Beyond the Werefox Whistle
Written by Uehashi Nahoko
Illustrated by Yumiko Shirai
Part 3: Nobi and Sayo
Chapter 4: Attack on the Road
A field of canola blossoms spread out before Dairou for as far as the eye could see. Light rain fell on the swaying yellow flowers. Dairou wore a straw raincoat and a hat to keep the rain off as he rode Hayate down the Hinobe Road toward Yuuji Castle.
Dairou had thought about Koharumaru and Harumochi frequently while scouting the roads and checking the security of the inn at Aori. He had an uneasy feeling that neither Harumochi nor his son were safe.
Koharumaru had spent most of his life confined in Morikage Estate. Dairou had visited the boy frequently. Every time they’d met, Koharumaru had begged to go outside. Denying his repeated requests had pained Dairou. Dairou had always looked forward to the day when Koharumaru would be free to leave the estate at last… but now that this day had come, Koharumaru wasn’t safe.
When Koharumaru was summoned by Harumochi and told everything about his confinement and the reasons for it, Koharumaru was overjoyed. He’d stepped outside the mansion with a bright smile on his face. Harumochi was pleased at Koharumaru’s easy acceptance and understanding, saying that he was a wonderful son and heir.
Koharumaru was certainly a remarkable child, but Dairou worried about what effects the long confinement would have on the boy. Koharumaru was hot-tempered, but also kind-hearted. He managed to accept his father’s words without complaint or reproach. Dairou found that odd. Mature adults might complain at the treatment Koharumaru had received, yet the boy accepted everything as if he were a stoic adult.
Dairou turned onto a path lined with cedar trees. The trees blocked much of the sunlight, but they also blocked most of the rain. As Dairou picked up the pace, he felt a tingling sensation between his eyebrows. Hayate snorted in irritation—the horse had sensed something, too.
Dairou let go of the reins. Using only his legs to control Hayate, he put his hands into his pockets. He took out two dolls and wrote runes of protection smoothly on their heads with his fingers. He chanted a spell under his breath as he wrote the runes, then blew into the dolls’ ears to animate the protective enchantments.
Hayate stopped and reared in agitation. Dairou quickly quieted the horse so that he wouldn’t fall.
Five men came running out from between the cedar trees, spears at the ready. They had Dairou and Hayate surrounded in seconds.
Dairou stared down at the men. The man standing in the middle of the attackers held neither a spear nor a sword—in fact, he bore no weapon at all. He glared up at Dairou with his arms crossed.
Dairou looked into the man’s eyes and felt a chill go up in his spine. The man’s eyes were not those of a human being, but of a beast.
The fearsome man raised his hand. This was the signal for the spearmen to charge at Dairou and Hayate.
With a loud yell, Dairou launched the two dolls in his hands into the air. “Summon the God of War!”
The dolls landed on the road with a thunderous bang, glowing with pale blue light. Their shadows stretched behind them until they were taller than Dairou sitting on Hayate. The doll on the right straightened up, holding a sharpened spear of blue light. The doll on the right wielded a thick, curved sword. Both dolls were clad in bulky foreign armor that concealed their faces.
“Hear me!” Dairou shouted in a voice like a storm. “The God of War is the guardian deity of my family. If you are human, you have nothing to fear from him. But if you are under the influence of sorcerous magic—or are a sorcerer yourself—you should be very afraid.”
The attackers paused briefly, some of them showing fear openly.
“Ha! You need fear nothing,” the unarmed man said. “You are hakage, and human. Attack!”
“But…” One of the spearmen spoke up.
The unarmed man was Kageya. He pointed at the dolls animated by the God of War and said mockingly, “They’re only dolls! Simple playthings! Now, attack!”
The spearmen all rushed at Dairou, their spears held horizontal at their hips. The doll’s spear roared and the other doll’s sword flew through the air, causing a cyclone of wind to cut through the spearmen. Blood spurted from the foreheads of the men who were touched by the wind.
Fear flashed across the men’s faces.
A whoosh of cold air cut across the back of Dairou’s neck, making him shiver. He twisted his body instinctively; his hat flew off and a slash appeared in his raincoat. Straw came loose and blew away.
Dairou was sensing a spirit fox—at least one. Even the dolls animated by the God of War couldn’t match a spirit fox when it came to speed. He had dodged one shadow arrow, but another was coming right for him. It slipped right past the dolls and Dairou’s protective spells, heading straight for his throat.
Dairou made an X with his arms over his throat to protect himself. A protective bracelet with tiny runes engraved on it adorned one of Dairou’s wrists. A burning pain ran through his pinky finger as the shadow arrow struck him. Blood gushed from a new wound. Dairou gritted his teeth and clenched his right wrist. The flesh under his pinky finger had been roughly sliced away, and the blood wouldn’t stop.
The spirit fox that had attacked Dairou cried out in pain.
Sliding off of Hayate, Dairou ran away at full speed on his own two feet. He didn’t look back at the injured fox spirit even once. He pressed his forehead hard against his bleeding cut and forced himself to breathe past the excruciating pain of his injury.
Kageya writhed on the ground where he’d fallen, clutching his nose. The protective bracelet had come loose from Dairou’s wrist and struck him in the face. His whole body felt numb and tingly as if he’d been struck by lightning.
As the pain subsided, Kageya changed into his fox form and searched for Dairou, but Dairou was nowhere to be found. The animated dolls were also gone: vanished like they’d never been there. Rain fell on the cedar leaves far above. Injured hakage groaned and complained on the ground.
Kageya shook his body and transformed back into his human shape. He glared in the direction of Dairou’s scent, which was rapidly being washed away by the rain.
