Sunstone - Dishonor's Bane (Book 2) (25 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

~

S
hiro pushed the wards aside the little door
once more. He slipped into the Boriako guild house. The courtyards of the guild were filled with sorcerers this time.

He walked right past sorcerers and apprentices both, who bowed to him as he passed. Shiro knew the way and soon found himself outside Yushidon’s door. He knocked.

“You may enter,” Yushidon said. The guild master rose. “Roniki, is the matter of the White Roses at an end?” The guild master sat back down on his low chair.

Shiro knelt and gave a bow to Yushidon. “It is resolved. We won’t have to worry about Shiro again.”

The guild master’s face turned white. “Shiro. You have Shiro’s voice.”

“Indeed I do.” Shiro let the disguise fall. “Roniki is dead by my hand. I gave him a graceful out and he refused. I hope you won’t be so inflexible.”

Shiro noticed the sheen of sweat on Yushidon’s forehead. He raised his hand. “Don’t teleport out of your office. There is no need. I have no designs of revenge on you. Roniki tried to kill me.” Shiro wished he could go on about the man, but he restrained himself. “I will take those among the White Rose who wish to follow me into exile and sail to Besseti. We will become a company of mercenaries in that land, never to return to Roppon. You won’t have to worry about me upsetting the bureaucracy or the nobility.”

Yushidon relaxed. “I suppose you seek my blessing? You won’t get it.”

“I merely thought it prudent to inform you. I don’t want the remainder of the White Rose Society to be treated like they were in Sekkoro.”

“Neither do I.” Yushidon said. “We are, at least, together on that point. What do I get in return for letting you go?”

Here was the bargain that Shiro hoped to hear. Now he could make a few conditions. He materialized the Sunstone sword. Yushidon jerked back.

“This is the true Sunstone sword. If you heard about it, here it is. Would you like to hold it? I will want it back.”

Yushidon took a deep breath. “I’ll not touch it.”

“I will take this with me and it will not return to Roppon soil. I’m not sure of all that the stone does, but it will disrupt society.”

The guild master laughed. “Few know its power. It might have had the nickname of ‘truthstone’ in the old days. Any two people who touch the stone at the same time can see into the other’s mind and discern if they speak the truth or not. The first Ropponi ruler had no problem using it, but after a single generation, the person who learned the truth also gave up his own motivations to the other person. In our society, one must keep their secrets.”

Shiro slumped. So that was it. Ropponi society was built on the desire to deceive. “I have nothing to hide.”

