Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa

CHAPTER 21

Michiko awoke from a dream about flying, laughing a little.

She was flying, soaring high above the clouds on a moonlit night. She was on a beautiful tour of Kamigawa on the back of one of her father's exquisite battle moths.

The cold wind fluttered her hair across her face, and Michiko frowned behind it. Her hands were bound. Her right shoulder was one massive ache. What had she been doing before the dream?

"Lady Pearl-Ear," she sat upright, but a pair of lean, strong arms clamped around her, holding her in place.

"Careful, Princess." The ochimusha's smooth, warm voice felt good in her ear. "We're too high up to risk a fall."

"Lady Pearl-Ear," Michiko said. She tossed her head to clear the hair from her face. "Where is my sensei? Where are my friends?"

"Safe, Princess, safe. We had to get you out of there in a hurry. You might say this moth owed me a favor. He rescued us on my request." The tough tugged gently on the reins, easing the moth down. "Now you owe me a favor."

"I appreciate your help and your kindness," Michiko said. "But I must see the other members of my party. Where are they?"

He hooked his thumb back over his shoulder, almost brushing Michiko's cheek. "About a thousand yards back and a hundred feet down."

Michiko stiffened in his embrace, pushing away with her elbows. "I saw them fall," she said. "I watched the orochi-bito bite them." She turned her head as far as she could, but still only caught a glimpse of Toshi's face. "I saw them bite you, too."

"We were all bit," Toshi said. "Some of us just recovered faster."

The moth continued to descend, bringing them through a thick layer of white clouds.

"Where are we?" Michiko said. "Where are you taking me?"

"To a safe place."

"Where?" she persisted. "Where is this safe place?"

"Near Towabara."

"Everything is near Towabara. It lies at the center of Kamigawa."

"Quiet, now, Princess," Toshi said. "I need to steer the moth."

Michiko's eyes narrowed as she watched the clouds flow by. "Who told you I was a princess?"

Toshi paused, then chuckled. "Oddly enough, it was the orochi-bito. But I don't think they meant to."

"Land this animal at once," Michiko said. "Or take me to my father. I will not go any further with you."

"I'm afraid that's not up to you, Princess." Toshi's soothing voice hardened. "My partner was murdered tonight. Do you remember Kobo? Large fellow, bald, build like a mountain? He was younger than you, and now he's dead. I am oath-bound to avenge him."

"I am sorry about your friend. But why do you need me?" Michiko asked. "What has any of this to do with me?"

"I knew you'd ask that. I've been working on a succinct answer. Ready?"

Michiko huffed in exasperation. "Yes, yes, just answer my question."

"Whoever killed my partner also wants you. I need to keep you close until they catch up. When they do, I'll be ready."

"You're a liar," Michiko said evenly. "You intend to ransom me for profit."

"Absolutely. But that doesn't make me a liar."

Michiko decided to say no more. She worked her wrists inside her bonds, straining to create some slack. The sturdy vines were cinched tight, however, and she accomplished nothing.

A hilly section of dense forest below was quickly rising to meet them. She could see some of the tallest Sokenzan peaks in the distance.

Lady Pearl-Ear will find me, she thought. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer to the white myojin, for her salvation, and to the Sun, that she might be found quickly under its all-seeing eye.

Her prayers finished, Michiko began working the bonds on her wrist once more, just in case.

The main gates to the Daimyo's castle in Eiganjo were flung wide. Mere days ago, General Takeno had ordered a mixed punitive force of infantry and cavalry north to the Jukai border to engage the akki army that was raiding there. He had heard nothing from Captain Nagao or the kitsune village since the riders came bearing news of an akki-bandit incursion into the Jukai.

From his position at one of the highest chambers in the tower, Takeno looked down on the courtyard. Things were coming apart, just as had been predicted just as the Daimyo had warned. It was a taxing time for the nation and their people, but Konda had not unified a nation by wilting in the face of hard decisions. The Daimyo believed true victory was in sight, if they only had the strength to endure the journey. If he had purity of purpose to earn it.

The general turned back to face Daimyo Konda, who was staring up at his beloved statue. It still sizzled and smoked as it had on the night it had come. The proof of Konda's divine right to rule, the essence of his power made manifest. So long as it was his, neither he nor his kingdom could be diminished.

The surface of the statue seethed, throwing off waves of heat distortion. Konda grinned, but Takeno was worried. The Daimyo loved to be close by when the stone figure showed signs of life. In his more lucid and talkative moments, Konda likened it to basking in the light of a perfect sunset-the light improved him, inside and out.

