Beyond the Werefox Whistle
Written by Uehashi Nahoko
Illustrated by Yumiko Shirai
Part 3: Nobi and Sayo
Chapter 2: Sayo is Attacked
Sayo returned to the main kitchen in haste. Takechi was already there and giving instructions to other maids who were going to serve dinner all over the castle.
Takechi noticed Sayo’s paleness and nervousness and turned to her. “Sayo? Are you all right?”
Sayo told Takechi about the strange maid she’d passed by in the hall and about the buzzing she’d sensed in Koharumaru’s room.
Takechi thought for a moment, then slid her palm onto Sayo’s forehead and clicked her tongue. “Poor thing, you’re feverish. Come with me. If you’re sick, we can’t have you serving food. You should have told me earlier that you weren’t feeling well! You can lie down in my room for awhile until you feel better.”
Sayo wasn’t sick, of course; Takechi was making a show of fussing over her so that they could leave the kitchen and talk without witnesses. Sayo remembered that there could be spies anywhere in the castle and gulped.
Takechi led Sayo to her room. She whispered, “This room is warded against evil spirits. Go inside and don’t leave until I fetch you.”
Sayo nodded.
“I’m sorry if I caused trouble,” Sayo said. “I promise I’ll stay here.” Her voice shook.
All the way to Takechi’s room, Sayo had been terrified that the pretty maid would find and confront her again, but that hadn’t happened. Sayo was safe in this room for now. She closed the door, crouched down in a corner of the room and hugged her knees. Her shoulders were shaking like her voice had, though she gradually calmed down the longer she was left alone.
Sayo was still afraid. The castle was protected from evil spirits, but there were still spies that could report to evil sorcerers. If anyone hostile to Sayo found out where she was, it would be no trouble for them to break down Takechi’s door and drag Sayo out.
The room around Sayo was unlit; it was difficult to see anything. Sayo stood up and sought out a lamp. She found one by touch. There was still a bit of oil in it. Sayo managed to light the lamp, casting her shadow on one wall.
Limned by eerie light, Sayo decided to search the room. The memory of her mother’s murder intruded on her thoughts. She was alone in a strange place and practically in the dark. In the dim illumination of the lamp, Sayo looked for for a weapon so that she could protect herself. She hoped Takechi wouldn’t mind that she was looking around.
As she searched, Sayo reflected that she really should have stayed home today. If only she’d never come to the castle! She would be safe now if she were at home.
Searching the room took a very long time. She turned up a squat, sturdy short sword collecting dust in one corner and picked it up. She crouched in a corner near the door with the sword grasped in both fists. Sorry, Takechi, she thought. She hadn’t planned to take anything from the room, but she needed the weapon too much to leave it where it was.
Gripping the sword made Sayo feel a bit better. If she were attacked, she wouldn’t be defenseless.
Or would she? She’d never used a sword. What business did she have carrying one? Even with a sword, could she really keep herself safe? Her mother had been gifted with powerful protection magic, and she hadn’t been able to protect herself when the assassin came for her.
Mom… why didn’t you defend yourself? What really happened that night?
More time passed as Sayo sank into her dark thoughts. Surely the sun had set by now. Was dinner service over? Where was Takechi?
A knock on the door jolted Sayo’s senses.
“Excuse me.” The voice wasn’t Takechi’s. The speaker sounded young and timid, like a disobedient child. “Is Miss Sayo in there? I’ve been sent to fetch her.”
Sayo clutched her sword and went to the door. “I’m Sayo. What can I do for you?”
“Miss Takechi is out collecting wood for the morning. She asked me to take you to the shed where they store the firewood,” the child said.
Sayo was confused. This might be a trap. She couldn’t possibly open the door. “Who are you?” Sayo asked.
“Me? I’m Shouta, miss. Are you coming out? I can take you to Takechi,” he said.
What should I do? Sayo thought. Takechi hadn’t told her that she would ask her to come to the firewood shed. She’d told Sayo to stay here until she came back.
Sayo sat heavily on her heels. She would stay here and wait for Takechi. Takechi’s kitchen work should be done soon, and then she would come to Sayo herself.
From beyond the door, Sayo heard rushing footsteps. Perhaps Shouta had left.
Waiting like this was maddening. A new moon rose—Sayo saw that through a narrow window—but it didn’t provide much light. It was getting so late. What was keeping Takechi? Was she in danger?
