{"id":5653,"date":"2020-02-24T21:45:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T13:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benjamincheah.com\/?p=5653"},"modified":"2020-02-24T21:45:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T13:45:29","slug":"bayani-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/?p=5653","title":{"rendered":"Bayani Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Kerala,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

None of his tribesmen were killed. But four were wounded, one severely so. That one had taken a deep slash across the leg, through skin and fat and muscle, exposing white bone. Two of the less-wounded were binding his wound with a white herb-impregnated cloth, rapidly soaked through with blood. Alejandro knelt next to the casualty, removing a wooden canteen from his backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDrink,\u201d Alejandro urged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He drank, wincing with every swallow. The potion reinvigorated\nhim, returning the color to his cheeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s enough,\u201d Alejandro said, putting it away. \u201cToo\nmuch will harm you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaestro, is it safe?\u201d Bayani ventured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes. They\u2019re all dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chill in Alejandro\u2019s voice froze Bayani\u2019s\nthoughts. For a moment he couldn\u2019t speak. A timeless moment, his brain thawed,\nand from the meltwater a question emerged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou said they were Inrun. Is this an invasion?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet. This could merely be a raiding\nparty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir last invasion was in the time of our fathers,\u201d\none of the volunteers added, picking at a cut on his arm. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t be so\nquick to try again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst, we need evidence,\u201d Alejandro said. \u201cBayani and\nI can carry on. The rest of you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can still fight, Maestro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you risk the jungle-rot? If the Inrun were truly\ninvading, then we need you at full strength. Go. We can complete the mission\nourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men did not argue. Wrapping their injuries and\ndowning potions, they supported each other and hobbled away. Alejandro clapped\nBayani\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome. We have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gruesome work it was. They searched the bodies of the\ndead. Bayani\u2019s stomach rebelled, but Alejandro seemed not to care. The Inrun\nhad brought only their weapons and loincloths, and the duo found no traces of\ncached supplies in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not good,\u201d Alejandro said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t intend\nto stay here long. That means they are an advance force. A picket, perhaps.\nThey will have friends nearby who will resupply them. Or join them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat should we do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFind them. We need to get an accurate count of the\nInrun force, and where they are heading. Now, quiet. The trees have ears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They proceeded in silence. Alejandro was a ghost. He\nstepped in perfect silence, the ground seemingly giving way to him. His feet\nwere quick and sure, and the rest of him moved in total harmony. Not once he\nneeded to balance himself by grabbing a root, and where he stepped left no\nnoise or footprints. Compared to that, Bayani was a rampaging sounder of boars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alejandro picked up the pace, moving the rest of the\nday and most of the evening. He granted Bayani a few hours\u2019 sleep before moving\non in the twilight, breaking off the established trail. It made for a longer\njourney, but they were less likely to run into any more Inrun. By the first\nlight, they breached the treeline. Bayani forced his tired eyes to sweep the\nhorizon, and spotted the Abiguay village to the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was left of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He remembered a bustling village of stilted huts, with docks that stretched out over the glittering sea. Now, most of the huts were blackened and burned, reduced to kindling. Sakayans<\/em> painted in deep black lined the beaches, their sails the shade of brilliant turquoise. Men\u2014and only men\u2014assembled in the beach, waving glittering swords and yelling. No, not waving. Training<\/em>. The Inrun used a different art, but even so a slash was a slash, a thrust was a thrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alejandro held up a strange device to his eye. It looked like five sections of progressively larger metal tubes linked together, with a glass on both ends. It was a telescopio<\/em>, Bayani remembered, a Hesperian device. Alejandro peered through the lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMadre do Dios<\/em>,\u201d the Maestro whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaestro?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alejandro handed the device to Bayani. \u201cTell me what\nyou see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayani mimicked his teacher. Suddenly what was so far\naway seemed to be right in front of him. He blinked, adjusting to his new\nperspective, and looked again. \u201cWarriors training with swords.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust swords?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayani looked closer. A body of men didn\u2019t have\nswords. They had muskets. Fitted with bayonets. But these were Hesperian\nweapons. How could the Inrun have them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see muskets,\u201d Bayani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood. How many warriors do you see?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayani counted. There were many, so many. \u201cA hundred\nswordsmen, I think, and thirty musketeers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more in the village.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are so many of them. Is this\u2026an ej\u00e9rcito<\/em>?\u201d His tongue tripped over the\nunfamiliar word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot even a tercio.\n<\/em>But there may be more elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tercio? <\/em>\u201cBut this is an invasion force.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgreed. Do you see any sign of the villagers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked again. Most of the huts were burned to the ground. Some boys were re-painting the Abiguays\u2019 boats black, dying their sails green. These were Inrun boys, their skin lighter and their hair straighter than the people of the island. Inrun men bustled about the village, carrying supplies. The men deferred to an older man, his symbol of authority a wrap dyed green and black around his head. Everybody else\u2019s heads were bare, Bayani realized. And where most of the men had kampilans<\/em>, this one had a shorter sword with wavy edges. A keris<\/em>. This one must be the headman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The headman strutted to the centre of the village. There were\u2026cages. Huge cages, half the height of a man. And they were stuffed. With people<\/em>. The headman laughed, running his sword into the gaps between the bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the cages,\u201d Bayani whispered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, that\u2019s where they are holding the women and\nchildren. And the men?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeep looking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to do something\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will, when we have more information. Find the\nmen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayani kept looking. The wind picked up, and it\ncarried the smell of roast pork left out for too long. He hadn\u2019t seen any\ncooking, so he turned his eye to the source of the smell and saw the pit at the\neastern end of the village. And the blackened bodies in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\u2026the fire pit,\u201d Bayani whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow could they do this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome beasts wear human skins. Some humans wear beast skins.\u201d The Maestro retrieved the telescopio<\/em>, folding it away. \u201cWe must go, Bayani. We don\u2019t have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy? They aren\u2019t going\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce the headman had had his fun, what do you think\nhe will do to the prisoners?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayani gulped. \u201cBut my mother?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf she is among them, all the more reason to hurry.\nWe must get help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes Maestro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dungeons, demons, and displaced samurai on a death march to find a way home!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To stay up to date with my latest writing news and promotions, sign up for my mailing list here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

None of his tribesmen were killed. But four were wounded, one severely so. That one had taken a deep slash across the leg, through skin and fat and muscle, exposing white bone. Two of the less-wounded were binding his wound with a white herb-impregnated cloth, rapidly soaked through with blood. Alejandro knelt next to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[69,136,143,208,253,289,306],"class_list":["post-5653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-bayani","tag-fantasy","tag-free-story","tag-martial-arts","tag-pulprev","tag-singlit","tag-steempulp"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitsuncheah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}