Short Stories from the Fire Hunter Universe
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The call of a strange night bird hung in the air.
Elm took a deep breath of forest air and relaxed, her limbs softening like damp earth. There was a Fire Fiend wandering nearby, but Elm did not fear an attack. The bitter scent Elm excreted from her sweat glands kept Fire Fiends away.
Climbing trees and spending nights in this place had become something of a habit for Elm. The forest canopy obscured the sky, but Elm could see it if she climbed high enough. She liked looking at the moon. Its shape was rarely completely visible. Usually she only saw dappled moonlight on the ground. Her mother, Oak, had taught her about the cycles of the moon. She had said, “Watch the movements of the moon and stars carefully. If you notice any star moving differently, tell me right away. But don’t stray too far from our home. You always wander too far from the living trees.”
Elm’s companions avoided leaving home unless absolutely necessary. They only walked through the woods when catching insects for food or gathering wood to make clothes and tools. Elm went out to gather feathers or to respond to human requests for aid, though the latter were rare. Elm enjoyed wandering the forest at night and liked gazing at the moon, but most Tree People were not like her.
A moth fluttered past Elm’s nose. She reached out and caught the moth between her palms. She ate it before it could put up a fight. She stood up on her branch and looked around. The usually calm air of the forest felt tense tonight. Fire Fiends were coming closer. They only gathered in groups when they scented an enemy. Elm did not sense the presence of humans or dogs, so she didn’t think that any Fire Hunters were nearby.
Elm pressed her ear to the trunk of the tree she’d climbed. She took deep breaths and tried to sense more of what was happening in the forest. She climbed smoothly down the tree and crouched, walking through the forest without making a sound. She had nothing to fear from Fire Fiends.
As Elm walked toward the disturbance she’d sensed, Fire Fiends followed her with hostility burning in their eyes. The moth was consumed already: there was nothing left of it. Elm saw a girl crouched down like she was, hiding in the shadow of the trees.
“Are you okay?” Elm asked the girl.
The girl’s hair was cut unevenly. She was dirty and alone. Her hands and clothes were stained with blood. She was hurt—Elm saw a shoulder wound that was still bleeding.
The smell of blood always drew Fire Fiends.
It was unclear where the girl had come from, but she was in no condition to move. Her eyes were unfocused and she was breathing very hard.
Elm considered the situation. She was not strong enough to carry the girl back to the Tree People village on her own. She decided to mark the area with her scent and go for help. She was about to run off and find her companions when she noticed the Fire Hunter’s sickle clasped in the girl’s hands.
***
Akira knew that she was going to die. Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her ears. Her mind was numb to terror. She had run and kept running until her legs had given out. Her shoulder would not stop bleeding. She remembered tripping and falling and blacking out. She had no idea where she was.
Before she passed out again, she saw a face above hers, hazy and indistinct.
When Akira regained consciousness, it was quiet. Her shoulder had been wrapped in bandages. She was still in the Black Forest. Someone had helped her, but that didn’t mean she was safe.
Akira had no safe place to go anymore. She opened her eyes to darkness. Her whole body felt heavy. She remembered being stabbed, maybe by a human but probably by a Guardian God. She’d been fleeing from the city through a tunnel at the time. She hadn’t defended herself because she hadn’t expected the attack.
“Ah. You’re awake.”
Several pairs of green eyes peered at Akira. A small child had spoken to her. Akira grimaced from the stench in the air. Tree People never smelled pleasant. It was a bitter smell like melted insects smeared over skin.
“My sickle,” Akira said. “Where is my sickle?” It was still hard to breathe. Her hands held nothing.
As Akira sat up, the Tree People around her recoiled. They had tattoos of plants on their cheeks, bark-like skin and dull hair. They looked like carved wooden dolls. Akira was on a mat woven from split wood. As she’d thought, she was still in the forest. She saw dark trees surrounding her on all sides.
Akira had never seen Tree People up close before. They had a good reputation for helping people and Fire Hunters, but Akira didn’t know how much she should trust rumors. As she stared at the Tree People in bewilderment, a girl who was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old stepped forward. Her long, sand-colored hair hung over her thin shoulders. She held a sheathed Fire Hunter’s sickle.
“It is here. Did you come from the capital? If you are not a Fire Hunter, then why do you have this?” the girl asked.
Akira relaxed a bit. This girl was about her age. Delicate branch-and-leaf tattoos were carved into her cheeks. Though her body was slender and fragile, her voice was strong and solemn.
“A-are you Tree People? Real ones?” Akira asked hoarsely.
