Pilgrim 2, p.23
Pilgrim 2, page 23
Danzen turned to his teacher, whose face was so covered in scars that it was hard for him to grow a beard. Thane had eyes spread far apart, almost lizard-like, his nose wide from being broken so many times.
“So another power makes itself known,” Thane finally said.
“Another power?”
“Demon Speak,” said his teacher. He swept his hands over the bodies of Danzen’s hellspawns. “It seems like it would be a much more useful skill than conjuring these monsters. What do you think?”
Danzen nodded, a question coming to him. “Why did you call it Demon Speak?”
“Because Sunyata has fallen, my boy, and any power like that surely must have come from hell itself. Can you try it again? Tell your peers to run up the stairs,” Thane said, a wicked smile taking shape on his face. “Only a fool would want to run the stairs of the Brotherhood.”
“Run up the stairs,” Danzen said, turning to his peers.
“What?” Soko asked, her head tilting as she looked at him. It seemed as if whatever trance Danzen had put them in still had some effect, none of them seeming fazed by the demonic corpses scattered across the stairs.
“Again,” Thane said, “but mean it this time, call upon whatever power you summoned before, and be sure to tell your classmates to forget what they’ve seen.” His teacher swept his hand over the fallen demon bodies. “Do it, Danzen.”
Danzen clenched his eyes shut for a moment and felt that familiar rumble in his throat. “Run up the stairs,” he said to his peers. “Do not remember this day.”
Rather than say anything, his classmates all turned away from him and began jogging up the stairs, toward the Brotherhood.
“Good,” Thane said. “Practice this power in secret. Do not let others at the Brotherhood know you are able to do this.”
“Why didn’t it work on you?” Danzen asked, his eyes tracing over the scars on the man’s face.
Thane shrugged. “I appear to be beyond its influence, which is why you shouldn’t rely on it entirely. You are a very strange child, Danzen, different from the others. I hope that you don’t waste this talent. For now, let’s also keep your little demon problem a secret as well.”
As Danzen continued to run after Kudzu, the rain beating down on them, he wondered what had happened to the instructor known as Thane. From what he could recall, the man left the Brotherhood a few years after that. Some said he had been banished for some transgression that Danzen hadn’t understood at the time.
Perhaps Thane was still out there, once again living with the wolves.
Danzen’s foot slipped on a wet rock, the former assassin falling backward.
He slid down a steep incline, and it was only once he reached the ground below that he sprung back up to the ledge, Danzen once again calling upon his superhuman strength and speed.
Kudzu, who had stopped to make sure he was all right, was blindsided by a mudslide, the white fox quickly buried in rocks and dirt.
He caught a glimpse of her white tail as she went down, Danzen springing into action. The former assassin dove into the mudslide as if it were a waterfall, not at all concerned for his own safety, only focused on rescuing Kudzu.
The world blackened around him as he was overtaken by the mud, Danzen bursting out of the mucky debris.
Everything was a shade of black or brown now, Danzen looking frantically for any sign of the fox. He caught what looked like the back of her head and called upon his power to send himself forward, more rocks and mud tumbling down from a cliffside.
He reached Kudzu and began dragging her to safety, the fox limp in his arms.
The mud swelled over Danzen’s head, trying to overpower him once again. But this wasn’t how Danzen was going to die—he knew that as soon as he dove into the mud to save Kudzu.
So he pushed on, reaching the natural end of the calamity, the rain quickly washing some of the mud away on his face as he came to a ledge above what had soon become a landslide.
“Kudzu?” Danzen asked.
And when she didn’t respond, he pressed his ear against the side of her body, listening for a heartbeat. He heard it; the white fox was still alive.
The confirmation had a way of grounding Danzen for a moment, allowing him to catch his breath and move on. He had carried her before, and once he found a solid path, he’d be able to continue on even in the rain.
It became a waiting game at that point, Danzen perched on the ledge, the rain eventually letting up and leaving in its wake a thick mist.
“Pilgrim?” Kudzu asked, the white fox coming awake in his arms.
“Mudslide.”
“I… I remember,” she said as he set her down. Mud still raced below them like a gushing river, the sound of stone scraping against stone echoing through the chasm.
Danzen pointed at where he planned to go next, Kudzu nodding in agreement. “And you’ll carry me?”
“Yes.”
He scooped Kudzu into his arms, and after confirming where he planned to go next, Danzen launched into the air. He landed on a flat surface above the lurching mudslide below. He set Kudzu down and they continued on for a moment until they came to a point where they’d need to rely on Danzen’s superhuman power to push on.
They reached a cliff and walked along a narrow pathway, thunder sounding off above them, accompanied by flashes of rain.
“Monsoon season is in full swing,” Kudzu said, “and it has come early this year.”
“I can see that.”
“But at least we were able to visit the shrine today.” The white fox paused and sat on her haunches for a moment, the rain starting to pick up again. “I believe… yes. This way will be faster. Do you think you can make it to that ledge?”
Danzen followed her muddy snout, his hand over his brow to prevent the rain from getting in his eyes. “I believe so, yes.”
