Guardian, Saviors of Kamigawa

CHAPTER 6

Toshi kneeled outside the mahotsukai stronghold in the early-morning sun. He was dressed once more in his standard outfit of nondescript black cloth and leather armor, and he meditated as he traced simple kanji characters in the sandy soil, sorting through the next stages of his plan. He had left the moth securely tethered with three days’ supply of the gray bricks. He would be back to collect the great beast long before it ran out of food or grew bored enough to wriggle free of its harness. Kiku was with him, so he just needed to collect Marrow-Gnawer to complete the current roster of hyozan reckoners and get this grand enterprise underway.

“Toshi!” Kiku’s voice was furious from within the building.

Quickly, Toshi stood and faced the door. Kiku came storming out, her hard eyes blazing with rage and her soft mouth twisted into a grimace. She was fully dressed once more, decked out in fine purple satin and silk and bearing her colorful tessen fan that was as much a weapon as it was an accessory. She also wore two fuetsu throwing axes on her belt and a vivid purple camellia flower on her high-collared blouse.

“Good morning,” Toshi said. “How did you-?”

Kiku grabbed Toshi by the shirtfront and slammed her forearm into his chest. Toshi grunted as the air left his lungs. Kiku continued to push him backward.

“What happened to my face?” she seethed. “Where is the masters’ spell?”

Indeed, the shadowy black sheen that had been crawling across her face was gone. Toshi had hoped it would take Kiku longer to notice its absence.

He gagged as Kiku tightened his shirt around his throat. “You asked me to get rid of it,” he choked. “Remember? ‘I’m not me with this’? Last night, you asked me last night …”

“I said and did a lot of things last night that I’m regretting right now,” Kiku said. She shoved Toshi back, releasing him to stumble and fall on his backside. “In fact, I’m seeing things quite clearly.” Smoothly, her hand slid up to the flower on her blouse and picked it off.

“Stop,” Toshi said urgently. “We are both hyozan. We can’t turn on each other.”

Kiku held the camellia gingerly between two fingers. This was Kiku’s chosen form of killing magic. Her blooms could poison an entire village’s water supply or devour a man from the inside out. Once the flower touched its intended target, it grew and lashed out according to its nature, its roots digging into flesh and its perfume overwhelming anything it touched.

“Funny,” she said. “But I recall you telling me not to invoke the oath last night.”

“That’s not how it works,” Toshi said curtly. “We’re meant to protect each other, and, if that’s not possible, avenge. If we harm each other, the oath itself will destroy us.” Toshi cursed inwardly. He had abandoned the hyozan oath when Night’s Reach demanded it, so Kiku could in fact kill him with impunity right now. The only reason she hadn’t that was she didn’t know she could.

So instead Kiku stood, flower at the ready, her gaze sharp enough to cut glass. “Give me back the masters’ curse. It was their will and is my duty.”

“I didn’t take it,” Toshi said. “At least, I didn’t take it for myself. I only did what you asked. After you fell asleep. Look.” He pointed.

Kiku did not take her eyes from Toshi. “No,” she said. “Show me.”

Toshi marched slowly to edge of the kanji he had drawn in the dirt. He bent and retrieved a small clay tablet and showed the dull brown plate’s face to Kiku. Etched into the surface of the hardened clay was a kanji, a magical symbol formed from the combined characters for “solid” and “shadow.”

“It’s here,” Toshi said. “Ready when you want it. The masters’ spell was hasty and rough, Kiku. The power it gave you would have consumed you inside of a week. Now you can hold it in your hands, keep it in check until you decide to use it. You know I can contain power this way. You’ve seen me do it with the yuki-onna. You have to trust me.” He spread his arms out wide, exposing his chest and throat.

“I did what you asked me to do. I did it because we’re partners. If you still think I’m playing you, then strike. Kill me, crack the tablet, and reclaim the power. If you survive breaking our oath … which you won’t … I guarantee you’ll be cackling and drooling and singing to yourself in a matter of days.”

Kiku’s eyes were clear. Toshi watched her jaw work as she considered his explanation.

“We’re still headed for the waterfall? Where the soratami are?”

“Absolutely. As soon as we collect Marrow-Gnawer, we can be there in no time.”

Kiku sniffed, turned away, and then reattached the flower to her collar. “I don’t see why we need the nezumi.”

“Because he’s part of the hyozan as well. Because he’s tougher, smarter, and braver than any other ratfolk in Takenuma.”

Kiku turned. Her face was beautiful but brittle, like a china doll cast in a perpetual sneer. “Forget it, ochimusha. The deal’s off.” She scooped up the clay tablet and tucked it into her belt. “I suppose I should thank you. I am thinking far more clearly without the masters’ curse.”

Toshi cocked his head. “If you’re thanking me, why are you-?”

“Because I no longer need you, now that I have this.” She patted the plate on her hip. “I can pursue my own path to vengeance. When I get the soratami where I want them, I’ll invoke it and kill them all.”

“But you’ll never-”

“Maybe not,” Kiku interrupted. “But now I might never have to. I will deal with this in my own way, in my own time. Thank you, oath-brother. Now piss off.”

