Yatagarasu Series
Volume 3:
The Golden Raven
Author: Chisato Abe
Part 1: Taruhi
“Yukiya, it’s time for you to get up,” Azusa said. She tapped Yukiya gently on the shoulder.
Yukiya opened his eyes slowly.
Azusa smiled at him.
“Good morning,” Yukiya mumbled. He rubbed his bleary eyes.
“Yes, good morning,” Azusa said, sounding a bit exasperated. “This is the second time I’ve said good morning to you today. It’s almost lunchtime, you know.”
Yukiya stared blankly.
He wasn’t in his own bed. He lay beside the hearth, which wasn’t even lit. A pleasant breeze drifted in through the open door. The polished wooden floor reflected the vivid greenery of the garden outside. His rambunctious older and younger brothers were nowhere to be seen. He heard nothing but the chirping of birds.
“Where are Yukima and Yukichi?” he asked.
“They went downstairs a long time ago,” his mother replied.
“Hmm? Why? Is there something happening today?”
“We promised to help with pickling plums, remember?” Azusa frowned, concerned. Yukiya didn’t usually sleep in, and when he woke up, he was usually more alert. “Are you sick?” she asked. She reached out to touch his forehead.
Yukiya sat up hurriedly. “I’m fine,” he said. “Sorry. Just a little out of it.” He slipped on his straw sandals and then headed for a pond fed by a natural underground spring. He washed his hands and face in cool water flowing from the end of a bamboo pipe. He leaned over briefly to check his reflection in the water.
His brown hair was a mess; tying it back hadn’t made it any tidier. Oversleep made his eyelids puffy. He wasn’t a handsome boy by any standard; bedhead made his looks so much worse. He forced his unruly hair down and re-tied it. Then he slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. After that, he looked toward at the house’s back door and called out to Azusa, who was talking to someone inside.
“Mother, I’m heading out now.”
“Take care. I’ll bring some refreshments later, so please give my regards to everyone.”
“Thank you! I will.” Yukiya returned to his room briefly to change. He set his kimono on the floor, then tensed the muscles in his arms. A thin aura like morning mist wrapped around him. A moment later, he was dressed in his black feather robe. He jumped and stretched to make sure the robe fit properly, and then left the house at a run.
The entrance to the large house where Yukiya lived with his family had a large stone courtyard in front of it so that carriages and horses could land to deliver goods and messages. Beyond the courtyard was a high cliff that rose like an accusing finger toward the sky. This cliff was a favorite playground for Taruhi Village’s children.
Yukiya’s run became a sprint as he neared the edge of the cliff. He leaped off the cliff in human form, flailed his arms in midair, and then transformed into his raven shape. The feather robe became part of his feathers as his skeleton stretched and reshaped itself.
Now a large three-legged raven, Yukiya spread his wings and glided over peaceful rice fields. It was planting season, so the rice paddies were full of water. The water rippled gently in the breeze.
His father, the governor of Taruhi Province, worked in a mountain fortress while he managed local government affairs. A smaller residence nearby served as his home and as an administrative office. Other local officials lived in the village itself. Practical, thick-walled houses dotted the rice fields. Daily life moved at a slow pace here.
Beyond the rice paddies were the plum tree groves. Yukiya caught sight of a small group carrying baskets on their backs. They waved at him.
“Yukiya! You’re late!”
Oh, no, Yukiya thought.
“We already picked all the plums!”
Yukiya landed lightly in front of the group, returning to human form just above the ground.
“I’m sorry! I think I fell back asleep. I didn’t mean to,” Yukiya said.
“You haven’t changed a bit,” a woman said with a laugh.
Most of the plum pickers were women—wives, mothers, and daughters of local officials. They usually spent their days tending to the provincial governor’s rice fields or taking care of the village’s needs.
Yukiya was the second son of Taruhi’s provincial governor. Technically, Yukiya outranked all of these women, but in practice rank didn’t really matter. Whenever help was needed, he was called upon to assist. He was never granted special privilege because of his rank. That was how Yukiya preferred it. These people were like family to him.
“I thought you’d be a bit more responsible after returning from your service at the capital,” a different woman teased.
“A single year away didn’t change you at all,” another added.
“That’s fine! Taking it easy is what makes you a good young master,” someone else said. “There’s no need to force yourself to change.”
Yukiya frowned a little. “I really am sorry. Now that I’m here, I’ll work twice as hard to make up for being late.”
“We’ll hold you to that!”
The women’s laughter brightened Yukiya’s mood considerably.
“Yukiya!” Yukiya’s older brother, Yukima, shouted in a voice like thunder. He was only sixteen, a year older than Yukiya, but he was more than a head taller. His black hair was perfectly straight. His last growth spurt had helped him settle into his adult features and shed the last of his baby fat. He was handsome and charismatic, as befitted their father’s heir. Yukichi, Yukiya’s youngest brother, looked like a miniature version of Yukima. The scowls on their faces at the moment were close to identical.
Not for the first time, Yukiya envied his brothers for their closeness. They seemed to understand one another without effort.
“You’re late,” Yukima scolded. “Where were you?”
“Sleeping,” Yukiya said defensively.
Yukima was carrying a toddler piggyback-style and had several other children clustered around him. Perhaps because he was the oldest sibling, he’d been saddled with babysitting duty. His glare was sharp, but the baby on his back and two more toddlers he carried—one in each arm—undermined any air of gravitas or authority he might have had under other circumstances.
“You could have woken me up,” Yukiya pointed out. He rushed over and accepted one of the toddlers from his brother’s arms.
Yukima snorted dismissively. “I never imagined you’d sleep in this late. Who goes back to bed after eating breakfast?”
“I tried waking you up after breakfast, but you wouldn’t wake,” Yukichi said. He carried a basket full of freshly picked plums. The basket was almost as tall as he was.
Yukiya groaned. “Yeah, yeah, it’s my fault.” He relieved Yukichi of his load, strapping the large basket onto his own back.
“Let’s not waste any more time. Get to work, Yukiya,” Yukima said as they headed toward the largest pond in the area.
They had decided to start the next task in the afternoon. The women had gone to prepare lunch after picking plums and had returned to collect the children after that. With nothing to do until the noon meal was ready, Yukiya and his brothers decided to wash the plums before pickling. They sat together in the shade of a persimmon tree. It was too early in the season for mosquitoes. The early summer breeze was invigorating on their sweaty foreheads.
Water droplets gleamed on the freshly washed plums. The three brothers worked quickly and efficiently; they’d done this many times before.
“I didn’t think I’d see you washing the plums again this year,” Yukiya said to Yukima. “Didn’t our dad need help with anything?”
Yukima was their father’s heir and would be the provincial governor someday. He spent a lot of time assisting their father.
Yukima’s face scrunched. “About that… Usually I’d be helping him, but there was a disturbance this morning that required him to ride out. I wish I could go, but only he was requested. He should be taking care of that right now.”
The other local officials hadn’t needed Yukima’s help this morning, either, so Yukima had come with Yukichi to bring in the plum harvest.
Yukima sighed. “The local officials told me I was in the way and sent me off. I’m not needed in the village until our father gets back, so I figured I’d pitch in where I can.”
“Commendable,” Yukiya said. “It looks like your help was needed here. I’ve never seen so many plums this early in the season.”
Yukichi blinked. “That’s true, but all the plums are smaller than normal.”
Yukiya hmmed thoughtfully. His brother was right. They’d harvested many plums, but each fruit was small. Yukichi had talked about that with the villagers. There used to be much bigger plums on the trees every year.
“It’s not just the plums, either,” Yukichi said. “All the vegetables growing in the fields are smaller than normal. Did you hear anything about that when you were in the capital, Yukiya?”
Yukiya had left his post as an imperial attendant in the capital two months before. Food was plentiful in the capital and most people were wealthy. He hadn’t heard anything about food shortages, but he’d heard about poor harvests in other territories so often that he’d become numb to the news.
