by Dante King
The old lady rubbed her head. “I don’t know what the Shogun does all day, sitting in his castle in Otara while bandits roam the hills only a day’s journey away, and old folk like me and my husband cannot come to the shrine to worship in peace. And, it seems, those bandits have destroyed the shrine.” She seemed a little teary as she looked at the ruined building.
Her husband was waking up as well, and it wasn’t long before the two old people were walking slowly away from us down the path, arm in arm, leaning on each other a little for support.
“You let them believe that it was bandits that had attacked the shrine,” I said to Toshiro.
Toshiro nodded gravely. “Knowledge of the Kanosuru, the Festering as you call it, is not widespread. It makes sense to me that those of us who know about it should protect simple folk from the knowledge, at least until we can understand more about it ourselves.”
“That makes sense,” Cara said thoughtfully. “Knowledge like that can cause panic. Are the people here superstitious?”
Toshiro looked away, smiling fondly. “Very,” he said. “And with good reason. This land is full of spirits and strange effects. I myself came this morning to leave an offering for the Kitsune. But come, let’s not stand here talking. I have a proposal for you both.”
“Go on,” I said.
“May I invite you to my home? I live half a day’s walk north of here, in the foothills of those mountains.” He pointed toward the snow-capped mountain range that glowed purple off in the distance. “Will you come with me? You could base yourselves there; it is a safe place.”
I looked at Cara and raised my eyebrows in question. She immediately nodded. I could see that, like me, she already liked and trusted this quietly spoken, intelligent man. In Saxe, a person’s honor and integrity were everything; it made the people of Saxe good judges of character. It was clear that he would have more to say, and a friendly, knowledgeable local was always a good friend to make.
I smiled and accepted his invitation.
“I’m going to change out of this armor,” I warned him. “It might seem a little strange. Please, don’t be alarmed.”
I turned my intention on the armor and took a breath, thinking about the light woollens and supple leather boots which were the humbler aspect of the Ironside Persona. There was a wash of warm light and a pleasant sensation of heat, and my outfit had changed.
Toshiro took a step back, gazing at my transformation in wonder.
“This is incredible!” he said, seeming genuinely amazed. “I’ve never seen such a thing! Can everybody in your land do this?”
“Just me, as far as I know,” I replied. “Come on. Let’s go back to your place. I can tell you more about it there.”
He was nodding slowly, looking from me to Cara and back again with a thoughtful expression. “Very well. Leofwine, Cara, I think you two might be just what this land was needing.”
We walked out of the glade, leaving the empty shrine silent behind us.
Toshiro led us down a long, winding path away from the shrine north-west, toward the mountains, the roofs of Otara on our right, and the dense woods where we had entered Yamato off to our left. I could see now that those woods were the outliers of a dense forest that cloaked a range of hills, stretching away to the south into a dark haze under the bright sky. Pockets of woodland dotted the lush grasslands, and the whole place seemed rich and full of life.
I looked up and saw that the sun had passed the midpoint. It was hot, and the air was humid despite the sea breeze. My clothing did not get too hot, and I was glad of my lighter outfit which the Persona of Ironside could transform into. Cara, in her tight leather armor with her weapons and gear, was sweating in the heat as we walked.
The land was rising steadily. We had been walking for perhaps an hour, saying little, when we reached Toshiro’s home. The flats ended in a tumble of hills, and the path began to climb steeply. The rocky hills were thick with low trees, not blossom trees this time, but graceful birches in the full flush of spring.
“This land is beautiful,” Cara said, a little out of breath from the heat and the climb.
Toshiro bobbed his head and smiled as if she had complimented him. “Yamato is the most beautiful land in all the world, and this mountain sanctuary is the most beautiful part of the most beautiful land, at least in my opinion.”
After half an hour’s walking, we came to a cleft in the rock. Toshiro gestured us in.
We stepped into a passageway running through the cliff. It was narrow, barely wide enough for two to walk side by side. The walls soared up sheer on either side, showing a narrow slice of blue sky high above. Cara was in front, and as she turned a corner ahead of me, I heard her gasp in surprise and amazement. I hurried forward, around the corner, and stepped out of the narrow passage to stand beside her.
Below us was a wide, roughly circular valley surrounded and closed in on all sides by sheer cliffs. Water dripped and sparkled as it ran down these rock walls. The cliff walls were rough, gray, natural rock. The trickling water fed a dense growth of thick ferns, deep moss, and small trees. In the middle of the space, the running water pooled to form a wide, deep lake. The runoff from this made a gurgling stream which chuckled merrily away and disappeared through a crack in the base of the cliffs, off to the left of the entrance where we stood. The whole enclosed valley was brimming with dense growth.
By the edge of the lake, a sprawling, eccentric-looking wooden building stood on stilts. It had the strange roofs with curled edges and red tiles which I was becoming familiar with. At first glance, the building was a chaotic jumble of multiple floors, decks, stairways, and roofs, but the closer I looked, the more I realized that it followed a strange but definite order. There was a lower central portion on the main deck, and from this three wings extended on both sides and behind. The central part, I saw now, was constructed with stone, but the extended wings and the many smaller floors piled on top of the central structure were all made of wooden planking, like the shrine had been.
