by Billy Miner
“Who would do such an evil thing?” Kawaki asks.
“The emperor.”
“The emperor?” we all ask in chorus.
“Yes. He is the one responsible for our dire circumstances. It started with a higher tax rate. But after a while, it didn’t stay with taxes. He charged us for walking, travelling, eating, growing products, and basically doing anything in life. He placed guards to enforce strict rules on us. And when he saw there was nothing more to gain, he left and all his guards with him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he is doing the same thing right now with another village.”
“Good sir,” I said. “We must stop this dictator from causing more damage. We will help you. Do you have a map, so you can show us where to find him?”
3rd Notes: The Emperor’s Treasure
After instructions from the old man and a sleepover at an inn, we left the mountain town and now we are approaching the Great White City, the location where, according to the old geezer, the emperor keeps his treasure room. He has a huge room completely filled with gold, jewels, and riches, all stolen from the humble inhabitants of the Minerslands. His troops have invaded many villages and brought everything they pillaged into a big pile underneath the palace.
This is where we’re going and this is our goal: To retrieve the treasures that rightfully belong to the population. How we are going to do it, is not sure. But the first step is to get there.
The Great White City is a magnificent place, adorned with majestic structures and monuments which please the eyes. The emperor has used some of his riches to build an impressive place to show off the splendor of his realm. Not much of it ends up in the hands of the people though, and the contrast between the rich and poor in the city, which we observe as we walk through the streets, is staggering and sickening at the same time.
“Tonight we strike,” I tell the others. “Be prepared. For now, we’ll just enjoy the city views and try to find any information about the treasury. Meet here at seven. It will be dark by then.”
“No problem,” Shitoko says. And Kawaki nods.
We separate and explore the city. I go to the front door of the palace while the others inquire about the treasury and attempt to discover any leads to the treasury on the sides of the palace walls.
“Hey, what are you doing here?!” an angry guard shouts pointing at me. In the most innocent manner possible I point at myself and say, “Me? I am just going for a stroll on the big plaza. Nice looking palace by the way.”
“Well, don’t come any closer. This place is top secret. What’s underneath here is none of your business, so back off” the guard says.
“Take it easy, it’s all good,” I say, holding up my hands to calm him down. “I’m leaving already.”
I walk around the city. It’s busy. Nobody dares to come near the palace though. Everyone just walks around it and avoids it completely. Interesting.
Later, I meet my friends at the designated spot.
“Did you find anything?” Kawaki asks.
“No, not really. They’re pretty protective of that palace,” I say. “What about you?”
“Nothing,” Kawaki answers. “But Shitoko found something. Tell him, man.”
“So this is what happened,” he says. “I didn’t see much myself, so I stopped looking around and engaged in some conversation with the locals.”
“And?”
“Well, one of them used to work at the palace as a servant. He confirmed that there is a gigantic treasury underneath it. And this is a secret most people don’t know anything about: There is a hidden passage underneath it. He is willing to guide us there against a small payment. There are no guards, no traps, or anything else that could thwart our plans. So what do you think?”
“How much did he want?”
“Not much, I assure you. We can go talk to him. He may lower his price if we talk him down a little. It’s not like he has much else to do.”
“Perfect. Let’s go,” I say.
4th Notes: Competition
We wait until it is dark. Better to remain unseen than to get spotted by the corrupt emperor’s guards. Eventually we arrive at the man’s home Shitoko told us about. He looks weird but old. It’s like he has seen a lot happening in his life. He has a small beard, a tattoo on his arm, and sloppy pants topped with a grey blouse, opened up and unbuttoned, revealing his chest. He coughs and drinks a sip from his tea.
“Greetings,” he says. “Did you get the message about the secret passage?”
“Yes,” I say, “But we cannot pay you until we get back. We are about to steal treasure from the corrupt emperor and we can give you a share when we confiscate it.”
“Very well,” the man says. “I didn’t expect much. Just watch your back. You never know in that palace. Even within the walls it is heavily guarded, and the emperor has ways to spot spies and thieves easily. Take caution.”
“We will,” I say.
After a short conversation, we follow this local guy to the underground tunnel.
“Do you see the hatch?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“When the architect built this palace, he was angry at the emperor. The emperor had cut his wages and told him he would be sent home without a job after the project. To ensure a steady income, the architect designed a secret underpass leading directly into the treasury, through which he occasionally took some of the emperor’s riches and remained unnoticed.”
“How do you know all this?” Shitoko asks.
“Because he was my father,” the man says. “But I am not going with you. There have been others who arrived at the treasury and got caught. The emperor still doesn’t know how they got there, but he knows there is a leak, a way to get in. That’s why he doubled the guards and keeps his eyes open. I wish you the best, and may you return safely.”
“So that you can get some money as well, right?” Kawaki says with a smirk.
“Of course,” the man says as he walks away laughingly.
