The Other Side: Chapter 5
Title: The Myu Chronicles - The Other Side
Author: Dria
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 2,021
Summary: Aoyagi's work is disrupted by Washimi, who has a surprising message from their master.
It was a fairly meaningless tune, not much more than a string of notes held together with enthusiasm rather than talent, but the sound of Third Lieutenant Aoyagi whistling as he worked that morning raised a few eyebrows amongst his subordinates. Those blessed with eyebrows anyway.
When he was in the right frame of mind, Aoyagi was capable of appreciating that working in the stable block had some advantages over the kind of work the other officers usually did. Number one on the list was that between the sacks of feed and rolls of imported hay, the stables were far warmer than any other building in the palace complex barring the kitchens. This was aided by the fact that the walls were stone not ice, and the roof was kept in good repair. The level of the stable floor was actually lower than that of the courtyard outside, the original builder had dug down into the rocky promontory and then piled up thick walls around the hollow that curved inwards until they were brought together by thick wooden beams and deeply piled thatch.
The presence of the animals helped too - the eight adult reindeer were supplemented by an array of younger animals and some older ones that couldn’t keep up the pace required by His Majesty. Aoyagi had once been told that unneeded animals were to be handed over to the kitchen staff to be added to the servants’ diet but he’d quietly ignored that order and when the creatures became too old, dispatched them himself in such a way that the poor things couldn’t be turned into anyone’s dinner. It hadn’t made him very popular amongst the servants, but then nothing Aoyagi had done since he’d taken charge of the stables had won him friends amongst those who worked there. Keeping closer tabs on where all the feed actually went had earned him a few half-hearted death threats and changing the shift rotation hadn’t been a popular idea either. But the changes had had the desired effect on the building and the animals and after Aoyagi had reminded those under his command that there were a number of very, very good reasons why he was in the Secret Police and they weren’t, the servants had settled down and adjusted to life with a proper stable master again.
Aoyagi, having signed off the thankfully small pile of paperwork that had been waiting for him and checked up on the state of the equipment, was just about to pay a visit to the heavily pregnant female he’d had isolated a few weeks before, when the stable door was shouldered open and heavy footsteps on creaky planking announced the arrival of the only officer who deigned to come near the stables. As His Majesty’s sleigh driver, Special Lieutenant Washimi Ryou didn’t really have an excuse to avoid the place that Takuya had branded a flea-pit after Aoyagi had returned from his first day working there. Admittedly the smell that had followed Aoyagi through the palace to the dormitory during that first week had been particularly bad, but he hadn’t let any of the servants’ old habits linger under his regime and consequently the stables now smelt as pleasant as could be expected.
Washimi stomped across the open space that lay in the middle of the almost circular structure. Unlike Aoyagi, who had already removed his long outer coat and left his hat on the desk in his poky office next to the hayloft, Washimi was in his full uniform. Yards of spotless white material covered the officer who was almost twice Aoyagi’s height and definitely twice as wide. Washimi’s dour face cracked into a grin as he spotted Aoyagi, ‘You’re going to regret having missed breakfast,’ he announced, ignoring the fact that Aoyagi was usually absent from the first meal of the day, preferring to get something direct from the kitchens when he was ready for it.
‘Why, did Takuya beat Kawai to the kippers again?’
Washimi shook his head, still grinning down at his friend and dorm-mate, ‘We received a visit.’
Aoyagi almost fell off the step he was standing on. ‘You… you don’t mean…?’
‘His Majesty marched in while the Captain had a mouthful of bread and dropped our new orders on us like a ton of ice.’
