Part Nine

"We're-" began Takashi, but he checked himself.
"Go on!" General Tacitus fumed.
Hideoshi spoke up.
"It is not the custom, among our people where we come from, for the younger brother to speak before the elder in the name of his brethren or family in formal circumstances. I hope you, good sirs, will understand this."
"We understand," replied the Fairies.
"We," continued Hideoshi, clinching his fists at times to ease his pain, "are from the Illyvitch Mountain Chain to the far east. Takashi and I are brothers, and there is one other at home, Toru, for he is but nine years old."
"And your ancestors? Who were they?"
"Our ancestors were from various peoples, but our forefather Varrus' mother came from this region long ago, sometime in the third millennium by our reckoning."
"Varrus," whispered Lord Anomijah Miron. Aloud, he said:
"Do you have any accounts-"
A lieutenant from Third Company dashed in, shouting "Scouts report that a massive force of karician soldiers is marching towards Valash! They'll be here in a day!"
"And I," said Emperor Dietrich,"will depart, though my soldiers will stay under the command of Lord Anomijah Miron."
General Tacitus, flustered and red-faced at the news, shouted to the lieutenant,"Order your men, and tell the other officers to tell their men to move into the city and repair that breach if you can! And, how many are in this force?"
"About a hundred thousand, sir."
"Okay! Get moving!"
"Yes, sir!" Replied the quaking lieutenant, who saluted, then rushed away.
Another officer, this time a major from the Fifth Company, thrust himself into the tent. He saluted General Tacitus, then said:
"Sir, our spies just reported that the Karician army has decided to halt, so they'll be here in a day and a half actually."
"Then go and do what I've just ordered! Make those Valashians help too!" Boomed the general.
Emperor Dietrich turned to leave, but halted, and turned round. He looked at his men, and they nodded their heads. Then he spoke to General Tacitus.
"You will need every able bodied man you can get to repulse this attack. My men and I will heal your wounded, then I will take my leave."
The Fairies went to the wounded and touched them, healing them instantly. Emperor Dietrich strode up to Hideoshi, looked into his deep green eyes, then at his wound, and asked, "How were you wounded?"
"I slew the thunderbird whose carcass lies in the city," said Hideoshi, who felt renewed strength pulsing through his body.
"Slew a thunder bird, and lives, though he is mortal," whispered Emperor Dietrich, though Hideoshi, Nevsky, and Takashi heard him. "Or," he continued, glancing at Hideoshi's eyes, "is there something more there?"
He then departed with his men, while the formerly wounded arose and stretched themselves, before leaving to pack up camp.
In the hustle that followed, Hideoshi and Takashi clung together for hours, setting up beds, carrying supplies, and checking inventory for hours, until it was well into the night and a measure of calm had replaced the bustling noise. Then, Takashi, glancing around, exclaimed, "Where's Nevsky?"
"Let's find him," sighed Hideoshi.
Through narrow streets darkened by shadow in the dark blue of a winter night when a full moon shines they hunted for Nevsky, finally entering a tavern.
They did not see him in the throng on the upper level, but, descending into the basement, in a dim, narrow corner they saw him, hunched over a table. Several large pewter tankards stood on the table, filled with whiskey, and a dirty, crumpled letter. Above them, the ceiling loomed low, barely missing the tops of their heads.
"What are you DOING!" Hideoshi shouted indignantly.
Nevsky, without raising his head, whined, "Leave me."
Takashi glared, then said, "Let's leave him! Let him be miserable with himself!"
"No, I'm not leaving!" Said Hideoshi, who wondered in his mind, "Why am I doing this?"
"Nevsky, what's the matter?" He asked.
"Don't you-have you ever thought that it's more terrifying to live at times then to die?"
"Yes, but-but-life is so good that, despite terror and pain, we must fight for it! Can't you see that! But you must! That's why you're drinking now, because you can feel that life is a marvellous good, even if you want to feel otherwise, and you, in terror of that thought, want to cling to life all the same, and it's tearing you apart. But, stop your drinking AT ONCE and tell me what's wrong!"
Nevsky trembled, but he raised his head, and said, "See that-" pointing to the letter. "They-all my relatives, near and distant-are dead. I won't be writing to Aunt Olga to tell her that Ivan's dead."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's not like you killed them. But-I-I'm alone, alone!"
Nevsky turned towards them, then rushed to Hideoshi and seized his coat with both hands, his face red and streaked with a sudden onslaught of tears.
"Don't leave me!" He cried.

