Guardian of the Darkness

by Nahoko Uehashi

  “Wouldn’t your mother enjoy some of these fresh spices?”

  “Gina! Kassa! Come see what I have here!”

  After parting from Gina and their friends, Kassa began climbing the steep, rocky slope. The clear autumn air bore a faint hint of snow. The higher he climbed, the more the world around him expanded. He gazed down at the land, which rolled far into the distance like waves on the sea, and marveled at what a beautiful world the god Yoram had made. The story of the creation ran through his mind.

  In the beginning, there had been only whirling darkness. From this burst the first flash of light — Yoram, the god of thunder, or the “Backless One.” The front of his body was the Great Light, while his back was the Great Darkness. He was the god of both the blinding thunderbolt and of the darkness from which it emerged. The ancestors who founded the nine clans were born from the body of the Great Light: from his right and left ears, Musa and Yonsa; from his right and left eyes, Muro and Yonro; from his right and left hands, Muga and Yonga; from his right and left feet, Muto and Yonto; and from his nose, Na. Kanbal, the ancestor of the royal line, was born last of all, emerging from the god’s forehead. It was he who established the kingdom of Kanbal over the Yusa range. The Great Darkness likewise birthed children who founded nine other clans, and the line of kings that ruled the Mountain Kingdom beneath the Yusa range.

  Each of the ten clans of Kanbal received their own territory and traveled to it. From afar, they saw only rocky mountains; not a blade of grass, not a tree nor a drop of water blessed the land. But when the clan founders set foot on the territory given to them, grass and trees sprouted from the soil, springs and streams flowed forth, and little people and goats emerged from the ground. The little people were the Herders, who cared for the goats and gave their milk to the clan founders. In return, the founders vowed to protect the land and the Herder People from harm.

  This story always made Kassa wonder how merchants and tradesmen had come into being. Physically, they were clearly of the same race as he, so when, he wondered, had the clans split into warriors and commoners?

  Suddenly he heard a piercing whistle. He looked up quickly and saw a Herder youth poking his head out from behind a rock. It was Yoyo, a boy he had known since childhood. Although Kassa, to his chagrin, was the shortest of his peers, he always felt like a giant when he was with the Herders. Yoyo was fifteen, like Kassa, but he only came up to his friend’s chest, and even the adults reached no higher than Kassa’s shoulders.

  The Herders were a dark-skinned people with bushy gray hair and wide, lively eyes that animated their friendly, broad-nosed faces. They were very tough and wore nothing but leather breeches, except in the middle of winter. The soles of their feet were so hard they could run about the craggy slopes barefoot, and they were as nimble as the mountain goats they tended. The men always carried “eagle chasers,” slender wooden staffs tipped with stone points, to fend off eagles that attacked the baby goats. Kassa had once offered to buy Yoyo an iron tip for his staff, but Yoyo refused, saying he hated the smell of iron.

  “You smell good!” Yoyo called out to him now.

  Kassa grinned and raised the bag he carried. “I bought thirty losso so you can share them with everyone.”

  Yoyo’s eyes grew round with surprise and he swallowed loudly. “Wow! Thanks! It’s just about time for a break anyway. Let’s go down to Spring Hollow and meet the others.” He let out a series of shrill whistles: “Hiyu, hyo, hyo, hiyuwee!” The sound bounced off the cliffs and multiplied. The Herder People could carry on an entire conversation in whistles alone.

  Spring Hollow was a thicket surrounding a spring that flowed from a hollow in a rock. By the time Kassa and Yoyo pushed their way through the bushes, four or five other Herders had already gathered there, sitting about and chewing on nyokki, a tree root. Yoyo’s father and grandfather were heating up goat’s milk over a fireplace made of three flat stones. Toto, the oldest Herder male in Musa territory and a clan elder, was there too.

  “Grandpa, Kassa bought us thirty losso!”

  The men exclaimed at the gift. Yoyo’s father added fragrant koluka leaves to the hot la to make lakoluka, a milky tea, and poured it into bowls. Then they divided up the losso and sat down to enjoy the feast. When they asked him how he had become so wealthy, Kassa repeated what Yuguro had told him. Although he hated lying to his friends, he could not break his promise. Just as Yuguro had said, no one in his own clan had questioned his story, and he was sure the Herders would accept it too.

