The Nightingale

Chapter 32: Ankh

Spring / Year x492 – June

The ankh, the eye, the magic, the power, the shadow, the total dominion over everything; the blessing of war with which all the descendants of the first woman of Vayalat, the one who consolidated the kingdom along with her seven children, were born. Each one of them with such great power for being the first; the world was at their feet.

No one knew how that woman had obtained it, no one knew what she had done to control it, but what was certain was that her children were powerful. They learned the hard way that power scares people, especially when power is unknown.

After Vayalat saw several of her children die of ignorance and fear, it was decided that it was better to keep that gift hidden and relegate it to being a simple story. The sons of Vayalat were powerful, but they were human; they were fragile and died like anyone else.

Power was concentrated in the ruling family, in the weapons of war, in the assassins trained by the Karanq, in the offerings to the Shadow; every man and woman born into the royalty of Vayalat could trace their lineage back to the first woman; the power only got bigger and bigger with each new generation.

Each son and daughter of Vayalat chose how to use the ankh, but all undoubtedly did, descended from warriors whose love for war was enviable; even women were lovers of battle, they molded their husbands because it was a shame to marry someone who was not worthy of being the father of the next generation.

The ankh was a myth, a fairy tale, an open secret, something that had to be hidden and that few knew.

Koga entered Hisana's room after that talk in Soujun's office; the first thing Koga had done when he saw Ichigo enter the office was to smile, but it hadn't been a happy smile, it was a defeated smile. Koga knew Ichigo, he knew him since Ichigo was 13 years old, he knew him because they were both in the battle of the Trinity Island, when Cikram had tried to recover the island; and that orange-haired boy really scared him, that could be a joke, but what Koga had seen he still couldn't classify as reality or hallucination.

Koga never thought that the second prince of Avanta was Ichigo. The name of the man with whom Rukia was engaged was never mentioned, it never occurred to him to ask the name because it was irrelevant to him; he never would have guessed Ichigo was there. Kisuke had introduced Ichigo as his heir, and Koga had interpreted that to mean that Ichigo was going to inherit Vayalat's throne.

— Koga, what happened? — Hisana approached him, she was nervous and Koga noticed. His sister had been like this since the day before when Rukia talked to her, and Hisana refused to tell him what had happened to make her stay like this. — When I went to visit my mother-in-law, she seemed stressed but she wouldn't tell me anything and it seemed like someone had arrived.

Koga knew that Byakuya would not lie to Hisana, they were all so involved in that rebellion that it was ridiculous to keep secrets from each other at that moment, but it seemed that Hisana's mother-in-law was starting to keep secrets. Koga approached Hisana and led her to sit on a chair, away from the crib where the baby slept so as not to wake him up with the talk; he couldn't hide his mood from her. Koga was really tense.

— Soujun locked the Second Prince of Avanta in the dungeon. — Koga said that, but was surprised that Hisana smiled, as if that made her happy; Koga couldn't understand that gesture. — Don't smile Hisana, this is not good.

— Why? — Hisana asked; her sweet voice made her anger seem worse. Hisana was a princess, daughter of the king's main concubine, she even had a better lineage than Koga and that made her dangerous. — He is Rukia's fiancé, they will surely use him to make a deal; at best he dies and you can marry Rukia. You make her your main concubine and everything is done.

Koga looked at his sister, she didn't understand the situation, although the idea of waiting for Ichigo to die to have Rukia was tempting. What Koga had seen in that office, the way Rukia moved, the way she spoke, and the way Ichigo stood behind her, made him sure that she would make a good queen. The Rukia that he saw at that moment was not even the shadow of the Rukia that he had met earlier in the year, it was not the girl that he rescued from the stalker Priest.

Koga called Ichigo "manipulator" in that meeting, but in that one scene where Ichigo put his hand on Rukia's shoulder, as if he was trying to calm a hurricane with a touch, it was completely different from "manipulate"; Ichigo and Rukia were the same, only that no one had noticed and Koga suspected that not even Rukia had noticed that. Whatever Rukia had been doing in Adelaar, it was making her change; Rukia had the attitude a queen should have, they just had to guide her.

