Duty: Two Illustrative Tales

The old man looks down at the lump of statue in his hand, and sets it down upon the table. A tired old voice emerges from the old man, who has walked these halls for some 40 years. "I accept your challenge, given in the name of the Crown Princess. I ask for three things, after my many years walking this chamber and these halls. I hope that you will see fit to grant these three requests of a dying man."

Ruby theatrically turns his head to the Crown Princess, passing the judgment on to her.

Faust elaborates, "The first, I would ask an hour, perhaps two. And a pen and ink, with which to write certain letters I did not think I would need today."

"Denied," pronounces the Crown Princess. "It seems you have forgotten that a noble may be called upon to surrender his life for honor or duty at any moment."

"Not forgotten, Crown Princess. Never forgotten." Faust pauses. "The second, I would ask that my children be brought to this chamber, so that I might say goodbye to them, and so they might never doubt that I love them."

"Denied," pronounces the Crown Princess. "If you have been a good father, then doubtless they already know that."

"My daughter's name is Mercy, Highness. I had some hope you might remember your childhood and consider that your grudge against me is not against my children. It seems I am mistaken in this." Faust pauses again. "And the third, I ask that my remains be disposed of by my wishes, returned to Alban and bathed in my wife's fountains there before I am cremated. And I would ask that my son, once the sun rises and sets properly again, take what remains of me to Darkridge, there to see the light of the sunset. And then to be returned to Alban where I may rest in the familial crypt there."

The Crown Princess nods her head in assent. "Granted. Is that all?"

Ruby adds, "If your requests are complete, Your Grace, please choose a weapon so we may commence."

Faust speaks aloud then, and for as many times as he has spoken in bellowing tones in the chamber of the Royal Council, he has arguably saved the most memorable of his orations for the last. It is with melancholy that he speaks, his words recorded for history by the scribes of the Council.

"Forty years and more, I have served Komaru from these halls. I remember the Interregnum. I remember how many died for all of the mistakes made. The Yuasa were misled into dissent, and then first to the banners of Alessandro, the Crown Princess' departed father, a hero of the realm."

"I paid for that mistake with a son at Shiro Bridge. We all paid for it. Everyone lost."

"I have ever fought for what I believed in as necessary for Komaru. It is the duty of every one of us. It was that duty which brought the death of our Crown Princess' father. And it was duty which made my hand the one to forge the sword he used in his sacrifice. I lost merely my first wife."

The old man closes his eyes for a moment before he continues, the strength slowly leaving his voice, "I have lived a long life in the service of Komaru. If the Crown Princess requires my death as the reward for loyal service in war and peace, then so be it."

With an arm to either side of the table, he pushes himself from an age-worn chair, "I am sorry, my children, that you cannot be here to see the Crown Princess' justice meted out today. I am sorry that her father was taken from her for the good of the realm, and I am sorry that yours will be taken from you for the same reasons."

At those words, the iron man of the Yuasa looks up, walking to the open area that is to be the dueling ground. And there for all to see, are tears upon the old man's cheeks. Not for him. But for his children. And Faust then speaks what he believes to be his last words as he chooses a blade for the duel, "You cannot defeat me, Champion. All you can do is kill me." And his voice never wavers in this last act of defiance.

Ruby replies calmly, "You're right. But I don't need to defeat someone so ready to defeat himself."

Faust stands then, his blade not even at the ready, point down into the floor. And he nods awaiting fate's decision. For an instant, his eyes go to the Regent, and he mouths a single word, but she has no response for him.

When Faust nods, Ruby's katana lashes out. There is a jarring clang of steel, and the sword's blade is at Faust's throat. Ruby stands stock-still, the razor edge of his weapon drawing a line of blood. "So," says Ruby, his body coiled like a spring, "I suppose you're deriving some sort of self-righteous pleasure from refusing to defend yourself. You have no intention of defending yourself, do you?"

At the edge of the clear space in the heart of the Royal Council Hall, Shiro Minamet laughs coldly. "Pathetic Yuasa." The words carry through the silent hall.

Hearing Shiro's words, Midoko Komaru, newest Royal Council member, adds, "He is as much of a coward as my husband said." In their seats, the other Yuasa look on in stone-faced calculation.

