Fire Hunter 1: Fire In Spring - Part 1 Chapter 6 - Crystal Dragon

 

Fire Hunter Series 1: Fire in Spring

 

Hinata Rieko

Part One : Bonfires in Spring

 

Chapter 6: Crystal Dragon

    Kaho had suffered several deep wounds on her face and upper body. She was taken to the infirmary and treated right away, but she didn't regain consciousness. 

    "She was gored by the Fire Fiend's claws, but it didn't cut her deep enough to kill her. If he'd bitten her, she would be dead by now," the doctor who treated her said. He sighed, setting a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. 

    The doctor was a tall, well-built crewman that Touko had met once while working. He wore a white coat over the usual gray crewman's clothes. 

    Kaho lay on a bed in the infirmary, her face as white as a sheet of paper, and didn't wake. She barely seemed to be breathing. Touko knew by looking at her that coming back to consciousness would be a terrible struggle.

    "Hey," the doctor said to get Touko's attention. "Worrying and fretting over her won't make her wake up any faster. The captain told you that you have to get off the cart soon, yeah? Everyone's lives depend on everyone else, when you're on a black cart. If we can't trust you with our lives, then you can't stay, even if you are just a kid. Go back to your room and pass the time however you want with the other bride-to-be."

    The doctor pointed at Touko, who was crouched down against the wall of the brightly-lit infirmary. Kanata sat close to her, keeping her warm and safe. 

    Touko stood up, unsteady on her feet, and walked out of the infirmary into the metal hallway. The engines had come back to life; the carts were moving through the black forest once more. Kanata padded next to her down the hallway, leading Touko along as if he owned the place and knew every inch of it. Touko kept her head down and walked without looking at anything, leaving their destination to the dog.

***

    When Touko returned to the room, Hotaru and Benio both rose to greet her. 

    "Touko, are you hurt?" Benio asked, leaning in so fast that for a moment Touko was scared that Benio would headbutt her. Benio took in the black bruise over Touko's eye with a frown.

    "How awful... Touko, who hit you?"

    Touko looked down.

    "Hey, it’s okay. I'm okay, and Hotaru is okay. Let's all be okay together, all right?"

    Touko was about to nod, but then she noticed that there was another crew member in the room: Shouzou, who'd come to repair the vent that Kaho had slipped through. In addition to all the injuries inflicted by the Fire Fiend, Kaho had cut up her own hands pretty badly in her escape. She'd used her nails and hairpin to pry the vent open. 

    Hotaru had let Shouzou into the room, despite severe misgivings. When he'd told her and Benio about the attack, she'd been aghast.

    Hotaru's eyes flicked toward Touko. "Touko... I heard from that crew member earlier. Are you getting off in the next village? Is that true?" Hotaru's eyebrows drew together.

    When Touko nodded, Benio gasped. "But that's so stupid! Touko went to help Kaho, so why are they kicking her off the cart?'' Benio clenched her fists, arms swinging at her side. 

    Touko remained still and silent, looking down. Kanata seemed worried about her; he was sniffing all around her in circles as if he was trying to find out where she was hurt.

    I couldn't save Kaho, Touko thought. I had to be saved, myself. But why couldn't I help Kaho before she left? She was always standoffish and staring a the wall... why didn't I do something before this happened...

    And Touko had lost Kanata, however briefly. He'd left her, and she'd let him.

    "That girl did a neat trick, lifting something like this up on her own. It's heavy even for me," Shouzou said as he reattached the metal lid of the vent. "See down there? You can see the tunnels that make up the ventilation system. They're not wide tunnels. You'd need to be a tiny little thing to crawl around in there and use the tunnels to get out. It's also pitch black, and you can't move through them at all when the cart is running because the fan blades are going nonstop."

    Shouzou paused, then cursed. "Like I thought, she couldn't get through with a fan blade in the way. Looks like she pushed herself through. That means I need to replace that part, too. Hey, you guys must have been in the same room the whole time. Didn't you notice what she was doing?"

    Shouzou kept muttering to himself about Kaho's antics, then turned his head toward Benio and Hotaru, his expression heavy with accusation.

    "If we'd known, why wouldn't we escape with her?" Benio asked primly, sounding offended. 

    Shouzou shrugged casually at Benio's tone. He must have been woken up before his usual work shift, since he appeared even more exhausted than usual.

    "Even if we had noticed, why should we tell anyone?" Benio asked. "Touko and her dog have a ride to the capital, but the rest of us are brides, and we'll be getting off the cart soon anyway. And now you all are kicking Touko off the cart, too, for trying to save someone! The nerve of you people!"

