Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 50 of 51

The dragon lay quiet at King Hon's feet. Rin Mihal was stunned. Kuroba lowered the odachi and turned to the king, expecting to find the old man crumpling. Instead the king stood taller than he had at dawn. His shoulders had squared. The great-spear no longer dragged. He held it upright in one hand like a walking man holds a cup. "You said you were spent," Kuroba said. "I was." The king flexed his free hand and watched the fingers move. "Something stayed behind when he left." Kuroba stepped closer. The white eyes were still white, but the skin around them had tightened. The tremor Kuroba had watched all week was gone. Heat came off the king's chest in a slow, steady pulse, not the flare of the fire magic but something under it. "He gave you back the years," Kuroba said. "Not all of them." The king rolled his shoulder and something in it popped clean. "Enough." He looked at the dead brutes stacked along the wall. Behind them, the Lotus Horizon soldiers were pushing the last of Kazrik's stragglers off the terraces. Water still fell down the face of the great fenced tower. Kadi came through the gate at a run and stopped when she saw her father standing without his cane. She looked at Kuroba. "What happened to him." "A friend paid him a visit," Kuroba said. The king walked past her to the pile of fallen brutes and drove his spear into one that was still breathing. He did not lean on the shaft to do it. Kadi watched her father's back and did not speak. "I have time again." The king pulled the spear free. "I will hold this gate myself.“ "And Kazrik." "Ran." The king finally turned. The white eyes fixed on Kuroba the way a sighted man's would. "He will run further when he hears I am on my feet." Kuroba felt the shift settle into the ground under him. The old king was no longer the failing ally he had come to shield. The Lotus Horizon had its sword back. His oath to Kadi still stood, but the weight of it had moved off his shoulders and onto the man in front of him. Kuroba stood more attuned with his chi than ever before. The Lotus Horizon stood safe once again, stronger than ever, with a new ally. The kingdom of Kenjitochi