The Lost Turns -Toshiro

Turn 492
Part 3

Telgar’s rainy summer had been wetter than usual, leaving Toshiro sitting in thick mud with his back against wall as he waited outside a row of still-smouldering buildings the Chorong Rebels had sent up in flames. Appearing more like a panorama of skeletons, there were few, scorched, stone wall exteriors left completely intact. Like the one he leaned against now.

Soon, a team of guards would come out from a nearby safe-house to rendezvous with him and he would receive a letter with word on his target. Until then, Toshiro could enjoy these few minutes as a well-deserved respite from running and dodging arrow-fire. Much of Southern Telgar Hold was disputed over, frequently seeing conflict along more visible dividing lines between Loyalists and Rebels. Of course, those much-disputed districts typically controlled a lot of resources that were in demand on both sides. Needless to say, Southern Telgar Hold was engulfed in chaos.



In those first days after joining the Guard’s forces, Toshiro had been sent back to Telgar Hold’s training grounds with the rest of their latest recruits. Far out matching the skill of other trainees, Toshiro found himself immediately swept into a whirlwind of specialized training that would prepare him for a rather distinctive brand of service, it was the last he would ever lay eyes upon Telgar Hold.

While other recruits made their way to help protect cotholds, bring aid to the front lines or assist in rebuilding efforts in areas that’d seen the brunt of the fighting, Toshiro was given the initiative to hunt prime targets associated with the enemy. More specifically, Toshiro was about to become a great hunter, whose primary prey was what were becoming better known as Rebel Agents -the spies and the tactical combatants working for the Chorong.

Now, a few months later, the young swordsman was beginning to earn great notoriety for his expert methods of bringing traitors to justice. Opposingly, the Rebels themselves would soon learn the identity of the killer who’d become a great detriment to their infrastructure of Agents.



The mud was almost impossible to escape after such a torrential downpour, so the sound of soft ground and puddles giving way to many footfalls alerted Toshiro to the approach of men. Standing, he readied a weapon just in case, his thumb pressing the underside of the hand-guard of his sword.

The heavy footsteps stopped around the corner, where the group had probably paused to search for him. So, Toshiro gave a call, to which came a quick reply, “Only dragons fly Between.”

Assured of their identity, Toshiro let his guard down a bit and stepped around the corner to greet the patrol properly. “The letter?”

The team’s leader stepped forward with a sealed note in his hand, passing it to Toshiro.

Nodding his appreciation, Toshiro accepted the note and then stepped back to open it. The wax seal cracking under his fingers, it was unfolded so that he could read.  When he’d finished, he glanced back to the team leader, “Anything else?”

“That’s all the Captain gave me.”

Nodding at that, Toshiro thanked him so that they could each go their own way. Rounding the corner of the building again, Toshiro walked a few steps to where the open side of a building left kohls burning in the open. He stopped to put the corner of the parchment to them, watching it light on fire, the orange flame eagerly eating away at its edges until all of the writing had been consumed. The remainder of the note was dropped from his hand, Toshiro lengthening his stride again.

His next target had been confirmed. Toshiro would not have to go far this time, to find the one he was in search of. In fact, this time, the Agent was one of their own Commanders. Seeing as the man’s nightly residence was nearby, it would not be long until the war claimed the life of another.


A willing patriot. A willing man-hunter. Toshiro did not yet know what any of it would mean. For that reason, this was the start of the Lost Turns -the Turns in which he would eventually lose sight of himself.