Chương 37: 22 - Being a Better Man

Being a better man was a fucking pain in the ass. A bitter and chilly wind had assaulted me the whole way up the rocky mountainside, and each step had made the air thinner and colder. I had no love for mountains, never had. Those years in the Paarthian campaign had been cold, wet, miserable, and I'd been skewered by so many spears and gnawed by just about every breed of mountain insect in existence.

Those had been the early days of my rebirth, subduing the mountain clans so Novos could have full control of that region and its resources. I had not been a warrior at that time, certainly not a general. Just a fool armed to the teeth with too much power, a mad dog continually frothing with rage and hate. Those had been dark and lean years, utter misery. And each step up Mount Gruai brought the memories flooding back in a flash.

"Hate the fucking mountains," I muttered, the words accompanied by thick puffs of steam. The ground was coarse and stony, slick with frost, and every now and again a harsh wind kicked up and tried to bowl me over. I would admit to feeling a little tired and sore, that fight with Inumi having hit me harder than I would have expected. It all served to make my mood even more foul. But, again, I reminded myself that it was for a good cause.

That I owed Yomi some measure of gratitude for what she had done, what she was suffering through. And that a 'good man' repaid people for their kindness. The paths through the mountain were narrow and treacherous, and it did not help that a boreal fog had started to rise past a certain altitude. Eventually I had tapped into a little bit of my magic, creating an aura of heat around myself to ward off the worst of it. Cold and illness couldn't effect me in the same way they could a normal man.

Certainly, I was underdressed for the harsh climate. But that didn't mean it didn't irritate me. My eyes roamed my surroundings as I ascended the winding path, checking the nooks and crannies along the way, but I still found no trace of the lotus flower Guang had shown me. Really the mountain had little in the way of plant life at all, save for a few thin trees sprouting from the stony crags, and patches of frost-crusted grass that rose in defiance of the barren landscape.

Past a certain point, when I gazed skyward, I could see an imposing silhouette in the foggy peak of Mount Gruai. Walls and tiered towers... The Snake Flower Sect, living in the kind of isolated fortress most wizards would kill to have.

"They're dug in there good and deep," I muttered to myself. I thought of Paarthia again. The sieges and the fortresses. And, for a moment, I wondered how Novos would have planned to take the place. Eventually I found a crack in the face of the mountain, just slightly broader than the span of my shoulders. I worked my way through it, damn desperate to check anywhere at this point, and found myself in a grove bordered on all sides by looming walls of craggy stone.

Streams of icy water trickled down the far wall, feeding into a broad pool. And there, floating on the surface of the water, I saw a few floating lotus flowers. I allowed myself to grin.

"Finally..." I pressed forward, pale and frost-crusted grass crunching loudly under my boots. All was silent, save for the whistling wind and the twittering of small mountain birds. A normal man probably would have been content to let their guard down, and... certainly I was tempted to. Then, all of a sudden, the hairs on the backof my neck stood to attention. A shadow flickered above me for a fraction of a second, and I spun just in time to catch a gleam of steel rapidly descending toward my face.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The blade that struck my palm was a damn heavy thing, the impact sending a shudder through the rocky terrain. But I held my footing, my jaw set in a tight grimace.

"Oh damn my rotten luck," I muttered. There, holding the blade, was the straining form of Yamato.

"Foreign bastard!" he hissed.

"Bad enough you humiliate me, but now you have the gall to set foot on our sacred mountain?! I was going to wait, train to beat you, but this dishonour cannot go unanswered."

"You again," I said, watching him intently. He kicked me, damn hard too, and I grunted as he and his sword lurched away from me. He landed easily on his feet and swept the sword up until he was holding the handle level with his eyes.

"Listen, Boy, I really don't have time for-""I'm not a damned 'boy'!" he said, grousing in the way only a boy could. I couldn't help but give a dismissive snort... which was perhaps not wise, when the little bastard was already bristling with anger.

