Without looking back, Toshi stepped forward into the shadow of a cedar sapling as the green dragon roared and the valley continued to swallow itself.
CHAPTER 15
Toshi emerged from a dark patch beneath an overhanging rock. He arrived at the edge of the glen near the moth, who was still securely tethered and happily slurping its food bricks. There was no sign of the orochi sentries who had stayed behind. Toshi didn’t wonder too deeply about their disappearance-it was enough for him that they were gone.
He circled the largest tree to where he had left the Taken One. The stone disk hadn’t moved, but something about the scene made Toshi uneasy. The image on the disk was static, and he didn’t feel the gathering pressure of an impending kami attack, but the air around the Taken One felt different. All of Toshi’s exposed skin tingled.
The ochimusha crouched beside the tree and peered at the clearing around the stone disk. All looked normal, except for three piles of what appeared to be white sand. Maybe salt, Toshi thought.
Fine white dust swirled off each pile as a soft wind blew through the clearing. Toshi stood to his full height and paced around the stone disk. Three piles, three orochi sentries. The mounds of white grit were positioned fairly evenly around the Taken One. If three able-bodied warriors were attempting to lift something of this size, they could easily have taken these positions.
“Hey,” Toshi said carefully to the disk. “They touched you, didn’t they?”
The fetal serpent remained motionless and the only sound was of wind playing in the dust.
“Look,” Toshi said. “I’ve got to move you, and I’ve got to do it quickly. With …” He paused, almost overwhelmed by the absurdity of what he was about to say. “… with your permission, I will carry you to the moth so he can carry us away.”
Toshi felt even more foolish when the disk didn’t respond in any meaningful way. Had he dreamed that, too?
He screwed up his courage and placed his hands on the Taken One. It felt just like ordinary stone. Pushing his questions aside, Toshi willed himself insubstantial and took the stone disk with him. Less than a minute later he had maneuvered it onto the moth’s back. The great insect sagged as the stone disk regained its mass, but it held the burden long enough for Toshi to lash it into the harness.
They wouldn’t have to go far. The orochi would have their plates full with invading soratami, so he only needed to leave the immediate area. Between the invaders, the myojin, and the guardian dragon, there were far more important things to do than hunt down a mysterious stranger.
Toshi figured he needed only a few more hours of rest before his ribs would be fully healed. He had slept more than enough the previous night. Right now he just wanted one medium-long period of not running for his life, if the spirits would allow such a thing. Then he’d be ready to look into the visions and voices he’d been experiencing.
The great moth beat its wings and carried Toshi into the midday sky. Jukai was indeed impressive, but there were far too many plants for his liking. Too much dirt and not enough taverns. His mind began to wander as the cedar canopy rolled by beneath him, and he wondered why he had come this far east in the first place. The chances of finding Mochi were slim, and luring O-Kagachi and Mochi to the same place was even more unlikely. The best he could hope for was to re-create the confusion at Minamo and hope that either O-Kagachi or the daimyo took their toll on the moonfolk raiders.
A surge of fatigue ran through him, and Toshi’s shoulders sagged. Everything had changed when the Taken One spoke. Toting the inert disk around was one thing, but if it were going to make demands and desiccate orochi all willy-nilly he’d have to make a new plan. He didn’t have what it took to deal with matters of this magnitude on a regular basis. The sooner he could consult someone with a better brain and a nobler heart than his, the better.
Suddenly morose and sullen, Toshi urged the moth lower and redoubled his efforts to find a suitable spot.
Once more, Toshi awoke on a barren field of gray stone.
“Muck and mire,” he spat. He shielded his eyes against the glare and the wind-driven grit. “Haven’t we been through this?” he called. His mind seemed sharper in this dream than it had last time. He didn’t recall landing the moth or falling asleep. Wasn’t it still the middle of the day?
Without preamble, a line of three burly figures appeared, marching toward Toshi through the haze. They were indistinct phantoms in the glare, but they were all significantly larger than Toshi. Perhaps he’d be pilloried now by bigger-than-life versions of the instructors, tutors, and constables he’d offended as a boy.
Annoyed, he folded his arms and waited. This must be some sort of side effect of the healing magic he used, or his proximity to the Taken One, or a combination of both. He was quite used to being accused of horrible crimes while awake, but it was beyond the pale to endure it while he slept.
Toshi’s pique withered as Kobo emerged from the glare. The huge bald youth was as scarred and gnarled as he’d been in life, his crooked nose almost smeared across his face.
“Oath-brother,” he said, “you left me to die. You let me take all the risk, stood back and let me do all the fighting. While I was being murdered, you didn’t even bother to wake up.”
“I didn’t-” Toshi stammered. “That … that isn’t the way it happened.”
Kobo bowed respectfully and strode past Toshi. Impulsively, the ochimusha reached out, but his hand passed through the ogre’s apprentice.
“Well, my friend,” said a familiar voice behind him. “Where to begin?”
Hidetsugu swelled to his full size as Toshi turned to face him. He towered over Toshi and smiled, his eyes empty, hissing holes.
“I’m sorry,” Toshi said, cutting the ogre off before his first word. “But you were always too big, too powerful, and too smart. You scared me. I knew that if I wasn’t one step ahead of you, you’d find some way to punish me.”
“And you were right.” The o-bakemono smiled. “In the end, you could never have beaten me. But you’re here, and I’m gone. How did that happen?” Without waiting for a reply, Hidetsugu snorted derisively and trod past Toshi. The stone plain shook beneath his heavy feet.
“I’m sorry,” Toshi called again, but the words felt slimy and bitter in his mouth. Was Toshi truly hearing his own voice? Was it him saying these words?
Sick and dizzy, Toshi stumbled and fell to his knees. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. He should not be feeling like this.
The final figure came into focus through the glare. It was Godo the bandit king once more. This time he was pale, drawn, and shivering, but his chestnut eyes still burned with fury.
Toshi’s throat hitched. “I’m sorry,” he said again. He felt like he was watching a terrible actor perform his innermost thoughts and getting most of the words wrong.
Godo nodded and leaned down to whisper in Toshi’s ear.
“It’s not too late,” he said. “You can undo what you did.”
The bandit king pulled back. Toshi’s eyelids fluttered and he swayed on his knees.
“What?” he managed. “Undo?”
“I’m not dead yet,” the figure of Godo said. “But I am very close to crossing over. You can help me. You can make it right. You don’t have to come back here, Toshi. You don’t have to listen to us forever.”
“How?” Toshi said. “What can I do?”
Godo dropped to his knees and seized Toshi by the shoulders. “Return to the mountains,” the bandit king said. “Capture what you have unleashed. Cage the beast and you will be one step farther away from this.” Godo raised his eyes and spread his hands. Then he stood, placed a palm on Toshi’s shoulder, and walked into oblivion.
A sharp, cold spasm creased through Toshi’s guts. He doubled over in pain. As he sat and waited for his muscles to unknot, two tears splattered on the gray stone.