Guardian, Saviors of Kamigawa

CHAPTER 11

Toshi struggled to breathe, to roll away, to move at all. He failed.

Hidetsugu drew ever closer, unhurried, precise, and deliberate. Unable even to wipe the blood from his lips, Toshi scanned the chamber for some alternative to violent death. Kiku was out cold; Marrow was probably dead or would be shortly. And Toshi himself was no longer protected by the hyozan curse.

O Night, he prayed, your acolyte needs your blessings.

The voice that replied was cold, and distant, but not uncaring.

Nonsense, Toshi Umezawa. You already have all the power you need.

Desperate, Toshi thought, Please, great myojin. I do not have my full wits about me. What must I do?

What you did at the beginning. What you did when you first accepted my gifts.

Hidetsugu was almost close enough to reach down and grab Toshi. The ochimusha searched his memory … what had he done at first with Night’s blessings? Called for silence? That wouldn’t stop Hidetsugu’s nose from locating him. Fade into nothingness? He didn’t have the strength.

Toshi looked out through the massive hole in the exterior wall. Far below, he saw armies of twisted spirits and demonic oni. He saw the All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, looming as large as a small mountain. And across the southern sky, he saw the Great Old Serpent, O-Kagachi. Three of the most powerful entities in all Kamigawa, the rulers of humankind, oni, and spirit alike were all assembled to fight for the prize that lay all but forgotten just a few rooms away.

He had been beset by powerful forces the first time he’d called on Night’s Reach. Then, he’d used her power to subdue the powerful patron of Jukai Forest, the Myojin of Life’s Web. He’d struck at the great spirit through its worshippers, robbing her of strength by silencing her followers in mid-chant. Perhaps he could do the same thing in reverse now, attacking Hidetsugu through the oni he worshiped?

The idea crystallized quickly in Toshi’s head. He scanned the field below to confirm. Yes … while Konda and O-Kagachi were fixed and oriented on the towers of Minamo, the All-Consuming was facing south, its eyes pinned to the great serpent’s approach. The ochimusha spared one last look at Hidetsugu, who was sightlessly searching for him with wide sweeps of his massive arms.

Do you understand?

At last, Toshi realized he did. The three-way struggle developing on the shores of the lake provided information that Hidetsugu didn’t have, information that would wound the ogre more viciously than any spell or blade.

Thank you, O Night.

Fare well, my acolyte.

Toshi ignored the pain in his chest and rolled onto his knees. The ogre’s probing hands were only inches away.

“Hidetsugu,” Toshi said, “listen.”

At the sound of the ochimusha’s voice, Hidetsugu lashed out and snared the front of Toshi’s shirt. He lifted Toshi up and said, “No, my friend. Every time I listen to you, I lose. It would be more fitting … more dignified if you simply accepted your death in silence. Nothing you say will save you.”

Swaying in the ogre’s grip, Toshi said, “All right, don’t listen. Smell. Point your ugly face south and tell me what you find.”

Hidetsugu shook his head, but in doing so turned his face to the open air. The scent of battle reached him, familiar odors that could not help but fire his ogre blood.

“The All-Consuming,” he said. “And an army of souls who fight even though they don’t have proper bodies.” Forgetting himself, Hidetsugu tilted his head back and drank deeply of the evening air.

“And an elemental force of amazing power. That has to be the fabled O-Kagachi.” Hidetsugu sniffed again, momentarily forgetting his rage. “There are hundreds of powerful scents out there in the world, Toshi, but this one smells like all of them. It is the world itself.”

Hidetsugu lowered his head. “And now I have listened, old friend. Good-bye.” The ogre raised his powerful fist, preparing to crush Toshi against his own open palm.

“Before you kill me,” Toshi said, “let me tell you the one scent you missed.”

“Oh? Tell, ochimusha, tell.”

“Fear,” Toshi said evenly. “Fear of O-Kagachi. Whatever that thing is, it’s more powerful than Konda, and it’s more powerful than the All-Consuming. If it arrives here …”

“Nothing is more powerful than my oni,” Hidetsugu said. “Chaos is the fate of all things, living, spiritual, and in between. All that lives will someday die, all that is ordered will someday unravel. And when they do, Chaos reigns.”