“Yeah. A lot of people said the rice harvest was terrible last year,” Yukiya said.
“I heard there was a big flood down south, too. That’s awful,” Yukichi said, shaking his head.
He’d likely heard this news from the women.
Sometimes Yukichi acted very grown-up. Yukiya gave him a fond smile and then moved washed plums from a colander to a basket.
Yukichi’s reporting of bad news was refreshingly free of bias. When Yukiya had heard about poor harvests and other disasters in the capital, people had always blamed the Crown Prince for the trouble.
Yukiya had served as the Crown Prince’s attendant in the capital. The Crown Prince would become the Emperor of all of Yamauchi one day. He was infamous for forcing his popular elder brother to abdicate in his favor. He had many enemies in the Imperial Court and all bad news was blamed on him. He was in a very difficult position.
Hearing bad news from Yukichi made Yukiya feel conflicted. He knew that people would be blaming the Crown Prince for smaller produce in the capital. He looked away, into the distance.
A three-legged raven flew in the clear blue sky.
“Is that Dad?” Yukiya asked. “Is he coming back?”
“I don’t think so,” Yukima said. He squinted. “I don’t see a rider. It could be a horse, but I don’t think so. Someone transformed and is rushing back.”
All Yatagarasu had two forms: human form and raven form. Among the nobility, taking raven form was seen as shameful and ill-mannered. Local nobles like Yukiya and his brothers didn’t care about that stigma, but many noblemen in the capital had never transformed, not even once in their entire lives. There was a general preference for living and working in human form. The raven form was associated with hard labor and poverty.
Yatagarasu who could no longer transform into humans—those who remained in their raven form all their lives—weren’t considered true Yatagarasu and had fewer rights. These unfortunate Yatagarasu became the responsibility of a caretaker and worked as horses—beasts of burden.
The raven approaching them had no rider or caretaker accompanying them, which would be odd for a horse. Most Yatagarasu didn’t transform freely and fly like this, preferring to ride horses when possible. There was something very wrong here.
Yukiya’s unease became alarm as the raven nearly fell out of the sky. Their wings beat erratically; they listed from side to side as if they were injured.
“I’ll go check it out,” Yukiya said.
Yukima nodded firmly. “All right. Yukichi, you go and inform the village guards. It looks like that raven is injured.”
“All right,” Yukichi said.
“I’m counting on you. I’ll go alert the women,” Yukima said. He dashed off right away.
Yukiya and Yukichi transformed into their raven shapes. Yukichi flew to the provincial governor’s residence to alert the guards while Yukiya flew toward the panicked raven.
It was a clear day with little wind. There was no reason for the raven to be flying so erratically aside from injury. Yukiya flew in close and looked closely at the raven.
The stranger was terrifying. They were panicked and they didn’t seem to realize that he was trying to help. They looked like they’d forgotten how to fly in their terror and haste. Their tongue hung out as they panted and there was foam frothing from their mouth. Their eyes darted around wildly, their shrieks wordless and devoid of meaning.
What on earth happened? Yukiya thought as he flew alongside the raven. He let out a loud caw to hopefully get the other raven’s attention.
The raven didn’t respond to Yukiya’s presence at all. Their shrieks drew attention; other Yatagarasu were looking up at them from different parts of the village.
A village guard intercepted Yukiya and the other raven in the air. The guard gave Yukiya a puzzled look, asking without words what was happening here.
Yukiya gestured at the other raven vaguely with his wings and tried to convey that he found this situation just as strange as the guard did.
After a brief moment of thought, the village guard cawed loudly and gestured toward the raven’s wings. This was a request for assistance to ground the panicked raven. Yukiya nodded and then began a gentle descent, swapping places with the village guard.
The guard approached slowly. Then the stranger lunged at him before he was in position.
The stranger grabbed the guard tightly with their three legs and bit into his throat. Using their wings almost like hands, the strange raven tried to wrap themselves around the guard’s body. The raven shouldn’t have been able to fly properly in their frenzied state, but they moved as if they had forgotten they were even in raven form.
Yukiya fought down panic as the two ravens crashed to the ground, tangled together. People working in the fields noticed the commotion and hurriedly fled the area.
Yukiya descended and changed back to his human form. “Are you all right?” he asked the guard.
The guard huddled in on himself, groaning and still in raven form. He’d landed badly and was hurt.
Many people were rushing toward them now, including women from the village.
“Don’t come any closer!” Yukiya shouted to the women.
The strange raven was moving, but slowly. Their beak was cracked and blood streamed from their forehead. Injured as they were, they moved to threaten the approaching women, slicing at them with their beak.
Yukiya aimed a powerful kick at the back of the strange raven’s head—too late. A woman screamed and scrambled backwards as the strange raven advanced on her.
“Run away!” shouted an older woman as she turned to flee.
The strange raven’s wings were twisted and broken. Yukiya transformed again, convinced that the stranger wouldn’t be able to follow him into the air. He dove and descended, persistently kicking at the stranger’s head and body.
The strange raven definitely couldn’t fly, but that didn’t prevent them from trying. They flapped their wings in a clumsy attempt to chase Yukiya.
Yukiya was buying time. More guards should arrive soon to help. One raven was no match for the collective might of the village guards.
As Yukiya flipped in midair to avoid the raven’s sharp beak, he noticed a toddler standing dazed on the other side of the rice field. He saw a woman running toward the child so that she could pull them away from danger.
The strange raven fixated on the woman and her child and stumbled toward them.
No. Yukiya cawed loudly and flapped his wings, gaining height so that he could dive again. Don’t pay attention to them. I’m your target, he thought as he desperately tried to regain the strange raven’s attention.
Another guard was on his way. Yukiya kicked with all his might, but the strange raven ignored all of his attacks. The strange raven let out a guttural sound that wasn’t remotely bird-like and lunged forward, closer to the woman and child.
The woman clutched the child to her chest and turned, her eyes wide open in terror.
They’re done for, Yukiya thought. He wasn’t close enough to get between the strange raven and the woman. He was too late—
—and then a shadow passed over Yukiya’s face. A huge horse—obviously a horse this time—came flying in and seized the strange raven by the throat with their beak. As the horse attacked the strange raven fiercely, the horse’s rider leaped from the saddle like an arrow from a bow.
The rider landed gracefully and then spun. He leaped at the strange raven and wrapped both arms around their head.
The strange raven struggled, turning back and forth and then in circles, but they couldn’t make the rider let go. Black feathers scattered everywhere as the raven crashed to the ground. Yukiya felt the jolt in his feet as he alighted near the rider. The strange raven was pinned down, their face half-buried in the rice field.
The rider subdued the huge raven without much effort. He twisted the strange raven’s head in both arms and then flung the motionless raven down.
“Are you hurt?” the rider asked.
Yukiya approached the woman, child and rider. The woman and the child were still in shock. They stared at their rescuer, mouths agape.
Yukiya recognized the rider’s voice before he saw his face. He rushed over to the man to confirm his suspicions.
As he’d thought, the Crown Prince was the rider. He saw Yukiya and waved. “Hey. It’s been a while, Yukiya.”
“You…” Yukiya stared. Why was he here? This wasn’t a hallucination or anything. His piercing eyes were impossible to forget.
“Could you bring me some rope?” the Crown Prince asked. “Then we can talk.” He looked down at the strange raven, who still wasn’t moving, and frowned.
***
When Yukimasa, the provincial governor of Taruhi, returned home that day, he was greeted by an injured guard, a prisoner in raven form bound tightly with rope, and an unfamiliar guest who caused squeals among the women.
“Is the guard seriously injured?” Yukimasa asked his sons. He was very confused about the whole situation. Yukima explained things as best he could.
All the blood drained from Yukimasa’s face as his son related what had occurred in his absence. “A madman attacked, you say? How bad is the damage?”
