Greetings! I've got many things to say before we dive in this chapter I'm sorry for the long ass AN:
One: Christmas came in early for me, Valorianru made a fantastic fan art with our two badass ladies, check it out! post/189529853098/eagleraider-dedicated-to-hazell-on-ao3-who-is
(I might have cried when I discovered this. Thank you a thousand times again) that's the best present ever.
Two: I worked my beta to the bone with this monster of a chapter. Just so you know, this wouldn't be half as good if it weren't for them. They worked really, really hard on it, so yeah, credits goes to them all the way. Again, amazing beta is amazing 3.
Three: this chapter is long. Very long and slightly different from the previous ones. It almost works as a standalone of sorts. You will see why. I hope you'll like it nevertheless.
Four: warning and I really mean warning for references to child trafficking and implied prostitution. Again, I didn't go into details because nobody needs that.
Five: since this happens about 200+ years during Common Era - Himiko's alleged reign - I'm playing fast and loose with historical events here (very, very loose). Some things I wrote about weren't introduced until later. I apologize.
Vocab:
eomma: mom in Korean
appa: dad in Korean
Kingdom of Silla: one of the three kingdoms that made what is now known as South Korea
Empire of Wei: China
Kingdom of Wa: Japan
Kallístē: one of the many names of Thera
Massilia is in the south of France and known as the oldest (French) Greek city. You might know it as Marseilles.
Lugdunum used to be the capital of Gaul during Roman occupation - now known as Lyon
Quartermaster is the second-in-command of a pirate ship. The notion wasn't introduced until a lot later but I needed to use it. Sorry.
Whew, that was long. Again I apologize I try to make the opening ANs short.
Eye of the Beholder
by Hazel Liebovsky
Interlude - Yamatai
Kingdom of Silla - 228 CE.
Life had never been easy for Mayuko.
Her perspective of the world reached as far as the walls of the brothel in which her mother had given birth to her. The girls were lovely, smothering her with attention when mother - Miss Kuso, they'd called her - was indisposed.
Kuso.
It was her first word; before eomma, before appa – which she didn't learn until much later – before food and how to express the perpetual hunger gawking in her. No, the first thing the two-year-old had learned to say was shit and it never ceased to bring a wry smile on her lips.
By four, she was taught how to read by a cross-eyed patron with a rounded belly and gentle smile who would insist on Mayuko sitting on his lap. By five, the brothel-mother was giving her long looks that reeked of money.
She still remembered the screams, Miss Kuso (eomma) yelling, then threatening and then begging.
"Don't touch her, please don't! I will work more! I swear, just keep her out of it."
There was an odd smell wafting from the doctor who came to examine the girls once a year. They were always tense beforehand; some crying, some upset, some worrying at their lips or bobbing their knees nervously as they waited in line. When it was her mama's turn, she squeezed Mayuko's hand, and dropped a kiss on her tousled hair.
"Be nice, sweetheart. I won't be long." she'd said.
"Good luck," her daughter had responded. The girls always said that before one of them was going to the doctor. Mayuko only understood the depth of it years later, but not now, not at six years old, holding her gritty one-eyed doll by the hair.
She was right. It didn't take long.
Fifteen days after the doctor's visit, Miss Kuso broke into a fever. She died a week later, surrounded by the girls wailing and singing her into the next life. They banded together around Mayuko, taking turns to look for her, waving the brothel-mother's eyes away.
Except, money was dire and patrons would pay a lot for a child.
The first time it happened, the girls cried and begged her to forgive them. She didn't understand. Not until it was too late. The smell of ethanol still made her gag to this day.
There's a ranking board the brothel-mother kept in her safe. The girls' performances, she put it up once a week for all to see. How much they made, how much they owed.
By eleven, Mayuko had outranked all of them and scored first every time. Her debt slowly filled up, but she had six years to make up for - plus her mother's debt that had remained unchanged after her death.
She had a few options, but none of them were especially appealing:
One was to keep working until the debt was paid, which could potentially happen. The brothel-mother was a harpy, but she was honest. It would take years. If she survived to see thirty, that was.
Two, was to find a rich patron who would pay her debt. A not-so-nice Shi Noble (nice men didn't take children to bed) with a hero complex who would want to make things right for her. For love.
Fucking idiot.
Three, the riskiest, was to flee. She had nowhere to go, and as difficult as the work was, it still brought a roof over her head and food on the table. Things she weren't guaranteed to have if she fled.
Mayuko was smart, smarter than the kids her age - she saw them, stupid, gangly things tripping over their own feet at the market. She knew how to read; she had devoured all the scrolls in the brothel-mother's office when she wasn't looking. She knew Japanese; her mama used it to speak with her when she didn't want the other girls to understand. She had learned to speak Latin and Persian because foreigners liked that, they paid more for her. They liked to pretend this was more than a simple transaction, to pretend their little chat wouldn't inadvertently lead to them grunting and sweating above her, rutting like wheezing pigs.
She knew math, of course, had taken an interest in geography. She knew exactly how far the Kingdom of Wei extended, and could place a few European countries (one of her clients had been Gallic – spoke weird and smelled even weirder - he had told her about the lavender fields surrounding Massilia, and she had traveled there a thousand times in her head).
But all of this was absolutely useless. Mayuko had long ago resigned herself to the idea that she would live and die in this brothel, though not like her mother had. They hadn't had a Miss Kuso ever since and Mayuko did a lot of things, but this she did not.
On an eventful boring night, two hooded figures barged in. They drenched the threshold she had spent her morning scrubbing. The other girls were already fawning over them, fighting like ostriches to take their cloaks.
Mr. Jun.
She didn't like him, and he thankfully never chose her. He liked pure bloods as he called them. Mayuko had the face of a local, but the amber of her eyes was too exotic to his taste.
"Make yourself at home!" he boomed, tapping the shoulder of the huge man who was accompanying him. "Remove that cloak, why don't you?"
The other man did just that, revealing her braided brown hair and hazel eyes that looked all but annoyed at him. "I wasn't aware we were going to..."
A woman.
Not too unusual.
But a foreigner, at that?
Mr. Jun had no shame, she tsked quietly. Mayuko took the time to study her. There was a game she played every time a foreign patron came in, she tried to guess his country based on his accent.
This one was harder to place. Not Gallic, not Celt or Persian, though it was close.
"Roman?"
"Excuse me?" the woman looked at her with wide eyes, visibly ill-at-ease.
"Are you Roman?" she asked with a sly smirk. Getting a patron's attention was half of the work. Now all she had to do was keep it.
The foreigner gave her a long look before shaking her head. "No."
"Where are you from, then?" her eyes fluttered, every move was careful and calculated. Mayuko might still have the face of a child, but she wasn't one. She'd had her moon's blood already.
The frown threw her off a little. The woman stared at her from head to toe, eyes shining in realization. "Nowhere," was all she said before turning her attention back to that pig of Jun who already had two women on his lap. "Why are we here?"
Mayuko bit her tongue. The foreigner wasn't interested. It wasn't the first time, it happened, that's how things worked here. Yet, she couldn't help but take the acute burn of indifference personally. The woman had seen something in her; and Mayuko didn't like it.
"To relax," Jun said, already slurring his words while his hands pawed at one of the girls like a dog. The girl in question was doing a poor job at hiding her scowl; he reeked of cheap sake, Mayuko could smell it from where she stood. They had probably spent the better part of the night at the tavern. "Turn that frown upside down, Kassandra," he motioned vaguely at the other girls. "Look at those cherries, ripe and ready for the taking..."
Mayuko tuned the rest of his diatribe out, focusing on the new bit of information he had revealed. Kassandra. It was a nice name; her tongue rolled around the syllables; mouthing quietly. It was a struggle to pronounce, but with a bit of training...
"Kassandra?" she tried; getting the woman's attention on her first attempt. Seduction wouldn't work with her, Mayuko had to change tactics.
Distraction.
She walked towards her, not swaying her hips and keeping her back straight. "I think he will be busy for a while," her eyes fluttered again. Their proximity was making Kassandra tense, she could feel it. Mayuko reigned on the charms and flashed her the most innocent grin she could muster. "We can play cards if you want?"
There was another frown on her face, pure confusion this time. Mayuko saw her mulling over the words for several seconds before she asked, "Is that a euphemism for..."
Oh, that cute little idiot.
