Chapter Seventeen: Setting the Board
The Ainu ship plowed through the waves, propelled onward by a strong westerly wind. Oēn, while being the largest island in the Ainu Empire, was also the westernmost island. This was actually convenient for relations between the Ainu and Centralia, having their seat of power situated at the first part of the Empire a Westerner would stumble across.
Unfortunately, this also meant that barely any Centralians had seen the Ainu Empire beyond the walls of Kātayō. Lord Fernando wouldn't have been surprised to learn that he and his party had been the first Centralians ever to set foot on Ito island, for one.
Lord Fernando supposed it was good that he was seeing more of the Ainu Empire than any other outsider had ever seen before…he only wished that it had taken something other than Zamorak tainting the Sun Emperor for it to happen.
The Praetor leaned against one of the posts supporting the command tent that was situated on the highest deck, towards the rear of the ship. Some of Nogura's most experienced seamen had volunteered to provide the samurai and their Centralian counterparts with transportation to Oēn.
Arald Harcourt—the navarch of the Silver Arrow—had been opposed to the idea of not being the one to transport the Praetor and his entourage. "If you're attacked in one of those Ainu toothpicks, you won't stand a bloody chance."
"This is true," Lord Fernando had conceded. "However, our insertion into Kātayō relies on stealth. If a Centralian warship is spotted heading for Oēn… No more stealth. The city will be locked down and we will have no prayer of getting inside."
"I suppose…" the naval captain still didn't sound very happy, but he could not deny his leader's reasoning. "Do try and keep yourself alive, will you? Fleetmaster Straume will have my head if I return home without you."
And so, the Praetor found himself on the Kashihara—an Ainu warship that had been disguised as a whaling vessel. Other Ainu ships had been encountered these past few days, but no suspicions had been aroused. Whenever another vessel came into sight, the Centralians all went belowdecks, so all the other ships could see was a crew of stone-faced, weather-beaten whalers.
It was somewhat amusing to see Niten dressed in an oily greatcoat rather than the maroon armor he seemed to never take off. He could have very easily kept his armor and remained belowdecks, but he hated being cooped up in the stuffy hold, so he swallowed some of his pride and donned the disguise.
The high-ranking samurai saw the Praetor eyeing him and gave a questioning grunt.
"You wearing such an attire is an anomaly to the eyes," Lord Fernando remarked, nodding to the samurai warrior's greatcoat.
Niten gave a quiet sigh. "A small price to pay for our secrecy…" he murmured, running a finger down one of the sleeves. "But irritating nonetheless."
It had taken over a week for the Silver Arrow to sail from Oēn to Ito, but that was because it had been sailing against the wind. With the wind now at their backs, the Kashihara was able to make the journey in roughly half that time.
Two days ago, they had rounded the southwestern spur of Ryukyu, the third-largest of the Ainu isles. Even now, the Daimyos loyal to the Shogun's cause were marching their armies across Ryukyu. In a week's time, all of the Shogun's forces would be mobilized on the very coast that the Kashihara had sailed past. Then they would all cross to Oēn and march on the capital.
After clearing Ryukyu, it took only another two days to cross the Haku Straits—the body of water separating the two great island-states. It was nighttime when the captain of the ship decided to take the Kashihara into port.
"We were very careful in choosing our ports," Niten said to the Centralians, shrugging off his greatcoat. The other samurai and the Ainu shamans were doing likewise, losing their whaler garments and slipping back into their armor and robes. "This is Daichyi, one of Oēn's chief port cities. We must tread softly, however…the Daimyo of this han is Yōzei Tsunesuke, and he is one of the hardline loyalists. Should we be discovered on his lands…our plans would require adjusting."
"Better to not be discovered on his lands," Lord Fernando agreed.
Althos and his men all strapped their shields to their backs before covering themselves with long, brown traveler's cloaks. These would hide their fair skin, which would stand out a tad bit amongst the bronze-skinned Ainu.
"We have used this dock many times in the past," Niten crossed over to the landward side of the hold, now fully dressed in his armor. He gave two of his men a nod. They bowed and strode over to the side of the hold, where they unsealed the hatch that was normally used for loading supplies directly into the hold.
