Pilgrim 5, p.4
Pilgrim 5, page 4
“You care to test me?” Uchi asked Danzen. “I’m not interested in killing you, as your brother has tasked me with doing. I am more interested in making you suffer, and prolonging my existence here in the mortal realm. Do you think I’m foolish enough to believe Nomtoi’s promise of freedom? No, the longer I keep you alive, the longer I can enjoy the fruits of my labor. Now that I control your companions as well, you will never be able to touch me.” Uchi cast the woman that had been on his lap to the ground. She yelped, and quickly returned to the bench where she had been seated.
Danzen was at a loss for words.
It pained him in a way that he hadn’t experienced before to see Kudzu ready to engage, especially with the expression on her face telling him that there was some sliver of her that knew she was being controlled. He looked left to see Yato close to summoning her blades, now under Uchi’s spell as well. The blue-skinned man turned his focus to Nomin: “So Tengir Gantulga brought you back from Diyu, did he?”
“Your influence won’t work on me.”
“It doesn’t have to. If you or Danzen attempt anything, not only will your companions fight you, but everyone in this room, everyone in this village, will die. The people attached to me have been instructed to kill themselves if I am to perish. I own their minds, and they will follow these orders. Ask Sansar. He will explain what I am able to do. After all, I’m no demon; I’m a fallen angel.” Sansar’s silence confirmed what Uchi had just said. “Best of luck with the other Seven Evils, as they are known. Do not bother me again until I bother you.”
.Chapter Three.
There truly was nothing Danzen could do at the moment. As he left Suja Village, it pained him to see the strings of purple energy connecting his companions back to Uchi. Not only that, he could tell that those around him were also severely affected by what had happened. All of them aside from Nomin carried utter distraught looks on their faces, as if they had betrayed Danzen in some way.
He didn’t know what to tell them.
It wasn’t their fault that things had shaken out the way that they did, and now it left him with a new dilemma. How would they engage Uchi? If he could clearly control people over long distances, what would happen if his influence grew? What if he slowly gained control over the entire kingdom? Danzen knew he could always circle back and kill him from a distance, but doing so would cause everyone he had influence over to commit suicide, at least according to Uchi.
The situation was beyond him at this point.
Danzen hadn’t spoken to Sansar yet, but another thought came to him as they reached the end of the village. What was this about Uchi being a fallen angel? What did that entail?
As if he had been reading his mind, Sansar dropped in front of Danzen, the former assassin lifting his arm so the raven could perch on it. His group gathered around him, Suja Village behind them now, dark clouds in the sky above.
“I’m sure you all are wondering about Uchi.”
“What did he do to my mind?” Jelmay asked, the bakeneko not bothering to take his human form. He was visibly upset, his whiskers drooping.
The spell he had been under earlier was now lifted, yet a purple string of energy was still attached to the bakeneko’s forehead, making Danzen wonder if Uchi could influence him at any time. He also wondered about the pair of Halcyon assassins that had come after them. Had they simply been passing through when Uchi had taken control? Or had the Diyu Brotherhood issued another contract?
“Your mind, yes. He can do things like that, control people. Uchi was once a prince of Sunyata, where he used his power to take control over countless mortals in our current realm. He was banished before the fall, and died here, in the mortal realm.”
“He can die?” Yato asked Sansar.
“Strange as it may seem, Uchi has no power when it comes to defending himself or fighting off someone. His power lies in the people around him, those he is able to control. And there isn’t much that we will be able to do about that, from what I know. He can turn most of you against Pilgrim; if he does so, you will have little control over what he commands you to do. In that sense, we are lucky that he didn’t showcase fully what he was able to do back there. Because of this, I believe he meant what he said, that he simply wants to enjoy his time here. He will not be like the others.”
“Bah! Couldn’t you have warned us about him?”
“As you know, the fall of Sunyata was something that took place across the entire world. While I was present at that time and before, I don’t know what Nomtoi has in store, or who he has freed from the depths of Diyu.”
“What now? We just let him off the hook?” asked Kudzu, exasperation in her voice. It pained Danzen to look at her, at the shame she continued to hold on her face. Kudzu had been seconds away from drawing her weapon and engaging him. Things could have turned sour in an instant had she done so, had Danzen been forced to fight her.
Sansar flapped his wings and then smoothed them against his back. “I hate to say it, but for now, my thoughts are that we do nothing until we deal with the energy that he has attached to some of you. Perhaps we should go to Usagi and deal with the lion dogs. A welcome distraction. We can then take the northern passage to the nunnery.”
“If we are bringing those lion dogs with us, I’m totally riding one.”
Kudzu scoffed at the statement. “So we are retreating? We’re just going to let him do as he pleases? Pilgrim?”
Danzen didn’t yet have a solution; he agreed with Sansar that if Uchi wanted to act, he would have done so in the First District. In that case, sending Jelmay to fetch them was merely a warning. Uchi had overseen the destruction of his monastery through Shedrup, and Danzen wasn’t going to let this sit lightly.
After a few moments of silent deliberation, he ended up agreeing with Sansar, Danzen making the announcement that they would postpone dealing with Uchi.
