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by Frost Queen Tomiko [MF] (epub)

  After a few more rounds of bickering with Akio Yumi's blood was stirred to attention by the sound of a horn. Jumo and his huntsmen were near, offering battle. Neither her nor Akio made a sound while the soldiers came down to answer. It took time, all while she waited blind and had to trust that things were going as planned, but soon they could hear and feel boots marching nearby. Eventually she could even catch a glimpse of the soldiers, lining up for a charge at Jumo and his scant few men.

  She gripped her bow, waiting anxiously. It seemed to take forever, but in an explosive moment a second horn sounded.

  Akio threw off the blanket and helped Yumi to her feet. All around them other warriors were rising from the sand. Their numbers were paltry, but Yumi could see that whoever Tomiko's general was hadn’t send out the full army, and their forces were closer to equal than they had counted on. More importantly, Yumi and half of the huntsmen were at the soldier's rear.

  Arrows let loose, causing bedlam when the soldiers saw that they were being attacked from behind. Yumi raised her bow and aimed, and from behind her Akio took her bow into his hands with her, pulling the string as she could not. She guided while he followed. She let go, compensating her aim a touch for the delay while Akio responded. Their arrow joined the battle, and one of the soldiers fell when it sank into his leg.

  As she aimed her second, there was a third horn blast, and shouting as Jumo charged. The soldiers responded aggressively, meeting the charge with their own thrust. They had twice the huntsmen's numbers, but Jumo's line held, bolstered by their new shields and Chiyo's potions. Another soldier dropped when she let the string slip from her fingers a second time.

  Most of the huntsmen's arrows failed to penetrate their targets, but the few that did had an enormous impact. Yumi looked carefully and saw that the soldiers were already panting, their sword and shield arms dropping. When Jumo's line failed to scatter under their assault the soldiers let panic overcome them. One weak-willed man took flight, and the rout rippled through the army, dissolving their line into a desperate scramble into the desert.

  The huntsmen cheered in victory, but there was another battle still to fight. There were still soldiers in the village, and Yumi could see that they were already preparing to defend the path to the top of the plateau.

  "Well fought," said Jumo, joining the two groups of huntsmen together. "Now we only have the hard part to worry about."

  "Hurry with it," said Akio. "Before they can get a defense mounted against the path."

  "Huntsmen," called out Jumo, "We've earned ourselves a rest. How about we take it in our own beds?"

  The huntsmen cheered again, and charged the path. Yumi was slow to follow, but with Akio's help she put an arrow into a soldier's shoulder before he could drop a stone on the Dunnies climbing below and scared several of the others back. When they reached the incline she stopped to catch her breath, needing it for the climb. Akio growled, running into her from behind.

  "Watch it!" she said.

  "Move!" he commanded.

  "I am! Just wait a-"

  Akio snatched her arm and used it to pull her close. Yumi found herself thrown over his shoulder, and soon she was being carried up to the village.

  "Put me down!" she barked.

  "No, and stop squirming. I won't risk losing the battle for our inaction."

  Yumi couldn't much stop him, and by the time the huntsmen reached the top they had almost caught up. It hadn't been an easy advance; several of the Dunnies were down, thankfully only wounded due to Chiyo's concoction, but with already low numbers their loss was keenly felt.

  "Yumi, over there!" shouted Jumo.

  "Where? Turn around, you oaf! No, that way!"

  Akio turned her and she saw- Taiko, Miyoshi, and Chiyo were on the far side of the plateau, tied to some kind of crosses and naked to the desert sun. Yumi growled in anger, imagining what else might have happened to them.

  "Go, get them down," said Jumo. "They'll be more help to us than you will here, no offense."

  Akio put her down, no longer having the wall of the plateau to guide him.

  "This way," she said, grabbing his hand and rushing as best as she could.

  The sounds of fighting erupted behind them while she made for her friends. They were getting closer, but not fast enough.

  "Behind us," shouted Akio abruptly.

