The Darkness of Dawn

by Braden Michael

  “My Lord!” An Emberland servant named Daughtry ran up to Black Eyes. He was a teenage boy with short blonde hair who wore a red silk tunic and leather breeches. I am not a Lord, you little shit. Black Eyes swallowed his insult and greeted the boy.

  “Hello Daughtry. I need you to tell me where the Emperor is,” said Black Eyes, disguising his urgency.

  “He is up those big stairs.” The servant boy pointed upwards to the balcony far up in the air. “I heard they got the top floor of the inn set up special just for him.”

  Black Eyes thanked the boy by patting him on the head and proceeded to run up the stairs. His hurried pace frightened the people he ran past. He heard a few of them mumble curses at him, but he did not care. The Headland Navy is not here because they are doing something important, Black Eyes reminded himself.

  Atop the balcony there were a few Headland soldiers on either side, but Black Eyes ignored them all the same. The balcony led to a hallway with blue velvet carpeting along the floor, with torches posted on the walls running the length of it. He scanned to find a stairway that could lead to the top floor. He found the stairway at the tail end of the hallway, two hundred feet from the balcony. The stairway was encased in stone, with wooden steps and lit torches on each landing. After climbing three floors, he reached the top, his breath still rapid and heavy.

  Black Eyes thrust the blue wooden door open to reveal the top floor. The hallway was half the length of the last, and ornate doors with handles of gilded steel lined it in place of torches. A glass ceiling allowed natural lighting into the hall. The people in the hall looked at Black Eyes, startled as the door was thrust open. They were mostly Emberland servants, but a few Emberland Guardsmen were present as well. He rushed through the crowd of people, shoving the few who failed to step aside from his path.

  “Father!” Black Eyes called out, half-panicked, his breath still heavy. He had reached the end of the crowd, to find the Emperor staring at him impatiently alongside Hideki Yamamoto in his sapphire-glinted armor.

  “What is it?” the Emperor asked quite curtly.

  Black Eyes glared at Hideki and Hideki glared back. He the tour guide at the inn? Why the fuck is the Sapphire Prince even here?

  “I need to speak with you.” Black Eyes looked from Hideki to the Emperor. “Once we have a moment in private.”

  Hideki squinted his eyes suspiciously at Black Eyes for a moment but looked towards the Emperor with an amiable and courteous expression. “We shall speak again tomorrow once we depart to the Furakuhold. Have a pleasant evening, your Majesty.” Hideki bowed to the Emperor, who listed his torso forward slightly in response. The Sapphire-Prince walked away, making intense eye contact with Black Eyes as he passed.

  “In private, you say?” The Emperor looked at Black Eyes with only a hint of impatience. “Follow me.” He turned towards the collection of servants behind Black Eyes. “Finish bringing our supplies into the inn. Once you are all finished, you may enjoy the town. Return to the inn by sundown.” Black Eyes could hear a few “Yes, your Imperial Majesty” utterances as he followed the Emperor into the room at the end of the hallway.

  The door opened to reveal a grandiose room. On the side was a bar table with an impressive array of wines and liquors neatly organized atop it. Dark-blue velvet carpeting lined the entirety of the floor, and the walls and ceilings were painted a similar color. An open window with dense curtains was to the right, while a massive painting of the Headland peninsula was accompanied by a dozen blue candles on the right. A massive bed with silk lining lay under a white wooden canopy in the center.

  Black Eyes closed the door behind him and proceeded to speak. “The Headland Navy isn’t here.” His breathing had slowed back to a normal pace.

  “You already told me that.” The Emperor rolled his eyes. “I do hope you have something useful to share.”

  “The Headland Sergeant I spoke to said that the Navy was doing something more important,” Black Eyes said. The Emperor’s arms were crossed, and he maintained his irritated glare. Black Eyes continued, “Think about it. You labored for days on end with seemingly no rest, so I surmised that the armistice was pretty damn important, wouldn’t you agree?”

  The Emperor uncrossed his arms, and his glare lost some of its impatience. “Go on.”