Part Eight

Together, Nevsky and Takashi picked their way through the rubble and out of the breach. Snow began to fall with a faint, almost imperceptible whisper. As they stumbled and trudged through the breach, they saw that the camp had moved to the plain in front of the city. Soldiers rushed about, carrying canvas, poles, personal belongings, and sundry other things. Several of the Valashian soldiers, guarded by their conquerors, dug graves at the part of the plateau farthest from the camp and the city.
"Let's try to find the hospital tent," said Takashi while he and Nevsky stood hesitating. "We might find Hideoshi or Galen there."
They forced a way through the bustle and haphazard tent arrangements, until Nevsky spotted one with a wagon filled with wounded before the door. In they crept, and began to scan the rows of patients.
"There you all are!" Called Galen from behind them.
Nevsky, groaning, said, "I feel ill."
Galen laughed, then groaned himself. "You feel ill! How would you like a splittin' headache instead? Ever been knocked out?"
"No."
"Then quit whinin'! And I have to hustle 'round here too!"
"We'll help you!" Takashi cried.
"You can," replied Galen, "but not Nevsky. He'd faint or shriek in the middle of an operation or something! He can go and get some sleep (and after robbing me of a whole night too)." Nevsky turned and strode out dejectedly.
Meanwhile, after a bumpy ride during which the wagon wheels creaked and bounced at every rock or hollow, Hideoshi found himself carried into a hot tent and placed in between two other soldiers. His thigh smarted and swelled, while pain shot up to his heart at intervals.
"Blood-this place reeks of it. And sweat, the agonised, feverish sweat of the suffering, the dying," Hideoshi thought.
"I feel like I can't breathe in here," Hideoshi moaned.
"And pain, pain-it seems like I can't think of anything else but that jabbing, throbbing pain in my thigh! Why did I have to play the hero? Or was it really heroism? Pain such as this must have a meaning, a purpose-or else mankind would've gone mad long ago. But it hurts!"
Hideoshi tried to shift himself, but he was jammed between two other wounded soldiers, one coughing and wheezing in his ear. So he sighed, and covered his head with his arms as much as he could in his cramped quarters.
Several hundred yards away, Nevsky stumbled into his tent after pitching it. He felt his coat pocket, and felt Aunt Olga's letter inside. A sudden awareness dawned on him, for he whispered, "I have no home."
Once more his heart began to race, despite being worn out by two days and a night without sleep. He felt weak, and the nerves in his limbs tingled with numbness and fear.
He walked a few steps into the tent before stopping, thinking: "Fear. Why does this fear cling to me, making me irrational? I should not be afraid, for I'm a grown man-or am I-yet those loud guffaws and voices outside, even friendly ones, make me jolt and quake.
"Could it be something that I've done that's haunting me? But I'm no doer of heinous deeds! What is it then? Am I going mad? But no, I'll never go mad! I won't go mad!"
Nevsky's face stiffened in resolve as he continued to think.
"Then why am I worrying if I can care for myself? I must stop this-this rambling which only produces fear, fear! Perhaps fear is my nemesis, or, my path to glory through overcoming it. But how can I 'get used to it' as Hideoshi said if it doesn't go away?"
Nevsky sat upon his sleeping bag, then flung himself upon it, splaying his arms. For awhile he lay sprawled upon his sleeping bag, gazing with glazed eyes upon the billowing canvas ceiling.
"Maybe it will never leave me," he sighed before yielding to sleep.
Pale blue light filled the tent when Nevsky awoke. Beside him stood Takashi, combing his hair.
"What are you doing here?" Nevsky mumbled.
Takashi wheeled round, saying, "Galen sent me to find you after several hours, and he told me to get some sleep. When I came in, you were splayed out on your sleeping bag! I even fell asleep and woke up well before you did! But, let's find Galen and Hideoshi- and get some breakfast as well."
"Okay," yawned Nevsky as he sat up, then combed his hair.
After pulling on their woollen, fur-lined caps, the two stepped out of the tent into the pale blue morning. Fires smoulder here and there, surrounded by clusters of soldiers huddled together, crouching over the embers. Steam arose from iron pots and kettles in which soup simmered.
Nevsky, while absentmindedly looking around him, saw Galen winding through a crowd of sleepy soldiers.
"Look, there's Galen!" He cried.
Takashi answered, "Let's follow him!"
Jostling and brushing past other soldiers, Takashi and Nevsky followed Galen into a hospital tent. The close, sweaty air and the smell of blood overwhelmed them at first, but then Takashi's green eyes began to glow, and he rushed towards one of the wounded who had covered his face with his arms.
"Hideoshi! It's you!"
Hideoshi uncovered his head, rubbed his eyes, fixed them upon Takashi, then grinned. Quickly, Takashi knelt in front of Hideoshi, and grasped his right hand. Nevsky approached Hideoshi meanwhile, with a shy and wistful demeanour.
"Galen found me," Hideoshi began. "He was going to tell you all, but you two came before he could take a break."
Takashi began asking "Are you okay?"
But General Tacitus Morini strode into the tent, booming:
"Emperor Dietrich of the Southern Fairies is about to enter this tent! So the utmost respect due to him!"
Immediately behind General Tacitus came Emperor Dietrich and his two standard bearers. They gazed round them with compassion for the sufferer they saw, and were about to approach a wounded soldier, when Lord Anomijah said, "Who are those two that are so like another, though one is brown haired and the other black haired?"
Other Fairies had entered the tent before Lord Anomijah said this, so many eyes fixed their gazes upon Hideoshi and Takashi. These two, however, were baffled, and stared at each other in bewilderment. Nevsky smiled.
"There's strange blood there," said one.
"From what place do you come, and are you two related?" Asked Emperor Dietrich, his dark brown eyes staring fixedly, his brown beard stiff upon his gaunt yet benevolent face. Behind him trailed dark blue wings, like eagle's wings, for Fairies' wings are not frail and gauzy.

