by Travis Bughi
“I swear, Nicholas. Look at me. I have nothing left to give. I’ve lost everyone. You thought I was cruel and merciless before? No. By all that is good, you have seen nothing. I will be the villain everyone thinks I am, and I will bend this world until it breaks. I will die the hated enemy, gladly, if it will finally rid the world of all the pain I’ve had to endure. This is no longer a dream, or a hope, but a promise.
“I will kill everyone who stands in my way. Even you.”
Takeo gave the viking and his ship one final look, embedding the image in his mind, and then turned in the sand and walked away. He got to his mount, refused assistance from his guards, and hauled himself one-handed into the saddle. On looking back, he saw Nicholas was walking out into the sea, prepared to fight the weight of his maul and the ocean currents to swim to the ship. Those powerful muscles would not fail him. Takeo could only hope the viking had enough sense to take his last words to heart.
He gazed upon Nicholas one last time as a friend, as a brother-that-could-have-been, then shut the memory away. He looked to his troops and issued an order loud enough for Nicholas to hear.
“Send two messengers ahead of us,” Takeo said. “I want one hundred soldiers armed and mounted as soon as possible. They are to head to the Yilmaz family province and put that entire bloodline to death. Their son disobeyed my order and fled my camp. Use their severed heads as an example that my word is now law and I am not to be defied.”
Nicholas paused but did not look back. He hung his massive shoulders, shook his head, and dived into the waves.
Takeo set his mount into motion, heading back to his army, and his soldiers followed.
* * *
For the first time in days, Takeo set foot in his camp and assessed the situation. Kuniko, bedridden but alive, was making a slow recovery thanks to the extraordinary skills of Takeo’s personal surgeon. Hoa was her name, and Takeo thanked her. She’d saved his life once before, and now she’d saved him again, in a way. He didn’t know if he could handle losing Kuniko, too.
He told Kuniko what had happened, briefly. That Gavin was dead, Nicholas and the others gone. Gavin’s daughter, Pleiades, was under his protection now and would join the army. Once the girl recovered, Takeo wanted her at his side.
Kuniko didn’t ask what Pleiades was recovering from. Instead, she gave Takeo a report of what had happened in his absence, or at least what she had been told from her bedside.
The Nguyen fortress had been put to the sword, as commanded. The place was a tomb now, but under guard, as there had been a brief argument over whether the Dark Lord would want the place burned to the ground. In the end, they’d decided to wait, figuring it could always be burnt later. Takeo stated it was to remain, for it would be Oiu’s gift. He did not fear giving this place to that daimyo.
Meanwhile, despite Takeo’s ultimate victory, the rest of the royals had been caught in a dilemma. Half had sworn to leave due to the ninjas’ blackmail, but now they’d had to weigh the consequences in the wake of this recent development. Did they stay, risking their loved ones, knowing that Takeo’s victory seemed all but certain? It was a question of whom they feared most, the ninjas or their soon-to-be emperor?
At least, that’s how Kuniko put it. Takeo wasn’t so sure that’s how the argument went down. He still had two more Nguyen brothers to kill, and both of them were behind walls too high and thick for any oni to breach easily. To the average person, Takeo’s odds of winning had merely increased rather than become certain.
Perhaps the daimyo were thinking this same thing, too, because only half the original number fled, which meant Takeo had only lost a quarter of his army—temporarily.
“I’m so glad you’re alive, my lord,” Kuniko said. “And I apologize that I failed you.”
“You didn’t fail me. You, of all people, could never fail me,” he replied, kneeling down to where she rested on her mat.
The amount of favor this showed her was enormous. Word would surely spread, and Kuniko’s place of honor as Takeo’s right hand would only increase after this.
“The most important thing you can do right now is get your rest,” Takeo went on. “You know how important you are to me. I want you recovered and on your feet as soon as possible.”
“I will, my lord, you have my word,” she replied, smiling and tearing up. “But in the meantime, tell me how best to serve you.”
