The Sea Stone

by Nicolette Andrews

  Suzume scooted toward the edge of her seat. Were Kaito's wounds worse than I realized? Maybe I shouldn't have locked him up. Tohru saw her leaning forward to get a better look and made a small shake of his head. Suzume scowled at the barbarian yokai for correcting her behavior. She was a princess. But the other Namahage were watching her. Her control over them was tenuous at best. It wouldn't be long before they realized she was an impostor. And despite her desire to rebel against Tohru's instruction, she leaned back in her chair, placing one hand on each arm. Her nails dug into the wood, pushing back her nail beds painfully.

  "What is the meaning of this?" she said, resuming her regal tone in order to mask the real fear that she had accidentally put Kaito in danger. She flicked open her fan and waved it onto her face so no one would see her expression.

  "Kaito is missing," Rin growled.

  Suzume's stomach seemed to drop out beneath her. But she took a deep breath and schooled her expression to indifference. This had to be a trick. Something he and Rin had concocted to make her look like a fool. "Who is that then?" She nodded her head toward the body the Namahage was holding.

  The Namahage flopped it onto the ground. As he did, it was clear it was not Kaito but Makato. His head slammed against the ground with a loud thud. Rin broke free of her captor and went to kneel beside the unconscious priest. She gently placed his head on her lap and stroked his face. A large lump had already started to form on his forehead, there was purple bruising around his eye, and his clothes were torn and bloodied.

  "What happened?" Suzume said, standing once more without meaning to.

  "We found the guards knocked unconscious and this man was inside, there was no sign of the prisoner," the Namahage who had been holding Makato reported.

  A rapid series of thoughts ran through her mind. Kaito had found out about the seal. Broken the seal. Then taken revenge against Makato. And he would come for her next when he realized she had known and had done nothing to reverse it. Suzume looked around, expecting Kaito to soar in from the sky any minute raining ice spears down upon them all.

  Makato groaned and opened his eyes. He squinted into the light of day and looked about with unfocused eyes.

  "Makato, what happened?" Rin asked. She held his face between her hands, forcing him to look into her eyes.

  Suzume took a step toward him, intent on interrogating him herself, but tripped over the voluminous layers of her kimono and stumbled down the steps instead. She was saved from eating dirt by Tohru's arm around her waist. She turned her head to look at her savior, and when their eyes met she felt that same draw of his power. It was tempting to try and draw from his power, like sneaking a treat before dinner. Suzume shook herself of the thought. When she blinked and looked away the impulse was gone and he had propped her back up on her own two feet. He bowed his head to her in a symbol of servitude, but his gaze lingered on her longer than seemed appropriate.

  Suzume turned her attention to Makato, who had sat up and put distance between himself and Rin. "What did you do to Kaito?" she said, her voice coming out so fierce and powerful she hardly recognized it.

  "The last thing I remember was going to visit the dragon," he said as he pressed against the lump on his head with a wince.

  "Why would you disobey my orders and visit him?" Her words were like a whip crack. Had she been wrong in trusting Makato? What if he and the dragon had worked together to make a fool of her? She looked around again expecting him to jump out and laugh at this joke. Perhaps the dragon had never really been injured and this was all some elaborate prank.

  Makato looked at his hands, which were folded in his lap. "I was worried about the wounds he sustained while we were fighting the Namahage and I wanted to treat them."

  She inched closer toward him, fire leaping to her skin, and she brandished her burning hands like a weapon. Makato looked at her hands and then into her eyes. She could see his fear reflected there. She didn't care. This power could protect her from anything.

  "Then what happened?"

  Makato held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "I don't know, the next thing I remembered was waking up here."

  "The dragon must have attacked and then fled," Tohru said.

  "But he was weakened by the seal." Suzume stood in a defensive pose, prepared for the dragon to leap out at her any moment.

  "He must have broken my seal," Makato said sheepishly.

