To Hear Is To Obey

“How did it come to this?” Ghrey, captain of the Ojii’Binen Imperial Guard mused, adjusting his burden and fighting against despair. His horse, and those of the few surviving members of their company, thundered across the barren sod of the valley, hoof-beats mixing with the panting and snarling of the wolves racing in their wake. The stallion hurdled a muddy brook: Ghrey adjusted his hold on the wounded Emperor in the saddle before him, who groaned out an unintelligible complaint. “To hear is to obey,” the young captain murmured absently, and he thought back.

*Two Weeks Past…*

An armored company prepared to depart Unukhosi City, the seat of the Ojii’Binen Empire. Most of the palace and many residents of the surrounding area were gathered to see them off. Emperor Anox stood next to Empress Kalee, holding the young Prince Nisiri. He kissed his son’s forehead, then his wife’s, before embracing them both once more. Flashing a grin at them both, he turned and proceeded down the palace steps, to cheers from some in the crowd. On the stairs behind him, Ghrey, the commanding officer of the Imperial Gaurdsmen who would ride with their Lord, made to follow. A hand on his arm stopped him. Head bowed, the captain turned to regard the Empress. “Bring him home safely, Captain,” she intoned. The captain nodded obediently. “To hear is to obey, Empress.” The Empress nodded at him, then her expression shifted ever so softly, and it was Kalee who spoke. “And keep yourself safe as well, Ghrey.” The captain’s second nod was less subservient and his lip quirked upwards as he lightly flicked the young prince on the nose, earning a laugh, before he turned and headed down the steps to the massive courtyard.

Emperor Anox, a sight to behold in his gold and red armor, strode to his waiting horse at the head of the procession, slowing every now and then to exchange words with this courtier or that advisor. Ghrey soon caught up with him and the two men swung into their saddles. “She’s upset with me,” Emperor Anox said. “Only a little, Your Majesty,” the captain replied. Then he wheeled his horse around to face the assembled men-at-arms; warriors from six of the seven peoples of the vast Empire were represented. His own tribe, the Moun Montay, the people of the mountains. Emperor Anox's Maaban, the Lake People. Empress Kalee's people, the desert-dwelling Dote. The Sanhi, the herdsmen of the plains. The Msitu-Watu, the forest people. The Lenai, the race of lions who walked on two legs and spoke the tongues of men. They were closely allied with the Dote, such that whenever one of the Dote tribe sat on the throne, a pride of Lenai lived in the palace as guards and companions. The only tribe missing were the Upepo, the eagle-riders, who shared the Moun Montay's home in the mountains. Emperor Anox himself had countered their inclusion, stating that a host of the great eagles would all but announce their presence. It wasn't the first disagreement between the Emperor and the Captain; the warrior bowed to his liege's wishes once more. And Anox was perhaps right: a bit of secrecy could aid their objective.

Word had reached the palace of a brazen raid along the western borders of the Empire. A small child had stumbled into the fields of a Maaban farming settlement. Filthy, disoriented, and entirely too young, the child spoke of monsters and teeth and death in the night; suspicion immediately fell on the Isan-Osu, the wolf-riders, a nomadic tribe that held no allegiance to the Empire but wintered in one of the valleys in the west and often traded with the Maaban. Alba, Grand Chief of the lake-folk, sent word to the capital, to his son. Anox immediately ordered an expedition, one he would lead himself. He had claimed it was his duty as Emperor; most knew it was his way of escaping the palace and the preparations for the upcoming eclipse festival.

Anox now gave the assembled men a look, then nodded at Ghrey. Ghrey spurred his horse and cantered around the formation, performing a ceremonial head-count. Returning to his place, he accepted the Emperor's standard from a waiting man-at-arms and affixed it to a spear. Letting it fly in the wind, he signaled to the rider nearest him, an Msitu-Watu archer named Kwe'si. The man raised his horn and blew a long, winding note, and thus the host departed the glistening city at the foot of the mountains. As they left the gates of Unukhosi behind, Ghrey was waved closer by the Emperor. "What did she say to you?" he asked without turning his head from the road. "Her Majesty bade me bring you home safely." Anox nodded. "And your response?" "To hear..is to obey."

