By looking at him, Rowland would appear to be the sort of man who relied on strength alone, but there was a cunning mind at work in him, barbarian though he was. Of course the great lord of the Byakko in this land would not suffer the capital city to be taken by the enemy for long. He would do everything in his power to retake it and that would be his downfall. It was all according to Rowland's design.

The capital was weak because the great lord of the Byakko had spread his army across the land to drive the rebels out of the cities they had taken and left them there to protect those cities from being taken again. Now that the lord of the Byakko was marshaling his forces to retake the capital, all those cities would be made vulnerable again. This was Rowland's goal. While the Byakko moved on the capital, Rowland"s allies would seize every city they could. For Akasame, it was a city at the crossroads of north, east, south and west called Kordai. Fitting for those who now cast themselves as the Middle People.

They were camped several miles from the main road, waiting for news that the Byakko army had left. Before that, they stayed among woodcutters on the edge of the great forest. It could not properly be called a village. It had no name. It was little more than several hovels clustered together. It was not so different from similar settlements in the mountains of their homeland. Such places made for easy raiding on a campaign.

At last a rider approached. Because they were in such a remote location, there was no need for stealth or subterfuge. The rider did not bother to dismount as he would not be there for long. Ordinarily it would have been an unpardonable offense to address a man of Akasame's rank from an elevated position, but the warlord suffered it in consideration of necessity.

The bringer of the red rain flee before a routed army? What foolishness was this?

At least this one knew his place and without further ado, the rider cracked his reins and left.

Akasame turned to Oshio and said, "Assemble the men. We march at once."

His own men were disciplined well enough to immediately answer the call. The new additions required a little more coaxing. Akasame arrived on these shores with fewer than 200 men. Nearly forty were killed in the battle at the capital and a dozen more to sickness or some other misfortune along the way. In these troubled times, the land brimmed with men who would fight for any cause for the right price. It was not the first time Akasame had employed mercenaries, but he did not much like it. Men more loyal to gold than their lord, honor and glory were not true warriors. Still, they had a use and he would see them used. But first they wold be made to obey.

About half of the mercenaries joined as individuals, but there were two groups who joined as companies, a twenty-man group calling itself the Forest Fauns and another forty-man group called the Dogs of Vosegus. The Dogs of Vosegus were the most troublesome, thinking themselves strong in numbers.

Akasame watched Oshio shouting at them to little effect for a short while before stepping in himself. Their leader, a man named Drutos, swaggered forth to meet him.

Akasame said nothing. He stepped over to the campfire and stooped down, picking up one of the burning logs, about the width of a man's arm. Without the slightest change of expression, he walked back over to Drutos and with a sudden burst of fury, struck him across the face with the log with all his might. He then proceeded to savagely beat Drutos until he stopped moving. His comrades were too horror-stricken to do anything about it.

When he was done, Akasame tossed the log aside and shouted at the mercenaries, "A dog that will not obey is only good for meat! Are you meat!?"

The Dogs of Vosegus said nothing, only stared at him in stunned silence.

The men did as they were told and they set out shortly thereafter. Akasame rode at the front of the formation with his three retainers behind him.

After riding about an hour, Oshio—ever the conscientious one—said to him, "My lord, we will be fortunate if the Dogs of Vosegus simply desert in the night. Like as not, they will seek revenge for their captain."

He had always ruled by fear. There were those like his retainers who were genuinely loyal to him, but even they were kept from overstepping their boundaries by fear. Of course, fear is a two-edged blade. It was for fear that his many rivals back in Hijima set aside generations-old feuds to band together against him. Still, mere mercenaries were not the great warlords of his homeland. Once the city of Kordai was taken, he would give them their chance to take revenge and then crush the last of their defiance.

Of the fifty prisoners, a dozen were Byakko, all that remained of the hundred trained warriors defending the city. Even without the aid of the mercenaries, Akasame and his men could have overwhelmed them easily. Among the Byakko was their leader. Apparently they had no shame of surrendering to the enemy.

Finding himself in a rare philosophical mood, Akasame decided find out the reason for this shamelessness.

His voice slurred somewhat by a swollen cheek, the man replied, "This city is not built to be defended easily or well. We men of the garrison were too few. The militia and the other volunteers had never seen battle before. Those who did not flee as the blood began to be spilled were slaughtered like sheep by you beasts. And there were rebels in the ranks besides. We could not have been victorious. Many of us have families. I surrendered in the hope that you might show mercy."

So that was his answer. His miserable life was so precious that he could cast aside all honor. It was infuriating.

He seized the man by the sides of his head and lifted him up.

Akasame buried his thumbs deep within the man's eye sockets and held him there screaming for some time before finally throwing him down to the ground. The man thrashed about on the ground, howling and holding his face. Akasame drew his sword and thrust it into him, silencing him at last.

His own men responded without question, quickly dispatching the cowards, but some of the mercenaries were more hesitant. He would deal with them later.

When all of the prisoners were dead, Akasame told his retainer Takemochi, "Have them carry bodies outside of the city. Let the dogs and crows have them."

Then to Oshio, he said, "Find the headmen of the city and bring them here. Tell them to bring an offering suitable to soothe my wrath."

As his retainers and the men at their command carried out his orders, Akasame looked down in disgust at the coward's blood on his hands and on his sword. Such a man was not worth killing himself. If he was made to suffer any more such cowards, he would need to find a suitably wretched person to deal with them. That was a problem for another day, though. The city was now his and no matter what Rowland thought, he intended to keep it. It would be but the first step in establishing his domain.