by Paul Kidd
From somewhere high above, there came a sound like a small gourd drum…
A small, white lumpen head emerged from the dark shadows of the tree. It cranked slowly sideways, then suddenly released, with a soft, clear ‘thock’.
Another of the small spirits appeared – then another and another. Yet more emerged from amongst the orchids. The entire tree was a huge nest for the creatures. At least twenty spirits gathered up inside the boughs. The air rippled to the sound of half-heard laughs and giggles.
One spirit was larger by far – differently coloured, with flashes of sparks all though its shadow body. This larger creature emerged out onto a branch, and stared down at Chiri.
It crept closer – gathering itself. Slowly, its head began to crank about upon its neck.
Chiri drew away. But the other spirits had sensed their leader’s mood. They began to spread out – some of them dropping down into the meadow. The strange tingle of magic suddenly twisted at Chiri’s hide.
The rat ran.
She sped like a mad thing through the grass – past spirits that seemed shocked by her speed. The rat dashed out of the clearing and raced off into the eastern forest with her two elementals whirring at her side.
The spirits gave chase. Some leapt from tree to tree, while others joined their leader, leaping to the ground and charging forward – vanishing out of sight and reappearing dozens of paces ahead. Chiri plunged through a brake of ferns and called out a spell as she dashed towards a maze of thorns.
“Little sisters, growing green!
Help your playmate stay unseen!”
Little wood elementals – creatures made out of bark and branches – emerged out of the nearby trees. As Chiri scampered past, the elementals plunged down into the thorn bushes behind her, reaching into them with a green shimmer of magic.
The thorn bushes instantly exploded into manic growth. They turned into a dense bramble mass a dozen paces high, their strands all laced into each other as tight as a solid wall. Chiri stumbled and fell on her front leg, wrenching her paw. She looked back towards the wall of thorns, feeling a sudden wave of relief.
The barrier should have been impenetrable – but the great horde of spirits merely vanished upon one side, and reappeared on the other. They came on towards Chiri, flickering and leaping. The rat gave a sob of panicked disappointment and forced herself back into a run.
She was tiring. Her front paw hurt, and she was now limping, leaning upon Daitanishi as they fought their way together through the grass. They stumbled out onto a slope, and suddenly Chiri was tumbling down a muddy bank.
She splashed into a great, wide pool – a place all flooded by the recent rains. The far off woods echoed to the roar of the corpse monster as it battled Kuno and Mifune – and the cold giggling of the forest spirits was coming closer and closer through the trees.
The hunting pack of spirits emerged from the bushes, lining the banks of the pool above. Chiri backed into the water, utterly cut off from the shore.
The air drifted with a child’s laughter – sharp and cruel – and then the creatures slowly closed in about their prey.
Chapter 5
Chiri backed into the ice cold pool as the creatures filtered down towards the banks. A fallen branch lay in the water: the little white rat felt her way back along the submerged bark, edging back and away from the shore, until finally the branch ran out.
Somewhere to the east, there was a steady splash of flowing water. The dark woods still echoed to the corpse monster’s rage. But the sinister sound of little drum beats echoed as the weird forest spirits gathered in the gloom.
The pack leader came close, rising above the other spirits. Chiri froze, tensed and ready to turn and swim. But the spirits all halted at the water’s edge. The pack leader kept well back, seeming to actually fear the pool.
Panting hoarsely, Chiri looked about herself. She suddenly saw a creek trickling into the rainwater pool. Tree branches had fallen in the rainstorms, and one was a few paces away in the middle of the great pond.
Suddenly Chiri turned and leapt clean out into the middle of the pool. Daitanishi was ahead of her, acting as a springboard as the rat leapt again. Bifuuko caught her and boosted her onwards, and the rat managed to catch hold of a fallen tree branch in the water. She ran wildly off along the tree limb, while the forest spirits all tried to keep pace with her along the banks. But Chiri was swift. She outdistanced the creatures and jumped from driftwood to driftwood, splashing the water with her tail. She floundered ashore at the creek bank, and scampered wildly on upstream.
The little rat reeled. She searched frenziedly about herself as she ran, hoping for a sight of old bones. But the forest spirits were already closing in, flashing clean through obstacles and somehow appearing in the trees. Panting raggedly, Chiri fought her way up and onto the top of a huge old tree trunk that blocked the muddy banks. Her injured paw gave way, and she fell spilling down the other side, bouncing from shelf fungi. The rat sprawled amongst mossy stones, trying to gather herself to run.
She looked again.
She sat upon the moss-covered skull of a long-dead child, surrounded by a scatter of old green bones. The rat looked about herself, and felt understanding flow suddenly through her heart.
The forest spirits were all around her. Chiri sat up – and shimmered, changing into her half-animal form. She sat naked in the forest, surrounded by a child’s bones. Chiri knelt with infinite grace. She faced the largest of the forest spirits, and gave a quiet bow.
“I beg you to stop.”
She was exhausted – but her voice was calm. The beautiful rat spirit spoke with pure, unswerving compassion.
