World's Edge (13 page)

Ryuu waited for the nightblades to speak. He had made his case. The one who had initially spoken spoke again. “That was a good fight, if unexpected this morning. Who are you?”

A warning in the back of his mind urged caution. He remembered that Shigeru had not left the island on good terms. In fact, he had escaped a death sentence. Perhaps his heritage wouldn’t be the first thing he should bring up in conversation.

“My name is Ryuu.”

The two nightblades appraised him. “You are one of us.” It was half a statement, half a question.

Ryuu nodded.

“But you are not one of us.”

Ryuu nodded again and the two nightblades looked at each other thoughtfully.

“Why do you want to go to the island?”

Ryuu considered his answer for a moment. “There are threats against those I care about. I need to learn more so I can protect them from the dangers they face.”

The leader shook his head. “If you go to the island you will never return. It is not permitted.”

Ryuu wondered at that. Shigeru had escaped. That much was true. But he didn’t think Orochi had. Moriko had never mentioned anything about an escape in Orochi’s past. Ryuu had always assumed Orochi had been released or sent from the island. He wasn’t sure if the two were lying or if there was more to the story than he realized. But he didn’t feel like he had a choice. He had to go to the island. Once he was there he could worry about getting back to the Three Kingdoms.

“That’s a risk I’ve considered. My mind is fixed.”

The decision seemed to be made. “Very well. Come with us.”

Ryuu was a little surprised at the efficiency. The two nightblades climbed into the ship and Ryuu followed, wary of a trap. They shouted orders in a language Ryuu didn’t understand and the crew began preparations to cast off. Ryuu had expected to have to wait, but apparently the ship was ready to leave on a moment’s notice. Interesting.

Ryuu had never been on a ship before, but he found that his stomach had no problems with the pitching of the boat in open seas. The stories of the north sea were legendary, and the ship wasn’t large. Nevertheless, Ryuu rode it smoothly, having fun trying to keep his balance without holding on to anything. It kept him entertained long after it should have gotten boring.

Even though they flew across the sea for the entire day, Ryuu did not see the island. He did have his first chance to see what uninterrupted sea looked like. It was indescribable, blue as far as the eye could see. He rejoiced in the waves crashing against the ship and spraying him with salty mist. He licked his lips, surprised by just how salty the sea was. Now he understood what it meant to die of thirst in the middle of an ocean of water.

As the sun set, Ryuu noticed a thick cloud hanging low over the sea. Their ship was heading straight towards it, and Ryuu watched its approach with interest. He had seen low clouds, but this cloud hugged the ocean, the gray of the cloud merging with the blue water in an indistinct line. Even though he chided himself, couldn’t shake the suspicion the cloud was ominous and full of evil intent, a threat to him and the crew. He glanced from face to face, but he did not see any fear in the eyes of the crew. Ominous as the cloud may be, it didn’t intimidate the sailors at all.

It made him wonder, but he held his peace as the ship skipped across the waves towards the cloud bank. From a distance the cloud had looked like it was a solid wall, but he found as he approached that it was more immaterial than it first appeared. The sky darkened, and they were inside the cloud before he knew it. Ryuu watched in fascination as any way of determining distance or direction were lost. The ship did not decrease its speed at all, and the captain seemed completely unconcerned they couldn’t see more than fifty paces inside the cloud. They drove straight ahead at full speed. Ryuu thought he even detected a slight relaxing of the nightblades once they entered the mist.

There was no judging time in that place. It could have been a few moments or it could have been all the remaining daylight. Ryuu did not know, even his fine-tuned senses bewildered by a new experience. He took a deep breath to calm his mind and focus on his sense. The sea surrounding them felt no different than it had before. He reminded himself that vision was only one of his senses and he shouldn’t rely on it as much as he did.

