Guardian of Heaven and Earth
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Kanbal
Part 2 - Disturbances in Nayugu
Chapter 5 - Strange Omens
It was sunset at the Musa clan’s castle. Everyone was tense and anxious when they received news of the sudden avalanche in their domain. The loss of the weavers’ hut and goat pens was a significant blow to the local economy, but it seemed that no one had been seriously hurt. Most of the goats had already been rounded up and penned in the other villages. Everyone expressed their gratitude to the Herder women who had warned everyone about the avalanche.
“Their ears are so much better than ours,” the Kanbalese women said. “They can hear things that we can’t.”
The clan head, Kaguro, listened to the news, then stalked down the hallway as he considered what kind of aid should be sent to the village. He heard another commotion coming from the great hall and turned around. Several riders were behind him, riding up the wide hall; one had a young boy in the saddle in front of him. The boy was very pale, but Kaguro would know his face anywhere.
“Kassa! Are you all right?”
The riders entered a hall lit by a roaring fire, then set Kassa down next to it. A physician knelt down next to the boy and started checking his condition.
Yoyo, Kassa’s friend among the Herders, was also with him. “A stone fell on his head,” Yoyo said to the doctor. “He swallowed water when he was unconscious. We got him out of the water and warmed him up; he’s breathing, so I don’t think his life is in danger. I don’t know if anything’s broken...”
Kaguro had just sat down next to Kassa when he felt someone tug at his sleeve. An old Herder man stood behind him. He tugged Kaguro’s sleeve again. Kaguro understood that he wanted to discuss something in private. He stood up, then guided the Herder into the next room. He made sure that there was no one else inside, then locked the door.
Kaguro invited the old Herder man to sit in a chair in front of the room’s dying fire. Ashes streaked the floor.
“What brings you to our castle, Toto the Elder?” he asked politely. The Herder man was old and filthy and clothed in goatskin leather, but Kaguro recognized him easily. His clan had always given the Herders the respect they deserved as people who knew how to live in the mountains. The Herders also orchestrated the ceremony that allowed the King of Kanbal to harvest luisha, a precious stone that could be traded for grain to ensure the people’s survival over winter. The Herders and the King of Kanbal both had to cooperate to gain luisha, which would only be granted if the King of Kanbal revealed his heart and accepted that of the Mountain King, a powerful spirit in Noyook.
The King of Kanbal was served by the nine greatest warriors in the land, chosen from each of Kanbal’s clans. These warriors were known as the King’s Spears. Without the respect of these warriors, no king could rule in Kanbal. In the ceremony of the giving of luisha, these nine warriors had to battle the Mountain King’s warriors, called hyoulu, guardians of the darkness. This fight was not a fight to the death, but a dance that revealed the heart. If the Mountain King was satisfied with the honesty of the King and the King’s Spears in this dance, luisha would be granted.
The last time luisha had been granted had been four years ago, when the foster daughter of Kaguro’s younger brother Jiguro had successfully completed the spear dance. Until that time, only people who were King’s Spears had ever gained luisha.
“Clan leader of Musa,” Toto said, bowing his head a little. “First, I feel that I must apologize. Kassa followed us into the caves, which is how he was injured. We didn’t want it to happen, but I’ll take responsibility all the same.”
Kaguro frowned, causing a scar on his right cheek to pull and twitch. His expression was forbidding and a bit frightening. “You were with Kassa? Why? Did you have some business with him?”
Toto nodded. “I had hoped that Kassa would talk to you about this. We wanted to show him what we were seeing, since he’s an honest observer and would relay what he saw to you as precisely as he could. But it seems like that won’t be possible now, so it falls on me to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“I have seen a great wave,” Toto said. “It comes from our mother, the Yusa Mountains, and may swallow us all whole.”
“A great wave?” Kaguro asked.
“Yes. Strange things occur in the mountains when it becomes spring in Noyook, as it is now.” Toto paused. He was thinking about how many secrets he should reveal. “Do you know about Noyook?” he asked.
Kaguro’s frown deepened. “My grandmother was once walking on the mountain, and she said she reached a warm and sunny spot she’d never seen before while she was walking. She called it Noyook. Is that the same thing as what you’re talking about?”
Toto smiled slightly. “Yes, it is the same thing. We live in two worlds that are connected, but not the same. Most people can’t ever see Noyook, which is the other world, but some can. But Noyook is all around us; it overlaps our world. The Mountain King is only visible in Noyook.”
Kaguro blinked. As a King’s Spear, it was forbidden for him to speak of something as holy and secret as the Mountain King.
Toto sensed Kaguro’s nervousness and continued speaking. “A month ago, Noyook’s river began flowing from the south to the north. It crossed the Misty Blue Mountains and flowed into this land. It joined our rivers and connected to the Yusa Mountains.
“To us Herders, the river of Noyook appears to be overflowing. The water level has reached the top of Mount Okkul.”
Kaguro blinked again. Okkul wasn’t a terribly high mountain, but it also wasn’t one that people could climb easily. He could see it out of the window of this room; white snow glittered on its peak. The avalanche today had occurred halfway up Mount Okkul.