  Yumi turned to see a man rushing at them. She fumbled to ready her bow, but Akio was too slow to back her up. The soldier swatted it aside just as she loosed her arrow, sending it astray. Tangled up with Akio she was even more useless in melee with him, and she had to drag both of them to the ground to dodge his sword.

  The man raised his blade, ready to plunge it into her chest, when something struck him in the back of the head. He collapsed, and Yumi was grateful to see who stood behind him.

  "I found it," said Haru, lifting Chiyo's staff to show her.

  Taiko raised her head. She was hallucinating now, seeing a mirage of Yumi standing in front of her. She moaned, tortured by the image and the false hope it tried to instill in her. She even heard it talking and calling her name.

  Then Taiko fell. One of her arms was free, and she was dangling from the other. She opened her eyes truly this time, adrenaline flowing into her blood and revitalizing her for a brief time. It was Yumi, for real, and she was trying to cut her other arm loose. Taiko leaned up, holding the cross with her free hand and taking some of the weight off of the other.

  When the rope fell away from her other hand she dropped to the ground again, her hands clawing at the strap holding in her gag.

  "Let me help," said Yumi, joining her fingers with Taiko's.

  Taiko tore the ring out of her mouth and threw it away.

  "Did you..." she asked. "Did you win? Did you beat them?"

  "Not yet; we need to hurry."

  Yumi cut her legs free and gave her a waterskin, helping her pour it down her throat.

  "Wait here," said Yumi. "I need to get Miyoshi down."

  Taiko shook her head and stood, feeling enough strength in her limbs to finish the battle before she collapsed again.

  "Akio," she said, spotting him standing idly nearby. "Give me your water."

  He obeyed without comment, and Taiko held Miyoshi's head up and let the water flow into her mouth while Yumi cut the ropes way from her wrists. As soon as she had her freedom she threw her arms around both of them and pulled them together, squeezing them as hard as she could.

  "Thank you, Yumi. She was going to kill us, for real. She said-"

  Taiko hushed her.

  "We're okay now."

  She looked over to Chiyo. She was leaning on Haru and supporting herself with her staff.

  Taiko saw Akio's head turn in her direction. She reflexively covered herself, remembering that she was naked.

  "Are you finished?" he asked. "The battle is still in jeopardy."

  Taiko grabbed her skirt and underwear, putting them back on in a hurry. Yumi and Haru helped Miyoshi and Chiyo get their clothes back on while Taiko stretched to wake her muscles back up.

  "We should go," said Chiyo. "I mean, we should run away. What happens if we get caught again? We can't help anyone if we... if we get..."

  "We won't," said Taiko. "I won't let this... I won't let what they've done... I won't let it change who I am. I'm going to save the Dunnies. I'll keep saving everyone I can. They can't take that away from me."

  Taiko started forward. She didn't run- she was still tired, and she needed to win, not lose heroically. When she glanced behind everyone was following her.

  When they reached the village it was a bad sight. The Dunnies were down, all except for Jumo, who was dueling with the Oni while the remaining soldiers, five of them in all, watched.

  Jumo swung his club, but Satsujin blocked it with her bare arm. He was limping, with a bleeding leg, and when she swung the back of her hand at him he was too slow to defend himself. He dropped, and before he could roll away she kicked him in the chest. Taiko wince
d, hearing from the sound that he wouldn't be standing again until she had a chance to heal him.

  "You untied them?" she said, her eyes moving over to Akio. "Why, 'Lord' Akio? Now I'll have to tie them up again."

  "You won't be tying anyone up ever again," said Taiko.

  Satsujin laughed.

  "Is she in charge of you now, Akio? I should have known something was wrong when I heard you were traveling with these little girls instead of making them eat your cock. I always admired that about you, you know."

  "You can admire me from the grave," he said.

  "Aw... I was always hoping you would threaten to rape me when we finally met. I guess a girl can dream... Capture them. Whoever gets one can have her. Or him, if you want."

  Taiko summoned her magic and let her arms dance.

  "Fox's swiftness!"