“Oh?” Toshi said, and he could see how his mocking tone annoyed Hidetsugu. “You seem certain. But is your oni?”

Hidetsugu huffed, but he did not strike. Instead, he turned once more to the opening in the wall and waited, drawing a steady stream of air into his nostrils.

A mere hundred feet from the shores of Lake Kamitaki, Konda’s advance had ground to a halt. Even as his main forces threw themselves against the Oni of Chaos in endless waves, the demon held fast. In the sky and on the ground, even his personal strike force could not break through.

Konda was confident in his eventual success, but the approach of O-Kagachi threatened them all. The great spirit beast now filled the entire southern sky, five castle-sized heads thrashing and rolling down from the horizon. The battlefield and the entire world seemed to tilt toward the serpent’s coils, as if the world were overbalanced by its presence.

The daimyo shouted for another charge, and his troops obeyed without hesitation. Doubt had crept into Konda’s own mind as he weighed the risks of being trapped between two of the kakuriyo’s most powerful spirits.

O-Kagachi roared then, adding its multiple voices to the cacophony of battle for the first time. The serpent’s cries covered the entire range of pitch and timbre, from a high, shrieking wail to a low, ground-rumbling roar. Konda’s army did not react to the terrible new sounds, but all of the oni did, from the lowliest foot soldier to their lord hovering and slavering overhead. The greater demon recoiled as if stung by a hot needle, and then its hissing, malevolent call stabbed through every ear and mind for a mile in all directions.

Konda’s heart surged. Could it be? Was he actually hearing the sound he had heard in a hundred different battles from a hundred different enemies? Was the mighty Oni of Chaos sounding a retreat?

Like a squall on a sunny day, the greater demon suddenly soared up from the shore into the sky. It grew darker, heavier, and broader as it rose, its eyes aglow with crimson light. Thousands of sharp-toothed black jaws coalesced around the oni’s eyes and horns, giving it a distinct shape for the first time. Still rising, the Oni of Chaos boldly turned to face O-Kagachi. Its shape swelled, and then a river of snapping jaws erupted from below its eyes, streaming toward the five-headed serpent like a horizontal geyser.

Konda stopped, half-mesmerized by the enormity of the conflict in the sky. All around him, his soldiers and moth-riders slowed their advance, waiting for the daimyo to act. Even the lesser oni stopped fighting but stood dazed and almost frightened as their deity struck.

The stream of demonic jaws curled slightly as it streaked toward O-Kagachi. The closer its leading edge got to the serpent, the smaller and more comical it seemed. Konda let out a mocking laugh as the oni’s attack made contact with O-Kagachi’s closest face. The stream of vicious jaws splashed harmlessly off the old serpent’s scales like gentle rain.

The stricken head then blasted forward at a speed greater than Konda could follow. He saw a flicker of movement and felt a rush of air and pressure as something huge rushed over him. It took but a split-second for him to jerk his head back to the oni. What he saw chilled him to his core.

O-Kagachi’s return stroke had torn through the center of the Oni of Chaos, sundering the great demon in two. Two of its three eyes remained on one ragged half, opened wide with shock. On the other half, the third eye rolled back in its socket and lost its angry red glow just before the lid drifted closed. This smaller half of the oni’s body jerked and twitched for a moment. Then it began to fall, leaving a trail of stunned and motionless jaws fluttering in its wake.

Before the disintegrating mass could splash into the waters of the lake, O-Kagachi’s head turned and swallowed it whole in one single bite. As quickly as it struck, the great serpent’s head withdrew, rejoining the other four heads and the huge crush of undulating coils.

Lesser oni on the battlefield screamed in impotent rage. Many disengaged from Konda’s soldiers and disappeared into clouds of foul-smelling black smoke. As they cleared the field, the stunned greater oni still hovered overhead. Crippled, diminished, and chastened, it began to fade from sight.

The way to Minamo was now clear. Konda had secured his position as the greatest military leader in Kamigawa by seizing opportunities as soon as they arose. He raised his sword hand and his voice to rally his troops onward.

