Kaiden I

PA 0

A couple months ago, Kaiden wouldn’t have called himself a coward. At least, not seriously.

He’d grown up near London (Canada, not England) in the suburbs, living an honestly pretty average life. He went to the same high school as the rest of the kids in his neighborhood, went to visit his relatives in the States every winter, and had started up a short-lived band with a couple of his friends over the last summer. He had loving parents, two older sisters currently in college, and a cat named Wall-E.

Privileged, he might have called himself—he was a white kid from a middle class family, after all—but he would have never called himself a coward.

When his sister’s boyfriend cheated on her, he went to go beat him up (a stupid idea, considering he had been thirteen at the time and said boyfriend was eighteen, but it was the thought that counted). When his friend triple-dog-dared him to go into the abandoned cabin in the woods, he went in with his head held high, and only jumped at his own shadow once! And he barely even stuttered when he asked out his crush last year.

So yeah, he didn’t think of himself as a coward.

Then… this whole thing happened.

He was taken from his house in the night, dumped into a stone-age village in the middle of the desert, and told he would have to kill over nine thousand other people to survive.

At first, it wasn’t so bad. Sure, sometimes things got kind of dicey, he wasn’t prepared at all for the heat, and the elders didn’t really take him that seriously, but it could have been worse! He had a roof over his head and didn’t need to worry about silly little things like food or sleep. And he could even say he got used to the desert heat after a while!

(That was a lie. He’d never get used to the heat.)

Though, there were some things he wasn’t proud of. He’d allowed some of his people to go out and raid for supplies—he’d made them swear they wouldn’t harm anyone doing so, but he was mature enough to realize that even if they didn’t hurt anyone directly, the theft would hurt others no matter what.

And he wasn’t that sure how much power he actually had in the village. Sure, most of the people treated him like the second coming of Jesus Christ, but all the elders and stuff who’d had sway didn’t seem to care what he thought. More than once they’d overruled something he said, citing his inexperience as the reason, though sometimes he wondered about that…

And then… and then he got attacked. An army arrived on the horizon, demanding his head. And he…

He ran. Like a coward.

Most of his people had followed him, though even now he couldn’t begin to understand why. He fled north, to the other village where he’d made a temporary alliance, and begged for help. And, against all logical reasoning, they’d accepted.

He’d forever be grateful to Joseph for that.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Of course it wasn’t, nothing in life was ever that easy. The other army had arrived after him, and once more demanded his head.

This time… this time he was willing to accept it. (He wasn’t). The people he had been named ruler of deserved more than this—to be caged in, waiting for someone to slip up and their enemies to slaughter them. He was ready to die for his people. (He didn’t want to die.)

And Joseph refused. (Thank you, thank you so much—)

But that just left them right where they started, in the middle of a siege, in a war that people had already died in. And every day, he saw the effect that had on their people—how they smiled less with each day, how they grew thinner and thinner, how fights began to break out and tempers rise—

Things had only gotten worse. Because he ran away, because he was a coward. These people were suffering because of him.

Guilty could not even begin to describe it.

But, for once, things were looking up. Now they had come up with a plan, not just to survive, but to win. And Joseph had put everything on the line—put his own life on the line, and entrusted it to him. Kaiden, the coward who ran away from his problems. He trusted him, not just with his own life, but the lives of everyone else in the village as well.

He would not fail. It was time for him to redeem himself.

--

It was hot and humid the morning their plan went into action.

They had decided that ten people would accompany Kaiden—four would pretend to be his guards, while the other six would hide around the meeting grounds to ambush King Domenic.

In order to make sure they didn’t get caught they snuck out at night, carving a new hole in the wall just small enough for a single person to get through. They were hoping that by the time anyone noticed it, they’d have already completed their mission.

Kaiden rolled his shoulders, feeling uncomfortable in the new clothes they had made him wear. In order to sell the idea that he was a conquering warlord they’d had him dress up as fancy as possible. Clean orange gazelle furs wrapped around his shoulders, with red dyed linens around his waist, and an ivory crown made of crocodile’s teeth. Along his arms were a hodge-podge of bone and feather jewelry he was borrowing from the various elders. Apparently that was supposed to help sell the idea he was a warlord, the idea that he’d stolen the jewelry from the people he’d conquered.

