Pilgrim 2, p.10
Pilgrim 2, page 10
Returning from the main deck, where he had apparently gambled some, Jelmay now had a fresh wad of kip stuffed in his vest pocket. Danzen suspected that the bakeneko had cheated somehow, but as long as people didn’t come looking for the cat, he didn’t mind.
“Yes or no on the sedative, Pilgrim.”
“One of us needs to stay awake, alert.”
“You don’t trust me to stay awake and alert?” Jelmay asked him.
“No.”
“What’s the worst that can happen on the boat? No one’s going to come on here looking for us, and we’ve already dealt with Harsha. Take some of the herbs and relax. It’ll make the trip better. You’ll wake up, and we’ll be in Arsi. What’s so bad about that?”
“I will stay awake.”
But like all men, eventually Danzen dozed off.
The former assassin woke up the next morning to find the bakeneko on his back, snoring loudly, Kudzu still in the same place on the ground.
His hood over his head, the former assassin quietly stepped to the door, where he found a string and a bell, a placard on the wall telling him to ring it for room service. Danzen did just that, which caused Kudzu to stir. The fox started to get up but then fell back on her side, asleep again.
He approached her and carefully lifted Kudzu into his arms, taking her to his bed. He placed the fox on the bed and covered her with the blanket, making sure she was tucked in. Danzen then looked to Jelmay, who continued to snore loudly.
Rather than do the same, he nudged the larger bed with his foot, Jelmay coming awake.
“What? Are we there yet? Oh, it’s you, Pilgrim. Whew, I thought it was one of the guys I ripped off last night. I mean, I won the money fair and square, but you get my point.”
“Room service is coming. I figured you would be hungry.”
Jelmay yawned. “Thinking of me, huh? Well, you certainly have changed since you first arrived in the Valley, I’ll be the first to tell you that.”
“You didn’t know me when I first arrived in Genshin Valley.”
“True, but I heard word that there was the mysterious stranger who’d shown up with a flying sword,” he said with a yawn. “A real scary guy who walked around like a wraith.”
Jelmay got to his feet and morphed into the human form he kept taking. He then located all his cash in his vest, quickly organized it, and stuffed it back into his pockets. “Just one more day of this,” he said as he sat back on the bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
Room service came, Danzen ordering several small barrels of water, Jelmay taking care of ordering the breakfast portion. The food and water arrived about twenty minutes later, their breakfasts served on lacquered platters. There was everything from fried meat to hard-boiled eggs, the smell instantly bringing Kudzu to life.
“My head,” she said as she turned to them, Danzen and Jelmay now seated at the table.
“That’s what the sedatives will do to you,” the bakeneko told her.
“I… I see.”
Once the white fox realized she was in the bed, and that she had been tucked in, she looked to Danzen and tilted her chin down just a little bit, thanking him.
“You can’t eat in the bed,” Jelmay told her as he stuffed a sausage in his mouth. “But if you come over here, I’ll put a plate on the ground for you.”
Kudzu slowly got out of bed. She stretched, her fluffy white tail curling before she dropped to the floor.
Jelmay scooped a bunch of meat onto one of the plates and set it down for her.
“Have at it.”
“I would prefer to eat at the table,” she said curtly.
“So civilized of you,” the bakeneko told her as he went for another oily sausage.
Kudzu stepped into the washroom, where she morphed into her human form and put on clothing. She returned in her bright-green robes, retrieved the plate Jelmay had prepared for her and sat, her hair a mess.
“I need to practice being human,” she said as she took a fork and a knife, glancing down at the meat on her plate.
Danzen poured her a cup of boiled water, which she readily drank.
“Are you going back to sleep after this?” Jelmay asked.
Kudzu nodded. “I am; I don’t like being on the boat.”
“How do you even know that? You’ve barely been awake since we got here.”
“It’s better that way, trust me.”