During the short time that Koga was with Ichigo on Trinity Island he realized one thing, Ichigo was a manipulator, and he didn't know if it was because Ichigo used the ankh or it was something natural in him. Vayalat was the strongest kingdom in that part of the continent not only because of its soldiers, they used the ankh and nobody knew about it, only his allies had knowledge of it and Koga doubted that the mercenaries knew about it. Vayalat was the only kingdom with magic; the other kingdoms were said to have had similar power in the past, but there was no record of it and Koga suspected they were saying it just to enhance their own lineages.

— The problem is that the man locked in the dungeon is not locked up because Soujun has taken him prisoner, he is locked up because he wants to be. If I had known that he belonged to Avanta, I would have convinced father to use another method of attack and not call in the mercenaries. — Koga got up from his seat and looked at his sister who raised her eyebrows in a gesture of not understanding what he was saying. — Listen, that man is dangerous.

— By the Deities, Koga! He is just a man, and now he is a man who is locked up. — Hisana got up from her seat, she was annoyed by the way Koga was referring to Ichigo. — You're afraid of him, isn't it? You are afraid of Ichigo.

Koga's eyes widened and he stepped back at Hisana's accusatory advance. He had to admit it, he feared what Ichigo was capable of and what he would do while locked up; Soujun didn't know Ichigo, nobody really knew him.

— Of course I'm afraid of him, and if you were smart you would be afraid of him too. — Koga looked at Hisana with narrowed eyes before looking at the baby in the crib, it was getting dark and the shadows were beginning to invade the room. — Light the candles around your child's crib, don't let any shadow touch him.

Hisana just looked at her brother without understanding what he meant, but it was getting dark and she had to; so she did not delay and she lit the candles around the crib of her little son and future king of Maranni. When Hisana finished, she approached Koga, who was having a glass of the liquor that Byakuya used to have in the room, and looked at him demanding an explanation.

— I have known Ichigo since he was 13 years old, and to say "I know" is to take a lot of attributions, the only one I think who really knows him is his uncle and perhaps the King of Vayalat; I didn't even know that he wasn't from Vayalat, I just assumed it and was obviously wrong. Ichigo was listed as a child prodigy by his uncle, but he never said why until we were at the battle of Trinity Island.

— That battle was almost 5 years ago. — Hisana's voice sounded annoyed, as if Koga was wasting her time.

— And it was the shortest battle in history on the Island. The mercenaries were attacking the Cikram soldiers who were trying to regain control of the island, and we headed to the mainland coast of Cikram to directly attack the kingdom and make our way to the capital. Ichigo was with us, he was a child but if you saw his eyes you could get lost in an abyss; he did not smile, spoke enough and only nodded when given an order. I doubt that he ever felt fear at that time; Ichigo didn't look human. — Koga put the empty glass on the table where the liquor bottle was. — We knew that the king of Cikram was leading the attack from a tent on the coast and the order we gave Ichigo was that he should go to the camp and kill the king.

— And you're going to tell me that a 13-year-old boy entered a king's tent, which was surely guarded by many soldiers, and killed him. — Hisana said wryly, but Koga only nodded making Hisana's smile fade.

— Not only that, no one knows what really happened, but Ichigo arrived with the king's head in one hand, a bloody sword in the other hand, and an expression so neutral that I doubted he felt anything. The soldiers guarding the tent and several others were also dead; so we have to assume that now Ichigo is locked up because he wants to be. — Koga saw Hisana's expression, it was a mixture of anger and some emotion that he couldn't decipher. — You will leave tomorrow with your son for Jetaiya, Byakuya has said so; Maranni will fall in less than two weeks, so you prepare your things, possibly you will be a widow in no time. Do not let the shadows touch your child, or you will also be left without your child.

— But what the hell are you… — Hisana began to speak but Koga raised his hand so that she would not continue speaking; Koga left the room leaving her with her son. He didn't want to say that last sentence, but he had to.

