Guardian, Saviors of Kamigawa

CHAPTER 21

An hour later Toshi caught up with Michiko by the training lane as the princess moved away from the village.

“Michiko-hime,” he called. As the statuesque beauty turned, Toshi noticed the princess’s companion Riko attending. Damn. The student girl would just complicate things.

The princess bowed. “Hello, Toshi. I was hoping we’d get a chance to talk.” She presented Riko. “You remember my friend Riko from Minamo Academy?”

“Yes.” Toshi met the smaller girl’s angry eyes. Riko was attractive, in a petite, academic sort of way, but she looked like an akki whelp next to Michiko. Plus, she also clearly hadn’t forgiven Toshi for kidnapping Michiko, or punishing Choryu, or one of the myriad other terrible things she’d seen him do.

Toshi bowed to Riko. “A pleasure, as always.” Which was the complete opposite of the truth-Riko had been grateful to Toshi when he’d pulled them all out of Minamo, but that was the only time he could recall her not glaring at him with hate in her eyes.

“Would you excuse us, Riko?” Toshi bowed again. “I would like to talk to Michiko-hime in private.”

“No,” Riko said. She folded her arms, the fingers on her right hand tickling the bow slung over her left shoulder.

“Riko,” Michiko said. “As a favor to me.”

The student archer looked anxious and Michiko said, “We will stand in the clearing over there. If anything happens or you lose sight of us, you may come running.”

Visibly unconvinced, Riko said, “I will be watching you both.” She pushed past Toshi and then turned around, folding her arms. Michiko beckoned Toshi to join her and they strolled amiably toward the clearing.

“I appreciate what you tried to do today,” she said. “The elders are cautious, perhaps overly so, but they will not let anything bad happen.”

“They can’t stop this bad thing.”

“No. But I agree that they have to try reaching the entity before we decide what to do next.”

They approached the clearing. Toshi stopped walking and said, “Do you? Because during the trial back there I could have sworn you agreed with me.”

“It wasn’t a trial,” Michiko said.

“Forgive me. I misspoke. Did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Did you agree with me? That we have a responsibility to set the Taken One free.”

The princess hesitated. “Yes. I wish to help atone for my father’s crime. It will take years, perhaps decades of hard work, but the first step must be to return what was stolen.”

“Can you make them listen to you? What kind of sway to you have around here?”

She laughed a sad, musical laugh. “Not much, I’m afraid. In Eiganjo, I was a prisoner. In Towabara, I am a princess. But here, I am treated no better than a student, and not a very advanced one at that.”

Toshi frowned. “You matter more than that. You are connected to that stone disk somehow. I was just telling Sharp-Ear how you two are sisters, in a way. The entity … she kept trying to reach out to me, but I was afraid and didn’t know what to do. If you reached out to her, I think she’d respond.”

Michiko nodded, her eyes far away. “I did sense something between the entity and me. But I assumed it was just my imagination, a feeling of … what we were shown about the night of my birth.”

“Also the night of her birth,” Toshi said. “There is something between you two. I think if anyone should be trying to reach the Taken One, it should be you.”

“I would like to be more involved. I feel a great sense of personal-”

“Then be more involved. Pearl-Ear can deny you nothing. Sharp-Ear would crawl over hot coals to bring you a bowl of rice. And Riko … I think she’d do anything twice to see you smile.”

Michiko shook her head angrily. “This flattery does nothing to-”

“It’s not flattery.” Toshi leaned in close, nose-to-nose with the princess. “It’s strategy. If you want to do things you know need to be done, you do them. If your room is on fire, you put it out or you leave. You don’t ask for permission. You don’t wait for approval. You just go.

“I say this village is your room and the Taken One is a very big fire waiting for a spark. Don’t let the elders stop you from doing what’s right, what needs to be done. All you need is one chance and you can make a difference. Ask Pearl-Ear and Sharp-Ear to ask the elders. The Taken One has reached out to us, but only you can reach out to her.

“Go,” Toshi said. “Go to her and listen. Talk. I’ve spent more time with her than anyone … except your father. I know she wants someone to stand by her. Someone who isn’t me, or the daimyo, or anyone else she’s met so far. I wasn’t good enough.” He shrugged. “You might be.”

For a moment Michiko seemed younger, more vulnerable, as she had when Toshi had first met her. She opened her mouth to speak.

