by Fuyumi Ono
"I keep telling you, I don't know how!"
"No one else can."
"That doesn't change anything!"
"I shall grant you a Hinman." He called out, "Jouyuu."
At his command a man's head rose out of the rocky surface, an ashen countenance with sunken, red-rimmed eyes. Higher, and it became clear that he had no body below the neck except for dangling, jellyfish-like appendages.
Youko gasped. "What is it?"
The thing slipped free of the ground, turned and flung itself at her. She tried to run. Keiki caught and held her. The creature clung to her neck, cold and soft, and then oozed down her back. She screamed, "Get it off me!" She flailed uselessly with her hands. "Stop it, stop it!"
Keiki held her still. "You are being unreasonable. Calm yourself."
She wanted to retch. Tendrils like cold strands of pasta snaked around her body from her spine and beneath the flesh of her arms. She felt it pressing heavily along the back of her neck. She shrieked in terror. She twisted away from him, pulled herself free, tumbled to the ground, fell to her knees, tore in a panic at her neck and shoulders, to no avail.
"What is it? What did you do?"
"Jouyuu has taken you as a host."
"Host?" Youko ran her hands over her body. The loathsome sensation was gone.
"Jouyuu knows the way of the sword. This knowledge will be at your disposal. The kochou will arrive soon. You must kill it, and not only it, if you are to escape."
"Not only it?" So there were more coming after her, the same as in the red dawn of her dreams. "I … can't. That Jouyuu or Hinman or whatever it is, where did it go?"
Keiki didn't answer. He stared up at the sky. "They come."
1-7
In the moment she looked to see for herself, behind her, she heard that strange cry. The sword was thrust into her hand. It didn't register at first. She turned towards the cry and saw the great wingspan of the bird as it circled and fell towards them.
She shouted in fear, realizing at once that there was no place to run. The bird was descending faster than she could flee. The sword was useless. She had no idea what to do with it. Confront this beast with it? It was an absurd thought. There was no way to protect herself.
The bird's fat-clawed appendages filled her vision. She wanted to shut her eyes but couldn't.
A shock of white light flashed in front of her, followed by a violent, hard sound like two stones crashing together. A heavy talon, gleaming like the blade of an axe, stopped right before her face. She had checked its motion with the sword, half-drawn from its scabbard, held out in front of her and braced with both hands.
She had no time to ask herself how she had done it.
Her hand, as if of its own accord, drew out the rest of the blade. In the same motion she swung at the bird's feet. A warm spray of bright red blood showered down on her.
In dumb surprise she could only think, I am not doing this. Her hands and feet reacted of their own accord, hacking at the limbs of the Kochou as it wheeled above them in confusion.
More blood rained down, drenching her. The warm liquid ran down her face and neck, soaked under the collar of her shirt. She shuddered with revulsion. She--her legs, rather--retreated, dodging the eruptions.
The monster climbed into the sky, righted itself and plunged towards her. She slashed at the wings. With every move she felt the cold tendrils rippling through her.
It's that thing, the Jouyuu.
Its wings shredded, the bird shrieked and crashed into the ground. In a glance Youko took in the scene. The Jouyuu was doing this, she knew, was jerking her arms and legs around like a marionette's.
The giant bird writhed in agony, pounded its wings against the ground and clawed towards her. Without a moment's hesitation she attacked. Dodging its assaults she hacked away at the body. She soon was covered in bloody gore. All that registered were the loathsome repercussions in her hands as each blow parted flesh and bone.
She groaned in disgust but could not stop herself. She ignored the spewing blood and drove the sword deep into the bird's wing, yanked it out, severing a good part of the wing. She turned on her heels, face to face with the animal's screeching, frothing head.
"Please, stop!"
The great bird flapped its wounded wing but was unable to lift its body off the ground. Youko ducked around the beating wing and stabbed at the bird's torso. She shut her eyes to what she was doing but felt the soft resistance in her arms as the blade sank through fat and tissue. She pulled it free, spun, and swung at the bird's neck.
The animal's spine stopped the sword's forward motion. She pulled the sword free, splattering herself with flesh and fluid, swung again and severed the head cleanly from the body.
Only after she had wiped the sword clean with the bird's still quivering feathers did the control of her own body fully return to her.
She wailed in anguish and threw the sword as far from her as she could.
Youko leaned over the edge of the breakwater and vomited. Sobbing, she slid down between the concrete arms of the tetrapod and splashed into the sea. It was the middle of February. The water was cold enough to cut her in two. But her only desire was to wash the bloody filth from her face.
By the time she had returned to her senses she was shivering so badly she could do little more than crawl up the embankment to the breakwater. Back on solid ground she burst into tears. She wept with fear and revulsion, wept until her voice was hoarse, until there were no tears left inside to come out.
"Are you all right?" Keiki asked.
"Am I what?"
There was no color in the man's expression. He said, "That was not the only one. More are coming."
"And?" Her body was numb. His warning stirred in her nothing. Looking up at his face she now felt no fear of him at all.
"They are strong, they are relentless. If I am to protect you, you must come with me."
"Forget it."
