war that killed more of her people over the next six moons.
Takahiro complained, but he settled into the role of lord well. He’d been a guard for many cycles, intimately involved with the day-to-day happenings of Mari’s family, so he knew every noble family already. He’d been chief adviser for Mari, so there’d been almost nothing he hadn’t known when rising to the head of the house. All in all, it had been an incredibly smooth transition.
They enjoyed a brief respite from the chaos of the summer. Mari knew it wasn’t real. The world would explode within the next half-moon. The forces of both houses marched against them as Fumio and Masaaki retreated. The best that could be said for the situation was that Fumio would at least be able to pick the battleground. Beyond that, there seemed little hope. Takahiro’s forces would be outnumbered at least two to one, and possibly by three to one, if some scouting reports could be believed.
The question wasn’t if there would be a final battle, but when it would happen. In theory, Fumio could retreat his forces all the way to Stonekeep, but then his army would die a slow death instead of a quick one. Katashi didn’t need Stonekeep to rule the land. All he had to do was cut it off, which he was already only days away from doing. Takahiro could feed the people already inside Stonekeep, but he’d never keep all the soldiers fed if they settled in for a long siege.
No, they had to fight, and that deciding conflict would probably come in the next fortnight.
And now another problem sat in front of her. Hajimi, strangely enough, hadn’t come to visit Takahiro. He’d requested Lady Mari specifically, and that made Mari very curious. She’d seen no reason to deny the request, so she’d had her private reception room made ready and the old blade had entered.
The stress of leading the blades had definitely aged Hajimi. Mari had known th
e man for many cycles, but he’d never seemed so old to her. His hair was almost completely white, and while he still moved with the deadly grace of a blade, he had lost too much weight to be healthy. They chatted about meaningless things for a while, Hajimi particularly interested in Mari’s new marriage.
It wasn’t like him to make small talk. In all her memories, he’d often shunned convention and driven straight to the point. But something in his bearing caused her not to mention her observation. This meeting, like so many things in her life, seemed to be an ending.
Finally, after a lull in the conversation, Hajimi handed a letter to Mari. “This is from Koji.”
“He’s alive?” Mari couldn’t hide her surprise, and Hajimi hadn’t said anything yet. They’d heard rumors that Katashi had killed the nightblade and placed his head on a pole that led his army. No one had been able to confirm the rumor, but Mari had accepted it as true.
“He’s fine. Asa rescued him from Katashi’s camp the evening before his execution. He would have come on his own, but given the attitude of many toward the blades in general, and the feelings toward him specifically, we decided it wise that he not make an appearance today.”
As much as Mari would have liked to see the blade again, she knew the decision was correct. She opened the letter and read it, and more pieces fell into place. This letter was confirmation that Katashi had been the architect of most of her problems over the course of the past few moons. If she ever had the chance to sit in judgment of him, he would regret crossing her.
She lay the letter to the side. “Why come to me instead of Takahiro?”
“Because what I have to say, I think only you would understand.”
She waited for him to continue.
“The blades are going to leave the Kingdom. They march within the next few days.”
Mari frowned. In that time, enemy forces would cover the entire opening in the valley. A few lone warriors or travelers might be able to sneak through, but the whole of the blades would never have a chance. Although, even if they left today, they still probably wouldn’t make it out of the valley before the jaws of the enemy closed on them. The battle was too close.