*Present

Ghrey felt the land shifting under his horse before he actually saw the terrain change in the moonlight. A wounded guardsman fell further behind, finally slowing his own mount to a trot. Ghrey trusted his horse enough to glance back. The rider was one of the spear-men of the Msitu-Watu, a man named A’de, Ghrey recalled. A’de sagged in the saddle, barely holding his spear. The trailing wolves and their own riders grew ever closer, and Ghrey grit his teeth, turning back to face the West, where he knew friendly holdings lay, trying to ignore the fact that he had to leave another of his men to the mercy of the wolves. The soil under foot was softer, richer. The Mabaan great-houses were another hour away at this frantic pace.

*Three Nights Past…*

The two week ride to the Mabaan tribe on the shores of the lake had been somewhat relaxed; a band of wretched raiders against the Emperor and his dozen personal Imperial Guard, a dozen Lenai warriors, and thirty archers and spear-men on horse-back? The Lenai in particular were eager; they held a natural dislike of the large, near-sentient wolves of the nomads. Leaving Unukhosi and following the Enkulu'kutoa River, the company entered the desert. The Dote & Lenai wished them well, with several riders and warriors escorting them to the plains before returning home. The host crossed the plains, feasting with the Sanhi chieftain. They rode through the vast forests, with Msitu-Watu children racing through the tree-tops laughing. They reached their Emperor’s ancestral lands and were ferried across the lake; the Emperor took great joy in diving into the waters of his youth, to the consternation and bemusement of his bodyguards. Finally, they reached far shore and when they came to the great houses of the Mabaan, Anox met his father with a hug. The reunion was hasty…Chief Alba introduced Anox to the child, and Anox and his officers barely paused at the knowledge the child was not of their people, but of the race of Dubun, the giants to the north. Anox greeted the child, then asked gently what had happened. The child didn't remember much; and only said that the camp had suddenly been overrun by snarling beasts that ate her family, before she burst into tears. Alba brought his scouts before the Emperor, and they reported following the trail of the lone child back to a camp just beyond the very edges of the Empire’s sovereign lands. There had been very few remains; the camp was burned and the people...had been eaten. Anox had been filled with righteous anger. He was reminded then of the village in a valley to the west, two days ride from the edges of the Mabaan farmlands, where he might perhaps find the chieftain of the Isan-Osu and gain answers of him. His father urged him to send messengers to parlay, but Anox rode out instead with all his men. It had been a fateful decision.

*Present*

A few paces behind Ghrey rode the archer, Kwe’si. The torches of the lake-village glinted in the night ahead of them. Too few. Too few lights, meaning the Mabaan had no idea their royal lord rode to them in mortal peril. Kwe’si let out a sigh, and slowed his horse. If Ghrey saw, he did not react, riding harder, hand now pressed more firmly to the hastily-bandaged torso of the Emperor. Kwe’si’s own blood-soaked fingers gripped his horn: he raised it to his lips and blew out a call. Mere seconds later, the call was answered from the lake. More torches were light, fires sprang up..they could almost hear the shouts as the alarm was raised. Task complete, Kwe’si slumped, exhaustion taking hold of both him and his steed. He had not the awareness to see the wolf-rider on his heels reaching out a filthy hand as he began to fall from the saddle. Ghrey blinked back tears, focused firmly on the house of Alba, the house where the man bleeding in front of him was born.

*Hours Ago…*

Captain Ghrey checked his steed next to an exhausted Emperor Anox. "Sire, loathe as I am to flee.. we MUST. Your safety is paramount to the Empire!" Anox grit his teeth furiously.

They had arrived at the trading post and village of the Isan-Osu just as the moon began to make it's appearance in the sky, and discovered those responsible for the slaughters in the night. Only….it wasn't the wolf-riders.

They themselves were now the prey.

The village was overrun by night-fangs. Humanoid monsters, deformed and hideous, native to the Ash-Lands to the far west, beyond the Empire's borders. Their fell race had been thought wiped out a few generations prior, but the horror stories remained, such that the warriors of Ojii'Binen immediately knew what they beheld. Skin and blood the color of tar pitch. Slavering maws filled with fangs, many with scythe-like claws nearly half the length of daggers. They walked upright but loped just as easily on all four limbs, and they fed ceaselessly on flesh. Which is what this one swarm was doing when Anox rode up, and witnessed the horror of a few men-at-arms, a handful of wolves, but mostly terrified women, children, & elders being slaughtered. Every man and Lenai of Ojii’Binen gripped their weapons and charged behind their Emperor without hesitation: this was not a battle, but a massacre, and they would not allow it, no matter what they thought of the wolf-riders. The shock of their arrival had been a boon to the village, but the beasts numbered a bit past a hundred and the battle soon began to turn.