The statue suddenly blinked out, light and radiant motion alike severed in mid-revel. The temperature in the room plummeted, and to Takeno's horror, the statue toppled onto its face.

The Daimyo cried out incoherently as he ran to the stone pedestal. He called for Takeno to come help him reposition the stone.

But the general was old, and unlike his lord, Takeno was feeling the effects of his age. He was able to ride and shoot a bow better than any of his subordinates, but his knees ached and he had trouble walking quickly.

Impatiently, Konda crouched and wrapped his fingers around the statue. The Daimyo tensed, and then Konda's body began to glow. Pale white light surrounded his body, creating a barrier between the ruler's hands and the statue's surface. To Takeno, it seemed as if the glow was doing the work while the Daimyo controlled it from within the envelope of light.

Alone, Konda hauled the rough chunk of stone onto its side. He dropped to his knees and inspected the statue's face. It was undamaged, the markings still sharp, crisp, and unbroken. The Daimyo hung his head for a moment, whispered a prayer of thanks to himself, and then climbed to his feet.

Takeno stood where he was, hesitant to draw the Daimyo's attention. Konda's rapture-fueled strength came infrequently, but always when the ruler had been communing with his stone. Takeno had seen Konda accidentally crush the bones and stave in the armor of his own soldiers, unaware or unconcerned about his surges of devastating strength.

Now, the Daimyo bent his back once more and guided the great stone up. Again, he seemed to be lifting it, but the glow grew brighter and more distinct as it actually did the work.

When Konda was done, the monarch slumped to the floor with his back to the pedestal. He tilted his head back, allowed his eyes to wander across the ceiling, and then slowly lowered his eyelids.

As if in a dream, Takeno saw clear flashes of Princess Michiko. She was riding on the back of a battle moth, she was being led into a sheltered cave in the woods. Her hands were bound. Her face was anxious.

Konda roared and bolted upright. "My daughter!" he boomed. "Has she been returned to the tower?"

"No, my lord. She is still missing."

"Unacceptable! Where is Captain Nagao?"

"He was sent to retrieve the princess. He is also missing."

The Daimyo's wandering eyes drifted past the boundaries of their own sockets. A swirl of wind lifted Konda's hair and mustache as a strange, liquid light gathered around his head.

"Where is Michiko? Is she truly being held prisoner in the hinterlands as my vision portrayed?"

Takeno bowed. "I do not understand the power of your vision, my lord. But I saw it, too. I believe it is worth exploring."

"This will not do!" The Daimyo leaped to his feet and stormed to the chamber door. He opened it and bellowed, "Takeno! Bring me General Takeno!"

"I am here, my lord."

Konda closed the door and pressed his back against it. He stared at the statue, looking right past the general. Takeno followed Konda's eyes, to where the stone disk floated, smoking and steaming once more as strange lights played across its surface.

"Takeno is here, my lord. What do you require of me?"

"Stay where you are." Konda pulled the door open just enough to squeeze through, then descended the stairs slowly, regally. Takeno hurried as fast as he could, catching up with Konda on the second stair down.

"My lord." The old soldier kept his head bowed as they continued down the stairs.

"My daughter," Konda said. "Has been taken hostage."

They had come to the bottom of the stairs. Takeno straightened and placed his hand on his sword. "What must I do, my lord?"

Konda took him by the shoulders. "Gather a cavalry division. Gather two. In fact, General, assemble three full divisions of mounted retainers. The gates are open. I want them riding out at dawn tomorrow."

"It will be done, my lord. Where is the battle?"

Konda snapped his fingers and called, "Map." Takeno's aide stepped forward from the corner of the room and unfurled a long paper tube, kneeling as he held it up for the Daimyo to read.

"There," Konda pointed to a spot in the hinterlands. "She's being held there. Whoever has her will probably ransom her to bandits rather than deal with us directly. I want those divisions to be very visible, General. Anyone who dares meet with her abductors will see the full force of Towabara's rage poised to come down on them like lightning from the sky.

"Search every inch of this quadrant until you find her. Check every cave; open every rotted log; drag every pond. There will be no trial for her captors. Bring me their heads and bring me my daughter. That is what you must do."

"I shall, my lord."

"You have all my trust, General. Do as I have bid you."

Takeno saluted again and marched from the room, his aides trailing behind.

