A Travel through War | Chapter 1 | Humans

雪

A teenager with navy-coloured hair, seated upon a horse, was looking around the battlefield from atop a hill. His eyes narrowed at the sight of his brothers in arms getting wounded or killed by the creatures. He did not want to give those a name, they did not deserve one, not after what they had done to his brother.

"Tsurugi," a voice called out.

Tsurugi Kyousuke turned his head slightly to the left, still keeping an eye on the battlefield. He inclined his head a bit when he recognised the source of the voice being his leader and tactician—Shindou Takuto, Duke of Raimon—and his guard, Kirino Ranmaru.

"Yes, Your Grace," Tsurugi said, implying for the brunet to continue.

"We will leave, for now," Shindou said, frowning. "I do not like the idea of giving this land to those youkai either, but I fear lots of lives will be lost if we will keep on fighting like this," he added when Tsurugi's face contorted in a scowl.

Tsurugi huffed as he turned to look at the field once more, sighing once he saw that it was, indeed, a lost battle.

"Very well, Your Grace. Shall I make the preparations?" asked Tsurugi, facing Shindou again.

"If you please." Shindou nodded for Tsurugi to get on with it.

Tsurugi cast one more look on the battlefield before turning his horse the other way and giving it the spurs.

"Your Grace, you need to leave then, too," Kirino said, giving his duke a long look.

"No, not until my men have left," Shindou stated firmly.

Kirino heaved a sigh as he shook his head. "Shindou…"

"I can't leave them," Shindou said, his voice quiet.

"I understand, Your Grace." Kirino flashed him a small smile which Shindou returned shortly.

雪

His horse bristled, and Tsurugi silenced it by placing his hand on the horse's nose. Silence was of importance would this plan succeed.

Giving the horse one last glance to make sure it didn't have anything anymore that could relate it to him or his army, Tsurugi made his way through the forest, unusually silent for this time of day. He knew youkai were walking—sneaking—around in here as well, so he had to be wary with every step he took, every rustle of leaves, every snap of wood that was heard.

He froze the moment something snapped, a sound louder than any normal animal stepping on a branch, mainly because it sounded from above him. Warily, he glanced upward, trying to see through the thick leaves.

雪

Tenma held his breath as the human beneath him seemed to freeze. The blue-haired person was glancing upward, his orange eyes wary as he tried to find whatever had made the sound.

Tenma had, but he couldn't help it. Some human had thrown a spear at him as he had accidentally flown over a battlefield and it had scratched his wing. He had just made it towards the forest when his wing started to really hurt and he had had to land. But he didn't have the balance anymore to land properly and had thus made too much noise and now there was a human (who didn't look all that nice to begin with) apparently searching for said noise.

Tenma had shuffled all the way against the tree trunk, clinging on to it as to not fall and possibly get killed by the human. He still didn't dare breathe as the human stopped looking upward and stretched before continuing its way through the forest.

Only when he was sure the human was out of hearing distance he dared take a deep breath to fill his lungs with some oxygen again, blinking at the pain returning as it had somehow numbed during those crucial seconds.

He allowed a small groan to leave his lips as he slipped out of the tree and landed on the ground, pain shooting through his legs now too as he had no way to soften his fall.

He really needed to get to his home, but if a human was walking through this forest it might mean that there were more and the way to his home would be a lot more difficult than usual.

Tenma shook his head to clear the anxiety away and slowly made his way to his house, ears sharp on sounds.

He let out a sigh of relief as his house came into view, but muffled a squeal when the human reappeared, quickly stepping back into the shadows.

雪

Tsurugi cursed inwardly, not knowing whether he had been mistaken or the thing was simply waiting its chance, but he couldn't waste any more time so he pressed on.

He walked for a while, alert for if something really would attack him, but it seemed not.

He stretched himself out again when he reached a clearing between the thick foliage, a wooden house standing shyly in the middle of it, walls overgrown with green.

Frowning, he made his way around it, scrutinizing every detail of the modest house. When he reached the front door again, he stopped and weighted his possibilities. That was, until a muffled sound made him swivel around, glaring into the darkness between the trees.

There was most definitely something there, he could not mistake such an obvious sound.

"Show yourself!" he demanded, eyes searching, hand on the hilt of his sword.

雪

Tenma nearly fell over a tree root as the human called out. It was that someone caught him before he hit the ground.

Tenma slowly opened his eyes to be met with the slightly amused face of Saryuu Evan, but it was quickly replaced by a questioning one.

Tenma's eyes flashed towards where his house was hidden back to Saryuu, whose eyes slowly moved to there.

His face contorted into a scowl and he nearly dropped Tenma as he smelled the human. Tenma quickly went to stand on his own feet again.

"I'll give him the scare of his life," the monkey youkai muttered darkly.

"No!" Tenma muttered back, placing his hands on Saryuu's shoulders.

"Why not?" Saryuu gave him a piercing glance.

