The Prince of Aragon

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE SAMURAI

Li Qi Chin, the great Samurai from Sado, had served Emperor Salvatore for endless decades, and had been furious when that ruthless ruler had beheaded his brother Shi ni Chin without an ounce of pity.

The boy of eleven years old had traveled with his much elder brother all the way from Kyoto to serve his Majesty. They had heard of the unbeatable Emperor who had been the sole conqueror of nine realms, and it had been a privilege to serve him.

Thirty-three years of servitude only to witness the murder of his beloved brother right in front of his eyes. Only because of the man who stood right in front of him in the dark. The traitor.

“Well, well. If it isn’t the Emperor’s new right-hand man,” he drew his words lazily, with the superlative knowledge that he had them right where he wanted. In between his paws.

“Who are you?” the young man responsible for Shi ni’s death asked in an autocratic voice which befitted royalty, and that only serve to increase the Samurai’s wrath. He branded a familiar sword towards him, but Li Qi couldn’t make out where he’d seen it in such a dim setting.

“I am Li Qi Chin, brother to the greet Samurai Shi ni Chin. The one you murdered,” he obliged helpfully.

“You got your fact wrong,” the arrogant man replied, intrepid as he watched him with superior complacency. “I wasn’t the one who beheaded your assassin brother,” he hissed like a pitbull terrier. “Your Emperor killed him.”

It felt like somebody was twisting a knife into his raw wounds, and Li Qi winced at the deliberate taunt. “He’s no King of mine! He’s not fit to be anyone’s King!” he protested violently, loathing himself for falling into his trap. He knew what the right-hand man was doing. He was trying to get to him mentally.

Li Qi was not a weakling, though. He’d been trained to become a Samurai since the age of three, then when he’d moved back to the fifth’s realm, it was Shi ni who’d continued his tutelage.

“Why don’t you stop him then? If you don’t like him that much?”

“I’ve been watching you,” Li Qi replied instead, playing a game of his own. “I know you’re trying to kill him. I head you conspiring the other day in the corridors.”

There was no reaction from the man with that goading, although Li Qi knew he was getting to the man. It was there in the tightening of his jaw, the way he stood rigid straight, protecting the ones behind him. His puppies.

“Did you now? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the one who called himself Carter responded unflustered, keeping his aggressive stance. Li Qi smiled inwardly, he wasn’t here to fight them or even stop their mission. On the contrary, he was going to ally with them for his own purposes.

“I followed you yesterday to the marketplace. You were shopping for weird stuff like clothes and laudanum. What would you do with those things if you were not on a mission?”

So, it had been Li Qi on his trail yesterday – Novak’s instincts had been on point. Disturbed by the new setback, Novak put out a brave front, trying not to give an inch as the man revealed their dirty secrets. He willed himself not to react, praying that the others behind him would withstand the same equanimity.

“That proves nothing,” the prince drawled easily, although he inadvertently guessed that they were discovered. Li Qi was no fool, he would never have confronted them had the latter not been totally confident about his threats. If the Sadonese made the slightest mention of their mission to Salvatore, their failure was guaranteed. Not only their goal was jeopardized, but it would end up horribly for them like Isla had said.

They were in a tight spot.

The man c****d his eyebrows quizzically. “You mean to say that if I check those sacks, I will find nothing?” he motioned to the bags Novak had thought well hidden behind Connor and Cameron. Bags which contained bloodied evidence of the recent murder. His heart sank. Novak had been under the impression that he’d concealed his accomplices well, and that in the dark, Li Qi would not notice that there were others behind him.

It almost felt like the Samurai had been observing them from afar for a while and was in the lookout for something in exchange. Novak was dreading to find out what the Sadonese wanted from them, although he had a fair idea.

“What do you want?” Novak inquired in a hostile tone.

“Now, we’re talking,” the man’s eyes gleamed nastily in the dark, rendering the Prince immediately wary. The Samurai Shi ni had been as unscrupulous as the Emperor himself, executing murders at the merest command. His brother was no less.

“I am to be included in your plan. I also want to avenge my brother’s death from that monster.”

Novak shirked back in disgust at the demand – he did not trust the man at all. Caught against a wall, he had no choice than to agree. “Okay. Let’s go to my chambers and discuss,” he proposed.

A great warrior knew when it was time to accept defeat.

Darting a glance towards the other three, he noted their surprise mingled with outrage at his quick capitulation, but thankfully no one dared defy his orders. They all duly followed him to his chambers, and as soon as they were inside, they locked the door behind them.

