Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 61. The Four White Guards.
Mustafa nodded at Laien and responded to his question. “It would be good if you left before the main road gets any more crowded with people. I imagine there will be quite a few displeased nobles from the Three Houses coming to the Grand Palace soon, so it would be good if you left the city before they start bothering you,” he said straightforwardly. He had said the words of farewell to his son when they were still waiting within the walls of the Grand Palace, so he had nothing else left to tell him; at the moment he would rather concentrate on his own job and start acting towards cleaning up the dust his decision to release all harem slaves from the Grand Palace had kicked up.
“Mhm.” Laien agreed with Mustafa’s opinion. He had had enough of stirring up trouble in this city; it was just a little bit too dangerous for his liking. He waited for a few more seconds to see if anyone else had a different opinion, but his consideration appeared to be needless as no one opposed the idea. “Let’s go then,” he said merrily and tucked Bellicose’s sides lightly, causing the black War Horse to begin walking forward at a leisure pace.
Yin naturally joined Laien at his side, while Arslan said a few last words of farewell to his father and rode onward, occupying the spot to Laien’s right.
Reian frowned a little. He had thought to ride by Arslan’s side with Jasmine, but it would get annoying to ride in a five-rider line. It was different when they were coming to the City of Palee with Mustafa as the main road had been overtaken by their one thousand White Guards for their private use, whereas now he couldn’t bring himself to act so overbearing while traveling in a smaller group. Sighing, he could only come to terms with the fact that the three youth would be leading their small unit.
“You will get used to it in time,” Ruan said with a laugh while turning his horse around in place to follow after the three boys. He was pretty sure this golden-haired man was feeling the same thing he had felt in the beginning of his journey with Laien and Yin, so he sympathized with him a little.
While Reian was feeling a bit confused as to how he should react to someone he didn’t know suddenly giving him a frivolous advice, Jasmine laughed in amusement. “That boy, Laien, seems to be just as cheeky as Lord Mustafa was in his youth,” she said wryly and after exchanging one last amused glance with Mustafa, she nodded her head and bowed slightly. Finally, she rode ahead to join the three youths who were slowly getting away.
Reian groaned inwardly and after giving Mustafa one last look and bowing his head slightly, he went to join Jasmine. Kasha and Sirius followed behind the two of them, while Ruan, Liza and Jin didn’t try to get ahead in line and calmly placed themselves behind the four White Guards. With the three guards of the Valius family and the black-cloaked man closing their small procession from behind, their group which now counted fourteen riders headed towards the eastern gate of the city.
“I hope I will be able to finish everything soon…” Mustafa mused quietly as he watched the group leave. “I want Arslan to learn more about the world, but it’s perhaps a bit too soon for him to see some of the methods I will be forced to employ…” he thought resignedly and let out a heavy sigh. If he had taken a slow approach and pressured everyone bit by bit then he could have avoided shedding as much blood, but the moment he killed Tashakir and released the slaves from the harems this path had been cut off. The only option left was to seize the power quickly and forcefully and proceed from there, else he would be risking dangerous complications.
“We are returning to the Grand Palace,” he said in a fairly loud voice, turned around and began walking through the middle of the one thousand of his White Guards. “I want all ten lieutenants to come with me. Everyone else should stay on alert,” he ordered, planning to not waste any time. In the situation he had gotten himself into, swift action was the key to success.
When Mustafa and his White Guard were leaving the area, Flora pursed her lips. She had wanted to thank Laien and Yin very much and once again reassure them she would do anything they asked of her… but she wasn’t foolish enough to call out to them in front of all those Ikarians. She didn’t know what those two had promised the Grand Yimar either, so she had no choice but to be careful. On the other hand… she was now faced with a dilemma, one which she didn’t expect to appear.
She could see her old friend hugging the twins, she could see Darcy desperately looking for anyone of her family, she could see many Jiran-clad women on their knees hugging their children and sobbing. However, she also saw many of those who despaired after failing to find their dear ones and maybe most importantly, she saw many of those who sobbed at the sight of the injuries and scars the children they had finally been reunited with had sustained. The children and youths that had been captured recently were crying in their parents’ or caretakers’ arms, but those who had been kept in the harems for months… sometimes years, they were all silent and unresponsive, their eyes devoid of emotion.