Part Seven

The young man climbed over a pile of rubble and knelt next to Hideoshi.
"Takashi!" Hideoshi managed to gasp out with great effort.
Galen's dark face furrowed in puzzlement, bringing his brows close to his coarse, tightly curled hair. Meanwhile, Nevsky silently crept away.
"Are you related to Hideoshi?" Galen asked after a minute.
Glancing up, Takashi replied, "I'm his younger brother."
He looked down again at Hideoshi, one hand on his forehead while the other grasped his right hand. Hideoshi gazed back at Takashi, pain clearly showing on his brow.
"Are you badly hurt?" Asked Takashi. " You keep clinching your teeth and fists, and there's a lot of blood on the snow."
Hideoshi's face became ashen pale, but he quickly assumed a stolid composure, though his voice shook.
"I think I'm going to die."
"Not while I'm with you!" Exclaimed Galen, who began to apply linen bandages with alacrity. "Besides, you've got a whole life to live! Think of how pleased the folks at home will be when you tell them what you've done! Anyway, this wound doesn't look TOO bad. I've seen worse. We'd better carry you back to a cart or to camp, whichever we can get to first."
"Here's a cloth I found that we can use!" Nevsky cried, stumbling over rubble while waving a long, wide linen cloth.
Takashi jerked up his head, then grinned.
"Just what we can use to carry my brother away! By the way, Galen, how did my brother get hurt? And what is this giant of a bird that lies here?"
With avidity Galen told Takashi about the Thunderbird, and how Hideoshi killed it, while both of them, with Nevsky's help, lifted Hideoshi onto the cloth and tied two great knots at the head and the foot.
"Hey!" Called several soldier from the Third Company who were wandering nearby. "We've been sent to gather the wounded, so you can give him to us. The sheriff of Valash just surrendered, so there's not much left for the reinforcements to do."
Galen laughed, saying, "Oh, there'll be stuff to do, like bury the dead."
"Yeah," groaned one of the soldiers as the three handed Hideoshi over, careful to avoid causing further pain. The soldiers trudged off towards a wagon, as Takashi rang out, "We'll see you tonight!" Then a silence settled upon the group, as they watched soldiers drifting about, alone or in groups. Meanwhile, Nevsky shifted his weight from one foot to the other, while his heart beat anxiously. Finally, he asked:
"Could-could you two-possibly-help me bury my cousin Ivan? He was killed yesterday-I think-it seems so long ago."
"Why-"moaned Galen, but Takashi spoke up. " I will. Do you know where his body is?"
"That spot I could recognise ages from now, so seared into my memory is that one second when I saw his-" began Nevsky, but he nervously cut off the flow of anguished words.
Galen sighed, but with resolution said, "I'll help."
Carrying a shovel found at an abandoned house nearby, Nevsky led the others to Ivan's body, singing in a low, soft tone:
'My friend has gone to the world beyond
And I shall some day follow after.
Once we both shared in mirth and laughter
But now I weep alone in sorrow.

