Takeo's Chronicles, page 170
Oni hands reached up as high as the wall and grabbed screaming, crying men, who were then flung carelessly into the mountain air or otherwise decapitated in a single, bloodthirsty bite. The doors, so carefully barricaded with iron, locks, and bars were wrenched apart by a level of strength they were never intended to endure.
The second gate collapsed. The oni charged on. Takeo continued his calm walk up the mountainside. Below, the Hanu army finally understood what was happening, and a great cheer rose from the ground, followed by a horn to join the battle. A sea of red troops began to flood up the pathway in Takeo’s wake.
The next gate fared better. The journey up the mountain took time, even at the relentless pace the oni set, and all that time meant countless projectiles and defenses could be utilized. Two oni went down to arrows, the combined volleys of tiny shafts so covered their carcasses that one could barely see red skin beneath the brown wood and black blood oozing out from countless holes. Three more oni were taken down by ballistae, though each one took two or more direct hits to bring down. A narrowed part of the path had been rigged to collapse, taking one oni with it, and would have stopped a human assault in its tracks. The surviving oni merely leapt the gap in massive bounds and continued their rampage.
The third gate was smashed to pieces. Not a single defending soldier was spared.
Only the fortress remained now. Just one more wall, one more set of doors, and the famous Nguyen keep would crumble. The defenders saved their best defense for last.
Before the path could widen, it narrowed at one final part between two rock walls. As the oni charged through the slot, a hidden boulder was released—hewed smooth as a child’s ball and large as a komainu. It hit the sloped ground and rolled toward the gap, picking up momentum with its immense weight. It struck one of the two rock walls and ricocheted off, spitting dust and pebbles as it tumbled toward the oni.
They were trapped. Nowhere to run. Had they been human, this would have been a death sentence.
The oni horde roared and charged the boulder, striking and piling into it with one body after another. The lead oni was crushed, its foot catching under the boulder before the creature got rolled over. The sound of its bones snapping in quick succession rose higher than its own screams. Yet the boulder slowed as it mounted this mound of flesh, and the rest of the oni put up enough resistance to bring the boulder to a stop.
“Push!” roared Tokhta from the back.
The oni heaved, and with their combined weight and strength, began to make headway again. The Nguyen fortress was a bedlam of horns and shouts as the defenders loosed every arrow and ballista round in their arsenal, but it was all for nothing. The boulder, once their greatest and most secret weapon, became their downfall. The mass of stone shielded the oni as they pushed it up the hill, spears and arrows deflecting off its massive girth like feathers thrown against armor. The oni chanted, pushing and ramming until the boulder was rolling upwards faster than it had fallen in the first place. They rolled it all the way up to the fortress walls, letting the rock’s momentum crash itself into the heavy, barred gates.
The walls here were twice as tall and thick as those of the previous three barriers, and the gate was far sturdier. The boulder bounced off without so much as scratching it. The defenders’ weapons finally had a clear line of sight, but the oni did not stand around to get shot at. The first few hit the wall and stood against the stone, while the second line climbed onto their fellows. The reach of the oni doubled, and the walls were breached in seconds. The oni kept switching and climbing one another until only one was left below, and then that one was hauled up by grabbing the hanging weapons of his fellows.
Set loose inside the fortress, the remaining oni set to work, using the narrowed walls and corridors to prevent the numerically superior defenders from flanking them. Carnage ensued, and the Nguyen fortress was filled with the sounds of human screams, snapping bones, and oni laughter.
By the time Takeo’s strolling pace brought him to the mountain’s crest, the gate was open, and the fortress was his.
Chapter 15
No one was spared.
As Tokhta pointed out, half the oni had died to this attack, which meant that in order for them to be revived, their killers either had to die or kill someone else of great importance. As the second option was out of the question, only the first was reasonable. As Tokhta explained, since it was impossible to know which human delivered the killing the blow to an oni, it would be prudent to slay all the humans just to be sure. That way, the oni army could be revived to full strength, ready to serve their newfound lord.
