The Darkness of Dawn

by Braden Michael

  It was tough to decide whether to bind the Sapphire Prince’s wrists behind his back with rope or break both his arms, but Black Eyes opted for the former. Once his prisoner was properly bound, he approached the doorway at the end of the council chamber and looked upon the courtyard. Smoke rose from various spots, and the sounds of screams and clashing steel faintly echoed from below. The Emberlanders were outnumbered, and arrows rained down on them from the battlements that surrounded the courtyard. Black Eyes figured they would not last much longer.

  Black Eyes pulled the Sapphire Prince to his feet, then leaned in beside his ear. “If you do a single thing I don’t like, I will hurt you again, and again, and again.” The Sapphire Prince tried to lean away, but Black Eyes painfully squeezed his neck and pulled him closer. “The only thing you can do that I would like is be completely silent and do exactly as I command you to do. Nod if you understand.”

  The Sapphire Prince remained completely still. Upset, Black Eyes hit him in a broken rib, making him belt muffled screams.

  “Nod if you understand!” Black Eyes repeated furiously.

  The Sapphire Prince resigned and stiffly nodded.

  “My first command is for you to listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you.” Black Eyes grabbed the Sapphire Prince by the chin, making him grimace. “You are no longer a Yamamoto. You are no longer a Prince. Whatever you think you are, that shit is over starting right now.” The Sapphire Prince shed even more tears, and Black Eyes continued, nigh perfectly emulating the Sapphire Prince’s voice and accent. “I am Prince Hideki Yamamoto. Who else would wear this armor?” He pointed at the dazzling sapphire-encrusted breastplate on his body.

  Black Eyes fully covered the Sapphire Prince’s head with the linen sack. He secured it around his neck by pulling on the fleece strings, then shoved the Sapphire Prince back a few steps. He grabbed the Headlander helm he retrieved, wiped away the blood stains that coated the inside of it, and put it on his head. The helm greatly restricted his vision, but it did disguise his face, so Black Eyes tried to soldier through it. He then grabbed the Sapphire Prince by the shoulder and fiercely commanded him to walk.

  Black Eyes took his time, making sure to lead his prisoner in the right direction. He opened the door and began walking them both towards the spiral staircase, and once their feet reached the puddle of blood, both men lost their sure-footedness, and slipped onto the ground. Both men grunted in pain.

  “Your Grace!” a voice echoed from the depths of the staircase, and a muffled storm of footsteps rumbled beneath the ground, ascending upwards with each passing second.

  Black Eyes’ heart began to race as he focus on perfecting his cover. I will not break my promises. He struggled up to his feet, blood dripping from his armor. He seized the prisoner by the arm and yanked him up to his feet, tightening the fleece strings that held the bag over his head. No one will suspect a thing, Black Eyes reassured himself.

  “Get up here now!” Black Eyes shouted in the Sapphire Prince’s voice.

  The footsteps grew closer, and shortly enough, a detachment of five Headland soldiers filed out of the archway in the staircase with their swords drawn. They all looked at the dead bodies greatly shaken, so far as Black Eyes could see with the helm over his head.

  “Your Grace!” one of the men inquired, gazing upon the collection of dead bodies. This man appeared multiple decades older than most soldiers, with a soft and mature look about his face. An officer? What rank?

  “The Emberlanders attacked us.” Black Eyes aggressively planted his hand on the prisoner’s shoulder. “The one called Black Eyes killed all of our men before I could subdue him.”

  “Where’s their Emperor?”

  The sullen look on Black Eyes’ face was hidden by his helm. “Dead in the council chamber.”

  “You managed to subdue him.” The officer pointed at the prisoner he thought was Black Eyes. “But you couldn’t take alive the man we most needed alive?” The officer’s tone turned aggressive as he stepped towards the apparent Sapphire Prince in front of him.

  Is Hideki such a pussy he allows his men to speak to him this way? Black Eyes remarked silently.

  “You will rethink your tone right now if you like your head attached to your body,” Black Eyes said carefully.

  “Apologies.” The officer backed away a step. “Would you have us help with the prisoner?”

