Pilgrim 3, p.5
Pilgrim 3, page 5
It didn’t seem possible for Jelmay to eat as much as he did, especially in Dalan’s thin form, but he managed to do so, the bakeneko going for second, third, and even fourth helpings of everything from Sarnai’s classic meat pies to salad made of ham and potato and a small roast that must have been in the oven for hours, the carrots and potatoes buttery soft, practically melt-in-your-mouth. It was clear she knew guests were coming.
Jelmay was about to go back for yet another helping when Kudzu politely stood from the table, letting them know that it was time that they get ready for the evening. She offered to help Sarnai clean up, but the woman refused, and soon, Khamdo was leading the three of them to the door.
“And you are sure I can’t help in some way?” he asked.
“The best thing you can do is to stay inside and lock up tight,” Jelmay told the carpenter. “It’s going to be a long night for the three of us.” The bakeneko patted his hands against his belly. “But at least I got fuel for the fighting.”
“And there will be fighting?”
Jelmay winked at him. “There’s going to be a lot of things.”
Once they turned the street corner, Kudzu chided Jelmay for exaggerating what they planned to do. “You shouldn’t embellish everything; imagine what that poor man now thinks we are going to do tonight. Why can’t bakeneko just be honest about things?”
“Where’s the fun in that? I’m trying to truly grow our legend here, so the bards who later write songs about us have plenty of source material.”
“You and your bards,” Kudzu said as they reached Pancha’s home, the sun just about to set. They were greeted by Enkhmaa, the young girl carrying a pail of water inside.
“I’ll go get my grandmother,” she said as she took off. Soon, Suren stepped out of their quaint home with a troubled look on her face, the elderly woman in a similar apron to the one that Sarnai had worn.
“How is Pancha?” Danzen asked.
“A little better, but he still hasn’t completely recovered. It could be days, longer. He’s getting treatment now at Elder Sonders’ place.”
“We need a pestle and mortar,” Jelmay announced. “But a very large one. The biggest one you can conjure up.” He made a gesture with his hands. “Something about this size.”
“I have a large ceramic bowl, and you could use my rolling pin,” she suggested.
“It will have to do.”
“Can I help?” Enkhmaa asked the bakeneko.
“Actually, yes, I could use a pair of little hands. But once you are finished, the two of you need to go somewhere else.” Jelmay looked back up to her grandmother. “Do you have a place you can stay? Pilgrim here can escort you there.”
“I have a friend in the First District,” Suren said, more worry in her eyes.
“That will work, and don’t fret about your place here, it will remain standing.”
“What do you plan to do exactly?” she asked Jelmay as Dalan. “And what… What happened to my husband’s relatives? You never mentioned that part.”
“It was a yokai,” the bakeneko said, “and tonight, we are going to handle it. This particular yokai is a threat to humans and other yokai, at least from what we have learned.”
“What did it do to them?” Enkhmaa asked.
“Don’t you worry about that,” Kudzu told the young girl as she crouched beside her and smiled. “You can help Jelmay, I mean, Dalan, here and then head off for the night. We will take care of everything. I promise.”
“I want to help,” Enkhmaa told her grandmother.
“Yes, yes, child, you can help. Go get the supplies, like Dalan said. Fetch the bowl that we normally make flatbread with, the one without cracks in it.”
Enkhmaa tore off into the house, moving so quickly that her grandmother took a step back.
“To have that kind of energy again,” she said. “Anyway, I will pack an overnight bag for the two of us while she helps you. It’s always best to be prepared.”
“I will need just a little bit of water as well,” Jelmay said as he looked down to the pail that Enkhmaa had been carrying.
“That’s fine, use that water. We aren’t going to need it in the morning anyway.”
Over the next thirty minutes, Enkhmaa and Jelmay ground the leaves and soaked them in the water, adding the root after it had been boiled in a separate pot. Danzen noticed that the root had completely dissolved in the hot water, making it easy to add to the leaf mixture. Jelmay hummed as Enkhmaa stirred the mixture together, and once everything was ready, it was time for the young girl and her grandmother to depart.