Kiku turned away, and Toshi’s brain fairly whirred as the thoughts assembled themselves. He had to act quickly and speak carefully. He hadn’t wanted to do this, but he absolutely needed Kiku and Marrow to make his plans work.

“I will release you from the hyozan oath,” he said.

Kiku stopped. Slowly, she turned, a sly grin forming at the corners of her mouth.

“Say that again.”

“I’ll let you go,” Toshi said. “Do this one last thing with me. One last go-round for the hyozan reckoners. Work with me and Marrow to take down the soratami. You’ll be entirely free. No gang, no masters, no shadow curse, nothing to stop you from doing exactly as you like, whenever you like.”

Kiku stepped up to Toshi. She looked him full in the face, her maddening, enticing scent wafting up to his nostrils.

“Say it again,” she said. “Once more, and plainly. Toy with me and I’ll plant a bloom in your throat before you can breathe.”

“Once last job,” Toshi said. “Be a reckoner with Marrow and me one last time, and then the hyozan will cease to exist.”

Kiku shook her head, still smiling. “I knew you were lying. What about the ogre?”

“He’s still around, still a central pillar that supports the oath,” Toshi said. “And that’s how you know you can trust me.”

The gorgeous mahotsukai’s eyebrows raised, but she said nothing.

“Our first stop,” he said, “is Minamo Academy. That’s where the soratami are. And that is where Hidetsugu is, actively and enthusiastically pursuing his own grudge against the moonfolk and their patron kami. With our help, he will very likely succeed.”

Kiku toyed with her flower. “And if he can’t?”

Toshi held her eyes. “If he can’t or won’t, we go on without him. If he tries to stop us, we destroy him.”

Realization flashed across Kiku’s face. “Which you cannot do if the oath is still in place. But as long as he thinks it’s in place, he won’t attack us.” She grinned mirthlessly. “I like it.”

“Told you I was crafty.”

“No, I told you you were crafty. And I was drunk when I said it.” She paused. “All right, ochimusha, you win. But let me out of your little gang now, before we take another step.”

“Bad idea,” Toshi said. “Without the oath, Hidetsugu can hurt you. He hasn’t been the most rational being lately, and I wouldn’t trust him to restrain himself. He might suffer for killing us, but we’d still be dead.”

Kiku looked at him icily.

“Also,” Toshi added, “if I let you off the hook now, there’s no guarantee that you’ll come with me … or leave me alive, for that matter. I need your help and I want to stay alive, so I’m going to wait a little while longer.”

Kiku stood and stared for a while. Slowly, she started to nod, and the gesture grew stronger until she was shaking her purple-black hair vigorously up and down.

“All right. I know there’s a lot you’re not telling me, but that’s just you. Even so, you make a compelling case. It will be nice to be free of certain … entanglements for a change.” Kiku pressed her palms together and bowed slightly. “You win, Toshi. Let’s go.”

“You won’t regret it.” Toshi was careful not to let the relief show on his face. He needed Kiku’s power, even without her masters’ curse enhancing it. He hoped convincing Marrow-Gnawer would be easier, because even though the ratman was far less useful in a fight, he was ultimately as important to the job as Kiku or even Toshi himself.

Kiku straightened up and took a step closer to Toshi. She trailed a finger up his throat and touched his lips.

“Do you remember last night?” she cooed. “Every thing we did, every sound we made, every sensation we felt?”

Toshi nodded, enthusiastically earnest for the first time in a long time. “Every second, Kiku.”

She chucked him gently under the chin. “Good,” she said. “Because it’s never going to happen again.”

The mahotsukai turned and wafted into the dwelling. Toshi waited until she was completely out of sight, then blew a long, thin stream of relief between his pursed lips.

So far, so good, he thought.

They found Marrow-Gnawer in the western quadrant of Takenuma. The nezumi-bito ratfolk were everywhere in the swamp, but most of them made their homes as far from human society as they could. They were generally vicious and filthy creatures, but they were tough and cunning and could follow orders. Marrow was a leader among his people due to his size, his smarts, and his long history of working with humans. There was no job too dirty for a nezumi, but Marrow brought a bit of competence and common sense to his criminal endeavors.

As Kiku and Toshi approached the huge nest Marrow’s people had excavated into the side of a hill, they noticed hundreds of yellow pinpricks staring at them. Fiery rat eyes shined from the brush, from behind trees, from holes in the ground. Usually, a crowded nezumi den would be a noisy, chattering mess, but despite so many ratfolk being nearby, the hillside was eerily silent.

Marrow emerged from the nest and motioned for Toshi and Kiku to stop. They waited as the ratman dropped to all fours and scurried toward them.

He was big for a nezumi, almost four and a half feet tall, and he was armed with a rusting but viciously sharp short sword. His rough-woven clothes were caked with grime and threadbare, but he had covered his chest with a piece of someone else’s shield and fashioned a leather harness into crude protective headgear.

Marrow stopped a few feet away and tentatively sniffed the air. Satisfied, he rose and offered a cringing little bow. “Fellow reckoners,” he said, “it’s not safe here.”

Toshi looked around. “Soratami?”