Koga avoided telling Hisana what actually happened that night; he avoided telling her that he saw how Ichigo, with the help of Kisuke, did something so incredible that he still doubted it was real, but at that moment the fear he felt was real. Perhaps it had been an illusion, no one knew how the ankh worked except for the bearers of that magic, but what they did surely had been enough to kill people or force them to attack each other. Koga could even remember Ichigo's smile before performing that mission; it was terrifying.

He stopped in the hallway, he was thinking of going to talk to Ichigo in the dungeon, when he saw how Soujun was dragging Rukia by force through the prison entrance; Ichigo had the power, that was something Koga was sure of, and whatever Soujun did to Rukia, Ichigo would make him pay for it one way or another. Koga had seen Ichigo smile at the meeting in Soujun's office, and that smile reminded him that night on the shores of Cikram.

— I envy you, I wish that two princes were interested in me. — Yuki had said as she finished packing Rukia's things in a trunk for the next day's trip. — Here you would only be the People's Princess, there you will be the queen of a kingdom; of course you would have to share your husband with his concubines, but you would be the queen.

— Enough! — Rukia said feeling like she couldn't take any more of that talk. Her head ached and all she needed was silence to be able to think.

Yuki hadn't stopped talking since Rukia woke up from the faint Ichigo caused her; Rukia was sure that he was responsible for that fainting, because when she touched his hand, she could feel as if he was emptying her completely. Rukia would ask Ichigo many questions when it was all over.

— Rukia… — Yuki just looked at Rukia with wide eyes from the way she had screamed. Rukia had never spoken to Yuki like this and her friend's expression would have made her apologize, but at that moment she was so angry that she didn't.

— If you want to be queen so much, go and tell my father that you change your place with me and that he leaves me alone! — Rukia got up from the bed, where she was still sitting, and went to the window of her room; she played with her engagement ring unconsciously. — I'm not interested in being the queen of anywhere, I just want this to end; whatever is going on.

The darkness of night was over the Great House; Rukia could see the torches lighting the courtyard and various other places; it was late and the movement of the people did not stop. This was what the prelude to catastrophe looked like, with people coming and going, with things and preparations to survive; Rukia knew that this was it, that what was going to happen was real.

Yuki stopped arranging the clothes and stayed with a piece of clothing in her hand, Rukia just looked out the window and Yuki dropped the clothes, dropping them on the other clothes that were inside the trunk; Yuki was completely angry, she approached Rukia and started talking like she never did before.

— You have always had everything, your father is the Councilor and you were destined to be a princess; if my father had been born before yours, I would be the princess and I would not refuse to go with Koga and be one of his wives in order to help my family to have the independence of the lands. You are selfish, you don't want to help your family; you just want to be with the man who is locked up in the dungeons. Always wanting what is not for you, always longing for what you cannot have. You were destined to marry the second prince and you did not want to, and now that you are not going to marry him, it turns out that if you want to marry him; Rukia, do you ever think about what you do or say?

— Wow, you finally say what you think. — Rukia said bitterly but without moving from her place by the window. She hadn't stopped staring at Yuki or playing with her engagement ring. Rukia would never have thought that those words would actually come out of Yuki.

— I was born first than you, you were not supposed to be born, that your mother would have no more children and that I would be sent to the castle, but you had to be born. — Yuki glared at Rukia. — And now this whole mess is your fault!

— Get out! Get out of here! — Rukia said feeling an anger that she had never felt before. Rukia took a step towards Yuki and put a finger on her chest in a threatening way. — Get out of here and get your things ready, because Maranni is going to fall, I swear to the Deities, Maranni is going to fall and I will make sure that you don't survive one day longer than necessary if you stay here. — Rukia pointed to the door with her arm fully extended, it had been a quick move and Yuki had taken a step back in reflex.

— Fuck you! You deserve what happens to you. — Yuki left the room slamming the door.