  "Then where is he now? Find him!" She shouted to the Namahage who leaped to do her bidding. Suzume watched them go with little satisfaction. She felt like there were eyes on her from all angles. The dragon was watching her laughing, mocking her for her naivety to think she could trap him.

  "Do you think he's going to leap out at you from the shadows?" Rin said, her voice accusatory.

  "Why shouldn't I be worried? You know his temper," Suzume shot back.

  "Because he wouldn't hurt you, and he wouldn't have left you behind. There's something going on here," Rin said.

  "Are you saying I did something to him?" Suzume's voice rose a few octaves.

  "You know that's not what I mean," Rin replied, her voice somewhat softer now.

  But Suzume was beyond reason.

  "The real reason he left is because he could not stand to see me grow more powerful."

  Rin shook her head. "Don't be foolish-"

  "You dare challenge me?" Suzume said. The flames were rising higher along her body, moving to engulf everything in flames. The Namahage stamped their feet and began chanting as one.

  Rin looked at Suzume with wide, terrified eyes. "What have you become?"

  "Leave. Join the dragon." She pointed away.

  Rin glared at her with a defiant look in her eyes for a few more moments before transforming into a kitsune and leaping away.

  Once she was gone, Suzume felt the fire die out of her and she collapsed back into her chair.

  "I want to be alone now." There was a flurry of activity as the Namahage rushed to do her bidding. She rose up from her throne as the Namahage brought her a palanquin. Two of them carried her on their backs and brought her to the hut that she had made her own.

  It was the largest hut in the village but lacked the refinement of her room at the White Palace. But it felt like a luxury nonetheless to have soft pillows and blankets. Even a table. Although the table was not much more than a tree stump. When they reached her room, she stepped off the palanquin. A rug had been rolled out to prevent her from stepping on the dirty ground.

  Inside two of the serving girls were fluffing pillows and pouring tea for her to drink. The tea was served up in a crude sake cup and was nothing more than a weak imitation of real tea. She had taken these trappings of a fake ruler and convinced herself it made her a ruler. But Kaito had dashed that in one swoop.

  Suzume flopped down on the cushion in front of her makeshift table. The things that early today had brought her happiness suddenly filled her with rage and Suzume knocked away the tea the servant was pouring, spilling it on the table.

  "Leave me," she shouted. The servants bowed before scurrying out. Everyone left, except for Tohru.

  "My lady, can I speak?"

  Suzume leaned forward on the table, resting her head in her hands. Rubbing her forehead, she said, "I told you to leave."

  He did not obey her command however, and she jumped up slamming her hands onto the table in front of her. "Did you not hear me?"

  He was kneeling down on the ground, his head almost pressed into the dirt. "You seemed dissatisfied with your role here, my lady."

  "I am. I don't want to rule over a bunch of savages in the middle of the woods." She picked up a nearby pillow and threw it across the room. It made a dissatisfying projectile as it fell limp against the far wall.

  She had been so angry as of late. It twisted around inside of her, coursing through her veins and erupted as fire along her skin. Nothing she owned was free of scorch marks any longer.

  "Might I make a suggestion, my lady?" Tohru asked, once more not lifti
ng his head.

  "What? Speak then!"

  "When the original Lady of the Flame was defeated, the priestess Kazue bound her into stone."

  "Yes, I know that," she said, arms crossed and glaring at him.

  "After many years we have recovered that stone." He opened his large hand and resting on his palm was a large obsidian stone. He approached Suzume with it and as it drew closer she felt the power within it. It called out to her. Begging her to take it. The draw was more than even the power in Tohru. This had to be one of the missing eight Kazue had sealed. She had found it. And without the dragon's help!

  Her hands practically itched to get a hold of it, a real triumph, one that he could not deny her. Suzume reached to take it out of his hand but before she could, Tohru pulled it back. Suzume jutted her lips out like a child deprived of a sweet.

  "This stone will give you even greater control of your fire. You would be even more powerful than the dragon."

