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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