Guardian of Heaven and Earth - Rota - Part 3 Chapter 2 - The Kashal Return

 Guardian of Heaven and Earth

-

Rota

(Book 8 of the Guardian of the Spirit Series)

Author: Uehashi Nahoko

Translator: Ainikki the Archivist

 

 Part 3 - Blizzard

Chapter 2 - The Kashal Return

Balsa urged her horse onward toward the north. She considered all the possible routes that Chagum and the Kashal could have taken as she rode. If they avoided the road and went through the mountains, they’d be safer from pursuers, but the journey would take more time. Balsa herself had no time to waste and opted to use the shortest route to get to Jitan.

    Chagum and his escort had a long head start. If she had any chance of catching up to them before they were attacked, she would have to give up sleep. She spent a full day on horseback, taking her meals without even dismounting.

    The horse couldn’t tolerate that pace for long, so she changed horses at regular checkpoints that she knew of from her work as a bodyguard in Rota. She was price-gouged each time, but she couldn’t spare the time to haggle. She used most of the money Jin had sent for the horses; all in all, the only money she had left came from Sain and his family. Ordinarily she would be more frugal with her resources, but if money could grant her time, she’d willingly sacrifice all of it.

    There were regular stops along the road for travelers; Balsa stopped at the largest of these for rest, but she never stayed longer than an hour. At one of these, she heard a group of guards discussing recent attacks and ambushes on the road. This route, usually quite safe, had become difficult to travel, seemingly overnight. She also heard that the southern lords had sent out pursuers in search of an escaped prisoner. She heard nothing of the prisoner’s identity--or if the Kashal were protecting him or not.

    The Kashal are spies and know a lot of secret ways.

    Balsa remembered Tanda telling her that once. She felt vaguely reassured. There were likely Kashal concealed all around her in the tall grass as she traveled, even if she couldn’t see them at all.

    Keep him safe for me, she thought. She was exhausted, and could spare no energy at all except for prayer.

 

 

    Balsa passed the capital of Rota and kept traveling for three days. Her surroundings changed completely on the third day; the well-tended road surrounded by rich fields of vegetables and grain gave way to endless grassland. The weather became sharp and cold, with the wind acting as a stinging slap that kept her awake.

    She was in northern Rota now. The year had been mild and the growing season unusually long, so all of Rota had brought in good harvests this year. The people of northern Rota were used to harsh winters and poverty, but this year, most of them should be able to pass the winter in relative safety and comfort. There was no widespread risk of starvation like there usually was.

    Balsa stopped to rest at the small village of Odam, which was the closest settlement to Jitan. The vast plains of withered grass disappeared and were replaced by dark woods to either side of her as she approached the village. It had been ten days since she’d left Tsuram. Ordinarily, it would have taken her fifteen or sixteen days to make this journey--but now that she had, she could barely move. She had no choice but to rest for the night and try to recover her strength. She would be of no help to Chagum if she caught up to him now.

    Balsa took a bath, ate wheat gruel sweetened with sakkau, and fell into a deep sleep. She spent half the night in vaguely remembered dreams, anxious to keep moving.

 

 

    Balsa awoke when she heard noises on the lower floor of the inn. The sky outside her window was gray with clouds, but Balsa could tell that it was already morning. She heard raised voices through the floor below.

    Balsa sat up, swung her knees around the edge of her bed and put her shoes on. When she went down to see what the noise was all about, she discovered a group of guards, most bearded, calling out loudly to one another. It seemed that they were supposed to have left at dawn, but there was some kind of delay.

    "Right, let's take the path through Afam's sacred forest. It's closer to here than the main highway. My group always goes that way whenever we pass through here."

    "But aren't there corpses littering that road?"

    The bearded man spat, then nodded. "Yeah. They probably killed another one this morning. The road always stinks of blood."

    "And you really want to travel along that path?"