“You have made yourself an eternal playtime. I know you feel cheated by your death, but this is not what your powers are for. The way of the shugenja is not self-gratification, but in helping those in need.”
The rat looked into the face of the largest spirit.
“It is selfish of you to take playmates by force. You are doing a great wrong, and causing anguish to innocent families. I beg of you to relinquish this half-existence you have chosen. Move on into the spirit realms, where real love awaits you.
“It is time for playtime’s end.”
The leader of the spirits recoiled. It froze – its head still. Slowly it seemed to shrink in upon itself, head hanging…
The creature suddenly lifted its face. It flexed ghostly limbs and crouched, moving slowly in towards its prey.
The entire pack of spirits followed suit. They ringed Chiri in, moving closer – their acid laughter filling the air.
The rat spirit hung her head, and reached her hands down towards the ground.
Elementals of the physical elements were incapable of stopping the approaching spirits. But there was one other place: an elemental source that ran far, far behind and beyond the world of grass and trees. Chiri had never touched upon it before. She steeled herself now, then plunged her power out into the black cracks in the world. She let her energy flood away, feeling the world around her shudder to the raw pulse of her power.
She felt them: cold and strange, suddenly turning towards her. Shaking with effort, trembling – Chiri tried to seize onto something that was unutterably alien, and drag it up into the waking world.
“Element of darkest void.
Space beyond and space above.
Take form now beneath my hand.
Come to she who calls in love!”
Shadows suddenly emerged up into the world.
They were oily black and glittering – shadows that moved with a sure, silky reality. They were the elementals of the void – the hidden element that lurked behind and beyond. The creatures stretched – interested in the strange surroundings. Bifuuko and Daitanishi stared at them, bobbing little bows as they met the creatures’ gaze.
Exhausted, Chiri lifted one hand. She gestured to the air empty air beside her.
“Void fortress!”
The void elementals set to their work with
a manic flicker. They began to shift and flow back and forth all about and above Chiri, veering wildly through the air. The spirit creatures backed away, eying the weird black shield in suspicion.
With the spirit creatures stalled, Chiri turned to the bones at her feet. She bowed to the bones and clapped her hands, trying to remember the prayer for the repose of the dead.
“Fallen soul, you are not forgotten.
Fallen soul, you shall not fade.
We honour you – we bow to you.
We call to you by name…
Chiri’s prayer faltered. She blinked in horror, realizing that she needed the dead child’s name to complete the prayer.
In front of her, the leader spirit girded itself, creeping forward towards the shield. It suspected that all was merely flash – that the void elementals could do it no harm. The creature gathered itself to spring forward. Behind it, childish laughter surged…
Chiri suddenly began to feel numb. The creature’s spell was reaching into her. The whole world began to seem vague. She felt her eyes begin to blank.
The rat sagged. Her fading gaze lingered upon a stone jutting from the banks of the stream…
She remembered the cairn they had all found just the day before. The memorial cairn. A tree had been planted beside it – the only one of its type in all the forest….
“A willow…”
Chiri fought her way back upright, dragging in new breath.
“Fallen soul, you are not forgotten.
Fallen soul, you shall not fade.
We honour you – we bow to you.
We call to you by name.
Little Willow, you are cherished.
Little Willow, go to rest.
To the Realm of Beloved Dead,
Tenderly, we send you home.”
She had recited the prayer: she could do no more. The rat spirit fell sideways, feeling a sudden pulse of magic that flashed across her fur.
In the dense woods, Kuno and Mifune were locked into a terrible battle against the corpse monster. They ducked as entire trees were flung bouncing and crashing towards them. The exhausted warriors lay flat amongst the roots as the titanic monster surged towards them. As it came close, Kuno leapt forward and slashed into a tentacle, severing it through – but the monster merely reabsorbed the stump, growing new limbs that shot like lightning straight for Kuno’s face. He ducked, and tentacles tipped with ancient spear blades crashed into the tree behind him. Kuno cut through the obstacles and ran, feeling the entire immense monster thundering towards him.
Young Mifune hid panting behind a tree, concealed from the skulls that jutted from the monster’s flanks. As the beast turned to hunt for Kuno, Mifune ran forward and stabbed his sword into the monster’s side.
The creature wrenched sideways, almost jamming its skull-smothered hide against the boy. Teeth clashed, and a broken sword blade tore through Mifune’s robes. He was caught, and tentacles suddenly formed, ready to pull him in against the skulls. The boy emperor sliced at his own clothing in panic, tearing free. He stumbled back and away, rolling frantically as a huge tentacle studded with sword blades lifted and slammed down at him through the branches. Mifune was up and running, fleeing back through the trees, ducking as another tentacle shot past like an arrow, splintering bark and wood to shower like daggers through the air.
He joined Kuno, and the two warriors struggled onwards, crashing and shoving through underbrush. They were utterly exhausted. Mifune could scarcely hold his sword, and his legs shook with the effort of running. But Kuno soldiered on, pouring with sweat – his armour streaked and slashed. Her reached out a tired hand and helped Mifune to his feet, hauling the boy up as they ran.
