Age of Darkness (27 page)

The other soldiers had rushed forward, and
the sounds of scraping steel echoed loudly. Then silence fell as all of the
warriors pointed their blades at Keimaro. The tip of Keimaro’s sword pressed
against the king’s throat, drawing a small line of blood. Guns clicked as they
were armed from multiple rooftops, all aimed straight at Keimaro, ready to pump
him full of lead the very moment he decided to assassinate the king. But, none
of the Royal Guards dared to make a move. A single movement could provoke
Keimaro to assassinate the king right there. Tension filled the air as everyone
stood frozen in place.

Aika stared at her father in disbelief and
then at Keimaro. “Kei, stop this! Don’t you recognize me? I’m Aika, the
princess from four years ago! Please, put your sword down! I’m sure this is all—”

“
A misunderstanding?
” Keimaro said,
his head lowered. “
No, it’s not. Your father means every word that has ever
left his lips. He is the one responsible for the death of my real family and my
new one. He’s the killer who took my mother from me. He’s the one who destroyed
my village and everything in it. He took everything from me!
” Flames shot
upward around him, causing some of the Royal Guard to flinch, but they held
their ground. “
So, king, give me one reason why I shouldn’t lop off this
senseless head of yours?
” 

The king gulped as he pressed his back to
the throne and gave a nervous chuckle. “Well, I’ve heard that you’ve been
looking for a particular girl. Would be a shame if she were to be killed after
you lopped off my head, hmm?”

Aika saw Keimaro’s eyes widen through his
mask. Who was her father talking about? Clearly, it was someone dear to Keimaro
from the way he was reacting. She could see his free hand shaking at his side
as well as his handle on his hilt tightening. This wasn’t good. It looked as if
her father were actually provoking Keimaro. She wanted to step forward but was
pulled backward and away from the scene, gripped tightly by guards.

“Stop, wait!” she exclaimed in protest, but
they lifted her up and hauled her away. Her eyes followed Keimaro until he
vanished from view.

***

Keimaro couldn’t believe what he was
hearing. Was this some kind of a bluff? The Bounts had taken his sister, not
this old man. Could they have handed her over to the king? His heart was
pounding, and he could feel himself heating up internally. He couldn’t kill the
king now; he knew that. Why was he even up here on this balcony? What had
gotten into him that he had been such an idiot as to abandon the mission and
pursue his own selfish desires? He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Yuri,
Yata, and Lena were all surrounded by soldiers. They had their hands up in the
air in a sign of surrender, and the soldiers were advancing on them. He had
messed everything up. Now everyone was going to be caught and probably killed
because of him.

No, I can still get out of this. I just
have to focus. I can’t let this old man get to my head! This is what he wanted
all along.

The entire time, Keimaro noticed that the
king was eying the key that was around his neck. No doubt the king had his
father’s chest in his possession, but this wasn’t the time to pester him about
it. For now, he just had to focus on fixing his mistakes and saving his
friends. But what to do? He blinked and looked straight at the king, who
returned a confused glance.
Why not?

He reached out and grabbed the king with
both hands, lifting him into the air. The soldiers stepped forward, about to
slash him at the single movement. “
If you so much as take another step, I
can turn your beloved king into ashes before your eyes,
” he said simply,
freezing every soldier in the entire area.

“Take the shot!” one Royal Guard snapped to
a rifleman.

“I can’t! What if I hit the king?” the rifleman
countered, knowing very well that if he shot the king, it would result in a
death penalty for him and his family. The risk was far too high, and the
pressure would’ve probably caused him to mess up the shot. Not to mention, he
had only just begun his training with the rifle. He still wasn’t confident in
his own ability to make such a gamble.

Keimaro grabbed the king and held him over
the side of the balcony, gripping the man by both of his arms to hold him up.
His sword had already been sheathed, and he was now unarmed. This had to work;
otherwise, he would probably be killed.

“
Step away from my accomplices,
”
Keimaro ordered, and the soldiers all looked up in unison, their faces pale. Gasps
erupted from the groups of people who still had the guts to stay and watch the
spectacle. The soldiers began to slowly take steps backward, freeing Keimaro’s
friends. They sheathed their swords as they turned to face the new threat.

“
Run,
” he said simply to his
friends.

Yuri and Lena broke off into a sprint
almost immediately, but Yata stood there staring at Keimaro blankly for a
moment before Lena yanked on his arm, dragging him away from the scene. The
crowds of people separated around them as they sprinted off, but no soldiers
ran after them. Instead, all of the weapons and eyes were trained on Keimaro,
who had to somehow escape this dire situation.

Keimaro didn’t want to kill the king yet.
He knew that the king would know the location of his father’s chest, but now
was definitely not the time to ask him. He saw that the groups of soldiers were
hovering below the king, ready to catch him. Their arms were outstretched, as
if prompting Keimaro to drop their lord—and that was exactly what Keimaro did.

Trusting that the soldiers would catch him
or that the king would only break a limb from the fall, he released the king.
In that single instant, the Royal Guards that had been posted on the balcony rushed
at him with their brandished swords, slashing wildly. The crack of bullets
split the air as riflemen took their opportunity to fire at Keimaro. His eyes
saw the spiraling lead balls flying at him from multiple directions, and he
knew that it was impossible to dodge. He spun around, grabbing the nearest
soldier who came at him and using him as a shield. He heard sudden thuds as
bullets buried themselves into the soldier. Stray projectiles slammed into the
armor and bodies of other soldiers, smacking into mail and tearing through
flesh. Screams of agony split the air as the Royal Guards ducked down in
unison, trying to avoid the friendly-fire.

