The decay the venerable Abbot, Tetsumonkai, spoke of was not physical. The moss about the path was as thick and glossy as that surrounding a mountain stream, the illusion assisted by the steam drawn up by the new sun’s rays. As they climbed, the refectory rose before them, its cedar columns humble yet perfectly proportioned amidst the scarlet leaves. This was a mere prelude to the glory of the Golden Hall. The sight of the monastery rising from the forest held the same inexpressible sense of harmony that had comforted him on his arrival ten years ago, a small boy bemoaning what he had seen as exile. But Tetsumonkai was adamant: a rot had set into mankind and it must be scoured before the chance for Heaven’s mercy was lost. Beyond the mountains, the entire country fell into ruin and madness: only they, through their most extreme efforts, could redeem it. I swore I would accept damnation, he reminded himself sternly, to redeem my brother. But then he looked at the creature picking along the path ahead of him and quite seriously considered his chances of throwing her off the cliff.
He was strong and quick; Tetsumonkai’s training had seen to that. But the book stated conclusively that the Cursebreaker could not be harmed by any physical means. Besides, she was so tall; his head only reached her shoulder and the kimono he had found in the guest quarters barely covered her thighs, let alone her other feminine attributes, whose dimensions were likewise unnatural. Her dark hair was wild and straggly, and her eyes like holes poked in the pale dough of her face.
‘Whoa! That’s some serious bass!’
What did that mean? Although she pronounced the words flawlessly, like a courtier, Shichiro had no idea. Why was she addressing a horse? Why previously had she asked him to call her a target? It had to be part of her otherworldly nature. She shifted her bare feet on the stone, saying, ‘The sound is everywhere! I can feel it, like it’s coming up from the earth.’
That at least he understood. Newcomers to the monastery were always startled; dwelling here, one became used to the miracle.
‘Ah! It’s the chanting of the living Buddhas. Yes, their cells are quite close, beneath the Golden Hall.’
‘Living Buddhas?’ The idea seemed to perplex her.
‘Those brothers who have transcended their fleshy limits.’ If she didn’t know that, then he had best explain before they penetrated any further, ‘Brother Manabumaru was to commence the trials that would see him join their ranks. It was the very night before, when the Abbot cursed him.’
‘And why did the Abbot do this, precisely?’ Coming around the corner of the refectory, Shichiro saw the venerable Brother Heihachi. Brother Heihachi took one look at his companion, dropped the kettle he was carrying and fled.
‘I do not know the truth of it,’ he said, squaring his shoulders against the lie as much as the commotion. ‘But some say that Manabumaru refused.’
‘Look,’ said the Cursebreaker, ‘before you exorcise me, at least tell me if there’s an escape clause. Can Manabumaru repent or something?’
When the Abbot entered the refectory—a place he seldom appeared—Shichiro had felt a twinge of remembered fear. It was the fear of a child confronted by a spectre, an impossible figure swathed in orange robes and a high peaked hat beneath which only the eyes could be seen. But Tetsumonkai had no attention to spare for him.
After three repetitions of the Treasure-Raining Sutra, the Cursebreaker extended her hand in a gesture almost friendly. ‘You have to understand, I’m here now. The only way to get rid of me is to break the curse. Same with the jikininki: you can’t exorcise a monster of your own creation.’
‘That was no sorcery!’ The Abbot flailed at her with a bundle of incense sticks, the priceless scent of amber coiling heavily about them. ‘It was the law! The great and righteous law! I am but the agent of universal dharma!’
‘Oh, you really shouldn’t say that: she might hear. Now Sir, I’m not questioning your judgement; though as I said to Shichiro here, it might have been a little short-sighted—’
‘The jikininki is the most debased of creatures. He barely retains a human form.’ The Abbot’s voice rang across the courtyard, through the columns and the equally still ranks of the brethren that had assembled for morning tea. They stood, a forest of bald heads and yellow robes. ‘Forced to feed upon dead flesh and weltering in corruption, he loathes the foulness of his existence and hides from the world, repenting his sin and supplicating the mercy of the Buddhas.’
‘Manabumaru seems not to have got that last bit,’ said the Cursebreaker.