A fallen tree was to their front – a massive oak that lay sideways, blocking their way like a fortress wall. A sheer rock outcrop was to the right. Kuno plunged to the left, wading through tall grass – but the footing became deeper and deeper with mud. There was open water just beyond. Mifune and Kuno extracted themselves from the mire and clambered back to the fallen tree.
The corpse monster was there.
It had cut them off from the forest. The immense beast was in the open ground, with a clear path straight towards them. The creature gathered itself, hideous jaws clashing rusted teeth. Hundreds of skulls all screamed out in hate, the sound splitting bark and crashing through the leaves.
Kuno lifted his blade into attack stance. Mifune joined him, standing with the samurai side-by-side.
Suddenly a yellow paper impaled upon a throwing spike sped past them and slammed into the fallen oak. A voice bellowed out above the monster’s numbing noise.
“Shields!”
Brilliant sheets of magic sprang up in a great barrier before Kuno and Mifune. They boxed the massive creature in on all four sides, trapping it inside a prison. The beast flailed, but its blows rebounded from the magical walls.
Mifune turned and gaped.
A figure stood in the sunlight – a creature with brilliant russet-orange fur and a fox’s pointed face. She wore a rumpled robe and carried a spear whose blade was forged from orange metal. She looked wild and free and powerful. The boy emperor had never seen anything as breathtaking in all his life.
The fox moved forward. The corpse monster raged towards her and then recoiled, stung by the magical shields. It seized hold of saplings and hurtled them towards her, but the fox utterly ignored them.
A huge man strode in front of her – a samurai dressed in nothing but a robe, yet carrying a massive iron tetsubo. As a sapling hurtled towards the fox, the big samurai smashed it from the air. He cleared the way as the fox swung her spear about herself, power crackling wildly about the blade.
Kitsune Sura strode up to the shield. She flashed her spear, carving the ‘Tao’ symbol into the air with searing strokes of flame. The fox blew upon a yellow fu paper held between two fingers, and hurtled it through the symbol. The paper stuck against the corpse monster’s hide.
“Tao seal!”
The monster staggered – power searing and crackling over it. The skulls shrieked, but their cries were muffled and fading. The fox spun about, spear blade whirling as she summoned up her final spell.
“Creature born of hate eternal
Fiend of blood, beast of pain.
I expel you to the Realm of Hungry Ghosts!
Creature born of death, be gone!”
Sura sliced open a gate into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. The fu paper on the monster glowed, and a huge wind seemed to thunder about the creature, dragging it slowly towards the gate. The corpse monster thrashed, clawing madly at the ground. Sura poised one hand before her face, pouring energy into the spell – her green eyes fierce and her fur tossed by the wind. The monster was hauled inexorably into the gate, burning and diminishing as it went. It was shedding bones and blades, becoming nothing but a wallowing black shadow.
The bones burst and shattered. Old rusted blades suddenly crumbled away. With a howl of despair, the corpse monster was yanked through the gateway. Sura flashed her spear down and sealed it shut, trapping the monster upon the other side.
Running from the woods behind her came a flock of grubby, naked children. Chiri was amongst them, wearing Sura’s under robe. She walked with several dirty, embarrassed Sano samurai – all of them quite naked. One of the men held the hand of a small six-year-old child who looked about himself in utter wonder.
The fox leaned on her spear – tired and rumpled. She flashed a wry, delighted smile, and sketched a salute towards Kuno.
“Hi honey! I’m home!”
Kuno gave an uncharacteristic whoop of joy and flung himself at the fox, taking her joyously in his arms. He laughed with her, then turned to embrace Tonbo. He brought them forward to young Mifune, and took immense pleasure in performing introductions.
“My friends Tsunetomo Tonbo and Kitsune Sura. This is Kenshin Mifune – a brave and stalwart soul.”
They bowed to one another while the children capered joyously about the crumbled, vani
shing old bones. Chiri came forward to bow in gratitude to Mifune. The boy was exhausted, cut and bloodied, and absolutely radiant.
Arm in arm with a fox and a rat, the boy emperor of the sacred isles walked with his friends into the forest, heading off to collect equipment, find some food, and head for home.
Chapter 6
At the village just outside the forest, a team of Sano cavalry came thundering in from the hills. They were led by a fierce grey-bearded man – Lord Sano himself – and they raced into the village in a wild clatter of hooves and armour – two hundred men, superbly armed and mounted. They skidded to a halt in a shower of leaves and mud.
Sano Moko had brought her own men forward to the little village. She was mounted and armoured, with a dozen samurai at her side. Behind her were the anxious ladies-in -waiting, and villagers both young and old. The villagers bowed while Moko rode up to her father and nodded to him from the saddle.
“Father!”
“Moko chan!” The man stood in his stirrups to look about the streets. “What is being done?”
The old man was fraught with worry. His stern old eyes were red. Moko swung her horse about and pointed to the forest with her naginata.
“We have a party in the forest. They are experienced with sorcery. We are awaiting results.”
“How many men did you send?”
“They are a team of four, my lord. Expert monster fighters.”