by Guy Antibes
Chika sat upright and giggled. “You may be right. What will you do with the stone?”
He pulled out a knife and worked on popping the stone from it’s setting. “I’m going to remove this. They are looking for a sword. I brought a pouch so I can wear it around my neck. I still can’t leave the sword anywhere.”
“It could remain here.”
Shiro nodded his head as he looked around at the setting. “It’s beautiful here. I never really noticed.” He breathed in the smell of the forest with its sweet decay mixed with the scents of the trees and flora. The sun peeked through the leaves, it’s mid-summer power long gone. He noticed a few yellow leaves scattered around. “Not as beautiful as you.”
Chika actually blushed and hit him. “Hey, you’re not supposed to make me do that.”
She gasped and put her hand up to her face. “I am, aren’t I?” She smiled and Shiro couldn’t believe the woman loved him. “Well my comments won’t stop,” she said.
“Don’t ever stop.” He kissed her again and then wrapped up the blade. “I’ll retrieve this another time.”
She merely nodded, watching him at work. “I love the way you move, Shiro.”
“An old farmer, like me?”
Chika shook her head. “A leader of men and women. You’re not the same man I cooked for in the White Chrysanthemum.”
“We’ve shared a lot, haven’t we? And in a very short time, eh?”
“It’s been more than eventful, but I know you know that.”
Shiro laughed “And I know that you know that I know that.” She joined him. He put the Sunstone in a pouch that he pulled from his robes. Most of the Red Rose had reverted to wearing clothes in the Ropponi style. He dropped the stone in and put it around his neck. “There. I don’t feel its presence.”
“That’s a relief. I don’t want you showing your love to anyone else.” She grabbed him again and they kissed for a bit.
“We have to get back.”
Chika sighed and looked around at the glade and breathed deeply. “I wish we could stay here for the rest of our lives.”
‘Who knows? We might return here and do just that.”
She shook her head. “You are destined for greater things, my love.” She took his hand and kissed it. “Tishiaki and I have discussed it. You will lead the Red Rose to greatness.”
Shiro picked up the pouch from his neck. “Perhaps we will need to rename our band the Yellow Rose.”
Chika’s face turned serious. “Before we are done, there will be plenty of red.”
“I’m afraid your right.” He transported them back into his tent.
After another long kiss, Chika held him at arm’s length. “I may enter your tent secretly some night.”
Shiro smiled. “Just don’t keep it a secret from me.”
~
Sleep came late for Shiro. He wished his feelings hadn’t been revealed to Chika. It put them both at a disadvantage, but then Tishiaki and she had been close friends and everyone in the Red Rose had probably suspected that Chika and he were more than interested in each other. At least if anything happened to either of them, they had finally shared their true feelings.
Shiro realized that an Emperor would have to be very wise to use the Sunstone. The light it revealed could uncover cruel feelings as well as the sublime. He resolved to use it judiciously. There had to be something more to the reunion of all four stones. The thought bounced around in his head against the memories of long lingering kisses with Chika.
He woke in the morning. The sun shone brighter and colors were sharper. He kept smiling for no reason and had to suppress such a thing. He sat at the mess, eating alone as he usually did. Tishiaki put a plate of sweet gruel and buttered bread down on the other side. They had gotten used to sitting in taller chairs and eating from taller tables with Bessethian eating instruments.
“Cat’s out of the bag, Shiro.” Tishiaki said. “It’s about time, too. I thought you two would never pick up what everyone else sees.”
“And what does everyone else see?”
“Those little throwaway comments from Chika? Do you take me for a blind man?”
“I once took you for an old woman,” Shiro said with half of a smile.
“Well,” Tishiaki gave Shiro a rare smile, “I’m sure you won’t treat each other much differently, but the poor woman seemed rather liberated this morning. She actually hummed a tune. I have news for you Shiro—Chika can’t hold a tune.”
