Steel of Seven Folds
"Come on, you stupid mule! Get moving!!" The loud and frustrated voice of Kenshi roared as he smacked the rear of a stubborn mule ladened down with supplies.
"Sir, have you ever tried being nice to it?" a soldier asked curiously.
"No, Ashigaru. I have not. BECAUSE THAT'S NOT HOW YOU GET THEM MOVING!!" Kenshi snapped. "Okay… Okay. I am okay."
"He's not okay…" another soldier whispered to the first as they continued their march.
Kenshi sighed as, right when he stopped prodding the stubborn animal, it finally began to move of its own accord. Gritting his teeth at being outplayed by a stupid animal, he looked up at the challenge put before him. The road he was on was not paved, instead carved from use by man and beast over what was likely centuries. Possibly more. While the slope was not horrible, he would hardly call it pleasant. Though he was mountain born himself, these peaks were a completely different beast.
The road before him, aside from its current state, was narrow and snaked along like a giant serpent. Thus, thousands of troops and their supplies had to go up and down a narrow, winding path, over what felt like forever. Even though they just started, he already felt a shiver down his spine as a mountain wind hit him. Cold and dry air nearly sucked the moisture out of him just from that. It made him wonder why anyone, even back in ancient times, would want to live in such a horrid, inhospitable place.
It was at that moment that Azura marched up beside his younger twin, dressed in full samurai plate armor. "Is something wrong, Kenshi?" Azura asked, his eyebrow raised.
"It's fine. Problem solved itself… Where is your horse?" Kenshi said, before his voice turning to confusion upon seeing his brother.
Azura looked back where his horse was in the pack, near the middle of the column. "The poor thing was exhausted from carrying me, so I decided to walk to allow him to rest." he explained with a sympathetic look on his face directed at his mount.
"But that's what a horse is supposed to… You know what, never mind. I've got enough problems without having to deal with your lovey-dovey crap." Kenshi growled as he took stock of the column of men, beasts, and material.
"Oh, come now, brother. You know as well as I that our clan prioritizes the tenet of Compassion." Azura gently chastised his twin.
"Should have made it the tenet of 'keeping your giant mouth shut'…" Kenshi grumbled under his breath. "We've gone 15 miles since before dawn, where the hell is this village, you were prattling on about?"
"We'll get there soon enough, Ken. For now, be content to enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery." Azura replied, admiring their surroundings.
"Ah, yes. The beautiful scenery of sheer cliffs, cold, soul-stealing wind, and weird things called Llamas fucking." Kenshi grumbled.
"Temper, temper, Ken. You remember what Father said about your blood pressure, don't you?" Azura chided Kenshi with a grin on his face.
"Do not invoke that man in my moment of mental crisis." Kenshi scowled before beginning to march again in a huff.
Azura simply smirked and chuckled. "I don't know what his problem is. Personally, I was always more terrified of Mother…" he muttered before trembling a bit.
The two brothers walked along the edge of the cliff, something both inspiring and nerve wracking for their troops. As they continued, they noticed on some of the cliffs off in the distance having what appeared to be latches and ropes attached. To their even greater surprise, as they swore, they saw people with large packs on their backs scampering up the sides. Kenshi had to take a double take, swearing the horrid mountain air was getting to him.
"What are those people doing? For that matter how are they doing that? Master Yūri never even had us do anything like that. Well, not to that extent, anyway…" Kenshi said, his voice trailing at bad memories resurfacing.
"We should go and check it out." Azura replied, looking up at the people in question.
"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you…?" Kenshi sighed in exasperation.
"To the cliffs!" Azura ordered his men.
"You lot don't have to climb. Just make sure nothing goes wrong. Sergeant. Keep things moving at a decent pace." Kenshi said to the men nearest to him as Azura readied to climb.
"Lord Azura, are you sure climbing in armor is a wise idea?" a Quartermaster asked in concern.
"Well, it's much faster than stripping off my armor and then climbing." Azura replied, getting himself ready.
Before anyone could say anything in response, Azura gave a running leap. Landing on the nearby cliff face, he began the long and arduous shuffle to reach the latch and rope trail. Kenshi sighed before leaping after his brother. Kenshi, not wearing his armor, was able to rapidly catch up to his brother, and threatened to overtake him.
"For being trained as tigers, our lords certainly do move like leopards." the Quartermaster said in amazement.
