The Venerate Order

by Troy Dukart

Running on top of the buildings silently, I made it to a wide opened area. King’s Square was full of shops, entertainment and their train system. Morning sunlight was awakening the city and the residents made it easier for me to stay hidden. I looked for an Izakaiya, a bar we used as a cover for our operations. Our clan performed assassinations for various groups such as politicians, world leaders and companies. I was vehemently against these dreaded acts as they were a stain on our legacy in my opinion. Longwei on the other had loved performing assassinations. How could we say we acted for the good of the clan by slaying people that we never knew?

  In these Izakaiya locations, my brothers and sisters would sit and wait for orders and strike when the target least expected. Izakaiyas were our safe-houses. Entering could be extremely dangerous, they had to be on high alert. Still, there was no other way.

  I pulled out my Kusarigama, tied it around a chimney and used it to repel back down to the street. I turned off my aura to blend in. My eyes were looking for anyone reaching for a weapon. I spotted a sign that read “King’s Izakaiya” and proceeded towards it. There were signs in my native Shinjin language on the outside and a slit cloth shielding the inside from the sun. With a hand on my grandfather’s sword, I entered quickly. Inside there were wooden tables and chairs for the few locals eating breakfast. They weren’t threats. I looked to my left and saw a man with his back turned to me and as he said, “Irashaimase!” which meant “welcome” in our language.

  I proceeded to the counter in front of him and sat down. He had a blue bandana on and wore our clan’s symbol on his back. This was for sure the place. He turned around and I saw he was an older man, with grey hair and mustache. He smiled and brought me some wine and a menu, I thanked him and drank it. The wine tasted the same as it did back home. He looked at me, with one eye raised and asked in Shinjin, “Not from here, are you?”

  “No,” I replied as my grip tightened on my sword.

  “I can tell. Well my friend, what brings you to Yuwheria? Adventure? School? The games?” he enquired as he cleaned a bowl.

  I put the wine glass down and looked in his eye, “Through the Whispers, I find friends and slay my enemies.”

  This was a coded phrase. It was asking if the area is safe. His face went from a smile to serious instantly, and he looked in my eyes diligently for a few moments before answering, “You will find no enemy here, only Whispers in the night.”

  The area was safe. He motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen. We passed by people cooking food I had missed for so long; fresh rice, noodle soup and omelet topped on fried meat. We got to the back of the kitchen and he opened a refrigerator. Behind the steel frame there was a door that he opened. There was a lit staircase leading down into a basement, to which he nodded me towards. I nodded back to him to show respect and entered. He slammed the door behind me. There was tension.

  Slowly, step by step, I proceeded down the staircase until I was in a dark room full of training equipment. It seemed as though our clan had been through here. There were wooden fighting sticks, training dummies stuck with various ninja stars and a hard metal floor and ceiling. I walked to the center of the room, because they were testing me. They wanted to know if I truly was a Whisper Warrior. My heartbeat as loud as a drum as I waited for them. There was an 85% chance I would be attacked.

  Something metal flew toward me. I deflected a ninja star with my sword while tossing off my hood. Dozens of ninja stars proceeded afterward and came as fast as bullets. To my left shoulder the blade of a Kusarigama looked to pierce my neck but I grabbed it around the blade handle with my left hand. I yanked the person towards my feet and placed my sword near their throat. They yelled, “YAMETE!”

  I could only see their eyes through a slit of clothing but it was one from my clan. The lights slowly turned back on and I could see the rest of them emerge from the shadows. I sheathed my sword and let the person at my feet get up and we bowed to each other.

  “It has been a while senpai, welcome to Arrouegadin,” a voice I recognize too well greeted, it was Hanoka.

  “Hanoka? You’re alive?!” I scanned her up and down.

  “We were not expecting you. This is good fortune,” another voice noted, it was Atushi.

  “Atushi,” I observed as we bowed to each other.

  “You must be tired from travel,” Atushi said as he sheathed his sword. He looked at another clan member and said, ”Make our brother some food.”