Shiro laughed. “I can’t either. See? We’re compatible.” Shiro paused. “We won’t be moving in together. Our relationship won’t change a great deal until after this war.”
“Understood. But if you go in for a little ‘change’ now and then, you won’t lose face with me.” Tishiaki nodded and took his breakfast elsewhere.
What had Chika told him? He looked around the mess and didn’t see her, but then he rarely did. He ate his breakfast and was just about ready to return to this tent when Rimmel hurried up to his table and sat on the seat Tishiaki had vacated.
“News, Shiro.” Rimmel pulled a book from his shirt and slid it across the table. The man didn’t need to translate as much as advise the Red Roses on cultural issues. “Pay no attention to this. We’ve done the same often enough, although you might find this interesting. I came across it in the Keep’s library. But I’m giving you this as a cover. I think I’m being followed.” He looked around Shiro.
“You’ve always been followed, Rimmel,” Shiro said, chuckling. “I’m generally followed when I leave camp, so I just assume that I am. What has you upset?”
“The war has begun. The Valetan army has begun to head southward towards us and Happly has moved his troops northward.”
“Without us?”
Rimmel nodded. “The soldiers I’m staying with were talking all about it.”
Shiro rubbed his chin. “Why?” Rimmel stayed with soldiers in the keep intentionally to keep from being ‘tainted’ by the Ropponi.
“If they don’t want to use you…”
“Ah. I see what you do. If they don’t want to use us, then they don’t want anyone else to use us.”
“That’s how I see it. No one trusts the Red Rose. They are afraid of three hundred wizards.”
“Not all of us are wizards. You know that.”
“They don’t. I’d make sure you protect yourselves. I’ve seen them harvest some farmland to the north of the city a bit prematurely and put up stakes for fences.”
“Another camp?”
“For prisoners.”
Shiro furrowed his brow. “They are rather confident, aren’t they?”
“The rumor is the Valetan army is riddled with traitors.”
Peleor had been busy in Valetan, it seemed. “When will they be here?”
“A week, two.”
“Why didn’t you bring this information to me sooner?”
Rimmel looked around the camp again. “I’m kept in the dark, like you, They all celebrated in our little barracks last night before they all headed north, awash in confidence. I didn’t drink as much as they did and didn’t have to ask many questions.”
“Perhaps they are overconfident. Anything useful in the book?” Shiro said, picking it up.
“It’s a history of the Red Kingdom’s Bloodstone. I thought you might be interested in it since you are a wizard and I thought it might be an interesting topic for you.” Rimmel shrugged. “I had to bring something.”
“Actually, I’m very interested in what this book has to say. Assume from here on that we will be monitored. We are probably more like prisoners than we are members of the Duke’s army. Understood?”
“Understood. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not come to the camp for a few days.”
“Just let me know if you learn anything else. Perhaps we can meet tomorrow in the Keep, away from here. I want to know more of where things are.”
“But we’ll be watched.”
“I have little to hide, Rimmel.” Shiro s
aid, glad that they didn’t share the Sunstone at that moment.
~~~
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
~
“CAPTAIN’S NOT HERE, ROPPONI,” one of the guards to the entrance to the keep said.
“That is a disappointment. With my free time, I thought my translator Rimmel could give me a tour.” Shiro looked up at the stone walls. “It’s magnificent. We don’t have all-stone keeps like this in Roppon.” At least he told the guard the truth about that. Ropponi castles had stone foundations, but the actual living quarters were generally built with wooden framing, like the one that burned to the ground in Sekkoro.
It took Shiro a few minutes of wandering to find Rimmel. His translator didn’t look too happy to give Shiro the tour, but knowledge of the basic layout of the Keep couldn’t hurt.
“Why don’t you take me to the Library first?” Shiro said. “I’d like to know what kinds of books are read by the nobility.”
Rimmel relaxed a bit. “The Duke has a very good library, follow me.” They walked up three levels to the Library. The Library put Ashiyo’s collection to shame. There must have been hundreds of books and thousands of scrolls. None of the scrolls used sticks, but were made from parchment.