  Taiko ran for Satsujin, confident that the others could handle the soldiers. She snatched Jumo's club from the ground and swung it, hitting her in the gut. She didn't even flinch, and Taiko had to scramble out of her reach. She danced in and out, avoiding the Oni's blows but unable to hurt her, no matter what hits she landed.

  She circled around her while the shouts of her friends, the cries of the soldiers, and the impacts of Chiyo's magic filled the air. Satsujin was snarling now, unhurt but frustrated by Taiko's speed. Taiko dodged backwards, letting the Oni push her toward the edge of the plateau.

  "Now that I've got the rest of them, I'll kill them all," she said. "I'll make you watch, and then I'll make my men build a cross out of their bones to tie you to."

  "You're disgusting," said Taiko. "You're even worse than Akio."

  "It's too late for flattery," she said, and lunged at Taiko.

  Taiko put on a burst of speed that she hadn't yet shown to Satsujin, cut around her, and kicked her in the back of the knee. The Oni stumbled, and nearly went off the edge. She turned around, just in time for Taiko to finish her spell.

  The plateau didn't want to do much. It stood, unchanging, for years on end. But, eventually, it would crumble. The edge Satsujin was standing on had been eroding for millennia, and it was almost ready.

  "Crumble, ledge."

  Satsujin's bit of ground fell, plummeting to the dunes below. She reached out, grabbing the ledge, but it too was ready to go.

  "Okay... okay... you win." she said, "Pull me up. I'll do whatever you want. I'll let you do whatever you want."

  Taiko wanted to help her. She felt her nature pull her toward the ledge- but she'd seen what the creature's sense of honor was like, and once she had a hand on Taiko she would be able to crush her easily.

  "I'm sorry," she said. This wasn't her world. This woman wasn't going to offer friendship in her defeat, and now Taiko understood, really understood, the consequences of losing in this world.

  The ledge finished crumbling, and the Lady Oni Satsujin fell, smashing against the rocky skirt of the plateau. Taiko stood for a while, listening to the now silent desert.

  When she returned to her friends the battle was over. She sank to the ground, wishing the victory didn't feel so hollow.

  Akio chewed on the meal they'd given him- some kind of dried fruit, he guessed. He considered what manner of disgusting things they might decide to feed a blind man who they weren't inclined to like very much, but Akio had no squeamish stomach. He would dine on delicacies when he was reigning in Frostspire.

  All around him was joyous celebration as the Dunnies drank and danced, gleeful to have their village back. Akio found it ridiculous. They had only taken back what the enemy had taken first, and they were even planning on letting the prisoners go for want of anything else to do with them. They'd agreed to hold onto them for a few days, to give Akio and the women time to complete their mission, but they had no plans to ransom them or sell them as slaves.

  There had been nothing gained in their victory; no loot, none of their enemy's women, no new territory. What were they celebrating? They had won, yes, but the only thing they accomplished was to keep what they had, and even some of that had been destroyed. Not all of their people were accounted for yet, and Akio doubted they would see the missing ever again.

  "Akio," said a voice, one that had managed to get close to him without him noticing. It was Taiko's pet spirit, Minoru.

  "What do you want?"

  "What's changed?" asked Minoru.

  "What do you mean?"

  Minoru sighed.

  "Between you and Tomiko, with your stupid little war- what's changed recently? What piece am I missing?"

  "Your mind, that's what you're missing."

  "You always were a little shit, even before you were 'Lord Akio'. I've been thinking over the possibilities, and-"

  "Before I was- you're babbling nonsense. When was I ever not Lord Akio?"

  "Ask yourself that question, sometime. Can you even remember when you rose to power?"

  Akio growled. Thinking about it made his feel strange, and it was easier just to be angry at the obnoxious spirit.

  "See, this is why I try to tell you people as little as possible. Tell me one thing- did you recognize them at all? Taiko, Chiyo, Miyoshi, or Yumi? Did you feel at all like maybe you'd seen them somewhere before?"

  "Of course not. Why would I?"

  Minoru sighed again.

  "You're useless. I guess I'll just have to wait for Frostspire."

