by Rob J. Hayes
Cho smiled. "This sounds like the beginning of a plan."
The Art of War turned toward Cho and nodded. Then she spoke to the Steel Prince "My liege, you are needed at the front of your army. They are here only because you have brought them. They remain united only because of your will and your leadership. With you at the head of the army these men you have gathered are a force to be reckoned with, but without you they will falter and fail. There is too much bad blood between the ten provinces of Hosa, and the hope that you might free them from the emperor's rule is the only thing that keeps them united. If you break away to storm the palace, I do not believe you could trust the men you leave behind to hold against the emperor's army."
Daiyu turned her mask towards Ein. "You have a small force of heroes at your command. They are not enough to storm Jieshu, to break the walls and do combat with the emperor's army. But they may be enough to assault Wu palace, break through his bodyguards, and kill the emperor while our larger force holds back the Wu army from rushing to their emperor's defence. Divided, we fail. But united, we may well achieve the impossible. And, of course, for this plan to succeed, there is no need for my prince to die."
Ein and the Steel Prince went back to staring at one another, as though each one were daring the other to refute the strategist's plan. Eventually, it was the prince who nodded. "We should take our time to discuss this before making any commitments. Go, talk to your ghosts. Daiyu, if you would summon my captains."
Daiyu bowed and motioned towards the tent flap. Ein slipped from his chair, and said not a word as he walked from the tent. Cho followed Ein and smiled as she breathed in the fresher air outside. Zhihao and Chen Lu and Bingwei Ma were nowhere in sight, but Roi Astara squatted nearby, his rifle held tight to his chest.
"Perhaps we could have our weapons returned to us?" Cho asked the Art of War. "As a sign of good faith, given that we are intending to fight together."
The strategist considered that for a moment, then nodded. The soldier in the red armour retrieved their weapons, and Cho felt a surge of relief having her swords close by again.
"Convince him," Daiyu said quietly, motioning towards Ein. "And I will convince my prince. There is no other way this works." With that the strategist moved away, whispering orders to soldiers waiting nearby.
Chapter 30
Night was settling in and the camp was a buzz of activity as soldiers packed up everything they owned. Some even prayed to the stars, a monk in among them leading the prayer. Cho strode past them all, one hand on her saya. It felt good to have her swords at her hip again; she had felt naked without the familiar weight. Cho was a warrior, a Shintei, and should never be without her swords.
She found Bingwei Ma sitting around a camp fire, stirring a small cooking pot. There were soldiers nearby, busy breaking camp, but there were no others tending the fire or food. Cho sat down across from him and the Master of Sun Valley pushed a wooden bowl towards her, ladling in a portion of watery broth.
"I find cooking to be quite relaxing," Bingwei Ma said as Cho raised the bowl to her lips. "Especially when the world around me seems to be in such chaos. How does it taste?"
Cho smiled. "Like rot, or muddy water maybe. Not good."
Bingwei Ma nodded at that. "I take more pleasure in the cooking than eating. But I find it difficult to flavour the food without a sense of taste. Will the shinigami truly restore us to full life when we complete the boy's quest?"
Cho shrugged. "I see no reason why not."
Bingwei Ma looked up at her then and there was a weary acceptance about him. "I suppose I just see no reason why a reward would be offered, when we have no choice but to do his bidding anyway. Shinigami are not known to be charitable. They are, after all, gods of death. It is risky to believe in capricious powers that view life as worth so little."
"Every day is a risk," Cho said. "A hundred risks. Maybe I'll cross the wrong person, start that fight I can't win. Maybe something in the broth I eat will be off. Maybe a tree branch will fall at just the wrong moment as I pass underneath. Every fight we enter into is a risk. Perhaps I'll have a bad day. Perhaps I'm a little too tired and slower than normal. Perhaps my enemy knows how to counter every move I make. Life is a series of risks, Bingwei Ma.
"Yes, there is a risk the shinigami will not restore us fully to life even after we complete Ein's mission. But I swore an oath to the boy, to see him all the way to Wu, and to help him put an end to the Emperor of Ten Kings. I won't let one risk, or a hundred stop me from trying to fulfil that oath."
