Flamecaller

by Caitlin Ricci

  Taka smiled and drank some more of her tea. "You sound just your father. The tournament isn't for another week. Shiro won't be expecting another attack so soon. We should strike tonight."

  "No. With the last attempt being so recent, that is exactly the wrong thing to do. He may know my father had a family. He may expect us to seek revenge. And even if he doesn't think of us like that, surely someone in his employ will. Going after him right now would be suicide. Wait. Find some patience from somewhere. But do not go after him yourself." Considering how well Taka had seemed to follow his father's orders, Haruo hadn't expected her to argue with him this much. She was testing him, pushing at his boundaries and seeing where he would crack, and he understood that about her, even if he didn't exactly appreciate it. He wanted her to fall in line with his plans and to see reason, but she seemed intent on going against him at the moment.

  Not that he could really blame her either, though. He understood wanting to act, they just needed to do it smartly and all of them getting killed wouldn't be smart. Since neither of them had children, all Shiro would have to do would be to kill them, and then he and his family line would be in power over the island forever and she could never return to her former glory. All of the hope she had lay with him and Taka, and Haruo tread carefully with that responsibility.

  Taka turned to look out the window. "And if you fail at the tournament and the son is married off to some woman?"

  Haruo leaned forward over his knees. "If I'm alive, then we will kill her too. We will keep going after them until balance is restored to our home. This world is crying out for it. How he fails to hear her screams is beyond me. I hear them every minute of every day."

  Taka nodded. He knew she heard them too. Ever since she'd been a small child she would get up in the middle of the night and talk to those ancient spirits, asking for them to rest so she could sleep too. Neither of them slept all that much anymore. "And if you die as well?"

  Haruo didn't want to think of that, but they did need to be practical, and his father had never given Taka a task in all of this except to help him when he needed it. His father had wanted her out of the killing as much as possible, even though she was practically desperate for it. "I don't want to think of that, but if I should be captured and killed as well, then you'll have to take this task on. However you want to do it, you will, and you'll be smart about it. Promise me. No rushing in and getting yourself killed in a fit of revenge."

  She pursed her lips and looked like she wanted to argue with him, but in the end, she nodded. "I promise."

  Haruo touched her hand, then got up from the table. "I'm going to go speak to the spirits. Are you going to stay in tonight?"

  "You know I hate the rain."

  He did know. He kissed the top of her head and left her to her own devices for the rest of the evening as he made his way into the thick forest and the cliffs beyond their home. On the rocks there he shifted, baring his wings and craning his neck to the dark sky above. He let out the soft sounds of mourning and wished he hadn't had to see another of his people fall under Shiro's hands. It wasn't right, and he needed to be stopped, but with the executioner by his side, there wasn't much any of them could do. Still, he had to try, and as the rain mixed with his own tears, he knew he would do his best to rid their world of Shiro's control.

  *~*~*

  The morning of the tournament dawned dark and dreary, with the lingering scent of the storm from the night before clinging to the morning air. Haruo found Taka making eggs when he came out of his room.

  "You're wearing your father's jacket." She smiled.

  "It has our family crest on it. Stay here and stay out of trouble. I don't want you doing anything reckless right now, not when we’re so close to ending this. Since I'll be winning you for the son, I'm sure you'll be required to be there at some point, but it won't be right away."

  She rolled her eyes and for once he hoped that she heeded his warning. While he was in Shiro's home, he needed to know that Taka was safe. They'd never been apart, and he couldn't go through with this plan if he had to also worry about her every minute. He would call for her when the time was right, but for the moment, she had to stay out of it.

  "Did you choose to do more of the events than just combat?"

  He'd wanted to, but he'd only been able to save up enough for one. "Just combat." It had been the least expensive. Also, it was the only one that truly mattered. The other events were just for show and the money the winners received. Only the person who won combat would have the right to choose a bride for Shiro’s son.

  Taka suddenly smiled. "You'll do great. It's the last event too, so you can get some fish with me this morning before you go." Her enthusiasm may have been forced, but he appreciated it all the same.