  "I already am more powerful." She jutted her chin out, but kept glancing toward the stone.

  "Yes, my lady." He dipped his head in acknowledgment. "But with this and the Sea Stone, you would be even more powerful."

  Suzume whipped her head in his direction, now he had her attention. "What is the Sea Stone?"

  "It is like this." He gestured toward the stone containing the Lady of the Flame. "It is all that remains of the Lord of the Sea's power. I believe that is where the dragon is really headed."

  Suzume tapped her chin in thought. The Sea Stone was likely the same artifact Noaki had heard rumors about, and it was just as likely one of the missing eight. Of course he would know about an artifact and not tell me.

  "Show me that stone." She held out her hand to Tohru. He offered it up to her and she greedily snatched it from him. As soon as her fingers closed around it, the power shot through her and filled her with a tingling sensation. It was euphoric. And she wanted more of it.

  34

  In her room back at the palace, Suzume had a painted screen depicting the ocean. It had been a gift from a suitor. She had loved looking at the white-capped waves, the blue that was somehow deeper than the sky, and the power the ocean seemed to possess even if it was just captured in the painting. Looking at the real ocean struck her with its majesty and the power she had felt captured in the painting was dwarfed by the raw power of the ocean even from this distance.

  It was massive. That was her first thought. Even from a distance she could not quite process how large and flat it was. It seemed to go on forever in all directions. She had never felt so small and insignificant until she was staring at it. The ocean seemed to reach beyond the horizon to a place where only the gods could dwell. And it was dark blue, a color unlike any she had seen before in person with such intensity even the paint looked faint in comparison.

  Makato stood to her left and smiled at her. "Is this your first time seeing the ocean?"

  Suzume tore her gaze away from the view to look at Makato. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, and she saw that same sense of majesty that she had felt reflected in his own gaze. Was that just how the ocean made everyone feel, or was this some residual emotion of Kazue's welling up in both of them? That thought soured the moment and Suzume replied with some venom.

  "Yes. I never saw anything beyond the walls of the palace until recently."

  He turned to look at her. "It might have been better if you never left at all."

  He didn't elaborate and she didn't really want him to anyway. He was wrong. For so long she had thought that was what she wanted. But as her power grew, she could only see her desire to return to that stifling place as childish fantasy. She was becoming more than she ever could have been at the palace.

  The four-day journey here had been uneventful. The Namahage's intimidating presence kept yokai away and Suzume's urgency to get to the Sea Stone as soon as possible had kept them moving at a quick pace. The dragon and Rin had not made an appearance, which in her mind only reinforced her belief that he had gone in search of the Sea Stone as well.

  They had stopped only momentarily along the rise of a hill but soon they were descending down a narrow pathway. This stretch of land was filled with rolling low hills and thick vegetation. The ocean was so large she could see it even from a distance and in almost every direction they were surrounded by it. Just beyond the crashing waves, she could see an island in the distance. The ocean divided the land in two as if the gods had cut them in half.

  Beyond this shore was where the Sea Stone was hidden, she could feel it. There was a niggling feeling at the back of her mind. It called to her. She had been here before. Or at least, Kazue had.

  "How do we get across?" Suzume asked.

  "A boat would be easiest, unless you wanted to swim," Tsuki replied with a mischievous grin.

  "Thanks. I figured as much." Suzume rolled her eyes at Tsuki. "How do we get a boat?"

  "That's probably the best place to start." Makato pointed at curls of smoke rising on the horizon. It appeared there was a village nearby.

  They headed in the direction of the smoke, but before they got too close to the village Suzume ordered her Namahage to wait behind. Tohru protested but she managed to convince him when she agreed to bring Noaki and Tsuki along for protection. And since they could conceal their presence they would not intimidate the humans the way the Namahage would.

  The village itself was not much larger than maybe a couple dozen shabby huts set back a little way from the shore.