The Tree People nodded together. Their vivid jade green eyes were striking in their otherwise colorless faces. Both men and women wore simple clothing, seemingly woven from tree fibers. A single green and living tree grew just behind them. It seemed to have escaped the black blight that affected most of the forest’s trees. The tree was small, but it radiated vitality.
“It is good that Elm found you,” a Tree Person said. “The scent of blood draws Fire Fiends. It is a miracle that they did not find you first.” They offered Akira a bowl filled with water.
Akira accepted her sickle from Elm and gripped it tightly. Elm stayed close to her as she drank the offered water. She didn’t blink once. Tree People didn’t blink very often. Elm’s expression was difficult to interpret. She seemed curious, childlike even, but the tattoos on her cheeks made it hard to figure out what she was thinking.
Water soothed the burning in Akira’s throat. She told the Tree People what had happened to her. Her voice was unsteady and some of her memories were confused, but she was able to tell them how she’d gotten here.
The sickle she carried had been her brother’s. Her brother’s hunting dog, Ibuki, had carried it to her after he’d gone to visit the Guardian Gods’ shrine in the capital. The dog had been badly hurt, and her brother had never returned from the shrine.
Akira’s brother had warned her that he might not return. He’d instructed her to rely on his companions and to leave the capital as soon as she could. He hadn’t seemed very serious when he’d given her those instructions. She didn’t think he’d expected to die. She could still see his face so clearly in her mind’s eye. He’d had sharp eyes: sharp as a razor. They’d never missed anything.
Before Akira could find her brother’s friends, the Guardian Gods’ spies had caught up to her. She’d fled through the tunnel and out into the Black Forest without even giving Ibuki a proper burial. Ibuki had died in her arms from a terrible head wound. Akira hadn’t even managed to confirm that her brother was dead before the spies had caught up to her.
“The Millennium Comet is coming back,” Akira said. “My brother went to tell the Guardian Gods. The Fire Hunters will hunt the Millennium Comet when it returns.”
The Tree People listened to Akira in silence.
Akira had a headache and was exhausted. She didn’t know how much longer she could endure the strain of speaking about her terrible experiences.
If the Millennium Comet is real, it’s going to change everything.
Her brother’s friends had told him to stop talking about the Millennium Comet. To stop studying it. They’d warned him that bringing his information to the Guardian Gods would only result in his death. Akira didn’t understand why her brother was dead. If he’d told the truth, there was no reason to kill him. If he’d been wrong about the Millennium Comet, correcting his misconceptions should have been enough.
Even now, Akira hoped that her brother was still alive. If she returned to the capital, she might find him.
“There might still be brave Fire Hunters in the capital who believe in the power of the Millennium Comet,” Akira said. “The Millennium Comet might be the key to preventing the end of the world. The Fire Hunter who successfully hunts it will become the King of the Fire Hunters and save everyone.”
An old Tree Person scratched at his long beard.
Akira clung to her brother’s sickle as if she were holding on for dear life. How much time had passed since she’d fled the city with nothing but the clothes on her back? There was a cold, heavy weight in the pit of her stomach that wouldn’t shift.
“Do you believe it will happen?” Akira asked the old Tree Person. “Do you think the world can change?” She grabbed her knees and buried her face in them. She’d asked her brother the same questions many times. Her brother had believed. He’d always been full of conviction and hope. The more he’d believed, the more Akira had felt like she was drifting away from him. He was her only family, and now there was a strong possibility that he was dead.
The Tree People exchanged uncomfortable glances. One sighed. The sound stretched into the silence of the Black Forest.
“Can the world change? Of course,” the old Tree Person said quietly. “Will it change? We do not know. It is not possible to know when or how changes will happen. We have seen signs of disturbance in the forest this year. Some of us have heard from the villages that the soil quality is worsening.”
Akira gasped.
“You are not a Fire Hunter, yet you came to the forest,” the Tree Person said. “What will you do now?”
Elm stood near Akira, tilting her head.
Akira had left everything behind. Ibuki’s remains, her brother, her friends, her job at a factory. She remembered now that there was still someone left for her to return to—another family member, though not related by blood. She did not know if he was safe. That Fire Hunter had warned her brother not to meddle in the Guardian Gods’ affairs.
When she was younger, before she’d gotten her factory job, Akira had worked as a laundress. Many children did that work. One night, her brother had told her that he’d found something interesting. He’d brought back a man she’d never met before a few nights later. The man was in sorry shape when she met him—gaunt, dressed in rags, and even poorer than she and her brother were. He was bearded and haggard, but there was determination in his eyes. He’d felt dangerous to Akira, sharp and threatening, though he’d never harmed her.
