In this fic, the character of Hira (pronounced HEE-raw) is, in Japanese ヒーラー , meaning, as far as I know, healer. This fic is also a big experiment for me... and it is a work in progress, I do not know how this is going to go over, so we will see what happens with it.
The Healer
( ヒーラー )
1.
When he realized what he saw, Kotaro slowed the horse. In amongst the dried and dead weeds growing alongside the track, was the ribcage of a long dead animal. A stiff breeze whistled through the grasses and smaller trees. Beyond them, further into the meadow, Kotaro could make out the aged and charred remains of several buildings. According to the local villagers, this region had seen many battles. Kotaro gazed on what was left. He sighed and looked towards the foothills.
With the sun sinking below the horizon, the boy looked with trepidation at the long, narrowing, path ahead of them. The villagers had sent them up into these mountains in a dubious search for a healer. He tried to ignore the sense of evil and foreboding that continually sent a shiver down his spine.
Meanwhile, the horse plodded on.
Tobimaru, in all the happy abandon of a dog left to his own devices, trotted after them, pausing frequently to sniff and investigate. Occasionally he'd plunge into the undergrowth before emerging, tongue lolling, and racing to catch back up.
Behind him, Nanashi uttered a soft groan. His left arm still hung limp and nearly useless. His other arm, in its sling, gripped the back of the saddle to his stomach in an effort to stay on the horse. After the battle at Shishinae they'd ridden through the night and most of the day.
Nanashi had insisted.
He wanted as much distance between himself and that place as he could get. He only allowed what little time they could to let the horse rest. It had been hell getting him back onto the horse the second time. Though most of his bleeding had stopped, both knew he was badly injured. With the boy's help, they had field dressed the worst of his wounds then took off. Nanashi knew though, if he were to survive, he needed help which Kotaro could not give.
They had came across a small village and began inquiring for an apothecary, or a healer, anyone who could work with an injured man. At first, the villagers turned away, seeing they were utter strangers. Most especially upon seeing the dark red, Chinese robe around Nanashi's shoulders. They wanted nothing to do with the wars that seemed to be overtaking their country and their lives. Especially with the pernicious Ming 'visitors'. All remained mostly silent and suspicious. Their indifference lit a fire of indignation in the boy.
Kotaro tried to argue with them, desperate to get Nanashi some help. Finally he bartered, trading the robe itself for information. Nanashi managed a rueful, pain-filled, chuckle at the boy's tenacity. Especially when it yielded to what they sought.
Amused at the boy's insistence and ire, some of the villagers began to grudgingly give them cryptic information. Sure they knew of a healer. A very costly one. Hiding far up in the hills leading into the mountains. A healer with a fearful reputation, reputed to be a horrible recluse, only treating those who made the effort to make the trek up to their home. That and having to get past the local bloodthirsty demon blocking the way...
Departing the village, several of the dwellers cackled in delight, gruesomely telling them of the many, many spirits that claimed the mountain. It was their region to haunt, they gleefully needled. Giving the pair spine tingling tales of supernatural activities. Best have something to barter with if you wanted to see the healer, they had warned. Nanashi told the boy to just ignore them, but Kotaro boastfully argued back that he had exactly what he needed to pay someone. In all the chaos that had occurred at Shishinae, he had retrieved the two halves of broken jade that had saved Nanashi's life.
Making their way further and further into the foot hills, Kotaro knew that -despite their efforts to tend to Nanashi's wounds- the man was getting sick. Sweat had broken out on his temples, seeping into his hair on either side of his head. It being a sure sign that fever had set in. The boy had voiced his fears that maybe the yellow haired barbarian's sword had been poisoned. Nanashi gently refuted him, pointing out that a warrior didn't do that to their blade. Besides, the worst of the wounds had been inflicted on him with his own sword.
Nanashi's resistance, however, continued to dwindle. He'd literally ran the entire distance from the Manguko temple of Shirato to the fortress. Several hours of hard travelling, trying to catch up with the Ming who had taken Kotaro. All of this in a blizzard. What greeted him at Shishinae was all out war.
Lord Akaike's forces, usurped after his death by Shogun Itadori, had already laid fiery siege to the fort. Because of their efforts, the moment Nanashi had entered the grounds, he'd had a pair of towers literally collapse on top of him. What followed was a hell-bent climb up to the top of the Chinese altar trying to reach Kotaro. Not without due opposition as he went, either. All of this occurred before that last battle with the foreign barbarian known as Luo-Lang. The hardship that Nanashi had put himself through was catching up, faster than he liked.
