Takeo's Chronicles, page 167
Quiet vibrations rumbled through the dirt beneath Takeo’s feet, sending tiny shivers up his legs to the base of his spine. The trees began to quiver, and a chorus of dull thuds rose up around them. Large figures materialized in the darkness and closed in on them, approaching from all sides at a meandering pace. Takeo saw the outlines of horns and giant clubs before his eyes picked up the color of red skin rising like a tide. Within moments, their little forest oasis become an oni conclave as some dozens of the massive creatures filled the area. It was as if they’d materialized out of the ground. Nothing could be seen beyond them, and right in front of Takeo stood the two he knew best.
Tokhta and Borota only stared back as the ronin made eye contact with him. Takeo gripped his sword.
“By Valhalla,” Nicholas stammered.
He gripped his maul until his knuckles turned white. Kuniko drew her sword slowly and stepped close to Takeo.
“My lord?” she whispered.
“We’re not dead yet,” Takeo replied. “As we’ve already said, Aiguo values nothing more than his own life. He’s still standing within sword strike distance, and these two—”
He paused and nodded to Tokhta and Borota.
“These two would be in the back,” he said. “Standing where they are, I could cut out both their eyes in a flash. No, no, we’re not dead, are we, Aiguo?”
The man bowed to Takeo with neck exposed.
“Wise as always, my lord, yet this was Qadir’s plan,” Aiguo continued. “My task was to find the oni and convince them to eliminate you, by any means necessary. Even with your sword, you could not survive the might of all the oni. In fact, if stories ring true, even one oni can be a stretch for your strength, if given the element of surprise.”
Borota grunted a laugh.
“But there was a problem?” Takeo said. “Something Qadir did not expect.”
“Two things, actually. Although he considered that the oni might not agree to hunting you, he did not expect they would actively seek to join your cause. He also did not expect that due to this, I would defect. I say these things as if they’re past tense, but in truth, they’re still ongoing. Qadir still does not know any of this, but after tonight, he will.”
Takeo glanced around. Oni filled the forest, rows thick, a good two dozen or more of them and their collective bulk weighed the world down. Their weapons were at the ready, awaiting command, yet none seemed ready for blood. They all stared at Takeo, waiting, nervous if he could judge by their vapid, ugly, demented faces. They were all watching him, and Takeo suddenly remembered the short conversation he’d had with Borota not so long ago.
Then Takeo smirked. Then he laughed. Then he stopped for a half second, looked up at Tokhta and laughed louder.
The oni looked sullen.
“What’s so funny?” Borota grumbled.
“You idiots won’t take no for answer,” Takeo said, and laughed again. “I see what happened now. You did try to follow Qadir’s orders and have the oni kill me, didn’t you, Aiguo? Yet they turned you down. When that happened, you realized the final, critical point in Qadir’s plan would crumble, and I’d still be on the loose, looking to hunt you down. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you know I’ll win.
“But as to the question, what’s so funny is seeing all these oni so powerless before me. Is there really no one else for you? I’ve already flung your offer to the ground once and spit on it, yet you can’t kill me. Pathetic. Am I your only option?”
Dozens of hideous, red faces twisted into even more gruesome displays of ire at Takeo’s words. As for Kuniko, she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath to steady herself. Nicholas twisted his hammer in his hands.
“Eh, maybe you don’t need to antagonize them,” the viking whispered. “I was hoping for a more dramatic, public death, you know? And not so pointless.”
Tokhta let one eyelid flinch his displeasure before he replied.
“It’s complicated. There are more battles than the ones on this plane of existence, and we need a champion to face off against theirs. We also need a horde of recruits, reaped from this world. You are not our only option, Takeo Karaoshi, but you are our best. From what Borota tells me, you ended that first conversation with him prematurely. You never heard our offer.”
“I didn’t need to. The answer was—and still is—no.”
“We’ll give you the Nguyen keep in an hour’s time without a single human casualty, on your end.”
