Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 41 of 44

First light came gray over the fields. Kuroba stood on the wall walk above the north gate. The waterfall behind him pushed its steady sound down the tower stones. Kadi climbed the ladder and stopped beside him. She held her chained blade across her chest. She said nothing. Her father had gone down to the courtyard with his spear and shield already dragging. The dust rose first. Then the line. Two thousand War-Bred Brutes came out of the flats in a slow crawl. Not six hundred. Kazrik had spent his coin. The front rank walked heavy and wrong, shoulders too wide, arms too long for the axes they carried. Bred things. Their armor was scrap strapped to skin. They roared without cause as they walked. Thousands of other thugs and bandits followed alongside them Kazrik walked out in front on foot. Black armor. Crown over the helmet. Red eyes catching the low sun. He stopped a stone's throw from the gate and lifted one gauntlet. The line halted behind him. "Old man," Kazrik called up. His voice carried. "Open the gate. Walk out. Kneel. I take the tower. The girl lives in a room I pick. Your spearmen go home. Refuse and I feed you to my dogs one floor at a time." The king stepped into the gate mouth below. He set the butt of the spear on stone. He did not answer. "Speak," Kazrik said. "Or send someone who can." Kuroba stepped out and calmly approached the gate between the king and the field. The odachi rode across his back. The mask covered his face below the eyes. He said nothing yet. Kazrik's shoulders dropped a finger's width. The gauntlet came down slow. The red eyes moved from the king to Kuroba and stayed. "You," Kazrik said. The clip was gone from the word. "Me," Kuroba said. Kazrik took one step back. Not a retreat. A measure. He looked at his own front rank as if counting again. He looked at the tower. He looked at Kuroba, then at the odachi's hilt above his shoulder. "You should have stayed at your school," Kazrik said. "You should have died in the palace," Kuroba said. Kazrik turned his head and spoke to the bred thing nearest him. The creature roared and swung its axe over its head. The line answered. The ground took the sound. "Take him first," Kazrik said. "Then the gate." He stepped behind the front rank. He would not lead this one. He would spend the meat and watch. Then… a stand off. A long silent standoff.