Guardian of the God - Return from the Hard Journey - Part 3 Chapter 6 - Accepting the God

  Guardian of the God

-

Return from the Hard Journey

(Book 6 of the Guardian of the Spirit Series)

Author: Uehashi Nahoko

Translator: Ainikki the Archivist

 

  Part 3 - Sada Talhamaya

Chapter 6 - Accepting the God

     “Asra!” Chikisa called out as he chased after her. He saw Shihana running behind him out of the corner of his eye.

    Asra sprinted down the dark tunnel, running faster than she ever had in her life. She had to get to the sacred spring before Ianu was killed.

    Chikisa kept chasing her but never managed to catch up. Asra reached the mouth of the tunnel and dashed into the light with Chikisa right behind her. Someone yanked his shoulder roughly from behind.

    “Let me go! Asra’s going to--”

    The person who’d grabbed his arm was one of the Kashal. He shook his head and tightened his grip on Chikisa’s arm.

    One of the Tal people was standing behind the Kashal man; he leaned in close to Chikisa and whispered, “The time for the Chamau to become Sada Talhamaya has come. No one must interfere, not even her own brother.”

    Chikisa flushed with rage. Shihana approached him at a leisurely pace and said with a smile, “Everything’s going exactly to plan. Why else do you think I brought you both here, Chikisa?”

    Chikisa opened his mouth to scream, but Shihana covered it with her hand. When Chikisa tried to bite her hand, the Kashal man gripping his arm punched him in the gut. Chikisa doubled over and struggled to breathe. “Asra…”

 

 

    Asra had no idea what was happening behind her. She climbed the low foothills that led into the Shan forest as fast as she could.  I have to make it before they kill Ianu! That was all she could think about. She tried to encourage herself: I have to make it. If I don’t, she’ll die!

    Warm water from the sacred river flowed around her. The spring was close; she could see the tree. Asra sprinted the remaining distance and jumped into the spring with a terrific splash. Her entire body felt buoyant as she approached the tree. She gripped the tree’s trunk with both hands, kicked up her feet and began to climb.

    Energy and strength radiated from the tree into her. The smell of the pikuya moss growing on its trunk hung so thickly in the air that it hurt to breathe. The ring of sacred mistletoe around Asra’s neck glowed with a silvery light. The smell of blood emanating from it was strong enough to overpower the scent of the moss.

    Asra’s surroundings changed as she climbed. The ruins of an abandoned palace were clearly visible just a little bit above her. She could still see the forest below her, but the ruins were at the forefront of her vision. When she reached a recess in the tree’s trunk that was wide and level like a bench, she stopped for a brief rest. The sound of the sacred spring flowing from Noyuk was all around her. This tree was Noyuk’s heart, pumping water out into the world instead of blood.

    This tree and the sacred river are connected , Asra thought. No: they’re the same!

    Asra felt her own body melting into the tree. It was a strange feeling. She could suddenly hear everything that was going on around the Ritual Hall perfectly, despite the distance between the Ritual Hall and the tree. It was like the water of the sacred spring carried exact echoes of everything that people were saying to her ears.

    “You must kill the woman who called on the bloodthirsty god of the Tal people,” a man said. “She’s as terrifying as the god she claims to worship. She’s an ill omen, Your Majesty.”

“The only terrifying person here is you,” Asra said. “Look at yourself! You’re calling for someone’s murder! Which of you is worse?”

    Everyone surrounding the Ritual Hall fell silent and looked around, searching for the owner of the mysterious voice they’d just heard.

    They can hear me!  Asra smiled. Power flowed and crested within her just like the time she’d called on Talhamaya to kill the wolves. Asra took a deep breath and cried out, “People of Rota, listen to me! Anyone who wishes death on someone else is evil! Ignoring the pain and suffering you have caused the Tal people is also evil. If you call for the deaths of the Tal people, I’ll call for your deaths, too!”

    Asra’s body was sucked into the tree trunk behind her. She spun around as if she was caught in a whirlpool. Talhamaya showed her fangs and slipped through the ring of sacred mistletoe around Asra’s neck. At that moment, Asra was split in half: half of herself sat in the tree while the other half accompanied Talhamaya as she flew toward the Ritual Hall.

