by Claire Luana
Emi was silent, her dark eyes thoughtful.
“You can still keep an eye on him,” Kai said.
“Good,” Emi said quietly. Kai eyed her friend sideways. Emi’s burns had healed well, though the left side of her face remained scarred. A portion of her ear was missing, and her eyebrow was gone, never to regrow. These blemishes did little to dull Emi’s beauty, however, her buoyant silver hair, her voluptuous figure—curvy despite hard angles of muscle. What Kai missed, though, was her friend’s indomitable spirit and wit; that had felt so dim since Maaya had died. Maybe Emi needed this mission, too.
“What about Daarco? Do you think it’s a smart idea to have him along?” Emi asked.
Quitsu, trotting along between them, chuffed a dark laugh. “What could go wrong?”
“I don’t trust him,” Kai admitted. “But Hiro begged me to give him one last chance.”
“Give him a chance to do what, stab us in the back while we’re sleeping and defenseless?”
“Exactly,” Kai said. “Though he seems more like the stab-you-in-the-front type so he can gloat about his revenge.”
“Even better.”
“Maybe we can give him to the seishen elder as an offering,” Kai suggested with a wry grin.
“Like the elder would take him!” Emi said. “We couldn’t pay someone to take him.”
Kai sighed. “We shouldn’t make fun. The man is emotionally damaged.”
Emi snorted. “Cry me a river. We’re all emotionally damaged. Name me one person who doesn’t have a parent who died in the war and I’ll do a dance for you.”
“I can’t think of anyone,” Kai said. “Which is a shame because I would love to see you dance in the middle of the forest.”
“You’re missing out,” Emi said. “I’ve got moves.” She made a lewd motion with her hips.
Kai laughed out loud, the noise echoing throughout the forest. “I wasn’t talking about that kind of dancing.”
“Speaking of,” Emi dropped her voice conspiratorially, moving closer to Kai. “Hiro? How are…things?” She waggled her eyebrows. “Eh?”
Kai’s face colored. “Uh…”
“Ahem.” Someone cleared their throat in front of them. Kai started, pulling up short.
Hiro stood in front of them, his thick arms crossed.
Kai’s already-red face turned scarlet. How much had he heard?
“You two are making such a racket, the whole forest can hear. Not to mention you were so busy gossiping that I could have murdered you and you wouldn’t have noticed!”
“Sorry, Dad,” Emi said, strolling past Hiro and bumping him with her hip.
Kai bit her lip, trying to hold back a smile but failing. “We’ll be more careful,” she said, linking her arm with his and pulling him towards the clearing where the others waited.
“You two ready to move?” Colum asked, leaning on his staff.
“Where are we headed?” Hiro asked, surveying the uniform green of the forest around them.
“The seishen elder lives in an island city in the middle of the Misty Forest,” Colum said. “As long as we take a straight path at a good pace, we should be there in two to three days’ walk.” He slung his pack over his shoulders.
“I should hope we take a straight path,” Kai said, raising her eyebrow. “I thought you knew the way.” Though the hazy tangle of trees and the blanket of ferns and underbrush did look identical whatever direction she looked. She could hardly identify the clearing she and Emi had just emerged from. How would they ever find the koumori again? She sighed. One problem at a time.
“I do know the way, and Quitsu and Ryu can help, too. But the forest…” He hesitated. “The forest is old. It doesn’t like visitors.”
Daarco scoffed and took a pull from a flask that appeared from his pocket. “Forests don’t have opinions.”
“Be careful, sunburner,” Colum said. “This one does. I’d show it the proper respect, or it’ll put ya in your place. This forest is filled with mysteries and dangers. Lose focus for a moment, and the ground will open up beneath you, swallowing you whole. Or the trees will move, obscuring your path until you lose all sense of where you are and go mad trying to find your way out. Or malicious spirits will take the form of your loved ones and lure you to a grisly death. The forest is as devious as it is old.”
“Superstitious nonsense,” Daarco muttered.