Takeo took a breath. He took a moment to acknowledge all he owed this woman. He’d never done anything for her directly as far he could tell, yet she worshiped him and gave him everything and more. All he’d ever done was to spare her life, and train her, yet he could see that the greatest thing he’d done was give her a purpose. Somehow, some way, all the suffering and anxiety Kuniko had faced growing up had materialized as a distinct enemy that Takeo could defeat. Looking into her eyes, he could see that clearly, and he could even understand it on some level.
He’d been like her once. Young, impressionable, seeking purpose. The world had seemed cold and unforgiving, and Takeo had felt inadequate against its might. His problems were undefined, but he felt their effects—depression, loneliness, desolation. Yet around him, he found people strong enough to fight against the unknown. His brother, Lord Ichiro, Emily—they were all figures in his life that once gave him something to believe in.
As Takeo looked into her eyes, he saw that same look. It was the look he saw not just in her, but in many of the soldiers in his army. He wasn’t just their lord, and in fact, he hadn’t been for some time; he was their messiah.
In a rare display of affection, Takeo reached out and ran a tender yet brief hand through Kuniko’s hair. Her eyes glistened. Then he stood up and resumed his commanding aura.
“Was Lady Anagarika among those to leave?” he asked.
“No, my lord,” Kuniko reported, voice returning to that of a soldier. “She returned to her post at the Phan fortress.”
Takeo smiled, glad to see Anagarika was among the wise.
“Send messengers to those daimyo that left,” Takeo said. “Tell them of the fate of the Yilmaz family, but nothing more. It’s time I started thinking about how to rule, and the first thing I want to know is who is most likely to betray me. This will be a good test.
“Next, leave a small guard to defend the fortress and send the rest of the army to the Ngo fortress. Surround it. I want a full blockade of that plateau before I arrive. At the same time, gather one hundred volunteers who are willing to die for me.”
“Everyone is willing to die for you, my lord,” Kuniko beamed.
“No,” Takeo corrected. “And it’s unwise to assume that. I need one hundred so loyal that they can be trusted to act independently and die independently. Tell them that they will give their lives to make the Ngo fortress fall and unite Juatwa. Their sacrifice will be remembered for all eternity.”
“I envy their sacrifice already. And what will you do?”
“I’ll head to the Phan fortress and collect up the soldiers there. I’ll bring them with me and meet you in the Ngo lands.”
“No one will stay behind to guard the Phan fortress?” Kuniko asked.
Takeo shook his head.
“There won’t be anything left to guard.”
Kuniko nodded, enough to make it a small bow, which was the best she could do in her state. Takeo left the tent and made for his next destination. His guards followed him, and he was glad there would be witnesses. There was one more thing to do before Takeo headed off to the Phan fortress, and his nerves sat on edge at the mere thought of it.
Tokhta and the rest of the oni, now returned to full strength, had made their own camp apart from the humans. It wasn’t much of a camp, though. The oni didn’t need shelter or sleep like mortals did, or even food as far as Takeo knew. Sometimes he wondered if they only ate for flavor and entertainment because, by all rights, he’d never heard of an oni going hungry.
Regardless, they were easy to find. Tokhta strolled out ahead of the others to greet their new
lord. A wicked grin of triumph stained his hideous face.
“You’re back,” the oni said.
Takeo stopped just shy of the creature, uncomfortably close in comparison to the normal distance he held between them. The intense gaze Takeo put on Tokhta was a dead giveaway that not all was well in the world. Tokhta’s grin slipped away.
Takeo drew his sword and held it out.
“Explain this,” he demanded.
“Ah, it has returned to you,” Tokhta replied. “I thought you’d be pleased.”
“How?” Takeo went on. “I watched this thing get swallowed into the ground. Wasn’t that the deal? This sword for your servitude?”
