Guardian of Heaven and Earth
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New Yogo
Part 3 - Heaven and Earth
Chapter 2 - Ancient Roots
Sunlight from high windows fell upon Shuga’s star map. Shuga lifted his eyes from the map when he heard a knock at the door.
“Karyou, Lieutenant of the Mikado’s armies, has come to see you,” a messenger said.
“Let him in,” Shuga said.
A boy opened the door, letting Karyou pass through. He was a very tall man with a commanding presence. Karyou said nothing until the boy left the room and closed the door.
Karyou approached Shuga, getting a little too close for comfort. He looked over Shuga’s shoulder at his star map.
“That portent you told me of has proved helpful,” Karyou said. “General Radou doesn’ t like moving the army around without consulting the Star Readers on the current state of the heavens first.”
Shuga nodded. “There isn’t much time left. It makes sense that he’ d want a complete understanding of the portents.”
Karyou smiled a little. “It’s quiet as an execution ground, both here and in the palace. We’ re going to get a real understanding of what we’re up against soon. The nobles are all on edge.”
Karyou had thrown all the surviving soldiers who had informed him of New Yogo’ s crushing defeat in the first battle into the palace dungeon. The imperial army of New Yogo was never allowed to lose. Karyou said that the soldiers who had reported the defeat had defected to the side of the enemy.
“And how is the Mikado?” Shuga asked mildly.
“As he always is, as placid as a mountain lake. The news from the battlefield made him more calm, not less.”
Shuga looked out the window at the spring sunlight.
“The Talsh took a fortress near Shirogai seven days ago,” Karyou said. “It’ s called Akato. All of the defenders were killed. The Talsh lost a few hundred men.”
Shuga’s eyes widened.
“The Talsh army marching toward us numbers something like twenty thousand men. We expected them to disregard the fortresses and come right for us, and that’ s what they’re doing. Yazuno Fortress will soon be under attack. We’re pulling everyone back to defend the capital.”
Shuga shook his head a little. Karyou’s strategy would allow the Talsh to approach Kosenkyo’ s gates without encountering anything more than token resistance. Shuga wondered how Karyou had felt when he’ d heard about the men lying dead on the Tarano Plains. Had he felt anything at all? There was no trace of emotion anywhere on his face.
“Does anyone else know that the Talsh are approaching from the east?” Shuga asked.
Karyou shook his head. “No, no one else knows.” He snorted. “ Our army was always at a disadvantage, and not only because the disparity in numbers. The Talsh are better at gathering information than we are. They also have better tactics that allow them to kill more of our men while protecting their own. I don ’t want to leak any more information to the Talsh than we have to, but I don’t know what to do. Their spies are everywhere.”
Karyou scratched his beard. “But, well, things are progressing like we thought. We’ ve lost some men in the fortresses, but not too many.”
After all, it was a blessing that the Talsh were avoiding New Yogo’s fortifications along the road. The men stationed there weren’ t in immediate danger from the Talsh army.
Yazuno Fortress could likely be taken with fewer than ten thousand men. Yazuno was the closest fortress to New Yogo, so after it fell, Kosenkyo would be essentially undefended. There were only seven thousand men set aside specifically for Kosenkyo ’s defense.
If the Talsh made it into the city, Karyou planned to poison the Mikado and use the grief and shock of the nobles and the people of the city to force a surrender. He had already communicated this plan to two Talsh generals who were marching toward Kosenkyo. They had agreed not to burn the city if Karyou went ahead with his plan.
“We have armies marching on us from the east and the west,” Shuga said. “ I know the eastern army will get here first, but when will the western army arrive?”
“We’re not certain yet, but it should be sometime within the next three days.”
Shuga nodded. “Please take care of the Mikado before he Talsh arrive.”
“What?” Karyou seemed shocked. “ I never expected to hear that from you, of all people. Why the sudden change of heart?”
“An unprecedented disaster will soon strike our land,” Shuga said.
“Am unprecedented disaster? What are you talking about?”
“We’ve had an uncommonly warm year,” Shuga said. “ When the snow melts on the Misty Blue Mountains, our rivers will overflow. We’ve already had a lot of storms and landslides this year, and it’ s only going to get worse.”
It was a relief for Shuga to finally tell someone what he was worried about in plain terms.
Karyou went pale. “Is that true?”
Shuga nodded. “ I had some Star Readers go out to investigate the water levels of the nearby streams and rivers this morning. They confirmed all my suspicions in their reports. The water level is already too high. We’ re at risk for a flood in the capital sometime within the next few weeks.” Shuga paused, gauging Karyou’s reaction. “ We need to start evacuating people from the city now, while we still can.”
“Where can we possibly evacuate so many people?”
“We have to at least evacuate the capital and get the people living in the southern villages to higher ground,” Shuga said. “ The Bird Shadow Hills should be high enough. We can start setting up camps there and the Moon Plains.”
“Camps?” Karyou asked. “I know we have to do something, but we can’ t spare the manpower for an evacuation, or to set up camp outside the city. We also can’t abandon the capital with the Talsh army on our doorstep. What would our people think?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Shuga said. “ The capital is going to be destroyed, one way or another.”
Karyou frowned. “The flood is only the first problem we have to solve. Flooding on that scale means that people will lose their homes. We’ ll lose food to spoilage. You’re talking about a disaster on a nation-wide scale--and people might not even believe us when we tell them it’s coming.”
Shuga nodded. “It’ s like I said. There is a Portent of Great Disaster in the heavens. People can choose to flee and leave their homes behind, or lose their lives.”
Understanding dawned in Karyou’ s eyes. He knew why Shuga had asked him to deal with the Mikado before the Talsh army arrived. It would be impossible to start the evacuations with the Mikado in charge. The Portent of Great Disaster would be interpreted as a disaster for the Talsh, not New Yogo. Shuga ’s warning that the capital would be destroyed would likely be ignored. And Gakai, who had become the new Holy Sage, would go along with whatever the Mikado said without question.
“If we announce the Portent of Great Disaster at the Mikado’s funeral, people will believe it,” Shuga said. “Their spiritual leader and god will be dead. The Mikado can’t even claim to be able to protect them if he’s gone.”
Karyou looked nervous, but he nodded. “I guess I’ ll have to move my plans up. The Mikado will be performing a ritual to purify the battlefield of the Tarano Plains tomorrow morning. After that, he’ ll go into seclusion with the Holy Sage. I can arrange for the poison to be administered then.” The poison couldn’ t be one that worked immediately. Otherwise, the poison (and perhaps the poisoner) would be detected. The Mikado also had taste-testers who would certainly die if the Mikado did. It would be obvious to everyone in the palace that the Mikado had been assassinated.
The Mikado’ s ceremony was a very serious one. After it was over, he would seclude himself with the Holy Sage for three days. During that time, the Mikado would not eat or drink anything at all. Karyou had planned to poison him at his first meal after the fast, when he would be at his weakest.
“We need to be prepared to throw away our foundation. Everything we ever believed in. Our ancient roots. If we don’ t, our nation will not survive.”
Karyou and Shuga planned to kill the Mikado and hand the country over to the Talsh. If either of them had any hesitation, they showed no sign of it. All Shuga could think of now was how to limit the damage of the coming flood as much as possible.
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