Chapter 24
Reward for a Job Well Done
Heigangcheng, Renwang Commandery
For a man as independently minded as Prince Wusheng, he preferred to put on his own gear, but it was the honor of his attendants to serve him and it would be a poor thing to deny them that honor. As Prince, he had his obligations to those below him that were no less important than the obligations he owed to the Emperor himself. Only now he was to be Emperor, after sixty years of doing everything he could so as not to present himself as a threat to his brother's reign. What would Bang say if he were still here?
"Your Highness, are you quite sure this is a good idea?" his chief of staff General Hai asked.
"It's an Imperial delegation come to escort me to the Capital," the Prince replied. "We have to show them all due courtesy."
"But, Your Highness, in light of the recent... rodent situation, perhaps we should do something a little more low-key."
"I appreciate your concerns, Hai, but you know how those people from the Capital are about appearances. I don't need to have the Clan against me before I even take the throne."
"Forgive my boldness, Your Highness, but is this really what you want? You have spent your life avoiding the Capital and all its intrigues. Could you not simply renounce your claim to the throne?"
If only it were so simple.
"It's not about what I want, Hai," the Prince said. "It's about the good of the Empire. If I would step down, that would leave the throne open to that rat Sturla. He wouldn't let me live even if I ceded the throne to him. In fact, he's probably behind our 'rodent situation' as you put it as well as the accusations being leveled against your brother."
"He's Lord High Commissioner of the Capital Police and his father is Minister of the Household. You would be walking into a vipers' nest where you could not even trust the Imperial Guard."
"I've been fighting out here for sixty years now, Hai. You think I'm going to shrink from some snakes in the grass?"
"The enemy within is always more dangerous than the enemy without, Your Highness. And whoever the enemy is, clearly they hold nothing sacred. To stretch out your hand against the Son of Heaven..."
"Come now, Hai," the Prince chided him. "You've got too much sense for that superstitious rubbish. We may abuse science to lengthen our days, but we're nothing more than mortal men. The only thing separating us from the Infernals is our technology. We're showpieces in empty theater to hold up a corrupt system that lays claim to the universe but can barely hold on to one planet. If Old Earth ever comes calling, all this will be swept away in an instant."
"Your Highness, it is a poor thing for the man who would be Emperor to say such things."
"Maybe so, but indulge me while I still have the liberty to do so."
General Hai looked at his watch and said, "Your Highness, it is almost time."
One of the attendants offered the Prince his helmet. Tucking it under his arm, Prince Wusheng said, "Then let's get this over with."
Although most aircraft landed in the internal docking bays, the fortress also had a top-level flight deck for oversized craft, emergency landings and ceremonial occasions such as this. Two divisions of the garrison were assembled for a fitting reception. Prince Wusheng brought half of his general staff. Most commanders would present the entire general staff and as much of the garrison as the flight deck would accommodate for such an occasion, but Prince Wusheng was not so careless with his men. Though the idea of an attack at a time like this was absurd, a good soldier does not put himself at any more of a tactical disadvantage than he must. He made the necessary display for appearances' sake, but no more than that.
As the shuttle from the Capital was on its final approach, the gunports opened to sound the salute. Because the delegation was acting in the Emperor's name, it was to be regarded as if the Emperor himself was coming and so it warranted seven volleys for the salute. One... Two... Three...
And explosion rocked the flight deck, blooming in a fireball that could have easily consumed an entire regiment. It could not have been a misfire that detonated the magazine. The placement was wrong. Somebody set a bomb. The area had to have been swept three or four times over by separate teams. How did they miss it? It would seem the rodent problem was more extensive than he thought.
Before the alarms could be sounded, fire suppression systems activated or casevac teams deployed, there was another explosion. And another and another, culminating in a blast that consumed him as well.
* * *
Yasuko's ears were ringing, but as her hearing returned, all she could hear was the alarm, which wasn't much better. She learned from the interrogator that there was a delegation from the Capital coming and that Prince Wusheng would definitely be making an appearance for that. She wasn't expecting quite so many other people, but this was the best chance she had.
A soldier who snuck out of formation to relieve himself off the side of the flight deck provided her with the gear she needed to blend in. The plan was to wait until Prince Wusheng went to meet the delegation and then attack. The chances of her survival weren't great, but she was as good as dead if she didn't carry out her mission, so she really didn't have anything to lose.
She had enough on her plate as it was, so she wasn't counting on nearly getting killed by an explosion before she could take her shot. Apparently she wasn't the only one tasked with the mission, though whoever this was, it seemed that they believed in performing surgery with a sledgehammer. She wasn't caught in the fireball, but the shockwave probably broke some bones.
