by Rob J. Hayes
Bingwei Ma frowned. "How old was he?"
"Just thirteen."
"As the father acted, so did the son. He learned his lessons well. Though not all lessons are worth learning."
"No compromise. No surrender. No retreat." The soldier in the red armour drew himself up to his full height and puffed out his chest. "He's the only one who's willing to fight against the Emperor of Ten Kings, no matter the threats or what it costs him. The Steel Prince has vowed to win and return peace to Hosa."
Eventually the soldier with the red armour held up a hand to stop them outside an expansive red tent trimmed with black filigree in the shapes of ravens in flight. The soldier ducked inside the tent, leaving Cho and the others under heavy guard. No amount of force, especially without their weapons, would extricate them from this predicament. Ein shuffled closer to Cho. He looked worried and uncertain. She didn't blame him. She just hoped he didn't ask her to kill the prince there and then.
The soldier in red exited the tent, holding aside the flap for a tall figure dressed in a sky blue robe patterned with red birds in flight, and wearing a white mask that covered the entirety of their face. Along with a hood that matched the robe, and whoever they were showed less of themselves than even Roi Astara. The mask turned to each of them and then the head bowed a little. The voice that issued from the mask, however, was undoubtedly female; eloquent and almost musical. "My name is Daiyu Lingsen."
"The Art of War," Roi Astara said, bowing to the masked woman.
"Some may call me so. Though in truth I am but an adviser to the prince. His decisions win out battles. I know of you, Death's Echo. But who are these others?"
Before Roi Astara could reply Chen Lu stepped forwards, heedless of the steel that bristled his way from the guards. "I am Iron Gut Chen."
The mask tilted to the side a little and there was a pause before Daiyu spoke again. "And the rest of you?"
"Itami Cho." She bowed respectfully and then gestured to the others. "This is Bingwei Ma, Zhihao Cheng, and Ein."
Again there was a pause as the mask turned to each of them. Eventually Daiyu nodded and turned back to the tent, lifting the flap and pausing. Cho heard a voice from within, whispered too quiet to understand. Then Daiyu turned back to them.
"You speak for the others, Itami Cho?"
Cho nodded. "The boy and I."
"Interesting. The others must wait out here." And with that Daiyu ducked inside the tent and held the flap open. Cho was first through with Ein a step behind her, so close she could feel him, as well as the strange fear she felt whenever he was close.
The tent was lit mostly from the outside with only a single oil lantern casting a gloomy light upon the walls of the tent. There was an armour stand, empty of all but a helm polished to a silver shine, and a number of heavy oaken chests. Upon one of the chests was an large, ornate chessboard with intricately carved figurines in place, ready for a game. To one side sat a washbasin on a small table with two chairs next to a rolled-up bed pallet. At the far end of the tent a man in ceramic silver armour sat behind a large wooden desk, staring at a collection of maps and scrolls. He was tall and broad, and his armour that caught the lantern light and reflected it back at Cho. It covered almost every part of him from the neck down and looked both sturdy and well tested. His hair was dark, black as a raven, and glossy, cascading down past his shoulders. When he finally looked up Cho saw several scars on the right side of his face, crossing over each other, tugging at his lip and eye.
"Whispering Blade is dead," the Steel Prince's first words were an accusation, not a question.
Chapter 28
The one thing Zhihao had come to realise about all standing armies, be they imperial troops or rebels or bandits, was that somewhere in the camp there would be wine. And one thing Zhihao was quickly coming to realise about Chen Lu was that there was no one better at sniffing out that wine. So while Ein and Itami were busy convincing the Steel Prince to join their cause, Zhihao and Chen Lu found themselves a group of soldiers with wine to spare. They were, of course, not eager to gift said wine to a couple of roaming vagabonds, but that was one of the reasons Zhihao carried gold rings around. Before long they were sat on stools around a camp fire with a bottle each and, though the wine tasted like ash in his mouth, it was certainly strong enough to give Zhihao a merry attitude.
"Ever wonder why we're here?" Zhihao said. Most of the soldiers around the camp fire were ignoring them, sitting around and sharing stories of their own. A good way to settle the nerves before marching off to war.
