by Travis Bughi
“Am I even making sense? No? Well, that’s okay. I’m sorry, it’s just, I’m a bit tired right now. Let me try again. Let me tell you a story.
“Now, if you’ve rarely heard of me, then I know your father never told you about my brother, did he? Well, I had an older brother—half-brother, as it turns out—named Okamoto Karaoshi. I’ll not spare you the truth; he was cruel to me, and my childhood is perhaps one of my darkest times except for when I lost the love of my life, and except for this moment right here.
“You see, my brother knew the world was a terrible place. He understood its merciless nature and that people who don’t fight for themselves will instead die for others. So, he beat that into me. He molded me, shaped me to be what I am today. For everything he did, I should have hated him, but I didn’t. Do you know why? What am I saying? Of course you don’t know.
“Here’s a story that I’ve never told anyone except your father. It’s the story of the worst thing my brother ever did to me, but also the very thing that saved me.”
Takeo had to stop to take a breath. He knew what he had to do next, but he wasn’t sure if he had the strength for it. He touched his sword with his elbow, felt the fire, and steeled himself.
This had to be done.
“When I was about your age,” Takeo continued, “maybe a little order, my brother and I were on another quest of sorts. I can’t remember what, exactly, as it was so long ago, but I do remember I got hurt. It was something minor, I think. Like I tripped and scraped my elbow or something, but harshly. There was blood, and I was a child, so I cried. I really shouldn’t have, though. I’d seen plenty of blood by this point, but for some reason, this scared me, perhaps because I was worried about what my brother would do.
“I was right to worry.
“Just like I did to you, my brother demanded me to stop, but I couldn’t. I cried and I cried, and he didn’t give me as much time to get over it as I’ve done now. He grabbed me, roughly. He said to me, ‘That’s not pain. I’ll show you pain, and don’t you ever forget it.’ Alas, my brother wasn’t a poet, but he was an effective torturer.
“The beating he gave me wasn’t like the others. He started by breaking my fingers, one by one, then twisting them until I blacked out. When I came to, he whipped me until the bones showed on my back. For a week, he worked on me, snapping ribs, drowning me, burning me. So many scars, Pleiades. So many of the scars I bear now are because of that one week. Pain, do you understand? Real, true pain, for such a long time that I’d never forget. After that week, it would take a lot more than a broken wrist to weaken my resolve.”
Takeo held up his swollen, crooked wrist, and Pleiades whimpered.
“But what he did saved me,” Takeo went on, brushing the tears away from her eyes again. “It saved me because, honestly, I would have gone insane otherwise. Everything that happened to me after that, everything I saw after that, paled in comparison to that one week. I even lied to myself to stay sane. I told myself that my brother loved me, that he wanted what was best for me, even though deep down I knew there was never any real sign that that was true.
“It’s a lie I still carry today, and it’s a lie I must pass onto you.”
Takeo’s stomach flipped, and a tremor went through his body. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The thought of what was to come sickened him, and that sickness had to be pushed down. When his confidence returned, he reached down and grabbed one of Pleiades’ little hands and took hold of one little finger.
“I’m so sorry, little one,” he said. “I couldn’t save your father, but all he wanted was for you to survive. I’ll honor his memory the best I can by keeping you with me and keeping you alive. Unfortunately, I only know one way to do that.
“I’m not as strong as my brother, but this has to be done. You’ve seen some terrible things in your short life, and if you stay with me, you’ll see more. If I do nothing, it will break you. If I hold back, if I show mercy, then you’ll never be strong enough to see through to the other side. You’ll go insane or worse, maybe commit suicide. That’s the mistake I made with your father. I wasn’t hard enough on him, and he wasn’t prepared for what came. If you’re to survive, I can’t make that mistake again.
“Do you understand?”
Pleiades looked at Takeo’s hand, wrapped so gently around her tiny fingers, and shook her head.
“I know,” he replied, fresh tears coming to his eyes. “I know you don’t. But one day you will.”
