Dororo: A Novel
Tsuji Masaki
Part Three
The Tale of Bandai
Chapter 3
“Holy cow! This place is huge!”
The villagers led Dororo and Hyakkimaru down the poorly lit hallways of Lady Bandai’s estate, tugging on their ropes to keep them moving. Their route through the estate was long and winding, with many turns. Dororo was amazed at the sheer size of the place. He’d caught sight of some of the villagers’ houses before they were dragged inside the estate. None of them was much larger than a pig pen. The village’s other buildings were also in poor shape compared to this one, with leaking roofs and sagging walls.
Compared to the rest of the houses in the village, Lady Bandai’s estate was a palace. Lacquered columns lined the hallways. Well-kept gardens were visible through the many windows. There were painted sliding screen doors to the right and left. One door slid open, bathing the corridor in light.
Dororo blinked several times to get used to the new brightness of his surroundings. There was a young woman in front of him, reclining on a thick, long futon. The woman’s hair was long and black. Her skin was as white as snow. Her eyes shone like stars.
“Wow, you’re beautiful!” Dororo said.
The woman smiled a little at Dororo’s sudden outburst. She made no move to rise. She remained on the futon with her legs under a blanket.
“Oh, are you sick?” Dororo asked. “I hope you feel better soon. You’re really pretty. As pretty as my mom who died, and I don’t think there’s anyone more beautiful than her.”
Lady Bandai--this beautiful woman--looked over Dororo and Hyakkimaru critically, observing the ropes. “And who are you two, if I may ask?”
“They are thieves, my lady,” the old man who’d led them into the estate said. “They came to steal the village’s gold.”
“Truly?” Lady Bandai’s eyes went wide with surprise.
“We found them in the bamboo grove where the gold was hidden. They’d dug it up already.”
“We weren’t gonna steal it!” Dororo said. “We only knew it was there because a monster appeared right on that spot!”
“Silence!” The old man slapped Dororo across the face with his work-roughened hand.
Dororo scarcely reacted to the blow. He’d certainly had worse. “You’re the one who wasn’t being quiet, asshole! Silence yourself!”
“Please be quiet,” Lady Bandai said. “Everyone.” Her voice was quiet, but it carried, and her pleasanter tone made Dororo snap his own mouth shut.
Lady Bandai chuckled. “How odd. You are such a small child, yet have such a large voice.” She addressed the villagers. “I expect they’ll confess soon enough. Please take them out to the work shed behind the house and let them sit for a little while.”
The villagers fell to their knees as if the power of Lady Bandai’s eyes alone was enough to command them. “Yes, Lady Bandai!” It seemed that all of her orders were swiftly obeyed.
The villagers did as commanded and brought Hyakkimaru and Dororo to a small work shed outside the house. Dororo thrashed the whole way. Lady Bandai seemed kind to him. He tried to break free of his captors so that he could speak to her again. He was sure that if she gave him a chance to explain the situation, she would let him and Hyakkimaru go.
“Hah! You call yourself men, letting a sick woman boss you around?” Dororo asked. “That’s not right! Besides, you should take us back to her!”
“Shut up!” The old man struck Dororo in the face again. “Lady Bandai saved this village.”
“Saved it? How?”
There was silence for a while. Hyakkimaru broke it, speaking with some hesitation. “The more interesting question is why. Why did Lady Bandai save the village? Why did the village need saving in the first place?”
The old man nodded. “That is quite a tale, and I suppose I should tell you.” He seemed proud of Lady Bandai’s presence in the village. He stood up straight and wiped a bit of spittle from his mouth, revealing yellowed teeth.
“Up until last year, this village was frequently beset by thieves,” the old man said. “And they didn’t only steal money. They would kill people who resisted and take away whatever they wanted. The village became poor overnight. Last year, Lady Bandai came over the mountains and gave us all of her considerable wealth.”
“Oh?” Hyakkimaru asked.
“We feared that more thieves would come once they learned of Lady Bandai’s wealth and generosity.”
“I see,” Hyakkimaru said. “And you suspect us of being thieves because of that?”
“Yes! Now, you two sit here until tomorrow morning and think about what Lady Bandai said.”
And so Dororo and Hyakkimaru were shut up inside the small, foul-smelling shed. The floor was made of clumpy earth, and in the center of the shed there was an old and crumbling stone well.
“They’re just gonna leave us here? Ch,” Dororo muttered. “Some treatment.”
Dororo and Hyakkimaru’s arms were bound to support beams inside the shed. Their arms were behind their backs and their backs were against the beams. It was difficult for them to move very far. Dororo was antsy at being pinned in place, so he moved the only thing that was free: his motormouth.
