A Fight Worth Losing: Chapter 3 – Betrayal on All Sides

Chapter 3 – Betrayal on All Sides

Many battles have taken place since we started waiting for reinforcements to come from the United Kingdoms of the Americas. Some we won, others we lost. The question of what to do with captives and turncoats comes up time and time again to me and my decisions are decisive as always. Those who fought against us in battles are executed while those who peacefully approach us, not during a battle, and offer up their service to us are allowed to enter our ranks or serve us by helping the poor and wounded. People wonder why I don’t take captives and force them to give up information about Draco’s plans, but I think it’s obvious why I shouldn’t torture captives for information or put them in prisons where they will be treated worse than the poor on the streets.

Currently, I am doing what I am always doing and helping the poor so I can get my mind off the bloodshed and weight of my decisions. I offer up my sweat and work up for my penance and those lost in battle from both sides. Izanami still refuses to talk to me, but my sons are still on my side and helping me out in the field. We are still waiting for our allies across the sea to arrive and they should be here today. While working, I turn to see a homeless woman approaching me and then shocked to see Raijin suddenly run up to her and stab her through the chest, killing her.

“Raijin! What is the meaning of this?!” I ask.

Raijin takes a dagger out of the woman’s pockets, shows it to me, and then says, “Our shinobi identified her as an assassin sent from Draco. Look at this dagger. It’s one made in Draco and too fine to be considered one left on a battlefield or a counterfeit.”

“Why were you informed about the assassin and not me?”

“The shinobi thought your assassin would reveal herself if you didn’t know and make any changes in your schedule. They also just found out not too long ago and that there are more assassins hidden among the poor. Draco is trying to use your love of the poor to get to you. We should find them as soon as possible before they can make their next move.”

“Get your brother and rally the guards and knights. Make sure all exits and entrances into this city are covered.”

“Yes, father.”

What a vile thing to do. Taking advantage of the poor and a man’s charity towards them to get to him. Heading to one of the poor houses, I immediately change my arms into a sword and shield and slam the door behind me.

“I know you’re hiding among the poor, assassins of Draco! Reveal yourselves now and stop using the misfortunate as a shield,” I say.

Everyone in the poor house looks around and talks to one another.

“I’ve never seen this guy here before. It’s this man, emperor!” I hear a poor man say before he is killed by the assassin.

The assassin leaps out of the nearby window and I chase after him. He changes himself into a man-sized rooster and crows, probably signaling to his allies about his cover being blown. I quickly sprint to him to cut his head off to silence him before letting out a cry of my own.

“I’m right here, assassins! If you want to kill me, then face me!”

Soon enough, ten or so assassins appear from the rooftops and streets of the city with their weapons drawn and in their bestial forms.

“Your rebellion ends today, traitor,” one of the assassins says.

I switch my shield arm into a sword since defense won’t be useful at all here and start the fight with the assassins by killing three of them before they can get a hit on me. As I keep fighting, my guards, knights, and sons come to my aid to kill the assassins, however, I am wounded as a result of the battle and brought to a healer.

“Our informants have told us an army is coming this way,” Fujin says.

“Tell them to execute our emergency backup plan. What of our allies from the UKA?” I ask.

“Our lookouts have said that their ships are approaching but are heavily damaged,” Raijin says.

“Take me to them. They may need our help.”

“You need help, father.”

I make shields form around where my wounds are.

“I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Going to the dock, we see that our allies’ ships are indeed heavily damaged. They’re able to make it to the docks, even though the mast on a couple of the ships fall apart as soon as they dock. I have my guards and knights help our allies unload their supplies and wounded while I find one of the lords from the UKA.

When I finally find one, I ask him, “What happened? Did you come across any trouble getting here?”

“Yes, we did, but it wasn’t anything in the sea. We had traitors on our ships who were doing Draco’s dirty work of slowing us down and picking us off one by one. What happened to you?” the lord of the UKA says.

“Draco’s assassins infiltrated the city by pretending to be among the poor and tried killing me. If that’s not enough, we have news that an army is coming this way.”

“Today just keeps getting better. Well, we came here to help you. There’s no point in going back now. We’ll fight with you until the end, Emperor Ryujin.”

