Chinui had received a scouting report saying that the migration path of the five thousand strong keradon herd had somehow changed and instead of going north of the hills towards the thorn woods, it had turned southward. That course would lead them right at the heart of the Artefine kingdom.

He had to deal with this swiftly but there was a small problem. The emperor happened to be visiting Bêtéclair, city from where Chinui was commanding the troops. The emperor was in a good mood that day and asked to go with him to see the battle. After all, it had been a long time since the two friends had taken part in an event together.

Chinui had accepted since it was a wish of his emperor and friend but, he knew this would only bring him more trouble. He had only planned to send two legion of spearmen and bowmen that would have been lead by a local duke but, since the emperor was coming as well, he had to send the whole army stationed in Bêtéclair. Instead of sending six thousand soldiers, he had to send almost fifteen thousand and of course, he would have to lead them himself. All of this for the emperor's protection but also, because he was right. He did not have as much time to spend with him as he did in the past and missed the good times he shared with him in the past.

Since they were only dealing with a herd of wild beast, Chinui did not bring neither mages nor cavalry with the troops. The cost of bringing the mages was too great compared to the small enemy they had to push back and the cavalry wasn't useful in the rocky hills of northern Artefine.

The keradon wasn't that smart of a creature. They were large, strong and almost unstoppable while they ran but, they had a poor vision, were fearful beasts and were no smarter than a cow. The one charging in front chose the path and the rest followed. There was no tactic involved into fighting them, you only had to force them to turn around or kill them all.

Usually, the keradons lived most of the year in the plains of the tribes-land. Then, when approaching the peak of summer, they moved west until they reached the fresh air coming from the sea. They enjoyed the breeze for a while, gave birth north of the Thornwoods and went back to the tribes-land afterwards.

Looking at the map, the path they would take should have been obvious. If they did not take their usual route, they would cut between the hills near Burnston village and follow the path down towards the howling Hill. He would intercept the herd there since such a large amount of troops couldn't go any faster.

Chinui moved the troops as swiftly as he could but once he reached Dark-glint, he received some more strange news. The herd did not go through the planned route and instead ran straight towards Burnston.

This disturbed the great general. Their path did not make sense. Going that way would lead them back eastward through the Thundering pa.s.s. They were supposed to go west. Why were they turning around? He changed his plans and moved the troops toward the Thundering pa.s.s. He also gave the order to abandon Burnston village and send more scouts to find out what caused such a strange behavior.

The troops were forced to move twice as fast to reach the pa.s.s before the herd, if they let them through here, there would not be anywhere else to corner them. Every fields in the plains of Artefine would be ravaged by the trampling of the herd.

Those were all the reasons that led Chinui and his troops here at the end of the Thundering pa.s.s. On their left, hills with sharp and brittle slopes made it impossible to climb, on their right burnt trees and a labyrinth of splintered rocks and displaced boulders made sure the herd would not go that way. If they really wanted to move forward, they would have to go through the four legions he brought.

There wasn't much time left before the beasts arrived but Chinui was still undecided on how to proceed. The scouts had not come back, he felt blind. What took them so long?

As he awaited the scouts return, he walked around the frontline to see how the soldiers were keeping up. He met up with the captains of each company one by one to see for himself if something was wrong. Aside from how tired they were from the march, everything seemed in order.

Chinui's brother, Chijou, was one of the captains present.

"Great general, sir!" Chijou said with a salute when Chinui approached his company.

"Don't sir me Chijou. How are your men?" Asked Chinui casually.

"Tired but they'll be all right." He said with a grin. "There was a lot of complains about burnt smell."

"That's to be expected here, there's nothing I can do about it."

"I know but that won't stop them from complaining."

"How about you give each of them a good kick? That ought to help." Joked Chinui.

"You're the only one here who feels like a kick is motivating, brother."

"Well, at least it's refres.h.i.+ng for the one kicking."

"Of course you would feel that way, you aren't the one receiving them so often."

"That's because you sleep too much! How many times do I have to tell you to wake up with the sun!"

"But that's useless, there's no point in getting up with the sun if you are to feel tired for the whole day. I still think you should sleep more and let me be for a little longer."

"Nonsense, you're such a bad example for your men, if you don't get up, how are they expected to do it?"

"I may be a bad example but at least I have a girl waiting for me." Said Chijou, retaliating with the fact that his brother was still single.

"Yes, and she will wait for a very long time if you just keep sleeping so much."

Chijou let out something between a laugh and a sigh and changed the subject.