He couldn’t see what he looked like, but he certainly felt like a tribal king.

Now just to act like it.

‘Deep breaths, Kay. Just stay calm, and act confident.’

Soon enough they arrived at the ‘neutral’ ground they’d picked—it was a large dry patch in the middle of the wetlands, within sight of the city walls, but far out of range of any of the slingers. There was more plant life than normal around them, with palm trees and bushes scattered about in clumps. Even the ground itself was to their advantage—it was mostly soggy floodplains around them, but a stable path had been made to the village months ago, since this was where they used to forage for wild nuts and fruits.

Glancing around, Kaiden sighed, before nodding his head regally. “Right, this is it! Moise, you go out and meet with the King, tell him to meet us here. The rest of you! You know what to do! Let’s end this war tonight!”

The other man nodded, pounding his chest with a salute before running off to the other camp, a white makeshift flag over his shoulder. The six ambushers he’d brought along began to hide, covering themselves in mud and laying down beneath the foliage.

Taking another deep breath, Kaiden sat down on a large rock, mentally preparing himself. For now, all that was left to do was wait.

--

It was over an hour later that Moise finally returned.

And following behind him was the man who wanted him dead. The king to the south, Domenic. Behind him was his own retinue of four soldiers, enough to match Kaiden’s own.

Kaiden took another deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He could feel his heart begin to race, and he began to tense. Every part of his body told him to run, to get out of there while he still had a chance. That if he stayed here any longer, he would die.

He forced himself to stand up. “Hello,” he greeted, surprised at how calm his voice was. “Are you the southern lord?”

“Indeed I am,” Domenic preened smugly. “And you must be the foreign king I’ve heard so much about! I must say, I’m quite impressed—it takes a certain type of someone to grow their kingdom so quickly. Tell me, how many cities do you have under your control?”

‘Shit, I don’t know that! Who just opens up a conversation like that anyway!? Okay, it’s fine, just make something up. This whole conversation is meant to be bullshit anyway, it doesn’t have to stand up to scrutiny.’

“I have… si-even. Seven cities under my control. I hope to make this one the eighth,” he let out a forced laugh.

“Oh, how impressive,” the other King’s smile dimmed slightly. “I myself have nine—if we ally, I suppose I could allow you this one. As a gift of good faith.”

‘What!? I thought you only had four!?’

Kaiden forced his smile to remain on his face, even as he wanted to freak out. “That’s quite the empire yourself. Was it difficult conquering so many people?”

‘How long should I stall for? Until he lets his guard down? Or should I have attacked already?’

“Not at all. After all, the more cities I rule, the more people I have for my army. It’s grown so large that at this point, most simply despair once they see it and surrender without a fight.”

‘Yeah, no kidding.’

“That is… very impressive,” he told the other King, his smile twitching. “That must mean you’ve killed many people. That is… impressive! Uh, yes, impressive.”

“Yes, it is,” Domenic was no longer smiling, and instead his lips were pursed in a frown. He sighed, seemingly disappointed.

“Is something wrong?” Kaiden asked, beginning to sweat.

“Yes, something is wrong,” Domenic rolled his eyes. “What an awful deception. I’m embarrassed for you, truly. Tell me, did you really think you could convince me you were the ruler from the north? You must not have done your homework. After all, the ruler from the north is not a King—she is a Queen.”

And then, with an unnecessarily dramatic laugh, Domenic leaned around to look behind him. “And there she is now! I thank you for joining us, Queen Meixiu!”

From behind him, Kaiden heard the pounding and splashing of footsteps on mud. With lead forming in his stomach, he turned to look behind him.

Six new people were walking up to them, heavily armed with spears and slings in hand. And leading from the front was someone who was obviously a God-Queen.

She was an Asian woman, with pale skin and short black hair in a bob cut. Her eyes were piercing, glaring at him with venom. She walked with the surety of someone who was used to leading others—he’d only just met her, and he instantly pegged her as some sort of politician, or maybe a businesswoman. She walked like she expected everyone else to follow.

‘Ah,’ he thought, ‘so this is where I die.’

