The Last Realm: The Blood of Clans

14: The Worst Laid Plans

We still stood there stunned for a couple more moments, as Tajima took his time cleaning off his spear and pushing the dead man against the wall with annoyance. He stared coldly at us all after he finished, sighing slightly and turning on his heels and heading towards a nearby side door. It looked just as heavy as the others, but with a solid metallic frame to it, instead of the sturdy wood.

“Kokin should be back from doing her scouting soon.” He stated matter of factly, waiting on us to catch up to him.

“Scouting? Of what?” Aurelia's voiced pinched tightly with her question.

“Apparently, while my brother is inside making his demands, he has men outside of the city anticipating an escape. She's checking to see where exactly.”

“So that's why you requested the back of the palace.” Kelicia commented her thoughts. “I thought maybe it was to avoid notice or something.”

“As you know, it'd be suicide for most people to travel this side of the Yerves river.” Tajima smiled, giving a light laugh. “That's exactly the kind of reasoning I'm counting on Naren to make.”

“But I didn't think anything was west of the river.” I huffed in a small fit of confusion.

“Only the prison and village of Ivery.” Kelicia answered. “Surely, you're not thinking of going that far west.. and at night too?”

“Stick around, you might just find out.” Tajima chuckled softly, the darkening night sky casting an eerie glow to his facial features.

“I don't see what choice we have in the matter, and you didn't really acknowledge me.” Kelicia snapped, stepping face to face with the silver eyed youth.

“Avoid notice? Hmm..” Tajima paused and looked thoughtful over the words as if they had just occurred to him as an idea for the first time.

“You can't be serious!” Kelicia half yelled before being slightly restrained by Jace, Kat and Troy, though that didn't stop her rant at the young clan heir. “You knew Naren would go to this extreme and you let so many people be killed.”

I watched on in silence, along with the rest of us, while Tajima stared back into Kelicia's face without flinching or moving a muscle. Her expression was a mixture of pain, hatred and fear. I wasn't really sure who she was upset with or trying to completely vent herself at. She seemed just as upset with herself as she did the young runaway prince, that was until his stare and silence endured.

“You killed my father!” Kelicia finally screamed loudly, her expression turning to almost a pure rage as she slapped Tajima hard across his cheek.

The stoic, silver eyed boy still refused to budge or anything. Which wouldn't have been a big issue, if it wasn't for the shadow that landed between Tajima and Kelicia with a drawn sword.

“Kokin...” Kelicia's voice seemed to catch in her throat as she only managed to get the girl's name out before being cut off by the murderous glare from the very lethal female knight, which had our group in a complete shock. Everybody seemed utterly froze, as Tajima quietly spoke at last.

“I wasn't sure how far my brother might go. Your sister knew the risks as much as I did, when I asked her to let me come here in the first place.” Tajima paused for a long moment, the cold bitter air frosting over our breaths. “Hate me if you feel that you need too. I won't apologize.”

I watched Kelicia bite down on her lip, drawing blood as she set her jaw in a defiant stare. Kokin keeping an iron barrier between the two, as Tajima put a fair distance between himself from our group. Once he was a safe couple of yards away, Kokin walked over quietly to him and they seemed to motionlessly communicate.

“So everything depends on him?” I found myself asking to our ragtag group.

“I can't honestly say.” Jace replied with a sigh. “But nothing good will come if Tajima and Kelicia are at each others throats, no offense.”

“I understand, don't worry.” Kelicia spat back with a touch of resentment in her voice. “As much as I might hate that jerk, he's our best chance to fix things.”

“Hate to interject this, but we might need a lot more glue to fix this problem. At least more than the prince can offer.” Troy said with a faint chuckle.

“You really are a clown.” Kat answered while rolling her eyes.

Tajima walked back towards us, Kokin closely following on his heels. Her eyes darting back and forth between all of us as if we might each be a varying threat that she was prepared to diffuse or disassemble.

“So how bad is it?” Jace asked, a bit more calmly than I would feel at ease with.

