Guardian of Heaven and Earth
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New Yogo
Part 4 - The Flood
Chapter 6 - Kosenkyo
Chagum felt like his body was being engulfed by a great and terrible wave. The eggs bathed in rainbow-colored illumination below him shifted around on the ocean floor. Chagum noticed that his own body was also glowing, along with all the fish, water dwellers, and Nayugu spirits gathered around him.
A chill went up Chagum's spine. A rippling pulse went through the ocean water, and another, setting a rhythm like a heartbeat. The pulse grew stronger, sending the spirits and water dwellers scattering, but they weren't frightened.
"It's a dance," one of the water dwellers whispered in Chagum's ear.
And it was: the spirits of Nayugu danced to the beat set by the pulse. The pulse became even louder and faster, as if all the spirits and their light were interconnected in one great, unheard song.
This must be the marriage of the spirits, Chagum thought. The Mountain King is choosing a bride.
The water dwellers grabbed Chagum's hands and started swimming in a straight line. He swam outside, past the huge shells, until the capital as seen from Nayugu was visible again. There were no people anywhere that he could see. He sped toward the Imperial Palace, where his father's private chambers were. The Mikado was probably still inside.
There was an aged servant still inside the palace. Chagum tried to reached out and push the servant outside, but they refused to be rushed, and Chagum had less influence in Nayugu than he would have had in Sagu. The servant didn't even seem to realize he was there.
"Run!" Chagum yelled. "You have to get away!"
The old servant didn't even turned to face Chagum. Chagum watched the fish and spirits around him dart away at top speed and thought, Time passes differently in Nayugu and Sagu.
There was no sound. Nayugu was silent, and sounds from Sagu weren't transmitted to him. The support pillars inside the palace swayed alarmingly in Nayugu, but they swayed silently. Chagum caught a sudden glimpse of muddy water rising up along the tapestry-covered walls. Some walls had completely crumbled. The flood had completely washed away everything on the floor.
Chagum was stunned and didn't want to look, so he closed his eyes. A shockwave ran through him, but it was muffled, as if someone had wrapped him in a blanket. Naguyu's ocean and Sagu's floodwaters overlapped, both moving in cresting waves. Shingles fell from the ceiling and debris floated on the water's surface.
Tears streaked down Chagum's face and fell into the waters of the flood eclipsing his home. He was worried about his father. There was also no sign of the aged servant anywhere. Perhaps both the Mikado and his servant had been washed away.
Chagum gritted his teeth and swam to higher floors of the Imperial Palace. The flood waters were calmer as he swam up. The spire of the Star Palace had crumbled and was nowhere to be seen. The wall between the Middle Fan and the Upper Fan was as good as gone, for all it did to prevent more water from seeping in. Chagum cried harder as he remembered the Imperial Palace in all its glory , swimming above the ruined city like a bird in flight.
The flood spread over Kosenkyo in the shape of a fan, starting fast and hard like a tidal wave before feathering out in more gentle waves. Chagum followed the general current of the water to the east. The Misty Blue Mountains loomed large in the sky ahead of him , peaks shining with rainbow-colored light. The light shone over the water, creating a separating line between the earth and the sky. It was a majestic sight, as still as a painting, yet shimmering as the light shifted.
Nayugu spirits from the faraway Yusa Mountains came to this place only once every few centuries to perform the ceremony of the marriage of the spirits. There were so many spirits that Chagum saw few gaps between them from the ocean floor to the sky.
Chagum turned away from the mountains and faced the Moon Hills and the foothills near the capital where the army had been camped. The camp wasn’t flooded; Chagum saw tents and a few people moving around from his high vantage point. The abandoned rice fields around the camp sparkled white with pale sunlight.
Soldiers spread out around the base of the mountain. They were facing away from the capital and didn’t see the encroaching floodwaters. The Talsh army was ahead of them, entrenched and waiting.
It’s a battle! But they can’t see…
If the Yogoese soldiers weren’t warned in time, the entire battlefield would be washed away, along with them.
Something glinted in the distance, golden and blindingly bright. It looked like gold thread spidering downward from the sky. Chagum’s eyes traced the movement of the thread as it contacted earth inside the army camp. The thread bounced upward toward the Misty Blue Mountains, passing Chagum as it soared through the heavens.
The Second Queen gripped Chagum’s hand tightly, then felt his forehead. Chagum tried to open his eyes, but they were so heavy. Everything hurt.
“It’s all right,” the Second Queen said. “It was just a bad dream. It’s time to wake up now.”
Shuga looked over the Second Queen’s shoulder, trying to gauge Chagum’s condition, when he felt something numbing and cold smack him hard across the forehead.
Shuga saw nothing, but the cold sensation pierced him to his soul. This was the result of Torogai’s magic weaving. Her message reached him through the Thread of the Golden Spider, so that only he could hear it.
I’m certain you can feel this gold thread’s hold on your soul. As expected of my apprentice. I will tell you what the earth has said…
Shuga stood stock still inside Chagum’s army tent. When Torogai finished relaying her message, he dashed outside the tent. The soldiers were all mustering up for battle against the Talsh. The men assigned to watch for developments from Kosenkyo were facing away from it, helping their comrades prepare.
Shuga grabbed the arm of one of the sentries and shouted, “The flood is coming! We must retreat!”
The sentry turned toward the capital, looking very pale. He had the archers fly whistling arrows with blunted tips to signify the retreat to the soldiers already on the battlefield.
But the soldiers fighting were hard-pressed to keep themselves alive, and they didn ’t hear the whistling arrows at all. The archers behind them released more whistling arrows, trying to get their attention before it was too late.
One final volley of whistling arrows finally made some of the soldiers look up from the fighting. The sentries were completely out of whistling arrows, so the soldiers on the battlefield had to call out to their comrades to retreat.
The Rotan line started shifting back first: their horses made them faster and more maneuverable. They pulled back to the eastern foothills, killing enemies as they went. The Kanbalese and Yogoese armies followed the Rotan army along the path of retreat that they carved through the enemy.
Since their enemy was on the run, the Talsh army gave chase. They didn ’t get far before the banks of the Blue Bow River overflowed, making the battlefield into a muddy, slippery plain.
The rhythm of the Talsh war drums changed. They must have noticed the condition of the river, too, and were sending out new orders. Horses and men in armor slipped and fell as they sought higher ground.
The Talsh were trapped in a narrow area by the terrain. The Yogoese archers in the foothills released arrows at them as they fled. The arrows fell like a black thundercloud upon the Talsh army.
Thousands of men were pierced through and collapsed into the mud. They didn ’t rise. Shuga went pale as he took in the terrible slaughter.
All told, the Talsh survivors numbered something like three thousand. Hagu Muro ’ s Kanbalese unit had attacked from the north to the south and were partially caught in the flood, so they suffered heavy casualties. General Shubal and his Ormese lieutenant knew when they were beaten, threw down their weapons and surrendered to the Kanbalese army.
Chagum received news of the Talsh defeat while recovering in his army tent. Their side had won, but Kahm ’s report contained no joy. Chagum gripped his mother’s hand with his own shaking one and tried to reassure himself about what had happened.
Later, Chagum learned that his father had died in the flooded capital. New Yogo, the land that was supposedly protected by a god, no longer existed in its previous form. The country that New Yogo used to be ended with the previous Mikado. That idea echoed hollowly in Chagum ’s heart whenever he considered it. This was an ending. He wondered if it might also be a beginning.
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