Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa

CHAPTER 20

Pearl-Ear woke to the distant sound of an urgent voice and the unpleasant sensation of being shaken.

"Lady Pearl-Ear! Open your eyes! She's gone! We have to find her!"

Pearl-Ear groaned and pushed the clutching hand from her shoulder. She cracked one eye and saw Choryu kneeling over her as water dripped from the trees overhead.

"Michiko," she said.

"That's right, Michiko. She's not here with you. Where did they take her?"

Pearl-Ear's eyes opened wide. "Orochi-bito," she said. "Is everyone all right?" She struggled to sit up, and Choryu roughly pulled her onto her knees.

"Everyone's alive," he said, "but we're not out of danger. They seem to be preparing a major ritual. I think they plan to sacrifice us to their patron spirit."

"Of course they won't," Pearl-Ear said. "Lady Silk-Eyes sent us here."

"That vision came from a kami, probably the same one that wants to consume her at the orochi ritual."

She blinked, her brain still fuzzy and uncomprehending. "Did you say Michiko is not here?"

"I did, and she isn't. That ochimusha scum is gone, too." He pointed to the withered cedar, now little more than a tower of ash held together by a skin of diseased bark. "That looks like his handiwork to me. He might be dead, though. I found the body of the budoka giant he was with-the orochi had him strung up between two trees."

"No, he escaped." Pearl-Ear looked up. "I remember his face," she said. "The ochimusha. He was standing over me. It felt like a dream."

"You've been poisoned," Choryu said. "You're lucky to be alive. Why wasn't he affected?"

"Maybe he's a poisoner himself," Pearl-Ear said. "Maybe he's built up a tolerance."

"Or maybe he's working for the orochi. They did attack right after he showed up."

Pearl-Ear rose to her feet, wobbling slightly. "No, that's not right. He fought with us when the snakes came," she said.

"He fought against them at the same time we did. I don't think he even noticed we were there. I think he and the giant were fighting for the right to take Michiko themselves." Choryu turned away. "Now I wish it was the lowlife's body I found."

"Wake the others," Pearl-Ear said. "We're all getting out of here, now. We must find Michiko."

"That's what I've been yelling in your face for the past ten minutes," Choryu groused. He went to Riko and shook her, sternly calling her name.

Pearl-Ear bent at the waist and examined the ground near the withered tree. He had been here. His aura scent was different than before, smokier, more tinged with magic. She realized she had underestimated the sharp-tongued traveler. He was a powerful mage, though she did not yet understand his methods.

Behind her, Choryu had succeeded in waking the rest of the party. They were all stiff and confused, but their heads were clearing. There was no fear on any of their faces as they came to understand their predicament, only anger and determination. Even Sharp-Ear looked enraged, something Pearl-Ear hadn't seen since they both were kits.

"Michiko is missing," Pearl-Ear told them. "The orochi-bito are preparing a kami ritual. We must not be here when it occurs, and we must make sure that Michiko isn't either." "She's not missing," Choryu said. "She's gone. I saw them put her in a hut just over the ridge to the east. I went by there before I came here, and the hut is empty. Someone killed the guards and took her."

"Who, Toshi?" Sharp-Ear craned his neck, stretching the vertebrae. "The ochimusha?"

"Who else?"

"Well, there's you," Sharp-Ear said. "How is it that you weren't captured with us?"

"Choryu came back for us," Riko said. "How dare you-"

"Comes with being a trickster," Sharp-Ear said. "The unfortunate habit of seeking hidden motives and ascribing them to unexplained occurrences." He smiled disarmingly. "I think my vocabulary is returning. So," he spoke to Choryu, "why weren't you captured?"

Choryu simply glared at Sharp-Ear, almost sputtering with rage.

"Well?" Frost-Tail said. The brothers had all been disarmed, but they flexed their fingers menacingly.

"I am a water wizard." Choryu spoke slowly, with as much dignity as he could summon. "I defended myself with magic. When the snakes overwhelmed the group, I conjured a swift stream to carry me away. I stayed out of sight and watched until it was safe to wake you, and then I did. You'd still be in a stuporous sleep, dreaming of clever word games, if not for me."

