by Guy Antibes
“Once or twice more. Make sure your weapons are ready at hand. Battles can be fought on the road to Tishiko. Remember, no fighting in the city, but outside, it is permitted.”
“To let the troops blow off their frustrations?” Pol said.
Val turned around in the saddle. “And intimidate other factions.”
“We should be adept at intimidation,” Shira said. “Shields. They should be active all the time from now on.”
Shira seemed more nervous traveling with a hundred armed Shinkyan soldiers than she was when the five of them, Fadden, Ako, Paki, Shira, and Pol rode to Tishiko. Pol just took it in. Shinkya was not as foreign to him as it was the first time he visited. If he had to tweak, so be it. His disguise could just as easily hide a Sister, as well as an Imperial, if he only had not grown so tall.
The night spent in the barracks was not quite as shocking as Shira let on. However, Pol did notice more Shinkyan skin that he ever had.
~
A large force of soldiers, perhaps twice as many as their column, converged on them from the direction of Tishiko.
“The officers will disperse to their units,” Shira said. “We will ride up as protection to the Fearless Sister who leads the entire column.”
They traveled on the side of the road as officers passed them, riding back. Pol nodded to Karo, who buried himself in the back of the Fearless column where they had been. The magician never had learned how to fight, even though he was rather adept with a bludgeon.
Pol leaned over and patted Demeron. “Are you ready?”
I am, and we will fight Shinkyans together. I look forward to it.
“I don’t want any fighting until we are settled in Tishiko,” Pol said.
That won’t happen. The soldiers up ahead are from the Fox faction. Their horses tell me they are itching to fight the Fearless.
“Does Amble know?”
She will, Demeron said. There are some Shinkyan horses ahead of us.
Pol loosened the blades that he carried and checked on his splinters and his throwing knives.
Their leader’s hand went up as she slowed the column. She raised a dark blue flag, and the soldiers drew their blades and sat on their horses with the pommels of their swords on their thighs.
Pol had never seen a Shinkyan battle before. “Are there ceremonial aspects to this battle?”
“A few,” Ako said. “I don’t think you’ve ever participated in a faction fight, Shira.”
“I haven’t,” she said, with her blade upright like everyone else, even Val.
“What can we expect?”
“There will be a meeting up the road. Words and curses will be thrown at each other. Then the leaders will return to the columns and lead us out onto the field to our right and battle will commence.”
“Are there many survivors?”
“If you are cut, you ride to the side. It isn’t generally a bloodbath, although with the Foxes being run by Elder Furima, one never knows,” Ako said.
Pol left them and joined the leader at her side. “I want to meet with the Fox leader with you. Will I break protocol if I do that?”
“Feel free to do so, Duke Pol, but remain a Shinkyan. Don’t cast off your disguise. It will only infuriate them.”
“I can use magic?”
She looked at him sideways. “If necessary, you can do anything, but let me start the talking.”
“Agreed,” Pol said. “You approach them with a sheathed weapon?”
The Sister-Commander nodded.
Pol returned his sword to his sheath.
“It is time,” the Sister said. “Follow me until we reach them.”
Three Fox officers rode forward. The two of them slipped ahead, but Val quickly rode up on the other side of the Sister.
“I’ll be quiet,” Val said. “I may not have another chance to experience a Shinkyan parley.”
The two parties stopped midway between the forces.
“It looks like the Empire was too much for the Fearless, or should I say, the Fearful faction. You even have worthless Bureaucracy tag-alongs.”
“We are merely rotating our forces. We are all battle-tested, fighting in real wars,” the Fearless Sister said. “Unlike the posturing of tiny foxes waving their bushy tails as they retreat to their dens at their mother’s insistence.”
Pol restrained smiling at the Sister’s insult. The Fox leader had no idea how seasoned the soldiers behind him had become.
“Posturing? The only ones posturing will be you when you kneel before us in submission.”
Pol glared at the woman. “Is that what Elder Furima requires of you, submission? Kneeling? I can see that.”
