Chapter 1
The Old Dirt Road
"Eboshi-sama!"
Koroku ran up to the building, waving the paper around in the air. He leapt up the stairs onto the porch and knocked on the door. "Eboshi-sama!"
Shortly, a dark-haired woman with pale skin dressed in a purple kimono came out. Her eyes were dark, but her features were not unkind. "Yes, Koroku? What is it?"
Koroku brandished the paper. There was writing on it. "This came in the mail from across the mountains. It's from the Kanosen group of entrepreneurs in Urusuke!"
Eboshi Gozen took the paper and read it. "Oh, my. How interesting."
"What is it, Eboshi-sama?"
"It's a formal request. They ask us to send a representative of Tatara Ba to one of their annual conferences so they can propose an agreement."
"What kind of agreement?"
"It merely says, 'an arrangement for the future of Tatara Ba.' Koroku, I think we'd better call a counsel. Go and tell everyone to meet in the hall at once."
"Yes, Eboshi-sama."
When the town had gathered, Eboshi stood up to speak. The room quieted, and she met thirty pairs of anxious eyes. "I have just received a letter from very far away. It has been sent by a collaboration of entrepreneurs who say they have a proposition that could change our future. They request that we send an emissary to hear them out. I want to know what you all think about this."
Immediately, the room came alight with spoken questions. "What kind of proposition?" "I think we should make them come to us." "What kind of entrepreneurs are they, anyway?" "What do they want with Tatara Ba?"
"Quiet!" Everyone obeyed. Koroku's wife, Toki, stood and faced them all. "We're getting nowhere. I suggest we let Eboshi-sama read the whole letter, and then we can discuss it."
Murmurs of agreement followed this, and Eboshi held up the paper and read, "To the distinguished leaders of Tatara Ba, I greet you with highest respect. My name is Kurayami Juu, and I have what I think you'll find as an interesting proposition. My colleagues and I, members of the Kanosen group of entrepreneurs here in Urusuke, have heard of the amazing amounts of iron you are able to produce each year, and we are most interested in bargaining with you. We believe we have an idea, an arrangement for the future of Tatara Ba. We humbly request that you send one or two of your numbers to Urusuke to our annual conference so that we may discuss it further. I cannot disclose any details at present, but I assure you, it will be well worth the trip. Very respectfully yours, Kurayami Juu and the Kanosen group."
There was some inarticulate murmuring going on now, none of the invigorated demands of earlier. Eboshi lowered the paper. "So, what do you all think we should do?" Her level gaze swept the crowd.
"Well," said Toki, "I can't tell if they're being sincere or not. This could be a trap of some kind. They didn't say who they want us to send, but I bet they want you, Eboshi-sama."
"Yeah," said Gonza gruffly, "it sounds a little fishy to me, too."
"Then perhaps we shouldn't send Eboshi-sama." Everyone turned to look as Ashitaka stood. "We need her here to keep things running. This season has always been hardest, with the cold coming on and the fires needing extra manning."
"Or womaning!" said Toki jokingly, and they all laughed, including Eboshi. But when the room quieted down, it was Gonza who spoke.
"If it is your wish, Eboshi-sama, I will go in your place to see what the foreigners want."
Eboshi turned to look at the man. "There is no one I would trust more to go in my place, Gonza, but I need you here. The men need your command as well as your strength. Ashitaka." As she turned back, she saw in the young man's eyes that he already knew what she would ask of him. "I know I have no right to ask this of you, but I can think of no one better suited to leave Tatara Ba at such a time. Will you go? That is, if you all will agree that he is worthy."
No one spoke for a while. Then Ashitaka stood. "I will."
Eboshi gave him a slight smile. "Thank you. We can only pray that we are not sending Tatara Ba's newest citizen into peril."
"Don't worry about me. Your only concern is keeping the fires burning when the winter rains come, and making sure everyone here is safe and sound." With that, he left to go and make preparations to depart.