Then the evening bell rang. This was a signal that all chores were done for the day. Sayo waited a little longer, expecting Takechi to return.
But Takechi didn’t return, so Sayo steeled herself, opened the door and stepped out into a dark hallway. I’m being an idiot, she told herself, but she couldn’t just stay put forever. She gripped her borrowed sword tight and headed to the firewood shed. She’d passed it by with Takechi earlier, since it was just behind the main kitchen. Sayo knew that it wasn’t too far away.
The entrance to the firewood shed should have been deserted at this time of night, but it was dimly lit.
Sayo didn’t feel like going in the front door. If this really was a trap, then she’d be caught easily that way. She went around to the side of the small hut on tiptoes and peered inside through a gap in the boards of a side wall. There was a pile of firewood in the way; she couldn’t see the interior of the shed very well. She went around to the other side of the hut and looked for a larger gap to peek through.
A slight breeze ruffled Sayo’s hair as she placed her eye to a large knothole. Sayo tensed and turned around.
***
The lord of the castle finished his meal, then requested his evening attire. The lord was a handsome warrior who always paid strict attention to his appearance. Nobi usually prepared a set of fresh clothing for him every morning, but this evening the lord wanted to change his socks before he retired to bed.
Perhaps the lord was planning to go out this evening?
Nobi received the order from the lord and bowed. “As you wish.”
Nobi—as Touta—entered a large walk-in closet to select clothes for the lord. The closet was quite a large room, with shelves on three sides and piles of folded clothes on every shelf. Nobi went to a shelf full of socks and selected a pair to that would fit the lord. As he exited the closet, a pretty maid approached him, then stopped still. It was Tamao.
“I’m glad I ran into you,” Tamao said. She gave Nobi a bright smile. She looked around, making sure they were alone, and then said, “I found one of them—remember the people we smelled near the dark door? One of them is here. It’s a girl.” Tamao appeared supremely pleased with herself, like a fox about to pounce on helpless prey.
“Where is she?” Nobi whispered. “Who is she?”
“I went down to the kitchens and asked one of the cooks, Yasura. She told me the girl is Takechi’s niece. I was trying to get in good with the cooks so that I could serve Koharumaru his food, but I had no luck with that today.” She pouted. “The girl got that duty instead. I ran into her in the hallway outside Koharumaru’s rooms.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I’ve taken care of it.”
“How have you taken care of it?”
“I ordered Suguro to lure her outside and kill her. Suguro is ruthless enough for that; I’m sure he won’t have any trouble taking care of one girl.”
“Suguro? He kills people?!” Nobi asked, forgetting to keep his voice down for a moment. “I thought you said you took care of it. Leaving things to someone else isn’t taking care of it.”
“The girl knew what I was,” Tamao said. “She’d call for help if she saw me again, and if we wait too long she’ll tell Dairou about me. It’s better to use someone the girl doesn’t know for this. Kageya went to Aori—he’s trailing Dairou, so I couldn’t ask him.”
Nobi nodded in understanding.
Tamao’s sly smile slipped a bit. “What’s wrong? You look sad or something.”
“I’m fine,” Nobi said. “I’m just worried about having someone else act on our behalf. We’ll need to check and make sure they do the job properly. It’s a hassle.”
With that, Nobi turned around and walked away.
Tamao frowned at Nobi’s retreating back as if she were pondering a riddle.
***
Nobi walked briskly down the corridor in his human form, trying to calm his racing thoughts.
Sayo… Sayo is going to be killed. Murdered!
Sayo had the magical gift of listening. She could close doors to the dark world. If she was allowed to live, she would only interfere with his master’s plans. Nobi knew that.
With his heart in his throat and sweat dripping down his forehead, Nobi made himself walk faster. He gritted his teeth.
Don’t think about Sayo. There’s nothing you can do about this anyway.
Nobi couldn’t defy the will of his master. Disobedience meant death. His entire existence was obedience. He had to obey his master; he had no other purpose.
But why must Sayo be killed? It isn’t right…
Nobi saw Sayo in his mind’s eye, standing alone in a field of silver grass as he’d run to her in fox form, half-dead and panicked. Her arms had been warm and safe.
Nobi closed his eyes tight, then opened them. He was still carrying the socks that the lord of the castle had requested. He cast them away from him and dashed down the hallway as fast as his human legs could carry him.