“Who are you to say that? You aren’t a Sister.”
“A mediocre magician, at best,” Pol said. “My friend on the other side of our dear Sister is, as well. But we are both magnificent swordsmen, taught by the pattern-masters of the Empire.”
“But you are Shinkyan.”
“We’ve lived in the Empire for the last few years. Do you really believe we would travel to the Empire and not improve ourselves where the Imperials have demonstrated an advantage?”
The Fox Sister snorted. “What can those dogs teach us?”
“Tricks,” the Fearless Sister said. “Many tricks. Are you sure you want to test us?”
“You are bluffing.”
“What would you like us to do? Your best sword against our best?”
The Fox Sister laughed. “A single person to represent twice as many as us?”
“Then why not two or three of your swords against one of ours,” Pol said.
“A warm-up, then. It will be a pleasant start to our battle. Who is your champion?”
“Me,” Pol said. He looked at Val for a challenge, but Val returned his look with a nod.
Pol slipped off Demeron after the Fox officers returned to their forces. “Let me know if the Foxes come up with any tricks.”
Demeron snorted. I have contacted two Shinkyan horses who have not bonded. I will communicate with them.
Pol realized that a bonded horse would more easily share Demeron’s questioning with its Fox friend.
Three walked from the Fox ranks. Pol could detect two sisters, and the large man held a very long sword.
Pol put up a tight protection shield. If this were truly a fight of honor, he wouldn’t, but he didn’t trust the Foxes. They faced each other and bowed to Pol, who bowed back.
“We fight without animosity,” one of the Sisters said.
The other Sister nodded, but the man grimaced. “I do.” He came at Pol.
The big man swept an incredibly slow, huge, arc with his sword, but Pol was nearly as tall and ducked underneath. He hit the man’s wrist with the backside of his blade and watched the sword wheel around until it landed on the dirt ten paces from their fight. His tall opponent held his hand.
“My wrist is broken.”
“I fought without animosity,” Pol said solemnly. “If I didn’t, you’d be drenching the road with your blood.” He looked at the two women. “Sisters?”
Their swords immediately went up in defense. Pol sparred with them. Neither knew how to use their magic to enhance their swordplay. They attacked him together, making it easier for Pol to anticipate their attacks. They got in the way of each other a few times.
“Forgive me,” Pol said, as he disarmed one of the sisters by cracking the back of his sword on one’s upper arm. The sword hit the dust of the road, raising a plume. Pol quickly tweaked it aside.
The remaining Sister’s eyes flew wide open. “You have talent.”
“A mediocre magician. I’m no Competent, I’m afraid,” Pol said.
A knife broke into Pol’s shield, the tip bruising his side. “Naughty, naughty,” Pol said to the tall man. Pol pulled out one of his throwing knives and threw it into the attacker’s thigh, but he still had time to parry a thrust from his remaining opponent.
The woman looked panicked.
“I still
fight without animosity and will accept your surrender.”
“I can’t.”
“Elder Furima?” Pol said.
She nodded.
Pol played with her for a while, giving her a chance to show that she fought bravely before Pol used a sip of magic to sneak his Shinkyan blade under her guard and put its tip to her throat.
“Yield.”
She dropped her sword to the ground.
The Fearless troops cheered. Pol went to the fallen man and pulled the knife out of his leg, despite the glares from his former opponent.
“I will heal this, but tell no one,” Pol said. Fat chance of that he thought, but he would give it a try. He repaired the vessels and finished with the skin. He left the skin bloody to hide what he had done. “I am a friend without animosity,” he said as he helped the man up and took his hand. “This will take longer to fully heal.” Pol said as he knitted the bones in his wrist. “Take it very easy for two weeks.”
“You speak like a healer, but fight like no one I’ve ever seen.”
Pol smiled at the confused man. “As I said to your leaders, I picked up a few tricks in the Empire.”
The last Sister he fought picked up Pol’s sword. “I’ve seen the pattern once before. Did they let you into the archives?”