“Then take it. Leave us. Should you ever need to contact us, don’t return to Roppon, but send a message through your friend Mistokko. He is useful, from time to time.” Yushidon raised his hand. “Don’t worry about him. Roniki only had him captured as bait for you. Please leave me. The fewer that see you on the guild’s grounds, the better.”

~~~

Chapter Thirty-Six

~

C
hika smiled as the spring wind whipped
the strands of long black hair that remained unbound. “That is our new home.”

Shiro stood by her at the rail of th
e
Wicked Win
d
and wondered where they would all end up. He looked back at the overflow of the three hundred and eleven people who followed him out of Roppon. Not all of them fit below and they all took turns living on the deck. Most were sorcerers, but they were all about to be warriors and they were about to invade a land that held relatively few with power.

Shiro had had enough of language lessons, for now. All of them worked diligently to learn basic phrases of the continent they were about to adopt as their own.

“You do know that I will show you a good time before our group settles down, Chika,” Shiro said.

“I’m sure you are always up for a good time,” she said, making Shiro smile as usual. What would his future life have been without her to so easily put him in his place?

“Perhaps Mistokko knows how far we are from Grianne.” He patted her on her forearm and went back to the steering platform. He glided up and walked over to Mistokko, who held a navigation instrument to his eye.

“We follow the coast for two days, maybe three,” Mistokko said before Shiro had the opportunity to ask. “How did I know what your question would be? Experience. It happens nearly every voyage when land is sighted. Children behave no differently.” He laughed at Shiro and made a notation on a scroll stick and slid it into a slatted scroll. “Up for a little sparring? I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”

“I still can’t talk you and your crew into coming with us?”

“I’m coming,” Shinku said, looking up from a map, held down by clamps on a fixed table, as he held on to the steering levers.

“Excluding you,” Shiro said. His tormentor on his very first voyage, alone, had pleaded with him to join. Shinku had little Affinity and might not have any on Besseti with the nexus points so deep in the ground.

“I am invaluable. I can guide you by the stars.”

“They are different in the north,” Mistokko said. “How many times do I have to tell you?”

“I’ll learn the new ones,” Shinku said.

“That will be good enough,” Shiro said. The three of them had bantered like this for most of the voyage.

Mistokko looked up at the rigging and sighed. “If only I didn’t love th
e
Wicked Win
d
so much,” he said. “You know the ports that I use. Find me, and maybe by then my mind will change.”

Mistokko drew his blade. Shiro did the same and the ship went silent as it always did when the pair fought. Shinku secured the steering lever and used a rope to leave the platform to the sparring partners.

“Ready?” Mistokko said as he had already made the most of a lunge. He quickly recovered and now advanced, his blade swinging for Shiro’s head.

Shiro merely grinned and slipped to the side, tapping the side of Mistokko’s chest with the flat of his blade. Both men laughed, followed by nervous laughter from their audience.

~

The feel of Besseti, Besseth in the language of the continent, took some getting used to. Shiro walked the cobbled streets of Grianne. With nearly three hundred fellow Ropponis to quarter, he had to rely on renting out a farmer’s field. The man probably made more doing that than planting crops, which he still could do as soon as they left.

Shiro met with his two closest councilors, Chika and Tishi.

“We will have to organize in a military fashion,” Shiro said. “Do we have anyone amongst us that has that kind of experience?”

“I do,” Tishi said. She smiled and waved her hand dramatically. Suddenly, a man now sat in the place of the woman. “Tishiaki at your service. Former sorcerer and commander of the armies of Hirodo, Lord of Norida.”

Chika blinked many times. “You were Tishi? I’ve heard of Tishiaki. It seems that there was a woman involved who committed suicide and Tishiaki followed her in death. But he didn’t, did he?”

All along, Shiro had thought Tishi had made her appearance different to hide her age like others did. It wasn’t a strong woman that hid behind the occluded disguise. Tishiaki didn’t stand as tall as Chika, but he was broad.

Tishiaki laughed. “Living among all of those women…” He shook his head. “I think Sumi had an inkling that something wasn’t right with me. How right she was. Now, on Besseti—”

“Besseth,” Shiro corrected.

“I can resume my old identity. Most of our warriors are women, but you don’t have to tell them where I came from. I materialized here in Grianne. It’s the truth, you know.” Tishiaki grinned, unlike Ashiyo, who had the air of a cynic. Tishiaki continued on in the direct manner that defined Tishi. “I can order the camp, and between Chika and I, we can divide the troops into companies and squads and five squads of seven to a company. Four companies to a combat group. That leaves us with twenty or thirty for logistics and cooking.”

“Sounds good to me. You’ve been thinking about this?” Shiro said.

“I have. Chika and I have been discussing organizational strategy all the way from the valley. We mix up the warriors and the sorcerers. I’ve often thought of what an integrated unit might be like with many more sorcerers than warriors,” Tishiaki said. “Chika agrees that we can teach tactics to bring out the best of both.”

Shiro turned to Chika.

“Jealous that we got together?” She smiled and put her hand on Tishiaki’s left wrist. “Shiro, I want you to know that Tishiaki has seen more of me than you have.” It was obvious that Chika had no issues with the new command structure and he knew that meant the both of them had spent time together plotting against him.

