Huang, one of the concerned party of the council, ruffled his red hair. His face was a mask of puzzlement and curiosity. He took out the pipe from one of his pockets in his robe, lighted it and smoked. There was faint aroma of rose coming from it. He looked to the left of the garden house he was walking into. Thoughts swirling inside his head, he puffed once, twice and inhaled. His age of 42 was never shown on that always curious face, but instead a youthful 25 man looked through those eyes. Effects of becoming one of the King's right hand man, no doubt. But none more than that, he kept a clear schedule every day to train his body and mind, not only for health but for war.
"Yes, I suppose he was. It was his plan that held the most effectiveness, does it not?" the woman beside the man spoke. Her silver was tied to a braid that held on her right shoulder and as she walked, it bobbled beside her breasts. There was a hint of maturity and tightness in her small yellow eyes, that held secrets and hints of understanding. Her calming presence balanced out Huang's own aura of restlessness. She wore her robe tight under her chests that flowed out like a butterfly. It was decorated with silver flowers that enhances her fake youth; another one under the right hand of the King.
"Yes, but we were not only talking about strategy here. When we spoke of causality and the importance of a good back up plan... he not merely just push it aside, he stomped all over it. Makes me sick, when he talk of 'minimising casualty' or 'technological improvement'," Huang walked a little ahead of the woman, head held high and crooked mouth. A puff of smoke hid is eyebrows.
"I do agree with you but you have to understand on his perspectives too. He thought of the men's, the infantry's, importance in such of a scale and he also thought up a way to reinvent mankind's own weapon of war, the crossbow. A revolving barrel of arrows, didn't he say? And he did mention a prototype..."
Huang spit out his pipe, and sling it across his back. It spun away behind the woman, dropped with a clang with a sudden burst and it was no more. The man himself, was fuming from head to toe, fists clenched as if to fight. There were maids out in the hall and some of them scurried away when they heard the tiny explosion.
"That little piece of flaming meat. How dare he ignored me. I wasn't just the King's war advisor but I am one of the Tigers that fought beside him in the war against the Ravens! I proven myself on the battlefield countless times, and each time I came scathed and times again I survived near death injuries! He is nothing but a recruited strategist from the lands of the west! If he mocks me again, I will make sure that west will mean nothing to him again,"
Lain was rubbing her hands, cold from the weather. Her robes covered everything except her head, and her hands, but the tight knot under her breasts made it plentiful that she was a prime woman of ripe. She inhaled, close her eyes, and opened them up again.
"Calm down. There's no more use of that now since his plan was accepted and the other generals wouldn't be convinced to change it easily. I agree with you about how he mocked us but we must not lose control of what we already have in our hands. I fought beside you, remember? And I died once out there,"
"I know that. That's why we have to stop that man from trampling on us like idiots!"
"He wasn't trampling on anything and we are not idiots. His plan was the most effective and the most reasonable, you would see that yourself, didn't you? Unless you are blind, you can see that he treated us merely as rivals. He wouldn't come out to the opening like this, even for a westerner that holds no ground on our eastern lands, he knew about us. Our stories are not fiction to him and most are facts. He does not plan to treat us like fools but he wanted us to come up with a better plan than he got. Unless you would burn yourself up in futile anger, we can never achieve that, now would we?"
Huang looked at the lady as if possessed. For seconds, they stared at each other until Huang got himself up and breathed. He looked around, refused to eye her again even for a glimpse. Deep inside, he knew that. That western man, he came into this place without a sword or any kind of weapon. All he got was a servant, age old enough to be his grandfather and a suitcase full of clothings. His anger fused for a moment, but then flared up again. He controlled it though but the strain was showing on his face. This sensation of burning wrath wasn't as bad when the Ravens betrayed them. He could sense something was coming.
"Come, walk with me. We may not be partners in life, but we are partners in work," Lain walked on, not waiting for Huang to join her. She was shivering for a while, he thought.
Huang growled and went ahead. "Are you fine? You seemed tired."