"To kill the emperor," said Chen Lu. "Are you addled, Green Breeze? We've come all this way to kill the emperor and now you forget?"
"But why us? Why did the boy choose us?"
Chen Lu laughed and Zhihao knew his response even before the words left his mouth. "I am Iron Gut Chen. I have more heroic deeds to my name than you've had hot meals."
"That's actually my point, Zhihao said. "But if you're so heroic…" He cleared his throat before raising his voice. "Who here has heard of my fat friend, Iron Gut Chen before? Other than every time he shouts his own name?"
There were a few grumbles, one or two of the soldiers shook their heads and looked away. "First time I've heard his name," said a soldier with a drooping moustache.
"I heard he was dead," said another. "Died of old age."
Chen Lu threw back a cup of wine and poured another, a frown fixed on his fat face.
"No no no," said a short, balding soldier. "He died at Ban Ping. Syphilis, I'm sure."
"Syphilis?" Chen Lu screeched.
"So I heard." The soldier took interest in the fire all of a sudden. "Might be I was wrong."
"See what I mean?" Zhihao said. He poured himself a cup of wine and considered it. "They've heard a dozen different stories about how you died, but not one of them can remember your magnificent, heroic deeds."
"Exactly why I must shout them all the more loudly. Perhaps you have not heard of my battle against the Cochtan's Blood Engine?" But the soldiers were no longer paying attention, absorbed in their own conversations. Chen Lu grumbled and threw back another cup of wine. "The boy will have heard. He claims to have heard of all my exploits."
Zhihao nodded. "He had a little book of them. All your greatest feats, and Itami's, and Bingwei Ma's."
"And yours?"
Zhihao shook his head. "That's just the thing, fat man. You're all heroes. You belong in this group. Me?" Zhihao lowered his voice. "I'm a bandit. I didn't save people. I robbed them."
Chen Lu shook his head. "The boy said you were first through the breach at Dangma."
Zhihao laughed at that. "First through the breach, and also last through the breach."
"Huh?"
"You've seen my ability to… not be where I'm supposed to be."
"Mhm," Chen Lu agreed. "A fancy trick. You focus your qi on a point and move there. But, like Whispering Blade your chi is uncontrolled and gives away your destination."
"Itami's qi is uncontrolled as well?"
"Yes. She focuses it through her voice, but I do not think she knows how to stop it from happening. That is why she always speaks in a whispers, yet you can always hear her."
Zhihao didn't even know if qi was real, and it certainly wasn't a discussion he wanted to have with Chen Lu. "Well, when the walls came down at Dangma, I rushed the gap. I put on very brave face and shouted myself raw. But as soon as I was through, I saw the Dangma archers lined up. So I vanished and let the rest of the vanguard take the shots. I reappeared at the back of the rearguard and followed them through."
Chen Lu was frowning at him. "But the boy said you alone walked out of that breach, carrying Sitting Tiger's head."
"I'm not saying I didn't fight that day. But Broken Spear did most of the work against Sitting Tiger. I just popped in while the Tiger's sword was lodged in my friend's chest. I like to think of it as revenge, but I could probably have gotten there sooner if I'd really tried. I chopped the bastard's head off and ran for t
he breach. The fighting was far from done when I left."
Chen Lu let out a high pitched growl. It was a warning and one Zhihao knew he should listen to, but now the truth was spilling from him and he found he wanted the rest of it told as well. "Even if I had been at the front of vanguard the whole time, and even if I had saved the whole damned day, which I didn't, there was nothing heroic about it. Sitting Tiger called himself a general, but he was just another bandit warlord, and Flaming Fist wanted his fort. We attacked Dangma not because it was a bandit hideout, but because Flaming Fist was jealous of a few walls. Which he then burned down anyway."
"Not all good things are done for good reasons," Chen Lu said. "One group of bandits attacking another. At least there is one less group of bandits in the world."
"The point is, The Emerald Wind is not a hero. I don't belong in this group with the rest of you. I never did."