For the adults and the elderly, seeing their children and their brothers and sisters in this state was a groundbreaking experience. They had all given up ages ago, hoping for their new lives not to be all that bad as long as they obeyed the new rules. None of them had resisted during the events of the Bloody Dusk as they had all chosen to follow the Malazan faith long ago. Yet, it didn’t prevent them from being discriminated against and it didn’t save them from suffering the same injustices the lower castes of Ikarians were going through on the daily basis under the rule of the Three Houses. They became slaves in everything but in the name; they wanted to complain, but their voice no longer held any meaning or power, it could only bring them suffering.
And yet, they had all accepted the new state of affairs, thinking that sooner or later everything would start turning for the better again. Despite that all, however, if there was still one thing they would refuse to give up and see hurt, it would be their children. When the young people and kids were captured and taken away by the nobles or taken by the guards, they despaired, but alas, they couldn’t do anything. The mothers and fathers who lost almost everything dear to them had finally lost the last thing that brought them hope for a better tomorrow; their children.
With the Bloody Dusk fresh in their memory, none of them thought of resisting; they had all become lethargic and uncaring, simply living from one day to another. Flora and others who still had the heart to try and resist the new rule saw it and they knew there was no point fighting for the people whose hearts weren’t even on their side. However, today those hearts which seemed to have died were being reignited by the flames of hatred; for those who couldn’t understand their feelings it probably looked like parents and caretakers were only weeping tears of relief, but those who were going through the same emotions like Flora and Claire could tell there was more to it than tears.
Slowly but surely, more and more people were gathering by the walls of the Grand Palace. There were thousands if not tens of thousands of those who looked for their abducted dear ones; there were many Euleanians, but there were just as many Ikarians who had had their children taken away from them and were now hoping to take them back to their homes.
In the end, it was only that far than an abused dog could be pushed before it started biting in desperation.
“We need to have another meeting…” Flora thought in silence. “There might yet be hope for our country to be reborn, even if only somewhere abroad…” she mused and as she did, she got goosebumps all over her body when she heard a phrase she had almost forgotten being quietly said by one of the nearby women.
“Vive la liberté…!”
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“Where will we be going?” Arslan asked at one point just after their group of fourteen rode out of the eastern gate of the city. “I mean, I know we are going to the Guode Yimarate as father said, but do we have any plans apart from that?” he added quickly, only now beginning to wonder if Laien and Yin weren’t troubled by being made to travel north with him. He didn’t remember them being asked about their own plans, so he hoped his father didn’t push them into making a detour or anything.
“I don’t think we have any specific plans,” Laien replied with a smile. “We are going north anyway, but we have a lot of time. It will be fine if we don’t hurry too much,” he explained, trying to quickly count how much time they had left until the beginning of the next year in the Eclipse Academy. They all had good horses and so far they had been traveling at a very good pace, so they used up only around two months of their one year. There still was more than a half of the distance left to cross, but they wouldn’t have problems with that; if needed, they could have rushed and crossed the whole one hundred thousand kilometers in a month. There was no need to mention the time limit of eight months in reference to some more than sixty thousand kilometers, they would easily make it in time.
“If you don’t have any plans,” Reian spoke up from behind the three of them, apparently having been listening in to their conversation the whole time despite chatting with Jasmine. “Then leave the planning to me. I studied the layout of Eulene and I learned some things about the cities and villages here, I can show you around as we go to the Guode Yimarate,” he offered, very much content with the fact that he would be in control of what they would be doing. Mustafa and Arslan were strangely fond of those two boys, but he didn’t want them to endanger Arslan with some irresponsible actions.
“Hmm.” While Laien was considering the idea to follow Reian around for a bit, Ruan brought up an objection.
“You never were here before, but you want to show them around? Give it a rest, this country is too dangerous. I say we should avoid cities and only go through the villages, or best just travel north as fast as possible while avoiding any trouble,” he argued, but it was more out of principle than anything else; he knew Laien and Yin would do as they liked, so all he could do was to be a voice of reason, even if they didn’t listen to him all that much.
