Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa

CHAPTER 3

By sunset on the following day, Toshi was well into the rocky foothills to the east, far away from Numai. The rugged terrain was surrounded by a series of naturally occurring stone needles that had once been broad mountains. Centuries of the cold, cutting wind had eroded them down to thin, towering mounds, their peaks invisible among the high clouds. The rest of these badlands were dotted with squat, rolling ridges and craggy bluffs, devoid of vegetation. The air was frigid here, biting and bitter, with most of the moisture concentrated above the snow line. Down here, at ground level, it was all dust and dry stone, the landscape a uniformly monotonous beige.

Normally, such a journey would have taken days even with the fastest steed and on the Daimyo's best roads. Toshi allowed himself to relax slightly. The soratami would never expect him to have come this far this quickly, even if they knew where he was headed.

Toshi patted his pack, which was lighter than it had been when he left his shack. So far, dealing with the moonfolk had forced him to reveal some of his strongest hidden assets simply to stay alive. He was thankful to keep the secret of his rapid travel for a little while longer.

Now that he was one step ahead of the soratami, Toshi concentrated on the challenges before him. He was on the fringes of Godo's realm, and the sanzoku bandit king guarded his borders zealously. As the last holdout against the Daimyo's army, Godo had been leading a guerrilla campaign against Konda for almost ten years, and it was only the vastness of his inhospitable region and the Kami War's drain on the Daimyo's resources that kept the bandits alive and free.

Godo and his band were also locked in a territorial struggle with the local akki goblin tribes, but Toshi had never cared enough to inquire further. He himself rarely came to the badlands, and when he did he followed a safe, straight line between Godo to the south and the akki to the north. He probably could have traveled directly to his goal by the same method that had brought him this far, but that would have exposed him and his secret to the bandits. It would also attract the akki, who would have chased him until they caught it. Better to go by foot and draw less attention.

Toshi hiked until the sun went down and it became too dark to see the terrain. Rather than continue and risk stumbling into an akki warren, Toshi bundled his cloak around him and scratched a kanji into the dusty ground. The symbol would make him invisible and undetectable without direct physical contact, which was unlikely in this desolate region.

It was cold and miserable and Godo's howling war dogs woke him twice, but Toshi managed to get a few hours of much-needed rest. Dawn found him already moving, following the ridge line due east. He began to see more plants and animals as the temperature rose and the cruel wind abated. To the north was the great Jukai forest, which was a lush as the badlands were barren. But Toshi's goal was elsewhere, in a deep, jagged valley on the very edge of the region.

He knew he was close when he saw the row of heads on pikes. They were in various stages of decay, but most were overly brave or stupid bandits who had strayed too far from camp. Some were would-be apprentices who had not survived their training period. There were also a few non-human skulls that Toshi couldn't identify.

Beyond the row of heads was a huge square rock that completely blocked the well-worn footpath leading east. Alongside the rock was a giant hammer, with a handle taller than Toshi and a head as big as a palanquin. The rock had been cracked and broken in places by the hammer, but judging by the mound of sand and dust the wind had piled up on one side, the huge weapon hadn't been wielded in years.

Toshi nodded, impressed. Between the heads and the hammer, the message was clear: this is o-bakemono country, and you are not welcome. The ogre mages did not like visitors but did like eating people. For the o-bakemono, especially the one he had come to see, the warnings were a remarkably social gesture.

Toshi turned sideways to slip between the pikes and circled around the huge block of stone to get back on the path. The rear face of the stone block had two large kanji carved into it. Most people who dared to come this far would be dissuaded by the symbols on the rock, which denoted the name and status of the creature who ruled this valley: Hidetsugu the ogre, o-bakemono shaman.

Toshi continued down into the valley. As he expected, it didn't take long for a response once he was past the gruesome warnings on the path.

A tall, broad-shouldered youth in dusty red robes came out of a stone hut at the bottom of the valley. He was bald and though he walked with a slight limp, he came toward Toshi with confidence, even malice.

