by Ryan Kirk
The two of them argued back and forth, neither particularly concerned about the outcome. The work was easy, almost demeaning. Their leader had spoken truly, there were few, if any, who possessed any strength in this land.
The tracker sensed the man moving against the tide of humanity. They knew they were in the approximate area where this prey had been found previously, but the hunters hadn't really expected to find him. The prey’s hiding place had been discovered, and the man and woman would've moved on. But perhaps they were braver, or more stupid, than the demon-kind thought. Regardless, the man was moving against the tide, and he carried a blade, his eyes wandering back and forth restlessly. The tracker could not sense his power, but the way he walked gave him away. The man was a warrior, and even if he wasn't the nightblade their leader sought, perhaps he'd be strong enough to be a challenge.
The debate between the two was short-lived. Both of them detested slaughtering cattle. They would follow this man, and perhaps he would lead them to worthy victims.
6
Akira sat at his desk, surrounded by stacks of papers he was convinced had no end. Ever since Tanak had ridden out to treat with the Azarians, his life had been nothing but an endless stretch of paperwork. Merging the two kingdoms was a simple idea, but the practicalities of combining two lands were enough to drive him to insanity. There were questions on how to merge the armies, who to appoint to new roles in the kingdom, and how to spread out food and supplies for the coming winter.
Even though Akira sat in his warm tent, daily he was reminded of the brutal nature of the weather outside. Though they were only in the first moon of winter, already snow swirled throughout the land, even in the remains of the Southern Kingdom.
Akira was predisposed to treat the people of his land better than those in Tanak's. His land had been torn apart by invasion, and he couldn't shake his natural impulse to give his people the best of everything. But he was wrong, and he knew it. As much as he detested the manner in which the new kingdom had been formed, it was a historic moment. For over a thousand cycles there had been three kingdoms, the remnants of one great kingdom held together by a treaty that had lasted much longer than anyone expected. Tanak had broken the treaty, but in so doing had created the opportunity for two kingdoms to become one. It caused the death of far too many good men, but Akira saw it as his duty to make their sacrifice worthwhile. He may have lost his kingdom, but he could do everything in his power to ensure this fragile peace would last.
So despite his desire to subtly sabotage the new treaty by providing his own people the best of everything, Akira worked to find solutions to provide for all. The problems were not trivial. As Akira looked over the ledgers and documents of the old Western Kingdom, he realized how close Tanak and his kingdom had come to utter ruin. If Tanak hadn't invaded, his kingdom would've fallen within the next five cycles. The papers in front of him were light, but the task in front of him was heavy. The Southern Kingdom had been a healthy kingdom, but Akira wasn't sure it was healthy enough to support so many new people.
To complicate matters, Akira could not bring himself to believe in Tanak's promises. He wasn't sure what Tanak knew or thought, but the last reports he had received from Toro made it clear the Azarians had come with an invasion force. Any other conclusion was preposterous. Akira hoped there was some chance Tanak would be able to create a peace, but in his heart he thought it would be impossible. He was certain that as soon as the pass opened, there would be tens of thousands of Azarians, hungry for land and blood, flooding the new kingdom.
It went against the orders Tanak had given him, but Akira was trying to balance the need to prepare for invasion with the needs of distributing supplies among all the people. It was a delicate task, but Akira did all he could within the freedom he had.
If the logistics of merging two kingdoms weren’t headache enough, reports were beginning to trickle in from the edges of his old kingdom. The first one or two that crossed his desk he wrote off as unlikely. But as the days passed and new reports joined the old, the more certain he was the invasion had already begun.
There were at least a handful of hunters in his kingdom, destroying villages and spreading fear. The rational part of Akira’s mind admired the diabolical efficiency of the strategy. At most, there were only a few dozen hunters in his land; but given enough time they would tear his people apart just as surely as an invading army. It was the same type of fear-based attack used in the siege of Fort Azuma, just on a much larger scale.
