by Ryan Kirk
But Renzo stood firm, perfectly balanced, ready for a strike from any angle. Ryuu attacked, his blade searching for an opening in Renzo’s defense. There was none. Every time he approached, he was driven back by the second blade. Renzo blocked with one and cut with the other, moves blurring together with blinding speed and accuracy. Ryuu couldn’t get close to him.
Ryuu came in again, focusing his mind, trying to bring all the energy he could to bear. He lost his balance for a moment and Renzo’s blade sliced through his back. It wasn’t deep, but it was the same type of cut that had left Rei twitching on the ground. Ryuu paused his attack and considered his options. Renzo resumed his stance, perfect and prepared for anything Ryuu might try.
Ryuu cursed to himself. This wasn’t going anywhere. Time to try the trick Tenchi had used on him. He focused his attention, playing through his actions in his mind. Fortunately, Renzo seemed more than willing to give him all the time he needed, confident in his dominance.
Ryuu slid into his attack, stepping forward. The trick was to intend to strike in multiple places at once. Ryuu struck, and Renzo blocked a strike that never came. Ryuu struck Renzo’s second blade, knocking it out of his hand with the force of the cut. Renzo switched his stance and again the two nightblades met in a flurry of strikes and counter-strikes, neither gaining the advantage on the other.
They split apart again, each of them looking to gather their energy. Ryuu was getting tired. He was putting everything he had into every attack, and still he’d just barely been able to cut Renzo. Renzo looked more uncertain than he had when the battle had first been joined. It was something, at least.
As they caught their breath, Renzo spoke. “I’ve never seen that attack before. Is it Tenchi’s secret technique?”
Ryuu nodded. Renzo laughed uncontrollably, and Ryuu understood. His blood was rushing through his body. Everything was vivid and he struggled to contain his emotions. “I’d always wondered what that technique was. He spoke about it all the time.”
Ryuu settled back into his combat stance. He didn’t have many advantages over Renzo, but youth was one of them. Renzo had seen more than twenty more cycles than Ryuu, and Ryuu hoped he’d tire more quickly.
Ryuu charged forward again, his mind focused and clear. Their blades met twice and Renzo sprinted uphill, trying to gain the upper ground. Ryuu sprinted after him, trying to attack Renzo’s lower body while parrying attacks meant for his upper body. Renzo stopped running and the battle continued, the ground uneven and the grass slippery with night dew. Ryuu struck again with Tenchi’s attack, managing to cut Renzo again before he was able to recover. Then Ryuu slipped, and Renzo scored a cut across his chest before Ryuu could get up to block in time.
He didn’t want to keep using Tenchi’s attack. Every time he did, it gave Renzo a chance to understand it better. He risked the attack one more time, this time cutting deep into Renzo’s leg. Renzo howled in frustration, finding a reserve of energy Ryuu wasn’t expecting.
Renzo came at him, his blade almost impossible to track, even for Ryuu. Ryuu found himself scrambling backwards, slipping and falling on the slick grass. Finally, Ryuu dove downhill. He didn’t want to give up vertical ground, but he saw little option. Renzo wasn’t giving him any openings at all, and Renzo’s blade was cutting closer and closer. Ryuu rolled, the cut on his back screaming in pain, but when he tried to come to his feet he couldn’t. The slope was steep and slippery, and he couldn’t find purchase for his feet with his momentum. Renzo recognized his predicament and sprinted down the hill after him, sword low for the killing cut.
Ryuu panicked, almost losing the flow of energy that surrounded him. He was slowing down, but he wasn’t sure it was fast enough. His feet kept scrambling for something to stop him.
When his right foot hit the rock, Ryuu felt something in his ankle give way under the force. His body compressed as he managed to stop his momentum. Ryuu ignored the pain and sprang forward, right at Renzo. His stomach sank. If his ankle was hurt, he only had one chance to end this. If it went further, Renzo would wear him down and finish him. Ryuu focused his mind, his intent to make all nine cuts at once. It all came down to one strike.