Soon, Danzen and his companions were transitioning into the Asura Forest, shadows dancing on the ground interspersed with blips of light, the cloud coverage bringing with it a slight chill. Leaves had started to fall—orange, yellow, and red—one landing on Jelmay’s head as they continued, the bakeneko not bothering to remove it.
Eventually, the stray leaf bothered Kudzu, and the kitsune approached him and swatted the leaf off his head much to his chagrin.
“Hey, that was my leaf.”
“Stop thinking about leaves and start thinking about what we are going to do once we reach Usagi. We didn’t leave on good terms with the rabbit.”
The last time they had met with Usagi, the jade rabbit had baited him down to Jelmay’s home, where Danzen had been attacked by a yokai. It was all part of a warning that Usagi had given his group, one related to the yokai of the valley not being so keen on their plan to rebuild Sunyata.
With this in mind, he expected trouble once they reached the yokai village of Osul.
****
The village of Osul was deep in the Asura Forest, surrounded by towering trees and enormous boulders. The yokai made their home in some of these trees, like Kikikaki, Kudzu’s friend who lived in a hollowed-out trunk. Others lived amongst the rocks, in caves and hidden crevices.
As it had been during his last visit, the village seemed eerily quiet once Danzen and his companions arrived. Jelmay flicked his hand toward the place. “Still don’t trust us, after everything that we are going to do for these yokai?” he asked, loud enough for any yokai around to hear him. “You know, fox, I never really liked yokai.”
Yato laughed at this statement.
“What? It’s true. They are superstitious and narrow-minded. Not only that, they haven’t advanced any from the way they were living several hundred years ago. I mean, look at this place. Why aren’t we living in nicer homes, why aren’t there any hotels here?”
“Why, by the pilfered graces of Sunyata, do I hear the senseless ponderings of an overfed bakeneko sullying the air!?”
Danzen looked up to see Usagi glaring down at them from his hovel, his rabbit ears folded back, ire in his eyes. A sudden softness appeared on his face. “What… what has happened to you all?” As if
he could see the strings of energy, Usagi tilted his chin toward the west, a frown forming on his face. “You’re being tracked.”
“Pfft! It’s worse than that, Usagi, believe me.” The bakeneko launched into a quick explanation of what had happened thus far, the fallen angel named Uchi, and how he had long distance mind control capabilities.
“A fallen angel?” Usagi scratched himself with his back leg.
“Figures. They really are the worst.”
“There are more fallen angels?” Yato asked.
“Of course there are, woman. But not to worry. I know where we can fix your little problem,” Usagi said as soon as Jelmay had finished.
“You do?” Kudzu asked, barely able to hide skepticism in her voice.
“I’m much smarter and better connected than you will ever be, fox. I would have Monobake take you to find them,” he said, referring to the hasamidachi with the shears on his head that Danzen had once dealt with, “but I have him handling another task at the moment. While I don’t necessarily owe you one, I do feel bad regarding what happened the last time we met. Even if I was thrown off the side of that cursed hill of yours. An apology would be nice, but I’ll leave that up to you.”
Danzen didn’t apologize.
“Ugh. I suspected you wouldn’t,” Usagi told him under his breath.
“Anyway, the yokai that can fix your little problem is a maikubi named Boldknot. He can be a bit aloof, but he owes me a favor.”
“That’s not why we came, but…” Jelmay tilted his head toward Danzen and shrugged. “I suppose that would be very helpful to us.”
“That’s not why you came?” Usagi squinted at the bakeneko.
“Then why are you here bothering me?”
“His monastery was destroyed, as you know. We discussed it the last time I swept through here.”
“Ah, yes. You were almost run out of here just a day ago, if I remember correctly. It is funny, you know. Every time you come here, you raise hell in some way.”
“It’s other yokai that raise hell, not me,” Jelmay insisted. “I just thrive in it.”
“Well, I suppose we can argue about that later. You want your little problem fixed? In that case, we have a maikubi to find.”
“We also need help with our lion dogs,” Danzen said, circling back to the conversation that Jelmay hadn’t finished. “Their heads were removed during the destruction of the monastery.”
“Again? What’s the point in having those cursed creatures anyway if you can’t take care of them? I suppose I could fix them for you, as I have done in the past. But you will owe me a favor considering I’m now doing two things for you.”
“I’m fine with that,” said Danzen, ignoring the hesitant look on Kudzu’s face.
“And I may take you up on that favor anytime I’d like in the future.”
“You’re lucky we haven’t—”
Jelmay bumped his hip into Kudzu. “We can threaten him later,”
he told her under his breath.
“You would be wise to listen to the bakeneko. Now,” said Usagi, his ears going alert. “I know where to look for Boldknot. He’ll be able to handle your little string problem.”
“Are you certain?” asked Sansar, who was perched on a ledge just above the jade rabbit.
“What other choice do you have? Follow me.”
****
Traveling through the Asura Forest was something that Danzen had grown familiar with over the last year. With his companions he had to move much slower than normal, the former assassin fond of taking to the trees and leaping through their canopies when he was on his own. It was cathartic in a strange way, to be able to actually utilize his full potential, all the power that he possessed. But he was happy with sticking with the others as well, and the camaraderie that he felt.