  Haruo wasn't sure how long he'd be gone, and he wanted Taka to have food while he was away, so he nodded. Plus, it would be good to go fishing with her again. It would likely be his last time for a while after all.

  *~*~*

  Spending the day in the water with Taka had nearly made him late to the tournament. He lined up behind ten other men and waited his turn to show Shiro what he was capable of. As he thought about the emperor, he looked at him. Beside him sat a small man dressed in a white shroud. Even his head was covered. Haruo figured that had to be the son. He looked even more fragile than Haruo had been told. He'd make the boy's death merciful at least.

  He and the ten other men stood in a wide dirt circle. Across from them stood another group of ten men. They looked equally confused, so Haruo hoped he hadn't missed out on any instructions.

  The emperor rose from his seat, gathering the attention of everyone who had come to either watch or compete in the tournament. It looked like most of the village was there, so it must have been a bigger deal than Haruo realized.

  "You will each fight, and you will each be scored. The idea isn't to kill each other here, but if it happens, I won't be upset. Do your best to impress me. None of the others have."

  He sat back down and Haruo got ready for his turn in the circle.

  The men ahead of him fought well. Most of them anyway. Some had clearly never been in a real fight in their lives. There was quite a bit of difference between training and actual fighting. Haruo only knew the latter. Anything more formal would have been too expensive.

  When it was his turn to fight, he removed his jacket, leaving his chest bare. He unfurled his wings, snapping them out behind him. Then he took a stance.

  The other dragon advanced on him, tearing up the ground under his boots as he came at Haruo. He wouldn't be the one losing today, though, and he fought as hard as he could. The other dragon was bigger than him, but that meant Haruo could get on his back and wrap his arms around the man's throat.

  He caught the emperor's gaze as the man fell to his knees under Haruo's hold. He tapped on Haruo's arm, begging to be let go, and Haruo jumped back, releasing him so that the dragon could breathe again.

  Haruo turned his attention to the son. He wanted to see what the boy thought of his win, but as far as Haruo could tell, the boy wasn't paying any attention to him. He was looking up at the sky as if he was completely bored. Haruo bared his teeth.

  The emperor rose from his chair. "Well, as absolutely boring as that was, I suppose now we have a winner. At least my son will be married off to some young lady. Tell me, who do you wish my son to marry? A daughter? Perhaps a cousin of yours?"

  "My cousin," Haruo answered him, as loudly as he could so that there was no mistaking his words.

  "Very well. Kiyoshi, go to this man, go meet his cousin. I will see you later."

  He was looking forward to seeing the emperor again. If he came to visit them alone, Haruo could easily kill them both tonight and get his grisly task over with in time to return home and share some of the fish he'd caught that morning with Taka.

  *~*~*

  Kiyoshi did not want a husband or a wife—or anyone for that matter. He'd been perfectly happy living in Tokyo, far away fro
m all of this nonsense. He met his wife's cousin at the edge of the arena and tried to remind himself to be demure and not show just how pathetic he'd thought the entire ordeal had actually been. They'd called that fighting? He'd been doing better than that since before he was ten. It was a simple take down maneuver that any dragon should have been easily able to perform or escape from. Though the man wasn't completely unskilled, his movements had been erratic and clumsy. The fight had been more of a brawl than anything else. It had lacked style and ambition.

  Whoever this man was, he likely hadn't been formally trained. And that wasn't just Kiyoshi's years of experience fighting far better men than this one speaking. This man was plain sloppy. Kiyoshi wasn't sure if he wanted to put this man on his butt with a swift kick just to show him how woefully inept he actually was, or if he wanted to spend a few hours giving him pointers and running through drills with him to make him better.

  The man put his jacket back on before offering Kiyoshi his hand. "Haruo."

  Kiyoshi only briefly touched him. "Kiyoshi." He turned and started leading Haruo away from the arena, and everyone watched them curiously. Once they were far enough down the road from his father's estate that they could have some privacy, Kiyoshi dropped his white hood. His long hair fell over his shoulders and whipped against his face in the wind coming off the ocean.