“Tell me everything,” the Sadonese said without preamble. “Tell me the reason behind the Emperor’s powers. How are you killing him? Is it working?”

That was it! Novak realized with trepidation. The reason why Li Qi had not sold them to Salvatore yet was because the latter sought to find the source behind the Emperor’s magic. The sword, he immediately remembered with a sinking heart was snugged in his back.

Novak threw another furtive look towards the others who remained jaw locked with displeasure and maintained stubborn silence. It was his call.

“We haven’t been able to kill him yet,” the Prince said carefully, knowing that the others would follow his lead if required. “We’re still trying to find a way,” he answered desperately trying to hide the sword in the scabbard buried in his back. During the trip back to his chambers, while the Sadonese had led the way, he’d stealthily hid the weapon.

“Nah, you don’t fool me one bit. I heard you mention that you stabbed him to death,” the Samurai delivered in a caustic tone. “I should hand you over to his Majesty? I think he might make a better judgement that I did.”

“Why would you do that? You just told us that you were against him?” Cameron spoke for the first time.

Li Qi’s black hooded eyes flashed with evilness. “I want to know the source of his powers. Imagine having the power of immortality. If you know how he’d achieved that, you’d better tell me otherwise I’m bringing guards to this chamber right away.”

“You’re blackmailing us?” Connor whispered outraged and reached to his hip, hands wrapping round the worn hilt as he stepped forward drawing the weapon out. Without giving anyone time to react, Connor cut upwards at Li Qi in a fast-reflective attack.

Uh-oh. That was a wrong move. Li Qi immediately took the fight position, taking out his katana from his scabbard hanging in front of his crotch. He brought the tip around and reversed the attack by cutting unexpectedly from his left hand. Connor had to concede and retreat out of distance, as the tip scratched the skin of his arm.

That was precisely what Novak had been trying to avoid. He’d had a very slim chance defeating Shi ni because of the latter’s old age, but Li Qi was much younger than his brother. Vanquishing a young Samurai would prove to be quite challenging, but he was outnumbered.

Pitched against four warriors, there was a probability that they might survive. Novak brought his sword around from his back, and stepped forward to cut in attack, and Cameron and Isla mimicked his action.

The Samurai scrambled back from Novak’s attack but was quick to retaliate with a parry right in time, and he thrust forward cutting upwards in a fast and reflective attack. Cameron used that opportunity to cut down across the man’s unguarded lower body, aiming for his abdomen. The samurai lurched back from the cut, a mere inch from the blade, and he was off kilter.

Isla aimed for his feet, kneeling on the floor, and managed to dismantle his standing position, sending the katana flying through the room.

“Quick!” Novak signaled to Connor, who understood his unspoken demand as they both surged to hold the big man on the ground.

Cameron wasted no time getting a rope to tie the man down to a chair, and Isla made sure to secure the b*****e as the other males stared down at him in open animosity now. There was no need for any more subterfuge.

“What do we do with him Cart?” Connor asked breathlessly from all the scurried activities of the night.

“One thing at a time. Isla? Come with me. Boys wait for me here. I’ll be back in two minutes. Don’t let him out of your sight.”

Once he and Isla were outside, he whispered to her in urgent tones. “You’d better go dump this bag. Ma’s been waiting, and if she senses something amiss, she might get worried.”

“Cart…”

“Not now,” he snapped abruptly. “Do as you’re told, Isla. I’ll deal with that man inside in the meantime.”

“I was about to ask you for the sword,” she insisted with indignation at his animosity. “We should return it back before someone noticed that it’s missing.”

Novak nodded his approval apologetically and removed the sword from behind his back before handing it over to Isla. “Good thinking,” he praised, and Isla glowed under the compliment. “Be quick.”

With a jerky nod, Isla was well aware when not to argue with Novak when he drifted into one of his imperial moods. Besides, he had a point. If her mother didn’t get the sack, the latter would inexorably assume that something was wrong and might aggravate matters for them. They had things under control for the moment.

Without further argument, she rushed to the tower window and threw down the evidence, whistling like an owl in guise of signal. While rushing back to Novak’s chambers, two guards intercepted her on the way, and she had to slow down her pace not to arouse suspicions.

“My, my. If it isn’t our pretty little mermaid,” someone drawled nastily at her, and she resisted the urge to flinch. Damn, all that flirting was catching up on her. Seeing her alone, those bastards thought that they could come on to her.

