Fire Hunter Series 1: Fire in Spring
Hinata Rieko
Part Two : Animal Trail
"Hey, hey, I can walk now. Put me down."
"It's fine, just put up with it for now. Better for me to carry you than for you to push yourself past your limits and get left behind."
It had been two days since Touko and the others had left the village, guided by Tree People. The woman with the staff had taken the lead, the boy jumped from tree to tree overhead, and the big burly man walked in the back to protect everyone from the threat of Fire Fiends. Kaho kept insisting she could walk and Shouzou kept insisting that she couldn't. Touko walked alongside Kanata, casting glances at her other companions from time to time.
The names of the Tree People were Asebi, Enishida, and Shikibi. These were also plant names that corresponded to the tattoos painted on their faces. Asebi said that this was a customary naming convention among the Tree People. Remembering their history, Touko wondered if their bodies were remade or reshaped by the gods to reflect their names. She still didn't understand the relationship between the Guardian Gods and the Tree People, exactly. Her understanding faltered when thinking about the Guardian Gods, since she didn't know what they were. Relics of a lost time, when people weren't ignited when they used natural fire? Why then did Touko and Shouzou and the rest have the flaw that caused combustion flickering inside their bodies, waiting for the right catalyst?
The Black Forest all around them smelled sweet with rot and decay, reminding Touko of the mass funeral in her village that had been held for her parents, Rin's father, and many others—the village had lost nineteen people that day. The ceremony commemorating their death was a long one, and the survivors brought flowers, sweet-smelling, to cover the burning and rotting smell of death. It had been spring at the time, so flowers had been plentiful. Rain fell and scattered petals everywhere.
So far, there had been no attacks by Fire Fiends. The Tree People's odd-smelling chemical repelled them. Asebi, Enishida, and Shikibi were all armed with short spears topped with sharpened stone points as a precaution.
Kaho insisted that she could walk on her own again, but no one paid this any mind. Touko wasn't convinced that Kaho could do much on her own yet. She wasn't eating regularly, and the Tree People frequently stopped to give her medicine. Kaho seemed concerned about Shouzou's health, but Shouzou never complained even though he was often feverish. Touko noticed that he preferred it if Kaho didn't talk about that.
"Hey, kid, what are you gonna do now?" Shouzou asked Touko, his eyes fixed on Asebi's back.
"What do you mean?" Touko asked.
Kaho had fallen asleep between questions, her head lolling on Shouzou's shoulder. Touko's guess had been right: Kaho was still too weak to do much.
Touko watched Kanata's tail sway as she walked, paying close attention to their
surroundings, and bit her lip. She looked up at Shouzou and said, "Go to the capital. Return Kanata and the Protector Stone to the Fire Hunter's family.''
"That's not so easy to do," Shouzou said. "Even in a cart, the capital is a long way away from here. Can you even walk that far?" His forehead was dripping with sweat.
They stopped to take a break, and the three Tree People wandered into the forest. To hunt, maybe; Touko guessed that they got hungry just like everyone else. They brought back water that they'd collected from the treetops for everyone to drink and use to wash their hands and faces. Touko passed out some dried meat from her bag, though that wasn't enough to satiate anyone. The Tree People brought back rats, squirrels, and insects during their excursions to make sure everyone was adequately fed. The forest was alive, despite the presence of the destructive Fire Fiends. Kanata, unsurprisingly, was a good hunter; he found food with the ferocity of a starving beast. Perhaps that was part of a Fire Hunter dog's training, so that their masters wouldn't be burdened with feeding them.
"I have to go to the capital because that's why I've come this far," Touko said to Shouzou. "I have to return Kanata to his family."
"His family?" Shouzou asked, looking down at a half-asleep Kaho. "How do you know they're even in the capital? I have to go back there; it's where my parents are, and they're waiting for me. My father works as a subcontractor at one of the factories and doesn't make much. My mother is sick. She needs to see a doctor and won't. My father is a stubborn workaholic, but he won't go out and find a job that pays better. He thinks his job is the only one he can do. I took the driving test to get placed on the carts and didn't think I'd get the job—drivers get paid a lot, you see. And, well... I can't do anything about all of that right now." His face twisted in an expression of pain. He spoke as if he'd been holding all this in, and it was only coming out now because he was about to explode.
"Say, kid... don't you have a family waiting for you in your village?" Shouzou asked Touko.
Touko nodded without looking at him. "My family is my grandma and my aunt Rin, who lives with us. My parents died."