‘He compounds error with error, even now. How grievous, that all my teaching should come to this!’
‘So, you taught him,’ said the Cursebreaker, her eyes ranging over the gathered monks. ‘For how long, might I ask? How long does it take to bring a man to the threshold of living Buddahood?’
‘Ten years, honourable lady,’ Shichiro spoke up. ‘He entered the monastery with me, on his twelfth birthday.’
‘And he was a good student, a fine monk. He must have been, to approach such a dignity so young.’ Shichiro risked a glance at Tetsumonkai. Impossibly, it seemed to him that the Abbot’s fingers were shaking. ‘Am I right?’ No one responded and the Cursebreaker frowned. Then she dropped her voice confidentially.
‘If he had doubts concerning his vocation, surely you of all people saw it coming?’
‘Do not speak!’ Actual emotion cracked the old man’s voice. ‘Do not speak of what a creature of the lower orders cannot understand. Ah, my son! My son!’
It seemed to Shichiro that the entire monastery held its breath; that even the subterranean chanting faltered.
Then the Abbot waved his cane. ‘What are you gawking at? Are we peasants or women, to forget ourselves in the presence of an unruly spirit? Those plunging the waterfall shall leave without delay! Those climbing the three summits, drink your tea! The rest, into the Hall of Dharma and start those push-ups now!’
‘Stay right there, Shichiro,’ murmured the Cursebreaker. ‘Going to need you.’ To the Abbot she said, ‘Honourable elder, how about we take a bowl into the garden and you tell me a little more about this place? Just how is it you serve the Buddhas through such… muscular endeavour?’
‘In order to transcend our earthly incarnation we labour to perfect body and mind.’ Once again, Shichiro answered when it became clear the Abbot wouldn’t. ‘By this in turn we may hope to purify the land.’
‘Look,’ said the Cursebreaker to Tetsumonkai, ‘you clearly regret what you did. I’m sure that if you forgive Manabumaru, you will be on your way towards lifting the curse.’
‘It can never be lifted. There is not forgiveness enough in the world for that,’ said the Abbot. Then he struck the ground with his cane. ‘Shichiro, since this thing dogs your steps, take it away and do not return until you are rid of it. Then we shall discuss your penance.’ He strode away towards the Hall.
He must have realised, Shichiro thought with sinking heart, they’re his books. I’ll be lucky to escape with an overnight vigil in the snow. ‘I’ll take you down to the village,’ he said. ‘Perhaps we can find his lair.’
‘Without breakfast? I don’t think so. Anyway, it’s plenty curious here.’ The Cursebreaker crossed the courtyard to the table where the summit-climbers were sipping slowly from their bowls. As she sat down, the sipping became slurping, followed by a rapid clattering.
‘From the generally robust nature of your order, I gather living Buddhahood is not a formality. What exactly is involved? Apart from not eating with everyone else.’ She reached out to an abandoned bowl. The omnipresent rumble sent vibrations across the surface of the liquid.
‘The enlightened never leave their cells. Their seclusion is complete.’
‘What the Hell is wrong with this tea?’
‘It’s not really tea. Here we drink only the bitter infusion of the mulberry leaf.’
‘Take me to the village. Now.’
‘I can certainly see how the ideal of athletic monks might have evolved,’ wheezed the Cursebreaker. ‘This path�
�s a killer!’
The sweet scent of the valley came to Shichiro’s nose as he strode along the twisting defile known as the Dragon’s Tail. Moss coated the slabs of weathered rock, starred with small orchids, but it was the fields he smelt and the smoke of the end of harvest. Behind him, the woman stumbled yet again and he turned his head to check he was in no danger of losing her down a crevasse.
‘The monks of the Dewa Sanzan have always gone into the wilderness to meditate,’ he said, ‘just as the pilgrims come to purify themselves in the springs. But it is only since Tetsumonkai became the Abbot that we set out to climb to Heaven.’
Because he was looking backwards as he strode along, knowing the path so well, he was completely surprised when something hard impacted his solar plexus.