All around the building were tended gardens, and I could see figures moving to and fro down there. Shafts of afternoon sunlight shone down into the valley. A winding path made its lazy way up from the gardens, past the lake, and up through the high ferns and low trees to the valley entrance where we stood.
Cara reached out and squeezed my hand. I glanced down at her in surprise and found her smiling up at me.
“It certainly is an amazing place,” I said.
Toshiro smiled with satisfaction as he stepped onto the path and began to lead the way down.
“And this is your home, Toshiro?” Cara asked. “How long have you lived here?”
“How long? I don’t know exactly. I don’t count the passing years, not anymore. It’s been a long time, a very long time, I suppose. I am older than I look.”
He left that intriguing statement hanging, and we followed him down along the path toward his house in silence.
The valley was deep, and while the afternoon sun arched down into it now, I guessed that for much of the day, Toshiro’s home would be surrounded by cool shade. In the colder climate of Saxe, that would be an undesirable trait for a home. Here in Yamato, it seemed a very attractive quality. Already, Cara seemed refreshed by the cool, damp air of the valley. It was yet another interesting difference between the world we had come from and the world we were in.
“We call it Ferndale,” Toshiro said, gesturing at the valley around us. “There is an abundance of ferns here, and we cultivate them. Some have healing properties, but many are just pleasing to look at.”
“You say ‘we’,” Cara asked. “You don’t live alone?”
“No, no, I have a considerable staff of servants here, to look after the house and the garden, and to take care of things while I am away. Not that I leave often these days, but I enjoy the company.”
While they were talking, I looked around the valley, enjoying the cooler air and the sound of running water everywhere around us. It felt like a
peaceful place, a place of sanctuary.
After walking for a little while, not hurrying, we reached the house. Servants greeted Toshiro gladly. Although a few of them cast questioning glances in our direction, they seemed to accept our presence without much difficulty. Toshiro offered no explanation, and his servants asked none.
He took us through the main hall of the house, a dim, cool, mostly empty space with bright painted artwork on the walls and simple furniture in the shadows at the edges of the room. Out back, we found ourselves in a well-maintained garden with fruit trees, brightly flowering bushes, and more ferns all surrounding a small pond where plump, golden fish moved and leaped in the water.
There was a round table there and three comfortable seats. An elderly man in a practical purple outfit of tunic and trousers hurried out of the house. When he reached us, he bowed first to Toshiro and then to us.
“Ah, Win,” Toshiro said, then turned to us. “Cara, Leofwine, this is Win, the head of my staff. He manages the servants and runs the household on my behalf. Win, these honorable people are my guests. Please show them to the guest suite on the top floor, and ensure they know how to get in touch with you if they want anything.” He smiled at us. “Win will show you upstairs. When you are ready, you will find me here. I think we have much to discuss.”
We both thanked him, and the elderly servant beamed at us and took us back into the main hall. This time, we took a right instead of passing straight through and found ourselves climbing a winding wooden spiral stair. We passed doorways onto two floors. The first was bustling with activity; shouting and the smell of cooking. The second seemed very quiet and empty.
When we reached the third floor, Win bowed and gestured us into a wooden corridor hung with more paintings. Some of the artwork depicted incredibly detailed, stylized representations of warriors. I saw portraits of men in fierce poses, dressed in armor and wielding swords similar to those I’d seen in my vision of Otara before we’d stepped through the portal. Others were pictures of mythical scenes; a forest scene featuring a fox-spirit similar to the Kitsune I had met in the psychic plane after the battle at the shrine. With that thought, I felt the Kitsune Persona twitching at the edge of my awareness. I pushed it back for the moment. Now was not the time to be experimenting with that.
“Here is your room,” Win said, sliding a door to one side.
Cara and I both smiled at that—here, all the doors seemed to take the form of sliding screens, not the hinged and swinging variety which we were used to in Saxe.
“If you need anything, pull on this rope to ring the bell on the servants’ floor.” He gestured to a red bell pull hanging just inside the door. Then he bowed and retreated from the room, leaving us alone.
Cara slid the screen door back in place, and we looked around the room together. It was spacious, clean, and simple, with two generously-sized sleeping mats, a side table with bowls of wash-water, towels, and a bowl of fruit. At the far side of the room, another screen door opened on a small balcony. It provided a wide view of the majestic cliff walls that bordered the valley, along with the wild green expanse of trees, brush, and fern that lay at their feet.
“You trust him?” Cara asked me.
I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I do. I don’t think we have anything to fear from Toshiro. You can leave your weapons here safely, I think.”
“Good. I think so too, but I wanted to make sure you agreed. Today was truly incredible.”
“It was,” I said.
“I wonder when we will work out how to share the Personas?”
“I’m sure we will come across that skill in time. From the way the Keeper spoke, it was something we would discover by chance, rather than something we could actively seek out.”
There was a brief cough outside the door, and I pulled the screen across to reveal a woman and a young man, carrying trays of food, bowls of warm, scented wash water, and a pile of washcloths and towels. I stepped aside, and they laid these all out on a long low table by the wall, then bowed their way out, closing the door behind them.