  “I’m surprised we don’t have guards with us.”

  Kiyoshi snorted. He had nothing to fear from Haruo, and his father knew that. “Maybe my father trusts you,” he said, the lie coming easily. His father trusted no one. It was the reason he was still alive.

  When he turned back to Haruo, he found Haruo watching him. "You wanted to win me for your cousin?" Kiyoshi asked him. He'd heard Haruo say it, but he wanted to know for himself.

  Haruo nodded. "I did. Her name is Taka."

  Kiyoshi rolled his eyes then turned back around. "My place on the island isn't too far away. Just a little farther now. Maybe five minutes more."

  "Do you have another home then? I thought my cousin would be living with you and the emperor at his house."

  Kiyoshi wasn't sure how much he wanted to share with this man. He glanced back at him. "I spend as much time as possible in Tokyo, though it is less than I would prefer. Since I reached my maturity last year, I've been living in this apartment off and on when I visit the island."

  They came to the old building at the edge of the forest. It was largely overgrown, with the three other apartments long since taken over by vines and forest debris. Only Kiyoshi's apartment remained pristine. It had been his mother's before she'd met his father, and now he used it as a place to be by himself, even when he was supposed to be with his father.

  He took off his shoes then let Haruo in and hung his keys up on the wall. "The spare bedroom is to the left. Your cousin will be sleeping there, if you care to know that."

  "If I'd won you for myself, you would be my husband and we would share a bed."

  Kiyoshi pursed his lips as he looked Haruo up and down. He could easily take him out. That wasn't even a question. "Try it and I'll deep fry your balls and serve them to you for breakfast."

  Haruo must have been an idiot because he only laughed. "You look like you're barely more than a hundred pounds. And you think you're going to—"

  Kiyoshi didn't give him a chance to finish that sentence. Being demure and innocent was all well and good, but Haruo had to know he wouldn't walk all over him either. Kiyoshi kneed him in his stomach, sending him onto his knees on the floor. "Yes, I do think I am." He walked calmly past Haruo and over to his record player. A bit of soft music might do them good, he reasoned. It might calm him down at least. "So what's your angle here?" Kiyoshi asked without looking back at Haruo.

  "My angle?"

  Kiyoshi turned to find Haruo sitting in his own place on the couch. He tried not to get annoyed. "Yes. Your angle. Why would you want your cousin to marry someone you've never met? Do you want to become emperor someday? If I die and my father dies and your cousin dies, then I suppose you would be next. Or are you going to try and take over the world?" As if that would ever happen.

  Haruo leaned forward over his knees and smiled at him. Kiyoshi backed up against the wall as far as he could and crossed his arms over his chest. It was bad enough that he was now in this situation. He didn't need Haruo smiling at him on top of it. Not when he had a smile that was full of teasing playfulness. And why hadn't Haruo brought his cousin to meet him?

  "I actually don't have an angle. I just came to the tournament to get a workout. And Taka needs a husband. She's annoying me."

  Kiyoshi pushed himself away from the wall and pulled the shroud over his head. Underneath he wore a tight fitting white tank top and a pair of loose white pants. "Then I'd say you were probably disappointed in the tournament. None of the men there were much competition."

  "You mean for someone as capable as me? That's a nice compliment. Thank you."

  Kiyoshi actually hadn't been saying that at all. "I wasn't complimenting you. Everyone there was pathetic."

  Haruo's smile disappeared. "Including me?"

  He wasn't about to back down now when he'd so clearly insulted Haruo. "Yes. Including you. I didn't stutter."

  "You think you could do better?" He rose from the couch.

  Kiyoshi rolled his eyes. "I know that I could. That's not even a question. Your fighting style is barbaric. You lack finesse. I could easily take you."

  "Then prove it."

  With a snort, Kiyoshi walked up to him, sprang to his left, then used a nearby chair to help propel him onto Haruo's back. He locked his legs around Haruo's hips and wrapped one arm under Haruo's throat while holding that one tight with his other hand. Haruo released his wings, which might have knocked Kiyoshi off if he hadn't been prepared for it. It wasn't his first time fighting a dragon, and Haruo wasn't even really trying.