“Why are the windows so high in the walls?” Shiro thought that the library would not be heavily used and any windows might be a good place to enter.
“The city has been built right up to the walls in the back of the keep, so the windows have to be above them. The high windows actually protect the books from more direct sunlight and light shining down makes it easier to read.”
Shiro gazed up at the windows. He could levitate up to them, but would have to break the glass in order to leave. He liked the thick glass that the Bessethians used in their buildings. The light was brighter than paper walls and kept in more heat. He remembered the little square of glass that he had in his farmhouse door.
“See the books?” Rimmel showed him all of the titles. Many of them were the names of places and battles that he had never heard of.
“What about maps?” Shiro said.
“Over here. I’m not suppose to go through the maps, but since a few are here, out in the open…” Rimmel shuffled through a pile of maps and showed him one of the Duchy.
Shiro had never seen any good maps of Besseth and now had a better understanding of Happly.
“All of this is still forest?”
“Pretty much,” Rimmel said. “Peasants have to carve out farmland after they’ve harvested the wood. Happly isn’t a particularly rich dukedom. There are a few mines to the east.”
Shiro saw the dukedom as a perfect buffer state. Both Happly and to a slightly lesser extent, Gensler, protected the Valetans from the Red Kingdom and the Red Kingdom from the Valetans. Besseth only had three major kingdoms and those were primarily defined by large, fertile plains. The rest of the continent was divided by mountains, rivers and forests into the petty states, mostly dukedoms. Without a unifying bureaucracy, he could see why the continent had never coalesced into an empire as Roppon had.
“What about the Keep itself?”
Rimmel had to get down on his hands and knees. “I think I came across a portfolio of building plans to the keep down here.” He pulled out a large packet of sheets bound up between two leather-covered slabs of wood.
“I thought you weren’t allowed in the maps.”
“I’ve never run across anyone in the Library before, so I’ve…” He reddened and turned to the portfolio.
“That’s all right. Give me a tour on the map.”
The Keep held few secrets after Rimmel’s run-through. Shiro wanted a more thorough view of the dungeon and would do that after he left Rimmel, now that he knew how to get there. They heard voices outside one of the doors and Rimmel shoved the portfolio beneath the maps scattered on the main reading table in that section.
He ran to where most of the histories were kept as Shiro followed when the door opened. The Duke of Happly walked in followed by men in armor who Shiro didn’t recognize.
The Duke, which made him on the short side for Bessethian males, blustered. “What are you two doing in my library?”
Shiro eyed the Duke. He looked unpleasant, reminding him of Chika’s father.
“Captain Beech gave me permission to take a few books to the leader of the Ropponi.” He nodded towards Shiro. “With the Keep emptier than usual, I decided to give him a tour of the Library.”
Shiro bowed deeply and smiled. “Your library is most impressive, Duke Happly. It has brought much understanding to me of Besseth and its people.” He bowed again.
“Hmpf,” the Duke narrowed his eyes. “You may leave now. I don’t want either of you in this room until after we’ve taken in the Valetan prisoners. Beech will let you know when that is.” The man stood waiting for them to vacate the library.
Rimmel had broken into a sweat once they headed down to the courtyard level. “That was close.”
“No, that was instructive,” Shiro said. “I was able to take measure of the Duke. I think our tour is over. Show me your quarters and I’ll see my way out.”
“I’d be happy to,” Rimmel said hurrying to the back stairway and down to the ground floor where he stopped at a door along a long corridor. “Barracks. I’m in this one. Twenty beds to a room. We eat in the hall on the other side.”
Shiro looked around him and saw fewer doors on the other side of the corridor. Rimmel disappeared before he could be thanked. But that suited Shiro just fine. In the deserted corridor, he took on the disguise of a guard and gave himself a tour of the dungeons. There didn’t appear to be any inhabitants, but if they captured an army, the commanders would likely end up here, away from their soldiers.