“Tetsu and Issei are both patrolling the eastern and northern gates to the city. Each have around ten to twenty men, nothing extensive but large enough without drawing unwanted attention.” Tajima replied, which earned a couple understanding nods.

“That isn't so bad, then.” Troy remarked with a playful slap to Jace's back.

“That's only the half of it.” Tajima cut off the injured pirate. “There is a larger force, with Seihachi, blocking and keeping the docks under lockdown.”

“So we really don't have any choice but to go west.” Kelicia interjected sadly.

“Where do you propose we would head, if the docks at Trovato were a serious option?”

“Please, you two.” Aurelia groaned as she tried to mediate the bickering pair. “You're disagreements aren't going to help us any.”

“We have to head towards Ivery.” Tajima stated matter of factly. “Standing here in the night isn't going to make anything better for us, either.”

“He's right.” I relented, earning a mixture of glares and shocked looks. “With Naren's troops actively hunting us, it will only be a matter of time before they suspect we headed west.”

“Vahn might hopefully derail those ideas.” Jace frowned as he said this.

“Why?” Aurelia nearly jumped out of her skin with the worry in her question.

“He's taking Chang, Wesley and the young girls and buying us a little time.” Kelicia said, her eyes downcast on the icy ground at our feet.

“That's just absurd.” I huffed in exasperation.

Kokin made a series of disturbing hand gestures, which seemed to make both Tajima and Kelicia wince visibly.

“What was that about?” I found myself asking with a flush of anger.

“I never thought that Naren would go to these extremes..” Tajima answered in a raspy voice that trailed off lightly.

The dawning dread that seemed to pass from person to person finally registered slowly to me. He had to mean that the strange men from the docks were up to something. I wasn't sure what or how, let alone the extent of what any of this news could mean, but it seemed apparent that nearly everyone else was quite aware of the circumstances and dire situation now.

“Lorres is actively moving.” Tajima lightly whispered the words into the wind, but they seemed to echo all around us violently despite his carefulness in the statement.

“We move now! Quickly!” Kelicia stared into my eyes with a look of pure panic and fear, before grasping my hand and pulling me aside while the others started to walk away to give us a little space.

“What exactly is going on?” I stammered out with a hoarse and tense voice.

“I'm sorry that you're being caught up in all of this, James.” She started, not giving me any time to respond. “When we get to Ivery, I'm afraid there is going to be quite a bit that you'll need to learn.”

“Learn? Can't I hear these things from you or Jace, or something?” I asked with a puzzled and confused look.

Her eyes blinked, fighting back the watery tears that threatened to trickle down her cheeks. It was nearly a heartbreaking sadness to her, as I had to fight to resist the urge to pull her close to me and comfort her. I had no idea what could frighten any of my companions so much, but I knew it wasn't anything that would fare me any good will.

“Ivery has information and answers that we try and keep hidden from the rest of the world. Many countries have similar such places, but they are secrets for a reason. I can't say any more than this though. Please trust me about this.”

I blew out a breath with frustration and anxiety. Nodding slightly to the princess as we turned to catch up with the rest of the group. We hadn't made it very far when our group was ground to a halt at the thumping and flapping of what sounded like wings.

“Please tell me that isn't what I think it is.” Kathryn whispered.

“Now we really need to hurry.” Kelicia commented dryly and in a hushed tone.

“So what new trouble could this be?” I asked, a little louder than appreciated, as I gained glares from everyone.

“The wings of Tasard.” Tajima stated calmly.

“The who?” I caught myself asking, not out of a curiosity but more of a sheer lack of knowledge and bewilderment.

“Ftera, you idiot.” Kelicia snapped firmly.

I was stunned and surprised, glaring at the redheaded princess in added frustration. "How bout you go and ftera yourself."

"Dude.. she means the fliers. The female knights." Jace corrected me, trying to fight back a laugh.

My face immediately flushed a deep crimson that was easily visible even in the darkening night. “Oh.. right.. sorry then..”