    Shouzou finished repairing the vent, then looked up at Benio with an irritable expression. "All you ever do is complain. You're too loud, girl. You, too, little kid--making all that ruckus like that outside. Some of us were trying to take a nap." He sighed. "I understand that you were trying to help. But if the Fire Fiend had gotten into the black cart, you wouldn't have been the first to die."

    "Don't say that!" Benio cut in. 

    Shouzou sat down on the edge of Kaho's bed and looked straight at Touko. "You, kid. What does your village make?" 

    There were dark circles around his eyes; Touko felt like she could be sucked into them like a whirlpool and drown. "Um... Paper. They make paper," Touko said softly.

    Shouzou nodded. "So I take it that you don't want to be forced off the cart, yes?" he asked. 

    Hotaru and Benio looked at each other worriedly.

    Touko hesitated, but she nodded. A Fire Hunter had sacrificed his life for her. She had to find some way to repay that act of heroism. Her grandmother would expect nothing less of her. And her aunt had expressly set her out on this journey.

    "Yeah, kid, I get it," Shouzou said. "I'll talk to the captain on your behalf. No promises on anything, though."

    That was so unexpected that Teru looked up at him, her eyes full of hope. 

    "We told your village that we'd take you and the dog to the capital," Shouzou said. "We have a Fire Hunter aboard, after all. We shouldn't be frightened by one little girl."

    "Really?" Touko asked. She leaned forward. 

    Shouzou's expression became pained. "I told you before... one of the crew quit. The truth is that we lost him. He was my best friend. When we were refueling, there was a call to adjust the suspension system. We headed outside to to it. A Fire Fiend attacked, and he couldn't escape fast enough. The Fire Hunter was already outside; he ordered me to get back inside the cart as fast as possible. We're supposed to close all the doors immediately when a Fire Fiend comes: that's the rule. Everyone aboard knows and obeys the rules.

    "So I left my friend for dead. But if we hadn't been outside and finished up maintenance on the cart, then we would all have been stranded in the woods a long time ago. I wonder all the time why he had to be cut off and not me."

    Touko couldn't breathe. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop tears from flowing down the sides of her face. 

    "I imagine that the chief and the Fire Hunter don't understand how you're feeling," Shouzou said. "I doubt the dog'll stay calm if you get off without him. I'll try to explain the situation to them."

    Shouzou put away his tools, then patted Touko on the head. He left.

    With Shouzou gone, the tension eased, and Hotaru sat down with a sigh of relief. Benio clenched her fists even more tightly.

    "Kaho's an idiot! I don't want to get married, either. None of us do. She could have talked to us. But she just ran away without saying a single word. What if she'd died? I refuse to die. I don't want to go to a beekeeping village and be forced into marriage, but I'll survive it." As she spoke, tears streaked across her cheeks, one by one, and fell to the floor. "If Kaho dies, I'll never forgive her for not asking us for help."

    Alarmed at Benio's tone, Hotaru stood up. She was crying, too; she took Benio's hand in hers and set her other hand on Touko's shoulder, pulling Touko into a half-hug. 

    Standing so close to them, Touko noticed that Benio smelled like sunlight and spring leaves and that Hotaru smelled like the fresh water from the stream that she'd used to wash vegetables in her home village. Despite all the oily and metallic scents wafting through the air of the black cart, along with the sweat smell of many days' travel, Touko was comforted.

    I'm getting off the cart tomorrow, Touko thought. She closed her eyes. Tomorrow, I'll be in the village where Hotaru is supposed to get married. And then my whole future will be decided for me.

    Touko wasn't asked to perform any work or do any chores for the rest of that day. She, Benio and Hotaru sat huddled in their room together, waiting out the dark night and hardly speaking. Touko was at a loss as to what to do with the cord that had bound Kaho's hair. She thought about setting it on Kaho's bed, but eventually just tied it to her wrist. She had the unsettling feeling that Kaho might never open her eyes again. 

    The next day, Hotaru was the first of them to wake up and start puttering around their room. Touko sat up and noticed her combing her hair, carefully and methodically. 

    Touko hadn't slept well. When she tried to get up and do something, she felt like she was about to doze off. She stared blankly at Hotaru. 

    Hotaru smiled at her. "To think, you fell asleep on the floor last night! You must have been tired."

    Touko looked around. Hotaru was right: she'd fallen asleep on the floor next to Kanata. There was a blanket over her shoulders. 

    Touko said nothing, simply staring at Hotaru combing her hair as if the movements were mesmerizing. 

    She looks like my mom, Touko thought.

