by Travis Bughi
“I didn’t know the woman would betray us,” she replied, voice just above a whisper, “and now you’re free to pillage Lucifan.”
“Takeo told you about that, did he? What am I saying? Of course he would. But yes, Lucifan will burn. Such a large city, too, I expect they’ll see the orange glow all the way in Savara and feel the heat in Angor. To many, it will be seen as a tragedy, but when I have the history recorded, it will be written as a glorious victory. I almost wish you could survive long enough to see it.”
“Are you going to kill everyone?” she asked.
Her voice sounded so frail. What had happened to her strength? Hadn’t Drowin said she was a woman with spirit?
He shook his head. “No, no, some will escape. The city has no walls, so I suspect many will flee before they can be killed. Are you crying? You can’t be serious. All the lives you’ve taken, and you snivel over people you’ve never met? How many of my men did you kill out there? Just now, without a thought?”
I don’t know, and I never want to.
“I’m not crying,” she said, hoping it was true, though she felt tears well in her eyes.
“Stop before you lose my respect. This must be done. Surely you can see that? The more who survive, the sooner the city will be rebuilt. It will take some time, but I intend to blockade the harbor, as well, and divert as much merchandise as I can to Juatwa. If it’s not enough, and the city recovers, a second sacking will happen, but I doubt that’ll be necessary. After I’ve crushed Lucifan, I suspect it will only be a matter of time before vikings and pirates follow my lead and pillage what remains. The city is done for. I’m simply delivering it a swift death. Which brings me to my next question: how were things in Lucifan when you left? Did you kill Count Drowin?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good to hear. Is the Knights’ Order in charge, then?”
She nodded.
“Even better. Status quos are often the most blind. Who heads it?”
“Sir Mark O’Conner.”
Katsu froze again and widened his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder to the sennin, noting that the ancient thing did not move.
“Sir Mark?” Katsu asked again. “You left him in charge of Lucifan?”
He began to chuckle, and then laugh, and Emily bit her lip.
“We didn’t know he was a traitor at the time,” she said. “Drowin turned him into a vampire with the intention of leaving him in sunlight, so we thought O’Conner was being forced.”
“So you know the truth of it now, then? That without O’Conner’s help, we could never have killed the angels so easily?”
“Takeo told me,” Emily replied. “After I killed you, I was going to return to Lucifan and finish what Drowin started.”
“Well then, you may thank me now and rest assured that it will be done. After I’ve burnt Lucifan to the ground, there will be no place on the Great Plains for Sir Mark to hide. The sun will find him, even if you’re not there to see it.”
Emily felt numb. Her limbs seemed to belong to someone else. She could feel their presence, but could not connect them to herself. Her hands and feet were far away, and her lips tingled. The world grew distant with the sound of her inner despair bearing down on her so heavily that she barely heard Katsu’s next question.
“Now, listen closely to me, for this is the most important question,” he said. “I’m sure you’re aware that my entire assault on Lucifan depends on the colossi not coming to its rescue. So, tell me, were the colossi . . . dead, so to speak, when you left Lucifan?”
Her numbness was obliterated as a flash of sweat and heat passed through her body. My colossus, she thought. Her eyes snapped to the sennin in the corner, and her heart was racing. I can’t lie, she thought. He’ll know if I lie. Or was the sennin just a bluff? She’d never heard of them before, so maybe Katsu was trying to take advantage of her ignorance. That seemed unlikely to her, but it could be worth a try.
But then a desperate thought came to her mind. She could die, but her last thought could be to tell the colossus to protect Lucifan! The day could still be saved, even in her death, and Quartus would not have failed in his choice. It was a martyr’s action, but she could see no other way out of this pit of darkness.
“Yes,” she said as calmly as she could.
The sennin tapped its cane on the rug, making a soft thud that could only just be heard over the sound of breathing. However, it might as well have rung a gong for all the reaction it had. Katsu’s body went stiff, and the guards went rigid, as well. Emily’s racing heart doubled its speed.
“The colossi were moving?” he asked.
The sennin tapped his cane. Emily suppressed a gasp. How does it know?
“Not the colossi or not moving?” Katsu turned on the sennin. “Which is the lie? Damn it! Emily, tell me what you know. Speak!”
“The colossi weren’t moving when I left, I swear!” she said.
“But they are now?” he pressed. “Don’t hold back. You do, and Takeo loses his head. We had a deal.”
“Just . . . just one,” she stammered.
“How?” he asked. “Does the angel control it? That one that escaped?”
There’s no way out of this, she realized. He’s just going to keep asking questions until I tell him the truth.
“No,” she said.
“Who, then?” he asked. “Do you know?”
She was breathing heavily. Her hands came up and pressed against her eyes. Anymore and they would know, but any less and Takeo would die. She couldn’t handle that. She couldn’t let that happen. Not even with all of Lucifan’s lives on the line could she let Takeo die.
“ME!” she shouted. “I control the colossus!”
The sennin stayed still, and Katsu’s jaw went limp. She could not be sure, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the guards shift in their positions.
“And where is the colossus now?” he asked.
She looked him dead in the eye and said, “It’s coming here.”