"I don't want to see any more blood than I have today! There already is a huge battle going on outside these forests, let's not also make it a big fight inside these forests as well!" Tenma whispered, "I just want my wing tended and just… drink some tea. Please, Saryuu." Tenma shot him an almost pleading look.

Saryuu glared at Tenma, then at the trees that hid the little wooden house, then back at Tenma before his shoulders finally sagged and he heaved a sigh.

雪

Tsurugi hissed. He wanted to go into the bushes to find out who or what had made that sound, but he needed to be pressing on. If he didn't—he suppressed a shudder.

He gave one last look to the bushes then towards the small house, sighed, and quickened his pace to get to the edge of the woods to secure an escape route for the knights to take.

When the forest became thinner he slowed down again, glancing warily around for any movements, but it seemed not.

The plains he reached were deserted, the green grass seemed to wave slightly in the wind that had free reign.

Tsurugi's eyes flicked across the field, taking in the hills, edges of forests and, if he stood on his toes, the blue sea that would be their escape route.

He shot one last look over his shoulders into the woods before he quickly dashed across the hills, his armour rattling with every step he took. He allowed a small smile to grace his features as he got closer to the vast blueness, smelling the salt.

Once he got atop of the hill that looked upon the sea he stopped, taking in the situation from there. He could see the capital city of the region Kaiou that laid at the shores, and even from where he stood he could see them busy with what looked like bringing in the haul of that day. There were small boats everywhere and—sighing of relief—saw the huge ship that was of the duke of Kaiou, Namikawa Rensuke, as was the entire city for that matter. He had almost thought that the ship had been taken down by the flying youkai—the tengu, he grudgingly thought—but the ship seemed to only have taken a few scratches from what he could see here.

Now there was one last problem left. How to get the army from the battlefield at the other side of the forest, through it, over the hills here, and onto the ship without those youkai following.

He slid down the hill and walked towards the city, pondering for a solution for the most vital part of this operation.

雪

Just as he had seen, it was a big commotion in the city; men, women and children were walking everywhere, helping in whatever way possible.

"Sir knight?"

Tsurugi blinked and stopped, turning to where the voice was and having to look down for to find the source. It was a small child, that looked both reserved and curious.

"Yes?" He knelt down so he could look the boy in the eye.

The boy fidgeted a little before finally stating, "I want to be a knight too when I'm older! I want to serve for our duke! A-and our king!" he added quickly, eyes shining brightly.

Tsurugi smiled mildly, inwardly hoping the child would reconsider once the defeated army would stride through here. "There's a good lad," he said, patting the child on the head.

The child basically shone with admiration as Tsurugi got up again, nodded to the boy and made his way to the docks, needing to find a way to contact the ship.

It wasn't as hard as he had thought it would be for the first mate was on the docks, talking to what appeared to be the harbourmaster.

The harbourmaster, Fukami Dandou, was a bulky man with long, messy brown hair. His black eyes might be small, but the man oversaw every little thing that happened in his harbour (which would not always include fair business. There were plenty of stories going around that the Duke of Kaiou didn't mind piracy all that much and even encouraged his crew to act like pirates).

The tall first mate, Wanda Naoto, had dreadlocks for hair which was turquoise of colour and reached his chest. His black eyes stood out from his fair skin and were looking almost haughtily at the harbourmaster.

Tsurugi stepped up to the two, making his presence known with a little cough.

Wanda examined him from tip to toe and back up before saying, "You must be the knight from Raimon that Duke Shindou would send once his army would be retreating, right?"

"Yes," said Tsurugi almost reluctantly, feeling both men their almost mocking glances on him.

"Then we'll make the ship ready. How many of your army will be here?" Wanda said, a mocking smile playing at his lips.

Tsurugi shot him a foul glare. "Just prepare the ship," he said coldly, "I haven't counted the knights yet."

Both the harbourmaster and first mate laughed.

"Very well," Wanda said, still chuckling. "Fukami." He nodded to the harbourmaster as a goodbye and shot one last bemused look to Tsurugi before stepping towards the dinghy where some of the crewmembers of the ship were swarming around.

"I'll make sure the way will be clear once the army arrives," the harbourmaster then said, giving Tsurugi a look.

Tsurugi nodded in acknowledgement and turned on his heels, quickly making his way out of the city again.

雪

Tsurugi stepped out on the bloodied battlefield, unsheathing his sword and slashing down a youkai that jumped towards him, claws ready to rip him to pieces.

He had made his way back through the forest, somehow missing the little house this time, and had told Shindou everything was ready, a plan in his mind to get everyone away.

Shindou would give the sign to retreat and Tsurugi would step onto the battlefield, catching the youkai their attention.

And their attention he got.

The creatures' eyes gleamed as a new prey stepped onto the field, a new toy for them to play with.

He would give them something to play with, all right.

雪

Yeah, so... I'm trying to pick up writing again? And this is what came out, somewhat inspired by Tallemy's fics.

And I don't know, there won't be much romance...

That's all, I suppose.

Laters!