Reian shook his head and looked at Ruan over his shoulder. “The point of the young master being here with you is for him to learn something. How will he do it if we avoid all cities and villages?” he asked in a resigned tone and even though he didn’t quite intend to do so, he managed to annoy Ruan with his ‘how come you didn’t know it’ attitude.
“Going through secluded areas and seeing nothing would be boring,” Laien sat backward in the saddle and said with a wry smile. “You guys should be pretty strong, so apart from getting involved in some big things in cities we should be able to do whatever we want, right?” he asked playfully and chuckled when he saw Yin and Arslan sitting backward too. It was more convenient for a conversation, but those on the road who saw them would probably question their sanity; or maybe the degree of responsibility of their guards.
“… Within reasonable limits,” Reian corrected Laien with a hint of worry in his voice. Given what those two had done in the Grand Palace, he couldn’t not be seriously worried hearing one of them say they would be able to do ‘whatever they wanted’.
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“That’s unlikely to happen,” Ruan said with a laugh, but truth to be told he knew not whether to laugh or cry. Those two were impossible to handle, at least for him.
Jasmine smiled at Ruan’s comment and revealed a mischievous smile. “Little masters need to be confident and playful. It’s our job to protect them and stop them if they go too far, but restricting them too much will hamper their growth,” she reminded, smiling at Reian meaningfully. Hadn’t he been taught about the bitterness of life when he was even younger than Arslan was now? Wasn’t it the same for Mustafa and for many of those who were now in the White Guard? It would be a hard experience for Arslan to be exposed to the atrocities of the world, but if he broke down just from that then he wasn’t suited to be Mustafa’s successor and the future ruler of Makarash.
“If you shelter the sheep from the wolves for too long…” Sirius, the oldest one in the group spoke calmly. “Then the sheep will become unable to realize when a wolf sneaks amongst them and they will become defenseless, and thus an easy prey,” he said calmly, all the while burning a hole in Reian’s back with his sharp gaze. This boy was talented, but he was too overprotective of the young master, even more so than Mustafa himself.
“Fine, fine!” Reian conceded and spread his arms helplessly. “We will do it just as unreasonably as you want,” he added somewhat childishly, causing Jasmine to smirk and send him a reprimanding glance, once which Reian easily recognized from the times of his childhood. He coughed awkwardly and changed the subject a little. “I need to know how strong all of you are and what are your specialties. Your names would be helpful too. You two should do the introductions too,” he requested, glancing at Laien and Yin towards the end. He knew how strong those two apparently were, but he wanted others to hear it from the boys’ mouths.
“If you are the one asking,” Laien began with a laugh. “Then shouldn’t you do the introductions first?” he pointed out, managing to tick Reian off splendidly.
“No respect for adults…” Reian murmured, thinking how much better behaved Arslan was compared to this kid, Laien. However, he needed to admit that Laien had a point and so he introduced himself. “I’m Reian, the future captain commander of the White Guard and a dual-element martial master of the third rank. My affinities are fire and wind, I specialize in close-range and mid-range combat,” he said a bit pompously, perhaps intending to impress the two cheeky boys to make them behave… but when he saw the expressions on their faces to remain the same when they heard his rank and reveal only a little surprise at the mention of his dual-element cultivation, he couldn’t help but feel a bit stupid about trying to brag before children and failing to amaze them.
“I’m Jasmine,” the woman looking to be in her late thirties said with a slight smile on her face, very much aware of what kind of thoughts must have been going through Reian’s mind at the moment. “I’m that blonde boy’s former teacher. I’m a martial master of the fifth rank and a spiritual master of the fourth rank, my affinity is fire. Coincidentally, I’m just a few years short of being a thousand years old granny,” she said lightheartedly and laughed when Laien and Yin displayed obviously surprised looks. Her former pupil failed to amaze them, but just her age did what he couldn’t; she wondered if she would need to look for him at night and console him as he would be crying like in the old times? It wasn’t likely, but she still chuckled at the thought.
“I’m Sirius,” the grey-haired man said calmly. His tone was neither friendly or offensive, he seemed to be a stoic person who didn’t enjoy fooling around. “I’m a water-element spiritual master of the fifth rank… and since Jasmine already mentioned the age, I’m probably the oldest person here. I’m currently one thousand and fifty-three years old,” he explained unhurriedly, then added.