It wasn't a very commonly used hatch, and the docks on this particular wharf were incompatible—they were elevated above the water and therefore could only be used to board a ship's deck, not its hold.
The hatch opened to reveal the dark, faintly moonlit waters of the Daichyi Bay. The dock that the Kashihara was moored to was directly overhead, obscuring the sky. Water lapped against the hull not far below the opening.
Niten stepped down from the hatch…and onto the surface of the water. He moved out under the dock and started heading towards shore. From this angle, it looked like he was walking on the water.
Several of the other samurai followed him before he stopped and waited for the Centralians to follow. Lord Fernando was the first to step out through the hatch. He was apprehensive at first, but the hesitation vanished when his foot reached the water, went down about an inch or so, and found purchase on a solid surface.
He quickly saw that stone slabs had been placed under this particular dock that ran right under the wooden walkway above. One could walk to the shore under the docks; completely unseen. Naturally, the hidden stone walkway was best used in the darkness of night; using it in the daylight ran the risk of being spotted, even under the dock.
In the dead of night, though…when the docks were barely populated to begin with, and when the only real light came from the dim lanterns lining the piers, making it to the shore undetected wasn't too hard.
One by one, the Centralian marines followed the Praetor out onto the stone walkway, and were followed in turn by the rest of the samurai and shamans. The hidden walkway followed along under the pier and took the Ainu/Centralian force under the normally-bustling docks of Daichyi.
It led to a ladder. The samurai and marines climbed up the ladder and found themselves in a storehouse of some sort. There were crates and supplies all over the place, so they had to go up the ladder in small groups.
Lord Fernando stepped out of the storehouse and onto the streets, squinting slightly against the light of the lamps.
Ainu cities were absolutely nothing like their Centralian counterparts. Most of the structures were made of wood with some doors and walls composed of a kind of thick, heavy paper, as opposed to the stone and brick structures of Centralian cities. The buildings also had much more space between them, unlike Centralia's denser, more closed-in cities.
"Could you imagine what would happen if a fire sparked in one of these cities?" Varro, the optio—or second-in-command—of Althos's force of marines, asked. He spoke quietly so only the other Centralians could hear him.
"They've built their dwellings in this fashion ever since they stopped living in caves," Lord Fernando replied, careful to keep his voice down. "I'm sure they've learned how to prevent fires, by now."
"Quiet, back there!" Niten hissed, shouting in a whisper. The Centralians had been speaking very quietly, but apparently not quietly enough.
Lord Fernando was perfectly happy to opt for total silence. He was sure the samurai would not complain.
Niten led the small force of Ainu and Centralians a little ways down the main street they had emerged onto before taking them through a series of alleyways. At this time of night, there were barely any people roaming the streets, but at the same time they weren't completely deserted.
All it would take was one loose tongue, one person who was in the right place at the right time to see the force of invaders…and Niten's much-needed element of surprise would go up in smoke. News of their presence would reach Kātayō, and the Sun Emperor would subsequently not rest until the walls of the capital were airtight.
No one made a sound for the rest of the little trek.
Daichyi was a city of respectable size; much larger than your average town or village. Seeing as the combined force of samurai and marines could not simply sprint from one end of the city to the other without being noticed, they had to take it slowly. By the time they reached the outer walls of the city, dawn's first light was beginning to glow softly in the east.
The strike force had to get through those walls before sunrise, or else they'd have to hide in the city until nightfall…and that would be nearly impossible, in a bustling port city such as this. So basically, it was 'over the wall by sunrise' or bust.
There were sentries patrolling the walls, so the party couldn't simply wait at the base. They had to hole up at a distance and wait. Niten sent Aito, one of his samurai, ahead of the main party. He gave the younger warrior a coil of rope and instructed him to get on top of the wall and drop the rope for everyone else to climb.
"Is that necessary?" Cicero whispered to the Shogun's deputy. "I'm sure I could use Wind to secure the rope to the top."
"I will not risk using magic here," Niten replied. "There are always mages among the sentries; invoking the elements here runs the risk of them sensing it. It is a chance I will not take, not with what is at stake."
