Guardian of Heaven and Earth
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New Yogo
Part 3 - Heaven and Earth
Chapter 4 - Two Children of a God
The chamberlain approached Chagum and bowed, asking if he would like to bathe and rest after his long journey.
Chagum cut off the chamberlain’s words with a gesture. “I don’t have time for that,” he said. “Lead me to the audience hall immediately. I must speak with my father at once.”
Chagum headed to the Mikado’s audience hall with all the court nobles and the chamberlain trailing behind him. His guards flanked him on either side.
The Mikado’s private audience hall was in the southernmost part of the Imperial Palace. No one but the imperial family and their guards were allowed there unless they were summoned. Chagum himself had never been there before.
The nobles following Chagum were openly curious about what he intended. They trailed him all the way into the palace and took their seats on cushions lined up along the wall of the audience hall.
Chagum stalked up the runner of the audience hall, accompanied by his guards. The Mikado’s gem-inlaid throne was at the end of it, up two raised steps.
Grand Army General Radou gazed at Chagum from his seat with a disapproving expression. Crown Prince Tugum was seated in a smaller throne one level below the Mikado’s throne. Tugum was his grandson, and he had assumed that Tugum would be the next Mikado for some years. Chagum’s return might cause a succession issue. Chagum didn’t look at Radou even once.
Shuga sat in a chair one level below the Holy Sage’s and stared at Chagum, who stood in the very center of the hall.
The sound of high-pitched flutes announced the Mikado’s arrival in the hall. He came through the wide doors of the hall, accompanied by his bodyguards. They stood near the Mikado’s throne on
either side to protect him from danger.
Gakai followed the Mikado into the hall and assumed the seat of the Holy Sage easily and fluidly.
The Mikado took his seat, glaring down at Chagum with an expression of venomous hatred. Chagum knelt down and bowed his head briefly, then looked up and said, “I’ve returned, father.”
The Mikado frowned at him. “You did well to come back. What is the meaning of your scandalous appearance? Is this how you come to greet your father?”
Chagum stood up. “The situation we face is urgent and dangerous. Forgive me for putting our nation’s crisis ahead of repairing my own appearance.”
“Nothing is so urgent that you could not at least wash the blood from your face and clothes. You are polluting this holy, purified place with your filth.”
Chagum sighed in exasperation. “Father, I understand that I don’t belong here. I have been on battlefields and killed and taken wounds. Perhaps these these things have corrupted me. But father, the world outside the walls of this place is thick with the smell of blood and death. Maybe no one here has smelled it yet, but all of the common people have. I never want this place to be corrupted in the same way, but to save it, we must use haste.”
Chagum flung his right hand out with his palm to the Mikado. “Father, I have killed men with this hand.” His voice shook. “I walked through Akado Fortress and saw all the slaughtered men. I saved Yazuno Fortress from being taken by the Talsh, but I had to slay Talsh soldiers to do it. Many of the men who came here from Kanbal and Rota to support us have died for our sake. Those men have families that will never see them again.
“I am a corrupted, polluted, filthy murderer. I am no longer a pure imperial prince, and cannot be so again.”
Chagum saw the Mikado’s face go pale. It had been more than two years since Chagum had last seen him, but the Mikado hadn’t changed at all.
The Mikado stared at Chagum for a few moments, then said quietly, “What is it that you expect from me, then? Is this display meant to make me feel shame at sending you as a hostage to Sangal? Or to boast about your victory at Yazuno?”
Chagum’s Rotan and Kanbalese guards gasped. Chagum heard them, but he didn’t turn to look at them. He swallowed down his rage and embarrassment. This...is my father.
Everything about the Mikado was familiar: his voice, his appearance, his constant and unwavering disapproval. Chagum closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then faced his father again.
“I want only one thing from you,” Chagum said. “I want you to save this country.”
“Why do you say I should save it, as if you are giving me a command?”
“You closed the borders and blinded us to the changing situation on the northern continent,” Chagum said. “The Talsh have landed. The only way to save New Yogo now is to accept the proposal of alliance made by Rota and Kanbal.”
The nobles and assembled officials appeared shocked.