  We sat down and discussed recent events. I informed them of our village’s massacre and the war brewing in the world. I could tell by their body language the news was hard to take, but they kept their emotions in check. They were speechless for a few moments before I asked, “Has Longwei been here?”

  “No, he hasn’t. I cannot believe he betrayed us,” Atushi lamented.

  “We need to be careful. There are enemies, everywhere. I am sure this place is being watched,” I turned to Hanoka, “I must ask you a question.”

  “What is it you wonder?” she replied.

  “Were we involved in the old King’s assassination?”

  They looked at each other before turning to me, “It is not that simple to answer brother,” Atushi replied.

  I slammed my hand down on the desk in front of me and looked into his eyes, “Damnit! Whoever hired you will come through and wipe this place out to cover their tracks! I don’t care if you are bound by a blood oath of silence!”

  Hanoka hesitated at first, but then went to retrieve a scroll. All three of us grew up to be Protectors. Hanoka and Atushi were brother and sister. They wore the same clothes as I did, only Hanoka wore a pink headband and Atushi wore a white one. They could be as vicious as a tornado or as gentle as rain. Tornados couldn’t stop a dragon like me though.

  She laid down the scroll and as I read it I cringed in disgust. What were we becoming?

  “It is not what you think Zon. We weren’t involved ourselves, but a new initiate was,” Hanoka explained.

  It is signed by the new King, Othen the VII.

  “What the hell?” I muttered.

  “You see, this is why it is strange you say the Yuwherians attacked us, when they called upon us. Did they do this to kill all witnesses?” Atushi addressed.

  “No. They did this to justify attacking us. It was Othen who pulled the strings to his rise to power. This scroll has the power to take away everything from him. How did it survive the attack?” I asked.

  “We always keep a copy of orders from Shinjo here Zon,” Hanoka reminded me as she returned it to the vault.

  “Were there any witnesses? And who actually killed the old King?” I inquired.

  “There was one witness, and he escaped before we could stop him. As for the killer, he goes by Zenith but his real name is Marcio Othen. He is the new King’s son. He serves in the Royal Guard. He led the assassination,” Hanoka divulged.

  “Why the hell did you work with a foreigner on a mission? They are not to be trusted with matters such as this!” I said sternly.

  I rose to my feet and walked over to the wooden-weapons case. I opened it wide and looked for something to help me fight silently. I took the Whisper Bow. It was all black with a dragon head engraved at the top as well as our creed along the bow. It was the essential weapon for a Whisper Warrior. After I slammed the case shut, I turned to them and said, “This place is no longer safe. If Longwei is working with the Yuwherians, they know you’re here. Take that scroll to our Izakaiya in Crotona, it is the way to bring that coward Othen to justice. I must return to my friends and warn them. You are also to stop taking any assignments until we finish this case. We cannot be assassins anymore. There is no honor in it.”

  We gave each other a hug and I turned to leave. As I went toward the stairs, I saw something on the wall that stopped me in my tracks. There was picture of a person, “Why do you have this picture?”

  “It is a picture of the witness. We had lost all track of him. The orders state to slay all who were with the old King that da
y. The mission is not over,” Atushi informed me, he folded his arms.

  “What is their name?” I asked trying to contain my anger.

  “It is their old Prince, Prince Aeileo. He was there. Extremely fast, faster than anyone I had ever seen. Nobody could shoot him down,” Hanoka said nonchalantly.

  “I knew you were lying,” I whispered to myself.

  This changed everything. We now would be wanted by two countries. He was there when my village burned. Was he innocent or playing double-agent?

  If guilty, he would know my vengeance. I ran up the staircase and slammed the door behind me. Sitting tall in that picture in a royal wardrobe, in front of the old King and Queen, with his face circled, was Rousseau.

  Chapter 23/

  Brave Ball

  Strafe

  It was time for Brave Ball.

  We had to pull one of the dishwashers from the tent to fill in for Zon. From what they told me about Brave-Ball, it was a very fast moving game. Each team needed at least two people to play a position, in-case of injury or the starting player needing a break.