"Yes, and with the self-preservation of cobras. One wrong move and that fall will kill them." the sergeant answered, with a more bemused expression.
"Let's hope this leads to the village!" Kenshi yelled through the wind as he neared the latch trail.
"Don't be so negative, Ken! I'm certain it does! And perhaps we'll even find a way up for the others!" Azura called out to his twin over the mountain wind as he reached the trail.
The two then gripped the latches firmly, which, to their surprise, were anchored into the mountain face as if it were put there with steel. Yet there was no metal that they could see. Instead, it was made of tightly corded reeds and hemp, dried and bound to the near hardness of metal. Not in the position to wonder just how they were adhered to the stone, they began their climb. Other climbers, what could only be natives of the region, effortlessly went around them with their loads.
They were very different from the lowlanders. While some looked somewhat similar, they were universally shorter, more muscular, tan of skin, and with a level of vigor that seemed hardly possible. Shaking off their shock, they steeled their focus and followed them up for what felt like hours. The trail gave no shelter to the elements, yet they rapidly outpaced the column on the road. By the time they finally got to solid, flat ground, the two brothers were panting, sweating, and skin stinging.
"Where are we…?" Kenshi panted, slowly getting to his feet.
As the two brothers steadied themselves, they saw to their surprise farm field. Nestled inside cut stone terraces, it separated them from a small village. Some of those they saw climbing were entering and leaving from this village. Squinting their eyes, however, they saw men armed and armored with metal weapons and armor. With the symbology of a golden sun. They didn't know much about the Golden Nobles, but from everything they were told, that was their symbol.
"Well, we found a village, Azu. What, do we say hello?" Kenshi inquired, readying his blade strapped at his side.
"Let us try the peaceful approach first. After all, there is no need to bloody our hands unnecessarily." Azura replied, reaching out to stop his twin's hand.
"What happened to the righteous indignation you had earlier?" Kenshi asked.
"It is still present. I am just trying to assess the situation first. You might want to try it some time." Azura replied cheekily.
"Since you're so insistent on peace, you go talk to them then." Kenshi said, motioning his hand to the village.
Azura nodded as he walked through the small terrace path, making sure not to disturb any farmers or their crops. Getting closer allowed him a better look at it. Calling it quaint was the best, and indeed, polite term for him to use. Squalid hovel town would be his more uncharitable take. Squat, rough stone buildings arranged in a ring to minimize the space needed. He even saw some carved into the cliffside, which to him was a novel concept. But what he found most horrid was a crude and ill-cut stone wall that surrounded it on three sides. It looked less like defensive work and more like a cage.
'It appears that fixing these "nobles" mess is going to be a lot more intensive than I thought it would be.' Azura thought as he got close to the guards.
Getting closer, they stuck out like a sore thumb to the backdrop of squalid poverty. Their metal armor was made of solid plates, with the metal ribbed in almost imitation of his own armor. Their simple helms were visored, with the ability to lift it up or down depending on need. In their hands, they had simple if well-made spears, and at their side straight swords.
"Stay back, stranger. Go a different way." one of the guards, in a bizarre and thick accent, sternly told Azura.
"I am afraid I cannot. For, you see, I have business in this village." Azura replied, beginning to come closer.
"State your business, and we may let you enter." the other guard rudely said, clearly sizing him up in the process with his eyes.
"You are quite rude, are you not?" Azura replied, raising his eyebrow.
"We don't get paid to let random people walk about and snoop around. Now answer my comrade's question, foreigner." the first guard sternly said to the samurai.
Azura tried to then walk through to enter the village, it being clear that he was not getting anywhere at this rate. The second guard put out his arm to stop him. Azura then simply tried to walk around the arm, and the guard further blocked him. It was at this point; it was clear the samurai had finally had enough. Grabbing the man by his arm, the former lord side hip threw him off his feet. The armored man, screaming in shock, landed in the market square, skidding across the ground while digging a trench into the ground. Mercifully, he stopped before a stand, but the message got across to most everyone there.
The warrior then looked over to the other guard, raising his eyebrow. The gesture clearly meant to be Azura giving him a challenge to try and stop him. However, the guard quickly dropped his weapon and put his hands up. A clear indication of surrender. The other guards, at a gate at the other side and in the market square, nervously pointed their weapons in his general direction. More out of worry than any real threat. At that, Azura then began to speak to the people that had gathered.