    Touko's mother had been just like the other villagers, spending her days in growing vegetables and making paper. Her hands had been muddy and chapped from the work, but her hair had been as beautiful as spun silk. 

    Before going out to the fields, Touko's mother had secretly combed Touko's own hair. She might have bought the red clip for her daughter because she'd wanted Touko's hair to look nice.

    All of her mother's hair had burned to charcoal and blown away over the the fire-blasted ground.

    Benio stretched hugely on her bed and swung her legs over the side. 

    "Good morning, Touko and Benio," Hotaru said. "Today's the day."

    It was likely that Benio hadn't slept well, either. She rubbed her face with both hands and slapped her cheeks to force herself awake. "I'll help you, Hotaru."

    Benio got up and assisted Hotaru with her hair, and then her other things. She noticed Touko sitting like a lump on the floor and fixed her with a dissatisfied expression. "You help, too."

    Touko wilted, her shoulders falling back and down. "I... but I..."

    On Touko's bed, there were keepsakes and bundles of plain paper. Some of the paper was wrapped around a change of clothes and some emergency food. Touko must have packed all that in the night, though she scarcely remembered it. Shouzou had said that he would talk to the captain for her, but she might still be leaving the black cart today regardless.

    Benio's gaze fell on the Fire Hunter's sickle, which was still wrapped up tight in high-quality blessed paper.  She tilted her head, and the light from the window revealed that her cheeks were sheened by sunburn. "I see you're planning to leave already," Benio said. "Don't give up yet. They've promised to deliver Kanata, the sickle, and the Protector Stone to the capital, and they can't do that without you. 

    "When Kaho ran off, there was nothing I could do," Benio continued. "I didn't even follow her like you did, Touko. I think this this cart needs a brave person like you. If Shouzou's not successful, I'll make a stink with the captain, too. You should stay here." Benio said this forcefully while picking up the sickle and the stone. She placed them down on Touko's bed again, atop a layer of paper. Benio wrapped these precious objects up in more paper, concealing them from prying eyes. 

    A short time later, there was a knock on the door. A woman crew member brought in breakfast for them all: a tray of baked dumplings, just like yesterday. On the corner of the tray, there was  a silver hairpin in the shape of a lily.

    "A farewell gift," the woman said. "For the bride." Her voice was rough-edged and she appeared uncomfortable. "Please don't tell anyone. I scavenged a few items from the storerooms, you see."

    Hotaru stared at the unexpected gift for a few moments.

    The woman set the breakfast tray down and turned to leave. 

    Hotaru called out to the woman. "Are you... is it really okay to give me this?"

    "I told you to keep it quiet from the others. Giving this to you causes me no trouble at all; I can just increase the price on a few of my other goods a little. So take it, girl."

    Hotaru folded the lily hairpin into her chest as if it were a living flower and bowed her head deeply to the brusque woman. "Then thank you. I accept this gift. How is Kaho doing, if I may ask?"

    The woman didn't answer. Just before she left, she tossed a, "How would I know?" over her shoulder. "As far as I know, she's still out cold. She's not dead. The ones who cause the most trouble never die." She sighed.

    Touko let out a relieved breath that she didn't know she'd been holding in.

    Benio's expression became vaguely mischievous. "Miss... might you be moved to bring me a little something, too, when it's my turn?"

    The woman, typically sour-faced and somewhat taciturn, turned around and actually smiled. "I don't know. I'm sure there's something that would suit a plain Jane like you."

    Benio stuck her tongue out at the woman.

    The woman hmmed. "One more thing. It's been decided that the little girl is blameless for yesterday's mishap. She can ride to the capital." Then she left, closing the door behind her.

    Touko was stunned. She repeated the woman's last words in her mind, over and over again.

    "Touko, what good news!" Benio said, mussing her hair. 

    Hotaru covered her mouth in shock, tears of joy glistening in her eyes. "I'm so relieved," she said. "You and the dog can stay together, then. Look out for one another, all right?"

    Hotaru got down on the ground to pet Kanata. Kanata didn't usually like being petted by strangers, but he allowed Hotaru, looking at her from under heavy-lidded eyes. There was no trace of the mission-focused monster-fighting dog of the previous day in him.

    Later in the morning, the black cart arrived in a weaving village. The roaring cart stuttered and stopped suddenly; Touko caught a glimpse of villagers milling around the cart from the window. They'd already passed beyond the village's protective barrier.

