They pressed on into the maze as the army outside decisively routed the bear tribe. One by one, the soldiers of the first company cornered the wolf riders from the wolf tribe and killed them to avenge their lost comrades.

Chinui himself fought many, including the pack leader, wearing wolf skin and armed with a great stone axe. Cornered in a dead-end, the pack leader let out a war cry and ordered his mount to charge Chinui. Since there was no place to dodge, Chinui counter attacked instead.

The horse sized wolf jumped forward and turned its head to bite at his neck but Chinui waved his sword just as the wolf got close enough for him to see down its throat. Day went through the palate of the great wolf and pinned it to the wall of the passage. The momentum of the beast did not let it stop and the sword cut through its head and brain as the animal almost smashed against Chinui.

The wolf rolled over Chinui and crashed against the wall behind him, sending its rider tumbling in the passage. Chinui himself did not get hit with too much strength, his sword having absorbed most of the impact.

The pack leader swiftly got back up, mostly unarmed, and Chinui removed his sword from the rock with a terrible screeching noise. The pack leader revealed his four sharp canines with a low growl of anger, his large ears flat against his head and his tail straight with focus. They had nothing to say to one another. Since his wolf was dead, there was no way for him to leave this battlefield alive he could only take down as many humans as possible with him, starting with the one in front of him.

He charged swiftly and started the fight with an overhead smash, hoping to cut his opponent in half with a single swing. Chinui backstepped to dodge and when the axe bit down into the rock floor, he went forward again to cut the arm of pack leader at the elbow.

Unexpectedly, the axe did not get stuck but bounced off the ground with a loud clunk instead. The cursed-blood used the momentum to not only parry the attack by hitting the sword from bellow but also break Chinui's balance. The back of the axe smashed against his hand and sent his sword high in the air. The wolf used the opportunity to kick Chinui in the stomach and prepared to send his axe down for a second and final swing.

Chinui had been very surprised by the bounce but the follow up was too slow and the kick too weak. A harder kick would have been possible for the cursed-blood but with his axe raised in the air, he would have lost his own balance as well.

Chinui, unaffected by the kick did the opposite of what was expected of him and rushed forward, inches away from his enemy. The pack leader did not know how to react, his axe was in the air and chinui was too close to him to be chopped in half.

The cursed-blood snarled and jumped backwards but Chinui was too fast and sliced his neck open while he did. The winner had been decided. It had not been a question of talent or cunning. Only raw speed had chosen who would live and who would die.

The axe fell with all the remaining strength of the dying cursed-blood, slicing hairs away from Chinui's face. Once again, the axe bounced off the ground but this time, the wolf tribe warrior did not have the strength to control it. The stone axe bounced, spun out of his hands and clanked around longer than it took for its wielder to fall dead before it stopped.

Chinui left the two corpses and the equipment there and resumed his search of the maze. He had no time to spare for cursed-bloods. They quickly routed the remaining wolf riders who quickly left on the back of their swift mounts.

Chinui moved further and further in the labyrinth, looking for his brother. At some point, later, someone called from the depths of the maze, they had found the lost company. Chinui went there with the first company and witnessed the bloody scene. The twelfth company, primarily made of archers, had been wiped out. They had been forced to break and flee into the maze where they had been hunted by the wolves.

Corpses were found everywhere in the maze and gathered in the thundering pass. Chinui watched in silence as the corpses were placed in the pass one by one.

Beside him, officers were counting the numbers. Eleventh company, disastrous losses, almost wiped out. Tenth company, half remaining. Reserves one two and three, five hundred dead, six hundred injured. Company thirteen fourteen and fifteen, four hundred dead, a hundred still lost in the maze, possibly dead. Left flank, minimal losses. Center, minor losses and some injuries. Twelfth company, no survivors.

Chinui could barely believe what had happened that day. The more bodies they dragged in front of him, the more the colors drained from his face. The more reports came in the stronger his rage boiled.