“Good for the both of you. I guess that you didn’t know about Tishiaki’s identity any more than I did. Now I might be… or Tishiaki might be jealous of me.”

“I can’t think what of,” Chika said.

“Neither can I,” Tishiaki said, “young woman.”

Chika reddened a bit at the quick put-down and that made Shiro smile. Tishiaki’s hair now just showed wisps of gray. He hoped that Tishiaki’s integrity was the same as Tishi’s. Shiro wondered about trust, but if he trusted Tishi enough to run the entire White Rose Society, why couldn’t he trust Tishiaki?

“Then let’s get the camp organized. I’ll leave it to you two, since I already have, it seems. Pick your company commanders and squad leaders. I’m taking Shinku into Grianne proper and make contact with the person who showed interest in hiring us. He speaks the language here better than the rest of us. Doesn’t he, Tishiaki?”

The older man raised both of his hands defensively. “I only know what few phrases I learned on the boat.”

“Ship,” Shiro said. “Mistokko is captain of a ship.”

Tishiaki only nodded and smiled.

~

The food seemed so heavy. Shiro had never eaten so much meat with his meals before. He longed for the rice and fresh vegetables of his home, but he’d have to get used to it all. So would the rest of his people. Pipe smoke filled the tavern, making Shiro’s eyes water.

“Why do they burn the leaves of that plant?” Shiro said just as Shinku pulled out a pipe of his own. He groaned. “Not you, too.”

“It’s cheap in Besseth, that’s why. Only lords in Roppon do this. I can sit here and smoke and dream that I’m a nobleman.”

“The air doesn’t smell so noble and it’s not just from the smoke,” Shiro said. The people of Besseth didn’t seem to bathe as often as the Ropponi, either.

“Get used to it,” Shinku said. He put on a white Ropponi cloth hat. “This is the signal for our contact. I thought it would be a good idea to get some food in our bellies, first.”

Shiro had to agree with the sailor. They didn’t have to wait long until a man, wrapped in a cloak sat at their table.

“Are you from the Ropponi ship?”

Shiro nodded. Shinku translated and Shiro had heard the words correctly. He didn’t smile in front of the man, but he was pleased that some of the language had seeped into his skull.

“I have three hundred or so in my band. Sorcerers and warriors. We are a unique group and wish to be compensated adequately.”

The man rubbed a stubbled chin. The Besseti certainly had more facial hair and all were taller than his company. “I’ve been out to see your people. They look very disorganized. My people won’t pay top dollar for rabble.”

Shiro bristled at the man’s dismissive tone after Shinku translated. “They aren’t rabble. I just added a notable commander to my staff and we are re-ordering my people. We have to train to fight among the Besseti.”

“Bessethians,” Shinku corrected.

“Bessethians, then. I also have a good feeling for what they are worth. The captain that brought us here instructed me about the relative value of your gold.”

The man rose from his chair. “I’ll make my offer after you’ve demonstrated your effectiveness. I’ll be out at your camp in one week. Then you better show me something astonishing. I’ll not be happy wasting my time traveling so far south.”

Shiro rose and bowed. “My name is Shiro of Koriaki. This is my translator, Shinku, formerly of th
e
Wicked Win
d
. I would like to know to whom I speak.”

The man’s eyebrows rose after Shinku translated. “I am Captain Harlance Beech of Duke Happly’s personal guard. That man in the dark corner over there is Peleor, the Emperor of Dakkor’s chief wizard. He will help assess the level of magic your people possess. I remind you that we will be at your camp in a week’s time. Do not bother to contact us before then.” He turned without any physical kind of acknowledgement. He whispered something to Peleor as the pair walked out of the inn.

~

“I don’t trust them,” Shiro said when he had returned to the camp. “They didn’t even bow after our conference had ended.”

“Bessethians don’t bow,” Shinku said. “They shake hands like this.” Shinku took Chika’s hand and moved up and down. Shiro would have to see that in town in order to believe Shinku.

“The wizard, does he seem strong?” Tishiaki asked. “Can they teleport?”

“We won’t let him know we can do so. Mistokko warned us about the weaker Affinity on this continent. I want both of you to test your people’s talent. I know most of the sorcerers can teleport on Roppon, but they might not be able to do that here. That might be a good test of strength.”

Chika laughed. “We’ve already tested everyone. Two-thirds could teleport on Roppon, but less than half here. All but a few can levitate at least three feet above the ground and those who can, have been tested at throwing fire. The lower Affinity doesn’t seem to affect that ability. Capabilities have changed on Besseth and it affects our people in different ways. I seem unaffected.”

“Good,” Shiro said. “I don’t want any of our employers to know we can teleport. A little levitation, deflection and any other offensive spells should be adequate. Come up with a demonstration just enough to impress.”

Tishiaki bowed. “We will. What is your next step?”

“Shinku and I need to find a few native speakers who know some Ropponi and are willing to travel north with us. Our lack of language skills puts us at a deep disadvantage. It’s not that I don’t trust Shinku, but I’m not sure how much nuance is missed in translation. I know I have more studying to do. We also need to come up with some uniforms. I’ll leave that to you two, as well. Something simple. Perhaps red cloaks and gray clothes? We need to be distinctive, but not ostentatious. We are in a strange land, indeed. We’ll have to get used to their food and their habits. Every man has a pipe and smokes.” Shiro waved his hand in front of his face, dissipating pretend smoke.

“Shinku and I will take a few of our logistical people and acquire supplies from this list.” Shiro rolled up the parchment. No scroll sticks in Besseth. “I’ll try to hire some people for cultural and language training.”

~~~