Chapter 29
For reasons beyond Emily’s understanding, her head was not immediately lopped off. She was questioned and forced to admit that the colossus was a good half a year or more away on the other side of the world, and afterwards, the guards were commanded to drag her from the tent. She was placed on her knees by Takeo, and they were both gagged. Takeo glanced at her with a mixture of relief and apprehension until they were positioned back-to-back. The rest of the day went horribly slow. Emily’s only view as the sun slowly descended was the graveyard that had once been a battlefield.
Katsu’s army did little for Lord Jiro’s dead. The defeated shogun’s army was picked over for armor, weapons, and goods, and their bodies were piled haphazardly in several places. There were so many dead that the stacks of corpses looked like gargantuan hay bales after harvest.
For Katsu’s dead, a slightly better fate awaited them. Their bodies were lined up into rows, fully clothed, and a few words were said over them. Those who lived walked by the dead, counting and counting again, and Emily wondered if they were double checking each other or if there were so many bodies that they’d lost count and had to start over.
Emily had anticipated that the army would make camp for the night, but she was wrong. As the sun fell, the living packed up, formed a column, and marched east across the plains toward the coming shadows. Emily and Takeo were forced into a line along with a few other prisoners and shackled with just enough chain to allow them to walk. Their line was pulled by a komainu, and they had the option of either walking on their own or being dragged by the strong beast.
When the shackles went around her ankles, her old wounds itched, and memories from Savara flooded her mind. As sad as she was, the clink of iron as she walked made her heart sink further.
They were made to march through the night, following soldiers who carried torches to guide them. Katsu had told her that half his army was dead, but even so, an endless sea of warriors trampled the ground. The column slacked as
they marched, and all around her, Emily saw tired eyes that blinked too long and heads that bobbed as they traveled. None had been given the time to remove their armor or wipe the blood from their clothes, and the whole lot of them stank like pirates. The hair on Emily’s arm began to tug at her skin when the dried komainu blood started to crack. That was not as horrid as it seemed, though, because that discomfort combined with the shackles eating into her skin and the thunder of rattling armor, kept her from passing out. The battle had taken more out of her than she had realized.
They were allowed to rest when the first light touched the distant horizon, and Emily found the gag over her mouth disturbed her sleep no more than the grass that tickled her face. She tried to crawl close to Takeo and touch his ankle, but the moment she did, a soldier delivered a swift kick to her side.
“Keep your distance,” he warned.
If she dreamed, she did not remember it. When she awoke, it was to another kick to her side, and the sun was high above her. She was the only prisoner they roused, though, and they unshackled her and brought her before Lord Katsu.
A canopy had been erected this time instead of a full tent, and the shogun, who seemed well rested, was enjoying a cup of warm tea as Emily approached. He leveled a harsh gaze as she was thrust to her knees before him.
“I should kill you,” he said after a long pause.
Emily glanced at the motionless sennin seated behind him and said nothing.
“Drowin made the mistake of keeping you alive,” Katsu continued, “and he was an immortal vampire.”
The shogun traced his moustache with his fingers, and Emily looked at the ground. The truth was that she agreed with him. She was too dangerous to be kept alive, and she’d kill him the first chance she got.
“You might find this surprising,” he said, “but I considered the idea of offering you a place at my side. When we left Lucifan, and my wife saw you on the docks, I knew then that you were no ordinary human. We left you beaten and broken, surrounded by foes, and yet you rose triumphant. My own wife cut you with a poison that kills angels and vampires alike, and yet you are here, living and breathing. And now you’ve inherited control over a colossus, a stone statue big enough to strangle a dragon with its bare hands. There is not a single person, place, or thing you could not conquer. It seems that, like me, you were made better than those around you, destined for greatness if you would only seek it. And you are my enemy. I should kill you.”
Silence, again, was broken only by the wind that blew comfortably over them. The grass at Emily’s knees caressed her softly, and it would have been pleasant had she been capable of feeling anything at all.
“So why won’t you?” she asked.
“My wife would say that it is because I’m a fool,” he said, “but the truth is that I am merely ambitious. This power you have, you inherited it from one of the angels, didn’t you? This tells me that it is something that can be passed, and if it can be passed, then it can be taken. I intend to take this power from you and, with it, seize the world as my own.”
Never, her mind whispered, but she said nothing aloud. The sennin would not tap his cane, and Katsu would know that he stood no chance of taking it from her. If a jinni could not conquer her, then neither would a common man. She would never break, and every day she resisted him would bring the colossus one step closer to her rescue.
“Speaking of your wife,” Emily said, “how will you stop her from killing me while I’m in your care?”
“She’ll obey me,” Katsu said and waved the thought aside. “She loves power more than she hates you, and all her power comes from my authority. That is why she is in my fortress rather than with my army. Once we had word of you and Takeo here in Juatwa, she wanted to accompany me to the battle. I denied her, though, and sent her to be guarded at the castle. I knew your intention was to kill her, and I had hoped you to be foolhardy enough to try and assassinate her in my own keep. It seems I was wrong about that. You wanted me dead more.”