The meeting dispersed, and everyone went back to thei r work stations. It had only been two years since the Shishi Gami had, in his last moments of fury, destroyed the forest looking for its head, and then restored it once he was dead. There were still only a few trees who had managed to become saplings in that span of time, but already it had begun to look like a forest again. Meanwhile, the people of Tatara Ba had dusted themselves off, picked up their tools, and started working on building a new town on the islet in the lake. They had managed to erect two permanent bunks, one for the men and the other for the women, a shanty meeting hall, and the building that contained the bellows and the storehouses for the iron. There were a few tumbledown temporary shelters for Eboshi-sama's leper friends and Eboshi herself, but they had already begun work on permanent housing for them, too. Slowly, season by season, it was starting to look like a town again. The wood from the trees that had fallen down during the Rage of the Giant (for so had that awful event come to be called) was still in abundance, and the supply showed no signs of dwindling. It was this that they used to build their town, making good that which was old to construct their new life. All in all, things were going well here in Tatara Ba.
However, Ashitaka had been right; the winter was still the hardest season of them all, and most of them had agreed that they should not send Gonza because of his importance among the men. Also, some said good-naturedly, they didn't think Gonza would last two days by himself in a large city such as Urusuke without anyone familiar to him. Yes, they said to themselves, Ashitaka was a wanderer by creed. He often took two- and three-day journeys into the forest, to see the wolf-girl, some said. Others said he was going to a conference of the gods, where they discussed the progress and future of the forest. Still others stated, "It's none of our concern where he goes. He always comes back, doesn't he?" Some just didn't know what to think. To them, the young man of few words and mysterious origins was still a stranger. However, they did notice that the young man was growing older; taller, sturdier, and, if it was possible, more skilled than ever with hand and foot at whatever he did. Yes, he was growing older, and many of the young girls in the town had their eyes on him. But he had no eyes for any other than San, whom no one had seen near Tatara Ba since the Rage of the Giant. That, if nothing else, had stayed the same.
As Ashitaka laced his pack onto Yakul's saddle, he thought of San. *Perhaps I should tell her where I will be going.* He cast his gaze out to the forest, but he must have lingered for longer than he meant to, for Yakul nudged his shoulder as if to remind him of what he was doing. Ashitaka smiled in fondness at his friend, and then he said, "All right, Yakul, it's time to be going."
Just then, Eboshi came up behind him. With her was Gonza. She was carrying two packs, one large, the other small. These she handed to him. "Take these with you. The larger one is rice and dried meat that the women took from our stores, and the other is something from Gousa. He said it might make your stay in the city a little easier."
Ashitaka took them both. "Thank the women and Gousa for me. I should be back within a fortnight. I will write every other day, when I can. Come on, Yakul." The red elk took off swiftly, crossing the land bridge and rushing headlong into the forest. Ashitaka did not look back.
They traveled that day until nearly sundown, coming to rest in a familiar place, the swamplike grove just a little ways off the river. The place was much changed; all of the great trees had been ripped up and knocked into the water, and there was green fuzz and mushrooms growing over everything. However, Ashitaka knew this to be the same place where he had first glimpsed the Forest Guardian, the Shishigami. After taking the packs off Yakul, the two of them refreshed themselves, ate, and waited. Ashitaka laid out his roll, intending to sleep, but very shortly he was awakened by the sense of someone next to him.
It was San.
"How long have you been there?" he asked her.
"Only a few minutes. You don't sleep very soundly."
He sat up. "Where are the two pups?"
"They're back at the den. They saw me coming, but I asked them not to follow me." She looked over at his bags, which were in a pile by a large tree. "Where are you going with so much luggage?"
"Tatara Ba received a letter from a group of entrepreneurs who said they had an idea they'd like to share with us. I'm the representative going to meet them at their quarters in Urusuke."
"Urusuke? I've heard of that place. Okotokushii and his boars had to go around it to get here. What do you think they want?"
"I'm going there to find out. All they said in their letter was that they had a proposition that could change Tatara Ba's future."
"But I thought you said you all were doing rather well."
"They are. Rebuilding goes smoothly, but production is not what it once was. They are concerned about the coming winter, as well."
"Hmm." San trailed her finger in the water, then dipped her cupped hand in and drank. "We got a visit from the new boar leader. He said he leads all that are left of the boar tribe that came from the south, but that can't be a very large number. I could tell he knew that the god-race is dying, and he was saddened, but determined to see it through. I like him, as much as I like any boar."
Ashitaka gave her a small smile. Just then, a flashing yellow light illuminated the sky to the south. It was brief, but impressive.