Pol shook his head. “I am not worthy, but a Sister described a sword bearing this pattern to me. An expert outside Shinkya made it. I’ve grown to like it very much.” Pol placed his hand on the Sister’s upper arm and found a deep bone bruise. He repaired the bone as best he could, standing by her for a moment as the other Sister approached with his sword.
“It has seen much fighting,” she said. “You picked up your prowess on the battlefield?”
Pol nodded to the Fearless contingent. “As have they,” he said, accepting his sword.
“You stopped Anata’s knife with a shield. You are no Competent.”
“I said that I wasn’t.” Pol smiled and left the three of them standing there while he walked back to Demeron and mounted. “Let us proceed,” he said.
Val smirked as the Fearless Sister nodded her head at Pol. She looked disturbed by the fight. “We will do as you say, Great Ancestor.”
The appellation sent a chill down Pol’s spine. The Foxes parted as the Fearless column rode uneasily past the Foxes. A number of the soldiers bowed their heads towards Pol.
Shira raced up to him once they had cleared the end of the opposing force. “That’s an odd way to keep a low profile while we reconnoiter Tishiko for a few days,” she said. “As usual, my boyfriend fought with tenacity, yet with incredible restraint. You could have taken all three on and finished in seconds.”
“That wasn’t my intention, and I don’t want to be responsible for dead Shinkyans, although I am sure that will be unavoidable.”
Val rode up next to the other side of Shira. “You have that pattern right. You’ll be the target of every assassin the Shinkyans can put against you.”
“Not true,” Shira said. “Maybe half. No one can fight like that. I’ll bet the story of Pol’s fight will be repeated over and over and get grander with each retelling. I think we should get to Tishiko as quickly as possible.”
~~~
Chapter Seventeen
~
P ol asked the leader to pick up the pace, and before night fell the next day, they trotted into the Fearless compound. The bureaucracy troops continued on their way, not revealing where their quarters were. Pol suspected they headed back out of Tishiko, but not too far.
The Fearless Elder that Pol dealt with four years previously came out to greet them.
“You are?”
Pol gave the Fearless Elder his real papers.
“I thought so. You are too tall for one of my Fearless. Welcome back.”
“I have one request. Can I stay in the same room I did before?”
The Elder looked at Ako and Val. “I think I know you,” she said to Shira. “You will stay on the same floor. Is that acceptable?”
“It is,” Shira said.
She looked at Ako. “You know the way, Sister Ako.”
“There will be a Bureaucrat looking for me,” Shira said. “I don’t know who will contact me.”
“We will be discreet, Princess,” the Elder said.
~
Pol stared at the wall. He could tweak his location vision enough to sense the Demron steel weapons that were hidden inside. He took a deep breath. For him, retrieving the weapons represented a large step towards claiming the title of Great Ancestor.
Without the alien essence inside, Pol felt more like a fraud for doing so, but with the Empire fractured with civil war, he knew his duty. He tweaked the weapons from within the wall. They fell to the floor. He leaned over and picked them up.
He withdrew the Demron sword from its sheath and compared it to the Kirian version that had been strapped to his side since he fled from Kitanga. The Demron version was a tiny bit larger. Pol had forgotten the size, but the balance was just about perfect. He picked up the Kirian blade, surprised at how much heavier it felt. The balance was nearly as good as the Demron sword, a testament to the skill of the Kitangan sword maker.
Details differed. The dimples running along the sharp edge were more round on the Kitangan blade. Pol had not remembered the sharp, raised edges on the blunt side. He slipped the Demron blade into the scabbard he had made at the Academy. His long knife fit in the sheath he had brought with him from Daera, too. Perhaps no one would even notice the difference.
He knew the Demron blades would penetrate the Winnower protection wards, but he remembered resistance. Magnetic swords worked better, but he felt more comfortable using his weapons made out of the alien steel.
Pol slipped his Kitangan weapons underneath the bed, along with his other possessions. He smiled. Now he needed his amulet and his Demron splinters and knives. He wondered where they might be.