  “He did not say anything more than that, but you brought most of our navy here to show off our strength, and give our voice in the armistice more weight, I presume?” The Emperor nodded, and Black Eyes continued, “Given that the Headlands have the largest navy in the world, you would think they’d show it off, but they did not do that, because the Headland Navy is doing something more important.”

  “We cannot say for certain what King Hiroshi is doing with his fleet, except that he did not present it here.”

  “We may not be completely certain of what the fleet is doing specifically, but my gut tells me that having you here for the armistice is a distraction of some kind, and my gut is never wrong.”

  “Are you implying that King Hiroshi intends to betray his word? Does he mean to besiege our ports and cities and take me captive all the while, leaving the defense of the Emberlands to my green son?” The Emperor no longer seemed impatient, but nevertheless looked at Black Eyes expectantly.

  “You said Howell is an intelligent and treacherous man, so he could be pulling Yamamoto’s strings. A move like that is certainly smart and treacherous, don’t you think?”

  The Emperor nodded his head thoughtfully, slowly yet confidently pacing towards the edge of the room. He rested his chin onto his thumb and index finger. After a minute he turned back to Black Eyes.

  “I want you to remain extra vigilant. When we arrive at Furakuhold, I want you to scan the surroundings and formulate an exit plan for yourself in case you’re right.”

  “Just myself?” Black Eyes raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

  The Emperor glowered sadly at Black Eyes, giving him a look he had never made before. “Promise me. Promise me that you won’t die, son.”

  “I… I promise…” Black Eyes said sincerely. “But why do you seem ready to die?”

  “If I end up captured or worse, Asher remains, and he will be able to rule the Emberlands in my name. You two may have your differences, but he needs your help to fight this war.”

  “I don’t think you realize how much Asher hates my guts,” Black Eyes confided.

  “You have your uses. Asher will wise up to that fact if he is to live.” The Emperor poured himself a glass of wine. “Should the armistice fail, I order you to stay alive, return to my son, and force him to work with you, no matter what.”

  The Emperor drank the glass quickly. He never drinks that quickly, Black Eyes reflected. He approached the bar table and poured himself a glass.

  “Now, how exactly am I to escape the Furakuhold singlehandedly?” Black Eyes took a bountiful sip from his wine glass. “It’s a fortress built into a fucking mountain! I’d have a better chance of telling the Headlanders that I’m Prince Hideki and that I command them to let me go off by myself!”

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

  Black Eyes drank multiple more glasses of wine, trying to think of something.

  CH 18 – Vaishalla III

  The chemist Gerard had promised Vai that the poison would kill whoever ingested it within two months. Fifty-eight days since Peter finished that drink, she remembered. Peter might still be alive, or he might have died days ago, and she simply had not received word yet. The uncertainty kept her awake at night.

  While taking care of her administrative tasks, she could not focus. Her heart pounded in her chest and there was a subtle shudder to her voice that she had to actively conceal when speaking with her councilors, guardsmen, or servants. She waited patiently, terrified all the while, of the day she would receive the news of Peter’s death. Not because she loved or cared for him, but because of what may happen. How would the people around her react? How would the leaders at the armistice react? Did Peter
stay in Gurasu? Too many questions occupied her mind while she tried to sleep.

  To distract herself, Vai often thought of her childhood and upbringing. Vaishalla Kashin, her name was. The fifth daughter and ninth child of Lord Daniel Kashin. She was, however, the only child of her mother, Lady Akari Kashin. She remembered the sweet sound of her mother’s voice while she sang or read stories to her. Her mother could only comfort her for so long before her father forcefully took her away: only the Stars knew what he did with her.

  However, Vai understood that escaping into her memories would not serve her well as the soon-to-be-Empress: any day now, the dreaded message would arrive, and her administrative role would become permanent. With no children to speak of, Peter had not left himself any true born heirs, and so that left the inheritance of the Robinsfort and the domain of the Rocklands solely to her. Settling disputes between lower noblemen and facilitating supply shipments was an integral part of the job, but only a small part of it; the time to be taking things especially seriously was now.

  Vai summoned Lord Archard and Magister Pyros to the council chamber. She replaced each bottle of wine with a pitcher of water, making sure to keep heads level and senses sharp.