Over the next few months that stretched into years, Akira’s brother had taught the man how to be a Fire Hunter. The man took well to the work, and his aura gradually felt less dangerous than before. He remained determined, but the anger that had sharpened him before dulled with time. He’d treated Akira as his own younger sister, even making her endure the indignity of head pats. He was from the Islands. No matter how long he stayed in the capital, he always smelled of the sea. He’d been thinking about leaving the capital to be a wandering Fire Hunter the last time she’d spoken to him.
Being a wandering Fire Hunter was risky because wandering Fire Hunters didn’t receive support or resources from the Guardian Gods. But Akira had never liked or trusted the Guardian Gods, so the idea of being a wandering Fire Hunter appealed to her.
“I’ll… I’ll find a wandering Fire Hunter,” Akira said.
Elm’s eyes widened like a fearful wild bird’s.
“In the Black Forest, there are unregistered Fire Hunters. They aren’t beholden to the whims of the Guardian Gods in the capital. I’ll pass my brother’s sickle to one of them and tell them what my brother tried to do.”
“And after that? Will you seek help from a village?”
Akira didn’t answer that question. She was grateful that her parents were already dead, if only because that meant she didn’t need to grieve yet another loss. She barely even remembered them, but she thought they would be sad to see both of their children die young.
The Tree People remained by Akira, silent and motionless. Elm looked to her companions, who nodded.
“I know where the wandering Fire Hunters pass through the forest,” Elm said. “I am familiar with their ways. From here, it will take seven days to reach the place where the wanderers should be at this time of year. You are not a Fire Hunter and would not survive such a journey alone, so I will go with you.” She stared intently at Akira. There were powers within her that no human possessed.
***
“You really are a tree that doesn’t put down roots,” Oak complained as she and her daughter prepared food that could be eaten with the humans. She smiled, exasperated but not surprised.
They were making dumplings out of nuts, tree bark and seeds. Akira, the human girl that Elm had found, could not eat the Black Forest’s insects like Tree People could. Akira was also badly injured, so she needed a lot of food to recover.
Akira was determined to move, so they could not take the time to wait until her wounds were healed.
“I’m curious about what will happen to Akira,” Elm said. She tied up the dumplings in bundles with cords woven from plant fibers.
Oak’s smile deepened. “You are always curious. That is why you watch the moon. Most Tree People are not like you.” She laughed quietly. “Watch over her carefully. She is like the waning crescent moon.” She made one last dumpling and set it to the side to be packed.
Elm left with Akira. She was not sure if she would ever see her home again. The path to the wandering Fire Hunters was beyond the influence of the living trees of her settlement. Navigating would be difficult, but Elm didn’t mind. She wasn’t afraid, and she wouldn’t have decided to do anything differently.
Tree People didn’t live among humans or the Guardian Gods. The Black Forest was a dangerous place for most, but the Tree People called it home. There had been no change to their lives in the forest for many generations. Elm wanted to see change, even if that meant pulling up her own roots. Her mother found this tendency in her amusing and had accepted Elm as she was. Change was not worthy of much note among most of the Tree People. Children were born, they grew up, and they died; no sign was left of them after this. They were like the trees in that they did not mourn the dead or celebrate births. It was impossible to survive in the forest with strong emotions, which could lead people astray.
Akira bowed to Elm when it was time for them to depart. Her clothes had been mended by one of Elm’s companions. Elm sensed a strange emotion that might be shame or sorrow from the human girl as they left the settlement.
Tree People made room for Elm and Akira.
“Now that we have left your dwelling, do not stray too far from me,” I said.
Akira nodded quickly.
Elm’s gaze was drawn to the sickle that Akira gripped in both hands. The sickle’s shape was like the moon that Elm longed to see. It was the perfect shape, and there it was in Akira’s hands.
“What will you do after you give the sickle to a wandering Fire Hunter?” Elm asked. “Will you take refuge in a village?”
Akira couldn’t return to the capital. She would probably have to live in the villages from now on. Akira stared at her brother’s sickle, frowning. Her red hair was brilliant even in the dimness of the Black Forest. Elm knew that natural fire was red. She wondered if fire was like Akira’s hair.
“I want to make sure what my brother did means something,” Akira said. “Fire Hunters can help people.” The words sounded painful to say.
Elm was still curious about where Akira’s path would lead. Human emotions seemed terribly inconvenient. The best thing to do, Elm thought, was to reach the wandering Fire Hunters as quickly as possible.
“Be careful.” Oak, Elm’s mother, had come out of their dwelling to say farewell. She passed Elm another bundle full of food.