“Good. Care to give me another lift? It shouldn’t be much longer until we reach the monastery.”
Part Five
.Chapter One.
The rain came in sweeping waves, lashing against the rooftop of the monastery, cutting into the soil and forming thick tributaries as it ran down the hill. It was accompanied by thunder and bursts of lightning that were bright enough to seemingly ignite the landscape.
Danzen initially felt safe inside the monastery. Kudzu was with him and Yama had joined them for once, the stone lion dog not a fan of the intense thunderstorm. Yama rested on the ground, his paws over his head, moving around uncomfortably from time to time when the thunder was particularly loud.
His behavior would have been a bit comical had it not been for a sudden cracking sound in the ceiling above, water instantly gushing into the main room of the monastery. The saturated soil around the outer walls started to cause seepage, the water growing deeper by the second.
“Open the door!” Kudzu called to him. Danzen shouldered through the front door, which let some of the water out.
An idea came to him as more water spread through the monastery.
“Take Yama to my bedroom,” Danzen told Kudzu as he went for his Blade of Darkness.
Kudzu first tried to instruct Yama to follow her. When he didn’t, she nipped at his feet, glaring as she did so. “Don’t judge me!” she told Danzen as Yama finally understood what she was hinting at.
The lion dog followed her to the back room, and Danzen returned his focus to the water that continued to fill the main space of the monastery.
He brought his Blade of Darkness over his shoulder, careful not to nick the faded frescos on the ceiling, and began sweeping the water out of his monastery. It worked to some degree, the tangible shadows he was able to conjure pushing the water toward the front.
Eventually, Danzen found a rhythm to what he would be doing for the rest of the night.
It would be several hours before the rain finally let up, Danzen’s muscles tired from the repeated motions, but much less tired than they should have been.
He continued having to sweep the rain even after it stopped. He eventually fell asleep while standing, the former assassin leaning forward with his arm against the wall.
Kudzu came into the main room of the monastery just as the sun started to rise the next morning, casting orange and pink light into the monastery, the wet surfaces slick and glistening.
“How is Yama?” Danzen asked, his thoughts immediately skipping to his stone lion dog.
“Fine. Did you sleep standing up?”
“Yes.”
Danzen headed to the back entrance of the monastery and stepped out into the mud, where he found his fire chicken in her coop. The coop had been built off the ground, the structure not at all disturbed by the torrential downpour.
As it often did, his presence startled her. Basan clucked in a thunderous way, letting out a burst of fire that had no real effect.
“Yama is fine,” Kudzu said as she joined Danzen, the white fox hopping to a patch of grass that hadn’t been ripped apart by the rain. “Who knew he hated rain so much.”
“He didn’t seem to worry about it in the past.”
“It could have been the intensity. Your roof is partially ruined, by the way.”
“I saw that,” Danzen said with a hint of disdain. “I’ll have to go to town this morning and see if Khamdo is available. I don’t know when the next rainstorm is coming, but it will need to be fixed before then.”
“He may have his hands full. Then again, the weather is usually more intense outside of the village.” Kudzu sniffed the air. “The air smells fresher now, doesn’t it?”
“It smells like mud.” Danzen surveyed his property and noticed that the rain had done some serious damage to the landscape, tearing up much of the soil and overturning rocks.
Something caught his attention.
He turned in the opposite direction of the outhouse, Kudzu doing her best not to get her paws muddy as she walked alongside him.
“Is that…?” Kudzu tilted her head to the left as she spotted what had caught Danzen’s eye.
The rain had uncovered a carved stone object, and as Danzen approached it, it became undeniably clear as to what it was.
Danzen was looking at the head of the other lion dog statue, Yama’s mate.
****
Yama joined Danzen and Kudzu, the stone lion dog examining the head.
“We should clean it off,” said Kudzu.
Quiet as ever, Danzen retrieved the pail he used to fetch water in the morning. Once it was full, he returned to Kudzu and started cleaning the mud off the severed stone head. It wasn’t long before the head was clean, Danzen noticing that the female lion dog looked almost exactly like Yama aside from her eyes, which were closer together and her teeth, which were smaller.
“I have a feeling we aren’t going to be able to just stick it back on the body.”
“Then what?”
Kudzu’s brow furrowed. “I hate to say this, but this really sounds like something Jelmay would know more about. He’d probably say we should go to Usagi.”
“Then let’s go to Usagi,” Danzen said, recalling the slightly cantankerous jade rabbit.
“Before we do anything like that, we need to deal with the roof and the water still inside the monastery.”
“I… forgot about that.”
“You seem like you need some rest.”
“Maybe,” Danzen said as he lifted the lion dog’s head, and held it under his arm.
“You can’t keep living like this forever,” Kudzu told him.
“What do you mean?”
“Aside from the part of your life that sees you occasionally hunting or being hunted—I realize you have little to no control over that—I’m talking about getting rest and proper nutrition.”
Danzen smiled, appreciating her concern.
“I’m serious, Pilgrim. If you are interested in bending your echo; you need proper rest to really amplify the effects.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Danzen entered the backdoor of the monastery and turned to the kitchen, where he placed the head on the counter top. The last thing he was expecting was to hear a familiar voice call out to him. Danzen peeked his head out of the kitchen to see Khamdo at the front door, Temur with him.