He saw the woman startle as all the air whooshed from his lungs. Stumbling, bending forward over the pain in his chest, his training brought his hand up to block the assailant’s strike at his neck. He barely deflected the blow, feeling the warm iron of muscle as his attempts to breathe were thwarted by a sulphurous stench.
‘Look, I don’t know who you are,’ said the Cursebreaker, ‘but anyone who mugs a monk is either damned or stupid.’
‘Oh, I’m damned,’ came a cheerful voice, ‘and you’re—oh by Benten, look at those!’
Shichiro dropped on one arm, lashing out with a hook kick which his assailant jumped, all the while straining to get breath back into his lungs, all the while registering the voice, the fighting style—
The Cursebreaker coughed. ‘I haven’t smelt anything like you since Pompeii. Have you actually been rolling in sulphur?’
‘What are you? A white goddess descended from the clouds, with breasts like blooming lotus!’
‘Keep those hands to yourself, crusty!’
The scent beneath the stench! ‘Manabumaru,’ he screamed, ‘don’t, it’s me!’ Jumping back to his feet, readying hopelessly for another kick, he glimpsed the figure springing away up the side of the ravine. The discoloured, stinking, hairy body… ‘Manabumaru,’ he screamed again, and now the pain was all in his heart.
‘He lairs in the cemetery?’ The Cursebreaker addressed the village headman as he passed her a bowl of fine, green sencha. Inhaling the steam, she sighed with relief.
Clearly taken aback by their appearance at the door of his neat cottage, the headman nonetheless answered. ‘We believe so. Where else could he wallow in such corruption?’
‘Your cemetery lies on the lower slopes?’
‘Of the monastery itself, yes. But he ranges far and wide,’ said the headman. ‘Wherever he may make trouble!’
‘What precisely has he done?’
‘Dykes in the rice fields are broken, sacks of grain stolen. Pilgrims have been attacked upon the road, and they are few enough already in these warlike times! Not to mention the indignity placed upon those of our community he has caught alone. In truth, the Abbot owes us recompense…’
‘We too have suffered!’ Shichiro interjected, ‘I am not the first of the brethren to be attacked. Many have been found beaten senseless in the woods!’
The Cursebreaker glanced at him shrewdly, before returning her attention to the headman. ‘Does he always look like that?’
‘The appearance of a man wearing only his fundoshi, body stained and exuding worse odour than the lowest tanner or hauler of nightsoil. The Abbot must consider well his failure when selecting his portion of the harvest!’
‘The Abbot has not failed!’ Shichiro wondered at the heat in his own voice. ‘Truly, all our sins must be great for Heaven to permit such calamity to befall us!’
‘You are a monk who seeks Heaven amongst the peaks,’ said the headman, ‘but I have lived my whole life in this valley, as my father before me. Tales there were of Tetsumonkai, before he became Abbot. Perhaps the sin is his.’
Shichiro felt his jaw drop.
‘Oh, do tell,’ said the Cursebreaker, but at this both men shut their mouths and glanced aside, Shichiro at the noon light falling across the fields. ‘Someone had better start talking around here,’ he heard her mutter.
‘If we are to examine the cemetery,’ he said, ‘we must do it soon.’ He did not want to be caught in the Dragon’s Tail by night.
The Cursebreaker sighed. ‘Do you know the last place I got to sit down for an hour? To put my feet up and drink something hot? Well, it involved the Spanish Inquisition and that’s why I shall now move onto the sake.’ She held out the empty bowl. ‘Then and only then shall we proceed to the cemetery.’
‘Well, he’s not lairing here.’
Shichiro eyed the grave markers, running up the slope until they disappeared beneath the drooping cypress. Even the afternoon’s gilding could not cheer the place, which seemed to him to contain all too many potential ambushes.
‘How can you be sure?’
‘It’s a Buddhist cemetery and as everyone should surely be aware, these are all cremains.’ The Cursebreaker shuffled uncomfortably in the straw sandals she had pressured from their host. ‘Unless a whole lot of pilgrims have vanished recently, I don’t see how there can be any corpse-eating going on.’
‘But… it’s what jikininki do.’
‘So says the legend. And the third rule of cursebreaking is seek out anomalies.’