“The fields were ravaged, and one guard was injured,” Yukima said. “Fortunately the wound is not too serious. I was worried for a while because the guard hit his head when he crashed into the ground, but he woke up a little while ago and seems fine. He’s angry at himself, if you can believe that.”
“I’m glad that he will recover,” Yukimasa said.
“Me, too,” Yukima said. He gave his father a tight smile.
Yukimasa’s shoulders relaxed. “Well, this is a mess, but it could be worse.” At least the attacker was in custody and there was nothing that required his urgent attention.
“It could have been, but it’s bad enough to warrant your attention,” the guest said. He stood by the hearth surrounded by women, so Yukimasa hadn’t gotten a good look at him before. The guest stepped away from the women and faced Yukimasa squarely.
The guest was a young man, perhaps two or three years older than his eldest son Yukima. He carried himself with a maturity and world-weariness that were beyond his years. His clothes were simple in style, likely because he’d been traveling. His smooth black hair was tied neatly at the nape of his neck. His skin was as fair as porcelain. There was no expression at all on his face. He reminded Yukimasa of a doll or a statue.
Then his eyes fixed on Yukimasa with a sharpness that made the provincial governor stand up straighter. “It is an honor to meet you for the first time, provincial governor Yukimasa,” the man said. “My name is Sumimaru. I came from the capital today. Please forgive my intrusion.”
Before Yukimasa could say anything in reply, the women surrounding him spoke all at once, describing how he’d saved the woman and her child during the attack.
Taruhi Province produced many fine warriors for Hokke Territory. Because of this, effeminate men from the capital were somewhat looked down upon and more traditionally masculine men were preferred as marriage partners. Though their guest fit the effeminate mold better than the warrior mold, that mattered less when he’d managed to save people and end the attack on the village with a display of martial skill.
Yukimasa found it difficult to believe that this slender young man had managed to subdue the attacker on his own, but the women had no reason to lie. He expressed his gratitude respectfully and then said, “This situation has my full attention, I assure you. But it doesn’t seem like there’s much more to be done.”
Sumimaru’s eyes brightened. “I have come here to discuss what should be done next. I’ve heard rumors on the highway—do you know what I am referring to?”
Yukimasa looked into Sumimaru’s face and found no malice in it. “I believe so,” he said. “Do you think the attacker is involved?”
“I don’t think that they went mad for no reason,” Sumimaru said mildly. “Perhaps this was presumptuous of me, but I’ve taken the liberty of asking the local officials in your village to investigate the attacker’s background. I hope that meets with your approval.”
Sumimaru’s respectful demeanor made Yukimasa improve his opinion of the young man a bit. “Excuse me, but you said before that you came from the capital. Did the Imperial Court send you?” he asked.
“Yes.” Sumimaru nodded. “This visit is also at my lord’s command. Until just two months ago, I was on friendly terms with Lord Yukiya.”
“Then, your lord is—”
“—Let’s not keep our guest on his feet without supper,” Azusa said gently. “We can talk as much as we want over dinner. I hope you will join us?” she asked the young man.
Yukimasa noticed that the women and children gathered in the hall were all very interested in Lord Sumimaru.
Sumimaru nodded at the invitation. “I thank you for your generous offer. I will stay for dinner.”
They moved to the dining room. A veritable feast had been prepared for Sumimaru as thanks for his timely intervention in capturing the strange raven. There were heaping plates of salt-grilled young sweetfish, huge bowls of mountain vegetable soup, grilled chicken meatballs served on a bed of magnolia leaves, and soft-boiled eggs dipped in sweet-and-sour sauce. The side dish of tempura was perfectly seasoned so that it didn’t even need any salt.
Sumimaru complimented the delicious food and accepted a large glass of rice wine, which he used to raise a toast to the villagers. He drained the glass in one gulp.
“Impressive,” several women said.
Some of the men nodded in respect. “Our rice wine is the best in all of Yamauchi,” a man said.
“It is most excellent.” Sumimaru nodded.
“Thank you. That is wonderful to hear. Everyone in Hokke loves rice wine,” Yukimasa said.
“Please eat as much as you like,” Azusa said. “Yukiya was in service to your lord for a whole year, after all.” She smiled.
“I am grateful. Your son has helped me in many ways. Even His Highness the Crown Prince was disappointed to hear that Lord Yukiya would be returning to Taruhi Village,” he said.
Azusa’s eyes sparkled with interest. Yukimasa gave Sumimaru a wry grin. “That is kind of you to say, but there is no need for flattery. I am aware that Yukiya was dismissed from service by the Crown Prince personally.”
“Father,” Yukima interrupted. “Let’s not speak of unpleasant things. I am curious, however, about Yukiya’s service. I would like to know more about his year in the capital.”
Yukichi pouted.
Azusa’s eyebrows lowered a fraction.
Yukiya’s full attention was on the food.
“I thought we wanted to avoid unpleasant topics,” Yukimasa said wearily.
Sumimaru tilted his head slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I have heard everything from Yukiya already,” Yukimasa said. “There were so few attendants, so Yukiya was not dismissed immediately, but he was dismissed as soon as possible because his work performance was poor. He caused a lot of trouble to those around him until the Crown Prince became exasperated and sent him home.”
“The Crown Prince became exasperated and sent him home,” Sumimaru repeated. He looked askance at Yukiya, who ignored him in favor of the soup.
“It is a source of great embarrassment for the family,” Yukimasa said. “Yukiya is the clumsiest of my three sons.” He shook his head and then kept listing Yukiya’s many shortcomings. “Ours is a proud warrior family with a long history of military service, but Yukiya lacks both courage and skill. He has never bested either of his brothers at sparring. He’s slow-witted, even more than most people. It’s easy enough to guess what the Crown Prince really thinks of him.”
“I see,” Sumimaru said. “Speaking as someone who worked with him for a year, I find your son to be quite capable.”
“Thank you for your kind words.”
“It’s the truth. That’s why I’m here today.”
Yukimasa sat up straighter. “And why are you here, then?”
“To request Lord Yukiya’s assistance with a rather important matter.”
Yukiya spat out his soup, sputtering and choking.
Yukimasa ignored Yukiya entirely. “You require Yukiya’s assistance? Whatever for?”
“I have a task entrusted to me by His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince,” Sumimaru said. “It seems that dangerous contraband is being smuggled from the capital to Hokke Territory.”
“What kind of contraband?”
“A drug,” Sumimaru said.
Yukima rubbed Yukiya’s back to help soothe his cough. Yukichi, always clever and more than a bit nosy, was listening intently.
“No. It’s something much worse than sinsemilla. Sinsemilla is strictly managed by suppliers in the Valley.”
The Valley was a self-governing underground society attached to Yamauchi’s capital city by a series of secret passages. It was larger than most villages in the territories, including Taruhi Village, and was a generally lawless area that existed beyond the reach of the Imperial Court. Dangerous goods banned in the city could be sold and distributed in the Valley.
The Valley’s lawlessness was only relative. There were rules in the Valley that absolutely needed to be followed. Distribution routes and buyers were clearly defined. Meddling would harm the Valley and bring trouble to the Imperial Court, so the Valley was mostly left to its own devices.
When used, the drug provided intense feelings of euphoria and omnipotence. After only a few doses, it stopped working and caused people to turn into shells of themselves. Some people never recovered, losing consciousness and dying of exhaustion, while others took their own lives.
“Is that what happened today?” Yukichi asked, thinking of the strange raven’s madness.
Sumimaru nodded. “His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince heard about the drug ten days ago. He received a report from the pleasure district that a courtesan had gone insane and was rampaging through the city in raven form. Inquiries to were made to various involved parties, as you can imagine, and the results of those inquiries were most surprising. In the past month, more than twenty Yatagarasu have shown symptoms of sagecap use.
