Princess Takiyasha's Arc

Chapter 9 of 10

Takiyasha stood in her father's hall with the golden toad seal heavy in her hand. Outside, a hundred frog voices croaked for the shrine she had promised. She walked the throne room and saw the truth. The pillars stood tall and dry. The floors were smooth stone, built for tiefling feet, not webbed ones. There was no water here, no reeds, no mud. She had promised the frog folk a castle with their shrine at its heart. She could not make one from a dry hall by dawn. Krogg met her at the door. "They are restless," he said. "They came for the shrine, not the walls." Takiyasha had the shrine stones. She had the will. What she lacked was gold and hands to build fast. A slow project would bleed her army back to the swamp. A horn sounded from the front gate. A boar warrior rode in on a shaggy pony, tusks curving up from his jaw, a great bow across his back. Takiyasha had never met him. He dismounted and studied her army with narrow amber eyes. "I am Borjigin Shatter-Tusk," he said. "Ambassador of the Tusk nation." His voice was flat, a trader's voice. "My people watched you take these walls. We came to sell you something." "Speak plainly," Takiyasha said. "Soldiers." He snorted. "Three hundred, seasoned. Plus masons who raise a hall in a week. We want gold now and your banner behind ours in the next war." He looked past her to the throne. "You want a throne held. We want a friend who kills kings." Takiyasha weighed it. Three hundred soldiers and builders would let her raise the frog castle before her army lost faith. But the price was steep, and future wars were future chains. She had only just won the seal. She led him to the vault behind the throne. A great chest sat there, gold bright, emeralds set among carved frogs. She lifted the lid. Inside lay the wealth of the hall, coin stacked deep. "Half now," she said. "The rest when your masons finish the shrine. And your banner beside mine goes both ways. When I call, your riders come." Borjigin studied her face. Then he grinned around his tusks. "You bargain like a khan." He spat in his palm and held it out. She clasped it. By dusk the deal was sealed at the moss-and-tusk embassy his people raised at the gate. Takiyasha stood on the wall and called the frog folk close. She lifted the jade naginata so it caught the last light. "Masons come at dawn," she said. "Your shrine will stand at the castle's heart. I keep my word." The croaking rose, not angry now, but loud with hope. The frog folk stayed. But Takiyasha's palm still felt the boar's grip. She had bought her castle with a debt of soldiers she must one day march to a war not her own.