Chen Lu clapped him on the back so hard he slipped off his stool and nearly pitched into the camp fire. "What a pair we are, Green Breeze," the fat man said. "You, so certain you are a villain and don't belong, despite the boy's insistence. And me, so certain I am a hero and this is exactly where I belong. Hah!"
Zhihao didn't really see how they were a pair. Chen Lu had no qualms over where he was and why, no feeling that he didn't belong. In fact he was so certain he did belong that he was annoyed people weren't singing songs about him. Songs were overrated anyway, Zhihao thought. The Emerald Wind had exactly one song to his name and it started by listing some of his very worst crimes… and then finished by listing all of the others.
Chapter 29
Whispering Blade and Ein vs the Steel Prince
"I was dead," Cho said. "For a while."
"As is The Emerald Wind and Iron Gut Chen and the Last Master of Sun Valley." The Steel Prince glanced down at Ein and then back to Cho, his eyes hard in his scarred face.
"News travels fast," Cho said.
The Steel Prince shook his head. "Not really. So what am I to think? A boy wearing the tattered rags of funeral robes, and no shoes, three legendary heroes, and one infamous bandit, all pronounced to the world as dead, yet here they are in my camp. And then there is Death's Echo. A leper as famed for his assassinations as for the people he has saved. What, Whispering Blade, would you think if such a group of ghosts walked into your camp mere days before you planned to strike at the Emperor of Ten Kings?"
Cho desperately tried to think of an answer, one that wouldn't get them all thrown in a cell or killed again. Then Ein stepped forward to stand just in front of the desk.
"You would think we were here to kill you," the boy said. "And you would be right."
Neither the Steel Prince nor Daiyu moved. Cho found her left hand groping for a saya that wasn't there. "What are you doing, Ein?"
The boy glanced at Cho over his shoulder and a smile ghosted across his lips. "I thought I might try the truth." Despite the confidence in his words, his hands rubbed at the red scarf around his neck.
"You came here to kill me?" the Steel Prince said. "Not very wise to announce it." Cho heard Daiyu moving, gliding across the floor into position behind her. She had no idea of the Art of War's weapons or skill with them, but without her swords Cho was certain to be at a disadvantage
"Unless dying is the only way to ensure you win the war against the emperor."
The Steel Prince leaned forwards, steepling his hands. There was a severe look on his scarred face and Cho knew he was weighing up their worth and deciding whether to kill them. "You'll have to explain to me how I can win a war if I am dead."
"I died," Ein said with a nod. "On Long Mountain my father sacrificed me to a shinigami." He reached up and tugged at his red scarf, pulling it away from his neck to reveal a horrifying motley of purple, black, and red. Cho couldn't help but look away. She couldn't imagine how anyone could do such a thing to a young boy. The Steel Prince, however, looked unmoved.
"The shinigami brought me back," Ein continued, "and sent me on a quest. A single mission I have no choice but to pursue. To kill Emperor Henan WuLong." Ein paused and walked to a chair next to the wash table. It was meant for an adult and too big for the boy, but he dragged it in front of the Steel Prince's desk and climbed up onto it. "To complete my mission, the shinigami gave me the ability to bring back the dead. Whispering Blade was the first. Like the others she is mostly alive, but once I complete my quest, the shinigami will make her fully alive again."
Diayu moved to stand beside Cho, her mask bobbing up and down and tilting side to side as she inspected Cho. Cho couldn't see anything of the woman's face, not even her eyes, but her interest was clear. "You are yokai?" Daiyu asked.
"No!" Cho flinched. "I'm… I'm not really sure what I am. Food and drink tastes like ash, and the world seems a dimmer place than it once was. But I'm alive. I still feel alive. Mostly."
"Fascinating." The woman pulled aside Cho's haori to look at the wounds on her chest. "Twelve wounds was it, that killed you?"
Cho shrugged. "Something like that."
The mask turned towards the Steel Prince and nodded, then Daiyu stepped back away from Cho and resumed her quiet.
"And you think I need your help to defeat the Emperor of Ten Kings?" the Steel Prince said.
"Yes," Ein nodded. He turned around in his seat to stare at Daiyu. "You are the strategist. Do you have a plan that will work?" Then he returned his gaze to the Steel Prince. "Do you have anyone who can kill the emperor?"
