Chapter 18:
The Sunless Kingdom
Akiha, however, wasn't having a good time.
It was scorching.
Blindingly bright.
Dizzyingly colorful.
Wasn't sand supposed to be brown? Where was all this blue and hot pink coming from? Spells? How? Also, why were those bandits laughing if they were fighting? Akiha hid behind one of the tents, only to jump when he nearly toppled over it. What were they made of, anyw... never mind, best not to ask many questions.
Once he finally sneaked close enough to take a look at the fight, Akiha very, very carefully crouched next to a conveniently-placed crate. He'd almost shattered his ankle when he'd paced a bit too hastily before. There was a reason why seldom anyone boosted their physical attributes through magic; while it sounded smart, feeling ten times lighter and heavier at once did a number on one's motor skills.
There were two people in armor fighting against some guy in not armor, and then, not too far away, were two others fighting against a lot of others, and... wait, why would an archer need such heavy armor? Weren't they hot under this weather? Were those the ones Cérise had mentioned earlier? Most likely. How to even talk to them, though? They appeared to be fairly busy trying not to die.
"Hey, wanna bet?"
"Not now," Akiha told the stranger who'd crouched next to him.
"Why not? It's not or never. Literally."
"Listen, I kindAAAH!" He rammed into the crate, destroying its convenience. The guy next to Akiha, and the very same who'd torn a tent in two with his bare hands before, didn't seem too bothered by this, even as some fragrant, purple fruit rolled all around them.
In fact, he took one and gave it a bite. "Don't be so dramatic. I know your friends are here. Have a plum."
Akiha scrambled up.
Kaz.
This was Kaz.
The guy Cérise had—wait, but did he even seem that dangerous? Akiha was taller, and the kid was almost as thin. Besides, he would've thought the leader of an apparently infamous bandit group would be a bit more menacing. On top of the (dyed) pink hair, his eyepatch had the shape of a heart, and not the anatomically correct kind.
Akiha took a plum. He knew the guy knew. "Thanks," he rasped out. "Good, um. Good afternoon."
"Good afternoon. Who you betting for? The southerners or my boys?"
"The... your boys?"
"Heh. Coward." Kaz flicked the pit of what used to be fruit before reaching for another one. Said pit caught fire and dissolved mid-air. Plums kind of looked like hearts. Both kinds. "Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you."
"You won't?"
"Nope. Unless you try something funny. See those guys? They tried something funny."
"...so they're getting hurt..."
"...yes..."
Akiha took a bite off the plum. He'd never had these before. It was chewy.
"You didn't ask me how I know your friends are here."
"I can infer the—"
"No, no, ask me."
Thus Akiha inquired: "How did you know my friends are here?"
"One of my boys told me. He also said that you cowards all used some kind of super strength spell on yourselves, and that one of your boys took three of mine down. But hey! It is what it is. We started it by bringing you guys here, don't you agree?"
Akiha nodded.
"So you're one of those equivalent exchange people?"
"I... suppose?" He knew it was a trap the moment he said that.
Kaz continued, now on his third plum, "So it makes sense for me to take those three, right?"
Obviously, Akiha said nothing this time.
"Finish your plum."
He did.
"Don't worry, it's not like I kill people or anything. Not anymore. You could say I'm on the path of redemption."
And even though he really shouldn't have, Akiha told him, "You're selling people."
"Your point?"
And even though he really shouldn't have, Akiha scowled at him.
Kaz reached out for a fourth plum. "Listen, it is what it is. It's not like I wanted to do this for a living. Ask me what I wanted to do. Ask."
"No," said Akiha.
"I wanted to be a tattoo artist. Cool, right? I even designed the logo of my last group, which, by the way, was cruelly assassinated by one of your friends. If I was one of those equivalent exchange people, then I wouldn't be talking to you, but I am, because revenge is pointless. Agree or disagree?"
Akiha grit his teeth.
"So disagree. Listen, here's a life lesson. Revenge is an ember in the ashes, but friendship can keep fire blazing forever, so long as there's someone to feed it. And the thing is—"
"Fuck off."
"You fuck off," Kaz replied. For the first time since they'd met, his smile vanished. "I'm having a moment here."
"Where's Snail?"
"Dead."
"Stop lying. Where is she?"
The smile was back, yet it didn't reach Kaz's eye. "I'll give her back if you give my friends back."
What did he mean, anyway? Had the guards seized some of the bandits? Oh, if only he'd stayed for a little bit longer with 'his boys'. "Snail did nothing wrong," Akiha said, "Unlike your slave trader co-workers. Stop calling them friends. If you truly cared for them, you'd be saving them right now."
"Are you dumb? By the time Noire told me what happened, the guards were too far away, thanks to your... not friends, then. Guards?"
"You should've chased after it, anyway."
"And die of dehydration? And abandon my other friends?"
"Yes, if that's what it takes!" Akiha stood up. He wobbled a bit. His trousers and sleeves had been soaked with plum juice. "I can't... can't believe... how can you live with yourself?"
Kaz stood up, too, less pathetically. He rolled his eye. "I don't wanna fight right now."
"You—you kidnap, and... and sell and... and then talk about friendship?"
"Yeah. Listen, there's a reason why my second-in-command is dealing with those guys right now. Your killer guard who 'did nothing wrong' sprained my finger. What's the big deal, anyway? Just flee. Just don't get caught."
Akiha had picked up a plum to hurl it at Kaz, but this stopped him. "Wait... Snail is the one who killed your group?"
"Eh. It's complicated."
"...Snail?"
