Pilgrim 4, p.11
Pilgrim 4, page 11
He had also grown tired of the banter between Jelmay and Elder Bahjee, the two laughing late into the night as they stuffed their fat faces. Eventually, Bawa had joined them, the kitsune not opposed to merrymaking. Most surprisingly was Sansar, who seemed to enjoy the company of the other yokai, leaving Kudzu as the odd yokai out, the white fox not keen on listening to the two bakeneko hyperbolize their best exploits.
She had gladly joined Danzen and Yato on their outing as well, one that was simply for reconnaissance, Danzen not planning to actually address the oni that night if he could help it.
First, they needed to see what they were up against.
The wind whistled through the rice paddy, Danzen barefoot, Yato the same, which would allow them to move more fluidly and would prevent their shoes from getting soaked and holding them back if they needed to leave quickly. The soil was cold and wet, saturated with water, Danzen feeling it between his toes. As always, he was more worried about Yato than himself, the former assassin noticing that her lips had turned a shade of blue, Yato doing her best to hide her shivering but failing.
He appreciated this about her.
Yato was always striving to become better, and this wasn’t the first time that he understood what his former instructor Thane had seen in her, even if the man had never pushed her to her full potential.
His hood over his head, Danzen tilted his chin slightly, tuning into a gurgling noise he heard thirty or forty yards away. It sounded like someone was sloshing through something, or perhaps stuffing their face as Elder Bahjee and Jelmay had done earlier that night.
The sound of a man screaming caused Danzen to look to the collection of homes in the center of the rice paddies, where, according to Elder Bahjee, people were no longer supposed to be staying due to the threat.
He lifted his finger and pointed at it, Yato nodding, a flash of white to his left telling him that Kudzu had already begun to move through the rice stalks. He let her go first, knowing that she was the quietest of the three, the kitsune hopping from one terrace down to the next, toward the center where a couple of thatched buildings had been erected.
Danzen closed his eyes, his world illuminated on the inside of his eyelids through contrasting purple lines, Sunyata alive and well in everything even if heaven had fallen. He was checking to see if there were any other forces at play, something that was almost instinctual, Danzen not certain of if these oni had any additional powers. But he couldn’t see anything, and soon, his eyes were open again and he was moving quickly toward the center, Yato following behind him.
The two assassins only moved when the wind picked up, the breeze blowing in and leaving just as quickly as it came.
He paused once Kudzu made it to the roof of one of the thatched homes, the white fox crouched, her tail flat against the straw. It was then that he saw the first oni, which was hunched over and troll-like with an intense overbite and large teeth, a brow that was furrowed, stringy long hair draped over its face, the yokai easily eight feet tall.
Danzen would have let the monster pass had it not been dragging a man by his hair, the farmer still struggling, too scared to scream. Two other oni appeared, both smaller than the one that was dragging the man by his hair. The lead oni hopped down into a drainage canal, the farmer letting out a grunt as he hit the side and was lifted up to the first terrace.
“Prepare to return to the village,” Danzen said after leaning forward into Yato’s ear. “I will rescue the man.”
“I can help.”
“Bahjee said…” Danzen recalled what the bakeneko had told them, that his sword wouldn’t be able to penetrate the oni’s flesh. But Astra was no ordinary sword, and if this was where things needed to happen, he was well-prepared to do what needed to be done. “I will handle things from there, if you must stay, be careful.”
Danzen almost felt the urge to summon his Demon Speak power to tell Yato to not get in the way, but refrained from doing so. He trusted her.
His Blade of Darkness and Nomin’s short sword were back at the elder’s quarters, Danzen assuming, rightfully so, that it would get in the way. But he had Astra with him, and he also wore his two gauntleted blades. He would work with what he had.
Remaining in his crouched position, Danzen waited for the oni to pass about fifteen feet in front of him, the farmer all but giving up on his struggle now and lying there listlessly, not yet dead, but not far off.
Whoosh!
