Tails High

by Paul Kidd

  The song called – and the boy followed. He walked numbly on into darkness, his footsteps slowly filling with soft, new-fallen snow…

  Morning light shone brilliantly from clean white mountains above. A few pine trees stood dark and green above the mountain pass, snow clumping high inside their boughs. Here and there, huge rocks glittered with long dagger blades of ice, making the mountains sparkle with countless points of light.

  Kitsune Sura was well dressed for the cold. She had straw boots and leggings, a padded robe trimmed with fur, and a warm fur hat. She was also in her part human, part fox form, and thus had a nice warm coat of her own fur. Chiri stood beside her – a petite little figure well wrapped in blue winter robes. The fox was avidly talking and trading with an odd little gaggle of creatures that had come out onto the rocks.

  The creatures were mountain goblins – grey skinned, squat and powerful. The creatures looked something like a cross between a toad and a monkey, with great bristling manes of hair and wicked, clashing fangs. The goblins were loud and excitable, and much given to swapping jokes. They seemed quite at home with kitsune, and were bargaining avidly with Sura, trying to sell her tall green bottles of wine.

  Tonbo and Kuno stood a few paces away, their breath huffing out in clouds of mist. Tonbo’s head was still more stubble than hair. He had wrapped a warm cloth about his head to stop the mountain cold from striking home. His armour clanked as he stamped his straw boots, treading down the snow.

  Kuno saw money twinkle as Sura reached an agreement with the goblins. She eagerly gathered up six bottles, cramming some into her backpack and some into Chiri’s. Kuno blinked as he saw the goblins running off, gaily tossing their new-won silver coins into the air. He hastened forward in alarm.

  “How much did you just pay for that?”

  “A bargain! Just a silver piece each.” She seemed amazed that Kuno was not overjoyed. “Hey – it’s goblin wine! This stuff’s amazing!”

  Kuno stared at the goblins, bemusedly bowing to them as the creatures waved farewell.

  “They seem… eclectic.” Kuno blinked. “I have never seen one so close before.”

  “Oh – they’re great guys. Live in cliff towns. Great fighters – damned nasty if you cross ‘em!” Sura hoisted her pack onto her back. “But we love those guys. They drop in on the kitsune lands to trade.” The fox patted at her pack. “Ooh – it’s the good stuff! You’re going to love it!”

  Kuno looked dubiously at the bottles.

  “Goblin wine…? How do they make it?”

  The fox gave an easy wave of her hand. “It’s alcohol. You take fruit, step on it, then leave it in the sun until it turns offensive!” She leaned in to whisper into Kuno’s ear. “Take my aunt’s advice! Never ask too many details about something you intend to put in your mouth!”

  Kuno sighed, declining to comment. He looked about the mountain pass with its soaring peaks, snow drifts and frozen rocks, and planted a fist upon his hip.

  “This is not a shortcut to the beach!” He fixed a dark, suspicious glower upon the fox. “Why are we up here again?”

  “It’s a surprise! I have a plan! A really cool plan! You guys will love this!” Sura coaxed everyone onwards up the pass. “Trust me – I’m a fox!”

  The mountain pass led to a little crest, where paths diverged. A large offering stone stood at the top – a great black boulder that had been circled with a twisted, tasselled rope. Chiri had walked ahead to inspect the giant stone. She looked in wonder at the beautiful icy peak that loomed above.

  The rat spirit had wrapped her long pink tail with fur, which rather weighed it down. She pushed back the hood of her coat, exposing pink ears to the cold. She listened to the high mountain – the sounds of wind and trees and ice. She could feel strange currents amongst the elementals here: an eerie sense of hidden power.

  Sura came wading through the shin-deep snow to join her. The fox was puffing out her breath, enjoying the steam. She stood with Chiri and looked joyously over the snow-smothered woods and mountain tops. She looked quite stunning in the snow – wonderfully merry and alert.

  “Isn’t this great?” Sura looked about herself in delight. “Wow! It’s been too long since I got up into the snow!”

  “It is indeed majestic.” Chiri was quite amazed at the scale and clarity of the view. “I have never been so high before.”

  “Do they have mountains where you grew up?”