“Let’s get moving in whatever direction you think is right,” Kai interrupted, trying to ignore Colum’s chilling warnings. “We’re losing moonlight.”
Colum set a quick pace, moving through the forest like water down a riverbed. Where he silently flowed through the trees, the rest of them tangled with dense underbrush and errant branches. He had seemed unflappable in Kyuden, but here, Kai saw—with more than a little envy—he was truly at ease.
The mist was thick, curling around branches and tree trunks like smoke from a bonfire. Emi threw up two bright orbs of moonlight, maintaining them while they walked. The moonlight cast strange shadows on the trees closest to them, failing to penetrate any deeper into the forest.
Emi and Daarco fell into an uneasy alliance over their mutual dislike of the woods, serenading their group with increasingly-creative expletives whenever a limb or stray spiderweb confounded one of them.
“Is all this fresh air troubling you?” Kai teased Emi.
“It’s not natural, all these trees,” Emi said, starting and swatting at a beetle that buzzed past her face in a wild arc.
“It’s completely natural,” Kai said. “That’s kind of the point.”
“Give me a hot bath and a cold sake any day,” Emi said. “Over dirt and deer crap.”
Kai laughed. “Nature has more to offer than dirt. But a cold sake does sound pretty good right now.”
And though she put on a lighthearted face, Kai didn’t blame them. This was no ordinary forest. Time and again, she could have sworn that she caught glimpses of movement in the corner of her eye. But it seemed that whenever she whirled her head to see what moved in the mist, it was gone.
The day dawned, visible only by a lightening of the mist above them and a warming of the air. They couldn’t see the sky or the sun, though Kai knew it was there. Hiro and Daarco took turns lighting their path, burning miniature suns above them.
Colum called a halt at what seemed like midmorning.
“Might as well make camp here,” he said. “Get some shut-eye.”
The novelty of the trip had long since worn off. Everything hurt, but most of all, her feet ached. New boots had not been a good idea.
Kai sat down on the soft ground and unlaced her right boot, pulling it off. She winced as she pulled her sock from her foot and it came away bloody at the heel.
Colum and Hiro both approached, Hiro looking concerned, Colum looking amused.
“New boots?” Colum said, examining the one she had removed.
“I know, I know,” she said.
“I have something to cover it,” Colum said, standing and heading back to his pack.
“I’m not much of a healer,” Hiro said, “but I can cauterize it.”
She grimaced but nodded her assent. He scrunched his brow, her foot in his hands. She felt a warmth and hissed as it grew into a sharp heat. But thankfully, it was over quickly.
Colum returned with some soft cloth that was tacky on one side. Kai dressed her wound and put her sock and boot back on. It would work.
“Now that that crisis is over, can we eat?” Daarco said, scowling. His eyes were red-rimmed and his words were slurred.
Kai suppressed her irritation but nodded.
They arrayed themselves in a loose circle on the ground and munched on hard cheese and dried meat.
“Are we on track?” Daarco asked Colum.
“Anxious to reach our destination?” Colum asked.
“Anxious to get this ridiculous field trip over with,” Daarco muttered.
“Worried you will run out of whatever you keep in that flask?”
Emi asked with mock sweetness.
“It’s the only way I can stand your company, burner,” he retorted.
“We’d need something a lot stronger than that to stand your company, burner,” Emi spat back.
Daarco growled.
Kai sighed. Daarco would run out of sun whiskey at some point on the trip. She wasn’t sure whether that would make him more or less pleasant. Perhaps keeping him drunk was the best option.
“So,” Hiro said, rubbing his hands together, trying to break the tension. “Colum, how did you find yourself visiting the seishen elder last time?”
“It was many years ago,” Colum said. “I was a young entrepreneu—”
“I don’t think that word means what you think it means,” Emi muttered.
Colum continued, unfazed. “I heard rumors of an ancient city floating in a lake. Sounded like a great opportunity for a profit.”