"Do you honestly believe that more of you will make any difference after seeing me do that?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and causing trouble like this!?" one of the guards called out.
"A man who has heard tales of what your 'masters' do. And who is, quite frankly, not happy with it. Now you have two options: Either I walk through here without you putting up a fight and conduct my business with your so-called 'Golden Nobles' in this village… or I walk over you after I've wasted all of our time showing you what you clearly already know and do it anyway." Azura replied coldly, glaring at the guards before him.
At that, the guards dropped their weapons en masse, while the two at the other gate bolted. Smiling at the result, he noticed Kenshi walking through the gate behind him only after that. The villagers, however, were more stunned, and honestly confused. Not sure how to take in what just happened.
"Well, you made quite the impression as always. Though it appears you made people slacked jawed more than anything." Kenshi said, observing the odd sight before him.
"Oh, you know me, brother. Always one to make an entrance." Azura replied before surveying the situation carefully.
"Take us to your Golden Leaders." Kenshi sarcastically said.
"I regret to inform you, armored one, that there are none of their kind in this village." a man's voice said from the crowd, which soon began to part for him.
The man was old, far older than most in the village. Lacking hair on his head, his wrinkled, darkened skin hung loose on him. His body remained as toned as it could at such an advanced age, though even still he required a well-worn walking stick to keep upright. Wearing a simple tunic, pants, and a dull red poncho, the man craned his head up to look at the giants before him.
"Apologies, young ones, for their behavior." the old man said, as if trying to gauge them and their intentions.
Azura simply waved off his concerns. "Not at all, my good sir. I can understand their distrust of outsiders. They were simply in our way, so we removed them. Tell us, is there another path up here for our men and supplies?" he replied politely.
"Aside from the mountain road, only the ropes and latch roads will get you up the mountain. Though, with your heavy armor, I would be careful on either. Not every part of these routes is stable." the man explained, still somewhat wary.
"So, this place has great natural defenses. That is good to know. Tell me, why do there seem to be so few guards for a village of this size? That seems odd and genuinely concerning." the eastern warrior lord inquired.
"We are lucky they cared enough to give us this much." the man answered, with disdain leaking through. Though not at him.
Azura frowned upon hearing that. "I take it no one here is fond of your Golden Leaders?" he asked, clearly gauging the reactions of the old man and the people.
"What is there to be fond of? They tax us, they make us do labor on top of said taxes, and they don't even give a rat's ass enough to handle Grimm right outside our village. I'd rather fling myself off that cliff to my death than bow my head to one of those overstuffed, worthless bastards." the man ranted, clearly having held that in for a long time. And with the guards having surrendered, it clearly felt good to be open about it.
Azura gained a furious look on his face, though those present could tell that his anger was not directed at the old man. "I see. Then it appears the tales we have heard of their cruelty are more accurate than we first thought." he replied, his armored hand clenched into a fist.
"You've been hanging with those lowlanders too long, armored one. People who know nothing of what those brigands have or will do to get what they want. But it's clear you view them in a similar light. For that… I wish to ask something of you." the man said, as if regretful he had to ask the stranger.
The azure warrior lord nodded. "Ask away. Whatever your request, I will grant it if it is within my power to do so." he replied, motioning for the old man to go ahead.
"Past the terraces, past the trail you came up is a cave. My family had lived there for as many years as we could remember. Until the Golden Nobles came and drove us into this village. Since then, the Grimm have taken it over, and the useless bastards you see here never did anything about it. All I ask is for you to clear the Grimm from it, so that at least my children and grandchildren can live there." the man asked, clearly desperate. His eyes quivering as he spoke.
Azura gave the old man a gentle smile and a small bow. "Of course. Such a simple request is well within my power to grant." he replied to the old man.
"Thank you, armored one…" the man said, before his voice gave out and his throat quivered, forcing others, clearly his family to hold him.
"Please, honored elder. Call me Azura." the armored warrior lord replied humbly.
"Thank you, Azura." the old man corrected, though his voice no less grateful.
Azura smiled gently at the old man. "Please, wait here. I will return when the Grimm have been dealt with. My brother Kenshi, meanwhile, will handle the guards who surrendered." he replied, looking at Kenshi and giving a nod.
"Well, have fun, brother." Kenshi said, as he grabbed the nearest guard to him and pulled him into the village.