  “I have my own plans for him. I’ll need a carriage and a small detachment of men to accompany me.”

  “You plan on taking him? Where?”

  “I cannot disclose that, the Emberlanders may have informants in the castle.” Black Eyes leaned in towards the soldiers. “Black Eyes knew of my father’s true purpose with our fleet.”

  “What purpose?” one of the men asked.

  “That is not for you to know!” the officer bellowed.

  Black Eyes raised his hand. “No need for that. If the Emberlanders already knew of my father’s plans, we may as well share with our men.”

  “Are you certain, your Grace?” the officer asked.

  “I seem uncertain?”

  The officer sighed and began to address the Headland soldiers. “Our King has split off the bulk of our fleet into two forces. One force is laying siege to Robinsport and staging an invasion of the Rockland mainland.”

  Invading the Rocklands, I see, Black Eyes thought.

  The officer continued, “And the other force is destroying the Emberland fleet anchored at Kaiyotan.”

  Black Eyes swallowed fearfully, and his gut was filled with dread. He wants to destroy our fleet!? He labored to hide his anguish, but he still clenched a fist, nonetheless.

  The prisoner began mumbling, almost seeming to laugh. Black Eyes immediately punched him in one of his broken ribs, and he fell to the floor, squirming in pain.

  “What the hell is wrong with him? Did I hear him laughing?” the officer asked.

  “The stories they tell about Black Eyes are true,” Black Eyes said calmly, continuing to perfectly impersonate the Sapphire Prince. “He is one sick fucker.” He leaned down over the bag-headed Sapphire Prince. “He really enjoys hurting people.”

  “As you say,” the officer said, slightly squeamish.

  Black Eyes changed the subject. “What’s happening below?”

  “All dead, wounded or captured,” the officer said. “We lost a few dozen men, but they lost over three hundred, so it’s a decisive victory nonetheless.”

  “Good. Now go send for the carriage and detachment of men we spoke about,” said Black Eyes. “It is time for me to transport him where he belongs.”

  The Headlanders cleared a path for Black Eyes as he began to walk, prisoner in-hand, towards the entrance of the spiral staircase. The soldiers quickly passed him down the steps to carry out the instructions as he carefully descended the steps with the Sapphire Prince in his grasp. Once the soldiers were farther down and no longer within earshot, Black Eyes lifted the helm up and leaned over to speak.

  “You do remember me telling you what would happen if you displeased me, do you not?”

  The Sapphire Prince softly moaned.

  “Stay silent and do exactly as I command. If you deviate from any of those directives, you will displease me. The more displeased I am, the more displeased you will be.” Black Eyes dropped the helm back over his head and continued to carefully guide the prisoner down the steps.

  When Black Eyes stepped through the archway at the staircase’s end, he laid eyes on a group of Headland soldiers throwing dead and naked Emberlanders into a pile just beside the main hall’s front wall. Dozens of Headlanders were examining the valuable armor and weapons they had taken.

  “We sent word to the courtyard, your Grace,” a Headlander said to the supposed Sapphire Prince. “I can take your helm for you, if you prefer not to wear it.”

  “No,” Black Eyes said sternly. “Just lead me to the carriage.”

  “At once, your Grace,” the man replied.

  T
he man began to walk towards the exit to the courtyard and Black Eyes followed, grasping the Sapphire Prince tightly. The long walk towards the exit was even worse than the walk across the Firestorm, Black Eyes felt. As they passed collections of Headlander men, Black Eyes heard murmurs. “Why is he wearing that helm?” Following that, others quickly silenced them. “Shut up!” The rest were either too far away to hear or mumbled too softly for Black Eyes to make out their words.

  Only a sliver of sunlight peered through his visor as Black Eyes stepped out into the courtyard. More Emberland bodies littered the landscape, and Headlanders were looting the corpses or executing the wounded. When he saw a group of Headland soldiers taunting a legless Emberlander who crawled away pitifully, Black Eyes grabbed the hilt of the sword on his belt. The curved handle of the blade was odd to feel at first, but he quickly grew accustomed to it.

  “What are you crawling for?” one of the soldiers shouted at the legless man.