Takeo froze. The sarcastic grin staining his face drained away. He met Tokhta’s gaze, but neither shied away. A long moment drew out before Takeo could summon the words to reply.
“You’re serious. In an assault? You must be bluffing or joking because, immortal or not, those defenses are some of the best ever devised by man. Between boulders, ballistae, and a hail of arrows, you’ll be lucky if only half of you are eviscerated. Plus, the gates. They’re stronger than your clubs.”
Tokhta grinned.
“I am not bluffing,” he said. “It’s high time the world of humans saw what the oni are capable of. You most of all, for then you’ll know we were worth the trade.”
Before the consequences could play out in Takeo’s mind, the benefits rolled in first. Taking the Nguyen throne in an hour? Absurd! Yet what sort of message would that send? To have Qadir and Xianliang Nguyen’s heads on a platter would eliminate countless issues. It wouldn’t matter what Qadir has accomplished thus far, or what else he and the ninjas had planned, if he was dead. And with the Nguyen throne taken so swiftly, so suddenly, Takeo could easily pressure the remaining brothers to give up, or at least get a few soldiers on the inside to turn traitor and support the true Nguyen heir, Oiu. After that, the war for Juatwa would be over, in the blink of an eye. Finally, all power could be concentrated, violence monopolized, and this huge engine of destruction set to a higher purpose. The war for the world could begin.
It was enough to make Takeo’s mouth water.
“A tempting offer, am I right, my lord?” Aiguo said, grinning.
Nicholas grunted.
“The coward is talking again,” the viking said. “His voice has magical power that makes my fist want to connect with his mouth.”
“That doesn’t make him wrong,” Takeo replied.
“What?” Nicholas balked. “Wait, wait, wait. I thought you said we were done with these fiends. We don’t need them. They’re a plague on mankind. You said that!”
“Swords are a plague on mankind, and fire, and floods. But if harnessed and controlled, they become tools instead, powerful tools.”
“You’re seriously considering buying something you’ll eventually have anyway? You haven’t even heard the cost.”
“You should watch your tongue when speaking to our lord, foreigner,” Kuniko snapped at him.
“Ah, ah,” Takeo replied, cutting in before tempers heated further. “The foreigner has a point. There’s always a catch. What is it, Tokhta? What would this cost me? I’m guessing you’d need more than a handshake.”
Tokhta reared up to twist his neck until his bones made a sickening pop. He relaxed quite a bit afterwards, enjoying the turn in the conversation.
“Nothing powerful can be achieved without sacrifice,” the oni said. “And unfortunately for you, your soul is already committed.”
Tokhta’s eyes dropped to the handle of Takeo’s sword, the black handle sticking out of the sheath, hardly visible in the darkness. Takeo’s hand had drifted away from it, but he gripped it again at the oni’s gaze.
The move was equal parts instinctive, protective, and determined.
“That’s out of the question,” he said in a low voice. “Name another price.”
“There is none,” Tokhta answered. “When one dies, they leave everything behind but their soul, so therefore you carry nothing else of value to us. And unfortunately, you cannot give to us what you’ve already traded to another. The deal with the jinni must be broken.”
Tokhta’s hand moved a hair towards Takeo, towards his sword, and Takeo stepped back and ripped the blade free. The sword seethed with heat, setting the air about it trembling.
Takeo’s dark eyes went wild, and Tokhta’s hand drifted back into place.
“That would be a mistake,” Takeo said through clenched teeth.
A tense moment passed as the rows of oni bristled at the threat. For a mere mortal, a human, to threaten an oni was difficult to witness. Yet one by one they remembered whom—or perhaps what—they were dealing with, and none moved a muscle.
Nicholas grinned.
“Yeah, that’s more like it,” the viking shouted. “Piss off, you red orcs. Remember whom you’re up against, and why your kind skulks in the shadows.”