    The Ritual Hall and the celebration guests were clearly visible below her. Talhamaya broke through the outer and inner walls of the Ritual Hall with a flick of her fangs, leaving a trail of dust in her wake. She descended to the ground and passed through the crowd of stunned, silent people. To most people, she looked like a beam of light passing gracefully through the air. The dust that fell from the broken walls surrounding the Ritual Hall was hot to the touch.

    As the Rotan people surrounding her shook and cried out and screamed in fear, Asra began to laugh. She laughed so hard and so much and she couldn’t stop. Talhamaya wanted blood. The blood of the sheep that Prince Ihan had sacrificed made Talhamaya’s thirst urgent and irresistible.

    The part of Asra that remained sitting in the sacred tree was illumined in a corona of red light. The blue moss on the tree glowed around her and brightened her red aura. The silvery ring around her neck shone brightly in the light of the moss.

 

    “She’s up there, in that huge tree!” Tanda shouted. “Can you see her?”

    Balsa narrowed her eyes and looked up at the trees, but she couldn’t see Asra at all.

    “Not there,” Tanda said. “Higher up!”

    Balsa looked up at the sky and saw Asra sitting in midair. “Huh?”

    Asra was surrounded in soft red light. Her laughter cut through the air and echoed around Balsa and Tanda. The laugh was the same one Balsa remembered hearing when Asra had killed the wolves.

    A chill went up Balsa’s spine. She gritted her teeth as she remembered how the god had lingered over the corpses of the wolves to drink their blood. It was only a matter of time before the god killed people to slake her bloodlust. Asra was drunk on power and far removed from everything happening around her; she wouldn’t intervene at all when Talhamaya started killing people.

    Balsa broke into a run.

    “Balsa!” Tanda called after her. Balsa removed her coat as she ran and jumped over the low wall surrounding the Ritual Hall. Tanda followed, shedding his own hood and coat as he ran. He closed his eyes tight and jumped over the wall, landing unharmed on the other side. Tanda shifted his feet and ran after Balsa. When they reached the empty tents where the Kashal had camped the night before, they found a path that led into the low foothills near the edge of the Shan forest.

 

 

    Asra felt amazing. She never wanted to stop laughing. She never knew that blood could smell so good. The soft necks of the people she passed seemed especially appealing. All she needed to do was touch them a little bit to get their blood flowing. But she didn’t touch anyone. Her other half was still holding her back.

    “You can’t kill them,” she told herself.

    “Why?” she asked.

    “It’s not right to kill people.” The part of Asra sitting in the tree wasn’t swayed by Talhamaya’s power or perspective; she could hear the screams of the terrified people standing around the Ritual Hall.

    “But I want blood,” her Talhamaya-controlled half whined.

    Her desire for blood was rapidly increasing. She could see the silvery ring glowing brighter and brighter around her neck. She was so thirsty that her throat burned, but she didn’t want water; water wouldn’t help. She experienced the true bliss of being Talhamaya and the god’s unquenchable thirst at the same time. She swam through the air with Talhamaya, passing by many people until she faced Prince Ihan directly.

    Prince Ihan was sweating. He could see Talhamaya as a beam of light in front of him, but he stood completely still. Asra recognized him, but she didn’t feel anything about him at all. She neither liked nor hated him. Guards carrying swords and spears gathered around him in an effort to protect him, but Asra thought their bodies and even their weapons were too weak and soft to make a shield strong enough to deflect her attacks. Human bodies were basically just bags full of blood.

    “You can’t kill them!” The part of Asra that sat in the sacred tree was crying. She was trying with all her might to hold Talhamaya back. “I don’t want to kill people!”

    But Talhamaya desired blood--and her desire could not be denied or repressed any longer.

 

 

    Balsa noticed a few people standing under the trees near the edge of the forest. There were four of them; two men were restraining a boy while a woman stood behind them, watching.  

    “Chikisa!” Balsa called out. She waved her spear over her head in warning; its blade was still sheathed. She socked the first man holding Chikisa in the gut with the butt of her spear, then shifted her grip and executed the same move on the other man. Both fell instantly to the ground.

    Balsa looked up at the woman and immediately recognized Shihana.

    “Archers!” Shihana yelled.

    Arrows fell around Balsa like rain. She deflected all the arrows that came near her and Chikisa, but the archers fired quickly and didn’t give her any time to do anything but defend. She turned around and spotted one of the archers nearby. Balsa bent forward at the hip and threw her spear at the archer like a javelin. The spear’s point cut through the archer’s bowstring before embedding itself in the trunk of the tree behind him.