The worst part was that Akira didn't know how to respond. If they had been a more traditional opponent, Akira would've tasked squads and units to deal with the problem. However, he was certain they were dealing with hunters. If his intuition was correct, sending troops to fight and search for the hunters would be a waste of manpower and time. Any force large enough to kill a pair of hunters would be too large to spare, especially considering they had no idea where the hunters actually were. They were clearly working their way north, but they struck at random, and there was no predicting where their next attack would be.
If Ryuu had still been around Akira would have asked him. But thanks to Tanak, one of the only people who could help was a fugitive from the very people that needed his protection. Fortunately, there had been no sightings of him since he escaped the camp. Akira didn't know where he had gone, but a small part of him hoped Ryuu was out there trying to save the kingdom. It was a lot to ask, but Akira believed in him.
Without any good options, Akira was forced to do nothing, forced into inaction as the hunters slowly tore apart his land with fear.
Akira shook his head. If he let his thoughts go down this road, it was hard for him to turn back. There was a lot happening he couldn't control, but the papers and decisions in front of him were things he could influence, and strong decisions now could mean the difference between the survival and annihilation of his kingdom. He must not lose focus. Akira rolled his shoulders back and grabbed a new piece of paper. There was work to be done.
Akira was hard at work when the messenger entered his tent. Akira knew at once something horrible had happened, something important. Most messengers came into the tent with a crisp and practiced ease. This messenger looked as though he was walking towards his own execution. He was nervous, fidgeting in place as he waited for Akira to call for him. Akira eyed him carefully. He recognized the man, knew he was well respected as a runner throughout the camp. The man had been one of Tanak’s, but Akira found no fault in his service. He always delivered his messages calmly and efficiently, and if Akira recalled correctly, the man also had a reputation for courage on the battlefield. Looking at him now though, it was hard to believe any of those things.
Akira motioned for the messenger to sit. "What is it? I fear you bring me terrible news."
"You are not wrong, my lord. The news is grave. One of Tanak's honor guard just returned from the mountains. He is nearly frozen solid, and the healers are not sure he will live, but he brought a message."
Akira waited patiently, although his heart beat faster.
"My lord, the guard was carrying Tanak's head. He told a story difficult to believe. They were ambushed in the mountains by the leader of the Azarians, even though they rode under a banner of peace. They were killed with very little conversation, and the leader handed Tanak's head to the guard. The only message he delivered was to tell us he was coming."
Akira took all the news in as calmly as he could. A part of him leapt for joy. He hated Tanak for invading his kingdom, and he wouldn’t shed any tears knowing the Lord of the Western Kingdom had met his end, particularly due to his own hubris. But at the same time, this was a clear message from the man Moriko called Nameless. The Azarians would come, and Akira was afraid his people wouldn’t have the strength to withstand the forces arrayed against them. His mind raced, but he knew what he had to take care of first.
"Take me to his head."
The messenger hesitated. "My lord, there is no need. The head is frozen and
grotesque, and those who knew him well have identified it. There is no reason for you to look upon it."
Akira thought about the messenger’s words and their hidden meaning. It was no secret the men of the Western Kingdom and the men of the Southern Kingdom did not see eye-to-eye. Tanak’s death was a blow to his men, and Akira would have to tread gently. He was now the Lord of the Southern Kingdom, but keeping it together would be far from simple.
Akira shook his head. "There is. I have no doubt about your report. Tanak and I may not have been friends, but he was one of the lords of the Three Kingdoms, and as such, was one of two other men who best understood me. He deserves my respects."
The messenger thought for a moment and then nodded. Akira let out a silent sigh of relief. With any luck, the messenger would spread word of his reaction throughout the camp. If he wasn’t careful the armies would split in the next few days. With a gesture the messenger led Akira out of the tent.
