by Ryan Kirk
By the time the sun set, Moriko had not stopped for more than a few moments the entire afternoon and early evening. She was worried. If the hunters could maintain this sort of pace and still destroy a village without leaving a clue, they had physical capabilities far beyond her own. A shadow of doubt in her own abilities crossed her mind. Perhaps the caves had just been a fluke. Perhaps instead of all the skill she thought she possessed, she had just gotten lucky.
Moriko shoved the thoughts aside and focused on the present moment. Whatever doubts she had, she knew she would not be able to live with herself if she allowed a village to be destroyed when she could do something about it. As soon as the thought came to her, she stopped dead in her tracks. It was the type of thought she would've expected from Ryuu, a selflessness which would put her in danger. He was starting to rub off on her.
Moriko reached the outskirts of the village just as the sun was setting. At first glance, everything in the village seemed normal. She dared not enter and attract the attention of the hunters if they were nearby. Thinking quickly, she suppressed her presence and hid in some tall grass a few hundred paces away from the village edge. From her vantage point she could see the majority of the village, and sense all of it clearly. If the hunters were here, and if they attacked, she would be ready. She settled down into a comfortable position to wait.
The moon was high in the sky, and Moriko wasn't sure she had made the right decision. What if her tracking skills had misled her? What if the hunters had gone another way? Moriko was doubting herself, and after the encounter with Tomotsu, she was more shaken up than she cared to admit. Only adrenaline and anger had fueled her to this point. If the hunters weren't here, she would have to sleep for at least a day to be able to continue the hunt.
As the evening wore on, it became harder and harder to focus her sense on everything happening around her. Moriko allowed her sense to wander through the village and its surroundings, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everything seemed quiet, a peaceful night and a sleepy village. The sound of crickets in the air was relaxing.
When Moriko awoke, she thought it was already morning. She blinked her eyes and shook her head and realized she was wrong. It wasn't morning, but the village below her was burning, throwing off enough light and heat to make her think the sun had come up. She cursed herself and bolted to her feet, but then stopped before she ran into the village. She needed to think before she acted. Taking a deep, calming breath, Moriko extended her sense. She was late, but she wasn't too late. She could sense the two hunters, the center of everyone’s attention. Marking them, she moved quickly.
Below her, several of the buildings were aflame, and there were shouts and screams from the villagers who were trapped inside their houses. Moriko debated whether to save them or to go after the hunters first. Her initial instinct was to go after the hunters. If she could kill them fast enough, she could then release the villagers without fear of them being attacked once again. But as she passed the first house, she couldn’t do it. The screams and cries coming from within were too much for her to handle. She darted off to the side, and with a quick flick of her wrist, cut through the board the hunters were using to seal the door. She didn't stop to be seen.
Moriko hid behind a wall and threw out her sense. The two hunters had separated. They were acting as though they had nothing to fear. They had no idea they were being stalked. The thought of it made Moriko smile viciously.
Suppressing her presence as completely as she could, Moriko tracked one hunter circling around the village to the east. He was methodical, stopping in each house and killing the inhabitants within. Just from sensing him, Moriko imagined he was proceeding in a very nonchalant manner, as though killing was no different than washing his clothes. It made his movements easy to predict. She sensed him as he stepped into another house and began killing the inhabitants within. Moriko sprinted to the door of the house and hid just to the side of it. The hunter, confident in his ability to sense all those around him, wouldn't even be wary.
Her suspicions were correct. The hunter finished his work inside and turned to walk back out the door without a trace of suspicion. The moment he stepped through the door, Moriko made one cut, taking his head clean from his shoulders. The hunter had only had time to glance in surprise towards Moriko before it was too late.
Moriko didn't stop to gloat over her victory. The other hunter would realize his partner had been killed, and would know there was someone out there. He wouldn’t allow himself to fall into an obvious trap. Moriko knew her second kill would be harder than the first.
Again, Moriko's assumptions were correct. The other hunter came towards her. Moriko moved from house to house, always staying in cover and never allowing herself to be within her opponent’s line of sight. She circled around and worked her way behind him, watching the hunter’s movements carefully with her own sense.
The second hunter stopped at the body of his companion, and Moriko risked a glance to see what her opponent looked like. What she saw surprised her. Her opponent was a hunter, and a woman. Thus far, Moriko had only met male hunters. She had never seen a female among them. She shook and cleared her head. Man or woman, it made no difference. She was one of the hunters who had destroyed more than one village.
A shrill cry of rage and grief rose from the hunter’s throat, sending a chill down Moriko’s spine. Clearly, Moriko had struck a nerve. The hunter cried out in the language of the Three Kingdoms.
"Come out! Come out, you coward, so that I may end your life for you."
Moriko debated her options. She was a strong fighter, but she also knew her strength relied primarily on stealth, not on one-to-one combat. The safest course of action was to hide in the shadows and wait until she had an opportunity to strike with a clean kill once again.