  “This meeting is one of great importance, Archard, Pyros,” she said standing over them at the head of the table. “The chances of the armistice going wrong remain quite high, so I need your help in preparing for the worst-case scenario.” She pointed to the map of the Dawnlands on the table. “Archard, how many soldiers are stationed here at the Robinsfort?”

  “10,000 infantry, 3,200 ranged men, and 2,000 cavalrymen. It’s worth mention that some thousands of men are within a thirty-mile ride northwest of the fort as well. They can be called upon if necessary.” He looked at Vai slightly concerned. “Might we need to use them?”

  “It’s probable. I lived under Yamamoto’s rule myself, so I find it safe to say that I know him better than most.”

  “Do you think he’d betray his Imperial Majesty’s trust?” Pyros asked.

  “I won’t rule that out, Magister,” she replied.

  “How might King Hiroshi go about such a crime?” Archard asked.

  “Well, since Peter decided to take his leave at Gurasu, Yamamoto may take that as an insult and order him captured or killed,” Vai posited.

  Archard and Pyros looked at each other mildly distraught. Pyros looked at Vai as he spoke. “That’s a frightening thought.”

  “Is King Hiroshi petty enough to start a war over Peter’s less-than-ideal travel plans?” Archard asked.

  “Yamamoto has ordered the death of multiple vassals that showed him disrespect in the past,” said Vai.

  “Ordering the death of vassals is cruel, but that’s hardly in step with ordering the death of an Emperor that is visiting in good faith,” Pyros pointed out.

  “I should hope you’re right, Magister. But after the Kashin defection, we must not underestimate him.”

  Archard moved both his forearms onto the table and leaned forward, silently contemplating. He began as if he were planning to speak, but no words came out, and he continued his silent comprehension.

  “Speak freely,” Vai said reassuringly.

  “What you are saying of King Hiroshi… I—I’m beginning to think you might be correct, but I don’t want to.”

  Vai shifted in her seat while exaggerating the level of distress she showed on her face. “I pray to the Stars that I’m wrong.”

  “We’ll all pray that King Hiroshi plays the Rocklands true and helps the armistice succeed,” Archard said, seemingly artificially.

  Not wanting to remain on the subject forever, Vai nodded and turned to Pyros. “Magister, an update on our firedust shipments from the Emberlands?”

  Pyros’ face twitched as he regained his wits. “Um—it would appear with Steeltower under the rule of Emperor Harvey’s son and heir, Asher, shipments to our ports have nearly doubled. Normally this’d be bad for our treasury, but I’ve managed to generate more wealth for us by increasing our trade output to both the Emberlands and the Winterlands.”

  “More Winterland wine then?” Archard stated.

  “More silver, steel, and gold. Therefore, greater wealth and weapons for us,” Pyros contended.

  “Good work, Magister,” Vai turned back to Archard. “Which parts of our territory are most vulnerable to attack?” She pointed to the Rockland-Midland border on the tabletop map.

  “Well…” Archard leaned forward and examined the map closely. “I can’t say we have any vulnerabilities to a land attack on our Eastern border,” he placed his finger on the corresponding map location and traced it along the border. “There are some small towns and holdfasts in locations that are easily overrun, but they don’t possess any major strategic value. A land attack from the Midlands would be easily repelled, but an attack from—”

  The door into the chamber burst open: Adrian came running inside, fully armed and armored. “My Lady!” he shouted, “we just received word that—” Adrian froze, unable to speak.

  “Received word of what?” Vai stood up and looked at Adrian concerned and expectantly.

  “My… Lady….” Adrian started, out of breath. He took a couple deep breaths and continued speaking. “I… I have grave news.”

  “Spit it out, Captain!” Archard commanded.

  Adrian nodded. He closed his eyes and bowed his head for a moment before speaking. “We received word from Gurasu that,” he gulped nervously, “that his Imperial Majesty has died.”

  Archard and Pyros appeared devastated, and Vai tried her hardest to mimic their looks of anguish. Did Yamamoto kill him, or was it me?

  “How?” Vai asked nervously.

  “I don’t know,” Adrian said solemnly.