Danzen sent Astra forward, his blade grazing just beneath the oni’s thick hand and cutting through the farmer’s hair. Yato moved forward so quickly that he barely saw her, the younger assassin pulling the man into the rice paddies at just about the point that he hit the ground and saving him.
Even more remarkable, she hadn’t been spotted.
The lead oni looked at the hair in his hand, and snorted. He threw it and barked in some guttural language to his two companions.
It was time for distraction, and to prevent the three from detecting Yato, Danzen simply stood, Astra in his hand, a wicked glare on his face as he glared the lead oni down.
“Face me,” Danzen said, hoping that using his Demon Speak power would make him even more intimidating.
But this didn’t seem to have the effect he wanted, the oni simply laughing, the other two oni turning to Danzen as well with murderous intent.
It was time.
****
A breeze skimmed over the top of the rice terraces as the two smaller oni descended upon Danzen. They were equally ugly, both with deformed muscles and a bluish-gray skin that was covered in scars, thick as the leather from Arsi, tufts of hair on the tops of their bald heads, stringy and long, not unlike the giants that Danzen had faced off against in the Panchen Mountains.
He sent his blade forward, testing what Elder Bahjee had told him about the thickness of their skin. It was as if his sword had struck solid stone, the weapon returning to him in a flash, Astra vibrating in his hand.
Schnickt! Schnickt!
He summoned his gauntleted blades at about the moment the two reached him, both with their claws extended. He had to figure out a way to kill them, a soft spot, and he knew that his gauntleted blades weren’t going to be the weapons that did it. It would have to be Astra, a weapon forged by a remnant. But at least they would give him some leverage.
Kudzu slipped between one of the smaller oni’s legs, yipping, and throwing it off guard. It fell onto its back, and was just getting to its feet when Danzen exploded forward, managing to loose Astra at just the right moment as he passed by the oni, his boomerang sword going directly into its open mouth.
This did the trick, killing the ogre instantly as it punctured its brain through the roof of its mouth. The only problem was, Danzen’s sword got lodged in the oni’s mouth, never returning to his hand.
Another oni lunged at him. He swatted away its claws using his gauntleted blade, the larger oni also moving toward the fight, absolutely seething at what Danzen had done.
Its companion now lay on one of the terraces, bleeding out as Danzen quickly jumped away, still without his famed boomerang sword.
A bolt of movement heightened the tension he was feeling, once Yato decided to intervene. She twisted at the last moment and slammed her back into the smaller oni that was approaching him, throwing it off guard, Danzen sure that his gauntleted blades were going to be sharp enough to pierce through the roof of its mouth.
Water splashed around him as he took two steps forward and launched into the air, his biceps tensing as he pressed both fists forward and drove one of his gauntleted blades in the waiting mouth of the oni, his other hand going around the creature’s neck to hold it steady. His sheer force caused the two of them to tumble down one of the rice terraces, Danzen eventually having to use his knee to pull both of his blades out.
The second oni was down.
The largest oni reached Danzen in two breaths. It scooped its arms around him, quickly lifting the former assassin in the air and slamming him onto the ground.
Danzen rolled out of the way, recalling his gauntleted blades, not wanting them to get in the way, well aware of how difficult it would be to deal with his demons if they were unleashed in the expansive rice fields. Even if he had control over them, it was best to try not to break skin.
“Pilgrim, your sword!” Using as much leverage as she could garnish, Yato withdrew Astra from the first oni’s open maw, the power of the sword nearly lifting her into the air; she let go of it, the boomerang blade twisting on its way back to its owner.
Danzen rolled to avoid the oni’s stomp. The oni barked at the top of its lungs, spit flying out of its mouth. He jumped into the air, and used his bare foot to push himself off the shoulder of the beastly yokai, one hand extended, Astra within reach.
He managed to grab his sword, only to be struck by a series of fists coming through the air, the oni also able to jump as high as Danzen.
