by Devin Madson
‘No. I’ll help you get out of here, but I won’t let you slit his throat. He’s still my captain.’
Beneath Katashi’s hands the grass was singeing. ‘Wen, he will burn Kisia.’
The Pike shook his head again. ‘I won’t let you kill him,’ he said, keeping his eyes averted from Katashi’s hands though the stink of burning grass grew stronger. ‘Do you want my help?’
I nodded. ‘Yes. I must get to Kin.’
Wen stood. ‘Then we have to get out of here now. Wait here.’
He strode away on the words, leaving me crouched between the unconscious forms of Katashi and Kimiko. Kimiko lay on her back, eyes closed like a lifeless body, and for now Katashi looked just as peaceful. His handsome face was turned, blades of grass licking up to touch his nose and his lashes. Blood was oozing from his head, and pressing my shaking hands together, I prayed he would not wake.
Wen’s steps had disappeared into the general hubbub of the camp. The curious Pikes seemed to have moved on, but everywhere soldiers were calling out to one another, no doubt beginning to wonder what had happened to their emperor. How long would it be before they came looking for him, this man with fire burning in his skin. This man who would burn Kisia.
Barely thinking, I was on my knees, running my hand along Katashi’s silk sash, his body hot beneath my hands. Halfway along my fingers found steel.
‘What are you doing?’
Wen. A horse snorted, hooves shifting on the soft grass. I did not look up. ‘I have to kill him,’ I whispered. ‘If I don’t he will burn us all alive.’
I touched the knife and hissed, sucking my fingers. The handle was as hot as a cooking stone.
‘Give me yours,’ I said, holding out my stinging hand to Wen.
‘No.’
‘That’s an order.’
‘No, Captain.’
He held my gaze without looking away, his jaw squared.
‘Fine.’ I went to Kimiko, running my hand along her sash.
Wen’s bow groaned as he drew the string.
‘I told you I would not let you kill him,’ he said, and out of the corner of my eye his shadow moved. The tip of an arrow hovered by my ear.
‘What will you do? Kill me?’
‘No. But those freaks might.’ His shadow jerked its head toward the stricken tent. ‘I’ll give you to them.’
‘Wen,’ I said, my voice low. ‘You aren’t listening to me.’ Ignoring the arrow, I turned. ‘This isn’t Katashi. This isn’t Monarch anymore. Your captain is dead and this monster they have made with his skin will destroy everything.’
‘Then the gods will judge him, because I will not. This is your last chance. Do you want the horses? Or will you go to the hells with your freaks?’
He held his bow steady, his gaze not leaving my face. He was too loyal, too good. No god had put him on the throne.
I sat back and Wen lowered his bow. ‘By the gods I hope we won’t regret this night,’ I said, looking up at a face set in grim lines.
‘That, too, is in the hands of the gods. And so will we be if we don’t get out of here. We’re dead if they find him.’
I got to my feet. ‘All right, help me with her,’ I said, gripping the saddle and lifting one foot into the stirrup.
‘She’s unconscious.’
‘Yes, is that a problem?’
Wen looked from the horse to Kimiko and back again. ‘She can’t sit up before you, you’ll have to lie her over. It won’t be very comfortable. You’ll have to ride bareback.’
‘Well, I’m not leaving her here,’ I said, dropping back onto the ground. ‘So you had better get rid of the saddle. Leave the cloth and the pad.’
‘Are you sure? Do you want me to–?’
‘Don’t waste time with chivalrously stupid questions, Wen,’ I snapped. ‘Of course you can’t take her. You weigh the same as the two of us combined. Get rid of the saddle and help me up.’
He did so, stowing the unwanted saddle inside the tent. No longer having stirrups, he had to lift me onto the horse’s broad back before returning for Kimiko. He lifted her as though she weighed nothing at all, and as gently as he could, he lowered her, face down, over the plain saddlecloth. It took a moment to centre her weight and I could feel our time ticking away, but I had meant what I said. I would not leave her behind.
Once I was ready, Wen mounted. ‘Follow me,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to take an easy pace out so we don’t arouse suspicion. Let me talk.’ He flashed a grin. ‘Look sullen, like you’re being sent away in disgrace.’
