“They are still in the city.”
“I’m not saying you’re wrong but Shade. I cannot find a trace of them.”
“We have to try harder.” Shade said, the words feeling like ash in his mouth. Any harder and they would become stone. Calliope’s report was as abysmal as any other which Shade had received in the last week. An exodus was occurring, many dozens of families leaving the melting pot and returning to welcome pockets of less tumultuous land. It was impossible to keep them here and there was a silver lining that Shade could not ignore either.
If there were less people in the city, there were less lives at risk.
The blockade by the empty church’s horde was a siege in everything but aggression. Carts and caravans stopped on the main roads to Allusia meant that food spoiled and contracts were broken. The city may not have catapults aimed their way - yet - but the tension in the air was like a taut bowstring. Despite the ebbing amount of people in the city, crime was on the rise. The already thin guard units were stretched to breaking. The people of Allusia were scared and there was precious little that Shade could do to relieve that fear.
Not nothing, though.
Calliope had been looking for any trace of Shade’s siblings since they had stopped their attack on him a few days prior. He had been walking the south western road from Allusia when Shade first saw his brother. Mania had been sauntering towards the city, seemingly without a care in the world. The sight of him instantly set Shade’s on edge, disbelief turning quickly into anger.
“I told you-” He had managed to say three words before the ambush was sprung. Most of the beating had been a blur but Ravage had made sure he felt each and every blow. He could hardly blame his siblings for being so sadistic towards him, yet he was not feeling so ambivalent as to forgive the assault now.
Pure luck. That is what it had taken for Ah Dan to be on the roof that day and it is the only reason Shade was not demolished, along with the last safeguard for the people of Allusia. Surviving by the grace of others was jarring and frustrating and Shade would not let it happen again.
“Did they go to the colosseum again?” Shade, of course, received words that the children had taken to sparring and training in the large stadium ground near the city. He was quietly happy with the development, though he felt guilty for it. One less group to worry about would be a bonus, at the very least.
“They seem serious about something. You didn’t…?” Calliope leaned against Shade’s desk, body facing the door and head looking over her right shoulder. She left the actual question unsaid, waiting for Shade to fill her in on the reason for the sudden burst of training.
“Don’t look at me. They are all children of Guan, save for the Shin girl. Perhaps they just feel… uncultivated.” Shade had little in the way of humour but he was a little disappointed that his pun did not evoke a smirk. Instead, Calliope turned and placed her palms on the table. Her towering form was accidentally intimidating at times but right now it was intentional.
“Direct them then. They’re all useful, and we need all the help we can get.” When had Calliope started using “we” instead of “you” for this problem, Shade wondered. Calliope continued, more forceful than she needed to be considering Shade agreed. “If nothing else, that boy saved your life when he probably should have just run away. You owe it to him at least not to keep them in the dark about what is happening.”
Shade hadn’t tried to do that but letting the children be children was the entire point of being in charge, wasn’t it? Giving them money for sweets and keeping them away from the brewing war was certainly the choice that made Shade feel the best about himself.
It had been a long time since he made decisions based on his own feelings about the matter.
Loath to relinquish this choice, Shade had put off the actual hard conversation long enough. “Convincing them might be a struggle. Even if they’re already aligned, asking a teenager to do something is…”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Shade grimaced and Calliope laughed. The two allowed their conversation to lighten. The work of the day was never done but for the moment it was being taken care of. When the evening came, Shade would ask Guan Ah Dan for his help and hope that the boy had forgiven him for his captivity.
Even as the two began to joke and talk about less serious things, Ah dan and his allies continued their training. Shade hoped that he didn’t need to convince them to help, and he wouldn’t. The goals of Guan Ah Dan’s group were already setting them on a path which Shade would attempt to cultivate. Their enemies were the same, though neither Shade nor Dan knew this completely.
The forces that would gather against Allusia and its ramshackle collection of protectors continued to increase in fortification and fervour, despite best efforts to the contrary. It was all that Allusia’s defenders could do to fortify themselves and hope they were ready.
The evening came around and Shade was waiting for the group as they exited from their normal spot. The labyrinth seemed more of a home to them than Allusia did, Shade thought as they sauntered out. As usual, the only one leaving the labyrinth with any bruises was Guan Ah Dan. Shade couldn’t help but wince as his welts came into view.
