Guardian of the Darkness

by Nahoko Uehashi

  Kassa glared at him. “You’re right, we should’ve been more careful. But what we said was really secret. Please promise you won’t tell anyone, not even your own people.”

  Yoyo scratched his chin, then cocked his head and looked at Kassa. “Listen, do you really feel you owe that woman your lives?”

  “Yes!”

  “Then will you promise not to betray her ever again?”

  Gina answered immediately, “Of course we promise!”

  Kassa thought for a minute and then said quietly, “As long as she doesn’t harm the Musa clan.”

  Yoyo looked at Kassa for a moment, as if considering something, and then shrugged his shoulders. “Toto the Elder is amazing. You both answered exactly as he said you would.” Then he beckoned to them. “Come with me as quietly as you can. And don’t talk.”

  Kassa and Gina looked at each other and then followed after Yoyo, who had already set off at a brisk pace. Instead of the winding lateral route that Kassa and Gina usually used, Yoyo took a narrow track that wove steeply up between the rocks. This must be one of the Herder roads, Kassa thought. The Herder People knew these high rocky slopes intimately, including many paths that would seem impassable to others.

  Finally they came to a dead end at the bottom of a huge rock face. “Here we are,” Yoyo said. Gina and Kassa wondered what he meant, as they could see only a thorny shrub in front of the cliff, but Yoyo rapped a large stone beside the shrub with his eagle chaser. Tap, tap, tap. To their surprise, the stone rolled forward, as if it were being pushed from inside. Yoyo’s father, Dodo, peered out from the hole. “Are you alone?”

  “Yes, it’s all right. I made sure no one followed.”

  Dodo nodded and looked at Kassa and Gina. “Good. Kassa, Gina, come inside and watch your step.” His face disappeared again. Kassa sat on the edge of the hole and put his feet inside. Dodo grabbed his legs and lifted him in with surprising strength for such a small man. He pulled Gina in immediately after, and Yoyo pushed the boulder back into place from the outside.

  “Isn’t Yoyo coming?” Kassa asked. From the hollow sound of his voice, he guessed that they must be in a larger space than he had thought.

  “No. Someone has to stay outside to replace the stone.”

  As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Kassa noticed that there was a dim glow in the hollow, cast by a luminous moss growing on the rock.

  “Gina, take my hand, and Kassa, you take Gina’s.” Dodo led them slowly forward, hand in hand. He and Gina did not need to duck as they walked, but Kassa’s head brushed the ceiling, so he stooped over. To his surprise, he could feel a faint breeze.

  They followed the tunnel beneath the rock and turned right. Instantly, everything grew brighter. Kassa and Gina gasped. The space in front of them could have sat about ten adults. Directly before them ran a long horizontal crack, about the width of Kassa’s head, where several large rocks came together. Through it shone a blinding ray of sunshine. The fresh breeze Kassa had sensed wafted through the crack, keeping the air in the cave fresh. A woman sat beside it, leaning against the wall. Although her back was to the light, they recognized her immediately as Balsa.

  “Hello there.” She raised her hand in greeting.

  Kassa stood frozen in shock. “Um, I,” he stammered, his voice catching in his throat.

  Before he could finish, Gina blurted out, “We’re so sorry! We told our parents about you. We didn’t mean to, but you see, there was a piece of luisha, I guess it must have fallen from the hyohlu, and —”

  Someone grabbed her hand and she jumped. “Hold your horses,” Toto the Elder whispered. He had been sitting right beside her and she had not even noticed. “Not so loud now. See that window over there? Your voices carry outside.”

  Gina and Kassa took turns explaining why they had broken their promise. Balsa smiled faintly, but when they had finished, she nodded. “I see. Well, I suppose I lied a little as well, so let’s just say we’re even.”

  Kassa and Gina sighed. Their legs were trembling.

  “Don’t just stand there. Have a seat.” Toto gave Kassa a shove and the two of them sat down on a dry rock.

  “You’re Kassa and Gina, right? Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Balsa Yonsa, daughter of Karuna from the Yonsa clan.”