‘Sullen?’
‘Yes, that’s the face.’ He winked. ‘Now let’s get out of here.’
We left Katashi in the shadow of the tent.
Pikes were everywhere. His personal guard had remained behind and the were searching for their captain in earnest now, shouting back and forth, the mad bloodlust fading from their hearts. A pair came toward us and I gripped my reins tight, concentrating on keeping Kimiko steady.
‘Hey! Have you seen the captain?’ one of the Pikes asked Wen, falling into step beside us.
‘Not since he gave me my orders.’ Wen jerked his head at me and I caught the grimace he flashed his comrade.
‘When was that?’
‘Gods, I don’t know! Twenty minutes at least. You try getting two women moving in less time than that.’
The Pike eyed Kimiko. ‘Doesn’t look like that one’s moving much at all.’
‘That’s Lady Kimiko, so watch your tongue. I’m taking them back to Koi. Happy to give up the job if you want it.’
A grunt was all the reply he got, but although the Pike wandered off, Wen maintained his maddening pace. He exchanged greetings with a few comrades and joked that Katashi had left his guards behind, so eager he was for battle, all the while keeping his horse to a sauntering walk – even once beyond the edge of the camp.
‘We need to hurry,’ I hissed, edging alongside at the final row of tents.
‘No, not yet,’ he replied. ‘They can still see us. Do you really intend to go to Kin?’
‘Yes.’
‘And if he’s dead?’
‘I don’t expect you to come. I won’t ask you to kill your friends.’
‘I will not fight for Kin,’ he said as we passed beneath the twisted branches of a dove tree, the sheer, spiky rocks of the spur rising before us. ‘But I will defend you, my lady.’ He was silent for a moment, the sounds of the camp fading away behind us. Then, without taking his eyes from the moonlit track, he said: ‘You wouldn’t have killed him.’
‘If you believe that then why did you fight so hard to save him?’
‘Just in case I was wrong.’ He grinned. ‘When you’re an empress, you’ll have to think without your heart. I think we’re safe now. Are you ready?’
It was difficult to ride with Kimiko thrown over in front of me, but I nodded, urging my horse to a canter. Wen did the same, pulling ahead as the worn track rounded the tip of the spur. He rode bow in hand, an arrow pinched between two fingers, his head turned to look back as often as he scanned the path ahead. I had to trust him, too preoccupied with Kimiko to be wary of pursuit. She showed no sign of waking, but she was still warm, and I clung to that as fiercely as I clung to the hope that I had not yet run out of time.
The track narrowed, rising up the densely choked hills that spread from the spur. A trail of bruised petals followed us onto the scree, clumps of crushed peonies evidence that others had come this way. At the top of the rise a thick patch of trees stood apart from the forest, their tall trunks sidling up beside a crossroad. There, a body lay sprawled across the stones. A horse had been gutted, glistening entrails spewing from the carcass to taint the air with their stink.
Wen slowed, and I looked down as my horse shied around the corpse. The man had
been wearing black, not the black of a Vice or a Pike, but the plain black of a scout. One of Kin’s men.
‘Smoke.’
Wen pointed at the night sky. Smoke was rising above the trees, the black plumes tinged silver.
‘We have to hurry.’
‘Are you all right? Lady Kimiko–?’
‘Lady Kimiko is fine. Move.’
He asked no more questions but picked up his pace, his horse’s hooves scattering stones as he turned down the hill. I could smell it now, smell the acrid stench of a burning camp, and feared we were too late.
The trees thinned as we climbed to the ridge and The Valley opened up before us. And there was Kin’s camp, its bamboo palisade burning bright. More fires dotted the valley floor, making shadows of the mass of soldiers at the bottom of the slope.
Wen turned his horse, its hooves dancing. Smoke crowded around us. ‘There’s no way you’ll get in there,’ Wen said. ‘That hill is covered in Pikes.’
‘Then we go down this way where the fighting is thinnest.’
‘They’ll shoot us full of arrows if we ride down there and I wouldn’t blame them.’
‘Which “they”? Them? Or us?’