  But as they listened, their expressions changed and they fell silent. It was obvious they did not believe a word he said. Finally Toto the Elder removed the nyokki stick from his mouth and rested it on his knee. “Now listen here, Kassa boy,” he said. “You just keep that lie shut up behind those lips of yours. We’re not saying you have to tell us the truth if you don’t want to, but we don’t want to listen to lies.”

  Kassa’s cheeks burned red. “What makes you think I’m lying?”

  The Herder People looked at each other uncomfortably. Yoyo shrugged. “Kassa, you just don’t smell like lyokuhaku.”

  “I don’t smell like lyokuhaku? You mean stones smell?”

  The Herders grinned. “Maybe not to you big people,” Yoyo said, “but to us, all the stones in the caves have very strong scents.”

  Kassa frowned. “Are you making fun of me? Even if lyokuhaku does smell, of course I wouldn’t smell like it. I gave it to Yuguro.”

  Toto scratched his chest noisily. “The smell of the stones in the cave doesn’t fade away after just a day. Kassa boy, you’ve got a piece of hakuma on you now, right?”

  Kassa started. It was true. He still carried the piece of hakuma he had found the other night inside his tunic.

  Toto’s sleepy-looking eyes suddenly widened and stared straight at him. “And that’s not all. You smell like luisha, the luminous blue stone. I smelled it as soon as you stepped into this glade.”

  Kassa stared back at him, deeply shaken. The Herder People with whom he had lived since birth suddenly seemed like strangers.

  Toto thumped his eagle chaser on the ground and stood up. “Hey there!” he said to his fellow Herders. “How long do you plan to rest? The Great Sun in the heavens will set before you know it!”

  The tension in the air dissipated instantly as the others jumped to their feet. Thanking Kassa for the food, they hurried off to their work. Soon Kassa stood alone in Spring Hollow with Toto, who was in charge of the fire. He felt overcome with a desolate loneliness.

  “Kassa boy.” The Elder came over and grasped him by the elbow. Bent with age, he only reached Kassa’s waist. “Thank you for the losso. You’ve a kind heart, lad.” His grip tightened and he looked at Kassa intently. “No matter what they tell you, never trust anyone who would make a good boy like you lie. Remember: If there ever comes a time when you can’t trust your own clan, think of us. We’ll stand by you.”

  He let go and Kassa left the clearing without another word, his confusion shot through with a welcome bolt of anger. Well, of all the … What do the Herder People know anyway? How could there ever be a day when I can’t trust my own people?

  He stepped out onto a rock ledge and the cold wind struck him full in the face. He clenched his teeth. But why had Yuguro trembled and turned so pale? Why had Kaguro looked as if he had seen a ghost? And who on earth was that woman?

  No one was about to tell him the answers. The chieftain and Yuguro were hiding something important from their own people, from the clan. As he thought about the situation, the scenery spread out beneath him seemed to lose its color and grow distant.

  “Do you have any idea who she is?” Kaguro was sunk in his chair, while Yuguro stood by the window. Turning to look at his brother, the younger man leaned back against the window frame, making it hard for Kaguro to see his expression against the westerly sun.

  “Yes … When I defeated Jiguro, there was a girl there. She watched him die.”

  Kaguro frowned. “This is
the first I’ve heard of it! Who was she? Jiguro’s lover?”

  “Perhaps. But I think she was too young for that.”

  “And? What did you do?”

  “Nothing. I told her Jiguro was my older brother, but he was also a thief and a traitor and I had come to avenge the terrible crime he committed. Then I left her there. That was all…. What else could I have done? Are you suggesting I should have killed an innocent girl just because she might someday cause trouble?”

  Kaguro opened his mouth but then shook his head wordlessly. He looked down and pressed his hand against his forehead. “Then there’s no mistake,” he continued after a pause. “She must be the traveler Kassa met.” He looked up at Yuguro. “Could she be doing penance for Jiguro? But why would she come here now, after ten years have passed?”