    Balsa felt a warm breeze pass by her ear. She flinched away and ducked just in time to avoid a swipe from Shihana’s short sword.

    Shihana’s smile was piercingly cold. She lunged toward Balsa with incredible speed and precision. The tip of her sword grazed Balsa’s stomach; the wound was slight, but it burned like fire. Shihana was a master of her weapon and clearly trained to kill. Her sword was sharp enough to cut through layers of leather armor with ease. She wasn’t an opponent that Balsa could win against without her spear. She wasn’t about to gain the power to cut Shihana through sheer willpower; she needed a weapon.

    Shihana kept smiling and slashing at Balsa in unnerving silence.

    “Balsa!” Tanda called out to her from behind a tree.

    “I’m fine; take care of Chikisa!” she shouted to him. Shihana slashed at her face; she felt blood dripping down her cheek. “Bring Chikisa to Asra!”

    Balsa threw caution to the wind, looked Shihana directly in the eyes, and punched her in the face with her left fist.

    Shihana was surprised enough to take a large step back. During her brief moment of distraction, Balsa kicked her sword out of her hand, sending it flying into the surrounding trees. Shihana crouched down and shot her leg out to trip Balsa.

    Balsa fell hard on her back. Her newly stitched wounds screamed agony at her as she jumped up and kicked Shihana hard behind her knees.

Shihana collapsed to the ground with a grunt. Balsa pinned her down face-up with her right arm across her arms and chest to hold her in place and punched her in the face with her free hand.

Shihana twisted and writhed and tried to shake her off, but Balsa stayed put and continued attacking. She muttered something in a low voice; that was all the warning Balsa got before a dagger appeared in Shihana’s hand. Shihana threw the dagger at Balsa’s head; Balsa dodged narrowly, but she was forced to let go of Shihana.

Shihana got to her feet and stood above Balsa on a low hill. Balsa faced her silently and didn’t move.

 

 

    “Chikisa, are you all right?” Tanda asked. He’d been punched or kicked in the stomach and couldn’t walk well. There were tears in his eyes.

    “We have to stop Asra,” Chikisa choked out.

    Tanda nodded and supported Chikisa as they half-ran, half-staggered toward the huge tree growing from the sacred spring. There were Tal people and other Kashal in the woods with them, so they didn’t make it very far before they were completely surrounded.

    Tanda knelt down on the ground and picked up a handful of grass. “Master Torogai, please protect us,” he muttered under his breath. He glanced at Chikisa. “I hope this works.”

    He ripped the grass in his hand out of the ground by the roots, then rubbed the grass between his palms as he chanted the words of a spell. When the spell was complete, Tanda took a deep breath and blew the grass in his hands away. It went flying in all directions--but it wasn’t grass anymore.

    This particular spell turned grass into needles.

    The men surrounding Tanda and Chikisa were assailed by clusters of razor-sharp needles cutting through their hands and faces. Tanda took Chikisa by the hand and slipped past the injured men surrounding them.  His heart pounded wildly; he wasn’t used to seeing so many people in pain over something he’d done. He felt his heart in his throat; it felt like it was trying to escape through his mouth.

    Tanda uttered the same spell he’d used the day before to bring the sacred tree into sharper focus. “Chikisa, can you see that tree?” he asked.

    Chikisa shook his head and gasped, “What tree? I don’t see--”

    “It’s there!” Tanda pointed.

    Chikisa looked where Tanda was pointing and called out, “Asra!” She looked like she was sitting down in midair far above him and Tanda. She was surrounded by a corona of red light. She was laughing so hard that it seemed like she’d gone insane.

    “Asra!” A chill went up Chikisa’s spine. He recognized his sister’s voice, but there was no kindness or softness in it.

    “Try to touch the tree,” Tanda said. “Can you feel it?”

    Tanda seemed to be touching nothing but air. When Chikisa placed his hands near Tanda’s, he felt something warm. There was definitely something there. Chikisa looked up at Tanda and asked, “We have to climb it, right?”

    Tanda nodded.

    Chikisa took a deep breath and set his jaw. He was shaking all over. Asra had already united with Talhamaya. Even if he climbed the tree and reached her, it was probably too late for him to do anything. She would do whatever the god wanted from now on.

    “I’ll climb ahead of you and guide you,” Tanda said. “Let’s go.”

