Takeo's Chronicles, page 54
“You may have your sword, Takeo, but we’re still only a handful of warriors facing a world of hate. Worse yet, we’re in the wrong place, at the wrong time, on the wrong side. In a word: hopeless.”
The end of Gavin’s speech left the air so cold it hushed the fire, which ate up the last bit of cloth kindling and died out. The group was plunged into darkness and, alongside that, chilling wind. Night was falling, and the winds were sweeping away the relentless heat of the day. The moist sands beneath them worked effortlessly to leech the heat from their bodies, yet Takeo was only dimly aware of this. On some level, he understood the need to take up adequate protection from the coming night winds, but Gavin’s words had been too well spoken.
Takeo was starting to realize that he’d risked it all for this battle. He’d risked his health, his alliances, his friends, and possibly the war. He may very well have won this round, only to lose what mattered most of all: seeing Emily’s legacy complete.
“Krunk has suggestion,” the ogre grumbled, his deep voice vibrating off the rock walls. In the darkness, it seemed a monster had spoken, or perhaps the jinni had come back to make another deal, yet none were terrified. The sound of several heads shifting towards Krunk’s yellow eyes told the ogre to continue.
“Krunk—I, I think Xuan has made mistake here. She shouldn’t have fought us. We are strong. We are mighty. We cannot let this stand. Krunk doesn’t like it when people attack his friends. I want revenge.”
“We agree, Krunk,” Nicholas replied, “but what exactly are we supposed to do? She’s kind of got an army on her side, and she’s in a castle, on a mountain.”
“But we have what she wants,” Krunk continued. “That lady wants Emy.”
“Emy? Huh? What?” Nicholas echoed the thoughts of the others.
“Her name,” Krunk gestured to a spot beneath his elbow. “I will call her Emy. Do you like Emy, little one?”
A tuft of orange fur with round ears peaked out from under one of Krunk’s massive arms. It beamed at his yellow eyes, nodded once in an exaggerated movement, then ducked back down. Krunk grinned.
“Stupid lady,” the ogre continued. “She fought the wrong people. I say we go to her. Takeo goes to her, and he shows her what happens to people who fight us. No one tries to kill Krunk’s friends. We let her know. We show her. She won’t come after us then. Won’t send her samurai or ninjas. She’ll know.” Krunk rubbed one large, sausage finger on the cub’s head, stroking her fur, and Takeo heard a soft purring sound. “Krunk is a father now.”
Takeo looked to Gavin, expecting the knight to voice a reply of caution and forgiveness, but instead caught sight of him looking deeply into Yeira’s eyes. A silent understanding seemed to pass between them.
“I agree,” Gavin said. “Hyun was Xuan’s instrument, obeying her will. She’s a threat, and she’ll come after us. As much as I wish we could just walk away from this madness, I know she won’t let us. We have to make a stand.”
Gavin looked to Takeo, and Takeo only nodded slowly in reply. They all turned to Nicholas, who shrugged at the attention.
“Hey, I’m all for a good fight,” the viking said. “You know me. I’d die in a blaze of glory in a heartbeat if I thought we’d make it that far. However, I don’t think the five of us—Six? Do I include the cub? —will make it past the first gate of Xuan’s castle. This sounds like a fool’s errand to me.” He turned to address Takeo specifically. “You’ve tested those newfound powers twice now. How many men do you think you can take on at once?”
Takeo glanced at the sword, letting its warmth rush through his arm and combat the cold wind and sand. “Ten,” he replied with confidence. “I feel certain that I could fight ten ordinary soldiers at once in an open field on flat ground and come out alive, so long as I had this sword. Double that if they don’t know I’m coming. However, at eleven men who know what I can do, mistakes could happen. At twenty, the odds would be even. At thirty, I’d most likely be dead.”
“Ten,” Nicholas repeated. “And how many does Lady Xuan have? Thousands, right?”
“Tens of thousands.” Takeo nodded. “And some of those will be very skilled and capable fighters, above the average warrior. Still more will be mounted on komainu. And let’s not forget she’s behind several layers of rock. I don’t think this sword can cut stone, or at least I haven’t tried. Only time will tell.”