Toshi kept expecting Michiko to try to escape, but all she did was sit in his hideout and stare at the wall. Maybe princesses were above petty concerns like being held captive.

He was pleased that she kept trying to wriggle out of the bonds around her wrists. As long as she was doing that, she wasn't doing anything that might actually help her escape. He had explained to her that even if she got loose, subdued him, and made it out of the cave, she was more than a day's walk from anywhere. She would die of thirst in the badlands, and if she went back into the forest looking for food, something would eat her instead.

She listened when he talked, but she never agreed and she continued to work on freeing her hands when she thought he couldn't see. Oh, well, he thought, and resigned himself to another pretty face that would never trust him again.

He had been sad to see the moth fly away for the last time, but he felt like theirs had been a mutually beneficial arrangement. He had also been satisfied with the distance they had put between themselves and orochi country, but they had been stationary for several hours and he was growing uneasy. The cave had seemed quite safe when he was on the moth's back. Now that he was here, it felt like another cell.

Part of it was the boredom. With nothing to do but wait, the magnitude of what he had done started to overwhelm him. He had snatched the Daimyo's daughter. Who besides Konda would even touch a ransom deal? Boss Uramon would have no part of it-she did too much business on the Towabara border. Godo would love to get his hands on Konda's offspring, but the bandit chief would certainly cut Toshi out of the deal probably by cutting Toshi's head from his body.

He even considered making a run for Hidetsugu's, but even though he knew he could hold out there indefinitely, he didn't relish the idea of explaining how he had forestalled vengeance for Kobo so he could parley the Daimyo's daughter into something for himself. Hidetsugu was bound to be very emotional about the loss of his apprentice, and it didn't pay to be too close to an angry o-bakemono.

Toshi stood, keeping his head low so as to avoid the low ceiling, and walked to the mouth of the cave. He remembered how persecuted he felt with the soratami hounding him out of Numai. Now, just about every species in the world was after him or the princess.

"My boy," an amiable voice said. "You don't know the half of it."

Toshi spun around. The voice seemed to come from right behind him, but there was no one in the cave but

Michiko. He turned again and looked out into the dim pre-dawn sky.

The moon was still up, a vertical crescent of silver. It hung just over the tops of the trees, seemingly close enough to reach out and touch.

"I knew you'd spot me eventually."

Toshi gaped as the moon tilted, slowly bringing one end of the crescent up until it resembled a broad parody of a grin.

The grinning moon descended, drifting down past the trees until it hovered just above the ground a few yards from where Toshi stood. Then it dwindled and a small, boyish figure took shape behind it. He was smaller than an akki, blue in color, and his body seemed to be composed of circles. His head was round, his cheeks were fat and full, his belly was soft and protruding. His fat little fingers hung under a tiny swollen hand on the end of a sausage-shaped forearm. He looked human, but the little blue man and his outrageous proportions struck Toshi as the comic result of a spell gone wrong.

"What," Toshi said loudly, "are you supposed to be?"

The little man smiled, and his cheeks wrinkled up so much that his eyes nearly disappeared. His teeth shone silver like moonlight in a cloudless sky, and particles of sparkling ice glittered in the air around his head.

"I am the Smiling Kami of the Crescent Moon," he said. "But you can call me Mochi."

Toshi drew his jitte in one hand and his long sword in the other. "You're a kami? I've been having trouble with kami lately."

"I'm a friendly kami, my boy. A cheerful and helpful one."

"You don't look like a kami."

"Oh? And how did you become an expert? Come on, then. What's a kami look like?"

"Not like overfed blue imps. Not like you."

"I swear to you that I am of the kakuriyo. I am of the spirit world, from the spirit world, and for the spirit world. I am a facet of one of the oldest and most revered kami your world has ever acknowledged." Mochi smiled encouragingly. "And I'm here to help."

"I'm sorry. Do I need your help?"

"Oh my, yes. You need my help. Believe me. You have no idea how much." He waved his hand, creating a trail of silver-blue vapor. In this wake, Toshi saw jumbled images snakes in a frenzy, slithering across one another in a huge, wriggling ball savage-looking kitsune rushing through the forest hundreds of mounted soldiers riding out from the gates of Eiganjo. The scenes all had a sense of motion and each was coming straight at Toshi.

"When I sent you those portents outside your home in Numai, I was trying to simplify your life," Mochi said. "I never imagined you'd make such a complete pudding of it all."

The little blue man was still smiling. "So, do you want to listen? Or do you want to make fun of my appearance?"