“I can heal most wounds as long as they aren’t immediately lethal, but I can bring at most two people back from the brink of death before my spiritual energy runs out, so be careful and don’t rely overly on always being healed. I specialize in long-range attacks and I tend to use the twenty-syllable grand spells and above that have wide area-of-effect ramifications. My defense is fairly strong, so anyone below the level of martial masters of the third rank won’t be able to harm me in a close-range exchange.”
As expected of a serious old man, his introduction was so thorough it almost hurt. However, Laien was used to such things from interacting with Elders from the Red Dragon School, so he appreciated the information given. Yin, obviously enough, didn’t mind listening either.
“I’m Kasha,” the short-haired young woman spoke up next. “I’m still a bit inexperienced, but I’m a water-element spiritual master of the first rank just like Master Sirius. My specialties are the same as his, just correspondingly lower,” she explained briefly and without arrogance. She would likely surpass her master in strength within the next few decades, but she respected him greatly and would never act arrogantly just because of her superior talent; she was simply too greatly indebted to Sirius for everything he had done for her.
“It’s the turn of you guys now,” Reian reminded as if impatiently, but as far as Jasmine was concerned he did it only because he didn’t quite like those two little masters and wanted to get back at them one way or another. Really, a man in his early thirties was still a big child.
“I’m a martial master of the second rank,” Ruan said with a broad smile before Laien or Yin could say anything. He thought it would be fun to leave those two for the end, just as one would do with the tastiest dish. “My affinity is fire, but it’s not strong and my martial art doesn’t have strong elemental properties,” he elaborated without getting into the details, seeing them as irrelevant.
“I’m Liza, a martial master of the first rank, rest is the same as him,” Liza said simply and shut her mouth. She might have warmed up to Ruan and those two boys over time, but she fundamentally wasn’t a person that was easy to get along with … if she didn’t intend to pull you into a bed, that is.
“Jin, same…” Jin said with even fewer words than Liza, for some reason appearing to be in a really sour mood.
“I’m Dinne, a martial practitioner of the ninth rank.”
“Ethane, I’m close to breaking through to the ninth mortal realm. I’m a martial practitioner.”
“I’m Rishe, eighth mortal realm, martial practitioner.”
After the three men in the back introduced themselves, Reian frowned a little. Martial practitioners? It wasn’t that he looked down on people who weren’t in the Realm of Heroes, but the strength of those three would really be rather insufficient was anything to happen. They would be more of a liability than a help, to be honest.
“I’m…” the black-cloaked man said a bit hesitatingly, drawing everyone’s attention with his strange behavior. He looked at Laien and Yin, then smiled a little and snorted quietly. “I used to be called Gahar, so feel free to call me with that name. I’m a martial master of the third rank, my affinity is the darkness-element. I specialize in close-range fighting, intelligence-gathering and assassinations…” he described his abilities in a few words, his voice alone for some reason causing Reian and the other three White Guards to feel an indistinct sensation of danger.
It was said that strong people could instinctively sense the danger someone else posed to them, and it was indeed to in this case. Although Reian and Jasmine, in particular, were confident of their ability to beat that black-cloaked man, Gahar, in a direct fight… they had a feeling he wasn’t speaking empty words when claiming to be an assassin. People like him were better not to be made enemies of.
Laien and Yin exchanged a glance. So that man was called Gahar, huh? They were pretty curious why did he reveal his name only now. He had gotten more talkative and cooperative recently too… did it have something to do with them having passed the Trial of Strength? Was he somehow involved with the Guild of Shadows? They would have loved to ask, but they didn’t think he would answer just yet. If they passed the remaining two Trials though… then they would try asking him for sure.
“Good enough.” Reian nodded strongly. He would have been annoyed if the original group was nothing but dead weight, but what they lacked the most was someone like Gahar. With him in the mix, he had nothing to complain about… although he still wasn’t too happy about those three men at the mortal realm. They would bring nothing but trouble when it mattered most.
