Chapter Eleven: Hidden

It took the Silver Arrow a week to reach the island of Ito. This was mostly due to the fact that the man-of-war was sailing against the wind most of the time. Had the wind been with them, the Arrow probably could have made the trip in a little over half that time.

As far as size was concerned, Ito wasn't nearly as large as Oēn, Ryukyu, or any of the other main islands of the Ainu Empire, but it had its advantages.

One characteristic that made Ito ideal for a fortress or a stronghold was the fact that almost all of its coastline comprised of sheer, high cliffs. Nothing would be able to get over those cliffs, unless the invading force already had ropes secured at the top beforehand, which was impossible to do from the sea.

Ito was a crescent-shaped island—roughly seventy miles from its northernmost point to its southernmost, and thirty miles across at its widest point. The western side of the island was the larger coastline—the outside of the crescent—which curved all the way around on both sides to the east.

The two tips of the crescent curved down towards each other, leaving a gap of about half a mile between them. Had they touched, they would have given Ito an almost perfect circular shape. Beyond the tips of the crescent was the Ito Bay, which was surrounded by the inner coast of the island. The inner coast, unlike the outer coast, was not composed of sheer cliffs. Instead, the shores of Ito Harbor were white beaches filled with palm trees.

The jungle extended back for a good distance before eventually turning to a more temperate forest. A small chain of mountain peaks could also be seen in the distance.

Lord Fernando, Praetor of the Centralian Forum, gazed up at the two towering peaks on either side of the Centralian man-of-war as it sailed into the Bay of Ito. They weren't really mountains—they simply looked like peaks from Fernando's sea-level vantage point. They were the tips of the Ito crescent that formed the entrance to the bay.

Seeing as the only way to invade Ito would be to go through the bay, the entrance to the Bay of Ito became the main focus of the island's defenses. As such, there were two heavily-armed forts built atop the very furthest edges of the crescent. They were constructed of stone that was the same color as the cliffs. Large cannons rested on the forts' battlements—cannons that would no doubt be perfectly capable of sending a fleet of ships to the bottom of the sea.

"Well, I have to hand it to your people," Captain Harcourt confessed to the leader of the group of rogue samurai aboard the Arrow, gesturing to the forts above. "I doubt Zamorak himself would be able to get past those cliffs."

"I pray we will never have to find out," Niten replied, drumming his fingers on the wooden rail.

"As do I," Lord Fernando agreed. "But if Centralia falls, I'm afraid your prayers will go unanswered."

There were dozens of fishing vessels out on the bay at this time of day. The Silver Arrow passed by many of them as it sailed towards a village situated on the northern coast of the bay. Niten and the other six samurai on board would holler greetings to the fishermen in Kurigana as the man-of-war slid past.

It took over an hour to reach the village which Niten was directing the Arrow towards. The bay winds really weren't all that strong, as they were largely blocked by the island on nearly all sides. Unless a wind was blowing east right through the entrance, there really wasn't much of a breeze to be had.

Still, the Silver Arrow always had a knack for snatching every scrap of wind from the air it sailed through. Cicero's Wind magic didn't exactly hurt the cause, either.

"This is Nogura," Niten informed his Centralian hosts as they approached the town's docks. "It is our largest fishing village, and therefore best suited to accommodate the needs of your crew. I trust you are remaining?"

"That is their choice," Lord Fernando reminded the rogue samurai. "I, for one, am not leaving until I secure the aid of your people; but Captain Harcourt and his men are not bound by this resolution. They are free to leave whenever they wish."

Harcourt was silent at first. Before, he had been preoccupied with breaking out of Kātayō Harbor and sailing safely through the islands of Ainuido to Ito that he really hadn't considered whether or not he intended to return to Centralia. He certainly hadn't discounted the prospect of returning home...but ever since he had received his assignment from Fleetmaster Straume to escort Lord Fernando to the Sun Emperor's palace, he had been gradually coming to realize just how badly Centralia was going to need an ally in the coming storm.