"She didn't kill kill them, I guess. But she was an accomplice."
"Is she unharmed?"
"She'll live."
Akiha's grip tightened around the plum, but it didn't explode or anything, so he supposed the spell had worn out. It almost knocked common sense and integrity back into him. "Didn't you say revenge was pointless?"
"She's not dead."
So Akiha threw the plum. Predictably, Kaz caught it mid-air. He didn't crush or bite or hurl it back, however, instead tossing it above, then catching it again. He wasn't smiling anymore. Neither of them were.
He wasn't supposed to do this. Be here. Cérise would get mad. Haku would be furious. While Akiha frolicked around eating plums and failing to convince others to join his cause, all his actual friends were frozen and enslaved at a tyrant's tomb. Back then, as Akiha had dragged himself through the snow, towards a single point of light at the horizon, he'd told himself that his single goal would be to save everyone, no digressions, no backtracking, nothing. Besides, what could he do, realistically?
"Will you calm down or will we have to do this the bad way?"
Of course a slave trader being so indifferent to his own crimes was infuriating, but it wasn't as though Akiha would be able to actually defeat him, let alone dismantle this whole operation. In fact, now he had some time to think, this would effectively be his first real encounter. He'd have to hang his head and do as instructed.
"Good, good. Since you're being reasonable, I'll even sell you to someone nice."
...but then Kaz said that.
"Silence," Akiha told him. "You sound like a wraith."
"Nah, I don't."
"You do. You sound exactly like him."
"Him? Huh? You talked to a wraith? Like the actual monster?" Kaz's eye widened, not with shock, but curiosity. "Crazy. How did—"
Kaz sidestepped a body flying his way. Once it landed, he seemed about to speak again, but one of the warriors in armor lunged at him. With his bare hand, Kaz grabbed the side of the claymore as though it were a plum.
Another armored warrior—a girl—followed suit, though Kaz also casually seized her weapon. An axe, in this case. "Nah," Kaz said. "Sorry." Whereupon he shoved both of them back.
The girl spoke to her partner in a language Akiha couldn't even begin to comprehend. While her gibberish sounded scared, his sounded angry. The girl's partner gestured behind them, then in front, where Kaz was rubbing the side of his hand. "Shiou kid," he said, now in a common tongue (if only thanks to a grimoire), "Stay out of this. He's dangerous."
These two were, almost certainly, the foreigners Akiha had to partner with, but... weren't there supposed to be four? As if on cue, the girl asked, "What if he joins Vit and the guard?"
Vit, guard, girl, boy. Four foreigners. Mission accomplished? Meanwhile, Kaz just... let them talk. How polite. "Strength in numbers," Akiha said. "It'll be best to join hands."
Akiha would've expected the guy in armor to push back more, but he merely replied, "Fine," to then gesture behind him. "Val, be ready to protect him. Just in case."
The girl, Val, nodded. She and her partner aimed their weapons at Kaz, who aimed his gaze at Akiha as he slowly shook his head, neither accusatory nor annoyed, just... disappointed? At what? For a while now, 'the bad way' had been the inevitable outcome. Kaz's expression didn't change as he dodged the incoming blows, or as he stopped a slash from the girl's axe with two fingers, or as he redirected the guy's claymore with his hand and almost caused him to kill his partner.
...boredom. That was it.
"Svart, don't kill him," Val said. "Be careful!"
And what's more, Kaz didn't strike back. Akiha... what? What could he do? A sandstorm again? It'd just block everyone's visibility. A seism? Terrible idea. A wind attack would be functionally the same as the first option given how loose the soil was, so then... ice...?
Kaz spoke, "Let me guess. Revenge? Your parents won't come back from the grave if you kill me or whate—" When the latest strike actually landed, he stumbled backward, holding his arm. He didn't grimace, nor did blood spill from his fingers. It must've been a scratch at best, but even that was better than nothing.
"Silence, pest," Svart told him. "Where is the other one?"
"Huh?"
"Don't play dumb."
"Then don't be vague." For the first time since Akiha had seen him, Kaz's eye lit up. Was it an ember? A blaze? "What other one? What are you talking about?"
Val and Svart exchanged glances. "The other Wraith."
"What. That's—no. That's not possible."
Around that time, Akiha noticed the guy in armor had a snowflake pinned to his satchel, which could....? Mean...? He was also an ice specialist.
"That's my thing, right? Last survivor of the Sand Wraiths. And now you're saying there's another one? There's no way. Nah." But the ember was there, and it'd burned Kaz's indifference to cinders.
Akiha couldn't begin to understand the context of their exchange, but at the moment, none of it mattered. A disturbed mind brought forth clouded judgment. "Svart! Val! I shall imprison him in ice."
Kaz shot Akiha a look. "No you won't."
"Please distract him."
If he'd have to use magic Akiha should not, so be it. As it was, they might not be able to win otherwise.
The sensible thing would've been to question his choice of spell, but Svart said, "Val, surround him," then, "It'll come from beneath," which confirmed Akiha's hypothesis. Svart must've noticed his badge earlier, too. Maybe.
Kaz was only beginning to look mildly annoyed. Did he try to escape? Of course not.
"Val, plan B once this fails."
It would not.
The ground rattled.
Chanting added extra strength to a spell, but Akiha couldn't come up with anything fancy. Thus, using the moisture from the oasis, the cold trapped under the dunes, and the distortion from the anomaly, he willed an ice cage to surround Kaz, who only gasped once it was too late, as the other two scrambled to get out of the way, or...
...no, to strike.
Please log in to leave a comment.