Takeo's Chronicles, page 172
The knight fought, but then lost the battle against another sob. The dam broke, and he heaved and cried for several moments before regaining enough composure to speak.
“I’m so sorry, Yeira,” he said to himself before looking to Takeo. “We met. After we all watched you kill Krunk, we met. We realized you couldn’t be trusted. It was decided that we would get free, even Emy, especially Emy. We knew that the moment Qadir died, you’d kill her.”
“What? I said I wouldn’t do that. I said I’d let her go.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve said a lot of things! You could have been lying. You could change your mind. None of us were willing to take that risk, not for Krunk. Emy wanted to kill you, oh damn did she want to kill you. I was the only thing that saved you. I told her about the prophecy and that any attempt on your life by anyone but me was fated to fail. Seemed she’d overheard the story before when you told Yeira. So, she did nothing, and we decided to just leave.
“It sounded simple, at first. After what happened at the Phan fortress, we were going to run at the next battle. Nicholas has an old viking friend with a ship moored off the western coast of Juatwa. The plan was to get aboard and sail away. We’d all be free then, and you wouldn’t be able to get to Emy. Things got complicated with Pranav, though. Nicholas really took a liking to the boy, and when you said how you were going to kill him—”
“I said maybe. I said maybe kill—”
“Will you shut up? Don’t you hear yourself? What sort of screwed up mentality do you have to have to think that contemplating killing a child is any better than actually killing one? Huh? You’re called the Dark Lord for a reason, Takeo. Not because you’re a pseudo lord without land or title, but because you’re evil. Once upon a time you told me you were a changed man after seeing the angels die. Well, I think you changed again when you saw Emily die. And you didn’t change for the best.”
Takeo’s jaw dropped while his heart throbbed in his chest.
“Gavin,” Takeo whispered. “How can you say that? What about our dream? We agreed, up on that mountain.”
“Your dream,” Gavin corrected him. “And I did agree to something up there, but not this. And neither did Nicholas. And neither did Krunk, yet he’s the one who died for it, and now Yeira. Oh Yeira. You didn't deserve this. Oh, by the angels, my wife. I loved you so much.”
Several moments passed as Gavin broke down again. He regained composure just enough to finish his story.
“So, we decided if we couldn’t stop you, we could at least make sure that no one else we cared about had to die. That was the plan. That’s how things were supposed to go when I left. With the oni deal still up in the air, we decided it was time to spring the plan. I left to go collect my family. I was supposed to meet Nicholas at the ship. And now . . . and now Yeira’s dead. She’s dead. Oh, by the angels, she’s dead.”
Gavin descended into sobs, covering his face with his remaining hand. Qadir chuckled.
“So sorry,” the rakshasa said, “but it seems your friend didn’t answer the question, and now he’s indisposed. The sword, correct? You wanted to know how I got this remarkable sword that so fills me with fire? Allow me to fill you in.”
Qadir flourished the blade before returning it to Pleiades neck. Takeo met the rakshasa’s gaze, and there he poured all his hate and malice.
“As Emy described it, a miracle occurred. Fate, one could call it. While I sat up in the Nguyen fortress, you struck a deal with the oni. Unbeknownst to any of you, Emy had already decided to try and free me. She felt guilty leaving me to die unaware at your hands, and she felt she had a duty to try and save me, as we’re of a hunted race. She knew you would make that deal with the oni.
“So, there she was, deciding how best to trick my traitorous lackey, Aiguo, when the ground opened up in a show of fire and ice, and out belched this very sword. I know, seems crazy, but that’s what she claimed. I’ll not vouch for what she saw, but here’s the blade, nonetheless. First, she tried to destroy it, but the weapon would not bend or break. So instead she decided to use it. She took the sword with her and came to me.
“Let me say how naive that girl is, honestly. She’s still a cub in some ways. I must thank you for ruining her. If she’d been brought up like a true rakshasa, her mind would have been sharpened and strong. I wouldn’t be here without your ineptitude.