Mayuko giggled, all childlike and flushed cheeks. It had been a while since anyone had actually made her laugh. Her hand buried in the concealed pocket of the dress she was wearing, producing a deck of cards that she waved in front of her. "Cards," she grinned even bigger when Kassandra sighed in relief. "Would you like to play?"
That night, she discovered just how of a sore loser Kassandra was.
(And no, Mayuko hadn't cheated. Not even once.)
She also discovered Kassandra didn't know Mr. Jun very well, but was just passing by on 'important business' and had needed a guide. Another thing Mayuko found out was how handsomely she paid, and the fleeting but dangerous glares she threw the patrons who dared to ask her if she would be done soon.
Mayuko passed on a few good clients that night, to her chagrin. Kassandra had paid her well enough, and if she was going to fill her pockets without Mayuko needing to strip her clothes or sit on her lap, so be it. She needed a break anyway. Kassandra left early the following morning, dragging a barely clothed Mr. Jun away with her.
Their encounter hadn't particularly marked Mayuko, she had seen her fair share of foreigners coming and going here. In fact, it all but slipped her mind until that day she found herself at the market; stomach rumbling with a two-day-old hunger.
The brothel-mother had just paid them, which meant she was on for a feast tonight. One of the girls would buy meat, and she'd been tasked with finding them some fresh vegetables. Mayuko couldn't cook to save her life - her skills laid elsewhere, after all - but she knew how to choose the best items.
The task had absorbed all her attention, she didn't feel the shadow behind her until it spoke with that unmistakable accent. "I would like plums, please."
Mayuko blinked at the stall, cracking a smile as she lifted her head. "Wait for your turn?"
Kassandra shot her a look. "You were taking too long. And I'm hungry."
So am I.
Her belly rumbled with all the discretion of a dying whale when the smell of grilled fish wafted from Kassandra's small bag. She refused to let embarrassment consume her and turned back to the stall, giving her order to the merchant. She walked away with arms full, vegetables precariously balanced on her juvenile arms.
Mayuko had chicken legs for arms, she knew, but she had other skills, mind you. It was hard to build muscles while being chronically malnourished. She had overestimated her strength, and grimaced under the bags' weight.
"You're wobbling," she heard before the weight was all but lifted off her arms. Mayuko looked up with a frown to see Kassandra's towering figure. "Let me help."
"Give it back," she hissed, eyes narrowed in a squint. "I don't need your help." Mayuko had learned early on that antagonizing clients outside the brothel wasn't in her best interests. She swallowed her frustration and schooled her face into a neutral expression, one that bordered on frightened. "Please, give it back. I have chores and I don't want to be late," her voice quivered just so.
Kassandra blinked at her several times. "Impressive acting," she nodded slowly.
Mayuko gaped, closing her mouth, opening it, then closing it again. That foreigner wasn't easily swayed, her little gig worked every time. She huffed quietly. "What do you want?"
Kassandra pointed at the bags in her arms. "To help you."
She searched the woman's eyes for a long while, finding nothing but neutral interest. Kassandra was confusing. She hadn't wanted her last week, maybe she'd changed her mind? "I don't work outside of the brothel," she said, in passing. To test the waters. "You can't take me with you."
To her utter surprise, Kassandra smiled. "Good," was all she said before walking away.
For each step she took, Mayuko had to take four. "Will you tell me where you're from?" she panted out when she caught up with her, craning her neck upward and squinting at the sun.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"You wouldn't know where it is," Kassandra answered simply, weaving her way out of the marketplace like she was gliding on water. She must be a good swimmer.
"I bet I would," her reply had all the petulance of the child Mayuko tried to convince herself she wasn't. "Tell me."
"Nope."
She whined—actually whined in frustration. "Oh, come on! "
The woman pivoted around when they reached the intersection. The brothel was further down the street. She crouched down at eye-level (which did absolutely nothing to alleviate Mayuko's frustration, who did she think she was? All tall legs and muscles!) and flashed her the most infuriating grin the teen had ever had the displeasure to see. "I will tell you on one condition," she moved, shifting the bags to her left thigh.
Mayuko was not impressed and showed it; crossing her arms on her chest while bouncing her foot impatiently. "What condition?"
"I don't like eating alone," Kassandra said. "So, how about I help you with those bags, and you keep me company?"
She was a kid but she wasn't stupid. She knew very well what the woman was trying to do. She wasn't going to get under her skin so easily. "You have weird… obsessions."
It was a half-assed remark, if that. All it managed to do was make her smile bigger. "I will pay you."
"To watch you eat?"
Kassandra was taken aback by her wit. She burst out laughing and ruffled her head. "To watch me eat."
It turned out Mayuko did none of the watching and most of the eating. Kassandra feigned not to be hungry after the first bite and discreetly pushed the fish towards her. Mayuko didn't pretend to be surprised; she ate slowly out of habit - the slower she chewed the longer it would last. She took in the woman's face when Kassandra looked away. Her features were nice and sharp, her eyes just a shade darker than her own. By the end of their shared meal, Mayuko had completely forgotten her original goal; not until the woman walked her back to the brothel, and ruffled her hair again.
"I am Greek," she smiled.
-0-
It happened again. And again, and again. The girls gave her looks every time she went out in broad daylight and came back with both her belly and pouch full. Sometimes Kassandra would be a bit late to their meetings, sometimes she'd throw a cloak over herself to hide the crimson stains on her clothes. Sometimes her hands were bloody.
And sometimes, she didn't come at all.
They talked alot. It didn't take long before Mayuko could place Greece, Sparta, and Athens on a map; she travelled there a hundred times in her head, guided by Kassandra's words. She would tell Mayuko about the Minotaur, about mythologies and ancient beliefs. About how there were Gods who lived on a mountain within walking distance - but how no one had been curious enough to ever climb it.
(Idiots.)
Kassandra never asked her questions when Mayuko was late. Her eyes would linger on the bruises sometimes, or her crumpled clothes, but she never said anything.
"Were you ever…" Mayuko made a vague gesture towards herself, while chewing on some sesame paste. She grimaced; her mouth was dry now.
The grass was burnt and itchy under her, the sun beating on the two women like it wanted to boil them alive. It was stifling hot to work, no one in their right mind would go out in this humid heat, let alone exhaust themselves in a brothel. Mayuko had tossed and turned all morning before deciding to brave the weather and go to the riverbank, where Kassandra had found her sprawled out half an hour later.
"With these scars?" Kassandra pointed at her own face with a wry laugh.
"They're charming," Mayuko smirked. It had come out on its own, blurted out of habit. Complimenting patrons, reassuring them that their missing teeth, crooked micro-cock or crossed eyes were totally okay.
The difference was that she had meant it this time.
Kassandra gave her a long look before shaking her head, coming back from whatever inner musings she'd been distracted with. She was so hard to read, it gave Mayuko a headache every time. "You know what I do for a living?"
The teen shrugged. She had a good idea; she had seen her swords, and they were always in good condition, all sharp and shiny edges. "Maybe."
Kassandra grinned. "I'm a pirate, like my mater before me."
Mater.
Mama.
"And I'm a whore," the teen grinned as well, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Like my mother before me. I guess we can't escape our destiny."
Patrons would usually ask if she never dreamed better for herself, after she said that. Something they would provide. Not for free, though. Never for free.
"I guess we can't," Kassandra agreed instead, her lips twitching down. She looked somber for a minute, like she'd gone far away. When her eyes refocused on the girl, they had a certain look to them.
Mayuko knew that one. She knew it all too well; it was time to negotiate. Maybe she should have seen it coming. People weren't nice, or spent time with her out of the goodness of their heart - Mayuko had known that practically from birth. Kassandra had tricked her, lulled her into a false sense of safety. Of course, she would want something in return. They always did.
Mayuko bit the inside of her lip, willing the tightness in her heart to subdue before she schooled her face into a neutral expression, braving to hear what Kassandra would demand of her.
"How much do you want to teach me Japanese?"
Her eyes bulged out, mouth agape in a quiet gasp. Of all things the woman could have asked…
"Teach… you?"
Kassandra nodded. "I want to learn," she paused, frowning. "I have to. I would pay you, of course. A couple of hours a week?"
"You're already paying me," she pointed out. Kassandra shrugged. Money didn't grow on trees, though, but her pockets were bottomless it seemed. "Just how rich are you?"
"Enough to share. Deal?"
Enough to pay Mayuko's debt is what she meant. The girl had amassed a small fortune ever since meeting Kassandra. In a few years, maybe when she reached eighteen, she could pay up. Maybe she would see her thirtieth birthday, after all.