The monster hit the ground with an impact that left a small crater, Danzen coming down after it, both hands on the grip of his blade. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to break through its skin, but the urge to protect those he cared about, and the desire to finish his fight as quickly as possible swelled within him.
He was flung backward, Danzen hitting the edge of one of the terraces and flipping over onto his back. A face full of mud, Danzen wiped his eyes and once again prepared his blade, the words leaving his lips just as he saw Kudzu jump for the large oni. “No!”
The white fox was tossed to the side after arcing upwards of thirty feet in the air. She hit the stone steps that rose on either side of the terraces, flipped up, and struck another terrace ledge before finally settling.
Danzen saw red.
He didn’t need to be cut to conjure the rage that had boiled through him upon seeing what the monstrous oni had done to Kudzu. There was only going to be one way to bring it down, unless…
An idea came to Danzen at that moment as he stopped his charge and turned back to the patchwork of buildings at the center of the rice paddies. He ran, and like any predator, the oni gave chase. Danzen leaped into the air and toward one of the thatched roofs. He brought his sword down as he landed and collapsed through the thick straw of the barn. He sheathed Astra, the dust settling around him as he felt the ground start to shake.
As he had predicted, the oni came barreling through the wall made of hardened mud and stone, Danzen skipping away just as it tore into the space. He went for the nearest stone, easily fifty pounds if not more, the former assassin lifting it over his head and driving it down onto the top of the oni’s skull.
Whompf!
He did it again—Whompf!—an unquenchable fury filling him as he moved with the same strength as he did when he broke skin, the boulder causing the sickening sound of bones breaking beneath flesh, Danzen eventually caving in the oni’s face.
Drawing his blade, the former assassin sat down with his knee onto the oni’s back. He jabbed his fingers into its eye sockets as he punctured the roof of its mouth, his blade going through its brain and out the back of its skull.
Danzen withdrew his weapon and flicked it, blood arcing across the straw. The oni’s head sunk forward, the creature dead, Danzen feeling the urge to kill it again.
But there was something more important that he needed to do first.
Climbing over the beastly yokai, he exited through the hole it had caused, what was left of the ceiling coming down as Danzen turned in the direction of the terraced rice fields. He saw Yato crouched next to a swath of white, Danzen feeling his heart sink, everything filtering away from him as if he were stepping out of reality, each moment longer than the last.
“Please…” He found himself whispering as he reached the two of them. “Kudzu?”
“I think…” Yato looked up at Danzen, her eyes wide with fear.
Danzen lowered his head, and as he did Kudzu gasped, her breath returning to her. The white fox hopped up and then fell again, as if she were drunk, her equilibrium thrown off.
“Relax.” Yato quickly moved around to the front so she could show Kudzu the palms of her hands. “Relax, you’re fine.”
“Did you…?” Kudzu asked Danzen, her eyes wavering as she looked up at him.
Danzen nodded, his nerves settling in a way that made his knees quake, his stomach twisting. Overcome with emotion he didn’t understand, Danzen turned away from the two of them, and brought his hood back over his head.
Then he realized that if anyone was going to carry Kudzu back to the village, it was going to be him.
Trying as best he could to hide the sudden flush of embarrassment he felt, Danzen turned back to Kudzu. “I’ll carry you,” he said as he lowered before the white fox. “The oni are dead,” he told her, almost as an afterthought. “We’re safe for now.”
.Chapter Four.
Danzen’s practice had moved from something he did to grow stronger to something he did simply to feel himself, the former assassin lakeside that next morning bending his echo, gripping Astra as tightly as ever, a sensation of power radiating through him.
He hadn’t slept.
His encounter with the three oni had taken an unexpected turn, Danzen experiencing what it would have been like to lose Kudzu, which led him to feel a sense of anguish within his soul, making it hard for him to rest. It wasn’t a sensation he associated with hunger, pain, or sickness, yet it had been equally debilitating.