‘New orders?’ Aoyagi repeated dumbly, his brain trying to work its way round until it could accept the possibility that His Imperial Majesty and terror of all animals anywhere, whether they could talk or not, had actually shown up in the officers’ common room and spoken to them all. Aoyagi’s contact with the man who had all of Narnia under his icy control was thankfully minimal even if they were technically covered by the same roof. It was the Captain who was the one who reported to His Majesty. He who took the orders he was given and organised the Secret Police as he saw fit. His Majesty never bothered to sully himself by communicating with such lesser beings when he had Captain Wada, the great Minotaur General and all the other creatures of dubious morals, unshakable loyalty and extreme power at his personal beck and call. His Majesty did not ever stoop so low as to interrupt a meal in progress with his own presence, to tell mere second and third lieutenants what they would be doing… it just wasn’t done.
‘New orders,’ Aoyagi said again, giving his head a shake as it suddenly occurred to him that Washimi was still grinning. ‘Like what?’
‘You’re going hunting, Third Lieutenant Aoyagi.’
‘What?!’ This time Aoyagi did stumble, the wooden gate he’d been leaning against suddenly proving itself incapable of providing the necessary solidity to keep him on his feet.
‘His Majesty’s orders, unquestionable and incorruptible. All officers are to be dispatched to find and capture this human that somehow showed up and talked to that faun we’ve got down in the cells. All informers are to be pumped for information, all spies and sources are to be questioned and any possible resistance is to be crushed. Without question.’
‘He can’t mean me, I wasn’t there, I’m…’
‘Included,’ Washimi’s grin grew a fraction. ‘His Majesty was very precise. He wants the Captain to go south at once with Lieutenants’ Date and Kamakari, to start at the coast and work their way west from there. Lieutenant Saito is to lead yourself, Takuya and Kawai north along the river and then back on the far bank His Majesty says he wants one group close to the castle so that you can be easily reached if necessary. The Captain gets the harder job because His Majesty trusts him.’
‘That’s what he said? He named names?’
‘Old Maugrim couldn’t change it even if he wanted to. He and the two Seconds are packing up now; he was heading in the direction of the kitchens when I saw him to yell at the servants into getting them rations for a few days.’
Aoyagi, mind still reeling from the influx of new information, abruptly asked, ‘What about you? Aren’t you coming with us?’
‘Can’t,’ Washimi shook his head, only the merest trace of annoyance slipping past the smile. ‘His Majesty wants the sleigh prepared at once.’
‘Bit early for him, isn’t it? Going out so soon in the day?’
‘You didn’t see the look on his face,’ Washimi’s grin was definitely fading now. ‘I’ve never known him to look so… emotional.’
Aoyagi shuddered at the pause more than the word itself, knowing that if Washimi thought there was something wrong then he couldn’t argue. In a way, the driver knew His Majesty far better than the Captain did, even though it was the Captain who (in theory anyway) spent longer in actual communication with their ruler. But Washimi, who had at first been picked to be the permanent sleigh driver as he’d been the only one strong enough to keep the team of six bad tempered reindeer under control, had become something of an oddity, an exception to the mess of ranks and privileges. Technically he was lower even than Aoyagi and Takuya, but now that he drove His Majesty out every single day… it wasn’t hard to notice that he saw far more of His Majesty than Captain Wada did and probably understood him better too. So far as it was possible for anyone to understand, or even comprehend, what went through His Majesty’s mind, let alone what drove him ever onwards in his ice-bound vengeance.
Pulling his thoughts back together, Aoyagi turned away completely from the pregnant reindeer and made for the covered mass that was His Majesty’s sleigh. The servants that pretended to be busy round the fringes of the stables eyed both him and Washimi suspiciously; even if they hadn’t heard what had been said, they’d all lived in the palace long enough to know when there was something unusual going on.
News broken, Washimi switched conversation to safe, neutral topics such as the wearing on the reindeers’ harnesses and how one of the usual team had a stomach problem and was today being replaced by a relatively untried and much younger reindeer.
‘…have to watch him though, he’s not so used to the long runs out like the others and he’ll shy more easily if there’s trouble.’ Aoyagi tightened the lead animal’s harness himself as he added the last words of advice he could think of.
Washimi was sitting back in the driver’s seat; whip in one hand, reins in the other, watching with cautious eyes as the stable staff busied themselves around him. Moving to lean against one of the sweeping curves of metal that rose up from the prow of the sleigh to enclose those within it, Aoyagi asked his friend quietly, ‘You going to be okay?’