“Kudzu and I will set everything up here,” Jelmay told Danzen, “we’ll see you in a bit.”
Danzen nodded, and was soon joined by Enkhmaa and Suren. The streets of the village were dark now, and he was surprised to find a small hand slipping into his own, Enkhmaa looking up to him to gauge whether this was acceptable or not. The young girl’s hand felt so small in his, Danzen noticing just how frail it was.
Suja Raksi Hall was full and the streets were empty, the breeze that had been whistling through the forest earlier was lighter now, heat rising from a ground that had been baked all day. The three came to the First District, Suren having Danzen lead her to the wealthiest neighborhood in Suja Village, near the lake. He could see boats out on the water lit by lanterns creating a faint orange halo around small vessels. Some of the people in the boat seemed to be fishing; others were simply enjoying a night out on the water under the stars.
“I can’t tell you how much Pancha and I appreciate what you are going to do tonight,” Suren told Danzen once they arrived at their destination. “Please be safe.”
“It is the least we could do.” Danzen finally let go of Enkhmaa’s hand, immediately noticing its absence.
“And we will see you in the morning?” the young girl asked him.
Danzen nodded.
.Chapter Four.
Danzen and Kudzu waited on the rooftop at Suren’s place, Kudzu once again in her white fox form. Jelmay was in his human form in the room below, pretending to be asleep with the goal of luring the yamachichi out. Everything was set.
It was well into the night now, Danzen keeping to the shadows to obscure Kudzu and himself, keenly aware to remain downwind. He kept his eyes on the edge of the Asura Forest, which wasn’t too far from Pancha’s place, an open field allowing him to spot any potential intruders. Because of their bat-like qualities, Jelmay had explained that yamachichi spooked easily, and were very sensitive when it came to sound, that following them could prove difficult.
But Danzen was ready.
Through his training, he excelled at stalking a target, and with both Jelmay’s and Kudzu’s superpowered noses, he didn’t think it would be very hard to track them.
But then he saw how they moved.
Almost as if a breeze were twisting over a grassy knoll, Danzen spotted a trickle of activity headed in their direction, Kudzu’s body tensing. The yamachichi arrived before Danzen could even withdraw his famed blade. They were fast enough that he couldn’t quite figure out how many there were, only that there was a horde of the yokai, the group swelling into the building below only to be swept out seconds later as Jelmay released a sound that was either a warcry or a shriek of terror.
“We have to move,” Kudzu said under her breath as she came to the edge of the roof and hopped down to the ground, Danzen landing next to her. Jelmay quickly reached them, the bakeneko holding the concoction he’d made in his paws.
“This way,” Danzen said, heading in the direction that the yamachichi had bolted.
“Damn things scared me half to death,” Jelmay said as they began moving. “I was asleep!”
“You weren’t supposed to be sleeping,” Kudzu told him with alarm.
“It’s not my fault Suren has comfortable bedding.”
The three moved forward keeping up with Danzen’s pace, Kudzu already ahead, sniffing out the yamachichi’s trail. She reached the edge of the Asura Forest and turned back to them, concern flitting across her eyes. Rather than give power to her fears of the forest at night, Jelmay charged into the forest, the bakeneko surprisingly quiet on his feet. Danzen followed him, and soon Kudzu joined the pair, the white fox once again moving forward.
The forest grew increasingly dark, Danzen to the point now that he simply closed his eyes and moved forward, sensing everything through lines on the inside of his eyelids, using the skill he had picked up from Nomin and enhanced through his own practice. It also allowed him to be quieter in a way, Danzen fully focused now on his yokai companions, the faint glow around their bodies, the former assassin feeling as if he was now one with his environment.