“So, where was I? Ah yes, we met, and I quickly deduced what needed to be done. As I said, I have no intentions of being a crippled refugee, but I convinced her otherwise. I also convinced her I’d be better on my own, and that if she gave the sword to me, it’d give her a chance to get away. Not just her, either, but all your friends, too. If she kept the sword, you might well blame all her pathetic, human friends, and go after them. Meanwhile, if I took the sword, I could be on the run forever, being more well-traveled than her. You’d never see the sword again, or I would otherwise find a way to kill you with it. She believed me.
“So, while she and that viking ran off, I took the sword and hatched my own plan.
“See, I want to watch you suffer before you die, and I knew exactly where to twist the knife best. I came here to torture you with your last loved ones, but it was only later, from this man’s lips, that I would realize that I never stood a chance. To think there was a prophecy from a sennin that one of you would kill the other? And yet you traveled and fought together? Knowing all along that one day things would come to this end? Why? For a rakshasa, it makes sense, but for a human? Stupid. Your species is weak. That’s the only thing that explains it.
“I’ll bet that’s why you wanted to come close to me, isn’t it, Takeo? You know by sennin prophecy that so long as that knight is alive, you’re protected by fate. Someway, somehow, my attack would fail, and you'd survive.
“That’s not how today will end. Today we let fate take its course. Today, right here, right now, we bring this story to an end. You two will fight to the death, and I will watch.”
Qadir’s laughter echoed out across the empty grounds, utterly alone as Takeo and Gavin turned their heads slowly to gaze at one another, their former feelings of regret, shame, hate, and blame, distilling into apprehension and disbelief. Takeo’s calculating mind immediately picked up on Gavin’s most vulnerable parts to attack, and the mere thought caused him to recoil. He backed a step away from Gavin, but the knight did not move.
Gavin steeled himself, resolve filling him in a way that made Takeo’s heart skip. The knight’s gaze darkened.
“Will you let her go?” Gavin asked.
“No, Gavin, no,” Takeo begged. “Don’t listen to him. They’re all liars. If you think you can’t trust me, you definitely can’t trust him. Listen, by his own volition, he already betrayed Emy’s trust.”
“Will you let her go?” Gavin called out, louder.
“Gavin!”
“Let’s set the terms!” Qadir boomed out, his thick, deep rakshasa voice blanketing the scene. “I’m glad to see at least one person is interested and that it’s not Takeo. Fancy that. How glad I am to see you hating this. Here are my terms, Sir Gavin Shaw: I’ll watch you two fight to the death. No weapons. But it would hardly be fair how things are, though, with one opponent missing a hand. Takeo, to level the playing field, I’ll need you to break your wrist. I’d prefer to chop it off, honestly, but I can’t risk you dying or passing out, now can I?
“Whatever the outcome, so long as one of you dies, the child goes free. It means nothing to me, honestly. You have my word.”
Gavin glanced at Qadir before staring at his wife’s corpse, lying in a pool of her own blood. Then he looked to Pleiades, still passed out. Her golden hair was highlighted against her tan skin, and her lips parted slightly as she breathed peacefully against the soft fur of her captor. Gavin held his gaze on his daughter and clenched his teeth. Then he nodded.
“Gavin!” Takeo shouted, taking another step back. “Don’t do this.”
“Damn you, Takeo,” the knight answered, matching his tone. “Don’t tell me what to do. You have no idea. None! You don’t understand what it’s like being a parent. I would gladly die for her. In a heartbeat. I love her with all my heart, and she’s worth it. Is that not so crazy, to die for the people we love? Wouldn’t you do the same? If that were Emily, in Jabbar’s arms, would you take her place?”
Takeo straightened, the offer striking him to his core.
“She’s not—”
“She is to me!” Gavin screamed. “Now get over here so I can break your damn hand!”
Takeo stammered, frozen in place. He was trapped, and he knew it. This was the only way. With Gavin committed, Takeo would never get to Qadir in time. Gavin might stop him, and even if he didn’t and Takeo managed to get to Qadir, Pleiades would die. And Gavin had already promised to die if that happened. It would all be for nothing then. Takeo alive, and everyone else dead, even Pleiades, the only thing left of Gavin’s spirit and Takeo’s dream that one day little children wouldn’t grow up in a world where they would be held as a hostage as their fathers fought to death paces away from their mothers’ corpse.
Couldn’t Gavin see that? Couldn’t Gavin see that to save thousands, some had to die? So what if Pranav was killed? What did that matter if peace could be bought with it? Wasn’t it all worth it in the end?
