These days, everybody knows Jack's story; it's old news. I'm not going to repeat it. But when I met him, he'd been in our time period for only a little more than a week, so he wasn't famous (or infamous) yet. And as you can imagine, when he told me about where and when he came from…
After he finished speaking, I realized that my jaw was hanging open in shock. I shut it.
"You see why I was reluctant to tell you," Jack commented. He was looking at me with a sympathetic expression.
I put my head in my hands. I wasn't sure what to think of it. It was unbelievable, but…"This explains a lot of things," was all I could say, because that pretty much summed it up. Neither of us spoke for a few seconds.
Jack sighed. "I did not keep this from you because I distrusted you. I am honored to have you as a friend -" I jerked my head up in surprise at the word 'friend', "- and comrade, and I feared that…you would no longer wish to travel with me if I told you. But I could not in good conscience put you in danger without your knowledge. I am sorry that I kept it from you."
I didn't know what to think. On the one hand, being Jack's friend was, by his own admission, not very good for my well-being. If one of Aku's minions got me, I'd be lucky if I ended up dead. On the other hand, though…never in my adult life had I heard anyone say that they were honored to consider me a friend. That meant a lot to me.
I shook my head. "I don't know what to think. I can't decide now." I stood up from the chair. "Tomorrow, maybe, but..."
Jack nodded solemnly. "I will understand if you think it best for us to part ways." I could hear the hurt in his voice, though he was trying to hide it.
I don't remember telling him goodnight, or leaving the room, or getting ready for bed. But I remember lying awake in the dark as my common sense and my fears fought a raging battle with my sense of friendship and loyalty.
~***~
"I'm sorry, Jack," I told him the next morning, as we sat across from each other at the same corner table we had occupied the night before. Saying the words was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it was, I thought, the best decision. "I don't have the courage for it." I looked at the cup of tea in my hands, because I couldn't meet his eyes.
"I do not blame you. It is a difficult path to take." He was disappointed, and I felt a stab of guilt to hear it in his voice. It almost made me change my mind, but I remembered the rumors I had heard about Aku's Pit of Hate, and felt a chill run down my spine. Nothing could be worth enduring that. It was worse than all the guilt and remorse in the world. There was just no way that I could risk it.
There was, however, one small thing I could do to help Jack before I left. I had decided on it before heading downstairs that morning. "Listen, I still owe you for helping me out when I was in trouble. And I always make good on my debts, one way or another." I reached into my quiver, which was sitting against the leg of my chair, and took out the black scabbard that contained one of my daggers. I handed it to him, hilt first. He regarded it carefully for a moment, then looked at me uncertainly. "Go on, take it. It's the least I can do to repay you." He reached out and carefully took the proffered dagger from my hand. Then he drew it partway out of its scabbard to inspect it, and his eyes widened in disbelief. The blade of that dagger was made of the same red mineral as the heads of my arrows. It was worth a small fortune, and he obviously knew it.
Jack slid the dagger home again, looked up at me and shook his head. "Ketiya, I appreciate your gift but…I cannot accept this. It is too much." He held the dagger out to me, but I waved it away.
"Don't do that. I can't go with you, but my gift can, and that's something at least." Please take it, I thought desperately, and it will salve my conscience a little bit.
Jack smiled at me. "Thank you, Ketiya. For everything." He bowed his head respectfully.
I returned the bow, but could not find the words to return his thanks.
~***~
I had said my goodbyes to Jack a quarter of an hour ago. I had walked out the door of the inn and back to business as usual. The day was warm, the sky was clear, and it seemed like the whole world was in a good mood. Except, of course, for me. I felt like the whole world was mocking me with its happiness. It should have been raining, or at least overcast, but the universe has no sense of poetic justice. Or any other kind of justice, for that matter. I trudged into the town square, hoping to find a caravan headed for the coast.
The town of Cavatera has a well-organized street plan – there are four gates in its walls, one at each of the cardinal points. From each gate a broad lane leads into the center of the town, where they meet in a great square. Since it's on flat ground and the town isn't that big, there's a clear line of sight from any one gate to its opposite, if you're tall enough to see over everyone's heads. In theory, you could see all four gates from the center of the town square. In actuality, however, the streets and square are usually too crowded for that.
But because there was a clear path between the west gate and the square, the panic touched off by the sight of the robots cresting the western ridge a few miles away was felt in the town's center mere seconds after the event itself. I heard shouts – "Mantis bots! They're coming this way! Get out of the lane!" - and the desperate mewling of the frightened Fylean townsfolk. I had the misfortune to be near the western edge of the square at the time, so I was nearly trampled by the crowds of terrified people trying to get out of the streets and into a safe building. Not all of them managed it, and many people found themselves on the wrong side of a locked door. I was one of them.
I ceased my futile banging on the door of a shop and looked to the west, in time to see four Type-3 mantis robots enter the city. They are among the most feared of Aku's metal soldiers – twenty feet tall, constructed of black metal, their eyes great red glowing orbs. Their forelegs, grim parodies of those on the preying mantis that they resemble, are great scything blades on jointed arms. The sextuple legs of these four were retracted into their abdomens in favor of the great tank treads that they use to cover long distances at speed. They were speeding up the lane into the square, crushing any and all lampposts, market stalls and other objects in their way.
