EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 127: Compromise

.

.

"You stand accused of murder and treason," said Mineru. "How do you plead?"

Ushio didn't respond, or if she did, her sobs drowned out the words. She was kneeling in the centre of the throne room, shackled and surrounded by a ring of warriors. Her robes made a faint crunching sound when she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, causing the blood to crack and splinter with each movement. Her hair was in an even sorrier state than her clothes. The curls looked hard and crusty, like fusilli pasta in a canned tomato sauce—the microwaved kind.

"How do you plead?" Mineru repeated.

"It wasn't me," Ushio wailed. "That monster made me do it. I didn't have a choice!"

Octavia chewed the skin around her fingernails. The priestess had a point. She hadn't been herself at the time. It didn't seem fair that she was the one taking the fall for the ngea's actions. Would the other two dawnsingers have been treated as unjustly if Mineru hadn't already killed them? The bite on Octavia's forearm tingled at the thought. The wound had since been stitched and bandaged, but it still hurt whenever she moved her arm.

"That excuse only applies to one of the accusations," Mineru hissed. "Not only have you betrayed your queen, but you have also forsaken your sacred vows and brought shame to the Order of Dawnsingers. Whilst it's true that older priestesses can marry under special circumstances, novices are expected to remain pure and virtuous as proof of their devotion to Amaterasu. They're not supposed to run around seducing other people's husbands."

Mikan's mother looked exhausted. She was slumped over the middle throne with her lips pressed together in a taut line. Her hair hung from her scalp in knotted pink clumps, and she was wearing the same clothes she'd had on last night. The blood had dried a rusty brown, as had the blade on the end of her naginata, which had yet to be wiped clean.

"He pursued me," Ushio said in a shaky voice. "I wouldn't have gone through with it otherwise. He told me that the two of you were having problems—"

"Lies!" Mineru roared. She shot to her feet and stormed down the dais steps to confront Ushio face-to-face. "How dare you slander the dead. My husband's body is still warm, and yet you have the nerve to invent stories about him!" She snapped at the priestess like a wild dog. "I could have you executed right now, and I wouldn't lose a lick of sleep over it. After everything you've done, I should kill you myself!"

"Wait!" Octavia felt light-headed as Mineru's eyes snapped to hers. She hadn't meant to verbalise the objection, but the thought of an innocent woman being punished for someone else's crimes didn't sit right with her. "Permission to make a suggestion, my queen?"

"Permission granted."

Octavia tried to ignore Sesshoumaru's stare burrowing into her skull, but it was downright impossible. All she could do was endeavour to steer the conversation away from violence and towards a more peaceful outcome. "What if," she started. "What if instead of executing her, she has to leave the mountain and never return—"

"Banishment is too weak a punishment for all that she's done," Mineru interjected.

"That wasn't the end of the sentence." Octavia swallowed before continuing. "Instead of executing her, what if you gave her to us?"

The room fell silent.

"Think of it as a pre-wedding gift," she tacked on awkwardly. "Or as payment for getting rid of those monsters for you. If it weren't for us, they would have slaughtered everyone – you and your daughter included."

"They wouldn't have been here at all if not for you."

Octavia tensed her jaw. "Even so, we'd be doing you a favour by taking her off your hands. If I were you, I wouldn't want her anywhere near my town, not even as a corpse."

Mineru's frown deepened. "Letting her roam free in the Western Lands is an even less fitting punishment."

"Who said anything about her being free?"

Octavia's eyes shifted to Ushio. The dawnsinger's deflated expression almost made her reconsider, until she remembered that Ushio would only survive if she was able to convince Mineru to say yes to her proposition.

"How long was the affair going on for?"

"A year and six months," Ushio answered with a sniff. "Give or take a few days."

A few people in the audience gasped. Their shock was more than warranted. It was bad enough that their queen's consort had been having an affair. The fact that his lover was a dawnsinger – and a novice at that – merely served as extra fuel for the fire.

Octavia was glad that Mikan had refused to attend the trial. She didn't need to hear any of this. It would only upset her further.

"That settles it, then." Octavia turned back to Mineru and flashed her a self-assured smile. "She'll spend the next eighteen months in our employment. There's plenty of work to be done in the kitchens, and I just fired my last servant, so there's a vacancy there, too."

Mikan's mother laughed. "You can't be serious."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"What happens once the sentence has been served?"

"That's up to you. We can either extend it or create a new ruling."

