Role

Chapter 6

He feels the coolness of the stone slabs beneath his crossed legs and
hears the gurgling of the river as it rolls lazily by. A farm cat purrs
and he hears that too, just as it no doubt hear his own low rumble. Two
cats, sunning themselves on the rocks. One at peace, one denied it.

A trout breaks the surface of the water and he opens his eyes just as
the last ripples vanish into the current. Raising his gaze he considers
the island city just visible in the distance. Its white towers arc
upwards from the horizon like the fingers of some bloodless corpse.
Ahinu remembers it well, and hates it all the more for doing so.

Kavan is still there, no doubt, in his dojo, dutifully training the next
generation of recruits and filling their heads with nonsense. His
former teacher refused give up the location of this place when saked,
surmising correctly that Ahinu must have had a hand in Ashana's demise.
But the old Maran could no more keep it hidden from the Shadow Sect than
he could sprout wings and fly, and so here Ahinu sits. Here, with her.

Remembering.

Slowly, gingerly, he removes his silver mask and sets it to one side. It
leaves his face so infrequently that few in the Empire even know what he
looks like. Then he repeats the gesture with the razor-sharp extensions
strapped to his paws. Free of these, he lifts one paw to his face and
traces the path of the scar he finds there.

As he lowers it his eyes settle upon the hoop of gold at his wrist, and
he recalls how the years seemed to fall away when he wore it for the
first time. What if he were to take it off? Might he then lie down
once and for all, on this cool rock, beside Ashana under her oak tree,
and at last know rest?

The thought is tempting.

And yet just as soon as it arrives his Oath rises up in response,
closing around his mind like the jaws of a vise and crushing any
notion of rest or dereliction of duty. He straps the extensions back
on with a sigh and once more he is but an instrument of the Empire.

Was he ever anything else, truly? Could he have been?

He pauses at the edge of the road and glances back one last time at the
mound that is just visible at the foot of the old oak tree, then he
returns the silver mask to its place and slips silently into the shadows.