“My lord,” Aiguo piped up, raising a finger. “Please, may I remind you that Qadir’s other plans are still in motion. You need this alliance.”
Takeo kept his gaze on Tokhta, neither creature so much as blinking. When it was clear that Tokhta wasn’t going to move again, Takeo sheathed his sword, slowly, so that the metal scraped against the treantwood and clicked into place.
“We’ll see about that,” Takeo said.
He strode forward, and the oni parted for him. Their towering bulk flanked his procession like the red walls of a palace. Nicholas and Kuniko, in his wake, looked more than a tad relieved to be leaving alive.
“Aiguo,” Takeo called over his shoulder.
“My lord?” he answered, then realized his mistake and sprinted to catch up. “My apologies, my lord. I meant no offense. That will never happen again, I promise.”
“See that it doesn’t,” Takeo said. “I can't believe I'm saying this, but you could be still be useful to me. You spent a lot of time with Qadir, so you'll know him best. I need him dead, and without the help of a bunch of demons. You and I have an agreement now. You make yourself more useful alive than dead, and I’ll withhold my strong impulse to disembowel you. My position is subject to change by the hour, so try not to disappoint me.”
“A most fruitful bargain, my lord,” Aiguo replied, bowing as he walked.
“Takeo! I’ll be here when you change your mind,” Tokhta called out, though Takeo didn't stop. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
Chapter 13
Darkness ruled by the time Takeo returned to his tent, along with a slight chill on the wind. In this far northern end of Juatwa, where the Khaz Mal Mountains began, the heat did not stay in the air after the sun went down. An involuntary shiver went up Kuniko’s spine, but neither Takeo nor Nicholas seemed to notice.
“Your orders, my lord?” Kuniko spoke up.
Takeo paused outside his tent. The guards froze, too, as they pulled back the folds to open the way for him.
“You know I have a plan, then?” he asked.
Kuniko tried and failed to suppress a grin. She did her best to be as calm, collected, and unreadable as her lord, but her enthusiastic youth shined through at times, especially when he favored her with informality.
“There is a way,” he said to all of them as much as to her. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe I can’t bring this fortress down, or even the others, but that doesn’t mean we’re hopeless. I win if Qadir loses, and he loses if he dies. And so, Aiguo, your usefulness is about to be tested. That fortress has secret ways in and out, as every fortress does. Tell me that you used one to get here.”
“Most assuredly, my lord,” Aiguo responded, “but Qadir is no fool. He’ll have collapsed the tunnel by now lest I am discovered or captured. It was always assumed that I could only return victorious.”
“But you’re no fool either. You wouldn’t have spent all that time in the Nguyen fortress without discovering other passages and keeping that information private so that you’d have your own path of escape.”
“My lord is not wrong,” Aiguo went on, “but I should warn you that I never got the chance to test these passages. I’m only familiar with their ability to get me out. I never contemplated using them to get back in.”
“No, of course not. That would reveal your knowledge of them. But we only need one to work. If I can get in and kill one, just Qadir, I might be able to turn this thing around. It won’t matter what that rakshasa has planned if he’s dead. The brothers will fall without their master tactician guiding their every move.”
“Why not take Emy, too?” Gavin’s voice echoed out from within the tent.
Everyone startled, even Takeo, and whirled about to see the handsome knight exit the tent with Emy in her true form. It hadn’t been long since Takeo had seen them last, yet so much had happened that it felt like an age. A flash of sweat went down his spine, along with some annoyance at Gavin’s question.
“You know why,” Takeo replied.
Which was true. It’d take an outright dunce to think Takeo would allow Emy to go anywhere near Qadir while they were both alive. Surely asking such a question was only for show, but Takeo couldn’t fathom the point. He decided to ignore it.
“Will you at least tell me what he is doing here?” Gavin asked, nodding at Aiguo. “Took me a while to recognize him, but now that I do, I’m even more baffled than before.”
