by Paul Kidd
Retrieving the monastery keys hanging upon a white cord about his neck, the prior carefully unlocked the grille, then hoisted it out and set it aside behind a bath tub. Taking another quick look about the room, he climbed down a set of ladder rungs set into the side of the shaft then pulled the wooden floor modules back over the drain behind him, hiding the entrance from view.
Lantern light bobbed and quickly faded below. Chiri raced forward, peering down through the floor slats.
A square manhole in the floor led down to a huge drainage tunnel. In the distance the prior’s lantern flickered, sending light dancing as he made his way to who-knew-where. Chiri blinked, then tugged wildly at the floor slats, tying to open up a little space. She gave up and sped over to the side of the floor where there was a little wriggle room, slithering down onto the tile floor, then running over to the edge of the manhole. Daitanishi and Bifuuko zoomed quickly to her side.
The rough shaft sides were no obstacle to a rat. Chiri ran straight down the wall to the damp floor beneath. Sitting up she looked along the dripping, echoing tunnel before her. Far ahead she could see the prior’s well-shrouded lantern as the man walked along.
Chiri scampered off in pursuit, tail high, with Bifuuko and Daitanishi whirring low beside her. They followed the prior onwards, travelling gently downhill for hundreds of paces onwards through the dark.
On they went, through the cold, echoing gloom. The prior eventually blew out his lantern, plunging the entire tunnel into darkness. Chiri halted, whiskers quivering, before moving cautiously on. She twittered forward, then finally saw a faint glimmer of moonlight ahead.
Chiri emerged out into a deep, narrow cutting covered over by tangled trees. Moonlight turned the forest into a maze of stark, black shadows. On the hill slopes above and off amongst the trees, firelight glowed. The Ishigi samurai that surrounded the monastery were at least fifty paces away through the woods, oblivious to the tunnel that ran right underneath their feet.
The prior was at the far end of the culvert. He halted, looking carefully back towards the monastery, making certain the Ishigi guards were all out of sight. Having eluded the guards, the prior pulled his robes straight, then headed quickly off along a faint path through the trees.
Moving with stealth and ever-nervous of owls – Chiri scuttled along after the man, accompanied by her elementals. They kept him in sight as he finally emerged from the woods and onto the main dirt road.
He now moved with confident speed. The village was well lit, with inns serving home-brewed liquor to miners and farmers. Music flowed from windows into the street. Keeping to the shadows, the prior made his way down a back street. He paused, keeping out of sight as two merry peasants exited some sort of gambling den.
Chiri sank into cover and waited. She finally saw the prior move forward to a tall, brightly decorated house. He knocked – and was immediately greeted by a merry middle aged woman who wore a great deal of makeup. The woman bowed him into the house and several young women came hastening forward to take the man’s sandals and wipe his feet.
He was clearly settling in for a while. Chiri sat up and motioned for Bifuuko. She whispered a few quiet words into the elemental’s ear. The creature nodded, turned about and shot up into the air, whizzing off towards the monastery.
Laughter came from the building and the prior’s voice could be heard calling out a woman’s name in welcome. Daitanishi moved off to watch the rear of the building, while Chiri hid beneath a nearby porch. They settled down to wait, never once letting their attention fade.
Chapter 5
Chiri crouched in the darkness beneath the porch for half an hour, carefully watching the house across the way. She had lost sight of the prior long ago, but the building seemed to be the centre of a considerable party. Men had gone inside, but none had yet seen fit to leave. But the back of the house saw a great deal of activity as sakē cups and flasks were washed, stacked, unstacked and filled, while food was cooking in the kitchens. The rat watched silhouettes on the windows, ears pricked for any sound of panic or disturbance. But nothing troubled the night – not even a cat or dog.
Bifuuko came whirring from the forest on swift, silent wings. The little creature zig-zagged about, spied Chiri hiding beneath the porch, then raced back out of sight.
