The Last Dahlia

046

As the enemy drew closer, Yuehwa could make out the stiff, lumbering gait of the "soldiers", dragging their broken and rusty swords along the soil as they marched on the Gi camp. Their skin ash grey, with dried blood caking their cheeks and lips, gashes in their armour where a blade or arrow had struck—and for some, still remained. There was no longer any spark left in their glazed eyes, no breath leaving their nostrils or lips.

They had once been brave men, fighting for their kingdoms and crowns, but now each one had been reduced to a puppet, unable to rest or be allowed to pass on to the afterlife.

Yuehwa closed her eyes and said a prayer for all the souls of the fallen soldiers of Dahai, Feng, Gi and Hwa who had been cruelly forced to fight one more day.

"They've used the dark arts to raise the dead to fight for them," Shoya mused, his forehead creasing in a frown.

"This is... wrong," Ru Fei murmured. He quickly pressed his palms together and lowered his head, muttering lines of scripture.

The reason why dark magic was outlawed across the kingdoms was because of the inhumane and diabolical source of its power—sacrifice. For Lady Kang to have raised an undead army of this scale could only mean that she had paid a river's worth of blood in exchange. Even for a seasoned assassin like Yuehwa, it was frightening to imagine how many more innocent lives had been lost.

Beside her, Baixun was already busy deploying his troops.

"Get the archers ready at every watchpost, and get the rest of the battalions arranged in the Black Tortoise defence formation," he commanded. The Gi generals bellowed in acknowledgement, then hurried off to rally their men.

The gates to the army camp swung open and the Gi army spilled out, arranging themselves in neat rows like a well-oiled machine. Ten thousand men, ready and armed in barely an incense stick's worth of time.

"Looks like I have to take you a bit more seriously if we are ever on opposing sides on the battlefield," Yuehwa quipped.

Baixun's lips quirked in a grimace. "Assuming I even have an army left after today," he replied. "I'm not sure if regular weapons will work against these things though."

"Blades and arrows can only slow them down, but will not be enough to put them to rest for good," a new voice answered.

Sheng Yun was making her way up the stairs to the watchpost, her clean, snow-white cloak cutting a stark contrast to the tarnished, blackened armour of the soldiers on the frontline. Behind her came her disciple, Xin'ai, who looked as timid and jumpy as Yuehwa remembered. Yuehwa thought the young girl's wide-eyed gaze seemed to linger upon her for a bit longer than she liked, and it made her skin crawl.

"What are you doing here?" Shoya demanded, looking displeased to see the chief astrologer.

"I did a reading of the constellations a few days ago and saw that a great catastrophe was imminent. The future of the five kingdoms hangs on a balance, Your Highnesses, and I thought I might be of help here."

"Did the stars tell you how to destroy an undead army? Or maybe get rid of dark magic altogether?" Yuehwa said scornfully.

Sheng Yun had a habit of appearing uninvited, spouting some mystical nonsense about stars and destinies—and she hated it. The chief astrologer reminded her of Lady Kang. The same calm, self-assured demeanour, the same supercilious, over-confident tone, the same know-it-all attitude. Maybe this was what became of people who lived with their heads in the clouds, obsessed with the supernatural and things that did not—should not—exist on this earth.

The chief astrologer laughed when she heard Yuehwa's remark. "Alas, the stars like to keep many secrets, even from their closest confidantes," she said. There was a slight upward curl of her dark red lips that made Yuehwa doubt every word coming out of her mouth. "Besides killing every last practitioner of the dark arts and burying their sacrilegious knowledge for good, I'm afraid I do not have an alternative way of ending this war. However, I do know that we can put to rest—permanently—a resurrected soldier by piercing their hearts with lead."