‘Either. Both!’
I held out my hand. ‘Do you have something white?’
Wen gaped at me. ‘You want to cry peace? They’ll think it’s a trick.’
‘Stay here if you’re afraid.’
‘Afraid? What if they shoot you full of arrows?’
‘Then they will shoot me full of arrows!’ I snapped. ‘I will not wait here and do nothing.’
He laughed ruefully. ‘I think you will either make a very formidable empress, or a very dead one.’ With these words he opened the leather satchel he always carried and pulled out some scraps of linen. ‘This is the best I have, not quite white, but we’ll be lucky if they see them at all.’
‘It will have to do,’ I said, taking one from his outstretched hand. ‘Wait. We?’
Wen grinned. ‘I’m an old hand at getting shot,’ he said. ‘Someone once told me that if this cause wasn’t worth my scars then I should leave. I think she had ruder words in mind, but she was born a lady.’
I mirrored his grin. ‘Let’s hope your scars aren’t necessary,’ I said, and nudging my horse’s flank, we started down the slope. ‘Kaere,’ I said, as its hooves slid on the loose stones. ‘Kaere.’
All along the ridge Pikes were still emerging from the trees. Shouts and screams rent the air as, metal on metal, the sounds of battle raged. Our horses’ hooves landed on dead soldiers, their eyes staring and their wounds oozing, crimson and black sashes barely discernible in the night.
With one hand gripping the reins, I lifted the scrap of linen high above my head. Wen did the same, the wind tugging at our only defence as we rode down the hill.
An arrow whisked by and I gasped, snatching back my arm. Wen sped his pace, riding for the gate as fast as he dared to where Kin’s men held the ground.
He pulled ahead. A soldier pointed. Others looked up, and gritting my teeth, I thrust the linen scrap up as high as I could. Arrows were nocked, bows pulled taut, and my heart hammered in my ears.
‘Identify yourselves!’
Wen glanced back at me. It was my answer that would save us.
I tried to swallow, my mouth dry. ‘I am Lady Hana Otako and I would speak to your emperor,’ I called back, waving my arm though it ached being held up so long.
The soldiers held their arrows. Whispers passed. The injured and dead were being dragged in from the main battle, and if I showed an ounce of fear Wen and I would join them.
‘Lady Hana Otako?’
‘Shoot me if you doubt it!’
A hissed argument was taking place, but Wen did not slow his pace. My fingernails cut into the white linen.
‘Stand down!’ A man in a crimson surcoat gave the order, and every bow was lowered. ‘Move out. Move out. I’ll deal with this.’ Arms akimbo, he stood watching us approach, glaring at Wen. ‘Well, well, Lady Hana,’ he said. ‘My name is General Rini and might I say what an unexpected honour this is at an… unexpected time.’
‘No pleasantries, General,’ I said. ‘I have to see Kin and I have to see him now.’
‘My lady…’ The general trailed off. A messenger was pushing through the gathered soldiers, bloodied and limping, and General Rini strode toward him. ‘What is it, man?’
‘General, they’ve breached the north gate!’
‘Shivatsa! Captain, hold the ground. Men of the Fourth, with me! I’m sorry, my lady, but you choose poor moments for social calls.’
‘Social calls!’
But the man wasn’t listening.
‘Hey! Where is Kin?’
In the general’s wake half a dozen soldiers stopped to stare, from me to Kimiko to the Pike at my side, not one of them vouchsafing an answer. ‘Well?’ I demanded. ‘Where is he?’
The soldiers ran on. I gripped my reins. ‘Looks like we’re on our own,’ I muttered.
‘Where to, Captain?’
‘We need to find Kin. His tent would be a good place to start.’
‘If he’s still alive.’
‘Yes,’ I said, gritting my teeth. ‘And if he isn’t I will gut Shin where he stands.’
Wen dug in his heels and his horse leapt forward. Kimiko’s awkward weight made it difficult to follow his lead, so skilfully did he wind his way around collapsed tents and knots of soldiers. Noise bombarded my ears. Men were shouting. Screaming. Horses charged past. Arrow boys darted around us carrying loads of linen and water, arrows and armour, memorised messages muttered on their lips. And ahead, flames roared into the sky as an imperial flag caught fire.
