Before the Battle

Reckoning 1/20

This last story switches between the points of view of different characters, like in "Enemies and Friends", but still mostly focuses on Taira. This is the longest and most violent story. Take this as a warning for all the following chapters.

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--Mika Marat--

"Weeks, months of planning. And the result? Imara is a hero."

Satoshi continued to stare at his notes and scribbled something down, ignoring my monologue. I shouldn't have relied on him. It was clear from the start that he wasn't up to the job.

Today we met in his small house on the northern outskirts of the capital. I didn't look around too much. Lots of wood, oriental motifs and decorations. The collection of historical weapons showed his love of pre-war history and old traditions.

"That arrogant, cocky bastard," I hissed hatefully, remembering Imara's triumphant face when he managed to stop the attack, thwarting our elaborate plans. "He was just lucky."

Several months had passed since that moment, but I could still recall his smug expression with painful accuracy.

"He may have been lucky," Satoshi finally spoke, "but he is certainly not stupid or incompetent, as you keep saying. He is naively honest, acts intuitively, follows his heart. And oddly enough, Shira listens to him."

"I'm not paying you to sing the praises of Imara."

"Know your enemy," he replied as he reached over to the wooden table and poured green tea from the ceramic pot into a small cup. "An old wisdom that still holds true, Captain Marat. We have to know his strengths and weaknesses. That's the only way to defeat him."

"Defeat him? We can't defeat him. I wanted to see him discredited, disgraced and humiliated. And what has happened instead? The Council supports him, the soldiers stand behind him."

Moreover, Imara himself had learned from his mistakes. Since then, he had never missed a Council meeting, and when he had, Saar had filled in. Same at HQ. He was careful, he left nothing to chance. In all those months, I'd never found a way to get to him.

Stories of him standing alone, fearless, between two armies and preventing bloodshed spread like wildfire within days. His deeds were exaggerated with each retelling, and by the time he returned to Kashima, he was almost a god.

From then on, the soldiers worshipped him, the recruits looked up to him. They didn't even mind that his assassin now accompanied him everywhere, because Imara had persuaded the Council to allow his darling to work with him. And no one dared contradict our hero.

So the Imperial cutthroat became the Resistance general's official military advisor.

Wasn't that wonderful? Imara's bodyguard, his right hand and his lover.

They never really talked about the last one, at least not in public. So it was left to me to spill all the sordid details of their relationship. Unfortunately, not many people were interested in hearing it. Some didn't believe it, or didn't want to believe it, others didn't care.

I clenched my hands in hatred. "I want to destroy him. I want to kill him."

I couldn't describe how much I despised him. Especially since he'd acted like he was going to rule this country by himself. And the Council did nothing but applaud him.

"You didn't want to resort to violence," Satoshi argued in a calm voice.

"I didn't want to, but there is no alternative."