We put on our masks and walk towards the hatch. It’s hidden behind a shed, but it was slightly visible when the man pointed it out. It takes a little effort to open it, but with the three of us, we manage to do so within a few seconds.
“Do you have a torch?” Kawaki asks.
“Sure do,” I say and I light up the torch. It’s shallow. We jump down through the opening and find ourselves in a stench we haven’t smelled before.
“Ughh… is this the sewer?” Shitoko asks.
“I don’t know if it is, but if it’s not, then it should be around here somewhere, because this is disgusting,” Kawaki answers.
“Oh well, I don’t care,” I say. “As long as we can get our hands on that treasure, whether it stinks or not.”
We walked through the obscure tunnel and discover a couple turns. Holding the torch, I make sure there aren’t any exits we are missing. If this is a complicated network of corridors, I would want to know about it. Fortunately, there is only one way to go. We see dead rats and broken cardboard boxes on the floor, as well as small pools of gross, brown water and things we don’t even want to know about.
“Wait a minute,” Kawaki says. “What’s that?”
He points at a shiny, glimmering speck in the distance.
“Let’s check it out,” I say, walking up front and holding the torch in front of me.
We come closer and find a piece of gold. I pick it up, brush it off with my hands, and observe the splendor of the coin.
“Wow,” Kawaki says. “Looks awesome!”
Shitoko adds his thoughts, “The architect must have dropped it here when he stole treasure. Maybe he forgot about it.”
“It’s a good sign,” I conclude. “Let’s move on.”
As we move on, we concentrate on our surroundings to possible detect another piece of gold of some sort. After about fifteen minutes, we see a dead end.
“Great. So now what?” Kawaki asks. “There is no door.”
“There must be something around here,”
I say. “It’s not a dead end for nothing. The architect must have come through somehow, so let’s search the place.”
After some time Shitoko says, “What if it’s another hatch?”
We look up. There! A hatch! He is right.
“Let’s open this thing,” I say. “On one… two… THREE!”
Lifting with all our strength, we lift up the hatch. A loud “CLONK” sound echoes through the tunnel. Whoops. A little too loud, I must say. Kawaki sticks his head through the hatch.
“What do you see?” I ask.
“It’s pitch black. Can you hand me the torch?”
I give Kawaki the torch and he lifts himself up into the room the hatch connects to.
“Wow! You have to come see this!” he says.
“Sssshhh…” I whisper. “There may be guards.”
“I don’t think so,” he says. “There’s nobody here.”
“You can never be too careful. Hey, pull us up so we can come see.”
“No problem,” he says as he grabs our arms and helps us get up there.
As soon as we are in the room with him, we glance around and observe a mountain of treasure. Golden coins, vases, statues, and other artifacts are piled up at least twenty feet high as the torch’s light reflects in the mirrors, jewels, gems, and ornaments in between all the gold visible in the treasury room.
Very impressive, but how are we going to haul all that stuff out of here?
“Let’s start with the chest,” I say. “We will fill it up and lower it down. And we will use other boxes and items to fill up the stinking tunnels with the gold and treasures as much as we can. We’ll carry them out afterwards, but first, I want to grab some of this and get out of here, before anyone notices us. I don’t trust this one bit.”
“Sounds like a plan,” the others agree.
No sooner said than done, we are in the process of filling up the tunnel with wealthy things. Nothing seems to bother us for a while, but suddenly, I hear a sound. It’s the sound of coins falling down on the other side of the humongous vault we’re in.
“Give me the torch,” I say. “I think someone else might be there.”
I hold the told in the direction of the sound, but I can’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“Hayaa!”
A ninja comes running out of the dark, jumps up, and kicks me in the face. I fall down and drop the torch. Kawaki immediately attacks the assailant and gets into a fist fight. The two kick and punch and use their best moves to defeat one another. However, they get interrupted by Shitoko, who grabs the ninja’s foot through the hatch and pulls him down.
BANG!
Shitoko punches the ninja in the face.
Knockout.
Shitoko looks up at us with his hands in his side and a confident grin.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “Rub it in. You just got lucky.”
We jump down and join Shitoko in the tunnel.
“Now, let’s see who this cheeky annoyance could be.”
I reach over and pull down the ninja’s mask. I couldn’t believe it. Could this really be true? No, impossible. The ninja is none other than…
MY BROTHER!
“Miroshi, what on earth are you doing here?” I ask.
“I knocked him out, remember?” Shitoko says. “I don’t think he hears you.”
“Very well,” I say, “Get some water from the tunnel. I know it’s disgusting, but it will wake him up.”
Kawaki fetches some water and hands it to me in a golden cup from the treasury. I take the cup and splash the water in my brother’s face.
“Brublebruble,” Miroshi coughs. “What did you do that for? You could have just waited.”
“Why are you here?” I ask.
“I should ask you the same question,” Miroshi says.
“Well, we asked you first. So give your explanation now, or if you wish, we can just punch you again,” I say.