“Right,” Nicholas said. “So, what’s the plan?”
“No idea, but we have two weeks to come up with one,” Takeo answered. “More if we include the time it will take to reach Juatwa.”
“We won’t need it,” Gavin said and sighed. “Takeo, I think it’s time I revealed what Qjang said to me.”
Chapter 27
Two weeks and several months of travel later, Takeo Karaoshi arrived alone and unarmed on the edge of Lady Xuan’s territory. There, surrounded by the beauty of Juatwa, Takeo appeared more as a deprived beggar than as an infamous ronin as he strode down the beaten path towards the majestic Nguyen Keep. His clothes were stained and ragged, having been torn and patched back together several times over, with the marks of blood and soil mucking up the once white color. His hair was still cut to shoulder length, but he let it run unkempt and didn’t mind the way it clung to his face with its coarse combination of dirt and sweat. Even the rain couldn’t penetrate the layers that caked his exterior, but that was all fine and well as far as Takeo was concerned.
He didn’t need fancy clothes to look terrifying.
Juatwa’s rains were as light as ever, falling from the sky with the sort of care a skilled servant should have when dousing their master for a bath. The soft patter would lull a baby to sleep, and the mud it created was easily washed off as Takeo trudged along. As he neared the fringes of the city surrounding the keep, Takeo encountered few passersby, and those he did quickly looked the other way once they got a glance of his short cut hair.
Takeo ignored them in kind.
Being unarmed, he made it all the way to the first gate at the bottom of the mountain before being challenged.
“Halt!” a guard shouted in the darkness of the rains. “I said halt, you idiot!”
Takeo stopped when the guard came forward, a look of determination on the man’s face meant to teach this no-name individual the punishment for disobedience. That was until Takeo lifted his head and swept his dark hair aside, and then it was the guard’s turn to freeze in place.
“Takeo Karaoshi!” the man shouted, the color fading from his face. “It’s him! It’s Karaoshi!”
A few more shouts were all it took for bodies to come pouring out of the stonework gate, a mix of common soldiers, guards, and samurai, all drawing their weapons and shouting for more reinforcements. Another moment, and a group of mounted komainu troops were thundering down the road to flank him, the troops on their backs looking determined and nervous. All in all, twenty souls had surrounded him within moments. All of them were exposed to the elements, letting the soft patter of rain drip down their weapons.
“How did he get here?” one shouted. “How did he get this close?”
“I don’t know, sir,” came a meek reply. “He just appeared.”
They know to fear me. Aiguo must be here, and therefore Qadir.
“I’m unarmed,” Takeo called out, raising his hands from his sides with palms open. “I’ve come to speak with Lady Xuan. I have the female rakshasa.”
Takeo scanned the mass and glimpsed a man wearing an ornate helmet in the back of the crowd. The two made eye contact, and Takeo narrowed his gaze, knowing he’d sighted the one with the most authority besides himself.
A moment’s hesitation preceded the man’s response. “Wait here. Don’t move.”
To ferry the message, they used a pixiu, which was a four-legged, flying creature that looked like a distant cousin of a komainu, except it was about the size of a child, had antlers, and also bore feathered wings and a big busy tail. They were generally docile. Royalty were known to keep them as pets from time to time.
This one was a worker, though, and it flew from the gatehouse up towards the keep, visible until it reached halfway up the mountain before the rain’s darkness swallowed it. The response seemed a long time coming, and Takeo would have been lying if he were to say he wasn’t at least a tad anxious about the orders that might follow. In his head, he worked out an escape plan that included leaping onto the nearest komainu and riding off into the distance. Not that such a plan was likely to succeed, but he had to do something with his time.
Finally, the orders came.
“Takeo,” the guard shouted. “You may enter, but you must do so naked.”
Wow, they’re more afraid than I thought.
“You’re joking,” Takeo replied.
“You may read the order yourself, if you like. It’s signed by our lady, personally.”