    Hotaru had completed her preparations to leave and looked like an an entirely different person. The dress she wore was white, long-sleeved and dyed with special inks. With her arms slightly spread, she resembled a bird flying off into the sky. The over-dress was slightly yellowed at the edges, perhaps because so many other brides had worn it before her. Hotaru did her hair up with the lily hairpin, concealing it behind the white hair binder so that other crew members wouldn't see the pin.

    "How do I look?" Hotaru asked, twirling a little in her dress.

    "You're beautiful," Touko said.

    Hotaru's cheeks reddened slightly.

    "You look lovely," Benio said. "The man who receives you as a bride will be lucky." Her compliment was genuine, but her tone was sad. 

    Hotaru smiled faintly at Touko and Benio. "Benio, Touko. I'm so glad that I got to meet you both. I know it was only for a little while, and you both know I'd rather not get married, but being here together like this made me happy. Please take care of yourselves, and try to be happy, too."

    "You don't have to say all that, Hotaru," Touko said.

    Benio blushed and looked at the floor, saying nothing.

    There was a knock at the door. One of the crew members had come for Hotaru. It was the same woman who'd brought them breakfast. Hotaru looked up at her and said, "I have a favor to ask of you. Before I go into the village, I'd like to see Kaho one last time. To say goodbye."

    "Conceal your face, then. The infirmary isn't far."

    Hotaru covered her face. She, Touko, Kanata and Benio followed the crew member down the metal hallway to the infirmary. 

    The doctor was speechless as the girls (and dog) shuffled in, one by one. He was holding a box of chewing tobacco. "I see. Don't linger here too long. She needs rest." Then he left. 

    Kaho was still asleep. She was deathly pale: pure white, and her face was covered in scratches. One was deeper and covered over with a square bandage. The Fire Fiend's claws had gouged her there.

    Hotaru adjusted the bandage slightly, then touched Kaho's cheek. "Kaho? I'm leaving. Can you please wake up? Your friends are here. Kaho, I want you to be happy someday. That's all that I want for you. Please don't risk yourself like that again."

    There was no reply.

***

    Touko and the others didn't get to see Hotaru get married. Hotaru was escorted off of the black cart, and her wedding ceremony was held in the weaving village. Touko didn't even know if Hotaru was given a full marriage ceremony or something different. Hotaru was a cast-off daughter, expelled from her village due to its dire straits. No one knew if the village welcomed Hotaru's presence or not.

    The black cart resupplied for two days while in the village, taking on containers full of cloth, though neither Benio nor Touko were permitted to get off the cart or do any shopping. 

    Close on evening of the second day, right before the black cart was set to leave the village, the Fire Hunter Enzen visited Touko in her room. 

    "I came to borrow your mutt," Enzen said. His own dog, Izumo, sat next to him, panting and fidgeting from excitement or nerves. "Looks like we can go hunting nearby. Kanata should come, too. It's not good for a hunting dog to get bored."

    "Sir," Benio said, politely but firmly, "This dog--he shouldn't--"

    "--It's okay," Touko said. "I apologize for causing so much trouble the other day. Please take good care of Kanata."

    Enzen nodded in satisfaction. Benio glared at him; her expression was like a riddle. 

    Touko petted Kanata on the scruff of his neck and said, "You can go."

    Kanata barked in reply--very quietly, almost like a whine. He and Izumo bounded out of the room along with Enzen. His self-satisfied smile remained in his eyes long after it had left his face. 

    Touko knew that Enzen was right, and that it wouldn't do for Kanata to forget his hunting instincts and training. Kanata wasn't a pet; he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do by following Touko around. If she kept treating him like a pet, he'd never be a proper hunting dog.

    "I really don't think that there's much threat from Fire Fiends around here," Benio said, pouting. No sooner were the words out of her mouth when she snapped it shut. "But what do I know?" she muttered, sounding ashamed, as if she wanted to erase her previous words.

    Touko didn't understand how Shouzou had managed to convince the stubborn Sakuroku to let her remain aboard. She thanked Shouzou profusely for advocating for her, but he seemed amused by this; all he did in response was smile and send her back to her room. "It went well; that's all that matters," he'd said with a shrug.

    The end of Touko's chores for the day usually lined up with Enzen and the dogs' return from the forest in the evenings. Kanata always came back smelling like leaves and dirt; he thumped his tail on the floor whenever he caught sight of Touko approaching. 

    Touko petted Kanata's belly and looked out the small window of her shared room with Benio beside her. They could barely see what was going on outside. The window was also one-way only: no one from the village could see inside the black cart, since the windows were blacked out on the outside. Even if Hotaru had known exactly where to look, she wouldn't have been able to see Touko and Benio at all once she entered the village.

