Pilgrim 3, p.14
Pilgrim 3, page 14
He really was that good.
Dinner that night was a feast inside the cabin, Kudzu sleeping through it. Everything from roasted pheasant to skewered shrimp and baked fish was presented along with a number of side dishes, the most delicious being the boiled potatoes that had been baked with rosemary and bacon and slathered in fresh butter.
“I don’t know what to make of traveling with the three of you,” Yato said as she received a plate full of food from Jelmay, the bakeneko taking it upon himself to serve the three of them.
“It’s a good time, isn’t it?” he asked her. “Admit it. You’re having a good time.”
“It’s not what I expected; that’s what I’m saying.”
“What did you expect? We go around looking for fights and killing people? Hell no. That’s not really our style; as unfortunate as it is, fights generally come to us, mostly because of this guy,” he said, his eyes flitting toward Danzen. “But sometimes, they’re my fault too. I’ll admit that. When we can, we try to wine and dine ourselves in any way we can. Isn’t that right, Pilgrim?”
Yato looked at Danzen for an answer, and when he didn’t respond, a smirk came across her face. She quickly tried to hide it; while she seemed to let her guard down around Jelmay, Danzen’s overall seriousness was something that she was still trying to figure out.
As the day had passed, Danzen began to think more and more about the role Yato would play in all this. He could have killed her back in the Valley, even though he had given her a nonfatal wound to start with. But then things changed. Now she was here with them, almost as if she were a part of the group.
He still didn’t know what to make of it.
Jelmay ate to the point that he couldn’t get up from the table, the bakeneko eventually scooting his chair over to his bed and falling onto the mattress, asleep in a matter of moments, snoring lightly. Danzen and Yato waited for the ship’s staff to gather the used dishes and leftover food. Once they were gone, he sat in his normal spot against the wall, Astra and Nomin’s sword with him, his Blade of Darkness and gauntleted weapons not far off.
“We will be there in the morning,” he told her, “and then we will need to act. During the daytime.”
“Soko has people all over the city, you know,” Yato said, a bit of a slur to her words. That was another thing that they had enjoyed over their big meal—each of them had had an ale, Danzen only drinking a fourth of his so he could keep a clear mind.
“In that case, we will need two disguises. It will be easy enough for Jelmay and Kudzu, but for us…” Danzen thought about their options for a moment. The best route forward would be for Kudzu and Jelmay to buy clothing while they waited on the ship. He recalled their last trip to Arsi on his quest to kill Biren Yeshe, how people remained on the ship longer than they needed to, and how he’d had enough time to visit the blacksmith during this period.
“Disguises would work. The only thing is, if Sonin or Tensei see me, they will know who I am.”
“As I told you previously, it is not my desire to kill them. If we can get them within the distance of my voice, I will stop them from trying to fight me. You have my word. I have no desire to do anything to your companions, and I understand your thirst for revenge. I only hope that…” Danzen stopped speaking and considered how he would phrase this. “I only hope that you will see in the end that there is no point in trying to kill me. Your teacher was a good man.”
Mention of Thane caused her shoulders to deflate. Danzen continued: “Remember, he was my instructor as well. When you get to the level at which I am capable of fighting and moving, same as Thane, there isn’t a lot of time for second guessing. It is driven by action, and you will see an example of this soon when I deal with Soko.”
“And you will kill her?”
“I’m afraid I have to. She will continue to come at me if I don’t do something about it. Even worse, Soko will be responsible for the deaths of others in the process, like you and your companions. Perhaps you believe me by now when I say that she sent the three of you knowing that I would kill you. And this is not me casting judgment on your combat ability, or what you are capable of doing when pushed to your limits. You are in your early twenties, are you not?”
“I’m twenty,” Yato said in a soft voice.
“I have been killing professionally as long as you have been alive; Soko as well. One thing I have learned is that age can sometimes inhibit you as an assassin, at least for a normal person. But I am not a normal person, as much as…” Danzen almost couldn’t believe how frank he was being with her. Still, he pressed on. “As much as I hate to admit that. Nor is Soko. You’ve seen what happened to her because of her abuse of remnants, have you not?”