“The King of Rota has already sent fifty thousand men to Sangal to protect New Yogo from being invaded from the Sangal peninsula. Rota has refused all trade overtures from Talsh and blockaded its harbors. Prince Raul intends to conquer New Yogo first and use its resources and people to invade the rest of the continent. We must make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Karyou went very pale. Shuga watched Chagum, unable to look away.
“I have a combined army of thirty thousand men sent from Rota and Kanbal to save us,” Chagum said. “We would not have been able to hold on to Yazuno Fortress without them. I’ve fought with them the whole way here from Kanbal. We’ve suffered many losses--more than two thousand. The corpses on the battlefields I’ve seen number at least ten thousand. By my estimation, the Talsh have lost fewer than five thousand men.”
The nobles and assembled officials still looked nervous, but they seemed heartened that the Yogoese army had been able to make at least a small dent in the Talsh army.
“We destroyed the Talsh army at Yazuno, but the general situation of the country hasn’t changed,” Chagum said. “The Talsh will send another army. They’re nowhere near defeated.”
The Mikado turned to Army General Radou. “Is that true?” he asked.
Radou stood up and looked at Chagum, red-faced and angry. “Disregard his words,” he said. “This information has not been verified and cannot be trusted. Isn’t that right, Karyou?”
Karyou stood up and bowed to the Mikado. “What my brother says is true. We’ve received few reports from the south, and we only very recently learned that Yazuno was saved. Based on this new information, I pulled back all the troops we can from the south and east to better protect the capital this morning.”
The court nobles whispered and tittered among themselves. Radou gaped at his younger brother like he’d suddenly become unrecognizable.
“The most important thing now is protecting the capital,” Karyou said. “If the Talsh army attacks from the east, we need to be prepared. I’m only seeing to Kosenkyo’s defense.”
Radou seemed to calm down somewhat. “Then the capital is secure. We have no need for this allied army.”
Chagum faced the Mikado and said, “The Blue Bow River is going to overflow. Kosenkyo will flood.”
Karyou and Shuga exchanged surprised glances.
Chagum chose his words carefully. One false move risked closing off his father’s heart completely. He had to be made to listen so that the people of Kosenkyo would be saved.
“Father,” Chagum said, “do you know anything about Nayugu?”
“Nayugu? You mean that other world that the Yakoo believe in?”
“Yes,” Chagum said, “though more people than just the Yakoo believe in it. It goes by many names on the continent--Nayugu, Noyook, Nayugul.”
“And what does this have to do with the flooding of the Blue Bow River?” the Mikado snapped.
“It has everything to do with it,” Chagum said. He spoke about what he’d seen in the caves underneath the Royal Palace of Kanbal. The spirits in Nayugu had gathered there to mate. The water level in Nayugu was so high there that it covered the mountains. Kanbal had already suffered landslides and flooding, but because their clan lords had warning, most of the people had evacuated to high ground.
The Mikado started to appear interested. The Yusa Mountains and the Misty Blue Mountains were close. What affected one mountain range often affected the other. “You are concerned that what has happened in Kanbal will happen here.”
Chagum nodded. “If the river floods, the entire city will be in danger, but especially the Upper Fan. We need to get everyone we can to safety while we still have time.”
All of the assembled nobles and court officials started talking at once. The Mikado raised his hand, commanding silence. His eyes passed over Gakai and settled on Shuga.
“Master Star Reader,” he said, “you gave me warning of such a disaster, did you not?”
Shuga stood up, then bowed deeply. “I did, Your Imperial Majesty.”
Karyou stiffened in his seat. The unrest in the room was near to breaking point. Everyone knew that Shuga was Chagum’s tutor and had always supported him at court.
“With respect,” Shuga said, “I am not the only one of the Master Star Readers to have seen the portent of disaster. Ozoru, the other apprentice of the Holy Sage, did as well.”
“What?” Ozoru asked, frowning. “What is it that I’m supposed to know?”
“When we were in closed conference with the other Star Readers, what did you see?”
“The portent of disaster,” he said. “Some believed there would be a flood, but we have to do more research.”
“You knew that the disaster was a flood, but did not inform me?” the Mikado asked.
“Ozoru knows the reason for that as well,” Shuga said.
“What is it, then?” the Mikado asked testily.