  Yuguro gazed out the window, his eyes narrowed. Finally he turned slowly back toward the room and walked over to the fireplace. “Perhaps she needed money.”

  Kaguro’s brow furrowed. “You certainly come up with some wild ideas. What do you mean?”

  “It’s not a wild idea. Think about it. She defeated the hyohlu with her spear, which means that Jiguro must have taught her how to fight. What if he taught her more than that? If she needed money, wouldn’t it be natural for her to think of the stones? Maybe she wasn’t after luisha, but she could have sought lyokuhaku. And if Jiguro taught her how to find her way through the caves, then she could get it.”

  Comprehension dawned on Kaguro’s face. “I see. You’re right, that could be it. From what Kassa told us, she was using the marks on Jiguro’s spear to find her way from New Yogo into Musa territory.”

  “Yes. And while she was passing through the caves, she accidentally bumped into Kassa and Gina. She pretended to be a traveler doing penance and swore them to secrecy. It all fits together.”

  Kaguro sighed and shook his head. The old wound buried deep in his heart ached. “That good-for-nothing brother of ours. Wasn’t it enough to bring shame upon our entire clan? Fifteen years of hell we suffered! But no, he had to go and leave this behind to cause trouble for us now!” He spat out the words and then rubbed the stub of his right arm. “If only I had still had my arm, I could have saved you so much pain….”

  He closed his eyes, and thus missed the slight smile that crossed Yuguro’s lips.

  “That’s all in the past, brother. I merely vindicated the clan’s honor. Leave the woman to me. I’ll deal with her.”

  Kaguro raised his face. “What will you do?”

  “It’s a serious crime to steal lyokuhaku. I’ll investigate quietly, and if she’s done what I suspect, I’ll have her executed — being careful, of course, not to let anyone else know her connection to Jiguro.”

  Kaguro grimaced. “I guess you’re right. It’s the only way.”

  “Yes,” Yuguro murmured as he gazed at the flames, “It’s the only way.”

  The chieftain’s hall bustled with preparations for the feast celebrating the return of Yuguro and the chieftain’s son, Kahm. Sweets and wine were distributed to the entire village, and the carousing continued far into the night.

  Partway through the festivities, Yuguro signaled to his nephew Kahm and his brother-in-law Dom, who served as chief of the village guard. The three men quietly left the feast. Guiding the other two into the living room, Yuguro closed the heavy door, and the noise receded like a wave pulling back from the shore. He gestured for them to sit on the chairs. “I’m sorry to call you away from the feast. But we have a little problem on our hands.”

  Kahm and Dom looked at him with concern. “What kind of problem, uncle?” Kahm asked.

  Yuguro smiled bleakly. “Well, it appears that a woman bearing Jiguro’s spear has infiltrated the caves in our territory.”

  Shock showed on their faces, as if a ghost long dead had risen from the depths of darkness. “But how?” Dom muttered in a deep voice. He was a burly, broad-shouldered man, a head taller than even Yuguro. Although he was much more intelligent than his appearance suggested, he was also short-tempered.

  Yuguro briefly recounted Kassa and Gina’s tale and then explained what he had told Kaguro. When he finished, Dom grasped his shoulder.

  “I understand, brother. I’ll send five of our best guards after her. She’ll stick out like a black goat among a white herd. We’ll catch her in no time.”

  Yuguro shook his head. “You’re right that we can find her easily. But I want you and Kahm to go after her yourselves.” He leaned forward and said quietly, “I trust you more than anyone else. You’re the only ones I can count on.”

  Kahm and Dom flushed with pride.

  Yuguro lowered his voice even further. “There are two reasons why we need to be cautious. First, we don’t want this incident to bring back the memory of our clan’s shame. Especially not now, at this crucial point in time.” The two men nodded solemnly. “The second reason is a trifling thing, but still … The woman has a personal grudge against me.” His lips twisted in a wry smile. “It’s only to be expected, really. When I killed Jiguro, she screamed at me, vowing to avenge his death by destroying my honor. I didn’t pay her any attention at the time — it was just the ranting of a girl.”