“Now, my retainers,” he cried, “even our greatest enemy serves our cause today! Ride on! To Minamo! The prize shall be mine once again!”

Red tears dripped from Hidetsugu’s empty sockets, but the ogre’s face was a mask of rage.

“No,” he said softly. “This cannot be.”

Toshi took advantage of Hidetsugu’s distraction to become immaterial. The ogre did not notice his intended victim’s escape, did not even lower the arm that had held Toshi.

“It fled,” he whispered bitterly. “It faced the great serpent and lost, and now it abandons its own kind. It abandons me, the truest acolyte it has ever known.”

Toshi collected his jitte and went to check on Kiku. The mahotsukai was still unconscious, but her masters’ curse had protected her from the worst of the ogre’s attack. She lay next to a pile of rubble, her body painfully twisted but basically intact.

Kiku’s skin was now a deep, perfect black like the heart of an onyx. She had been stained by the shadows, marked by the forces she manipulated. She was still strikingly beautiful, but her beauty was more dire and terrible than ever.

At the opening in the wall, Hidetsugu snarled and shattered one of the half-broken stones before him. He was cursing angrily in the old language of the o-bakemono.

Toshi limped back to the chamber where he’d left Marrow and the Taken One. The disk was intact where he had left it, so that was something. It didn’t look good for the rat, however.

The nezumi was still rigid and radiating heat, but it would take several hours before he died. As Toshi feared, removing the hyozan mark slowed the curse but did not spare the nezumi from it. As intended, the spell would incapacitate the traitor and make him suffer until the rest of the reckoners came to put him out of his misery.

“Toshi,” Hidetsugu called from the distant chamber. “Where are you, oath-brother?”

Toshi considered. He was not in immediate danger, but Hidetsugu had served him one surprise after another today. Since he was quickly regaining his strength and able to call on Night’s Reach, Toshi felt safe enough to answer. He went through the holes Kiku had punched through the academy walls and stood on the verge of the chamber where the ogre and the mahotsukai were.

“Here, Hidetsugu. Though I think our time as oath-brothers has long since passed.”

The ogre took a few steps toward Toshi’s voice. The ochimusha was chilled by how steady and confident those steps were, how quickly he had adjusted to being blind. He was also leery of the raucous ogre’s subdued tone.

“Nonsense,” Hidetsugu said. “We are blood brothers … you, Kobo, and I. The hyozan oath may no longer bind us, but we have tasted each other’s flesh. We are all still tied to one another.”

“I never tasted anyone’s flesh,” Toshi said, annoyed. “That’s your hobby.”

“Of course you did. When we took Kobo into our brotherhood, you drank the water that cooled his brand. Kobo had already eaten of my flesh, and you in turn swallowed his.”

Toshi considered this. To his growing unease, he realized Hidetsugu was right. “Does this mean you can still kill me somehow?”

A thin smile flickered across the ogre’s features. “No, my brother. It means that we will never be free of each other until we are both dead.”

“Oh. That’s all right, then.” He waited a moment for Hidetsugu to reply, then added, “So … what happens now?”

The ogre’s brow furrowed over his bleeding eyes. “I have a favor to ask of you. For old time’s sake.”

“A favor?”

“Yes.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Same old Toshi. Let me put it this way, ochimusha. I am blind. I am alone, having outlived my hunters and been deserted by my god.

“But I still hunger for vengeance. There are yet many who deserve my wrath. I wonder … when you travel on the power of your myojin, have you visited the spirit world?”

Toshi weighed his words carefully. “Not exactly. I have only seen visions of the kakuriyo.”

“But have you gone to the honden of Night’s Reach? Have you visited her place of power?”

“I have.”

“Then help me. Send me to my oni’s home. The honden of the All-Consuming.”

“What? Why?”

Anger and menace slipped back into Hidetsugu’s voice. “I did not devote my life to Chaos so that Chaos could turn its back on me. I summoned it here for a battle to the death as the world collapses around us. If Chaos will not fight that battle here, I must carry the battle it.” The ogre’s face was terrible to behold. “My god will live up to my expectations, or I will make it suffer.”