“At first, everyone thought that it was some kind of illness. I went to the Valley and learned about the existence of the drug, which started circulating there before it reached the city. The Valley’s leaders all oppose the circulation of the drug, but they can’t stop it. They’ve tried.”
The Valley had leaders just like the nation’s capital did, and those leaders each had their own subordinates that ran things for them in certain predefined areas. The leaders met once a month. Their decisions created the Valley’s rules and policies.
“It is rare for all of the Valley’s leaders to agree on anything,” Sumimaru said, “so learning that they were unanimous in banning sagecap from the Valley was a serious cause for concern. The Imperial Court is two months behind compared to the Valley when it comes to dealing with sagecap and its often fatal outcomes. Rumors of illness and death reached His Imperial Highness, who was of course greatly alarmed. That is why I was sent.”
Yukima looked to his father. “Has this sagecap made its way to Taruhi Village?” he asked.
“We can’t know for certain yet, but I fear that is indeed the case,” Yukimasa said. Just the other day, a report had reached him about a suspicious medicine being sold along the highway. A report had been sent to the provincial governor’s residence, and Yukimasa had contacted the authorities, including the Lord of Hokke. He’d ridden out today to investigate the matter himself.
“Did you find out anything else?” Sumimaru asked.
Yukimasa shook his head. “The report was credible. I spoke with someone who was approached by a vendor on the highway. They didn’t take any of the drug, however. The amount in circulation seems to be very small, or people refuse to try it. I wasn’t able to obtain a sample.”
He left unspoken that the attacker today might be suffering from sagecap’s effects.
“I’m ashamed to say that I underestimated the situation. I had no idea it was such an urgent problem. I would have asked more questions if I’d understood the danger.” He said that he would begin a full investigation of the village and its environs tomorrow morning.
Sumimaru nodded gravely. “An excellent idea. The villages in the other territories seem safe from the drug so far. Only the capital and Taruhi Province have seen more than a handful of addicts. If I might be so bold, I would ask you to share your findings with the Crown Prince. As you can imagine, he is deeply troubled by this matter.”
The Imperial Court would begin its own thorough investigation in the coming days. Sumimaru explained that he’d been sent ahead because time was of the essence. He asked to assist with Yukimasa’s investigation and received permission.
“This whole situation sounds very serious,” Yukimasa said. “I am not certain that Yukiya is capable of helping you, Lord Sumimaru. If you wish, I can assign a village official to accompany you.”
Sumimaru shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of all the officials’ work. Lord Yukiya will certainly be able to assist me with whatever I require.”
“Very well,” Yukimasa said. He had grave concerns about his second son, but Sumimaru didn’t seem to mind working with him at all. It sounded like Sumimaru had a firm grasp of Yukiya’s capabilities, at least. Yukimasa assumed that he’d be doing odd jobs and whatnot. “Yukiya is at your disposal, then. Don’t worry about working him too hard; he can take it.”
Yukiya had been scowling at his plate, but he looked up at his father when he said that. His expression didn’t shift at all. “Don’t make decisions for me,” he said. “I haven’t agreed to anything.”
“I am your father, and you are in no position to refuse to do anything I say, my foolish son.”
Yukima opened his mouth to say something, but he remained silent.
***
After dinner, everyone took a short break to refresh themselves. Sumimaru left his guest room and found Yukima kneeling before him in the hall.
“Lord Sumimaru,” Yukima said. “I apologize for the wait. Your bath is prepared. May I wash your back?”
Sumimaru’s eyebrows rose. “I thank you for the bath, Lord Yukima, but I couldn’t possibly trouble you to wash me.”
“I am here to provide anything you need,” Yukima said.
Normally, a male attendant or servant would assist with a nobleman’s bath. Yukimasa could have sent Yukiya or Yukichi for this duty. Sending Yukima was very strange. He was his father’s heir and would be a provincial governor someday. Servant tasks were far beneath him.
Yukima himself was well aware of this. His father hadn’t sent him. He’d asked the household to keep quiet and had come here in secret. No one in his family knew that he was here.
“I wish to speak to you,” Yukima said. “And I fear we do not have much time. You will be leaving tomorrow morning, correct?”
Sumimaru understood Yukima now. He nodded. “All right. Though I feel a bit uneasy about it, I will accept whatever help you can give.”
Grateful for Sumimaru’s easy understanding, Yukima led him to the bathhouse. Bathhouses in the capital were grand affairs with huge bathtubs large enough for many people to soak in at once, but Taruhi Village was a rural place far from any cities. The manor house was modestly furnished and the bathhouse was a small add-on that could fit two or three people inside. There was only one tub in the bathhouse and no plumbing. Water was boiled in the kitchen and hauled here by servants.
Sumimaru didn’t complain about anything.
Yukima left briefly and then carried in two buckets of water—one hot, one cold. When he returned, Sumimaru was nearly done putting on a bathrobe.
“May I speak to you while you use the bath?” Yukima asked.
Sumimaru nodded and then stepped into the tub, bathrobe and all. Yukima used the water in the buckets to adjust the temperature. The bathrobe loosened a little, and then Yukima poured water down Sumimaru’s back.
“Is it true that my younger brother was highly valued for his work in the capital?” Yukima asked.
“Lord Yukiya is extremely capable. His work was outstanding. His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince was saddened when he found out that Yukiya was leaving the Imperial Court. He even made him a personal attendant. He asked Yukiya to stay in his service personally.”
This was a bit of a lie. The Crown Prince had asked Yukiya to stay, yes, and he hadn’t dismissed Yukiya even after Yukiya had asked him to. Yukiya’s own stubborn refusal to remain in the capital was the true reason why he no longer served the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince doubted that anyone in Taruhi Village knew that.
“I was a bit surprised to hear your father speak of your brother’s ineptitude,” Sumimaru said. “Did Yukiya not tell you all what he did while he was in the capital?”
Yukima sighed deeply. “Yukiya told us that he was useless.” He had told his family that he’d been no help to the Crown Prince at all and that he’d always been a burden. He’d only worked for a year because the Sun Palace was short-staffed. If another attendant had been found, he would have been dismissed immediately.
“My father takes things at face value,” Yukima said. “His honesty is a virtue in most ways, but sometimes it blinds him to the truth. I never thought that Yukiya was telling us what really happened. I am grateful for the chance to hear your perspective, Lord Sumimaru. May I ask for more details?”
When Sumimaru said nothing, Yukima steeled himself and then looked straight into Sumimaru’s eyes. “I assume you are aware of our circumstances. Yukiya alone has a different mother. Azusa is my mother and Yukichi’s, but not Yukiya’s. Not by blood, anyway.”
Sumimaru nodded.
Yukiya’s mother had been the Lord of Hokke’s daughter. She’d passed away shortly after giving birth to Yukiya. She was never expected to have any children at all because of her weak constitution. Her high status caused Yukiya and Yukima some trouble. Born only a year apart, there had been a push to replace Yukima with Yukiya as their father’s heir. Yukimasa was not a notably decisive man. He’d prevaricated for years, never choosing which son would inherit.
“The only reason I am my father’s heir is that Yukiya acted to support me and discredit himself,” Yukima said. “He always did worse than me in academic subjects, swordplay, or any other area that could cause us to be compared. He held back and hid his true potential. We’ve gotten into plenty of sibling squabbles over the years, and he always lets me win. My mother and Yukichi know that Yukiya is much smarter and more capable than he pretends to be. Only my father is deceived. It has never occurred to him that Yukiya acts the way he does on purpose. Maybe he fears that realization or deliberately avoids thinking about it.”
Yukima looked down. Exposing family secrets like this made him feel less like himself and more like a traitor. He felt guilty for not supporting Yukiya more even though he’d always gone along with Yukiya’s stated wishes.
