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“And what?” The young man spat. “Do you want me to let her go? Leave the Star Rain clan unpunished?”
“No, I don’t,” Hadjar answered honestly, which attracted the attention of all those present, including Galenon, who rose with Itia’s help. “But look around you… Your clan is still alive.” He waved his hand at the kneeling warriors and ordinary people who wore the coat of arms of the Underground Whisper clan. Above their necks, the bared weapons of the Star Rain clan’s fighters hovered menacingly. “If you kill Lathea and give in to your immediate desire for revenge, your entire clan, all the people for whom you are now responsible, will die.”
To confirm Hadjar’s words, the Star Rain clan’s warriors moved their weapons so close to their prisoners’ necks that some of them bled.
“Who are you to talk about my people?” Satin snapped. In response to the Star Rain warriors’ actions, he cut Lathea’s skin slightly. Even as a stream of blood flowed across her collarbone, not a single muscle twitched on the Princess’ face. “You’ve killed a lot of them!”
“It was a battle,” Hadjar didn’t deny it. “This is the way of a cultivator. But now the battle is over. You aren’t my enemy. Your clan isn’t my enemy. The enemy is there,” he pointed to the horizon. “The sect that has been poisoning this world for hundreds of epochs. It poisoned your family, too. They are our common enemy. Eliminating them is a goal worthy of putting aside old feuds for.”
“Nice words, stranger,” Satin grimaced. “Maybe they’ll even bring my mother back to life?”
Hadjar said nothing. The world of martial arts was just loneliness, inside which the agonizing shadows of anger and hatred danced. If Einen were here, he would’ve probably claimed that it didn’t matter how the battle ended, as it never truly ended.
“I give you my word that if you let Lathea go, your clan will be allowed to leave.” Hadjar struck his chest with his fist. “My word of honor.”
“Honor?” Satin spat. “You sound like an old man.”
Hadjar responded with silence once again.
Satin looked up at the brightening sky, “Damn it!” he croaked. “Damn it... Damn it all!”
He put his dagger back in its sheath and pushed Lathea away from him. She disappeared, and instantly reappeared next to her father. She gently wrapped him up in a tight hug.
“Father,” she whispered, pressing her face against his wounded chest.
“My daughter,” he stroked her dyed, cropped hair, trembling. “The gods are merciful to us.”
Hadjar looked at the scene, his heart warmed by it. Not every story like this had to end in tragedy. Even if only one of the parties involved got a happy ending.
“You’re naive, kid,” Abraham shook the tobacco out of his pipe. “These people have no honor. Only a goal and the means to see it through.”
“What do you-”
“Kill them!” Galenon shouted. “Every single one of them!”
The Star Rain warriors all swung their weapons without hesitation. Satin screamed something as he saw this.
“Will this day ever end?” Abraham sighed and disappeared.
He did so a bit later than Hadjar. A furious roar echoed across the square, causing the warriors to freeze without lowering their weapons. Surrounded by the north winds, Hadjar appeared in front of Galenon. The Blue Blade, shining with the mysteries of the Sword, rested against his throat. Lathea’s spear was similarly on Hadjar’s shoulder.
“There is no honor in this, honorable Head,” Hadjar said calmly, but it was clear from the look in his eyes that one wrong move would lead to blood being spilled once more.
Chapter 1474
“T
his situation is a little tense, don’t you think?”
Abraham patted both Hadjar and Galenon on the shoulder. Despite the tension hanging over the square, he looked quite relaxed.
“Master Wind of the Northern Valleys,” the Head of the Star Rain clan inclined his head slightly. “I’m grateful for your help, but it isn’t up to you to decide what is done to people on our clan’s territory.”
“He isn’t too friendly, is he?” Pointing to the Head, Abraham whispered the words, but made sure that everyone could hear him.
“I gave him my word,” Hadjar repeated, ignoring Lathea’s spear and the old scoundrel’s mockery. “I intend to keep it.”
He and Galenon looked into each other’s eyes for a while. This wasn’t a silent battle of wills. They were just checking what the person standing opposite them was made of.
Galenon sighed and leaned a little harder on his daughter’s shoulder. Lathea put her spear away, and Hadjar returned his sword to its scabbard.
“Boy!” The Head of the Star Rain clan shouted, addressing Satin. “Take your people and leave! Go so far away that I won’t hear anything about you ever again, except that you’ve left these valleys.”
“Where will we go?”
“That’s the best I can offer you,” Galenon replied firmly. “Hurry up, while the word of Master Wind of the Northern Valleys still protects you. Because, by the gods and forefathers, tomorrow at dawn, anyone wearing the coat of arms of the Underground Whisper clan will be sent to this very scaffold. I give you my word.”
The Star Rain warriors put their weapons away and allowed their recent opponents to get back up. The wounded, tired, bloodied fighters from both sides looked at each other without any real malice. These cultivators had all lived long enough to understand that war was just war.
Satin turned around and disappeared into the air. The people of the Underground Whisper clan also began to disappear. They still had enough power left over to use movement Techniques.
After a few minutes, there was no one left in the city, apart from some citizens, captured mercenaries, to whom Galenon’s mercy didn’t apply, and the Star Rain clan’s forces, of course. Taking Lathea’s spear, Galenon raised the weapon into the air. The Star Rain warriors, those who could still do so anyway, also raised their spears. Their white cloaks fluttered in the wind, which carried their joyful battle cry across the meadows and fields, marking their revenge and victory.
Hadjar turned to the body lying on the podium. Any victory had a price. And both sides paid it…
***
Sitting by the fire, Hadjar strummed the strings of his Ron’Jah. He was either inventing, or possibly remembering some light, unobtrusive melody. Maybe he had already played it back when he had been part of the freak show. Or maybe not.
“That sounds lovely.”
Hadjar silently moved to the side. Lathea sat down next to him. She’d exchanged the clothes of a simple woman for the noble garments of the Star Rain clan. Her eyes shone like stars once again, and her hair, even if it was short now, was back to looking like polished gold.
- Writer