"I know nothing of the Shintei," Bingwei Ma said, "but your oaths seem important to you."
Cho nodded. "There is nothing more important," she said. "With each oath I give a lock of my hair, tied into a knot, and when my oath is complete, it is burnt so the smoke will reach up to the stars, and they will know an oath has been completed. When a Shintei dies, the stars judge our worth by the number of oaths we have kept. Those who keep their oaths are given revered places in the light of the stars, to watch over the world." Cho wiped away tears before they could fall. "Those who don't keep their oaths are condemned to the darkness. Forever blind and forever alone.
"I have sworn many oaths. And kept none."
"None?" asked Bingwei Ma.
Cho shook her head. "Even the most important oath a Shintei can swear: to protect the innocent. I have failed it again and again, most often due to my arrogance. Back in Ipia I let a whole village burn, its people slaughtered, while I fought a pointless duel. Again at Kaishi, I failed to protect the people from Flaming Fist and his horde. Over and over again, so many failures."
Cho pulled her saya onto her lap and held it up to the fire light. "This is the only oath I have ever kept. To never draw my second sword. And yet Mifune will never know. The lock of hair I gave him will never burn."
"That is your reason for following the boy," Bingwei Ma said, and went back to stirring the pot of broth. "But I swore no oath."
"I don't think you're the type of man who needs to. You do what you consider right and just. You help those in need. Right now Ein is in need of your help. I am in need of your help, Bingwei Ma, because I do not believe I will be able to kill the emperor alone. All of Hosa is in need. Will you turn away because there is a risk that the promised reward is nothing but empty words?"
The Master of Sun Valley let out a joyful chuckle. "When you put it like that, I don't think I can." Then his smile faded. "But you should be aware, the boy is not what he seems."
That was a statement Cho needed no reminding of. She had seen the strangle wounds around Ein's neck and she had heard how he got them. A young boy choked to death by his own father, just old enough to understand what was happening and why. Just old enough to realise he was being betrayed by the one person who should be beyond betrayal, by the one person who should protect him no matter what. Cho thought she understood Ein a bit better now. Now she understood why he needed his heroes to die, to bind them to him so there could be no betrayal. She understood the boy better now, and pitied him more deeply than ever. But there was something else too, something she had read on the standing stones back at Flaming Fist's camp. No, Cho needed no reminding that Ein was both more and less than the boy he seemed.
"I remember what it was like to be dead," Bingwei Ma said suddenly, staring into the pot he was stirring. "I have never felt so cold and alone, surrounded by anger and fear and… shame. I think I felt shame that I had died. Beaten. I have spent my life winning every fight. I have come to realise how much pride I take in that. Pride in winning, and pride in mercy." The Master of Sun Valley looked skyward. "I have always believed in the stars, that they are our gods lighting the way for us on the true paths we must walk. And they are also our ancestors looking down upon us, watching over us. But what if the space between the stars is more vast than we realise? What if death means being separated from all those we knew in life? I remember what it was like to be dead, Itami, and I do not wish to be dead again. But I cannot kill the emperor. I w
ill not forsake my principles. Not for the boy. Not for you. Not even for myself."
Cho opened her mouth to argue, but suddenly became aware of shouting. Screams drifting from outside the camp, echoed around them. A creaking like one of the great trees that surrounded them groaning against a powerful gale. She turned to see soldiers flooding towards them, shouting for help. One of them slid to a stop next to some of his comrades nearby. The man was doubled over and panting, pointing back the way he had come. When finally he looked up there was true fear on his face. It was the sort of terror Cho often saw in those who were certain they were going to die.
The soldier gasped in a breath and looked at Cho and Bingwei Ma. "Oni!"
Chapter 31
"No wonder the shinigami chasing us has been quiet for so long," Bingwei Ma stopped by a tree and gawked. Cho couldn't blame him, they were witnessing a creature out of legend, one most people would consider nothing more than a fanciful monster tale told to scare children before bed. She herself had seen walking corpses and a river dragon, yet still could barely believe her eyes.