"This is not our way. I don't know how you do things in the West, but here, criminals receive the justice they deserve." Pursing her lips, she locked gazes with Sesshoumaru and asked, "What say you, my lord? Does the mage speak for you or against you?"

"I have no objections," he replied. "If she wishes to subject the accused to months of physical labour and psychological torment, then so be it. It will do the priestess good to get her hands dirty, and perhaps she will learn not to bite the hand that feeds her."

"Perhaps," Mineru agreed with an absent smile. "Very well. If you want her that badly, who am I to stop you?"

Some of the warriors advanced towards Ushio with a fresh set of manacles. They removed the old pair and snapped the new ones into place around her wrists, then pushed her hair aside to fasten a collar around her neck. Octavia's stomach turned as they threaded a chain through the frontal ring, attaching the collar to the priestess's wrist bindings.

"She's all yours," declared Mineru. "May she serve you well."

"I'm sure she will," replied Sesshoumaru.

Octavia swallowed again. She knew a threat when she heard one.

The warriors heeded Mineru's commands and shepherded Ushio towards the exit. Octavia caught her eye as she passed and braced herself for a dirty look, but Ushio's expression was more docile than anything. She looked like a kicked dog. The comparison made guilt blossom in Octavia's chest.

The only consolation was that it was one less person's blood on her hands.

.

.

Jiahao's funeral was a miserable affair.

A large pyre had been erected in front of the temple, encircled by four wooden posts and a ring of white chrysanthemums. Mikan's father had been laid to rest atop the pile of logs. The dawnsingers had dressed him in a plain white kimono with the right side wrapped over the left, and were in the process of braiding flowers into his hair.

Mineru oversaw the preparations from afar. She and Mikan donned matching obsidian robes and wore their hair in simple buns. Even Shizuka had renounced her usual priestess garbs in favour of an ebony kosode with complimentary hakama trousers. The dawnsingers were dressed normally, but they'd exchanged their bronze veils for darker ones.

When the ceremony was almost over, Mikan took a step forwards and began to sing. Octavia recognised the song straight away. It was the same one that Nagisa had sung at Taro's funeral.

Father once said to me
Many moons ago
A demon hand will defend

Mother said one day
There is more that you must know
A mortal hand will sustain

Whilst she was singing, several yosei landed on the funeral pyre and gathered around Jiahao's lifeless body. These yosei seemed different to the ones they'd encountered previously. They came in varying shapes and sizes, and only a handful of them had the iconic glowing wings that Octavia was so used to seeing. The others were sporting deep turquoise feathers tipped with white.

Two hands together
Incomplete alone
Balance and union
And the gate will open

As Mikan circled back to the first verse, her mother accepted a lit torch from Shizuka and walked towards the pyre. The flames spread around the ring of chrysanthemums and up the four posts before eating their way inwards. Mineru had been a pillar of strength up until then, but even she turned away as the fire engulfed Jiahao's body.

Instead of returning to her daughter's side, she joined Octavia beneath the ivy-covered wall. Only then did she allow her gaze to settle on the towering inferno in front of them.

"He was a good man," she said. Most of the pyre had burned away by that point, taking her husband's body with it. "He would have been a great ruler. It's not easy being in charge. The burden is a heavy one, but he made me feel weightless. If I'd known he wanted it . . ."

The sentence remained unfinished. Despite how cruel she'd been to Ushio, Octavia couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"I want you to promise me something," the demoness mumbled.

"What?"

"You've encountered those creatures before, yes?"

Octavia nodded.

"And the stories about your triumph during the battle against the usurper—are they true?"

"To a certain extent."

"Good." Mikan's mother gave her a fiery look. "When you see them again, make sure you kill them, too."

"I will," Octavia promised.

The smoke billowed skywards like a dragon taking flight. As the flames grew smaller, Mineru's voice joined the thousands of townsfolk who had come to pay their respects.

Octavia glanced around the courtyard with a heavy heart. The only ones who weren't singing were Sesshoumaru and herself. Something told her that he was thinking about his own father as he stared at the pyre without blinking.

Speaking of families, why had the ngea encouraged her to reconcile with Augustus? Wasn't he also their enemy?

As baffling as that was, it was the least of their worries. After today, her main concern was what was going to happen if the Nameless One escaped from its prison and entered their world. The Shadow may have loved the Radiant One, but the Nameless One was just a body. Without its mind, there was no telling what it would do once the pair were reunited.

.