    The black cart's engine roared to life, propelling the vehicle back into the black forest. Hotaru was left behind.

***

    Four days later, Touko was assigned to do chores in the the morning and afternoon while Kanata teamed up with Izumo to help with hunting Fire Fiends. Touko was now able to find her way around the cart without Kanata's guidance. 

    In the afternoon, the cart had stopped for supplies while Touko was scrubbing the engine room floor. A familiar voice made her look up.

    "Hey, how are things? Have you gotten used to things here? Last week was a little rough for us."

    It was Enji, the man who'd spoken to her in her village. He was usually on the other black cart, so Touko hadn't seen him since then. 

    "Hello, Mr. Enji. Thank you for giving me a place," Touko said. She struggled to remove a stubborn spot of oil on the floor and eventually gave up, rising to her feet. She bowed politely to Enji. She was alone, since Kanata was hunting with Enzen and Izumo. Seeing Enji again wiped away the residual pain in her knees caused from scrubbing too long on the metal floor.

    Enji pushed his glasses up his nose, smiling. He held a fuel canister by a handle. "We're refueling from stored fuel this time. We can't go back and forth from the capital without it, and we can't always rely on the Fire Hunters to bring in enough." His tone was calm, even pleasant, as he approached Shouzou, who was working in the engine room. He called Touko over when she didn't follow him.

    "Would you like to see?" Enji asked Touko.

    Touko set down her scrub brush and walked over to Enji, her eyes cast shyly down. She peeked at the fuel canister, which was like a metal storage box with a spout that could be used to funnel fuel inside or pour it out. It looked a little like the vessels that the people of her village used to boil paper mulberry tree bark in as part of the paper-making process.

    "Wow..." The word slipped out before Touko could stop herself. She'd never seen so much fire fuel up close like this before. It was shiny, shimmering, golden... The black carts sold this fuel in the villages, in smaller containers. Fire fuel was precious and expensive and had to be used sparingly. Touko had never imagined using such a huge quantity of fire fuel for anything.

    "Fire fuel is the blood of Fire Fiends," Enji said. "When a Fire Fiend bleeds, the blood is black, but after they die, it changes. We don't fully understand what the fuel is or why it looks like this when it's harvested. But it's reliable fuel. Without it, it would be impossible to power such huge carts over vast distances."

    "I've heard that in the past, they mixed air and fuel inside the engine to create a spark," Shouzou said. "If we tried that now, this whole cart would go up in flames in seconds." He was standing a little ways away in the engine room.

    Even after the explanation, Touko didn't really understand what they were saying, but she could see that the complex mechanism of the machine, filled with golden liquid, was shaking like a fish thrown into clear water.

    Enji surveyed the injected fuel, nodded to himself, then turned and smiled at Touko. "I know the captain was a little short with you. Don't worry about that. He was praising you for all your hard work the other day," Enji said.

    "What?" Touko asked.

    "What are you talking about?" Shouzou said to Enji. "You're more useful than I am. Who do you think maintains and runs this cart?"

    Shouzou scoffed. "The cart never runs perfectly; we need mechanics. And people brave enough to go outside and fix things in an emergency."

    Enji tapped the lid of the fueling station carefully, then closed it firmly, pressing on the edges. "My work's been a bit easier lately, since the Fire Hunter has Kanata to help him hunt. Enzen brings down the larger creatures, and that means more fuel for all of us. More fuel means warm food and more heated rooms. Everyone benefits."

    Enji excused himself to return to the first cart. Shortly after, Kanata returned from hunting outside.

    Benio was spending more and more time alone in the room she shared with Touko and Kanata. When Touko returned there after work and chores, she found Benio tearing absently at the corded bamboo that was wrapped around her luggage. She was obviously bored. As Touko watched, Benio untied the cord from around her things, unknotted it and started messing with it, as if she were trying to make something.

    "Benio... is that all your things?" Touko asked.

    Benio didn't say anything. Her hands worked, and even her bare toes moved in concert with her grasping, twisting fingers. "My things don't matter," Benio said. "I'm going to go crazy if I don't do something. Anything." 

    There was a lot of bamboo cord to work with: over the course of the next few hours, Benio made a horse, a basket, and a flower motif, a dog, an umbrella that a doll might use, a tiny fishnet... Touko wondered if this was how people in the beekeeping villages would pass their leisure time. 

    After Benio ran out of cord, she sat on her bed and stared out the window, just like Kaho used to.

***

    Shouzou came to tell Touko and Benio when Kaho regained consciousness. Touko was still at work pumping the waste out of the toilets, but she finished her next task, cleaned up and joined Benio at Kaho's bedside as soon as she could. 