Both of them sprang to their feet, and Yakul looked up in alarm. "What was that?" asked San.
But Ashitaka had no answer. He had never seen anything like that before. It was not like lightning, and not like fireworks, either. It had flickered, like a huge flare of some far-off fire.
Without a word, San took off running in that direction, Ashitaka not far behind on Yakul. When the red elk caught up to her, San swung on, and the three of them galloped off into the forest.
They traveled southward for perhaps half an hour before Ashitaka called Yakul to a walk. Yakul picked his way forward through the rocks and plants, until they could see a small light coming from up ahead, just over a ridge which bordered a small, shallow valley. The two dismounted and advanced just a little.
This sight met them: a large ring filled with something luminescent and yellow, and within the ring two tall structures opposite each other. There were four men standing in the center of the circle. The men were all half-naked and covered in green, yellow, and red paint. They didn't speak to each other, but seemed to be communicating by strange gestures.
As San and Ashitaka watched, the strangers finished their session and simultaneously stepped backwards right to the inner edges of the ring. Then each man, in turn, stretched his hands skyward and spoke in a loud voice in some strange yet somehow familiar-sounding language.
"It's the language of the gods," San whispered, her voice tense. "The gods used to use it when they would speak to each other. It was the only language the Shishigami spoke. I only learned part of it from Mother." She then looked angry. "How dare they defile that language with their filthy human tongues?" She stood and marched out to the edge of the ridge. "What do you want here?" she shouted down at them.
All five of them immediately turned to look up at her. Their ring was perhaps fifty feet from where she stood. One of them turned full around to face her. "Who are you?" he asked, pointing accusingly up at her, as if she were the intruder.
"What are you doing here? What do you want?"
"We have come to claim what is ours. Now answer our question: who are you?"
"I should be asking you that, you arrogant, filthy human!"
"Watch your tongue, girl! You do not know to whom you speak!"
"Go away! You're not welcome here, whoever you are!"
"We will not leave until our mission is fulfilled!"
It was at this point that Ashitaka stood. "Please listen to me. My name is Ashitaka. Please, tell us what your mission is."
"We have come to recollect what should have been ours. Those giant gods which are said to rule these mountains were never meant to be here! Their power was intended for humans, and we will return it to them! We are the Seishagami, the living god-makers, and those who gain our favor will gain more through our graces. We will bring about the apocalypse of the gods and humans."
San had had about enough. She burst out laughing, but her laughter was short, mocking. "You think that just coming in here with some fancy lights and symbols will make the gods part with their powers? You stupid weakling humans know less than I thought you did!"
At this, the man bared his teeth and barked, "Foolish girl! You know not to whom you speak! We of the Seishagami have greater powers than your gods have ever dreamed!" As if to prove this, he raised his hand and uttered a lengthy incantation in the same language. As a result, a thin, bluish light gathered at his palm and traveled outward like fire on a rope that had been doused in oil towards San.
The girl was so shocked that all she could do was stand there. However, something heavy collided with her, knocking her sideways. The bluish light passed over them, then slowly dissipated.
San found that it was Ashitaka who had knocked her over. "Come, San," he whispered fervently. "We cannot stay."
San, in her astonishment, did not argue. The two of them stole back over the ridge, mounted, and rode away.
The ride was silent. When they reached the campsite, they dismounted. San went to the rivulet's banks to stare into its depths, and Ashitaka tended to Yakul, who was rather sweaty.
Suddenly, San cried, "Where did he get such powers? I've never seen anything like it. And where are they from? Their accent is strange, and their noses are flat and their foreheads large and round."
"I do not know." Ashitaka looked over at her. Her figure was outlined by the weak, silver crescent moon. He could not remember when she had stood so still before. It seemed that she was always moving, always changing, and he could never change fast enough to match her.
Suddenly, her stance changed, and she turned around to face him. There was a steel glint in her eyes. "I must warn the pups. The boars must be informed as well."
Ashitaka nodded. "I understand."
Wordlessly, she strode off into the shrubs. Ashitaka watched her go with a trained expression on his face. He watched until she was hidden by the taller saplings. Then, without further delay, he settled once more into his sleeping roll and went to sleep.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's a rather short first chapter, but SO? I can do that… and it assures that you don't get too much into it and then accuse me of doing a cliffhanger… *ahemahem* Now go review!