There were several explosions that left the flight deck a smoking ruin littered with the bodies of the thousands of soldiers assembled there. The shuttle broke off its approach and was now circling overhead. Though it seemed like the area where Prince Wusheng and his staff were standing got hit too, Yasuko needed to at least confirm he was dead.
She waded through the sea of dead and dying to get to where she last saw Prince Wusheng. She hoped there was enough left to make a positive identification. What if he was one of those people who used body doubles? There was nothing in the profile about that, but there was also nothing about him having moved out of his designated quarters.
Amid fire and smoke and a lot of bodies, there was an alive and intact Prince Wusheng.
When he saw Yasuko, he said, "You there, start doing first aid. Do what you can until the medics arrive."
Yasuko drew her sword. The Prince didn't look particularly surprised. He just sighed and shook his head.
"Oh, I see."
He straightened himself up and drew his own sword.
"They insult me if all the send is one little rat to finish the job. Well, don't just stand there, boy. Do what you came here to do... if you can, that is. Come at me!"
Yasuko didn't need him to tell her. He had strength, weight, reach and experience on his side, leaving Yasuko with just her youth, speed and possibly her unpredictability as her advantages. Hopefully the explosion had some effect to blunt his edge. She needed everything she could get.
She didn't want to let him set the pace, so she rushed at him straight away. She ducked his first swing and tried slashing at his knee, but it was too well-protected. The edge couldn't cut through and she couldn't hit hard enough to make the joint buckle. She had to aim for the vulnerable spots with the point if she was going to get through.
Prince Wusheng made some quick slashes that Yasuko was barely able to dodge. He was faster than she would expect someone his age and size to be. She tried swinging back, only for him to bat her sword away so hard that it disrupted her balance. She recovered just in time that the Prince's follow-up lunge only grazed her chest plate.
He made a series of quick thrusts that she was able to dodge, but that was all she could do.
"You're a nimble little monkey, I'll give you that," the Prince said. "How long can you keep it up?"
Probably not long. She wanted to believe she had more stamina than he did, but she wasn't going to win a war of attrition. She threw everything she had into a thrust that was meant to slip past the skirting of the Prince's armor and get him in the thigh, but unbelievably, he caught the blade with his bare hand and tore it out of her grip, tossing it aside.
While Yasuko's eyes were darting around to find anything she could use as a weapon, the Prince laughed at her.
"You don't have a crown, little Sun Wukong, so how are you going to learn discipline? I'll have to crush that skull of yours with my own two hands!"
Throwing down his sword, Prince Wusheng lunged forward and managed to catch Yasuko, taking hold of her head. He lifted her up off the ground and started to squeeze. He had to have been wearing a muscle suit himself because her helmet started to buckle from the force. He very well could have smashed her skull in like an overripe melon if she let herself be paralyzed by the pain, but instead she gave him a swift kick in the teeth.
Prince Wusheng staggered back only a step before righting himself. As Yasuko landed on the deck, he spat his broken front teeth at her and followed up with a right hook that probably cracked her cheekbone. She quickly recovered and kicked low, going for his ankle. This disrupted his balance, but it didn't drop him. Still, it gave her an opening. She tried a palm heel strike to drive his nose bone up into his brain. She'd never seen it work in real life, but now was as good a time as any to see.
It didn't work, but she did hurt him and he was kept off-balance, so she kept up the heat and tried to drive her hand right through his neck. She hit the collar of his armor and mangled her fingers for her trouble. Stupid. She should've just done a normal punch and waited for a better opening before she tried to finish him off.
Though Yasuko had the momentum, Prince Wusheng clapped his hands together. If Yasuko hadn't ducked, she would've been lucky to get away with just a pair of busted eardrums. Though Prince Wusheng's attack didn't connect, it did throw off Yasuko's offensive and robbed her of the advantage.
Tears and blood streamed down Prince Wusheng's face as he blindly but deftly snatched up his sword again. Yasuko looked to where her own sword fell. She was going to have to make another go at it. It was her only chance. Somersaulting under a broad sweep of the Prince's sword, she picked up her own sword and made that low thrust she attempted before. Only this time Prince Wusheng didn't catch the sword. She was able to pierce through his muscle suit and judging by the bright red blood that sprayed from the wound when she pulled out her blade, she must have gotten the femoral artery.
The Prince's leg buckled under him. He caught himself with his free hand, then slashed with his sword. All Yasuko had to do was take a step back. He made another lazy swing but wasn't able to lift up his sword again after that. He tried, of course, but that only served to waste his waning strength. He collapsed and though he wasn't quite dead yet, he would be soon.