Takeo agreed.
Though, he did have his own motivations. Firstly, he had to send a message. No quarter given would let his enemies know that they chose the wrong side. His reputation as ruthless and unstoppable was under siege, and this was exactly the type of response needed to stamp out the threat. He still had two more fortresses to fell, so he let it be known that Lord Takeo Karaoshi did not capture the Nguyen throne; he crushed it.
Secondly, more importantly, this entire fortress had sealed its fate when it decided to harbor a rakshasa. Crippled as Qadir was, Takeo would never chance that shape-shifting monstrosity escaping. In every humanoid-shaped creature, Takeo saw a potential disguise for the rakshasa, so every soul needed to be put to the sword. Mercy could not be shown to a foe like this.
And thirdly, just as necessary, Lord Xianliang Nguyen could not be allowed to escape. Like any daimyo, he would have an escape tunnel as a last resort. Such plans were difficult to pull off, as they required the assaulting forces to be delayed, picking over the prisoners, while giving the fleeing lord or lady—and their family—time to escape. Takeo would avoid this issue by taking no prisoners, rushing through the stone hallways and laying everyone to waste. In the rapidity of the oni charge, it was almost certain Xianliang would be captured or killed. If the former, then he could be paraded out into the courtyard for a public execution at Takeo’s hands. His body would be dismembered and sent to all the corners of Juatwa, informing friend and foe alike that fate was on Takeo’s side.
Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan.
In Kuniko’s absence, the post victory slaughter took a fractured path to completion. Although the oni knew what to do, they were too large to fit into some of the places inside the fortress itself, so normal human soldiers had to be used. Those half-dozen or so commanders who normally reported directly to Kuniko now struggled to get their orders from Takeo, not having worked directly with their lord in some time. Their general ordered everyone be killed, but they delayed as they argued among themselves who was going to take which section of the fortress until Takeo snapped and began ordering individual soldiers regardless of rank, order, or regiment. Inefficient though it was, the task was finally carried out, minus some incomprehensible questioning of whether Takeo truly meant he wanted to kill every single person.
Yes. Yes, he did. And the next person to ask that question would be added to the list.
The scene grew violent between the screams and blood, oni bodies bursting from corpses, and fires starting about the place. Takeo’s eyes narrowed but his stance remained firm as his army set about the gruesome but necessary task.
All the while, he waited for news of the rakshasa and the daimyo.
His soldiers found Xianliang first, or rather, what was left of him. The quick verbal report stated the lord was a bloody, mangled mess upon the Nguyen throne, hardly discernible. Interestingly, a lone man was chained to the foot of the throne. He’d given his name, but somehow the soldier had forgotten it already. In fact, he couldn’t even recall what the man looked like.
Takeo went there immediately.
Aiguo Mein was that man, and he lay a shadow of his former self, chained at the ankle to the stone floor beneath the Nguyen throne. He was naked save for a shred of Xianliang’s torn kimono, which he used to cover his most vulnerable parts. On his hands and knees, Aiguo shook in tiny, horrified movements, his skin turning stark pale, save for those parts of him that were covered in blood.
None of it was his, though.
Aiguo’s body was completely untouched except for a bruise at the wrist and another at his ankle, where the shackle clamped down mercilessly. The blood that covered Aiguo from head to toe also covered the Nguyen throne, the floor around it, the walls that were close by, and even bits of the ceiling.
The scene was a nightmare to look at. Pools of blood still lay untouched, save for the severed body parts that filled them. Fingers, toes, a chunk of forearm here, an ear there, a quartered chest here—the intent was clear. Xianliang had been butchered to a point beyond recognition. In fact, the only reason the body had been identified at all was because someone had taken the time to collect the mutilated parts of the lord’s face and piece them back together on the throne. What was left of the head now looked like a gruesome patchwork of blood and bones, and Takeo had to admit even he couldn’t be sure what remained was Xianliang.
The throne was eerily quiet as Takeo and a handful of his soldiers surveyed the scene.