Takeo heaved a sigh, wondering if this was a blatant attempt by Lady Xuan to demean him. It probably was, but Takeo was too relieved that he had survived this far to worry about it. He did as instructed, stripping away his tattered gear until he was stark naked in the rain, his war-torn and scar-covered body laid bare to those around him. They never lowered their weapons.
“Let’s get on with it, then,” he said. “I can keep my sandals at least?”
“The order says fully naked.”
“Damn her,” Takeo whispered and removed his sandals. “I suppose I needed the bath, though.”
Takeo left his clothes in the mud, and as he strode away, there was no mention from himself or anyone else that his clothes would be tucked away for his return.
It was a long march up the steep path that swept about the mountain, made longer by Takeo’s careful steps with bare feet. There were a lot of small jagged pebbles along the road that were more of an annoyance than a hindrance, and the Juatwa rains made the occasional slippery patch, which he took care to traverse. The gates opened and closed one by one as he ascended towards the clouds, and Takeo reached the keep at the top, drenched yet cool.
The gate was already open for him, as was a squad of heavily armed and armored samurai ready to meet him.
“This way,” the curt order came.
Flanked by ten with swords drawn, Takeo was marched into the keep and taken along a course he’d been through only once before. His bare feet padded softly on the cold stone, his body dripping small puddles along the way, all of which was thundered out by the chorus of marching armored men around him. He was led swiftly to Lady Xuan’s throne room, where his hands were bound with rope before the doors were opened and he was thrust inside.
Waiting within were twenty more heavily armed and armored samurai arrayed about the room. They stood in two rows, all within a sword’s reach of the direct path leading to Lady Xuan, who lay comfortably on her pillow throne. Her old, frail, wrinkled figure was nonetheless poised and tense, and Takeo could read the anticipation in her tiny trembles, disguised as a product of age. Her eldest son, Pircha, was ever at her side. His heavy body and raised chin had lost none of their character, and the man seemed particularly pretentious in this moment, as he had his head tilted so much that he had to peer down at Takeo from the very bottom of his vision. Takeo’s gaze settled the longest on the villainous Aiguo Mein, who stood cowed and unassuming off to the side, wearing the regal green colors of the Nguyen family, appearing to be a well-fed slave.
“My, my, my,” Lady Xuan said slowly and then coughed. “If it isn’t the infamous ronin himself, returned from the grave.”
A long silence followed, and Takeo offered no reply, not even to move. The quiet drips of water from his hair, splattering on the smooth stonework at his feet, were now clearly audible. Lady Xuan drummed her long, spindly fingers against one pillow.
“Well?” she asked, clearly irked. “Where are your manners?”
“If you’re expecting me to bow, you can forget it,” Takeo replied.
“Oh, so defiant now, are we?” Lady Xuan smiled. “Don’t pretend you have pride, Takeo. Last time you were here, you bowed instantly.”
“Last time, I thought you were deserving of it.”
Lady Xuan coughed, and her son snarled.
“How dare you, you little worm,” Pircha said. “I’ll have you flayed alive for such insolence! You will bow to your superiors.”
“I’ll do as I please, and you’ll not touch me. Not so long as I have the cub,” Takeo answered. “Naked though I may be, I’m still here in your throne room, alive.”
“And what makes you think I don’t already have a female, hm?” Lady Xuan asked.
“Let’s not play these games,” Takeo replied. “I wouldn’t be here if you had what you needed. Where is Qadir? I’m assuming he survived.”
“Mother, please,” Pircha said, turning to the old woman. “This is futile and beneath us. Rakshasas live for hundreds of years; we can find another female on our own. There is no need to debase ourselves by granting an audience to this scum. Let’s kill him and be done with it.”
Lady Xuan only lifted a finger, and Pircha went silent, bowing his head in a way that reeked of contempt and defiance. Lady Xuan had eyes only for Takeo, as he did for her.
“No games, then,” she said. “That’s something I can agree to. I’m too old for games, lacking both the energy and the time. I could be enjoying a good nap at this very moment if you hadn’t come knocking. So, if we’re not doing games, then we’re doing tiny exchanges. I’ve already granted you an audience, letting you live thus far. I’ll not say another word until I have something from you. What happened to Hyun Jee?”