“Was today’s avalanche caused by something in Noyook?” Kaguro asked.
Toto nodded deeply. “Yes. Spring came to Noyook several years ago now, but spring lasts for a long time in Noyook--some say as long as a century. Noyook’s water is much warmer than it usually is, and some of that warmth carries over into our world. I’m sure you’ve noticed that yourself. Doesn’t this winter seem unusually warm?”
Kaguro nodded. Kanbal’s winters were usually cold and harsh, but this year, it seemed like winter had never even come. The snow hadn’t hardened to ice on the mountains, which made avalanches much more likely.
Toto’s expression clouded over; he looked down. “Spring in Noyook is usually something to celebrate,” he said. “A sacred ceremony known as the marriage of the spirits occurs in Noyook’s spring. Many spirits gather together and join in the dance...”
Toto lifted his head. “But for us, who live in the mountains or on the surface, spring in Noyook is a terrifying time.”
“Why?” Kaguro asked.
“The mountains are covered in water. At the end of the marriage of the spirits, our land will be engulfed by an enormous wave of water from Noyook. Mountains will shake. Some may crumble. New seas and rivers will form.”
Kaguro saw genuine fear in Toto’s eyes. He swallowed.
“I’ve had all the Herders out in the caves, investigating and finding out all we can,” Toto said. “Their reports have come back to me, even from far-off Yonto territory. Tonto and Yonga aren’t underwater, at least not yet, but all of the other clan provinces are.
“It gets worse, I’m afraid,” Toto said. “Yonsa lands and the King’s province will be the hardest hit by the coming flood.”
“Because of the mountains? Do you think they’ll be destroyed by the wave?”
Toto nodded, then closed his eyes. He opened his eyes and raised his head.
“Musa clan leader. When the snow melts in spring, our country will be in trouble. We’ll have our own share of floods from runoff and too much snow melting. I’m certain we’ll see more rivers and lakes form, and more fissures in the mountains from the excess water. Avalanches will increase. The fields will flood; the water will weaken the earth and cause landslides. We have to flee to higher ground or we’ll all die.”
Kaguro looked at Toto’s wrinkled face. He pursed his lips and said, “I don’t believe you.”
Toto frowned severely. “You must believe me. The Herders sensed an avalanche that would have killed many of your people in the village today without their warning. None of my people want to leave their homes, either, but we must all flee before our homes are flooded.”
Toto and Kaguro looked at one another for a long moment.
“You say that we must flee,” Kaguro said. “Where? You just said that this disaster will engulf the entire nation.”
“West,” Toto said. “There are few people there, and the mountains are steep, but very high. No one lives there now.”
“West, you say?” Kaguro asked, but Toto didn’t allow Kaguro to speak over him.
“I told you that the Yonsa clan’s lands and the King’s province will be at the greatest risk,” Toto said.
Kaguro went pale. “What will happen to the King’s province?”
“The royal palace is on high ground in the mountains, so there’s a chance that the people who live inside will be all right. But the village below the palace is in danger.” Toto paused, then nodded as if he’d just committed himself. “And my people are worried about the Mountain King and the marriage of the spirits.”
Kaguro’s eyes widened. Toto kept speaking quietly.
“The Mountain King’s Hall is directly underneath the royal palace,” Toto said. “The ceremony of the marriage of the spirits will culminate in the Mountain King’s Hall. We Herders don’t know what will happen, but it may be that the Mountain King’s Hall will be the place where the wave is released.”
Toto glanced up at Kaguro. “We have a legend that during the last marriage of the spirits, the earth beneath the palace moved, water overflowed, and a huge rainbow lit the sky. It’s embarrassing to admit, but my people don’t know anything else about this ceremony.”
Kaguro rubbed his chin and sank deeply into thought. He shook his head in irritation. “Even if I decide to believe you, it’s impossible to relocate all of the people in the province. And if you’re right, we aren’t the only ones who need to flee to higher ground. The Yonsa clan and the King’s people might need to as well.” Kaguro looked down and kept speaking, more to himself than to Toto. “If this were any other year, the people could flee south to New Yogo or Rota, at least until the flooding was over. This is terrible timing.”
Toto’s forehead creased. “Fleeing to Rota is fine, but New Yogo will also be underwater.”
“I understand,” Kaguro spat. “You’re saying that New Yogo will disappear.”
“Not the entire country,” Toto said, “but the Misty Blue Mountains are like our own. They’ll have too much snowmelt and flood in spring, too, and Noyook’s river also flows through it. New Yogo might suffer flooding and destruction before we do.”
Kaguro looked at Toto in silence. This was an issue that couldn’t be ignored. Fear spread from the pit of Kaguro’s stomach that he couldn’t quite suppress.
“So our people will have to face the threat of the flood, or the threat of war in Rota,” he said quietly. Kanbal’s people were trapped between disasters; there was no escape.
The Herders didn’t seem to know that New Yogo would be attacked by Talsh soon, and that Kanbal had gotten tangled up in their problems. Kaguro wondered what the King was thinking--not for the first time.
Kaguro covered his face with his hands. No matter what happens, I have to protect the Musa clan. He stared at the floor and thought about the best way to do that.
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