The transition out of the mist was more dramatic than the transition into it. It was sudden, the last rays of sunlight streaming to their light-starved eyes. Ryuu winced, but his eyes adjusted quickly as he looked upon one of the finest sunsets he had ever seen, the sun casting deep reds upon the clouds. If he had been more superstitious he might have been reminded of blood, but he was a practical man, and saw only the beauty of colors not often found in nature.

Sight restored, he scanned his surroundings and immediately picked out their destination. It was, not surprisingly, an island, but its geography was astounding. Sheer cliffs rose out of the sea, plateauing some hundreds of paces above the surface of the ocean. Try as he might, Ryuu couldn’t bring to mind any similar sight. It was still some distance off, but Ryuu didn’t see any means of getting up the plateau, nor any place even safe enough to dock the boat. It was majestic and terrifying and Ryuu knew he had found the birthplace of his master. He took a deep breath as the ship approached. This island had almost killed Shigeru. He hoped it wouldn’t do the same to him.

Chapter 9

If it would have done him any good, Akira would have torn the map to shreds. He kept thinking that if he looked at it long enough he would see something his generals had missed, some key to victory that would turn the tide of the battle. It didn’t matter that he had some of the most brilliant military minds working for him. If his kingdom was in danger, it was his responsibility to save it.

The war wasn’t going well, and that was the most positive statement Akira could come up with. The element of surprise had taken them in completely. He had gotten sloppy, moving so many of his forces south. If the kingdom survived, it wouldn’t be a mistake he would make again.

Akira had yet to get a full army out into the field for a decisive battle. Tanak was moving too fast. Akira had never seen armies move the way Tanak’s were. Tanak was practically jumping forward, hitting only essential strategic locations. Tanak’s information was flawless, cycles in the preparation. He knew where the food was stored, where large garrisons were, everything needed to run the Southern Kingdom over.

Akira cursed the brilliance of the invasion. Tanak wasn’t interfering much in the daily lives of Akira’s people. There were almost no reports of violence or rebellion following Tanak’s uprising, but Akira wasn’t surprised. Although his advisers often tried to fill his head with talk of the peasants uprising in defense of their homeland, Akira knew the average peasant didn’t care who was in control. So long as they were safe and unharmed, a fish could sit on the throne.

Akira was also jealous of Tanak’s information network. He didn’t know how they had been penetrated so deeply, but it was abundantly clear Tanak knew his kingdom almost as well as he did. The locations of the garrisons weren’t hard to find out, but Tanak had hit some food storage sites whose locations had been well protected.

Already Tanak’s troops covered almost half of the Southern Kingdom, and the summer was just reaching its height. If Tanak maintained this pace he would conquer the Southern Kingdom in less than an entire season. It was unheard of.

Akira resisted the temptation to slap himself. The more he stared at the maps, the more often he found himself falling into these patterns of thought. There still hadn’t been a true large-scale battle yet, and while Tanak had taken half of Akira’s kingdom, he had taken the sparsely populated half. All the major objectives, including New Haven, were closer to the center of Akira’s kingdom, and none had fallen yet. Tanak had seen some great success, but he had yet to meet any real challenge.

He forced himself to look at the map again. Tanak’s strategy, although brilliant, was straightforward in its large-scale planning. He had brought three armies across the river. Each army was slightly larger than one of Akira’s. Akira’s numbered about five thousand men, a mix of calvary, archers, and infantry. Tanak’s seemed to number a little over six thousand, from the estimates of scouts. One of Tanak’s armies had driven straight south, heading almost to the mountains which bordered the kingdom. Once near the border they had curved east, cutting across all of Akira’s kingdom.

The other two armies had made similar moves. The largest army, and probably the best trained, had gotten a little ways south and was cutting east across the center of the Southern Kingdom. The third army stayed close to the northern border on its sweep to the east.

Akira’s forces weren’t so neatly arranged. The Fourth had been utterly decimated by the invasion. It had been the army tasked with guarding the border between Tanak and Akira, and it had been spread thin, thinking more about garrison duty than being on war footing. Units had been crushed, and nothing positive had been heard, just whispers that units here and there fought on, annoying the enemy, but little else.