“Thank you.”

My allies and I set up our soldiers along the walls and outside of it while we wait for the enemy. It doesn’t take long for them to arrive and our archers are ready to attack, however, we don’t fire on them just yet even though this is probably the largest amount of enemy soldiers I’ve ever seen.

“Did you get hit on the head or something?! Why shouldn’t we start firing on them?!” a lord of the UKA frantically asks.

“You’ll see,” I say.

The look on my face signals to him a trick I have up my sleeve which gets him to trust me. When the enemy army gets close enough, the men among them start turning on each other, thinning out their numbers and forcing the enemy to head our way. With the enemy stuck between two armies, they are swiftly dealt with and victory is won. As the men celebrate, the lords of the UKA approach me.

One of them asks, “That was an amazing trick you pulled. Was this part of your plan from the start?”

“Not really. We have sympathizers within Draco and the kingdoms of their allies, not all of which are in the area and can be called upon at a moment’s notice,” I say.

“I see, but it’s still a powerful weapon to use against Draco and shows them that they can’t even trust their own. Might you be able to pull the same trick in the battles to come? We were hoping to establish a base in a region since it would burden each place we live in if both our armies inhabit it.”

“It depends on the region. Show me what place you plan to take.”

The lords show me their target and it just so happens that I have sympathizers there, so I agree to utilize them to make taking over the area easier for us.

“Thank you, Emperor Ryujin. Once that area is ours, we can better help you win this war and once it is over, we will return it to its rightful owners, as promised,” one of the lords says.

“In exchange for goods and service from my kingdom?” I ask.

“Yes. We’ll, of course, allow your kingdom to recover before asking what is due to us. Is there a problem?”

“No, no, no. You should be rewarded for your help and given trade since you are a valuable ally. Just make sure your plans to have men all over this side of the world don’t turn corrupt like how Draco’s has.”

“We promise we’ll do our best not to let the power get to us.”

“Heh, I’ve heard that before, but your promise is all I can ask for and what I accept.”

For the next several days, my allies, army, and I fight alongside the foreign men of the United Kingdoms of the Americas. A lot of them are beastmen that have the bodies and heads of various animals and insects such as hornets, elephants, rhinos, donkeys, dragonflies, and crows. Some of them can conjure weapons from basic materials and send messenger birds out while others use simple weapons. The beastmen among them are either twice the size of a normal man or about the size of an average one. With their help and guerilla tactics, we are able to take the region they requested and establish it as their own.

The lords assure me that more of them will be on their way thanks to their conjured messenger birds that flew to their kingdom and back to them and that there are more of them on the European side of the world that are rallying support for us. Victory has never been so close yet so far. The betrayal that happened at the harbor city wasn’t the only one that we suffered in recent events as the Asiatic lords and their citizens continuously switch sides and Draco continues to use their underhanded methods and assassins to catch us off-guard, and yet, our victories seen to offset them, if but a little. While helping the poor and wounded soldiers of a previous battle, I am asked by the family of the wounded soldiers if their sacrifice is helping us win our freedom. The pain in their eyes relays the ache in their hearts to mine and I know that my words will not help them in the way they want.

Still, I say, “Yes. Every sacrifice helps us. I cannot thank you enough for your help and what you’ve done for us all.”

As I expected, they only cry in response and say nothing more. Whether I gave them any comfort or not weighs heavily on me, so I stand up to speak to everyone in the hospital thanking them for their help and giving each and every person as much attention as I can spare to make them know that I care for them. One of the wounded civilians who lost his home, family, legs, and eyesight while fighting against Draco grabs my arm while I tell him how thankful I am for his help and that his sacrifice won’t be forgotten by me or God.

“I don’t need reassurance of the virtue of my actions and neither do you, my emperor. You are doing the right thing. Hold your head up high and trust in God. That is all that is necessary because even in defeat, God wins in the end,” the man says with a slight gentle smile.

I smile with tears in my eyes, thank the man, feed him, dress his wounds, and clean the dirt and blood from his body in the example of Christ who I hope continues to steer my actions in the right direction regardless of what happens as a result.