  Kiyoshi tightened his arm against Haruo's throat and Haruo thrashed under him, but Kiyoshi held on tight. When Haruo began to slow down, likely from lack of oxygen, Kiyoshi relaxed his hold a little, letting Haruo breathe again. He slid off Haruo's back and landed lightly on the floor as Haruo clutched at his throat. There was a red mark there, but it probably wouldn't result in a bruise. At least Kiyoshi hoped it wouldn't. That might be hard to explain. He probably wasn't supposed to be fighting with his new wife's family.

  "You could have pushed me off easily at any time if anyone had ever taught you not to try to pull my arms off your throat. That's what everyone goes for, though, so don't feel too badly about not knowing better." Kiyoshi went to the fridge and took out some salmon. He wasn't winded like Haruo was, and he had no trouble breathing, but that didn't mean he was unaffected. He was angry that his father had decided to marry him off now. If he'd known refusing every woman his father had thrown at him over the last year would lead to this, he would have just chosen a wife already.

  It wasn't a good sign that Haruo couldn't protect himself very well. Kiyoshi had to assume that Taka was just as inept as Haruo. Being married to the emperor's son was not a safe place to be in society. His father was absolutely hated. Kiyoshi had no problem admitting that. He'd been worried about some woman dying at his side, and for a moment, he'd had hope Haruo had gone easy on the other guy. But now Kiyoshi knew that was wrong. Haruo couldn't protect himself from one of the simplest attacks Kiyoshi knew, and so he had no hope for Taka being able to protect herself.

  He lifted himself onto the counter as he ate his salmon and thought.

  "How could I have knocked you off my back?" Haruo asked once it seemed he'd recovered.

  Kiyoshi held out a cube of raw salmon to him, offering him the snack—and testing to see if Haruo was now afraid of him. Haruo didn't hesitate and that made Kiyoshi smile. "You had access to my legs. You could have pulled out your claws and cut me. I might not have completely let go, but the blood loss would have made me loosen my hold. There's a large artery in the inner thigh that would have me bleeding out in a hurry if you chose to de
fend yourself by cutting me there. Or you could have done something less lethal and tried elbowing me in the ribs a few times. That often works too if you put enough force behind your blows. You might have even managed to fracture a rib or two. Or if you were really trying, you could have gone for my eyes."

  Haruo stared at him for a few moments, and Kiyoshi didn't blink as he stared right back at him. "You know how to fight."

  Kiyoshi nodded. "I do."

  "And not organized fights either, I'm guessing. You know how to actually cause damage to another person, not just defend yourself if you need to."

  There was no use in denying that, and it wasn't something Kiyoshi particularly felt the need to hide either. "Yes, I do know how to hurt someone." He gave Haruo another piece of salmon before eating a chunk himself. He preferred his fish raw, and most of what he ate in Tokyo was sushi. He was also a huge fan of chocolate in all forms.

  "So do you fight for money then?"

  Kiyoshi didn't like how Haruo kept pressing him for more information, but he figured he'd invited the questions on himself when he showed Haruo he wasn't afraid to fight him either. "No. Not for that."

  Haruo stepped closer to him, and Kiyoshi lifted his brows. "Then why?"

  Kiyoshi shook his head. "I'm heading out for a few hours. You don't need to know where. Now that you're here, you might want to not try to take over the world though. My father will have people watching you. It's what he does. Don't get arrested unless you have a death wish. No one ever gets released. And bring your cousin here—I'm supposed to be marrying her after all."

  Kiyoshi moved past him to go to his bedroom. He heard Haruo following him as he moved about the house, but he didn't look back at him. Unless he were drunk or completely out of it, Haruo wouldn't be able to catch him off guard. And Kiyoshi never drank. He pulled a hoodie over his head and turned to find Haruo blocking his exit.

  "Do you want me to order us some dinner later? Or are you planning to be gone longer than that? I'll have Taka join us."