Everyone nearly doubled over laughing, as the previous tension and hostilities within the group dissolved, at least for the time being. I couldn't help but feel ridiculous though, before Kelicia put her hand on my shoulder with a light smile.

“You really are something.”

I couldn't help but blush even deeper, grinning like an i***t as the princess smiled and giggled lightly. “Well, I try.”

“I hate to interrupt you two.” Troy said with a cracked smile. “Just thought maybe it would be a good idea to actually start moving.”

The rest of us nodded, grunted or sighed in agreement. We slung up our packs and shrinking luggage, trudging over the icy fields and darker than normal night. At least it seemed abnormally dark to me, though many argued differently.

Tajima and Kokin kept a few yards distance ahead of the rest of us and seemed to have no real trouble navigating themselves around the rather boring terrain. Aurelia walked quietly beside Kathryn, as Jace and Troy kept the rear of the pack. That left Kelicia to brood and glare at the two who were leading the group, but from a more than comfortable distance.

We walked and continued to do so, the majority of which was an uncomfortable silence, sloshing our boots through the ice and snow. My feet and lower legs were starting to get tingling cold, and I worried to myself about my legs going numb. The thought unnerved me a little as the wind bit into my jeans and heavy coat. Nobody else seemed to be faring a lot better in the chilling cold conditions, except for maybe Kelicia and the two up front.

“It's so amazing you aren't bothered by this absurd weather.” I chattered to Kelicia after a long time with neither of us talking.

She gave me a sideways glance, and half chuckled before reaching for my arm. “Mind if I?”

I just nodded as she took my hands into hers and rubbed them lightly to warm them up some, before latching onto my left hand and keeping it wrapped in hers. My right hand was pushed deep into my coat lining. Nothing else was said between us, as we continued the seemingly long and grinding trudge while the sky started to barely lighten from the pitch black that had been cast for the last few hours.

Finally as the light started a gentle break on the horizon, our group had clustered back together more closely. As the first glow of the morning cascaded around the landscape that surrounded us, the scattered rays of sunlight shone from behind and illuminated the icy world and cast it in a mixture of a silver and gold glow.

Jace tapped my shoulder to my attention. “James, look back to the sunrise, before you miss it.”

I turned around and gasped loudly at the sight. The sun hadn't yet crested over the frozen plains, but clearly visible were two moons. At least I would have suspected them to be both moons, if Jace hadn't confirmed my suspicions.

“Is that really?” I cut my question short, causing everyone else to turn around and admire the light cast onto the fading double moons.

"Afraid so, pal.” Jace smiled lightly to me, as my hand squeezed gently on Kelicia's.

From the look in his eyes, I was sure that we'd get a chance to talk about the two moons. One that I had a strong feeling was earth, but that idea was hard to wrap my mind around. I stole a glance around our group towards Kokin and Tajima, only to find him staring towards the moons as the girl rubbed the scar of his face lightly. I felt like I was encroaching on some private moment between the two and quickly diverted my attention, though the spark that his eyes seemed to carry wouldn't leave me anytime soon.

“I'd hate to say this, but you sure took your sweet time.” A familiar voice called back to us, from our destination.

This caused everyone to turn around and more than a few to gasp or smile in surprise. Zale had his arms crossed as if he'd been trying to patiently wait on us for quite some time. His face belied his posture though, as a huge grin was plastered from ear to ear.

“I thought you would catch up with us, not actually beat us here.” Tajima said with a chuckle and embraced the guard in a rough hug.

“Another plan of yours, I take it?” Kelicia asked, her hand slipping away from mine as she threw her arms into the air with the gesture.

“Now, now.” Tajima started in on the princess. “Admit that this is an idea you quite like.”

Kelicia huffed and stormed past the two boys, making the rest of us nearly have to sprint to catch up with her. As we all were able to slow back down and travel in a group, a frosted white village presented itself on the nearing horizon. It couldn't be more than a couple miles away, the plains sloping downwards towards the coast where it was nestled. We were almost within the safety of the village of Ivery, at least that is what I kept repeating to myself.