He memorized the position of a secluded alcove and teleported back to his tent.
“There you are,” Chika said, causing Shiro to jump to the side in alarm. “Nice move. So why are you all dressed up as a Bessethian?”
Shiro shook off his disguise. “Preparing for any circumstance. Is Tishiaki around?”
Chika laughed. “Not if I’m alone in your tent, but then I’ve never actually been alone in your tent before.”
“You haven’t, have you?” Shiro began to heat a brazier for some warm wine, something they didn’t have very often in Besseth. “Why don’t you find him while this is heating up and find some food.”
“I am yours to command,” Chika said. Shiro heard a touch of disappointment in her voice. “I did have a little extra time on my hands. I was… disappointed that you weren’t here. She blushed.
Shiro smiled at her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here. While you look for Tishiaki, I’ve a little sketching to do.”
“A picture of you for me?”
Shiro shook his head. “Unfortunately no.”
Chika left while Shiro pulled out two sheets of parchment. One duplicated the map of Happly and the other outlined the general layout of Happly Keep and the surrounding city. The pair entered as he finished. He looked at Tishiaki. “Pour us all some wine while I tell you what I learned today.”
Chika stuck out her lower lip in a pout while she arranged the food.
“Rice! Lucky us.”
“It’s not like Ropponi rice, Shiro,” Chika said. She picked up the map of Happly.
“It is a map of the city.” Shiro poured out three cups of wine. “We are prisoners. Certain individuals…”
“Peleor.” Tishiaki said.
Shiro nodded. “Peleor and his emperor want us out of this fight, hence we are virtually prisoners in Happly. The Red Rose is in the most remote part of Besseth and the Duke’s army fights to the north as we speak. They have infiltrated the invading Valetans with traitors and the outcome of the invasion isn’t in doubt.”
“The outcome of a battle can never be certain.”
“A battle, yes, but not the war,” Shiro said. “Here,” he pointed to the field on the north side of town. “They will house what’s left of the Valetan army in this stockade. We are
on the east and they are on the north. The Duke’s army is on the west. You will note that they are fighting the enemy and we are sitting at the back of the Keep. We have more sorcerers in our ranks than both armies combined and yet we aren’t being used.”
“And they isolate us so we don’t know.”
“So we don’t know.” Shiro nodded. “I have decided that I do not want to fight for the Duke. How do you feel?”
“He has only paid us a token amount of gold, but he’s kept us fed.”
Chika snorted. “Barely. And he’s not even paid for our clothes.”
“That’s why we are wearing Ropponi style clothing,” Tishiaki said. “If we left where would we go?”
“I’m not sure. There is a Valetan wizard, named Mistad. He might be headed here, working with the princess who leads the Valetans. If she survives the betrayal, she will end up in the dungeons. I’ve been down there this afternoon and can teleport in.”
“So you can bring her out?” Tishiaki said.
“No. If we rescue her, the anger of Duke Happly might come down on our entire band. Three hundred against ten thousand?” He shook his head. “It might come to that, but we can’t plan for the situation. We must wait for Mistad. If Happly kills them all, then we will head for Learsea or Gensler.”
“And the forest becomes a great equalizer,” Tishiaki said.
“Oh, I see,” Chika said.
“Right, Chika. I feel like we are in a great fog and before we act, the air must clear.”
“I can see you just fine, Shiro,” Chika said.
“Am I to leave?” Tishiaki said, grinning.
“No. I would like our camp ready to fight at a moment’s notice. Inspect the tents and I want all personal effects stowed to flee immediately. I know we’ve accumulated supplies, but accelerate your efforts. We may not be part of the war, but I want us on a war footing. Do you agree?”
Tishiaki stood. “We’ve already begun to put your words into action. In two days, we will be able to break camp whenever we wish.”
“We just need a direction to march,” Chika said.
“And therein lies the problem.” Shiro stared at the map. “I don’t know. Circumstances will lead the way.”