He snapped her finger, and the screaming began.
* * *
He didn’t work on her for a week. He didn’t have that sort of time. A day was sufficient, even though by the end, exhaustion was moments away from taking him. Fortunately, help arrived.
Takeo should have known he couldn’t stay away for this long without reinforcements. After he’d left, the Hanu camp had come to a bit of a standstill. Takeo had never been much for delegating beyond Kuniko, so the whole place fell into a state of confused limbo as to what to do. Fortunately, Kuniko had recovered enough to give orders from her bed, and the first thing she’d done was to countermand Takeo’s order not to be followed. She cobbled a team of loyal soldiers together and sent them following their lord’s trail.
They came upon Takeo as night fell, and it was all they could do not to question the scene they found.
Pleiades was rushed to a surgeon. Gavin was taken by the soldiers with orders to bury him beside Krunk, and to add what remained of Yeira’s corpse, too. Takeo, too exhausted to ride anymore, was given food, water, and some preliminary medical treatment, then allowed to sleep. In the morning, he followed in Pleiades’ wake to get his wrist snapped back in place.
“Would you like something to numb the pain, my lord?” the doctor asked.
Takeo shook his head and grabbed his family sword with his good hand. The soldiers watched in awe as the doctor worked, snapping the wrist about to put it back into place. All the while Takeo hardly flinched. The ronin’s left hand was wrapped, and the doctor offered advice not to disturb it, and to get some rest.
Takeo ordered his soldiers to stay with Pleiades and to bring her to him the second she was recovered enough to walk. Then he took a mount and rushed back to the frontlines.
It wasn’t the war that brought him so much urgency, however. A remaining loose end needed to be cleaned up, and its name was Emy.
Chapter 18
Through a combination of scouts and intuition, Takeo learned where Nicholas and the others had headed and chased after them. They’d gone to a small coastal village just shy of the Khaz Mal mountains, where the winters would be bitterly cold and the summers mild at best. It was the closest point in Juatwa territory to The North and so the best place for Nicholas’ vikings friends to gather him up. If Nicholas thought it was one of the safest places to hide from Takeo’s forces, he was correct, for this location was so remote that by the time Takeo arrived, he thought for sure his target would be gone.
Yet Nicholas was there, along with a viking ship moored some distance off the coast. Takeo spurred his mount into the village, and his two-dozen honor guard followed.
Due to the lack of trees or cover in this region, Takeo’s small warband was seen approaching, so the peasants had disappeared into their huts long before he actually set foot on the soil. He knew a single command would bring the peasants running out to kneel before him, but in the presence of a lord, peasants were to be neither seen nor heard if it could be helped. This was mutually beneficial for both parties.
So, when Takeo and his new entourage thundered into the village, filling the place with komainu and soldiers, only Nicholas was there to greet them.
The viking stood stoic and grim just one pace from the shore. He was armed and carried a small pack, as if ready to leave at a moment’s notice. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep, and he frowned as Takeo dropped from the saddle and approached with one hand in a sling and the other on his sword. He stopped a short charge away from the viking, the sil
ence between them only broken by the ocean waves crashing against the shore.
“So, uh,” Nicholas said, breaking the ice. “You found me.”
“It wasn’t that hard,” Takeo replied, bile building in his throat. “Word spreads fast when someone like you travels around these parts. Where is she?”
Nicholas’ shoulders slumped, and he shook his head. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck, putting his hand close to his maul.
“Look, Takeo, you know I’m not good at beating around the bush, or words in general. I’m just going to give it to you straight, okay? Let her go. Whatever happens to Emy, it’s really not important to you, you know? Just, just let us all go.”
“They’re on the ship, then?”
Nicholas sighed and dropped his hand. He nodded. Takeo swore.
“So that was the plan, huh?” Takeo said, letting his burning, unblinking stare bore into Nicholas. “Emy and the Yilmaz boy wait on the ship while you wait on shore for Gavin. Once he arrives, you all board up and leave? This way, in case I arrive first, they’re safe. You think I won’t kill you, huh?”