Toshi waited for his heart to slow down before he spoke. “I don’t even know if that’s possible. And if it were, what can you do? Even an o-bakemono’s power has limits.”

Hidetsugu crossed his arms. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps we should simply fight until one or both of us is dead. You are a wily trickster, Toshi Umezawa. You may yet find a way to destroy me before I bring this entire building down.” For emphasis, Hidetsugu stomped one massive foot onto the floor, shaking more bricks loose from the broken walls.

“Agreed,” Toshi said instantly. Behind the ogre, framed by the hole leading outside, Toshi saw several of Konda’s twisted moth-riders circling ever closer. Beyond them, the sky was full of O-Kagachi. “But I must ask something of you in return.”

The ogre bared his teeth, though Toshi could not tell if it were a smile or a threat. “I’m listening.”

“Save Marrow from the hyozan curse. And help me carry the Taken One to the roof. Do this for me and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

“The only way to avoid the curse is not to invoke it. I’m sorry, but my rat brother is doomed.”

“Hmm. And this has nothing to do with the sword he stuck in your eye?”

“That had crossed my mind. But no, it is not a question of whether I will help him, but can I. I cannot.”

“But you’ll carry the disk for me? Time’s running out, old friend, and I have to get it away from here or all this was for nothing.”

“It always has been all for nothing,” Hidetsugu said. “Nonetheless, yes, I will be your draught animal if you do as I have asked.”

“Then we have another deal, blood-brother. Come toward the sound of my voice and I will show you the disk.”

Toshi felt his sense of self-preservation screaming as he took the ogre’s hand, but Hidetsugu did not lash out. Instead, he allowed Toshi to guide him through the rubble to the fallen stone disk.

“Here,” Toshi said, but his unease did not subside. The Taken One was lying faceup, with the profile of the fetal serpent clearly visible. Hadn’t it landed facedown when the oni dog attacked? Hadn’t it been facing right instead, whereas now it faced left?

Hidetsugu bent and fastened his thick fingers around the edges of the disk. He shuddered as his hands made contact, but he smoothly hoisted the prize onto his shoulder.

“This is indeed powerful,” Hidetsugu said. “But well-camouflaged. Had I known, I would have inspected it far more closely while I had it to myself.” With a grunt, the ogre turned toward the hallway.

“One moment,” Toshi said.

“Why?” Hidetsugu replied. “Aren’t we both in a hurry?”

“We are,” Toshi said. “But I need to end the hyozan oath properly.”

Moving quickly, Toshi made his way back to Kiku. The mahotsukai was still unconscious but breathing steadily. Toshi gently pulled her away from the rubble and covered her with a tapestry from the wall. He drew his jitte and deftly scratched a protective symbol on her jet-black forehead. The symbol glowed white for a moment, then faded. Kiku would be safe here until she woke up. Before he turned away, Toshi stole one last kiss from Kiku’s sleeping lips.

“Farewell,” he said, “last of the Numai jushi.”

Kiku’s eyes fluttered and her lips pulled back into a familiar sneer. “Kill you for that,” she whispered weakly.

“Get in line.” Toshi grinned.

The envelope of shadow began to churn around Kiku, bubbling like oil in a hot pan. In the center of the dark mass, Kiku opened her eyes and stared sleepily at Toshi. Slowly, she began to sink from sight, disappearing into the blackness that surrounded her.

“Remember who you are,” Toshi called. “Remember who you hate. Cling to the things that mean the most to you, or the shadows will consume you in the end.”

Kiku’s eyes fluttered and she nodded. As the shadows rose up to her throat, a bright purple flower broke through the surface of the black mass. Kiku held the flower aloft for Toshi to see as the mahotsukai herself vanished from sight. Seconds later, the black bubble imploded in on itself, leaving the delicate bloom behind to adorn the cracked and shattered floor.

Without going anywhere near Kiku’s parting gift, Toshi turned and went back to the main chamber.

Hidetsugu was waiting for him with the Taken One propped up on his shoulder. He showed no signs of strain, but he was grinning evilly.