Killing Dairou would have been difficult for Kageya, but he should have been able to capture him or hold him in place. This was a failure. His only consolation was that Dairou was poisoned. Kageya had attacked him with his true body’s claws, and all spirit fox claws were poison to those in the living world.
Soon, Dairou would have to stop and rest, and then he would be done. The poison would slow him down effectively. It might even kill him.
Kageya grinned fiercely. He’d seen Dairou’s face, and Dairou had seen his. This battle between countries and clans had just become a true war.
Even injured as he was, knowing he wouldn’t be able to walk long distances for quite some time, Kageya was quietly satisfied. He smirked.
***
Dairou fled, trying to keep his breathing shallow so that the poison wouldn’t spread too fast. He knew that he couldn’t keep moving like this for long. He was hopelessly dizzy and kept tripping over his own feet.
Hayate found him in a grove of trees not far from the main road. Dairou would never survive a journey by horse. As he slipped in a pile of leaves, he caught his balance on Hayate and said, “Hayate… follow the road. Get Suzu.”
If Umegae Estate was near enough, Hayate might be able to lead Suzu to Dairou with an antidote. That was his only chance of surviving the spirit fox’s attack.
Hayate nudged Dairou with his head in worry, but he listened. He turned away from Dairou and galloped down the road.
Dairou crouched down under a cedar tree and removed a package wrapped in paper from his clothes with his uninjured left hand. His entire body shook; he spilled the contents of the package as he ripped it open. He shoved what he could hold onto in his mouth and swallowed.
As he rested his head against the trunk of the cedar and raised his face, raindrops fell into his mouth. With trembling fingers, Dairou wrote runes of concealment on the trunk of the tree. He didn’t know how effective this kind of invisibility would be, but if he could evade the eyes of his pursuers, he would improve his chances of survival.
Gazing blankly at the canopy of leaves above him with blurred eyes, Dairou’s mind wandered. Lord Harumochi had offered him a guard escort for this journey, but he’d refused it. Anything dangerous enough to threaten him would have been fatal to any guards with him.
There were very few warriors strong enough to survive a fight against a fox spirit. Tsuneyuki had the required toughness, but he was Koharumaru’s loyal protector; Dairou would never dream of asking the man to step away from his charge. Other guards would be useless against fox spirits or sorcerers.
The attack Dairou had just suffered could only be survived by him. He was grateful to be alone as he stared up at the sky through dark leaves. Cold rain stung his face.
As his mind wandered in delirium, Dairou heard voices and saw the figures of people who were not there. It was like he’d walked into a dream.
Hanano sat in front of him, close enough to touch. “Wakasa Fields has been owned by Haruna for too long. It must be returned to the High King’s control, so that things can be fair again.” Her face was hazy, but he knew her voice. It was deeper than most women’s that he’d met.
“Why don’t you tell that to Lord Harumochi? Maybe he’ll listen to what you have to say,” Dairou said.
Dairou himself hadn’t spoken. He sat against the tree, observing his younger self speak to Hanano.
Hanano slowly shook her head at the younger Dairou’s words. “The timing is never right. Returning Wakasa Fields on my instruction would draw notice. And if I am noticed by the wrong people, I will die. And Lord Harumochi would not agree.”
“Why?” the younger Dairou asked.
“He bears a grudge toward the murderer of his wife,” she said. “The longer this conflict goes on, the stronger the hatred grows. It’s an endless cycle of dying and killing. I see only my own death at the end of these events.”
Hanano’s face was half-hidden in mist and shadow. She looked terribly lonely.
“Lord Harumochi is kind and intelligent,” the younger Dairou said. “He would never put you in that kind of danger.”
“Lord Harumochi would not, but the world is not safe for me. I am going to raise my children to protect themselves and this land’s happiness. Perhaps their generation will be strong enough, and then Wakasa Fields can be relinquished back into the High King’s care.”
Hanano’s face suddenly contorted. “But can I do it?” she asked. “Now that my father is gone, I do not know if I can raise my children in safety. I might not even be able to defend myself. And if I can’t protect Koharumaru, all of my efforts will be for nothing…”
The vision ended. Rain streaked down Dairou’s face like tears. He closed his eyes.
Hanano…
Hanano was dead for no other reason than that she’d been noticed by enemy sorcerers, as she’d feared. Her death was so pointless. And now, Koharumaru’s life was at risk, too. Hanano had foreseen all of this.
Dairou spent some time unconscious. When he returned to awareness, the rain had stopped, but he was still soaked through and shivering. The leaves of the cedar trees were stained red by the light of the setting sun. As his senses sharpened, Dairou thought he heard the distant sound of hoofbeats.
Help was coming. Or his death was. Those were the only two options at this point.
Dairou blinked. There was a young man standing before him. He blinked again and realized that the young man was a disguised spirit fox. He could see the magic clinging to the young man’s shape. The runes for invisibility that Dairou had made before must have faded, because the spirit fox was staring straight at him.
How long has it been? Dairou asked himself. He couldn’t move at all.
“Are you Dairou?” the spirit fox asked. His voice was quiet and even and contained no malice. Dairou thought that this must be what familiars were like. They took people’s lives at the command of their master, not because they hated anyone or bore a grudge.
“Yes,” Dairou said.
The spirit fox nodded. Then, for some reason, he spun on his heel and ran off. Perhaps he had gone to call his companions.
Dairou was about to slip into unconsciousness again when Hayate appeared among the trees. Sayo was riding the horse.
Dairou’s eyes widened in surprise as Sayo jumped off of Hayate and ran over to him.
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