“For a lowlife, lying thug,” Sharp-Ear’s voice rang out, cutting off the princess and echoing across the clearing, “you’re almost eloquent.”

Toshi closed his eyes wearily.

The little foxman tumbled out of the leafy branches high overhead, landing solidly on the tips of his clawed toes. Sharp-Ear leaned under Toshi’s chin and peered up into the ochimusha’s face, waiting for him to open his eyes. When he did, the kitsune said, “Told you I’d be listening.”

“Sensei,” Michiko said, “Toshi and I were having a private conversation.”

“Business,” Toshi corrected. “We were talking business.”

“You were talking her into doing something you want her to do.”

“No. I was trying to find out what she wants to do.”

“And if either of you asked me,” Michiko flared, “I would answer, because I am in fact standing here with you.”

Sharp-Ear bowed. “Forgive, Michiko-hime.”

“If you had asked, Sharp-Ear, or waited for me to answer when Toshi asked, you would know. I do think I should help communicate with the Taken One. Everything Toshi says makes sense.”

“I agree.” Sharp-Ear bobbed a quick bow. “You are tied to the entity, princess. I do not dispute that. But it could very dangerous to interact with it. You could be like the opposing poles of a magnet and naturally repel each other.”

“I am willing to face the danger. For my people, for all Kamigawa, and to expiate my father’s sins, I would gladly give my life.”

“That is truly noble, Michiko, but rash. You must do as you see fit, but also trust the elders. They are wise beyond human understanding.”

“That is very patronizing, Sharp-Ear. It is the quality and the content of a life that creates wisdom, not the duration.”

“Again, my apologies. I know you do not need a chaperone or a nursemaid or even a tutor any longer. But you do need good advice. It’s something all leaders need. And before you respond to this almost-eloquent fellow, my advice as an actually eloquent fellow is to seek other counsel.”

“Like who?” Toshi scoffed. “You?”

“Me,” Sharp-Ear said. “And Riko. And above all, Lady Pearl-Ear.”

Toshi cocked his head. He could hold his own in an argument against Sharp-Ear, but he could never convince the princess if both brother and sister opposed him. He needed to act quickly.

“The dour frump?” Toshi said. “What do we need her for?”

Sharp-Ear growled darkly. “The dour frump is my sister.”

“Oh.” Toshi shrugged. “What do we need her for?”

“When people like us are certain we’re in the right,” Sharp-Ear said, “we need people like her to verify. She’s better than us, you see. If she agrees with us, we might actually be in the right. Also, if she agrees, she’ll help. And she’ll make sure the fewest possible number of people suffer in the process.”

Toshi narrowed his eyes, appraising the sly little fox with new respect. “You’re on our side, aren’t you? You think she should talk to the Taken One now.”

“I do. But I also think that everything that comes out of your mouth is suspect. Even when what you say is true, it’s not reliable.”

Toshi blinked. “Now that’s eloquence. But if we agree, why are we arguing?” He turned to Michiko. “In the end, it’s ultimately up to you, Princess.”

“We are arguing,” Sharp-Ear said, “because you seem to be encouraging Michiko to behave like a lowlife ochimusha thief and somehow sneak herself in or the entity out for this attempt at communication. I, on the other hand, am encouraging her to consult with her lifelong friend and mentor, my sister, who is often dour but has never been a frump. If Pearl-Ear agrees, we will petition the elders again. They may yet allow Michiko her chance.”

“If Pearl-Ear agrees,” Toshi echoed. “She didn’t agree back on the big log when we were discussing it. What makes you think she’ll agree now?”

“My sister is overawed by the elders, especially in person. But she is far more reasonable and pragmatic on her own. I have convinced her to go along with far more frivolous plans in the past. And, as you said earlier, Pearl-Ear can deny Michiko nothing.”

“You’re both doing it again,” Michiko said coldly. “Talking as if I weren’t here.”

Toshi said, “Speak up then. What are you waiting for?”

Sharp-Ear bowed. “We are both talkers, the ochimusha and I. But now we will listen. What do you wish to do?”

Michiko looked from Toshi to Sharp-Ear and then back. “I will attempt to communicate with the Taken One,” she said. “But I will do so only with Pearl-Ear’s support and the elders’ full knowledge.”

Sharp-Ear grinned triumphantly at Toshi. “Good. Then we’re all agreed.”

Toshi nodded. “It suits me.”

“Splendid.” Sharp-Ear clapped his hands and rubbed them vigorously. “Princess, shall we collect Riko and return to the training ground?”