Shira walked into his room. “Now I don’t have to sneak out of the Royal Pagoda to see you.” She sat on his bed and noticed his sword. “You found your sword!”
“I tweaked it out of the wall,” Pol said. He slipped the Demron blade halfway out of the scabbard. “This is the one I made.”
“You or that alien?”
“I made it from a design in the alien’s memories. I remember the image that he implanted still,” Pol said. “The Kitangan version is close. The Shinkyans must have brought some of these swords with them from Teriland.”
“If there are weapons like your sword, they are hidden from princesses. I saw the pictures of Demrons holding the swords, but I never saw anything real.”
“Then I own two real copies of the Demron design. Do you want my Kirian versions?” Pol leaned over and pulled them out from underneath his bed.
Shira put the sword in her lap. “I’ve never touched this sword.” She slid it out of the scabbard and stood in his bedroom, swishing the blade. “It has exquisite balance but is a bit heavy for me. You keep it.” She smiled and put it back. “Shinkyan swords suit me better, I think.”
“It might have something to do with your being Shinkyan,” Pol said, smiling.
“Maybe,” Shira said. “Should we get something to eat? I’ve decided to change my features, so I am anonymous, now that the Fearless know we are here.”
“Karo went back to the Scorpions?”
Shira nodded. “I hope for good. He served us well at Redearth, but I’ve never gotten over his betrayal of you.”
“The Scorpions didn’t even betray me, not in a real sense. From their point of view, tucking me away in Daera turned out just the way it should for their interpretation of a Great Ancestor.”
“Oh?” She lifted an eyebrow and said, “What is your interpretation?”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with them. I made my own decisions all along the way, even though events pushed me towards Zasos. I would say I wouldn’t have disappointed them.” He took Shira’s hand. “It didn’t keep me from missing you, once I had my mem
ories back.”
“And now we are back here, ready to face my mother.”
“Without a plan, not knowing the current pattern,” Pol said. A glow came from his wrist. He looked at the dot on his wrist. “It’s from Malden.”
Pol pulled the Malden rune book out. “Confirmation that the West Huffnyan’s broke. Those who remain in the army flee to the north and are heading towards the East. Hazett has replaced the Winnowers with a council of nobles in West Huffnya. A temporary measure, Malden thinks.”
“So one fracture repaired?”
Pol shook his head. “The bone has been set, but it’s not healed. The forces are concentrated to the East. Daftine remains a diversion, but with Deftnis monks, Zasosian warriors, and Listyan forces, they should prevail. Landon has a very good General, remember?”
Shira nodded. “I do. So everything leads to civil war in the East.”
“It does. I can’t discern a specific outcome in the pattern that I see. We have some defenses, but the Winnower armies will be massive.”
“With protection spells,” Shira said.
“The Winnower army has little cavalry. The Imperial mounted forces supported by magicians eliminating wards made sure that the fleeing enemy paid dearly for fighting against the Emperor.”
Ako knocked on the open door frame to Pol’s room. “I hate to interrupt you two, but Valiso and I are hungry.”
“Val complained?” Pol said.
The Sister pursed her lips. “Not exactly, but I’m hungry enough for the both of us.” She saw the hilt of Pol’s Demron sword. “Where did you get that?” she said pointing.
“I pulled it out of thin air,” Pol said smiling. “It was in a very safe place all these years. It is a little better than my Kitangan replica.”
“And you don’t need to magnetize it,” Shira said.
Pol grinned. “No, I don’t. Let’s get something to eat.”
They walked to the Fearless commissary.
“Where are my things? The Scorpions have what I possessed when I went to Fadden and Paki.”
“Fadden.” Ako repeated his name.
Pol clearly saw she missed her dear friend.
“The Bureaucrats have what you left behind. I’m sure of that. Ako retrieved it from the Fearless compound when Elder Furima led it,” Shira said. “I expect them to show up tonight or tomorrow.”