"I see," Shouzou said quietly. A drop of sweat fell from his chin onto the forest floor.
Touko frowned—she didn't think it was hot enough to sweat so much—but then she noticed that Shouzou was crying. She pointedly looked away. "Um, Shouzou, can I carry that tool case for you?"
"No. It's too heavy." He sniffed.
"But you're sweating. Kaho hates that."
Shouzou closed his eyes tight as moisture dripped down his nose. "Kid, I'm only twenty-two years old. That's young enough to be your older brother. Don't treat me like some stranger." The tool case was behind his back at the moment, and it was quite heavy. Touko made the effort to lift it and nearly dropped it on her foot. She took a step back, then tried again.
The forest was endless in all directions, trees so blackened that they appeared contaminated by ash and mud. The sunlight filtering through the trees provided blurry light at best, and at night it was impossible to see. Sometimes Touko saw beasts lurking in the distance, and she trembled in fear as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
Once, Touko saw a Fire Fiend through the trees, but it simply looked at her with its red eyes, then turned away as if it had no interest in her whatsoever. She saw animals that looked like wolves and bears and monkeys—like the great ape that had gored Kaho. None of the animals attacked, however. It felt weird being so close to Fire Fiends and wild beasts that weren't threatening. Touko almost felt that they were walking through an idealized image of the forest instead of the real thing. The illusion of security lulled Touko's mind into a dull, inattentive state.
The path that the Tree People guided Touko and the others down was not always flat or smooth. There were rocky slopes with poor footing and dense, spiky undergrowth to traverse. When night fell, they stopped traveling, exhausted—and the Tree People used the surrounding trees to construct temporary shelter. They selected younger trees with flexible limbs and jumped to the ground while holding a branch. Then Shikibi bound the branch to the ground using a stone spike and twine. Asebi gathered branches with leaves from other trees and used it to cover the gaps.
Just as Touko was about to go inside the temporary shelter, she saw a monkey-shaped Fire Fiend in the distance, staring intently at her with its red eyes glowing in the darkness. Could that be the same Fire Fiend that had attacked Kaho? Touko thought this, but dismissed the thought just as fast; Enzen the Fire Hunter had gone to fight that Fire Fiend back then. This Fire Fiend was almost certainly not the same one.
"Get inside now," Enishida said, startling Touko out of her troubled thoughts. The muddy ground was covered in leaves that Asebi had collected, making her footing better, but they were gray with black spots and poisonous to touch with bare skin. But that didn't matter: Touko required rest and food.
After entering the tent, Touko passed around wheat rice crackers, stick-shaped candy boiled and wrapped in bamboo leaves, and dried vegetables and nuts. She shared her preserved food with Shouzou and the others, eating until she felt full.
At first, no one ate. Touko made an example of it, since she couldn't allow her strength to wane before they reached the next village. Kaho hadn't eaten in the cart hardly at all, but now she put a broken candy stick in her mouth and swallowed down her medicine without complaint.
"Umm... miss Asebi, would you like to eat something?'' Touko asked.
From the start of the journey, the Tree People had consumed nothing but water and insects that they caught flying through the air or crawling on the ground. The caught the insects with their bare hands and ate them whole.
"I won't eat your food," Asebi said. "If I ate it, I'd get sick. I'll stick to water and bugs. That's what is good for Tree People to eat."
The Tree People's refusal to share the food made Touko feel anxious again. It reinforced the idea that Tree People were different, special, marked by the Guardian Gods and reshaped by them. She remembered Warashi, the Guardian God of her village shrine. Warashi looked like a mischievous child, and was always smiling a little when Touko saw her. Just looking at her had made Touko feel safer. She felt an odd sort of kinship with her village's guardian—a girl who never left the shrine or spoke.
But now, Touko had heard more about the Guardian Gods from the Tree People. Warashi wasn't a child, but a sort of alter-ego of the Guardian Goddess that ruled over the capital. Everything she thought she knew about her village and its protection was wrong—or at the very least, her knowledge was incomplete. Her foundation, which she'd thought solid, was turning to sand beneath her feet. And it had all happened without her conscious knowledge or awareness.
They walked, they rested, they walked some more, and then they finally arrived in the village. Asebi was in the lead, and she looked back at Touko and the others. "We're here."
A white fence marked the boundary where the village's barrier began. The village was picturesque, with the distant mountain slope as its main backdrop. Cooking smells wafted out of houses as people scurried to work and called out morning greetings. Prayer rope hung from the main gate, just like in Touko's home village.