Mayuko gave her a long, suspicious look. Her hand shot out a few moments later. "Deal."
-0-
Kassandra was a fast learner.
Her accent was horrendous in Japanese, though. The teen had rolled and sobbed with laughter on many occasions because of it. She swore Kassandra did it on purpose, sometimes, to make her smile.
Mayuko didn't mind.
But Kassandra was a fast learner, which meant that the day came when she had taught the woman everything she knew through targeted conversations and a few chosen scrolls. She had discovered Kassandra had a soft spot for poetry and always brought a new set of poems from the brothel-mother's library with her for their meetings. But time had come, and she wouldn't need her tutoring any longer.
It happened on a cloudy day; the earth was still swollen with yesterday's monsoon. The ends of Mayuko's dress were a bit muddy, but the new boots (courtesy of her teaching salary) had kept her feet dry as she waddled towards their meeting place.
She felt herself smile when Kassandra grinned at her. "Good morning," the woman said in Japanese, bowing her head.
Mayuko greeted back before flopping gracelessly on the log. Patrons had been particularly exhausting that night. "Do you sleep on your ship?" she asked to keep the conversation going.
Kassandra frowned, but answered right away. "Sometimes. Most of the time, actually. Inns are expensive here."
Mayuko snorted. "Rich of you to say that."
The woman smiled a little. She said nothing for a while, searching for her words before she spoke. "I prefer to sleep somewhere I feel…" her brows furrowed. "Safe?" she asked in Korean.
"Safe," Mayuko replied in Japanese before nodding. That made sense, if Kassandra killed people for a living. Ships were the safest place for pirates. Especially foreigners. "You will leave soon."
Kassandra was quiet, eyes flickering down, then back up. "Yes. I have matters elsewhere."
Mayuko felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes. That also made sense; no one stayed here - not if they had a choice - and Kassandra had already outrun her stay. Eight months on land was a long time. "I see," her feet shuffled on the mud. She stared at her shiny, new boots.
In five or six years, she would have enough to leave as well.
To go where?
"Look," Kassandra spoke again. She had shifted her body, straddling the log to be able to face Mayuko. Her hands shook a little, to the teen's surprise, before she closed them into fists and stared at Mayuko intensely. "I will give you a choice, but you don't owe me anything. And you don't have to agree just because I'm asking you," her tongue poked out to swipe at her lower lip. "I will go to the brothel to pay the rest of your debt, today."
Mayuko blinked.
"You can stay there if you want, and you won't have to work anymore. I will make sure of it," Kassandra kept the edge out of her voice, though the underlying threat of her words was unmistakable. She went on, "Or you can leave, take a merchant ship somewhere and start a new life. You're smart," a smile appeared at those words. "You can become anything you want. Anyone." Kassandra took a deep breath, looking unsure.
It took a few attempts before she dared to touch Mayuko for the very first time since that day in the market, when she had ruffled her hair. She squeezed her small shoulder. "Or you can come with me," she said softly. "Life on a ship isn't easy, but I swear on my mater's tomb that I won't let anything happen to you. Ever."
The teen didn't talk. For the first time in her short life, words had eluded her. It had happened before; patrons making grand declarations and promises of paying her debt if she came to live with them - because life with a children-loving man would always be better than what she had.
Mayuko would scoff and turn them down every time. Those weren't the gullible ones she was hoping to find. They had that glint in their eyes, the one that said she would forever be bound to them, that like any other thing they owned, she would be theirs to do with as they pleased, for as long as they pleased, and however they pleased. Meaning, she would end up dead in a ditch somewhere once they got bored.
But Kassandra… Kassandra was different. She wasn't gullible either, but there was no twisted glint in her eyes. Just sorrow, rather than pity. She hadn't treated Mayuko like a thing to be rented. She had seen her as a person - a child, yes - but a person. And she had just promised her safety without ownership.
"But what would I do?" the prickles had come back and the teen blinked them away yet again.
Kassandra let hope seep into her face, beaming slightly. "I would teach you how to fight. To defend yourself," she gave her a proud nod. "I'm good at that. And to navigate? You can be my quartermaster, in a few years."
Mayuko could travel. Visit Massilia, see the Colosseum she had heard so much about, maybe Sparta, too. Would Kassandra take her there?
The tears fell when she blinked; Mayuko hadn't cried since Miss Kuso's death and the doctor who had robbed her of her innocence. She lifted her eyes to see Kassandra's own brimming with unshed tears.
"Is that a yes?" the woman's voice quivered.
Wordlessly, she nodded.
-0-
Mayuko did live to see thirty.
She celebrated her birthday surrounded by the crew who had seen her grow and the commander who had set her free.
Kassandra had kept her word. Mayuko never warmed anyone's bed anymore. She saw Egypt, and Persia, and Rome, and even Lugdunum. She tasted the most obscure fruits in the Philippines and watched a volcano spurt ash into the sea.
Her perspective was no longer limited to the stifling walls of the brothel in which she had spent her first twelve years. It expanded as far as her eyes could reach. As far as the ocean.
Kassandra didn't grow old, she discovered. People wrinkled and sagged and withered under the weight of age, while she stayed exactly the same. Kassandra didn't die, either. Once in the twenty years Maykuo had been a part of her crew, had she left on a mission only to come back several days later, bleeding profusely. She had then locked herself in her quarters for a whole week before she emerged - a bundle of stained sheets under her arm to be burnt - looking unscathed without any trace of the cuts, stabs and arrows that had fatally wounded her.
Nobody asked questions and Mayuko learned to do the same.
People came and went. Some dying of old age, some asking to be dropped off somewhere, some falling in love right there as the Hummingbird slashed through the waves. They retired and Kassandra let them leave without protestations; often smiling softly and giving them a hefty pouch of coins as a goodbye gift.
"You can leave too, you know," the commander told her one night, as they poured over a map together. "Just say the word."
"Where did that come from?" Mayuko lifted her head, and then an eyebrow. Kassandra did get a little melancholy sometimes. Almost twenty years under her command, and Mayuko still couldn't read her.
Kassandra shrugged, focusing back on the map of the Kingdom of Wa. "I'm just saying, if you want to leave the pirate life… You're grown now, maybe you want other things. Something quieter. A family. Children..."
Mayuko tutted. Kassandra hadn't given birth to her, but boy did she act like Miss Kuso, sometimes. Even if they were the same age now. "I'm good, thanks," she paused, before adding, "Besides, I already have a family."
Kassandra blinked at her like she'd grown a second head. She fought to smother her smile, but Mayuko saw it all the same and beamed at her.
Gone was the emaciated little girl with a silver tongue. She was a woman now, a pirate and the finest quartermaster the world had ever seen. If she could say so herself. Her place was right there, by the side of the woman who had raised her. The one she only dared to call eomma in her head.
"We could take them by surprise over there," she said, focusing back on the map. Silla's ships were littered across the sea. Not quite surrounding Yamatai, but well on their way. "With stealth?"
Kassandra leaned over the table and shook her head. "I want them to see us," she moved a small block across the map, making it collide with another one. "Use the ship's head to break a few of them in half. We haven't done that in a while."
"It will warn the rest of their fleet," Mayuko pointed out. "They have bombs."
Kassandra's grin gleamed under the candlelight. "Exactly. How long do you think it takes them to load?"
The Hummingbird was a fast ship, the quartermaster reminded, hence her name. "Too long," she smirked. By the time their opponents would be ready to fire, they would be long gone. "They will hit their own."
The other woman nodded proudly. "If we wait until the eye of storm settles, they won't stand a chance."
Most people in their right mind wouldn't steer a ship straight into a storm. Most people weren't Kassandra, though.
"That's bold, Commander."
There was another smile on her lips. "Enough for Sun Queen to notice us."
They had concocted the plan over the course of a few months; Kassandra had disappeared once they docked in Kallístē, only to come back a week later with the order to set course for the Kingdom of Wa. There was an island there, a small and innocuous thing, with high mountains where the snows were eternal. Yamatai. Excellence Wei had sent emissaries there, but he eyed something else. And so did the King of Silla.
The Queen could summon storms by sheer will apparently. Mayuko wasn't sure what to make of the information, but Kassandra was convinced that she had to be stopped.
"What if she tries to kill you when we dock there?"
