Nightblade's Honor (ARC)

by Ryan Kirk

  Everything felt like a dream to Koji, and he dug his big toe into the ground until it hurt, just to make sure he wasn’t still sleeping. Had they tried to charge, the wall of spears would have been the death of them.

  As they walked, Koji started to hear the murmuring of the troops.

  “That’s Lady Mari.”

  “Who’s the woman that Kyo is with? I thought that was Lady Mari.”

  “Why is Lady Mari with nightblades?”

  Most of the murmurs were confused. A few were angry. But no one attacked.

  Mari and the blades continued working their way through the army, toward the center where Kyo and his honor guard sat. They passed through the ranks of spears and moved in among the infantry. Here there were paths to follow, separations drawn by the different units.

  Koji was surprised by the variety of people who made up the army. There were those who were well armored and had weapons that shone in the early morning sun. Others carried farming implements and wore what could only charitably be called armor.

  Now and then a shout would rise up, asking Mari what was happening. Her answer was short and always the same. “We’ve been betrayed.”

  They kept walking. Once a guard stepped in their way, begging for them to stop. Koji gently pushed him away, and they continued on.

  Mari’s plan worked better than they had any right to expect, though Koji never let down his guard. It would take only one person to ignite the pile of dry firewood they were standing on.

  If they had one advantage in Mari’s ridiculous plan, it was that they wore their robes. Everyone in the army knew they were facing nightblades. Koji guessed that knowledge saved their lives dozens of times on their approach. Fighting as one group against another provided an illusion of safety. But face-to-face, waiting for a single soldier to break ranks, many knew that to make the first cut against a nightblade was a death sentence.

  A farmer broke ranks first. He charged at Koji with a scythe, wildly pushing away any soldier who stood in his way.

  Koji didn’t need his sense to see the attack coming and calmly drew his wooden sword. He ducked lightly under the swing of the scythe and snapped his sword against the side of the man’s neck. The farmer collapsed in a heap. It was a single, isolated moment, but it broke the dam.

  One by one they came, each soldier making an individual decision to attack. Many retreated to safer places in the lines, but some came. All the blades drew their weapons, and the battle began.

  Despite the chaos around them, Koji felt peaceful, and the world became more vivid as everything became sharper and clearer. He knew where attacks were going to be far before they reached him. He flowed like water, moving forward, never resisting, always finding ways around his opponents.

  If he died, he knew that it was in service to Mari and her vision. Koji believed, and he was willing to sacrifice everything for her. His gift responded to this clarity of purpose.

  The feeling of power and strength was intoxicating. He was used to being strong and fast, but this was something else entirely. Not only was he able to keep track of his area but those of the other blades as well. If a blade seemed about to break under the assault, Koji would shift his position, reinforcing his companion.

  At times his attention would wander over to Asa, and she seemed like an entirely different woman. Her two sticks danced intricate patterns around her opponents, breaking across them like the bow of a ship in water.

  Despite the attack, the blades kept moving forward. Koji sensed the life go out of one of the gifted behind him. She had momentarily forgotten she was fighting with a wooden sword and tried to block a cut. The opponent’s steel had gone clean through her sword and her torso.

  They kept pushing. Every life was worth sacrificing if they made it to their goal, and they were close. Whenever Koji cleared himself even a bit of space, he looked to see how far away the ranks of Kyo’s honor guard were.

  Fifty paces.

  Twenty.

  Ten.

  “Draw steel!” Mari shouted.

  Koji sensed the next wave of the attack. He saw the brighter colors of the honor guard now within striking range. He heard the command from Kyo to kill Lady Mari.

  The nightblade thrust his wooden sword deep into the stomach of a soldier who had charged him with madness in his eyes. That light went out completely as the soldier crumpled, Koji allowing him to take the sword with him.

  Koji’s real sword flashed out of its sheath, his hands gripping the hilt like a long-lost friend. Two quick cuts took the lives of two honor guards, and Koji stepped into the heart of the chaos.

  He didn’t try to understand what he was able to do. All that mattered was Mari. He kept moving and cutting, moving and cutting. Kyo’s honor guard, supposedly the best nongifted swordsmen in his house lands, fell one after the other.

  But there were a lot of them, and they worked well together. Koji made progress, but even he felt the momentum start to shift. The change was subtle, but what had once been an easy advance became a slog. One by one, the nightblades began to fall.

  They were starting to tire. Most were in excellent condition, but combat was exhausting, and the toll would need to be paid. When it came to sharp steel, even a slight hesitation, a slight decrease in speed, could make the difference between life and death.

  Koji pushed forward with renewed vigor, allowing himself to get cut off from his fellow blades. If he could attract enough attention, perhaps they’d be able to break the counterattack and breathe for a few moments.

  His sense was all that kept him alive. Steel sang all around him, the air filled with swords hungry for his blood. Somehow he avoided the fatal cuts. But he wasn’t unharmed.

  His skin had been opened in a dozen places, cuts he had chosen to take in lieu of more dangerous strikes. His right leg had a deep gash, and although it held up under his weight, he couldn’t leap the way he’d like. A hundred small cuts could be just as fatal as one deep one, and he was gradually succumbing to the sheer quantity of attacks.