“I am stealing from the emperor of course, which apparently is the same as you are doing,” he says. “I’ve been stealing from here for years, always a little, so it’s not as noticeable. There is so much poverty in the city that I give most of it to the poor.”
“Uhmm… most of it?” I say.
He smirks.
“Yes, I keep a little, just to get by, but not more than I need really.”
“Ah, got it. We are doing the same. We are going to return some of these riches to the mountain villagers.”
“I guess we’re on the same team then,” my brother says.
“Yes, so let’s get these things loaded.”
5th Notes: Trapped
I can hardly believe how much there was. So many pieces of gold, diamonds, jewelry, objects… we are not planning on taking everything. No, just enough to help the people in the mountain village, not more than we can carry.
We haul the goods into chests and strong bags through the tunnel. My brother, Miroshi, is helping us. It’s weird having him here. I thought he lived somewhere else. We haven’t had contact for a long time and I always wondered what he was doing anyway. Interesting to see that he took the same path as I did. It makes sense, with the inequality in the Minerslands, but it’s still a funny coincidence.
Either way, fate has brought us together and we combine efforts to get the treasure to the hatch we came through.
“We’re almost done,” I say. “This is about as much as we can carry. We might come back later.”
Handing each other the bags and chests, we find our way to the surface and are standing outside the palace walls where the secret passage begins. I am quite content about the stuff we stole. It’s for a good cause and now we actually have something to give.
All of a sudden, we hear a voice, “Don’t move a muscle!”
We turn around and see an entire patrol of soldiers come our way. The soldiers are carrying weapons and armor. There must be at least ten or twelve of them. How did they know we’re here? This makes no sense to me.
Then it becomes clear as glass. The man who told us about the tunnel is with them. He’s a snitch! That two-faced ugly-head! He won’t get away with this.
“I see that the corrupt emperor pays you more than we do,” I say.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” he says. “The richest person in the country pays me more than a bunch of inexperienced, common thieves. You probably would have done the same.”
“You’re mistaken,” I say. “Unlike you, I don’t have a black heart. We help the people and divide the wealth.”
“Such self-righteousness,” he says sneeringly. “Guards, seize them!”
We are ninjas, and as such, we are highly skilled and trained in combat. At this moment, we don’t hesitate and pull our weapons. My swords dash through the air, Miroshi’s throws his shurikens as the unsuspecting soldiers, Kawaki throws his knives accurately at the most crucial pressure points of their armor, and Shitoko’s stick bangs a few of them on their foreheads.
Our victory seems secure. Most of the soldiers are painfully lying on the ground. The few who are left shake with fear, as does the snitch who started this fight in the first place. We threaten to come near them and they step back. They’re really scared of us. But our confidence doesn’t last long. Strangely enough, we notice the remaining soldiers and the snitch come at us with a self-assured look on their faces. What is the meaning of this? Did they suddenly take courage?
We turn around and look behind us.
O-oh.
This is why they became so brave: An entire army of soldiers is approaching us from the back, surrounding us entirely. Now what?
“Time to go,” I tell the others. “We cannot win this fight.”
“But what about the treasure?” Kawaki asks.
“Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave it. There is no other way.”
“There!” Shitoko shouts. “The roof! Let’s escape via the rooftops.”
“Good idea,” I say as I start running towards a barrel on the street. Leaping via the barrel and climbi
ng on to the side of a window, we all adroitly lift ourselves on the rooftops, evading the army entirely. They aren’t so agile. Soldiers aren’t trained the same way as ninjas.
We remain in the shadows and come to rest after several blocks away from the scene. I still can’t believe that snitch. What a mean person! Oh well, at least we got away, but it seems like there is nothing else we can do.
6th Notes: The Duel
The next morning, we wake up in the hay in a barn. We were hiding there that night, but the mooing of the cows hasn’t exactly provided me enough sleep. I stretch, blink, and rub my eyes. The others are still asleep.
I decide to take a look outside the barn. It was so dark the previous night that I hadn’t really checked out the environment. I sneak through the barn door and end up on a patch of land with cows, trees, and sheep. It’s good we left the city, or else the guards would have stood a better chance of finding us. Now that we are in the countryside, I wonder what to do next. We escaped and avoided prison, but we also lost all the gold and riches.
A figure emerges from the morning dusk in the distance. It’s a vague silhouette of a man coming towards me. As he approaches the barn, I recognize him.
No, it can’t be!
It’s the snitch!
“You thought I was an old, cripple guy, didn’t you?” he says with an evil smirk on his countenance.
“Well, you thought wrong. That was just a cover-up. I was able to track you down through the things you touched, knocked over, and the footprints in the sand. You ninjas are such amateurs. And now you’re here, far away from the others, with no swords, which you accidentally left in the barn. Poor you.”
“What is your problem?” I asked. “Don’t you have a conscience? Can’t you see what’s going on in the realm?”
“Of course,” he says, still walking towards me. “But do I look like I care? I am getting my fair share from the emperor, and that’s that.”