Movement amongst the trees sent Shichiro into a fighting stance. But what emerged, picking her way between the slates, was a young woman in a plain brown kimono, holding a bundle of smoking incense. She peered at them in some agitation.
‘Hello there!’ The Cursebreaker smiled, such a display of white teeth as looked set to make her flee. Shichiro interposed himself.
‘Although it is always seemly to make offering to your dead, in the present circumstances it is not prudent,’ he told the girl.
‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen the jikininki?’ asked the Cursebreaker.
‘Yes! That is, no, not now.’
‘But you’ve seen him here?’
‘Well, he only comes when you’re alone. And as I’m not alone, no!’ The incense was heady, a rich blend of jasmine and sandalwood. It did not quite suffice to make Shichirooverlook the nonsense he was hearing.
‘Is he here or not? If he is, we are all in danger!’
‘Are you from the monastery?’ The girl was still gazing past him at the Cursebreaker.
‘Yes indeed,’ the Cursebreaker answered.
‘Oh, then he’s definitely not here, but I was assaulted in a most grievous manner.’
‘Oh yes, and when was this?’ asked the Cursebreaker, as Shichiro glimpsed motion in the azaleas growing to the side of a large, stone moon lantern some way down the slope. He covered the distance in a flying kick, which he was forced to abort upon the emergence of a second woman, noticeably older and rounder, holding another bunch of incense.
‘I haven’t seen him either,’ she flustered.
Behind him he heard the Cursebreaker eliciting details of just what had befallen the girl, several times in various discrete nooks around the village.
‘But, honourable grandmother,’ he struggled to concentrate on his own discovery, ‘why conceal yourself? Were you afraid?’
‘I wasn’t concealing anything.’ The old woman huffed. ‘I was just waiting here.’
‘For what?’
‘For you to take that young hussy and go!’ The scent of pine was making his eyes water, and he turned his head towards the moon lantern for relief.
‘Leave me be,’ came a voice from the lantern’s depths. ‘What I’m doing here is my business.’
‘Yamamoto Saburo, you climb out of there!’ cried the old woman, ‘He only comes when you’re alone!’
‘But you were raped?’ The Cursebreaker seemed to be labouring at this point.
‘Well obviously!’ The girl sounded indignant. ‘I’ve a husband, you know!’
‘For all the good it does him,’ said the old woman. ‘Now me, I’m a widow. No one cares what I do.’
Shichiro jolted as the m
eaning of her words hit him harder than Manabumaru’s own kick. A woman, he thought, with a belly like a frog and gray in her hair. How could he? Suddenly unable to bear either the streams of incense or of talk, he jumped over the markers and ran upwards, seeking solitude in the trees.
‘No, don’t go up there!’ screamed all three villagers.
It was the Cursebreaker who caught up with him, despite her tender feet. ‘Steady on,’ she said, ‘I know it’s hard, seeing your brother reduced to this.’
‘Ten years we’ve been together,’ he gasped, still striding blindly upwards. ‘He was the kindest, the most seemly…’
‘Yes, I’m sure he was.’
‘The best at both training and study! The most devoted…’
‘Let’s just sit down for a moment, on this rock beside the path. This is a path, isn’t it? Pretty well concealed. I guess he would have to use paths, despite degenerating into a beast.’ Shichiro burst into tears.
They sat for a while, amongst the bamboo that had dug its way into the boulders on every side. Slowly, the familiar sounds of the mountain, the breeze and creaking stems reasserted themselves, enabling him to regain hold of himself. When he did, the Cursebreaker was waiting patiently with her legs crossed atop the stone.
‘Shichiro: you summoned me,’ she said. ‘You did it on purpose, knowing what you were about.’
‘Is there any other way?’
‘Mostly people summon me by accident, which means I have to spend a lot of time explaining. But you didn’t even ask me what the first and second rules were.’
‘Ascertain parameters,’ he gulped, quoting the book. ‘And don’t… don’t make things worse.’
‘No slouch at study yourself, are you? So you must also know that you don’t need some kind of universal judgment to bring about a curse. It really can be just one individual. If you have the desire and access to any kind of power, be it magic, faith or just sheer bloody-mindedness, you have a curse.’
The New Hero: Volume 1 Page 13