Guardian of the God - God's Appearance - Part 1 Chapter 5 - Into Darkness

  Guardian of the God

-

God's Appearance

(Book 5 of the Guardian of the Spirit Series)

 

Author: Uehashi Nahoko

Translator: Ainikki the Archivist

 

  Part 1 - Child of Disaster

Chapter 5 - Into Darkness

    A little after midnight, three people on horseback entered the back gate of the inn where Balsa and Tanda were staying. The riders paid off the sleepy-looking boy watching the gate and headed for one of the barns in the lower courtyard.

    The riders had come a long way. Their horses steamed and sweated as the riders dismounted and led the horses into the barn. The horses' mouths were all white with foam.

    After tying up their horses in the barn, the riders brought in food and water for them, then removed their saddles and tack. They wiped down the horses and brushed them until they were clean. But as soon as their sweat was mostly dry, the riders placed new blankets over their horses' backs and put on their saddles and tack again so they'd be ready to ride at a moment's notice.

    The horses were shy of fire, so they couldn't bring lights inside. The riders were very accustomed to taking care of their mounts; they managed to perform all of these tasks in total darkness. When they finished with the horses, they entered the inn.

    One of the riders was a woman—Shihana, Sufar's daughter. She'd used the fastest route to track down two magic weaver allies from Makal fortress, Mark and Kahal. They'd all ridden as fast as they could for the inn. When they went inside, they were observed by a little monkey with a bit of red cloth tied around its neck sitting on the roof. The monkey had been at the entrance to the inn three days ago. He had allowed Tanda to pet him.

    The monkey waited for a while in silence after the riders entered the inn, then slid nimbly off the roof and headed for the inn's kitchen. He glanced around to make sure no one was around, then climbed the roof of the kitchen and slipped through a small chimney hole.

    When the kitchen was cleaned after dinner each evening, all five cooking fires were banked in preparation for the next day, so the room was cool when the monkey entered. The monkey faced one of the fires with a fire poker and started scraping at the ashes at the bottom of the fire pit. Mixed in with the ashes were fresh coals that would be used to quickly light the fire again in the morning.

    Hot coals rolled out from the ashes. One of them escaped the fire pit and rolled onto the floor of the kitchen, where it glowed bright red. The monkey put down the fire poker and meandered toward the western wall of the kitchen in the direction of a large earthenware pot. The monkey scrunched his tiny body between the wall and the pot, then kicked at the wall. The earthenware pot toppled over, spilling oil all over the floor.

    The monkey jumped agilely away from the spill and climbed up onto the kitchen's shelves. He watched the spreading oil get closer and closer to the glowing red coal. The oil flowed underneath the coal and ignited with a loud pop. Soon, the entire floor was a sheet of flames.

 

 

    Chikisa groaned as he opened his eyes. He was drenched in sweat. He felt so thirsty he couldn't stand it. He tried to reach for the clay jar of water beside him, but found himself completely unable to move. His entire body felt weak and drained of energy. As his head gradually cleared, he remembered taking a sip of the medicine that Toma had brought.

    Had the medicine done this? That was all he could think about. That medicine had tasted so strange...

    "A-Asra..." Chikisa called out his sister's name and tried to shake himself into movement. Asra didn't wake. Terror seized Chikisa like the talons of an eagle enclosing his heart. Chikisa had drunk only a little bit of the medicine, but Asra had drunk it all. If it was poison and not medicine, Asra might already be dead.

    Chikisa shook violently, thrashing his limbs as he tried to get to closer to Asra. With a great deal of effort, Chikisa managed to bring his ear close enough to touch Asra's nose where she laid sleeping on her side. Chikisa held his breath and waited.

    After a long moment, Chikisa felt Asra's breath ghost across the shell of his ear. The medicine they'd been given was only meant to make them sleep. Chikisa collapsed bonelessly, completely spent from the exertion of crossing the room. He took shallow, panting breaths and tried to figure out why.

    Why had they been given sleeping medicine? Who had prepared it for them? Could Tanda have done it? His name was the first one that popped into Chikisa's head. He didn't want to believe that Tanda had done it, but it seemed likely that he had.

    But when he thought about the whole situation from beginning to end, he realized that Tanda had never sent anyone else to deliver medicine before. He always came himself. Had Toma said that she'd gotten the medicine from Tanda? He didn't think so. But if Tanda hadn't sent it, who had?