“My, my lord,” Aiguo stuttered.
Takeo held up one finger, directing Aiguo to silence. He was obeyed. Takeo then reached his arm back towards one of his soldiers, and the intent was understood. A katana passed into Takeo’s hand.
“Well now,” Takeo said, taking a step forward. “What does this look like? Let me guess. You went scampering back to Qadir, hoping he’d take you back. Instead, he sees the writing on the wall, slaughters Xianliang, and leaves you behind. What is this? A peace offering? Does he hope that by abandoning the fight, killing Xianliang, and leaving you here for me, that I’ll somehow let him go? How did he get out of here anyway? I cut off his limbs for a reason.”
A muffled cry escaped Aiguo’s lips. His quivering intensified, and he could not find the strength to look up from the bloody stone floor.
“I, I,” Aiguo started, stopping several times, then summoned the courage to speak normally. “I wish that were the truth, my lord. I really, really do.”
“The truth hardly matters at this point,” Takeo went on. “It is as you predicted: I have won. All that’s left now is to sweep up the remnants. Seiji will be easy to slaughter now in that lone tower of his. In-Su may still be a problem in the Ngo fortress on that plateau, but I’ll crack that place open soon enough. I’ll find Qadir, wherever he went, and the ninjas will be dealt with eventually. As for you and I, we had a deal, remember? You were to make yourself useful to me, and I was to spare your life. I must say I’m not surprised to find you’ve broken our agreement so soon.”
Aiguo whimpered and clasped his hands to beg.
“Please, my lord, please! You have to believe me, that’s exactly why I’m here. I was trying to obey you, honestly. I was tricked, I swear. It was all a trick!”
Takeo cocked his head until the bones in his neck snapped. The pleasure it gave him to know that he would finally kill this sniveling, cowardly creature was immense. His feet made tiny splashes as he paced through the pools of blood.
“It was her, my lord,” Aiguo pleaded. “The rakshasa that you call Emy, she tricked me. She came to me, disguised as you, and demanded I take her inside the Nguyen fortress. That’s exactly what you had ordered me to do before Kuniko had been attacked. I thought I was obeying you! She’s the one you should be after. She helped Qadir escape. You’ve got to believe me.”
Takeo scoffed and did not stop until he stood over Aiguo’s huddled body.
“You could be telling the truth,” Takeo said. “If you are, I’ll find and deal with her eventually. However, you could be lying. Either way, I fail to see why you should be spared—you, the supposed rakshasa expert, who couldn’t even see through one simple disguise.”
“My lord, it had to be you,” Aiguo replied, crying now. “She had your sword.”
Takeo heart skipped a beat. Total silence reigned for several moments before Takeo shook his head.
“No, that’s impossible. You lie. Either that or you were mistaken.”
“I thought so, too, at first. I did, please believe me that I did. I didn’t question it when she came to me, looking like you, carrying that black sheath. She mimicked you with such perfection, and yet something seemed different. Yet, she had the sword and the mannerisms and that aura. I obeyed and smuggled us inside. I got us to Qadir’s room, requesting a private audience just as I would have done with you, but then she shifted, and everything fell apart. She grabbed my wrist before I could leave—nearly breaking it—and I thought for sure I was dead.”
“The sword, though,” Takeo demanded. “It had to be fake. You lie.”
“My lord, I wish that was so, if only to spare you the truth. I don’t know what happened next. They were too clever to say anything with me around. She and Qadir shared a look, some silent understanding passing between them, and then Emy choked me into unconsciousness. I thought she was killing me, I really did, until I came to in this room, chained to the ground. I had no idea what was going on, and I was too afraid to shout for help. Then I heard battle, the oni shouts, and I realized what you’d done—but I also realized what you’d see when you came in here. I put Xianliang’s face back together the best I could and prayed you’d give me a chance to speak before you cut me down with that sword.
“But here you are, and without it. That blade she carried was real, and I don’t know how or why, but you’ve got to believe me. It explains so much. Xianliang’s head, the cuts . . . the burn marks.”