  I sloshed through the muddy field toward Captain Cali. It was overcast, but not bad enough to cloud our vision or too slippery we’d lose our balance. The field had been practiced on so much throughout the week that it was pretty torn up. It was shared by all the visiting teams. The King’s Royal team had their own private field to practice on. Captain Cali was standing next to a woman, who was also dressed in pirate-clad, and they walked back and forth in front of us, sizing us up.

  “Alright ye dogs, listen up. Due to a few scallywags getting in trouble with the lovely law enforcement in the city, we picked up a few other players to help stop us from totally getting our arses kicked. This is Roya and Strafe! Welcome them like them ye new family or I’ll be cuttin’ ye balls and tits off! Hahaha!” Captain Cali instructed.

  “HO HUM!” the team chanted in unison.

  “WOO HOO!!” I cheered back.

  The team was a mix of men and women. Brave-Ball at one time had been only a gentleman’s game but as of ten years they allowed intramural play. We had an 11:7, men-to-women ratio on the team, one of the highest in the tournament.

  Brave-Ball was played on an amazing field very similar to American Football, but with a twist. It was one-hundred yards long and fifty yards wide, like Football, as well as an Endzone which they called the “BraveDown.” The ball was either ran in or a player could catch the Brave-Ball and land in the BraveDown. There were also Three Floating Goals above the BraveDown that any player could kick the ball into to score three points. Apparently the Goals were designed after Violet pedals, taking after the Royal family’s lineage. The Goals were fairly big, and lined up in a trio next to each other floating about twenty feet in the air.

  There was a risk-reward associated with each Rose Goal or BraveDown as the ball was turned over to the defending team regardless of a score or a miss while in the “BraveDown Zone” as it was called. That way the defending team had a chance to recover. If a Goal was scored, the offensive team could kick an extra-point kick for one point into the middle Goal or go for two points. The two point play ended the second an incompletion occurred or the ball was intercepted. Extra-point kicks had a higher percentage of success but the two-point play was there if a team needed to catch up. The fans would sit in the stands that surrounded the field, with the most expensive seats near the Goals as that was where they could get closest to the action.

  In Brave-Ball, the positions were called Masterback, Forwards, and Guards. The Masterback was the captain of the team and the most important position on the field as only the Masterback could throw the ball forward. Everyone could pass the ball backwards and laterally. The Masterback called all the plays as well. Unlike American Football, the game of Brave-Ball didn’t stop until someone scored. So whenever the ball was recovered the Guards and Forwards would try to get the ball back to the Masterback as soon as possible.

  The Guards were the players who caught the ball. There were four of them on the field and had specific lengths of the field to cover. There were three Guard players who were called “Wings” and had a specific part of the field to run depending on how quick they were. The last Guard was called the “Dodger” and they were second in command. Most of the time they would stay near the Masterback to protect them but could also be used in short yardage situations. Whenever the ball was turned over or when the opponent had the ball the Guards would all play defensively against the same position they played offensively.

  Forwards were the players who protected the Masterback from getting tackled. Whenever a player who had the ball was tackled they had to drop it immediately and it was the right of the other team to recover it. That is why Forwards were so important because they were the ones who controlled the pace of the game. If a team had strong enough Forwards they could push the defending Forwards all the way down the field but usually the defending Guards would come through to tackle the Masterback. Regardless, Forwards were the wall between the Masterback and the opponent’s defense. The quickest Forward was called the “Masser” and they were the only Forward who could catch the ball. If the Masser did step out to catch the ball though, it would leave an open spot for the defense to get to the Masterback. Masser’s had to be used sparingly.

  The actual Brave-Ball looked like a Rugby ball. It was huge compared to a football! To my surprise it was very light and could be thrown a great distance. The cool thing about it was that before the game the Brave-Ball would be painted with one team’s colors on one side and the other team’s colors on the other side. Each Brave-Ball was completely unique in this way.