    Chikisa remembered the horrible nightmare he'd had a few nights ago. The room had smelled strange and sweet and he'd seen the shadow of someone peeking into his dream. A shock went through his whole body. Someone intended to hurt him and Asra. If they stayed here until dawn, he didn't know what would happen to them. He had to find a way to save them. His body was entirely numb, but terror gave him the strength to walk, maybe. If his life depended on it.

    Chikisa stood up slowly, took a few faltering steps forward and stumbled out the door into the hallway.

    "Huh. So you didn't drink it," a man's voice whispered to him from behind. Chikisa was startled. He placed his hands on the wall for support and shifted around to see who'd spoken. He saw the long shadow of the man sitting still at the end of the hall, just a little ways away. He was vaguely familiar, with a slight build and eyes that glowed like coals as they tracked Chikisa's every move.

    "I'm sorry," the man said. "It's not personal. It's fate." The man stood up in a fluid motion and grabbed Chikisa's arm. He yanked him in close and punched him solidly in the stomach. Chikisa struggled to stay upright as he felt the next blow coming, then passed out.

    Sufar lifted Chikisa's unconscious body up lightly over his shoulders. He carried him back into the room where Asra still slept and laid him out on the floor.

    Shihana called out to him from the direction of the hallway. "Dad." She was standing one level above him, dressed in traveling clothes. She vaulted the handrail and landed in the lower courtyard of the inn, then ascended the ramp into the hallway that connected the inn's rooms on its lowest level. She stood in the doorway of Asra and Chikisa's room and looked at Sufar.

    "What's wrong?" Sufar whispered. "I thought you intended to rest a little longer."

    Shihana shook her head and frowned severely. All in a rush, she said, "Can't you feel it? The inn's on fire. Something's burning."

    Sufar stepped out of the room and scented the air. "Yes... Now that you mention it, I smell smoke."

    "I have a bad feeling about all this," Shihana said. "I want to leave as soon as possible."

    "But didn't you just get here? The horses must be exhausted."

    "They'll be fine. We'll get away tonight, then take a rest at the nearest town. The horses can rest then, too."

    Sufar nodded slowly. "All right. You take the girl and go ahead of me. I'll bring the boy. I need to pack up everything in my room, but I'll meet you at the barn shortly."

    Sufar and Shihana picked up Chikisa and Asra respectively and carried them piggyback-style. They sneaked into the hallway without making a sound, then walked off in opposite directions, each carrying a child.

 

 

    Balsa didn't say a word after making her decision. She suddenly felt restless and started preparing her traveling clothes. Tanda watched her and felt like they were falling into some kind of deep and inescapable pattern. After a while, he started preparing his own traveling clothes as well—but he hadn't made up his mind yet.

    Even if what Sufar said about Asra and Chikisa was true, Tanda didn't have it in him to abandon them. His judgment could be mistaken, though. What he really wanted was time: time to gather information and see all sides of the situation clearly.

    Just as he and Balsa finished their preparations, they heard the sound of an alarm bell. There were two long tolls followed by one shorter pull in a repeated pattern, indicating that there was a fire at the inn.

    Tanda pulled open the door and dashed into the hallway. Other guests of the inn spilled into the hall from all sides. Tanda clearly smelled smoke wafting through the air.

    "Fire! The kitchen is on fire!" someone shouted. The speaker wasn't visible; the voice came from the direction of the inn's lower courtyard where the kitchen and dining areas were. A sudden loud sound startled Tanda. He turned toward it and saw Balsa punching out the window blinds of their room with the tip of her spear. She poked at all four corners of each slatted blind first, then pushed them out of their moorings with the palm of her hand. The broken blinds fell into the courtyard below.

    "What are you doing?" Tanda asked.

    Balsa didn't answer. She walked over to him quickly, wrapped her left arm around his neck, and pulled him into a fierce hug. When she pulled back, their eyes met for a brief moment. Then Balsa spun around, sprinted back into the room, and leaped out the window she'd removed the blinds from.

    Tanda ran over to the window in a rush and leaned out of the frame. He could just make out Balsa's shadowy figure running in the direction of the barn at the edge of the lower courtyard. Seconds later, she was swallowed up by the darkness.

    For a brief, insane moment, Tanda considered jumping out the window himself and chasing after her, but then he thought better of it. He dashed back out into the hallway, pushing people out of the way as he ran as fast as he could to Asra and Chikisa's room. When he finally reached their room and looked in, there were two sets of empty bedding on the floor. There was no sign of Asra or Chikisa anywhere.

    The smell of smoke was getting stronger. Tanda broke through the blinds of the room with his fists and slipped out the window into the lower courtyard.

