Pilgrim, p.14
Pilgrim, page 14
Danzen thought about adding a note on the page for the amanojaku, but there really was nothing else to add. It attacked him, and he killed it before it could draw blood.
It could speak, however…
He scribbled down that the creatures were able to speak, which was something he could explore if he ever encountered one again.
That was, unless it tried to kill him.
Hoping for a picture of a chicken, Danzen leafed through the field diary, pretty sure he hadn’t seen one in the previous times he had perused the pages.
He began speed-reading through some of the passages. There were so many entries that it was going to be hard to find, Danzen going faster and faster until he nearly reached the end of the diary.
He was thinking of adding an entry when he caught the word ‘chicken’ pop out on one of the pages, no picture to accompany it.
Basan are a rare species of yokai said to be nearly extinct. They have red feathers on their thighs, white breasts, red combs, and blue and green feathers along their wings and tail.
They are able to breathe a visible fire from their beaks, but the flames do not ignite combustible materials, and they give off no heat. Because of their unique power, they prefer a diet of charred wood and embers.
Additional notes: there used to be a pair that were part of a traveling circus.
Danzen read the passage again, realizing that it didn’t mention anything about the chicken flapping its wings and creating such a thunderous racket. He went for his writing utensil and started to add another note.
When startled, Danzen wrote, they beat their wings to create a sound that resembles thunder.
He read the passage back, wishing he could be a little more floral with his words.
It did get the point across.
Danzen didn’t know who would own this diary after he did, but unless someone destroyed it, he had a pretty good feeling it would find its way into someone else’s hands.
A knock at the door caught his attention, Danzen slowly shutting his book as a man stepped in.
The man was muscular, a full head shorter than Danzen and his hair was wispy, revealing a bald spot at the top of his crown.
“I want to help you,” he said, skipping the introduction. He clenched his fists at his side, Danzen looking from his forearms to the man’s face.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? This is my home. Maral caught me up on what you told her. I’m Temur, I guess I should get that out of the way. But back to what I was saying: if there are three men trying to come into my home and do something to my family, I’ll be damned if I’m going to hide in the basement like a coward.”
“Pride and stupidity are often bedfellows,” Danzen said, recalling something that Biren Yeshe used to tell him, something Norwin had once scoffed at.
“You don’t know what I’m capable of, Pilgrim.” Temur took a step forward, his shoulders bouncing just a little.
Danzen didn’t flinch. “I assume that you’re a decent fighter, but unless you can do this…” Danzen withdrew his sword and loosed it into the wall on the opposite side of the room, Astra returning to its scabbard in a matter of seconds, “I think I will be able to handle it. I also know that you can fix that wall.”
“What did you…?”
Bold as ever, Temur walked over to the wall to observe the slit Danzen had just cut into it. He looked from the cut back to Danzen.
“Sorry for that,” Danzen said, suddenly regretting that he had shown the potentially headstrong man what he was able to do.
Of course, Temur hadn’t seen everything.
He hadn’t seen how quickly Danzen could move, nor how high he could jump. He didn’t know what happened if he drew a cut, nor did he know about his Demon Speak power, or the intense training he had when it came to killing.
But still, showing off his sword compromised him some, and it was the second time he had done so today.
“I would prefer if you didn’t tell anyone about this,” Danzen said, standing.
But rather than step toward him, Temur lowered his hands and relaxed them, bowing his head just a little. “Khamdo already told me that there was something different about you. And I don’t need to know what it is you are, or how you are able to do that,” Temur said, suddenly looking up at him, “but if you are lying to me about this, if you’re trying to pull some trick on me somehow and rob me blind, I will find you. I might not kill you, but I’ll try.”
“That is not my intention.”
“I kind of knew it wasn’t,” Temur grunted. “I’ve already spoken to Khamdo today, over at Sarten’s, and he let me know that you were here. Why do you think I stormed over here as quickly as I did? Sure, I’m hungry for dinner, but that’s not for another thirty or forty minutes. And if I’m not drinking ale, who will be?” Temur grinned, revealing a set of shiny white teeth.
“I will try to make it as clean as possible,” Danzen assured him. “At least two of these men will be relatively easy for me to handle. It is the third that may give me a harder time. But as I said, I will do my best to take care of this without disturbing your family.”
“The bodies too?”
Danzen nodded. “I saw some old carpets in the back room of yours. If you don’t mind me borrowing those, I should be able to get rid of them if I have access to a cart.”
“And Khamdo has a cart.”
Danzen nodded. “Disposing of the bodies will be the easy part. But as I told you, I will handle most of that.”
“I’ll do what I can to help. And I really don’t know what to tell you, but I got this feeling I will see three rolled-up carpets tomorrow morning ready to take a trip somewhere. At least I hope I’m going to see that.”
“Barricade the door to the basement,” Danzen told him. “I don’t anticipate things getting ugly, but if they do…”
Temur nodded. “I don’t know why I’m going along with this. It’s crazy if you stop and think about it.”
“And all for a chicken,” said Danzen.