Rukia let out a scream of complete frustration and threw the trunk with her clothes on the floor in a fit of anger. Everyone in that house knew what was going to happen and they never told her, and now Yuki was telling her that her entire existence was unnecessary because surely Yuki had been raised to be the perfect spy for her father. Rukia was so angry about everything, and it all started with her father's lack of confidence. Rukia could have accepted that plan if her father had told him before going to Adelaar, but he didn't and everything got more and more complicated.

How could she trust her family again? Rukia felt betrayed, but still she wanted to go to Adelaar, lie to the king and pretend everything that had happened in Maranni was a lie; she wanted to give her family time to do what they had to do because she understood why they wanted to give Maranni independence, and she understood because it was the same thing that she wanted; get rid of The Accords of the Fall. Ichigo had told her that he was going to protect her, that he could take her out of the kingdom, and she was sure she heard Ichigo tell her father that killing Kaien was a good option if he wanted to get revenge on the king.

Rukia knew that if Kaien died, Ichigo would immediately become the heir and she, being married to him, would be the queen; Rukia didn't doubt Ichigo's promise, she trusted him because if she started to distrust everyone, then she would go crazy. Rukia didn't know which was worse, if to go to Jetaiya and fulfill what her family had planned for her by letting the war start, or to think that it was a good idea for her father to kill Kaien; but she definitely had to do something, because in the morning her fate would be inevitable.

With a determined step she approached the door and tried to open it, she couldn't; someone had locked her in her room and it was surely on the orders of her father. Rukia felt that the world was coming on her, she did not know what to do, everything was too much for her; she felt that she was on the verge of mental collapse and she put her hands to her head trying to lessen the pain, which had gotten bigger since Yuki had left the room.

"I'll go for you. We're leaving here."

Rukia opened her eyes hearing that sentence, for a moment she thought that Ichigo was with her in the room but he wasn't, she was alone and her engagement ring felt different; it seemed that her ring was alive, for want of another word to define it.

—

Ichigo was still sitting in a completely dark corner in the dungeon, he was silently meditating, establishing the connection with Kholtan who was flying over the night sky at that time; the ankh united them and divided them, a single being into two bodies, two beings sharing the same body.

The ankh allowed him to see what Kholtan was seeing at that moment, he could see the movement of men in the Great House, the carriages that were preparing to leave, the things that were being prepared and everything else; Soujun was going to flee, surely to Jetaiya but that was useless, if they fled they would not return to Avanta, they would not recover Maranni, nothing they had done would make sense and they would still have to fulfill the agreements they had made with Jetaiya.

Ichigo could escape from the dungeon if he wanted, that was easy, but being locked up it was easier for him to see the scope of things, give Soujun that delusion of control and see his true intentions. Ichigo was going to kill Soujun with his bare hands, of that he was sure, as well as Rukia would hate him for life if he killed that man; it was a price that he could pay.

Kholtan flew and left the grounds of the Great House, everything was dark but a small fire caught his attention and he descended to the point of being able to see that Uryu and Renji were there. Ichigo was mentally grateful that Renji hadn't stayed at the castle and gone looking for them; then he would ask Renji why he did it, but at that moment he was glad to see him there because he possibly would need him to get out of Maranni.

Kholtan descended to where they were and stood on the ground; Ichigo looked at his friends through Kholtan's eyes and if he could speak, he would thank them for being there. His friends had been arguing about whether to go get him to the castle or wait a little longer; Uryu insisted on waiting and Renji insisted on going immediately and getting him out of there.

— I told you he's fine, Kholtan is here. — Uryu said, and handed a piece of meat to the eagle; Ichigo broke the connection with Kholtan.

He was in the dungeon again. Ichigo got up from the ground and brushed off his clothes that were dirty, with blood from the soldiers he had killed when Soujun ambushed him before locking him in that place; he also had a couple of blows but they were nothing compared to the blows of the surviving soldiers. Ichigo felt the ankh running through his veins, what he was going to do at that moment he had only done with the help of his uncle; using the ankh like this required great control and he didn't have it yet.

— Hey! — Ichigo called out to one of the guards who were guarding him.