Asebi stretched out her hand and rang the bells that hung from the closed gate. The bells were clustered together like grapes and made a pleasant, lively sound when they shook. Fire Fiends didn't like the bells—at least, that was what Touko had heard.
There was a knock on the gate from the inside. "Who's there?"
"I'm a Tree Person. Three of us are escorting humans to your village. Please let us in."
A series of clicks and grunts followed, and then the gate opened a sliver. There it was: safety. Touko could finally put the peril of the Black Forest behind her. She felt a wave of relief wash over her. Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground as she approached the gate.
Looking back at the forest, Kanata barked. Enishida, who was up in the trees, made a warning sound.
There was a Fire Fiend in the middle distance, staring right at Touko. It was small and shaped like a monkey. The way it stood on two legs, like a human, was unsettling. There was no real danger; Touko and the others would be able to make it through the gate well before the Fire Fiend could reach them.
The Fire Fiend held a thin stick out in front of itself.
Touko's scabbed-over knees sagged. "Is that really a Fire Fiend?" She'd never seen one bearing any weapon aside from claws and teeth.
"No," Shikibi said, lifting his short spear. "That's no Fire Fiend."
The gate was almost open enough for them to pass through.
Suddenly, a blow dart flew past Touko's ear and thudded into the gate behind her.
"W-What is that?" Shouzou's expression tightened with anxiety.
Touko saw the monkey lift the blowgun to his mouth and aim precisely. She was frozen to the spot, unable to move.
"Hurry and get inside," Asebi said, tightening her grip on her own spear.
Enishida made his warning sounds again—a click and a warble like a bird call.
They had to get inside fast, but Kanata was on the move, barking at the monkey in rage. He sped into the forest to pounce on the monkey.
"Kanata..."
Shouzou grabbed Touko by the scruff of her neck and pulled her backwards as she tried to stop the dog. But before Kanata could reach it, a person approached the blowgun-wielding monkey from the trees and flicked the blowgun out of its hand.
That's no Fire Fiend.
The person could move. They shoved their elbow into the monkey's throat and pushed, eliciting a human-sounding scream. The monkey went down, pinned, but it writhed free with amazing speed and ran, disappearing into the forest.
Kanata reached the place where the monkey had been and growled at it, stomping his paws in frustration.
"It's dangerous here!" the person who'd fought the monkey called out. Their voice was light and high, despite the concern laced in it. Their face was concealed by a cloth mask.
Kanata spun and returned to Touko, showing no interest in the person who'd fought off the monkey. Touko desperately held out her arms to the running dog.
All three of the Tree People unsheathed their weapons.
"What are you doing now?" the person asked. "There's no need for that. Hm? It's quite odd to see villagers traveling with Tree People." The person approached at a leisurely walk, eyes passing over Shouzou in his gray work clothes.
They removed their mask, revealing the face of a young woman. Her cloak trailed behind her, concealing a bit of the hunting outfit she wore. Touko didn't recognize it as a Fire Hunter uniform, since it was of unfamiliar design. She smiled at Touko and the others, and they stared at her, perplexed.
"Oh, hey, are you Akira? Akira the Fire Hunter?" A villager peeked out from inside the open gate. He was a man in his forties, wearing a faded brown kimono. He showed no fear; it was possible that the monkey's attack hadn't been very visible from inside the gate. The short gatekeeper held onto a staff for protection, but when he saw the woman, his expression relaxed. He called out to her, and then several other men appeared behind him, also bearing staffs.
"Are you escorting these people?" Akira asked. She glanced at the Tree People, who still had their weapons raised. She seemed familiar with them, or at least with Tree People in general.
Asebi snorted. "Yes," she answered shortly.
"Miss Akira, where is your cart? Are you traveling alone?" the gatekeeper asked.
Akira let out a cry and chased after the monkey. She was soon lost from view.
Shortly after, Akira returned, pulling a covered wooden cart with surprising strength. Although it was small, it was supposed to be a cart pulled by a farm animal. It wasn't designed to be pulled by a human.
"What are you guys doing?" Akira asked Touko and the others. "Hurry up and get inside. There are Fire Fiends in these woods." She was drenched in sweat.
"We could say the same to you," Shikibi said.