Time slowed even further, a moment stretching into forever. Then steel met steel, and Ryuu was past Renzo. It couldn’t be.
Renzo had blocked the strike.
Ryuu landed on his left foot, his good foot, uphill from Renzo. He turned and launched himself back down the hill at Renzo. He knew it was hopeless, but he had to fight until the end. The battle wasn’t over until his breath left his body for the Great Cycle.
He didn’t believe what he saw. Renzo’s defense was open, his back turned to Ryuu. Renzo was starting to turn, but he was too slow. Ryuu put all his strength into his final cut, a clean strike through Renzo’s spine. Ryuu didn’t trust landing on his right leg, electing to fall hard onto the hillside and slide to a stop twenty paces down the hill. His whole body hurt, but when he looked up the hillside, Renzo’s body wasn’t moving. He had to be sure.
Slowly, Ryuu managed to get back to his feet. He sheathed his sword and used the scabbard in place of his injured right foot. It felt like it took him forever to reach Renzo’s body, but when he did, he could see why Renzo wasn’t moving. Renzo’s spine had been severed, and he was bleeding out. Already his eyes were starting to glaze over. Renzo turned his eyes towards Ryuu and smiled, a vicious grin made worse by the blood dripping from it. “I blocked his attack.”
Ryuu understood. He had blocked Tenchi’s secret attack, but hadn’t recovered from his success quickly enough. It had only been a moment, but a moment was all Ryuu had needed. Ryuu was moved to pity. It was hard to see someone who relied on their physical skill have their gift taken from them. “Yes, you did. You’re the strongest I’ve faced. May you find peace in the Great Cycle.”
Renzo laughed, then grimaced in pain. He struggled to make the words. “Not the strongest.”
It was all he could do before he gave up the effort. Ryuu sat with him for his final moments, waiting until he felt Renzo’s energy depart and merge with the energy surrounding him. He had rejoined the Great Cycle.
After Renzo died, Ryuu started working his way back towards where Rei lay. He could sense her energy getting weaker. He moved as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast on his bad ankle. The moon was well on its way down the sky by the time he got to her. It wouldn’t be long now before the armies began forming up for battle. When that happened, the place they were was the last place anyone in the Three Kingdoms would want to be.
Rei’s injuries were serious. She was unconscious and bleeding profusely. Ryuu sized up the situation, and it wasn’t pretty. He was having a hard time moving, but if she didn’t receive care soon, she was going to die. They weren’t too far away from Akira’s camp, but Rei was down near the bottom of the valley, and Akira’s camp was a climb up. Ryuu swore. He didn’t see any other way.
He made bandages from the rags he was wearing and wrapped them as tightly around Rei as he could. They soaked through with blood immediately, but he figured it was better than nothing. In a better world, Ryuu would have been able to throw her over his shoulder, but if he did that his shoulder would be right in her wound. He would have to carry her in his arms. She was light, but it was a long way to the top of the hill.
Ryuu grimaced as he picked her up. His ankle flared up, and he almost stumbled and dropped her. His vision went fuzzy for a moment before it returned to normal. Ryuu found the energy that surrounded him and fell into it once again, feeling the strength return to his exhausted muscles. He started walking, one step at a time, each one a grueling test of his will and focus.
Ryuu didn’t dare release the energy, drop out of the state he was in. He was sure that if he did he would have nothing left. All that mattered was getting Rei help. His mind flashed back to Takako, dying right in front of him. He didn’t want to live through that again. He wasn’t sure that he could.
Even bringing in all the energy he could,
every movement he made was torture. He could feel the cut on his back widen under the pressure it was experiencing. He worried his ankle would break. More than anything, he wanted a dayblade to be somewhere in Akira’s camp, even though he knew it was impossible. The blades needed to come back, all of them, to the Three Kingdoms.
Ryuu was halfway back up the hill when his focus abandoned him and he collapsed. He tried to move, but wasn’t even able to move his own body. He lay there, face in the dirt, trying to summon up the strength to keep moving.