Keimaro saw the chaos and took the
opportunity to make a mad dash for it, ejecting a large jet of flame behind him
in order to burst himself forward and through the archway that left the
balcony. The soldiers had taken Aika this way; he knew there must be some type
of exit. Bullets tore through the walls and whirled through the opening, flying
past him. He grunted, throwing himself to the ground, his heart pounding. After
a couple of seconds, there was silence. The Royal Guards had begun to stand up
already. Perhaps the riflemen were reloading or the Guard had signaled for them
to stop firing. Either way, Keimaro knew he had to get moving.

His eyes darted around, looking for some
type of an exit. A stairway led downward to the lower floor, but that would provide
no escape. Without a doubt, soldiers down there were probably coming up
already.
When you can’t find an opening, make one.
His father’s words
echoed in his mind, and his eyes snapped open as he lifted himself up. He spun
around, roaring flames generating around him as he grunted, punching out at the
wall across the room. A massive ball of concentrated flame obliterated the
entire wall, sending a wave of dust flying around him. His body melted into the
dust cloud, and he sprinted forward through the opening and leapt through the
wall into open air. His arms waved as he broke through the cloud of smoke,
flying in the direction of another balcony that was lower and seemed right
behind the building.

Keimaro winced as he landed, absorbing the
full shock of the fall. He sucked in a deep breath as he heard the yelling of
soldiers all around him. He pushed forward, his hair blowing into his eyes as
he rushed through a glass door. Glittering shards rained down around him, some
cutting his skin, but he didn’t care. His heart was pounding rapidly, and he
just wanted to escape. He knew that he was leaving behind a large trail, but
the intention was to move so fast that they wouldn’t be able to follow. He
sprinted through a room where a couple lay on their bed. He sighed at the
woman’s scream but didn’t bother to look in her direction because he was
already throwing himself through their open window across the room.

His breath caught in his lungs as he found
open air and watched as the floor flew up to meet him. His boots smashed into
the ground, and he gasped, wincing as he fell to one knee. He knew that his
body was much stronger than an ordinary human’s so that he could endure higher
falls. Nevertheless, the shock from so many falls had taken a toll on him. He
felt a sharp pain, as if a dagger were being driven into the side of his ankle.
He glanced up from the paved ground and saw that people were all around him,
staring at him, incredulous and shocked. The guards were probably close by. To
make matters worse, the woman who had been in the bed had run to the window and
began to scream and point at him like some type of alarm.

Keimaro glanced over his shoulder and
glared at her with his demonic eyes, feeling a sudden need to hurl a ball of
flame at her home and obliterate the entire structure altogether. When he
looked at her, her voice caught on her lips and died almost immediately. Her
face paled, and she took several steps back from the window until she
completely disappeared from view, surely scared for her life.

The boy tried to examine his surroundings,
remembering what Yuri had told him about using his environment to his advantage
to escape any situation. There was an alleyway, but he didn’t know where the
hell that led. He could already hear the yelling of guards and the clanking of
chainmail and armor nearby. He didn’t have much time, and the alley was the
only place that could provide a possible escape. He was in plain sight,
standing in the middle of the street. He sprinted forward, ignoring the pain
that split through his ankle, and ran into the shadows of the alleyway.

Unfortunately, a squad of guards was there,
coming toward him. He slowed to a stop as soon as he saw the guards running
down the alley and grunted, turning to flee back the way he’d come. But more
guards had already closed off the exit and were slowly advancing on him with
their swords held in front of them defensively.

Keimaro gulped, examining the situation. He
was completely trapped between two armed forces. He could kill them all, but
that would take time and more soldiers would come. He didn’t want to have to
kill every single soldier that came at him. He just wanted to escape. He sucked
in a deep breath and turned back to the alley, running full speed at the
soldiers, not bothering to unsheathe his weapon. The guards blinked in surprise
as he ran at them, not sure what the boy was up to. They prepared themselves
and held their ground.

“
This better work
,” Keimaro muttered
under his breath as he took a single step onto the narrow wall of the alleyway.
He released a continuous jet of flame behind him, propelling him forward along
the wall. His feet were placed accordingly as he grunted, growing accustomed to
the speed. Elated, he realized he was running on the wall. It was working! He
grinned stupidly as he flew over the confused squad of guards and landed
gracefully on the ground behind them, flying at incredible speed, leaving only
smoke in his trail.

Keimaro staggered out of the alleyway into
another open road, knowing that he had to get out of the common area. But he
was in a city—it was practically impossible to escape! He had to find somewhere
to hide. People surrounded him in the street; he had to distract them somehow
so that he could hide. He slammed his palms together, creating a huge explosion
of flames that erupted into the air. Civilians scattered in all directions,
screaming in fear as a huge cloud of smoke swallowed the area. When the smoke
cleared, Keimaro was gone. The guards poured out of the alleyway into an empty
street.

***

Keimaro had broken into a random house and
locked the door behind him, finding a frightened elderly couple. Actually they
weren’t frightened. As Keimaro looked closely, they looked quite calm actually
in comparison to the other civilians. The woman was holding a pan and was
staring at him as if she were looking at a ghost. The elderly man was sitting
in a rocking chair, looking in his direction through his squinted eyes. But,
neither of them made a sound.

“
I…
,” Keimaro began, but wasn’t
particularly sure what to say at all. Nothing he could say could really excuse his
being dressed up like a marauder. He scratched the back of his neck and reached
into his pocket, pulling a few coins out and placing them on the table. “
Look,
if you just shelter me for a few hours, I promise I’ll make it worth your
while. I just—
”

“It’s okay, Keimaro Hayashi,” the old woman
said with a reassuring smile.

Keimaro blinked, heat rising to his face.
How did they know who he was? They clearly hadn’t been at the speech. His name couldn’t
have circulated so quickly either. He could silence them both right now and
seek refuge in this house in solitude. His hand was twitching at his side, his
eyes widening.