Shouzou set Kaho down. She was silent and pale and drifted to Touko's side. Shouzou went to Akira's cart and helped her push it from behind. After a brief delay, Shikibi also assisted with this task. As long as there were Tree People nearby, Fire Fiends shouldn't attack...
...but there were other hazards in these woods that were not Fire Fiends. There could be more of those monkey creatures, and they could attack from range.
The gatekeeper had a sheepish look on his face as he watched Akira and the rest bringing in the cart. He and the others kept watch over Asebi, Touko and the others while the cart moved toward the gate. When the cart finally stopped, he bowed his head to the Tree People in a heartfelt expression of gratitude.
"Thank you for your efforts," the gatekeeper said. "These people are welcome to take shelter in our village."
Asebi nodded in acknowledgment. Enishida leaped from branch to branch.
"Take care on your journey back to your home village," Akira said. Her tone was unusually friendly.
"We shall," Asebi said. She exchanged glances with Shikibi and Enishida; their eyes flashed green briefly. Then they turned around and moved along the path, back to whence they'd came.
"Ah, um, thank you very much!" Touko called after them.
Kaho was about to collapse; Touko caught her around the shoulders. Then she bowed deeply to the Tree People. Enishida kicked the branch he was on, and Asebi and Shikibi gave her shallow nods. Then the Tree People were gone, vanished into the trees.
***
The village Touko that and her friends were brought to was one that specialized in making glass. As they passed through the gate, they saw a flat plaza for vehicles, but beyond that, the village sloped upwards toward the foot of a mountain. At the foot of the mountain were several workshops belching smoke toward the sky. Touko had never smelled so much smoke lingering in the air before. This village was much larger than Kamisuki, where they made paper.
"I put away my work and turn out the lights at the workshop at night, but in this
village, fire is in constant demand. The fire fuel we buy from the black carts is insufficient for our needs. I'm relying on Fire Hunters, too." The gatekeeper prepared walking sticks for their guests and guided them as a group as they came in from the Black Forest.
The men who were standing guard at the gate carried Akira's cart to a courtyard in a corner of the plaza. After the cart was moved, Akira took out a small handbag and carried it slung over her arm.
"Are you... a Fire Hunter?" Touko asked in a voice barely heard.
Akira smiled brightly. "Yes. Isn't another Fire Hunter traveling with you?'' Her auburn eyes fixed on Shouzou.
Touko shook her head. Her eyes went wide. Of course Shouzou wasn't a Fire Hunter. But they were carrying a Fire Hunter's weapon.
Shouzou took over supporting Kaho, holding her up from behind as she took staggering steps.
"From the black carts, we trade items for fire fuel. A lot of people complain about the conversion rate. It seems like there's never enough fire fuel to go around.Oh, but maybe I shouldn't say that in front of people from the capital..." Akira shook her head.
Shouzou looked uncomfortable. A muscle jumped in his throat when he said, "I'm from the capital, but I don't know much about the carts. I'm just a factory worker. These two were kidnapped by bandits and taken from their villages. They were about to be sold in the capital, but fortunately the bandit got caught by authorities. That was good, but I knew they'd need help getting back to their villages. Maybe it was stupid, but we were attacked by a Fire Fiend while traveling the main roads. And now... we're quite lost."
All of this was a lie, of course, and Shouzou grimaced through most of it. It was probably for the best not to tell the villagers that one of the carts had been attacked by a dragon—a guardian god. They didn't want to cause a panic or give the villagers a reason to kick them out. The village was chaotic and noisy enough without adding more complications.
The man guarding the gate blinked, then nodded in understanding. "I see you've had a rough time of it. The village is often frequented by Fire Hunters, so there is an inn where travelers can stay. I recommend going there and resting from your journey."
"Thank you, sir," Shouzou answered.
Akira the Fire Hunter gave Shouzou a suspicious sort of look as he walked away.
***
The village was built on a mountain slope. There was a place to take messages and letters at the foot of the mountain. Most of the villagers lived higher up, in the middle of the mountain slope. A road separated the residential areas from an industrial workshop.
Touko and the others were guided to the inn by one of the gatekeepers. Egg-shaped lanterns lit their way as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Akira accompanied them, seeming accustomed to the village and the villagers. When they reached the inn, Akira waved to the gatekeepers, thanked them, then entered the building without a second glance back at Touko and Shouzou.
"We... can't pay," Shouzou said to the innkeeper.
"Oh? I see some blessed paper there. You can pay with that."
Shouzou nodded. "Good idea, good idea. But please don't take all of it. Our travels are far from finished, sir."