  He fixed his gleaming eyes on them. “I am sure you understand that at this important juncture, it will not do to have any doubt cast upon my honor, regardless of how ridiculous her claims may be.”

  Again, Kahm and Dom nodded gravely.

  “When you capture her, there is no need to bring her back here for judgment. Jiguro apparently taught her to use a spear. Use that against her. Make her angry enough that she’ll pick a fight. Then kill her. Kill her before she has a chance to ruin everything we’ve planned.”

  Balsa and her aunt talked late into the night. Although tired, they were too agitated to sleep.

  “You know, when I think about it, Kanbal has changed a lot in the last twenty years,” Yuka said, her chin resting in her hand. “Each clan used to rule over its own territory, and even the king had no say in clan affairs. But since the time of King Rogsam, the king’s power has grown stronger, so now almost all the young men from the chieftain’s line go to live in the capital once they turn eighteen. They’ve formed a group known as the King’s Circle, with the king and Yuguro at its head.”

  Balsa shrugged. She knew that each clan was like a little kingdom and marriage was only permitted within a clan. Having traveled through many lands, she found this exclusiveness oppressive. “Won’t the country be stronger if the clans are united rather than separated?”

  Her aunt frowned. “Yes, but only if it’s an equal union with strong bonds among all the clans. Instead, the authority of the king and Yuguro Musa seem to be growing steadily greater than that of anyone else…. There’s something suspicious about the whole setup.”

  As she listened to the wind shake the shutters, Balsa tried to remember the man named Yuguro. It had been autumn then, as it was now. He had arrived alone one day at the small hut in the Misty Blue Mountains where she and Jiguro lived with Tanda and his teacher, the magic weaver, Torogai. Jiguro’s stunned reaction when he saw Yuguro was so unusual that Balsa feared he had resolved to let the man kill him.

  But they had not fought — not immediately. The eight men who had found them before had taken a vow of silence, believing that Yoram would grant them his strength if they renounced speech with their opponent. Even if they had not taken this vow, in Kanbal, those who sought to avenge a crime were forbidden to converse with the criminal, for if they did, they would be defiled by the other’s sin. No matter what Jiguro said, no matter how he pleaded, the eight had ignored him, attacking wordlessly.

  But the man who called himself Yuguro was very talkative. On the night he arrived, he cheerfully introduced himself to Balsa as Jiguro’s younger brother. He told them that Rogsam was fatally ill, with only a few months to live, and spoke at length about their homeland. The two brothers talked for hours, finally lowering their voices to discuss something privately. Every night a
fter that they went off into the forest, returning around dawn and sleeping until noon. Thinking that they must share some secret as brothers, Balsa never asked Jiguro what they were doing. But she was curious, and one night she could not help following them.

  They trudged without torches to a dry, stony riverbed an hour’s distance from Jiguro’s hut. Despite the poor footing on the gravel, they took up battle stances, their spear tips gleaming white in the faint light of the crescent moon. Then they fought with wordless intensity — lunging, blocking, twisting, swinging — their movements so graceful it looked like they were dancing. The fight continued until the first rays of the sun broke over the dry river; then, without a word, they turned for home.

  After almost a month, Yuguro left them. When he had gone, Jiguro said abruptly, “My older brother apparently lost his arm to a wolf bite. The Musa clan techniques passed down through the chieftain’s line would have been lost. But this strange stroke of fortune has let me pass them on to my younger brother. At least that burden has been lifted from my shoulders.”

  Did Jiguro’s brother betray him? Balsa wondered now. She remembered that that was when the gold ring had disappeared from Jiguro’s spear. She had not asked him about it, simply assuming that he had given it to his brother as proof that he had passed on his skills, but now she realized that it might have had a much greater significance. Yuguro claimed to have defeated his older brother when he had not, and also to have retrieved the golden spear rings Jiguro had never stolen. And for his lies, he became a hero. “If Yuguro had the other eight gold rings, perhaps he stole them in the first place.”

  Aunt Yuka shook her head. “No. He couldn’t have. When Jiguro left Kanbal, Yuguro was only sixteen. He still lived in Musa territory, not in the capital. It would have been impossible.”