  “Quite modest ones, compared to these.” Chiri quietly laid a hand upon the sacred stone. “I grew up on the shores of the great lake. The mountains there were green – nowhere near as tall.”

  Chiri enjoyed the view, but found their presence on the mountaintop a little puzzling. The rat spirit looked to Sura in puzzlement.

  “Sura san. Please forgive me – but is this truly the best route to the coast?”

  The fox idly waved a hand.

  “Absolutely! That is if you want to find the sweetest, most private hot spring resort in the whole damned world!”

  Kuno and Tonbo were nearby. Both turned, brows raised. Chiri blinked at Sura in surprise.

  “Hot springs?”

  “Hot springs! With an inn, and big deep baths that bubble!” Sura almost danced with enthusiasm. “And maybe even some of those monkeys running around so we can feed ‘em!”

  Kuno pushed back his hat, quite mystified by the whole idea.

  “I do not understand. What are we supposed to do at these hot springs?”

  Sura pranced across the snow. “Sod all! Lie back, sponge about and have some girl walk all over your back.” Sura struck a pose. “People – we are taking a week’s holiday!”

  Sura’s announcement was met with confusion. Tonbo frowned, then scowled, then planted his tetsubo down upon the snow.

  “There is work we should be doing.”

  “Hey – and we’ve been doing it!” The fox turned about, her tail fluffing up in protest. “We have bashed monsters, banished spirits, fled screaming from ghosts – rescued kids, escaped giant spiders. And now we finally have a hundred koku we can spend!”

  Tonbo gave a growl. “We’re down to eighty.”

  “Eighty! Whatever! We are all going to spend one week doing absolutely nothing. We deserve it! This place is basically deserted – no one will come running up wanting us for jobs. One week of absolute lazy, pointless bliss!”

  The other Spirit Hunters were not yet swayed. The two samurai were clearly going to fall back upon their unflagging sense of duty. Chiri was slightly accursed with a conviction that if she was idling about, she was somehow making other people work harder to fill the gap. All very noble – and all quite irritating. Sura decided it was time to bring forth the absolute, the ultimate weapon. She slowly drew a breath, balanced her stance, and brought her hands together in front of her chest.

  Sura clapped her hands together, pleading. Her tail and fur fluffed out like a children’s toy, and she flashed wide green eyes at one and all.

  “Eeee! The fox eyes! Look into the limpid fox eyes!” She turned to Kuno. “Wook! I speak in cutsie foxy voice!” She turned into fox form, letting her clothing, gear and armour fall. The fox fluffed out, dancing and prancing up and down.

  “Gleeeeeeee!”

  Kuno stomped a foot.

  “Stop that! Don’t go fluffy! I hate it when you go fluffy!”

  “Glee! Bow to my foxy power!”

  Kuno, Chiri and Tonbo all looked along the mountain pass, slowly being swayed to Sura’s plans for a holiday. They tried to ignore the dancing fox, and took the idea into clear, sensible consideration.

  Kuno folded his arms and looked at the paths leading away over the snow. He winced, feeling a slight – ever so slight – sense of agreement.

  “I suppose we will be more efficient once we have recovered our spirit somewhat…”

  Chiri suddenly felt extremely worn. She wistfully looked out over the snow.

  “Hot springs…” The beautiful rat spirit gave a sigh. “Oh – just to lie
about and relax for a long, long while…”

  Tonbo gave a grumble.

  “We should not squander our funds.”

  Sura finally stopped dancing.

  “Look – what’s it going to cost? Ten? We’d still have seventy left! That’s enough to keep us going for another year. We live on the road and eat bugs – it’s not like we have overheads.” She rubbed against Tonbo’s shins like a cat. “Oh come on! I had a cousin come here eight years ago – she said it was heaven! You know you all want to!” The fox ran over and posed beside her backpack. “Hey hey! I have goblin wine…!”

  Chiri looked pleadingly back at Kuno and Tonbo. Kuno wavered. Tonbo saw Sura taking a breath to start another wild oration, and decided to cut her off before it could begin. He shouldered his tetsubo and turned to face the trail.