The sky started to brighten to a navy blue, and the stars began to fade away. Lord Fernando clicked his tongue impatiently. He breathed on his hands and fingers to keep them warm. It had been early autumn when Lord Fernando first arrived in the Ainu Empire, and he had spent the majority of the fall in Kakusa re ta.
It wasn't exactly winter, yet, but autumn was beginning to make the transition into colder climes. Mornings and nights were much colder than they used to be. In Centralia, the weather always got consistently worse in the winter; the same appeared to be true for the Ainu Empire.
The Praetor did not look forward to sailing home over the Mare Orientale—which was Centralian for, quite simply, Eastern Ocean—in the middle of winter. But he would brave the stormy seas a thousand times over in order to protect his homeland.
It was just starting to get bright enough to see without the aid of the meager light of the distant streetlamps when a rope suddenly fell from the top of the wall, its end dangling just above the ground. Clearly, Aito had succeeded in his task.
"Praetor," Niten nodded to Lord Fernando and pointed at the rope. Clearly, the samurai commander wanted his Centralian counterpart to go first.
The Praetor crept out of hiding and grasped the rope, pulling himself up the height of the walls, one heave at a time. Fernando was grateful that the strength of his prime had not completely deserted him, yet; he managed to scale the walls in less than thirty seconds. The Praetor exchanged nods with Aito before turning around and helping the next map up over the edge.
The samurai, shamans, and marines all shimmied up after him.
Just as he helped up the man after him, Aito grasped the Praetor's shoulder and gestured to the outer side of the wall. Another rope was secured to the wall's lip, which would allow the men to climb safely back down to the ground outside of Daichyi. This made sense—had there only been one rope, everyone would have had to clump up on the ramparts and wait their turn once more to descend.
That would have gotten them spotted for sure.
Lord Fernando did not reach the ground quite as quickly as he wanted to, but he was willing to sacrifice a few seconds if it meant the skin of his palms wouldn't get rubbed off from brush-burn.
Varro hit the dirt right behind him, followed closely by Cato, Marius, Virens, and the rest of the marines. They were interspersed with the shamans and Cicero; Althos was the last to descend before the samurai started coming down.
The last person over the wall was Niten. He didn't use the rope, either; he unfastened the rope so that the sentries wouldn't find it, which forced him to climb down the walls with nothing but his hands and feet…which he somehow managed.
Niten coiled up the rope and slung it over his shoulder, rejoining the strike force. "We must put as much distance as we can between ourselves and Daichyi. The quickest way to the capital, without using the roads, is through the Omasa Hills…three days march, provided we move fast."
"Then we haven't a moment to lose," Lord Fernando declared, adjusting the pack he wore on his back that carried his rations and supplies. Niten turned around and started walking; everyone else falling into step behind him, forging ahead into the forests in the distance.
For the next five days, the small force of Centralian and Ainu warriors trekked deep into the Omasa Hills. The hills themselves weren't very visible to the strike force because they were covered with a thick, dense forest. The only reason they knew they were traversing hills at all was because they'd find themselves walking uphill and downhill several times a day.
The mornings were the worst, temperature-wise. The nights were much colder, but the men were at least able to keep warm as they slept in their bedrolls. In the morning, though—usually before sunrise—they were roused by Niten and Althos. Climbing out of their semi-warm bedrolls and into the chilly, late autumn morning of the Omasa Hills was not exactly an enjoyable experience.
Not one of the men complained, though. That wasn't surprising for the samurai—men of their ilk had that kind of discipline hammered into them at a very early age. The Centralians were just as capable of sucking it up as the samurai, but discipline for them was instilled by their time spent in the legions before joining the marines; it was not a way of life.
And thus, it surprised Lord Fernando when he did not hear any of them complaining. Perhaps they did not want to seem whiny or weak to their Ainu counterparts. The Praetor supposed this mindset was much better than having the marines not care at all what the Ainu thought of them.
Every morning, before sunrise, the men would wake. They would brave the cold temperatures of the early morning, roll up their bedrolls, and secure their weapons. All of them slept in their armor—which was much harder than it looked, but it was one of the first skills a soldier learned after being assigned to a legion.