"Speaking of my almost fiance, what do you think of the swords she made us?"

"A good pair, she is talented. The enchantments on them are practical, the balance is good, the length perfect for us and the blade deadly."

"Right? That is an incredible Holia's offering! I can't wait to see what she is going to do next. I can't go anywhere without Night anymore."

"Day is one of the best blades I ever used, it's just a little... savage."

"Savage? Sure it's not designed quite traditionally but don't describe something my girlfriend made as savage!"

"Why not? It perfectly describes them."

It wasn't an insult, Chinui genuinely felt that there was no point in a sword looking good if it could not cut properly. Those two swords, Night and Day (1), looked a little raw but their edge was sharper and more reliable than what he usually saw in the capital.

"You are terrible today. What is it you ate this morning? I'll ask the cooks to never do that again."

"That has nothing to do with what I ate. I just don't get what is happening and the scouts didn't come back."

"You think there's something more?"

"I'm sure there is, they would never turn around like that on their own, there is something else."

"Should we make barricades in case we need them? Trenches?"

"No, it will only tire your soldiers more. Start Putting down spikes at an angle to lead them toward the center. Send some men to get the others to do the same and be ready to move in case we have to."

"Got it. I'll see you after the battle and we'll have a talk about finding you a wife." Chijou made a salute and turned around to lead his troops.

"You sure about that? You'll probably be asleep by then."

"Again? Leave me be, I'm not twelve anymore, I can sleep for as long as I want."

"It should be the opposite, you are not twelve anymore, I shouldn't have to tell you to wake up."

Chijou just made a dismissive gesture with his hand and Chinui went back to the commanding pavilion. That was the last time he saw his brother alive.

The flags of Steelwood empire, Muracier house, Grandbois house and the Artefine kingdom flew together around its entrance. On them were a crenelated tree, a crenelated wall, a large three over a mountain and a feather over a parchment respectively.

Bellow the flags stood an old man in military uniform. He saluted Chinui when he saw him approaching.

"Great general, sir!"

"Sir duke Jasay, you can stand down."

Duke Jasay was the one who was supposed to be in charge before the emperor decided to join. He was an half bald old man who did not have much energy left but knew his way around a battlefield. He had been in the army for a long time, and followed three generation of Muracier in combat.

"Since no one came to find me, I will guess that the scouts didn't find anything?"

"This right sir, a third of them who went for the herd came back but didn't see a thing. Those who went for the Burnston village said that it was burnt to the ground. They be looking for survivors in the hills behind." Said the old man with a strange accent and a smile.

"Burnt? This whole thing is getting weirder and weirder. Are you sure that is what the scout said?"

"Aye, burnt he said, not destroyed or abandoned, burnt."

"Why are you looking so happy about this?"

"This be my last battle sir. "You be too old for this" said my family. Now, it seems I'm so old they gonna make me an ancient. They found me a place in the school. I'm to be the new princ.i.p.al."

"You will be the one to teach all those young and foolish n.o.bles?"

"I'm not the one whose gonna do the teachin, and you be one of those foolish n.o.bles too once. The worst of them even."

Chinui grinned at the old man and wished him good luck before he went in to meet with the rest of the commanding officers.

Inside, a group of men were waiting for him in the company of the emperor. There were two generals here, the general Averton, in charge of the right wing, and Chinui's cousin, in charge of the reserves. The left wing would be lead by the Duke and Chinui was in control of the center.

The rest of the present people were of lower ranks but Chinui valued most of their opinions, when they had some to offer. Against the keradons, they didn't have much to say, the fight should be quite straightforward.

After a quick salute, everyone stood waiting for the words of the great general. Everyone aside from the Emperor who sat on the only chair present and immediately spoke his mind.

"Chinui my friend, what are we doing? Is it not strange to wait for something to happen?"

"My lord, there is nothing I can do if I don't know what is coming at us. For now, I asked the troops to place downs walls of spikes to funnel the keradons in a line easy to take out. For the rest, we will have to wait."

"Sir, if I may, I disagree." Spoke a man standing close to the emperor. "What could possibly pose a threat to our whole army? We should just press on and clash with them as soon as possible in case they change their path again."

Chinui answered his cousin, Graube Muracier with a frown. He was always doing this, arguing against everything he did. Sometimes he was right, but most of the times, Chinui felt that his tendency to charge in blindly was, at best, dangerous.

"The goal isn't to defeat them as fast as possible. The goal is just to push them back as safely as possible. There is no reason for us to move up general."