The camp around them was abuzz with activity. One of Akira’s first actions in Tanak’s absence had been to work on merging the armies of the two kingdoms. Both were depleted after a season of warfare, and stragglers were still coming in daily. Everyone was organizing, meeting their new units and beginning to train together. Akira’s two top generals, Makoto and Mashiro, had been instrumental in organizing the task. But even as they were so close to creating order, chaos reared its ugly head again.
The tent the messenger led Akira to was black, a place where corpses were stored until they could be properly honored. Even now, bodies were coming in from the battlefield to be identified if possible. The men who worked in the tent were grim, but Akira was grateful for their service. Families deserved to know what had happened to their fathers, brothers and sons.
The messenger led him to the back of the tent, a place set aside and quiet. There on a bench was a blanket covering a lump. Akira had seen death before, and didn’t shy away from the sight. He gently pulled aside the blanket himself.
The head was definitely Tanak’s. Dueling emotions coursed through Akira. A part of him was elated, and he couldn’t deny that. The man who had invaded his kingdom, the man who had brought death and destruction to his people, had rejoined the Great Cycle, and Akira was glad. Tanak’s death made him the ruler of the largest kingdom the land had seen for over a thousand cycles. He had more men and more resources than any other lord in history. His mind raced with possibilities.
But he was also afraid. He was afraid for his kingdom, young as it was. They faced a threat stronger than any they had ever encountered. It would be easy to let the blame for failure fall on Tanak’s shoulders, but all that mattered now was he was the lord standing between the Azarians and his people. He wasn’t sure if he was up to the task, but he had to try.
He covered Tanak’s head back up. There would be much to do in the coming days. He had full authority to make changes now, and he would. Tanak would be given a proper ceremony to mark his passing. The men needed to be organized. A thousand other tasks ran through his mind, but one stood at the front of them all. He needed to meet with Sen.
Akira rode on horseback through the Northern Kingdom, the second time he had done so within this cycle. His body was sore from his time in the saddle, but they pushed forward. Time was of the essence, every day a precious gift of preparation for the invasion Akira was certain was coming. They rode from sunrise to sunset, as long as the terrain around them was clear. Akira has pressed his men to ride in the evenings, but Captain Yung, the commander of his honor guard, didn’t permit it. They weren’t expecting an ambush, but the rumors of terror roaming the Southern Kingdom had made everyone nervous. They rode only so long as the sun lit their way.
Fortunately, the weather had held for them. It had been a winter marked by storms, but they encountered nothing more trying than softly falling snow on their journey. Akira was grateful. He had never been to the Northern Kingdom in the winter. Summers were challenging enough in the high mountains. He couldn’t imagine how the people here survived the winters, and had little desire to find out himself.
Due in large part to the lack of storms, visibility was incredible, and Akira basked in the stark mountain beauty of the Northern Kingdom. Majestic peaks rose in the distance, gorgeous and hostile. Akira wondered at the men who lived near such mountains, and was grateful he wouldn’t have to climb those peaks.
Sen had replied quickly to Akira’s messengers, naming a different place for their meeting. Akira had expected to return to Stonekeep, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, but Sen had chosen a tea house much further south, making the journey quicker for Akira and his men. Akira wondered at the meaning of the gesture. Sen did nothing without reason, but Akira couldn’t puzzle out the old lord’s intent.
By all accounts, the last time Akira had been to the Northern Kingdom, he had failed. He had hoped to best Tanak at a Conclave, but his plan had shattered like fragile glass, and instead of unseating Tanak, he found himself the target of a coordinated attempt at the reunification of the kingdoms. He still questioned what had happened at the Conclave and hoped to have answers soon. In the eye of the public, Akira had done well, but he knew he had disappointed Sen, and that bothered him. He respected the old lord, almost as a father.