  “Very well. If it really is this way…”

  Sura was utterly overjoyed. Diving deep into her clothing she wriggled about, then shot back into her half fox-half human form. She leapt up, spear in hands and backpack streaming snow and ice. She took Chiri on her arm, and they hurried on together, eagerly forging a path through the snow.

  Tonbo and Kuno watched over them, shaking their heads. Still – it was wonderful to see them light-hearted and carefree. Tonbo looked to Kuno, gave a shrug, and walked after Sura and Chiri, wanting to be on hand in case they blundered into an avalanche or a crevasse.

  Kuno halted. He turned, eyes narrowed, suddenly sensing something in the air.

  There was a presence – a sense of being watched. The handsome samurai stroked his moustache, carefully examining the glacier that clung against the mountain. But nothing moved – nothing stood out against the rocks and ice. There was just the sparkle of snow, and the soft sound of wind in the top of the tall pines.

  Tonbo had also halted. He had turned to look back at the little pathway that led back down to the plains. The big man swept his gaze carefully across the tree line, looking for the slightest hint of something wrong.

  Kuno scowled.

  “More mountain goblins?”

  “Perhaps.” Tonbo made a last careful search. He finally slung his long iron club across his shoulder.

  “Stay close to the others.”

  Kuno nodded. He followed after Chiri and Sura, hurrying to catch up.

  Far back along the pass, a sudden great rush of snow came tumbling down a slope. The avalanche was almost silent – a great shush of slithering powder and ice. It flowed down over the path back to the plains, filling the narrowest point with a great, soft gush of snow.

  Tonbo watched for a moment. But nothing more moved. No sounds came from the mountains.

  Sura called, urging him to hurry. The big man watched the way behind them for a few moments more, then moved into the great, wide saddle of the pass.

  Behind them, a last few clumps of snow fell onto the trail – then all was still.

  A village nestled in a gorgeous little alcove between two arms of the mountain peak. Pine forest, snow and vast regions of glittering ice climbed high above. The houses were well built and numerous – though oddly quiet in the snow.

  Most spectacularly of all – a fog of steam seemed to hang over the edges of the village. Boiling springs welled and bubbled up out of the rocks, splashing down into hot streams that pooled amongst the boulders. To Sura’s great delight, little tribes of monkeys were lounging about the rocks. They lazed in steaming pools, looking like the lords of all creation. Sura bowed to the nearest apes, acknowledging fellow sages. She left them in possession of a fine, sliced peach.

  The hot springs had a tart, sharp scent. Plants grew green and lush near the borders of the warm streams, and the rocks were clear of snow. The Spirit Hunters walked through straggling woods and snowfields – past silent farm huts and old fences, on into the edge of the village.

  Hot water cascaded down rocks in a brilliant waterfall, to be met by yet more springs – all of them welling up into wide pools fenced with trees and shaded by thatched rooves. On the rocks above, a large, beautifully decorated inn stood waiting for visitors. The pathway was lined with rough stone carvings of frogs and fish. Chiri and Sura delighted in the view. Bifuuko and Daitanishi came creeping out of their shelter inside Chiri’s robes, and flew about above a marvellous little stream. The two animal spirits ran along after them, full of eagerness and joy. Kuno and Tonbo walked along the path behind them, trying to act with far more dignity.

  The village stretched off along a little road to one side. Stone steps led up and down to different side streets. There seemed to be shops and tea houses – restaurants… All the makings of a vibrant life.

  Villagers came out of their doors to watch the newcomers arriving. They were a silent people: women, children and old men all mutely gazing at the visitors. One woman saw Kuno and put a hand over her mouth. She turned and hurried away. Other people looked down at the ground.

  Kuno stopped and looked back for a moment at the village – but all seemed well. The people moved on about their affairs. He frowned for a moment, then followed on after his friends.

  They came into the yard of the huge old inn. The gardens were half covered in snow, with the paths unswept. Dozens of trees shaded the steep eaves and covered walkways. Sura came treading up the front path, laughing merrily with Chiri. A middle-aged woman came out of the inn’s front door and looked at them all in surprise. The woman hurried back indoors, then emerged again followed by a glowering young man.