Elm wrapped her arms around her mother’s back. “I’m off, mother,” she said.
“Yes,” Oak said. “It is time for you to go.”
Elm tied the bundle of food to her back and then gripped her walking staff. The staff was taller than she was.
Akira looked pale, but she nodded at Elm. She carried her brother’s sickle close to her body and followed Elm into the trees. Her steps faltered occasionally. She bowed her head to Elm and other Tree People she passed and offered her thanks.
***
Elm adjusted her grip on her walking staff. She had never carried it so long before, and she wasn’t used to thinking of it as a weapon. It was very heavy. Elm had only ever used it for climbing before this.
Akira had good stamina for a human. She kept pace for many hours. Her hair fluttered in the breeze behind her.
Elm kept sneaking glances at Akira.
“Thank you for saving me,” Akira said. She was slightly out of breath. “I’m sorry for getting you involved in my problems.”
“It is the duty of Tree People to assist humans,” Elm said. “That is why we are here in the forest.” She sensed no Fire Fiends nearby. It was best not to make too much noise anywhere in the forest, but talking for a little while should be all right.
“In the capital, can you see the moon or stars?” Elm asked.
“Huh?” Akira seemed confused. “Can you see them in the forest?”
“Rarely,” Elm said. “We do not see the sunlight.”
“Ever?” Akira asked. “Is it day or night now?”
“Day. At night, it is much darker.”
Akira frowned.
They took frequent breaks during the day. They took a longer rest at night and were on their way again well before sunrise.
Elm felt colder the farther she went from her settlement’s living tree. Her body felt lighter, though, which helped her manage the walking staff with more grace. Akira kept up her strength by eating the dumplings that Oak had packed for them. The constant walking made her lose a bit of weight. Her stress about the future likely contributed to that at least as much as their tireless journey.
Elm ate beetles that she found under the bark of infested trees. They liked to lay their eggs in dead wood. She was not used to eating so little, so her skin roughened. She didn’t lose weight like Akira.
As Elm had predicted, they reached their destination on the seventh day of travel.
“Is this the place?” Akira asked in a low voice.
They had entered a clearing. There were no trees growing in it, but the forest floor was littered with fallen leaves like a carpet. Places like this were rare in the Black Forest. Tall trees to either side of the clearing blocked out the sun from above, but the clearing was much brighter than the path they’d taken to get here.
Elm knelt down and pressed her ear to the ground. “If we wait here for half a day, a wandering Fire Hunter will pass by,” Elm said. She told Akira to climb a tree and then set down her heavy walking staff. She sat down on the same tree branch as Akira.
***
Akira focused on hunger because it was easier than grieving. Her guide sat next to her in the tree, calm as always. This tree was uncomfortable. The bark was wet and sticky to touch. She’d gotten used to the stench that the Tree People carried everywhere and she was acclimating to the forest’s scent of decay. She was not used to how much she reeked without bathing for days. Elm never complained, but she really wanted a bath.
She wished that her brother’s friend was with her now. Maybe he would learn what had happened to her in the capital and follow her. He’d said himself that he wouldn’t mind becoming a wandering Fire Hunter. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. Her lips were so chapped that she drew blood.
It was foolish to hope for the impossible. Her brother and his dog were dead, and she alone had escaped. She’d only made it this far with the Tree People’s help. After she gave her brother’s sickle to a wandering Fire Hunter, she would be on her own.
And what then? The Guardian Gods might be after her. She would have to disappear. She couldn’t let the Guardian Gods find out that Elm and other Tree People had helped her. She didn’t want any harm to come to them.
Akira had never considered the ephemeral nature of life. She was young; she’d always thought that she had plenty of time. She looked up at the dead black trees and felt the pressing weight of mortality on her. She’d never thought that the forest was so huge. The capital was a big place, but the Black Forest was overwhelming. There seemed to be no end to it. The city where she’d lived most of her life was just a tiny corner of the world. She wished that her brother and Ibuki were here with her. Her brother could have left the capital and the Guardian Gods behind to help others as a wandering Fire Hunter.
Why had her brother wanted to change the world so badly? Why did he have to die? Akira still wasn’t completely certain that he was dead, but he would never have allowed Ibuki to be hurt like that while he still lived. He would have followed her or sent word if he were able to by now.
Her brother being dead felt wrong, but feelings weren’t facts. I don’t understand. He always said I was dumb.
Akira wondered what was happening in the capital right now. Her brother’s friends might be targeted by the Guardian Gods. Were her own friends all right? The girls she used to work with in the factory already had dangerous jobs. Something terrible could have happened to them.