"Well?" asks Ruby, one final time.

Faust's only reply is a mocking smile.

Ruby tilts his head for the Crown Princess's decision, but the blade at Faust's throat never wavers.

The Crown Princess's expression burns with hatred. "Not for the first time, Yuasa, you seem to feel that your decisions are above the judgment of the Crown. You are wrong. Komaru has no need for self-righteous martyrs."

She pronounces her judgment. "Kill him, my champion."

Ruby kicks at Faust's kneecap to shatter it and grabs at his head. It is to be an execution.

Faust groans as his kneecap is shattered, but his eyes remain wide open as he awaits his death. Blood flecks spatter the ground from his throat as his head is jerked into place.

"Hold!" cries an impassioned voice from the galleries. Laurent Yuasa, youngest of his family on the Royal Council, rises from his seat. "I accept your challenge on behalf of the Yuasa family, Your Royal Highness. You question our family's courage? I will prove it if you will lend me a blade."

Very harshly strained words issue forth through the rictus of Faust's pains. "This fight is mine, Laurent. I have accepted this duel and will bring it to its logical conclusion. My life for service. My death in service." Laurent ignores Faust completely as he waits for the Crown's response.

The Royal Champion steps away from the Duke of Alban. The Crown Princess rises to consider the man, and inclines her head. "You are a worthy champion for your family's reputation, Your Excellency. Guards, provide him a blade."

Given no choice, his words unheeded, Faust nearly collapses from his own weight on a leg unwilling to support him any longer.

In a moment, Laurent stands on the Royal Council floor, blade in hand. He snaps a salute to the Royal Crown, to the Royal Champion, and to the eldest Yuasa left in the galleries, Morika. Although he does not turn to face Faust, his words to him carry clearly through the hall: "You are through here, Faust. Go see your children and write your memoirs. Engarde!"

Laurent lunges at the Royal Champion.

Faust struggles to leave the field of the duel and collapses before he clears the dueling ground, unconscious, the last of his strength leaving him and his will gone as well. Denied the one last gesture that was supposed to be his, that was supposed to bind his family behind him as he stood and accepted the Crown Princess' justice.

On the field of honor, Laurent Yuasa locks blades with Ruby Touraine. In a matter of minutes, he joins Faust Yuasa on the floor.

Both the Regent and a lightly-built member of the Royal Guard move towards Laurent's corpse. The Royal Guard arrives first, pulls a strip of paper from his sleeve, and incinerates it with a gesture. A golden nimbus surrounds both men, and the Regent exchanges a brief word with the guardsman and Laurent Yuasa before servants are brought in to wipe away the blood and drag the unconscious Duke of Alban from the room.

-//-

Despite the darkness, Tsuichi Shinozuka can still feel the heat of the desert sands through his armor. Though the sun vanished an hour past, its warmth still permeates the black stone that provides him his only shelter. He presses against it for comfort and safety, his eyes straining through the darkness as he watches the scene below.

The sullen flames that burn in the ruins of the little town are both a blessing and a curse to him. Only days ago, it was a tiny piece of Komaru, nestled in a fertile finger of land across the great desert. Now, though, he finds it a hellish scene, an echo of a dozen others across the green-swathed valley. Swarthy men roam through the streets, stopping now and then to raise their voices in ghastly howls. More dart in and out of the burning houses, and as he watches, three pull a blacked form from a fallen tavern. They drag it only out of reach of the flames before dropping it and crouching around it. There is a quick struggle, and then the Easterners establish their hierarchy: he watches the strongest dip its knife into the corpse's gut, slash, and then pull forth its contents and raise them to its mouth. Around the pack leader, the others yip and howl hungrily as they await their turns to feed.

In a way, the corpse is fortunate. Shinozuka reflects that the Church of Inner Light teaches that the body is dross once the spirit leaves it, free from all further pain. The small knot of Komaran women, tied together and dressed in little more than rags, lack that solace. An hour ago, the dog-headed Child that led the Easterners' assault on the settlement dragged the second of their number into the gutted remains of the largest stone building in the town. Her screams did not last as long as the first. Again, he curses the fact that he is but one man, and there is nothing he can do to spare these victims the horrors to come.