Lord Fernando would already be awake. He brewed a fresh pot of coffee every morning before Niten and Althos roused the men, much to the Centralians' delight. At first, only the marines had coffee in the morning, but on the second day the Centralians managed to persuade a handful of samurai to try it…and by the fourth day, Lord Fernando had to stop the samurai from crowding him.
Then the men would set off, venturing ever deeper into the woods. They would hike until a short while after sunrise, when they would stop and eat a quick breakfast. Then it was another few hours of steady marching—broken by an even quicker lunch—until evening began to set in.
In a way, the hated cold weather worked to their advantage; had it been summer, the afternoons would have been too hot for the men to continue marching without keeling over from heat exhaustion. In this weather, the early to mid-afternoon period of the day was much more bearable.
It would take torture to get Lord Fernando to speak kindly of cold weather, but—in his mind—he grudgingly admitted that it had its perks.
Throughout the entire trek across the wilderness, Niten was always leading the way. This only made sense—he was, after all, merely retracing the route he had taken to Kātayō when he'd infiltrated the Sun Emperor's palace and rescued the Centralian Praetor.
Though Niten had said the capital was three days' fast march away from Daichyi, the strike force ran into a good amount of rain which turned some of the hillsides into mud walls, slowing them down considerably. They didn't reach Kātayō until the fifth day.
Lord Fernando gazed up at the towering city walls through the cover of the underbrush which he and Niten were hunkered down behind. Samurai could be seen patrolling the ramparts, so the strike force didn't dare make a move against the walls until nightfall.
"How will Aito climb these walls?" the Praetor asked the samurai commander. "They are much larger than those of Daichyi."
"We will not be climbing these walls," Niten shook his head. "We will be using a secret way, known only to a select few under the Shogun's command. I'm afraid you and your men will have to be blindfolded."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You are a foreigner, Praetor," Niten said flatly. "If your Centralian capital city had a secret entrance known only to your royal family and a few trusted subordinates…would you willingly give up its location to a force of Ainu?"
Lord Fernando thought about it for a few moments before falling into agreement with the samurai. "No, I don't believe I would," the Praetor admitted. "Very well. As long as it gets us inside the city, do what you must."
The two leaders moved away from their observation spot and headed back to the glade where their men were holed up, waiting to move. It was late afternoon, so they would have to wait for another few hours until they could use the cover of darkness.
Lord Fernando pulled Althos and Varro aside, informing them of Niten's intentions to keep the location of the secret entrance hidden from the Centralians. Fortunately, they accepted this decision without even questioning it, as Lord Fernando had.
"Smart of them, not even revealing that kind of knowledge to allies," Varro remarked. "It's that kind of thinking that keeps kingdoms alive."
The men forced themselves to remain patient as the day gradually made its transition into night. Even after dusk, Niten refused to move on the walls, waiting for total darkness to take hold. He made his move not long before midnight, issuing orders to the other samurai and shamans under his command.
As Lord Fernando had counseled the Shogun many days ago, the strike force splintered into smaller groups—three or four men each. Each group had only one or two marines—having anymore Centralians than that in a group would seem much too suspicious.
Though the marines had no idea where they were going, the samurai must have been briefed ahead of time. They obviously knew the capital city inside and out, so the Centralians were more than willing to simply trust them to get them to safe places on the other side.
Throughout the rest of the night, Niten sent one group after another out into the darkness, waiting around twenty or so minutes between groups. Little by little, the number of warriors in the glade dwindled until there were only a handful left.
Lord Fernando had stressed earlier on that under no circumstances should Niten, Althos, Varro, or Cicero be in the same group, as they were the most important figures in this entire operation. Without Niten at the head, the entire attack would lose much of its cohesion, and losing Althos or Varro would cause disorganization in the ranks of the marines. Having any of them in the same group would be much too risky.
And Cicero was separated because he was the most important player in this game of war. As the only Centralian mage present in the Ainu Empire, he was the only one who could directly try to cleanse Zamorak's taint from the Sun Emperor—the Ainu shamans, due to their beliefs, would not be able to do so themselves.