"But we could at least move some archer companies up in the rocks to our east to thin out their number before they reach us." Proposed the emperor.

"We could." Answered Chinui politely. "But the scouts haven't found why the herd turned around yet. Our best course of action is still to reinforce the line and wait for them to return."

"Why are you so sure they aren't just acting on stupidity? You have no idea what caused them to turn. Maybe their usual path was just blocked and they got lost in the hills."

"Forgive me but you don't know either, a bunch of keradons cannot burn down a village. There is something wrong with them."

"But Burnston is a mining village, a coal mining village. They probably burned it down themselves by accident as they ran away from the herd." Argued Graube. "We should do as the king said and split off our archers on the side. The beasts will never run in that labyrinth."

"And I tell you that if there is indeed something else with them, our archers will be left defenseless. It is not worth the risk. We will put down the spikes and line up spearmen behind them in a large V shape. The herd will just run into the tip of that V and get stuck there with spearmen and archers on either side."

"You're always doing that, camping in your fortifications like a turtle instead of pressing on when you have the advantage."

"Yes because it's foolish to run forward when you don't know what's up there. That's why you are not the one with the t.i.tle of great general."

Graube inhaled deeply and quite audibly with a flare of his nostrils, visibly angry at his cousin. The emperor, undoubtedly feeling a little uncomfortable in this atmosphere, excused himself.

"Well, come tell me if something happens or the battle starts."

The emperor rose from his seat and everyone in the pavilion bowed to him as he left. Those left in the pavilion were forced to a.s.sist to the usual bout between the cousins. The argument continued for a short while before Chinui finally dismissed everyone, telling them one final time to wait for more information before moving.

After that, the only thing Chinui himself could do was wait as well. Outside, long wooden spikes were unloaded from the supply carts and planted along the pa.s.s. Any keradon that would run into them would end up impaled, or at least, slowed. The soldiers were taking turns working and resting hoping to get some energy back before the fight. The air in the pa.s.s was dry and dust flew down the hills to choke the soldiers but the mood was good. Moral was high and soldiers sang whatever came to their minds as they worked.

Then, one of the scouts came back, there were more enemies than expected but still no clue as to why they were coming this way. Chinui asked for the information to be relayed and waited again. Not long after, someone came in to inform him that the emperor had grown restless from the last news.

He told the messenger to send any high ranked officer to rea.s.sure him while he awaited more conclusive information. He could go see him himself but he didn't want any delay if the scouts brought bad news.

An hour later, a second scout came in. They found a survivor from Burnston, he said he saw giant wolves. Why would there be giant wolves there? Wondered Chinui. Just in case, he asked for the general Averton, in charge of the right wing to place troops at the border of the rocky maze. The wolves would not be put off by it but could instead use it as an advantage and flank them. He still needed this information to be confirmed, he waited again.

Finally, a last wave of scouts came back as a dust cloud formed by the herd trampling could be seen rising from the other end of the pa.s.s. Cursed-bloods riding giant wolves were spurring the keradons onward. There was around two hundred of them. This was the explanation, The herd had been guided to act as a weapon for the cursed-bloods. The original plan would be fine, the herd could be easily contained and at worse, the cursed-bloods would try to flank them.

He went outside and barked the necessary orders.

"Every company at their a.s.signed position in the line, the break is over! Archers wait for the signal to fire!"

The ground in the pa.s.s was too flat meaning he could not see the front line from where he stood but he expected his troops to act in a well coordinated way like usual. He advanced slowly towards the tip of the V where the brunt of the enemy force was expected to hit. The moment he got on the frontline, he saw that something wasn't right.

First, he saw arrows raining down on the enemy from the right side, from the rock maze. Then, he saw the not so distant wolf riders detach from the herd and charge into the maze after the archers that should not have been there.

Chinui scanned what he could see of the battlefield, looking for the missing soldiers. He quickly found it. There was a gap in the line on the right side. Someone had failed to lead his company to its designated place and somehow found themselves in the maze. A messenger came running to him with the news.

"Sir great general, sir! The twelfth company isn't at its post and can't be found, General Averton requesting reinforcements to fill in the breach."

The twelfth? It was his brother over there trapped with the wolves! He needed to rescue him, he felt the urge to run there himself, but, thousands of other men were awaiting his orders to fix the unexpected mess. He had to focus on the battle.

A single look was enough to know that if he sent reinforcements there, they would never make it in time before the enemy got in. They were charging full speed ahead and were about to reach the end of the line.