The Old Dirt Road
"Eboshi-sama!"
Koroku ran up to the building, waving the paper around in the air. He leapt up the stairs onto the porch and knocked on the door. "Eboshi-sama!"
Shortly, a dark-haired woman with pale skin dressed in a purple kimono came out. Her eyes were dark, but her features were not unkind. "Yes, Koroku? What is it?"
Koroku brandished the paper. There was writing on it. "This came in the mail from across the mountains. It's from the Kanosen group of entrepreneurs in Urusuke!"
Eboshi Gozen took the paper and read it. "Oh, my. How interesting."
"What is it, Eboshi-sama?"
"It's a formal request. They ask us to send a representative of Tatara Ba to one of their annual conferences so they can propose an agreement."
"What kind of agreement?"
"It merely says, 'an arrangement for the future of Tatara Ba.' Koroku, I think we'd better call a counsel. Go and tell everyone to meet in the hall at once."
"Yes, Eboshi-sama."
When the town had gathered, Eboshi stood up to speak. The room quieted, and she met thirty pairs of anxious eyes. "I have just received a letter from very far away. It has been sent by a collaboration of entrepreneurs who say they have a proposition that could change our future. They request that we send an emissary to hear them out. I want to know what you all think about this."
Immediately, the room came alight with spoken questions. "What kind of proposition?" "I think we should make them come to us." "What kind of entrepreneurs are they, anyway?" "What do they want with Tatara Ba?"
"Quiet!" Everyone obeyed. Koroku's wife, Toki, stood and faced them all. "We're getting nowhere. I suggest we let Eboshi-sama read the whole letter, and then we can discuss it."
Murmurs of agreement followed this, and Eboshi held up the paper and read, "To the distinguished leaders of Tatara Ba, I greet you with highest respect. My name is Kurayami Juu, and I have what I think you'll find as an interesting proposition. My colleagues and I, members of the Kanosen group of entrepreneurs here in Urusuke, have heard of the amazing amounts of iron you are able to produce each year, and we are most interested in bargaining with you. We believe we have an idea, an arrangement for the future of Tatara Ba. We humbly request that you send one or two of your numbers to Urusuke to our annual conference so that we may discuss it further. I cannot disclose any details at present, but I assure you, it will be well worth the trip. Very respectfully yours, Kurayami Juu and the Kanosen group."
There was some inarticulate murmuring going on now, none of the invigorated demands of earlier. Eboshi lowered the paper. "So, what do you all think we should do?" Her level gaze swept the crowd.
"Well," said Toki, "I can't tell if they're being sincere or not. This could be a trap of some kind. They didn't say who they want us to send, but I bet they want you, Eboshi-sama."
"Yeah," said Gonza gruffly, "it sounds a little fishy to me, too."
"Then perhaps we shouldn't send Eboshi-sama." Everyone turned to look as Ashitaka stood. "We need her here to keep things running. This season has always been hardest, with the cold coming on and the fires needing extra manning."
"Or womaning!" said Toki jokingly, and they all laughed, including Eboshi. But when the room quieted down, it was Gonza who spoke.
"If it is your wish, Eboshi-sama, I will go in your place to see what the foreigners want."
Eboshi turned to look at the man. "There is no one I would trust more to go in my place, Gonza, but I need you here. The men need your command as well as your strength. Ashitaka." As she turned back, she saw in the young man's eyes that he already knew what she would ask of him. "I know I have no right to ask this of you, but I can think of no one better suited to leave Tatara Ba at such a time. Will you go? That is, if you all will agree that he is worthy."
No one spoke for a while. Then Ashitaka stood. "I will."
Eboshi gave him a slight smile. "Thank you. We can only pray that we are not sending Tatara Ba's newest citizen into peril."
"Don't worry about me. Your only concern is keeping the fires burning when the winter rains come, and making sure everyone here is safe and sound." With that, he left to go and make preparations to depart.