"Oh? What is this? Does the Tiger of the Northern valleys suddenly cared for an old woman like me? Must be puberty,"
"Shut it. You don't seem to be yourself back then too. You used to be the center of it all but in there, you were too quiet for my taste,"
"I sensed something. Not from the westerner but from what he brought upon us. Remember the piece of paper he brought? The ones that he laid out his plans? That was made just hours before the meeting, and to do it at a scale like that would take weeks, even for a master. It never felt like that since the Ravens,"
"You too, is it? Then its not the cold,"
"No, I do not think so. If it's the war, then we are used to it. But this..."
"We better ask Shio if he feels like this too."
With that, they quicken their pace a little. The two heads bear a mask of queasiness when the exited the hall. Maids from the opposite side bowed their heads low, and said greetings appropiate for the King. There were no response though to any of them. When they were both out if sight, an old man, dressed in a butler's uniform, holding a piece of cloth on his arm, showed himself from the other end. There were chatters from behind him.
"What do you make of it, Jais?" a solitary deep voice sounded beside him and the old man looked up.
"At least parts of the Legend were true," the butler replied with a cracked voice. His back was bent a little and there was hints of tiredness in his movements.
"Well, at least they spotted our little secret, eh?"
"Be careful, thought, master. They have sharp eyes, these eastern men,"
"Ah. But we have faster hands, us 'westerners',"
"They didn't spot that at least."
With that, they both spun around and head outside of the garden into a room full of 6 men in armors with pikes and all of them were trying out a piece of metal bracelet that fits into their gauntlets. It was glowing a shiny blue. Their faces were full of uncertainties.
"Are you sure about this thing?" one of them asked. "And how did you ended up being the Palace's strategist?"
"Yes, I am sure of this," the one with the deep voice replied. His face was smile, sinister and yet warming that touched his eyes beside a glint of warning. "Because I asked, really."
"Ceh. You gotta be kidding me. You better have what's in store for us," the other man said.
"Really. All you think about is that. Now, hand me that sword, will you?"
The sword was the usual one made out iron and a crude handle.
"Hold your hands out, please."
The other man did it. His face was full of scars but there was a trusting frown on it too.
"Observe."
He brought the sword up and slashed across the hands. A loud crack and pieces of shining iron went everywhere. Gasps could be heard and the one with the hands out retracted the hands as quickly. The handle bar was the only thing left of the sword. Shards, big and small, were scattered across the floor beneath him. A scar was bleeding on the man's face, but it was small on the left cheek.
"Now that's cool," one of the armored man said.
"Indeed," the other echoed agreement.
The butler was trying to hold out his arm to wipe the blood from his master's face but was swept aside. His master's eyes were full of delight before but now, it has a glints of crude excitement, and a mask of success. His smile stayed the same, though. That smile that seemed to know the minds of men.
The butler was trying to hold out his arm to wipe the blood from his master's face but was swept aside. His master's eyes were full of delight before but now, it has a glints of crude excitement, and a mask of success. His smile stayed the same, though. That smile that seemed to know the minds of men.
"Now all we need to do is make a full scale set of that and I have myself a team of indestructible men," he mumbled.
"We don't come in cheap, you know," the proposed leader of the men said. "We're still Easterns and we don't trust you."
"Not yet, you won't,"
"You're not just a simple man, are you?"
"I think myself as one,"
"Who are you, really?"
"Just a man with a clear goal."
With that, the master and the butler went out into the corridor, closing the door behind them. Scents of foreign flowers filled their nostrils, but the master wasn't paying attention to any of them. Inside his head, a maze of plans and arrows, words and graphs, times and dates, proposals and causes, fixes and repairs, they were all making out one at a time. In his head, he was a playing a game of chess against a game of shogi with the rules of Millionaire and the cards of Poker. And he was winning, at least from his point of view. He proceeded to just walk in front, the bleed from his left cheek was dropping to his chin. The butler given up on the task. When he doesn't want something, he doesn't want it.
The door on his back opened again, to admit the leader of the six men. He was breathing hard and clenching his fists.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The man in front turned around and answered with a voice full of confidence.
"I am Lead Clefer."
