Kiisan glanced over his shoulder to see Hai-Yong and Falina making their way across the battlefield, hand in hand. He drew in a deep breath and smiled. It was really her- Falina.
"Jonathon," he asked tentatively, "Have you ever... been in love?"
The prince looked about cautiously to see that he was surrounded by friends before answering, "Actually, no, I don't know anything about it, Sir."
The young leader frowned deeply. Jonathon frantically attempted to recover from what he believed was a mistake on his part, "But if you want to know about something I'm sure that I can help you out! Leave it to me!"
"Calm down, Jonathon," Kiisan smiled to reassure his comrade, "It was only a question."
He looked again at Falina and Hai-Yong as they drew nearer. A colorful wreath of flowers that clearly had not come from their wintry region topped Falina's head. He wondered what they could mean. It reminded him vaguely of something he had seen before, but he was not quite sure what.
"The blossoms of Klikk," a confident voice said from nearby. Kiisan whirled around to face Matataki and his son. "And," the wizard continued, "They will blow apart quite soon in the midst of this mayhem if fate marches forward as it should. ...I wouldn't let you miss a moment of it, Honorable Father Kiisan."
Sasshalai touched the dandelions on his head sadly, "I wouldn't let you make any other choice, Big Brother."
Kiisan was puzzled by their strange words. Matataki was as impassive-seeming as ever. Sasshalai's eyes were shining as they filled with tears.
"Look! The gates! The gates have opened!" arose the cry. As the battle surged forward, Kiisan was jostled away from the mysterious rune bearers. How many questions remained unasked? He had so many in his mind he could not count. He held out his hand helplessly in their direction. For a moment he thought he caught a slight glimmer across the surface of the golden circle rune. Whatever it was thinking, he was fairly sure he did not want to know about it.
Murasaki Fuji no Shita ni Kuni
"The Country Under the Purple Wisteria"
Chapter 81- The Battle Rages On...
"Father!" Aciano squeaked upon General Arturo's arrival in the lower level of the dungeons. The broad-shouldered man struck a heroic pose, twirling the keys around one finger. Aciano was caught between embarrassment over his father's over the top behavior and relief at his eminent escape. The other prisoners groaned miserably.
Arturo flipped through the keys nonchalantly before finding the correct one to open the door to his son's cell. The young strategist paced back and forth in front of the bars the entire time, nervously sneaking glances at the others who had shared his fate.
The lock opened with a click and the general pushed the door open, "Come on, we need to hurry. We don't want to hang about here any longer than we have to." He tugged his son along by a somewhat tattered sleeve.
Aciano looked back with concern, "Father...do we have to leave them?"
"Leave who?" his father asked obliviously, his mind set on one goal alone.
The young man gestured to the other prisoners with a sweep of the arm, "These men."
"Aciano, they aren't men like you or I. There's a reason that all of them are down in this dungeon-"
"Father," the dark-haired strategist interrupted seriously, "What do you know about them? Do you realize what sort of things lead to a life behind bars like this? They're human beings like you and I. Put away your faith in the emperor and his government. ...This, this is reality."
Arturo stopped and tossed his son the ring of keys, "Do as you like," he murmured, looking down at his boots. Aciano awkwardly fidgeted with the keys, opening the cells of the other prisoners one at a time. He was met with many heartfelt thanks and bright smiles.
The freckle-faced man, who had previously led the catcalls aimed at Starlet, organized the other ex-prisoners up and spoke to them enthusiastically as Arturo and Aciano left. "Together we can show those guards what we think of them! We'll give 'em a taste of their own medicine down here in the dungeons! Are you with me?" His excited voice faded gradually into the background as the general and his son put distance between themselves and the dungeons.
"Let's hurry," Arturo encouraged his son as they continued on. They gradually picked up their pace, pushing past the stream of ministers, messengers, and runners on stand-by filling the hallways of the Imperial Compound.
"D-don't run so fast!" a hoarse man's voice called after the two. Both men whirled around suddenly, only to be confronted by an unshaven man in tattered clothes.
"You were a prisoner along with me, " Aciano noted, waiting for the other man to explain himself.
"Y-yes," he agreed with a cough, "I don't want any revenge on the unjust system though. I just want to get out of here and find my son. My name's Kersen. I used to grow cherries in Kjetil Village. Will you take me out of the capital with you? It would be a great favor and I would be in your debt, General Gonzales."
"Fine," Arturo agreed, without giving Kersen much thought. He was tired of getting sidetracked. If they had to waste much more time in the palace compound, it was likely someone who knew Aciano should still be locked up would run into them.