My friend has gone to the world beyond
For he lives on, 'tis known in my heart
Though for now in sorrow we do part,
And I feel like I'm lost in the dark.'

"What song is that?" Takashi asked, moved by the calm yet melancholy melody.
Nevsky sighed.
"It's a traditional song we sing back home when going to bury the dead."
"Oh-yikes!" Said Takashi, who tripped unawares over Ivan snow-covered body.
Once more, Nevsky grew pale, and he began to tremble.
"Well," said Galen. "Since I'm a medic and mailman, and since we've got lots of wounded to get around to, I've got to go now. See you both at camp!"
Takashi rang out "See ya!" As Galen waded off through the snow. Nevsky stood as if fossilised, then crept up to Ivan's body, reached out a hand, and drew it back quickly when it was within a foot of the blood-caked body.
He did this several times, each time letting his hand get a little closer before swiftly drawing it back. Finally, he touched the frozen body, and jerked his hand back involuntarily.
Takashi looked towards the west, where an orange glow was sinking under the weight of darkness.
"I wish this grave was already dug," he said.
Instantly, a dug grave with a mound of dirt next to it appeared beside the corpse. Nevsky gasped, but said nothing. Instead, he knelt next to Ivan's body, and placed his right hand upon the forehead of the body. With the hand he traced a circle on the forehead, then he touched his own forehead and traced a circle upon it.
Puzzled, Takashi asked,"Why'd you do that?"
"It's another old custom," replied Nevsky. "It symbolises that the dead live forever, that we will remember the dead, and that we will also die."
"What a way to respect the dead. But, we need to bury him now."
In silence they lowered the body into the grave and covered it with earth. When this was done, Takashi, noticing Nevsky's silence, said "Come on! Let's find Hideoshi and Galen!"

