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Chapter fifteen: Something gained, something lost.

"We're losing ground on the left flank. The line is crumbling." Lhasa swore. "Hold your ground. Reinforcements from the western temples are on their way." A storm of arrows surged overhead. The ogres were forcing themselves over the rise. Climbing over the backs of their fallen. Some were even using the dead as a shield. It was a grim sight.

Koji shook his head. The imperial forces were hopelessly outmatched.

Armed with clubs the size of trees the ogres were massive hulking beasts. What they lacked in speed they made up for in size.

A single swing sent soldiers flying, their armor staved in, their bodies crushed underfoot. But still they were fighting, desperate to hold the line.

It was time to even the odds.

He stepped aside. "Shiro."

"Thank you." Shiro stretched out an open hand. Tiny sparks drifted from his fingertips out over top of the battlefield. "Part the clouds with lightnings wrath, the earth begins to tremble. Divine strike." He closed his hand, striking a single spark with a whip made of light. "Heaven's thunder!"

A coruscating bolt of lightning leapt from one spark to another. A chain of living energy that sundered everything in its path, leaving nothing but a line of destruction in its wake.

It scattered the ogres, changing in the space of a single heartbeat the course of the battle.

The soldiers of Seirei were well trained. They wasted no time asking were their salvation had come from. They simply charged through the ogres open ranks, finishing off those who were too stunned to run.

With one just one strike. Lhasa studied the unusual pair, one was a werewolf the other was a nekomata dressed like a monk. Who are these two?

"Are we fashionably late? Cause I'll tell ya, getting past those guys was murder."

Lhasa looked to where the werewolf was pointing. More than two dozen ogres lay on the ground. The remnants of a force sent round to catch them in a pincer.

What are you two waiting for! Kiara's voice rang inside their heads. Get to work!

Koji sighed. "There's just no pleasing that woman."

Shiro replied. "And here I thought you liked a challenge."

"A challenge yes. That woman's a bloody obstacle."

* * *

A command pavilion had been hastily erected and maps of the region spread out on the table. Ornately carved soldiers marked the lines of engagement. Some small magics had been cast that allowed them to glow different colors depending on troop strength. Shiro found it to be an excellent way to convey subtle information among commanders.

"Praise the gods you arrived when you did." Said Lhasa "We were expecting to be relieved by another regiment. We never expected the monks to send someone who could assist us with magic." So Shen Wa is still as scheming as ever. Well I won't hold it against her. But she certainly has strange tastes in allies.

Having a nekomata in the camp was making more than a few of the new recruits uncomfortable.

Edgy is more like it. And I would hate to see what would happen if one of them decided to pull their sword on someone like him.

The more battle hardened soldiers however, were more practical. They simply acted as if he didn't exist.

Shiro was studying the map silently, his tails swaying back and forth in long thoughtful arcs, when a woman screamed.

Lhasa moved to console her. _He acts as if he had expected that to happen. He didn't even bat an eye. Or a tail.

Just like one of my fathers generals. All anticipation. Almost as if he knows your every thought before you think them._

She dropped the food she was carrying and began babbling incoherently about demon cats sent to devour her soul.

Lhasa escorted her from the tent. Sending her off with word to find someone who was more comfortable around non-humans. Non-humans. It makes them sound like they aren't even people.

"The troops are more scared of you than they are of the ogres." Said Koji.

"I'm used to it."

Lhasa suddenly found those strange blue eyes turned on him and felt as if all the old stories had suddenly come to life. And yet; something about them seemed oddly familiar.

"Captain Lhasa." Said Shiro. "Why are their civilian markers on the battlefield?"

Lhasa removed his helmet and smoothed back his thick black hair. "I'd like to know that myself. They say they're refugees on the run from the ogres. But we haven't been able to spare any men to escort them to safety." He pointed out a location on the map. "They said they came from a settlement not far to the west of here. But with so many ogres around we don't dare risk sending any scouts to confirm their story. It would be suicide."

"I can go." Said Shiro.

"What?" He said it before he could stop himself. "But why?"

The look in Shiro's eye's made it all too clear. "You know why."

"No. It's too dangerous."

"Kiara can fly but she doesn't know the terrain as well as I do. Koji can fight better than I can but you need him here. If I find anything I can relay it directly to you telepathically. Besides. I grew up in these mountains. And no one will complain if I'm conspicuously made to disappear."

He's not a soldier under my command and I can't order him not to go. "Damn you." Said Lhasa. "You're not going to give me a choice in the matter are you?"