The three ate, and once they were finished, Jelmay rang the bell by the door again, a man coming to collect what was left of the food and the used dishes.
Once he was gone, the bakeneko popped one of the herbalist’s pills into his mouth and headed to his large bed. He fell backward onto the bed, and got comfortable with his hands behind his head. “I’ll see you two in Arsi.”
“Want to go for a walk?” Danzen asked Kudzu, who now stood before him, smoothing her hair over with her hands.
“Actually, yes.”
“I thought you don’t like being on the boat,” Jelmay said, his eyes closed. “Also, there is this human invention called a brush. Maybe you should use it.”
“I just want to walk around for a moment as my food digests. My hair is fine.”
“Don’t vomit; it isn’t very ladylike. And in case you are wondering: you look wild, but if that’s how you want to go out, that’s on you.”
Danzen led Kudzu out of the cabin before she could respond.
He took a set of stairs that led to the top deck, where there were a good dozen people enjoying the views of the riverbanks, the sun on its way to its apex in the sky. Danzen saw what was clearly the start of a rice field, which stretched toward the horizon, a golden tone to it. On the other side of the river were hills and large rocks that extended into the water, the waves splashing around them.
“I wanted to talk to you about cultivating my echo,” Danzen said once they came to the railing.
Kudzu raised an eyebrow as she took him in. “You do? Also, does my hair look bad?”
“No. It’s fine. I have decided…” Danzen cleared his throat.
He had made several decisions about what would happen after this trip, one of them being to go after Nomin and Soko alone. He would also want to search for his mother by himself as well. But he could tell the two yokai of his plan later; he knew that Kudzu would be able to travel back to Genshin Valley with Jelmay. There wouldn’t be a problem there.
“After we finish here,” he began, “I think it will be time for me to seriously work on my echo.”
Danzen recalled the conversation he’d had with Abbot Monpo at the fox shrine, the seven-tailed fox telling him that bending his echo would bring him peace.
From what he had seen through others who had either bent their echoes, like Nomin, or who had simply gone straight to the source, like Soko, learning to bend his echo would also bring him power. And while he didn’t quite know when this power would be necessary, Danzen was almost certain that there would be a point in the future where he was glad he had spent the time to learn about it.
He was done being stubborn about the subject; he was ready to learn.
“What do you already know about cultivating your echo, about bending it?”
“The very basics; I know about the five tiers and subrankings.”
“Adept, Mancer, Wielder, Reaver, Divinator, yes, the five tiers. What do you think I am?”
Danzen recalled that he had once assumed she was at the Stone Adept level, back when he first met her. Now he felt like this was an insult; Stone Adept was the lowest tier paired with the lowest subranking, and he had a feeling she was much higher.
The subranking system operated in a similar way, the order from lowest to highest being Stone, Crystal, Diamond, Golden, Soul. As if the term operated as an adjective, the subranking came before the tier, so a Stone Adept was literally the lowest stage one could possibly be at.
He hadn’t meant this as an insult at the time, and now that she was asking him point blank, he didn’t really know where to place her.
So he shot high. “Diamond Wielder.”
“I’m flattered, but I’m much lower than that. I am at the Mancer tier, Golden Mancer to be exact. I have yet to shatter the stone, and won’t be able to do so until I reach Soul Mancer,” she told him, and in that moment, he could have sworn he saw a sparkle behind her gray eyes, the same particles of light he had seen glimmering off her coat from time to time.
He shrugged. “I don’t know where I would fall on the spectrum.”
“That is why we must visit the fox shrine once we return,” she told him. “You must get tested using a slab of clay.”
“How will that determine what tier I am at? I thought those only showed subranking.”
“You really don’t know how the system works, do you?”
He shook his head.
“The slab of clay only shows your subranking, you’re right. If it glows green, you are at the Stone subranking, Crystal is white, Diamond is blue, Golden is yellow, and Soul is purple. It then breaks after it has selected your color. Did you see any of the slabs while we were in the shrine? There were some tucked behind the remnant.”