To end it, and to give him a more fitting death, Yasuko carefully lined up her sword and took his head. She made sure she got it in one stroke. Anything else would've been unworthy. A warrior of his caliber deserved at least that much.
It was done. She was pretty well beaten up and she didn't know how she was going to get out of the fortress, but the job was done at least. She took off her helmet, which the Prince had dented in. She would do well to get another one. Fortunately, there were hundreds of people scattered about the flight deck who wouldn't be needing theirs anymore.
Just as she was mentally preparing herself to look for a way off the fortress, she heard the distinct sound of slow clapping over all the ambient noise. She knew that clap and the voice that went with it.
"And so dies the valiant Prince Wusheng," Prince Sturla said. "The Empire will be lessened by your loss, Great-Uncle."
Yasuko turned to look at him. So he was the one on that shuttle, which apparently had landed while she was busy fighting Prince Wusheng. Yung was at his side, even though he never seemed to leave the estate. There were also four Imperial Guards and six other men in black who Yasuko could only guess were assassins.
Prince Sturla looked at Prince Wusheng's body, then said, "It would seem that all the major obstacles have been taken away. My path to the Phoenix Throne is clear. You've done well, my little assassin. I'd say you've earned your reward. Early retirement."
Why was she not surprised?
"Sturla, you pig!" she spat. "You can't get rid of me that easy!"
"Can't I now? Let's see then."
Raising a hand to signal his assassins, the six of them stepped forward. One of them would probably be enough to put up a challenging fight, but what was she going to do against six of them?
"What happened to finishing me off yourself?" she asked Prince Sturla.
"Oh, you remembered that? I'm touched. Well, after all the time and effort I've invested in you, I don't think I could bear to kill you myself."
Yasuko scoffed at this.
"You're full of shit, Sturla. What's the matter? Scared?"
Prince Sturla clicked his tongue to chide her.
"Yasuko, Yasuko, I don't know why you go out of your way to try to provoke me. It's never ended well for you before, now has it?"
Gripping her sword, Yasuko stood up straight and beckoned Prince Sturla to step up.
"Come on, Sturla," she said. "Fight me like a man."
"Ah, but that hardly seems fair," the Prince replied. "You're not a man, Yasuko, no matter what work Dr. Hadad did on you. Besides, one of the advantages of wealth and power is that you can have people handle unpleasant business for you."
He then told the assassins, "Whichever one of you kills the girl gets a county of his own."
One of the assassins looked reluctant and said, "Your Highness, it is but one little girl. You dishonor us by sending us all at once."
"This little girl just killed Prince Wusheng," Prince Sturla replied. "Underestimate her at your peril. If you want to go at her one at a time, be my guest, but remember that the reward goes only to the one who kills her."
"Stand aside if you're squeamish, Fuiwu," one of the other assassins said. "That reward is mine."
A third assassin grabbed the second by the shoulder, telling him, "Hold on there, Hakzyu. Why would we just let you take the reward?"
"I'd like to see you try and stop me," Hakzyu replied.
The other assassin didn't get a chance to try because Yasuko didn't let the opening made by their bickering go unexploited. She drove her sword into Hakzyu's heart, pulling out in time that Fuiwu's throwing knives went into that other assassin instead of her.
"Damn you!" the assassin howled.
Some sort of rod shot out of his sleeve. He took hold of it and made a swing at Fuiwu. Fuiwu was faster, though, dodging the swing, getting inside the assassin's defenses and jamming a knife up under his chin. A fourth assassin must have decided to narrow down the competition, because he tried throwing knives at Fuiwu, who used the third assassin's body to shield himself. Doing so exposed his back to Yasuko, who tried to run him through, but he proved to be faster than expected again. She ended up going through the third assassin and on to the fourth.
With her sword weighed down by two bodies, she had to let go of it while the fifth assassin threw a knife at her that bounced harmlessly off her armor. Despite being unarmed, she charged at the fifth assassin and punched him square in the chest. The sixth assassin tried to get in on the action, so Yasuko used the same trick as Fuiwu, using the fifth assassin as a human shield. He took a throwing knife to the lung, which Yasuko plucked out and stabbed him several times in the neck before ripping him open from ear to ear.
She made for the sixth assassin. He tried throwing a knife at her unprotected face, but she blocked it with her arm, closed the distance and made a slash at his face to return the favor. He dodged the first slash and the others that followed in quick succession. He drew a shortsword and glanced off her chest plate. He made a quick poke at her chest on the backswing, surely not with the expectation that he could punch through but rather an effort to knock her off balance. He didn't hit hard enough because she was still close enough to stab him in the chest. The point didn't make it far in, so he must have had extra protection under his clothes.
