Dororo: A Novel
Tsuji Masaki
Part Six
The Tale of Banmon and the Demon Fox
Chapter 3
Dororo was forced to stand with Banmon behind him. Although his body was bruised and bloodied, he held himself like a general or a king.
“You’re all so stupid! You’re total idiots! Your weak little arrows can’t stab me!” He puffed out his chest, but the sight of the row of archers stretched out before him put a damper on his spirit. Looks like it’s over for me this time, aniki, he thought.
It was sunset, and the horizon line was red as if it had been bloodied. Dororo considered the sky with a melancholy expression. It was an unsettling color, like the blood that had stuck to Banmon and hadn’t had time to dry. That color was like brutality and injustice.
“Prepare yourself, child.”
At Tahoumaru's command, the soldiers drew back their arrows and nocked them. Dororo was their only target.
What a shame...I didn’t manage to steal aniki’s sword after all, Dororo thought.
But then Dororo heard Hyakkimaru’s voice inside his mind.
Dororo! Don’t give up! You must be strong! I’m coming!
“Huh? Aniki?” Dororo answered out loud, of course. He wasn’t exactly accustomed to telepathic communication. Hyakkimaru might be able to talk to Dororo by finding the right frequency, like a radio antenna, but Dororo wasn’t capable of the same.
This isn’t like you, Hyakkimaru spoke directly into Dororo’s mind. Fight! Fight for your life to the very end!
“Oh.” Dororo answered out loud again. “You’re right. How embarrassing. Heh, it's pathetic for Dororo, the master thief, to ever show such weakness."
Tahoumaru scoffed as the child sacrifice seemed to gain confidence. "You, there! It looks like you're going crazy with fear." He could conceive of no other reason for Dororo's change in attitude. "Shoot!" he called out to his soldiers.
"Don't shoot, Tahoumaru!"
“What?”
When Tahoumaru turned around, Hyakkimaru came rushing toward him with the swiftness of a warhorse.
"You coward, trying to kill my friend before we've sealed our bargain. You owe me a one-on-one fight," Hyakkimaru said.
"Hahaha!" Tahoumaru laughed, appearing perfectly calm. "You're a suspicious one, I see. I think this bargain's already been decided in my favor. That's why I decided that killing him first wouldn't matter. Since you're here, I don't mind getting rid of you first."
Tahoumaru looked around for a good battleground. "Let's take our fight over there."
Leaving the concerned Lord Makuwa behind, Tahoumaru and Hyakkimaru went up the embankment a little further away. The river's current was sluggish there, like molasses.
"Here's a good place," Tahoumaru said. "Do you have a sword? I can lend one to you." He drew his own sword from his hip.
"I don't need one."
"Is this some kind of trick to get out of the fight? I'll let you use Lord Makuwa's sword."
Hyakkimaru shook his head. "I'll use these two swords." He shook himself a little, letting his arm prosthetics drop to the ground.
Tahoumaru's eyes bugged out of his head. "Monster!"
"I could call you the same. People who kill humans and don't think anything of it are the real monsters!" His shoulders shook, making him hold his sword arms slightly askew. "Come and get me!"
"I will." Tahoumaru raised his sword above his head and assumed a high, arrogant stance that matched his personality. "Here I come!"
Tahoumaru and Hyakkimaru moved at the same time, but they froze in place before their swords could cross.
"Eh?"
The two combatants were frozen as if they'd turned to ice. Slowly, they turned toward the east where Banmon and Dororo were.
"Aniki!" Dororo's back was still to Banmon. He cried out as loud as he could, but the wind blowing past the wall muffled the sound of his voice. He wasn't sure if Hyakkimaru was able to hear him or not.
Suddenly, a thin rope coiled downward from above Dororo's head. At the end of the rope was a blade made of iron. Lord Makuwa and the other soldiers standing on the embankment didn't notice. Dororo didn't notice, either. Someone was trying to cut the rope that bound Dororo's arms, but who
Tahoumaru and Hyakkimaru unfroze at once and attacked. The battle between Hyakkimaru and Tahoumaru was filled with terrifying tension. The two of them seemed to be drawn together, compelled by each other's bloodlust. Sweat dripped down their faces drop by drop, like frozen chips of ice.
As he fought, Hyakkimaru heard a strange voice calling his name.
Hyakkimaru...Hyakkimaru...
The voice spoke in Hyakkimaru's mind, not aloud. Tahoumaru couldn't hear it.
What do you want? Hyakkimaru replied irritably, using telepathy. The battle required his full focus. He didn't have the time or attention for this. Are you a demon? Is this another illusion?
Hehehehe, the voice replied. Hyakkimaru. Listen close, now, and I'll tell you something interesting.
Shut up, Hyakkimaru shot back. He tried to block the voice from getting through, but the demon fox's voice became louder and more shrill in response.
Tahoumaru is your younger brother. Did you know that?
What? Hyakkimaru asked.
The owner of the estate that you met was Kagemitsu Daigo.
Hyakkimaru felt as if the earth was giving way beneath his feet.
If Tahoumaru is my younger brother... is that samurai my father?
Tahoumaru took advantage of Hyakkimaru's distraction and cut through the air above Hyakkimaru's shoulder in a straight line.
"Ah!" Hyakkimaru tried to dodge, but Tahoumaru's sword bit into his left shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound.
Hehehehe... Watch out, Hyakkimaru.
Damn it!
Tahoumaru raised his sword as the demon fox laughed, baring venomous fangs. Hyakkimaru's human and demon enemies were working together to defeat him.
Hyakkimaru grunted in pain.
“What’s the matter, monster?” Tahoumaru asked, mocking.