As he weighed his options, he really had no choice to admit that, if the Ainu didn't join Centralia, there wouldn't be a home to return to for very long. Centralia's best hope lay with the Praetor, on this one. And so, it was with a rather small amount of reluctance that Captain Harcourt decided to remain on Ito, for the time being.

"Very well, Praetor, I'll stay," the Captain said. "My men will stay with me. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"You already know how much we need the Ainu," the Praetor reminded Harcourt. "And with the arsenal of the Silver Arrow on hand, I think we'll all feel a good deal safer."

"Your crew will remain here, in Nogura," Niten said to the Captain. "I assume many of them are fishermen by trade?"

Captain Harcourt nodded. It was very common for fishermen to join the Navy in order to avoid being drafted into one of the legions. Naval warfare wasn't quite as deadly as ground warfare...it came very close, though; but men who lived by the sea would naturally choose to serve on a ship instead of a legion. "Yes, most of them came from fishing families before joining my crew."

"Very good," Niten nodded approvingly. "They may live here on your ship, if they so desire. However, they are also welcome to join the Nogurans on their fishing runs—if they do this, then they will be welcomed to live among our families for the duration of their stay."

"This arrangement is acceptable to the Nogurans?" Captain Harcourt asked, mostly for clarification.

Niten gave a single nod. "It is custom."

"Very well," Harcourt nodded. "I shall have the crew and officers informed immediately."

"Do you have any fighters on your ship?" Niten asked next as the Silver Arrow dropped anchor and tied off its mooring lines to one of Nogura's docks. The samurai frowned, not satisfied with his choice of wording. He tried again. "Any fighters…soldiers who are not sailors?"

Captain Harcourt now understood what the rogue samurai was getting at. "Ah, you mean marines."

"Kaihei-tai," Lord Fernando translated for Niten, giving the closest approximation to marines in Kurigana.

"Hai," Niten nodded. "Yes. Marines."

"Uh, we have a complement of twenty-four marines onboard, commanded by Lieutenant Althos," Captain Harcourt said to Niten, answering his earlier question.

"Very good," Niten nodded again. "I will be taking the Praetor inland to meet my lord. Your marines will accompany him."

Captain Harcourt considered this for a brief moment before agreeing. While the sailors would be able to live as fishermen for the duration of the Silver Arrow's stay, the marines were a different story. They were basically footsoldiers who were assigned onto ships—they could sail a vessel if required, but they weren't men of the sea. If they stayed in Nogura, they would probably have to remain on the Arrow.

Harcourt hashed out a few last-minute details with Niten and the Praetor as the Ainu villagers finished clearing the dock which the Silver Arrow was moored to. Finally, everything was in order, and all the leaders were in agreement.

"It was a pleasure sailing with you, Captain," Lord Fernando said to Harcourt as the two Centralians clasped forearms in farewell.

"The pleasure was all mine," Harcourt chuckled. "Do try and stay in one piece while we're over here, would you? If you die, I would hate to have to be the one to explain to Admiral Straume why I'm returning to Centralia without you."

After the gangplanks were lowered, Lord Fernando and Niten stepped down onto the docks. The other rogue samurai and the contingent of Centralian marines followed suit.

Captain Harcourt remained onboard and started to explain what was happening to the crew. Lord Fernando did not stick around to hear what he said, though. Niten and his warriors were already striding away from the docks at a brisk pace.

The villagers were all clad in simple clothing made of island cloth. Contrary to popular belief, not all of the Ainu populace spent every minute of every hour in the robes their nobles were fond of. They dressed almost similar to the way Menaphite townspeople would dress—minus the head coverings.

As he swung himself into the saddle of the horse presented to him by one of Niten's samurai and followed the Ainu warriors out of Nogura and into the jungle, he began to realize how little he really knew of the Ainu people.

When he had visited Ainuido in the past alongside King Alton—Osman's father and predecessor—he had only seen Kātayō City and parts of the surrounding area. He had never been to any of the other main islands, let alone the smaller, more isolated ones. He hadn't known that Ito had even existed until several days ago.