“You went to rob the seishen’s city?” Kai asked, incredulous.
“I didn’t know it belonged to the seishen,” Colum said. “The fellow who told me about it was hazy on the details. Thought it was deserted. And what good would ancient treasure do sitting ‘round in an old city? It would do me much more good.” He flashed his white teeth in a grin.
Hiro shook his head. “How did you get out alive?”
“There was some bargaining…a riddle, I think. Promises never to return on punishment of death, and such.” Colum waved a hand dismissively. “’Twas a few years back.”
“This would have been an important fact to share when you volunteered to guide us,” Kai said, pursing her lips. “If the seishen elder has a grudge against you, we can’t risk being guilty by association. This is too important!”
“I didn’t plan on accompanying you…into the city,” Colum said. “I thought I would just lead you there and… wait outside.”
Kai ground her teeth. “Very heroic.”
“And I thought Daarco would be the one to get us killed,” Emi snapped.
“Quitsu, Ryu, do you think the elder will hold our association with Colum against us, even if he doesn’t come all the way to the island with us?” Kai asked.
“It is difficult to say,” Ryu said.
“He’s still our best chance of finding the elder quickly,” Quitsu said. “I won’t be able to pinpoint his location until we get closer. I don’t see how this changes anything.”
Kai met Hiro’s eyes. Her concern was mirrored on his rugged face. What had she gotten them into?
But Quitsu was right. They still needed to get there. “Very well,” Kai said. “We continue.”
That night, sleep fell over Kai fast and strong. When she awoke, night had fallen, or whatever passed for night in this strange, misty world. She stood, stretching her stiff muscles, feeling the pops and groans as she bent forward. It had been a while since she had slept on the ground.
As she surveyed the others, a chill fluttered through her, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. She stood still, opening her senses to the unnatural stillness of the forest, the bright white sheen of the moon, the smells of the forest. But there were no smells. No sounds.
Kai stepped forward hesitantly, peering into the darkness between the trees, unable to shake the sense of unease growing in the pit of her stomach.
The otherness of the forest struck her suddenly, and she realized where she was. “The spirit world,” Kai said out loud. She had been here once before, after she had passed her test to become a master moonburner. The night she had met her mother and discovered that Hanae still lived.
Kai crouched and drew a sword from its resting place beneath her pack. She didn’t know what manner of creatures prowled the spirit world, but she didn’t want to find out without a weapon in her hand. Did her burning even work here? She opened her qi to the moonlight, trying to pull it within her spirit. It felt distant and faint. Her mouth went dry. She couldn’t burn.
“You will need more than a sword to stop what is coming for you,” an alto voice said behind her.
Kai whirled to face the speaker, her sword before her in a fighting stance. When she saw the speaker, she straightened. She was still wary, but less so.
The woman was a moonburner. She wore an elaborate wrapped dress of green silk, layers upon layers decorated with a pattern of leaves caught in a breeze. Her silver hair was twisted up into a bun high on her head and was caught with a clip shaped like a fan. She stood demurely, her hands clasped before her.
“Who are you?” Kai asked. “Are you a spirit?”
“I am Hamaio,” she said. “I was once queen of the moonburners, as you are.” The woman approached Kai, taking her by the arm and drawing her underneath the protection of a large tree before turning and surveying the clearing.
Hamaio was quite lovely with soulful brown eyes and dimples that revealed themselves when she grimaced. And young, Kai realized. Perhaps no more than a year or two older than herself. Had she died so young?
“You are mad to come here,” Hamaio said. “Why would you risk yourself?”
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Kai said. “I didn’t come here on purpose. I’m just…dreaming.”
Hamaio furrowed her brow as she scrutinized Kai, considering. She reached out a hand and drew the collar of Kai’s shirt to one side, baring a section of Kai’s chest.
“You are marked by the creator,” Hamaio said, a note of awe in her voice.
Kai looked down and realized the handprint scar was glowing silver in the moonlight.
“The creator? How do you know?” Kai said.