“Shade.” Ah Dan was the first to greet him as they gathered before him. Each of them were dirtied with the grime of the labyrinth, sweat from their exertions combined with blood and sand from the colosseum floor. “Is everything alright?”
Shade didn’t stop the smile coming to his face. “Do you always worry about others before yourself, Guan Ah Dan?” Shade knew the answer to that question but he wondered if Ah Dan knew that he was doing it. It was a noble trait and rarely so unknown by the wielder. Xiaomei raised her eyebrow at Shade, Fa Lian scoffed and Yurie smiled. Hyun Soon simply looked to Dan for his answer.
“I… don’t understand? Is that a yes?” His silver eyes unsure, Ah Dan shifted uncomfortably as everyone started looking at him. Shade was not trying for that, so he broke the tension.
“It is a no, I’m afraid. Actually, there is something you can help me with. You specifically, though,” Shade raised his hands and his voice quickly, four suddenly aggressive teenagers turning on him, “I am not trying to single Ah Dan out.” Everyone but Ah Dan had rounded on Shade to stop him from taking Ah Dan away, Shade assumed. Adorable, he thought to himself, and promising.
“Why do you need him?” Fa Lian asked, speaking for the first time. Shade had not known her before her stay in the cell atop the Barracks but of the four Guan children, Fa Lian was clearly the highest ranked in terms of birth. She spoke with disdain for things the others seemed to enjoy or hold in esteem. Shade knew the type.
He was the type, once.
“He can do things that I’ve never seen any other do. Honestly,” Shade addressed Ah Dan again, “you scare me a little. I hope you take that as the compliment I mean it as. You seem capable of impossible things, such as healing broken bones in a moment or breaking out of my jail.”
“That was mostly me, actually.” Yurie spoke up, unable to stop herself apparently but quickly backed down at Shade’s glare. It seemed that she realised having pride in that action was not going to endear herself to Shade. “No, I mean, Dan was the one who did everything.”
“Quite.” Shade blinked slowly and took a deep breath. “You are also quite the capable scout, yes?” This was not something Shade was entirely certain of but had pieced together with context. It was Ah Dan’s worried reaction which confirmed it to Shade. “I would ask more but I understand the privacy of these things. My own abilities are rarely seen by others, even more rarely remembered.”
“I… I imagine that my abilities there would impress, yes. I don’t know about the other things I can do, copying techniques isn’t easy or simple but sometimes they’re stronger and sometimes they’re weaker.” Shade did not know much of Ah Dan’s abilities at all, everything he had learned he had learned from watching the boy. Copying techniques sounded potent, depending on how it worked. Shade almost wondered if he should have made sure Ah Dan returned to his cell.
“We can discuss your abilities another time.” Shade hushed Ah Dan by speaking over him, making a show of looking around. The streets were nearly empty, the late hour combined with the recent mass expatriation making for a ghost town. The guards posted at this entrance to the labyrinth were hardly needed, and definitely not paying attention. Still, you couldn’t be sure you weren’t being spied on. “For now, I would appreciate it if you could meet with Calliope. She is looking for the individuals who attacked me.”
“I can do that.” Dan said, though he chewed his lip thoughtfully. “They’re your siblings, right?”
“That is correct, yes. I am their elder brother.”
“So why do they hate you? Because they do.” Fa Lian pointed out. She seemed angry at the idea, which made sense. She had ventured into the labyrinth in search of a missing brother before anyone else had even realised he needed help. Shade wondered if an act like that could have changed the direction of his family, but he doubted it.
Shade’s family had a fate set long before Shade ever came to be.
“I hurt them. An accident, but I ran instead of making amends. I have since learned some things and no longer hold myself to blame as they do. Their grievances are fair, but I will not let them mete out justice upon me when there is nothing to gain.” Shade had said as much to Calliope but, between that conversation and this one, Shade had not spoken about these things in years. The wounds started to itch as he did and he turned away from them. “All I need from you, Ah Dan, is to help Calliope find where my siblings are hiding. They’re somewhere in the city and until I know where, there is no safety for anyone.”
Shade led the group to their accommodation, each of them able to take a room now as more and more houses became empty for those that remained. He bade them all a good night and left, hoping that tomorrow he could find his brothers and sister and get them out of his city.
Then he might only have to contend with the church, the Shin empire and the Guan all at once.
Simple.