“Am I wrong?”
Takeo didn’t answer. He realized he was letting his hatred consume him, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have the strength to fight back the pain anymore. Honestly, it hurt more than he liked to admit, to stand here before Nicholas—someone he thought he could trust—who had abandoned him like a wife fleeing an abusive husband.
“I, uh,” Takeo started, gritting his teeth and willing himself not to cry. “I understand I’m partially to blame for this, for you leaving. I must have driven you, and the others, away at some point.”
“That point had a name,” Nicholas whispered.
“Can’t you see that was necessary, though? Tell me, Nicholas, huh? Tell me, in that situation, how could I have saved everyone? I couldn’t. None of us could. Someone had to die, and I made the decision that saved the most people. Sure, Krunk died, but you don’t think that hurt me, too? You don’t think that was painful for me, to make that decision? To do what was necessary?”
“Oh, you’re so heroic, killing our friend,” Nicholas mocked. “So full of bravery and sacrifice.”
“I never said I was a hero. And why do you have an issue now, huh? We talked about this. You said you understood.”
Nicholas laughed without any mirth.
“I let you think I understood,” the viking replied. “I told you legends don’t kill their friends, and then I told you I was leaving. You’re the one that thought you could control the when and the where.”
Takeo fought down a scream and gripped his sword until his knuckles were white. Nicholas inched back until the seafoam lapped at his heels. Then Takeo let his fury burn away and forced himself to relax.
“You don’t have to agree with me,” Takeo said, more to himself than Nicholas. “That’s fine. You can go. You never opposed me. Even this is more ignorance than malice. You’re mistaken, protecting the wrong people. Give Emy and the Yilmaz boy back and you can go.”
Nicholas swallowed so hard that the apple in his throat bounced. Then he shook his head, once.
“I already told you,” he replied. “You need to let her go. And Pranav. That boy is brave, Takeo, and he’s going to be a great warrior someday. You can’t hold him accountable for the sins of the father. I’m doing what I swore to do: I’m waiting for Gavin and his family, and then we’re leaving, together.”
“Gavin isn’t coming.”
Nicholas balked, then blinked.
“What? Are you going to hold him hostage? You can’t—”
Nicholas stopped in his tracks, seeing the guilt and anguish staining Takeo’s face and finally taking in the ronin’s broken wrist. The color began to drain from Nicholas’ cheeks.
“No, you didn’t,” he whispered. “You did? Don’t tell me you did.”
Takeo couldn’t answer just yet. The memory, so fresh in his mind, surfaced through the anger and played out again and again in Takeo’s mind, and it was all he could do to maintain control.
“How many?” Nicholas demanded, fearfully. “How many of them did you kill?”
“Just Gavin, you bastard,” Takeo shouted, but couldn’t summon the strength to continue.
Nicholas faltered in place, putting a hand to his wide chest and shaking his head. Disbelief wracked his face.
“The prophecy. By Valhalla, it was true. And Yeira? Pleiades?”
“Yeira’s dead, too,” Takeo replied. “Pleiades is with me. And she’ll stay that way.”
“How?” Nicholas stammered. “How did it happen? What did you do?”
“What I had to! Qadir got free and held Gavin’s family hostage. Did you know that, huh? Did you know? No, you had no idea. She didn’t tell you. It was Emy, that twisted creature—she got my sword, stole it, and freed Qadir as I went to storm the Nguyen fortress. Then—then, she gave him my sword and let him go. Guess what he did, Nicholas. Guess! He did what rakshasas do; he took a position of power and used it to torture people. He ambushed Gavin and his family, murdered Yeira, and then forced Gavin and I to fight to the death for Pleiades’ life. Gavin, in his foolish concept of parental duty, ordered me to kill him so that she could live.”
Nicholas faltered, reeling from shock at all he’d just heard. Only a single question leaked out from his stunned lips.
“But wait, how are you alive? If Qadir had your sword, shouldn’t you be dead, too?”