No matter how hard she strained her eyes, Akira couldn’t see beyond the screen of decaying leaves far above. She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes before they could fall. Life in the capital was just as precarious as it was in this terrible forest, but she’d never known that before. Her brother must have known it. That was why he’d been willing to throw his life away to change the world.
Akira still couldn’t accept that her brother was dead. She curled around herself on the sticky tree branch and stared at the ground.
***
Elm and Akira had not been attacked by Fire Fiends even once during their long trek. That was about to change. They were being followed. Elm had sensed the creature for some time. It was waiting for them to weaken so that it could pounce on Akira. This far from a living tree, Elm was vulnerable.
What was worse, more Fire Fiends had picked up on their scent recently. There were several heading this way. Elm would have to keep Akira safe until the wandering Fire Hunters finally arrived.
Akira and Elm sat in the tree, hardly daring to breathe. Akira was shivering, but Elm could do nothing about the cold. All she could do was watch and wait.
We’ll be fine, Elm thought. They had made it this far. She wouldn’t die until she gave Akira over into the care of the wandering Fire Hunters.
Time passed slowly.
“I have heard that the first Tree People ever created are in your capital city,” Elm said. A bug flew in front of her, but she didn’t catch it.
“I don’t know,” Akira said. “I’ve never seen a Tree Person in the city. Maybe they’re in the quarantine zone.”
“I have heard that they live in a garden,” Elm said. “A beautiful place where living trees grow and water flows.”
Akira seemed unaware of all of this. She appeared troubled, so Elm decided to ask her about other humans instead.
“Do you have any companions? Human companions?”
Akira nodded. “A man who came from the Islands. I don’t know if he’s safe or not. I also have a friend in the capital. She lives in the slums. My parents are dead, but my brother earned plenty for us when he was alive. I gave what I made from my factory job to my friend because she was poor. She never wanted to accept the money, but she did in the end. I didn’t want her to have to steal or do unsavory work.”
Elm thought about all of this. “But you don’t intend to return to the capital, do you?” She felt like she’d asked that question before, but she didn’t remember. Her head was spinning. “You will go much farther from now on. Farther than I can guide you.” She thought about all the places Akira would go. She wished that she could go with her.
“Elm? Are you okay?” Akira asked. She shook Elm’s shoulder. “Are you hurt? Did I eat too much of your food?”
“No,” Elm said, smiling. “Tree People don’t eat what humans eat. I am okay. We are far from a living tree, that’s all. There’s no need to worry.”
Akira leaned forward and grabbed Elm’s arm. The branch they were on shook, but Akira didn’t care.
“We have to go back. The living tree—is that the small tree that grew where your friends were? Do you get sick being away from that tree? We should go back to where your friends are.”
Akira lifted Elm up. Elm needed Akira to help support her; she could no longer stand on her own. Elm put a finger to her lips and then said, “Don’t. We can’t go down. There are Fire Fiends watching us. I asked for this. You don’t know anything about the Tree People in the capital, do you?”
Akira’s face was right in front of her. She looked like she was undertaking a great and terrible challenge. “No.”
“I’ve heard that they were just humans. The Guardian Gods changed them so that they could set up the barriers around the villages and live in the Black Forest. Tree People were made to help humans. Guardian Gods don’t like going into the forest. I do not think I am a proper, normal Tree Person. I wanted to see beyond the forest. That’s why I guided you.”
“What do you mean?” Akira asked. She wrapped her arm around Elm’s shoulders to steady her. She tried to climb down the tree with Elm, but that was impossible for both of them. They fell more than climbed down, and then Akira started dragging Elm back in the direction they’d come from.
“You’ll die! We have to go back. Why didn’t you say anything? I’ve had enough of people dying.”
“We can’t go back,” Elm said. She wasn’t able to resist Akira’s strength. “There are Fire Fiends following us. They’ll attack.” She clicked her tongue and made a high-pitched sound: a signal to wandering Fire Hunters, specifically their dogs. Hopefully they were close enough to save Akira. “I want to go home. Not to my settlement. I always wanted to try being human.”
Akira slipped and fell on the slimy ground. Elm fell with her. Akira almost dropped her sickle. Elm pulled herself free and stretched out on her back, looking up at the tree canopy. The sky was beyond the trees, unseen for much of her life.
“If I were human I would see the sky,” Elm said. “And the light of the stars and the moon. Tree People don’t usually see the sky. That’s why I came with you. You’re human. I wanted to see what you saw, and what you would do.”