The grin returned, reassuringly wide and simple. ‘Don’t start asking questions like an old woman. Worry about yourself and keep Takuya alive if at all possible, he still owes me a few hundred after the result of that last raid.’
Aoyagi nodded, grinning himself, before barking at the servants, ‘Get those gates open!’
The reindeer were shifting restlessly in their harnesses, tossing their heads and rapping hooves on the cold stone floor. They were anxious to get moving, to get out of the enclosed stable and race into the open air. The reins that bound them lay slack in Washimi’s gloved hands for that moment as the stable staff ran to the large doors that stood atop the ramp. Bolts were forced back, bars lifted, and wood creaked and protested as the two, heavy doors were forced open slowly at first but then swinging back with a heavy momentum that could crush the bones of anyone caught on the wrong side. A rush of icy wind threw itself inside, making Aoyagi blink to clear his gaze of those few flakes of carried snow. Ignoring the shivers that ran through his limbs, he added his weight to that of the servants, forcing his shoulder into brief contact with the back of the sleigh to give it the first jolt forward it needed in order to get it moving. The sound of the whip cracking over the heads of the reindeer brought not only the reindeer to life but made the expectant servants jump too, leaping out of the way of the heavy, grey vehicle as it surged forward, runners shrieking on the bare stone before it mounted the ramp and shot out into the white morning.
The last Aoyagi saw of his friend was a raised, gloved hand cheerfully brandishing his curved whip and the white peaked hat that seemed somehow dirty against the pristine snow beyond the door. Then the sleigh turned out of sight, sliding round in a great curve that would bring it to the castle gates where His Majesty would soon be waiting.
Another freezing burst of snow-carrying wind broke Aoyagi out of his daze, raising his voice that seemed suddenly hoarse, he yelled, ‘Shut the doors and shovel up that snow, I don’t want it melting and soaking the animal feed. Move!’
TBC
Author: Dria
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 2,021
Summary: Aoyagi's work is disrupted by Washimi, who has a surprising message from their master.
It was a fairly meaningless tune, not much more than a string of notes held together with enthusiasm rather than talent, but the sound of Third Lieutenant Aoyagi whistling as he worked that morning raised a few eyebrows amongst his subordinates. Those blessed with eyebrows anyway.
When he was in the right frame of mind, Aoyagi was capable of appreciating that working in the stable block had some advantages over the kind of work the other officers usually did. Number one on the list was that between the sacks of feed and rolls of imported hay, the stables were far warmer than any other building in the palace complex barring the kitchens. This was aided by the fact that the walls were stone not ice, and the roof was kept in good repair. The level of the stable floor was actually lower than that of the courtyard outside, the original builder had dug down into the rocky promontory and then piled up thick walls around the hollow that curved inwards until they were brought together by thick wooden beams and deeply piled thatch.
The presence of the animals helped too - the eight adult reindeer were supplemented by an array of younger animals and some older ones that couldn’t keep up the pace required by His Majesty. Aoyagi had once been told that unneeded animals were to be handed over to the kitchen staff to be added to the servants’ diet but he’d quietly ignored that order and when the creatures became too old, dispatched them himself in such a way that the poor things couldn’t be turned into anyone’s dinner. It hadn’t made him very popular amongst the servants, but then nothing Aoyagi had done since he’d taken charge of the stables had won him friends amongst those who worked there. Keeping closer tabs on where all the feed actually went had earned him a few half-hearted death threats and changing the shift rotation hadn’t been a popular idea either. But the changes had had the desired effect on the building and the animals and after Aoyagi had reminded those under his command that there were a number of very, very good reasons why he was in the Secret Police and they weren’t, the servants had settled down and adjusted to life with a proper stable master again.