  The legless man replied with whimpers and pained grimaces as he struggled across the grass.

  “You can’t crawl away fast enough to save your life, idiot!” the taunting man guffawed.

  The scene made Black Eyes feel sick to his stomach. That is one of my men they mutilated, one of my men they are torturing. He did not care if it would seem out of character; he had to do something. He drew his curved sword, abandoned his escort, and walked speedily towards the legless man. The taunting Headlanders looked up at the supposed Sapphire Prince in confusion as his curved sword was cleanly swung towards the ground. The sound of steel meeting flesh whished through the air as the legless Emberlander became headless. The Headlanders looked speechless, but Black Eyes simply ignored their silent protests and began to return towards his escorts.

  Black Eyes half expected the escort to focus on how he beheaded the man, but they were instead arguing with a handful of men who were reaching for the true Sapphire Prince. “I want to see if Black Eyes lives up to the name!” one man said. The escorts shouted back, but the men were aggressively trying to reach for the bounded bag-head.

  “Stop that immediately!” Black Eyes bellowed out, almost losing the Sapphire Prince’s accent for a moment. The men and the escort turned to look as Black Eyes stormed up to them in an intimidating fury. “You would dare touch my prisoner!?” Black Eyes walked up to one of the perpetrators and seized him by the throat.

  “We did not know he was your prisoner, your Grace! We’re sorry!” one of the other men cried out.

  The man held at the throat could not speak, but he nodded desperately. Black Eyes dropped the man to his knees and took a murderous look at the other one. “Time for you to leave my sight.” Black Eyes had fully regained his Sapphire Prince accent, and the men both ran away immediately.

  Black Eyes nodded affirmatively at the escort, and they continued moving down the courtyard to the Furakuhold’s main courtyard. Captured Emberland civilians glared at the supposed Sapphire Prince who passed them. A fourteen-year-old attendant glared more fiercely than the others, and as Black Eyes walked past, he spat onto his sapphire-encrusted breastplate. The escorting Headlander immediately hit the boy with a closed fist, knocking out most of his teeth, scattering them across the ground. The boy whimpered and grunted in pain, and the dozens of captured servants nearby pleaded for mercy and cried out in anguish.

  “Have mercy!” an old woman called out. “Please!” a man cried.

  Another escorting Headlander readied his spear, wielding the sharp end over the boy, and prepared to thrust.

  “NO!” A young girl leapt between the Headlander’s spear and the sobbing boy. “Don’t hurt my brother!”

  She can’t be older than ten! Black Eyes turmoiled.

  “Stop!” he shouted at the spearman, grabbing him by the shoulder and shoving him aside.

  The spearman complied, quickly getting out of the way. Black Eyes stood above the girl. She looked up at him defiantly but with tears pooling at her eyes. He looked down at her in silence for several seconds. She looks just like Becky, he noticed. He knelt to look at her at eye-level.

  “Look into my eyes, girl,” he said loudly, then leaned forward. The small gap at the helm’s eye level allowed only someone up close to get a clear look at his eyes.

  The girl seemed terrified, but nevertheless complied, squinting and leaning forward for a clear view. When she noticed Black Eyes’ unmistakable eye color, she let slip a look of surprise. To keep his cover, Black Eyes pulled her ear close to the mouth of his helm. “You must tell no one. Our people will come for you, so keep yourselves alive while you’re here.” He let go of the girl and stood up, addressing the rest of the Emberland prisoners as the Sapphire Prince, “I understand that you Emberlanders have no love for me, that is unpreventable. But, your time as Yamamoto captives will be pleasant, if you behave.” The captives’ expressions turned neutral. The supposed Sapphire Prince turned his attention to the Headland soldiers in the immediate area. “Treat our captives fairly. If they behave, see to their comfort. If they prefer to spit on you,” Black Eyes looked down at the boy, “then spit on them.”

  “Is everything all right, your Grace?” The Headland officer appeared behind Black Eyes.

  “Make sure the captives are treated honorably, if they behave as such. These people may be Emberlanders like this one here,” Black Eyes pointed at the Sapphire Prince prisoner, “but they are not Black Eyes—they don’t deserve the same.”