Yet he wouldn’t agree. Gavin couldn’t be reasoned with anymore, and Takeo could see the pleading in Gavin’s eyes.
As Takeo fought within, Gavin swallowed and begged.
“Do it,” the knight whispered. “Look at her and see in her what you believe to be in me. Save her, and I’ll be grateful. This is the only way.”
He wants me to win, Takeo realized. If he kills me, then Qadir can still go back on his word and kill both of them. But if I win, he’ll have me walk over to him, and I can save the girl. I can save Gavin’s daughter. Not only that, but I will get my sword, and my dream can live on. I can have it all, if only I kill him.
The realization consumed Takeo, that this was Gavin’s plan. The knight didn’t intend to die needlessly; he intended to sacrifice himself, not just for Pleiades, but for Takeo, too.
“No,” Takeo whispered, taking another step back. “I can’t do it.”
“You have to,” Gavin pleaded, tears forming again. “You promised me. You promised you wouldn’t hesitate.”
Takeo’s throat thickened, and tears formed in his eyes. He shook his head, fought to clear them, and fought against the numbing feeling that spread throughout his body—his normal reaction to insulate himself from pain.
“Gavin. . .”
“Don’t argue with me, Takeo. You promised. Up on the mountain, we knew. We knew, and you promised! Don’t hesitate. Do it! If not for me, then her. For Emily. If that’s what it takes, fine. Just do it.”
Takeo fought back a sob, but it shuddered out of his body anyway, and it took all his strength to move forward. He managed only one step, so Gavin closed the rest of the distance. Takeo found a fist sized rock and placed his left wrist on it. Gavin stood over him.
“Don’t move,” he said and stomped down on the wrist.
Takeo screamed as the bones broke, and he crumbled to the ground, fresh pain flooding his eyes with tears, only marginally distracting from the necessity of the task ahead. Takeo curled into a ball on the ground, letting the initial waves of pain flow through him, fighting to regain control of his body, all the while feeling rage at the sound of Qadir howling in laughter.
“Yes, yes! Go on, Takeo. Show us some of that infamous determination. Fight back the pain. Fight it so that you can kill that which you love most. Hahaha!”
Takeo sucked in ragged breaths of air, steadying himself. He clenched his teeth until he could feel that pain, too, then stood up. He let his broken hand dangle to his side and balled his right into a fist. Gavin took two steps back and put up his own remaining fist.
The knight closed his eyes and pushed down his fear, his apprehension, and his sickness. When he opened them, he let his gaze be consumed with all the feelings of hatred for Takeo that he’d suppressed for all these years.
Takeo looked back, and in Gavin’s eyes, he fought to see purpose. He fought to remember what he was fighting for, his ultimate goal, and to remember that no single life was worth more than all the others. Not his, not Gavin’s, not anyone’s.
Yet he wasn’t convinced.
“Kill!” Qadir screamed and laughed.
Gavin roared and charged, aiming to strike Takeo in the stomach with a heavy punch. The ronin dodged, but realized it was a feint a moment too late. Gavin pivoted and threw his shoulder into Takeo’s chest, sending him staggering back, almost falling over, before Gavin followed up with a jab. Takeo took the blow, using the moment to strike Gavin’s unprotected face at the same time, sending the knight reeling back. Takeo lashed out with a kick, striking Gavin solidly in the stomach before Gavin backed up and lashed out with a kick of his own. Takeo, off balance through a painfully broken wrist and a night’s worth of hard riding, didn’t get out of the way in time. The kick took him at the waist, and he hit the ground, landing on his broken wrist and screaming in pain.
“That’s it. That’s it!” Qadir roared. “Aim for the wrist, Sir Gavin. That is his weakness. Make him scream!”
Gavin shook his head, clearing his vision of tears while Takeo used pain-fueled adrenaline to get to his feet. Gavin came at him again, relentless, determined, and Takeo circled to take the wind out of the charge. They closed slowly, testing each other, watching each other’s feet, hands, eyes, shoulders, and so much more. They were keenly aware of the others’ habits and tricks, having fought against each other countless times, as enemies and as allies, training and sparring and learning. They’d seen each other in combat more times than that, watched how the other would work against a true enemy, searching for weaknesses, looking for the killing blow, and striking without hesitation.
