Chapter Six: The King's Proposal
Haru took three whole salmon from a vendor's cart, and paid the burly old fisherman with two small copper coins. "Thank you, Juno-san. Have a nice day."
"You too, Haru-san," the man said gruffly with a sly wink. "Maybe you can finally have a day where no one tries to flirt with you."
"I wish," she replied glumly before walking away from him, her wooden katana digging slightly into her side. Her father had been forced to sell his sword, to buy medicine for her, and she had personally carved this replacement after burying her parents near their home.
She didn't like speaking very much since then, making her fully understand why Humbert had taken so long to really start talking again.
She cast her golden brown eyes up to the sky, and sighed softly. 'Oh, Humbert. I wish you could be here to heal me this time. I miss you more with each passing day. Are you happy, where you are? Do you ever think of me?'
Arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind, making her drop her basket full of purchases so that she could throw her assailant over one shoulder without even blinking. "I thought I told you to stop that, Machida," she growled tiredly, sick of having to beat the boy away with her wooden katana every time she needed to sell or buy in the village.
"Hey!" the tall young man cried out as he landed on his back, knocking the wind out of him. "I was just trying to-"
"I know what you were trying to do," she said acidly, picking up her basket again. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not interested? Go pick on someone else, Machida."
"I'm not picking on you anymore!" the black-haired youth wailed, bowing at her feet with his forehead touching the ground in absolute submission to the girl. "I told you, I left that behind me years ago! Please, just give me a chance, Haru-kun! I can make you happy if you'll just let me! I love you!"
"That's very unfortunate," Haru said emotionlessly as she walked away from him. "You know I gave my heart to Humbert, and it's still with him. Leave me alone, already."
"But he's not coming back!" Machida protested as he continued to trail the girl as she passed by some vendors and bought from others.
Still not changing her expression, Haru suddenly swiped her stalker's legs out from underneath him, and kept walking. "Yes he will. I have faith in him."
A sudden group of trumpets blew from behind her, the tone more regal than anyone in the village had ever heard before.
The slim brunette turned around curiously to see what had earned such a royal fanfare.
The only thing it could be called was a parade. There were liveried soldiers marching down the middle of the main street of the village, their faces flinching slightly as they stared at her personally. Behind them, she could spy a golden carriage with no roof over the top of it, bearing a richly dressed figure that wore a large crown on his brow like a war banner. Even Machida was staring open-mouthed at the king of the land for the first time in his life, everyone in the village frozen silent as their eyes also trailed to the samurai's daughter.
The proclamation was well known, and even those who hadn't seen the dead queen's portrait knew that Haru resembled her exactly.
Remembering the messenger from one or two weeks ago, Haru turned away from the parade with a cold heart, and began walking down the street to the side of the parade, trying to look as casual as possible.
"Halt!" a rusty old voice called out harshly from the royal parade.
Feeling a little helpless, Haru stopped dead in her tracks, her expression still blank as she stared in front of her, and the parade began to file past her, every pair of eyes locked on her face.
Eventually, the parade came to a stop, the royal carriage directly to the left of her. But she was still facing the front, not wishing to appear eager for what the king was certain to ask her.
If anyone could have been bothered to drop a pin, the noise would have felt thunderous in the otherwise dead silent marketplace.
"Excuse me," the king growled softly after a moment of looking at the side of her face.
Haru slowly turned her head to look at the king disinterestedly.
He was old! She had known that both her father and grandfather had served the current monarch, but the realization had never hit her the way it did at that moment, a scant two yards away from him. A slightly greasy smile of satisfaction was on his lips as he looked at her, up and down.
She flushed slightly with anger, but kept her tone deceptively calm. "Yes, your majesty?" she asked, bowing from the waist respectfully, despite her personal feelings on the subject he was certain to speak of.
He smiled disgustingly again. "So, you're Haru Yoshioka?"
"That's right, your majesty," she confirmed, but did not say anything more, secretly hoping to get on his nerves.
A flicker of annoyance came over his famed mismatched eyes, but he managed to get himself under control again. "I think you know why I'm here, Haru," he said bluntly, cutting off the coughing servant that had been riding on a horse on the other side of him, like he was about to formally address the fat old monarch.
Haru nodded numbly. "You wish to clear up a misunderstanding that happened between me and your messenger?"
"That's right," the king said, smiling widely now. "It's very simple, Haru. You look exactly like my dead queen, so you get to be my new one."
"It's not that simple, your majesty," she disagreed, taking a step from the horse-drawn carriage as he moved to one side of it, presumably to make room for her. "The messenger must have forgotten to mention that I am happily engaged to a fine man, and as such am unavailable. Thanks for the thought, though."
The king studied her, his bulbous eyes narrowing dangerously. "I was also told that he was dead."