“Her legs, her body…”
“Yes, so you know. Have you seen her without her mask on?”
Yato shook her head.
“It is evident on her face as well. While she has abused remnants to a point that they have disintegrated parts of her body, they have also made her stronger. So she too doesn’t fit the description of an older assassin, one who has reached the peak of their power long ago. And that’s not saying all older assassins are somehow inadequate; the exact opposite is true. I don’t know what the peak of her power is, but I would make the assumption that as long as she continues to abuse remnants, Soko will continue to grow even stronger, even if more of her body is sacrificed in the process.”
Yato got comfortable on her bench after removing her slippers. She turned to Danzen and watched him for a moment. Soon, she began to blink, the young assassin eventually falling asleep.
Danzen stayed awake through the night, seated in meditation and occasionally moving his arms forward, as if he were bending his echo. The boat rocked, and there was a point that he almost felt as if he would fall asleep. To prevent that, he stood, his back against the wall.
It was about the time the sun was coming up the next morning that the ship reached the Arsi Wharf, activity outside echoing in their cabin, the clink of robes being thrown over the side of the vessel, men calling to one another. Jelmay was the first to awaken, the bakeneko rolling over with a groan. “I ate too much.”
“I noticed that,” Danzen told him.
“We should order breakfast.”
“I thought you said that you ate too much.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have room for more.” He rolled himself off the bed and stuck a claw in each of his ears, quickly cleaning them. With his feet on the ground, the bakeneko stretched his arms overhead and yawned, his long whiskers drooping as he did so.
“Have you decided how this is going to play out?” Jelmay motioned toward Yato.
“I have, to some extent. We’re going to need disguises, which means I’ll need you and Kudzu to get clothing for us. Soko doesn’t operate during the day, but she may employ people that do. Once we have disguises, we will check the location where she last stayed, but it’s likely she’s no longer there. If she is there, be ready for a fight.”
“I thought you would be doing most of the fighting.”
“Likely. I don’t want to harm her companions, though,” Danzen said, his eyes darting from the bakeneko to the sleeping assassin. “I will try my best to use my Demon Speak to stop them from attacking us. But Soko…”
“You have to kill your lover, former lover,” Jelmay said, correcting himself. “I get it, we’ve all been there. You know, the bards of the future will probably have a song about you and Soko as well; people like a tragic love story. I can hear it now, maybe more of a ballad. I don’t know. Let me think about it.”
“There’s a monastery near the fairgrounds where we can leave a sign if her companions aren’t easily discoverable,” Danzen said, ignoring Jelmay’s remark about bards. “Along with our clothing, I will also need you to bring back a bow and arrow, as well as a swath of blue fabric.”
“Need anything else, Pilgrim?”
“Bring back a small blade for shaving,” Danzen said as he touched his face.
Jelmay gasped. “Not the beard!”
“The beard and the hair.”
“You take these disguises seriously, don’t you?”
Danzen nodded. “When it’s a matter of life or death, yes.”
This caused Jelmay to guffaw, which had the effect of waking Kudzu and Yato. “This isn’t a matter of life or death, believe me. You’ll find Soko, kill her, and that will be the end of it. No more of your former lover trying to make your life a living hell and kill you every chance she gets. It’ll be fine. Ah, yes, Kudzu. Now that you’re up, Pilgrim needs us to run into town and get them some clothing for a disguise, same with Lady Pilgrim? No? Sorry, I’m still working on a nickname. Although, I do like Lady Pilgrim…”
“Shut up, Jelmay; it’s too early.”
“You’re right,” he told Kudzu. “Which is why we need a big breakfast. Don’t worry, rest your head for a little bit longer, and I will make sure they bring up the best of the best, the works, everything not nailed down in the kitchen below. At least I think the kitchen is below. Who cares? My point is: you missed out on quite the feast last night.”