    The bearded man frowned. "Yes. But I understand why it makes you uneasy. All the dead that I've seen have been merchant types--but I don't think they were actually merchants, if you follow me. The swords they carry are good steel, and they know how to use them. Some of them had toughened skin under their chins from wearing helmets with neck straps. You only see that on soldiers."

    The men around him sank into silence. Balsa approached the bearded man and asked, "How many dead are on that path?"

    The bearded man faced her and answered, "Four people on the forest path near the temple. But the blood trails I saw there means there's more--they were just carried off. I'm positive that there are more dead bodies in the forest."

    Balsa felt a chill spread throughout her body. The forest path led to Jitan--and it was littered with dead bodies of soldiers pretending to be merchants.

    "Tell me a little more about what you saw in the forest," Balsa said.

    "Don't tell me you're planning to head that way?" the bearded man asked. "I'd reconsider if I were you. With that much blood, I'd expect the wolves to come out hunting soon."

    Balsa shrugged. "I still want to know more."

    The man gave her a hard look, then started talking.

 

 

    The sky outside was dark with stormclouds; the wind was freezing. Balsa pulled on a shuma face covering to keep warm, then headed down the forest path. Birds twittered brightly overhead as she passed underneath the trees.

    Balsa went only a little way up the forest path by horse when she discovered the four dead bodies that the bearded man had told her about. The birds had already come to pick at them, but Balsa saw no wolf prints in the mud surrounding them, only jumbled footprints.

    Balsa loosened her shuma face covering a little so she could smell the battlefield and try to determine exactly when this fight had happened. She had no doubt that this was an actual battle that had taken place between trained combatants on both sides; the weapons and footwork she could determine from the mess of bootprints proved that. Arrows had grazed tree bark and fallen into the soft ground.

    She paused when she recognized the fletching on one of the arrows. It was the same kind of fletching she'd seen on the arrow that Hugo had pulled out of his leg. The feathers were dark and short, like she remembered.

    Balsa saw traces of footprints heading away from the battle. She jumped off her horse and followed the trail. She was traveling through thick underbrush and had just passed an enormous tree when she felt an unmistakable sense of danger. She pressed herself to the ground in an instant and felt arrows pass above her head.

    "Are you from Ahal Tohasa's village?" she called out. "I'm Balsa! I came to help you!"

    The woods were silent. Balsa heard people standing up to either side of her. Balsa stayed crouched on the ground and tried to make herself as small a target as possible.

    "Are you really Balsa?" a man asked. He sounded hesitant.

    Balsa raised her head slowly. The man who'd guided her to see Ahal was there, standing a little off to the side. His head was bandaged; blood had soaked through the white cloth. He had his bow drawn and appeared fearful, but he relaxed his shoulders a little when he recognized Balsa.

    "You startled me," he said. "I thought the other attackers had already sent out more men." He set aside his bow and approached her.

    Balsa frowned. "Who were you attacked by? Southern Talsh army spies?"

    The young man nodded. "They ambushed us at dawn. We took care of them, as you saw, but there are many wounded on our side. I'm guarding the path. I'm supposed to run and warn the others if more enemies show up."

    Balsa nodded in understanding. "What happened to Crown Prince Chagum?" she asked hoarsely.

    The young man smiled. "He's fine--perfectly safe. We sent him before us on another road. He'll likely reach Jitan very soon."

    Balsa frowned a little. "So you split your forces? Is that wise? Wouldn't it be safer if you'd all stayed together? He might be attacked again."

    The young man's smile deepened. "I don't think so. These spies stumbled upon us on accident, I think--there's no sign that they planned or wanted to attack us. But even if they did--well, that's why I'm here, to watch this path in case anyone tries to follow us."

    Balsa relaxed a little. Splitting their forces wasn't an entirely bad idea; they could confuse the trail by sending Chagum along one road and half their forces along another.

    "I see," Balsa said. "Ahal's smart."

    "No--I mean, yes, of course our leader is smart, but it doesn't take a tactical genius to see the advantages in our current position." He was still smiling.