Haru's hands balled into painful fists, her nails digging into her flesh. "Until I see his body for myself, I will not believe that," she said tightly, bowing one more time. "If you'll excuse me, your majesty, I have a number of things left to do today."
"You're not excused!" he snapped, gesturing to the spot right next to him. "You're coming to the castle, you're going to marry me, and that's final! Get in the carriage!" he bellowed at her.
She locked eyes with him, her temper quickly gaining momentum. "This is going to turn unpleasant, I think," she said calmly. "Everyone that isn't involved with my disagreement with the king had better seek their homes immediately. This is going to turn messy very shortly, and I don't want any unnecessary casualties."
Like her words had broken a terrible spell, all of the villagers grabbed as much of their belongings that they could, and made a mad dash for their homes. Even Machida didn't offer to stay and help her.
She wasn't shocked. Machida wasn't equipped to cope with emergencies.
The king looked up in amazement, watching the townsmen run across the street, and the repeated sound of doors slamming and locking made loud and clear.
"Haru-chan?" Hiromi asked, touching her friend's shoulder.
The brunette looked at her childhood companion tenderly, and patted her hand. "You go too, Hiromi-chan. I'll be okay."
The lighter-haired girl looked down at her feet, nodded, and quickly hugged her friend hard before running for the tavern.
And when that last door closed, the samurai's daughter was left alone with the king and his revenue.
"This next part should be interesting," Haru said drily, unsheathing the wooden katana that was constantly strapped to her side to ward off unwanted attentions from idiotic people. "So, do you want to order your soldiers to make the first move, sire, or should I start?"
"What are you talking about?" the king demanded, privately impressed that she could already issue commands like a queen.
"Isn't it obvious? You're going to try to take me into custody, and I'm going to do everything in my power to escape. You waited too long, so I'll make the first move." With that, she ran like a gazelle down the empty street.
"After her!" the king barked in chagrin, making all the soldiers give chase to the rapidly disappearing girl.
Haru made a sharp turn at a bend, pressing her body close to the alley wall as the soldiers ran right past her.
"Wait, she's over here!" one soldier called as she ran deeper into the alley, wishing for little more than limited space, so that she wouldn't have to fight more than five at a time.
That was one of the first lessons her father had ever taught her. If you're outnumbered by more than five, find a way to funnel their attacks so that you won't be overwhelmed.
Once she reached the end of the alley, she set her basket in a shadowy corner, and held her katana ready for the soldiers that began to come at her, five at a time.
Never changing her expression, Haru began to weave between the uniformed men, carefully aiming her strikes to merely incapacitate them, since they were only doing their job. With each graceful stroke, one or more of the soldiers fell into a heap, creating a sort of barricade that the following men had to walk around or over in order to reach her, although it screamed with uniformed men with funnily bent limbs or those that were just unconscious.
The rest of them filed messily out of the alley, screaming like little girls in terror after twenty seven of the soldiers were down for the count.
But Haru didn't sheathe her weapon yet, her gaze icy cold as she stepped around the huge pile of men that had threatened to lock her in the back of the alley, and calmly stepped into the light again, her small basket once more settled neatly into the crook of her arm.
The king was gaping at her with shock, and the robed servant had dropped a sort of book onto the ground, staring at her like she wasn't human.
Haru watched the remaining soldiers flee with a grim satisfaction. "It appears you should have brought more men, your majesty. Maybe some with actual training. I don't think I've even worked up a sweat." She bowed slightly to the lounging man, almost mockingly, and began walking away.
"Hey! You can't just walk away from me like that!" the king howled as his horse-drawn carriage kept pace with her, thanks to the terrified coachman.
"I can, and I am," Haru said calmly, keeping her eyes on the road in front of her, still holding her katana with one hand instead of sheathing it just in case the king tried to attack her.
"I am your king! It is your duty to submit to my will!" he screamed at her.
She stopped in her tracks, still looking forward with an icy expression on her face. "Your majesty," she said in clipped tones. "If you allowed girls to be samurais, and you called on me to fight for you, I'd do it probably without thinking about it. If you had asked me to be your servant, I might have done that as well. But what you're demanding of me goes far beyond the realms of propriety. I'm young enough to be your granddaughter, and to be as frank as possible, I feel nothing for you personally but contempt."
Haru suddenly looked straight into the king's mismatched eyes of fire and ice, so that he could see the barely concealed fury in her own. "Years ago, I swore an oath to marry no one but my beloved, and I'd give you nothing but trouble if you made me be your queen. Would you really be happy, having a wife that openly loved another man? There are many things you can order me to do, your majesty, but loving you is not one of them, and neither is marriage. Raise an army if you insist. I'll just take your men down again, as many times as you send them to take me. I'll just be up that mountain path if they want to know where to find me." She gestured to the trail leading up to her home, and quickened her pace slightly, knowing that the carriage wouldn't be able to take the trail more than five feet. "If you don't mind, I need to get home and start on dinner. That fight left me famished."