Their governmental structure was very different than that of Centralia. Each village had a council of elders and a village headman—all of whom reported to the daimyo who ruled over individual provinces. All local samurai also reported to their daimyo, similar to how a Centralian knight would answer to a provincial proconsul. All of the daimyos, in turn, answered to the Shogun, who was the commander of the entire Ainu military and the second-most powerful individual in the empire, behind the Sun Emperor himself.

This deviated from Centralia in that the Centralian Proconsuls would not answer directly to the Warmaster—they answer directly to the Forum, and ultimately the King. Their knights and the legions stationed in their respective provinces, however, could be commandeered by the Warmaster in times of War...like right now. In Ainuido, the Shogun—their equivalent of a Warmaster—controlled everything shy of the Sun Emperor himself.

Akai-Hanako, the Marshal of Ainuido, was currently serving as the military commander since the Shogun's recent death. The daimyos answered to him, now.

What Fernando found interesting about the Ainu was that the vast majority of their government was based on bloodline. Daimyos, for example, were born into their position as a provincial overlord. The same went with most of the other positions, with the exception of the Marshal. This was in stark contrast to Centralia, where positions like the provincial proconsuls, royal consuls, city officials, or even Warmaster were not awarded by birth or bloodline—they were government-appointed.

Not to say that there weren't nobles in Centralia—there were plenty of nobles in Fernando's homeland who had a say of what happened in the Forum. Centralia was different, but in many ways it was also the same.

The odd mix of samurai and Centralian marines had been moving through the wilderness for a good five or six hours without rest before the thick, muggy jungle thinned out into a more temperate forest. The snow-capped peaks of the mountains now loomed ever closer, and it seemed like the party was heading towards one of them.

As the day began to move on into the afternoon, the rogue samurai led the Centralians up onto the lower slopes of the nearest mountain. The forest thinned out even further as it gave way to wide, rolling foothills.

"You mind telling me where exactly we're going?" the Lieutenant Althos finally asked, breaking the heavy silence which had fallen over the group.

Niten gave the marine officer a sidelong glance, rubbing a spot of grime off his maroon samurai helm. He then pointed to the mountain looming over the forest in front of them. It was a massive mountain—easily twice as large as most of the other peaks surrounding it. The party had been steadily winding their way towards it all day.

"Kakusa re ta," Niten answered.

"Pardon?"

"It means hidden," Lord Fernando translated. "Not very imaginative, if you ask me…"

"It is the centre of our rebellion," Niten explained. "You should be honored; very few who are not an active member of our cause have ever seen Kakusa re ta...let alone a gaijin—a foreigner," the samurai then gave an amused chuckle, adding, "Let alone a group of gaijin."

"These are strange times, indeed," Lord Fernando agreed. "If this place is such a closely-guarded secret, why, then, are you bringing me and Althos's men there?"

"Because they need us, obviously," Althos shrugged. "If they had no need of us, your friend there never would have even freed you from the palace."

"So then the question is: what do you need us for?" Lord Fernando posed the question to the leader of the group of rogue samurai.

"You should give this man a higher rank," Niten advised the Praetor, gesturing to Althos with his head. "He has the perception for it."

"That doesn't answer his question."

"All will be answered in Kukasa re ta," Niten assured the Praetor, ending the conversation by refusing to speak anymore on that matter.

Niten stopped everyone to set up camp for the night about an hour later, just as the party reached the base of a ridgeline that ran a good ways up the slopes of the mountain which he had been leading everyone onto. The men started a small cooking fire and ate a light dinner of flat bread and dried strips of meat—a true meal of the trail.

After a semi-restful sleep, Lord Fernando woke up to the chirruping of birds and crickets. Niten had everyone awake and breaking down camp before dawn. By the time the light of the sun became visible in the east, breakfast had already been eaten and camp broken.

By sunrise, the men were back on the trail, hiking their way up the ridgeline of the mountain. Niten called the mountain Yamakajida, which roughly translated in Commonspeak to 'Fire on a Mountain'. Fernando later learned that it was an extinct volcano, though it had been very much active in the somewhat-distant past. Memories of sulfur and lava still ran deep among the Itoans.