“I want her dead equally,” Emily replied honestly. “I thought she was with you, and how did you know we were here? We haven’t been in this land long enough for word to travel.”
“The ninjas.” Katsu held up an open palm as if to suggest the answer was obvious. “Who was it now? A Lei Gao, I believe. He sent one of his men to inform me, and he even had the gall to hint that he was also offering you two to the other shogun. I sent a generous offer to have you both killed, but it seems Lord Jiro was willing to pay more. When I heard nothing back, I assumed you two had joined my enemy, and so I had Heliena protected.”
Emily was too crushed to release anything more than a sigh at Lei’s betrayal. Still, the meager remains of her heart broke down further at Katsu’s words. So much for friendship. Lei had been playing them all along.
There was never anyone we could trust, Emily realized. Lei had sold them to the highest bidder, Lord Jiro hired oni to kill villagers, and the Old Woman abandoned two armies to slaughter each other. How could this land look so beautiful and yet be so hideous? Compared to all of this, it was little wonder her mother had abandoned adventure to live life on the Great Plains.
Takeo will be crushed, she thought. The only friend he had was no friend at all.
“You mean you set Heliena up as bait?” Emily said. “You didn’t expect to see us in Lord Jiro’s army?”
Katsu shook his head in reply and said, “And even if I had, I’d have kept her in the fortress anyway. My wife is beautiful and never dull, but she would have wanted to join the fight, and I could not have my men see her so openly challenge me on the eve of battle. She is a fierce one.”
“She’s an evil one,” Emily said. “If she were ever in a position where killing you would give her more power, she’d do it without hesitation.”
The sennin never moved. Katsu glanced at the ancient thing and chuckled.
“You think I don’t know this? You think—” He laughed again, louder this time. “How can it possibly be that you control a colossus? You’re so naive, so young. Such power is wasted on you. This is Juatwa, a reflection of the world’s true nature. All my allies, all people, would kill me and anyone else if it were to their benefit! Loyalty is for the samurai. That is their only duty, and even they fail to keep faith half the time—Takeo being a prime example. I’ll grant that a few of my wives are infatuated with me, but I am not foolish enough to think they would stay if I had no army and no wealth. Heliena is no different, but that does not concern me in the slightest. You can piece together why, can’t you? Come now, don’t let me lose my respect for you.”
“Because you do have your armies and wealth,” Emily muttered.
“That’s right,” the shogun said and nodded. “Your point is, well, pointless.”
“Are you finished with me? I need to catch some more sleep if I’m going to keep marching. You had us push through the night if you’ll remember.”
“Ah, there’s that irksome amazon temper again. I’ll have that whipped out of you once we’ve returned home. We couldn’t stay at the battlefield, of course. The Old Woman might have been lingering in the area with her army, and I was not prepared to face her. Yes, you may go. When we speak next, it will be in my fortress. I’ll introduce you to my torturer then. You’re going to love her.”
Emily was dragged back to the line of prisoners and re-shackled. The iron rubbed and bit into her skin again, nagging at old wounds, but somehow she felt better. It was becoming painful to be in Katsu’s presence and unable to kill him. She had imagined, once or twice, trying to steal a weapon from a guard and then attacking the shogun, but those were nothing more than fleeting thoughts. She was not fast or strong enough for that. Even if she could overpower one guard, the others would cut her down before she could do anything else.
She was not re-gagged, thankfully, and as the guards wandered up and down the line of prisoners, she waited until they were just out of earshot to whisper to Takeo.
“They want my colossus,” she said,
“and Lei betrayed us.”
Takeo’s mouth was still stuffed with a gag, but Emily needed no words from him to understand his thoughts. He spoke through his dark eyes, and she saw first the look of fear and understanding followed by a second look of pain and anger. His eyes begged her for hope, and her heart broke anew.
She couldn’t tell him that she had no plan. She could only shake her head as a tear fell down her cheek.
At a little past midday, the army was roused and made to march again. Emily didn’t pay much attention to which direction they were headed. The ground was all she saw.
* * *
Lord Katsu’s fortress loomed like a mountain on the horizon. It jutted straight up toward the sky, perched solidly on a rocky base along Juatwa’s southeastern coast. With clear skies, it came into view the day before they reached it, and that alone made her jaw drop. As they got closer, its delicate beauty and carefully crafted architecture began to take form, a work of art and formidability that made the angels’ tower in Lucifan appear to be a minimalist hunk of stone.
The vast majority of the fortress was made of rock, but there were other materials, as well. Some of the towers were wooden, the doors were solid metal, and some of the shutters looked to be made of cloth. The statues gleamed a mixture of yellow, green, and white, depending on whether they were made from gold, marble, or ivory. Atop each tower was a whittled arch that curved up like a smile, made of darkened wood with carefully etched designs that were nothing more than a blur from a distance. Perhaps most shocking to Emily was that most of the fortress was painted, ranging in color from a royal blue to a harsh red to a humble pink. Images adorned doors, windows, and towers alike, depicting komainu, gashadokuro, samurai, and more. Sometimes just the trim of the towers was painted, highlighting the wooden beams and sections of the fortress that divided rooms and making the architecture stand out even more.