A man rode past, shouting above the uproar. ‘Barricade the gate! Barricade the gate!’
The crimson tent appeared through the smoke. I saw Endymion first. He hovered alone at the edge of the clearing, and for a moment our eyes met, his expression hard to decipher. Then I saw Kin. Though dressed in plain red linen, Kin was the centre of the world, this man snapping out his orders amid the chaos. Crimson surcoats flew as he dispersed his men, each one dashing away through a forest of standing arrows.
Kin looked up. Our eyes met, and although his expression did not lighten, I grinned.
‘Look after Kimiko,’ I said, speaking to Endymion as I slid from my horse in a daze, heart racing.
Two steps brought me into the clearing and I stopped. There was Shin, caught between two guards. They had his arms bent back ruthlessly, but he was no subdued beast. Seeing me, his eyes narrowed, lips parting to show a hint of teeth.
I felt rather than saw Wen join me. Kin’s eyes slid in his direction. Shin’s guards did the same, eyeing Wen’s sword, his bow, and the strength in his muscular form.
Wen took a step forward, close, protective, and gaze flashing around the group, he drew his sword.
‘Careful, Majesty!’ One of Shin’s guards stepped forward and an instant was all the Pike needed. In the space of a breath he ripped free from his other captor, jabbing fingers into his throat. The man fell back, but Shin had already drawn the guard’s sword and stuck it through his gut.
The guard fell and Shin strode across the grass, the bloody sword gleaming in the moonlight. ‘This ends here, Usurper,’ he growled, advancing on Kin. Kin was unarmed, but he stood his ground, his hand raised to keep his guards back.
‘Do something!’ I shouted at Wen, now holding his weapon slack.
He shook his head. ‘That isn’t my decision to make.’
‘Then I’ll make it!’ I turned on him, slamming my knuckles into the hollow of his elbow just as Monarch had taught me.
Wen hissed and the sword fell from his grip. I caught it on its way down and was moving before he could do mor
e than cry out, dashing the short distance to where Kin stood awaiting his fate.
Shin swung. I threw myself between them, catching the blow on the side of Wen’s sword. The metallic rasp screeched in my ear, the force of the swing throwing me back. I slammed into Kin, and for a moment felt the joy of his warmth before I fell, rolling as I hit the ground. Scrambling up, I found Shin on me again, teeth bared as he swung with more force than finesse. I ducked, his blade ripping through the air with a shriek.
‘Are you going to kill me, Shin?’ I asked breathlessly, backing away.
He lunged at me. ‘You’re a fool!’ he growled. ‘I would have fought the empire for you!’ His sword slammed into mine, the vibration jarring my hands.
‘Then fight for me! I’m here.’
‘Not with him.’ He turned as he spoke, deflecting the thrust Kin aimed at his side. Wheeling around, Shin seemed to pull himself together. He might have been fitting himself into a skin, snake-like, his arms drawing close and his weapon ready to bite.
I ceased to exist as they turned on one another. Shin struck first, a speedy jab, forcing Kin back. Words leapt to my tongue, warnings bit back as Kin faced his opponent with the vigour of a younger man, each of an age and skill they might have been comrades in a different time, a different place.
‘Shin, don’t do this!’ I cried, tears rolling down my cheeks. ‘You can fight with me! We can do this together!’
He seemed not to hear, just charged at Kin with greater force, catching him with his shoulder and knocking him off balance. I darted forward, but Kin kept his footing and threw out his hand in warning. ‘Keep out of this, Hana, it isn’t your fight.’
‘The hell it isn’t!’
I made to charge in, but Wen’s hand closed around my wrist and he yanked me back. ‘You can’t interfere, my lady,’ he said. ‘This is his fight now. Too many people are watching. They won’t respect a leader who cannot fight his own battles.’
Hopelessly, I stared around at the spectators, every man wide-eyed and hungry. I wanted to shake them, to scream into their faces. These were Kin’s men yet they would stand by while he fought to the death, held as much by their thirst as their honour.