"No time. Make the whole line move to the right to fill it! We move to the right! Reserves take the middle point! Tell Averton to move the maze line into it to rescue the lost company!"

Sending in part of the right wing was the best he could do for his brother right now. Voices of soldiers echoed in the pa.s.s.

"Move to the right!"

"Fill the gap! Faster, they'll get in!"

"They're here! Move!"

Chinui watched with a mix of sorrow and anger as the eleventh company ran into the breach to fill it. They did not have the time. The whole herd saw the gap and turned to face it, ramming headfirst into the unprepared spearmen.

"Release the arrows, fire!"

"Turn the formation! Face the enemy!"

"They're getting through!"

"Charge! Fill the gap at all costs!"

The army was quickly getting cut in half with the right side sandwiched between the herd and the wolf riders. The general Averton, seeing his whole line collapse signaled the retreat into the maze and the wolf riders, trying to get his men out of the way of the charging keradons. Between a bunch of giant wolves and hundreds of charging giants woolly rhinos, he chose the wolves.

Hundreds of soldiers moved in the narrow pa.s.sages, walking on each other's feet and destroying their formation instantly. Stuck there with no s.p.a.ce to move, they desperately tried to go forward to let in those that still tried to get in. A large and incoherent group of disorganised soldiers clumped the side of the pa.s.s as they tried to get out of the way of the herd.

Arrows poured down from the left wing killing dozens of keradons but they were not enough to slow down the herd. They advanced so quickly that Graube was forced to used the reserves as a second line in the back to contain them instead of filling in the center. The choc was brutal as the keradons charged through the spear wall and trampled over the men.

Taller and larger than any horses, their short legs made them hard to topple. They had a long and smooth horn sprouting from their forehead but they didn't need to use them in their mad charge. They only needed to walk over the soldiers, crus.h.i.+ng them under two tons of meat and fur.

Few would have ever believed that an usually so peaceful creature would become the Artefine army's nightmare

Chinui Led a charge from the side in an attempt to slow down the herd. The keradons, pushed from one side was displaced towards Averton who did his best to reform his remaining troops into the maze while defending from all sides.

Chinui used his long sword Day to cut down the legs of the pa.s.sing beasts, slowly moving forward in a field of dying mountains of flesh. On either sides of him, hundreds of spearmen planted their weapons into the sides and necks of the animals slowly thinning out the herd.

The smell of wet fur and musk filled the air and overpowered the usual smell of blood one would expect from a battlefield. The shouts and orders could barely be heard over the rumbling of the earth as thousands of waist thick legs pounded into it without pause. the thundering pa.s.s itself only made it worse as, true to its name, every sound made here echoed again and again producing a deafening thundering sound.

Every time a keradon died, it blocked the path of the others behind it, forcing them to push the body out of the way or run around. Since they were so densely packed, it often resulted into them ramming the corpse of their brethren and getting stuck there.

It was at this time that more bad news came into his ears from screams echoed around the battlefield.

"Bear tribe warriors running down the left hills!"

"Enemies about to hit the left wing!"

"Archers move forward! Spearmen in the back!"

"Don't let them charge the archers!"

This entire battle was a disaster. The duke Jasay on the left reacted in time and the bear tribe was intercepted by spears and swords but the right wing was worsening.

The herd finally stopped its mad charge, stuck behind twice as many dead keradons, but still blocked the way between the center and the remnants of Averton's troops. Once the echoes of their charge finally died, the screams of agony coming from the maze made themselves heard through the pa.s.s.

In the maze, it was almost impossible to see the wolves coming. They were using a hit and run tactic with great effectiveness, killing off the soldiers one by one while the spears of the humans got stuck everywhere in the narrow pa.s.sages.

Averton ordered many times to use the swords but the soldiers were afraid to attack something twice their size with swords. and often got their arms bitten off before they could react.

In the maze, the advantage of number did not exist, the many winding pa.s.sages were too narrow to let more than one or two soldiers through at a time, forcing them to fight off the wolf riders alone. Worse, they were so many and so densely packed they hampered each other and prevented their comrades from opposing any meaningful resistance.

The wolfs on the other hand were nimble and flexible, fast and fearless. They squeezed through the smallest of paths, taking soldiers by surprise before running off again. Often, they just jumped over the rocks and came at the soldiers from above, changing paths as they pleased while the soldiers got stuck in a thousand dead ends.

There was no one left to send their way to help since Graube's reserves where in taters as well after they had absorbed the charge of the keradon herd. The only thing Chinui could do was force the herd to turn around to free a way for him to rescue the right wing.