“Oi! Bring us tea and sweets!” Dororo bellowed.
There was no reply to Dororo’s shout. The old man was gone, and there were no other villagers outside the shed. Everything was as still and silent as the grave. Dororo kicked at the ground--his legs were still free--and heard the sound echo all around.
“We’re not thieves!” Dororo shouted. “I mean, I’m a thief, but I haven’t stolen anything from you! Untie our ropes and let us go! Please, Lady Bandai! Please!”
Hyakkimaru nudged the over-excited Dororo with his foot.
“What is it, aniki?” Dororo asked.
“Be quiet.”
“What? Don’t try to order me around like Lady Bandai did.”
“Lady Bandai is coming.”
“Can you sense her with your mind, or something?”
“If I say she’s coming, she’s coming. She’s a demon, and I know a demon when I see one.”
“Lady Bandai is the demon?” Dororo sounded shocked. “But demons are hideous. They’re not pretty like she is.”
“I told you to be quiet.”
Hyakkimaru’s tone was grave. Dororo wasn’t happy about it, but he shut his mouth. It was quiet enough now for Dororo to take in his surroundings. He’d thought there was absolute silence before, after the old man had left, but now he could hear something. Was it water dripping in the well? Or something else?
The sound was faint and echoing. Dororo couldn’t tell where it was coming from, exactly, only that it was a long way off--perhaps as far off as the pit of Hell. There was also a slight, tinny ringing in Dororo’s ears.
What is that sound? Dororo thought.
The sound was loud and getting louder, and it was definitely coming from the well. It also changed in pitch as it grew louder, becoming shrill.
A clatter… creaking…
Dororo swallowed heavily. There was a single candle burning near the door of the shed. The flame flickered as if it was trembling in fright.
“Ani--” Dororo stopped himself short when he smelled something odd. The smell tickled his nose, but he couldn’t quite place it. Maybe this was what Hyakkimaru smelled when he sensed demons. “Something stinks.” Stank like a drainage ditch. Now that Dororo had smelled it, he wished he hadn’t.
Dororo stared at the well in the half-darkness, suppressing the urge to vomit.
Drip... drip... creak...
The sounds coming from the bottom of the well changed. Dororo thought heard the scrape of claws against stone.
Drip.
Creak.
Scrape.
Drip...
There were fingers on the edge of the well, gripping and pulling up. The fingers were a sickly pale blue like a corpse’s. They were much larger than an ordinary person’s.
Dororo’s panic made him freeze. He knew where the sounds were coming from now... not that it helped at all. There was a terrific splash of water, and then the demon appeared in all its glory. Its body was enormous. It wound around the well like a snake, then sprang into an attack.
The demon resembled a giant, slimy toad more than anything else. The flesh of the demon was blue-gray and smelled of rot. The demon’s tongue lashed in and out hungrily.
“Ha ha ha...” The demon was laughing, though its croaking voice was somewhat difficult to understand as speech.
Dororo screamed like a little girl. He was a brave little boy, of course, but everyone has their moments of weakness. The warty legs of the frog demon were two meters long and soaking wet from the well water.
The flame of the candle at the locked doorway of the shed spluttered. The frog demon shook off water droplets the size of ground snails as it pulled itself up. Only the head and front legs of the demon were currently visible; the grotesque demon’s back legs and lower body were still hidden in the well. The demon was so large that it appeared somewhat stuck.
“Ha ha ha...”
The demon darted its tongue out once, twice, three times in Dororo’s direction, as if it could sense the boy’s fear.
“Ah! Get us out of here, aniki!” He struggled with the ropes binding his arms but couldn’t quite get free.
That was when Hyakkimaru finally moved.
“Ya!” Like a bird in flight, Hyakkimaru kicked hard at the earth underfoot and sprang into the air. Both his arms were naked blades, and he aimed them both at the demon.
Dororo kept struggling with his ropes. You readers already know many of the secrets of Hyakkimaru’s body, so it’s likely that you don’t need an explanation of how he got free. Dororo was confused about that, though. He’d been watching Hyakkimaru the whole time and hadn’t seen him remove his arm prosthetics.
The demon was slow to react to Hyakkimaru’s sword arms. Perhaps it was used to its victims all being tied up and easy prey.
Slice.
Hyakkimaru made deep cuts to the demon’s back, one after another.
“You hit it!” Dororo yelled.
The wounds that Hyakkimaru had inflicted would have killed an ordinary person--or ordinary frog--easily. But the demon seemed unfazed. Before Hyakkimaru and Dororo’s eyes, the demon’s cuts healed as if they’d been sewn shut. There are some animals, like starfish, that can restore their own organs and limbs. It seemed that the demon possessed this same ability.