Part Six

The three dashed down the stairs to the hall below, Hideoshi to the fore, Nevsky in the rear, while Galen was in the middle. Out the hall through the arched door, to the grey, somber street they continued. Now down the street, now a turn, and another turn, following the contortions of the narrow, crooked streets.
It seemed that they had lost their bearings, when a shriek that rent the air pierced their ears, and before them loomed the dark grey thunderbird. His black eyes glowed as he spread afar his wings, covering the streets below in shadow. Hideoshi and Galen drew their swords, breathing heavily, grasping their swords tightly.
Suddenly, they rushed forward, rushing to keep thoughts of fear and turning back far from them, rushing to save their comrades and the Valashians from this monster. Up to the Thunderbird they rushed, and stabbed it, grey blood trickling out from its breast.
The Thunderbird, now aware of Hideoshi and Galen, screamed, shooting forth flashes of lighting as a deep rumble of thunder boomed from his chest. Up into the sky he flew, then he streaked down, crashing more houses. Hideoshi and Galen dashed towards him and struck again.
"Look out!" Shouted Nevsky suddenly.
Just then, a black beak snatched up Galen by the collar.
Hideoshi wheeled round. Before his eyes Galen writhed, dangling by his collar from the hook-like beak of the beast. Suddenly, the Thunderbird released Galen in a shriek of ire, before turning round on his attacker from behind.
Gasping at what he saw, Hideoshi exclaimed, "It's Nevsky!"
Wan and gaunt, Nevsky stood before the Thunderbird. Though trembling, his brown eyes shone as he clutched his ice-cold sword. For a while nothing stirred, save a breeze that ruffled Nevsky's light brown hair. Then the Thunderbird pounced, like a hawk upon a mouse. Nevsky darted to the side, yet the bird still pounced after him.
The Thunderbird flew upwards, preparing to dive upon Nevsky.Quickly, Hideoshi looked round for help, but the besiegers and the defenders of Valash had fled, while Galen lay face downwards, unconscious in the snow. He tensed, gripping the wall of one of the ruined houses.
"I've got to do it," Hideoshi muttered.
Down like lightning dived the Thunderbird, screeching. Out raced Hideoshi, who snatched up an abandoned crossbow. Rapidly he cranked the handle, took aim, then fired. The arrow whistled, shooting up into the grey sky of cold, snowy winter.
The arrow struck the Thunderbird, who reeled back in shock, before falling in a spiralling decent. One shriek it gave, which was abruptly cut off in its highest notes. But summoning the reserves of his waning might, the Thunderbird shot forth a powerful bolt of lightning, striking Hideoshi in his chest.
"Run!" Shouted Galen and Nevsky.
But Hideoshi, stunned and numb, could not flee before the Thunderbird's body fell upon him, before its claws pierced his thigh. Blood ebbed out upon the snow. Nevsky and Galen rushed to Hideoshi's side and knelt beside him. Fumbling, Galen searched his side pouch for bandages, while Nevsky attempted to apply pressure with his chilled hands.
"Are you okay?" Asked Galen. Hideoshi merely groaned.
Suddenly, the street around then filled with soldiers cheering, while horns blared, "Reinforcements have come, along with Emperor Dietrich and the Southern Fairies!"
"What!" Shouted Galen and Nevsky, while even Hideoshi became more alert.
A train of soldiers, clad in wool white as the snow upon the ground, processed into the city of Valash through the breach in the walls. The train split in half, and a fairy clad in white fur strode through their midst, with two other fairies before him, who bore turquoise coloured standards.
"It's Emperor Dietrich!" Whispered the awed soldiers in hushed tones.
From the other end of the train the human generals rushed towards Emperor Dietrich, and knelt with bowed heads before rising up again. But the fairies did not rush. Instead, they walked with calm tread, raised their standards skyward, held out the standards straight before them, and bowed slowly before Emperor Dietrich began speaking.
"I present these soldiers to you, for we have decided that it is time to fight evil instead of cowering from it for fear of suffering," he said.
"And these two with me," he continued, "are Lord Kir Kostya and Lord Anomijah Miron."
The soldiers then began to disperse, while Nevsky gasped.
"Anomijah! That name was on the rune stone we saw!" He cried.
Another voice cried,"Hideoshi! Oh, no!"
A young man, one of the soldiers, rushed forward with this cry on his lips. Great was his resemblance to Hideoshi, but his hair was brown, and his eyes a green less keen.