The yokai tearing through the forest in front of them was an oni, a giant ogre standing taller than five of Cho and thick with muscle. Its skin was a dark crimson, the colour of blood, with black wards tattooed around its arms and chest. Thick black braids of hair hung down from the back of the oni's head and two large horns rose up from its brow. It had a flat face, with a pointed nose that hung down past its bottom lip. Two tusks sprouted from either side of its mouth, each one almost as long as Cho's arm. Its beady eyes glowed with a fierce blue light.
"Ugly beast, isn't it?" said Roi Astara. Cho hadn't noticed him standing nearby until he spoke, but he wasn't wrong.
A dozen of the soldiers were busy trying to distract the yokai, poking up at it with long spears, while others sneaked around behind it, carrying large nets of rope. Cho admired their bravery, even as she realised the futility of their attempt to subdue such a monster. In its right hand, the oni held a spiked club made entirely of metal. It was easily twice as tall as any man Cho had ever seen, and the oni swung it back and forth as it paced forward through the trees. The spears of the soldiers were entirely ineffective; they pierced the oni's flesh with ease, but the bloodless wounds closed as soon as the spear was drawn back. The oni fixed its beady blue eyes on each of the men in turn, then crushed them underfoot or turned them to mangled messes of flesh and bone with a single easy swipe from its club. And on it strode, farther into the camp, crushing tents and crushing everyone who rushed to stand in its way.
"Where's Chen Lu?" Cho asked, hiding behind a tree at the outskirts of the Steel Prince's camp.
"Unconscious," said Roi Astara. "He has had too much to drink, even for a man of his size." The leper stepped around a tree and brought his rifle up to his shoulder, pulling away the strip of bandage that covered the firing plate. "The oni are the most powerful of the yokai. They are servants to none, not even the gods. The shinigami must have offered the creature something to work its bidding." Roi Astara pulled the trigger on his rifle and the shot hit the oni's face; it disappearing into the skin. The wound closed up a moment later.
"I do believe I am not suited to this fight. Good luck, Whispering Blade, Master of Sun Valley." The leper turned and dashed away farther into the camp.
The oni turned their way, and for a moment stared straight at Cho, then it turned back to the camp and continued its rampage. It was searching for someone and she could guess who. "We have to stop it before it reaches Ein." She drew Peace into her right hand and sprinted towards the yokai.
Bingwei Ma outpaced Cho and reached the oni first. The Master of Sun Valley slid to a halt before the monster and delivered first a punch then a thunderous spinning kick to the oni's shin. Two strikes that would have felled a man. Bingwei Ma jumped away on nimble feet just as the oni aimed a savage kick at him.
Cho arrived soon after Bingwei Ma. She dodged around behind the oni and cut twice. Each slice cut through the oni's ankles, severing its tendons. It stumbled, but it did not fall. The wounds healed as quickly as she dealt them. Then the oni turned, far too fast for a creature of its size, its club tearing up the earth. Cho threw herself backwards just in time. A trench now lay between her and the oni, large enough for a man to duck down and hide in.
The oni fixed its gaze on Cho and took a thumping step forward that shook the earth. Bingwei Ma leapt from a nearby tree, catching hold of the oni's hair, and climbed quickly up onto its shoulders. Then he punched down twice on top of the monster's head. It let out a roar and swung its club to the side so hard it was embedded in one of the giant trees. Then the creature reached up and grabbed at the Master of Sun Valley.
Bingwei Ma leapt away from the clutching hands, but the oni made another grab for him as he fell to the floor. The Master of Sun Valley turned in mid-air, grabbed hold of a monstrous finger, and swung himself up onto the oni's hand, then he charged at the monster's head. He didn't see the other hand coming, and before Cho could help him, Bingwei Ma was clutched in the monster's grip. He screamed and Cho ran at the monster, already knowing she was too late to save the Master of Sun Valley.