Anox blinked back to the moment. "We cannot. This...this slaughter cannot stand!" he hissed. "Anox...my friend..I agree. But you are Emperor..we are outnumbered by this filth. We CANNOT save these people, even with our deaths! But you can avenge them, if you but flee and live! Reach the city..raise an army.. then ride back out!" Anox didn't reply; he raised his spear and skewered another beast on the end of it, leaving Ghrey to wheel about and finish the thing off. An arrow flew between the two men, striking a foe behind them. Both glanced up; Kwe’si was perched on the roof of the nearest hut, covering his Emperor as best he could in the chaos. Ghrey saw Anox searching for his next target, and steeled himself. "Your Highness! If we retreat now, we live to fight another day! Our people need you! The Queen and The Prince need you!" Anox froze, then turned a glare on his captain and friend. With a huff that might have been amusing at any other time, he nodded and gathered his reins. "Fall back," he bit out. "To hear is to obey!" Ghrey answered, immediately turning and whistling to Kwe’si. The archer, arrow on string, saw his captain raise a fist and make a yanking motion, then point east. Shock and a small bit of defiance flashed in his face: the warriors of Ojii’Binen were never keen to flee battle. But he nodded dutifully, and raised his horn to his lips. He blew one long, mournful note, followed by three shorter ones. Anox and Ghrey watched for the barest moment as the few remaining red-armored figures disengaged from the night-fangs. The Emperor and Captain both wheeled around, prepared to lead the retreat.

That was when a night-fang managed to get to the roof Kwe’si stood on. The Msitu-Watu warrior felt the arrival but was not quick enough…fangs sank into his unarmored shoulder. The man let out a horrendous yell. Fresh fury seized Anox…he turned back and charged, followed by Ghrey and one of the Sanhi knights. The Sanhi reared back and hurled his spear, knocking the fell creature away with a shriek. Kwe’si stumbled to the edge of the roof..Anox reached a hand up and yanked the man into the saddle before him. The three horses were now turned and urged out of the village. But the delay was costly. A small pack of the brutes accosted them before they could reach open ground. Sword in hand, the Sanhi knight bowled into the pack, trying to scatter them, even as he was pulled from his horse and torn into. It nearly worked, but a massive night-fang with wicked claws like one of the Dote scimitars swiped at the legs of the Emperor’s horse. Anox and Kwe’si fell, tumbling roughly. The blood drained from Ghrey’s face even as he let out a roar and fought to get to them. Anox was back to his feet, sword glinting in the moonlight. He beheaded one of the night-fangs, then reached down and grabbed Kwe’si, hauling him to his feet. At that moment, both men were tackled. The anguished yell Anox let out as fangs pierced his torso would forever haunt Ghrey’s thoughts. Too late, two massive wolves and a Lenai warrior, side by side (would wonders never cease!) charged in to help. Too late, four Ojii’Binen warriors rode to their aid. Too late, Ghrey made it to his friend and liege-lord’s side and hoisted him into the saddle before him. The survivors rode away now. There was no hesitation, no choice. The Emperor’s life was in the balance.

*Present*

Ghrey rode up to the small gates of the Mabaan stronghold, calling at the top of his lungs for a healer. Warriors ran past him, short spears in hand, yelling about wolves. He had nearly forgotten. He screamed that the wolf-riders were not an enemy; they were an escort. It took too long to sort out the confusion, too long for Alba to overcome his shock, too long for them to be put on a boat and ferried back across, too long for their journey back to Unukhosi City to begin in earnest.

It was just over an hour later that Ghrey sat beside the bed of Anox as the boat raced across the waves, desperate Mabaan boat-men using both oar and sail. The wounded survivors of the campaign, escorted by newly-allied Isan-Osu scouts, would be tended to and sent along later. A groan brought Ghrey’s attention to man laying before him. “Captain…” “Your Majesty?” “The next time…I refuse…to have eagles with us…on a campaign…I command you…report me to Kalee.” An exhausted grin met an agonized one. “To hear is to obey.”