The innkeeper agreed to take a single sheet of blessed paper for a night's lodging. Shouzou and Touko entered the inn, which looked much like a private house on the inside. This was the inn's administrative area, where the inn's staff lived and worked. Akira was nowhere to be seen, but her room might be in this area. Touko saw panes of fitted patterned glass instead of the usual shoji screens used as doors in the hallways. Staff scurried to and fro, carrying dinnerware and plates.
Touko followed the noise to a room that had a simple shoji screen for a door. She opened it, revealing a kitchen with a sink on the other side. Kanata entered after her, paws making imprints on the dirt floor.
A gaudy-looking woman who ran the inn's day-to-day operations was washing her hands in the sink.
Touko handed a piece of torn-off blessed paper to the woman. "The innkeeper said we could pay with this," Touko said. "It's from my village. We don't have anything else. May we stay the night?"
The woman looked over Touko critically. "What is this, girl? An offering? Pah! This is nothing but a piece of scrap paper. No, wait... this is blessed paper! Paper of the gods! Of course you may stay. Grandfather, take a look at this!"
The woman's grandfather sat in a corner of the room on a raised wooden platform. The woman pitched her voice to carry, but unfortunately her grandfather was very deaf. All he did was stroke his white beard and nod at her words. Touko wondered if he was blind, too. His face reminded Touko of her grandmother's: it was nothing but wrinkles, his eyes practically lost in them. Touko thought that he looked very like her grandmother, whose face was also excessively wrinkled. The innkeeper was the son of this elderly man.
"Hey, little girl. This place isn't expensive to stay at, but we're gonna need more than this to feed you and put you up for the night," the woman said, gesturing to the scrap of sacred paper. She chewed tobacco, making staccato sounds between words.
"But it's all I have." Touko's heart beat loud in her ears. Paper from her village, especially that made by Shuichi and his workers, was often praised by people from other villages. It was recognized as a sacred offering in some places, though this was the first time Touko had tried using it to exchange for goods and services like this.
"Pah. All right." The woman looked at Touko's shoes. "Your sandals are soiled and broken from travel in the forest. There's a woman in town who weaves straw sandals; get new ones there before you go walking around and getting everything dirty."
The woman's words were true: Touko's footwear was caked with sticky mud from the forest. The soles had absorbed it, making them thicker. Touko had no doubt that the soles were rotted through from moisture and long exposure to filth. She bowed her head vigorously. "Yes, yes, you're right of course. I will get some new straw sandals. Thank you for taking us in for the night."
"Think nothing of it, little miss. We could launder your things as well. The smell is a bit..." She frowned.
Touko and the others still smelled like the chemical that the Tree People used to keep away Fire Fiends. The bitter odor clung to her clothing and skin. Touko took a cautious sniff toward her sleeve. There was a smell, but she wasn't sure she wanted to get rid of it.
"Thank you, but we're going to need to travel through the forest when we leave here," Touko said.
Kanata growled low in his throat. Asebi, Enishida and Shikibi were gone now, so their journey wouldn't be as safe... but at least she still smelled of the chemical. That should keep the Fire Fiends away as they moved through the Black Forest again.
"Well, at least take a bath. It's hard for me to see a young girl like you in such a state." The woman placed the piece of sacred paper she'd received atop a chest of drawers that rested against the back wall of the room. Then she gestured for Touko to follow her out of the room and down the hall. Shouzou and Kaho caught up, walking behind Touko.
"There's a room over here where you all can stay. You said you were a factory worker?" Shouzou nodded. "Very well. You can stay here. I'm taking the girls to the bathhouse. When the children are done, you can have a bath as well."
Shouzou nodded again.
The woman's wooden clogs clopped against the floor as she took Touko and Kaho to a converted residence. It was a steam room now, with hand-washing stations at the front of the building. The water was hot; Touko washed her hands and face and felt flushed.
"I'll prepare some food while you bathe," the woman said. She brought a tea tray into a small waiting area. "Let me know if there's anything you need."
Perhaps because Fire Hunters often stayed at this inn, there was an attached waiting area for Kanata and other dogs. A nutritious meal was laid out on the floor for the dog. Kanata made loud snuffling sounds as he devoured his food, finishing in record time and licking the sides of his mouth perfectly clean. Belly slightly swollen, Kanata lay on the floor and closed his eyes, rolling over a bit as he fell into a fitful doze.