Akira had left his best army with Toro at the Three Sisters. He doubted the decision daily since he had made it, but it was too late to change his mind now. But he heard the complaints of his generals. With another army they would have been able to easily defeat Tanak’s forces, but as it was, it would be a challenge.

Akira was with the Second and the Third armies, moving to finish the army crawling along the southern border of his kingdom. Their strategy, as it stood, was to smash Tanak’s southern force with overwhelming might. If the Fifth could halt or destroy Tanak’s center army, the war would essentially be over.

An uncomfortable amount of responsibility rode on the Fifth. Akira had little doubt the Second and the Third were up to their task, but the Fifth had the most challenging battle of all. If they couldn’t come through, Tanak would have a significant advantage over the Southern Kingdom. The problem was exacerbated by the knowledge the Fifth wasn’t Akira’s best army. They were well trained and experienced, but the Fifth was often where soldiers nearing retirement were stationed. They were responsible for guarding the border of the Northern Kingdom and often served as a training army for new recruits. Much would be demanded of them in the upcoming battle.

With one last glance at his maps, Akira made his way outside the tent. There, horses would be gathered to take him to the field of battle. The Fifth would meet Tanak’s First, and Akira felt a responsibility to be there when it happened.

Akira rode with Makoto and Mashiro towards the battlefield. Usually the two generals were talkative, good company to pass the time, but this evening they were silent. Akira didn’t blame them. He didn’t have much desire to speak either.

The three of them were accompanied by an armed guard, but they traveled light. They were going to the battle as observers. Makoto and Mashiro would lend their expertise, but the primary reason for the visit was so that Akira could be seen by his troops. He wouldn’t send these men to die without his presence.

Makoto and Mashiro weren’t sure the battle could be won. As they had traveled the day before they had spoken about the odds. On paper it was one army against another, but they believed Tanak had placed his best army in the center. Their shadows hadn’t given them solid information, but it was the most logical explanation. If true, it would be an uphill battle for his men, if not impossible. They held out hope they were wrong. Their men were well trained, even if the Fifth was considered the weakest army.

They reached the site of the engagement just before dawn. Already the men were up and moving, preparing for war. They had made ranks and were marching to their initial positions. Akira and his generals found their own position, up on a hilltop safely removed from combat. From their position above the field, Akira could see all the preparations for both armies. He watched in morbid interest as thousands of men formed to the lay of the land and the orders of their generals.

The battle began as the sun crested the treetops. Tanak’s forces marched forward, arrows darkening the sky. From his position of safety, Akira had to admit there was a certain deadly beauty to the arc of the projectiles. His men, falling below him, wouldn’t agree.

There was a part of Akira that wanted to throw it all away. He wanted to draw his sword, hold it up to bathe in the early morning light of the sun, and charge down into the fray. If he died, he wouldn’t have to worry about what happened to his kingdom any more. He would have some measure of peace. But he held himself still, watching the battle progress. The kingdom depended on the outcome of this day.

By midmorning, Akira’s banners had penetrated far into the enemy ranks, and Akira dared to hope. His men were performing better than anyone had expected. He glanced over at Makoto and Mashiro, who wore concerned looks. Akira squinted, trying to see what they could see. He had been trained in command, but it was the two young men to his side who possessed the experience. They didn’t look pleased.

The battle took place in a low, flat valley. Akira could see the units moving almost as though he were watching pieces on a go board. Again and again he thought he saw a move a unit could make, but he held his tongue. It was tempting to try to take control of the battle, but he refrained.

As the sun rose to its zenith in the sky, the battle seemed even to Akira. Both lines were holding, but when Akira could tear his eyes away from the scene, he saw his generals seemed more and more pensive. He studied the lines, trying to understand why they might feel that way, but he saw nothing to indicate imminent defeat.

Mashiro and Makoto stood up and walked to him. “We should be leaving, my Lord.”