“Surprised to see him alive?” Nicholas commented.
“Why should you be?” Takeo cut in, still directing his attention at Gavin. “You’re the one who made me spare him last we met.”
“It’s a far cry between sparing someone and actively working with them,” the knight replied, arms folded across his wide chest. “Don’t you hold this man personally responsible for what happened to Emily? What in the world is going on? I don’t like the look of this.”
“It’s as we feared,” Emy spoke up, eyes going wide. “Qadir’s trap, whatever it is—it’s gone off.”
Takeo’s dark eyes fell on her for the first time since she appeared, and she looked away. He kept his gaze on her, respecting yet hating her sharp, inquisitive mind. The fact that she could put the truth together so easily sent a chill up his spine. If she could think that fast, one could only imagine what Qadir was doing up there, wondering why news of Takeo's death hadn’t arrived yet. Not for the first time, Takeo contemplated what a threat their kind was to the human race.
“The oni offered me their allegiance, again,” Takeo said to Gavin. “I turned them down, again. Aiguo, sensing my inevitability, has done what he does best and turned on Qadir.”
“My lord cuts equally true with sword and words,” Aiguo added, bowing.
“Idiot,” Gavin whispered and shook his head. “But I’m not going to lecture you. It seems like every time I tell you not to do something, you just dig in deeper, so fine, keep him—this man you claim does nothing but stab people in the back. I’m done giving you sound advice. At least tell me what Qadir’s trap was. Maybe then, I can sleep peacefully tonight.”
Takeo clenched his jaw and cast his gaze to the ground. Gavin sucked in a breath.
“Wait, you don’t know?” he said.
“I’m afraid even I don’t know,” Aiguo answered. “Qadir insisted on absolute secrecy on the third phase of his plans. He only dealt with the ninjas directly, though that information alone should give you some direction.”
“But as to whom the target is, or the timing, I don’t know,” Takeo confessed.
Gavin swore and ran both hands through his golden hair. Takeo gripped his sword, letting the fire burn away the shame he felt at admitting his position.
Emy cleared her throat, drawing attention.
“If there are ninjas involved, I think I know where one attack will be,” she said.
Takeo glared at her.
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I spend a lot time with you,” Emy replied, calmly. “You and those around you. I recognize people by both sight and smell, and I know for a fact that I have never smelled either of these two before tonight.”
Casually, her hand drifted left and right, indicating the two guards on either side of her, who still held the tent’s entrance open.
Everyone went quiet, shock sweeping all but the rakshasa. The guards—ninjas—shared one glance before looking at Takeo.
Then everyone reached for weapons.
Takeo drew first, but the ninjas weren’t far behind. They had small, thin knives that Takeo immediately recognized as the specialized throwing weapons called kunai, perfect for killing from a short range. The assassins drew and attacked in the same motion, but Takeo was already a blur to the human eye as he dashed forward. Bathed in jinni power, he darted past the airborne knives and ripped his sword across the ninja closest to Gavin. The blow sliced the man open and painted the tent red, the attack so ferocious that not even a scream escaped before the man died.
Not a heartbeat later, Takeo charged the next ninja, who reached into his clothes for a second kunai but never found the weapon. Takeo leapt into the air and struck with his knee against the soft tissue of the ninja’s nose, one of the few parts not protected by laminar armor. Blood spewed into the air, trailing the ninja as he flew back and crashed to the ground.
Takeo was on him again before anyone could gasp for air, pinning the man’s throwing arm to the ground with a foot and placing his katana at the man’s throat.
“Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. I suppose it’s too much to hope that you know anything of value,” Takeo said. “Just tell me what idiot sends only two ninjas to kill me?”
The assassin coughed, spraying blood up the length of the blade at his throat. Then, through the pain of his crushed nose, he smiled.
“What idiot always assumes that he’s the target?” the ninja asked.
“Takeo,” Nicholas called out. “Takeo, look!”