Temur chuckled. “That damn thing. Maral told you that you could keep it if you handle this for us, right? I don’t have a lot of money. You might think this place says otherwise,” he said, gesturing around the parlor, “but it’s her family’s home. Her daddy’s rich and we’re allowed to live here for free as long as we take care of it.”
“I see.”
“And you’ll take the chicken?”
“We’ll see.”
Temur was just about to exit the house when Danzen called out to him.
“Yeah?”
“Bring the rest of the carpets.”
.Chapter Four.
After they ate a vegetable stew that came with the side of baked meat, Danzen returned to the parlor to craft a mask. He had been meaning to do this earlier, but Maral and her boys had been too distracting.
Using some fabric that she had lying around, Danzen created a mask that completely covered his face, only allowing for two eyeholes, a slit over his mouth and an oval slit just beneath the tip of his nose.
Once he measured everything out by hand, he stitched it together, double-checking that it fit several times and making adjustments before finishing the piece.
It was common for him to have to make a mask without much warning, Danzen eventually getting to the point where he usually carried one with him.
Like some of the things he had picked up over the years, this was something that he’d stopped doing on his journey to the east, no longer wanting to bother with it. But a mask would be necessary for what he needed to do tonight, especially if one of them happened to get away.
Nayaga was to be his main target. Knowing the assassin, Danzen was certain that he would find somewhere else to perch, sending his muscle in first.
He hoped that he didn’t have to kill the three men, but that was likely the outcome, especially with Nayaga actively looking for him.
Danzen noticed how quiet the home was, and came to realize that the boys were already downstairs in the basement.
It wasn’t long before Temur knocked on the parlor door.
“You really do know what you’re doing, don’t you, Pilgrim?” he asked.
Masked Danzen looked up to him and nodded.
“It’s too bad she didn’t have a darker color,” Temur said, not able to hide a grin on his face.
Maral hadn’t had much fabric on hand, and she had ended up giving Danzen a patchwork of red, pink, and turquoise colors. These were stronger, darker versions of the colors, but it still wasn’t really appropriate for an assassin.
“It will work.”
“Wait, don’t tell me you’re going to find them in here,” said Temur, his brow raising.
Danzen shook his head.
“Then where?”
“They failed to capture the chicken the previous night. I am guessing you kept it in the backyard, correct?”
“That’s right. We stuck it in the back shed last night, mostly because the damn thing flapped its wings once and woke Maral up.”
“Then that’s where we should put it. That’s where you should put it.”
“Right, we don’t want them to know you’re here if they’re watching.”
Danzen stood, and smoothed his hands over his robes, Astra at his side.
“Well, shall we?” asked Temur, turning to the hallway.
Masked Danzen followed the stocky man, scanning the rooms as he walked, looking for any windows that could reveal his presence in the home. He stopped next to the door of the storage room at the back of the large home, Danzen wincing as he heard a thunderous crack.
“Goddamn thing.” Temur came out of the room holding a handle on the top of the chicken’s cage. A burst of fire made Danzen’s arms tense, the flame once again giving off no heat.
Temur waited until the chicken was finished and then exited through the back door, leaving it cracked so Danzen could crouch near it and make sure no one tried to do anything to him while he was outside.
As Danzen watched Temur place the bird in the shed, another burst of flame blew right through the man’s body, Danzen wondering why the assassins were so hell-bent on getting rid of the children.
If the chicken was up in the shed, why had it been so hard to get to the bird?
He heard a throat clear behind him. Danzen turned to see their oldest son, Erdene, who held a crossbow. “You are supposed to be downstairs,” Danzen told him once the boy didn’t say anything.
“I’m supposed to protect that chicken.”
Danzen looked at the boy, whom he had seen at dinner, the boy relatively well-behaved considering all the yelling his mother had been doing at him and his brothers. Erdene had long black hair, acne across the bridge of his nose, and thick eyebrows that were starting to grow together.
“Why are you wearing a mask?” he asked after Danzen didn’t say anything.
“What happened last night?”
“Two men came, and I did what I had to do to stop them.”
“You shot at them?”
“No, but I made them think I did. The chicken’s wings and a burst of flames ran them off.”
“And you haven’t told anyone this?”
Erdene shook his head. “Why are you wearing a mask?”
“You said there were only two men, correct?”
The youth nodded.
This confirmed it; Nayaga was likely going to be perched somewhere, which meant that the best place for Danzen to be would be inside the shed with the chicken.
But if they were watching the place, how would he get there?
“I need you to go back downstairs.”
“But I’m going to protect the chicken.”
Temur entered before Danzen could respond, his eyes falling onto his oldest son’s crossbow.
“I told you to get downstairs, son. Now,” he said, taking an intimidating step towards the boy, who maintained his grip on the weapon.
“But… but I’m going to protect that chicken.”
“No, he’s going to protect that chicken.”
Erdene scoffed at this suggestion. “Who is he anyway?”
“Someone.”
“Why do they call you Pilgrim?”