"Turn and run," the bald youth called. His voice was like his body, thick and burly. "Master Hidetsugu already has a student."

Toshi dropped his pack and held his arms out. "I am Toshi Umezawa, and I have business with your master. Fetch him."

The youth drew closer, and Toshi saw he was covered in scars. His forearms and chest were criss-crossed by a network of ragged slashes. His left eye was split by a gash that might have been made with an axe or one of Master Hidetsugu's fingernails. His chin was off center and his nose was flattened across his right cheek.

The hulking youth stopped and reached behind him. He drew a vicious-looking tetsubo from his back, an octagonal war club lined with sharp metal studs.

"Turn and go," he said. "Or join the other heads." He swung the heavy tetsubo as effortlessly as a willow switch. "If your skull remains solid."

"I'm not going to do either of those things," Toshi said, "because I'm so intimidated. Look, just go get Hidetsugu and say the following three things to him: Toshi, hyozan, questions. If he still doesn't want to talk to me, you can bash my brains in as much as you like."

The bald youth snarled and took a step forward, raising his club.

"Enough." Hidetsugu's voice rolled out of the stone hut like an avalanche. It was pitched so low it made Toshi's spine tingle. "Stand aside, Kobo. I recognize this one."

The bald youth lowered his club and turned his profile to Toshi, tilting his head down. His eyes were closed and Toshi heard him whispering a student's mantra.

Hidetsugu the o-bakemono pulled himself out of the hut. The door was twice as tall as Toshi, but the ogre still had to crouch and strain to force himself through. When he was clear, he rose to his feet and lumbered up the path. With each ponderous step, the ground shook and dust rose.

Hidetsugu stood over twenty-five feet tall, each of his limbs as thick as Toshi's whole body. He wore a red robe similar to his student's, only his was trimmed in black. He carried a heavy, segmented plate of burnished metal on each shoulder and a girdle of similar metal covered him from his waist to his knees. His enormous head was flat and wide like a dragon's, with a sharp crest of bone running from the center of his forehead to the back of his skull. His great slashing teeth spilled out over his lips, as if even his powerful jaws could not keep them contained. He too carried a club, but Hidetsugu's seemed to be an entire tree trunk with arm-sized nails driven through it. His deep-set eyes glowed like red stars and his tongue lolled hungrily from one side of his mouth.

Toshi quickly pulled up his sleeve and showed the tattoo. "Greetings, oath-brother Hidetsugu."

The ogre kept coming, past Kobo and right up to Toshi. He dropped the thicker end of his club to the ground and used it to support his weight as he leaned forward.

"Umezawa," he rumbled. He pulled the armor away from his left collarbone, revealing a triangle like Toshi's burned into his flesh. The hyozan kanji was seared below the triangle.

"You said 'questions,' ochimusha. Make them brief." Hidetsugu let the armor fall back into place, covering the brand.

"Can we talk inside? I'd like to get out of the cold and wash the dust from my throat."

Hidetsugu stood up and thumped his club on the ground. "Questions," he repeated. "Make them brief. I have other guests, more important than you."

"Right," Toshi said. "Because you're such a gregarious fellow."

Hidetsugu growled and tightened his grip on the club.

"Master," the bald youth said. "If this worm is distressing you-"

"Relax, lumpy," Toshi said. "I came to Hidetsugu years ago, and we formed a pact. I can annoy him, but we're oath-bound to protect and avenge each other."

Hidetsugu cocked his head. "Your memory is very selective, Toshi. I recall you coming with some of

Uramon's dogs in order to kill me. As I was picking the last of them from my teeth, you offered to parley."

Toshi shrugged. "I had already devised a way out of Uramon's gang. You just gave me the opportunity."

"More like you amused me. And I was full."

"Don't make yourself sound so generous. I gave you the means to get Uramon off your back once and for all. She knows ogres, too. And demons. And monsters. Sooner or later, one of them would have come for you."

"Or all of them. Which was why I agreed to your proposition. I hate interruptions."