Due to the need to keep Cicero safe, he went with Rei, the oldest and most experienced of the Itoan shamans.
Lord Fernando went last. He followed Niten into the darkness—followed in turn by a samurai named Mitsuyo, and Virens; one of the marines. When they reached the city walls, Lord Fernando and Virens allowed Mitsuyo to tie small strips of cloth over their eyes, completely blocking out their vision.
The two samurai led the Centralians, making sure they didn't walk into or trip over anything in their temporary blindness. Lord Fernando had no idea where he was being taken or what his surroundings were. He was certain of one thing; Niten was leading him through the woods, not to the base of the city walls.
He could hear the crinkling of dead leaves being trod underfoot, could feel the light breeze of cold air whistling through the trees, could hear the sounds of the city in the near distance…
He heard someone knock on something that sounded wooden—a log, or a tree, perhaps—followed closely by a soft shifting sound. Suddenly, the ground became firm. The Praetor realized that he was walking on stone. The breeze was gone, as well, which meant that he was no longer in the outdoors.
He took another step, and was surprised when his foot fell forward before hitting stone.
A staircase.
The stairs spiraled down into the ground until they stopped abruptly, and the Praetor found himself being marched down a straight path. A tunnel, no doubt. At one point, he heard running water and smelled something…unpleasant. More walking, then some more stairs…and then a ladder.
Lord Fernando reached up blindly until he found purchase on the next rung, pulling himself up. He did this until he reached the top and emerged into some sort of building. He briefly wondered if this was their destination, but the moment Mitsuyo—who was bringing up the rear—reached the top of the ladder, Niten promptly pushed the Praetor outside.
The two samurai led their Centralian comrades through the streets for another short period of time before Niten allowed the blindfolds to be removed.
Lord Fernando blinked several times, his eyes adjusting to the illumination of the streetlamps. The lamps themselves weren't really all that bright, but after being blinded for the past…Lord Fernando believed it may have been at least an hour…after not being able to see for that amount of time, even a dim light seemed like a sunburst.
Lord Fernando could see the Ainuin Palace, perched on top of the manmade pyramid-like structure in the centre of the city, towering over everything else. He could also hear the soft crash of waves coming from the nearby harbor.
Niten kept to the smaller side streets, not wanting to risk encountering any strangers on the more heavily-traveled roads. He headed straight into what looked like an inn, instructing the others to remain outside. They waited for a minute or so until Niten emerged with a room key in hand.
"We will use the back entrance," he said, gesturing for the others to follow. He led the other three men around to the back of the inn and entered through the open doorway. Lord Fernando followed him down a short hallway and down a flight of stairs into a basement-like floor. There were a handful of rooms down here—the room key which Niten held went to one of them. He turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open.
The four men headed into the room, closing the door behind them. The room itself was nothing special—two beds, a flickering oil lamp, and a small mirror set on one of the walls. Lord Fernando's initial opinion of the room drastically changed, however, when Niten pulled back one of the rugs and used a knife to pry out a small piece of the floor.
He curled his fingers around the gap he had created and pulled. With a dull thunk, an entire square of the wooden floor detached itself, revealing a dark shaft leading into a good-sized chamber down below.
One by one, the men all clambered down the shaft and into the underground chamber. Niten came last, fitting the hatchway back over the mouth of the shaft, making the floor overhead whole once more.
Mitsuyo took out a small piece of flint and used it to light a candle, which he in turn used to light the four large oil lamps set in each corner of the chamber. The lamps flared to life, revealing a drab, gray room. The walls were made of rock and mortar, as was the ground. Other than a table with blade oil and sharpening stones, and the four lamps, the room itself was bare. Clearly the occupants were meant to bring their own supplies.
"This is one of our saferooms," Niten explained. "The Shogun had this room and others like it constructed in secret ever since the Emperor starting acting strangely. I do not know what purpose he had in mind for them, but now it would seem they have finally found use…"
"So, uh…what do we do now?" Virens asked as he spread his bedroll out on the ground.
"We wait," the Praetor replied. "Until the signal comes, we wait."