  The officer looked at him agreeably. “Of course.” He then shouted various commands at the men nearby, and Black Eyes continued down the courtyard, prisoner in-hand, with his two escorts. They passed a few more burning body piles, captives, and Headland soldiers before they reached the front walls.

  A modest carriage with two horses had been prepared, resting at the main gate. There was a seat up front that could fit two people, and a spacious cage behind that could fit four. Three Headland soldiers stood guard beside it, while dozens of other men waited nearby. All of them acknowledged the supposed Sapphire Prince when he approached.

  “The carriage is ready, your Grace,” the soldier standing by the horses said. “We were told that we’re all to accompany you with the prisoner, that correct?”

  The dozens of men nearby started to slowly walk towards the carriage, appearing eager to hear their next orders.

  I can’t kill this many men, Black Eyes reflected. And I can’t keep up my façade indefinitely. I told that officer I wanted a small detachment, not a fucking platoon! He remained silent as he scanned the men nearby while thinking his thoughts.

  “My purpose is to be discreet. How can I be discreet with this many fucking men?”

  The soldier who had been speaking fell silent and backed away a step with confusion plastered over his face. None of the other men spoke a single word as the supposed Sapphire Prince quickly looked at all of them. They all looked at him as if they did not recognize him.

  “Forgive my tone. This has been a stressful day, as you can imagine, so I am a little more excitable than usual.” The men’s uncertainty began to fade. Black Eyes continued, “For reasons I can’t disclose right away, I require only a few men to accompany me as we don’t want our transport to be too obvious.” Black Eyes pointed at the three men standing by the carriage. “You three are plenty. Ready the carriage so we can depart.”

  “At once, your Grace,” a soldier replied.

  The dozens of men gathered around backed away and resumed whatever it was they had been doing beforehand. The cage door was opened by two of the accompanying men, both of whom helped the prisoner into the cage. They began to tie his arms around one of the cage bars to secure the prisoner and prevent any potential escape attempts.

  “Get in back with him. And do not, under any circumstances, take that bag off his head, unless you want to throw up your last meal. He’s even freakier than he looks,” he joked. The men all laughed as Black Eyes went to sit up in the front of the carriage.

  “Open the gates!” the Headland soldie
r announced as he sat up in the front of the carriage with Black Eyes.

  A half-dozen Headlanders went to the gate’s bar and lifted it away, then a handful of other soldiers heaved the gate doors open. The massive hinges creaked monstrously as the doors opened. Black Eyes flicked the carriage straps, whipping the horses, and the carriage began to move through the gate to the lands outside.

  “Where are we headed, your Grace?” the soldier beside him asked.

  “Head down the road to Kaiyotan, for now,” Black Eyes replied, loudly enough for the nearby soldiers to hear.

  Most of the ride was dull and lacked any excitement. Whenever the Sapphire Prince whimpered, fidgeted, or made any sound at all, the two men quickly silenced him with either a quick smack, a taunt, or scolding. Thanks for taking care of that, Black Eyes thought whenever it occurred.

  The man beside him tried to ask questions about what happened back at the castle, but a simple “I am not in the mood to talk about it” from the supposed Sapphire Prince was enough to keep the conversation to a minimum.

  When the sun began to set and the carriage was approaching a crossroads, Black Eyes decided to pull off the road for a break. “Let’s stop here a moment!” he told the Headland soldiers.

  The man beside Black Eyes helped him stop the carriage by pulling on the reins. The carriage sputtered and shook violently, coming to a grinding halt. Both soldiers in the cage were thrown down to the floor, causing them to grunt. The prisoner made a series of muffled mumbles and groans, but quickly silenced himself, hoping to avoid any punishment.

  Once the carriage came to a full halt, Black Eyes leapt off and walked to the side of it. “We are far enough away for me to tell you what we are actually doing; come here.” Black Eyes walked out to the side of the carriage as the man beside him jumped down to join him, and the two men in the cage clambered out the door once they managed to open it. Shortly afterwards, the three men stood in front of him waiting to hear him speak.