"Your Highness…" Lenko bent down, offering Keiser a steadying hand as he slipped on the jagged rock face.
Keiser groaned, hauling himself up with help, scowling at how sore Muzio's body had become.
What annoyed him more, though, was the sight of the Princess striding ahead without so much as a glance back. The swarm of pyre bugs drifted around her like lanterns, guiding the way to what she claimed was a safe place---the very place she had led all the 'disappeared people'.
Lenko kept a firm hold on him, balancing the overtly large satchel on his shoulder as though it weighed nothing. Even burdened like that, he still managed to pull Keiser along when Muzio's body faltered, especially when Keiser's bandaged hands spasmed in pain at the slightest attempt to grip a stone. The sigils etched into his flesh punished every touch.
They quickened their pace, trying not to lose sight of her.
Only now, after all this time, had Lenko finally been told--or perhaps finally realized--that the girl who had once pickpocketed them was in truth a Princess of the Hinode Matriarchy.
It explained much. Why Lenko, normally so quick to bristle at her antics, bit his tongue instead.
Why he moved around her with a reluctant deference.
His actions, which had puzzled himself, finally made sense once the princess decided to drop the truth.
< 30 minutes ago >
"That's not an answer we can just be okay with--and you know it." Keiser grimaced, swatting away one of the glowing pyre bugs.
They'd already let the procession slip past just to argue, circling around Yona's vague explanations instead of moving forward.
Lenko trailed close behind, the satchel heavy on his shoulder, his eyes flicking uneasily between the two.
The princess scowled at Keiser, but he pressed on. "Stop making excuses. The only reason I'm still letting you twist your words is because you seem to care about those people." He cut her a sharp look when he heard the faint rasp of her swords almost leaving their sheaths.
"…If they're in any real danger, you wouldn't hesitate to cut it down." His gaze lingered on her blades before flicking back to her face. "…So what's stopping you from just telling us straight up?"
The princess groaned. "I already told you why. Fine! I'll. Just. Show you." She enunciated each word like she was carving it into their skulls.
The pyre bugs lingered in the air, weaving together faintly glowing lines, almost like a path. Keiser and Lenko exchanged a skeptical look, but she had been repeating this mantra since the start--show, not tell.
Without warning, she tugged the twin short swords free--not unsheathing them, just pulling them loose from the leather belt that bound them at her hip.
Then she dropped them onto the ground.
The thud was heavier than Keiser expected.
The moment they left her, she exhaled in a shudder, as if a crushing weight had been lifted from her chest. Relief softened her features in a way he hadn't seen before.
She crossed her arms, nodding toward the blades. "Beast-cored weapons. They influence their owners."
Her lips curled into a wry smile. "And that sly fox--" she jabbed a thumb at the fallen swords--"keeps me from speaking." She said it almost proudly, as if the admission itself was some kind of victory.
Keiser and Lenko glanced at each other again, both unsettled in different ways.
She groaned, dragging a hand through her hair. "It's like--I can't just tell you things directly. I have to go around it, or show you. That's the curse of wielding a sacred beast core."
She gestured toward her swords on the ground, then flicked her hand at the glowing pyres around them. "One of its skills is to guide--to lead people somewhere, or even push them along with words and thoughts."
Her finger shifted toward Lenko.
He blinked, pointing at himself.
Ah.
Keiser's hand clapped his shoulder. "Did you notice you stopped trying to push her away? Stopped accusing her of being untrustworthy because she's a thief?"
Lenko frowned. "…Huh?"
Keiser nodded. "You also left me alone with her while I was unconscious."
Lenko blinked again, slower this time. "…I did do that…"
Yona nodded firmly, almost smug.
"And," Keiser pressed, "you stopped calling me 'Muzio'. You went back to saying 'Your Highness.'"
Lenko froze--then his eyes widened. "…Oh."
Keiser's gaze slid to the princess. "Don't worry, she's a 'Your Highness' too. A princess of the Hinode Matriarchy." He let that hang a moment before adding, "The king's eldest son's fiancée."
Lenko gaped at her like a fish tossed onto land. His mouth opened and closed without sound.
Yona smirked at him, looking far too pleased with herself.