Takeo’s mind raced, and his eyes surveyed the scene of butchery around him again. He looked at the limbs carefully, and there he saw tiny, near imperceptible burn marks. They were fainter than his own when he attacked with the sword, as if whoever possessed it could swing faster than him, and that made perfect sense to Takeo’s logical yet terrified mind. A rakshasa so empowered would move faster than an empowered human.
Yet even more damning than that was the smell. Takeo hadn’t noticed it at first, but it was clear now. Mixed with the smell of wet blood was a faint trace of smoke and cauterizing flesh.
Takeo’s body went numb.
“No,” he whispered. “No, it’s not possible.”
“My lord, it’s true. She must have stolen it.”
“It’s impossible! I watched that sword get swallowed whole. It doesn't make sense. Those damned oni lied to me. I'll kill them all!” Takeo shrieked before grabbing Aiguo by his hair and yanking his head up. “Look me in the eyes. What happened? What are they planning? How, when? When did she come to you with that sword?”
“My lord, it was shortly after you left,” Aiguo begged, holding back a whimper. “You left your tent without a word, but then found me in secret. Only it was her, not you, and I thought you were being secretive for a reason. That’s why we snuck out of the camp. And I don’t know what they’re planning! They knocked me out. I wish I knew, honestly.”
“You knew Qadir best,” Takeo shouted back. “I need to know, and I need to know now. Where would they go? How could they get free? Wait, it all makes sense now. That’s how Qadir could get away from here. No Nguyen servant would help that rakshasa out without Xianliang. Even if Qadir disguised himself, they’d know it was him with his missing foot, but Emy could help. But why? To help her rakshasa kind and defy me? That must be it, and why am I surprised? I knew this would come. I knew she’d betray me one day, but it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Without my sword, it couldn’t have. Answer me, Aiguo! What’s Qadir’s next move? To go to another fortress? Which one? Ngo?”
“No, no, my lord, please,” Aiguo cried out. “Qadir would know that if you could topple the Nguyen fortress, no place in Juatwa would be safe.”
“And of course, he would know the Nguyen fortress would fall before any other,” Takeo went on, voicing his thoughts out loud. “Emy, that ever-watchful rakshasa, would know what I was going to do. Just as I watched her, so did she watch me, and before anyone else, even me perhaps, she would know I’d take the oni deal. So, she frees Qadir and warns him of everything. Then they kill Xianliang, mutilating him to the point where I can’t use his head to counter the ninja blackmail—to delay me—and flee. Emy probably disguised herself as Xianliang to get help from the servants. Damn it.
“But you’re right. They wouldn’t run to another fortress. They’d know they couldn’t hide from me. They must be going off somewhere. I’ll track them down. I’ll close every port city and put a bounty on their heads five times what anyone would offer in Savara. They won’t escape me. I should have killed her sooner. What a fool I was, trying to honor a dead ogre. She did this, though. Not me. I’ll gut her like the animal she is.”
“I’m not sure where they’re headed, my lord, but if you will permit me to suggest, they might not have left the camp yet. It wasn’t that long ago they left me here. There may still be time.”
Takeo eyed Aiguo, inspecting him for integrity. Then he released the man and walked away. As he passed the soldiers, he issued orders.
“Keep this man in chains but clean him up. Finish the purge here until all the oni are back alive. Do not follow me. None of you will be of any help. You won’t know what she looks like, and she’d kill you if you did. Thankfully, that man is right. She couldn’t have gone far, not this quickly.”
Takeo bolted from the fortress, racing down the hill as fast as his legs could carry him. His only saving grace, he hoped, was that Gavin had never spilled the secret about Takeo’s sword immunity. If the knight had ever slipped that information to Emy in confidence, then Qadir would now know, too, and neither foe would let the blade get close enough for him to touch. Surely, they would be out to kill him, and he could only hope they’d try to end his life with the blade. Qadir, after all, would have to use it. Crippled as he was, he’d be mostly useless without that added strength and speed.