I looked around for some still-open door or alley to hide in, but didn't find one. Instead I saw a small ginger-furred Fylean kitten clutching a little doll, staring wide-eyed at the approaching mantises. She was standing in the path of an oncoming bot, but was too terrified even to run. She was going to be crushed under those treads.
The child was thirty yards away from me, and the mantises were closing in. I ran in her direction, shouting at her to move, but she didn't seem to hear me – she just gaped at her impending doom. The thunder of tank treads and the sound of engines thundered in my ears as I got closer to her. Turn back, part of me screamed, you can't make it, you'll both die. Somehow I ran faster than I thought I could and closed the gap.
I was so close to the mantis bot that I could see the scratches on its armor. The mechanical thunder of the thing drowned out all other sound and thought. But I wasn't thinking now, just doing – I jumped, and caught the child in a flying tackle. Her shriek was barely audible over the noise. I rolled, clutching her to me desperately, and felt more than heard a small crunch as the treads missed me by inches. I didn't open my eyes or make any other movement until the mantis had passed by. Then I sat up and watched as the others passed by, into the square. I saw a dark figure in a long green-and-black coat standing on the back of one of them.
"Irrine!" I heard someone shout. I stood up and let go of the child as a gray Fylean tomcat ran up to me.
"Dada!" the child cried as dashed to him. He picked her up, mouthing a silent thank you to me before attending to the task of consoling her.
"Good morning, citizens," came a nastily cheery voice from the square. I turned to look. There was now a mantis bot in each corner of the town center. In the middle was the man in the coat that I had seen earlier, using a megaphone to make himself heard. People were watching him, from where they cowered against the walls or from behind doors and windows. "I am Captain Artophon, of the thirty-first regiment of the army of our Lord Aku, may he be praised for all time." That explained the mantis bots, and the coat he was wearing. "I'm in this town because I am looking for a man who has committed horrible crimes against the Great Aku. I know he's here. He is known as Jack the Samurai." At that, I felt my blood freeze in my veins.
"Now, you're very lucky that I'm the one you're dealing with here, because I could just raze your town to the ground as punishment for the harboring of a criminal. But I'm a nice guy, so I'm not going to do that. However, if this Jack is not at the western gate of the city before sundown today…well, I've got twenty of these mantises, and you know what I'll order them to do. I don't suppose I need to tell you that nobody is going in our out of the gates today. Remember, by sundown, or this town is toast. That is all."
I moved to the side of the lane as the mantises came to life, gathering around their master. He jumped onto the back of one of them, and they went back the way they had come, along the western lane and out the gate. I could make out other dark shapes beyond it, which were undoubtedly the other mantises at his command.
There was only one thing on my mind – I had to get out of here, before Captain Artophon's bots managed to get in position around the gates and keep anyone from getting out. If I hurried, I would be able to make it out one of the gates, hide in the tall grasses until nightfall, then slip away. Remembering my spineless cowardice makes me ashamed now, but I was a different person back then. I ran for the south gate as fast as my legs could carry me.
I nearly stepped on the remains of a child's doll, but skidded to a halt before I did so. It was the little doll the Fylean child had been carrying – she must have dropped it when I grabbed her. It had been broken under the treads of the mantis that had nearly crushed us both. The thing's little cat face was smiling up at the sky. Most people wouldn't have given it a second thought, but to me the little toy was a nightmare come true…
~***~
The fires haven't died down yet, but she had to go back. All of the others who got away are still hiding, but she has to find her family.
The girl walks past the storehouse where the fish-oil was kept, now a charred ruin spewing stinking black smoke into the sky. The house where her best friend once lived, now little more than burned timbers and ashes. She sees herself reflected a hundred times in the jagged panes of what was once a shop window. There are people – dead people – lying here and there, and she tries not to look at them, tries not to be sick. She calls for her father, her brother, her little sisters, but gets no answer. The answer will not come, and part of her knows this already, but she stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it.
In the center of the town the air is so thick with smoke that she finds it hard to breathe. Her eyes water, and she trips on something because she can't see. Something crunches under her hand as she falls. She lifts her hand to rub her eyes, then looks at the thing she fell on.
It's her sister Mari's favorite doll, its body crushed and its left arm snapped off. Its dirty face is grinning vacantly upward, into the smoke. The girl picks up the doll and stares at it. Then it hits her. They're gone forever and she won't see them anymore. A silent sob racks her body, and a second one escapes her lips.
She clutches the doll to her chest and begins to weep.
~***~
I was holding the doll so hard that my hand hurt. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I stood up and glared at the western gate, beyond which the mantises were gathered, their Captain waiting among them. In my mind's eye I saw the buildings burning, the smoke rising into the clear sky, the corpses in the streets. I could hear the screams and the sobbing of a little girl.
Now I understood what it was that gave Jack the courage to fight.
Dropping the doll, I changed course and headed for the inn, hoping to find him again. I didn't have a plan, but I had a purpose. That was something.