  Kassa, calmer now, took a closer look at Balsa’s face. Her skin was tanned and a few fine lines crinkled at the corners of her eyelids. But it was the intensity of her eyes and the frankness of her gaze that truly caught his attention.

  “Are you injured?” Gina asked, noticing the cloth bandage binding her left shoulder.

  Before Balsa could respond, Toto said, “She was grazed by a poisoned spearhead. Togal. As I’m sure you know, we use it against the eagles, so we also know the antidote.”

  “Yes, and thanks to you the numbness has gone,” Balsa said. “It’s sheltered enough in here that I don’t need a fire to keep warm, and I’ve regained much of my strength already with the delicious laga and lakalle. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

  Kassa frowned. “Weren’t you wounded when you fell off your horse?”

  Balsa looked puzzled. “No. I didn’t fall off a horse. A giant of a warrior threw a spear at me when my back was turned, and I didn’t dodge it in time. Shall I show you?”

  Casually she removed the cloth to display the ugly wound. Her shoulder had clearly been cut open, and the poison had turned the skin around it a vicious shade of purple.

  “They used poison?” Kassa whispered. Had Dom and Kahm poisoned their spear tips? Why would they do that if they were trying to capture her and bring her in for trial? He could think of only one answer to that question. Sickened by the idea, he began to tremble. He mentally went over the words that Master Yuguro had uttered in the great hall. How many lies had he woven into that story? Even if she were a criminal, why had he tried to kill her before she had been given a fair trial by the chieftain?

  “Kassa?” Gina’s voice jolted him from his thoughts. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow and looked at Balsa.

  “Why did you come back to Kanbal?”

  Balsa remained silent for some time. Then, with a small sigh, she said, “I came back to Kanbal for a very personal reason — to lay to rest a ghost that haunts me.” She smiled briefly. “When I was six, I had to leave Kanbal because of a conspiracy. My father’s friend helped me escape. We fled through those caves where I first met you to New Yogo. Twenty-five years have passed since then. The man who raised me died of a sudden illness, but I always felt that he had sacrificed his life for mine, and that thought never left me, no matter how many years passed. So I decided that, instead of trying to ignore this old wound, I would confront it. I chose to go through the same caves that I had been dragged through as a weeping six-year-old, this time relying on my own strength. And that was when I met you.”

  Kassa frowned in confusion. “Was — was the man who raised you Jiguro?”

  Balsa’s eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

  “Master Yuguro gathered the clansmen and told us. He said that you blamed him for killing Jiguro and you had come here to get revenge.”

  As understanding dawned on her face, Balsa groaned inwardly. She had expected Yuguro to do all he could to prevent people from finding out about her and Jiguro. It had never occurred to her that Yuguro would tell everyone, even boys such as Kassa, and twist the truth for his own ends. He was much more cunning than she had thought. And he must excel at spinning believable lies.

  But she had no intention of telling Kassa and Gina the whole story. They belonged to the Musa clan, and given their innocence, they would find it hard to live among their own people if they knew too much. In fact, she had never intended to involve them at all. She had planned to write a letter to the chieftain and have one of the Herders say they found it in the mountains. In it, she would request a meeting to explain the situation in person.

  But Toto pointed out that the men of the clan were convinced that she was a treacherous woman
bearing a grudge. Whoever read her letter would see it as a trap. Instead he suggested that she talk to Kassa. He reasoned that as Balsa had saved the boy and his sister, he would feel indebted to her. Both he and Gina were very intelligent, and as children of the chieftain’s sister, they would know who in the clan was most trustworthy. Toto insisted that if she wanted to entrust her message to someone, she should meet Kassa, explain at least some of her story, and ask him to take it for her.

  But if he already knows about Jiguro, what should I tell him?

  Watching her think, Kassa suddenly decided he had had enough. He sensed there was some important secret between this woman and Master Yuguro, and he was tired of being treated like a child, excluded from adult conversation, denied the truth, and brushed off with lies.

  “Mistress Balsa! I’m sick of lying and of being lied to. Please tell me the truth. Did you come here to get revenge, to shame Master Yuguro in front of the clan?”