The king looked at the trail with horror, realizing that he would have to walk up it in order to press his suit with the girl. He thought desperately, trying to think of something that would force this stubborn woman into submitting to his wishes.
"Your majesty," Natori tried to say, but the king batted one hand at him to be silent, a mad gleam suddenly in his mismatched eyes.
"That's all right, Haru," the old monarch called tauntingly to the girl nearly running up the mountain path, making her turn around curiously, like she wasn't expecting him to give up so easily. "When I send my troops again, they aren't going to take a single step up that trail."
"Oh? And why's that?" she said disinterestedly, adjusting the hold on her basket with one hand. "I hardly ever come down to the village."
"You won't be their target," the king explained, a naughty smile on his lips. "They'll be too busy killing, looting, burning… you know, the usual kind of thing that happens during raids. Once I give the word, your quaint little village will be nothing more than a memory."
"Your majesty!" Natori gasped in disbelief
Just as he knew it would, the little announcement caught the brunette's undivided attention. Showing more emotion than the king had seen out of her yet, she stormed back down the path with flaming eyes, tossing her basket aside as she held her wooden sword with both hands.
"You leave the villagers out of this," she hissed at him. "They have nothing to do with our little disagreement!"
"No? I think they do," the king purred, thrilled to have found a weak spot in her defenses. "I imagine if there are any survivors, they'll despise you until the end of their miserable lives."
"You filthy coward!" Haru spat at him, holding her katana a little higher. "If you're so eager for blood, come out of that carriage and get it yourself!"
"I don't think so. I forgot my sword," the king said lazily, patting the seat right next to him. "I think the next part is obvious, babe. Either you drop that wooden toy of yours and take your place at my side, or you can try to defend an entire village by yourself. As good as you obviously are, I think we both know that innocent casualties will be inevitable at that point. Come now; make your decision. It's a long trip back to the capital." The king snapped his fingers impatiently at her, a terrible grin on his smug face.
Haru stared at him helplessly as images of military atrocities danced in her head. As much as she hated to admit it… he was right. There was no telling how many soldiers the king could send up here, and she really was only one person. Things would be different if she had an army of her own, but she didn't.
As the gory image of a soldier's bayonet running through a screaming Hiromi filtered through her thoughts, she realized what she had to do, although her soul shuddered from the very idea.
'I won't cry,' she silently told herself as she dropped the katana she had carved for a solid month, letting it fall to the earth with a dull thud. She moved with labored steps up to the carriage, and got in with ease, sitting herself as far away from the king as she could manage. 'I'll never give this monster the satisfaction of watching me cry.'
An amazed coachman clicked his tongue at the matching white horses, and eased them out of narrow place they had stopped in as the king easily put an arm around the stiff brunette's back, a sleazy smile on his face.
"What would your majesty suggest I do with the stragglers?" Natori asked from his horse, although his eyes were still full of horror.
"Tell them to head back to the capital as soon as they're done healing," the king ordered, smiling sickeningly at his prize. "I can pick up more guards at my summer castle, since its half a day's journey from here, and I'm in quite a hurry to show off my beautiful bride," he gloated disgustingly.
As Haru half-listened to the old king boast about the double wedding he would hold with his son, she realized something that made her want to bang her head against the side of the carriage in frustration.
There had been a third possibility that the king didn't think about, and now it was too late to take it.
She thought about that possibility as she tried desperately to ignore the feel of his hand on her waist. No, that option was still open, technically speaking. She could reach over right now and execute it.
But she had never done anything so… permanent before. Her father had given her all the instruction she needed in the area, but she still felt reluctant to actually apply the knowledge.
But when considering the prospect of being married to a cruel old fool, when Humbert could quite possibly appear as suddenly as he had disappeared, she stiffened her resolve.
To execute her plan immediately wouldn't do at all. Her village would doubtlessly take the blame, and would become subject to the soldiers she was trying to keep from coming. She needed to bid her time carefully. It would be better to do the deed after they reached the capital, but before the wedding day the king was planning out for them, so that there would be no doubt that she was the guilty one. The penalty didn't frighten her all that much, and the alternative of possibly spending years as a lecher's wife gave her the last bit of resolve she needed. Besides, she owed it to the old man seated next to her to allow him to think he had won before she pulled the carpet out from underneath him.
She snuck a glance at the old man at her side, and gave a half-smile that was a little too ominous for one about to become a royal should have been able to do. 'I hope you enjoy saying 'fiancée', old man, because you'll never call me 'wife'.' She sighed silently in order not to attract the king's attention, and looked to the heavens again longingly.
"Humbert, where are you?"she mouthed soundlessly as her heart broke anew, although she was screaming the question in the silences of her soul.