 

 

    When Shihana heard the alarm bell signaling a fire, she'd only just left the lower courtyard of the inn. Asra was asleep on her back and didn’t stir at the sound of the alarm. Shihana shifted Asra higher on her back and headed to the barn with the horses. The moon had already set, but the fire from the kitchen bathed the entire area in soft reddish light, so the outlines of the barn were visible. Smoke streaked through the air.

    As Shihana entered the barn, the horses tracked her warily with the whites of their eyes and neighed in agitation as they stomped their hooves. Shihana was used to calming spooked horses, but she needed her hands free to do it. She smacked her lips together and laid Asra out on the ground. She approached her own horse, speaking in a soothing tone as she untied it and freed its reins. When the horse was ready to ride, she returned her attention to Asra.

    She settled the girl's limbs over her back and hips again, then took a strip of leather, wound it around Asra's back and tied it around her own stomach. She took the remaining long ends of the strap and tied Asra's hands together.

    As she turned back to her horse, she saw the shadow of something moving outside the barn. Shihana went outside and tracked the shadow as she unsheathed her short sword from the scabbard at her belt. She felt a rush of air along her side and stepped away from it; the next moment, she realized that the leather strap binding Asra to her had been cut. Asra fell to the ground.

    There was another rush of air. Shihana felt something aiming for her chin. She barely managed to avoid the attack by ducking down low. She took a step backward and tried to reclaim Asra, but tripped over her and fell face-up onto the ground.

    She jumped instantly to her feet and felt a kick slam hard into her left ear. She blinked, struggling to remain conscious, then blacked out.

    Shihana fell to earth like a tree that had been chopped down. Balsa stabbed her spear point into the ground. She shifted the straps of her traveling pack so that she was carrying it on her stomach, then picked up Asra piggyback-style. She placed Asra's legs through the straps of her pack along with her own arms, then undid the bindings around Asra's wrists and retied them so that Asra's hands wound around her neck. She didn't want Asra to fall.

    Balsa picked up her spear with her right hand and entered the barn. Shihana's horse, saddled and ready to ride, stood directly in front of her. The horse was over-excited, snorting and showing its teeth. It looked at Balsa with a wariness that was easily discerned even in the darkness. As Balsa and the horse stared at one another, the horse reared and snorted. There was a sound like the buzzing of a horsefly; a moment later, the entire barn went up in flames.

    The fire surrounded Balsa, following her as if it had a will of its own. The horse neighed shrilly and reared again, trying to drive Balsa away. Balsa seized the horse's reins and encouraged it to move forward with commands given in a low, calm tone. She brought her right hand, which was still holding her spear, over her face.

    Something pierced her stomach. She glanced down and saw a short sword sticking out of her damaged side. The short sword withdrew quickly and attacked again, cutting the air in sharp straight lines.

    Balsa deflected these attacks with her spear, but she was surrounded by fire on all sides, which hampered her ability to move. She could barely see anything. If the short sword wielder aimed for her back, Asra could be killed.

    The horse in front of her tossed its head violently. Balsa was holding the horse's reins in her left hand, so its forceful, jerky movements sent sharp pain coursing through her injured side.

    Balsa dropped the horse's reins and gasped. Fire writhed and twisted around her. The hot air made it difficult for her to breathe. Her vision was clouded by a sort of red haze.

    A cold gust of wind passed over Balsa's face, moving as fast as an arrow in flight. The wind broke through the flames surrounding her; it suddenly became much easier to breathe. Balsa blinked in confusion. What had just happened?

    Tanda stood in front of her. She saw the flames surrounding him and tried to call out a warning.

    "Don't worry about me," Tanda said. "The fire is an illusion." He reached up and touched her forehead. The fire surrounding them retreated and faded to the corners of the barn; Balsa could see clearly again. With his free hand, Tanda took the horse's reins and untangled them before returning them to Balsa.

    Balsa snatched the reins and mounted the horse in a single bound. She gripped the horse's back between her knees and flicked the reins. "Go!" The horse leaped over the remaining illusory flames out of the barn.

    Just outside, Balsa saw three figures lined up in front of her. She galloped directly toward them and watched them scatter; one couldn't get out of the way in time and was trampled under the force of Balsa's charge.

    She heard Tanda and Sufar fighting behind her, but she couldn't go back now. If she did, she'd be wasting the chance that Tanda had given her. Her heart was torn. To comfort her internal anguish, she told herself, They won't kill Tanda. They won't .

    If she managed to get safely away with Asra, Tanda would be a valuable hostage. She expected Sufar to think along those lines. She forced herself to go against her feelings and kept moving forward. With Asra on her back, she galloped headlong into darkness.

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