When the herd finally managed to turn around on itself and ran from whence they came to escape this death trap, Averton finally managed to get back out of the maze and fix the ranks of his troops. Chinui ordered all remaining archers from this side of the battlefield to shoot at any wolf riders that would come on top of the rocky labyrinth. Then, he advanced with the center and led the first company into the jagged labyrinth. The first company wasn't afraid of the maze nor the giant wolves, they were not the first for nothing.

On either sides of the soldiers, rocks of all shapes and sizes formed walls and holes no man would dare brave alone. Every couple of feet, they were forced to go around a new rock, and another one again. They would have lost themselves quickly if not for their comrades advancing with them.

They pressed on into the maze as the army outside decisively routed the bear tribe. One by one, the soldiers of the first company cornered the wolf riders from the wolf tribe and killed them to avenge their lost comrades.

Chinui himself fought many, including the pack leader, wearing wolf skin and armed with a great stone axe. Cornered in a dead-end, the pack leader let out a war cry and ordered his mount to charge Chinui. Since there was no place to dodge, Chinui counter attacked instead.

The horse sized wolf jumped forward and turned its head to bite at his neck but Chinui waved his sword just as the wolf got close enough for him to see down its throat. Day went through the palate of the great wolf and pinned it to the wall of the pa.s.sage. The momentum of the beast did not let it stop and the sword cut through its head and brain as the animal almost smashed against Chinui.

The wolf rolled over Chinui and crashed against the wall behind him, sending its rider tumbling in the pa.s.sage. Chinui himself did not get hit with too much strength, his sword having absorbed most of the impact.

The pack leader swiftly got back up, mostly unarmed, and Chinui removed his sword from the rock with a terrible screeching noise. The pack leader revealed his four sharp canines with a low growl of anger, his large ears flat against his head and his tail straight with focus. They had nothing to say to one another. Since his wolf was dead, there was no way for him to leave this battlefield alive he could only take down as many humans as possible with him, starting with the one in front of him.

He charged swiftly and started the fight with an overhead smash, hoping to cut his opponent in half with a single swing. Chinui backstepped to dodge and when the axe bit down into the rock floor, he went forward again to cut the arm of pack leader at the elbow.

Unexpectedly, the axe did not get stuck but bounced off the ground with a loud clunk instead. The cursed-blood used the momentum to not only parry the attack by hitting the sword from bellow but also break Chinui's balance. The back of the axe smashed against his hand and sent his sword high in the air. The wolf used the opportunity to kick Chinui in the stomach and prepared to send his axe down for a second and final swing.

Chinui had been very surprised by the bounce but the follow up was too slow and the kick too weak. A harder kick would have been possible for the cursed-blood but with his axe raised in the air, he would have lost his own balance as well.

Chinui, unaffected by the kick did the opposite of what was expected of him and rushed forward, inches away from his enemy. The pack leader did not know how to react, his axe was in the air and chinui was too close to him to be chopped in half.

The cursed-blood snarled and jumped backwards but Chinui was too fast and sliced his neck open while he did. The winner had been decided. It had not been a question of talent or cunning. Only raw speed had chosen who would live and who would die.

The axe fell with all the remaining strength of the dying cursed-blood, slicing hairs away from Chinui's face. Once again, the axe bounced off the ground but this time, the wolf tribe warrior did not have the strength to control it. The stone axe bounced, spun out of his hands and clanked around longer than it took for its wielder to fall dead before it stopped.

Chinui left the two corpses and the equipment there and resumed his search of the maze. He had no time to spare for cursed-bloods. They quickly routed the remaining wolf riders who quickly left on the back of their swift mounts.

Chinui moved further and further in the labyrinth, looking for his brother. At some point, later, someone called from the depths of the maze, they had found the lost company. Chinui went there with the first company and witnessed the b.l.o.o.d.y scene. The twelfth company, primarily made of archers, had been wiped out. They had been forced to break and flee into the maze where they had been hunted by the wolves.

Corpses were found everywhere in the maze and gathered in the thundering pa.s.s. Chinui watched in silence as the corpses were placed in the pa.s.s one by one.

Beside him, officers were counting the numbers. Eleventh company, disastrous losses, almost wiped out. Tenth company, half remaining. Reserves one two and three, five hundred dead, six hundred injured. Company thirteen fourteen and fifteen, four hundred dead, a hundred still lost in the maze, possibly dead. Left flank, minimal losses. Center, minor losses and some injuries. Twelfth company, no survivors.