The torchlight lit up his eyes and Ichigo could see the fear in the guard's expression as he saw his eyes glow; it was a consequence for making the connection to the eagle that way, but it was all he needed to get the soldier's attention.

— What do you want? — Said the soldier looking at him suspiciously.

That soldier's only mistake was looking Ichigo in the eye, because it was all Ichigo needed to do what he had to do, to have dominion over that soldier and get out of there. Ichigo didn't know how long the control of him would last, but he knew it would be enough to get out of there and reach Rukia, so he wasted no time and with the help of the soldier he left the dungeon.

It was early morning, he was sure of that because of the silence in the Great House, even the footsteps of the soldiers who came and went between the rounds of the place could be heard; Ichigo moved with the shadows, in an almost inhuman way, in the same way that he had done when he infiltrated the king's camp of Cikram accompanied by the hellhounds of his uncle; Ichigo still couldn't do that on his own.

Ichigo killed all the men who crossed his path and the soldier who accompanied him hid the corpses so that they would not be discovered so quickly. The ankh used to charge a high price to use, and Ichigo hoped the time to pay would be when they were out of the Great House, or he was going to have trouble; his uncle had warned him about that, so he didn't use it beyond the Kholtan connection. The ankh was guiding him and it was not difficult for him to find Rukia's room, the ring she was wearing called him at that moment, and he supposed that Rukia must feel the change in her ring; she must have felt him alive.

Rukia's room had no soldiers guarding the door, Ichigo guessed they thought she wouldn't escape and it was easy for him to kick open the door by breaking the lock; the noise would surely attract people so he had to be quick. The room was lit up and Rukia was sitting at a desk with a lit candle doing something he couldn't see.

— I'm ready, let's get out of here. — Rukia got up from the desk and Ichigo saw that she was wearing riding clothes and boots. — I have left a letter to my father; the rest is his decision, I already made mine.

— My men are waiting for us on the road. We'll get out of here before they know it. — He promised and took Rukia's hand to run out of there.

Ichigo wasn't thinking of letting go of her hand, he wouldn't give fate a chance to separate them in that escape. Neither of them said anything else, they ran silently followed by the soldier who was still under Ichigo's control, and just before leaving the Great House through the kitchen door, Ichigo saw Koga standing there, avoiding the exit and holding a burning candle.

— Kill him. — Rukia whispered; and the soldier confronted Koga who did not drop the candle at any time.

—

Uryu was exhausted, that night was too long and he knew he shouldn't go to sleep; he knew that Ichigo would not stay locked up and that he would most likely escape from that prison at night while everyone slept. Renji was entertaining with Kholtan, he was also waiting for something to happen; it was just the two of them, the caravan of Ichigo's things was parked outside of Maranni, out of everyone's sight.

The biggest problem they were going to face was that they had to go through the city, go through two gates and get out of there; Uryu knew that they must inevitably kill the guards guarding the gates, but he worried that this time they weren't as fast as the time they infiltrated Verasi.

— Someone is coming. — Renji said and Kholtan took flight.

Renji and Uryu hid but left the fire burning, each with a gun in hand, ready to kill if necessary. Ichigo appeared riding a horse, with Rukia protected by his body; Ichigo looked agitated and exhausted.

— Let's move on! — Ichigo screamed and an arrow flew past his arm, wounding him. — Now!

That alerted Renji and Uryu who immediately got on their horses to leave; in the distance they could hear screams and sounds of approaching horse hooves.

— What happened? — Renji asked between shouts. The torches that guarded the entrance to the city of Maranni were seen to glow in the distance.

— My brother-in-law got mad. — Ichigo said that wryly, but didn't slow the horse. — Kill everything that moves, I'll see to it that we pass that city.

Uryu noticed that Ichigo's voice sounded tired, as if he was gathering all his energy and will to resist what was happening that night. Uryu didn't know how Ichigo was going to get them through the city, but he trusted him, he had to do it because he was the only hope of getting out of there alive.

Thank you for reading.