“I believe my father clings to the belief that Yukiya is stupid to justify his decision to make me his heir,” Yukima said. “The truth is that he didn’t choose me; Yukiya did. Most of the family knows how smart Yukiya is, but he wouldn’t thank us for telling others. When he moved to the capital, my mother and I hoped that he would finally have a chance to shine and grow into his true self.
“As long as our father continues to underestimate Yukiya, he will never change. I think he should stay in the capital where he can use his talents. There’s no need for him to worry about us here.”
Yukima didn’t just love Yukiya; he actually liked him. Azusa had raised him as her own child, and Yukima had never felt like Yukiya was any less his brother for having a different mother. Part of him would be happy if Yukiya remained in Taruhi Village forever, but that wouldn’t be fair to Yukiya himself. He could do so much more with his life.
“May I ask why he had to come back here?” Yukima ventured. “If the Crown Prince asked him to stay, then he could have stayed, right? That would have been much better for him.”
Sumimaru was looking off into the distance at something far away. “It seems that he found nothing of value in his service. He always said that the only things that were truly important to him were his family and Taruhi Village.”
“So he’s trapped himself here.” Yukima sighed. He felt a tightness in his chest as he looked up. He dropped to his knees beside the tub, not caring that his clothes were getting wet. “Please, Lord Sumimaru. I will be the next provincial governor. I can do nothing to change my brother’s fate. I ask you to free him. I cannot.”
“Raise your head,” Sumimaru said.
Yukima’s eyes met Sumimaru’s. Sumimaru was smiling at him, and that helped somehow. Yukima hadn’t noticed before, but Sumimaru had not smiled even once since his arrival, not even at dinner. His smile was a strange thing: wary and protective like a mother watching a child do something they shouldn’t.
“You assume that I can do as you ask,” Sumimaru said. “Yukiya truly loves his family and desires to protect the village. Disregarding his own feelings and desires would be cruel.” He paused. “And Yukiya is no fool, no matter what he pretends. You of all people know that very well. Whatever his future holds, it should be his choice. He is intelligent and very stubborn. Even if you spoke to him as you’ve spoken to me, I doubt he would be persuaded. If he finds a goal for himself that he truly wishes to achieve, he’ll spread his own wings and find his own way. Then you won’t need to worry about him anymore.”
Yukima felt chastened. This stranger was telling him to trust his younger brother. How embarrassing. He and Lord Sumimaru were close to the same age, but he felt like he was speaking to someone much older and wiser.
“I spoke out of concern for my brother, but you are right,” Yukima said. “It’s only natural for me to be worried, but it would be a mistake to choose my brother’s path for him.”
***
How did it come to this? Yukiya thought as he held his head in his hands.
The Crown Prince was walking ahead of him. Yukiya glared daggers at his back.
It was the morning after the Crown Prince’s arrival in Taruhi Village. Yukiya’s family had come out of the house to see them off, smiling and waving. The two of them rode the horse that the Crown Prince had brought with him.
After Yukiya’s family and the villagers were out of sight, the horse took flight.
When he was certain that they wouldn’t be overheard, Yukiya said, “What on earth are you doing, pretending to be your own messenger? You came here without a single guard to accompany you. Is this one of your terrible jokes?”
Nazukihiko—the Crown Prince who’d called himself Sumimaru in Taruhi Village and elsewhere—frowned slightly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I assure you that the Crown Prince is currently at the Imperial Palace, diligently attending to his studies. I am Sumimaru, a humble attendant to the Crown Prince. Nothing more.” He showed Yukiya an identification tag that appeared legitimate.
Yukiya clung to his back with one hand and checked the identification tag more closely. Then he sighed in disbelief. “You are a thorough liar. I suppose that deserves some praise. Are you telling me that you came here without letting anyone in the capital know?”
The Crown Prince had few allies in the capital. Anyone willing to side with him was treated like a rare treasure. For him to come here without telling anyone was completely insane. Sumio would be out of his mind with worry.
“You believe that I would truly be so reckless?” the Crown Prince asked. “Your concern is misplaced. The opposition believes that the Crown Prince is spending all of his time with his new wife.”
Yukiya’s eyes widened. That was a good distraction, but he wasn’t about to admit it. He remembered all the attacks and plotting that had happened while he was still serving the Crown Prince in the Sun Palace.
The Crown Prince’s position at the Imperial Court had always been somewhat precarious. As a second son and the son of a concubine, not the Empress, it was not expected that he would inherit the throne at his birth. His older brother, Natsuka, was alive and healthy and very popular. If the Crown Prince had not been born a true Golden Raven, Natsuka would definitely be Yamauchi’s next Emperor.
The Emperor’s official title was Golden Raven, but most Emperors were not true Golden Ravens. The current Emperor certainly wasn’t one. His formal title was Substitute Golden Raven. Substitute Golden Ravens could only rule when there was no true Golden Raven to fill the role.
Substitute Golden Ravens were normal Yatagarasu. True Golden Ravens were something far different. Normal Yatagarasu could not transform at night, but true Golden Ravens could. The Crown Prince was supposedly a true Golden Raven. Yukiya had never seen him transform at night, though, so he wasn’t sure if that was true or not.
Regardless of whether or not the Crown Prince was a true Golden Raven, enough people had believed it for Nazukihiko to depose his older brother. True Golden Ravens could not refuse to rule Yamauchi. They led Yamauchi by birthright. Everyone else was considered an inferior substitute.
Since Yukiya had no way of knowing if true Golden Ravens were even real, he believed that the Crown Prince had been chosen as his grandfather’s successor because of some fault with Prince Natsuka. Being called a true Golden Raven was just a pretext to depose his brother.
If the Crown Prince actually was a true Golden Raven, that meant that Yamauchi was in trouble. True Golden Ravens were born during times of disaster—famine, drought, and war. There was a common superstition that the birth of a true Golden Raven heralded such disasters. History bore this out, so the superstition had more than a little truth to it.
Yukiya was skeptical about the Crown Prince being a true Golden Raven, so he understood why people would oppose his succession. But he couldn’t understand the more violent factions in the Imperial Court that had been trying to kill him since he was a child. He had left the Crown Prince’s service because he didn’t want to see Nazukihiko die. If he kept serving him, he would witness that someday—sooner rather than later.
“You haven’t changed at all,” Yukiya muttered.
The Crown Prince smiled.
“Your excuse won’t hold for long,” Yukiya said. “Sooner or later, people will find out that you’re missing. You can’t stay away from the Imperial Court for more than a few days.”
“Perhaps,” the Crown Prince said. “To my way of thinking, the most important thing is that I’m here and have a serious problem to solve. I agree that it would be a different problem if my flight were discovered, but not a very serious one.”
Yukiya tilted his head. “Sagecap is so dangerous that you needed to come all the way here yourself to deal with it?”
“One of the side effects of taking it is that it removes the ability to transform completely,” the Crown Prince said. “I’ve never heard of another drug that can do that. It also affects people who haven’t taken it—the symptoms are contagious like a disease. I don’t think the attacker we stopped yesterday consumed the drug directly. Not much sagecap is circulating, but the drug has an outsize impact.”
The Crown Prince said that physicians in the Imperial Court were examining people who’d become addicted to the drug and were searching for some kind of cure. Those stuck in raven form might never assume human form ever again. There were few cases like that so far, but the symptoms were spreading. This situation could easily get out of hand.
“Our first order of business is to secure a sample of the actual drug,” the Crown Prince said. “And our second is to apprehend the dealers so that they can’t sell or give away any more. If we fail, sagecap will become a threat to the survival of all Yatagarasu.”
The Imperial Court was conducting its own investigation of sagecap, but the Crown Prince was convinced that they would be too slow. He’d taken matters into his own hands.
“If it comes down to it, I intend to use my authority as the Golden Raven. I’ll do everything I can to protect Yatagarasu from the ravages of this drug. Will you help me, Yukiya?”