Part Five

A great mass of soldiers rushed forward, swords unsheathed. Still the bombardment of the troops by the Valashians continued, toppling columns of soldiers or tossing them into the air with clumps of snow. A slight drizzle of snow began falling, sprinkling city, men, and weapons.
Galen, who was running alongside Hideoshi, said, "I've heard that our consuls Evanduor and Varrus called upon the Fairies of the South to aid us. They'll be here any day."
"Emperor Dietrich and the rest of the Southern Fairies would not want to be involved in this war if they can help it!" Said Hideoshi.
"Why not?"
"Because this is an indirect attack upon their kinsman."
"But the Mazovians are heartless killers! Haven't you heard about the slave labour camps they've got? About how they've tried to erase the history of this world and supplant it with their own? And they practice forbidden powers! How can Emperor Dietrich and his people not help us? Surely they don't like these things!"
"They don't," replied Hideoshi."But you seem to forget the history of Arret yourself! Don't you remember that when some of the Fairy people began to use forbidden power, that it divided fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, cousins, and other relatives? Many still live, on both sides. For them to fight each other, at least on the Southern Fairies' side, would shatter dreams of winning the Mazovians back, and would pierce their hearts with a sorrow that would endure to the end of the world."
Suddenly, Nevsky shouted from behind the two, "Don't run into the wall, Hideoshi and Galen!"
Hideoshi and Galen halted abruptly, scarcely avoiding a head-on collision with the wall. Their fellow soldiers rushed through the breach nearby, shouting and brandishing weapons.
"Nevsky," said Hideoshi, noticing that the former's pale face and trembling hands. "Do Not freak out now! It will get you killed! Stick with us!"
"Okay," Nevsky mumbled.
The three charged through the breach, to find themselves in mass chaos. Arrows whistled through the sky to land clattering on stone streets,or to pierce a soldier's body. Steel stuck against steel, man strove against man. From many-storied houses and buildings townspeople hurled down chunks of stone while shouting derogatory terms at the attackers. A wild urge to survive seized Galen and Hideoshi, who plunged into the fray, scarce realising what they did, acting upon instinct or months of training drilled into their subconciousness. They fought like this for some time, until they stumbled into a quiet street, having overcome their latest advisaries. Huddled in an arched stone doorway nearby, was Nevsky.
"What are you doing?" Screamed Hideoshi and Galen.
"I-I," quivered Nevsky, "can't take it."
"Stop that now, or we'll leave you here by yourself!"
Nevsky flinched, but suddenly, he straightened up, and looked into the room behind him. "I wonder what's in this room," he said.
The three crept through the arched doorway, swords drawn, into the house. Though dim within, they could see that they were in the entrance hall of a lordly house. Four columns stood in the hall, from which a vaulted, gothic ceiling sprang out and up into points, before curving back down. Though large gaps of paint flaked off of the ceiling years before, gold stars in a deep blue background remained in patches. Between the four columns were four round windows in vivid, gem-like glass. A great door, flanked by the columns and windows, was in the middle of the wall opposite the three.
"I never saw anything like this," whispered Nevsky while gazing round him.
"Nor I," said Hideoshi.
Galen said nothing, but he strode up to the door, grapsed its iron handle, and slowly creaked it ajar. After peeping through the crack, he whispered, "Come on with me! There's a stairway in here, leading straight down!"
"No!" Said Hideoshi. "There's no telling what's down there!"
"But there's light at the bottom! Lots of light!"
Hideoshi and Nevsky started forward, when loud cries and shouts suddenly began to sound. Rapidly, Hideoshi noticed a staircase to the right, going up.
"Let's go upstairs and see what's going on!" He said.
They clambered quickly up the stairs and dashed at once to the nearest window. On the streets below, people, both defenders and besiegers of Valash were running, screaming in panic, "A Thunderbird!"
"I never heard of a thunderbird," yawned Galen.
"They're a legendary-" Hideoshi began saying when Nevsky pointed wildly, screaming, "Look to the northwest!"
Hideoshi and Galen looked towards the northwest. There, above the white clouds, was an enormous creature of ashen grey nigh unto black, like the clouds of a great thunderstorm in midsummer. Its eyes and beak were a glossy, dead black, glittering with malice, while of all birds it looked like a cross between a condor and an eagle, but was far larger. Lightning shot from and pulsed round his body, while thunder rumbled.
"He's coming nearer," Nevsky whispered.
Hideoshi nodded, while Galen said, "Look, when he passed over those roofs, patches of snow melted!".
The Thunderbird soared over Valash like a vulture over a carcass. Each time his shadow passed over, people screamed and cowed in terror. Pandemonium reigned. Suddenly, a crossbow from a beseiging soldier twanged, shooting straight into the breast of the Thunderbird. A frightful, eerie shriek arose from the Bird, but he was only slightly wounded.
Now, his smouldering wrath was fully kindled, and screeching in anger, the Thunderbird dove down upon the city, crashing into the residential section, reducing a whole street to rubble. No one came forward to confront the beast, for he shot bolts of lightning around him, knocking out some, vaporizing others, killing many.
Hideoshi watched tensely, a feeling growing within that he must do something.
"I'm going to try to wound that thunderbird," he said grimly. "I don't know if I can kill it, so stay here.".
He began to walk away, but Galen called out, "Naw! I'm a grown soldier, and I'm coming too!".
"Me too!" Chimed Nevsky. "You stuck by me and I ought to repay it."
Hideoshi smiled gravely, a feeling of dread foreboding descending upon him.
"Okay then," he said.