***
Sayo was yanked up painfully by the hair. She yelped.
An unfamiliar man looked Sayo up and down with a mad gleam in his eyes and a grin like a rictus.
Sayo tried to move—to free herself—but the man shoved her onto the ground in a single push and held her down one-handed. “Be still, girl,” the man said hoarsely. “If ya do as I say, I won’t be too rough with ya.”
He waved a shiny blade close to Sayo’s face—her borrowed sword. Sayo had dropped it. The man covered her mouth with one hand as she shook from fear.
Sayo couldn’t just let herself be killed by this man. She thrashed and struggled as he made hushing sounds and smiled his terrible smile at her.
The man’s smile flashed off in a moment. He gasped in pain.
Saya twisted her body violently as she gripped her borrowed sword and twisted it so that the blade cut the man’s elbow. The man howled and let her go, along with her borrowed sword.
Sayo also felt a pain in her left palm. She’d gripped the sword wrong and had cut her own hand. She scrambled to retrieve her weapon before the man could recover.
“You dolt!” The man shouted, but he quickly calmed himself. Being too loud would bring more people. He lifted his own blade with his uninjured arm and swung savagely at Sayo.
Sayo flinched and tried to block the blade with her borrowed one, but the borrowed sword was too short to block the longer weapon. There was a harsh clang, sparks flew, and Sayo dropped the borrowed sword. Her back was to the wall of the firewood shed. There was no way to escape.
Sayo bent down, removed her sandals, and then threw them at the man with all her might. The thrown sandals startled the man, making him take a step away from her. He flicked at the sandals with his blade.
While he was distracted, Sayo slipped past the man and ran.
The man stomped his heels and raised his sword as he turned and prepared to pursue Sayo. Before he could turn around, a small black shadow brushed against the man’s heel.
The man stopped dead and dropped like a stone. The tendons in one heel had been severed in a single stroke. He writhed on the ground in agony, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Sayo heard the scream and froze. Someone grabbed her wrist and moved fast; she had to run with them to keep up. In moments, Sayo was in the air, dragged along by one arm. The roof of the firewood shed was under her feet; she wobbled.
Before Sayo could get her balance, the person gripping her wrist picked her up bodily and leaped even higher into the air, over a castle wall and through a spiritual barrier. Night wind roared in her ears. Passing through the barrier made her ears pop; the person holding her groaned.
When Sayo landed again, the person holding her set her clumsily down. The impact of landing rattled her; she needed to ground herself. She looked down and saw the smooth stones that paved the interior of the castle. Tiled mosaics decorated the walls.
Out of breath and dazed, Sayo looked up at her rescuer.
In the dim light of the moon, Sayo saw a familiar young man. He’d saved her from bandits before. Right now, he was in rotten shape. Several thin scratches on his cheeks and ears were bleeding. He looked as if he had been cut by bamboo grass. The young man gritted his teeth and gasped in pain—did he have other injuries?
Sayo’s shoulders shook slightly as she took in the damage. “Who are you?” Sayo asked. “Are you all right?”
The young man shook his head. “We’ll talk later. Get on my back. We need to keep moving.”
Sayo nodded. She noticed that the same peculiar, exotic scent she’d smelled on the pretty maid clung to the young man as well. Strange that she’d never noticed it before. Unlike the pretty maid, there was no aura of threat around the young man at all.
She knew that the young man wouldn’t harm her—he’d only ever saved her so far in all their encounters—but she didn’t really want to get on his back.
“I can run by myself,” she said. “You don’t need to carry me.”
“Human legs are too slow,” the young man said, annoyed. “You are too slow. Tamao is going to come after us. You have to trust me, or we’ll never escape.”
The young man’s eyes were sharp and forbidding; Sayo saw desperation in them.
Sayo nodded slowly. “Okay.” She climbed up on his back piggyback-style, as he’d told her to do. She leaned her body over his back and put both hands around the young man’s neck. She tried to hang on tight, but she couldn’t move her left hand properly because of the cut. Her hand was stiff and numb.
Sayo clung to the boy as best she could. She wound up wrapping both arms around his shoulders for greater strength and stability.
The young man jumped up to the top of another wall, displacing a paving stone and chipping a mosaic tile in the wall in the process. He leaped from wall to wall like a flying squirrel.