“With all due speed,” Michiko said. “I am eager to hear what Pearl-Ear thinks of all this.”

“Absolutely not,” said Pearl-Ear. “The elders are making steady progress. They expect a breakthrough before dawn.”

“Dawn could be too late, sister.” Sharp-Ear had led them directly to his sister at the edge of the training ground. They stood on one side of the great fallen log while the elders meditated, chanted, and communed on the other.

Pearl-Ear glared at her brother. “Weren’t you supposed to be figuring out how to set the entity free?”

“I am and I have been. Toward that goal I say the ochimusha’s notion holds merit. The elders themselves said communication was the first step. Michiko-hime is in a unique position to communicate. If she can reach the entity, we will be a good deal closer to learning what it wants and how we can help.”

“But the danger to Michiko …”

“I am not afraid,” the princess said. “I welcome the chance to do this.”

Pearl-Ear stood flummoxed as she tried to formulate another argument.

Sharp-Ear prodded her. “Come on, sister. There is no reason to wait.”

“There is no reason to rush.”

“There is every reason to rush,” Michiko said. “Sensei, you said the elders are expecting a breakthrough. I think I can achieve it. If the elders will let me try, it’s possible nothing will happen. I could be hurt. It’s also possible the entity will recognize me due to our birth connection and respond more quickly than she has to the elders.

“But the point is we will know right away. The elders’ result will be slow in coming and far from sure. This way is better.”

Desperate for a supportive face, Pearl-Ear turned to Riko, then Toshi. The student archer seemed overwhelmed by the scope of the discussion, but she had always been a clear and rational thinker. Pearl-Ear could tell by Riko’s expression that emotion and logic both had told her to support Michiko’s idea.

The ochimusha was another matter. During the audience with the elders he had pressed for direct and swift action, but now he was distracted, tense. Was he truly so afraid of O-Kagachi’s sudden arrival? Or was he simply uncomfortable acting in the open, where his actions could be seen and judged?

“Toshi,” Pearl-Ear said, “you have been very quiet.”

“I think we’re all doomed,” Toshi said. “I think we’ve already wasted enough time for O-Kagachi to be arriving any second. Either he or Konda will descend on this village and crush it in order to reclaim the prize.” He turned to Michiko. “Sorry, Princess, but that’s what I’ve seen.”

Michiko bowed slightly and encouraging Toshi to continue.

“The entity reacts differently to different people. She let me touch her, carry her, even toss her around. She tolerates me, but I don’t think she trusts me. She has no reason to.

“But Michiko is different. I think if she touches the disk, if she speaks to it, it will respond.” He shrugged. “That’s all.”

“But why do you care?” Pearl-Ear said. “You are not a prisoner. You can leave here any time you like.”

“I’d never get far enough,” Toshi said. “I’ve been … diminished since I saved you at Minamo. I can no longer travel that way I used to. When the fight for that stone disk starts, I’m going to be stuck here with the rest of you. Letting the entity go free is our best hope for avoiding the great serpent and the ghost army, and that’s my main goal.

“It’d also be a powerful ally.” A mental picture flashed across Toshi’s mind, his myojin’s mask shattered from a single blow. “I’ve seen her do amazing things.”

Pearl-Ear nodded. Toshi’s candor was welcome and, for a change, genuine. “Very well,” she said. “I shall petition the elders. If they agree, you may begin immediately. But if and when you do, we will take precautions. The elders and I will be standing by if anything threatens you, Michiko-hime. I will not allow you to be harmed. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Then we are agreed.”

Sharp-Ear smoothed the fur around his muzzle. “When will you go to the elders?”

“Now,” Pearl-Ear said.

The elders agreed quickly. Toshi suspected they had already reached the limit of what they could do some time ago, and so were happy to have an excuse to regroup. Pearl-Ear made a compelling case, however, so maybe the kitsune elders were simply convinced.

Whatever their reason, Silk-Eyes and the other two solemnly moved back to allow Michiko near the stone disk. Toshi, Riko, Pearl-Ear, and Sharp-Ear all stood behind her as the elders chanted a blessing and an invitation to the Taken One to come forth and be heard.

The princess’s face was calm, but her eyes anxious. Toshi tried to imagine what she was thinking, tried to guess which emotion was dominating the others. Fear? Guilt? Pride? Duty?

Toshi decided to offer what little help he could. “Michiko-hime,” he said, “you know how to approach her, right?”