"No. But then, I'm not the one who has to bear responsibility for Seirei and the lives of her people." Shiro stopped in front of the tent flap. His next words would forever remain in Lhasa's soul.

"You wear the mantle of leadership well. Heir-apparent Lhasa Vanel Seirei. My old friend."

* * *

The general goodwill in the camp evaporated the moment he walked past. Some made a pointed effort of sharpening their swords. Others found they suddenly had other places to be. But no matter who it was, man or woman, soldier or civilian, haunted eyes turned to follow his every step.

Shiro could hear them as they whispered oaths and curses under their breath.

Idiots. We're on the same side.

A young woman reached out to stop him. "Please you have to help me. My brother is out there." She was dressed in comfortable homespun clothing, her dark black hair had been done up in a simple bun that was, held together by long pins.

Shiro brushed past her. "I don't have time. I'm sorry, but you'll have to find somebody else."

"Its about the village, I, I overheard you talking and. I know the way. I could guide you."

Shiro stopped. Her relaxed posture was what betrayed her. Hers was not the panicked distress caused by a concern for a lost brother. But a casual ease born of long practice. She was likely a soldier or a mercenary. Or a member of the Meng Da.

The Meng Da. The secret elite who operated from the shadows of Seirei's imperial court to act in defense of the emperor.

Assassins and bodyguards, whatever form they took, commoner or courtier, they were death-dealers, plain and simple.

There was bound to be one floating around the camp. Just my luck I managed to run into one. "Next time." He chided her. "Try to come up with a better lie. I trust you at least have a sword."

"Better." She pulled one of the pins from her hair.

Shiro examined it with a critical eye. "Silent death. Peirce the skin and it barely leaves a mark. Poison is highly overrated."

"Eh? And what you monks do is better?"

"Of course." Shiro caressed the soft skin of her face. "All it takes is a touch."

They eyed each other for a moment. Each one measuring the other. Testing to see who would be the first to flinch.

"If we're done playing games with each other." She slipped the pin back into place with a smooth practiced motion. "We share the same goal. And we're wasting time. Lhasa has ordered me to keep you safe. Its not my place to ask why."

"All business and no foreplay. You're certainly no fun." Shiro offered her his hand. "I trust you don't mind If I carry you?"

She managed to look decidedly unsure of herself. No doubt it was rare for anyone who knew her true nature to willingly want to touch her. "Why is that?"

Shiro looked up at the sky. "Because we're going to fly."

* * *

The trees flew past in an ever verdant sea of green. It wasn't true flight by any means, but as the mountains drew closer. Each leap made her heaving stomach feel as if she was about to paint the landscape with some unusual color.

Shiro looked at his passenger. "Are you going to be sick?"

Allya simply glared back at him.

Summoning her dignity she put as much force into a single word as she could. Anymore than that and she wasn't sure if only words would escape her lips. "No!"

"Because if you are. I'd prefer it if you didn't puke on me. Aim to the side, maybe you'll hit an ogre."

"You think this is funny don't you?"

"Trust me, I have a sick sense of humor."

Both Allya and her stomach groaned in response.

"Rapid bursts of teleportation like this is called blinking." Shiro closed his eyes and focused on the leap. "It works better if you keep your eyes closed."

Allya summoned her constitution. "Is that why my stomach feels like its trying to escape through my throat?"

"That's just the motion sickness, it passes." Another leap. Another shuddering lurch as the world shifted in position around them. "I could stop for a while if you wanted."

"We still need to examine the ruins of that village. And I want to know why the ogres are amassing in such numbers. Compared to knowing that. A moments discomfort is a small price to pay."

Shiro nodded and lept.

* * *

It feels as if I am a falcon. Thought Lhasa. To think your magic can do these things. There was a mental sigh. A whisper of longing to feel such freedom. I never knew you were a nekomata. All those years we spent at each others side. You hid your secret as well as any courtier.

Sharing his mind with Lhasa was a unique experience for Shiro. It was not a melding of any sort, but rather a sharing of two perspectives.

Shiro could act as Lhasa's eyes, seeing for him what he could not. In turn Lhasa kept him apprised of the situation back at camp.

With the help of the Azure Sky the imperial forces were slowly turning the tide of battle, and were moving towards a holding action as they slowed the ogres advance. They weren't out of danger by any means. But at least the refugees they had already found could be evacuated to safety.

I had to. Said Shiro. I couldn't very well have told people what I was. As a child, the scorn was heartrending, the burden of such a secret all but crushed me. As an adult . . . Thoughts of Nelo and the children filled his mind. Only recently have I found acceptance as myself.