The Crown Prince hadn’t asked or ordered Yukiya to enter his service again. He was requesting aid. That distinction wasn’t lost on Yukiya.
“Taruhi Village was attacked,” Yukiya said. “Sagecap is already my problem. I’ll help.”
“Excellent. Do your best to protect what’s most important to you.”
The Crown Prince looked straight ahead and urged his horse to fly higher.
***
Yamauchi’s central territory belonged to the imperial family of Souke. That was where the Imperial Court resided. Territories to the east, west, south, and north were governed by the Touke, Saike, Nanke and Hokke families respectively. Each territory had three official villages that were presided over by provincial governors like Yukiya’s father.
A robust transportation network connected all of the territories and villages to one another. Roads radiated from the central territory of Souke all the way to each village.
Since people could transform into ravens and fly anywhere, some people questioned the utility of well-maintained roads. Merchants never did. A single horse, or even a horse-drawn carriage, could carry only so much through the air. Transportation by air cost more than transportation overland. When the villages sent their annual tribute of rice to the capital, they used special draft horses whose wings had been clipped so that they could only pull carts.
Inns along the road served not only as lodging for travelers but also as rest stops for horses. Markets and small towns cropped up at these rest stops where merchants would come to buy specialty goods.
Yukiya and Nazukihiko’s first stop was a small merchant town called Tamari. It was close enough to Taruhi Village to be a possible source of sagecap. Nazukihiko had visited previously and told the local officials to look out for a suspicious man.
That suspicious man had attacked Taruhi Village yesterday in raven form.
The man lived in a different town not far from Taruhi Village and made his living by hunting. According to the villagers, he had come to Tamari the morning before last to sell meat. He must have obtained or come into contact with sagecap then, because he’d attacked Taruhi Village in a frenzy shortly after. He had no history of violent behavior, so the villagers were astonished to learn what had happened.
Yukiya remembered looking in on the man—still in raven form—before he and the Crown Prince had left Taruhi Village. He was still agitated and hadn’t managed to regain human form. No one knew how to help him or neutralize the drug. He could be stuck in his raven form for the rest of his life. Yukiya pitied the man now that he was safely captured. He’d run amok because of a drug, not because he’d meant to harm anyone.
They had to prevent further harm to other Yatagarasu at all costs.
Even though they knew the attacker was from Tamari, Yukiya and the Crown Prince made several stops before reaching the merchant town. In every small settlement, the Crown Prince asked the locals all kinds of questions. He asked about strange happenings, any travelers who’d passed through recently, what kinds of goods the settlement traded, and about anyone who’d fallen ill in the past few days. Some people were suspicious about these questions from outsiders, but as soon as they found out that Yukiya was the second son of one of Hokke’s provincial governors, they relaxed their wariness.
Yukiya understood then why the Crown Prince had brought him along.
“No one in the territories trusts imperial officials,” the Crown Prince said while they were on the road. “The quickest way to gain their trust is to have a local cooperate and get them to ask questions with me. I’m glad you’re here.”
Yukiya rubbed his temples.
The Crown Prince wore an ill-fitting bamboo hat and a feather robe. The sword at his hip was of crude make and looked like something a bandit might carry. He had the air of a seasoned traveler.
Yukiya knew that the Crown Prince had spent most of his life in other lands, studying abroad. He’d returned to Yamauchi about a year ago and hadn’t left the capital since then—until now. Why was he so comfortable traveling through the territories even though he’d never done it before?
“We should stop in a tavern and buy people a drink,” the Crown Prince said. “That’s a good way to gain trust in Hokke Territory. In Touke, they respect musicians more and there’d be a lot more flute playing on my part. Spilling political secrets in Nanke will make people welcome you with open arms. Saike’s a harder nut to crack, but the people there are terribly vain. Compliment their hair and clothes and they’ll treat you well enough.”
Well, that explained at least part of the Crown Prince’s comfort with traveling through Hokke. He’d done some homework. Yukiya decided to stop overthinking his motives and plans. If the Crown Prince wanted him to know something, he’d tell him.
The two of them arrived at Tamari without gaining any significant information about the attacker. Tamari was the largest merchant town in the area, but that didn’t mean much. Taruhi Village was small, and Tamari was smaller. There were no specialized shops like the ones Yukiya had seen in the capital. There were inns and simple food stalls and not much else. There wasn’t even a market being held today, so the streets were almost empty.
Yukiya and the Crown Prince headed to the largest inn in town, which was run by a local official. The inn was frequented by Yukimasa and his representatives often. They found two of Yukimasa’s men investigating the sagecap matter already and took a seat next to them so that they could exchange information.
The officials recognized Yukiya, of course, and welcomed him and the Crown Prince warmly. They’d been instructed to cooperate and generously shared all of the information they’d gathered so far over tea and sweets.
“From what we’ve heard, there was a traveling merchant selling sagecap along the highway. He wasn’t a local.”
The man who’d attacked the village under the influence of the drug didn’t sell his hides or meat directly to customers, but only to certain dealers and in bulk. After collecting his money, he would always visit one of the food stalls in town and have a drink at one of the inns.
“He’s a regular, so the people running the food stalls recognized a picture of his face,” one of the investigators said. “They saw him talking with a merchant they’d never seen before. They paid together and left the food stalls at the same time.”
The merchant hadn’t been carrying any luggage, so it wasn’t clear if he’d been staying in town or not. The investigators thought that he might be a guest at one of the inns, but they weren’t sure yet.
“Beyond that…” The investigator spread his hands. “Things get tricky. I’m not sure who we would ask to find out more. We have no proof that the merchant had any sagecap or that he sold it to the hunter. It’s possible that the hunter received the drug from someone else.”
Yukiya and the Crown Prince thanked the officials and then left them. The sun was already high in the sky. Their stomachs were rumbling, so they decided to take a seat in the town square and eat the rice balls that Azusa had packed for them.
“Sounds like the investigators didn’t get much useful information,” Yukiya said between bites. “Neither did we.” He squinted at the sourness of the pickled plum inside the rice ball. It had been pickled during last year’s harvest. He offered a bamboo bottle full of water to the Crown Prince.
“They did discover a few useful things,” the Crown Prince said. “Consider the merchant. Others would have seen him and would know more about his wares. The food stall owner who sold to the hunter and the merchant might also know more. All we need to do is gather the information in pieces and put it together. Eventually, the answers we seek will become clear.”
Yukiya thought about that. It was likely that the hunter wasn’t the only one who’d been offered sagecap in this town. Maybe the other townspeople had distrusted the outsider merchant and refused to buy. The local officials were looking into things, and that meant that the townspeople would cooperate. They should be able to find out the merchant’s identity and whereabouts, at the very least.
“What should we do?” Yukiya asked. “Should we help the officials?”
The Crown Prince shook his head. “No. If we’re going to do this, we have to do what others can’t.”
“And what’s that?” Yukiya asked.
“Just follow me and don’t ask questions.” He licked rice from his fingers and stood up, using the tree he’d leaned his back against for support.
What is he going to do now? Yukiya thought. He followed the Crown Prince as instructed, but he made a face the entire time.
To Yukiya’s surprise, the Crown Prince wandered around Tamari and asked the same questions he’d posed to other villagers and townspeople on their way here. The topics he asked about varied: changes in the number of travelers depending on the season, trends in goods over the past few years, the complaints of a tavern worker’s wife. Many of these questions had absolutely no connection to sagecap. The Crown Prince listened patiently to every answer and every tirade and didn’t interrupt.
Yukiya had no idea what the Crown Prince was doing. The feeling was familiar. He’d often experienced it while serving the Crown Prince in the capital.
“Ghost lights?”
“Yes. They used to be a rare sight, but you can see them five or six times a year in the northern mountains these days.”
Those mountains marked Yamauchi’s northern border. Everyone knew that traveling beyond the northern mountains meant stepping into nothingness. That border was considered a point of no return.