He tried cutting into her neck, despite holding his sword in an awkward reverse grip for what he was trying to do, but Yasuko caught his wrist with her free hand. In a contest of strength, she was going to lose, so she tried jabbing him harder with the knife. If she could get through the armor, he wouldn't be doing much more fighting with a punctured lung. He grabbed her arm with his offhand and the two of them were locked briefly. Again, she knew she'd lose a contest of strength, so she changed the momentum, yanking her knifehand back to unbalance him, ducking under his swordarm and emerging to put the knife right in his eye.
He howled in pain, dropping his sword to hold the knife, apparently not sure whether to pull it out or leave it, probably in too much pain to think clearly. Yasuko spared him the trouble of making a decision. Picking up his shortsword, she stabbed him in the neck and kicked his legs out from under him to drop him to the deck.
Just as she was dropping the sixth assassin, someone did the same to Yasuko. He made the mistake of dropping her first and then going in for the kill. It gave her just enough time to turn around and stab with the shortsword. His eyes wide and his mouth gaping wordlessly, Fuiwu was still trying to deal the deathblow, but his arm had frozen up and it didn't look like it was going to do much. She wrested the knife out of his hand and thrust it up under his chin as he'd done for the third assassin. She thought he might appreciate the irony. Probably not.
As she pushed Fuiwu's body aside, she looked around for anyone else, or one of the assassins proving himself to be not quite so dead. While she was surveying the damage, Prince Sturla said, "You may not have had such an easy time if I promised them all counties so long as they got the job done."
It looked like all six were in fact dead, so she could afford to turn her attention to the Prince and ask, "Then why didn't you?"
"Come now, Yasuko, I don't have any counties I'm just going to give away to assassins. Except for you, of course. You could've had half the Empire as your plaything."
Was he still going on about that nonsense?
"Don't bullshit me, Sturla."
Prince Sturla grinned.
"You'll never know, will you? I do wish you could've been made to see things my way, Yasuko, but in the end, you're just an Infernal."
"This Infernal's gonna be the death of you."
"I think not. No more games. Yung, my daughter has had a hard day. Put her down for her nap."
Yung bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."
He drew his sword as he approached and stopped a few paces from where Yasuko was standing. Yasuko knew this day had to come eventually. She wanted to kill Prince Sturla and Yung was one of his most loyal servants. It was only a matter of time before they would have to face each other as enemies. She just wished it didn't have to be this way.
"I will see that you do not suffer, young mistress," Yung said.
"I can't offer you the same thing in return," Yasuko replied. "I'm not that good."
"Finesse is like gilding, young mistress. It makes for a more pleasing appearance but does not touch on simple practicality. The only thing that matters is that you win."
Even now he was acting like the master giving a lesson, even though Yasuko successfully completing the lesson would mean his death. Out of all the times they sparred together, he always held back. She never saw what his full potential looked like and unlike Prince Wusheng or the six assassins, Yung knew how she fought inside and out. She didn't have any surprises for him and he was far more skilled than she was. She didn't see how she was going to win, but her only other choice was just to die now. She'd rather play the odds.
She carefully approached him. She knew better than to charge blindly, but she couldn't be timid either. If she wouldn't make the first move, he'd go all-out and overwhelm her. There was a chance he'd toy with her a little, test her. That might provide her wafer-thin chance of victory.
She made a quick swing at his neck to probe his defenses. He batted her sword away and then demonstrated how to do it better. If he didn't stop his blade, he could've taken her head then and there.
Still holding his blade a hairsbreadth from her throat, he told her, "You are going to have to be faster than that, Miss Yasuko."
He pulled his sword away and punched her in the stomach to remind her not to be focusing on only one thing. The punch was hard enough for her to feel it through her armor, but nowhere near his full strength. He was testing her after all, but even if he was holding back, Yasuko couldn't afford to.
He wanted her to be faster, so she got faster, launching a flurry of strokes, not so much meant to connect as to keep him busy and hopefully create an opening. Of course he was having none of it.
"Stop trying to hit me and hit me," he told her. "You do not have the stamina left for these games."
He intercepted her blade and locked it. She struggled a bit and when she couldn't go forward, she jerked her sword back sharply, hoping to unbalance him, and tried punching him in the face. Only he ended up catching her fist and held it fast.
"I told you twenty percent forward and eighty percent back."
He held the edge of his sword under her arm and said, "You have just given me your arm. Do you want me to cut it off?"
Yung flinched. With both his hands occupied, he left himself wide open and Yasuko took the opportunity to stab him in the gut. He shook a little as blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. He still managed a slight grin.
