They told me Nothing

"You really trust that girl back there? She won't get back to the castle in time! Simply go off the tracks for a bit, say that you're taking a piss. Leave them and save yourself."

The Voice was getting annoying, but it was right. I could do that, but… there had to be some reason, some reason I had to trust that Hertz would be doing the right thing. I had to be Loyal, I had to have faith that Hertz was doing the right thing.

"You always have to do that, don't you? Be Loyal, and you will be rewarded and blah blah blah. When have you EVER been rewarded for something YOU have done? No, it's the other way around isn't it? You've been GIVEN things, beautiful women, good food, shelter, and you want to repay them all. How can you, except by losing your life in pursuit of paying that back?"

That… maybe it was right after all. I WAS trying to repay everything back, trying to show that I wasn't just some cheapskate who hadn't valued everything that had been given to me. I wasn't using what I had, I was just giving and rejecting everything out I had in order to… to what?

That question hung over me as our horses climbed down the other side of the mountain into the Duskcast Woods through the Goat Path. At an old crossroads I had a glance at the signpost as we turned toward Bryn Castle. Wasn't that allied with us? Bryn was out of the way over the mountains, and everyone back at Ernstein had their own issues to focus on. So why were we going there?

It became clear as soon as we exited Duskcast Woods around a steep hill, opening up to a wooden palisade gate. Had been anyway.

The wood had been scorched and shattered in places, and the view inside was even worse. Inside what the outer walls there would have been a thriving market village, but now there were scorched ruins of what once had been. It wasn't vivid or flooded with gore though.

This had probably happened weeks ago, with the rains, crows and wolves slowly cleaning away the damage wrought here. Now it was simply a dead ruin.

We trudged further, to find the old cart way blocked and obfuscated by what had once been a massive fire. It was little more than a raised mound of rain-washed charcoal now, but the damn size of this thing… it had to have been a funeral pyre of some kind…

"Its the Rats, isn't it?" I asked.

"Obviously." Artyom stated.

"You see why we should hate them now?" Nathaniel spat as he turned in his saddle towards me.

"We're going around. What we are here for is in the Castle itself."

"Sir." Mejg nodded in approval.

Bryn Castle, a towering behemoth of white stone with brick red turrets positioned around a flowing river and waterfall, would have been majestic if our entrance hadn't been so grim.

"Dismount over there, behind the granary." Herzt ordered, "We're getting our armor on."

The ceramic base of the granary was shaded with scorch marks. We dismounted, and as I took a fleeting glance inside where there should have been ample stocks of amber wheat, instead there was a single mouse that glanced up at me, snatched a single and slightly burnt grain, and scurried away.

"Listen up," Herzt started as we each strapped ourselves into our plate armor, "We have a Bastard to murder. He knows we are coming and is ready for us, and no one is coming to help. But, if we do this, if we kill him, we will win this war. Is that understood?"

"Sir!" They all saluted as his loyal soldiers. I saluted too, out of the knowledge of what would happen if I didn't. 

We weren't here because we had been ordered to by Vladimir or anyone of actual authority. This was on him, and him alone, and he was using it to pursue a Vendetta?

In Full Plate we entered through the opened portcullis from which spilled lines of old drag marks, presumably bodies towards the giant Pyre earlier. 

We were in the castle grounds now. The Mountainous Bryn had a significant design shift away from the River Castle of Erztein. Erztein was built to hold the primary crossings over the River, preferring line of sight over the flat farm fields as opposed to the compressed mountain holding of Bryn. As a result, Bryn was a compact winding mess of a castle orchestrated around a central horse road that led up straight to the keep. As a result, the horse road had been designed to be readily flanked in any number of directions.

This meant that, no matter where you were, you constantly felt like you were being watched from the once-shops, their doors and windows scorched into deep abysses of shadow.

As we went round, an immense stench began to fill the air. As we turned the corner, we saw the Well.

Whatever had been dropped down there, we didn't want to know.

Around the bend we saw the broken, iron studded doors of the Keep that led into deep shadow. There was a girl there, a Rat Lady shivering in the cold air, holding a lantern expectedly for our arrival. She looked at us with apathy, and contempt.

