Touke stared down at the city, her heart pounding in her throat.
This was Ouhan, capital of the prefecture of the same name. Touke had been here once or twice long before, back when she had lived in the area. It wasn't much different than it had been a hundred years ago, much the same size and shape. Of course, it had been in better condition back then. Then, An Province had been in good hands, and it showed. Now the walls seemed duller, a little frayed in places. Some of the monochrome buildings inside were collapsing, and clearly abandoned. It probably didn't help that there hadn't been a king on the throne in quite some time. Kingdoms go to the dogs when there wasn't someone around to run them. That was supposed to be her, though she wasn't used to the idea yet. Getting there. Ouhan was a minor target, but they had to take it to prove they were serious.
Their runners said the prefectural forces had retreated to the castle, and had left defending the outer walls of the city to draftees from the city and the surrounding area. To impress on the people inside the serious shit they were in, Kokumei had had this force take up the banners of the Forbidden Army, to indicate that it was the army of the Queen. They were also flying a certain black and yellow flag. Touke had hesitantly protested at first, pointing out that those flags were only to be flown at the coronation. Kokumei said that was the point, that it was to remind the forces of the Chousai that they were getting in the way. They couldn't hold a real coronation until they had Renshou and the government in some semblance of order, but there wasn't any reason they couldn't manipulate the emotions the flag raised in people.
They were just having a final debate about how exactly to deploy their forces to take the city while killing as few of the draftees as possible, when a runner darted up to them. "Your Highness, Lord Governor!"
The general of this group—Toufu, the General of the Left of Sou—looked a little annoyed, but Kokumei just smoothly turned to the man. She answered for them, as she often did. "Yes, what is it?"
"The gates have opened!" the man said, a little breathless from running over.
Those nearby started in surprise, and turned toward the city. It wasn't so far away that they couldn't see that, indeed, the gate nearest them was open. The men paying attention held in their cheer of victory when they noticed a group of people walking out. Everyone watched as the five slowly approached the army. With a shrug and a wave to join her, Kokumei started leading Touke and the general out to them. The two groups met a short distance from the assembled men. The five were rather sad-looking, with threadbare clothes and carrying sheathed swords that looked so old and uncared for that Touke was sure they couldn't cut.
Kokumei opened her mouth to address them, but Touke put her hand on her shoulder to stop her. She could see where this was going to go. She moved a step a little in front of Kokumei, and tried to put as much authority in her bearing and voice as possible. "You represent Ouhan?"
The men glanced at each other. Their spokesman, a man who looked a little aged to be swinging swords around, nodded. "We see you're flying the colors of the Forbidden Army."
"Yes?"
"The Forbidden Army is in Renshou."
Touke shook her head. "The Forbidden Army serves the queen. A Forbidden Army that opposes the queen isn't a Forbidden Army at all, is it?"
The men looked uncertain. "We heard the King is in Soufuu Palace."
"How could the King be in Soufuu if the Kirin is in Teki?" Everyone knew the two, Chousai and Marquis, were dead set against each other. "I saw her myself."
The men glanced at each other again. "So the rumors are true? The Chousai attacked the new Queen and the Taiho?"
"Don't worry too much. I got out of it okay." Again, the men glanced at each other at her choice of words, baffled expressions on their faces. "My name is Touke. I'm the Queen of Kyou."
When the men continued staring in shock, Kokumei said, "I believe you're supposed to be on your knees."
The men didn't move at first, clearly unsure if Touke was really who she claimed to be. They stared at her for long moments. She probably didn't look very queenly. She was wearing the same simple leather armor as everyone else, but with a layer over it in blue with tracings of gold. Blue, a deeper blue than she had seen everywhere in Kokumei's palace, had been the color of the previous King, and gold, of course, symbolized the Kirin. That had first taken Touke aback when she had seen all the yellow in Kokumei's home, and when she had asked her she had said it was yellow, not gold. Apparently, there was a difference. She had been trying to teach herself these last couple of weeks to hold herself and speak with the confidence she was supposed to have, but she wasn't sure she was doing so well at it.
But, with another glance at each other, the men sank to their knees and put their foreheads to the dirt. Touke couldn't help but be a little surprised that they had believed her. If it were this easy to sway these people, no wonder the Chousai had managed to take over as he had. Their spokesperson said, "We humbly beg your forgiveness, Your Highness."
"There's nothing to apologize for," Touke said. She looked away; she still had trouble with the sight of people submitting themselves to her like that. "Go back to the city and tell them I'm here. Those who let us pass won't be punished."
"Thank you, Your Highness." The men stood, backed away a short distance with their heads bowed, then turned and jogged back to the city.
"How was that?" asked Touke, turning to Kokumei.
Kokumei shrugged. "It will do. You could have acted more angry, though."
"But I wasn't angry."
"That's why I said act," Kokumei said with a slight smile. "This city is standing against you. That makes them traitors to the throne."
"But I'm not on the throne yet."
"The Kirin is the throne, and she chose you. That chair up in Soufuu is only a chair. What matters is the Kirin next to it."