Aoyagi, having signed off the thankfully small pile of paperwork that had been waiting for him and checked up on the state of the equipment, was just about to pay a visit to the heavily pregnant female he’d had isolated a few weeks before, when the stable door was shouldered open and heavy footsteps on creaky planking announced the arrival of the only officer who deigned to come near the stables. As His Majesty’s sleigh driver, Special Lieutenant Washimi Ryou didn’t really have an excuse to avoid the place that Takuya had branded a flea-pit after Aoyagi had returned from his first day working there. Admittedly the smell that had followed Aoyagi through the palace to the dormitory during that first week had been particularly bad, but he hadn’t let any of the servants’ old habits linger under his regime and consequently the stables now smelt as pleasant as could be expected.
Washimi stomped across the open space that lay in the middle of the almost circular structure. Unlike Aoyagi, who had already removed his long outer coat and left his hat on the desk in his poky office next to the hayloft, Washimi was in his full uniform. Yards of spotless white material covered the officer who was almost twice Aoyagi’s height and definitely twice as wide. Washimi’s dour face cracked into a grin as he spotted Aoyagi, ‘You’re going to regret having missed breakfast,’ he announced, ignoring the fact that Aoyagi was usually absent from the first meal of the day, preferring to get something direct from the kitchens when he was ready for it.
‘Why, did Takuya beat Kawai to the kippers again?’
Washimi shook his head, still grinning down at his friend and dorm-mate, ‘We received a visit.’
Aoyagi almost fell off the step he was standing on. ‘You… you don’t mean…?’
‘His Majesty marched in while the Captain had a mouthful of bread and dropped our new orders on us like a ton of ice.’
‘New orders?’ Aoyagi repeated dumbly, his brain trying to work its way round until it could accept the possibility that His Imperial Majesty and terror of all animals anywhere, whether they could talk or not, had actually shown up in the officers’ common room and spoken to them all. Aoyagi’s contact with the man who had all of Narnia under his icy control was thankfully minimal even if they were technically covered by the same roof. It was the Captain who was the one who reported to His Majesty. He who took the orders he was given and organised the Secret Police as he saw fit. His Majesty never bothered to sully himself by communicating with such lesser beings when he had Captain Wada, the great Minotaur General and all the other creatures of dubious morals, unshakable loyalty and extreme power at his personal beck and call. His Majesty did not ever stoop so low as to interrupt a meal in progress with his own presence, to tell mere second and third lieutenants what they would be doing… it just wasn’t done.
‘New orders,’ Aoyagi said again, giving his head a shake as it suddenly occurred to him that Washimi was still grinning. ‘Like what?’
‘You’re going hunting, Third Lieutenant Aoyagi.’
‘What?!’ This time Aoyagi did stumble, the wooden gate he’d been leaning against suddenly proving itself incapable of providing the necessary solidity to keep him on his feet.
‘His Majesty’s orders, unquestionable and incorruptible. All officers are to be dispatched to find and capture this human that somehow showed up and talked to that faun we’ve got down in the cells. All informers are to be pumped for information, all spies and sources are to be questioned and any possible resistance is to be crushed. Without question.’
‘He can’t mean me, I wasn’t there, I’m…’
‘Included,’ Washimi’s grin grew a fraction. ‘His Majesty was very precise. He wants the Captain to go south at once with Lieutenants’ Date and Kamakari, to start at the coast and work their way west from there. Lieutenant Saito is to lead yourself, Takuya and Kawai north along the river and then back on the far bank His Majesty says he wants one group close to the castle so that you can be easily reached if necessary. The Captain gets the harder job because His Majesty trusts him.’
‘That’s what he said? He named names?’
‘Old Maugrim couldn’t change it even if he wanted to. He and the two Seconds are packing up now; he was heading in the direction of the kitchens when I saw him to yell at the servants into getting them rations for a few days.’
Aoyagi, mind still reeling from the influx of new information, abruptly asked, ‘What about you? Aren’t you coming with us?’
‘Can’t,’ Washimi shook his head, only the merest trace of annoyance slipping past the smile. ‘His Majesty wants the sleigh prepared at once.’