“Well, that was the original deal, yes. Specifically, it was your soul for our servitude. The sword was merely supposed to be the medium. We couldn’t care less about it, really. However, there was a problem. The current contract on your life wouldn’t be broken. So, we had to alter the deal. Your soul stays with the sword for now, and we will take you after its task is complete.”
Takeo paused, trying to unravel the jumble of words Tokhta had thrown at him. It was getting harder to think as images of Gavin’s mangled face began to surface in his mind.
“What are you saying?” Takeo replied. “That you extended a line of credit on my soul?”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Tokhta said, nodding. “But, well, we couldn’t just take the jinni’s word for it. We needed some sort of payment now, and the jinni was happy to settle on another. So, we altered the deal, and everything went better than expected. I thought you’d be happy to keep your sword.”
“You. . . you mean,” Takeo started, mouth dry, cogs turning slowly in his head. “You mean you took another soul? I agreed to give up my sword, and instead you took . . . him?”
“That was the jinni's offer. It seemed a bargain at the time. Is that a problem?”
Until this point, Takeo had been trying hard to keep himself hollow. Through decades of training, he had worked out the ability to keep himself numb to emotion, mostly. It didn’t always work, and lately he’d had to rely on the fiery magic of his sword to block out his feelings, just to continue thinking straight. He was holding his sword right now, too, and by all accounts, he should have felt nothing.
Yet, as the realization washed over him that he’d traded Gavin’s life for an oni warband, there was nothing powerful enough to contain his rage.
Takeo screamed and lunged at Tokhta, slicing the oni across the belly in a flash. Black blood and guts spilled out onto the grass, the flesh hissing as the enchanted blade burned where it struck. Tokhta moaned his shock and pain, thrusting a hand up in defense, only to have it severed in one strike. The hand went flying, twisting in the air and sending spirals of black blood all around. Tokhta went to his knees, losing strength as Takeo made two more cuts in rapid fashion, ripping the blade down the oni’s other arm and then cutting him across the chest. Takeo roared and drove his blade into the oni’s neck, and the creature’s throat filled with blood.
The oni toppled over, spilling blackness over the field, and Takeo leapt onto the creature’s mass. Again and again and again Takeo stabbed down, perforating Tokhta’s corpse and screaming his rage, soaking himself with oni blood. Smoke wafted from his blade, burning and hissing with the deluge of black liquid.
On either side, the oni and the humans watched in stunned silence. The oni shared confused glances, seemingly unsure if they should intervene. The humans did similar, only they watched the remaining oni, too, ready to protect their lord with their lives if the need arose.
When finally Takeo was finished, he breathed heavily and snarled at the mutilated corpse. He tried to take in this betrayal and all it had cost him, but he couldn't do it. The pain was too great, and his heart had no more room for torment. He stared at Tokhta’s corpse and felt nothing at all.
Yet his gaze was so full of ire that when he looked up to the surviving oni, those closest took a step back.
Takeo thought about it, but there was no use in killing them all. That wouldn’t bring Gavin back. Plus, they had stayed put and watched as they were supposed to do. Takeo was their lord, and he could do whatever he liked with the lives of those beneath him, including kill them in cold blood.
“Follow me,” he demanded.
He stepped off Tokhta’s corpse and strode off, his human and oni guards in his wake.
Chapter 19
Takeo and the other humans rode to the Phan fortress, while the oni traveled by foot. Despite being slower, the oni could travel day and night, disregarding sleep, so they weren’t long in arriving after Takeo.
A messenger pixiu had been sent ahead, foretelling the general’s arrival, so things were prepared for the ronin. Lady Anagarika had a special tent set up for all the superior officers and remaining daimyo, plus all the soldiers lined up and ready to be inspected if need be.
Not that Takeo bothered with such things. He always saw inspections as a superficial display of interest. He remembered standing in a line, at the ready, all cleaned and trim and proper, waiting for his lord to walk by and give him nothing but a glance, as if a mere stare like that could have any bearing on Takeo’s ability to operate as a soldier. No, the only thing that mattered was results, so that’s all Takeo wanted to see the moment he arrived.