Chinui could barely believe what had happened that day. The more bodies they dragged in front of him, the more the colors drained from his face. The more reports came in the stronger his rage boiled.

They had won, they had defeated the bear tribe and the wolf tribe and forced the keradon herd to turn back. But, he could read it on every faces, there was no joy, there was only consternation and puzzlement. What had happened? He could see the question hanging from their minds and mouths as he could only think the same.

Finally, they brought back the corpse of his own brother and laid it in front of him. It was a spear that killed him in the end. While most of his troops died by the vicious bites of the giant wolves, Chijou died from a spear that pierced through his chest. The spear had snapped, half of it was still there, it's quality was shoddy, made of wood and bones, typical of the tribes.

Chinui stared at the face of his brother for a while. Unable to look away from his eyes, devoid of emotions. Chinui was so angry he could not comprehend how angry he was. Someone's head had to roll for this catastrophe. He turned towards all the people working under him. There was anger and tension written all over their faces, they knew someone was to blame, they too wanted to know.

"Who was it?" Chinui asked simply. Anger radiating out of him almost like a physical force. "Who was stupid enough to ask them to move? Who did not report the movement to Averton before it was too late?"

The eyes of everyone present darted to everyone else, trying to find the clue that would lead them to the culprit. The eyes fell on Graube, Chinui's cousin. He was the one who had approved of such a maneuver earlier.

"Graube, tell me."

It was a very simple question but Graube was frozen in place by it. He had never seen his cousin this angry in his whole life. In fact, he had never seen any member of his family this angry before. There was no doubt in his mind that Chinui would kill him on the spot if he dared give the wrong answer.

"It's true I argued for the idea before." He said while making himself as small as possible. "But it wasn't mine and I didn't give such an order."

Chinui could not read any lies in his words but there was missing information.

"Then who? Who is the traitor!"

"Well..."

As everyone present was about to beat him until he spit out the name, a voice of reason came from behind them to cool of their spirits.

"We lost so many! Chinui, my friend, tell me what happened!"

All the eyes turned to the emperor. All the eyes except for Chinui's and Graube's. Chinui could read it on the face of his cousin, the emperor had something to do with this catastrophe. Could it really be his best friend? Was the man he served all this time behind the catastrophe that befell him today? He answered the question of his emperor with one of his own.

"Billow, was it you who moved the twelfth?"

The eyebrows of everyone present raised in surprise as those of the emperor frowned of confusion.

"Why, yes, I thought..."

Chinui did not give him a chance to explain, interrupting him with a shout. Years of friends.h.i.+p were instantly forgotten in the face of his blinding rage. He hated the cowardice his friend had revealed that day, he abhorred his stupidity that led to the demise of his only brother but more than that, he despised how distrustful of him his childhood friend had to be to ignore his plan and do his own thing.

"You thought? Who are you to go around issuing commands in 'MY' army? You where here to see, not think! It was just a merry tour of the countryside for you well look at that! Is it not a sight to remember? Because of you the battle was a disaster!" Chinui was screaming so loudly that everything he said could be heard across the whole pa.s.s, echoing like thunder.

"Chinui, calm down, I..." Said the emperor trying to appease him.

"I have no reason to calm down!" Interrupted Chinui once again by screaming at the top of his lungs. "You, my best friend, you killed my brother with your stupidity! More than two thousand died! Why, by all the G.o.ds, did you not stay out of my battle!"

"Chinui enough!" Shouted the emperor, finally angry as well. "Take back what you said and stop shouting this instant or you may not keep your t.i.tle of great general until tomorrow! 'I' am the emperor, not you, I go wherever I want, even on the battlefield!"

"Because now oh sir great tactician over here thinks he can keep his throne without his great general? This is but wishful thinking!" As Chinui was screaming this, he fumbled to untie his commanding badge from his uniform. Once done, he didn't spare a glance at it before he threw it at the feet of the emperor and finished what he had to say.

"Go on, try. I'm done. As long as the empire will be lead by you, I refuse to commands its armies!"

Chinui took the corpse of his brother in his arms and walked away. The emperor raised a hand toward his departing figure and called him one last time.

"Chinui!"

"I am not coming back!"

Chinui knew those were the most childish things he had done and said in his entire life but he had no intention of taking back anything.

None of the people present knew how to react. Everyone was struck dumb, the emperor in particular felt quite lost.

(1) I almost called the swords sun and moon but it had a strong Pokemon feel to it for some reason.