Takeo faltered as he twisted in a way that sent a flash of pain shooting up his broken wrist. Gavin lashed out, striking him at the knee and sending Takeo to the ground. He followed up with a jab to the head, but Takeo saw that coming and pulled away, the fist passing by so close that their skin touched. Takeo grabbed Gavin by the arm and yanked, sending the knight crashing to the ground with his forward momentum. But before Takeo could get atop him, Gavin rolled away and lashed out with another powerful kick, and Takeo had to scramble back to avoid getting hit.
They stood back up and circled again.
Takeo knew he had an opening. He saw it in the way Gavin favored his right side. So used to carrying a shield in combat, Gavin hadn’t adjusted his footwork for a bare-knuckle brawl just yet, so he leaned to one side more than one should.
Gavin didn’t see that, but he did see the bloodthirsty look in Takeo’s eye. It was the look the ronin got when he knew he’d found his path to victory. Fear made Gavin’s legs shake, seeing his death reflecting in the eyes of another, like a vampire circling for the kill. It was terrifying, yet he swallowed that down and thought of Pleiades, and how she would live, if only he would die.
The knight roared and charged. Takeo avoided the first feint and the second, then the actual attack and swept Gavin’s leg out from under him. They both went down, and Takeo hit the ground hard, too, because he couldn’t use his left hand to catch himself. Vision blurred by tears of pain, Takeo scrambled blindly over Gavin and pinned the knight’s good arm with one knee and grabbed the very same rock that had been used to break his wrist.
Gavin made two unsuccessful attempts to throw Takeo free.
Their visions cleared at the same time, and they froze. Gavin lay on the ground, pinned, face exposed, looking up at Takeo as he held a fist-sized rock in the air, poised. Neither breathed.
“Do it,” Qadir roared. “Do it!”
Tears poured fresh from Takeo’s eyes, and his head shook imperceptibly back and forth.
“Do it,” Gavin pleaded.
Takeo clenched his teeth, sobbing, blind from tears, voice choked, arm summoning strength.
“DO IT!” Gavin shouted.
Takeo screamed and smashed the rock down, bashing the hard stone into flesh and bone. Gavin’s face burst red, blood splattering on the ground, their clothes, and Takeo’s face. Takeo screamed and brought the rock down again, breaking through the protective bone plates and sending teeth and brain matter flying. A chunk of flesh and blood splashed up and stained Takeo’s eye, blinding him as he continued to bring the rock down again and again and again, now hoping to kill Gavin as swiftly as possible and end the misery of dying a slow, painful death.
Takeo cried and sobbed and heaved, his strikes growing weaker and fainter with every blow. His right hand and arm were soaked in knightly blood, and Gavin’s once beautiful face was a bloody cavity of broken bones and gnarled flesh.
When it was done, he dropped the rock and collapsed, pressing his forehead into what remained of Gavin’s face. His tears streamed down onto Gavin, his muffled pleas of ‘no, please, no’ dying into the corpse. Takeo’s ears were ringing, so consumed by his own self-loathing that he barely heard the fresh screams nearby. Pleiades had awoken just in time to watch her father be brutally murdered.
Over his own sobs and cries, Takeo heard Qadir swear and choke the little girl into unconsciousness again.
“No, no, no,” Takeo whispered. “Not like this. Oh please, no. Gavin . . . Gavin, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.”
Takeo moved his head to Gavin’s chest and lay there, sobbing. The body was beginning to lose heat, and no heartbeat echoed up from the chest to Takeo’s ear. He couldn’t feel the pain in his wrist anymore, or much of anything, and all Takeo could think of was how much he wanted to die.
So much pain. So much suffering. Another person dead, another person Takeo couldn’t protect. So many. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. It was Takeo who was supposed to die. Gavin didn’t deserve this.
He was supposed to be happy.
Takeo let out another tormented scream. At the end, he found he couldn’t breathe. He struggled again and again, but his chest refused to rise for more than a quick gasp. Finally, he held his breath, then tried again, sucking in a lungful of air before letting it out in painful, ragged gasps. Then he sobbed again and cried tears into Gavin’s bloodied clothes.