“You have changed, ochimusha. A year ago you would have stolen her shoes while she slept and left an insulting note pinned to her clothing.”

“We’ve all changed,” Toshi said brusquely. “A year ago, I was much less weary.” He produced the axe he had taken from Kiku’s belt.

Hidetsugu must have smelled the freshly sharpened metal, or at least the residual blood that the axe had tasted. “You are going to do your duty by the nezumi?”

“I am. If he can’t be saved, I can’t just leave him to suffer.”

“Careful, my friend,” Hidetsugu said, his voice unkind. “You are dancing on the precipice of nobility.”

Toshi did not reply.

“When you’ve done your duty,” Hidetsugu said, “find my tetsubo and bring it along, will you?”

“Of course.” Toshi turned to Marrow-Gnawer, still smoking and twitching as the curse held him fast.

“You were the best vermin thug I ever knew,” Toshi said. “And a loyal reckoner. The hyozan salutes you, Marrow-Gnawer.” The axe went up and came down with a terrible, terminal thump.

Hidetsugu waited until Toshi turned to face him once more.

“Are you ready, blood-brother?”

“I am.” Toshi looked around at the wreckage he’d helped create. He shook his head and then shrugged. “To the roof.”

The last of the oni had either fled or been cut down. The battle belonged to Konda and his ghost army, and O-Kagachi was still crawling across the horizon, slowly but inevitably headed for Minamo.

His moth-riders now circled the academy, concentrating on a large hole in the exterior south wall. Konda’s eyes had fixed on the same spot, and he knew that total victory was within his grasp.

“Forward!” he shouted. “For Eiganjo! For Towabara! For the glory of all Kamigawa!”

“Konda!” his army replied. “Konda!”

Two moth-riders swept down on each side of the daimyo’s horse. The grotesque hybrids of man and beast extended their glowing auras to surround Konda, and they now carried him and his steed into the air over Lake Kamitaki.

Though the lake and the shore alike were strewn with wreckage and fallen bodies, Konda had never seen such a beautiful view. Borne aloft on his retainer’s wings, he felt more than a general, more than a daimyo. He felt like a conquering god. This was his true destiny, and that of the world-to be victorious and triumphant over all enemies.

The moths guided him to the south wall and tacked back and forth outside the hole in the wall. Though he was only a short leap from the building’s interior, Konda sensed something was wrong. His eyes were no longer glued to this level of the school. The Taken One had been moved.

Anger and panic bubbled up through his euphoria. His wandering eyes darted across and around his face like maddened hornets in a jar. Disoriented, Konda could only sit and fume until he located his prize.

Overhead, thunder rolled down from the academy roof and a great flash of black lightning snaked across the cloudy evening sky. Even from this great distance, Konda caught the scent of sulfur and saw a ghostly vision of a vortex filled with sharp teeth and slavering jaws. A huge, vaguely man-shaped figure was falling into the vortex, howling in rage and waving a heavy spiked club. Then the vortex closed, swallowing the brutish figure and vanishing from sight.

Konda’s eyes found their target. There, he thought. He craned his head up and saw a single living battle-moth ascending from Minamo into the clouds above. The Taken One, the great stone disk that Konda had risked so much and fought so hard for, was lashed securely to the colorful creature’s back.

Without a word or a gesture, his moth-riders turned and gave chase. The two escorting Konda were the first to move and the fastest in flight. Even with their burden, the ghostly moths rapidly closed the distance between the daimyo and his prize.

Konda saw a single man on the moth’s back, and while the distance was still too great to identify him, the Daimyo’s eyes would not be fooled. This was the thief Toshi Umezawa and he was once again stealing Konda’s treasure. The daimyo urged his bearers forward, willing them to go ever faster.

The sky ahead of the thief was growing darker even though it was closer to the setting sun. The ochimusha steered his moth into the blacker mass of clouds and air ahead, and then he and the Taken One were gone. Not even Konda’s eyes could find them, even after the daimyo himself had plunged into the wall of darkness. Seconds later, he emerged from the other side to find an empty sky stretching out before him.

This was intolerable. He had both thief and treasure within his grasp, but now they were both gone without a trace. Was Night itself the ochimusha’s ally?