Lhasa's thoughts were still on the past. You disappeared from the court so suddenly, your master claimed you ill, and when I thought to search for you . . . you had already gone.

That sounded to be around the time of his first shift. Those hazy years when he had struggled to master the other half of himself. Had it really been so long?

Time slips away from us without our ever knowing it. The more time that passes, the farther our worlds grow apart. You were busy with the duties befitting an heir and I was a mere stray, plucked from the streets. That we could share the same sky, for even a moment . . . Shiro's thoughts drifted away.

>

"We've arrived."

* * *

The village hardly deserved the name. It was a collection of ramshackle huts. Quickly built and poorly constructed. They were the kind of crudely built homes that were meant to give shelter from the elements and little else. Worse, there were no roads or even wells.

Shiro felt a sense of unease come over him.

This place wasn't meant to be a permanent settlement. It lacks even the basic requirements for village life. So what would attract people to live in such an out of the way place?

"Something about this place stinks." Said Allya. "And I don't just mean the leech pits. But what?"

Shiro left her to make her own examination as he stepped inside one of the huts. It was a warehouse of sorts. Crates had been stacked to the ceiling. And tools for repairing mining equipment lay out on the floor. Even several sticks of dynamite had been strewn carelessly about on the floor. Someone was forced to leave this place in a hurry.

The longer Shiro stood in the warehouse the more the familiar sensation he had come to associate with shield magic crawled across his skin. His fur began standing on end the closer he came to it.

Shiro made a severing motion with his hand. Cutting through the invisible web of energy caused a door to appear at the back of the hut. He opened it, and found the inside to be at odds with the outside.

Rich foods, fine wines, and all the comforts and necessities of home. Carefully maintained and hidden by magic.

It made him sick to his stomach. Someone had lived in the lap of luxury, while others were forced to starve.

"Allya, come look at this." He held up a stick of dynamite. Though its makers marks had been stripped away, a simple spell had already confirmed his suspicions. There are still traces of the gate magic Arcadia uses to send supplies from Avalon Island. In fact. He thought as he looked around. This whole area reeks of illusion magics.

"This isn't like anything made in Seirei." Allya reached almost instantly the same conclusions he did. "Someone supplied these people with explosives." Her face darkened. "Explosives used in mining are forbidden by imperial decree. They disturb the dragons slumber."

"Which means if there are mines nearby. Someone got greedy." Shiro cast his magic out like a net, searching for the subtle traces of human life. No sooner had he shut his eyes to concentrate than they snapped open. "I found the survivors. They're hiding in caves nearby."

Shiro set off at a run. Allya hot on his heels.

"If those caves belonged to the ogres."

"We have bigger problems than that." He summoned his sword. "This place is surrounded by illusions, expensive ones." He told her about what he had found. "If those caves contain gold, and the imperial army did come out here, what do you think they were meant to find?"

"A poor village struggling to survive of course." She growled under her breath. "Smugglers tricks, this is a way point for the Purists. And no one would notice because the imperial army wouldn't bother sending out a mage to examine a poor village without a damn good reason."

Purists in Seirei? Shiro's blood began to boil. So their reach has begun to extend even here.

* * *

Several full-sized ogres were surrounding the caves. No doubt keeping the villagers hostage, a feast, for when the others came back.

Shiro's sword swept out as he severed the arm from an ogre. Using the momentum, he reversed his cut, following through with quick slash that loosed its bowels upon the earth.

The air reeked of blood and death.

The others barely had time to register his presence as his sword snaked out.

Moving with blinding speed he cut through them. Striking at vital points. Wasting as little movement as possible.

They were afraid of him, forgetting for a moment that they had both size and numbers.

Every moment they hesitated was an opportunity. Shiro flowed between the gaps such moments created, weaving a silent circle of death, as his blade cut them down with terrible resolve.

He would burn incense for them later, offering a prayer to send them on their way. For now, the living took precedence.

Shiro wiped his sword upon the grass. In the space of a few heartbeats he had killed six of them. The seventh lay on the ground, one of Allya's 'pins' sticking out of its neck.

"You missed one." She said.

Shiro rolled his eyes and shouted into the mouth of the cave. "They ogres are dead. It's safe to come out now."

They stumbled from the cave. Shielding their eyes from the bright light of the sun there were dozens of them. Dirty and disheveled they were pale imitations of people.

One among them stood out amongst the others.

He was dressed in clothes of Arcadian design.