The princess glanced back, annoyed. “What do you mean?”

“It’s like I told the elder,” Toshi said. “She let me touch her and carry her across half of Kamigawa, but she lashed out at anyone else who tried.”

“According to you,” Sharp-Ear added.

“According to me.” He turned to Pearl-Ear and gestured toward Michiko. “May I?”

Pearl-Ear stared at him for a moment and then nodded.

Toshi stepped up to the princess and bowed. “Give me your hands.” Michiko stretched out her arms with the palms up. Gently, almost reverently, Toshi took each of Michiko’s hands in turn between his. He turned her hands down and spread her fingers wide, his own digits moving gently across her down-turned palms.

“Like this,” he said. “Approach slowly and lay your hands on the surface of the disk.”

“Should I address her before or after we make contact?”

“I’d say before. I don’t know if she ever listened to me, but it’s worth a try. When you touch her, you’ll feel a shock almost like your hands are being slapped back. I think that’s all it will take. Once she recognizes you, she’ll be ready to talk. And I think we’ll all hear that.”

Michiko nodded. “Thank you, Toshi.” She finally turned and faced the ochimusha. “And if this doesn’t work? If she won’t speak to me, or even attacks?”

Toshi grimaced. “Let’s just hope for the best right now.”

Pearl-Ear stepped forward and said, “The elders are through, Michiko-hime. Whenever you’re ready you may begin.”

Toshi stepped back from Michiko and stood alongside Sharp-Ear. The little fox nudged him and whispered mockingly.

“Hope for the best?” Sharp-Ear chuckled. “They should hire you to motivate armies before the big battle starts.”

“I didn’t see you offering any encouragement.”

“Michiko,” Sharp-Ear called, “don’t be afraid. We believe in you.”

Toshi snorted derisively. “Oh, that’s much better than ‘Hope for the best.’ You sure showed me up.”

“Both of you be silent,” Pearl-Ear said. “Go on, Michiko-hime. Our prayers are with you.”

The princess strode gracefully forward as the kitsune elders continued their haunting chant. The soft lowing rose in pitch as Michiko stepped up to the disk and knelt before it. She called out to it as the Taken One, and then, as Toshi had instructed, Michiko placed her palms flat against the face of the stone disk below and to either side of the etched serpent.

White light crackled under Michiko’s hands, and her back arched. The sheen began to spread across the princess’s hands and up her forearms. Smoke rose from the Taken One, and the princess let out a deep, painful moan.

Sharp-Ear and Pearl-Ear shot forward like twin arrows from the same bow. They were twice as fast as Toshi, but he had positioned himself to stop them before they reached the princess.

“Don’t touch her!” Toshi sprinted as hard as he could, but the kitsune made him feel like he was standing still. They heard, however, and stopped within arm’s reach of the princess and the Taken One, their eyes heavy with concern.

Toshi caught up and circled the princess and the disk so he could see Michiko’s face. The princess’s eyes had gone murky white and her mouth moved soundlessly. Nearby, the kitsune elders’ chant reached its crescendo.

Michiko’s teeth snapped shut and she threw back her head. The stone disk vibrated under her palms, and the glow grew painfully bright. Then the princess jerked her head back down and stared directly at Toshi through shrouded eyes.

“Release me,” she said, but the voice was not her own.

“Sharp-Ear,” Pearl-Ear said, and her brother pounced. He landed on Michiko’s shoulders with both feet and both hands, his compact little body just the right weight to push her free without injuring her. Michiko’s mouth opened wide as Sharp-Ear forced her back, but her hands stuck to the stone disk. For a moment they hung suspended, Sharp-Ear bearing down with all his weight and strength and Michiko clinging to the Taken One. The disk rattled and shook below them, throwing off steam and light and cacophonous sound. The entire forest began to shake as motion and sound radiated out from the Taken One, engulfing the entire assembly.

Then the connection between the princess and the Taken One broke and Michiko fell back from the disk. Sharp-Ear curled himself around Michiko’s shoulders and cushioned her fall with his own body. The strange light winked out when Michiko’s hands left the stone disk, and the Taken One stopped rattling and became as lifeless stone once more.

“Michiko,” Sharp-Ear and Pearl-Ear said together.

“Please,” the princess said. “Let me up, sensei.”

Sharp-Ear scrambled to his feet and bowed, offering his hand to Michiko. She ignored it and rose on her own.