Then he sensed them, Akira’s soldiers, moving down towards them. Ryuu looked up and moved his hand to wave, but then his world went black.
When he came to, he was lying on his stomach while a medic stitched his back together. Ryuu swore loudly, startling the doctor. He heard Akira’s distinctive chuckle.
“They thought you’d sleep for days. Apparently not so much.”
Ryuu managed to form words. Everything in his body seemed sluggish to him. “What happened?”
“When you left, I had men follow you to the perimeter of the camp and watch your battle. As you can imagine, the outcome was of no little importance to me. They saw you defeat Renzo, although they admit they couldn’t actually see much of the battle in the dark. When you started carrying Rei back to our camp, they came back to report. I sent men to retrieve you. I apologize. If my men had some more initiative, they would have prevented your climb back up the hill.”
Ryuu nodded, the small motion causing pain to blaze throughout his body. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do. I figured Renzo would be coming for me if you failed, so I’m grateful you succeeded.”
Ryuu could feel the darkness pressing in on him. Akira dismissed the medic, finished with his work, and knelt down next to Ryuu.
“I’ve been talking with my generals, Ryuu. We’re going to surrender when the sun rises. I hate it more than anything, but you are right. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Then the blackness claimed Ryuu before he could even ask what had happened to Rei.
Chapter 32
Akira stood in the early morning sun and looked at the two nightblades recovering in their tent. Ryuu would live and heal. He was cut, and his cuts were deep, but there wasn’t anything fatal. It was Rei he worried about. Her arm hung limp, and the healers had told him they weren’t sure it would ever be functional again. He wondered how she would feel about it. She had been so happy, so positive about everything. But if she lost her movement, her ability with the sword, what was left for her?
Akira hated seeing the two of them in this condition. He had become fond of them, fond of their strength. Akira had known how strong Orochi was, and Ryuu had killed him. Renzo, whoever he had been, must have been incredibly strong to do this to both of them.
Looking in on the nightblades gave Akira the strength he needed. He hadn’t slept at all the night before, and this morning the battle lines were being drawn up. Akira had spoken with his generals. They knew what was coming.
It was the damn Azarians. Akira had cursed and raged when he had gotten the news, but no amount of anger changed the facts he faced. He had never imagined so many Azarians. Never imagined they would be backed up with hunters. Not even Moriko had made it out alive, and Akira was sure she’d been strong.
He wanted to give the order to charge. He wanted to make the soldiers of the Western Kingdom pay in blood for every step they’d taken on his land. But he wouldn’t do it. His men thirsted for the blood of the invaders, but they wouldn’t taste it today. Not with the danger they would be facing. Today he would surrender his kingdom to Tanak. It was the hardest decision he’d ever made.
Akira left the tent and found his honor guard. He mounted his horse and looked with pride upon all the men who had assembled to fight and die for him.
They raised a white flag as a banner and Akira rode down the hillside. They rode to the center of the field and waited for Tanak to come. In time he did, bearing his own white flag of truce. Akira motioned to his honor guard to stay in place while he rode to Tanak. Tanak did the same, and the two of them met in open field, alone. Akira thought, just for a moment, he would cut Tanak down where he stood, but the moment passed. No good would come of it.
“Good morning, Akira.” Tanak dropped the honorific.
“Good morning, Lord Tanak.” Akira swallowed his pride, as much as it pained him to do so.
“It’s a lovely morning for battle, isn’t it?”
Akira shook his head. “No. No morning should be ruined by the sound of the battle calls.” He paused. “I’ve received a message that concerns us.” He handed Tanak the same report he’d received from the Three Sisters. Tanak read it quickly and threw it to the ground.
“Please, do you think to get me to turn back now, just because you show me a letter?”
“No. I would like you to turn around so I can send my men down to the pass to protect it.”
“It will never happen, Akira.”
“Damn it, Tanak! If we fight here today, no matter who wins, our armies will be broken. We don’t have the strength to stand against a force this size.”
Tanak looked Akira right in the eye. “My men will meet yours in battle, and after you are gone, we’ll go down and protect all Three Kingdoms. We can stand before them without a problem.”