Akira groaned and pressed her forehead against the rotting earth. “If you die, you’ll never see any of it,” she said.
Elm heard Fire Fiends approaching. There were footsteps and then a rustling, and then the Fire Fiends were there. Three of them that Elm could see. Black fur, red-burning eyes. They were fox-shaped and drooling, their mouths twisted into savage shapes.
Akira froze in terror. Even if she ran and left Elm behind, it wouldn’t matter. The Fire Fiends would catch her.
Elm pressed her palm flat to the ground and extended her senses. Dogs were running toward them. They’d heard her signal.
The Fire Fiends attacked Akira ferociously. Before they landed, a huge dog skidded between them and Akira and disemboweled one Fire Fiend with sharp fangs. It shook off the immobilized Fire Fiend and barked at the remaining two. The dog was the largest beast Elm had ever seen. It had a short coat and drooping ears.
The dog picked up one of the Fire Fiends by the neck and shook it until its spine snapped. The last Fire Fiend tried attacking the dog from the side and was neatly beheaded by a Fire Hunter’s sickle. The Fire Fiend’s neck was severed from throat to gut. Fire fuel glowed gold as it gushed from the Fire Fiends’ wounds.
As quickly as the battle had started, it was over.
Elm had no more strength left. She let herself rest.
“Todoro, stand back,” a Fire Hunter said.
The large dog returned to his Fire Hunter. He wore straw sandals and standard armor. He looked Akira up and down. “Are you from the capital? I’ve never seen a woman Fire Hunter before.”
Akira’s shoulders tensed. She was as nervous as a cornered animal.
***
All of the Fire Fiends that had attacked them were dead. Akira picked up Elm. She felt herself blushing and turned away from their rescuer.
The Fire Hunter grabbed her shoulder. He had a short beard and piercing eyes. “Who are you? Why did you have the Tree People guide you here? Why are you carrying a sickle? There’s a lot here that doesn’t make sense to me.”
“She’s sick,” Akira said. “I have to get her back to her settlement. She’s too far away from a living tree. She never complained, so I didn’t notice until she collapsed.” She sounded like she was about to cry. She wasn’t used to sounding that way—to being desperate. She had to pull herself together. Elm needed her.
“You won’t make it back there on foot in time,” he said. “We’ll take a cart.” He picked Elm up like she weighed nothing. His dog nudged Akira with his nose. Akira missed Ibuki terribly in that moment. It had been a long time since she’d seen a dog. Now that the dog wasn’t working, he proved to be quite friendly.
Akira expected to be led to a black cart, but this Fire Hunter wasn’t making a tour of the villages. His vehicle was small and mostly made of wood. It was pulled by a beast of burden who was grazing on grass as Akira and the Fire Hunter came closer.
The Fire Hunter’s cart had an open-air steering area and a covered wagon attached to that. The Fire Hunter set Elm down in the covered wagon. He gestured for Akira to hop on.
Akira did, and then she saw the beast pulling the cart up close. It was a Fire Fiend! A deer-shaped Fire Fiend. But it wasn’t attacking. It was harnessed to the wooden cart, antlers branching out of its forehead. Reins connected to the harness were staked to the ground.
“Are you hungry? There’s food and water,” the Fire Hunter said.
Akira knelt down next to Elm. The dog joined her shortly after. There wasn’t much room left in the covered wagon with all three of them in it.
“The dog’s name is Todoro,” the Fire Hunter said. “Why are you wandering around in the forest with a weapon like that?” He removed the stake from the reins, and then the cart started moving. His black eyes were bright with curiosity. His beard made it hard to guess his age, but Akira guessed that he was an older man, perhaps forty or forty-five.
The Fire Hunter introduced himself as Keigo.
Akira clasped Elm’s cold hand in hers and closed her eyes. She told Keigo about her brother, the Millennium Comet and the King of the Fire Hunters.
“The Millennium Comet, huh?” Keigo asked. “I heard a warning about it from some Tree People once.”
The Fire Fiend pulling the cart didn’t look back at them even once as they traveled, but it reacted to the reins. The Fire Hunter navigated through the forest, finding narrow paths and rough roads. The cart was damaged in several places and the damage worsened as they traversed the rough ground. Sometimes the cart shook violently. Akira did her best to keep Elm from being jostled too badly.
Todoro lay down heavily and cradled Elm to him, resting her head on his belly.
“Thank you,” Akira said to the dog. She patted him on the head. He looked completely different from Ibuki, but he smelled a lot the same. Akira felt tears gathering in her eyes.
“Do you think your brother is dead?” Keigo asked.