“We must do as she says,” Michiko said. She turned from Pearl-Ear to the elders to Sharp-Ear and then back. “She’s so angry, so frightened. She doesn’t understand any of this. Most kami choose to manifest in the physical world. She was forced to. It took her years to comprehend the word ‘release’ because she’s never been contained before.” She bowed her head to Pearl-Ear. “We have to help her, sensei.”

Pearl-Ear hugged her student, soothing her with a tender hand. “We will, child. We will.”

Sharp-Ear exhaled and dusted himself off. “Well, that was both disturbing and partially productive. Michiko-hime was able to reach the Taken One quickly. And she learned something new … perhaps not the most useful thing to learn, but it is a start.”

Michiko pushed back from Pearl-Ear and raised her hands. “I would like to try again. Please. She has seen me now, heard my voice. I think she will tell us more if I ask.”

Pearl-Ear shook her head. “The elders-”

“Wait,” said Sharp-Ear. “What is on your hands?”

Toshi quietly stepped back from the stone disk as confusion colored Michiko’s face. Before he could turn and run, Sharp-Ear was beside him with a short knife to his throat.

The foxman’s voice was cold and menacing. “What have you done, Toshi?”

He smiled down at the kitsune. “What we all agreed to do,” he said. “I just sped things up is all.”

Michiko stood staring at her palms. Each bore a single crimson kanji. On the left was written the symbol for “sister,” on the right, “union.” Numbly, the princess looked to the Taken One and saw the same kanji imprinted on the stone disk’s face, precisely where her hands had touched.

“You know,” Toshi said. “I really thought that would work.”

“What?” Sharp-Ear pressed the knife in deeper, raising a thin line of red. “You thought what would work?”

“Well, I used an old fugitive’s trick to hide the smell. It’s meant to throw off dogs and other scent-trackers, but it worked just as well here.” Toshi raised his own hands, slowly so as not to antagonize Sharp-Ear, and showed them his own clean palms.

“Are you telling me that’s blood?” Pearl-Ear stepped up to Michiko, who was still standing helplessly with her palms outstretched. The kitsune lowered her head to inspect the kanji. Then she turned and glared at Toshi’s hands. When she spoke, her voice was tight and tinged with cold horror.

“Yes,” Toshi said brightly. “Mine, in fact.”

“But why? Why would you do this?”

“I think we’ve spent enough time debating why. What difference does it make? It didn’t work.”

Sharp-Ear growled. “What didn’t work? What were you trying to do, besides insert your blasphemous magic into matters beyond your comprehension?”

“They’re sisters,” Toshi said. “We agreed to bring them together. I tried to encourage things along.”

By now several of the kitsune samurai had closed in and surrounded Toshi. Sharp-Ear kept the knife to his throat.

“Sister,” Sharp-Ear said, “can I kill him now?”

“No, brother. Bind him, and keep him under watch. We’ll have no more of his surprises today. Princess, I recommend-”

Temporarily forgotten, Michiko had gone back to the stone disk. She stood over it, her eyes vacant, and placed her palms over the smeared red kanji on the Taken One’s surface.

“Toshi is correct,” Michiko said. “This is my sister. And she must be free.” Michiko pressed her palms down.

The blast sent Toshi and Sharp-Ear hurtling back into the trunk of a thick century cedar. The fox’s knife bit slightly deeper than Toshi was comfortable with, but it was not a serious wound. On the positive side, Sharp-Ear was caught between Toshi and the tree, so the kitsune was crushed almost unconscious.

Toshi climbed off the stunned fox and dashed back to the ritual site. He hadn’t seen exactly what had happened, but whatever it was had flung Pearl-Ear, the elders, and even Michiko back from the Taken One. The disk itself had risen three feet off the ground, spinning on its axis and rotating end over end. It rattled furiously as smoke and light poured from its edges. A low hum started from within the stone, growing louder and more intense by the second.

Instinctively, Toshi dived behind the tree that had been holding the disk up. Seconds later, he heard another explosion and a terrible cracking sound. He pressed himself against the tree as a volley of hard, sharp objects embedded themselves in the opposite side.

The entire forest fell silent. Toshi exhaled, gathered his courage, and leaned out from behind his tree.

The stone disk was gone. In its place stood a tall figure shrouded in mist and smoke. It was tall, humanoid, and unrecognizable in the haze.

Good for me, he thought crazily. It had worked after all.