He shifted uncomfortably. The stiffness, aches, pains and long hours of riding were not getting any better despite his reassurances to the boy. With the onset of fever, Nanashi was hard pressed to keep himself awake and aware of his surroundings. The last thing they needed was for him to become delirious and fall off the horse.
For his part, Kotaro tried hard not to dwell on what the villagers had told them. Let the woods be full of vengeful spirits, filled with terror, seeking to waylay travellers up into those mountains. They'd spoken of an evil demon, huge and hissing threats, that sought to drive people over mountain ledges with its fearful wings. Kotaro angrily ignored them. Determined to find this person. He wanted only to get Nanashi to the healer. The man had grown quieter the further they rode and Kotaro knew it was a fight for him to stay upright on the horse. The boy grit his teeth, why did a healer live so far away from people?
His resolve began to sink as they continued riding further into the hills. A warm spell had melted the previous day's snowfall. It left only patches of lingering snow in cold pockets on the ground. Most of the trees had long dropped their leaves and stood in stark contrast to the rapidly darkening sky. They would get snow again, the boy thought as they entered the trees. Tobimaru trotted along behind them, occasionally pausing to sniff things out. A depressive veil began to settle over the area adding to Kotaro's anxiety.
Where was this healer?
It didn't take long before Kotaro's bravery frayed around the edges. With the setting sun, the trees grew darker, thicker. Nocturnal creatures began to brave the night, causing both horse and boy to get a bit jittery. Only the dog could care less. Looking about nervously, Kotaro wondered what strange, wicked, things really did lurk in the dense shrubbery. Weird and eerie shapes seemed to appear out of no where and vanish. How true were all those tall tales from the villagers? A sudden rustling in the woods to his right caused him to gasp in fright. The horse responded also, tossing his head.
Tobimaru, with a huff of delight, burst out of the greenery before them. Kotaro jumped in fright with a yelp. Then he relaxed, with a self-conscience laugh. "Tobimaru! You frightened me."
He looked around, urging the horse to continue up the winding path. Trees, mostly dark, evergreen, conifers, surrounded them now. Evening twilight had mostly vanished, leaving only an intense carmine-red line of light on the horizon. A dark oppressive gloom seeped into the boy's bones. Fearful, he tried to look back at Nanashi. He still clung to the saddle like his life depended on it. Kotaro felt heat coming from Nanashi's face where his head rested against the boy's back and shoulder. He'd stopped talking some time back, only an occasional groan escaping him.
To his right, Kotaro spotted strangely shaped items looming in a darkened vale. He realized he was riding past a cemetery.
Gasping in fright, Kotaro stopped the horse as he stared at moss covered stone slabs, some barely revealing intricate inscriptions in the rapidly darkening night. Many were upright, others leaning, some fallen over. At the entry into the place stood tall, flat wooden sticks covered with inscriptions. Superstition crept over the boy as he stared. Tobimaru, who had fallen back to trotting behind them, now surpassed them and paused a little ahead of the horse. He sniffed the air, sensing something as Kotaro felt Nanashi leaning harder into him.
"Nanashi?" he asked, and he scowled at the fear in his voice. The man didn't reply.
"Hey!" Kotaro snapped, "Wake up. Answer me!" Eyes open wide with fear he reacted by getting angry. Even more so, by getting angry at the man behind him. "Don't you dare be falling asleep on me! You'd better not be trying to trick me into doing something!" Kotaro felt the horse shift suddenly, his head lowering, ears straight forward. At the same moment, Tobimaru began to growl, the hair rising at the back of his neck.
"Tobimaru!" the boy exclaimed. "What is it?!"
Ahead of them, somewhere in the darkness, a strange, sibilant, hissing filled the air. Something large loomed to the left of the pathway before them. The horse began nervously shifting, snorting uneasily, the whites of its eyes visible in the waning light.
Tobimaru barked at whatever had stalked its way onto the path. Roughly the same size as the dog, it had a small head, on a long, snake-like, neck that drooped low to the ground. It hissed with vicious intent as it hunched its shoulders forward, advancing in a menacing, waddling, gait. Two enormous wings began to lift above the creature's body, making it look even bigger. The hissing noise increased as it moved faster, spreading its wingspan out nearly six feet.
The dog prepared to lunge, for all intents and purposes aiming to rip the beast's throat out. That was until the creature went airbourne. It's wings making a back-draft strong enough to ruffle their hair. The horse threw its head up, trying to back down the way they had come.