The meeting dispersed, and everyone went back to thei r work stations. It had only been two years since the Shishi Gami had, in his last moments of fury, destroyed the forest looking for its head, and then restored it once he was dead. There were still only a few trees who had managed to become saplings in that span of time, but already it had begun to look like a forest again. Meanwhile, the people of Tatara Ba had dusted themselves off, picked up their tools, and started working on building a new town on the islet in the lake. They had managed to erect two permanent bunks, one for the men and the other for the women, a shanty meeting hall, and the building that contained the bellows and the storehouses for the iron. There were a few tumbledown temporary shelters for Eboshi-sama's leper friends and Eboshi herself, but they had already begun work on permanent housing for them, too. Slowly, season by season, it was starting to look like a town again. The wood from the trees that had fallen down during the Rage of the Giant (for so had that awful event come to be called) was still in abundance, and the supply showed no signs of dwindling. It was this that they used to build their town, making good that which was old to construct their new life. All in all, things were going well here in Tatara Ba.
However, Ashitaka had been right; the winter was still the hardest season of them all, and most of them had agreed that they should not send Gonza because of his importance among the men. Also, some said good-naturedly, they didn't think Gonza would last two days by himself in a large city such as Urusuke without anyone familiar to him. Yes, they said to themselves, Ashitaka was a wanderer by creed. He often took two- and three-day journeys into the forest, to see the wolf-girl, some said. Others said he was going to a conference of the gods, where they discussed the progress and future of the forest. Still others stated, "It's none of our concern where he goes. He always comes back, doesn't he?" Some just didn't know what to think. To them, the young man of few words and mysterious origins was still a stranger. However, they did notice that the young man was growing older; taller, sturdier, and, if it was possible, more skilled than ever with hand and foot at whatever he did. Yes, he was growing older, and many of the young girls in the town had their eyes on him. But he had no eyes for any other than San, whom no one had seen near Tatara Ba since the Rage of the Giant. That, if nothing else, had stayed the same.
As Ashitaka laced his pack onto Yakul's saddle, he thought of San. *Perhaps I should tell her where I will be going.* He cast his gaze out to the forest, but he must have lingered for longer than he meant to, for Yakul nudged his shoulder as if to remind him of what he was doing. Ashitaka smiled in fondness at his friend, and then he said, "All right, Yakul, it's time to be going."
Just then, Eboshi came up behind him. With her was Gonza. She was carrying two packs, one large, the other small. These she handed to him. "Take these with you. The larger one is rice and dried meat that the women took from our stores, and the other is something from Gousa. He said it might make your stay in the city a little easier."
Ashitaka took them both. "Thank the women and Gousa for me. I should be back within a fortnight. I will write every other day, when I can. Come on, Yakul." The red elk took off swiftly, crossing the land bridge and rushing headlong into the forest. Ashitaka did not look back.
They traveled that day until nearly sundown, coming to rest in a familiar place, the swamplike grove just a little ways off the river. The place was much changed; all of the great trees had been ripped up and knocked into the water, and there was green fuzz and mushrooms growing over everything. However, Ashitaka knew this to be the same place where he had first glimpsed the Forest Guardian, the Shishigami. After taking the packs off Yakul, the two of them refreshed themselves, ate, and waited. Ashitaka laid out his roll, intending to sleep, but very shortly he was awakened by the sense of someone next to him.
It was San.
"How long have you been there?" he asked her.
"Only a few minutes. You don't sleep very soundly."
He sat up. "Where are the two pups?"
"They're back at the den. They saw me coming, but I asked them not to follow me." She looked over at his bags, which were in a pile by a large tree. "Where are you going with so much luggage?"
"Tatara Ba received a letter from a group of entrepreneurs who said they had an idea they'd like to share with us. I'm the representative going to meet them at their quarters in Urusuke."
"Urusuke? I've heard of that place. Okotokushii and his boars had to go around it to get here. What do you think they want?"
"I'm going there to find out. All they said in their letter was that they had a proposition that could change Tatara Ba's future."
"But I thought you said you all were doing rather well."
"They are. Rebuilding goes smoothly, but production is not what it once was. They are concerned about the coming winter, as well."
"Hmm." San trailed her finger in the water, then dipped her cupped hand in and drank. "We got a visit from the new boar leader. He said he leads all that are left of the boar tribe that came from the south, but that can't be a very large number. I could tell he knew that the god-race is dying, and he was saddened, but determined to see it through. I like him, as much as I like any boar."
Ashitaka gave her a small smile. Just then, a flashing yellow light illuminated the sky to the south. It was brief, but impressive.
Both of them sprang to their feet, and Yakul looked up in alarm. "What was that?" asked San.