"Evidenced by your welcome mat of decapitated visitors."

Hidetsugu thumped his club. "Right now, oath-brother, you are an interruption. Get on with it."

"Okay, okay. Let's see. Questions, brief questions." He snapped his fingers and said, "Soratami? Kami in an uproar? Portents. Unstoppable, disaster, my neck on the block. Hyozan." He made a show of ticking off each point with his fingers. "Pact. Oath. My problems are your problems."

The ogre grunted, but did not reply. Toshi's playful smile faded.

"Something big is brewing, Hidetsugu. I've got trouble with the soratami, and the kanji don't look good. The signs say moonfolk and hyozan are bound to destroy each other. I get nervous when portents use such generalities."

Hidetsugu squinted. "That seems specific enough."

"But it doesn't mention me," Toshi said. "Or you. If the hyozan and the moonfolk disappear, what happens to the individuals in each group? I'm not planning to wait to find out if this mess will claim me in the end."

Hidetsugu grinned, exposing his tusk-like teeth.

Toshi's stomach went cold. He liked ogre mirth even less than equivocal portents.

"Hidetsugu," he said. "Oath-brother. What do you know?"

The ogre's eyes danced as the brain behind them calculated. He raised his club, and Toshi sprang back, but Hidetsugu merely lowered the weapon back down onto his own armored shoulder.

"Kobo," he said, without looking at the bald youth. "Go to the spring and fill a bucket. Toshi is our final guest today, and even I did not expect him. We will shortly have grave matters to discuss."

"Inside." Toshi added.

Hidetsugu grunted again. "Inside."

Hidetsugu's home was deceptively small from the outside. The stone hut covered a great sloping tunnel that led to a deep underground cavern that the ogre had excavated himself. The cavern was dimly lit and seemed to go on indefinitely. As far as Toshi could see, small patches of light created by torches and braziers were spaced unevenly across the vast expanse of darkness. Toshi's steps echoed off something hard and stony in the distance, but he had only the vaguest guess as to the room's dimensions.

Hidetsugu led him to a large, flaming brazier next to a brick furnace on the eastern wall. There was a crude wooden bench with a series of metal rods carefully laid out like cutlery at a formal dinner. The ogre began fiddling with the twisted, sooty pieces of metal.

"This is Toshi," he growled. "An ochimusha from the marsh." He twisted a small attachment onto one of the rods with a metallic click and tossed the contraption into the furnace with one end protruding.

"So?" The voices spoke as one from the left and right of the furnace, but the fire prevented Toshi from seeing who spoke.

"He has seen signs, portents. Tell them, Toshi."

"Tell who?"

Hidetsugu snarled and beckoned. Two identical warriors stepped into the light from each side of the furnace. Both men were exactly the same in almost every respect, size, shape, demeanor, and they moved in unison with the precision of one man and his reflection. They wore thin, dagger-like mustaches and chin whiskers and they were dressed in polished bandit armor, which Toshi had always considered incongruous. The heavy plating on their shoulders and hips rang like coins as they walked, and they kept their hands on the long, curved swords on their hips.

Toshi quickly noted that the twins wore their hair bandit-style under their loose horned helmets, braided and looped around one shoulder. The bandit on the left wore his braid around his right shoulder, the other around his left. Toshi thought they looked like barbarian bookends, but he kept this opinion to himself.

"These men represent Godo," Hidetsugu said. "And behind you is Ben-Ben, from Ichi's akki tribe. Tell them your story."

Toshi did not turn around, but he heard the crab-like scuttling of an akki goblin on the move. "What about you?" he said.

"I will also be listening."

Toshi shrugged. "I ran into some soratami in the ruins outside Konda's stronghold. They were working with a pack of nezumi. Later, they traced me back to my home, but I escaped. I saw portents that said this is not over."

"And he was attacked by kami."

Toshi started, but maintained his composure. "Hidetsugu is correct, though I don't know how."

The ogre grinned again and growled happily. He urged Toshi to continue with a wave of his hand.