Damn... where is the demon? Hyakkimaru desperately tried to close his eyes while suppressing the pain in his shoulder.
It's there. Hyakkimaru sensed a gust of demonic energy behind Tahoumaru. The fox was hiding in the undergrowth behind him.
In order to reach the demon, Hyakkimaru would have to get past Tahoumaru first.
"I grazed your shoulder; your head is next. Prepare yourself for death." Tahoumaru projected confidence.
Are you really my younger brother? Hyakkimaru thought. He should have figured it out before, without the demon telling him. Hadn't the servants at the estate called him Daigo Tahoumaru--the son of Lord Daigo? And hadn't Lord Daigo claimed to be his father?
There was a close resemblance between Lord Daigo and Tahoumaru. The same eyebrows, the same jawline... they were mirror images, differentiated only by age. Worse, Hyakkimaru saw the resemblance between Tahoumaru and himself.
"You and I are the same. We're both monsters," Hyakkimaru muttered to himself. He bent down and twisted off one of the prosthetic pieces that covered his ankle.
"Die, Hyakkimaru!" Tahoumaru prepared to cut Hyakkimaru down, but was forced to dodge the spray of caustic acid that emerged from Hyakkimaru's lower leg.
"Ow!"
Tahoumaru jumped to the side as his kimono was torn off. Hyakkimaru jumped past Tahoumaru with one foot, into the reeds and undergrowth behind him.
"Demon!" Hyakkimaru yelled.
Suddenly, the reeds tore apart.
Tahoumaru turned around, eyes wide. From around the torn reeds, a shadow arose like a gigantic ink blot, shedding mist as red as blood. It wasn't sunset; there was no red light in the sky to tint the mist. It looked like human blood because it was.
The demon fox gushed out the blood it had absorbed from its victims. That blood belonged to the cruel sacrifices made to Banmon, and to soldiers and people caught in the war between the Asakura Clan and the Daigo Clan.
"Shit! Where is it?" Hyakkimaru was blind and deaf; his nose was blocked with blood. His entire body was slathered in the red mist; he couldn't see anything at all. His blades were dulled by the sticky red mist.
Hyakkimaru chose to sit down and remain in place so that he wouldn't fall over. He'd used up over half of the acid hidden inside his false leg to get past Tahoumaru; his other leg was a true and living one, regrown after his battle with Hakumenfudou.
There was no other option: Hyakkimaru would have to use up what little remained of the acid inside his leg. He hoped it would be enough.
The precious little burning acid poured into the demon fox's mouth. The red mist disappeared, revealing a gigantic monster with golden fur and nine tails.
"Well done, Hyakkimaru!" The fox pounced on Hyakkimaru, its fangs glinting like small blades.
Damn it! If only I had just a little more acid, Hyakkimaru thought.
Hyakkimaru gritted his teeth, preparing for the next attack.
"Gyaaah!" The monster screamed, waving its tail. There was a sword stuck firmly in its throat. That sword had been thrown by Tahoumaru.
"Know who your enemies are, you little fool," the fox demon spat.
Tahoumaru grinned. "I don't remember asking a fox to interfere in this one-on-one battle." Tahoumaru moved to retrieve his sword. Hyakkimaru dashed out in front of him to stop him from removing the sword from the demon's throat.
"Stop! This thing is dangerous! It's not just an ordinary fox!"
But Hyakkimaru's warning came too late. The demon fox whipped its nine tails out at Tahoumaru. The tails took hold, squeezing the life out of Tahoumaru.
"Gah!"
As Tahoumaru struggled, Hyakkimaru rushed forward. My little brother! My little brother! It was all Hyakkimaru could think about.
Hyakkimaru lined up his swords in front of him, facing the demon. It was about to bite Tahoumaru!
"Gah!"
The demon's oppressive weight fell on Tahoumaru and Hyakkimaru. It writhed, knocking both of them into the river. Red mist spread over the surface of the water, out of the fox demon's gaping maw.
"Lord Tahoumaru!"
"Lord Daigo!"
Tahoumaru's retainers shouted to him from the riverbank. None of them stood close to Banmon now. The retainers kept shouting for their lord, stunned, and watched helplessly as the formerly sluggish river flowed faster. White rapids streaked over rocks. Mixed in with the flow of blue water was a sinister streak of darkness. The red mist continued to spread over the river's surface, falling like rain into the water and tainting it red. Was this the blood of the demon, or all of the human victims that it had consumed?
When Hyakkimaru remembered to look for Dororo, he couldn't see him anywhere. He must have been freed by the blade, using it to cut his bonds--but who had placed the blade there?
Lord Makuwa finally noticed that the prisoner was gone and shouted reprimands to his subordinates. His words were drowned out by a terrible noise.
"What... what was that sound?"
The wind was blowing too loud; it was impossible to make out what the sound was.
Click-clack, click-clack. Creak, creak.
"The sound... it's coming from over there!"
One of the warriors screamed. Banmon shook. The warrior twisted in the whirling wind; he fell. He wasn't the first.
"Banmon is going to collapse!"
It was as if an invisible giant had struck the wall. Banmon, coated with blood, broke in two. It seemed to take a long time, as if everything was moving in slow motion--like a nightmare.
Silence. The world held its breath. Then the sound of the wall collapsing reached Hyakkimaru, Tahoumaru and the warriors, drowning out the caterwauling howl of the wind.
The wind strengthened: a natural force. It was a reminder that neither the Asakura Clan nor the Daigo Clan were natural powers. The wind had preceded them, and would still be there long after the clans were gone. Banmon was likewise a temporary barrier, nothing more than the symbol of a petty human dispute.
Lord Makuwa and the other soldiers stood still, dumbstruck.
Dororo and Hyakkimaru, where will they go now?
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