Beyond the Werefox Whistle
Written by Uehashi Nahoko
Illustrated by Yumiko Shirai
Part 2: The Cursed One and the Guardian
Chapter 6: Milk Siblings
By the time Sayo reached Umegae Estate, it was dusk. It had started to rain an hour before her arrival, so she showed up at the entrance gate completely soaked.
Yata came out to greet her first, his eyes bulging in surprised delight. Suzu followed right on his heels.
Sayo had been walking all day and was exhausted, but she felt restless. All the questions she wanted to ask stuck in her throat.
“Come inside, Sayo,” Suzu said kindly. “You should rest for a minute, and then you can tell us why you’re here.” She guided Sayo inside and prepared a cup of delicious hot tea for her. The tea mug warmed her freezing palms.
While sipping tea, Sayo explained why she’d come to the estate.
Suzu listened to Sayo in silence. When she mentioned the procession she had encountered that afternoon, Suzu’s face changed color.
“Sayo, do you know Koharumaru? How did you know his name?” Suzu asked.
“I met him when I was about twelve,” Sayo said. “We played together for awhile.” She told Suzu about sneaking into Morikage Estate.
Suzu went pale. “How on earth did you get inside the barrier?”
“There were gaps in the defenses. Koharumaru sneaked me through,” Sayo said.
“You were there? This is terrible, truly terrible,” Suzu said, holding her head as if it pained her.
“Why?” Sayo asked.
Suzu looked into Sayo’s face and said, “Today, when you made eye contact with Koharumaru, you said that you sensed something frightening about him. What was it? Please explain it to me again.”
“Uh…” Sayo frowned. It was difficult for her to explain what she’d felt in words. “It scared me. Like the doors to the dark world scare me.” Koharumaru had looked like his usual self, but he hadn’t acted like she remembered at all. “There was a sound. Like a buzzing.” She had seen Koharumaru, but he hadn’t seemed like himself. There was a dark energy swirling around him. The buzzing in her head as he’d passed her had almost hurt.
Sayo rubbed goosebumps off her arms as she told Suzu what she remembered.
“Was the sound loud?” Suzu asked.
“A low hum, like the buzzing of an insect.”
Suzu frowned and stayed silent.
“Suzu,” Sayo said, “what do I do? I don’t know what to do.”
Suzu still said nothing.
“Suzu, please talk to me.”
Suzu just stared at Sayo.
A short while later, Suzu nodded to herself. She’d resolved to tell Dairou what Sayo had told her, but she couldn’t do that right away. Dairou was at the castle, temporarily out of reach. She couldn’t chase after Dairou and leave Ichita here.
Suzu sighed. Since Dairou wasn’t here, it was up to her to tell Sayo what she needed to know. She had admired Sayo’s mother tremendously during her girlhood. If Hanano were here, she would want Suzu to help Sayo.
“This is going to be difficult to untangle,” Suzu said. “Let’s start at the beginning so that we’re all on the same page. Koharumaru is Lord Harumochi’s son—his younger son, who everyone believes to be dead. The rumor was that he drowned in the river ten years ago.” She shook her head. “I don’t know all the circumstances of that. I wasn’t much older than a child myself when that happened.”
“It’s all right,” Sayo said. “I’m sure whatever you remember will be very helpful.”
Suzu nodded. “All right. I think my brother already told you about the grudge between Lord Harumochi and Lord Moritada, right?”
Sayo nodded.
“The Yuki family is getting restless. They’ve been sending spirit fox familiars to kill Lord Harumochi’s retainers and friends for many years, and tensions only escalate. Before his death, Lord Masamochi was terrified that his son Harumochi would be killed by Moritada or someone working for him.”
“And?” Sayo asked.
“And, that’s why your mother was helping us. She worked for Lord Harumochi for awhile before coming here. Her father, Nada, was Lord Masamochi’s sorcerer and curse-breaker.”
Sayo swallowed heavily.
“Your grandfather was a sorcerer, but he wasn’t frightening or evil. He was a quiet and gentle man.” When Suzu had been little, she’d been terrified of Nada and his white-shining pale eyes, but she didn’t tell Sayo this. Nada truly had been a good man, for all that he’d been a sorcerer.
Hanano had been a lovely woman, bright and strong-willed. She was a cheerful and intriguing person to be around. Suzu told Sayo a bit about Hanano, then said, “You too, have the gift of listening, don’t you? Hanano had the same gift.
“I don’t know how your mother and my father met, but my father was good friends with your grandfather. They probably met at Yuuji Castle.”