"I am Tumas and I offer you my heartfelt thanks for your prompt rescue. But, where is the rest of the imperial army?"

"Imperial army?" Said Allya. "Now what possible business could they have out here?"

"Why, we called them for help of course."

"You!" Shiro turned on Tumas as the pieces fell into place. "You're the reason the ogres are attacking! Do you know how many have died because of you! How many people have lost their homes, their lives. Do you even care?"

"I have no idea what your talking about." Tumas pulled a filthy handkerchief from a pocket and attempted to brush some of the dirt from his clothing. "Surely even you can see that we have nothing to do with this." He swept out a hand to indicate the ogre's corpses. "Distasteful business."

Shiro didn't buy it for a second. "What the hell were you thinking! That you could drive them off? That maybe if you stole their caves, their homes. That they just wouldn't come back?" Of course he wouldn't care. Not if he's a Purist. Because the ogres aren't human. The pieces fit. "No. What you thought was worse than that. You wanted the imperial army to come out here. So they could take care of your little problem for you."

Tumas just looked at him as if he must be daft. "Surely you must be mistaken. The people here are merely humble miners. We were informed by his imperial majesty it was safe to mine these mountains. We were even given permission to hold these lands in trust."

He's lying. The flame of Lhasa's anger was a twin to his own. Stop him, I don't care how.

"I have signed documentation from the emperor himself. I keep them stored away in a safe. Allow me to go get them for you."

Shiro lifted him into the air with a gesture.

Tumas opened his mouth to speak.

"Be silent." His voice was a consummate hiss. "You had better pray they put you in a hole so deep, that even ghosts won't be able to find you." He let his eyes bleed to silver. "For those who have fallen in battle, those nameless ones who have been sacrificed for your greed." Shiro let his lips pull back, revealing very sharp white teeth. There was power in the old legends. Power he could use. "Let me be their sword, I claim vengeance for the dead!"

Shiro turned his gaze on those watching. A terrible silence gripped the miners. Not one of them would dare move against him now.

"Did you hear that! He just threatened me!" Tumas raged ineffectually against Shiro's power. "He's just one man! Why aren't you doing anything to stop him!"

"Aye we heard him." Said one of the miners. "But none of us here will risk drawing such ill luck down upon ourselves. We won't have our families cursed for generations to come."

"You superstitious fools. You." Whatever else Tumas had been about to say was cut off as Shiro bound him with ropes made of light. He tried to scream, to rant, no doubt in his mind he was hurling all manner of vicious insults, but in the end. All he could do was glare ominously, as the bonds that held him tighter than any rope also kept him from speaking.

"Listen to me, all of you. You have to leave this place. The imperial army won't be able to exterminate the ogres. At most they'll be able to force a retreat."

"Then we'll finish them off." Some of the miners were brandishing pick axes, other held anything that could serve as a weapon. "These are our mines now. We'll defend our homes."

"You'll die." Even as he said it he wanted to stay and help them fight. It would be worth it, wouldn't it? To fight and defend ones home. But even as he thought it he knew it wasn't possible. He already had others who were depending on him. And if he stayed, how many others might die in exchange for these meagre few?

"You are too young to understand." Shiro sought out the one who had spoken. It was an old man, his back bent from long years of toil, his spider like arms held a pick ax with a grip as strong as a younger man's. "These mountains are in our blood. We were born in the mines. And they'll be our graves as well."

"Obstinate old fool. The mountains care nothing for your deaths. But as long as your alive, you can build new homes for yourselves. New lives."

"We're too old to start over." He said sadly. "This is all we have."

They were starting to wander away. Shiro had lost them, and he knew it.

"So Arcadia has taken even your pride from you as well." Stay and fight then. If a meaningless death is all you desire than I won't keep you from it.

Shiro marched away. Allya at his side. Tumas drifted along behind, attached to an invisible rope. "There are times." He said. "When there are no good choices. So we must make the ones we can."

Allya touched his shoulder. There was reassurance in the touch, as if it said. 'You tried, and that is all that anyone can ask.' "What are you going to do?"

"If I can't convince them to leave . . ." Shiro pressed his hands into the earth and let a thread of magic flow through the ground. He sought out the cracks, the places where the smallest shift would cause the most destruction. "I'm going to collapse the mine shafts. If they they want to stay after that." He could feel them, beaten and bloody they were coming back. Those ogres that had survived the battle would be the biggest, the strongest. There wasn't any time left.

They were already on their way.

There was a quiet sigh, a gentle rumbling through the earth as Shiro snapped the thread the thread of power. The mountains trembled as they shifted in their slumber.