“Domenic,” she scowled at him. “I got your message. Is this the leader of the city we’re attacking?”

“No, no my dear he is not. Merely a coward not man enough to face his death with dignity.”

“I am not your dear.”

“Tell me, weakling,” Domenic asked, ignoring the other Queen, “do you understand what’s happening here? How outclassed you really are? Here you are, trying to set up your worthless little trap, unaware that I had already foiled it from the beginning! I sent out an envoy to meet with Meixiu here yesterday evening when she arrived, long before your own. Once I realized your envoy wasn’t from her, it was painfully obvious what was happening. You wanted to set me up, to try and kill me without ever needing to deal with my army. Well, unlucky you, because I would never have brought my one weakness here anyway, so you were doomed to fail no matter what! I sent out one of my people to warn Meixiu of your attempted trickery, telling her to bring her own soldiers here to destroy you! So, tell me, how does it feel? To be beaten? To be so utterly crushed by someone so obviously superior to you! Today you will die—or perhaps I will keep you around? It would be a waste to kill you so soon—the kings of old had court jesters, did they not? How would you like that!? To spend the rest of your days being a fool? Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you already were one!”

The clearing was silent, everyone staring at Domenic. The man himself was breathing heavily, a manic grin stretched across his face as he stared goadingly at Kaiden.

“…Did you just monologue at me?” Kaiden asked, trying to buy time to think. “I can’t believe you just monologed at me!”

‘Okay, so we still have the numbers advantage.’

“…Did I?” Domenic blinked, for once sounding unsure of himself. “No, no I couldn’t have.”

‘Our six ambushers are still hidden—I don’t think they’ve been noticed yet.’

“No, you kind of did,” Meixiu called back to him, sounding disturbed herself. “It was actually really weird. Never do it again.”

‘Should I reveal them? Should I attack right away or try to consolidate?’

“No, no I…” Domenic trailed off.

‘What if… What if I just try to retreat? No, I can’t! Joseph’s relying on me for this—this is our only chance to succeed!’

“Whatever!” the other King shouted, shaking his head. “This isn’t important! All of you! Kill him! Your King demands it!”

Well, that settled it.

Kaiden took a deep breath, and at the top of his lungs shouted, “ATTACK!”

In an instant, his six ambushers sprang up, surrounding the nine enemy soldiers. One of them happened to be close enough to one of Domenic’s soldiers to stab him, killing him before anyone could react. The rest of them immediately attacked the other soldiers, destroying any semblance of formation as the clearing dissolved into a chaotic, every man for himself melee.

Raising up his own spear, Kaiden charged at a surprised Domenic. Unfortunately his soldiers were better prepared then the man himself, as one of them jumped between the two Kings, blocking Kaiden’s advance.

Unfortunately for both of them, the younger man hadn’t been prepared for that and couldn’t stop himself. The two of them collided, falling into the mud.

Swearing, Kaiden dropped his spear, some instinct realizing that it would just get in the way like this. He felt pain blossoming in his chest, but ignored it, fumbling for the dagger on his belt. He managed to grab it, but wasn’t able to stop the man under him from shifting, flipping the two of them over with a grunt. The other soldier was now on top of him, and raised his spear high above his head, ready to end the young King’s life. Kaiden froze, staring up with wide eyes as the spear began to fall—

And then one of Kaiden’s own soldiers appeared, shoving her own spear into the man’s back.

The other man choked, his face frozen in surprise as the woman shoved him away. He twitched, likely trying to stand back up, but the woman didn’t let him, shoving her spear into him once more.

He stopped moving after that.

Kaiden blinked, not really processing what just happened. Then a hand was suddenly in his face—the woman was reaching out to him.

He blinked staring up at his savior. He memorized her face—the dark skin, the way her eyes slanted, her square chin—

“Hurry up!” she snapped at him. “I can see you aren’t wounded—get up already! They’re getting away!”

He started, suddenly remembering where he was. Grabbing her hand, he stumbled to his feet, mud and slime falling of him as he got up. He swore, frantically spinning around to find Domenic.

Unfortunately, the other king was already fleeing, his remaining two soldiers covering his retreat. Even without having to deal with the other soldiers they’d be hard pressed to catch him before he made it back to his army.