"A foreigner coming to her aid?" Kassandra snorted. "She's vain, but not stupid. She will want to see me," she turned around, walking towards another table to pour wine. Kassandra lifted the cup in a silent question. Mayuko shook her head, she didn't like to drink while making battle plans. Especially this one. "Besides, you'll be there. With me."
The woman hummed, that part was giving her butterflies and not the good kind. "You think she won't notice?"
"Britannia is too far from here, and Romans have made sure to let everyone know just how uneducated they think Britons are," Kassandra shrugged before switching to Celt. "I will be surprised if she does."
"You're not the one whose head will end up on a pike if she finds out what you're up to."
They chuckled. Kassandra approached her. There was a gentle smile tugging at her lips, but it was the fleeting glint of worry that caught Mayuko's attention.
"I trust you," she said resolutely. "But if you're not sure about this, I can go alone."
I won't let anything happen to you. Ever.
The promise uttered almost two decades ago. Kassandra had kept Mayuko out of harm's way. She hadn't fed her illusions about safety; the quartermaster had seen more death in a year than her whole life at the brothel. Pirate life wasn't easy, life with Kassandra wasn't easy, and she was acutely aware of the risks every time she unsheathed her sword.
Mayuko shook her head. "I will go," she gave her a sly smirk. "I miss gyoza, anyway."
Aletheia was sending her to do her dirty work again.
The burden is yours, Pythagoras had said to Kassandra as he handed her the Staff. Did he know she would be enslaved to its whims? The woman was exhausted. Balance came at a price, and apparently it meant she had to go all the way to a godsforsaken island to kill a Queen she'd never heard about.
"Her power grows every day, Keeper," Aletheia had told her. "She has to be stopped, lest she takes over the world."
Kassandra had almost scoffed. The world was vast, so what if this Sun Queen conquered a few islands here and there in the middle of nowhere? There were more pressing matters; like how the Roman Empire was stretching itself thin, or that young Hun - Attila - whom Kassandra had heard about. Now, he was an actual threat to the world, because the world right now expanded from Europe to Egypt. And he was chipping at it, slowly gathering troops and tribes behind him to walk on Rome.
But no, here she was, in the Kingdom of Wa instead, doing Gods know what.
Kassandra sighed; eyes narrowed at the horizon. A heavy and humid fog was draped over the Hummingbird, but at least the winds weren't howling anymore. They had some time before the storm picked up again. The typhoon was a vicious thing that had raised the waves and swallowed ships in its wake. Only a few had survived, less than she had expected. They floated straight ahead. One, the Hummingbird could ram, the others they could burn through their flanks.
"Take position," she ordered lowly, waiting for Mayuko to carry her command across the ship. Shouting would alert the Sillans. "Rowers at full speed, archers get ready."
She looked around quickly, hearing as much as seeing the shuffling of her crew. Men and women, people she had recruited or who had come to offer their services. She saw them, bodies taut with tension, gripping at their weapons, the ropes, mast, shields. The air was loaded, danger on the tip of her lips. A feeling of nervous anticipation coursed through their veins and hers when the rowers started to gain speed. Kassandra's breath became deeper, she looked around again, finding Mayuko and nodded at her. Get ready.
Her fingers wrapped around the bar, white-knuckled as the Hummingbird reached her peak speed. "Brace for impact!"
They crouched in quasi synchronization, noses low on deck. The Hummingbird rumbled and shook violently, pummelling through the other ship to the sounds of groaning and splintering wood.
Kassandra heard screaming in the distance, curses, prayers, and barked orders. She stood up quickly, drawing her bow. "Archers!" and launched herself above the deck, standing on the bar as she nocked and shot the first incendiary arrow. "Fire!"
Black smoke rose, thick and stifling, rowers driving the Hummingbird away as the first shrill whistles of a launched bomb reached the crew's ears. "Shields!" Mayuko yelled just before the retaliated splinters of wood stabbed them.
It took hours.
The battle was long, dreadful and ugly. Floating corpses flung on planks attracted sharks and vultures. The ships that tried to flee when it became obvious that the battle was lost were caught up in the storm, leaving nothing but death in its wake. Kassandra raised the sails, threw anchor and ordered the crew to gather below-deck to tend to the wounded and weather the winds. She had brought the best carpenters from Persia to reinforce the hull and masts on their way here. They would be safe. Hopefully.
The howling raged for days until the sea calmed down and the sky cleared, leaving a light shine of mist from which the high mountains of a small island appeared. Kassandra was the first to see it, perched up on the top of their splintered mast. She untied the ruined sails and lowered herself down with a rope.
"Tell the rowers to bring us to shore, slowly," she told a sailor. "There are rocks. And fetch the carpenters. We need to take care of that mast."
"At once, Commander," she nodded.
As expected, the Hummingbird was welcomed with raised swords and arrows. The Stormguards' helmets were too large, Kassandra mused. They looked heavy and impractical, leaving only a tiny, narrow slit for the eyes. The rest of their armor was remarkably… Persian, she noted. The woman kept herself at the front with a discreet gesture at the crew to stay put and look as innocuous as possible.
She removed her hood and raised her hands slowly when a few men drew their bows. "I come in peace," she said in Celt. "I am not your enemy."
She saw a few guards turn to one another, muttering quietly and caught a few words. One slithered past the small group to stand on the bridge near the ship. His armor was the same as the others, save for the ornate helmet and the swords flanked at his sides. The General, there was no doubt about it.
"Do you speak our language?"
Kassandra frowned at him, feigning confusion. "I come in peace," she said again. "I am not your enemy."
Mayuko sprinted to the front, her brusque arrival drawing the guards' attention. They tensed, muttering among themselves again, knees bent in a fighting stance. "I do."
The General looked at her. "Where is the commander of the ship?"
The quartermaster smothered her smile. "She stands in front of you," her hand motioned at Kassandra. "We were taken in a storm. Our ship needs repairs."
His stoicism was unnerving both women. That helmet was doing a very good job at hiding his face. "We heard the battle," he said. "You destroyed the other ships."
Mayuko tilted her head, conceding. "They attacked us."
He took in the information and kept quiet for so long, Kassandra thought he had seen right through their plan. Finally, he nodded, a small move, barely there. "We will let you dock. Any other requests must be made in writing and given to a guard. You are forbidden from going inland."
Mayuko bowed in thanks before turning to Kassandra. "I think it worked," she said, under the guise of translation.
The woman nodded. "We will see."
-0-
The waiting game began.
It took days. Days of looking at the men who stood guard around the ship. Kassandra hadn't seen them blink or even try to find a bush to relieve themselves. Not even once. They kept staring ahead like frozen statues and moved only when prompted, or when another patrol came to take over.
Days.
The only mercy they received was the resupplying of the ship and some wood.
Kassandra had taken on carpenter duty to ward off boredom. She began helping the crew by carrying and fixing new planks before switching to polishing the Hydra figurehead that had unfortunately lost one of her five heads during the battles. It would need to be replaced, but that meant trading silver and going inland to find a smith - which was out of the question for now. Everybody was playing their part, appearing as unaffected as her while they went about their duties.
The Gods finally smiled upon her on the third week:
"Commander?" Kassandra looked at the sailor whose head had popped out of the upper-deck. "Guards are here. They want to see you."
Finally… she held back a sigh and hauled herself up, leaving the scrolls she had been reading to follow him up. She recognized the General right away, standing just as stiffly as the men surrounding him and Mayuko. The young woman was radiating tension as she was being carefully searched by one of them.
Kassandra's eyes narrowed; she didn't like this. The other guards were too close with their hands inches from their swords. This wasn't a cutesy talk. The rest of her crew was giving them dirty looks, as well. All scornful faces and glowering. They stayed put, their hands balled into fists.
"Get away from her!" she hollered, making shooing motions and forcing the guard to step back as she stood in his face. "Back off, before I break your hands," her eyes flashed dangerously.
The other woman turned around, her face carefully blank. Her eyes shone in gratitude as she gave a small nod and squeezed Kassandra's wrist discreetly, reminding her of their plan. Kassandra took a breath, willing herself to calm down.
It was okay.
It was going to be okay.
The General didn't seem fazed by the display. He gave her a quick once over and cleared his throat. "The Sun Queen requests your presence to show her gratitude and thank you for fighting our common enemy."
Kassandra had half a mind to tell him where to shove his and his Queen's gratitude but kept her mouth shut. The plan. She had to think of the plan. Mayuko leaned over, talking in her ear. "I'm fine, they were just trying to scare you."
