Leaving Earith was hard.  Yoshi couldn’t stop worrying about Midori.  He wondered if Midori’s people had found safety.  Would they have moved into the Earith town he’d seen, or go deeper into the woods?

Gripping Senbon’s reins, Yoshi dispelled those thoughts, and concentrated on the journey ahead.

Midori could handle himself.  He’d trained in a battle-rich Quad.   The rebels wouldn’t kill him easily.

Yoshi’s stomach rolled at the thought of Midori injured.

“Your Highness,” Telia said, she rode up to his right.

“Yes, Telia,” he said grateful for the distraction.

“Leaving Earith this way….shouldn’t we stay and make sure they’re safe?” Telia asked.

Yoshi didn’t answer her question.

“How long ‘til we leave Earith?” he asked.

“Another hour,” she said reluctantly.  “We should take caution crossing the Imperial Lands.  They are too open.  Namik’s army will find us easily.”

“Very well,” Yoshi urged Senbon into a faster pace, indicating he didn’t want to talk anymore.

***

“What’s gotten into him?” Telia asked Sando when he caught up to her.

Yoshi was riding ahead, flanked by three Earith soldiers.

“I don’t know.”  Sando frowned.  “What did you tell him?”

“That I don’t think we should leave Earith,” Telia said.

Sando sighed.  “I don’t think second-guessing him is helping us.”

“Someone should ask questions,” Telia said, her gaze on the three Earith soldiers around the Prince.  “They’re too close.”

“What?” Sando asked following her gaze.

Before he could ask what she was talking about, Senbon veered off the road and broke into a gallop.

Telia cursed under her breath and urged her horse after the Prince.

***

Yoshi was glad for Senbon for the second time in his life.  The stallion was fast, enough to help him avoid his assailants.  The three men behind him dressed as Earith soldiers gave chase.  Their swords swung as they tried to skewer him.

Yoshi reached for his sword, deflecting an attack from his right.  He guided Senbon off the dirt road and into the trees.  Senbon weaved through the trees.  Yoshi turned back in time to see Telia jump on to one of the horses.  Happy that he only had two to deal with, Yoshi reined in Senbon to a stop.  He jumped to the ground, just as the two remaining assailants rode fast toward him.  Gripping his sword tight, he ducked their swinging swords, and swiped his sword, cutting the man on his left.

The man screamed and Yoshi turned in time to fight off the second assassin.  He had jumped off his horse, and came running at him.  Angry for the continued attempts on his life, Yoshi fought unrestrained, calling on his years of training, he didn’t stop until he sunk his blade into the bastard’s chest.

Giving a harsh cry, Yoshi pulled out the blade and kicked the man to the ground.

He turned to find Telia staring at him.  She held a blade to the third man’s throat, but he wasn’t dead.

“Are you okay?” Telia asked.

Yoshi ignored her question and stalked to her captive.

“Who sent you?” he demanded of Telia’s captive.

Telia dug her fingers into the man’s shaggy dark hair.

“Answer him,” she ordered her tone low.

The man’s eyes filled with hatred, quite visible in the bright morning.

“Kill me,” the man hissed.

Yoshi felt his own anger rise to match, and before he knew it, he drove his sword into the man’s chest, piercing the heart.

Telia stepped back as Yoshi pulled his sword out.

“We could have questioned him farther,” Telia complained.

Yoshi stared at the three dead men scattered on the forest ground.

“It wouldn’t have mattered.  We both know why they tried to kill me in broad daylight.”

“The Imperial Lands are too open.  People will recognize you, word gets to the palace and that stops the state funeral.  We’re not that far from the border.”

Yoshi shook his head.  “Find a place to camp.”

“Your highness,” Telia started.

“Do it,” Yoshi said giving her an order.

“Your Highness, making decisions without—,”

Yoshi reached for Senbon’s reins.

“We don’t know how many more assassins are hiding in the ten thousand riding with us.”

Telia watched him mount his horse with a worried gaze.

“I don’t know about you, but I think we need a new strategy,” Yoshi said with a sigh.  “Give me thirty minutes alone.”

“Prince Yoshi,” Telia said.

Yoshi ignored her call.  He instead turned his horse and rode deeper into the trees.  He rode blindly, not caring where he was going.  Senbon weaved through trees, going fast.  They slowed down when the trees got too thick.  Clutching Senbon’s reins, Yoshi let out a deep sigh.