"Who opened the gates?" Mitsu asked with a sniffle. He blew his nose hard and looked around from his place behind Sita Katyana.
"I don't know..." the duchess admitted, "A sympathizer of some sort? I don't think they're breaking down or giving up now by any means."
Starlet had just barely managed to escape the grasp of General Ando. She fought her way through the ranks of Imperial soldiers holding the open gateway and found herself in the midst of the rebels. She had hoped to wait for General Gonzales and Aciano since they were already somewhat acquainted with the rebels and might have been guaranteed a certain degree of safety because of it, but the situation seemed to risky to take the chance of being caught. General Ando, although he did not know why, knew exactly who had ordered the opening of the gates.
The armored woman hastily pulled a clean white handkerchief out of her pocket that she had been carrying especially for this occasion and waved it above her head.
"Starlet?" Meiyar murmured, his jaw dropping open, "Starlet surrendering!"
"Meiyar!" she grinned, rushing over to the familiar figure, "How're you doing? Why're you here? Why aren't you with Major Ko-Wen?"
"Haven't you heard?" the warrior replied, "Major Ko-Wen was defeated in Crona and I've finally found some people who'll treat me with respect." He stepped back to get a better look at her, from her boots to the top of her head, "You look the same. What's brought you out onto the battlefield with a white flag?"
"I opened the gates, Meiyar," she explained, shoving the former Imperial soldier's head down as an arrow whizzed by, "To help Aciano Gonzales. Did you know that they thought he was spying for the rebels? They were going to execute him!"
"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad to have you on my side," Meiyar nodded thoughtfully. "Now then, are we going to stand here all afternoon or are we going to participate in the attack?"
Starlet smiled, "Fighting our old comrades...I wouldn't have it any other way."
Mio arrived triumphantly at the head of his column. Crown Prince Xaro Mikkel was suffering a violent defeat at the hands of Ayu's bandits. Serafina spotted the prince himself in the middle of an attempt at sneaking away and pointed him out to Kichitsu. With a quick nod to Mekkachi, the two Heszar knights from Onwya pulled away from the battle and spurred their mounts after the prince.
There was no need for their effort. Kano, the longbow archer, had seen the fleeing commander out of the corner of his eye and sent one well-aimed shot through a crack in the black armor into his enemy's neck.
"Nice shot, that one," Kichitsu remarked cheerfully.
"Why, thankee, Sir," Kano replied with an elegant bow.
Mieno stifled a giggle, "The Turan's got his entire army out back behind this fortress city and he sent us here to see what was what. It looks like it's time to take action."
"Indeed," Mekkachi agreed nonchalantly, taking a glance back at the battle, as he wondered what he might be missing.
"And I wanted to ask something else," the mapmaker squeaked, bringing the knights' attention back to her, "Have you seen a dark-haired girl wearing a bundle of flowers on her head? Her name's Falina."
The knights turned to each other, "Falina's here?"
"It has to be the same girl we know."
"Sorry, Miss," Mekkachi answered, "We haven't seen her here today, but we know that girl pretty well. We'll certainly keep an eye open for her."
"Thank you!" Mieno replied.
Han Li tossed a flask of oil into the midst of the Imperial pike men and archers holding the gate. It smashed into a thousand pieces on one man's shield, with a satisfying crash. The dusty man gestured to Angeline, who clenched her fists and sent a wave of flames towards the soldiers. The oil flared up in a bright blaze, sending the soldiers scattering to escape being roasted. Candal heaved a bucket of water onto the flames, from above on the wall, but it had little effect, merely sending up steam that fogged up his spectacles.
General Sasaki and Bishop San-Feng lead the attack that finally pushed the rebels inside the gate. "For liberty!" San-Feng called, raising his staff high.
"For justice!" his companion added, swinging his scimitar so that the sun glinted off the blade.
Candal looked over the side of the wall. Jumping off seemed like a fairly tempting idea for a moment, until Kiyon grabbed his arm and spun him around, "Look at that!" The commanding strategist pointed at an orange flag flying from the highest tower of the Imperial Palace.
The message was clear to the two tacticians. They were to forget the main city and draw back the main force into the Imperial Compound. They could still beat back the rebels from there. If they could hold the compound long enough, reinforcements would arrive from the south and they could have the rebels trapped inside the city. "Let's go immediately," Kiyon ordered his subordinate and the two men set off around the edge of the wall in an attempt to avoid the fighting.