"Captain Hertz, correct?"

Nathaniel and Artyom both leveled their blades at her, but Hertz held his hand up as a halt, and a hail.

"You're going to take us to him, aren't you?"

"I do as I am ordered. I can't survive in this world if I don't."

Hertz chuckled. "Lead on, as you were ordered to."

The Rat Lady turned, and led us into the vacuous Keep.

"Go on, Get Lost. Make it seem like you've taken the wrong turn, you know they don't care."

I shook my head, trying to dismiss the Voice as best I could.

"Amshy what the fuck are you doing?" Nathaniel whispered spitefully behind me.

"Sorry, Cobweb." I muttered quickly, knowing that being third in line meant I had no chance at making a break for it.

"Then make sure you don't bang your glove against the walls!"

"Don't they already know we're here?"

"Do you want them to know precisely where we are?"

"Lord Ikari demanded that everyone else leave for your visit. He and I are the only ones left in this entire Castle."

Lord Ikari? Does that mean-

"Ikari… Pretentious as always." Hertz chuckled.

And Hertz knows him! Is this what I always felt? That there was more to all of this?

"Now you see the layer you never did." The Voice applauded, "Admittedly a bit late to the party I will say."

I… Is there some Japanese that this Rat Lady would know? At least, pick up on the same general word flow to understand that I was also Japanese? Half Japanese, anyway.

"Shouganai…" I said, loud enough for her to hear.

Everyone turned to me.

"Amshy, what did you just say?"

"I-I-It's a charm, in my language it's one that you say when things are getting dangerous!"

"That sounds like a really dumb charm." Artyom grumbled.

But the Rat Lady kept looking at me for one moment longer than everyone else. Only when Hertz nudged her with his gauntlet did she move onwards.

She'd realized it. Realized that I might be from the same place as this Ikari. That I… might be on her side in all of this.

It might lead to Hertz' death, but we were about to die for Hertz' Vendetta, especially against some who might just be my own countryman. Maybe he'd be able to explain things, explain why this War is happening, because no one ever has. I… I need to know if this is the right thing to do…

'

The Rat Lady opened the heavy door to the Throne Room and led us in.

She curtsied to the Steel-clad Hoplite on the Throne. The Hoplite design had been modernized into Medieval Steel, but the copper that ordained it had corroded into a horrendous greenish blue.

"I have brought them, my Lord Husband."

"Good. You may leave us, Sofya." The Hoplite said, taking his helmet off to reveal a chiseled Japanese man in his mid-thirties.

Sofya curtsied once more, and left the room, closing the heavy door behind her.

Latches locked on the door, and we were… trapped.

Hertz' tisked.

"Knew we should've killed her when we had the chance." Nathaniel spat.

"Oh come now, I thought Vampires were supposed to support women."

"We don't help those on the other side, Traitor." Hertz retorted, his hand at his blade already.

"Traitor? Is that really how you speak to me? After all we've been through?"

"You switched sides. That is what a Traitor is." Hertz growled.

"I know the future, you know. I know what's going to happen to this entire region before it does."

"It happened in YOUR World. It hasn't happened in OURS! The future is NEVER written in stone!"

"Decisive Battles aren't won on the battlefield, they're won far before they start. Leaders must entwine all those disparate little threads into a single purpose-"

"EXCUSE ME, BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU TWO FIGHTING ABOUT!" I roared at the top of my voice, ripping my helmet off.

Ikari's eyes flared open in surprise.

"Nihon jin, desu ka?"

"ATARIMAIDESHOU!" I roared back.

Ikari chortled.

"So you got a replacement!"

"INKS replaced you. And I had to handle the baggage…"

"That's so Inks of her…"

"WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING! WHAT IS THIS WAR EVEN FUCKING ABOUT!"

"Oh that's simple." Ikari stated, "Byzantium is going to lose Constantinople to the Ottomans. Although, in this world, it's the Dragons who will lose Tunevregen to the Dark Elves."