"Right, of course."
Kokumei nodded. "In fact, it is perfectly within your rights to order us to burn this city to the ground. They're committing sedition, and the penalty for sedition is death no matter where you are."
"I understand."
"The Chousai and all his men are committing sedition as well, and leading others into sedition. They all deserve death. When the time comes, you must know with complete confidence whether and how you will carry out this sentence."
"I understand."
"Now—" Kokumei turned toward the city. "—I don't object to you sparing them. They aren't aware of the whole situation, and they are only following orders. Sparing them is the right thing to do."
"Of course."
"But you must have the strength of conviction necessary to not spare those who deserve it."
"You mean the Chousai."
"That is not for me to say. You are the Queen. It's in your hands."
Touke let out a little humming sound. It seemed a lot of things were in her hands these days. Though, at this point, she was pretty certain she would be killing the Chousai with her own two hands. Gripping her sword, of course, but still. She figured it was the best path to take. She couldn't let the Chousai live—if he did, it was likely he would incite some sort of rebellion at some point in the future. That, and people must know that opposing the throne brings punishment, to deter future problems. And if anyone else killed him, it would signal that she couldn't handle this kind of thing on her own, that she had to order someone else to carry through the righteous, furious execution that was only hers to give. If she couldn't kill the man who took her throne herself, how could she ever claim to stand on her own?
She knew Aku would hate this logic.
"Look!" a nearby soldier shouted, pointing at the city.
Touke turned with Kokumei to look at the gate. Just next to it, against the wall, a flag was hanging. It took a while for her to place it. It was the flag they flew over the rishi when the new king was enthroned. She couldn't remember what it was called. She had only seen it once, a long time ago. "Look at that," Kokumei said, a good amount of pleasure in her voice. She turned to Touke. "Congratulations, Your Highness. You just took Ouhan." Then she turned toward the army, shouting orders for them to move into the city and toward the prefectural castle.
Soon, Touke and her army were inside the city, staring at the castle. The defenses were more impressive here than around the city. The walls were tall, with niches carved out at the top for archers to hide behind while keeping a good firing angle. Even now, Touke could see some archers crowding around the towers in the middle, which Touke assumed housed the mechanisms that raised and lowered the gate. It was enormous, towering far above her head, made of thick hardwood supported by stone and reinforced with shining metal. She didn't think they were going to break through that. Kokumei and the general and a few commanders were debating how to get inside.
Suddenly Touke had an idea. She turned to the group. "How many air cavalry do we have?"
"Fifteen," one of the commander said.
That few. They had split them up between units, part of their plot to distract the Chousai. Touke looked up again at the towers, counting the archers she could see. She made a rough guess of how many guards there probably were inside. Fifteen would be enough. With Kokumei and herself it would be enough. "I have an idea," she said to the group.
They glanced at each other. It was clear they didn't think much of the opinion of someone who had never had military training. But Kokumei said, "Alright. Let's hear it."
"We use the air cavalry—"
"Nonsense," Toufu said in a gruff voice. "We don't have enough to make any real difference."
"Are you going to let me finish my sentence?" she said, making her voice as cold as possible. Toufu didn't blink, but he did shut up. "We use the air cavalry to make some quick flybys. Come down low and fast, throwing one spear each. Then circle around and do it again."
"They can't be very accurate like that," one of the commander said.
"No, they don't have to be. It's just to make some confusion. Cause see, we'll put one swordsman on the back of each kijuu in addition to the one flying it. After the second pass, we drop off the fifteen men. Then we storm the towers and raise the gate."
"That can't possibly work," said Toufu.
"No," Kokumei said, a wide smile on her face. "I've read about it before. It should work. We just have to pick our swordsmen carefully."
Touke nodded. "I was thinking you and me would go."
"Yes, that's a good idea." She turned to Toufu. "Gather your thirteen best swordsmen. We fly before the light fails." Since this wasn't her army—she was borrowing it, with Touke along for the ride—she didn't know the men, so she left it to Toufu. It was amazing to Touke that she could trust someone to do that who wasn't on her command, and that she had never met before. She wondered where that kind of confidence came from.
When the commanders dispersed, and she and Kokumei were left alone, Touke turned to her. "Do you really think it was a good idea, or are you just humoring me?"
"I wouldn't put people's lives at risk if I were just humoring you." Kokumei turned her smile on her. "I really had heard of the strategy before. It was used in some battle in Ren I can't remember the name of. It just didn't occur to me at the time."
"That's good to hear." Touke didn't completely believe her. It wouldn't be entirely strange to her if people bowed to her thoughts simply because she was queen. Though if anyone were to be honest with her, it was probably Kokumei.
"Just remember when you're fighting to not die." Touke gave her a look, so she continued with a severe expression on her face. "I'm serious. Don't be a hero. If you think something is a risk to your life, don't do it. Your life is more important than taking this prefecture. If you die, the whole thing is pointless."
"I understand."
"Good. Now let's go."
Ouhan: 央坂 (See? I can use normal kanji xD)
Toufu: 傏降