Keiser didn't let up. "Of course, she did steal from us."
The princess shot him a glare, her smirk instantly souring.
"Th-th-the--" Lenko still couldn't breathe properly, just staring between them in disbelief.
"There's a reason for that!" Yona snapped, stomping her foot. She bent down, scooped her swords off the ground, and buckled them back onto her belt in one swift, irritated motion.
Without waiting for another word, she marched ahead.
< Back to the Present >
And that reason stood right here, Keiser thought.
The slope carried them upward until the forest unfurled beneath, a vast sea of trees, the paling sky scattering silver across their crowns. The procession had vanished into the shadows; from here, he could no longer tell where they had gone.
"Hey! Over here!" Lenko whisper-shouted, waving them closer.
The princess had explained before, the pyre bugs weren't hers to command. They simply answered her call when she sought their help.
And right now, their help revealed itself.
Lenko pointed into the distance. A faint reddish glow pulsed between the trees, almost swallowed by the night but visible from their vantage point.
"Oh. I guess it's starting." The princess appeared suddenly at Keiser's side.
Lenko jumped, then immediately shuffled behind him, keeping the princess firmly in his wary sights. She'd already said she wouldn't report his disrespect--his snubs and sharp tongue toward a noble.
Keiser figured that was leniency enough, considering she'd also stolen from them. Even if she claimed it was for their sake.
The princess raised her hand and pointed toward the glow.
There, in a clearing, the cloaked figures emerged once more.
But something was wrong.
Keiser's stomach tightened as his eyes adjusted.
The children, the youths, the old ones---the ones who had been herded along before... were gone.
Keiser heard Lenko mumble the same question, squinting at the clearing below.
Keiser turned on the princess with a scowl. "What's happening?"
She met his glare with a flat look. "You really think I'm the one you'll get a straight answer from?"
Keiser closed his eyes, tilting his face to the sky as if to breathe out his frustration. Then he pointed sharply at the cloak figures. "Where are those 'people' who disappeared?"
Even Lenko nodded beside him.
The princess drew in a long breath through her nose. "I told you--the pyris bugs are guiding lights. They lead people to safety." She gestured to her twin swords. "And my beast-core is what steers them."
Keiser frowned. Lenko just shook his head, clearly as lost as he was.
The princess groaned, throwing up her hands. "They disappeared because my fox beast is saving them!"
Keiser shook his head at once. "You said people vanishing was the Hinnom's problem. Are you the one causing it?"
Her scowl snapped into place---but then faltered.
A pause, as if the weight of his words suddenly sank in.
How her actions must look to them.
"No. Of course not. I'm trying to stop it."
She jabbed her finger toward the cloaked men, now emerging from the treeline. From their vantage, a faint wash of sunlight crept across the horizon. None of them had noticed how much the sky had lightened.
Keiser exhaled hard through his nose. "And how, exactly? How long have you been 'handling' this problem in Hinnom?"
Keiser couldn't help but wonder--if it was ever resolved in his time? And if so… had it been only the princess, carrying it alone?
The princess glared at him. "A year."
Keiser froze. Even Lenko's jaw dropped, his eyes wide.
"And you still haven't gotten anything done---" Keiser bit off too late.
The kick caught him square in the gut. He slammed into a tree, bark biting into his back. Lenko barely stumbled out of the way.
Coughing, doubled over, Keiser clutched his stomach.
He gritted his teeth---just in time to catch a glint.
The risen sun caught on steel.
Instinct yanked his head aside as a blade sang past, close enough to shear the air against his throat.
Lenko let out a strangled sound.
The princess stood before them, furious.
Purple fire crawled up her hands, her hair rippling like it too was ablaze.
Her eyes, bloodshot and wild, fixed on Keiser.
Her voice came cold, each word a strike of iron.
"You think you know what I've had to do in this place? What it took just to keep the casualties less than what they should've been?"
She lifted her hand. Her sword flared with violet light before snapping free from the tree, whirling back to her grasp.
Keiser panted, still crouched against the bark, forcing himself upright even as his ribs screamed again.
He kept his eyes on her, wary, because for the first time--he wasn't sure she wouldn't finish it.