    "Make sure everything's clean before you go!" Shouzou called after Touko.

    Kanata ran after Touko; Shouzou's shout made him pause, turn, and bark in acknowledgment. Then he padded after Touko again, breaking into a run He wound up beating Touko to their room; the door was wide open.

    "Benio!" Touko called out when she arrived.

    Benio sat by the small window, silent. She rose slowly, pointing a trembling finger toward the outside. "What... what is that?" she asked. It was impossible to see anything clearly out the window: it was too small, and it was rarely cleaned off from the outside.

    Touko concentrated on what she could see. The forest earth rose up, rippling like waves of water and rolling up. The ground itself was running alongside the cart, as if propelled by an enormous creature hidden beneath. 

    As Touko stared, an enormous head burst forth from beneath the blackened dirt. Kanata barked in alarm, his warning echoing off the metal walls of the room. Touko heard Izumo's answering call, more distant. 

    The head that Touko saw didn't belong to any animal she'd seen before. It was wide, but also long; the head was nearly as slender as the creature's neck. The eyes were large, wide-open, fixated and terrifying. Many thinner protrusions attached to the head, neck and body, like the spoke-like tails of butterflies. 

    The creature moved, pushing more and more of itself above the earth's surface. Its shape was like an enormous snake, writhing and twisting over the ground with the force of an earthquake. 

    "Is that.... a dragon?!" Touko only knew of dragons from stories, but the huge creature certainly looked like one. The window glass was so washed-out that she couldn't figure out what color it was: light-colored, certainly, and possibly white, since it stood out so starkly against the dark earth of the black forest.

    The dragon had legs: tiny ones like bird legs, only there were two sets: one at the front of its body and one at the back. The dragon's body was entirely aboveground, jaws snapping upward, and it was still rising.

    As Touko watched, the dragon--wingless--soared into the sky overhead.

    The black cart shook violently from side to side, as if it had been hit. Everyone inside was jolted by the impact; Touko lost her footing and fell.

    The black cart itself shrieked as if it were being peeled open. Other people might be screaming, but Touko blocked out the chaos around her to focus on Benio and Kanata. Benio's bamboo crafts had scattered all over the room, and she'd fallen over on her side. Kanata howled. 

    There was another jolt, not as severe but still damaging, and that was when Touko knew that the cart was under attack.

    We have to go to Kaho, Touko thought. She grabbed Benio's arm, and they stumbled out of the room together and into the hallway. "Benio, we have to run," Touko said.

    "Run?" Benio stared at her, incredulous. "Where can we run?"

    Day and night looked the same in the black cart, but the usual low illumination of the lights in the hall had gone haywire: some lights flickered, some were off, some burned brighter than normal. Strange sounds from the outside echoed in. The cart was no longer moving. Thud, thud, thud: impact sounds like the thrashing of a flailsome tail.

    The black cart's integrity held, however, and Touko and Benio were able to move. Touko guessed that it was the first cart that was under direct assault, and that what they were experiencing were aftershocks.

    The hallways were curved and narrow, crowded by debris knocked loose by the bucking earth. Touko made her way down them, stepping or jumping over obstacles.

    "Touko, wait, where are you going?!" Benio called after her. Her breathing was erratic; she gasped when Touko grabbed her hand.

    Touko led Benio by the hand into the growing darkness inside the black cart. The hallways cleared enough for them to run farther in, and there were more functional lights. 

    "Kaho's awake," Touko said. "We have go see her. We have to make it."

    That was all Touko could think about. It was a distraction: a goal that countered her terrible dread. Her knees knocked together; she was aware that she was running but it was a dim awareness, as if she were looking at herself from far away. She felt like she was shattering into pieces with each blow that the cart received. 

    They reached the infirmary. The door lever was broken and the door itself was slightly ajar. Touko tried to push it open the rest of the way and met firm resistance. The gap wasn't even wide enough for a lantern to pass through, much less a person. The cart continued to shake and echo with blows as if it were being beaten to death.

    "Kaho!" Touko pressed her face to the gap in the door and yelled at the top of her voice. "Kaho! Can you hear me? We have to run, now! We have to get out of here."

    "He's dying." Kaho's voice reached Touko, thin and wispy as a reed. "The doctor... he hit his head. Blood, everywhere. What can I do? It won't stop..." Kaho choked back a sob.

    The doctor had likely fallen when the cart was first hit. He'd hit his head, and he was dead or dying in front of Kaho.