"I am satisfied Choryu is no coward," Pearl-Ear said.

"As am I," Riko added.

Sharp-Ear nodded. "Fair enough. It's a good thing you were able to remain out of sight, Choryu. It would have been dangerous to act alone.

"Now, if your pride will allow it, wizard: take us to this hut where you last saw Michiko."

Toshi set the princess down on the crest of a gradual incline. There were no trees here and he had a clear view of the cloudy night sky.

From this vantage point he could see the small ring of fires the orochi had lit for their ritual. By now, he reasoned they had discovered his abduction of the princess. Judging by the sounds of an angry snake mob that filtered up through the cedars, they were no longer interested in stealth and were hot for his blood. He had perhaps half an hour before they caught up to him.

Toshi fished in his pack and broke out his good jitte and a small cloth parcel. He undid the string and peeled back the cloth, setting three drab, rectangular objects on the ground. He placed a small vial of bluish-white liquid on top of the soft bricks and wrapped his hand around the jitte, feeling its comfortable heft and testing its balance.

It was the finest weapon he had, forged from an alloy of steel, silver, and magic. Normally, the strength of the spell lay in the kanji he cast, the medium he used, and his own will power. This jitte acted like a mystical filter, clarifying and concentrating his spellwork to its purest and most powerful essence.

Toshi opened the vial and carefully poured the liquid along the length of the jitte's central tine. He crouched and traced three large kanji in the dirt at the top of the hill. When he was through he retrieved the soft, gray bricks from the parcel and stood over the princess, watching the sky.

The wind kicked up while he waited. It raised goosebumps on his wet skin, but the breeze was also moving the rain clouds. Good. That would make the journey easier.

Toshi waited patiently until a flicker of motion caught his eye. Far in the distance, a huge flying shape materialized between the clouds, glowing softly under the reflected light of the crescent moon.

The great moths of Towabara were rare and hard to train, and thus prized among the elite retainers in the Daimyo's service. A capable rider could use a moth to cover an entire day's march in a few hours. An expert could ride the great insects into battle and rain terror down on his enemies at speeds faster than the mightiest horse. The Daimyo's moth riders were the elite warriors of all Kamigawa. There was nowhere they could not go, no enemy they could not best.

The great silver-white moth sailed on, drawing closer. It began to circle Toshi's hilltop, gradually decreasing its altitude until it was making circles around Toshi himself. Then, it gently came to rest on the soil, delicately balanced on its six legs, its shimmering powdered wings rising and falling in the moonlight.

Toshi had encountered this moth after a pitched battle between sanzoku bandits and the Daimyo's forces. Its rider had been shot out of the saddle, and his dead weight dragged the moth itself down to the ground. Its reins became hopelessly tangled in branches of a fallen tree that had been set alight by a flaming arrow. Toshi approached the panicked insect out of curiosity, but he was soon startled to find that the beast was semi-intelligent. It understood its predicament and it wanted him to help.

Toshi had beat back the flames but did not extinguish the fire. Always best to negotiate from a position of strength. The proud beast refused to be bound for life, but Toshi was able to strike a bargain with it. If it agreed to carry him when he called, the moth could do whatever it wanted in the meantime, free from the Daimyo's endless campaigning. Five rides on demand, and the moth would both survive and regain the freedom of the skies. In the end, it agreed to be bound according to their compact, and he coated his good jitte with the dust from its wings before scratching a kanji onto its back.

The soft bricks were part of the rider's kit, composed of soft vegetable matter that would never spoil. There were eight bricks in the rider's pack when Toshi found the moth. To symbolize their deal, Toshi destroyed all but five before he let it go, keeping these as markers to be exchanged for transport.

The moth made no sound but for the gentle wind stirred by its wings. Toshi approached it now, holding out the parcel of three food bricks out before him with both hands.

"I've got another deal," Toshi said.

The moth's antennae twitched. It was listening.

"I've got three rides left," Toshi said. "And there's two of us here." He pointed back to the unconscious Michiko. "You take her and me together, now, and I will consider your end of the bargain fulfilled." He laid the bricks in front of the moth and stepped back. He pointed to Michiko, then himself.