Ghost lights had accumulated their own legends. Some said they were the spirits of people who’d gotten lost at night while traveling through the mountains. The lights lured other people into the mountains at night, and those people would never return home.
People who’d seen the lights and weren’t drawn into the darkness spread tales about them. The tales were told and retold with each generation, gaining new details.
“Ghost lights are an ill omen,” the vendor said, frowning. “Everyone finds the sight of them unsettling. So that’s one strange thing.”
Yukiya listened while sitting on a folding stool and sipping a cup of malt syrup.
Light danced in the Crown Prince’s eyes. “How do we get to Sugō?” he asked.
“Sugō is at the end of the old road. It’s the settlement closest to the mountains. I haven’t visited in quite some time, but it used to be a prosperous little town. Rebuilding the old road killed it somehow. Hardly anyone goes there these days. But you’ll be able to get there just fine by keeping to the road, so there’s that.”
Yukiya looked at the Crown Prince. “Remember the traveling merchant we talked to today? He told us his contact from Sugō didn’t show up last week.”
People from Sugō rarely traveled this far south. When they needed something, they sent their orders to traveling merchants whose routes traveled through both Sugō and Tamari. Deliveries to Sugō were fairly regular. The traveling merchant couldn’t remember the last time the Sugō merchant had missed a drop-off or a pickup meeting.
The Crown Prince stood up quickly. “Thank you for the malt syrup, sir. And the conversation.” He paid for the drinks and then walked away quickly, like a man possessed.
The vendor blinked in surprise. “You’re leaving already?” he asked.
The Crown Prince was already gone.
“Wait!” Yukiya called out. He didn’t want to spill his malt syrup by moving too fast. It was tasty. He drank down the rest of it in a hurry and ran after the Crown Prince. “What’s going on? Do you think there’s some connection between sagecap and the ghost lights?”
The Crown Prince paused for a moment. “I don’t know, but it’s too interesting for us not to look into it. I was curious when I heard Sugō crop up again in conversation. There’s something there; I can sense it.”
“Hold on a minute. I don’t get it. You want to go to Sugō—why? Because of a hunch?” The Crown Prince often acted impulsively, but he never did anything without a reason. “Isn’t that reckless and kind of stupid?”
The Crown Prince turned away from him and kept walking. “There’s a connection, however tenuous. It’s not just a hunch.”
Whenever he spoke like that, Yukiya remembered that the Crown Prince often called himself a true Golden Raven without any trace of irony or disbelief. He believed in true Golden Ravens and sincerely thought he was one. He often called himself one when he was trying to impose his will on others or validate his own opinions.
They rushed back to where they’d met the traveling merchant earlier. Fortunately, he was still there. He had extra goods meant for Sugō that he hadn’t been able to sell that day. He was in quite a predicament.
“I brought these all the way here for the people of Sugō, but if I can’t sell them soon, I’ll go out of business,” the merchant said. “I don’t have time to go deliver them and then come back.”
The Crown Prince offered the merchant a handful of coins. “I’ll buy these goods from you and deliver them myself,” he said.
The merchant’s eyes widened at the coins that the Crown Prince was offering him. He was definitely overpaying for the goods. The merchant told him so.
“I am paying you for your inconvenience so far,” the Crown Prince insisted.
The merchant still hesitated. “Well, that works out great for me, but what about you? It doesn’t seem like you’re going to gain very much from this deal.”
“Yes, I will. I have urgent business in Sugō.”
The overjoyed merchant accepted payment for the goods. After that, the Crown Prince headed to the nearest inn and retrieved his horse.
“Are you going straight to Sugō?” Yukiya asked.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Yukiya sighed. He’d have to follow the Crown Prince until he got bored or something and let him go home.
The horse carried the Crown Prince and Yukiya north. They flew above the road at top speed. As they traveled, Yukiya noticed fewer lights and homes. They were in the wilderness and the quality of the road suffered. They saw an occasional farmhouse here and there, but no more towns or settlements.
According to the people at the inn in Tamari, Sugō was a small settlement of a few dozen people that was close to Yamauchi’s northern border. Few if any Yatagarasu lived beyond Sugō.
As the sun set, the Crown Prince pulled up on his horse’s reins and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?” he asked.
Yukiya smelled nothing strange. “I’m not sure. What do you smell?”
“Blood,” the Crown Prince said quietly. “Fresh blood. And not just a little.” He shivered. The wind was against them, so the smell was coming from somewhere ahead.
Yukiya forced a smile. “Well, we’re in the mountains. Maybe a wild boar hunt was wildly successful and they’re butchering the beasts in Sugō as we speak. Or it could be deer,” he added with artificial cheer.
The Crown Prince faced straight ahead and didn’t move a muscle.
Yukiya understood his apprehension perfectly. He didn’t want to believe the worst until he had to, though.
If the Crown Prince was right and there was some connection between Sugō and sagecap, then another attack in Sugō wouldn’t be surprising. If the Crown Prince hadn’t intervened in Taruhi Village, a lot more innocent blood would have been shed.
The Crown Prince urged his horse to go faster. Sugō’s roofs loomed in the middle distance. They flew higher, taking in the settlement from above. “Observe everything you can,” the Crown Prince whispered. “If you see anything odd, tell me immediately.”
“Understood,” Yukiya said.
It was dusk. Yukiya would have expected to see people working at this hour, but he didn’t see a single soul. Even the rice fields were silent and devoid of people.
“No one’s here?” Yukiya whispered.
It was eerily quiet.
Yukiya and the Crown Prince looked around for a few tense moments. Yukiya saw something moving first.
“Your Imperial Highness,” Yukiya murmured. “There.”
He pointed to a small house that had clothes drying on a clothesline just outside. Dried fish hung under the house’s eaves. That house, at least, had people in it. Two empty carts stood abandoned on the dirt road outside the house. The carts looked like they’d been left in a hurry. Wheel tracks in the road were visible even in the low light.
Maybe everyone is gathering in the mountains or something? Yukiya thought.
Then he noticed movement by the well in front of the house. “And there,” Yukiya said, pointing again. “What do you think that is?”
Yukiya saw a black stain like a puddle and something that looked like a crumpled piece of cloth where he was pointing.
“It’s hard to tell,” the Crown Prince said,
“Shall we go down and take a look?”
The Crown Prince considered for a moment and then nodded. He commanded the horse to land in a small clearing close to the well.
The moment Yukiya dismounted, he grimaced and took a step back. The smell of blood was so strong here that it assaulted his senses. He also smelled decay and rot—meat gone bad. He nearly gagged.
Yukiya’s gaze followed a fly that buzzed past. Then he looked at the object near the well and gasped.
It was a human arm, chopped off from the elbow down. Flies swarmed over the hand. The stain under the arm was a pool of blood.
Yukiya was stunned by the sight and couldn’t look away. He noticed drag marks on the ground that led to the entrance of the nearest house. The sliding door that led into the house was closed.
A chill went up Yukiya’s spine.
The Crown Prince pulled Yukiya back into the shadow of the house. “Remain silent,” he whispered. “Be ready to transform at any time.”
Yukiya nodded.
After making sure Yukiya was concealed in the shadow cast by the house, the Crown Prince drew his sword. Then he kicked open the house’s sliding door in a fluid motion.
Light streamed in through the open door, illuminating the gruesome scene inside.
Severed hands and feet and dark red, bloodied organs lay scattered all over the floor. A woman’s head, eyes open and cheek gored, stared up at the Crown Prince. Her eyes were glassy in death. The area around the hearth was a sea of blood. More blood dripped down the walls. Piles of white bones were stacked in the corners of the house.
The only movement came from the center of the room. The Crown Prince heard a slurping sound and tightened his grip on his sword.
Then the slurping stopped when the figure in the center of the room stood up. It was huge and covered in fur. Its face was flushed red and its wide-open eyes had no whites. The creature’s irises burned gold. Blood dripped from its hands and body.