But Ashitaka had no answer. He had never seen anything like that before. It was not like lightning, and not like fireworks, either. It had flickered, like a huge flare of some far-off fire.
Without a word, San took off running in that direction, Ashitaka not far behind on Yakul. When the red elk caught up to her, San swung on, and the three of them galloped off into the forest.
They traveled southward for perhaps half an hour before Ashitaka called Yakul to a walk. Yakul picked his way forward through the rocks and plants, until they could see a small light coming from up ahead, just over a ridge which bordered a small, shallow valley. The two dismounted and advanced just a little.
This sight met them: a large ring filled with something luminescent and yellow, and within the ring two tall structures opposite each other. There were four men standing in the center of the circle. The men were all half-naked and covered in green, yellow, and red paint. They didn't speak to each other, but seemed to be communicating by strange gestures.
As San and Ashitaka watched, the strangers finished their session and simultaneously stepped backwards right to the inner edges of the ring. Then each man, in turn, stretched his hands skyward and spoke in a loud voice in some strange yet somehow familiar-sounding language.
"It's the language of the gods," San whispered, her voice tense. "The gods used to use it when they would speak to each other. It was the only language the Shishigami spoke. I only learned part of it from Mother." She then looked angry. "How dare they defile that language with their filthy human tongues?" She stood and marched out to the edge of the ridge. "What do you want here?" she shouted down at them.
All five of them immediately turned to look up at her. Their ring was perhaps fifty feet from where she stood. One of them turned full around to face her. "Who are you?" he asked, pointing accusingly up at her, as if she were the intruder.
"What are you doing here? What do you want?"
"We have come to claim what is ours. Now answer our question: who are you?"
"I should be asking you that, you arrogant, filthy human!"
"Watch your tongue, girl! You do not know to whom you speak!"
"Go away! You're not welcome here, whoever you are!"
"We will not leave until our mission is fulfilled!"
It was at this point that Ashitaka stood. "Please listen to me. My name is Ashitaka. Please, tell us what your mission is."
"We have come to recollect what should have been ours. Those giant gods which are said to rule these mountains were never meant to be here! Their power was intended for humans, and we will return it to them! We are the Seishagami, the living god-makers, and those who gain our favor will gain more through our graces. We will bring about the apocalypse of the gods and humans."
San had had about enough. She burst out laughing, but her laughter was short, mocking. "You think that just coming in here with some fancy lights and symbols will make the gods part with their powers? You stupid weakling humans know less than I thought you did!"
At this, the man bared his teeth and barked, "Foolish girl! You know not to whom you speak! We of the Seishagami have greater powers than your gods have ever dreamed!" As if to prove this, he raised his hand and uttered a lengthy incantation in the same language. As a result, a thin, bluish light gathered at his palm and traveled outward like fire on a rope that had been doused in oil towards San.
The girl was so shocked that all she could do was stand there. However, something heavy collided with her, knocking her sideways. The bluish light passed over them, then slowly dissipated.
San found that it was Ashitaka who had knocked her over. "Come, San," he whispered fervently. "We cannot stay."
San, in her astonishment, did not argue. The two of them stole back over the ridge, mounted, and rode away.
The ride was silent. When they reached the campsite, they dismounted. San went to the rivulet's banks to stare into its depths, and Ashitaka tended to Yakul, who was rather sweaty.
Suddenly, San cried, "Where did he get such powers? I've never seen anything like it. And where are they from? Their accent is strange, and their noses are flat and their foreheads large and round."
"I do not know." Ashitaka looked over at her. Her figure was outlined by the weak, silver crescent moon. He could not remember when she had stood so still before. It seemed that she was always moving, always changing, and he could never change fast enough to match her.
Suddenly, her stance changed, and she turned around to face him. There was a steel glint in her eyes. "I must warn the pups. The boars must be informed as well."
Ashitaka nodded. "I understand."
Wordlessly, she strode off into the shrubs. Ashitaka watched her go with a trained expression on his face. He watched until she was hidden by the taller saplings. Then, without further delay, he settled once more into his sleeping roll and went to sleep.
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's a rather short first chapter, but SO? I can do that… and it assures that you don't get too much into it and then accuse me of doing a cliffhanger… *ahemahem* Now go review!