  Balsa fixed her piercing gaze on him, then nodded. “When I first came here, I wasn’t even thinking of Yuguro. But now, yes, I’d like to pay him back twice over for what he did to me.” Her expression was stern. “But not because he killed Jiguro.”

  “Then why?”

  She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t want to tell you.”

  Kassa looked grim. “Then I’ll have to tell the chieftain you’re here.”

  Gina stared at her brother in shock. “Kassa!?”

  “I can’t stand by and let someone harm the clan. I vowed when I received my dagger that I would lay down my life for my people.”

  Balsa saw the desperation in his eyes and smiled. “I understand. You must do what you feel is right. But at least wait until I’m well enough that I won’t get the Herder People in trouble. You owe me that much, don’t you think?”

  Kassa felt as though she had effortlessly parried a thrust aimed with all his skill and determination. Then another combatant entered the fray.

  “Kassa!” Gina said determinedly. “I’m going to stand by Balsa no matter what. And if you try to tell on her, I’ll do everything to stop you!”

  “Gina, stay out of this!”

  “I won’t! I’ll risk my life to repay what we owe her!”

  “Damn it! Can’t you see? I don’t want to tell on her either. If she would just tell me the truth … If she has a good reason, I’ll risk anything to help her too.”

  “Shh! I told you to keep it down.” Toto gave each of them a light slap on the head. “Kassa boy, she’s just trying to protect you. She doesn’t want to bring misfortune on two innocent children by getting you involved. She won’t be able to move properly for another day or two, so there’s no need to be hasty. Take your time and get to know her a little better before you decide.”

  Kassa took a deep breath and nodded.

  It was almost dusk by the time they came down to the highlands and reached the clan settlement. Gina rushed toward their house, shrieking that she was going to be late helping with supper. Kassa, however, stopped at the sight of a man leaning against the wall of the winter goat pen and gazing absently at the sunset. It was Kahm.

  He turned when he noticed Kassa approaching. “Hello there,” he said. Kassa dipped his head in greeting and his cousin smiled. “I just dropped in on your mother, but I’m glad I bumped into you. You’re the one I really came to see.”

  Kassa looked up at him in surprise. Kahm was a quiet man with high cheekbones and thick eyebrows, the very image of a warrior. Yet Kassa knew that despite his forbidding appearance, he was very kind. He had often played with Kassa when they were younger, but since his move to the capital a few years ago, they had rarely had a chance to talk.

  “You came to see me?”

  “Yes.” Kahm smiled, embarrassed. The last rays of the setting sun lit up his profile. “Tomorrow I leave for the capital. I wanted to see you before I left … because the other day you seemed to be the one person in the great hall who was worried about me.”

  Kassa’s heart ached for him. “How’s the injury?”

  “Oh, it’s fine. It wasn’t very serious in the first place.”

  As he looked at his cousin’s profile, Kassa wondered if he had really smeared poison on his spear: Kahm, who more than anyone else hated dishonesty. But he could not ask. Instead he mumbled, “Thank you for coming specially to see me.”

  Kahm laughed suddenly. Then his face grew serious and he murmured, “Kassa, do you like Kanbal?”

  Kassa glanced at him questioningly. “Yes. Why?”

  Kahm gazed down on the forests covering the western lowlands. “I’ve been to other countries, and I know that Kanbal is poor, yet I can’t help thinking that it’s beautiful too.”

  Kassa too looked out over the plateau that rolled away to the cliffs and the conifer forests that covered the valley below. He saw what Kahm meant, but he said nothing.

  “Soon,” Kahm whispered, “the Giving Ceremony will take place. The future of Kanbal rests on the outcome.” Still staring at the forests, he continued, “If I should fail to return from the Mountain Deep, I want you to know that I’ve died because I loved this beautiful land. Be good to my son Kahmuro.”

  Kassa looked at him in surprise. “But … do people die at that ceremony?”

  Kahm smiled, but beneath it, Kassa sensed that he was afraid. “I’m only telling you in case, because no one knows what really happens under the mountain.” He placed a hand on Kassa’s shoulder and shook him gently. “I’m sorry to have bothered you with such foolishness. I’d better be going.”