"You can't be older than seventeen. A boy as far as I'm concerned. A pup. And a fucking annoying one-" He whipped that blade at me faster than a bolt of lightning, the air catching fire from the sheer speed of it. I raised my arm on a reflex, grimacing as it struck me across the right wrist. Hard enough to dig into the flesh, blood seeping from the wound. More and more of those fast slashes flickered my way, the sharpened edges striking my forearms and even my sides as I tried to block them.

The wounds were healing as fast as they appeared, my flesh sizzling and smoking when the strands of skin and muscle moved to knit themselves back together. The blows were strong, I had no doubt of that. But... my body was so dense from my own magicka that even Yamato's strength and enchanted blade struggled to make more than shallow cuts. And those few that he made healed as quick as they appeared.

"You're getting... on my nerves." I ducked under the next swing, closing the gap instantly, and I slammed Yamato into the craggy rock wall. The impact made the whole clearing shudder, chunks of gravel tumbling loose from their moorings. My other hand caught his sword arm by the wrist and held it there, and all the thrashing in the world would not free Yamato from my grasp. I wanted to kill him, and certainly it would have been easy to do so. But... I was trying to be better. I had to be better.

"Unhand me!" he hissed.

"Listen to me, and listen well." I spoke with the same firm, icy tone I had often heard Novos used. When he spoke in that intense tone, everyone listened. And it seemed to have a similar effect on Yamato, the boy blinking at me. He was still straining in my grasp, but not actively thrashing.

"I am not here to fight. I don't give a damn about your sect. I just want to get a damn lotus flower to help someone dying in the village. That's all." I could have killed him, I reasoned, but... Well, he wasn't like Inumi or the bandits. He was a rotten little bastard, certainly, but... maybe it wasn't too late for him to try and become better. Plus, if I did kill him, that damn sect of his would come after me for sure. Wizards held grudges, and their revenge could be a terrible thing.

He regarded me warily, his brows knit tight.

"A lotus?" I nodded.

"A yokai attacked Tiode last night. Not that this seemed to bother you, or your sect. A bounty hunter saved the village, but she got hurt by some magic in the process. Something attacking her very soul. Apparently the lotus flowers on this mountain can help her." Yamato was silent for some time, an irritated scowl on his face.

"Very well," he said, eventually.

"If it's for the sake of one who nobly slays demons, fine. That is the type of person deserving of aid. The elders spoke of an attack by the coast, and that the brigands in question were dealt with. Take one of the larger flowers, the bigger the size the more effective it is." His gaze, baleful, met mine.

"Don't think... this is over. You're lucky you didn't climb much higher. The whole sect would have descended on you." I let him go, watching him as I strode to the flowers in the pool.

"This truce is only... a fleeting thing. I'll get you, you know. I will best you," Yamato growled.

"Good for you." I stopped as I fished a particularly large lotus from the icy lake.

"Just like that?" I asked.

"Seems strange that you would let me."

"Yokai are a serious matter," said Yamato.

"The enemy of all who live. Of course we take such things seriously. And I doubt you know enough of our culture to even know what a yokai was until recently."

"Mm. Fair enough." I set the flower in my satchel and started back the way I came, Yamato watching me all the while. I paused, looking back at him.

"What do you lot even... aspire for? Holed up on that mountain of yours?" Yamato scoffed.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand it. But we of the Snake Flower seek to defy the heavens, to ascend beyond mortality and our earthly limitations." I stared at him.

"And then what?" Yamato stared at me, a little dumbfounded.

"I... what do you mean?"

"When you have all that power, when you 'defy heaven' or whatever... what then?" Silence lingered between us, and I could almost see the gears slowly turn in Yamato's head.

"Power for the sake of having power? There's nothing to that kind of life. I should know."

"Wha... what are you..." I pressed on past him, making my way through the crack in the mountain.

"And one more thing... If I hear you try to force yourself on another girl, I'll cut your cock off."