They had won, they had defeated the bear tribe and the wolf tribe and forced the keradon herd to turn back. But, he could read it on every faces, there was no joy, there was only consternation and puzzlement. What had happened? He could see the question hanging from their minds and mouths as he could only think the same.

Finally, they brought back the corpse of his own brother and laid it in front of him. It was a spear that killed him in the end. While most of his troops died by the vicious bites of the giant wolves, Chijou died from a spear that pierced through his chest. The spear had snapped, half of it was still there, it's quality was shoddy, made of wood and bones, typical of the tribes.

Chinui stared at the face of his brother for a while. Unable to look away from his eyes, devoid of emotions. Chinui was so angry he could not comprehend how angry he was. Someone's head had to roll for this catastrophe. He turned towards all the people working under him. There was anger and tension written all over their faces, they knew someone was to blame, they too wanted to know.

"Who was it?" Chinui asked simply. Anger radiating out of him almost like a physical force. "Who was stupid enough to ask them to move? Who did not report the movement to Averton before it was too late?"

The eyes of everyone present darted to everyone else, trying to find the clue that would lead them to the culprit. The eyes fell on Graube, Chinui's cousin. He was the one who had approved of such a maneuver earlier.

"Graube, tell me."

It was a very simple question but Graube was frozen in place by it. He had never seen his cousin this angry in his whole life. In fact, he had never seen any member of his family this angry before. There was no doubt in his mind that Chinui would kill him on the spot if he dared give the wrong answer.

"It's true I argued for the idea before." He said while making himself as small as possible. "But it wasn't mine and I didn't give such an order."

Chinui could not read any lies in his words but there was missing information.

"Then who? Who is the traitor!"

"Well..."

As everyone present was about to beat him until he spit out the name, a voice of reason came from behind them to cool of their spirits.

"We lost so many! Chinui, my friend, tell me what happened!"

All the eyes turned to the emperor. All the eyes except for Chinui's and Graube's. Chinui could read it on the face of his cousin, the emperor had something to do with this catastrophe. Could it really be his best friend? Was the man he served all this time behind the catastrophe that befell him today? He answered the question of his emperor with one of his own.

"Billow, was it you who moved the twelfth?"

The eyebrows of everyone present raised in surprise as those of the emperor frowned of confusion.

"Why, yes, I thought..."

Chinui did not give him a chance to explain, interrupting him with a shout. Years of friendship were instantly forgotten in the face of his blinding rage. He hated the cowardice his friend had revealed that day, he abhorred his stupidity that led to the demise of his only brother but more than that, he despised how distrustful of him his childhood friend had to be to ignore his plan and do his own thing.

"You thought? Who are you to go around issuing commands in 'MY' army? You where here to see, not think! It was just a merry tour of the countryside for you well look at that! Is it not a sight to remember? Because of you the battle was a disaster!" Chinui was screaming so loudly that everything he said could be heard across the whole pass, echoing like thunder.

"Chinui, calm down, I..." Said the emperor trying to appease him.

"I have no reason to calm down!" Interrupted Chinui once again by screaming at the top of his lungs. "You, my best friend, you killed my brother with your stupidity! More than two thousand died! Why, by all the gods, did you not stay out of my battle!"

"Chinui enough!" Shouted the emperor, finally angry as well. "Take back what you said and stop shouting this instant or you may not keep your title of great general until tomorrow! 'I' am the emperor, not you, I go wherever I want, even on the battlefield!"

"Because now oh sir great tactician over here thinks he can keep his throne without his great general? This is but wishful thinking!" As Chinui was screaming this, he fumbled to untie his commanding badge from his uniform. Once done, he didn't spare a glance at it before he threw it at the feet of the emperor and finished what he had to say.

"Go on, try. I'm done. As long as the empire will be lead by you, I refuse to commands its armies!"

Chinui took the corpse of his brother in his arms and walked away. The emperor raised a hand toward his departing figure and called him one last time.

"Chinui!"

"I am not coming back!"

Chinui knew those were the most childish things he had done and said in his entire life but he had no intention of taking back anything.

None of the people present knew how to react. Everyone was struck dumb, the emperor in particular felt quite lost.