The Steel Prince smiled. "You are referring to the rumours that Emperor WuLong is beyond the skill of mortal men. You are suggesting that even once our army breaches the walls of Jieshu, and I storm Wu palace, I will not be able to slay him."
Ein shook his head. "They are not rumours and I am not suggesting anything. I am telling you you'll fail without us. Even if you do breach the walls of Jieshu, you'll never make it past his bodyguards. Each of them is a master in their own art and unbeaten in single combat. Together they are even stronger. You'll never make it to the emperor. And even if you did, he would kill you. He's stronger than you know. But with my help you will survive. All you have to do first… is die."
For a long time silence reigned within the tent. Cho glanced sidelong at Daiyu, but her mask gave away none of her intentions. The Steel Prince was locked in a staring contest with Ein, and for the first time since she had met him, Cho saw the boy lose the contest.
"Tell me what you know," said the prince. "Or I will have you imprisoned and your ghosts put to death."
"The rumours are true," Ein said. "Emperor Henan WuLong is beyond the blades of mortal men. Long ago he went to Long Mountain, to the shrine of a shinigami, and he made a deal with a god of death."
Daiyu shook her head. "Shinigami do not make deals with men, and the only favours they grant are ease of passage."
Ein turned his pale stare on the Art of War then looked back to the prince. "Shinigami make deals with men when the correct rituals are observed. When the correct sacrifices are made."
"What did the emperor sacrifice?"
Ein paused a little too long. "His first born son."
"No," said the prince. "The emperor has never had a son. Nor any child. He has a whole harem of wives and not one of them can conceive."
"He had a son with his first queen. Long ago before he was emperor, back when he was just King of Wu province. He took his son to the shinigami's shrine on Long Mountain and killed him. It was his end of the bargain, the thing he treasured most in life, and in return he was given the means to see his ambition brought to fruition.
"When King Henan WuLong returned to Wu, he marshalled his army and marched on Qing, then on Shin, and on and on until all of Hosa was his. With each conquest his armies grew and so did his power. He became unstoppable, a force of man and shinigami combined, for the death god gave the emperor a portion of his power. And with each kill Henan WuLong learned how better to control that power.
"But shinigami are not to be trusted. Emperor WuLong's power lay in
death, and death cannot give life. He could take every woman in Hosa to be his wife, and not one of them would give him a child to replace the one he murdered. I suppose it matters little though, considering he is immortal." Ein stopped and shrugged. "You will not be able to kill him, Prince Qing."
"But you can?" The Steel Prince stood and paced behind his desk. He was tall like Zhihao, and had the same glossy black hair, but the prince held himself rigid and tightly wound as though he were ready to spring into action at any moment. There was something regal about him as well, the way he stood, the set of his jaw. He was a handsome man, despite the ugly scarring the kidnappers had wreaked upon his face. At last, he said, "You say you serve the same shinigami? Why then would it send you to kill the emperor?"
Ein shrugged. "Maybe because it has become bored of the emperor's conquest. Maybe because it wants that portion of its power back. Maybe because it is a god of death and I do not need to know its reasons to carry out its will. And I think the shinigami may find irony in sending a son sacrificed by his father, to kill a father who sacrificed his son." Ein paused. "I cannot claim to know the mind of the shinigami. All I know is I can find no rest until the Emperor of Ten Kings is dead, and that a god of death has granted me some of its power in order to carry out that sentence." With that admission, Ein suddenly looked tired, and Cho realised why she had never seen the boy sleep. He would find no rest until his quest was done. No wonder he pushed them onward so hard, always east towards Wu.
"And you would have me killed in order to help you fight the emperor?"
"You are already fighting the emperor. We intend to help you out of coincidence, if nothing else. But you cannot kill the emperor as you are now."
"Perhaps he doesn't need to," Daiyu said, her calm voice muffled slightly beneath the mask. "We do not have the numbers to take and hold Jieshu. We might be able to breach the walls. If we can utilise the element of surprise, we may even make it to the palace. But the emperor's forces outnumber us, and they have a fortified position. They are most likely to either throw back our assault, or close in on us as we push out towards the palace."