"I don't like this," she muttered and focused her attention on the General. "Tell her I accept," she said, waiting for Mayuko to translate before she went on. "I won't have your men intimidate my crew again. Is that clear?"
The quartermaster gave her a look, but Kassandra urged her to keep translating. The General said nothing, only gesturing for Kassandra to follow him, Mayuko close behind.
-0-
It started raining when they trekked through the forest. The trees were high, and thick branches kept the sun from filtering through. Had Ikaros still been alive, she wouldn't have been able to see him above. Kassandra felt goosebumps rise on her arms; this place radiated with the same chilling danger as the petrified valley on Lesbos.
Medusa.
Her power had been overwhelming the island, to the point it had spooked all life out of it. Her encounter with the creature was the first time Kassandra had felt legitimate fear since falling off Mount Taygetos. Even Phobos, even Ikaros - mighty and loyal as they were - hadn't been able to go against their nature. They had waited at the edge of the forest, Ikaros shrieking and flapping his wings in warning, perched on the saddle as Kassandra followed the Daughter deeper into the valley. She had felt observed there, with the snakes announcing bad omens.
The feeling was the same now; being gauged, being observed, the breeze picking up at her braid like cold, bony fingers curling around her hair.
They crossed several villages on their way up. The few men and women working outside were giving them curious looks before quickly whipping their head down. They looked fed and relatively healthy, albeit skittish. The Queen's castle stood above the military fort. Kassandra had expected it to be on the highest point of the mountain, but something else seemed to be built there.
She squinted. "What is up there?"
The general turned to her when Mayuko translated.
"The Chamber of the Sun. Our sacred place," he said.
The Caduceus pendant around Kassandra's neck pulsed, startling her a little.
Keeper, Aletheia spoke. It is where she holds our technology.
Kassandra's eyes narrowed in thought. She couldn't divert their attention long enough to go up there, even with the Staff.
The Isu read her mind and agreed. You needn't take it. No one knows how to use it but her. Just stop her.
How did one go about killing a Queen without alerting anyone?
Find a way, was all Aletheia said before leaving her mind.
"Always helpful," Kassandra mumbled in Greek and shook her head.
Mayuko quirked an eyebrow at her in silent question. Kassandra shook her head again, mouthing 'nothing'. The quartermaster shrugged, looking away. She was tense, too, even if she didn't show it. Kassandra's fingers ran along her arm, discreetly, prompting Mayuko to look up at her again.
'Okay?' she mouthed.
Her nose scrunched up and it was all the confirmation Kassandra needed. Mayuko put on a brave face, but she didn't like this place either. Guilt seeped into the other woman; maybe she should have gone on her own, after all.
Kassandra breathed steadily; she would protect her, no matter what. She shot her quartermaster a small smile, giving her arm a comforting squeeze under the guise of walking too close to one another.
They didn't climb the stairs to the castle. To Kassandra's utter surprise, the General ordered his men to stay behind while he led them towards a large garden. There was a lake in the center that gleamed tangerine with the fallen leaves from the branches above. It was surrounded by foliage and neatly trimmed flower plants.
He walked them on a paved road towards a small, innocuous house adjacent to a bigger one.
The man turned around, motioning to the little stone fountain and wooden pots. "Purify yourselves before you enter."
Kassandra gaped, obnoxious little shit… Letting his men paw at her quartermaster, and now this? Who did he think he was, implying they were some filthy savages?
Oh, she was going to purify this maláka's face with her fists.
Mayuko was the first one to crouch and lean over the stone basin, reaching for the wooden cup, when Kassandra refused to move. "It's tradition, Commander. Just wash your hands and drink some," she said while pouring cold water over her fingers. "You don't want to offend them now."
"And it's fine for those idiots to offend me?" Kassandra wanted to scoff, but kept her face in check, giving the man a small nod and the fakest smile she could muster before lowering herself. "My people knew how to bathe with hot water before he was even born."
Mayuko snorted and squinted at the General. "She says thank you for your hospitality."
He bowed and stepped away, standing by the small house until they were done. Kassandra frowned when he knocked. A small part of the wall came loose, big enough to crawl inside.
She blinked. "Why?" was all she could say before he gestured for the women to follow him through.
"Humility," Mayuko explained. "Miss Kuso told me some warlords would do that during peace talks. They go through the same door and everybody is equal."
Smart. And extremely stupid if someone decided to take advantage of it by killing people as they crawled inside the house.
Mayuko already had a knee on the platform when Kassandra stopped her. "I will go first. If it's a trap, you run to the ship and don't look back."
A gush of warmth and incense assaulted her nostrils in the most pleasant way when Kassandra wriggled through. The room was dimly lit, only a few candles were placed above and at the far end of the tiny, bare space. The General was on his knees in the corner, undoing his belt of swords and spreading it in front of him, before he started fumbling with the helmet. Kassandra crawled to the side, leaving enough room for Mayuko to come in.
She tilted her head towards the quartermaster, not tearing her gaze away from the man. "What is he doing?"
"Trusting you," was all she said before she unbuckled her own belt.
Kassandra was still tense, she watched the General like a hawk, a bit startled by his somewhat generic, if not kind features once he revealed his face. She removed her weapons and carefully placed them within her reach, surprised to find his eyes lingering on one of her small knives.
Not just any knife. Brasidas' dagger. The only memorabilia she had of him. One of his men had given it to her when she had come back to Sparta to see Myrinne, months after the battle of Amphipolis that had claimed his life.
He wanted you to have this, the soldier had told Kassandra.
She had kept it, polished it, oiled it with the same care she had her grandfather's spear. Almost seven hundred years later and it was just as sharp. The grip was solid, wrapped with the smoothest materials; Kassandra had taken great care of it.
"It is a beautiful piece you have there," the General acknowledged with a small bow.
Kassandra returned the sentiment after Mayuko mock-translated. He gave them a small smile, to their utter surprise.
The room was silent after that. Kassandra had always taken great pride in her stamina, but staying completely upright on her knees was starting to get to her. The position wasn't ideal and even the smallest motion needled at her limbs. It was taking all her willpower not to slouch.
Mayuko - the cheat - had discreetly moved her feet outward to be more comfortable.
Kassandra started counting to pass the time and focus on something else other than the numbing sensation in her legs. She had reached eight thousand by the time shadows knelt by the sliding doors in front of her before they opened.
Five women entered, each of them bringing an item with her, save for the oldest one who simply knelt in the middle of the room, as the others fussed around. Her attire was traditional, wealthy - although that wasn't ostensibly obvious. The silk draped around her frail frame was a rich and vibrant blue dotted with pink patterns. A small crown adorned an intricate hairdo. Kassandra wondered how it all kept together; it was all slicked back and looked tight enough to bruise. Himiko - the Queen - said nothing, her keen eye traveling around the room, stopping fleetingly and fluttering between the two women.
Kassandra had seen Queens and Pharaohs throughout her life. Female Warlords from foreign lands, but nothing compared to the chill she felt when Himiko's gaze leveled on her, or the way it bore into her, scratching at her very soul, looking through her head.
Or trying to, at least.
The Caduceus pendant pulsed again, becoming warmer.
She is trying to read your mind, Keeper, Aletheia informed. I am preventing it.
Kassandra's blood froze. Mayuko… protect Mayuko.
I can only help one of you, the Isu warned. She is very powerful.
Kassandra steeled her gaze on the Queen's, trying to keep her attention away from Mayuko. I can handle it, she'd had a lot of practice redirecting her thoughts when the Staff tried to overwhelm her with its incessant whispering.
No sooner had Aletheia left her mind that a shrill buzzing echoed in Kassandra's ears. She blinked, only to find herself in the dark. A cold gust of wind chilled her spine; she pivoted around herself, coming face to face with Brasidas.
His milky eyes stared lifelessly into hers. Blood was ticking down his forehead. "Why did you let me die, Kassandra?"
Splutter of blood splashed on her face, forcing her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, he'd disappeared. Kassandra looked around herself, heart hammering in her chest.
"Why did you kill me, Kassandra?" Alexios' ominous voice echoed.
"Why didn't you save me, Kassandra?" Phoibe asked dully.
"I'm sorry," Kassandra blinked and blinked. "I... I tried," she whispered, feeling the tears seeping into her voice. "I tried, I swear."
"You didn't try hard enough."
"You weren't fast enough."
"You weren't strong enough."