"Me and her," Toshi said. "Then you're done."

The moth lowered its head and lapped at the first brick with its tubular tongue. It punched through the outer skin and drew in a mouthful of the soggy interior. Then it turned and tasted each of the two remaining bricks.

"So," Toshi said. "We have a deal?"

The moth's legs rose and fell like a wave as it turned its back to Toshi. It lowered its wings almost to the soil and kept them there.

"Done and done," Toshi said. He turned around, lifted Michiko up, and placed her on the moth's back. He climbed on behind her, marveling for perhaps the last time at how such a seemingly delicate creature could carry so much weight so far, so fast, and so high.

It took almost a minute of steady beats before the moth's wings were able to lift both riders off the ground. In the distance, Toshi heard the orochi-bito rabble drawing ever closer. He smiled cruelly and spit towards the sound.

"West," he told his steed. "I'll tell you when to stop."

The moth rose high into their, through the clouds, and then over them. Toshi held the reins tightly in his fists, but he gave the moth plenty of slack. It had never liked to be steered, and with its freedom so close, he imagined it would be even less tolerant.

Michiko moaned slightly and slumped back against Toshi's chest. He tightened his arms around her, keeping the reins clear of her fluttering robe, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

As they soared through the moonlight, Toshi huddled against Michiko for warmth and took in the cold, stark splendor of the nighttime sky.

The snakes stayed on the incline until the moon was low over the horizon. Pearl-Ear and her party had followed Toshi's well-hidden tracks this far, but the agitated mass of orochi-bito kept them from climbing higher. Sharp-Ear observed that at least everyone was looking for Michiko and not guarding them, but Pearl-Ear took no comfort from this.

Now the orochi were slithering back down the incline, heading for their ritual clearing. Pearl-Ear, Riko, and Choryu sat huddled under a camouflage of twigs and wet leaves. It was uncomfortable, but it kept them safe from the orochi. Dawn-Tail was hidden nearby in case they were discovered, but Sharp-Ear, Frost-Tail, and Blade-Tail had all stolen off to reconnoiter.

They waited until the last orochi came down, then for another long stretch to make sure there were no more. Then, Frost-Tail returned from the crest.

"The trail dies all at once," he said. "Michiko is definitely with him, and she's very much alive."

Riko closed her eyes. "At least there's that."

Pearl-Ear was less encouraged. "Which way did they go?"

"No idea. The trail stops cold. It just disappears. You think that ochimusha knows teleportation?"

"I don't know what he knows," Pearl-Ear said in frustration. "That's what makes him dangerous."

Blade-Tail materialized out of the shadows. "The orochi are performing the ritual anyway. There's several hundred of them, all hissing and chanting to the Myojin of Life's Web." The kitsune warrior scowled. "Such a grand name makes me nervous."

"The spirit's followers concern me more," Pearl-Ear said.

Sharp-Ear emerged from the woods a few moments later. He had lost some of his vivacious spark.

"I found something," he said. "Come with me."

"Is it safe?" Choryu was holding Riko's hand in the gloom.

"Everyone but us is at the ritual," Sharp-Ear said. "I think they've written us off. If they were ever interested in the first place."

The group collected themselves and followed Sharp-Ear back toward the pen that had held them. As they drew closer, he veered off and led them up a short, rocky ridge.

From the summit, Pearl-Ear looked down. "Who is that?"

"That," Sharp-Ear said, "is Toshi's friend. The big lad with the studded club."

"They killed him," Riko said. "Choryu saw it."

"I saw what you're seeing right now," the wizard added quickly. "I haven't been any closer than this, but I assumed he was dead."

"He's dead all right," Sharp-Ear agreed. "I'd offer to let you stay here, Michiko-hime, but the situation does not allow it. Don't look if the body upsets you."

Sharp-Ear motioned with his head. "Come on. You all need to see this."

They went down into the glen silently. At the foot of the soil platform, Pearl-Ear took in the wretched site.

"I believe," Sharp-Ear said, "they were trying to keep him immobile. That's why he was separated from us and brought here. They were afraid he might know enough forest magic to escape."