“I didn’t.”
“That’s how the slabs are powered. I’m glad to hear you’re interested in this,” she told him. “But I think the best person for you to speak to would be the Abbot.”
Danzen saw Harsha come out on the deck, the brute lumbering toward them. He had yet to be spotted by the brute, and rather than deal with him, Danzen motioned for Kudzu to follow him back downstairs.
Once they were in their cabin again, she took the herbalist’s medicine, Jelmay already fast asleep and snoring loudly once again.
“Thank you for putting me in the bed earlier. It was nice.”
“You can continue to rest there,” he told her.
“As a human?”
“If you’d like.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever slept as a human. Sure, I will try it. What about you?”
“I will sit here,” Danzen said, motioning toward a chair. “One of us needs to stay awake.”
“Jelmay should have let us have the larger bed; he could have been the one sleeping on the small bed in the corner.”
“I’m not concerned about it. Sleep isn’t a big concern of mine at the moment.”
Kudzu sat on the bed, Danzen on the chair. She looked over to him, concern flitting across her face. “You’re worried about what happens when we get there, aren’t you?”
It was a few moments before he answered her question. “If it’s not safe, I want you and Jelmay to turn back. You two do not need to be here for what happens next.”
“No, we will support you in whatever way we can. We didn’t go this far to turn back.”
“It’s not very often that one attacks the Diyu Brotherhood. It has never happened in my lifetime. It happened before I was born, once, by a group of assassins who were hoping to usurp power. It didn’t end well for them.”
“We aren’t attacking the entire Brotherhood,” Kudzu reminded him. “We are just going after one person.”
“That’s correct, my teacher, Biren Yeshe, who ordered the hit on me.”
“We will bypass most of the Brotherhood in getting to him. At least, that was what I was assuming was your plan.”
“It was. Cut off the head of the snake, get a little information before doing so, then disappear.”
“What kind of information?”
“I need to know where two people are. I would also like to know who is still coming after me, if that information is available.”
“Two people? I’m assuming one of them is the woman who attacked you in Tudan and later attacked in Suja Village.”
“Soko, yes. And another.”
“Who?”
“A blind assassin named Nomin. Even if the hit is called off, she won’t stop until she finds me.”
“And why is that?”
“It isn’t for the reason you may think,” Danzen told her. “We hold no grudges against one another. Nomin is a genuine cultivator, and she has practiced bending her echo as long as I’ve known her. I believe she sees killing me as a challenge, and a way to grow stronger so she can move to the next tier.”
“Do you have any idea where she’s at on the scale?”
“I knew where she was years ago, but I’m guessing she has improved since then. She’s not interested in money, only the challenge and how it will benefit her practice. I would like to stop her before she makes it to Genshin Valley.”
“I see,” Kudzu said as she slowly started to lie down, still focused on Danzen. “Do you think there are more assassins actively looking for you?”
“We will soon find out,” he said. “It really depends on how wide a net Biren Yeshe has cast, and the reward he put on my head. Some are only in it for the money, others for the honor, and still others, like Soko and Nomin, for the challenge and the glory that defeating me will bring them. But we start with the head of the snake, and then we dissect the rest of the parts as we make our way down,” he said coldly.
“And then you repent,” she said with a sleepy chuckle. “You learn to bend your echo and become a peaceful man.”
Danzen knew as soon as those words left her lips that this wasn’t what was in store for him.
He had been born of fire, the bastard of a demon powerful enough to have since conquered Diyu. Everyone had an ulterior motive, and his reason for wanting to cultivate his echo was to grow powerful enough to protect those he cared for, like the villagers, like Kudzu, and Jelmay.
There was nothing peaceful as to why the former assassin suddenly wanted to learn about bending his echo.
But she didn’t need to know this.
And hopefully, it wouldn’t all be for nothing.