  “You were right,” Archard said to Vai. “That bastard Yamamoto did this!”

  “He needs to pay!” Pyros said, bringing his fist down onto the table. “We’ll deliver his head to that son of his!”

  What have I done? Vai turmoiled. I just made the war worse! How could I be so stupid? She sat down in her seat, burying her face in her hands as her elbows were propped up on the table. I just doomed thousands of people, and for what?

  “That isn’t all of it,” Adrian said dreadfully.

  “All of it?” Vai looked back up at Adrian fearfully. What other grave news could there be?

  “Robinsport is under siege,” said Adrian, with a subtle choke in his voice.

  “Robinsport!?” Vai gasped, genuinely shocked. “How did Howell reach it!?”

  Adrian gulped nervously. “It’s not Howell. It’s King Hiroshi!”

  I… Vai did not know how to react. Was it her fault? Was it not? How could she even know? She looked at Adrian, her face distorted by anger. “How many men are attacking?”

  “60,000. Possibly more…”

  Vai glanced down at the map, remembering Archard’s information. They could muster nearly 20,000 men if they utilized all immediately available resources. “Captain, send a messenger to the garrison northwest of here, tell them to mobilize their forces and await our arrival,” she ordered. Adrian nodded affirmatively, quickly rushing out of the council chamber. “Lord Archard. How quickly can our forces be assembled and ready to depart?”

  “Two hours, give or take.”

  “Make it one. Magister, you’ll be the Lord-Regent of the Robinsfort while I am away.”

  “Away?” Pyros looked puzzled, then turned anxious. “Surely you do not mean to march with the armies?”

  “Of course, I will,” she said quite sternly. “I won’t sit off meekly in this fortress while one of the cities in my domain is being besieged by foreigners. Archard, see to the armies. I’ll get myself ready.”

  “At once!” Archard quickly stood up and exited the room.

  The city was under siege by an army and navy of Headlanders, a kingdom she used to belong to. Her hands were shaking so much that she could barely open the door to leave. She struggled a minute to get the door open, but event
ually found herself outside, running down the hallway to her bedchamber while ignoring the scenery and people around her. They must have picked up on her panicked face as she passed them by. I don’t think they have ever seen me run before, she reflected.

  Vai had been quite athletic as a child, running around the grassy wilderness outside her father’s holdfast, learning to use a bow and arrow with her elder half-brothers, and feeling like a warrior. It all changed when she was married off to Peter: he preferred to see her within the castle walls, wearing a beautiful dress that he could oafishly rip off her body whenever he wanted her. Throughout their entire marriage, she felt imprisoned, having none of the freedoms she once had. She would lay awake every night of her life wishing to have the same freedom that she had as a child, and now her wish was to be fulfilled.

  Am I really going to war? I’ll be leading men into battle against an army potentially three times the size of mine, an army of Headlanders that I now view as foreign invaders? Are they invading because they killed Peter? Did he die by my hand and this invasion is simply the result of Yamamoto’s treachery? The thoughts ran into her head too fast to fathom, and she had reached her bedchamber before she was even aware of it. She peered at the obnoxious portrait of Peter that hung up on the wall to the left side of the room. His smug and satisfied face haunted her: the eyes haunted her most.

  “The dead can’t see.” She went over to the painting and strained to lift it off the nail it was hung onto. It crashed to the ground in front of her with the painting face-down, and Peter would never look upon her again.

  CH 19 – Alexey IV

  It was difficult to know with absolute certainty how far into the Forest they were. Fourteen days had passed thus far, but the amount of ground covered each day varied greatly. When the recruits happened upon a pocket of warmth early into a day’s march, Alexey told them that it was preferable to set up camp early in the day. It was better to take their time than risk not encountering another safe zone. If they did not happen upon a new warmth pocket by nightfall, they would freeze to death almost instantly. Most of the time, the other recruits listened to Alexey if he told them important information. I know what I am talking about, and the smart ones can see that. If ever a recruit got cocky and refused to listen, Viktor or Anton would set them straight, with force if necessary. Although a simple threat would be enough for someone to submit, so they rarely ever had to hurt someone.