.

They set off the following morning with a third of the Ether Clan's army in tow. The remaining warriors had been divided into two groups – one would remain on the mountain whilst the other crossed over into Arashi's territory. Sesshoumaru had written his fellow warlord a letter to explain what was happening.

Octavia spent the majority of the journey home on dragonback. It was a fourteen-day hike from Mount Reimei to the Western Stronghold, and Sesshoumaru had decreed that she and Rin were to remain in their saddles unless instructed otherwise. She'd drawn the line at flying on ahead to reduce the amount of travel time, though. The last thing she wanted was to appear weak and undisciplined in front of their new comrades.

When they were halfway there, Sesshoumaru signalled for the horde to stop and make camp for the night. Octavia spent most of the evening lying flat on her stomach next to Rin, whose saddle sores were just as heinous as hers, if not worse. They were in far too much pain to sleep, and that was without the added stress of Rin's nightly visions.

Octavia was secretly grateful for the sudden bout of insomnia. Ever since the funeral, she'd been having a strange recurring dream. She was in a forest with cascading waterfalls and a thick canopy that obstructed her view of the sky. The dream started out pleasantly enough. She would be strolling through the forest and taking in the scenery, until she happened upon a rustic settlement made up of beige tents and unfinished treehouses.

Her heart raced as she crept closer and saw figures clad in yellow weaving between the tents like threads. The sight of her brother walking amongst them never failed to startle her awake. Each time, his eyes would lock onto hers from across the campsite – the left one a striking shade of purple – and widen in apparent shock. The dream ended before he could do anything else, but his yearning was as tangible as the moss beneath her feet.

She got up several hours before dawn and waddled away from the extinguished campfire to relieve herself in the woods. On her way back, she found Ushio tied to a tree trunk with three surly-looking warriors for company. The former priestess had at least bathed since the trial, so her hair and clothes were no longer encrusted with blood, but her complexion was pale and insipid, like a fish's underbelly.

Octavia's mouth twisted into a frown. She marched towards the men who were standing guard and cleared her throat upon arrival. They all turned to face her, bowing their heads in the process.

She returned the bow. "Good morning."

"Good morning, mage-sama," one warrior replied. "What can we do for you?"

Octavia gestured to Ushio with her hand. "I'm here for her. She is my servant, after all. Now could you please untie her so that she can be of some use to me?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Shizuka-sama ordered us to—"

"Your High Priestess no longer has any claim over her. She belongs to me now, and I intend to put her services to good use. Starting with her hunting us some breakfast. I don't know about you, but I'm starved."

They seemed amused by her explanation.

"I suggest you find someone else, mage-sama. This one hasn't hunted a day in her life."

"Then it's high time we changed that, don't you think?"

The men laughed.

Octavia resisted the urge to show them her teeth. "We'll start with the basics. Like rigging traps, for instance. We'd be doing her a disservice if we refused to share our knowledge with her. And most of the camp is still asleep, so—"

"All right, all right," one of them chuckled. "You've made your point."

He sliced through the ropes with his spear and hauled Ushio to her feet. She teetered in his hold, but managed to keep her balance as he handed her over to Octavia.

"Thank you so much," she said, fluttering her eyelashes at them. "If she catches anything, you three can have half the meat."

They grinned in anticipation.

She tugged Ushio into the forest with her. The chains rattled as she walked, scaring the birds that were roosting overhead and causing them to fly away in droves.

Octavia waited until there were a few miles between them and the campsite before coming to an abrupt halt. Ushio almost bumped into her. The young woman had been on autopilot for the past ninety minutes, staring ahead blankly as her legs carried her through the woods towards the edge of a cliff overlooking a steep gulf. The sun wasn't due to rise for at least another hour, so the water was the colour of wet cement.

"How are you with directions?"

Ushio wrinkled her brow. "What?"

"Can you tell which way is north or not?"

"Of course I can." She sounded offended. "What do you take me for?"

Octavia's face heated. She supposed it had been a pretty stupid question. Astrology was an essential part of the Ether Clan's way of life. As a former dawnsinger, Ushio could probably pick out the North Star with her eyes half-closed.

"You should head southeast–" Octavia told her, "–towards Musashi. Look for a village beside a forest with an enormous cedar tree. You'll know it when you see it. When you get there, ask for the village miko, Kaede. Or Sango and Miroku if she isn't available. Tell them I sent you there on account of being from the same clan as Inuyasha's father."