The Child of the Aten emerges from Its lair, and in the moonlight Shinozuka can see glistening blood smeared across Its torso. It points at another of the captives, and Its servants drag her howling to her feet, while the others around her wail in terror. It is too much for him, and he turns away. There is nothing left for him to learn here. He makes a silent vow to himself as the woman's screams begin in earnest, and takes his first step back towards the desert.

Only then does he see it: the great emerald bird perched atop the rock he had huddled against, its beak as sharp as a scythe and its eyes lambent gold. Suddenly, he realizes that he is falling into them, engulfed in whirling pools of searing, annihilating gold-

There, as always, comes the wall of memory, surrendered on the side of a rocky mountain cliff to a towering pillar of water wearing the shape of the captive girl. He remembers remembering the memory before that: the sense of some profound decision made, some choice that reforged him, giving an eighty-year-old man back what age stole from him. But of that, now he possesses only the echo of memory, and the jade sword that shares space with his heart. It bears the name Annikhaton. Somehow, that name seems wrong.

He shakes his head to clear it. In the distance, he can hear howling.

The Pharaoh has come.

He walks to where Ruriko Minamet stands behind her signal corps, surveying the advance of the Easterner army. She inclines her head to him, and says, "They are little more than an undisciplined horde. I will be leading our charge myself."

Shinozuka says, "Then I will be with you in the front."

She meets his gaze, searching his eyes. "I have seen Pharaohs before, and they are terrors that can unmake a man with a thought. You need not be the one to bear your sword, Brother Tsuichi."

He shakes his head. "None other than I can bear it. I will do it."

She sighs, and inclines her head in acceptance. He is not the first stubborn man she has had this discussion with.

Ruriko's aide calls to her, "I see the Pharaoh's Children. They lead, and their slaves follow."

Grimly, Ruriko answers, "Then let us go to meet them."

The battle is brief. Stories of Sokar's War promised a creature of incredible cunning, but Shinozuka and the other Veiled Guard see at once that this Pharaoh is different. When the vanguard of the Aten horde collides with the Royal Guard under Ruriko's command, the Pharaoh materializes instantaneously in their midst. For a few minutes, He slays with impunity, but by then the Veiled Guard behind their ranks have had the chance to advance, cutting down His Children and encircling Him in a ring of geomantic steel.

As he watches, he gets his first good look at the Pharaoh. Nine feet tall, He has the face of a great white jackal, and a mane of fur that flows across His back and arms. He wears nothing except blood, and Shinozuka's memories of the screaming captives flood back to him even as the Pharaoh's claws tear through one of his Veiled Guard sisters. Where Shinozuka expected unholy majesty, he sees only mindless fury.

A man in black robes and ancient armor appears beside him. "It is time."

Ruriko starts, and then bows quickly. "Master." Tsuichi bows as well, and then pulls the tiny brass flask from beneath his armor.

The master asks, "Are you certain you wish to do this, Brother Tsuichi?"

Shinozuka nods. "It is the only way to reclaim what I have lost." He is pleased that the master knows his name.

The master bows his head, accepting the elder brother's decision. Shinozuka drains the flask in one swallow.

As Ruriko chants, Shinozuka feels the memory again, fleetingly, distantly, dancing at the very edge of his consciousness. The golden eyes haunt him, and he feels the brush of gentle feathers across his lips and closed eyelids-

Ruriko passes him the jade sword, and draws her own. Beside them, the Veiled Guard master slides a shimmering arc of night out of his cloak.

Ruriko raises her sword, and the air blurs around the three Veiled Guard.

"In the end, every Pharaoh claims two lives," says the Veiled Guard master, over the corpses that lie in the sand before him.

Ruriko bows her head, wipes the blood from her blade, and then bends to do the same for the fallen man's. When she rises, it is to the sound of beating wings. She draws her sword again as the great emerald bird, its beak as sharp as a scythe, its eyes like lambent gold, settles on the ground beside Tsuichi Shinozuka's body. Angry, she raises it to drive the beast away.

The master catches her arm and checks her blade. "No, my dear, It too has the right to mourn."

For the first time, Ruriko sees the pearly tears that spill from Its shining eyes.