“I can barely see straight,” Kudzu said as she finally rolled out of bed, her white hair a mess. She ran her hand through it, and looked down at her hand, as if she were surprised to see the human appendages.
“That means you slept well,” Jelmay assured her. “And don’t you worry; don’t any of you worry, I’ll take care of everything. But after breakfast.” He rubbed his paws together. “Now, who is up for some meat?”
****
It wasn’t often that Danzen found himself in a tunic and a pair of slacks that tied off just below his knees. For as long as he could remember, Danzen had kept to robes, which was the traditional dress of the nobility, something that had passed to the assassin class due to the Diyu Brotherhood’s insistence that their recruits see themselves in a manner above the common man. What felt even stranger was cutting his hair short, and after lathering up his face, shaving for the first time in what seemed like forever.
He wasn’t the only one who had changed the way they looked. Yato now wore her hair long and was in a similar tunic to Danzen, an olive one that was slightly more form-fitting, with long sleeves that went past her fingertips, and a pair of sandals instead of the sleek slippers she’d worn earlier.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Jelmay said as he took in Danzen’s chiseled features, “but you don’t look half bad with short hair. You actually look human.”
“It grows fast.”
“What kind of reply is that?” the bakeneko asked with a huff. “I’m telling you that you are handsome, a bit weathered because of all the death you’ve seen, sure, and then there are your scars, including the one on your face that’s way more visible now. Who gave that one to you again?”
Danzen remembered Soko stabbing him through the cheek the last time he was in Arsi. He didn’t answer Jelmay’s question.
“Bah, it doesn’t matter,” the bakeneko told him. “And you,” he said, turning to Yato. “You really know how to pull off the peasant look, a fair maiden if I’ve ever seen one, Lady Pilgrim.”
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“Of course it is. Before, I would have never guessed that you could look so… rudimentary? No, that’s not the word. Like a random person walking on the street? I guess that’s closer.”
“I think you’ve said enough,” Kudzu told the bakeneko. “And by that, I mean it’s probably time we leave.”
“The only thing is, we can’t have Danzen going around with all these weapons, especially dressed how he is. It will draw attention. The swords at his waist? Sure, that makes sense. But your glaive, and the gauntlets…” Jelmay stroked his chin for a moment. As he did so he began to morph from his cat form into his nondescript human persona. “Let’s get a room first, a secure one. I know of a different place than the one we stayed at last time,” he said as he turned to the door. “Just stick with me, and try not to look obvious.”
Once they were off the ship, they crossed the bridge that passed over the Sakai River. This brought them toward the field where the Floating Candle Festival had been held, Danzen feeling a twist of guilt in the stomach. At first, he thought Jelmay was going to lead them to the same hotel where he had stayed with Kudzu, but he ended up taking a different hotel, one a bit further down a dirt lane that was wide enough for two carriages. Opposite the hotels were rice shops and other restaurants, a few with outdoor seating and one with a deck that provided a view of the fairgrounds through the space between two of the larger hotels. There was construction being done in the space, and soon, that view would be obstructed, a metaphor for something.
“The best room that you have,” Jelmay told the hotel clerk as soon as they entered the hotel, the smell of fresh linens reaching Danzen’s nostrils. The clerk was a larger man with a mustache, and dressed in a set of pressed robes that had an additional fold at the cuffs.
“The best room, my lord?” he asked.
“Yes, quickly and discreetly,” Jelmay said, flashing his kip. “My guests are tired after a long trip.”
“Yes, my lord, right away.”
“Also, make sure the room is secure.”
“My lord, all of our rooms are secured here at the Sakai Resort, this, I can assure you.”
“And that’s why we came here,” Jelmay said, gesturing toward Kudzu, just in case she had something to add. She scrunched her face at him and then turned away, letting the bakeneko finish his conversation with the hotel clerk. Soon, they were being led up to a room at the top with a vaulted ceiling, where they were able to leave some of their gear. They had the option of tea and a light breakfast, and while Danzen was ready to move on, to discover where Soko was hiding, Jelmay pressed them to stay.