    "Touko, get out of the way!" Benio approached at speed, carrying a heavy iron pipe in one hand. She wedged it into the gap in the door and used all her strength to pry it open. Touko added her strength to Benio's, gritting her teeth and letting out a low cry as the door finally moved. Even unstuck, it opened slowly enough to frustrate Touko.

    "Kaho, this way!" Touko extended her arm through the doorway, calling for Kaho as she looked around. Kaho staggered toward her, shock written all over her face. Both of her hands were red and sticky with blood.

    "Are you hurt?" Touko asked.

    Kaho shook her head. "The blood's not mine. It's his. I tried to stop it..." She shook her head. 

    "There's no saving him," Benio said. She was crouched on the floor next to the doctor. "I think he died instantly." 

    Kaho shook her head. "Why wasn't it me? Why couldn't it have been me instead?" 

    Benio rose and took the trembling Kaho by the shoulders, trying to ground her and calm her fear. "Kaho, snap out of it! You didn't even get to say goodbye to Hotaru. Stay with us, now."

    Touko realized that she'd never heard the doctor's name. She didn't know the name of the woman who'd brought them breakfast, either. She thought of Enji, who'd been here on the carts with her since stopping in her village.

    More sounds of attack. Touko couldn't hear Izumo barking anymore.

    "The dragon is destroying the first cart," Touko said. "What should we do? We'll be attacked soon, too. We have to get outside..."

    But outside was the black forest, and it was just as deadly as a dragon attack.

    Benio appeared calm. She smoothed her expression with an act of will and turned away from Kaho. "What else is there to do but run?"

    Touko helped Benio lift Kaho onto Benio's shoulders piggyback-style. Touko tied a bag of supplies to Kaho's back. Together, they ran out of the infirmary and back down the hallway toward the closest exit. Pipes had burst in many places, and the walls were crumpled in. Lights flickered on and off; they passed through a few places that were barely lit at all.

    "Hey, you! What's going on?!" Shouzou yelled.

    The question made Touko and the others jump.

    "Shouzou!" Touko called out to him. "Follow us, and hurry! We're running away!"

    Shouzou was leaning on the doorframe of the engine room. He had removed his crew uniform and undershirt, leaving him naked to the waist. "You're going to run into the black forest? Are you insane? And besides, I can't leave. The captain's in bad shape and he can't move."

    Pale-faced, cheeks smudged with oil, Shouzou looked back into the engine room. Sakuroku lay under a fallen machine, pinned in place. "Sir," Shouzou said. "This is what you get for staying here and trying to save everyone..."

    Benio entered the engine room ahead of Touko, still carrying Kaho and their supplies. Shouzou stood near Sakuroku, quietly panicking.

    "Captain..." Shouzou shook his head. "What's happening? What can we do?" He sounded like he was about to burst into tears.

    Sakuroku was face-down on the floor, his legs tangled in the machine that had fallen on him. A puddle of drool leaked from the corner of his mouth and his face was bruised black-and-blue. Shouzou's crew shirt and undershirt were wrapped around his bloody legs as tourniquets, which explained where Shouzou's clothes had gone. Touko saw pale reflections of them all in the bright metal shining around them.

    Sakuroku's legs were completely crushed. He opened his bloodshot eyes and gazed up at Shouzou. He reached out and seized Shouzou by the ear. "You idiot! Don't stay here. Take the kids and get outside. Find some Fire Hunters and have them protect you! If you wait too long, you'll all combust in here!"

    Sakuroku's expression was forbidding and terrifying as he shouted instructions at Shouzou. 

    Touko caught sight of another crew member lying on the ground. She ran up to them with Kanata one step ahead of her. The woman had died with her eyes open, spine shattered by a fallen pipe. She was the woman who'd brought them breakfast and who'd given Hotaru the lily-shaped hairpin.

    "We can't just leave you here," Shouzou said to Sakuroku.

    "You must!" Sakuroku said. "Save the children and the others! You're wasting time here!" He spat as he yelled; reaching under his shirt, he thrust something hanging from his neck under Shouzou's nose. 

    Shouzou took a deep breath. He took up a knee-high tool that had fallen near him and held it like a weapon, then put his back to Sakuroku. He spared a moment for the dead woman, crouching down near her and placing his hands on her face in a gesture of mourning. 

    Then Shouzou put himself at Benio's shoulder and called out for Touko and Kanata. "Kid, come on! We're going!"

    Shouzou broke into a run, muttering "shit" and "damn it" at odd intervals. The exit door was wedged shut; the doorframe was warped from the impact of the dragon attack's aftershocks. Shouzou took Kaho off Benio's shoulders and set her sitting against the wall, and Benio moved to help him. Their hands closed over the wheel that would open the door and pulled.