"Who is Inuyasha?"

"Sesshoumaru's half-brother. Jiahao wasn't the only one who liked finding his way into other women's beds."

Ushio recoiled at the mention of her dead lover's name. She didn't speak as Octavia inched closer and fiddled with the collar around her neck. The metal split open after coming into contact with the 'break' mark, clattering to the ground alongside the wrist manacles.

"Why are you doing this?" Ushio whispered.

Octavia kept her gaze low. "Because I know how it feels when an older man gives you the right amount of attention at the wrong time."

She gave Ushio some space to process what she'd said. "I won't make it," she mumbled. "Musashi is hundreds of miles away. My body wouldn't be able to handle it."

Octavia was about to argue otherwise, until she noticed the placement of Ushio's hands. They were folded neatly over her stomach. "Are you . . ."

The resounding silence all but confirmed it.

"How far along are you?"

"Around twelve weeks, I think."

"Does Mineru know?"

"I wouldn't be here if she did."

Octavia had a sobering thought. "Did he know?"

Ushio nodded her head. "He was the first person I told. I didn't plan on telling anyone else, but here we are." She rubbed her belly in a circular motion. "I was going to wait until after the engagement party to talk to him, until I heard a rumour that he'd be accompanying you to the Western Lands."

Octavia blinked in surprise. It was the first she'd heard of it.

"Is that why you were crying?"

Ushio inhaled. "How did you—" She stopped herself. "Yes. I was afraid of what would happen once my condition became public knowledge, but I figured it would be all right if he claimed me as his mistress. I begged him to let me come, but he said it was impossible. He told me to be patient—to lay low and keep the pregnancy a secret until he returned."

Her voice cracked and tears rushed down her cheeks. Octavia understood how she felt. She'd had plenty of pregnancy scares herself. Only one had turned out to be genuine, but she'd taken care of it. Warren hadn't minded calling in sick that day in order to drive her to the clinic for her appointment. It had been his idea, after all.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," she murmured. "And you don't have to beg, either. Just say the word and we can be at the stronghold by nightfall."

Ushio shook her head. "I would sooner perish alone in the wilderness than incite judgement onto myself and the legitimacy of my child."

"You don't mean that."

"Oh, but I do. Have you any idea what Mineru-sama will do when she finds out? She won't just take it out on me. My baby will be killed before the cord connecting us has even been severed, or it will be taken from me at the earliest opportunity and held hostage by her." She scrubbed the tears from her eyes and exhaled deeply. "If I go with you, the two of us will never be safe. Our only option is to disappear."

"It's too dangerous," Octavia protested. "Let us help you, Ushio. We can find you somewhere to hide, or you can go into seclusion until the child is born. We'll tell everyone that you've fallen ill, and once it's over, we'll say you passed away in your sleep."

The young woman smiled at her. "I appreciate the concern, but we both know that my way is safer."

Octavia sighed. This wasn't how she'd expected their conversation to go at all. She closed her eyes and tried not to think about all the horrible ways that Ushio and her unborn baby might meet their untimely ends.

"You were going to set me free, anyway," Ushio reasoned. "What were you planning on telling the others when I didn't come back from our hunting trip?"

Octavia met her gaze and held it.

Ushio's smile faded. "I see. In that case . . ."

She raked a claw down her arm without flinching. Blood trickled out of the cut and dripped onto the snow. She caught some of the droplets with her fingers, then flicked them onto Octavia's face as if she were a canvas.

"That's better," Ushio remarked, admiring her work. "No one will question you now."

Octavia flashed her a sad smile. "Be careful," she urged. "Not everyone is as merciful as I am."

Ushio chuckled. "This isn't mercy. This is you trying to convince yourself that you're not a monster. But guess what? We're all monsters when we need to be. We do our best to hide it, but it's in our nature to lash out once we've been backed into a corner. It's not always pretty, but you shouldn't be ashamed of it. I know I'm not."

Octavia waited until Ushio had vanished into the trees before retracing her steps. The journey seemed much shorter without the sound of chains dragging across the snow.

Dawn was breaking by the time she made it back to the campsite. The entire horde was awake now, including Rin and Kohaku. They all gaped at her as she passed, but she paid them no mind and marched straight up to the three warriors who'd been guarding Ushio. The suspicion in their eyes changed to concern when they saw the blood on her face.

"What happened?" they demanded in unison.

"You were right," Octavia said. "She was a shitty hunter."

.

.