  "Good idea. And go find somewhere else to wait, I'm trying to eat. Some of us actually did things today."

  Minoru's voice didn't appear again. Akio wished he knew if it meant that he was gone or not.

  Akio thought back to the battle. He hadn't done so badly, for a blind man. Neither did Yumi for a crippled woman. She really was worthy of his seed. Maybe he should have started with her. The other woman was gorgeous, certainly, but Yumi had qualities beyond that. He'd missed his chance to leave himself inside of her. Maybe he was foolish not to fuck her that night.

  No, she was worth savoring. He'd broken her, by the end, and that was a beautiful moment all by itself. He couldn't have predicted what would happen next, and that night would have been unspeakably pleasurable had not every possible thing gone against him.

  Besides, he would have his chance again. No, more than that. He would have her, bound so tightly that she couldn't breathe while he fucked her pussy all night. And every moment until then- every curse, insult, and reprimand she leveled against him- would only make that night all the sweeter.

  Akane shivered. She'd been shivering for a while now; it was cold in Queen Tomiko's bedchamber, and she had nothing but naked skin to protect her from the icy air.

  Her back was against a frozen pillar with her arms stretched above her where they were held by iron shackles around her wrists. She tried to keep her body from resting against the ice, but she was already on the balls of her feet, her heels unable to touch the floor. Her ankles were locked in shackles as well, their touch even colder than the pillar.

  Her strength ran out and she screamed as her entire body pressed against the ice.

  Akane had been foolish enough to be proud of her beauty. Many people compared her to the Queen. Not as an equal, certainly, but a mere resemblance was enough to turn men's heads. She thought it was a blessing.

  But somehow word had gotten to the Queen. Queen Tomiko wasn't jealous. She was still the more flawless and perfect of the two, nobody would doubt that. When the Queen's men came to arrest her, they said that the Queen was merely interested in seeing her. Akane was a curiosity to be studied for a moment, and nothing more. Queen Tomiko had some very cruel ways of studying someone.

  Now Akane was in the Queen's private sanctum, freezing while Queen Tomiko stood impassively, watching her from a few feet away. For a long time she said nothing, only watching. A muscle didn't move on her face while Akane's teeth chattered.

  "You do look like me," she said at last, as a simple matter of fact. "They say that many men desire me. Do they desire you too?"

  "Yes, Your Majesty," she stammered. Akane had
no idea what answers the Queen wanted. She'd heard stories of her mercilessness, heard that none who were put in her shackles were ever released from them, but she couldn't believe that. Akane just spoke the truth, hoping there was salvation in it.

  "Has it ever made you happy?" she asked.

  "Yes... sometimes."

  Queen Tomiko stepped forward and put her hand on Akane's chest, gently running it from her collar bones to her navel. There was nothing in her expression to read. Was this some strange form of debauchery? Did the Queen simply feel that it was an insult to have a commoner compared to her, even as her inferior?

  The Queen walked across the room to an ornate wardrobe. She opened it, revealing a collection of leather whips. She ran her fingers over them before selecting one.

  Akane pulled on her wrists, begging them to slip free of the iron that was locked around them. Instead she only felt the cold metal bite into her skin.

  "Please, Your Majesty, I don't know what I've done..."

  "Nothing," she said. "I just want to see what whipping you will feel like. If it does at all."

  When Queen Tomiko struck it was fast and vicious. Akane screamed as leather smashed across her stomach. She didn't stop for a long time.

  Chapter 7

  The Frozen Mysteries

  Taiko hauled herself up over the ledge, finally finding a good bit of flat ground to rest on. She turned and sat down, looking over the hard, rocky climb that she'd spent the last few hours making. Below her stretched the red-rocked western face of the Isshou Mountains. It wasn't a steep route they'd taken, but it was a constant climb over boulders and up ridges with no proper trail to ease the way.

  This side of the mountain range was almost as barren as the desert, and it was only recently that they'd started to see trees and signs of water. It blended into the desert as it flattened out at the bottom, and Taiko could see almost the entire path they'd taken to get where she was right now.