“His work is evident,” Hamaio said. “Tell me how you came by this scar.”
“I don’t remember,” Kai said. “I almost died, and when I woke up, I had it.”
Hamaio frowned. “I do not understand this thing. Perhaps in your brush with death, you encountered him. Such a thing would be unusual…unheard of. But…if it was so, perhaps it would explain why you have been pulled into the spirit world. He is strongest here.”
Kai shook her head, trying to comprehend the new information Hamaio was telling her.
Hamaio continued. “You must leave. It is not safe for you here.”
“But…I was sick…days ago. Why is this the first time I’m here?”
Hamaio considered this. “Have you been in the Misty Forest each of these days?”
“No, I was at the citadel.”
“The citadel is warded with powerful enchantments to protect creatures of the spirit world or beyond from traveling into the mortal realm. I cast some of these wards myself during my reign. They must prevent you from inadvertently traveling to this realm. You must return to the citadel at once.”
“I can’t,” Kai said. “We’re traveling to see the seishen elder. I have to talk to him.”
“You will never make it if you linger here,” Hamaio said.
“You said you cast enchantments over the citadel. Can’t you teach me how to keep myself from entering the spirit world?”
She looked up, thoughtful. “Actually, yes. I believe so. Bind together a sprig of ash leaves and a lock of your hair. Sprinkle it with dust from the earth and water from a fresh spring. This should bind you to this world until you return to the safety of the citadel.”
Kai almost laughed at the suggestion, but seeing the seriousness on the woman’s face, suppressed the urge.
“Thank you. I will. But I still don’t understand why I can’t be here. It seems…fine.”
“There has not been such a concentration of tengu in this realm since my time.”
“You know of the tengu?” Kai asked eagerly. “What happened in your time?”
Hamaio gestured to herself impatiently. “You don’t think I died peacefully of old age, do you?”
“What can you tell me of them?” Kai said.
“They come from a different realm, a realm of darkness and death. Over thousands of years, they broke down the border between their realm and the spirit world, claiming this realm for their own as well. That
border is totally disintegrated; they can pass at will. The border between the spirit realm and the mortal realm is deteriorating quickly, its eventual destruction hastened by the help of their followers.”
“I know of these followers. I have one in my dungeons.”
“Every time they summon a tengu through the border between realms, that border weakens. They will make a full-scale assault soon, as they did in my time.”
“But you stopped them?” Kai asked hopefully. “How?”
“It was a patchwork magic, and a force that we could never recreate. And our seal was only a partial fix. They broke through once again.” Hamaio opened her mouth to continue but then froze.
“What?” Kai whispered, her hackles rising. A tree creaked in the distance.
“You must go!” Hamaio said. “Leave this place! They are coming!”
“I don’t know how,” Kai said, lamenting the depth of her ineptitude. This was a world she didn’t understand.
“You must wake!” Hamaio said. “Wake!” She pushed Kai’s shoulders, forcing her to stumble back.
Hamaio seemed to grow, the sleeves of her gown billowing, her eyes glowing bright with moonlight.
“Leave!” She pushed Kai again, and Kai shuffled back. “Wake!”
Kai’s head whipped to the right as a crashing of leaves and limbs burst through the trees on the far edge of the clearing.
Hamaio shoved Kai once again, and her scrambling heels snagged a tree root. She fell backwards and hit the ground hard.
Kai awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright.
Colum sat against a tree a few paces away, watching her. He puffed on a thin horn pipe, its sweet-smelling smoke tickling her nose.
“Nightmares?” he asked, his voice low. “Been rollin’ around like a badger in a rice sack.”
Kai felt for her sword where it rested under her bedroll. It hadn’t moved. She shook her head to clear it. “I don’t think it was a dream.”
“Howdya figure?”
Kai recounted the tale of her encounter with Hamaio in the spirit world, the tengu attack. She didn’t mention that the scar on her chest glowed white. She wasn’t sure what to make of that yet.