He’d left specific instructions that the lone Phan tower be tunneled under. It was difficult work, what with the ground being more rock than dirt in this area, but Lady Anagarika had had time and labor in abundance. She’d worked her soldiers day and night in rotating shifts, just as Takeo had suggested, and they’d more than completed the task.
They’d selected a tunnel site as close to the tower as possible, just out of bow range, to minimize the amount of digging, and had excavated. They’d tunneled under all sides, supporting the place with heavy timbers and even re-purposed stone rubble. Unfortunately, what they were meant to find did not exist. Unlike most towers, this one did not have a basement, so there went Takeo’s plan to break into the tower from below.
All this was explained to Takeo as he toured the mines alongside Anagarika and the head officer in charge of mapping their progress.
“As you can see, my lord,” the man said, rotating his map. “We’re now directly underneath the tower, and we’ve excavated completely under it. I’ve had to use every wooden beam you’ve sent me to keep our progress up. We haven't found a single weak point. We’ve even experimented with the floor—the tower’s floor—but the stones they used there are just as thick as the walls.”
“Yes,” Takeo replied, looking about the place, illuminated only by candlelight. “They’d have to be, to hold up a place like this. Lady Anagarika.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“When you returned here, I had a prisoner sent with you. Do you remember him?”
She blinked, thought some more, then quietly shook her head.
“Wait,” she piped up. “Yes, I do seem to recall now. That strange man I always seem to forget.”
“His name is Aiguo Mein. Have this officer go fetch the man and meet us outside the tunnel.”
The officer dashed off, while Takeo and Anagarika strolled to the entrance. She had the good sense to look solemn as they walked, understanding that even though she’d done everything Takeo had asked, Lord Seiji Nguyen was still alive, and that meant she had failed in her duty.
Well, almost.
Back out in the fresh air, Takeo found he’d allowed the officer sufficient time to fulfill his request. Aiguo Mein, arms and ankles still shackled, awaited the ronin’s arrival on his knees, already bowed low.
“Ah, my lord,” Aiguo began.
The officer delivered a swift kick to Aiguo’s side.
“You will wait until you are spoken to, thief,” the officer swore.
“Thief?” Takeo said. “Do you know this man’s crime?”
The officer paused, then shook his head.
“Um, no, my lord,” he said. “I’ve never seen this man before
in my life. I just assumed he was a thief, either in the literal sense or the figurative. If he’s not stolen an item, then he’s robbed you of honor by disobedience. Either way, the word thief applies.”
“I like that perspective. Now release him.”
The officer hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second, then quickly barked an order to the other soldiers. Without a key, the shackles had to be broken, but fortunately there were plenty of tools nearby.
“Stand,” Takeo ordered.
Aiguo rose, shaking and rubbing his wrists. He bowed low.
“Against all odds,” Takeo began, “I have to admit that you told the truth. You were tricked into freeing Qadir, and you’ve done all you can on your end to help me. I made a promise that so long as you were useful to me, I’d spare you, right?”
“I do recall those words, my lord,” Aiguo replied. “However, my life is yours to do with as you wish.”
“Brave to say that, knowing what I think of you. Or perhaps not brave, but simply calculated, knowing that if I wanted you dead, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Aiguo kept silent, head bowed, shielding his forgettable face from Takeo’s probing gaze, yet displaying the image of a most docile servant.
“Let’s continue the bargain, then,” Takeo said. “I have plans for you, plans that will require you to operate independently, far from my reach. Specifically, I have a rakshasa that needs to be hunted down. You know their kind well, so you understand that you’ll need to be smart, even wicked. So, prove your worth. How would you bring this tower down by the end of the day?”
The officer quickly shared the information about the tunnel with Aiguo, who mulled over and studied the entrance. The stakes were high because Aiguo knew that Takeo had already deduced the answer to this puzzle, perhaps long ago, and if Aiguo couldn’t keep up, he would be left behind—as a corpse.