  Then Asa was there, just as bloody as him, her two short swords moving with incredible speed all the same. The entire battle around them shifted. They still had a chance.

  Cuts rained down on them from every direction, but Asa’s swords covered Koji’s back. He focused on killing the honor guard, moving through them one by one.

  He knew they weren’t going to make it. Their progress through the crowd had almost been completely halted. Even though they had killed more than half the honor guard, those who were left would eventually triumph. But Koji didn’t have to make their victory easy.

  He was so focused on the battle ahead that he didn’t sense the group of nightblades come up behind him and Asa. When the point of the spear had ground to a halt, it allowed the rest of the group to catch them. There weren’t many left. Eight blades surrounded Mari, each bleeding from at least one wound.

  Mari’s voice somehow rose above the chaos of the battle. “Get me to Kyo! Nothing else matters!”

  The reinforcements gave Koji the slimmest moment to look up and see where Kyo was. He was close, only about ten more paces. Those paces were filled with guards, but Koji would make that happen if it was the last thing he did.

  Something shifted for him again, his world becoming almost unbearable in its intensity. Mari and her cause were everything, and the cause was close to completion. He turned to the group, taking a step back as a sword passed in front of him. “Mari! Get right behind me. The rest, to the sides!”

  Mari obeyed, and the other nightblades fell into position around her.

  Koji stepped into a new world.

  His sword had always been like a lover to him. He knew exactly how it felt in his hands, how it sang when he cut just right. Every detail of the sword was etched in his memory. But it had never moved like it did that morning.

  Koji felt like he was an observer in his own body, pulled and twisted by forces unseen. He knew where every cut was going to be, and he knew exactly whe
re he needed to be at every moment.

  When the first sword pierced his stomach, he didn’t mind. By taking the strike, he opened up the last few paces between him and Kyo. Mari was right behind him, just barely protected by the remaining nightblades. Asa, in particular, kept her from harm from the sea of steel threatening to take her life.

  Then Kyo was right in front of him, striking at him with his own weapon. Koji met steel with steel, swinging his own sword with all his might. The force of the impact drove the sword from Kyo’s hands, and at that very same moment, all Koji’s energy gave out. He collapsed before he could make the killing cut.

  His back on the ground, looking up at the sky and the sword sticking out of his abdomen, Koji thought he’d done well. He saw Mari step over him, admired how fearless her face was at the end of it all. Mari’s knife flashed out and sliced open Kyo’s neck. It wasn’t a clean cut, but it was effective, really all that mattered.

  Koji closed his eyes and let shadow swallow him whole.

  Chapter 26

  Everything in Asa’s life collapsed into a series of instants, memories inscribed upon her life forever. Koji knocking the sword from Kyo’s hands, then collapsing into a heap, his eyes open but blank, a sword pointing straight up from his stomach. Mari’s attack, taking the life from Kyo in one sweep of the arm. The general’s flag falling to the ground, being replaced by Mari’s.

  Then Asa blinked, and life returned to normal. Confusion ran rampant, and while many of the honor guard had stopped fighting the moment their general was killed, there were a few who didn’t seem to know or understand what had happened.

  Asa’s blades glimmered as they danced, taking life as they did. With her speed and two blades, no single opponent had a chance.

  But she was beyond exhausted, shadow hovering at the edges of her vision. She had never fought this hard for this long before. If the attacks continued, she would fall, just as Koji had.

  Mari’s voice, strong and clear, overcame the fighting nearby. “Halt!”

  One final swordsman came in, swinging at Asa. She deflected his cut with her left sword and reached out with her right, letting him impale himself on her steel.

  He was the last fatality of the battle.

  Asa looked around, nervous. No one was fighting, but everyone was on edge. The wrong move by one person would send everything spiraling out of control once more. Mari seemed to understand this, her voice ringing.

  “We have been betrayed! You see me here, alive, the lady of House Kita. Do any still doubt?”

  A soft murmur washed over the crowd. Mari had been well known, and her face was recognized. Asa watched as tension drained out of the bodies of many of the combatants. She looked around. Only three nightblades remained on their feet, and she was in the best condition of any of them. More than anything, she wanted to rush to Koji’s side and see if he still lived, but she feared any sudden movement would doom them all. Mari’s control was still too tenuous.

  “Kyo watched as my noble brother Hiromi was murdered! He watched as I was taken hostage to be forced into a marriage with House Amari.”

  The feeling of the gathering changed again. Asa could almost sense the change in attitude. Confusion was fading, replaced by anger. The men here were loyal to their house, and any betrayal of the nobility was a betrayal to them all.

  “Friends, I know many of us fear the blades and their power. But like us, they are people and citizens of our land. Two of them came and saved me from House Amari.”

  The mood shifted slightly, the people nearby uncertain how to take Mari’s conciliatory tone.

  “I do not know the answer to the blades, but I do know this: So long as I have any breath, I will not permit harm to come to any who call this land home. That includes the blades who live at Starfall.”

  The statement gained a mixed reaction. Asa tensed again, not willing to fight but aware she might not have a choice.