‘Bit early for him, isn’t it? Going out so soon in the day?’
‘You didn’t see the look on his face,’ Washimi’s grin was definitely fading now. ‘I’ve never known him to look so… emotional.’
Aoyagi shuddered at the pause more than the word itself, knowing that if Washimi thought there was something wrong then he couldn’t argue. In a way, the driver knew His Majesty far better than the Captain did, even though it was the Captain who (in theory anyway) spent longer in actual communication with their ruler. But Washimi, who had at first been picked to be the permanent sleigh driver as he’d been the only one strong enough to keep the team of six bad tempered reindeer under control, had become something of an oddity, an exception to the mess of ranks and privileges. Technically he was lower even than Aoyagi and Takuya, but now that he drove His Majesty out every single day… it wasn’t hard to notice that he saw far more of His Majesty than Captain Wada did and probably understood him better too. So far as it was possible for anyone to understand, or even comprehend, what went through His Majesty’s mind, let alone what drove him ever onwards in his ice-bound vengeance.
Pulling his thoughts back together, Aoyagi turned away completely from the pregnant reindeer and made for the covered mass that was His Majesty’s sleigh. The servants that pretended to be busy round the fringes of the stables eyed both him and Washimi suspiciously; even if they hadn’t heard what had been said, they’d all lived in the palace long enough to know when there was something unusual going on.
News broken, Washimi switched conversation to safe, neutral topics such as the wearing on the reindeers’ harnesses and how one of the usual team had a stomach problem and was today being replaced by a relatively untried and much younger reindeer.
‘…have to watch him though, he’s not so used to the long runs out like the others and he’ll shy more easily if there’s trouble.’ Aoyagi tightened the lead animal’s harness himself as he added the last words of advice he could think of.
Washimi was sitting back in the driver’s seat; whip in one hand, reins in the other, watching with cautious eyes as the stable staff busied themselves around him. Moving to lean against one of the sweeping curves of metal that rose up from the prow of the sleigh to enclose those within it, Aoyagi asked his friend quietly, ‘You going to be okay?’
The grin returned, reassuringly wide and simple. ‘Don’t start asking questions like an old woman. Worry about yourself and keep Takuya alive if at all possible, he still owes me a few hundred after the result of that last raid.’
Aoyagi nodded, grinning himself, before barking at the servants, ‘Get those gates open!’
The reindeer were shifting restlessly in their harnesses, tossing their heads and rapping hooves on the cold stone floor. They were anxious to get moving, to get out of the enclosed stable and race into the open air. The reins that bound them lay slack in Washimi’s gloved hands for that moment as the stable staff ran to the large doors that stood atop the ramp. Bolts were forced back, bars lifted, and wood creaked and protested as the two, heavy doors were forced open slowly at first but then swinging back with a heavy momentum that could crush the bones of anyone caught on the wrong side. A rush of icy wind threw itself inside, making Aoyagi blink to clear his gaze of those few flakes of carried snow. Ignoring the shivers that ran through his limbs, he added his weight to that of the servants, forcing his shoulder into brief contact with the back of the sleigh to give it the first jolt forward it needed in order to get it moving. The sound of the whip cracking over the heads of the reindeer brought not only the reindeer to life but made the expectant servants jump too, leaping out of the way of the heavy, grey vehicle as it surged forward, runners shrieking on the bare stone before it mounted the ramp and shot out into the white morning.
The last Aoyagi saw of his friend was a raised, gloved hand cheerfully brandishing his curved whip and the white peaked hat that seemed somehow dirty against the pristine snow beyond the door. Then the sleigh turned out of sight, sliding round in a great curve that would bring it to the castle gates where His Majesty would soon be waiting.
Another freezing burst of snow-carrying wind broke Aoyagi out of his daze, raising his voice that seemed suddenly hoarse, he yelled, ‘Shut the doors and shovel up that snow, I don’t want it melting and soaking the animal feed. Move!’
TBC