He noticed something large off to his left, but continued onward, not stopping to find out what it was. It became nearly impossible not to make noise as they moved, but the woods were much louder at night than he thought they would have been, and even if the yamachichi had enhanced hearing capabilities, it would be hard to distinguish Danzen and his companions from common forest sounds.
Kudzu stopped, and Jelmay did the same, his ears perking up.
“We’re here,” he said, his voice just high enough that Danzen could slightly make it out.
What looked like a bolt of lightning shot out of the woods before them, Danzen drawing his blade as it passed, barely able to cut it down. The yamachichi emitted clicking sounds as they coordinated with one another. Another came down from the trees above and struck Danzen, the impact nearly knocking the wind out of him. He managed to swivel out of the way before the creature could bring its claws down. Kudzu leaped over Danzen and collided with the attacking yamachichi.
Fighting in the pitch-black forest, his environment accented by a series of flashes and glows, Danzen used his boomerang sword, knowing that Astra would find its target. Another yamachichi went down as his sword passed through its body. His famed blade returned to his hand and Danzen swung at the yokai that Kudzu was struggling with, activating one of his gauntleted blades as he did so.
Schnikt!
He ended up lifting the creature into the air, his gauntleted blade pressing deeper into its body as Danzen brought it down.
More clicking sounds.
Danzen spun just in time with his sword out and managed to slice into yet another of the yokai, this one slipping back away into the darkness. His heart thrumming, adrenaline racing through him, Danzen settled his breath and tried to ignore the clicking sounds, which seemed to be coming from all directions now.
After his gauntleted blade returned to its scabbard, he loosed Astra again, and in the process withdrew Nomin’s short sword.
Surging forward, Danzen drove it into a yamachichi that was just about to pounce on him, his short sword pressing through the creature’s throat and out the back of its skull. He threw his hand out, Astra returning to his grip, blood on the blade. He heard Kudzu again and moved toward the sound of her growl. She pressed away from yet another yamachichi and Danzen dropped down onto it, both swords going into its body.
He withdrew his weapons, stood there for a moment, his muscles pulsing, Danzen listening intently for any noises which would indicate enemy yokai afoot.
He heard none.
“Now to destroy the hive,” Jelmay said as he approached Danzen, still with the ceramic bowl in his hands. “Good job there, by the way. I knew there was a reason I kept you two around.”
“Are you sure that’s all of them?” Kudzu asked.
“I counted six back in the room. Now, we need to place the stuff over their holes in the ground before it dries.”
“It’s a poison, right?” Kudzu asked. “Why would it need to dry?”
“Poison? What? No, it’s explosive. I thought you knew that. I mean, maybe it’s poisonous if you eat it. I don’t know. I’ve never tried. It’s explosive.”
“Come again?”
“How hard is this to understand? Once the mixture dries, it explodes. We are basically going to destroy the hive by exploding it.”
“Are you telling me that you…?” Kudzu was suddenly beside herself. “The little girl was helping you make the mixture! And it’s explosive? Why would you let her help you?”
“It wasn’t explosive then, it’s only explosive when it dries,” Jelmay said as he began spreading some of the mixture on one of the holes in the ground. “I thought you knew that. Where have you been the last couple hundred years?”
“How would I know that?”
“Ugh, the leaves of a tobikura tree? Everyone knows they have explosive properties when mixed with satorikai root, which increases its range and flammability.”
“It… could have dried at any time,” Kudzu said.
“Bah. It takes twelve hours to dry,” Jelmay told her, waving Kudzu’s concern away. “And the little girl is fine, as am I. You don’t seem too concerned that I was mixing up the explosive material, I should probably add.”
“I’m so done with you,” Kudzu finally told him she approached Danzen. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Wait, are you being serious? You don’t want to wait for it to explode?” Jelmay asked.
“Why would I want to do that? You said it takes twelve hours.”
“Technically up to twelve hours. The explosion should happen relatively soon; it’s already pretty dry.”
This caused Kudzu to stop dead in her tracks. “Are you saying it could have exploded while we were on top of the house, and you were inside the house? Because that’s what it sounds like you’re saying.”