Azura smiled and headed in the direction mentioned by the old man. To his surprise, and fury, the cave was less than a mile from the end of the terraces, within a couple of the village. It brought his blood to a boil knowing that there were people who were so careless - no, callous - to allow Grimm to settle so close to a settlement. His mind raced, wondering how many people were killed or wounded because of such irresponsible rulership. Approaching the cave, he saw several Beowolves and Creeps simply lounging in the sun. The mere idea that Grimm had gotten this comfortable so close to a village finally made his nerves snap, and he gripped his sword faster than the wind.
Walking forward, Azura closed his eyes as an aura made of yellow and azure-blue lightning surrounded him. Opening his eyes, they sparked with azure electricity as he glared disdainfully at the Grimm. Upon feeling the negative emotions of the man before them, the Grimm immediately snapped to attention. Their mouths began to water as they snapped their jaws in anticipation.
They began making their way over as the man dropped into a low, near crouching stance with his blade at his hip and his hand near the hilt of the blade, the stance of an eastern Iaijutsu master. In a flash of lightning, the man disappeared in a burst of speed as the ground where he once stood exploded. Faster than the Grimm could react, a blur of movement zoomed past three Beowolves and three Creeps of them before the man appeared again in a flash of lightning, his blade drawn. Slowly, he sheathed the blade and, as soon as the click of the guard hitting the sheath could be heard, those six Grimm found themselves cut to pieces in showers of electricity.
A larger Beowolf crept out from the cave at the sound of the thunderclap from the man's movements. Upon noticing its slain and dismembered brethren, the large Beowolf howled to alert the remaining Grimm inside the cave, Slowly, one by one, the remaining three Creeps and one Beowolf clamored out of the cave and snarled at the man who intruded upon their territory. Taking off at the strange, electricity-clad stranger, they attempted to attack him as the man once again disappeared in a flash of lightning. Appearing behind the Grimm and standing upright, Azura slowly sheathed his blade as the Grimm turned to try to attack him. However, before they could reach him, he turned back to look at the monsters with disdain.
"You are already dead." Azura coldly told them as the guard of his blade clicked into the sheath, causing the Grimm to be hacked into pieces by slashes of electricity just before the claws of one could reach him.
As the Grimm gasped their last breaths in their electrifying demise, Azura walked through the leftover smoke into the cave. However, to his even greater fury, he found something far worse than any Grimm. At the back of the cave was a black, seething, steaming mass of goop.
"I like these so called 'nobles' less and less by the second." Azura growled as he reached into his pack for a flint and steel.
Grabbing some dry grass from outside and a stick, he used the flint to ignite the materials and threw it onto the mass. It didn't take long for the goo to be lit, as soon fire spread across it rapidly. Squelching and writhing, as if a living creature had been lit ablaze, it soon began to let off foul, oily black smoke. As the fire grew, forcing the goo's presence to shrink, half-formed Grimm faces would erupt from it and screech in pain, howling to an uncaring god to save them. All before being subsumed in a fiery demise. Without another word, Azura turned and left the cave, letting the fire wipe this dark stain from the earth. He made a brisk, if silent walk back to the village, to find Kenshi had already stripped the guards of their gear.
"Well, that didn't take long, brother." Kenshi said as he tallied the materials taken, and villagers now armed with the spears keeping the guards from going anywhere.
"In my anger, I didn't feel like holding back." Azura furiously said before taking a deep breath to calm down.
"I figured when I heard the thunder in the distance." Kenshi replied.
Azura nodded as he humbly walked up to the villagers. The old man and his family walked up to him, amazed that he was not only alive, but successful and seemingly untouched. The samurai took a deep breath before turning to face them.
"The cave has been cleared of Grimm. I even destroyed a Grimm spawning pool that they had established within it. Your home shall be yours once again as soon as the fire has finished doing its work." the armored warrior told the old man.
"Thank you, Lord Azura. May the gods bless you…" the old man said, his voice and throat quivering. "I never thought… I never thought I'd see it."
"This is only the beginning, honored elder. The people of these lands have had to suffer under these so-called 'nobles' for far too long. I will not stop until these overstuffed, predatory raptors have had their wings clipped and been cast down from their golden perches for their victims to do with them as they please." Azura reassured the old man. A fire burning brightening in his eyes, not now of fury, but of revenge.
To Be Continued...