His thoughts lingered on the past twenty years of his life.  He’d spent each minute dedicated to the well-being of the Empire.  He’d spent hours on tax laws, learning how to navigate the different political climates in each quad.  He’d sat in meetings with the Empress, to discuss state problems brought by the different Quad leaders, even helped solve those problems.  His mother preparing him to fill her place when it was time, yet now—

Yes, he’d chafed against the weight of his duties, his birthright.  The responsibility was heavy, exhausting, so much expectation…yet—

Wiping a hand down his face, he stopped Senbon.  A strong wind swept in, making the branches dance above him.  He tilted his head up to stare at the swinging branches, the leaves singing…how he wished he could be as carefree.

Namik of Fier, he thought.

Namik who wanted his power, the right to rule an Empire, so much so, he was ready to take it from Yoshi anyway possible.  Which would mean war, death, oppression for his people, Yoshi sighed.

“Are you running away?” a soft voice asked and Yoshi dropped his head to stare at the man standing a few feet ahead.

Yoshi’s right hand moved to the handle of his sword as the figure moved into a sliver of light.  Dressed all in black, a dark cloth hiding most of the figure’s face, Yoshi tensed as the man held up a red tassel.  A moment later, a round gold coin with a hole dangled from the tassel, and Yoshi let out a soft sigh.

“Tai Migi,” Yoshi said in relief.  “You scared me.”

“You shouldn’t be alone.  Where is Sando?”

“Don’t start.” Yoshi looked around the forest, his gaze narrowed.  “You can tell Zia Sayu to come out.  I don’t like it when she lurks.”

Yoshi waited for Tai’s twin sister to emerge with a small chuckle.  Tai and Zia were twins who’d grown up in the palace with him and Sando.  As the years passed, the twins turned into shadows who’d trained under the heavy veil of the Royal Investigative Bureau.  Yoshi hadn’t seen them since he turned seventeen.  He’d assumed his mother had sent them on missions.

“Zia is not here.”

Yoshi frowned.  The two rarely separated.

“How did you find me?” he asked.

“I’ll always find you, Prince Yoshi.  Are you running away?” Tai asked.

Yoshi tightened his hold on Senbon’s reins.  The stallion shifted restlessly.

“Why are you here?”  Yoshi asked.

Tai moved too fast.  He placed the palm of his right hand on Senbon’s forehead, calming the restless horse.  With his left, Tai held out a small rolled scroll.

Yoshi took the scroll.  Unrolling it, he glanced at Tai for a second, before his gaze fell on the read seal.  The scroll was from his mother.

‘Tai brings you the Black Guard, protect the Empire, the Phoenix needs allies.  You’re no longer a son, Your Royal Highness.’

Yoshi read the last line and closed his eyes, his intentions so easily rebuked by his mother.  Almira did not want a rescue; she wanted an heir to her throne.  Yoshi glanced at Tai, his gaze slowly rising to the shadows emerging around him in the forest.  The men in midnight black armor, with yellow scarves on their left arms, his personal army.

Yoshi stared up at the dancing trees one last time.

****

A cut on his left upper arm throbbed; his jaw ached where one of the rebel soldiers had punched him.  Midori flexed his right arm, then taking his sword; he swung it hard slicing an enemy soldier running at him on the neck.  This was getting old.  Two days of fighting and he couldn’t see an end.

Namik wanted Earith, so he kept diverting his troops to the valley separating the Furian forest and Earith.

“My lord,” Lenoth called.  “They’re retreating for the night.”

Midori let out a harsh breath, looking around the green valley littered with bodies from the two-hour battle.  Men from Earith, Fier, and the Imperial Army all lay dead, their blood soaking into the grass.  He turned back toward the Furian forest where Namik’s men stood watching him.  The sun was coming up on the second day of this battle.  Without rest, he wasn’t sure Earith’s men could keep the enemy at bay any longer.

“Let them take their dead and injured,” Midori said.  “Have our men take defensive position, any suspicious activity and you must alert me.”

“Yes, My lord,” Lenoth said, running off already issuing orders.

Midori gripped his sword tight, his gaze moving over the bodies in the field.  He’d killed many these past two days, men from Fier, others from the Great Imperial Army.  Each man lying on this field was a senseless death.

Did they even know why they followed Namik’s orders?  And if they did, what kind of change came through bloody battles?

Midori let out a sigh, walking through the field, doing his best not to step on the fallen men.  His sword at his side, his dark cloak swept the ground, the bottom soaked in mud and blood.  Taking another step, he froze when a hand grabbed his boot.

He brought his sword up, his gaze on the Furian soldier bleeding out in the grass.

Midori gripped his sword tight for a moment; before he crouched down to take the hand holding his boot with his free one.