"The serpent slithering under the leaves strikes its prey," he said. "Good. You did not let the arm be a distraction to you."
"Master, don't make me do this," Yasuko said.
"There is no going back for me," he said. "My life was forfeit the moment I did not kill you outright. Do not try to fight His Highness. You cannot win. Run. Escape to the surface. It is all the chance you can hope for."
Yung glanced at Prince Sturla, then looked back to Yasuko and told her, "Finish it."
Resolving herself was the least courtesy she could offer him. She drove her sword in to the hilt, took hold with both hands and with her enhanced strength, she cut her way out, all but cutting him in two. This alone wasn't enough to kill him, not quickly at any rate, so she delivered the coup de grâce by stabbing him in the heart.
While Yasuko stood over the body, fighting back the urge to cry, Prince Sturla watched on unimpressed.
"Damn fool," he muttered, just loud enough for Yasuko to hear him. "Pulling his punches like that and what does it get him? Did he think I was going to let you go if you beat him?"
"Maybe he'd finally had enough," Yasuko said wearily as she pulled her sword out of Yung's body.
"Don't think that you knew him, Yasuko," the Prince said reproachfully. "He was soft on you, but don't get it your head he was a good person. Loyal, yes, and that's what I want in people. You wouldn't be looking at me like that if you knew some of the jobs he'd done for me in the past."
What was he trying to prove? Yasuko wasn't exactly on the side of angels herself.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "He's gone now."
"That he is. And so it comes down to me after all. Has the apprentice surpassed the master? Let's see, shall we, Yasuko?"
Prince Sturla drew his sword slowly, theatrically. He was showing off. He knew Yasuko was no threat to him in peak condition, so now that she was run ragged, the fight would only last as long as it amused him. Her only chance was that his overconfidence would get the better of him. He had never fought her at four times amplification. Yes, he once told her he could beat men with four times amplification without a suit, but he could've been lying. There was only one way to find out.
As she tensed her muscles to rush at him with a burst of speed, he was already on her. She barely blocked his first swing and was unbalanced by it. He didn't let up, hitting again and again with quick, light strikes to keep her off balance and on the defensive. He then kicked her legs out from under her to knock her down, forcing her to keep parrying while on the ground.
Though it was difficult to split her focus, she tried kicking him in the shin to stagger him. He didn't budge a sench or skip a beat. She would have done just as well to kick a lamppost. She kicked with both feet, aiming higher. It didn't do much, but she used the recoil from her kick to spring back to her feet. To demonstrate the futility of her effort, Prince Sturla just shoulder-checked her to knock her right back down, only this time he knocked her back far enough that she could get back up before he got to her.
He closed the distance between them again and hit her in the stomach with the pommel of his sword. It was probably more effective than using the edge considering her armor. Of course, he wasn't going for a quick kill. Yasuko tried returning the favor, but couldn't put as much strength into the blow. He hit her again.
"Come on, Yasuko," Prince Sturla said. "This can't be it. Show me what you're really capable of."
She swiped at his face, but all he had to do was tilt his head back to dodge. He chuckled at this.
"This kitten has claws, but can she use them?"
It was a dumb move anyway, after likely breaking most of the bones of her offhand against Prince Wusheng. She probably would've hurt herself more than Prince Sturla if she connected.
If only she had a functional overdrive, it might have given her just enough of an edge. As it stood, she was just barely keeping pace with him.
"You have gotten better," he said. "You bested Prince Wusheng, six of my assassins, and Yung, but you're still no match for me."
Yasuko really wanted to prove him wrong, but she realized that she wasn't keeping pace with him at all. He was keeping pace with her, fighting just around her level to make her think she had something of a chance. She hadn't risen nearly as much as she had thought. Or maybe the Prince was just that much better.
"It's time to end this, Yasuko," he said.
If only she could make those his last words, use his overconfidence against him like she'd planned from the start of their duel. She feinted, then made a thrust that was meant to slip through the segments of his armor. Prince Sturla side-stepped the thrust and with a quick stroke his blade went right through Yasuko's arm. She didn't even have time to register what had happened because he followed through with a kick that knocked her a good ten meters back. She managed to stay on her feet, but before she could regain her balance, something struck her hard in the chest, cracking her armor. She looked at the large slug that fell to the deck and then up to Prince Sturla aiming a hand-cannon at her.
"Goodbye, Yasuko," he said.
Only too late did Yasuko realize the slug was a grenade round. It was supposed to detonate on impact, but this one was just slightly delayed.
The explosion knocked her clear of the flying fortress. As she fell back into the empty air, Yasuko reached out in vain toward the flying fortress, cursing Prince Sturla for beating her and cursing herself for being beaten.