Takeo stopped to suck in a breath, shunting away the tears that threatened again.
“I can’t be cut by my own sword,” Takeo replied, deciding to let the secret loose. “A gift from the jinni, apparently. Gavin and I were the only ones who knew.”
Nicholas went on blinking and gasping.
“I,” he stuttered. “Takeo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know any of that.”
The ronin shook his head. Anger returned and burned out the tears.
“Being sorry won’t change anything,” Takeo replied. “But now you know. Emy didn’t just betray me. She betrayed all of us, like I knew she would, like I warned you she would. If she’d just returned my sword, none of this would have happened, but she chose her own kind over those who cared about her. If not for her, Gavin would still be alive. He may have died by my hands, but that blood is on hers. Now, call the ship to us and let me finish what she started.”
Nicholas shook his head, first in disbelief, but then with purpose. An inner battle appeared to rage within the viking, but Takeo couldn’t fathom over what. There shouldn’t have been anything left to decide.
“No,” Nicholas whispered, steeling himself. “No, that wasn’t her fault. She wouldn’t have known either. She wouldn’t have freed Qadir if she’d known that was going to happen.”
“What does that matter? Ignorance does not pardon the guilty. And even if it did, freeing a known enemy does not count as ignorance. She knew the risk, but she took it anyway.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What you want to believe is irrelevant. She is guilty, and I will hunt her to the end of the world. I will kill her. I will kill her and her whole race if that’s what it takes. I will purge their very existence from history itself, and if you do not call that ship, you are just as guilty as her. Now do it!”
Takeo’s rage broke against Nicholas’ stalwart figure. The viking raised his chin.
“No,” he replied.
A moment’s silence passed. Takeo understood that he was being defied, but he was too wracked with trauma to take it in. He decided to ignore it for now.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll swim out there myself.”
Takeo took a step to go around Nicholas, but the viking stepped in his way. From behind Takeo, his warband shifted in place.
“Not with that hand, you won’t,” Nicholas said. “And don’t even think about sending your thugs. That ship has orders to leave me behind if need be.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How could you possibly want to
protect her? For Krunk?”
Nicholas glared at Takeo’s tone, then spat at the ronin’s feet.
“You say that like Krunk wasn’t a true friend to me, who protected and cared for me when I was at my lowest. You never saw, Takeo, because you and Gavin were always off doing your own thing. You left me with Krunk, like we weren’t as important, but you never stopped to think that maybe we liked it that way. Maybe Krunk was the kindest, most honest soul I’d ever met, and maybe when I struggled with life, or understanding, or regret, he was there for me, every time, without question. Maybe I loved him, like a brother, even more than my actual brother. Maybe, when I watched you drive that sword through him, something inside me died. Maybe, sacrificing my life to protect his daughter, is what a legend would do.”
Their gaze met, and between them, a thousand unsaid words passed in an instant. Takeo realized that Nicholas was serious, and there would be no changing his mind. The viking was ready to die, believing his cause too worthy to live without fulfilling. At the same time, Nicholas saw this same thing in Takeo. The space between them grew dark, and the light never returned.
For a moment, both men stood poised. Then Takeo let his hand drop, and Nicholas let out the breath he was holding.
“This changes nothing for her, you know that?” Takeo said. “All you’ve done is delayed her death.”
“Honestly, Takeo, that’s all anyone ever can do.”
“By doing this, you’ll become my enemy. You’ve sided with her over me, and I’ll not forgive or forget. Too many people I loved have died though, so I’ll spare your life this one time for three reasons. Firstly, she’ll get away no matter what. Like you said, that ship is as good as gone. Secondly, you are Emily’s brother. I loved her, and she loved you. So, this one time, I will spare your life in her memory. Thirdly—and this is more a condition than a reason—when you leave this place, you will go home. You will return to The Great Plains, to your mother, your father, your brother, and your nephew, and you will stay there. Do you understand me? You will stay away from me, far away, and we will never meet again.