Hopefully Danzen would learn about the power innate in every creature born, spend the rest of his life growing it, only to never have that final battle, the one where it was necessary.
****
Danzen ended up nodding off, only to be awoken later when he heard movement in the hallway outside. Naturally, his hand went to his blade, which was eternally sheathed at his side. The footsteps passed and the boat continued on its journey, Danzen surprised to see that the sun was starting to set, that he had slept most of the day.
There was something about the swaying of the boat that relaxed him, and Danzen may have fallen asleep again if it hadn’t been for Jelmay, who was now up, pacing back and forth.
“Good, you’re awake. Look, the guys I was gambling with yesterday on deck have a lot more money, apparently, and they really don’t know how to spend it, Pilgrim. Believe me. I would like to help them…”
“No,” Danzen told him.
“Come on, Pilgrim. Don’t you ever want to be the bad guy?” Jelmay read the look on his face after he said this and slowly backed away. “Right, your past. How many people do you think you killed?”
“Many.”
“Let’s try for an estimate. Over a hundred?”
Danzen nodded.
“Over five hundred?”
The former assassin nodded again.
“I guess we should stop there, right? Heh. You know, with that demon blood of yours, you’re probably going to live longer than a normal human. Have you ever thought about that, what it would be like to be eternal?”
“I haven’t.” Danzen stood, and gave himself a nice stretch, his arms out to the side.
“It’s definitely something to think about. When you live as long as we do,” Jelmay said, motioning to Kudzu, “you tend to view things a little bit differently, things like compound interest. The only problem with having a long-term bank account is that eventually people wonder why you haven’t died. So then you have to fake your death and impersonate a relative to collect the money to put in a different account. That sort of thing. It’s a hassle, but it’s worth it. You know the drill.”
“I don’t, but I’ll keep that in mind. Should we order dinner?”
“Dinner and then back to sleep? Because I think that would be best for us. We need to hit the ground running once we reach Arsi.”
“I still need to get armor.”
“If it’s going to cost you, I’ve got you covered. I have the funds to make this trip one to remember. But I would like to get a little more…” The bakeneko offered Danzen a toothy grin. “I could use your help, you know. Your Demon Speak ability. It would make ripping off the general public a lot easier. I can just have them give me the money rather than win it from them.”
“That’s not what my power is for.”
Jelmay rolled his eyes. “Why are you so opposed to using that power anyway? It doesn’t seem to draw any demons out of the ground like your blood does.”
The boat creaked again, Danzen settling his gaze on the yokai. Jelmay offered him the smile of a con man, his whiskers drooping just a bit, the little vest on his body stuffed with so much cash that Danzen could see the bulges in the pockets.
“He likes a challenge,” Kudzu said, turning to them.
“I can’t believe you slept in your human form,” Jelmay told her. “Don’t get too comfortable over there, my little fox.”
“In this form? Not likely. Let’s eat, and then go to sleep again. I’m ready for this boat ride to be over.”
The three did just that, room service delivering roasted pheasant, boiled potatoes and carrots, as well as a creamy rice dish for dessert. They also dropped off a small barrel of ale, which Danzen and Jelmay gladly drank from, Kudzu sticking with water.
Both yokai took the medicine from the herbalist, Jelmay once again crashing out in the larger bed, his hands and legs spread wide. Kudzu took the smaller bed, but only after confirming with Danzen that this was fine.
Rather than sit in the chair and sleep, the former assassin lowered onto the floor this time, cross-legged, his back to the wall. He could almost feel the waves hitting the boat in this position. Once the scent of the food had left, Danzen opened the window to let in a cool breeze, the smell of the sweet water entering the cabin.
As he started to doze off, Danzen mentally went over the plans for the following day, starting with visiting the armorer known as Kunta, then a carriage ride to Bahlingar, and from there to Sainshand. It would still be several more days before they reached the Brotherhood, but once they did…