"You failed."
Her eyes jammed shut as she clenched at her head. Stop, stop, stop. Stop! Kassandra blinked, staring directly into Himiko's face. It was decayed, teeth rotted yellow by age, the life sucked out of a translucent skin that almost tore, stretched to cover sharp cheekbones. Her skeletal fingers wrapped around Kassandra's wrist.
"I see you," she snarled, glaring at Kassandra through her empty sockets.
When she blinked again; Kassandra was back in the small house. She stiffened at the gentle touch on her balled fist.
"Hey," Mayuko spoke softly in her ear. "Are you alright?" the woman nodded slowly. "You should stop staring at her. It's not proper."
Kassandra gave another slow nod, gathering her thoughts; Phoibe, Brasidas, Alexios... their anguish had been so vivid; the lithe weight of Himiko's fingers curled around her wrist, she could still feel its burn on her skin. She nodded again, when the quartermaster gave her a quick look. "I'm fine."
Mayuko nodded, taking over translating duty. "It is an honor to meet with you, Your Majesty."
To her credit, Himiko's face was carefully neutral. "My Stormguards have informed me of your arrival," her eyes flickered between Kassandra and Mayuko again. "You were taken into a storm, I heard?"
The nerve.
Kassandra waited until the translation was done to nod. "Ships attacked us on our way here."
"Invaders," the Queen said, taking the small pot that was offered to her before she continued. "You have done my Kingdom a great service in ridding me of them," she poured water into it before sliding it back to the priestess. The smile she gave them was more akin to a leer. "Those men would never admit to cowering in front of the fairer sex. Our natural disposition leads them to think we are inferior," it was malicious and subtly insincere; the way she thought she held all the cards in the palm of her wrinkled hand. "We, women of power, have to support one another. Don't you think, Kassandra?"
She bit on her tongue, before her lips turned into a smirk. "I agree," her answer was plain, deceptively unaffected when Mayuko finished translating. The quartermaster kept the trembling out of her voice. "Which is why I helped you with those ships, your Majesty," she spat the last word with just enough venom to sting, seeping through the language barrier.
Queen of nothing.
The barest of sneers appeared on Himiko's face, she tutted quietly like a hissing cat. The Queen grabbed the brush, pouring green powder into a small cup of steaming water before mixing with practiced movements. The wish-wash of the brush filled the small room. "The King of Silla underestimated my power; and he shall pay for that oversight."
Kassandra kept staring.
"As for you, foreigner," her thin lips curved up. "What is it your heart desire?" she slid forward, offering the tea with a small bow.
Kassandra leaned over, taking it in the palm of her hand.
"Don't drink it right way," Mayuko instructed. "Turn it to the right and wait."
She nodded, staring into the thick mixture curiously. "I already have everything I want, thank you."
One of the priestesses had prepared another cup for Mayuko and gave it to her.
Himiko squinted, looking at her for a long while. "Should you tire of wandering the seas, I can grant you land. Status."
Kassandra quirked an eyebrow, bringing the cup of tea close to her lips when the quartermaster told her to. "And what would you want in exchange?" it tasted strange, a little bitter and thick when she rolled it around in her mouth. Not poisonous, though.
The screeching came back in her head, fleeting. A flash of the Queen's decayed face appeared, frazzled grey hair framing her face like thunderbolts.
You, it sneered. I will have your power.
"You could become one of my subjects," Himiko replied. "I am planning to expand my Kingdom. You and your crew could join my Stormguards. Reign over the waves on my behalf."
Kassandra's eyes flickered towards the only man in the room. He hadn't moved an eyelid. "It would be an honor to work under your command," she began with calculated care. "Should I exhaust the wonders of the seas."
She punctuated the cushioned refusal with a saccharine smile.
"Fair enough," Himiko tilted her head. "For the sake of defeating my enemy, you shall choose freely," that unsettling smirk was back again. "You and your crew shall be granted quarters inland. My subjects will welcome you until you decide to leave."
Kassandra quirked an eyebrow, saying nothing.
"We thank you again for your hospitality," Mayuko took over, cutting through the rising tension. "Your Majesty."
The frivolity of decorum held no secrets for her. The quartermaster weaved her way through polite goodbyes and bows like no other, almost dragging Kassandra by the arm when they were outside, escorted by the General.
"Were you okay back there?" she asked, voice deliberately sweet to throw the eavesdropper off. "You looked like you wanted to strangle her."
Kassandra huffed. "She ticked me," and the feeling was probably mutual."Tell the others to be very careful when they leave the ship," she couldn't order them to stay inside, it would draw attention. "No one is to spend the night on the island."
The General seemed honest enough, but his blind devotion was unsettling. He followed Himiko's orders, and wouldn't think twice about killing them all in their sleep.
They waited until they were back on the ship to resume their discussion. Once in her quarters, Kassandra started pacing, walking back and forth along the walls like a wolf in a cage. Mayuko leisurely sitting on the bed was doing nothing to alleviate her nerves.
"Which one was it?"
"The one on the left," she said, munching on an apple. They hadn't had fresh fruits in months. "She kept to herself, wore the least remarkable outfit. Too pretty for it."
Kassandra stopped and turned around to face her. "Are you sure?" she barely remembered her face; too busy fending off Himiko's relentless incursions into her mind. "She looked young," too young to reign.
Mayuko agreed with a nod. "She is. Maybe fifteen," and frowned. "The others didn't look the Queen in the eyes, but that one kept avoiding her gaze on purpose," she swallowed before finishing. "Something is wrong with her. The Queen, I mean. Did you see the way she looked at us?"
Kassandra hummed, mulling over the quartermaster's words. She couldn't tell her everything; it was too dangerous. At least Aletheia had protected Mayuko, like she'd asked. "Like fresh meat?" her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Yes," Mayuko nodded once, ignoring her poor attempt at humor. "Especially you," her voice held a tinge of worry. "We shouldn't stay. This place has darkness in it."
They could agree on that. "We won't," Kassandra assured her, the bed dipping under her weight when she sat down.
"Do you have a plan?" Mayuko shifted to face her, throwing the core of the apple away.
She thought she had, but the Queen wouldn't be so easily swayed, even with a half-assed pledge of allegiance. "I don't know yet," Kassandra replied honestly, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose to ease the tension. This was a lot harder than she had anticipated.
The other woman sighed as well, her hand traveling up Kassandra's arm to massage her shoulder. "You look tired. Have you slept lately?"
Kassandra's lips curved up. "You're too young to be my mater," she teased, ruffling her hair. "I'll sleep when I'm—"
"Dead," Mayuko finished for her, swatting Kassandra's hand away from her head. "Heard that already and since we both know that's not happening either, maybe you should eat something and lie down," she grabbed the platter of fruits and put it on Kassandra's lap before standing up. "I will take over, you rest."
Mayuko kept glaring and watching her until the other woman gave up all pretense, took a bite, changed into her sleepwear, and dutifully lied down, feeling like a scolded child.
"I remember doing that for you a few years ago," Kassandra brought the covers up her chin and moved around to glance at Mayuko standing near the door. "Tuck you in and wait until you slept when you got seasick."
The quartermaster snorted. "Decades, you mean."
Had it been that long ago? It felt like yesterday.
"You kept wriggling out of the bed to sprawl in mine when I wasn't looking," she smiled, eyes shining with the memories, Kassandra tilted her head towards the tiny bed frame in the corner.
"Yours is bigger."
Not as lavishly large as the one in the quartermaster's room, though.
"You were smaller," she shot back with a wink.
Mayuko grinned. "True," she bit her lip, shifting awkwardly on her feet, fingers already on the doorknob. "Goodnight... mater."
Kassandra blinked and blinked and blinked, feeling the tingles of tears just behind her eyelids. She gave her a lopsided grin, blinking again through the watery shine blurring her vision. "Goodnight."
Mater.
-0-
It was the blue-tinted hue that woke her up; too bright to be daylight. "You didn't follow my instructions," Aletheia was standing at the foot of her bed. "Keeper."
Kassandra's head popped out of the covers. She squinted, moving until her back rested on the headboard and gestured for the Isu to keep quiet before nodding a minute later, once she'd made sure the ship was sound asleep. "What you want me to do is madness," she said, cutting right to the chase. "It's a child, for Gods' sake."
Aletheia tilted her head. "As I understand it. Yes."