“So, you really think this maikubi can do it, do you?”
“Are you seriously questioning me?” asked Usagi as he hopped at the head of the group. “When have I been wrong when it came to yokai power!?”
“You have been wrong numerous times,” Jelmay told him. “You remember the unibrowed man from Tudan who said it was going to rain, that it would ruin all the grain that we had swindled if we carried it in an open cart?”
“That was ages ago. And it didn’t rain, it hailed. That sorry excuse for a fallow nozuchi was wrong!”
“But it was warm outside, so the hail melted just as soon as it landed in the cart. Therefore, it sort of rained.”
“We still got our kip, did we not? Did we not?”
“Sure, we got our kip, but that required us having to trick the purchaser, and then backpedal and trick the guy who would supply just the grain in the first place.” Jelmay puffed his cheeks out, his whiskers suddenly erect. “It was a hassle. Admit that.”
“Will the two of you please, for the love of Sunyata, shut up.”
“How dare you,” Usagi told the kitsune. “We are having a friendly discussion here, and you decide to butt in?”
“Shouldn’t we be a little more focused on where we are going?”
asked Kudzu.
It took Danzen a moment, but he recognized the darker area of the Asura Forest now that she had mentioned it. He’d once saved a young girl named Enkhmaa from a terrible yokai in this very region, and had ended up fighting a demon bear, not the one that Jelmay had stored back at Dalan’s monastery, the hide of which he wore as a cloak over his head and shoulders, yet equally as challenging.
“I’m not worried if you aren’t, fox,” said Jelmay. “After all, we have one of the best guides there is, Usagi, the overlord of the Asura Forest.”
“Compliments will get you somewhere,” Usagi said, proud to be called an overlord.
Nomin was the first to draw her blade once they reached a nook defined by large trees and draping vines. As she did, a solid form pressed out onto their path, revealing a yokai that Danzen had never seen before. It was as if a wall had been conjured into existence, the yokai fleshy and with an enormous face with a flattened snout and large, cauliflower ears.
The Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds suddenly felt light in Danzen’s hand, the former assassin now holding it at the ready.
“You will not pass,” said the yokai, its form growing in size, eyes dipping into a sinister letter V as a forked tongue fell out of its mouth.
Usagi hopped forward. “Nuri, you’ve got all of ten seconds to get the hell out of my way. Move, now!”
The wall-like yokai’s large eyes dropped to the jade rabbit.
“You heard me…” Usagi started tapping his foot. “One, two…”
With a grunt the yokai shifted to the side, shrinking into a thin pole, allowing Danzen to see that it actually had feet, which were covered by rolls of flesh.
“You may pass,” it said solemnly.
“You’re damn right we can pass!” Usagi said, leading the way once again. Once they were away from the yokai that had tried to block their path, Jelmay started to laugh.
“What kind of dirt do you have on that one?”
“I have dirt on all the yokai of this often-wretched forest, and if I don’t, I know someone that does, or I know a way to make it seem as if I do. You called me the overlord earlier. Do you remember?”
“Sure, but you’re not expecting me to continue to call you that, right?”
Once Jelmay and Usagi started to bicker again, Yato slowed so she could speak to Danzen. “Are you familiar with the yokai that we are going to see?”
“I can’t say that I am.” Danzen’s field diary was back at Dalan’s hermitage, meaning he couldn’t see if the previous abbot of his monastery had written about it before.
“What do you think it is?”
“I know what it is,” said Kudzu, answering for Danzen. “And don’t be put off by its appearance.”
It wasn’t much longer before they came to an area that resembled Osul in some ways, trees jutting out of the ground and surrounded by large boulders, a place of overhangs and hiding spots. There was much more stone around here than there had been in the darker areas of the forest, only a smattering of grass and dead leaves on the ground.
Usagi hopped forward. “Boldknot. It’s me!”
Movement in one of the caves caught Danzen’s eyes. He understood once the yokai appeared why Kudzu had told Yato not to be bothered by it. Three floating male heads connected by long strands of hair floated out of the cave, their faces haggard, eyes yellow and sullen. They spun, and the head on the bottom spoke.
“Why have you come here?”
“You owe me, Boldknot, and I intend to collect.”
The three heads spun and a different one spoke, his voice the same as the other. “I don’t owe you anything.”
“It’s not too much to ask. Do you see it?” Usagi nodded his head toward Danzen’s companions. “Do you see the string of energy?”
“We see it,” said a different head, still in the same voice as the first one. Every time they spoke, the three heads rotated, and Danzen started to notice that they were the spitting image of one another, nothing different about them once they were on the bottom of the rotation.
“And?”
The three heads coughed at the same time.
“Is that supposed to be an answer?” Usagi asked with a scowl.
“Because it wasn’t convincing, if it was.”
“Can’t you tell I have a cold?” Now that Boldknot had framed it in this way, Danzen noticed that he did sound a little sick. All three heads coughed again.
“Congested?” Usagi thumped his foot against the ground. “I was wondering why there wasn’t any fire coming out of your mouth.
Although, it could be just allergies…”