"But yes, I was twice beset by angry spirits." Toshi shrugged again. "I think something big is going on, and it won't end without bad business for everyone. My problems with the soratami are tangential, but I believe all this is connected."

"Toshi is a kanji magician," Hidetsugu said. He pulled the metal rod out of the furnace and inspected the glowing end. "He and I are bound by this mark." The ogre showed them the hot end of the rod, which was bent into a triangle with the hyozan kanji beneath.

Toshi recognized the rod for what it was, a branding iron. He saw that the twins did, as well.

"What is that for?" one said.

"And what does any of this have to do with our arrangement?" said the other. "I thought we were all agreed."

"Kobo!" Hidetsugu put the branding iron back into the fire. "Bring the bucket."

From the top of the incline, Toshi saw the big bald youth's silhouette descend.

The akki behind him grumbled. "Too many humans," he said. "Hidetsugu promised, only two of Godo's men." Ben-Ben sniffed. "Left my refuge for this."

In the firelight, Toshi looked at the mountain goblin and laughed. Ben-Ben was a ridiculous figure, squat and armored like an armadillo with a long, sharp nose and a crusty, rocky carapace across his back and shoulders. He was no taller than a nezumi, but his arms were disproportionately large and powerful, his huge hands capped by long, pointed claws. He wore a small leather drum around his neck and thick-soled wooden clogs on his feet. For no reason that Toshi would ever understand, Ben-Ben wore a limp, soggy thing with multiple arms or tentacles on his head, and he carried it with all the gravity and pomp of an official's hat.

"I don't get this either, Hidetsugu. I came here for information, and maybe a place to hide out for a few days. I don't know or care what you've got brewing between Godo and the goblins."

Both twins narrowed their eyes. "Keep it that way, ochimusha."

Toshi smiled. "You say that like it's an insult. If you weren't offal-eating sanzoku dogs, I might take offense."

The twins each drew a sword, but froze when Hidetsugu growled.

"I have also seen portents," the ogre shaman said. "And as rude as Toshi is, you must know this: His success is Godo's. What you and the akki are planning will not work if Toshi dies here. This I have seen."

Kobo the apprentice lumbered into the light and dropped a wooden bucket heavily onto the stone floor. Opaque white liquid sloshed over the sides, and the bald youth quietly went to stand behind Hidetsugu.

"Besides," Hidetsugu said, "Toshi is my oath-brother and also my guest. If you harm him, I am obliged to respond." He reached his entire arm into the fire, singing the hair off his flesh and raising a ghastly stink. Without the slightest sign of discomfort, Hidetsugu drew the glowing branding iron out of the furnace and inspected the tip. He blew on it like a choice morsel, and the tip glowed brighter.

"We were given assurances," the twins hissed.

"Promised no pain," Ben-Ben echoed.

"My bond with Toshi goes back further than any promises made to Godo and Ichi. Barely a week ago, you came seeking my help. I have given it. You came seeking my counsel. I now offer it: go forward as we have planned. But remember this man and this mark." He waved the branding iron. "Events will churn and bubble around him and his hyozan symbol."

Without another word, Hidetsugu suddenly shoved the red-hot brand into the bald monk's breast. Kobo screamed as his skin burned and his blood sizzled, but he held his ground. With fists clenched and eyes streaming, the apprentice stood firm under the ogre's onslaught. Hidetsugu leaned down on the branding iron, forcing Kobo back and plowing up a small heap of dust and pebbles behind the apprentice's heels.

With a sickening wrench, Hidetsugu withdrew and yanked the hot iron from his student's flesh. Kobo staggered, but did not fall. Slowly, he straightened back to his full height and folded his arms across his chest, his wrist just below the smoking wound. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were wet, but his face was a rigid mask of indifference.

Hidetsugu then plunged the smoking brand into the bucket, raising a small cloud of steam.

"Get out," the ogre said to the twin bandits. He turned to the akki and jerked his head toward the incline. "You, too. You asked for my blessing and my advice. I have given both. Go."