This wasn’t a Yatagarasu.
It was a monstrous monkey.
“Run, Your Imperial Highness!” Yukiya cried out.
“Fly, Yukiya!” the Crown Prince called back.
The monstrous monkey seemed confused by their shouts. It spat out the bone it had been sucking the marrow from and bared its teeth. Seeing a fresh meal in front of it, the monkey charged at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince dodged out of the way of the monkey’s charge.
The monkey crashed through the house’s sliding door and fell to the ground outside with a spectacular thud.
This was nothing like the crazed raven that had attacked Taruhi Village. This terrifying monster was hell-bent on killing the Crown Prince.
Safe in the air, Yukiya let out a desperate caw. Where was the Crown Prince now? Why wasn’t he fleeing?
The Crown Prince appeared in the shattered doorway of the house. He raised his sword and kept his distance. “Who are you?” he called out. “Where did you come from?”
The monkey’s mouth moved like it was about to speak, but the creature only sneered. Then the monkey lunged at the Crown Prince again.
The Crown Prince clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The monkey raised both arms and bared its hideous teeth. It unleashed a roar that made Yukiya’s ears pop and leaped at the Crown Prince, attempting to crush him with its huge bulk.
The Crown Prince faced the monkey head-on, his cold gaze fixed on the monstrous creature. He swung his sword in front of him, aiming perfectly.
The monkey’s head fell to the ground first, followed by its body a moment later.
The Crown Prince moved away from the body swiftly so that he wouldn’t be crushed or get the monkey’s blood all over him. Then he looked into the monkey’s dead eyes, breathing hard.
Yukiya was stunned. He hadn’t expected the Crown Prince to kill the monkey so quickly. He descended and transformed back into his human shape. Then he ran over to the Crown Prince.
“Are you all right?” Yukiya asked. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt,” the Crown Prince said. “But dozens of Yatagarasu are dead. We need to determine the extent of the damage and request help from the nearest town. We should send a message to your father. He can send guards and soldiers here. There should be twelve or thirteen families in Sugō. I don’t want to believe that they’re all dead, but…”
Yukiya nodded solemnly. He crouched down and took a closer look at the monkey. “What the hell is this thing? I’ve never heard of a giant monkey that eats Yatagarasu before.” He was far more frightened of the monkey than he’d been of the crazed raven who had attacked Taruhi Village.
“I haven’t, either,” the Crown Prince said. “We need to find out. In any case, finding any survivors and helping them comes first. You stay here.”
The Crown Prince left Yukiya by his horse and then spun on his heel. He checked the other houses one by one, sliding open the doors and checking over every room in the houses carefully. Yukiya watched him. He wanted to leave this place five minutes ago, but he agreed that it was important to look for survivors. He felt ashamed for wanting to flee this place of death.
As the Crown Prince entered a different house, Yukiya noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw someone sitting in a clump of weeds, their hair disheveled and their brown kimono torn and filthy. There were bloodstains on their hands and clothes.
And they were a Yatagarasu. A Yatagarasu in human form.
Relief flooded Yukiya’s senses as he took a few steps toward the cowering survivor. “Your Imperial Highness, there’s someone here!” he shouted.
“What?” the Crown Prince called back. He rushed out of the house in a hurry.
“They’re injured!” Yukiya yelled. “They need treatment!” He turned toward the Crown Prince—
—and met a solid wall of flesh in front of him. A giant monkey reached for him and seized him by the throat. The monkey heard the Crown Prince coming and stepped behind Yukiya, wrapping one burly arm around his neck.
The Crown Prince approached slowly, his sword drawn. “That’s not a Yatagarasu,” he said.
By the time Yukiya had realized that, it was too late. He felt like a fur collar had been wrapped tightly around his neck. He was running out of air. He didn’t struggle because he feared having his neck broken.
And then the monkey lifted him into the air by his neck.
Yukiya was going to die. There was no doubt about it. His eyes met the Crown Prince’s.
The Crown Prince looked at him as he raised his sword and slashed. The movement looked practiced—like he’d done it a thousand times before. The blade slashed down in a whip-like motion straight at Yukiya’s face. It came so close that it chopped a few hairs from the side of his head.
Then the point thunked into the monkey’s forehead with a sickening squelch.
There was no scream. The monkey that had been holding him by the neck went limp and dropped like a stone.
Desperately escaping from the hairy arm that held him, Yukiya turned around and looked at the sword. The monkey’s eyes were still open and staring at him in accusation.
“Are you all right?” the Crown Prince asked.
Yukiya scrambled away from the monkey and then collapsed to his knees. Cold sweat soaked his clothes. “I thought you were going to kill me and not the monkey.”
“What do I look like, an amateur?” the Crown Prince asked. He frowned. “We need to be more careful. There could be other monkeys around.”
“That one took human form,” Yukiya said. “That’s why I thought it was a Yatagarasu. Is there any way to tell the difference when they’re in human form?”
“I don’t know,” the Crown Prince said. “That’s a troublesome complication.” He pulled Yukiya up by the collar of his feather robe. “We should finish checking the houses and then get out of here. You’re not leaving my side until we’re away from this place.”
“I don’t think there are any survivors,” Yukiya said. “Do you?”
The Crown Prince removed his sword from the monkey’s forehead and cleaned it. Then he headed toward the next house. Yukiya followed him with effort. His legs wouldn’t stop shaking. He prepared himself for the worst.
The house that Yukiya and the Crown Prince entered was surprisingly tidy and well-kept. There was no smell of blood and no half-eaten corpses. A large wooden chest stood next to the hearth. It was long enough for a child or a short adult to hide inside.
The Crown Prince used the sheath of his sword to lift the lid of the wooden chest. His eyes widened.
“What is it? Did you find something?” Yukiya asked.
“No, not something.”
Yukiya risked taking a peek over the Crown Prince’s shoulder and gasped.
A girl about fourteen or fifteen years old lay inside the chest, sleeping peacefully. She was dressed like a city girl, not like one of the townspeople of Sugō.
The Crown Prince gently shook her shoulder and told her to wake up, but she remained asleep and showed no signs of hearing them.
“Could she be a monkey, too?” Yukiya asked.
“No,” the Crown Prince said. “I can’t do anything to this girl. She must be a Yatagarasu.”
Before Yukiya could ask what that meant, the Crown Prince picked up the girl and carried her back to his horse.
“Let’s get out of here quickly. Follow us in raven form.”
The Crown Prince calmed his agitated mount and prepared to depart.
Yukiya looked back at the devastation that had befallen Sugō. He thought about the strange appearance of the monstrous monkeys here and all the murdered townspeople.
The girl on the Crown Prince’s horse was the only survivor.
What in the world is happening to my home? Yukiya thought.
Translator's Notes
Sinsemilla is a type of marijuana. Being seedless, the plant contains more essential oils and compounds, making the drug more potent. The kanji used here are for “cannabis” and “leaf,” but the conversation that follows indicates that they’re discussing powerful and forbidden illegal drugs. Marijuana or cannabis would have also been acceptable translations, but the compound used here is not the same word that is used to refer to marijuana or cannabis in Japanese, so I differentiated it slightly.
The word used for "sagecap" is senningai. Sennin means “wizard” in the traditional sense, with the added connotation of mountain sage or hermit. Gai means lid, cap or cover. Sagecap is a made-up drug, much like karon incense.
The malt syrup is a real drink called ameyu in the text, though the description more closely resembles hiyashiame, which is ameyu served cold.
The word used for "ghost lights" is shiranui, which means “phosphorescent light” and is often used to describe mysterious lights on the sea.
The unit of measurement used here is the shaku, which is an ancient Japanese unit of measurement. By rare parsimony, a shaku is roughly equivalent to the imperial foot unit of measurement.
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