  The positions on our team that needed filling were the Wings, as three of the starting Wing players were all now in jail for swindling. Captain Cali told me it was an easy game to learn but hard to master. We decided to split the teams even and play against each other for practice. We agreed to light contact, to get a feel for the game. Roya and I lined up as Wings and waited for our Masterback to come on to the field. I decided to try and just go with the flow.

  “Where’s that idiot at?” one pirate screamed.

  “Avast ye dog, or we’ll be throwin’ your wrinkled and long untouched balls around instead of the Brave-Ball!” a woman’s voice said.

  I turned around and the woman who was standing next to Captain Cali came out onto the field. She had brown hair and purple eyes, but a scarf on that hid her face. She seems. . . familiar.

  She wore the same uniform as us but had on golden gym shoes on that really caught the eye. She rallied us toward the Brave-Ball station and we ran back behind the Goal Zone and stood on it. Before the practice began, she turned to Roya and I “Nice to ye, my name is Charity Red Flint. I’ll be yer Masterback today! Please forgive me if I be swearin’ like a sailor. That’s what happens sticking ‘round this lot!”

  “Flint? Could you be related to Captain Cali-Sah?” Roya wondered.

  “That’s right me girl! He’s my older cousin!” Charity responded.

  “You don’t sound as though you’ve been out on the high-seas and skies as long,” I commented; her accent seemed forced, not natural.

  “That’s a clever observation Strafe! I be the only one here that managed to graduate, let alone with a doctorate, in Electrical Engineering. I always loved electrical stuff, but I also loved flying too. Me cousin convinced me to come fly around and cause some trouble, and I’m having a great time!” Charity explained.

  “Okay,” I shrugged, she nodded back.

  “Alright ye dogs! Time for Brave-Ball!” Captain Cali shouted.

  Captain Cali volunteered to be our coach and Rousseau was to coach the other team. After this was decided, Captain Cali pushed down a lever and before I knew it we were flying through the air. Players on both teams started the first half of each game on the Brave-Ball Station. It was designed to catapult players toward the floating Brave-Ball in the middle of the field.

  Though it may look incredibly dangerous, in fa
ct it was very safe. Surrounding the floating Brave-Ball was a force-field that slowed down moving objects and prevented harsh collisions. If the player chose to, they can fly in harm’s way, but the object was not to crash into other players but rather dodge them and recovering the ball as fast as possible.

  It was hard to keep my eyes open in the dry air. My hair was flying everywhere and I braced for the impact but ended up not hitting anyone. I landed and rolled forward on my back to cushion the fall.

  The Forwards were fighting over the ball at mid-field until finally we recovered it and it was passed back to Charity. She waved for us to make a run for it, as their back field was empty, so Roya, the other Wing and I started to run deep into their territory. There were only two defensive Guards from the other team near us, so one of us knew we would be open for a pass.

  I kept looking back and just after she tossed it up she got tackled. The ball was soaring high in the middle of the field toward the Goal Zone. I was on the outside right, Roya in the middle, and the other Wing on the left side. The opposing Wing and MasterGuard covered me and the other Wing like a blanket; there was no way we would’ve been able to catch it, but Roya was dead open. It was like a thing of beauty; as the ball came down, while in full-sprint, she jumped up slightly, spun and caught the ball, tucked it in, and fell into the BraveDown in for a score. Boom! An easy six points. We could hear Captain Cali and Rousseau on the sideline screaming with excitement. Brutus was jumping up and down.

  “WOOOHHHOOOO!!! There ye go cuz!” Captain Cali shouted to Charity.

  After the points were scored, we lined up near the Goal-Zone for the Point-After Kick. This usually ended up with a Wing or Dodger jumping up in the air to kick the thrown in ball to the Mid-Goal while the Forwards block for them. Masterbacks would stand on the sidelines while their team performed this.

  Charity nodded to us and we started running toward the Goal Zone. The Forwards lead the charge and the Guards stayed behind, looking toward Charity. She threw the ball up into the air and as she did, the Forwards of both teams locked onto each other and formed the line of scrimmage. Our Masser stood behind them and waited for one of us to boost up; it was my turn to make a play. I jumped up into his cupped hands with my right foot and he tossed me up into the air.