Akira shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. But he said that if he didn’t come back, I should run. I’ll do what my brother told me. And I’ll give his sickle to a wandering Fire Hunter. I’ll tell Fire Hunters far from the capital what my brother tried to tell the Guardian Gods.”
Keigo laughed. “You’re a brave girl. What will you do after that?”
Akira bit her lip and didn’t answer.
“Why do you have to give your brother’s sickle to a wandering Fire Hunter?” Keigo asked. “Why not use it yourself?”
“Huh?” Akira asked.
Keigo laughed louder than before. His cloak blew over his shoulders as the wind picked up. “Just kidding. It’s impressive that you survived in the forest this long, but women can’t be Fire Hunters. There’s a drifter I know named Kiiichi. He’s young, but he’s a good Fire Hunter. He hunts in a group so that they stay safe. If you give your brother’s sickle to him, he’ll put it to good use.”
Akira squeezed Elm’s hand. It was so thin. She looked to Todoro, whose warmth was welcome against the coming chill of the night. Todoro’s eyes were full of wisdom and suffering. He licked his jowls, which still held traces of Fire Fiend blood.
Between heartbeats, Akira fell asleep. When she awoke, she was stiff and sore all over. She took a painful moment to stretch and then checked on Elm. She felt vaguely nauseous. The wagon was shaking again.
“Elm?”
She’d let go of Elm’s hand while she slept. She hurriedly grabbed Elm’s hand again now. It was like ice. She didn’t appear to be breathing. Akira called her name and slapped her cheek lightly, but she was unresponsive.
“Elm!” Akira called out. “We’re almost to the place where I met you and your friends. Hang on!”
“Don’t yell,” Keigo said. “Fire Fiends will hear you, and this is a bad place to fight them.”
His voice sent a chill up Akira’s spine.
“Where are you taking us?” she asked. “I told you that she needed to get back to her settlement.” She staggered to her feet and approached Keigo. Before she faced him, he spun on her and elbowed her in the gut.
Akira fell backward with a grunt and dry-heaved from an empty stomach.
Keigo glared at her sternly. “Do you think all us wandering Fire Hunters are soft-hearted tree huggers or something?” he asked. “I have no reason to go to a Tree People settlement, so I’m not going. The Guardian Gods watch over those. You’re being chased by them. They might already know where you are. I’m not going back there to be caught and killed like a stray dog.”
“Then let us off right now,” Akira said. The words came out as a wheeze. She was in so much pain that she could barely speak.
Todoro lay motionless in the cart, radiating heat.
“Even the corpse of a Tree Person will keep Fire Fiends away,” Keigo said. “Todoro is getting old. I don’t want to tangle with anything too big. You and that sickle of yours will fetch a good price when we meet up with the other wandering Fire Hunters.”
Every breath was painful, but Akira forced herself to do it. She grabbed her brother’s sickle and unsheathed it.
“Hey. If you don’t want to die here, don’t do anything stupid.”
It was a threat. Akira didn’t care. She swung her brother’s sickle wildly with all her strength. There was no time for hesitation or fear.
Akira’s slice cut open the tarp that covered the wagon. Todoro let out a sharp bark. Akira tossed Elm and the sheath outside the cart and then jumped. Sticks snapped under her feet. Elm wasn’t moving at all. Akira got up and lifted Elm along with her sickle and sheath.
Todoro barked again. He’d leaped out of the cart after her. She couldn’t tell if he’d followed her to help her or to prevent her from escaping.
Before Akira could figure that out, Keigo appeared in front of her. He shoved her down roughly.
“Hey, hey, what are you going to do about this? The cart is in a terrible state.”
Night had fallen, so Akira couldn’t see Keigo’s face. She could barely see the trees all around them. Some of the trees looked like they had faces. Dead faces.
Elm remained unresponsive. Akira had to believe that there was still some way to save her. If they found a living tree, maybe she would recover. Other Tree People might be able to help her.
Lost, confused, and hurt, Akira screamed. Everything she’d done up until now was pointless. Her brother’s sacrifice, and Ibuki’s, meant nothing. Elm’s life meant nothing to Keigo.
Keigo kicked Akira in the cheek. She stopped screaming and collapsed onto her back. The sticky earth clung to her clothes and hair.
“Be quiet,” Keigo said. “I’m taking you to a safer place. One where there’s a good chance that you’ll survive. Or would you prefer to die here?” He stood with Akira’s body between his legs, towering over her and looking down. His Fire Hunter sickle hung at his hip. He carried a short-bladed dagger in one hand.
Akira gaped at the shining dagger in stunned silence. Before she could scream again, she saw something else in the darkness.