The steam room was at the rear of the building, which faced the river. One building housed the main inn and the other was the steam room. Steam hissed out of an open window and drifted toward the river's surface. Kaho bathed first; Touko stayed outside and touched the paper that covered the sliding doors. Perhaps this paper had been made in her village? Probably not. Sacred paper was used for writing and blessings. The paper that was used in sliding doors and umbrellas was made elsewhere.
Paper for writing... What would a Guardian God write, if they could? What would Touko write? Would anyone even read it? Touko asked herself these questions, over and over and over again as her fingers pressed against a paper flower attached to the sliding door.
When Kaho was done, Touko took a bath. The large tub was filled to the brim with hot water. From that alone, Touko could tell that this village was wealthy. There was enough hot water for the villagers to bathe in as well as travelers. Touko scrubbed her muddy body with a washcloth, then folded her garments, which still smelled of the chemical that the Tree People used. She put on clean nightwear provided by the inn.
From outside, Touko heard the sound of rushing water. She looked out the window of the steam room and found Kanata jumping head-first into the river. He swam, splashing and thrashing with a look of satisfaction on his face.
Kanata noticed Touko watching him and woofed in greeting, appearing immensely pleased with himself. He jumped out of the river, landing in a patch of grass, and shook violently to get all the water off.
Touko couldn't help but laugh. As Kanata's fur dried, it poofed out, making him look huge.
"Kanata needed a bath, too," Touko said. "His fur must be full of forest dirt." She looked out at Kanata, who regarded her with his nose in the air. She looked up and saw a sky full of stars.
Stars... Touko hadn't seen them in such a long time. Days, at least, since the stars weren't visible through the Black Forest's canopy. They shone in every part of the sky, like motes of gleaming sand. She wished she could have seen stars while she was on the black cart. She hadn't realized until now that this was something she missed.
I wonder if Hotaru is looking at the stars right now, Touko thought, still looking at the sky.
"None of this seems real," Kaho said quietly.
Touko jumped. Kaho was behind her, and she'd approached without making a sound. She sat near a bridge over the river, dressed in nightclothes like Touko was. She gazed out at the water and into the distance.
Touko hesitated, then went over to Kaho and sat down. Kanata had his snout in the dirt, sniffing eagerly as if he'd found a mouse.
"How are your injuries?" Touko asked, her voice trembling from timidity. "Are you feeling better?"
Kaho looked down at the hair tie wrapped around Touko's wrist: the white one used by brides. It was filthy, no longer white—almost unrecognizable. Though she had bathed and changed clothes, she clutched her dirty traveler's bag to her as if it were a protective charm.
"Do you want this back?" Touko asked, eyeing the hair tie.
Kaho didn't answer. She simply stared. Underneath her trimmed bangs, Kaho's face lacked all expression.
Touko felt embarrassed for asking the question and stared back. "I just mean... you didn't want to leave your village, right? There'd be nothing but strangers, and you didn't want to get married. And then you got hurt and slept for a long time and..."
Kaho continued to regard Touko with a dispassionate expression. Most of her visible injuries were healed, though scarring from the ape-monster's claws remained, stark white against the skin of Kaho's cheeks and chin. It was possible that the scars would never go away.
Kaho looked blankly at the starry sky. "This is the village I was supposed to get married in," she said.
"What?" Touko asked.
From her pocket, Kaho pulled out a Protector Stone that was tied to a string that she could wear around her neck. The Protector Stone looked much like Touko's. She placed it in her palm, turning it around with her fingers.
Unlike the white-brown stone Touko carried, Kaho's Protector Stone was made of clearest crystal. There was a sort of holder for it that was made of wire; a cord threaded through the holder.
"A lot of people think the ore in my village is just fragile glass, because that's what it looks like," Kaho said. "But it's the real deal. It was a crime to disparage the ore in my village; I could never get away with even implying that it was weak or breakable. But this village seems... nicer. Lively and full of people." Kaho looked into the distance, muttering something to herself. Then she turned to face Touko.
"When I left the cart, you came to get me. Got me to a doctor." Kaho's words were calm and even, like the sound of the river flowing past them. A baby's cry echoed in the night stillness, emanating from a house that was halfway up the mountain. "I wonder if Hotaru is already married?" Her voice wavered slightly.
Touko nodded shallowly and looked up at Kaho. "I bet she has. Hotaru asked you to be happier. Because you have friends, you can be brave enough to face each new day."