“Because it’s his name,” Temur answered for Danzen. “Downstairs with your mother, now.”
“What if he fails?”
“I won’t,” said Danzen. He did not want to have to use his ability to command the boy or his father, but if it was going to come to that, he was prepared to do so.
Luckily, Erdene finally listened to his old man. He mumbled something under his breath as he turned away, leaving Danzen with Temur.
“I need to get into that shed somehow without being seen.”
Danzen recalled the large rugs that were resting against the wall inside the storage area. It wasn’t going to be a comfortable journey, but he was certain that Temur would be able to carry him.
“What are you thinking?”
“I will be able to do more from out there than I will from in here. Come, I have an idea.”
Temur followed Danzen into the storage room, the two unrolling one of the carpets that leaned against one of the corners. Temur had to stand on the tips of his toes to wrap Danzen in the carpet. Once he was finished, he came around to the front of Danzen’s body and lifted him onto his shoulder.
With a grunt, and a lumbering step forward, he took the carpet outside, placing it in the storage shed and closing the door behind.
Temur unrolled the carpet, the chicken luckily not paying any attention to them as Danzen was set free.
“I guess I’m going to leave you now,” Temur said in a whisper, his facial features hard to make out due to the darkness of the shed.
“Thanks.”
“And Pilgrim,” Temur said as he reached the door. “Good luck.”
****
Danzen crouched in the darkness for several hours, waiting for the three men to come.
He eventually heard some whispers outside of the shed, the hiss of one man telling another to keep his mouth shut.
Danzen slowly lowered his hand onto his weapon, withdrawing Astra from its scabbard, the blade picking up a trickle of light coming in from the gap in the door.
“Do you think the kids are around?” asked the assassin that Danzen recognized as Harsha, the tagalong of the group, the one who was related to the man who wanted the chicken.
“No questions,” said the second man, Osul.
“I hope they come out here.”
“If he does, Nayaga will get to them before we do. Now shut your mouth. We have one job, and one job only, and that’s to get the chicken.”
“I still don’t know what my dad wants with this damn thing…” Harsha grumbled.
The door to the shed opened, and as it did Danzen loosed his sword, Astra going straight through the throat of the smaller of the two men.
Harsha charged into the space before Astra could return to its scabbard, the man skidding to a halt when he saw the chicken, who had yet to blow its imaginary fire. “Who’s there?” he cried, stupidly peering into the dark.
Danzen exploded forward with a kick that caught Harsha in the chin, Danzen hearing the whistling sound that indicated that Astra had returned to his scabbard.
He pressed forward immediately, lurching toward the big man and bringing the blade into Harsha’s stomach.
Danzen held it there like that for a moment, the man looking to Danzen’s masked face in horror. The other assassin, Osul, was nearly dead, the man lying on his side, barely breathing as blood oozed out of the wound on his neck.
“Who…?” Harsha asked. “Who… are you?”
Danzen twisted the blade and slowly withdrew. He sent Harsha flying out of the shed using the heel of his foot.
All the commotion had startled the chicken, who flapped its wings, a terrible thunder ricocheting inside the confines of the shed. The chicken coughed up a few fireballs, Danzen ignoring these as he slowly crept toward the entrance, waiting to see what would happen to Harsha.
Harsha stumbled around the family’s yard, pointing toward the shed, and also trying to get away at the same time.
He wheezed, a terrible smell already starting to take hold of the air due to the man soiling himself. There wasn’t much moonlight, but there was enough for Danzen to see the look of anguish on Harsha’s face as blood saturated his clothing.
It didn’t take long for an arrow to cut through Harsha’s skull, coming out at an angle.
Harsha took one more step forward and fell, which was exactly what Danzen had expected Nayaga to eventually do, the assassin making sure there were no witnesses.
Danzen slipped out of the shed, moving as quickly as he could, knowing that each second of delay would allow for Nayaga to change his position. Calling on his supernatural strength and speed, he took a running leap that sent him to the second-story rooftop of the family home. He swatted Nayaga’s first arrow away, and used its firing position to run toward the next roof, jumping to this one as well.
Another arrow came and he managed to block it, Danzen scanning the rooftops for movement.
He ducked behind a chimney made of clay, an arrow cutting into it and sending up some debris.
Danzen sank lower, hyper-aware of what would happen if he got cut.
Another arrow whizzed over his head.
This one had come from a different angle entirely, as if the assassin had teleported to another rooftop.
He could move, sure, but he wouldn’t be able to shoot at that angle unless…
He dove to the side just in time as an arrow struck the chimney, in the space where his head had just been. Danzen rolled down the roof and hit the ledge, leaping just in time, an arrow passing from another direction just behind his leg.
Danzen landed on the ground, and ducked behind a well.
He wanted to curse his own stupidity at that moment, that he hadn’t prepared for Nayaga to have either an enhanced echo or a weapon made with remnants of Sunyata.
Either they would have a standoff, which was what Danzen now anticipated as he prepared himself to have arrows shot at him from every angle possible; or, Nayaga would use this time to get away.