Jelmay shrugged. “I mean, it could have happened, but it didn’t. Anything can happen, but often times it doesn’t. Sometimes, that’s all that matters. Stop worrying. Are you sticking around or not?”
Kudzu looked at Danzen.
“We should probably stay,” he finally told her.
“See? Pilgrim gets it. I never pictured you as a fireworks man, but it makes sense now considering your past. Now help me spread this material and be sure to wash your paws after. Like I said, it’s explosive, and it’s drying rapidly.”
****
Danzen, Kudzu, and Jelmay were sitting on the branch of an absolutely enormous tree when the explosion started. The three were about a quarter of a mile away from the hive now, with a clear view of the area where they had laid out the plant concoction. The first explosion triggered more, a huge plume of flames filling the air swiftly followed by smoke, birds flying away from the blast zone, other yokai moving through the woods below, Danzen able to hear them but not see them.
“By Sunyata’s grace,” Kudzu said in a low voice. “Jelmay, that could have been us.”
“You’ve been saying that for the last hour. Relax, I would have known if the mixture was starting to dry. And we hurried, and now we’re safe. Like I keep saying, you worry way too much.”
“What if it had been a small explosion, one that simply injured one of us?” she asked, her voice growing with intensity. “What if it had injured Danzen? And then we would have to deal with his demons…”
They continued quibbling, her last line resonating within the former assassin’s head for a spell. It was true. If there had been a situation, and he had been struck by some debris and it had drawn blood, his demons would have been unleashed. But hearing her say it drove it in deeper for some reason. Danzen was well-aware of who he was, but he didn’t like how his condition sounded on another person’s lips, especially someone he cared for like Kudzu.
“You’ll be fine.” A final explosion caused Jelmay to laugh nervously. “That one sounded like a burp.”
“I don’t want to talk to you for at least two days.”
“Just two? Come on, we’re a team.”
Kudzu snickered. “Please, no.”
The morning sun was close to rising, and Danzen figured it would be best to make their way back to Suja Village first, to let everyone know that the yokai had been handled. He also wanted to check in on Pancha, the bowlegged old stableman who had given him the Blade of Darkness. Danzen could only imagine what he was going through having lost all of his brothers to the breath-sucking yokai.
Without a word, he dropped down from the tree and turned in the direction of the village, Jelmay and Kudzu eventually catching up with them.
“I assume you’re going back to tell everyone what happened, right?” Kudzu asked.
Danzen nodded.
“In that case, I’ll go with you until we get to the edge of the forest. I may head to the mountains after that. I don’t feel like taking my human form again.”
“And I’ll be back at the monastery later.”
“We can meet then,” she told him.
“Looks like that just leaves you and me, Pilgrim,” Jelmay said. “I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a breakfast at Sarnai’s place.”
Kudzu made a noise with her throat, but she didn’t say anything. The bakeneko had officially exhausted her.
Whatever strange activity Danzen had sensed in the forest last night seemed to have dissipated as yet another mist settled over the woods, one that seemed as if it would linger all day. It was at odds with the heat and humidity already present, Danzen sensing that it was going to be a very hot day.
With this in mind, he moved even faster, Jelmay struggling to keep up with him. They reached the edge of the woods and Kudzu turned back to take the main road toward his monastery, Jelmay and Danzen continuing onward.
“She takes everything so seriously,” the bakeneko said, slightly out of breath now as he tried to keep up with Danzen’s pace.
The village was just coming awake as Danzen turned toward Elder Sonders’ home. He had a feeling the older leader of the Third District would be awake. He knocked once and he heard footsteps inside. The door opened to reveal Shedrup, the former town drunk in a pair of freshly pressed gray robes, his wild black-gray hair slicked back.
“What?”
“Is that any way to greet a pair of old friends?” Jelmay asked Shedrup, the bakeneko now in the form of Dalan.