She sounded so detached... Kassandra's nostrils flared. "Himiko said she wanted me. I can go back and let her perform the ritual on me," the woman replied, keeping her voice even. "Kill her then."
The Isu didn't answer right away, her eyes dulled for a second and cleared again before she spoke. "Impossible. The technology is too powerful," Kassandra was already opening her mouth to protest, but she didn't let her. "You forget this is not my physical form, Keeper. The Staff wouldn't be able to both protect your soul and withstand her power. It would kill you."
So what, the words on the tip of her lips; she let out a tired breath. "I have outrun my life, Aletheia. That girl doesn't deserve to die because of her Queen's vanity."
"Your mission is fraught with danger and obstacles," the Isu countered. "But you must complete it."
Kassandra scoffed, shooting out of the bed to stand in front of Aletheia's holographic form. "A child is not an obstacle," she sneered. "Are you out of your mind?!"
The Isu raised her hand in a pacifying gesture and nodded slowly, conceding. "I understand your reticence, Keeper."
No, you don't.
"What I am asking of you is difficult," she nodded again. "But it is necessary, for the sake of your race."
"The sake of my race?" Kassandra turned around and threw her hands in the air, glowering back at her. "What do you know of my race? Your people enslaved us."
Aletheia nodded again, her brows creasing in a frown. "And we paid for our mistakes," her voice became sharper. "I helped free your kind, Keeper. I am not against you, and I will not have you hold the errors of my enemies against me."
This was going nowhere. Kassandra could argue with the Isu until she was blue in the face and neither of them would budge. She sighed, walking back to the bed to slouch on it, throwing one arm over her eyes. The sea was calm outside, barely rocking the Hummingbird. A sharp contrast to the turmoil raging inside her.
"What happens if Himiko lives?" Kassandra asked after a bout of tense silence. She was so tired.
Aletheia's answer didn't come right away. "Forced order," she said plainly. "Chaos."
Things you can prevent if she dies, the Isu finished in her head.
Kassandra wasn't sure who 'she' was referring to. The Queen? Hoshi?
She stayed quiet, removing her arm to look up at the ceiling until the burning sensation in her eyes forced her to blink. "If I do this," she began, plopping herself on the elbows to look Aletheia in the eye. "You're coming with me. Show her."
The Isu was already shaking her head but Kassandra motioned for her to stop and rose to her feet, nostrils flared. Her eyes were a deep amber, fingers itching to grab, to claw and hit.
"You will come with me and you will show her," she said again, glaring at Aletheia. "Her blood will be on your hands," Kassandra spat, tone clipped like a barbed whip. "You, who prided yourself in wanting to protect humans."
"Keeper..."
Kassandra shook her head. "This is the first and last time, Aletheia," she warned, index finger raised in the air between their faces. "If you ask me to kill a child ever again, I swear to you, I will take this cursed Staff off my neck," her voice was low, and somber. "Leave this Earth to burn. And you and that Heir of Memories can fuck off to Tartaros."
The Isu didn't speak; she stared, unblinking for a while before she vanished into the air.
Understood, her voice echoed in Kassandra's head.
-0-
Hoshi had her own quarters next to the Queen's, Kassandra discovered thanks to Mayuko's snooping. It took weeks to mellow the inhabitants of Yamatai. Weeks of late-night games and impromptu helping but at least they weren't cowering at the sight of her crew anymore. Some subjects even allowed a few of them to share their meals.
The General reminded her of Brasidas, although a lot less talkative. Their uncanny resemblance kept confusing her, but his blind devotion to the Queen was always a sharp reminder of the mission she needed to carry out.
"You don't have a family?" Kassandra asked, as they wandered the corridors of the palace, Mayuko on her heels to translate.
It was puzzling to see the helmet shake. "My place is with my men and her Grace. My family has been at her service for generations."
They rounded the corner, coming close to the royal quarters. He was going to stand guard at Himiko's door all night.
"I see," she said, looking down and playing with Brasidas' knife in her hands. "I knew someone like this. A friend."
The man turned to her, his armor clinking with the movements. "Where is he now?"
Her smile was wry. "Dead."
They didn't speak after that, Kassandra bid her goodbyes and both women returned to the ship. She waited until the moon was high enough. Focusing her breathing, Kassandra blinked out, reappearing in Hoshi's room. It was dark, the wooden planks drawn over the windows, only leaving a few rays of moonlight to filter through them.
Kassandra held her breath and pricked her ears up, listening to the young priestess' soft snores. Once she made sure no guards were standing near the door, she slunk towards the bed, peering over Hoshi's sleeping form.
Mayuko was right; she was the prettiest of the priestesses surrounding the Queen, her pale skin brought up the faint splash of freckles on her nose and cheeks. "Forgive me," Kassandra muttered before clamping her hand on Hoshi's mouth and pinching her nose.
Coal eyes snapped open at the sudden weight. The women vanished in a flash of light before she could make so much as a shriek.
A soft breeze whipped at Hoshi's hair, leaving it to flow behind her like a shadow. She tensed, shoving Kassandra away with her lithe arms and almost lost her balance in the process.
"Careful," Kassandra's hand shot out to grab the priestess and draw her back towards her body. "This mountain is high. I wouldn't recommend falling," she joked, trying to ease the tension. "Been there, done that."
Hoshi let out a small, confused shriek. "How—where am I?" she turned her head, facing green lands and a sea that gleamed sapphire under the sunlight. "This isn't Yam—" she stopped halfway and pivoted to look at Kassandra with wide eyes. "You... you speak our language."
The woman shrugged. "Yes."
Hoshi's eyebrows came low on her forehead when it all sank in. "You lied to our Queen."
"Yes."
The girl took a step back, a few pellets falling off the cliff when her foot landed halfway in the vacuum. "She will have you flayed for your impudence."
"She might try," Kassandra nodded. "If you tell her."
Hoshi's small hands balled into fists; her whole body taut with tension. "I'm not afraid of you," the quivering of her voice was telling a different story.
Kassandra stepped away, lifting her hands in order to placate the young girl. Hoshi was already confused as it was, Kassandra didn't need to worsen it. "And you are right," she replied softly. "I'm not the one you should be afraid of," her words hung between them, thick with meaning. She went on. "I'm not the one who will hurt you," her eyes flickered away for a second. "Your Queen, however..."
"You're lying," Hoshi shook her head vigorously. "She would never."
Kassandra tilted her head. "Can you swear it on your family?" she turned her hand, palm up and approached to Hoshi. "I've seen the way she looks at you, Hoshi."
"I'm her favorite," the teen retorted with all the petulance of her rank, swatting away Kassandra's hand. "She's chosen me to succeed her."
"You are her favorite," she agreed. "But you won't take her place," Kassandra paused before she spoke again. "Did she ever tell you that you would reign?"
The dam cracked.
Hoshi bit her trembling lip, and that's all the confirmation she needed. "I don't believe you..." she muttered; words almost drowned by the wind.
"Maybe you will believe me, then?" Aletheia appeared behind the teen, standing just between her and the edge of the cliff. "You must not fear me," she raised her arm slowly. "I shall not hurt you, merely show you what will happen."
Hoshi's gaze flickered between the two of them. "Witches," she spat, hunching over herself before yelling, "Be gone!"
Aletheia threw Kassandra a long look. The woman sighed and approached the shivering teen slowly. "Come," she motioned towards the blocks of granite nearby and sat down, waiting for the priestess to do the same. Kassandra folded her hands on her knees, raising her head to look at the clear blue sky. Lakonia had always been so beautiful; she hadn't been here in years.
"My people used to throw children from this mountain," she spoke while staring at the edge of Mount Taygetos. "A long, long time ago."
Where her life ended. Where it all began.
Where she killed Alexios.
Where Myrrine tore her heart out and flung it away.
"They believed those children to be weak. A bad omen for a Kingdom of warriors," she continued. "Power-hungry Kings sentenced innocent children to death. Just because they could. Because they were afraid to lose wars. To lose their domination, their influence."
Her gaze traveled back towards Hoshi again. "I see those Kings when I look at your Queen. I see the same people who decided my baby brother should die because he was a danger to their power," Kassandra's shoulders rose and fell with her sigh. "You must have felt it, too..."
The Queen dotes on me, like a doll, she keeps me close to her, dressing me in her favorite clothes. It unsettles me beyond words. She constantly gazes upon my features as if... as if she's looking at her own reflection.