“He attempted to carry out your order,” Takeo replied, “and I killed him for it. I killed most of his followers, as well. Those I didn’t kill, my companions did.”
“And where are your companions now?”
“I thought we were doing an exchange? Shouldn’t you have to answer something first?”
“We’re exchanging favors, Takeo,” Lady Xuan said, forcing a smile. “I let you live, and in return, you have told me nothing I didn’t already deduce myself. Is your life worth as little to you as it is to everyone else in the world? I’ll respond when I feel you’ve earned it. Now, where are your companions?”
“Hiding,” he replied. “With the cub, of course. There seemed no point in bringing them up here for this part, where you’d only use them as leverage. I will assure you of my good intentions, though. Trust me when I say they are nearby.”
“Nearby, hm.” Lady Xuan sneered and coughed.
“Mother, please.” Pircha tried once more, only to be silenced by a single finger.
The samurai guards seemed poised to move. Takeo could see how they stood tense in their armor, on the edge of battle, awaiting the enemy’s charge. They kept their eyes faced forward, but their attention was clearly focused on the naked man on the other side of the room.
“What is the wish you made with the jinni?” Lady Xuan said.
Ah, finally. This is the part I had hoped for.
Takeo drew a long steady gaze to Aiguo and held it. Aiguo squirmed, refusing to look Takeo in the eye.
“Is that what he told you?” Takeo asked and then looked around. “I guess that explains the extravagant guard. I thought this seemed a lot of precaution for just one man. I see Aiguo has lied to you, too.”
Lady Xuan balked, and Aiguo snapped to attention. Pircha tilted his head.
“My lady, don’t listen to him,” Aiguo started. “He did this same thing to Hyun—”
Lady Xuan’s eyes darted to Aiguo, the look so cold that Takeo felt a vampire’s chill fall across the scene, and Aiguo went still. He cowed once more, silent as before.
“Do you deny making an exchange with a jinni?” Lady Xuan asked Takeo.
“I do,” Takeo replied. “Aiguo and Qadir conversed with the jinni, and on some level, so did Hyun. I only survived on pure luck, unfortunately, and Aiguo is playing you, just like he did myself and Hyun. Also, just like you did me.”
“And yet here you stand, despite all you were up against,” Lady Xuan replied. “Why should I trust you over him? You, whom I tried to have killed more than once, who killed my most trusted follower. As opposed to Aiguo, who has brought me what I’ve long sought for? There also seems to be quite a bit of evidence against your claims. My rakshasa is missing one foot and a number of fingers, and my Hyun is dead while you suffered no casualties, despite him out-numbering you. That’s a whole lot of luck, as you put it. Quite the dilemma, I think. Perhaps my son is right. Perhaps I’ve let you speak too long. Maybe I should just kill you now and find another cub on my own. Unless, of course, you can change my mind.”
“I cannot,” Takeo said. “I don’t think there’s anything I can say that will convince you of my intent. I am unworthy of trust in your mind, and always will be. I suppose it would be pointless to ask about my parents? About our original agreement?”
Lady Xuan paused. For a moment, only the soft patter of rain against the windows gave life to that throne room. Pircha was turning bright red nearby, gritting his teeth and switching his scornful gaze from his mother to Takeo in a look caught somewhere between impatience and bewilderment. The guards shifted at their post, clearly enthralled. This was a far more fascinating topic than the normal meeting between lords and ladies one often saw as a samurai. Takeo would know.
“Our original agreement,” Lady Xuan said slowly. “Let me see if I can recall. I gave you your family’s sword, which you seem to have misplaced. How typical. Then, we struck an agreement. You would assist Hyun with capturing two rakshasas of opposite sex, and upon your return, I would tell you of your family’s past and also offer you a place in my army. Or at least I think that’s what I promised you. You’ll have to forgive me; I wasn’t paying much attention because—as you now know—I never intended to fulfill my end of the bargain.”