“So it’s our turn,” Laien said happily, allowing Bellicose to keep going on his own the whole time. He was sitting backward, but he wasn’t worried in the least; his horse would go forward nicely and follow the road without him telling him to do so. “I’m Laien, a dual-practitioner of water-element. I’m at the early eighth mortal realm in both martial and spiritual practice. I don’t really have a specialty, but if I were to say then I’m strongest at close-range and weakest at long-range,”
Although Reian wasn’t surprised as he had learned of Laien’s cultivation level from Mustafa, Jasmine, Sirius and Kasha were a bit speechless. Laien’s strength was too unnatural for how old he appeared to be; if what he was saying was true, then wasn’t he one of the top talents of the entire continent? He was at the level of Mustafa in his youth, if not a little above that! Though, that was if only cultivation was considered. After thinking about it calmly, it wasn’t all that impressive for him to possess this kind of cultivation base if his insights were poor or if his cultivation was shallow and unstable. There were many possibilities that could invalidate the ‘amazingness’ of being a dual practitioner of the eighth rank at twelve, thirteen years old.
“I’m Yin,” Yin began calmly, the whole time watching the expressions of the four White Guards. “I’m a martial practitioner of the ninth rank, of the early stage of the ninth rank. My affinity is lightning and I specialize in close-range combat,” he said shortly, seeing no reason to brag uselessly. Be it him or Laien, those four would soon have a chance to see their strength. Actions were always heavier than words anyway; only those who preferred to talk over actually doing something would waste words on acting high and mighty without a good reason for doing such a thing.
“…” Jasmine, Sirius and Kasha remained silent for a while. They had consoled themselves with thinking that those boys might necessarily be skilled in the Secret Arts, but what if they were? With their talent, they would be leagued beyond the likes of them. Only Kasha was still somewhat confident as her innate talent was better than Sirius’s… but even she wasn’t confident in growing strong enough to overcome a dual-practitioner like Jasmine anytime soon. Those two boys were a bit too strange; why would someone like them travel with an escort as weak as that anyway? Of the seven, only the black-cloaked man who called himself Gahar was worth any attention. The rest were below-average or straight-out useless. Wasn’t it too dangerous to let precious talents travel like that?
“Hey! I don’t get to introduce myself?” Arslan brought up with playful grudgingness, easily blowing away the strange atmosphere which had come to be.
“It was more about combat potential,” Reian tried to make an excuse with a smile on his face. “If you want to join in too, go ahead,” he said with a laugh. He was always too weak to Arslan’s request… what he was sure Jasmine would point out to him at an appropriate opportunity, when it would sting to hear it the most. Yet, he couldn’t do anything about it; Arslan was Mustafa’s son, how could he not pamper him a little?
“I’m Arslan, a martial practitioner of the second rank, five years old!” Arslan said proudly. “I have a wind-element affinity and I specialize at close-range fighting!” he added, imitating the way everyone explained their abilities and unknowingly causing them all to reveal their smiles.
“Where should we go first?” Laien threw the question up into the air, then looked at Arslan. “Is there anywhere you want to go or something you want to see?” he asked, not minding if they were to indulge Arslan for the time being.
“Uh,” Arslan scratched his head, his face flushing a little in embarrassment. “I heard some things about this country, but nothing detailed… so I don’t know,” he said honestly and quietly promised himself to do some research beforehand when a similar situation happened the next time.
As he looked at Arslan, Reian suddenly remembered that the boy was likely quite tired already even though he wasn’t allowing it to show. Thus, he proposed an idea before any other plans were made. “I suggest we go by one of the less-frequented roads and set up a camp in the afternoon so we can all rest properly. It was a hard day, especially for the three of you,” he reasoned, including Laien and Yin in his words in order to make it less likely for them to argue.
“It should be okay,” Laien admitted without beating. He didn’t sleep much last night so he would welcome a chance to sleep for full eight or nine hours. He and Yin were still young, so even though they could easily go without sleep for four or five days thanks to their endurance as practitioners, it just wouldn’t be good for their growth and health to miss sleep; and the same applied to Arslan.
Following Laien’s agreement Yin didn’t express any objections either, nor did Arslan insist on doing something else today apart from resting.
With everything settled, their group of fourteen rode northwards. After a few hours of traveling, they stopped to set up a camp just as planned without facing any complications. They all ate a warm dinner and while adults stayed up to chat or relax, the three youngest ones of them went to sleep early. The remaining hours of the day passed quickly and soon, the night came.