    They pulled and pulled until they were red in the face, and the door opened just a tiny sliver at a time. "It's big enough for you to get out," Shouzou said, gasping, to Touko. "Go."

    After Touko stumbled through with Kanata at her heels, Shouzou followed, trailed by Benio carrying Kaho. She set Kaho down on the ground as they looked around.

    "The dragon..." Kaho gasped, staring up at the enormous white-scaled monster. The dragon was even whiter than Hotaru's wedding dress. It stood near the large black body of the first black cart as if it had been glued there and rammed into the cart's side over and over again with its head and tail. The dragon didn't seem to care about injury: scales flew off and fell to earth. The butterfly tail-like extensions that framed both sides of the dragon's face were torn to shreds, but still the dragon kept up its relentless assault.

    "That dragon... protects my home village," Kaho said. 

    "That's a guardian god?" Benio asked. The dragon certainly wasn't acting like any guardian god that she or any of the others had heard of before.

    Scales fell like rain around them, glittering and shining.

    Benio tried to lift Kaho up again, but she was shaking so violently that she couldn't quite get a grip. 

    Shouzou lifted Kaho onto his shoulders instead. "We have to get out of here," he said. "If our Fire Hunter's still alive, he's near the first cart. We have to get over there if we want to stand a chance."

    Everything was chaos. Touko didn't believe that they stood any chance of survival--there was a giant, crazy dragon attacking out of nowhere! Kaho said it was her guardian god, but why would any guardian god do something like this? Had something happened to Kaho's village?

    "Mr. Enji and the others will die!" Touko called out, clutching Shouzou around the waist to slow him down. Shouzou barely slowed despite her pulling him back.

    "The captain told me to protect you all," Shouzou said. "You're my responsibility! Get moving!"

    There was a subtle change in the atmosphere that everyone felt. The dragon's red eyes fixed on them, staring.

    "Run!" 

    Shouzou broke into a sprint. Kanata nudged Touko's leg with his nose. Touko tried to move, but her legs got tangled up and she fell. She forced herself up because she had to and ran because there was no other choice.

    Screams echoed behind Touko as she ran. The dragon's birdlike front legs trampled over Benio the way they might flatten a bamboo thicket. Benio's body was crushed in an instant, her eyes frozen open. Blood dripped from her nose and mouth.

    "You bastard!" Shouzou gave Kaho over to Touko's care and turned to face the dragon, wielding the metal tool he'd taken from the engine room as a weapon. 

    Touko wasn't strong enough to support Kaho on her own and keep running. She shook all over, trying to understand what was happening, but her mind couldn't catch up to her body. Benio's crushed corpse remained where it was, unmoving.

    The dragon's white face was free of scales and appeared semitransparent; it had lost many scales from its head during its one-sided battle with the first black cart. Shouzou threw his iron tool, smacking the dragon in the face with it. The dragon's head was as long as he was tall.

    Kanata sank back into his heels, bared his fangs and growled low in his throat.

    "Kid, give me your weapon!" Shouzou said to Touko. He turned around to face her.

    The dragon loomed over them, casting a giant shadow. Benio remained where she was.

    Touko thought she was hallucinating when a golden sickle flashed in front of her like a light in the dark. A harvest sickle in the shape of a crescent moon.

    Touko remembered another sickle, another time, and felt her hands unwrapping the Fire Hunter's sickle from the blessed paper that her village had wrapped it in. The paper was stained with dirt and blood--blood from people who'd died trying to save Touko.

    The dragon opened its jaws wide, preparing to attack Shouzou from above, or maybe planning to strike out at the entire area indiscriminately. As it descended, the golden blade of the sickle pierced the dragon's chest, between the front legs.

    Touko traced the handle of the sickle with her eyes, her hand shaking. She had no idea why this was happening. Why had this dragon--a guardian god--attacked this cart, crushed Benio, and killed and hurt who knew how many others?

    Touko wasn't very strong, but the weapon was: it arced through the dragon's chest as easily as if it were slicing through paper. She didn't cry out as she struck the dragon. Blood dripped from the wound, but vaporized when it contacted the air, changing to so much soot and ash before blowing away on the wind.

    The fallen white scales on the ground withered and shrunk. The dragon's color faded, becoming a dull brown, as the light left its eyes. It was dying, unmoving, before it could land another attack on anyone in the second black cart.

    Shouzou had fallen flat on his back and was gasping, wordless, in shock. The sickle was still in Touko's hand. The wail that echoed through the black forest was like the howl of a wild animal--or a baby's cry.

 

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