  The young man had a puckered, disfiguring scar that ran top to bottom on his face, mercifully missing his eye. He kept his face hidden away, brooding back in the shadows of the porch.

  The woman was a handsome, sturdy creature, with a very concise manner about her. She came forward to the edge of the porch, and gave a quiet bow.

  “Travellers. You are welcome. This is the Inn of Mists.”

  Sura mounted the steps and bowed happily in return. She was bright and merry in the snow.

  “Inn mistress san! I am Priestess Kitsune Sura. This is Nezumi Chiri – Tsunetomo Tonbo and Asodo Kuno.” She planted her spear and joyously brushed back her fur hat, her fox muzzle bright with smiles. “We want your finest accommodation!”

  The Inn Mistress seemed strangely reticent. She glanced back at the inn, then turned back and bobbed her head.

  “How long will it please you to stay?”

  “Oh – a month!”

  Tonbo glowered. “A week.”

  Sura gave an easy shrug. “Eh – a week, then.” She tilted her head, ears pricked, puzzled by the lack of joy in the Inn Mistress’ face. “Are there rooms?”

  The Inn Mistress seemed dejected. But she gave a nod. “Yes. Yes, priestess.” She bowed in apology. “We – we never get visitors in the winter. Were not the passes closed?”

  Sura happily climbed up the steps, banging snow from her straw boots. “Yeah, the main pass was closed. But we came up through a side path to see the mountain goblins! They showed us the other way through.” Sura looked around at the mountain peaks, the snowy forest and the steam, absolutely enchanted. “Wow. This is beautiful.”

  The inn mistress looked to the mountain.

  “Thank you, honoured priestess. We – we pray that your stay will be a happy one.” The woman bobbed her head to the young man in the shadows. “Domei my son, please assist our guests with their baggage. Show them to the best rooms.”

  The young man shot his mother a look of veiled hatred. She suffered it without comment. Domei came down to the guests, bowed, and assisted Sura and Chiri with their boots. Taking some of the visitor’s packs, he then led the way inside.

  The inn mistress bowed as her visitors entered the inn. She set everything to rights, then seized hold of a broom, whisking fragments of snow and ice from the threshold.

  As quickly as she started, she suddenly stopped, then turned and looked up at the great icy peak that loomed above the village.

  The woman watched the edges of the forest for a moment, then backed away in fear. H
astening back inside the inn, she firmly shut the doors.

  Chapter 2

  Afternoon sun glittered from the high mountain, sparkling from the snow that sat upon the thatched rooves of the inn. Hot water from the upper springs splashed down in a waterfall, sending drifts of steam floating along the rocks. Here and there, a monkey wandered along the boulders, picking bits of greenery. Bright plants grew amongst the rocks, with pine trees looming dark green above the rocky pools.

  Paths beside the inn led to a great, rocky spring. Water surged up out of the heart of the mountain, boiling hot. It splashed up over a wide line of rocks to cascade down into the bathing pools below.

  Dressed in a very brief yukata robe, Sura sat by the spring. She was in her human form with her hair all pinned up and cheeks pink with the cold. She was happily putting eggs into little cloth slings, ready to set them into the springs to boil. She sang a raucous little song at the top of her voice as she merrily worked away.

  “Oooooh! Pat pata funi funi, pat pata hoe hoe!

  Pat pata funi funi, tamago!

  Pat pata funi funi, pat pata hoe hoe!

  Pat pata funi funi, tam-tamago!”

  Kuno arrived, walking down the path with great dignity. He wore a long simple robe and wooden sandals, with his long hair bound carefully back. He kept his long sword and short sword with him. The man paused, standing regally amongst the steam, and watched Sura as she set her little cloth packets into the roiling waters.

  “What are you singing?”

  “The egg song!” Sura fetched several piping hot cloth packets from the spring, fishing them out by the long tails knitted into the cloth. “A lizard girl taught me!”

  Kuno blinked in astonishment. “A lizard!”

  “They eat eggs!” Sura paused in the middle of unwrapping boiled eggs from the cloth. “Actually, she used to just sort of eat them whole and spit out the shells. All the bits were still linked together. Cool party trick!” The fox shook her head in admiration. “Now that girl could eat.”