With nothing left to keep them here Shiro hoped that it would be enough to convince them to leave. And if it wasn't. "Then no force on heaven or earth can save them from their own stupidity."

* * *

Shiro's return to the camp was greeted without fanfare. Instead, many of the soldiers muttered darkly under their breath.

Shiro silenced them with a look so cold that Allya could swear she heard their knees begin to shake. She had to hide her smile lest she ruin the illusion.

Tumas was dumped without ceremony at the feet of Lhasa and his imperial advisers.

An impromptu hearing had been held where Shiro relayed everything he had seen at the hidden miner's camp. With Allya serving as a more than adequate witness.

"While I doubt very much that he is entirely to blame I'm sure his, interrogation." Shiro let the word hang in the air, dark with promise. "Will no doubt shed light on some rather interesting developments conspiring on Seirei's borders."

It is the concern of the empire now. And they can handle things far better than I can. Shiro reassured himself. But still. The gold pulled from those mines would have been enough to fund a private army. And If that money was making it into the Purists hands. It was as an unappealing a thought as any.

Lhasa was dressed in full imperial regalia, complete with gold brocade and heavy silks. It was a far cry from the simple riding leathers he had been wearing and Shiro could see the discomfort in his eyes.

Lhasa's advisor's had insisted on following protocol and it was a simple concession to make. Convincing them to accept what was coming next would be the true test.

"Shiro Tora. You have done a great service for your empire. Such actions are deserving, no, must be rewarded."

There was a barely stifled cry of shock. "Eminence, your father indulges your whims by allowing you to act as a captain in his armies. But to offer concessions to a commoner. It is not your place."

"Not my place?" The falcon bared its talons as Lhasa turned a withering glare upon his advisers. "Not my place as heir-apparent? My father, long may he live, indulges my whims at his own behest. How better to learn the needs of an empire and its peoples than by walking amongst them. To serve in any capacity as may be needed of me."

"But still." The reply was meek, conciliatory.

Lhasa had already turned away. "You need only ask, and it shall be yours."

"Eminence. I have done only what any man would have done for the land he calls home. That is reward enough."

"Then if not for yourself. Surely there is another."

Shiro already knew what to ask for, they had discussed it in depth while he had made his way back. Now more than ever it seemed a fitting reward. And Lhasa had agreed.

"The war with Arcadia left behind many orphans in its wake. And now, even more have taken to the streets. It is for them that I ask. Give them a home, so they need not wander as I did. I ask that you rebuild Honsho."

* * *

The Tsubasa no Mikomi was already prepped for launch. It seems a shame for us to be leaving so soon after we just finished a mission. Thought Shiro. But the winds wait for no man and we have a rendezvous with an island in the sky.

"Big brother! Big brother!" It was Cya and she was dragging Vahn in tow. "Did you hear. The soldiers are saying that the Heir-apparent has pledged to rebuild Honsho. That means we can go home someday, right?"

He leaned down and tousled her hair playfully. "Sooner than you think little one."

"Don't forget this." Vahn held out Shiro's Azure Sky badge. He looked away. "You kept your promise after all."

"Keep it." Shiro closed Vahn's hand around the badge. "From now on. Consider yourself an honorary member of the Azure Sky. The people here are going to need someone they can believe in and you're it." Shiro spotted Marella in the distance. "Besides, the others are going to need someone to help show them the way."

"But you could stay, you could." He grew silent. "You're leaving, because you're trusting me to keep them safe in your place."

"And just like that, you've grown up. Maturity is a hard thing. But the rewards." Shiro stood surrounded by his friends. "Become stronger. That way, you and I can spar from time to time. I'll be back someday to see how much you've grown." Shiro held out his hand. "Call it a man to man promise."

Vahn grasped his hand tightly. "Right!"

* * *

I stand on the verge of adulthood. And it is a strange place to be. Behind me lies the heady days of my youth, moments filled with memories of starlight and dreams. Ahead. Lay the uncertain trials of an unknown tomorrow.

And it is not an easy transition to make.

To me, it has never been a question of maturity. Or even one of personal responsibility. I know what is needed of me. And I ask no more of other's than I myself am willing to give.

Instead. It is often the questions that I find I ask myself to be the most troubling.

What kind of adult should I be? What kind of adult do I want _to be?

I had no father to guide me, no role model on which to draw from. Even now I wander through life, wondering if he would have been proud of me. If my mother would have welcomed me home with waiting arms.

I wish that I could remember my parents . . . even if only for a moment._