To the south, O-Kagachi let out an anguished roar. Its thrashing coils became quiescent and the giant serpent heads paused, fixing their star-eyes on the patch of sky where Konda raged. Then the dread guardian of the kakuriyo turned away and cast its eyes east, the direction the ochimusha had gone. Like a typhoon, the serpent ponderously changed course, ignoring the academy and the waterfall.

Daimyo Konda bellowed in frustration. Victory would not be his today.

With a thought, Konda summoned his army and directed them to follow. The Taken One had gone east. O-Kagachi would follow, but the serpent was not as quick as the daimyo’s ghost army. Once he could lock his gaze upon his prize, Konda would ride down upon the ochimusha and crucify him. The prize would be back in Eiganjo before O-Kagachi ever came close.

The daimyo gripped his horse’s reins and clenched his teeth. The next time he came this close to his goal, he would die before he let it slip though his fingers.

Toshi willed himself and his moth solid as soon as they were clear of the falls. He had chosen his steed well. The live moth had so far proved fast enough to keep him out of Konda’s clutches, provided he maintained the lead his myojin had given him.

Night’s Reach had been pleased with Toshi’s success in keeping the Taken One from Konda and O-Kagachi, so she was extremely accommodating in the matter of escaping the daimyo’s pursuit. In addition to hiding Toshi as he flew, she had also delayed Konda’s progress. She had also been unexpectedly enthusiastic about sending Hidetsugu to confront the All-Consuming. Night’s face was literally an unchanging mask, but Toshi thought he saw joy and excitement in his myojin’s demeanor.

He tried not to dwell on the cost of pleasing his patron. Hidetsugu was gone, Marrow was dead, and if Kiku remained herself she would still be forever changed. He hoped the rough stone disk was worth it, but it would take someone else to convince him.

thank you

Toshi started at the sound of a voice in his head. The most powerful mages and spirits could speak mind-to-mind, but this voice was unfamiliar to him. That’s all I need right now, he thought, another interested party.

saved me

Toshi shivered in the cold night air. I’m not hearing this, he insisted to himself. I’m not listening to any new voices.

release me

Slowly, Toshi turned in the saddle. Behind him, the Taken One was still securely bound to the moth’s harness. The serpent’s face peeked out between leather straps.

To his mounting terror, the etched image of the Taken One moved, stretching like a cat after a long nap. It turned to face Toshi directly, and, though its line-drawn mouth did not move, its voice came clearly to Toshi’s ears even as the rushing wind filled them with its roar.

thank you

saved me

release me

NOW

Toshi struggled for words. He had thought his recent success had come from the Myojin of Night’s Reach, but now he wasn’t so sure. His mind was choked with questions. The stone disk was talking to him. Had it talked to Konda? What else could it do?

The image of the serpent strained. The tip of its nose broke through the surface of the disk, and Toshi stifled a yell.

Not here, he thought. Not now.

release me

“I will,” he said, though he had no idea how. Whatever the Taken One had been in the spirit world, whatever it had become in this world, it was alive. And making demands.

The strain of breaking free from the disk proved too much for the etched serpent, and it settled back into two dimensions. It remained focused on Toshi, however, fixing him with its baleful eyes.

“I can’t do it alone,” Toshi said quickly. “And I need to rest and heal before I can even try. But I promise I will do whatever I can, as soon as I can.” He swallowed nervously. “Trust me.”

The serpent slowly settled back into its original pose, showing Toshi its profile.

waiting

Toshi nodded, awash with relief. “Thank you,” he said. “You won’t have to wait much longer.”

He watched the motionless image for many long minutes before turning his back on it once more. There was nothing for it but to press on. Night’s Reach wanted this thing kept from Konda and O-Kagachi, and Toshi meant to honor her wishes for the time being. His promise to the Taken One would have to wait. After all, he couldn’t help it if they were both captured or killed, so his first priority was to avoid that.

As the great moth carried him east toward the Jukai Forest, Toshi lowered his head and tried to think who in the world would be ready, willing, and able to help him. He was still thinking hours later when the first rays of sunlight speared over the horizon.