Akira couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Surely Tanak wasn’t so delusional as to believe what he was saying?
“You won’t turn back?”
Tanak shook his head.
“Then I need to negotiate my terms of surrender.”
The grin on Tanak’s face made Akira want to draw his blade again, but he resisted. “What are your terms?”
“With the threat from the Azarians, I ask that my men are allowed to disband and go home, keeping their weapons. None of my men are to be tried for any crime, and they will be allowed to keep their organization. If you need them, they will come to your call to protect the land. Also, grant me the title of your second-in-command, so that my men will accept this peace.”
“So you can stab me in my sleep and take the throne that way?”
Akira glared at Tanak. “You know I wouldn’t stoop to such tactics.”
Tanak thought about the terms for a moment. “That is true. If nothing else, you are honest. There is one thing more I require.”
“What is it?”
“The head of the nightblade in your camp.”
Akira spun around, making sure no one was close enough to overhear. But they were alone on the battlefield, their honor guards dozens of paces away. “Come again?”
Tanak spat. “Don’t play games with me, Akira. I know you have a nightblade with you. Renzo told me before he went to assassinate you. I’m assuming Renzo fell to him, given that you’re here in front of me. I want his head. Renzo deserves it.”
“And how do you expect me to kill a nightblade?”
“That’s your problem. I’ll agree to your terms, but you must bring me his head.”
Akira debated for a moment. “I will try to kill him myself. That way, even if I fail, your price will be paid.”
Tanak smiled. “That’s good enough for me. I agree to your terms.”
Akira cursed to himself and rode away. Now he had to tell his men why he had surrendered his kingdom before they’d even fought.
Chapter 33
After over two moons in the Azarian prairie, the fort at the southern tip of the Three Sisters seemed like a gift from the fates. Moriko hadn’t been sure she’d ever see it again. She was flooded with relief. It wasn’t home, but it was good enough.
Even at first glance, Moriko could tell Toro hadn’t wasted his summer. There was an extra wall built around the fort, and the existing walls had been built higher than they had been when she had left. As she approached she could see the soldiers at work, drilling and building. She kicked the horse. She wanted to be inside the walls.
Moriko was greeted at the wall like she was
a hero of the people. She gazed from face to face. She saw fear and hope in the eyes of the soldiers. A summer without battle had taken their toll. Moriko was brought to Toro right away. She started with the most important news. The hunters were real, they were in charge of the tribes, and they were coming. Moriko estimated they had a half-moon at the most to prepare. Toro’s face paled when she spoke of the capabilities of the hunters. His scouts had spotted the Azarians, but the hunters were news to him.
She had to give Toro credit. He set aside all his disbelief and listened to what she was saying. They spoke through the afternoon and into the evening. But before the moon broke the horizon, he held up his hand to stop her.
“This is much to take in. I will start to make preparations as I see fit, but we can continue this tomorrow. It’s obvious that you are exhausted.”
Moriko graciously accepted his hospitality, falling asleep in the offered tent instantly and sleeping better than she had in ages. Her time in Azaria had taught her not to take safety for granted. When she woke, she was brought to Toro, and he began a careful questioning, bringing out details Moriko hadn’t even realized were important. She realized she had learned much more than she thought she had, just by living with the Azarians.
Throughout their interview, Moriko knew the camp was more alive than it had been in some time. Toro had taken her story to heart, and defenses were being prepared. Walls were reinforced. Blades and arrows were sharpened and honed, all on her word. The First was preparing for war. They were interrupted regularly by dispatches that Toro answered quickly. Moriko was in awe. She could destroy him in single combat, but this man was a leader, preparing his army for a battle Moriko thought was hopeless. She couldn’t take his place, no matter how strong she was.
They talked through the night, reaching the point of Moriko’s story when she met Nameless for the first time. The moon was high in the sky when Moriko finally left the general’s tent. She breathed in the night, feeling it filling her with strength. She hadn’t been sure she would survive, but here she was, stronger than ever.