They’d been going uphill when she’d leaped from the cart. At the top of the hill was a rocky outcropping, and on that outcropping there was a Fire Fiend. Its two red and glowing eyes met Akira’s.
Todoro barked a warning. The Fire Fiend roared, its huge mouth splitting its face open like a raw wound. It leaped at Keigo.
Keigo twisted his body to dodge. The Fire Fiend was a mutated mountain lion, a large and agile predator. He didn’t have his sickle drawn; the dagger was more of a hindrance than a help against a Fire Fiend. Todoro moved to attack the Fire Fiend, but the dog was too slow.
Keigo scrambled backwards as Todoro nipped at the Fire Fiend’s heels and then leaped on its back. The dog and the Fire Fiend tussled on the ground for a few moments, baring their fangs and attacking with their claws.
Akira struggled to her feet. Blood spattered in all directions as the dog and the Fire Fiend fought. She had left the cart with her brother’s sickle, but she couldn’t find it now.
The sickle was forged by one of the Guardian Gods. She sacrificed herself, burning her own body to give the sickles the edge they need to kill Fire Fiends, Akira thought.
Elm was dead. She hadn’t moved and she wasn’t breathing at all. Akira couldn’t save her now. Elm’s face was serene in death. At least she hadn’t been afraid.
Todoro yelped as the Fire Fiend took a bite out of his flank. Keigo faced the monster, who tackled him and tore his face off. Todoro whined and whimpered. Now that his master was dead, he would be next.
Akira ran. She saw her brother’s sickle gleaming in the half-darkness and skidded to a halt, bending down to pick up the weapon. She didn’t know how to use it, but if she did nothing the dog would be killed, and then her. She swung the sickle through the air, and it landed in the Fire Fiend’s neck. Sparks flew from the blade as the crescent of the sickle connected with the Fire Fiend’s flesh and tore through it. Fire fuel spilled onto the forest floor.
The shining fire fuel was beautiful in its way. The sickle was like a waning crescent moon surrounded by bright droplets of fire fuel like stars. Akira wished that she could have shown this to Elm.
The Fire Fiend collapsed to the ground with a grunt. It didn’t move.
The silence of the forest was profound after that. Akira and Todoro caught their breath. Keigo lay a little bit away from them both, torn to pieces by the Fire Fiend. His neck twisted at an unnatural angle. His hand still gripped his dagger. His sickle remained sheathed.
Todoro sniffed at his master’s corpse and then sat down beside it.
Akira did not let go of her brother’s sickle. “Sorry,” she said. “I let your master die.”
Todoro didn’t seem to hear her. He bowed his head and sniffed his dead master again. Akira almost reached for the dog, but she pulled her hand back before she touched him.
“We have to run. If we stay here, you’ll be caught too,” Akira said. Her words were swallowed up by the darkness of the night. Three corpses were strewn around her and the dog on the forest floor. The scene looked haphazard, like some kind of mistake. The forest accepted the bodies without complaint or change. Only the fire fuel leaking from the Fire Fiend made light in the dark.
The cart rattled as the deer-shaped Fire Fiend tried to break free. It arched its legs and ran until the cart got stuck between large stones. The Fire Fiend then yanked itself free of the ruined cart and ran off.
Akira felt like the forest had its eyes on her and the dead. She should bury the corpses. If she didn’t, other Fire Fiends would ravage them. She didn’t want to abandon Elm as she’d abandoned Ibuki. Even the Fire Hunter deserved a burial. He hadn’t been a good man, but Fire Hunters saved many people by fighting Fire Fiends. He didn’t deserve to be devoured by monsters.
Todoro guarded his master’s corpse and would not let Akira go near it. The dog barked at her angrily and looked up at her with his pale eyes.
Akira dropped to her knees. “Todoro, you can’t stay here. You’ll die.”
Fire Fiends would be drawn to the scent of blood. Todoro didn’t seem to care. He lay down next to his dead master and whined.
Akira touched Elm’s face. Her skin was cold and hard like stone. The shadows of her tattoos made her face appear softer and younger. Her long, wavy hair was gnarling into the shape of roots. It was like her body was trying to merge with the forest ground.
“Elm, I’m so sorry. Please protect this dog with your scent for as long as you can.”
She found the sheath of her brother’s weapon and used it. The sickle hung from her waist. She started walking even though she had no idea where she was. She looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of clear sky. The tree canopy blocked sunlight and moonlight.
Akira kept walking as the light from above dimmed. She imagined Elm watching the sunset, which she’d never seen. She imagined the moon rising and the stars coming out.
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