The boy let out a yelp of terror as the apparition rapidly approached them, the thrumming down beat of its wings driving Tobimaru back. At one point, a wing must have connected with the dog. Tobimaru let out a startled yipe and was rolled off his feet. However, he was back up in a flash, barking and growling, preparing to attack the creature as it landed and stalked towards him. The hissing seemed even angrier as it bore down on the dog.
Frozen with terror, Kotaro felt Nanashi shift, driving the heel of his foot into the horse's flank, urging the big animal forward.
The horse nearly unseated them both as he tossed his head again in fear. The creature before them rose up to beat the air with its wings. Again, Tobimaru prepared to attack but the horse reluctantly plunged ahead, scattering the animal combatants apart. A loud protesting squawk of indignation erupted from the strange creature.
"Whoa!" Kotaro protested, grabbing frantically for the reins, trying to stay on as the horse bolted up the trail. Abruptly, the trees began to thin out, the way opening up. Kotaro fought to bring the horse to a stop. His attention captured by the din of noise behind him.
A terrific, and very loud, cacophony had erupted. Tobimaru's barking being nearly drowned out by the angry hissing and frenzied honking of a very large bird. Kotaro began to realize they had encountered a sizeable and angry goose. Trying to look behind him, Nanashi partially blocked his view. Tobimaru and the goose were exchanging hisses, snaps and several efforts to outmanoeuvre one another. He paid no attention to the horse who was trying to crab sideways up the path, still tossing its head. The boy felt Nanashi shift again, trying to lift his nearly useless left arm to grab the rein.
The effort however, proved to be too much. The animals continued raising an almighty racket, enough to wake the dead. Kotaro felt Nanashi reach past his leg, grabbing the rein and trying to pull the horse's head around, stopping him in the path, facing downhill. At the same time, the man began shifting again, only this time he was beginning to fall off the horse.
"What are you doing!?" Kotaro demanded, as Nanashi's hand lost its grip. He tried to hug the cantle tighter to his chest, his breathing getting harsher and faster.
"The gate..." Nanashi managed to pant. "What's on... the gate?"
Kotaro looked around surprised, before he caught sight of a low wooden gate on the up-slope side of the pathway. Where had that come from? How had Nanashi even seen it? In the gloom and darkness, Kotaro -at first- saw nothing until he finally saw something carved on the side post, barely visible in the rapidly waning light. Stone steps curved away from the gate.
A stick like figure of a man in a three sided box. Kotaro felt Nanashi tremble as he clung to the saddle. He leaned precariously to the left.
"Is it... a healer...?" Nanashi gasped. "The sign... is it... a healer?"
"Yes! Have we found him?" Kotaro exclaimed.
"You..." Nanashi panted, "You need... to go... get them..."
Kotaro barely heard him above the grating sounds of the dog and the goose that was ferociously defending the pathway. "Me?!" Kotaro looked in alarm at the escalating animal combatants.
"I..." Nanashi gasped, "I can't... stay up."
"You can't fall off!" The boy exclaimed, trying to twist around to face the man. "Don't you dare fall off!"
Nanashi's face was ghastly pale, his unkempt hair falling over into his eyes which were squeezed shut. Before he realized it the boy was off the horse, desperately trying to keep him up on the horse's back.
"Hang on to the saddle!" Kotaro began to plead. "Just hang on!"
The dog and goose continued their painfully discordant arguing.
Nanashi clung desperately to his precarious perch as Kotaro begged him not to fall off. The boy was pulling the horse's head around, trying to hold him up and hang on to the reins at the same time.
Nanashi felt parts of himself going numb. The oncoming crisis, with a wave of nausea and dizziness, swept over him. He couldn't stay upright any longer. Kotaro let out a frightened, angry yell, trying to snap him out of it as he slid over sideways.
"Gacho!" A voice suddenly called out, "Gacho, enough!" Instantly the rather irate goose defending its turf, rose up tall and straight, lowering its wings. It began a persistent angry honking. Tobimaru backed off, barking at the newcomer, and still growling at the bird.
For Nanashi it felt like a surreal, waking, nightmare as he felt himself falling. Then he heard a distinctly female voice exclaim in alarm. He suddenly felt a small, strong hand on his weakened arm managing to keep him upright a little longer. A cool hand slipped across his forehead, followed by another gasp of surprise.
"Boy," she called out sharply, "Keep the horse still while I get him down!" She focused her attention on Nanashi. "Hold on just a moment more!" The woman's voice urged him as she braced herself.