"There's not a mark on him," Blade-Tail said. "Except for that bruise around his chest. You think they smothered him?"

"That's one way to kill a giant," Sharp-Ear said.

From the edge of the clearing, Choryu stepped away from Riko and peered at the marks on the trees. "What do those mean?"

Sharp-Ear leaped up and landed next to one of the trees.

"This," he said, "is the same symbol our thug friend had tattooed on his hand. The giant has the same symbol branded on his chest."

"It says, 'hyozan,"' Riko called. "Iceberg."

Blade-Tail looked at Frost-Tail. "Reckoners?"

His brother nodded.

Choryu came to the edge of the platform. "What's that, then?"

"Vendetta gangs from the Takenuma Swamp," Blade-Tail said. "Tightly knit, fiercely loyal. They mark themselves so their enemies will know: strike at one, and the entire group responds."

Choryu's brow wrinkled. "Didn't do much good as a deterrent, did it?"

Dawn-Tail shook his head. "Most reckoners would rather avenge than deter. They're like fighting dogs without an arena."

Choryu nodded to the second tree. "And that? What do those symbols mean?"

Sharp-Ear cocked his head, his mouth working as he tried to sound out the words. "Not entirely sure," he said. "It's some kind of a poem, or a warning."

"A poem? How is that supposed to frighten people?"

"'The iceberg travels upstream,"' Riko intoned. She was squinting in the moonlight and reciting the words as she read them. '"Choking it off at its source. The river runs dry, dead and forsaken, yet the iceberg endures. The river has made a terrible mistake, and the hyozan now rises to destroy it."'

'"We will kill you,"' Riko said quietly. She was staring intently at the characters on the tree, taking longer pauses between phrases as she translated in her head.

'"We will burn your fields, steal your treasure, destroy your house, and enslave your children. We will murder your spouse, poison your pets, and blaspheme on the graves of your ancestors. We will do all this, and the only way to avoid it is if we never find you."

Riko swallowed. She looked at the group, her wide, frightened eyes moving from face to face.

"We've already found you," she concluded.

They all stood silent and daunted as the rain began anew.

"Who's that meant for?" Choryu asked. "The snakes?"

Frost-Tail replied. "It's meant for whoever killed the giant."

"Yes, but what's the point? Is he trying to intimidate them?"

"In part. But it's more like a minor charm, or hex," Dawn-Tail said. "The power of suggestion plays on the mind of the person responsible. If you tell someone they're being hunted, it distracts them, makes them easier prey."

"Especially if they're guilty," Blade-Tail said. "The thugs and brigands in the marsh have a terrible fear of revenge magic. Part of it's superstition and part of it's experience they know how far some reckoners will take these vendettas. Sometimes all it takes to make your enemy disappear is to scare them off."

Choryu nodded. "So he's just trying to rattle the orochi-bito."

"No," the three kitsune brother said together.

Blade-Tail went on. "I've never seen a reckoner's warning as complex as this. I think he earnestly means to get even."

"Very well," Pearl-Ear said. "We could wait here for the ochimusha to come back and exact his revenge, but I submit we must pursue him. Whatever else is true and whomever he has sworn to kill, he has Michiko."

"But how do we know where he went?"

"He is from the Takenuma Swamp. The marsh lies almost due west from here, but Towabara lies in between. He will not take the Daimyo's captive daughter anywhere near the Daimyo's tower. Nor will he go north, nor east, because those only lead to more forest."

Sharp-Ear nodded. "South, then? To the edge of the Sokenzan Mountains, on to Numai?"

"South," Pearl-Ear said. "You and Riko will have to keep up, Choryu. Once we are clear of orochi territory, we kitsune will move with all available speed. We cannot wait for you." "We will not lag far behind."

"Good. We are unarmed and traveling through hostile country. When we reach our goal, we will face a powerful and ruthless mage. And we will strike him down. Princess Michiko must be recovered safely."

"How do we know she's still alive?" Riko asked. "He might have killed her already."

"If he has," Pearl-Ear felt real steel in her voice, and it both frightened and fortified her. "Then he will face our reckoning, and it will be more terrible than any even he can imagine."