A single lantern flared to life atop the fort wall, and I could just make out a quiet conversation of alarm above the whispering of the wind in the trees. Dark shapes of men moved about on the battlements.
I approached, my axe on my shoulder and my other hand free and held up in what I hoped was a gesture of peace. “My name is Eske,” I shouted in the tongue of the Dragon Temple. Some of the men in the town could understand me, and if I was right, some of these men would, as well. “I want to speak to your leader.”
One of the man-shaped shadows disappeared from sight, as the rest gathered above the gate—there were now five, and each had a bow, though they left their arrows in their quivers for the time being and spoke among themselves in loud whispers.
A sixth man climbed up. “Who sent you?” he called back to me.
“The governor did.” I would be honest, even if it led to a fight. With slow, careful movements, I took my axe down from my shoulder and placed it on the ground, where the metal cap at the end of the shaft sank into the muddy earth. “I think he is trying to trick me. I just want to talk.”
I rested my hand on the blade of my axe, tapping a slow rhythm with my fingers as the men on the wall conferred. The last of the red sunlight sank behind the mountain. More lights came on behind the palisade spikes, one turned toward me. I picked up the axe and took a few steps closer so they could see me.
The gate shuddered open. Two soldiers, one with a red-tasseled sword at his hip and carrying a shield and the other bearing a long spear, ran out and stopped just out of range from me.
“Good evening,” I said. “I was told I needed papers to travel, and I was stopped at the town. The governor sent me here in exchange for those papers.”
The man with the spear looked me up and down. “This is Imperial territory,” he said, as though that explained anything.
“You’ve probably guessed that I’m not from around here.” I returned the axe to its standing position. “I do not know what ‘Imperial territory’ means, but I can guess that it has a strong military and that all of you are former soldiers.”
The other man rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. “What did the governor tell you to do?”
“He said there were bandits in the mountains, preying on the villages. He said I was to bring back your leader, Sun, dead or alive, and he would give me the papers I need to travel,” I said. “But you aren’t bandits, are you? I want to talk to Sun and let him speak for himself.”
They exchanged a look. “Very well,” the first man said. “Come with us. Keep your weapons where we can see them.”
I was happy to comply. I picked up my axe and walked to the gate with one of the men on either side. Two more met me at the gate and took up positions behind me. They marched me to a canvas shelter at the center of their enclosure, where a dignified man of about forty sat at a crude wooden table. He wore the same brigandine armor as the others.
“You must be Sun,” I said.
He raised his head, taking in my weapons and my Temple clothing. “Captain Sun,” he corrected me. “I thought the new governor would send a mercenary to find me sooner or later. You’re not what I expected.”
“My name is Eske. I am no longer in Governor Niran’s employ,” I said. “He was dishonest, and I would like to know the truth.”
Captain Sun gestured to the split-log bench facing him, and I sat down, removing my quiver of javelins and resting my axe against the table. My four escorts formed a half-circle behind me, watching my every move.
“I was captain of the guard under the former governor,” Sun said. “At the start of the autumn, we were tasked with collecting taxes from the mountain communities. The villagers were unable to pay, and we were ordered to fill our quotas by force. We refused.”
I crossed my arms—slowly, so no one thought I was reaching for a weapon. “I see.”
“Governor Lu was recalled to the capital, and Governor Niran was sent in,” he continued. “To avoid summary execution for desertion, we took refuge in the mountains. The locals call this area Maagay. We chase bandits from the roads, and they give us what provisions they can spare. It isn’t much. Their taxes remain high.”
“Well,” I said. “This does make it very difficult for me to want to kill you.”
He raised a brow. “I appreciate that.”
“This does put me in a difficult place,” I continued. “I am on a quest. The details of it wouldn’t interest you, but I must travel south to the port. The governor said he would give me the papers I need if I brought you back—or, at least, your sword. I do not wish to kill you or rob you. You seem like an upstanding fellow.”
“I like to think so, anyway,” said Sun.
“Is it possible that, with my help, you and your men could change the circumstances here?”
He sighed and placed his hands on the table. “You have the look of a warrior about you, Eske, and I am grateful for your offer. However, there are thirty of us to the garrison’s two hundred strong. I’m not sure thirty-one will make much of a difference.”
“Governor Niran will believe you’re dead if I bring him your sword,” I said. “If you give it to me, he’ll let me in, and I can open the gate for you and your men after sunset.”
Sun pulled one hand back to rest on the hilt of his sword. At the end of the familiar red tassel hung three polished stone beads, and the crossguard curled toward the blade like a dragon’s fangs. “There is a reason why he asked you to bring him my sword. It represents my family’s good name. I would not willingly part with it.”
“What if I were to borrow it, just for a short time?”
He frowned, and the shadows over his face deepened. “Until either I am dead or my name is restored, the sword remains with me.”
“If you took control of the town from Niran, you could tell whatever story you wanted,” I argued. “You could say it was a misunderstanding, that he was stealing from the town coffers, anything. You say you have an arrangement with the villagers, but they won’t be able to support you forever, and then you will prey on them as well or you will starve. I know why bandits become bandits. It will happen unless you do something.”
Sun’s eyes met mine, and I saw the same weariness of long months in the wilderness, one that I knew well, reflected back at me. “Very well,” he said, “but I’m coming with you. You’re bringing me in alive.”
I was permitted to stay in the fort overnight, and in the morning, we set out for Banwa town. The fort emptied, and his men disappeared into the forest. We fetched Bran at the village, and I bound Captain Sun’s hands and tied the other end of the rope to my saddle, leading my horse at a steady pace so as not to make him stumble. I had to maintain the illusion, but there was no reason to make the man suffer.
I also took his sword. I kept it on my back where he could see it. I could feel him watching me as we walked.