“The Holy Sage commanded us to ignore the portent,” Ozoru said.
Outrage as the news shook the hall. Shuga looked at Ozoru and said, “Just because we were told to ignore it doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” Shuga said. “We’ve all seen it.”
Ozoru nodded. “We sent out Star Readers to the bank of the Blue Bow River yesterday morning. We confirmed that the water level of the river is indeed high. There may be a flood at any time.”
“I ask again,” the Mikado said, “why I was not told as soon as this portent was confirmed.”
Shuga didn’t say anything for a long while. He glanced up, then looked down. “Forgive me, your Imperial Majesty, but I am at a loss for how to answer.”
More whispers in the hall. The Mikado sat back in his throne and forced his expression blank.
Chagum had arrived in Kosenkyo just after the ceremony to pray for victory in war. He seemed to have come in answer to the Mikado’s prayers.
The Mikado remembered Shuga telling him about the Portent of Great Change. The nobles in the hall finished speaking to one another and fell silent. The Mikado stared at them all as they averted their eyes.
When the Mikado’s gaze fell on Chagum, Chagum didn’t look away. For the first time in his life, Chagum looked his father in the eyes.
He ’s not looking at me. His eyes are on me, but it’ s like he sees right through me.
The Mikado saw something in Chagum’s face that was difficult to describe. Chagum thought he saw something like understanding or compassion, but then he blinked, and the Mikado’s eyes were as glassy and expressionless as ever.
“This disaster is the work of Ten no Kami,” the Mikado said. “The flood will cleanse and purify Kosenkyo. I, who am still pure of all defilement, will abide his judgement. I do not believe I am in error.”
Chagum was about to say something, but Radou stood up and interrupted him. “The Mikado is never in error!” he shouted. “Heed his words!”
Chagum tried to say something again, but Radou was still shouting. “Who is this strange person who looks like Prince Chagum but behaves nothing like him? Impostor! Liar!”
The assembled nobles started whispering again.
Radou shook with rage. “You were sent as a hostage to Sangal. Why did they let you go? Could it be that they wanted you to invade our weakened nation with the armies of Kanbal and Rota so that you can seize rule for yourself?”
Chagum’s guards stood up. Chagum raised a hand before they could speak.
“I will abide the judgment of Ten no Kami, and wait for our city to be purified!” Radou shouted.
The Mikado didn’t look at Radou. Chagum thought that he looked suddenly sad. Something in Chagum’s chest ached at the sight. His father had lived his entire life in the Imperial Palace, revered as the child of a god. He’d sincerely believed that his purity would be effective in saving New Yogo from natural disasters and invading armies, but now... Chagum got the sense that the Mikado had seen through all the pretense for the first time ever.
Or maybe he recognized his own hypocrisy. He had ordered his own son assassinated, not once but twice, all for the sake of his reputation. If he was the soul of the nation, then his soul could not be called pure.
But New Yogo had been founded on the myth of the Mikado’s divinity. Even if the Mikado understood that he wasn’t capable of saving Kosenkyo through purity, he couldn’t abandon the lie now, at this late stage. He was forced to commit to it, as he had for his entire life. In the eyes of New Yogo’s people, the Mikado and the nation were one and the same. That meant the Mikado could not waver, go back on a decision, or admit to error. The child of a god did not make errors. The Mikado refused to make a mockery of his own life, even to tell the truth.
The sadness disappeared from the Mikado’s eyes as his expressionless mask took hold. “Chagum,” the Mikado said, “you are free to choose your own path.”
Chagum felt a chill go straight through him.
“You are free to use the Star Readers to evacuate the city and get the common people to higher ground,” he said. “I shall remain here. I have no intention of relying on foreigners to aid us. I have no interest in killing. Use our armies as you wish. I believe that Ten no Kami will purify this land, destroy our enemies and lead our nation into a glorious future. I will not consider alternate proposals regarding what is happening. But you and I are both descended from Ten no Kami, Chagum. I must believe that he will place us on the right path.”
Chagum swallowed down a hot lump in his throat and couldn’t speak. He and his father had both chosen their paths. All they had to do now was walk them.
Chagum knelt down and brought his forehead to the floor. His throat felt tight as he forced out, “Goodbye, father.”
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