    Tanda climbed up the tree with surprising speed. Chikisa had to rush to keep pace with him. He was afraid that he’d miss his footing or handholds and fall. Climbing an ordinary tree this tall was dangerous on his own; climbing it without being able to see it seemed fatally risky. Chikisa’s fear mounted as he climbed; he started crying without realizing it sometime during the ascent.

    “Hang in there, Chikisa,” Tanda said. “We’ll reach Asra soon, I promise. Talhamaya hasn’t completely consumed her yet.”

    Chikisa made no effort to suppress his tears, but he forced himself to hurry. Asra’s laughter was getting louder. It was so frightening that he wanted to cover his ears, but he couldn’t do that; he’d fall.

    When Asra came into view above him, her laughter suddenly ceased. She looked down at him with strangely glowing eyes. Her expression was hungry and determined, like she’d just caught an animal in a trap and was preparing to pounce. Chikisa felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of cold water over his head. When Asra’s breath touched his face, all he could feel was the knife-sharp, bone-chilling cold of the god’s fangs.

 

 

    Shihana pulled another dagger from her clothes and closed the distance between her and Balsa. Balsa evaded Shihana’s knife cuts, but she couldn’t step aside fast enough to avoid the sword of the Kashal man standing behind her. Her cut her back open with one long slash.

    Balsa fell to the ground. Her entire body felt like it was on fire. The new cut reopened her previous wound; she felt blood soaking through her clothes.

    “I’m fine here,” Shihana said to the Kashal man. “Go after Chikisa. You can’t let him reach Asra.”

    Balsa kicked herself off the ground and leaped at Shihana. Shihana slit open Balsa’s neck with her dagger. Blood gushed everywhere, but Balsa couldn’t retreat. She shoved two fingers into Shihana’s right eye and ripped it out.

    Shihana screamed. Balsa kneed Shihana in the gut and turned away. She couldn’t spare the time to check if Shihana was unconscious or not; she needed to reach the archer that was targeting Tanda and Chikisa.

    The archer nocked his arrow and aimed. He fired at the same instant that Balsa attacked him from behind.

 

    Tanda heard an arrow whizzing through the air and looked over his shoulder. Chikisa screamed as the arrow embedded itself in his shoulder. “Chikisa!” Chikisa’s body twisted in pain; he lost his grip on the tree. 

    Tanda reached out to catch Chikisa before he fell. He grabbed onto Chikisa’s shirt, but he was so heavy that Tanda nearly fell himself. When Chikisa tried to find the tree again, his hands passed through it like it wasn’t there.

    “I can’t find the tree!” 

    Asra’s cold eyes passed over Chikisa as he struggled to reach her.

 

 

    Something interrupted Asra’s blissful joy. They were eyes--her brother’s eyes. She could see them. Chikisa was looking up at her, clearly in pain. Something of Asra’s true self swirled like a vortex within her bubble of comfort and safety. She remembered Chikisa; she could hear his voice inside her mind, but also in the immediate present: he was calling out to her. His eyes were so sad.

    Someone else was below her, too--someone else with sad eyes. Was that--Balsa?

    All of Asra’s memories returned to her in a flash of light. She remembered everything: her life with her parents and Chikisa, the time she’d spent with Balsa and the caravan, and her time traveling with Shihana and Ianu.

The moment her memories returned, the smell of blood all around her became nauseating instead of appetizing. She could hear people’s screams and see their fear clearly for the first time. Her eyes passed over Prince Ihan and the Rotans surrounding him until they settled on the fat face of one of the southern clan lords.

The lord trembled and broke into a cold sweat when he felt her eyes upon him. His life was in her hands. She wanted to slit his throat and drink his blood.

But then, Asra’s memories beat that desire back. I...I’ m thinking about killing someone! But I don’t want to kill anyone!

She saw Talhamaya’s face reflected in the eyes of the southern clan lord. She’d never seen it before. It was terrifying.

Asra suddenly heard Balsa’s voice in her ears: “Your face during the wolf attack almost scared me to death.” Had Balsa seen this? Had she seen the god like this?

    Asra understood what she’d just been doing: she’d been chasing people around to scare them before she killed them. She screamed and yanked at the glowing ring around her neck to restrain herself from killing the man in front of her.

    “I don’t want to kill anyone!”

    Talhamaya’s body shuddered from anger and irritation. “I want to kill them, you little brat! Don’t get in my way!” She twisted her neck around and stared at the part of Asra that was still sitting in the sacred tree. “If you keep holding me back, I’ll make you disappear.”