But some part of Moriko rebelled against the smart decision. She wasn't sure how long it would take to get another clean strike like the one she had gotten on the first hunter. While she waited for the perfect moment, this hunter could kill many more villagers. Moriko would have more blood on her hands. But what really drove her was the opportunity to kill the hunter face-to-face. She wanted the hunter to see her death coming for her.
Before she could fully think it through, Moriko stepped away from the house she was hiding behind and walked into the small square where the hunter was waiting. She said nothing, holding her sword ready in front of her.
The hunter’s eyes took her in, running her up and down and trying to judge her worth as an opponent based on her stance. Moriko stood there calmly doing the same. It was easy to see that the second hunter was a formidable enemy. Moriko didn't detect any flaws in her stance.
"So you must be the one we were warned about, the one that escaped."
Moriko nodded.
"Good. Then I will gain much honor among the demon-kind for bringing them your head."
The hunter leapt forward, conversation at an end. Moriko snapped and hid her presence from the sense in the same moment. She easily deflected the first cut, and the battle was joined in earnest.
Her opponent was skilled, consistently pressing the attack, but always in balance and never leaving an opening for Moriko to strike. She may not have gotten any openings, but she also didn’t feel as though she was in any danger. She could sense the cuts coming long before they arrived. If the hunter wanted to cut her, she would have to risk herself, and she wasn’t ready to do that yet.
The two women fought back and forth in the square, and Moriko noticed there were some curious eyes peeping out from windows and doors. She had hoped to get through the evening without being seen, but a battle in the public square wasn’t the way to make that happen.
Refocusing her attention, Moriko jumped two steps back, putting some space between her and her opponent. She didn't use the space to rest, but to launch her own attack, coming in with cuts as quick as she could make them.
If it had been a contest of skill, Moriko wasn't sure she would've won. The hunter
was excellent, and maybe even a hair faster than Moriko was. But the difference lay in their ability to sense their opponent. Moriko’s sense worked against the hunter, and she knew where the hunter’s cuts were going to be a moment before they happened. Moriko, with her ability to hide her intent and her strikes, may have been a little slower, but the hunter was reacting on sight alone, and a mistake was inevitable.
In two more passes it happened. The hunter tried to strike at Moriko, not sensing Moriko’s own cut. Moriko cut a blood vessel in the hunter’s neck, and although the hunter still stood, she was losing too much blood to live much longer. Her return to the Great Cycle was inevitable. Moriko watched the hunter’s last moments carefully. A part of her wanted to ensure the hunter died without hurting anyone else, but another part of her was curious if impending death would change the hunter’s mind. Perhaps, as the end neared, the hunter would have some revelation, some change of heart towards the terror she had committed.
Moriko was sorely disappointed. The hunter glared at her and spat blood, even as she struggled to stay on her feet. She spoke loudly in the Azarian tongue, and although Moriko didn't know what she said, she was certain she was being cursed. It was, she reflected, a horrible way to spend one’s last few moments. And then it was over.
Moriko looked around at the devastation. She had stopped the hunters. But they had already caused an incredible amount of damage, not just to this village but to many of the villages in the area. Moriko shook her head. She still felt like somehow she was losing.
Since she had already been seen, Moriko went from house to house, checking to make sure people were okay and seeing if there were any injuries she could treat. By the time the sun rose, Moriko was tired enough to be a walking corpse, and gratefully accepted an offer of shelter for the day. She fell asleep and felt no more.
5
Ryuu's journey to the west became more curious every day. The old man had been interesting enough, and although Ryuu believed him, a part of Ryuu doubted how serious the situation had become. However, every day he traveled farther west and further south it became more apparent to him the old man had not been exaggerating. If anything, he had understated the severity of the problem.
For three days after the meeting on the road Ryuu traveled in peace. The days were cold, but the sky was cloudless and the bright sun warmed Ryuu as he covered the leagues to the hut he had grown up in. There were few travelers on the road, and those he did encounter seemed to be going about their business as usual.
On the fourth day, the atmosphere on the road changed. It started in midmorning, as Ryuu was approaching a small village he had often passed through growing up. He was three or four days of travel away from the hut, and the village had been one he and Shigeru had visited on occasion in the guise of wandering healers. They had not visited often, for it was a small village, with few goods to trade. But Shigeru had not liked to appear in the same village twice in a row, and this village was one he occasionally visited to break up the trips to the others.
Ryuu was only a league away when he encountered a large group of people walking towards him. He stopped and stood aside as they approached and began to pass. Even though it had been cycles since he had seen them last, he recognized the inhabitants of the village he was nearing. As near as he could tell, everyone in the village was on the road that morning. As the villagers began to pass, several of them recognized him, and they called a stop to the procession. Their greetings were friendly as one of the village elders shuffled up to Ryuu.