"Thank you, Hidetsugu o-bakemono." To their credit, the bandits did not let their fear show, but Toshi could tell they were rattled. As they moved to the exit, they had none of the synchronized precision that had characterized their movements before. They were simply two men in a hurry, going in the same direction.

If Toshi was reading the akki's facial expression correctly, Ben-Ben was more transparently awed but also less frightened. Maybe not all goblins lived in a constant state of confusion, but this one certainly did. He tipped his soggy fish hat and made his unsteady way toward the incline, avoiding the patches of light as best he could.

When he was alone with Hidetsugu and Kobo, Toshi snapped, "What in the rocky gray hell was that all about? There is no way I'm getting involved with their turf war. They'll never see me again if I can help it."

Hidetsugu tossed the brand aside and hooked the bucket with his smallest finger. He extended his massive arm to Toshi and waved the steaming container under the ochimusha's nose.

"Drink," he said.

"Drop dead." He glared suspiciously into the milky-white liquid. Blackened flesh floated on its surface. "I'm not swigging from a bucket of apprentice stew."

The bucket did not waver. "Drink," Hidetsugu repeated.

The ogre mage didn't have to threaten. His entire being, from his posture to his glaring expression, spoke volumes about what was in store if Toshi refused again.

Toshi swore, inhaled, and took the bucket. He held his breath, raised the bucket to his lips, and took a long, slow draught.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed, once, twice, and then Toshi dropped the bucket and staggered back.

"Gyah," he said. He spit into the brazier and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "What have you been feeding him, Hidetsugu, yak dung? He's gamier than a nezumi pig farm."

Hidetsugu ignored Toshi and spoke to his apprentice.

"Light the brazier on the south wall." As the bald youth disappeared into the darkness, Toshi could see the angry wound on his breast still smoking.

Hidetsugu turned to face him. "You saw symbols, ochimusha, portents," he said. "Come and see what I have seen."

Toshi spat out another fragment of Kobo and followed the ogre. From the sound of the echoes, they were approaching the wall of Hidetsugu's cavern. The o-bakemono's footsteps stopped and Toshi stepped around him so that they were side by side.

"You've gone soft out here, Hidetsugu," he said. "Even if things are bad, I never thought I'd see you socializing with-"

Toshi fell silent as the brazier before them lit up. The flames revealed a surprisingly elegant mosaic on the wall, composed of tiny chips of polished red and black rock. The figure in the mosaic was a nightmarish combination of teeth and jaws, topped by three malevolent eyes arranged in a triangle. The figure was surrounded by a cloud of bat-winged scavengers.

Above the figure were kanji that spelled out a title: The Ail-Consuming Oni of Chaos. Toshi was not sure if the kanji were the mosaic's title, or the creature's.

Below the mosaic, nailed into the rock of the cavern wall, was the motionless form of a ponderous kami. It was wet and heavy, like a deep-sea fish out of water. It was even shaped like a fish, with a thick upper body that narrowed and then expanded again in to a wide, flat tail. It had rounded, club-like appendages jutting from under its misshapen head, and a crooked vertical mouth lined with rows of triangular teeth all the way down its throat. Small, sharp, shells shaped like crescent moons floated listlessly around it. When one of these shells touched the iron spikes that pinned the kami to the wall, they cracked and fell to the cold stone floor.

"It came here looking for you," Hidetsugu said. "It called your name as it manifested. I had to put it aside quickly, but now that the meeting is over and you're here, you can tell me."

Toshi stared dumbfounded at the pinned spirit beast. In his experience, kami were either alive and mobile or dead and broken, but they were never helpless captives. The thought of what it must have taken to pin this great beast to the wall and keep it quiescent without killing it made Toshi shudder.

"Your problems are mine, oath-brother," Hidetsugu said. His rumbling voice made Toshi's spine vibrate. "So I must know."

He grabbed Toshi around the waist and lifted him to eye level, where his foul breath blew the ochimusha's hair around like a summer squall.