    Asra felt Talhamaya devouring her heart. If she consumed it all, Talhamaya and Asra would be permanently connected. She’d become Sada Talhamaya.

    “No! I don’t want to be Sada Talhamaya!” Her defiance was like a shaft of light cutting through dark clouds. “I won ’t be Sada Talhamaya!”

    Asra gripped the ring of sacred mistletoe around her neck with both hands. This is the gate Sada Talhamaya uses to enter our world, she thought. If I can consume her instead, I might be able to seal her away.

    The ring around her neck was solidly attached to her and wouldn’t budge. She might die trying to remove it, but Asra didn’t hesitate. The faces of all the people she knew resurfaced from her memories and gave her strength.

    Talhamaya’s fangs were pointed directly at her. She shook all over, but kept pulling at the ring around her neck with both hands. The god’s face was vivid and terrible; it loomed large in front of her as Talhamaya came closer.

    Asra’s eyes met Talhamaya’s. The moment felt sharp and bright enough to be preserved in glass. Talhamaya’s fangs were huge; her mouth was big enough to swallow Asra whole. Asra kept her eyes open and felt the power of the sacred river flowing within her. She slipped the ring of sacred mistletoe off her neck with a soft cry, then exercised her power to absorb the god into herself.

    Absorbing the god was intensely painful. Asra used the last of her strength to fling the ring of sacred mistletoe away from her. That done, she went limp against the trunk of the sacred tree. 

 

 

 

    Asra fell like a ripe apple toward the ground. Tanda caught her in one arm as she fell and hugged her to his chest. His grip on the tree with his legs slipped due to the increase in weight. He righted himself and tightened his grip on the tree, Chikisa, and Asra.

    Tanda looked down at the tops of the trees below him. They tree he was climbing was much taller than the surrounding forest. He couldn’t get down while supporting Chikisa and Asra, so he made the decision to let go of the tree and fall toward a thick clump of tall trees below. With any luck, he, Chikisa and Asra would get caught in the limbs of those tall trees, breaking their fall.

    Tanda fell with his back to the ground and Asra clutched to his chest to protect her. He kept his grip on Chikisa’s clothes as he felt branches tear at his own clothes and skin. Shock and impact made his head feel like the inside of a drum. Tanda could do nothing except pray that they would all survive the fall.

 

 

Balsa knocked out the archer that shot Chikisa, then dashed toward Tanda. She could see him and Chikisa hanging in midair. She watched as Tanda caught a smaller figure--Asra--and started falling from the sky. Asra’s neck was red with blood.

Balsa saw two huge fangs cut through the air and create a platform under Asra; the crescent shape of the fangs made the movement look a little like an embrace. It was possible that this slowed Tanda, Chikisa, and Asra’s descent, but Balsa couldn’t tell by how much.

The three of them crashed into the trees above Balsa’s head. The main tree they landed in was young and not strong enough to support all three of them; it let out a creak like a scream as its branches snapped and the main trunk crashed into another tree.

Balsa rushed desperately toward the fallen tree. Tanda and the others were entangled in the branches of the fallen tree and the one it had crashed into. Balsa faced the stronger tree and started to climb; the fallen tree couldn’t possibly hold any more weight. When she reached the same height level as Tanda, Chikisa and Asra, she realized that she wouldn’t be able to lower them to the ground without help.

“Balsa! Can you hear me? We’re here!” Sufar called out below her. He climbed partway up the tree she was in and started hacking at the broken branches of the fallen tree to create a clear path to Tanda and the others. Mark was on the ground, waiting for Sufar’s orders.

With Sufar’s help, Balsa was able to extricate Chikisa from the tangled branches of the trees and lay him out gently on the ground. Asra came next. The two of them were unconscious, but none of the injuries they’d sustained seemed life-threatening.

Lifting Tanda from the tangled branches was difficult. When he was finally laid out on the ground next to the children, the first thing Balsa noticed was the severity of his wounds. He was cut and bruised all over, just like she was. Mark and Sufar were also injured from fighting Shihana’s allies. Balsa glanced around and realized that they were all in pretty rotten shape.

Tanda was still able to move, so Balsa crouched down next to Chikisa and Asra. She extended a hand to each of their necks and waited. They both had a pulse. They were still alive.

Balsa pulled Asra to her chest with trembling hands. She hugged her with all her remaining strength and let out a low groan.

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