She returned moments later with Sura in tow. Sura was in her fox form – silent and stealthy, speeding through the night. The fox ducked beneath the porch and breathlessly joined the rat in hiding.
“Hey – are you all right?” Sura craned to see across the street. “Someone snuck out? So who is it?”
“The prior!”
“What’s he doing?”
Chiri’s whisper held a decided tinge of embarrassment.
“I feel uncomfortable with telling you. But I believe he has stolen your underwear. He seems to have been greatly inspired, and has now come to a brothel. The route seemed well used.” The little rat was quite scandalised. “He is breaking his vows!”
Sura thrashed her tail in agitation. She glared at the brothel through narrowed eyes.
“What if he’s a mamono passing the mirror on?”
They watched the place together, sharp eared and sharp eyed. Eventually the door opened. Out came the prior – looking wracked with guilt. He checked the street was empty, then hastened quickly away from the brothel door.
Sura rose in predatory fashion, intensely focussed upon the prior. She started forward, creeping on her belly, then rising as the man drew far enough away.
Chiri came out from under the porch beside her.
“He is returning to the monastery.”
“But is he a monster? Is he returning to report?” Sura made a swift decision. “You stay here, get into that brothel and see if he left the mirror. I’ll follow him.” The fox was already up an on her way. “Just stay here and keep watch!”
Sura was off and running. Chiri stumbled a few steps in her wake, calling out in a hoarse whisper after the fox.
“How long must I keep watch? Should I stay all night…?”
Alas, Sura was gone. The rat pattered back and joined Daitanishi and Bifuuko at the edge of the street, looking in severe danger of going into a pout.
“Why does it always fall on me to be cast into regions of dubious repute?”
Laughter came from the upper floors of the brothel. Chiri grumbled and headed towards the back door, wondering if she might somehow get through the week with any shreds of her propriety still intact.
Sura trotted through the weeds beside the dirt road – a low, silent shadow in the moonlight. Once she was quite certain that the prior was headed back towards the monastery, she sped onwards, passing the man in the dark and leaving him far behind. Swift as an arrow, the fox plunged into the culvert that fed into the monastery’s drains.
The drainage tunnel was pitch black – and this time there was no shimmering air elemental to light the way. Sura pelted along in the dark, but slowed to a walk after the first fifty paces. Whiskers sensed the wall beside her, while tall ears picked out the slightest echoes from the bath house ahead.
Pale light suddenly shimmered from above: moonlight coming in through the bath house windows. Sura felt the wall in front of her, and finally found the ladder. Looking back along the long tunnel, she spotted the prior’s light bobbing far off in the dark.
Sura swiftly changed into half-human form to climb the ladder, exiting quietly into the empty bath house. Setting the wooden floor exactly as she had found it, she changed back into a fox.
Within the building all was silent – the great tubs now empty and dank. The fox sped along to the door, which she had left open by the merest crack. She looked carefully out into the dark gardens beyond – saw nothing, heard no danger – and so slipped out into the night.
The nearby wood piles made for an excellent hiding place. Sura flowed over to the darkest shadows and lay flat amongst the weeds, cunning ears lifted and eyes slyly watching the bath house doors.
Long minu
tes passed. Finally, a faint glimmer of lantern light showed from inside the baths.
The light vanished. Seconds later, one of the doors creaked open and the prior peered out into the moonlight. He looked left and right – decidedly the act of a suspicious man – then crept out into the night.
He did not seem particularly monstrous: if anything, he looked like a very human man with a very human vice. Sura frowned as she watched him dust off his robes, set his keys about his neck then head off towards the main monastery halls.
She rose to follow, slinking forwards – then quite suddenly froze.
Something was behind her.
There was a step – a silent presence. Sura stayed perfectly, utterly still, trusting to her fur to hide her in the dark.
A figure came out of hiding – a man in monk’s robes. He walked forward, heading straight towards Sura. He stopped only a few paces away then turned to look for a long moment at the baths.