“By the fall of Sunyata, this place looks terrible,” Temur said, waving his hand in front of his face.
“I told you,” said Khamdo. “I told you it would be bad.”
Danzen walked through the main space of the monastery, noticing the floor was still wet, the ceiling dripping. Kudzu had run off, not wanting to deal with the humans; for his part, Yama had already greeted the two of them, the lion dog now on his perch out front.
“The storm was pretty bad last night,” Danzen said, motioning toward the ceiling.
“It’s my fault,” Khamdo told him, the carpenter biting his lip as he took in the damage. “I was planning to do a bit more work on the roof before monsoon season started, but as you know, things have been a little hard for me lately.” He handed Danzen a sack of meat pies. “From Sarnai. We will get that roof repaired, don’t you worry.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know; I’m sure you’ll get me back some day, maybe the next time I lose my soul.”
Temur shook his head at this comment. “You shouldn’t say things like that; it could bring bad luck.”
Khamdo offered his counterpart a bitter laugh. “I almost turned into a snake, or whatever the hell that thing was called; I’m pretty sure my luck can only get better from here. We have supplies to patch up the roof, and Temur and I know of a way to hopefully protect the place when the next rainstorm starts up. It should take us about two days to get it all set up.”
“What can I do to help?” Danzen asked as he attempted to suppress a yawn. He truly hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and was feeling it for some reason.
“Nothing. This is sort of our specialty.”
“I will figure out a way to pay you then. I do not have any kip on me now, but I will soon,” Danzen said, thinking of what he could sell to Selden in Chutham. He still had the sugawara helmet; it was bound to be worth something.
“I’m sure you will,” Khamdo said, a sentiment which wasn’t quite shared by Temur, who cleared his throat and turned away from them.
“There’s something I need to do. Let me show you.” Danzen led Khamdo toward the kitchen. He set the meat pies down for a moment and retrieved the female lion dog’s head.
“You found the other half?”
“The rain washed it up.”
Khamdo took the severed stone head from him and carefully ran his hand along the bottom portion of the piece. “We could probably cement it on there. It won’t look perfect, but it will work.”
“I think there’s more to it than that,” Danzen said.
“You’re probably right; it’s an actual yokai, at least Yama is.”
“I believe this one is as well. I need to make a trip to Asura Forest; there’s someone there who will know what to do.”
Khamdo smirked. “Is this someone about the size of a rabbit?”
“Yes.”
“Say no more,” he said, handing the stone head back to Danzen. “Do what you need to do; we’ll just leave this in here, and I won’t bother Temur with it.”
“I will be able to pay you soon.”
“I’m not worried about that, Pilgrim. Right now, I’m worried about getting what’s left of the water out of the monastery and getting that roof fixed. I’ve got a way to prevent water from seeping into the place too. It won’t be very hard to build a dike around either side. This should have been done years ago. I’ll try to preserve as many of the frescoes as I can, but that may be difficult.”
“Thank you.”
“Anything else causing you trouble around here?”
Danzen was just about to shake his head when a thought came to him. “I don’t know how easy it would be, but a window in the bedroom would be nice. The heat can get quite strong in here.”
“There’s really no air circulation either, so that can’t help.” Khamdo turned to Danzen’s bedroom, his bedding and the shelf with his things on it spared from the worst of the flooding. The carpenter stepped over to the stone wall and knocked his hand against it. He then traced his fingers along the crudely placed brick, looked to the ceiling, and noted something with a nod.
“What do you think?”
“It’s doable,” Khamdo said. “Sure, I’ll get it done. I’ll need money for the window though; that will have to be purchased either in Chutham or Tudan. Sometimes they have them in the First District, but they’re usually twice the price.”
“If you give me the details, next time I go to either of those places, I’ll try to grab one. It would be very helpful.”
“What are you offering to build now?” Temur asked as he entered the monastery, supplies tucked under his arm. He’d already laid out a canvas pad outside for them to place things on.
“Renovations,” Khamdo said with a grin. “We’re going to make this place sparkle.”
.Chapter Two.
Danzen Ravja headed down the hill and found Kudzu near Jelmay’s home, the white fox seated on her haunches. He finished eating one of Sarnai’s meat pies on his way down, and handed the second one to the fox.
“Don’t mind if I do,” she said as she wolfed it down. “And what about your place? Is everything squared away?”
“Yes, I briefly explained to Khamdo what I’m going to do and they’re going to start repairs immediately.” Danzen had his satchel with him now, his field diary inside, his three blades with him as always.
“That’s kind of them.”
“I need to pay them.”
“Jelmay will pay them.” Kudzu turned away, Danzen joining her. “I suppose you may not like that arrangement, but I wouldn’t let it bother me, if I were you. Jelmay seems to have more money than he knows what to do with,” said the white fox. “At least he shares it freely with us. Strangely enough, he doesn’t seem to have the same good disposition to people he’s scammed in the past,” she said, referring to the militiaman’s father whom they had encountered in Tudan.