"You are being foolish."
"I want to go home."
"Your home is not safe, either."
"I don't care. I'm cold. I'm going home. Those monsters, they're all yours. You can have them." Youko glared at him. "And take this Jouyuu thing out of me!"
"You will still need him."
"I don't. I'm going home."
"You stupid woman!" He exploded in a rage that made Youko's eyes go wide with surprise. "Do you welcome death? I do not understand. If you do not want to die then you must come with me!"
"Shut up!" Youko screamed at him. "Shut the hell up!" Not once in her entire life had she ever said anything like that to another person. A strange sense of exhilaration stirred in her chest. "I'm doing what I want and I don't want any part of this. I'm going home."
"You are not listening to what I am saying."
"I'm going home." She swatted away the sword offered to her. "I don't take orders from you."
"You do not understand the danger!"
Youko answered with a thin smile. "Well, if it's fine with me, then what's it to you?"
He said in a low growl, "It is everything to me."
He nodded as she passed. Before she could react two white arms had reached around and had taken hold of her.
"What are you doing?"
She strained to glance back over her shoulder. It was the winged woman who had first borne the sword to her. She pinned Youko's arms, forced the sword into her embrace.
"Let me go!"
Keiki said, "You are my lord."
"I am your what?"
"You are my lord. Under any other circumstances whatever command you gave I would obey. You must forgive me. Once your safety has been secured then any explanation you desire I will provide. If you wish to return home, that too I will endeavor to accomplish."
"When in the world did I become your lord?"
"There is no time for that," he answered with a cold look. "I would gladly see one such as you abdicate, but that is not my decision to make. I cannot abandon you. The best I can do is k
eep more innocents from being drawn in. If force is what is required then force I will employ. Kaiko, take her."
"Let me go!"
"Hankyo," Keiki beckoned. The copper-haired beast emerged from the shadows. "We must get away from here. This place is thick with the scent of blood."
Next appeared the enormous panther called Hyouki. Still pinning Youko's arms the woman climbed astride the panther-beast and set Youko onto its back in front of her. Keiki in turn mounted Hankyo.
Youko pleaded with him. "Please, I'm not kidding. Take me home! Take this thing out of me!"
"He is of no bother to you, is he? Now that he has fully possessed you, you should not feel his presence again."
"I don't care if I can feel it or not! Get rid of it!"
Keiki addressed himself to the Jouyuu. "Do not reveal yourself. Be as if you were not there."
There was no reply.
Keiki nodded. Youko barely had time to grip the woman's arms to steady herself as the beast rose on its haunches and leapt upwards. "Stop!" she shouted.
The panther-beast did not heed her. It climbed effortlessly into the sky, doggy-paddling through the air as it slowly gathered speed. Were it not for the ground falling away beneath them she could have believed they were not moving at all.
As if in a dream the beast galloped farther and farther away from the earth, revealing one last glimpse of the city below, wrapped in the falling dusk.
1-8
The heavens were suffused with a cold, starry light. Across the surface of the earth a constellation of stars traced the outlines of the city.
The panther-beast soared over the bay as if swimming through the air. The speed of their departure stole her breath away, yet strangely she did not feel the fierce and expected wind and so had little sense of their velocity. She knew how fast they must be going only from the rate at which the cityscape disappeared behind her.
No matter how much she pleaded no one answered her.
And with no way to judge the rate of their progress, her fear in this regard subsided, and instead shifted to the uncertain nature of their destination.
The panther-beast turned towards the open sea. She could no longer see Keiki astride his flying creature. He had promised this was to be a long journey.
Along with her exhaustion, a profound sense of indifference overcame her. She gave up, ceased her protests. And now that she thought about it, as she shifted her limbs about, she was not uncomfortable. The woman's arms were warm around her waist.
Youko hesitated, then asked, "Are they still after us?" She twisted around to look at the woman.
She said, "They are legion." Yet her voice was gentle and somehow reassuring.
"Who are you?"
"We are servants of the Taiho. Now face yourself forward. He would not be pleased if I dropped you."
Youko reluctantly straightened. All she could see was the dark sky and the dark ocean, the faint light of the stars, the faint white light of the waves. A high, winter moon. Nothing else.
"Keep ahold of the sword. Under no circumstances should you let it out of your possession."
The reminder struck within Youko a chord of fear. It could only mean that more gruesome battles faced them.
"The enemy?"
"They pursue us. But Hyouki is fast. Do not worry."
"Then … . "
"And see that you do not lose the sword or the scabbard.
"Or the scabbard?"
"Sword and scabbard are a pair and must be kept together. The jewel attached to the scabbard is there for your protection."
Youko looked down at the sword in her arms. A blue-green sphere the size of a ping pong ball was attached to the ends of the ornamental cord wound around the scabbard.
"These?"
"Yes. Hold them and see for yourself. It should be cool enough to tell."
Youko grasped the spheres. The sensation gradually seeped into her palms. "They're warm."
"You will find them of use whenever you are wounded or sick or fatigued. The sword and scabbard are valuable treasures. Do not lose them."