The Steel Prince leapt into view, diving off a tree above them all. His silver armour glinted in the moonlight and he dropped, slashing down with a sword almost as tall as a man. His strike cut all the way through the monster's wrist, severing its hand, and the monster staggered back and screamed. The noise was so loud Cho felt her ears pop. She darted to the severed hand and pushed open the fingers to free Bingwei Ma. He was covered in sweat and grimacing in pain; his left arm hung limp by his side.
"Get away," Cho said, a little more harshly than she intended. "You cannot help with fists and feet, only steel will bring this monster down." Bingwei Ma nodded and staggered away, clutching at his left arm.
Even as the severed arm started to crumble away, like a castle of sand collapsing in upon itself, a new hand grew out from the oni's wound. The Steel Prince continued his assault. He leapt at the oni, swiping left and right and cutting huge gashes of flesh from the creature, then dodging away only to attack from another angle. The soldiers of the rebellion rallied around their leader, spear wielders rushing in to distract the monster while archers loosed shafts at its face. Most either missed or were absorbed into the skin, but some found their mark and stuck there, wooden shafts jutting from its cheeks and lips. They pushed back the oni between the trees. It swung its arms in a mad windmill to ward off the attacks.
Cho caught a good look at the Steel Prince as he clashed with a creature from myth. He seemed as agile as any monk Cho had ever seen, quick as a lightning flash as he dodged around the oni's swipes, and struck like a rock slide with his giant sword.
The Steel Prince buried his sword in the oni's gut, then braced his feet and pushed against the creature's flesh, and leapt free as it tried to grab him with its newly formed hand. He was winning, Cho thought, a mortal man against the most powerful of the yokai. The Steel Prince passed by the soldiers with the net and took it from them, then dashed up a tree, leaping from branch to branch until he was once more above the oni. He dropped the net, and followed it down, driving his sword blade into the monster's neck as it flailed its arms, tangling itself in the rope. The oni roared and dropped forward, crashing to the ground. The Steel Prince rode the beast down and stood triumphantly atop its back.
The soldiers cheered loudly for their prince, and flocked forwards around the oni's body. The Steel Prince held up his hands in victory. Only his eyes and mouth were visible beneath his helmet, but he was grinning widely. In that moment Cho could see how he had gathered so many soldiers from so many different kingdoms under his banner. She could see why they followed him, why they would be willing to fight and die for him. She could see why Ein needed him to fight against the emperor.
The victory celebration came to a quick end when the oni started laughing, a deep rumbling that shook the ground. The Steel Prince bounded off the monster's back, leaving his huge sword embedd
ed in its neck. The monster shifted its hands beneath it and pushed back to its feet. The ropes of the net snapped and the tattered remains fell away with the prince's sword, which clattered to the ground where the oni stepped on it, embedding it in the earth.
The Steel Prince backed up until he was standing next to Cho. "That shouldn't be possible," he said. "My sword should have severed its spine."
Cho almost laughed. "I have seen the dead brought back to life. I have seen corpses walk and monsters with more eyes than fingers. I have seen a goat with the face of a man and heard him tell me I would die. And I have seen a river dragon formed of monstrous eels." She looked at the prince then and smiled. "I have come to believe in many things that aren't possible. Besides, we aren't even sure it has a spine."
A few of the prince's soldiers were harrying the oni again, but it ignored them, glancing first right and then left until it found its club. It wrenched the thing from the tree, splintering bark into shards as tall as a man.
"If you have any suggestions on how to put it down for good," the Steel Prince said, "now would be the time."
Cho gripped Peace in both hands and settled into a warrior's crouch. "Distract it and leave the rest to me." The prince's relentless assault put a courage in Cho, one that made her believe she could do the impossible. She also knew that Peace was the only weapon capable of killing the oni.
Cho waited until the oni turned. It swatted away some arrows with a giant backhand, and then crushed two spearmen who were foolish enough to get too close. She charged, running as fast as she could, and ducked between the monster's legs, swiping left and right. Again the oni stumbled, but landed on a knee before pushing back upright. The remaining soldiers were able to scamper away from the monster. Then it turned its beady eyes solely on her. The oni grinned.