Between the two of them, he managed to ungracefully slide off the horse's back as she drug his left arm over her shoulder. She staggered under his weight when he nearly fell onto his knees. He was cramped and bent, from riding for so long. He let out a sharp exclamation of pain as gravity took back over.
Kotaro, as was his way when he was scared, immediately began to argue. "What are you doing? Can't you see he's hurt! Are you trying to kill him? What do you want?!"
"Hush boy! Keep that animal still!" The woman grunted with effort, getting her feet set to help keep Nanashi up.
"You're just trying to rob us!" The boy exploded, letting go of the horse's head. "My dog can attack you!" He called Tobimaru to him who was still trying to get the last word in with the goose.
The bird staunchly blocked the path leading back towards the cemetery. It held its head up high and defiant displaying a large knob on its forehead. The horse was having none of it, and immediately pulled away. The woman let out a sharp exclamation as Nanashi started to fall from the loss of support from the horse.
"Get that horses' head, boy!" She snapped angrily at Kotaro, "He's going to fall if you don't!"
She almost collapsed trying to support him. With his arm across her shoulder, she stumbled, reaching around his waist to grab at his clothes. His knees buckled and an agonized groan of pain escaped. She looked at him, alarmed. She hadn't touched his obviously wounded side. Bracing herself she pushed him upright, trying to lean him against the horse. His eyes were clenched shut. He winced through panted breaths as he tried to wrap his right arm around his ribs. Together they struggled to keep him on his feet. Flattening her hand against the back of his rib cage, she pressed inwards.
Another pain-filled, gut-wrenching, groan escaped him while the woman exclaimed in dismay.
"Stop it!" the boy shouted, "You're hurting him!" Tobimaru's frenzied barking increased as he prepared to launch himself back down the path towards the cantankerous goose.
"I'm trying to help him, you wretched boy!" She snapped. "He's got broken ribs!"
"He's got what?!" The boy exclaimed.
"Not to mention the other wounds..." She growled, struggling to keep Nanashi up. She clenched a fist full of his robes, feeling him get his feet under him. His fingers dug hard into her shoulder. His head hung. She felt him trying to summon his strength.
"You're trying to kill him to steal our money and our horse!" The boy raged. "I should let Tobimaru rip your throat out! We're trying to get to the healer!"
Ignoring the boy's verbal barrage, the woman focused her attention on the man. "Ronin..." she urged, not knowing what else to call him. "I need you to walk, I can't carry you!"
He managed to nod, "Be..." he gasped through his pain and gritted teeth, "Be easy... on the boy... please..."
"If he'd help, I wouldn't be so hard on him! We've got an uphill walk to the house, then steps. Stay awake!"
He could only nod as she slowly turned him.
"Wait a minute!" Kotaro snapped. "You can't just take him away! I'm his boss! Who are you anyway? Where are you going?" Desperately the boy snatched what few wrapped up belongings they had off the horse's back and followed.
The strange woman urged and coaxed Nanashi to keep walking, making their way past the short gate and onto the stone pathway.
"His boss, huh?" She panted from her own exertions, planting a hand on Nanashi's heaving chest.
"That's right and I want to know who you are and what you're planning on doing!"
"Enough chatter, boy! Shut that gate or I'll let Gacho deal with you."
Kotaro gasped and looked back at the agitatedly honking goose still holding court on the trail. Tobimaru looked from goose to boy. He sneezed, contemptuously, and turned to gallop after them.
That walk seemed to last an eternity for Nanashi. He was more injured and sicker than he thought. Then again, he had been in a desperate and intense sword fight, fallen through several different sets of scaffolding and managed to get himself on a horse. Didn't a tower fall on him too? Then they had ridden far, getting little rest. The woman continued encouraging him to keep moving.
To his amazement, Kotaro could make out a warm, orangey, light past the stand of trees they were making their way through. His jaw dropped when they emerged out into the open.
Before him was a small, very sturdy house, built in classic fashion with its main floor lifted well off the ground. An engawa, a short, raised wooden porch, surrounded the home. Solid wood panels, amado storm shutters, had been slid into place to protect the house. The back of the building appeared to be flat up against the face of the mountain. A steeply peaked thatch roof, with its eaves, poked out well past the wrap around en. What he couldn't see was a shorter building on the third side of the house away from them; a small barn for the owners livestock.
"W... what is this place?!" Kotaro demanded. "And where is the healer?! Why doesn't he come out?!"
"He?!" The woman shot back over her shoulder, "Who said the healer was a man?"