Youko nodded. She was thinking of her next question when their speed suddenly slowed.
The white moon shone in a halo on the dark water. The intensity of the reflection weaving across the waves grew as they descended, almost as if the moonlight itself was exciting the whitecaps into a lively froth. Closer and she could see the surface of the ocean churning into a waterspout.
Youko realized that the panther-beast was about to dive directly into the ring of light at the center of the sparkling whirlpool.
"I can't swim!"
"Do not worry," the woman said, tightening her embrace around her waist.
"But … . "
She had no time to raise any other objections.
They plunged into the whirlpool. Youko shut her eyes, prepared herself for the hard collision with the water. She felt instead … almost nothing. Not the spray of the surging waves, not the cold touch of the sea. Nothing but an immersion in the silver light, light that leaked through the corners of her eyes.
Something like a thin gauze brushed against her face. She opened her eyes. They were ensconced, it seemed, within a tunnel of light. There was no darkness, no wind, only an encompassing glow that enveloped them from head to toe, a halo of moonlight cutting beneath the black waves.
"What is this?" Youko wondered aloud.
There was a ring of light below the beast's feet, as there was above its head. Whether the light streamed from head to feet or the other way around she could not tell. In either case, they would cross it's length shortly.
Almost as soon as they had leapt into the circle of light she again felt the gossamer veil brush her face. With a bound they shot above the water. The sounds of the ocean returned. Raising her eyes she again took in the wide, dull expanse of the sea. They slipped from the halo of the moon. How far from the surface she could not tell. All she could see were the tops of the waves bathed in the moonlight.
The surface churned into a radiant foam, as if driven by a fierce wind. The waves rose up around them in concentric rings, broke into whitecaps. Astride the panther-beast Youko could feel nothing of the hurricane, only the draft of a slight crosswind. The clouds roiled above. The beast pushed harder and climbed into the sky. They were soon too high to see even the moonlight weaving across the storm-tossed seas.
"Hyouki!" the woman shouted.
The alarm in her voice made Youko look back at her. Following the woman's gaze she saw a multitude of black shadows leaping out of the moon's bright halo.
The only light was from the moon and its reflection upon the sea. They raced into the covering darkness of the gathering clouds.
Pitch black.
There was no heaven and no earth. And then only the deep amber glow that remained of the moon, a faint light that danced and shifted like the flames of a raging fire. She saw the countless shadows and knew they were coming for her. The creatures raced from the blood-red moon, the apes and rats and birds, the red-haired beasts and black-haired beasts and blue-haired beasts.
Youko stared in amazement at this vision before her eyes. She had seen it before. She knew it. "Faster!" she screamed. "They'll catch us!"
The woman shook her. "Calm yourself. That is what we are doing."
"God, no!"
The woman pushed Youko's body flat against the back of the panther-beast. "Hold on," she said.
"What are you … ?"
"I shall attempt to impede their progress. Tighten your grip, do not let go of the sword."
Assured that Youko had understood her instructions, she took her arm from around Youko's waist and vaulted rearward, kicking up and away from them. For a moment Youko caught a glimpse of the golden stripes running down her back before she was swallowed up by the darkness..
Youko could see nothing but the engulfing gloom. They were buffeted by gust of wind. She plastered herself against the beast's back.
"H-Hyouki-san?" she said.
"Are we going to get away?"
"That is hard to tell," he answered, inscrutably. He shouted, "Watch out! Above you!"
Youko looked up and caught a faint flash of red.
"A gouyu." Hyouki turned without warning. Something slammed into its side and fell away.
"What was it?"
Hyouki continued on, dodging from side to side. Suddenly it slowed. "Draw your sword. It is an ambush. They have cut us off."
"What do you mean, an ambush?"
Peering ahead into the darkness she watched as another crimson light blossomed, watched as the hoard came leaping towards them out of the shadows.
"Oh God."
The thought of raising the sword again filled her with loathing. At the same time the cold tendrils touched the insides of her legs. With a force that made her joints crack her knees clamped to the beast's sides. The icy worm crawled up her spine. Her body peeled unwittingly from Hyouki's back. Her hands released their grip, her arms prepared for battle. She drew the sword, tucked the scabbard into the belt of her skirt.
"Stop it!"
She extended the sword with her right hand, with her left she grasped the beast's mane.
"Please!"
They closed on each other, tore into each other like storms colliding. Hyouki plunged into the midst of the hoard and Youko's sword sliced into the onrushing flood. She could do nothing but scream and close her eyes. It wasn't just the killing of living things. She couldn't even bear the sight of a frog autopsy in biology class. Her existence should not demand so much slaughter.
The sword halted its motion. Hyouki called out, "Open your eyes! Jouyuu cannot defend you otherwise!""
"No!"
The beast reared, threw back its head, doubled back. Youko kept her eyes tightly shut. She was not going to cause any more death. If shutting her eyes stilled the sword, then that is what she would do.
Hyouki swerved abruptly to the left. They struck hard, a collision like hitting a wall. She heard the yelp of a wounded dog. She opened her eyes and saw only black. Before she could grasp what had happened Hyouki keeled over.