"Friends?" Kaho raised a thin eyebrow.
Touko summoned her courage and looked Kaho right in the eyes. When she spoke, her voice sounded loud in her own ears. "I... I'm your friend. And then you won't have to be alone anymore."
This wasn't the kind of promise that Touko could make. She would eventually have to go to the capital and leave Kaho behind, unless Kaho wanted to go with her. Still, she didn't want Kaho to feel lonely. Not right now.
Kaho's eyes opened wide, sparkling at the edges with bright tears. Her eyes were as deep and clear as a pool of water, even in the low light provided by the inn. They were like crystals, Touko thought. Like the ore that her hometown produced, the kind that looked like fragile glass but was actually as strong as steel.
Kaho had lost her village's Guardian God.
"All right," Kaho said. "Then I'll go with you."
That was unexpected.
"Huh? I mean, of course you can, but you could stay here too if you want. It's a nice village. You don't have to get married here anymore, though you could if you wanted. Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Kaho would almost certainly be happier and safer here. Traveling with Touko would be dangerous.
Kaho's face settled into a hard expression of determination. "That crew member... if he thought that I had something to do with Spiders, he would... I mean, I thought you were abandoning me. I've been carrying that idea around in my head. I don't want to keep... pretending. Hiding. If you're going to the capital, then I'll go with you."
Touko didn't know what to say as Kaho held her gaze. Kaho untied the dirty knot around Touko's wrist and threw it into the river. The hair tie used by brides floated away in the current, turning over in the churning water.
***
When Touko returned to their inn room, Shouzou lay on his stomach on a futon, dressed in nightclothes with his thin limbs outstretched. On a low table, there was a meal: miso soup with vegetables, brown rice and grilled river fish. The rice was still steaming.
"Mr. Shouzou. Is it really all right for all of us to stay here?" Touko asked as Kaho moved to unroll another futon on the floor.
Shouzou's voice was muffled by the futon as he answered, "Of course it is. What, you'd rather stay out there and die? Don't ask things like that. We can stay here because we're still alive. Unless you'd prefer to join the dead people. Now that you've survived, eat, sleep, and think about what's next.'' He tilted his head with seeming difficulty and turned his face to the side. Now that his face was clean, it was easy to tell that his beard had grown during their journey through the forest. Though he was clean, he appeared exhausted and worn-out. He yawned, clutching something shiny closer to himself in both hands. "I have to get this to the capital."
"What is that?" Touko asked timidly.
"A memento," Shouzou said curtly. "These belonged to my crew—their dog tags." Touko looked closer and saw that the shiny blob Shouzou held was made up of thin chains attached to plates of metal. "These have their name, registration number and address written on them. I'll be like you, kid, and return these to their families in the capital." There were so many of them, the dog tags. Were there no survivors? Shouzou must have collected these before they'd left the black carts.
Touko grabbed and held onto her sleeves, breathing deeply. All of Shouzou's friends were dead.
A different voice suddenly interjected, startling everyone. "If you're heading to the capital, would you mind lending us a hand?"
"Who are you?" Shouzou asked.
The sliding door opened revealing a young Fire Hunter. She wore usual clothes, not nightclothes; her pants were loose so that they'd be easy to move in, and her jacket resembled the thin armor that factory workers wore to protect them from machines and chemicals. There was a dagger hanging from her belt, unsheathed, for self-defense. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she said.
As she stepped into the light of the room, Touko recognized Akira, the Fire Hunter they'd encountered when entering the village. Her red-brown hair was tied high on the back of her head, and she carried a basket on one arm. Kanata stood up and sniffed at her.
Akira blinked at Kanata's concentrated attention and looked down. "Oh, you're a Fire Hunter's dog, aren't you? Such a good dog. You three were lying about who you are when you talked to the gate guards, weren't you?"
"W-what are you talking about? I mean, don't come in without permission," Shouzou said. He sat up straight on his futon, eyebrows furrowing in irritation.
Akira paid Shouzou no mind. She sat down at the edge of Shouzou's futon and offered Kaho and Touko a friendly smile.
Touko and Kaho stood there, frozen from nervousness. It was difficult to tell how old Akira was, but her smile was deceptively youthful, almost childish.
"So. That thing that attacked you at the gate was a Spider, right?" Akira asked.
Shouzou's expression tightened. Kaho's eyes went wide. Touko remembered the sound of the blowgun darts as they split the air.