Those were the last words the teen had written in her journal. Before Kassandra's arrival. The unease had never really left since Hoshi had answered the call, had become a priestess of the Sun. Worse, it had grown as her place cemented to be the next in line, the threat looming over and closing in on her like a cage.
"You've felt it," Kassandra repeated. "Her darkness."
Wordlessly, Hoshi nodded.
The woman offered her hand again, the Staff pulsing around her neck. "Let me show you."
The pain is excruciating.
It hurts. It hurts, she screams. Her Queen. Her Queen is a daemon, stalking ever so slowly towards her, crawling like a snake, leaving a foul track in its wake.
"Hush, child. It will be over soon..."
It's tearing her apart with its claws, opening her raw, scratching at her insides to burrow itself into her body. Scratching and tearing at her soul. "You shall be mine, now."
She sees it. Chaos, death and misery. The fires, the conquests. Entire villages decimated. Dread and awed horrors.
"More. More, more, more!" the daemon sneers and stomps in her body. "More, I want more!"
Hoshi screams, but her lips are sealed shut.
She sees it all. Suffering and helpless.
Kassandra caught her before Hoshi could topple over. Tears fell from ashen eyes that kept staring into nothingness. She gave the teen a comforting squeeze, whispering apologies in her hair when Hoshi's head burrowed under her chin and started shaking.
She was so young, merely a few years older than Mayuko when she'd taken her in. Too young to carry that burden on her frail shoulders; it wasn't fair.
"I'm sorry," Kassandra repeated, probably for the hundredth time, as sobs and wails rattled through the small body in her arms.
Hoshi wept, wept until her voice became too raw and muted her anguish, until the sun disappeared in the horizon and the women shuddered from the evening mist. "What should I do?" she croaked, looking at Kassandra through tear streaked eyes.
Kassandra's gaze flickered away towards the edge of the cliff, unable to hold hers. Hands balled into fists it took a while before the words finally came out. "Don't let her complete the ritual."
She turned back, forcing herself to look at the girl she had just sentenced to death.
Look and never forget. Never forget her anguish, never forget her quivering lips and the eyes that stared back in fear.
I don't want to die, they said.
Kassandra reached around herself, unsheathing Brasidas' dagger and showing it to her. "When the time comes," she spoke, ignoring Hoshi's sobs and how the tears were running down her cheeks again. "When the time comes," she repeated with more assurance. "Aim for your chest, not your belly," she cradled Hoshi's cheek with her free hand, noting how it was shaking. "Your heart. Not your guts," leaving her fingers to travel above the priestess left breast, poking at the space between the ribs. "Here. It will be faster."
Hoshi bit her lips until she drew blood, and swallowed thickly. "Will..." she blinked. "Will it hurt a lot?"
Kassandra felt the words slice through her skin and flinched. She gathered her body into a hug and kissed the crown of her hair. "Only for a moment," she lied.
-0-
The Hummingbird left a week later with a royal send-off. Himiko herself limped her way down from the palace to bid her goodbyes, surrounded by her priestesses. Hoshi put on a brave face the whole time, giving an imperceptible nod to Kassandra. Her eyes shone with fierce determination, they still held anxiety mingled with fear.
When the time comes.
"If you exhaust the seas," the General said when he approached her, his voice muffled by the helmet he'd taken off all but once since they met. "It will be an honor to have you fight alongside my men."
"If..." Kassandra repeated with a wry smile. She beamed a little, a second later. "My people have a custom, from warrior to warrior," she bowed her head. "To gift the most honorable one with their most prized possession," and took out the knife, eyes lingering on the blade for a long while before she turned it around with a flick of her fingers, presenting the grip to the general. "This belonged to the most honorable warrior I knew. The kindest man, and a dear friend," she blinked the blurriness in her eyes away. "Please, take care of it."
The General gave her a deep bow, when Mayuko finished the translation. He cradled the weapon in his gloved hand. "With my life."
The crew breathed a little easier when the horizon swallowed Yamatai. Their routine went on, Kassandra set course towards Gaul and never looked back, but it took some time for her to smile and laugh again. The crew's gentle nudging and kindness proved to be the balm to her aching heart.
She played cards with her quartermaster, like that first night in the brothel.
"Maláka! How did..." Kassandra blinked incredulously at the table. "You cheated, you... ch—cheat!" her cheeks were already flushed red by the alcohol coursing through her veins.
"You're just bad at it," Mayuko leaned on the cushioned seat, a sly smirk on her face. "Bad," she slurred. "Very, very bad. Awful."
"I defeated a Minotaur and two Cyclops," the woman retorted, waving her cup around before taking another gulp. "I beat the Sphinx!" she shook her head vehemently. "I'm not an idiot and you cheated."
The quartermaster tutted, flicking her hair. "Whatever helps you sleep, Commander."
Kassandra scoffed. "That's it," she grunted, putting the cup down with a loud clack. "You're on guard duty from now on."
The faux-outrage on Mayuko's face would have made anyone else cave in. "You know what," she started. "Maybe I should have cheated because then, there would be a reason for your unfair trea..."
Kassandra felt a small tingle on her chest and a low buzz in her head, drowning out the other woman's talking.
Keeper, Aletheia said, her voice filling the woman's head after almost a year of silence. It's done.
She felt dizzy and nauseous once the words registered; the smile glued to her face only a second ago faltered before Kassandra's whole face fell, becoming grave and somber as the light in her eyes dimmed.
It's done.
Tap, tap, tap.
Breathe in.
The ceiling above them was blurry, no matter how many times Kassandra blinked at it.
Tap, tap, tap.
Breathe out.
Lara had kept silent the whole time, listening with rapt attention. The drumming on her stomach hadn't stopped, not even once.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Say something, please," Kassandra tried after a shuddering breath, when it became obvious the archeologist wouldn't speak.
Tap, tap, tap.
Breathe out.
"I don't..." her voice sounded foreign to Kassandra's ears. Distant. "I can't..." she could feel Lara's gaze digging into her profile. "I don't know... I don't know what to say."
Kassandra blinked the blur away again, feeling a tear run down her cheek, she lifted her hand to wipe it away, but Lara was faster, thumbing at it gently. She swallowed the churn in her throat, nodding in quick succession.
Lara bit her lip, turning her head away before sighing shakily. "I..." she cleared her throat. "I need some air, I think. Above deck."
Kassandra frowned at the ceiling and nodded again. "Of course."
"Will you be okay?" the young woman was already pulling away, leaning upward. "By yourself?"
No. Don't leave me.
"Yes."
Don't leave me behind. You said you wouldn't leave.
"Okay."
"Okay," Kassandra echoed.
You said you wouldn't leave.
Her ears picked on the archeologist's careful shuffle as she put on her boots and draped Kassandra's cloak over her frame. The wood creaked with each of her steps, signaling her absence like a warning.
You said you wouldn't leave.
Kassandra remained immobile, feeling the phantom sensation of Lara's fingers drumming her breathing. Taking it away.
You said you wouldn't leave me behind.
Whew, that was long too!
Okay so, tea ceremonies weren't introduced until 800+ CE. Since TR2013 mixed different time periods within the plot, I had to do it too. Chinese introduced writing in Japan, which was used for centuries until the Japanese invented their own writing system (+using Chinese ideograms). Problem is, that didn't happen until after Himiko's death, so way after Mayuko could teach Kassandra anything. Suspension of disbelief is a thing, yes?
Same thing with bombs, it wasn't a thing until a few hundred years later.
Japanese believe the essence of life to be located in one's belly. Which is why they'd cut through their stomach during ritual suicide. It's painful and a slow death, that's why Kassandra tells Hoshi to aim for her heart.
Kassandra pretending to come from Britannia was originally because it was too far away for Himiko to be familiar with the language, as opposed to Latin (and Greek by extention) or Korean/Chinese. Romans had a thing for occupying lands, enslaving natives and forbidding them from using their language because they thought it was "a tongue of savages".
Then I realized that Lara was actually a Brit so... small unvoluntary nod to her :)
Attila was alive at the same period as Himiko, yes.
Kassandra's ship's original name was Phoibe :)
I know this chapter has a very different feel to it than the others with a new stroryline and the introduction of OCs; pov shift; Kassandra's past after Greece is something I'd been wanting to explore - my beta said it could work as a standalone, hence the chapter actually having a title for once. I hope you liked it nevertheless. Let me know what you think!
Next chapter will be more "normal" I promise. We'll be back in Greece.
A belated Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and a very happy new year!