  Mari showed no hesitation, no doubt. She stood there, tall and defiant, a woman seizing command of an army for the first time in the Kingdom’s history. Asa was sure she would fail. The power and pull of history was too strong.

  She was saved by a cry in the distance. “Look!”

  Asa turned with everyone else, looking in the direction the shout had come from. Off in the distance, Katashi’s armies were advancing, not on Starfall but on Mari’s army. Asa frowned, unsure of why he would take such a bold risk.

  Then she understood. He was no fool. He’d seen Mari’s advance into her army. There was no way he would have missed her banner when it was raised. He believed that Mari had taken command. He would expect her to ally with Starfall, creating a force he couldn’t fight. His only option was to divide and destroy before they could join.

  The decision was exactly what Mari needed. The army, which had wavered back and forth, immediately came together under the threat of attack. Some certainly believed that Mari was their rightful commander, but Asa suspected many simply saw someone willing to take the lead. Often that was all it took.

  Asa wondered if Mari had foreseen this turn of events. It seemed that way when the lady turned to her. “Asa, I have one last mission for you. You know Hajimi, correct?”

  Asa nodded.

  “I need you to go to Starfall and find him. Tell him we offer the blades safe shelter, at least for now, if they join us in our battle against Katashi. Tell them to wear their robes, and they will not be harmed by my forces. Can you do that?”

  Asa looked across the field that was soon to become a killing ground. She glanced at Koji. Her heart demanded she stay by his side. “Will you find a dayblade for him?”

  Mari looked down. “Let the Great Cycle take him.”

  Asa wouldn’t accept that, and she stepped into Mari’s face. “He gave everything he had to give you a chance to save your people.”

  Mari wasn’t one to be easily intimidated. Not even by a nightblade. “He killed my brother.”

  “One act doesn’t define a person. He’s done nothing but sacrifice for you. He believes in you, and you’re possibly the first person he’s ever believed in. Don’t prove his old self right.”

  With that, Asa stormed off to find a horse. She feared if she stayed any longer, she would draw her steel on Mari, and she couldn’t live with that.

  Asa’s objective was simple, but fulfilling it would be anything but. Katashi’s army was advancing, and from Asa’s viewpoint, it looked as though a contingent of archers was continuing to do everything in their power to rain death down on the city.

  Despite the chaos, Asa’s thoughts kept returning to Koji. Her words to Mari echoed in her ears. “One act doesn’t define a person.”

  It was the same argument Daisuke had made to her before she went to kill Kiyoshi.

  Maybe she had been wrong. The idea had occurred to her hundreds of times since that fateful day, but never before had it settled over her heart the way it did today. She hoped Mari was strong enough to break the cycle of revenge and murder that ensnared her.

  From her current position, Asa hoped she could approach one of the side gates to Starfall without attracting much attention. Once there, she was going to court consistent danger from the arrows above. There was no telling what she would find inside those walls.

  After she found a horse, Asa rode as fast as the animal would gallop. She wasn’t the best rider, and she felt like she was always on the edge of being tossed off the mount. If not for her feet firmly in the stirrups and her hands clutching the reins with all her strength, she almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to keep her seat.

  Unfortunately, Asa didn’t move fast enough to entirely escape the attention of Katashi’s army. He must have been looking for just such a messenger, because almost the moment she broke the ranks of Mari’s army, several horsemen broke from Katashi’s formation and rode to intercept her.

  Asa pushed as hard as she could, but she soon knew she wasn’t going to make it. Her enemies’ horses were faster than her own and had a small
advantage in distance. Nevertheless, she rode as fast as she could, hoping that perhaps a small party on the walls of Starfall would see what was happening and ride out to help her.

  When the enemy cavalry got within bow range, arrows rose to greet her. She tried to judge the shafts as best she could, and she successfully evaded the first flight. The second flight landed all around her, one even tearing a small gash along her back. By the time the third flight came in, the distance was too close. Two arrows dug into her horse, sending the animal crashing to the ground.

  Fortunately, Asa lost her seat before the collision with the ground and was thrown forward, tumbling end over end. She tried to push herself up, but her body refused to respond for a moment. There wasn’t much more she could give. An arrow embedding itself in the grass next to her provided the motivation she needed.

  With a heave, she shoved herself to her feet, looking around. Only four men were arrayed against her, but they were smart. None of them attempted to charge her, letting their horses trot around her in a circle, keeping their distance.

  Asa didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t outrun a horse, and the men were wary and cautious. Her sense would warn her when someone was about to fire an arrow, but they all had full quivers and only needed her to make one mistake.

  Lacking better options, Asa started running toward Starfall. The walls were still hundreds of paces away, but that was the only direction she could go. She had a slim hope one of the riders would let her get close to him, but the circle moved with her. They were patient.

  Asa dodged one arrow and then another. She could sense as they drew back their bows, and if she shifted just as they released, their aim wouldn’t be true. The game couldn’t last for long, but it was the only one she could play.

  She had made it about fifty paces when she saw the gates to Starfall open. She breathed a sigh of relief. Now at least there was a chance for her. Ten, then twenty nightblades charged out on horses, their yells carrying over the plains.