As he approached the meeting place, Akira considered his options. There must be a way to stop the Azarians from entering the kingdom. Toro had ordered the First all the way out of the pass. They didn’t even man the high ambush locations throughout. Akira had been angry when he first heard Toro’s orders, but on further reflection, they had been the right decisions. Hunters would find and kill any of the ambushers. If they had been fighting a traditional enemy they could have held the pass easily even in the summer, but an army reinforced with hunters was a very different beast. Akira would have lost more men with no benefit.
So now there was only one choke point at the northern end of the Three Sisters, where the pass opened up into the Southern Kingdom itself. Akira and his troops would have some small advantage when it came to terrain, but the kingdoms had never faced a force like this. They weren’t strong enough.
Akira’s plan was simple. They needed more troops to defend against the invasion, and the only troops available were Sen’s. Not only did they represent more manpower, but their skill in the mountains was unparalleled, and Akira would give anything to have them assisting in the defense of the kingdoms. His primary goal was to convince Sen they were needed.
Akira and his honor guard crested the ridge overlooking the valley the tea house was in. Akira had never been here before, and he slowed his horse to a halt as he took in the view. The sun was bright and cold in the crisp blue sky. Off in the distance, perhaps a league off, Akira could see the tea house. Sen’s own honor guard was stationed nearby. The mountains here were beyond gorgeous, hard snow-capped peaks stabbing the sky. Akira imagined the valley in the summer, filled with blooming wildflowers. It would be a wonderful sight. There was a peace in this valley, ideal for the meeting they were about to hold.
They were still some way off from the tea house when Akira ordered his honor guard to halt. There was no need for Sen or his guards to get nervous. Akira was here on a mission of peace, and if he couldn’t trust Sen, there wasn’t anyone left to trust. His guards didn’t have to like it, and Captain Yung fixed him with a stare that would have frozen a lesser man, but Akira rode on alone.
As he tied up his horse, Sen emerged from the tea house to greet him. Like Akira, Sen was alone. They greeted each other as old friends, and Sen invited him into the tea house.
The house was warm and cozy, heated by a roaring fire and protected from the brisk winter air by surprisingly thick walls. They sat down and Sen served him tea. Akira watched with interest. Sen was old, but every movement he made was sure and precise. He had a great many cycles left to live, and Akira was glad it was so. When his tea was prepared, Akira sipped at it gently. It was a delicate blend, the best he had tasted in some time. Akira complimented Sen, and as was appropriate,
they spent the first part of their time together speaking of trivial matters. A part of Akira wanted to hurry and get to the point, but a few moments here made no difference in the larger scheme of things, and the tradition was comforting. Akira found himself relaxing and enjoying his time with Sen. The tension fell away from his shoulders.
He had known the older lord since he was a child. He remembered trips to the Northern Kingdom every cycle with his father, meeting Sen and sitting on his lap. At the time, Sen had been one of the youngest rulers of a kingdom, although well into adulthood. Now, so many cycles later, Sen was still here, and he was the only other person alive who knew what it really meant to be a lord.
It was Sen who brought them to the point at hand, and Akira was almost disappointed when the peaceful spell was broken. “The world has been shifting. I was sorry to hear about Tanak.”
Akira couldn’t decide between honesty and politeness, so he kept his tone neutral. “It was a surprise to learn about his death.”
Sen allowed the silence to grow between them. Akira considered several approaches to broaching the question, but Sen knew him well. Straightforward and honest was his best bet. “I would like nothing more than to sit and talk, old friend, but the time for decisions is at hand. I have come here to ask for your aid in repelling the Azarian invasion. There are no troops better suited for mountain warfare than yours, and we desperately need more men.”
Akira let Sen have time to think. He suspected Sen had guessed Akira’s purpose before the visit, but these weren’t decisions to be made lightly. While he waited, he poured them each some more tea. Technically, it was rude for the guest to pour tea for the host, but Sen understood the gesture for what it was, a simple kindness. He sipped softly at his tea while he looked out on the snow-covered landscape outside. When Sen spoke, his voice was soft, as if he feared that if he spoke too loudly the fragile peace that existed would be torn apart.