Akira's attention sharpened on them. "I told you that I'm a Fire Hunter. There's a damaged black cart not far to the west of here, but you guys didn't flee from there."
"You have nothing to do with us," Shouzou said. "I've never heard of a woman Fire Hunter. What if it's you who's lying? Besides, you don't have a Fire Hunting dog." Shouzou tried to put on a show of bravado, but his voice was completely hollow.
"So you want to see my dog, then?" Akira asked. She patted the basket on her arm. As if it were a signal, the lid of the basket opened. A maroon nose peeked out, followed by a head so small it could fit in the palm of Touko's hand.
Kanata's tail flicked up and down once. He had shown little interest in Akira, but seemed to find this new creature fascinating. What was it? It didn't look like any dog Touko had ever seen. The creature was covered in white fur and had sharp triangular ears. Maybe a puppy, or maybe a cat. Whatever it was, there was something unnatural about the body structure of the creature that jumped out of the basket and sniffed around.
"My hunting dog. Her name is Temari," Akira said.
The dog, hearing its name, leaped a little on the floor. It was smaller than a cat, fine-boned and delicate-looking. Temari barked, high-pitched and enthusiastic.
Kaho forgot to blink as she stared at the strange beast. "He looks like... a baby?"
Akira wrinkled her nose and laughed. "I know what you're thinking, but Temari isn't a pup. She's small, but she has a fierce temper."
Temari was unlike any dog Touko had ever seen, to say nothing of Fire Hunting dogs. She wondered if such a small animal could really be useful to hunt Fire Fiends.
Temari sniffed her way to Shouzou's side, then started barking nonstop in clear displeasure. Shouzou moved away from this strange creature and looked down at her with a disgusted look in his eyes.
"Do you all have any idea about where you're going from here?" Akira asked. "You'll have to travel through the forest. Where's your next stop?" she asked, looking around at Touko and the others. When there was no response, she continued, "In any case, you can't go anywhere from here without going through through the woods. Fire Fiends are one problem, but it seems you've got Spiders on your trail, too. The Tree People might help you part of the way, but... well, did you know that they can't actually live for long away from the trees? You won't get one to guide you through a town or a city. And you can't go alone, as you are; that's suicide." She paused. "So. Temari and I will take you and protect you along the way. That is, if you're willing to share some of that blessed paper with me." She fixed her attention on Touko.
Touko stood up straighter.
Kanata busied himself by sniffing Temari's poop. When he tried to sniff Temari's butt, the small dog leaped into Akira's lap with a little yip. Touko and the others jumped a little in surprise at the sound.
Akira smiled tightly. "Whatever you decide to do, decide it fast. The Spider that attacked you near the gate wasn't a Fire Fiend. It can disguise itself as a traveler and sneak into villages. If something happens in this village, you'll be in trouble. The people are used to being protected by Fire Hunters passing through. For that and other reasons, I have no desire to cause trouble here. If we are going to leave, we should hurry." Her tone was impatient.
Shouzou scratched the back of his thin neck. His eyes darted back and forth as he considered options. Then he raised his head, facing Akira squarely. "Okay, yeah, I lied to the gate guards. We're heading to the capital. You said you would escort us, but are you really planning to go the whole way, dragging that cart behind you?"
Akira smiled, first shallowly, then brightly. "I won't drag it. My horse ran off before I got here. If you're going with me, I'll rent a horse and can leave at dawn. Going on foot in a straight line is faster than following the road in a black cart. And it'll be even better if the horse can pull us—so much better than walking miles and miles on your feet."
"Mr. Shouzou," Touko said calling out to Shouzo's back. Whatever happened next would be decided in the next few minutes. Was it really all right to trust Akira?
Shouzou turned toward her, adjusting his posture where he sat on the futon. As if in response to her concerns, Shouzou faced Akira again and spoke in a tone of mild hostility. "Let's say I believe you. Let me take a look at your cart. You said the horse ran away, but it looks like one axle is badly damaged. If you don't readjust the angle with the wheels, it'll tip over on you. I'll keep the wagon in shape in exchange for your protection. I owe it to my comrades to keep these kids safe and make it to the capital in one piece." He clutched the dog tags to his chest tightly.
"Okay, it's decided! I'll get a horse right away, "Akira said. "Let's leave here before dawn. I'll talk to the villagers. Change your clothes so you can move at any time, then go to bed. Keep a watch; a Spider might come at any time."
Then Akira put Temari back in the basket, turned on her heel and left.
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