It wasn’t the first time that something had happened to her, yet the suddenness of the event was what had affected him the most. The thin line between life and death was something Danzen knew all too well, and this was without adding the complications of rebuilding Sunyata and the issues that came with being a demon-blooded former assassin with more enemies than friends.
This had all come to him at once, a swell of thoughts that had eventually led him to where he currently was, his echo vibrant and strong, the waves of the glacial lake sloshing against the shoreline, something akin to a flock of seagulls soaring in the distance, the rising sun a pale yellow orange, as if it had been deprived of oxygen. The serene nature of his environment only increased his level of focus, Danzen reaching a point where he was nearly one with his breath when something caught his attention.
Sansar landed in front of him, the three-legged raven hopping a couple times before he settled, his head tilting as he looked up at him. “You should rest.”
“I will be fine.”
“Your mother was as stubborn as you are, you know. And looking back now, it was one of the things that I appreciated about her. She was never one to give up. I’m well aware that she didn’t raise you, yet this seems to be something that you have picked up on, an inherited trait. Still, rest is important, even for someone a bit nocturnal like you, someone who can survive without it.”
“I can’t sleep.”
“I figured as much. Does it have something to do with what happened last night? I really should have gone with you all.” The raven chided himself under his breath. “It is my duty to look out for you.”
“No, it is mine,” said Danzen, still with both hands on his blade, his legs spread wide. He leaned his weight into his front foot and lifted his sword. As he brought it forward, he pressed his weight to his back foot, twisting his core, feeling the movement from his knees to his shoulders.
“I’ve come to fetch you for a reason, you know. Elder Bahjee has invited everyone to breakfast. Will you be attending?”
“When?”
“Soon. Yato has just woken up, and Kudzu will be resting for the day. She wants to join, but I have convinced her to relax instead. Jelmay is already there, as is Bawa.”
Danzen sheathed his blade, wishing that he had more time alone. Perhaps he would have a chance to bend his echo later. “In that case…”
Sansar lifted into the air and Danzen followed, the texture of the sand beneath his bare feet soon changing to that of the cold stone platforms, swept clean on occasion, human skin smoothing their surfaces over time. The path grew wider until they reached a fenced-in courtyard that had been built at the back of the tavern, in front of the residence where Elder Bahjee called home.
Still in his human form, the heavyset bakeneko was seated on the ground before a wool carpet, food spread out before him, a few early morning flies buzzing the air. Jelmay was already eating, as Danzen had surmised, and Bawa was there as well, looking a bit sleepy as the globe on his tail glowed a dull green.
“There he is! Pilgrim,” Jelmay patted the space next to him, “sit, and feast!”
Careful of his sword, Danzen took a seat, legs crossed beneath him as he removed his blade and kept it at his side. His eyes darted from the food to the large bakeneko seated before him, now wearing a set of gaudy pink robes marred by a few food stains.
“You did it,” Elder Bahjee said, coming alive with joy, his eyes filling with wonder as he smiled at Danzen. “You did it! I had it confirmed this morning. The three oni are dead; let their death be a bloody reminder to any oni in the area of what happens when you try to disturb the people of Verba.”
“Your pink robe should be a reminder of what happens when you disturb the people of Verba,” Jelmay quipped, both bakeneko laughing at a joke Danzen didn’t quite understand.
“And the farmer?” he asked, referring to the man whom he had saved.
“Alive and well enough. Traumatized, as predicted.” Elder Bahjee stuffed a biscuit in his mouth, his mustache caked in crumbs. “But he will be fine. Besides, it was his fault anyway. He shouldn’t have been there, the horny fool.”
“Why was he there?”
“Young love,” the bakeneko said with a wink. “He was hoping to meet one of the female villagers there so they could use one of the barns for a little private pleasure. You know, some hay on the ground, maybe a bottle of lyeberry ale, that sort of thing. Of course, she didn’t show—the women here are modest, you know—yet he stupidly waited around until after dark and then became too afraid to return to the village.”
