Kiisan had been caught somewhat unaware by a group of Imperials soldiers who had hid behind some barrels and then jumped out to attack. He fought then off with his staff, and Yuber finished them off. "Has it ever occurred to you that you could let an unarmed enemy leave with their life?"
"Why, of course not, my friend," the black knight smirked. Kiisan shook his head and tried not to roll his eyes too obviously. It would be quite foolish to risk allowing his inhuman companion to take offense at his response.
He turned his attention instead to Kusa and Kurin as they scurried by, "Does all this sneaking around between buildings bother you at all?"
"Nah, not really, "Kusa shrugged, "We're used to going everywhere. We've looted plenty of city places in our day."
"Since you're probably the experts on this, do you think you could give some pointers to General Sasaki? He and his troops seem to be floundering around back there somewhere," Kiisan requested, "They could use the help."
"No problem at all," Kusa agreed. She turned to Kurin and gestured back the way they had come, "Let's go that way." Her companion tipped his dark glasses and gave a single nod of the head, following Kusa down the alleyway.
"What a pain," the revolutionary leader sighed, "I didn't think about what we'd face inside the city. I guess I expected them to charge us instead of just holing up here. Shows what I've learned over the past few months..."
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Yuber advised him nonchalantly, "It will be taken care of either way."
"I guess so..." Kiisan relented.
"Hey! There you are!" Yuki called. The blond man ran up to Kiisan, his straw hat bouncing up and down on his head and his braids flipping about wildly, "I was looking for you!"
"Hello Yuki, " the young priest smiled weakly, "What is it?"
"Ah, come on, cheer up Kiisan!" Yuki grinned encouragingly, "Mio and everybody with him showed up. Some big guy with a longbow killed the crown prince, and they've almost cornered General Ando! We're winning this battle!"
"Don't be so certain," Sowari murmured, stepping out of the shadows to appear beside Yuki, "We may have General Ando within our grasp, but I have observed much of the forces heading back to the palace. I believe they intend to fortify their position there. Lord Mitsu has told me that if they can hold it, they may be able to summon reinforcements and encircle us in the city, something like our maneuver at Windfall Hill."
A flare burst above them, silver and green. "They've captured General Ando then," Yuki noted, "Let's go! We can do it!"
"Sure we can," agreed Yuber. Kiisan almost jumped. He had nearly forgotten the tall being was still there.
Murasaki Fuji no Shita ni Kuni
"The Country Under the Purple Wisteria"
Chapter 83- Green Tombstone
Starlet and Meiyar had come out to see the captured general. Toh Ando glared at them suspiciously, "What have you come here for?"
"I'm so happy they took you alive General!" Starlet chirped.
"You're too good a man to go down with this empire," Meiyar added cheerily.
Ando shook his head in bewilderment, "It didn't take long for these rebels to clearly cloud your senses."
Hai-Yong and Juran approached from the other side of the tent Natchi and his crew had erected to house the new prisoner and some of the wounded soldiers. "Hey there General!" Hai-Yong called. Juran waved enthusiastically.
"What in all Aronia!" General Ando sputtered, "I knew you were here Captain Pavlen, but Juran too! This is getting ridiculous!"
"Ah, then," an older voice broke in, "Will you have an apoplexy now that you've seen me here as well?"
The general whipped his head around to see Kinold tending to the wounded revolutionaries along with Dal and Dr. Clark.
"Kinold! That means Xiu Kio and that wild horse of his are here too, doesn't it! Even more outrageous!"
Hai-Yong nodded, "That they are, Sir."
"And," Starlet noted, "General Gonzales and Aciano should be out of that mess soon. ...That's about all...I know that you can't have missed seeing Prince Jonathon yet. He was out gallivanting about with Father Kiisan in the front ranks..."
General Ando's face turned rather pale, "...J-Jonathon as well...?"
"Oh, you bet!" Starlet grinned.
He hung his head and grimaced, "In retrospect...I believe surrender...was the correct choice..."
The Imperial deserters gathered around him laughed. Ando himself said no more. He was resigned to his fate.
They had waited so long for things to come this close. Hiiragi and Takauka stood in the garden listening to the sounds of battle drawing nearer with some frustration. They had waited long enough.
It had felt like centuries. Perhaps it had been centuries.
The Circle had come to gather them all to itself once again.
Sasshalai walked through the city alone. Kiisan might not like it, and his father might not like it either, but at the moment, he knew that he could handle anything that came his way. Parts of the city were new, built within the last ten years, but before Rupanda was the capital of Aronia, it had been one of their own.
His father and the people of Klikk had built here, lived here, and hoped to stay here in the days before he was born. It was not the Eternal City and they were cursed to carry on again. By looking at the stones of the high walls containing the city he could recognize which had come from those days by the remaining traces of magic lingering upon them. They had been moved into their locations by the power of someone's mind and will, not the usual human toil and sweat.
He ran his small hand along the wall as he continued on, feeling its dips and rises, the small cracks and the deep indentations that gave it so much character. It had a sort of homely feel to it.
"Oh, I'm so scared, I'm so scared, what's going to happen to me, what's going to happen to us, are we going to die, I'm so afraid, someone help me, someone help my family, what will we do?"
He tripped on an uneven stone in the cobblestone road. The fear passing through his mind was nearly overwhelming. Someone seemed to need help.
When he had fallen, he had scraped his knee. He touched it gingerly. It stung. The boy from Klikk rose slowly, searching for the source of the screaming emotion. He looked up into the windows of the two-storied building he stood below. "It's there," he realized.
He approached the door and raised the heavy knocker before deciding against it and putting the metal ring down cautiously to keep it quiet. He tried the doorknob next, and found that the door was not locked. He opened it and stepped inside.
It was dark. The shades on all the windows were drawn. Sasshalai stepped timidly along the hall and peered into the room to his right: a kitchen. Some dishes remained on the table in disarray. No one was in any of the rooms on the first floor.
Sasshalai winced on the stairs as he knee began to hurt more. He climbed to their top and sat down to examine it. A bit of blood was running down his leg, he pressed his hand on top of it.
"A-are you hurt?" a shaky woman's voice inquired.
He turned around to see a thin woman with two tiny children clinging to her skirt. Her face was drawn and pale. The fear had come from her. He was certain of it. "I fell outside and scraped my knee," he explained, "And it turns out it was worse than I thought at first..."
"Let me help you," she said, pulling out a tattered handkerchief and pressing it to the scrape. She sent the older of her two children to fetch some soap and water. The younger girl sat down upon the step beside them.
Sasshalai looked into the woman's golden hazel eyes, "I'm sorry, Ma'am."
"What?" she asked strangely, "Sorry about what, little one?"
"I'm sorry," he explained, "About your husband. Only the blue sky above and the grass below were witness to his passing. He has a green tombstone, somewhere in the lands to the west."
"How did you know that my husband was dead?"
"I looked into your heart and saw it there. You have a lot of pain locked up within you," he told her.
The widow wrapped her arms around Sasshalai, practically smothering him in a warm hug, "I don't understand how you could do that, little one, but I can see that you were sent by the angels to comfort me!"
Sasshalai turned his face away and blushed slightly. He wanted to be of service, but that was a bit much.