“Was my mother at the castle?” Sayo asked softly.
“Yes. She was a maid in Lord Harumochi’s household, starting when she was just a slip of a girl. She was was also Koharumaru’s wet nurse. You and Koharumaru are milk siblings.”
A warm feeling spread in Sayo’s chest. She closed her eyes. She could still picture Koharumaru’s face when they played late on autumn nights. How strange it was that they had played together like brother and sister, completely unaware of the connection that existed between them.
If Sayo and Koharumaru were milk siblings, then that meant Sayo had been at the castle during her babyhood. She didn’t remember that. “You were at the castle too, right?” Sayo asked Suzu.
“I was,” Suzu said. “I was only six when you were born.”
“And my mother was married? Who was my father?” None of these questions had occurred to her before. She’d never thought about her father at all.
“I knew you were born, but… I’m sorry, Sayo. I never knew who your father was.”
“Did he die after I was born?”
Suzu shook her head. “Not that I know of.”
“Why didn’t you tell me all this before? Why…” Sayo was speaking so loudly that she was practically yelling. She grabbed Suzu by the hand. “Tell me! Tell me about my father!”
“I don’t know who he is or what happened to him! I was only six years old!”
Ichita was shaken by his mother’s sudden shouting and cried out. Suzu picked up Ichita with trembling hands, hugged him tightly, and soothed him as best she could. “My brother never told me who this child’s father was,” she said, looking down at Ichita. “If you want to know, you’ll have to wait.”
Sayo frowned.
“I know he’ll tell me about it if I keep asking. Just be patient,” Suzu said.
There were tears in Sayo’s eyes. “He didn’t tell me, either. About my father, I mean.”
“You’ll have to try asking him again.”
Sayo gritted her teeth and stared at Suzu in frustration. But it wasn’t right to be mad at Suzu. Suzu hadn’t done anything wrong, and Suzu cared about her. If Suzu wasn’t telling her about her father on purpose, there was probably a good reason for it. And if she honestly didn’t know about Sayo’s father, then badgering her about it wouldn’t help.
Saya took a deep breath and shook her head. Someday, I’ll understand, she thought. She’d gone her whole life without knowing her parents. She could live for a few more hours or days without knowing. Would anything about her life change if she knew about her father? She wasn’t sure.
“All right. I’ll ask Dairou,” Sayo said.
Suzu relaxed. She looked down at Ichita in her lap and patted him gently on the head. “I don’t know about your father, but I know why Hanano was killed.”
Sayo gripped her knees to steady herself.
“Hanano always got a bad feeling about Koharumaru. Sorcerers have terrible magic that curses people and kills them—even the sorcerers themselves aren’t immune to their terrible powers. Koharumaru had an older brother—he was the heir—and he used an amulet made by Nada to keep him safe from sorcerous influence. The amulet also allowed the heir to express his own magical powers more safely. But Koharumaru was too young for such an amulet, and his powers started expressing themselves in frightening ways. That being the case, Hanano decided to take drastic measures.”
“Like what?” Sayo asked.
Suzu rocked Ichita in her lap. “She came up with the plan to pretend that Koharumaru drowned. Once he was old enough, the plan was to teach him the Ogi techniques so that he’d be able to protect himself and use his magical gifts.” Suzu paused. “Your mother had similar concerns about you, as did my brother. Enemy sorcerers would try to exploit or kill you if they learned of your existence. The descendants of sorcerers are always sorcerers. That’s one of the reasons my brother invited you here in the first place. We wanted to make sure you stayed safe.”
“So then… what happened?”
“After Koharumaru was hidden away, Hanano took you away from the castle and decided to hide you as well. An enemy sorcerer caught wind of her plans and sent a hakage after her to assassinate her. I think that Hanano knew that you and Koharumaru would be discovered eventually no matter what, and that’s why she kept running. Unfortunately, she’s not here, so we can’t ask her. You know the rest.”
Sayo covered her face with her hands. Fragments of old memories passed through her mind. The fear, the smell of blood, hiding behind the screen… She felt like she should hate the man that killed her mother, but she didn’t. She didn’t know enough about him to hate him. The sorcerer who had sent the assassin was to blame for her mother’s death at least as much as the man holding the knife.
“Suzu… why? Why did the enemy sorcerer hate my mother so much that he killed her?” Sayo asked.
Suzu shook her head. “I wish I knew the answer to that question. I don’t understand the mind of someone who could kill someone they’ve never met without a second thought.”
No comments:
Post a Comment