“Look, Leo,” Cara said, and I saw that she was holding up a green dress of fine gauzy cloth. “They’ve provided me with something more comfortable to wear.”
I smiled and turned away as she took off her potion belt and her weapons, laying them in the corner. To give her a bit of privacy, I wandered off toward the window to look out at the view. From behind me, I heard the sound of splashing and Cara making pleased sounds as she washed the sweat and the road dust from her body.
“Leo?” she said, after everything had been quiet for a moment. “What do you think?”
I turned from the window and looked back into the room.
She was wearing the green dress, and it fitted her well. She was a lithe woman, and the thin material hugged her toned figure and left little to the imagination. It had a high neckline and a drop that fell almost to her ankles, and yet the fabric was so fine that I almost thought that I could see the fine ribbed gooseflesh around her erect nipples.
I cast an admiring glance up and down her body, and she put her hands on her hips and struck a pose. I laughed, and she chuckled, too. Impulsively, she took a step toward me then hesitated.
“Leo...” she said, but then trailed off.
“Yes, Cara?”
She blushed suddenly. It was so unlike her to be embarrassed about anything that I almost laughed again.
“What is it?” I asked gently, restraining the laugher.
She blinked a few times, seeming lost for words. After a moment, she spoke again. “In Saxe, you made no secret of your admiration for me. And I think I made it clear that I felt the same about you.”
“That’s right,” I said. “But we both knew we could never take it any further, since the laws of Saxe prohibit warband leaders from getting involved with each other. When the Keeper asked you if you would come through the portal, you agreed. I made a joke about it, but it was truly part of the reason you came, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” she said. “By stepping through that portal, we left our homeland behind us. We’re not in Saxe anymore. Perhaps we never shall be again.”
“That’s true...”
She took three quick steps toward me and looked up into my eyes. Her lips parted slightly, and I reached out to place a hand on her hip. At the same time, we both leaned in to each other’s embrace. It was true. We were no longer in Saxe, and there was no prohibition against our relationship here in Yamato.
Our lips met in a gentle, exploratory kiss which quickly became firm. She let out a soft moan as I pressed a hand to the small of her back. After a moment, we drew away from each other. She gazed up into my eyes.
“We should go down to Toshiro,” I said. “I want to take my time with this, and I don’t want anyone interrupting.”
She bit her lower lip and let out a groan. “I want you now, Leo, but I fear you’re right. If we’re to spend hours upon hours lovemaking, then we won’t want to be interrupted.”
Chapter Ten
The afternoon was passing as Cara and I descended the stairs to the ground floor again. We walked closer together than ever before, and I could feel the heat of Cara’s body whenever she brushed against me. My body ached to take her, but we would have time enough for that in the evening. We had waited this long; we could wait a few more hours.
When we reached the garden at the back of the house, the shade had deepened. It might still have been a bright afternoon outside the valley, but here a cool dusk was taking hold already. As we moved through the main hall, men were lighting lamps and hanging them throughout the house.
Outside, lamps were also being lit. They were made from paper and threw a soft, warm light on the little garden scene.
Toshiro had made himself comfortable on one of the chairs, and food and plates laid on the table.
He smiled warmly at us and gestured to the seats. We joined him and quickly settled down to our meal, having worked up quite the hunger. The food w
as strange to my palate; salty fish, steamed greens, pickled vegetables, and white, fluffy rice. Toshiro had provided us with wide ceramic spoons to eat with, but for himself he used a pair of sticks as long as his hand, which he held between his thumb and forefingers and deftly used to lift the food to his mouth.
He saw that I was watching this feat with interest, and gestured to me with the sticks. “Chopsticks,” he explained. “The traditional way of eating here in Yamato. I guessed you would prefer the spoon, which seems most widespread in all other lands I’ve visited.”
“It’s certainly what I’m used to,” I said, “but I’d like to experience eating with the sticks.”
Toshiro chuckled and spoke to a hovering servant, who went away and returned shortly afterward with two more pairs of chopsticks. Cara and I both gave it a try, copying Toshiro’s technique. It was harder than it looked—much harder, in fact—but after a few tries, we both found ourselves able to work our way through the food with ease.
Toshiro clapped his hands, delighted at our efforts.
“Very good!” he said. “The people of Saxe learn fast!”
When we had finished our meal, the servant took the dishes away and returned with a tall ceramic bottle and small cups. These he laid out on the table before us. Toshiro thanked him reflexively, and the servant bowed and retreated to the house. I glanced after him, and as I did so, I saw that every window on the house was now glowing with the warm, soft light of the lanterns. Lamps had been lit and hung outside the windows right up to the third floor, so the whole building was illuminated.
Our host poured for us. “This is saké, the traditional drink of Yamato. It’s brewed from rice to make a sweet, fragrant drink; not too strong, but not too weak either. The saké of Otara is some of the best in Yamato. Win tells me that since my retirement, I have gotten too much of a taste for it, but I suspect that he just does not feel quite content unless he has something to berate me about.”