“This will take awhile,” the young man said quietly. “Don’t talk.”
They reached the moat. The young man’s back tensed. He kicked the ground with a thud, and then flew into the air. When he landed on the other side, he took off overland at incredible speed, though he avoided the main road.
Sayo tightened her arms around him so that she wouldn’t fall and pressed her face into his back. When they were going this fast, the wind was harsh enough to hurt her exposed skin.
Where are we going? Sayo wondered. The wind drowned out all other sounds. The lights of the castle receded behind them; Sayo could see little in the dark.
The young man ran until he reached Yona Forest’s canopy and kept running. Branches scratched Sayo’s arms and snapped. Her hands were icy cold as the wind picked up; she shivered.
The sound of flowing water intruded on her senses. She wasn’t familiar with this part of the forest. She looked around, but couldn’t identify any landmarks. A narrow stream came into view before them.
Then a long, drawn-out, high-pitched cry echoed behind them.
The young man stopped in his tracks, startled by the cry. He cocked an ear toward the sound like an animal. After a few moments, he set Sayo down.
Sayo stumbled as she regained her feet. The forest floor here was littered with small stones. She tripped and fell to one knee.
“What’s going on?” Sayo asked. “Where are we?”
The riverbank was dimly lit by the moonlight. The young man’s hair was rimed with frost. He stared into the forest, shrouded in darkness.
A black shadow crossed over the young man’s face. Sayo blinked, and there before them was the pretty maid from the castle. She was smiling, though she didn’t appear friendly.
“Nobi,” the pretty maid whispered. She took in his injuries and his expression. Her smile changed to a frown.
The young man—Nobi—said nothing.
The pretty maid glanced at Sayo, then at Nobi. She sighed. “I always thought something was off about this whole business, but… Well. Nobi, I never thought you’d do something so stupid.” Her eyes narrowed. She looked more sad than angry.
“Is there anything I can say to change your mind?” the pretty maid asked. “Or are you going to save that girl no matter what?”
Nobi nodded. “I’ll save her.”
“Then you want to fight me?”
A long silence. Nobi nodded.
Anger flashed in the pretty maid’s eyes. She scowled, then vanished into the forest shadows.
The woman’s shadow darted from tree to tree, then directly out at Nobi, moving fast. Nobi wasn’t able to dodge and fell on his back. Blood spurted from a new cut on his cheek.
The woman… was a fox? Moonlight shone on her fur. She jumped into the shadows again, then leaped at Nobi from above, leaving a cut on his shoulder this time. This pattern repeated, with the fox concealing herself in the dark forest and springing out for a surprise attack.
After a dozen or so exchanges, the fox transformed back into the pretty maid. “This is both boring and tragic,” she said. “Are you planning to die in that pitiful state, torn apart by my fangs, without ever returning to your true nature?”
Nobi didn’t reply, but just stared at Tamao, teeth bared in a grimace.
Tamao shook her head in exasperation. “You’re really stupid… So stupid.” She turned away. With her back to Nobi, she said, “You know the master won’t forgive this. Kageya isn’t as fond of you as I am. So enjoy the precious seconds you have left—you don’t have very many of them.”
Nobi stared at Tamao’s back as she walked away. He felt like he’d never see her again. He probably wouldn’t, and that saddened him. He’d always liked her better than Kageya. He wouldn’t be able to talk to the other familiars or his master anymore. He’d chosen a different path, and there was no turning back from it.
When Tamao was out of sight, Nobi let himself fall to the forest floor.
***
“Oh, no.” Sayo was at Nobi’s side. “Are you all right? Can you move?”
Sayo looked Nobi over. There were no deep wounds, but there many shallow ones all over his body. He was still bleeding from half a dozen of them.
Nobi turned his head toward her. “Call,” he said, “call—Kinawabou. As loud as you can. Call his name. Please.”
“What? You want me to shout ‘Kinawabou?’” Sayo asked.
Nobi nodded, grimacing in pain.
Sayo cupped her hands around her mouth and cried out, “Kinawabou!”
“Louder,” Nobi said.
Sayo took a deep breath and tried again. “Kinawabou!”
Sayo’s clear voice echoed across the river valley and then faded away.
A moment passed in silence. Then a strange chirping noise echoed in off the water. Sayo turned toward the sound.
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