  Older villagers gathered around a central bonfire while children ran around playing some game only children knew. A group of women sat in a circle in what could be graciously called the village center. The women surrounded an elderly woman with entirely white hair and more wrinkles than seemed possible. The men were conspicuously absent. The old woman had to be their matriarch, because when Makato and Suzume approached, the women around her stopped what they were doing and looked to the old woman to greet them.

  They must have looked like a strange pair: Suzume in peasant's clothes along with an armed warrior.

  "Hello, grandmother," Makato said, addressing the old woman with a bow.

  The old woman's face was so wrinkled the folds on her brow nearly obscured her eyes entirely. Her skin was tanned and weathered with numerous cracks and valleys. "We do not often get visitors to our village, what brings you here?" the old woman asked, her voice was high and reedy.

  "We are looking for a boat to take us to the island." He gestured toward the unseen island beyond the bay.

  The women gasped and murmured to one another behind their hands while avoiding looking at Suzume and Makato. It was as if Makato had insulted the old woman.

  The old woman's eyes narrowed as she stared at Makato. She set aside her sewing and crossed her hands in her lap.

  "No one sails beyond this bay, or any bay along this coast," she said.

  "Then how does one reach the island to the north?" Makato asked.

  The old woman shook her head, the loose folds of her skin swayed. "That stretch of water is cursed, every good fisherman for miles knows that. Any who try to cross fall prey to the umi-bozu."

  "Omi-bowsu?" Suzume asked. She'd never heard of such a thing. Of course there were many horrifying creatures she'd never heard of.

  "OOH-mi BOW-zoo," Makato said correcting her mispronunciation without turning to look at her.

  She scowled at the back of his head but his gaze was focused on the old woman.

  "The Umi-bozu is a dangerous monster which hunts these waters. I saw it once when I was a girl, big as a mountain, dark as night. Any ship that tries to cross is taken by the monster."

  "I've heard of these," Akira whispered in Suzume's ear. "If there is one nearby we must be careful."

  Suzume dismissed her concern with a wave over her shoulder. The old her would have thought it nothing but villager superstition, but she had seen stranger things since she left her walled palace. It was very possible some monster stalked just beneath the crashing wa
ves waiting for a careless fisherman to come their way. But even if there was, she felt confident she could defeat it now that she had control of Kazue's fire.

  "I'm not worried about that," Suzume said. "Where can I buy a boat to get across?"

  The old woman looked out to the sea beyond. "You would be wiser to not waste your time. Our boats are our livelihoods. No one will part with it for a fool's journey."

  Suzume was about to make a smart remark when Makato placed his hand over her mouth and forced her into a bow to the old woman along with him.

  "Thank you for telling us." He pulled her away before she could say anything else.

  Once they were out of earshot, Suzume broke free of his hand. "That's it? How are we supposed to get across?"

  Makato shook his head. "We keep looking. There's bound to be someone willing to help."

  She sighed heavily. She never thought finding a way across would be the hard part.

  Despite the old woman's warning, they went to the shore to wait until the ships came in. As the first ship came ashore, Makato flagged them down. Two men operated the tiny dingy, which hardly looked water-tight to Suzume. As it brushed against the shore, Makato approached with a bow. The fisherman's weathered face was painted with suspicion as he watched Makato.

  "Excuse me, we are seeking passage across to the island beyond, would you be willing to take us?" Makato asked.

  The man stared for a moment without answering before turning back to gather up the line on his ship as if they were not there at all.

  "We're talking to you!" Suzume raised a fist, prepared to use force to get an answer, when Makato put a hand on her shoulder.

  "Don't, it's not worth the trouble."

  "I hope the umi-bozu sinks your boat," she muttered a curse under her breath as she glared at his back.

  They repeated the process several times with similar results each time. One fisherman spat in their direction, giving her the impression of what they thought about their question.

  "That bastard." Suzume did not hold back her curses this time. "Do you know who I am? I should call my yokai army down on your head."