    Balsa remembered her first impression of Ahal and laughed a little at herself. She was familiar with this area, and more familiar with Rota than Balsa was. It was clear that she'd prepared for every foreseeable situation.

    The young man stood looking at Balsa for a long moment. "We met Shihana at an inn five days ago," he said in the breathless voice of someone hopelessly excited.

    Balsa frowned as if she'd just smelled something nasty.

    The young man composed himself. "Ah, right--I sometimes forget that you and Shihana are bitter enemies--"

    "--isn't she a criminal?" Balsa cut in. "Why do you admire her so much if she's been cut off from your number for her crimes?"

    "It's not so easy to cut off family," he said. "It's true that she's committed grave crimes. But she's considered the best sword wielder and warrior in all of Rota. The southern clan lords are already putting their war plans into motion. The country will be split in half in a long and bloody conflict. We need every strong warrior on our side that we can possibly get--and that includes Shihana." The young man's face was bright red.

    "Did Ahal tell you all that?" Balsa asked quietly.

    The young man's expression brightened softly. "Our leader is deeply compassionate and generous-minded. While she and Shihana have their differences, they work together."

    Balsa felt a sudden premonition of dread. "Let me guess...Shihana is leading the part of your forces that's protecting Crown Prince Chagum. I'm right, aren't I?"

    The young man nodded. "Shihana told us which road the enemy spies came up from. Her side has more powerful warriors than ours, so her group was chosen to escort Crown Prince Chagum."

    Shihana was probably trying to get back into Prince Ihan's good graces by exposing the plotting of the Talsh and southern clan lords, using Crown Prince Chagum's testimony as proof. She was motivated to keep him safe, but her motivations were as self-serving as always. Ahal likely understood what Shihana was after as well, and had ordered her own Kashal tribe to work alongside Shihana's.

    There was likely some truth to the young man's impassioned speech. Shihana was an undisputed master of her weapon and had a gift for tactics and strategy. She was also unshakably loyal to Prince Ihan. War was coming--war that would rip apart Rota and destroy its very foundations. It would be foolish to cast aside Shihana as an ally in such a case.

    Balsa knew all this about Shihana, but what she remembered most about her was her cruelty and rage. She didn't like the idea of Shihana protecting Chagum at all, but she also didn't think that Shihana would allow any harm to come to him. Chagum wanted to reach Prince Ihan no matter what. Shihana might be the best choice, in the given circumstances, to make that happen. It was clear that this young man, and likely several others, believed in Shihana's abilities. They'd likely agreed to let her go with CHagum because they'd believed he would be safe.

    I sure hope Ahal thought this all the way through.

    Balsa sighed, then said, "You did well for yourselves here, coming away from this attack with some people injured and no one dead. How many enemies attacked you?"

    The young man grinned faintly at the praise. "Ten, but they weren't really all that strong of fighters. We had injuries on our side only because there were so many of them. We killed four; the rest fled. Some of them were injured, too. If they didn't get away, I expect they became food for the wolves."

    Balsa frowned deeply. So the attackers hadn't been great warriors, even though they'd been armed well. Hugo's letter claimed that Talsh's southern army spies were expert assassins. Balsa doubted that these dead men were those same elite fighters.

    Talsh spies were clever. The main force likely took the other path--and were headed directly for Chagum.

    Balsa froze to the spot. The Kashal didn't know that the Talsh had sent out elite spies to hunt down Chagum. They'd made great speed to reach Prince Ihan's palace after Chagum's escape from Tsuram, but those spies were now right on top of them and would likely risk anything to prevent Chagum from meeting with Prince Ihan.

    The Talsh assassins had been ordered to kill Chagum because he'd seen the face of their Kanbalese co-conspirator. They wouldn't let him reach Prince Ihan's palace; she suspected they were lying in wait somewhere along the road.

    Balsa sprinted back to the place where she'd left her horse and galloped up the main road to Jitan.

 

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