“It’s important we have breakfast.”
“You just had breakfast,” Kudzu reminded him. She was now seated on a sofa covered in green silk. Yato stood near Kudzu, the young assassin looking out at the balcony, the doors of which they had yet to shut. Even with the additional ceiling space, the room was much darker than Danzen expected it to be, mostly because of the blackwood used for the floor and the walls. It seemed secure enough, which was good considering he planned to leave his Blade of Darkness and both his and Yato’s gauntleted blades behind. He still didn’t trust her to have a weapon.
“You’ll be fine,” Jelmay assured the fox. “It’s up to you whether you want to eat again or not, but I’m not foolish enough to turn down a meal. Just don’t get in our way. Isn’t that right, Yato?”
She never responded.
“See? Lady Pilgrim. It fits. I don’t like it because it makes it sound like the two of you are having some relationship, and we all know that Pilgrim here is more of a monk than most monks, but I like the ring to it. Lady Pilgrim.”
When no one said anything, aside from a subtle moan from Kudzu, Jelmay turned his attention to the door just at about the time that the hotel staff brought breakfast, which was served on ceramic platters. He ate again while the others watched, and once he was finished, Jelmay announced that he would likely stay in the room.
“You mean we could have left already?” Kudzu asked.
“I didn’t think about it then, but sure, you could have,” he told her on the tail end of a yawn. “Besides, even if this place is nice and safe, someone has to keep an eye on all of the weapons. You should leave yours as well.”
“I need a break from you,” Kudzu said as she stepped past Danzen and into the hallway.
“She sure doesn’t play nice with others,” Jelmay said with a shrug. Now back in his cat form, he relaxed onto a chair near the balcony, his paws over his belly. “Good luck out there,” he told Danzen and Yato, “and be sure not to start any fights, not yet. You may need me when everything goes down.”
One thing Kudzu and Jelmay had failed to get in their early-morning scavenger mission was a bow and arrow; they did, however, get a blue cloth, which Danzen now had in his satchel. Perhaps they wouldn’t need to leave a signal for Yato’s companions, to set up an ambush. It really depended on what they discovered over the next few hours.
Once they were outside the hotel, Kudzu started to light into Jelmay, only to stop and take a deep breath, apologizing to the two of them. “Sorry, a few days on the ship with him and I’m a little riled up.”
“It’s understandable,” said Yato. “But he is a little endearing, in his own way.”
Rather than respond, Kudzu stepped aside and let Yato take the lead. As they walked, Danzen noticed that the people whom he made eye contact with looked at him differently than they would have had he been in his robes. Perhaps his previous appearance had carried with it a certain weight, likely not helped by the hood he would wear over his head, and the additional weapons he carried. It wasn’t unheard of for a man to have a pair of swords, but a large glaive, and the intimidating gauntlets with their hidden blades didn’t help.
When he was younger, he had experimented with disguises, which was something that many assassins relied upon. There were those who preferred to perform their duties during the day, and those who did them at night, Danzen preferring the latter because it allowed him to deal with his mark when they were less guarded. Because of the power that came from his blood, he also didn’t tire easily, so it wasn’t hard for him to stay up to absurd hours just to see to a contract.
But there was another style of assassin, one who made their move during the day, and these types excelled at disguises. Danzen remembered what he had learned about blending in, and using something as simple as a scarf to create a number of disguises. Anything could aid in covering someone’s appearance, from a change in posture to smearing burnt knockweed beneath one’s eyes, which made them dark. A lot of it had to do with creativity.
One of the reasons Danzen didn’t usually go the same route as a day assassin was because of the level of trickery it demanded. Sure, he could always use his Demon Speak power, but day assassins were able to hide themselves so well that they could simply walk into a militia camp as if they were supposed to be there the entire time, or strike up a conversation on a local topic, or even go the long route of making themselves a part of a community or a single household, only to get closer to their mark and eventually…