‘Shit!’ he swore mentally. ‘Shit, shit, shit! I can’t lose him now! Not after all this—Joseph’s counting on me! I can’t fuck this up now!’

He turned back to his own soldiers, all of them too focused on their own battles to help each other much. At least it looked like they still had the numbers advantage—probably, at least. He recognized six of the people standing as those he’d brought with him, and there were only three enemies plus the Queen still left fighting.

“Finish this up quickly,” he shouted at them, “we don’t have much time!”

Then, Kaiden paused, a thought occurring to him. Their plan was to take out a king to remove the threat of their army.

‘But,’ his eyes widened in realization, ‘there’s a King right here.’

“Change of plans!” he shouted to them. “Ignore Domenic, and focus entirely on that woman!”

He couldn’t tell how many of them heard him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care right now. Without giving himself enough time to think, he charged back into the fray, running directly at the Queen in front of him.

As he ran past, he helped his own people as much as he could, stabbing and slashing at every enemy within reach. At one point he might have even killed a man, his spear slicing open their stomach.

But he couldn’t let himself focus on any of that—he tunnel visioned, focusing only on the enemy Queen.

‘It’s like chess. Remove the King—er, Queen in this case—from play, and the whole board topples.’

And then, finally, he was upon her. The woman turned to him in shock, having obviously not been prepared to get attacked by him. She fumbled with her own spear, trying to get it up in time—

Kaiden tackled her, knocking them both to the ground.

“Help me, morons!” he heard beneath him as he scrambled to find purchase. He grabbed her spear, yanking it out of her hands with strength he wasn’t aware he possessed, and threw it out of the way—

PAIN. A sudden, sharp agony blossomed in his shoulder, as though someone had stabbed him in the back.

He turned his head to look over his shoulder, and found out that’s because someone did.

One of the Queen’s soldiers, the man snarled at him, before pulling his spear out and stabbing him again.

Kaiden choked back a sob, pain lacing through his body with each stab. Fuck, fuck! He didn’t want to die here! Not now, not when he was so close—!

It didn’t hurt anymore.

Kaiden blinked back his tears, wondering—right. Right, they were immortal. It was hard to remember that sometimes.

This time forcing himself to ignore the pain as he was stabbed again, he forced himself to his feet, spinning around and sucker punching the man behind him. The other man doubled over, wearing a shocked look that only lasted for a moment before Kaiden slammed his fist into his face.

With the cracking of cartilage, the man toppled over. Turning back to the woman, he found her already up and running away.

‘Not again,’ he told himself. ‘I won’t fail twice!’

He charged forward, chasing after her.

For a moment it looked like she might get away—he despaired as he realized she was faster than him. She glanced back at him, fear and anger written all over his face. And then her eyes widened in shock as she—

Tripped.

It was only for a second, but her foot had gotten stuck in some mud—and then sunk deep. The wetlands were almost impossible to navigate when you went off the beaten path, and even harder if you were trying to run through them.

Kaiden himself only had a second to realize what had happened, before he slammed into her, unable to stop himself in time. The two of them went sprawling once again, but this time he had the upper hand.

Climbing over her, he used his superior size and weight to grapple with her. The much smaller Asian woman snarled and scratched at him as he forced her into a headlock, but he was both a six foot tall hockey player and immortal—the woman couldn’t do anything to get out of his grip.

With a snarl of his own he began dragging her across the wetlands, sloshing mud and water around as he dragged her towards the city. She did everything she could to try and escape—she hit him, bit him, screamed for her soldiers, and even hit him in the groin, but nothing she could do could break his grip.

He would not fail at this. He would not fail again.

And, after what felt like an eternity later, more of his solders appeared. The woman from earlier, along with four others joined up with him. They helped him subdue the Queen, each of them grabbing a limb as she screamed and kicked.

Then they began dragging her, slowly, step by step towards the walls of the city. Soon enough they were within slinger range, too close for any army to dare approach. Their own soldiers began pouring out of the walls, surrounding them and helping them drag her into the city.

Kaiden couldn’t help it—he laughed in relief as he came up to the entrance to the walls. Finally! Finally!

‘I didn’t fail. Not this time.’

9,951 God-Kings Remaining