By afternoon, the Ainu and Centralians had reached the top of the mountain. It was then that Fernando learned that Mount Yamakajida was a volcano—upon reaching the very top of the mountain, the men did not arrive at a summit; they arrived at the lip of a vast caldera filled with trees, grass, fields, and even a lake.

Built in the center of this crater was a small town—larger than your average village, but by no means a city. The small figures of men and women could be seen going about their daily chores from the lip of the crater.

As the Ainu samurai and their Centralian guests made their way down to the town below, Fernando could see why this place's name meant hidden. The ridge that led up to the top of the mountain would have been difficult to find and ascend unless one already knew where they were going. And now that the Ainu rebellion seemed to be using this crater as its stronghold, they would no doubt discourage any curious Itoans from even coming near Mount Yamakajida.

The caldera was a little less than four miles in diameter— though Fernando was no expert on volcanoes, he knew that for a fire mountain to have such a large crater, it must have had a proportionately violent eruption sometime in the past. None of which really mattered either which way, though; it was perfect for the needs of a small army—a nigh impenetrable mountain fortress located on a nigh-impenetrable island. The rebels had chosen their location well.

There were a large number of samurai living in Kakusa re ta, and an even larger number of common Ainu warriors—soldiers who had joined the cause. As Niten led his samurai and the Centralians through the small town, the samurai and warriors whom they passed by gave respectful bows to the rogue samurai leader. It would seem that Niten was a little bit more important than he had previously let on.

Niten stopped in front of a small, wooden temple to Tumeken—the Sun God. He dismissed the other rogue samurai under his command—the men who had helped him free Fernando from Kātayō. He then directed Lieutenant Althos to take his men to the western outskirts of the village, where they would be allowed to set up camp.

"Though the presence of your marines is welcomed," Niten explained to Fernando after the other Centralians departed, "they have no place in our temple to the Sun God. You are allowed to enter only through invitation."

"Invitation from whom?"

"From my lord," Niten turned towards the temple, pushing aside the hanging curtain that obscured what lay beyond the entrance. "Enter, Praetor of Centralia."

Lord Fernando obliged and ducked inside. The interior of the Temple of Tumeken was simple and unadorned. It was a small space with a carving of Tumeken's symbol and visage—made of solid gold—at the very front, with two bronze braziers of fire burning on either side of the altar.

Kneeling in front of the image of Tumeken was a man clad in simple samurai armor. The armor was maroon, like Niten's, though it had trimmings of amber. The man himself was a middle-aged man, also like Niten. However, he seemed to be a few years older. He had a shaven head, a braided black beard that hung down to his chest, and deep brown, almond-shaped eyes. His face bore a wide assortment of scars, earned both in and out of battle.

Sensing the arrival of another, the man kneeling in front of the altar rose to his feet. He turned round to face the Praetor, giving a slight, but respectful bow of the head. Lord Fernando reciprocated the gesture.

"I have been expecting you, Fernando, son of Iapetus, Praetor of Centralia," the Ainu man gave a faint grin, eyeing up the Praetor as he spoke, forming his own judgments based on Fernando's appearance. "You bear the title of a politician, but the stance of a soldier," the Ainu remarked.

"I served as a centurion in the III Legion, once upon a time," Lord Fernando said to the Ainu warrior. "May I ask how you know my identity?"

"I am the one who ordered Niten over there to keep you out of the Emperor's hands," the Ainu explained. "Your Centralian brethren—not to mention you yourself—are much more likely to help me if you are alive."

The Praetor's brow furrowed in a deep frown. "I can only assume that you are the leader of this rebellion that I have been hearing so much about. But who are you? No common warrior, or even an Ainu noble, could possibly know of my visit to the Sun Emperor—it was a closely-guarded secret."

The Ainu warrior's expression did not change. "My name has grown to be much less important than my title, so you may simply refer to me as Shogun."

"You're the Shogun?" Lord Fernando's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "That's impossible; everyone said you were dead."

The Ainu warrior's faint smile vanished and his expression grew solemn. "I am considered dead by many former colleagues and friends, it's true…" the Shogun turned his gaze back upwards, looking back at the Praetor. That ghost of a smile returned to his face. "…for now. Your men will be the key to our success, so let us talk."