Hyakkimaru pressed the attack, following close after the slug-slimy demon.
“Hahaha! Hahaha!”
Hyakkimaru appeared in the guttering candlelight. “Eat dirt, you toad fish demon!”1
The demon fixed its gigantic red eyes on Hyakkimaru. There were no pupils, but the eyes glowed red in the darkness. There was a horned ridge above the demon’s brow that shone faintly gold.
Hyakkimaru climbed up on the demon’s back and struck the demon between the eyes.
“Yaaa!” The demon screamed and thrashed, trying to buck Hyakkimaru off. Hyakkimaru’s right sword kept cutting through the demon, leaving a deep tear in the flesh of its face. Hyakkimaru used his left sword to cut the eye of the demon on the opposite side.
“Gaaaah!”
The demon’s wounds were still healing, but the process was slower. The demon turned tail and ran back to the edge of the well, where it either jumped or fell down.
After that, there was nothing but the sound of water dripping in the night.
“You did it!” Dororo said. His arms were still tied, so he did a little dance with his feet.
“No I didn’t,” Hyakkimaru said. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He bent to cut through Dororo’s ropes.
“Won’t the demon die from you cutting it up like that?” Dororo asked.
Dororo looked into the well, but of course there was nothing there now. He pulled up a bucket and started to climb in, but then he hesitated.
“You can’t fit down the well, aniki, but I can.”
“Don’t go down there,” Hyakkimaru said.
“Why? Following you was worth it for that alone.” There was no sign of the monster in the well that he could see, so it was likely that it had healed itself.
“It’s dangerous,” Hyakkimaru said. “Get away from there!”
Before Hyakkimaru could stop him, Dororo lowered himself in the bucket and was soon crouching inside of the well.
“Hehehehe. I’m the world’s greatest thief. Leave it to me, and we’ll find the demon again in no time!” Then Dororo leaped for the side of the well like a monkey climbing a tree, making his way slowly down the stone side.
The effort of maintaining handholds on the slippery stone made Dororo break out into a cold sweat. Only half of the moisture on his skin was sweat. The rest was the ambient moisture inside the well.
I hope the demon at least comes out, after this. It ran away!
As Dororo got closer to the bottom of the well, his nose twitched. What was that awful smell? He jumped down the rest of the way and found a narrow tunnel where more water drained into the well. He slipped in the water. When he fell, he made a loud splash. It was a good thing that the well water wasn’t deep; he could touch the bottom.
“Whoa!”
“Dororo! Are you all right?” Hyakkimaru called out from above.
“I’m at the bottom!”
“I’m coming!” Hyakkimaru’s voice sounded a little closer. It seemed that he’d decided to follow Dororo.
“Are you worried about me?” Dororo called back to him. “I’m fine. Soaking wet and cold, but there ain’t no demon down here.” He reached out his hands in the darkness and contacted something solid. It was about the size and shape of a tree branch. A stick? He picked it up.
“It’s not here, but there’s a hole in the well! Maybe the demon went that way!”
“Wait!”
Dororo took his stick and started tapping the wall of the well, looking for hollow spaces. The small hole he’d found earlier didn’t seem large enough for the demon to pass through.
“I found something!” Dororo said.
On Dororo’s left side, the wall of the well had fallen completely away, revealing tall, dark hole. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought he felt a breeze coming from the hole.
Dororo’s eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness. What he held in his hand was not a stick, but a gleaming white leg bone.
“Gah!”
The entrance to the large hole that Dororo had found was littered with more bones. “Dead bodies… so the demon kills people and takes their money?”
Dororo’s knees shook, but he’d resolved to enter the hole and follow the demon already. He took a few slow steps into the hole. As he walked, he remembered something Hyakkimaru had said to him.
“Aniki wasn’t dazzled by Lady Bandai’s beauty. He knew she was a demon, no matter what she looked like. Lady Bandai is the prettiest woman I ever saw… and the frog demon is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
There was water dripping somewhere ahead. Dororo reached out, searching for a wall to climb out. “There must be a way out of here,” he muttered. “The well’s not that deep. And we’ve been heading back in the direction of the estate.”
There were thick tree roots poking into the well. Dororo climbed them, feeling the wind on his face get stronger the higher he climbed.
Where does this come out? Dororo wondered. Where am I now?
He was still scared, but his curiosity propelled him forward. He pulled himself up, looking around. His eyes widened with surprise.
This was Lady Bandai’s room.
1 ガマナメクジ: Gamanamekuji “toad slug” or “toad fish.” The demon has features of both species, so Hyakkimaru calls it both. ↩
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