Sura took her chance. She slid silently backward – back to the wood pile, putting herself into deeper shadows. The dark figure turned to scan the area: Sura pulled back completely out of sight behind the logs.
Moments later, the man was on the move. The fox lay flat as he walked past her, treading within a hand-span of her hiding place. The monk vanished off into the gardens.
Sura sagged in relief. She lifted her head and looked off along the path, but the prior was now gone. She crept forward, but could see no sign of anyone.
“Damn.”
The monastery prayer hall glimmered with reflected moonlight. The head of the huge old Buddha statue was lost in the darkness of the rafters. Polished floors glittered with great bands of eerie silver light.
Tonbo moved silently forward, kneeling in concealment beside a huge, dark pillar. At the far end of the hall, two acolytes were standing together in the dark, conferring intensely in near-silent whispers. The same two men that had watched Tonbo in the kitchens the night before, he had kept an eye upon them ever since.
Kuno came quietly through the gardens, keeping carefully to cover in the dark. Tonbo signalled to him, and Kuno came to a halt, hiding behind a gnarled old cherry tree.
The two acolytes skulked back through the shadows, then moved out into the moonlight and headed off together towards the monks’ sleeping quarters. Kuno stole forward towards Tonbo and knelt beside him, watching the acolytes as they faded off into the dark.
“Tonbo san – you suspect these two?”
Tonbo gave a growl.
“I watch. They do nothing suspicious.” He sat back and scratched at his shaven head. “Where are the women?”
“Gone!” Kuno settled his sword. “I am concerned. We are not properly armed and armoured. We are forced to operate out of touch with each other and alone. This is dangerous.”
Tonbo grunted in agreement. It was an exposed way of operating – but unfortunately it was necessary.
Kuno turned, watching the gardens behind him as he whispered in the gloom.
“The mamono are here. They must know we are here.” The creatures had been very careful to remain hidden – but it could not last. “They may attack us as a prelude to their departure.”
A slight ripple crossed the shadows at the far end of the yard. Kuno shifted a hand to his blade, then saw a fox flitting almost invisibly through the dark towards him.
Sura came up to Tonbo and Kuno, her paws silent in the grass. The fox seemed relieved to have found them.
“There you are! The prior left the monastery. We followed him to the village he snuck out to a brothel.”
Kuno blinked in surprise. “A brothel?”
“Looks like it. He used a locked drain tunnel that runs out from under the baths. Chiri’s infiltrating the brothel to see if he took the mirror there.” The fox looked about the prayer hall as she spoke, making certain that they were unobserved. “Someone was lying in wait for him when he came back. Someone in hiding. They saw him coming back into the monastery.”
Tonbo scowled.
“Did you see who?”
Sura shook her head. “Lost him. Been trying to find his tracks, then I smelled you two.” She sat up and fluffed out her fur. “So what’s happening?”
Kuno motioned towards the monks’ quarters.
“Two apprentices are out and about. All else is quiet.” The man vigilantly kept his hand upon his sword. “I do not like our exposure to danger.”
Out in the darkness, there was a sudden cry of shock. The noise was instantly cut short. Kuno and Tonbo arose, staring.
Sura was already on her way.
“Go!”
Tonbo and Kuno ran towards the distant noise. Sura sped along beside them, well out to one flank and keeping beneath the bushes.
The granaries and monastery treasure house were great looming shapes in the moonlight. Kuno and Tonbo sprinted towards the tangle of little sheds behind the buildings, but Sura raced to cut them off. The fox brought them to a halt, peering about the corner of a building.
“Wait! Careful – remember there’s two of them!”
Sura raced back and across to the porch of the guest house. Kuno had left her spear just inside his room. She changed into her half-human form. Naked and swift, she snatched up her spear and ran back towards the others.
She suddenly saw a huge, lumpen figure moving in the dark between two buildings. There was a brief, nightmarish gleam in the moonlight – a flash of claws and blood.
Sura knelt and froze in shock – saw the figure moving off through the grounds, then turned to signal her friends.