Marrow shook his head. “Kami,” he said. “The spirits have been very restless for the past few days. We’ve got nowhere else to go, so we’re digging in until things settle down.”

Toshi pulled back his sleeve and showed Marrow the false hyozan mark there. “We’ve got reckoner business, oath-brother. The nest will have to manage without you for a little while longer.”

Marrow glanced back at the yellow eyes watching him from the tunnel entrance. His voice suddenly rose, echoing off the hillside. “I can’t possibly leave now, oath-brother,” he declared. “As the pack elder, my place is here.” Marrow’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m in,” he hissed. “Take me with you.”

Toshi cocked his head, confused.

“No, don’t argue.” Marrow’s voice rang out loud and clear. “My people need me.” Whispering again, he said, “Come on, Toshi. Get me out of here. We’re crammed in there six-deep, and I don’t know how much longer I can take it.”

Toshi opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Marrow bawled, “All right, then. An oath is an oath.” He winked at the ochimusha.

A concerned chattering began to rise inside the hill. The other nezumi didn’t seem happy about their new elder leaving them to fend for themselves.

“Do you need to get anything?” Toshi muttered. “Maybe you should say goodbye, soften the blow a bit. They seem upset.”

Marrow-Gnawer stared at Toshi for a long moment, and the ochimusha could almost see the thoughts assembling in the nezumi’s brain. When everything fit, the little brute’s eyes snapped open and he flashed a devilish grin.

“Good idea, oath-brother. Soften the blow.” He turned to Kiku and his smile widened. “That’s why he’s in charge.” Marrow turned back to the nest, where the most anxious of his fellows was just starting to emerge from the tunnel entrance. They blinked in the evening gloom and waited expectantly for him to speak.

“You’re on your own,” Marrow called happily. “Goodbye.” He waved, his tail swishing in the grass behind him. He stopped, tightened his belt, and turned to Toshi. “All done. Let’s go.”

As their new leader walked away without looking back, the hidden nezumi began to wail. Toshi stood uncomfortably for a moment in the growing chorus of mournful groans and gnashing teeth. He turned to Kiku and shrugged.

“That was easier than I expected,” he said.

Kiku had always hated working with the ratfolk. She spoke through a fine silk handkerchief she was holding over her mouth and nose to blunt the stench wafting from the hillside. “Quite. Very easy. In fact, extremely easy.” She sniffed. “Almost worth the effort.”

“True.” Toshi started after Marrow. “I still feel like I got off light. I didn’t even have to kiss him to get him on board.

“Don’t hit me,” he said without turning. “We’re still oath-bound.” Toshi tried not to smirk as he walked away from the rats’ nest. He could almost hear Kiku’s rage mounting. “And don’t take it out on the nezumi, either.”

Marrow stood waiting just out of sight of the hill. Toshi stopped on the path just before he himself would have dropped out of sight and looked back. Kiku was still seething outside the tunnel entrance, so Toshi waved for her to catch up.

Instead, the mahotsukai said something sharp to the rats in the tunnel and beckoned them closer. Still speaking through her handkerchief, Kiku gestured with her free hand until the rats nodded enthusiastically. Then she reached into her purse and tossed a few silver coins onto the ground. As the nezumi scrambled for the cash, Kiku turned and marched toward Toshi.

Toshi smiled, but Kiku stormed past him without speaking. Still grinning, he fell in behind her and kept pace as she went down the path.

“I hope you didn’t hire them to kill me after the oath is broken,” he called. “You’d still have to answer for it.”

“I did no such thing.” Kiku did not turn. She strode past Marrow without acknowledging him and continued on her way.

“So what was the cash for? Charity?”

“I told them how to spell your name. I gave them more than they could earn in a year.” The mahotsukai stopped, planted her hands on her hips, and tossed her hair from her eyes. “And in exchange, they’re going to write your name at the bottom of every nezumi latrine, chamber-pot, and cesspool in the area. Just in case we don’t survive this, oath-brother, I wanted to make sure that I left a fitting tribute to you behind.” She smiled coldly, her eyes daring Toshi to respond.

After a moment’s consideration, Toshi said, “Hmm. Okay, that is a good one.” He raised his hands. “I surrender, mahotsukai. For now.”

Kiku rolled her eyes and turned back down the path. Once she was clear, Marrow sniggered and pointed at Toshi.

“Let’s move, oath-brother,” Toshi said. “I’ll explain what we’re up to on the way.”

Still tickled, Marrow darted off after Kiku. Toshi waited for a moment, fought back the laugh he felt building in his own throat, and then followed. He’d have to remember the nezumi latrine treatment the next time someone annoyed him. That was, in fact, a good one. But that wasn’t the only reason he’d decided to let Kiku have the last word.

The hyozan was all but over, its two founders openly declared against each other. The future of the group and everyone in it now depended on Kiku and Marrow, though they did not have the slightest idea what that meant or what impact it would have. And the reason they had no idea was because Toshi hadn’t told them, would never tell them, and would in fact keep them ignorant for as long as he could. Because if they knew, Marrow and Kiku both would surely turn and tear him to pieces before he took another step.

Toshi unsheathed his jitte, spun it around his index finger, and then jogged to catch up to the others.