"Young man, it has been a very long time since you have visited our village. It is a pleasure to meet you again, although a shame in such trying times." The old man looked around. "Where is your father?"
Ryuu stared at the ground. "I am sorry I've not had the chance to tell you. My father passed away just over two cycles ago."
"I am very sorry to hear that. Your father was a great man, and brought much healing to my people. We will always be grateful for him. What sends you south today?"
Ryuu studied the old man, but there was no hint of guile in his demeanor. "I have received summons from a village farther south. I'm trying to carry on my father's work as best I can, and there are still those who need aid."
The old man shook his head. "Have you not heard?"
Ryuu gave the old man a quizzical look. "Heard what?"
The elder looked around, as though the very mention of what he was about to say would bring the demons from their hiding place. "It is a hard time. Rumors have come, and for a while, I was content to dismiss them as rumors; but they grow, day after day, and I can no longer dismiss what so many have said. Villages to the south are disappearing. They are burned, and the inhabitants either disappear or are killed. Always, one survivor is left, one person to tell the story. The stories I have heard would chill your blood. With the war going on, there is no protection anymore. That is why we are on the road. We are going to New Haven, to tell our story and seek shelter until these horrors have been laid to rest."
Ryuu shook his head. "I have heard rumors, but I did not think they were true."
The old man nodded. "I once thought the same, but I've heard too much, and my people are scared. This is the only way to keep them safe."
Ryuu and the elder talked for a little longer, but Ryuu could see the villagers were eager to be traveling. With good conditions, it would still take them five or six days to reach New Haven from where they stood. Every moment seemed precious to them. Ryuu received many invitations to join them, but he begged their leave, and before long they were behind him, continuing their long, slow march to their new sanctuary.
As the day wore on, Ryuu encountered more and more people traveling towards New Haven. He didn't again encounter an entire village, but the number of people he saw could have filled many of the villages he knew. Shigeru had chosen an empty part of the Southern Kingdom to build his life, and none of the surrounding villages had more than forty or fifty people. Ryuu figured he had passed at least a hundred that day alone.
That night, Ryuu made camp with another small group of travelers, four families that reminded him eerily of the group he had been traveling with so long ago when Shigeru found him. Their story was no different than anyone else's. They had heard the rumors, and one of the men claimed to have met one of the survivors. Once the children were sound asleep the man related what he had heard first-hand from the survivor.
According to the survivor, they never expected their fate. One day everything in the village had been fine. The harvest had been good and the people were content. They went to bed unsuspecting, and many of them never woke up again. Bodies were pinned to walls and the village was painted red with blood.
Ryuu looked from traveler to traveler as the story was told and he could see that each believed completely in the story. That night he had trouble falling asleep, not because of fear or the story he had heard, but because of curiosity. There was no doubt in his mind something was happening to the south, but the stories he was hearing were grotesque, almost beyond comprehension.
The next day was more of the same. If anything, there were even more travelers on the road than there had been the day before. A mass exodus was occurring from the far reaches of the Southern Kingdom, but Ryuu saw no response from the military or the government. Though the sun was bright, the feeling on the road was one of dread. People were almost tripping over each other in their haste to escape. All were traveling to New Haven, expecting it would be a refuge from the horrors to the south. People seemed suspicious of everyone they met, and the kind greetings Ryuu had experienced the day before became few and far between. More often than not, groups and families would walk past Ryuu without a word. More than once he received suspicious looks, as he was the only one traveling south.
Ryuu feared what would happen when all these people came to New Haven. It was a large city, but it was already full, and it couldn't handle the number of people seeking refuge inside. His thoughts traveled to Akira and Tanak, and he hoped t
hey had a solution for their frightened subjects.
Ryuu considered leaving the road. If he still had his sense, it would've been the obvious decision. As it was, he was being seen by everyone; although he wasn't attracting undue attention, he was sure that once people saw his wanted posters in New Haven, word would get out about what direction he had traveled. He suspected there would be those who would connect whatever was happening in the outskirts of the kingdom to him.
But without his sense, Ryuu was blind. Off the road, away from people, he would be a sitting target for any who would take his life. He did not see or notice anyone following him, but he couldn't shake the feeling he wasn't safe yet. He picked up his pace. More than anything else, he wanted to get to Moriko. He hoped that once he did they could make some sense of the world as it fell into chaos.
There were two of them, because there were always two. One to track, another to kill.
It was the tracker who noticed the man. They had been hiding along the road for a day, debating whether to attack the villagers or to let them crush the nearby city with their overwhelming numbers. They had feasted on plentiful game while they argued. The warrior wanted to attack. If even the roads were unsafe, who knew how the people would react? He argued they would scatter throughout the land, easy to pick off in ones or twos.
The tracker disagreed. He liked the idea of everyone going into one city. That way, they would be easy to find. Also, they would carry the fear with them, causing riots and panic. Then they could walk into the city and cut it off from its miserable existence.