“This way!”
Sura rose, ran forward, and fell flat on her face. She had tangled with something foul and slippery. Tonbo ran over to cover her, his long dagger in hand, while the fox thrashed about with something wet and vile tangled about her legs.
The cursing fox flung something warm and gooey aside. She pointed off between the buildings.
“Damn! He went that way!”
Tonbo ran to the edge of the buildings. The garden beyond seemed utterly still. Nothing moved beside of the buildings – nothing crossed the open grounds. Tonbo dashed back and knelt at Sura’s side.
“There is no sign. He has escaped us.”
“Damn!” Sura slapped at the wet, weird tangle she had slipped over in the dark. It felt like laundry. “What the hell is this?”
Tonbo took hold of the object. He lifted it up, holding it between his hands, where it hung pale, limp and bloody in the moonlight.
Tonbo’s face was grim.
“It is a human skin.”
Kuno had tried to head-off their prey, racing to the far corner of the building. But the paths were empty. He sped back to Sura and Tonbo. He removed his own outer robe and handed it to Sura.
“My apologies. It has evaded me.” He helped Sura to dress, holding out the corners of the robe. “I saw the creature in silhouette. It looked like a man, only larger. It carried something heavy.” He looked at the weird, soggy sheet hanging dangling from Tonbo’s hand. “What is this?”
Tonbo found a patch of moonlight. He spread out what seemed to be an intact human skin that had been split apart along the back. Sura dragged over some rags that had been piled nearby. They were monk’s robes still warm – and a set of outsized rosary beads.
Sura knelt and carefully wadded fallen leaves behind the flayed skin’s face. Once it was rounded out, the features became more recognisable. She lay the beads beside the skin, and looked down at the face in thought.
Tonbo stroked at his stubble.
“Hmph. Interesting. This is the monk who welcomed us.”
Sura felt a sick sensation crawling through her soul. “He was speaking to me this morning. He was the only monk who ever spoke!”
“Gaining information upon us.” Kuno turned to look out across the silent gardens. “He must have slain a new victim and abandoned this skin. We moved too quickly for him to dispose of the body – so he carried it off.”
Sura made a sickly face.
“He’ll be skinning the victim right now.”
“But why?” Kuno scowled at the gardens. “Why trade to a new body? We had not even come close to uncovering his old identity.”
The three friends sat, worrying at the question. Finally Sura folded up the skin. She wrapped beads and skin carefully in the discarded robes.
“We’ll search. I’ll stuff this monk’s skin somewhere until we can bury him properly.” She took up her spear, glad for the weight of the weapon in her hands. “They’re up to something. I hope Chiri is alright!”
Sura, Kuno and Tonbo arose. Keeping together, they moved silently onward towards the monastery’s granaries. Carefully, quietly, they checked the back buildings, the sheds and baths, hunting carefully for the slightest sign of blood.
At the bottom floor of the guest house, the prior kept his comfortable quarters. He had an excellent view across the courtyard to the main gates and prayer hall, with cherry trees and gardens right at his door.
The prior coolly slid open his door. A lantern glowed well covered – in one corner of the room. He closed the door behind him then trimmed the lamp, filling the room with a low yellow glow.
The room contained chests and a low desk – inkstones, brushes and papers. The prior knelt and smoothed one hand over his desk. He picked up the nearest papers and read them swiftly through, flicking from one to another with a sharp, cold eye.
There was a soft knock at his door. A figure was kneeling. The prior turned, watching the doorway. The door slid open to reveal his assistant kneeling at the threshold.
The assistant gave a suave bow – all smiles and soft motions. The man sat up, his voice full of false, silky deference.
“Honoured prior, keeper of keys. This humble brother desires a few words in private with you.”
The prior narrowed his eyes.
“Enter.”
The assistant bowed and moved inside. He slid the door closed behind him. The little man arose and crossed the room, then knelt before the prior.
He bowed with an air of comradely candour.