The guards opened the gate to Banwa. One had a prominent black eye, likely my doing—I gave him a wink. They summoned the governor from the house beside the building where I had been thrown in a cell.
He took the sword from me. “I’m impressed. I did not expect to see you again.”
“A deal was a deal,” I said. “I want my papers. And I believe I recall mention of a set of armor, if I brought him back.”
“I’ll have someone check our supplies.” Niran favored Sun with an arrogant sneer. “Take him away.”
They cut the line to my saddle and took Sun to a cell. Niran kept the sword. I would have to get it back from him later.
It took most of the day, as the garrison was in no hurry to assist me, but I received a sealed writ and a brigandine coat that fit me well enough. By that time, it was nearly sunset. I pitched my tent and waited for darkness to fall.
The sun sank like a boat with a slow leak, bleeding red and orange across the cloud-painted sky. Finally, the garrison lit their lamps, and a night blacker than the ink on my traveling papers covered the mountains. I slipped out of my tent, my weapons on my back, and went to the gate.
I regretted the use of lethal force, but I had chosen my side. I threw two javelins, one after the other, and they flew through the darkness, silent as owls. The two men standing by the gate fell, muffled by the soft earth. I held my breath, waiting for an alarm.
The silence was as taut as a bowstring. I ran for the gate and grasped the bar with both hands. Lifting from my legs, my boots slipping in the mud, I pried it out of its brackets and tossed it aside.
Now the alarm went up. The two men above me on the wall shouted an indignant question. I ignored them and flung the doors open.
The trees beyond the town began to move, and the distant voices of Sun’s men came down from the hills. I could hear Sun’s name in their shouts. Behind me, an iron bell sounded. Doors slammed open, and the garrison soldiers poured from their barracks.
I had a promise to keep to Captain Sun. I took my axe in both hands and strode up the road to the prison.
A soldier in a plumed helmet blocked my path. His sword darted out, red tassel flying, and struck my shoulder. My new armor held, though he hit me with bruising force.
I could do the same. I shoved the butt of my axe into his belly, and he doubled over. I pushed him aside.
The clash of steel on steel shattered what was left of the quiet night. Sun’s men had reached the gate, and the garrison met them with a wall of swords and spears. They were desperately outnumbered.
I had guessed, when I saw the superficial injuries of the party that had left Sun’s fort, that they and garrison soldiers were not so eager to kill one another. Perhaps some in Banwa town still held loyalty for the man who refused to slaughter the villagers to meet a quota.
I would not know for sure until I freed Sun. Soldiers shoved past me on their way to the gate, jostling me with their elbows and the shafts of their spears. I let them pass.
Two more crossed their weapons in front of me—at least some suspected, rightly, that I had something to do with the town’s present condition. I hefted my axe and severed the first spear below the head.
I caught the other soldier’s spear on my wrist, below the hem of my armored sleeve. It slid off in a glancing blow, leaving a deep cut that bled freely. It would hurt later, but not now. I stepped inside his reach and brought my axe down on his neck.
Wrenching my blade free, I stepped over the bleeding man and mounted the stairs to the prison.
The door was already open. To my surprise, the door to the cell hung from the lock, its hinges broken. Sun had freed himself with no need for my help. He had found a spear and backed up against the northern wall.
Governor Niran was also here, and four soldiers accompanied him, keeping him safe from Sun’s spear. I cracked the nearest man on the head with the back edge of my axe. The spike missed him, but the shaft alone was enough to send him staggering into the table by the door. He fell to the ground and did not get back up.
The man beside him turned from Sun to face me. He had a shield, as well as a sword, and he moved to put it between my axe and the governor. In the darkness, I thought it was a wooden shield, and brought my axe down on its upper ridge. A shock went through my arms, and my blade cracked. I heard a shard of metal hit the floor. I dropped the useless shaft and punched the soldier in the face.
Sun’s spear found the side of another of the governor’s guards. Now, Niran had only one left, with Sun before him and me behind.
“Surrender,” Sun demanded, and I could understand him. He spoke the language of the Dragon Temple, either for my benefit, or because it was the language that he and Niran had in common. He raised his spear to Niran’s throat.
Niran scowled. He threw down his sword and gestured to his remaining guard to do the same.
“It doesn’t matter if you kill me, bastard,” he spat. “The Imperial court will never accept you, a Western mongrel, especially after what you’ve done. I’ve already sent word to the capital. Reinforcements will arrive in a matter of weeks.”
Sun’s mouth set into a grim line. “We shall see. Eske, tie him up.”
I looked around for some rope to obey, and found it hanging beside the door. That done, Sun dragged the erstwhile governor out onto the muddy street.
“Enough!” he shouted over the noise of the battle. “Governor Niran has surrendered. I am taking control of Banwa.”
A heavy quiet fell over the town. Weapons were dropped to the earth. The iron bell, at last, fell silent.
I went to the governor’s house and found Sun’s sword in the first room, lying on a polished wooden desk atop a scattering of papers. When I returned to the street, a soft rain was falling and clouds covered the stars. I returned the sword to Sun hilt-first, and he gave me the spear he carried as a replacement for my broken axe.
My promises had been kept. Good men had died, as well as those who might have deserved it, and I did not know what would happen when the soldiers Niran had summoned from the Imperial capital arrived, but I could not stay. I struck my tent and gathered my belongings, and I led Bran out the southern gate without another word to Captain Sun. I wished him well, but this was no longer my fight.
I was well out of sight of Banwa when morning came. The day grew hot, and Bran’s steps slowed. By noon, he was panting, his breath coming in harsh puffs. He was ill, and I had neither the knowledge nor the means to care for him, and it was a long way to the sea.
Back to Chapter III: Banwa Province
Forward to Chapter V: The Emerald Sea
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