“My Lord,” the man choked on blood.  “You…fight your kin ‘tis unheard of, a disgrace to the clan.”

Midori swallowed hard refusing to judge the dying man.  His father, Namik, had a persuasive tongue.  The tales he must have told Fier’s armies…he shuddered just imagining them.

“I-I wish I was stronger to have made a stand like you, my Lord, but my family, m-my family…” the man trailed off and Midori guessed Namik’s men had probably threatened them.  The hand holding his tightened, “Namik sends ten thousand more at dawn,” the soldier said.  “They come from the North, through Fier.  Without reinforcements, your defenses will fall.”

The grip on his hand tightened and Midori gave the soldier a nod.  The soldier breathed out a sigh, and he was gone.  Midori stayed crouched beside the dead man wondering what would happen to the man’s family now.  Had they left with the villagers he’d saved, the ones he had traveling deeper into Earith for safety?

“My Lord,” Lenoth said behind him.

Midori let go of the dead soldier’s hand and rose to his feet.

“Lord Janir is here.  He wishes to talk to you.”

Midori closed his eyes. His resentment at Lord Janir’s support of Yoshi threatened to suffocate him.  Had the man backed him even for a moment, Yoshi would be here.  Their men would have hope, they’d have ten thousand troops more and their defenses would hold in the morning.

“My Lord,” Lenoth prompted.

“Take him to the General’s quarters.  I’ll find him when I can.”

“But—,”

“This is a battlefield, Lenoth.  Follow orders,” Midori said as he continued walking among the dead and dying.  Perhaps he’d find one they could save.

Midori spent the night planning defenses.  The Earith Generals listened, but he could see their worry at the news of Fier’s additional ten thousand men.  They’d lost too many already.  Namik would have almost thirty thousand men coming at them in the morning, which was twice their army.  If they broke line, Namik would gain Earith’s Northern border.

“Do you think the Prince has reached the palace?” Lord Janir asked when the strategy meeting ended late that night.  “He can convince the Empress to send reinforcements.”

“I’d be surprised if he reached,” Midori said bitterly.

Lord Janir gave him a frown before he left for the night.  Midori sat on the bench set before his table and let out a sigh.

Oh Yoshi, he closed his eyes, remembering the feel of the Prince in his arms and their kiss that last night.

“Please live,” he murmured, hoping Yoshi had made it to the Palace and no assassins had caught up to him.

Dawn came too soon.  Midori sat on his horse, the reigns clenched tight as he stood at the front of his elite army.  Behind them Earith’s men were scattered in defensive position across the valley leading into Earith.  Their orders were to retreat into defensive position if his company of five thousand fell.

Lenoth moved closer.  “They’re here, My Lord.”

Light glinted off metal in the tree line ahead of them.

Midori let out a sigh, his breath turning into a little cloud in the early morning cold.  Their enemy’s number increased with every breath he took.  Raising his sword into the air, he called an attack, and allowed Midnight his freedom.  As he approached the enemy line, Midori wished he’d gotten more time with Yoshi.

His men fought hard.  Unrelenting in their attack against Namik’s men, but the enemy had more troops, more men.

Men Midori loved fell on the battlefield.

Lenoth at his back, Midori fought harder, wishing for a reprieve.  If they lost, Earith would fall to Namik.

“My Lord,” Lenoth touched his shoulder as he fought off two Fier soldiers, an hour later.  “We should retreat.  We can’t hold them off any longer.”

Midori pushed a Fier soldier off his sword.

“Signal the Earith men first, give them time to get into position.”

“Yes, My Lord,” Lenoth said calling out the order.

Midori hissed when a sword sliced his upper left arm.  With a harsh cry, he swung his own into his attacker’s chest and kicked him to the ground.  He ignored the sting on his arm, and kept fighting.

Just as Lenoth signaled it was time to retreat, Midori heard a battle horn fill the air.  The sound of pounding hooves filled the morning, and he turned to find an army riding toward them from their rare.

Midori’s men gave shouts of alarm as they turned to face their new enemy.

This new army riding toward them wore black cloaks with yellow strips on their arms and rode fast.   They reached Midori’s men quickly.  His men gaped when the army rode past and instead joined forces attacking Namik’s men with full force.

Midori exhaled.

At the front of the new army, he caught one glimpse of a white stallion, the rider draped in a rich red and yellow cloak.  The gold helmet on the rider was assuring, relief flooded him when he saw the twenty thousand men Prince Yoshi had taken with him riding in behind the dark army.

Midori threw himself into the battle with renewed energy.

***