“What are you doing over here, Jeremy? Aren’t you supposed to be in front of his Highness door at this hour?” she asked in a voice which belied the fluttering alarm inside her.

It was a subtle menace, one which suggested that she might report him to the Emperor come the morrow, but Jeremy bristled in annoyance instead of responding accordingly with apprehension.

“I was feeling unwell. I went to fetch myself a glass of water,” he said accosting her until she had her back to the wall, with the sword pressing against the hardness. Her mind fluttered in panic as sweat beaded along her hairline. “No crime, ain’t it, Elliot?” he asked his friend, although his lecherous eyes were shamelessly roaming over her body like she was a piece of meat.

“No crime at all,” chimed his pal, standing in his guard position a few inches away from them, with the clear indication that he was keeping watch for anyone coming, giving full freedom to his comrade to have his naughty way with the lass.

“And what about you, pretty mermaid. What were you doing wandering around the castle at such a late hour?”

Her mind shrieked in alarm, reeking with the possibility of how to draw their attention away from her, and she failed to come up with a good excuse. Instead, she just smiled like she was an i***t to hide her rising restlessness.

Under normal circumstances, she would have easily tackled those two idiots being fully capable of defending herself. But, she could not take any risk with the sword so close to them, she only had to turn her body a few inches for them to catch the weapon. If those two guards saw the Dà Vita, it would be the end.

“You know what me thinks, Elliot?” Jeremy posed the rhetorical question with deliberate provocation. “Me thinks that the lady could not sleep because she was thinking of us.”

Isla shuddered with repugnance, unable to retaliate as the heavy weight against her back a stark reminder of her responsibility. “You think wrong Jeremy. I was just having some fresh air,” she retorted silkily, and was about to slip through his fingers when he blocked her exit by pinning her to the wall.

“Let me go,” she ordered in a calm voice, hands already to her sword in front to fight him if necessary. “If my brother Carter finds out about this, there will be some serious consequences for you,” she threatened with steely determination, and was comforted when the lad called Elliot surged forward.

“Jeremy let’s go,” he warned urgently at the mention of the Emperor’s right-hand man. Everyone was scared of the latter for they were well aware that the previous one had been as atrocious as Salvatore himself. Shi ni had not hesitated to behead others, executing the order of their majesty. The new one would be no different.

Swooning with relief, Isla stood watching the two guards wandering off, her hand still firmly on the hilt of her sword. They were gone. Frozen for a moment, she took her time to calm her raging heart, before spurning into action, keeping in mind that she had to double the securities.

This time, she was alone. There was no Carter to cover for her, and she had just escaped being exposed only moments ago. It was too big a risk, but she had no other choice.

With that iniquitous Samurai still in captivity, she had to manage alone – the man had given her the creeps. Tall and lithe, his skin had been the color of milk, as pale as a full moon, but those cobalt eyes had been lurking in the shadows, vicious and corrupt. Isla could still feel goosebumps as she remembered the evil glint and bright false smile, alerting her to danger.

After all, he was the brother to the second most dangerous man on earth Shi ni Chin. Hadn’t she been satisfied when the latter had met his fate on the podium on the competition day? Why was the feelings of anger and revenge still woven around her like a leech refusing to fade?

There was no time to dally, she focused on her task, crept through the corridor like an agile tigress looming in the dark, and heaved a sigh of relief when she reached the entrance of the passage. There was nobody in sight.

Taking a torch from the castle wall, she opened the trap with difficulty since she had to use both of her hands at the same time, but a creaking sound told her that was successful. With swift strides, she deposited the weapon in the armory room, and quickly exited the hiding place.

It was only then that she relaxed, then tensed immediately as she recalled the man in capture. Without giving herself time to linger, she rushed to Novak’s room just in time to hear the man say.

“It’s your word against mine. If you release me, I will go straight to his Majesty, and you can justify yourself to him. If he gives you a chance,” he chuckled with an evil smile. “All I’m asking is the secret behind the Emperor’s powers. Once you disclose the source of his immortality, I will help you in your quest for vengeance.”

Isla hitched in a breath with fury at his audacity, not believing the man for one second. The hardened features on his cynical face clearly indicated that anybody trusting him would be a dork.

“I am not allying with him,” she stated boldly entering the room and watched while all four heads whirled in her direction. “His brother murdered my brother,” Isla’s announcement resonated dully across the walls, and everyone whirled to face her ashen face. “Do you remember me, you bastard?” she spat in the face of the man in front of her. “Does the name Ashbrook ring a bell?”