  Kassa stayed rooted to the spot, watching his cousin walk away. What was that all about? he wondered. It was almost as if Kahm had been giving him his last will and testament. He shivered and kept his eyes fixed on Kahm as he vanished into the darkness.

  The longer Balsa spent with the little people called the Herders, the more she became aware of their unusual customs. One day, when a goat was lost in the mountains, she heard them communicating back and forth in a complicated series of whistles.

  “What are they saying?” she asked Toto, who spent the whole day tending the fire.

  He took a stick of nyokki from his mouth. “They’re telling each other where the goat is and discussing which path they’ll take to bring it down.”

  “They can say all that just by whistling?”

  The old man grinned. “Our whistles are just like words.”

  Whenever Kassa and Gina climbed up to visit her, which was almost every day, the Herders’ signals bounced back and forth. She was sure they were checking to see if the two children were being followed.

  In the beginning, Kassa was a little awkward and stiff with her, but as the days wore on, he gradually relaxed. One day when he came to visit, Balsa was practicing on a patch of grass between two rocks. Her spear thrust with blinding speed, to the right, to the left, then spun in a semicircle in a jab to the rear, so that he could almost see her imaginary opponent. He froze, entranced. Her movements were beautiful to watch. Although he had trained with the spear since he was a young boy and had watched many matches, never before had he seen such economy of movement or the speed that turned her spear into a blur of light.

  Balsa stopped and turned to look at Kassa. Wiping the sweat from her face, she gave a twisted grin. “Phew! I’m so out of shape! I’m not going to be much good if I break into a sweat after only this much practice.”

  Suddenly she tossed the spear over to Kassa. He grabbed it hastily and Balsa raised her eyebrows. “Go on, show me your stuff. Let me see how Jiguro’s nephew wields a spear.”

  Kassa blushed. He swung it tentatively and was surprised at how smoothly it slid through his hands. The spear and shaft were perfectly balanced. He steadied his breathing, swung the spear whistling once about his head, and leveled it in front of him. Then he launched into a series of moves — thrust, block, and parry.

  Well, well, Balsa thought, a little surprised. When she had first met Kassa, she had thought he lacked courage, but with a spear in his
hand, he was bold and confident. She could tell that he loved what he was doing, and her experienced eye saw the makings of an excellent spear-wielder. If Jiguro were still alive, if he had never had to leave Kanbal, he would have helped Kassa develop his talent.

  When he finished, Balsa clapped her hands. “Well done! One day, you’re going to be a great spearman.”

  His eyes shone with happiness, but only for a moment. “What’s the point of becoming a good spearman when I’m just a warrior from a branch line? I’m going to have to tend goats all my life.”

  Balsa took the spear back. “So you only train in case of emergencies, is that it? But have you ever thought that you’re actually very lucky?”

  Kassa scowled. “Lucky?”

  “Yes. I’ve had to wield this spear many times even when I didn’t want to, just to survive. Sometimes I think how happy I would have been if I’d never had to do that.” She swung it whizzing through the air. “But never mind…. If I don’t get some exercise, I won’t be able to wield it at all! Would you be willing to spar with me so I can practice? How about it?”

  A slow smile returned to his face.

  The days passed pleasantly for Balsa, practicing with Kassa and listening to Gina share rumors from the clan settlement. Balsa felt her suspicions and her anger toward Yuguro sink slowly to the bottom of her mind. Winter was fast approaching. The first snow would probably fall within the next few days. Once the snows came, the Herder People would bring the goats down from the rocky crags and return to the settlement. The rugged grazing lands were no place for men during winter.

  Maybe I should go back to Yogo under cover of the snow, Balsa thought as she gazed up at the leaden sky. Her friends there would be glad to see her. And Kassa’s technique had improved remarkably in just the few days they had practiced together, so she had taught Jiguro’s nephew some of the moves he had drilled into her. Wasn’t that enough to make her return to Kanbal worthwhile? What good would it do to take revenge?

  If nothing had happened, Balsa would probably have left Kanbal with the first snowfall, never to return. But during those few peaceful days, the weaver of fate was already adding another thread to the cloth.