Disclaimer: I don't own TB, FB, PSOH, or anything else you recognize.
Chapter 13—Friday Afternoon
He hadn't told them why he was summoning them. This fact preyed upon Khoru's mind more and more often as he and Sheleru walked from Karori High School to Dze-I. It was hardly unusual for Seki not to tell them why he wanted to talk, so Khoru didn't have any particular reason to be nervous this time.
"Do you think Seki might let us—"
"Be quiet, Sheleru." Her mouth froze in mid-sentence, and she concentrated on the sidewalk instead. She'd known Khoru long enough to tell when he was in a strange mood. There were many moments from their childhood when they'd be playing happily one minute, and then Khoru would suddenly lose interest and become angry or sad. These abrupt emotional changes only began after Seki introduced himself to Sheleru and Khoru when they were ten.
Sheleru remained silent for the rest of the walk, and snuck glances at Khoru's drawn face every so often. Lately, she found herself wondering why she defended Seki as much as she'd done. Seki had always smiled at her, talked with her, and indulged her, but she never interacted with him as much as her fellow Dzuni. Sheleru wasn't the brightest person in the Shoma family, and she knew it, but even she could not help noticing the animosity some of the Dzuni nursed towards Seki. It gave her the sense that there were other sides to Seki that he hid from her. Khoru served as the liaison between Seki and the outside world many more times than she. For the first time, as they drew closer to the tea shop, Sheleru wondered if Khoru had been trying to protect her from Seki all these years.
Gins, vodkas, and wines from southern Hoth crowded the usual teas and juices out of the shop's display window. This week, Seki was featuring the famed alcoholic products from Ashomi Waste towns. "Ashomi Liquor Week" was one of the shop's busiest times of the year. Ironically, Dzaran Shuro, a well-known singer, helped make Ashomi Liquor Week famous by recommending Seki's shop on television. The tea shop was one of the few places where she could find high-quality vintages from Lhose, her old hometown. Shuro always ordered several cases from Seki during that week.
Sheleru and Khoru reached the shop just after Seki hung the "Closed" sign on the door. "Come in," he said, smiling wanly. Recently he'd been pale every day, and if one listened carefully, his breathing sometimes got labored.
"Will you let us try an Ashomi drink? Please?"cajoled Sheleru.
"Not today, my little one," replied Seki. "We must have our senses about us, and those drinks are formidable." The unusual gravity of his pronouncement surprised Sheleru. Normally Seki would never object to one of her playful requests. They followed Seki through the secret hallways, his apartments, and into a dark chamber that neither could recall ever having been inside before.
They heard grunting and scuffling from the blackness. Seki snapped his fingers, and a torch flared into life above their heads. Khoru closed his eyes and groaned when he saw the person muffled and tied to the chair in front of them. Ghumani Musa, his classmate and one of the nastiest students at Karori.
"Khoru, what's she doing here?" whispered Sheleru.
"Oh, gods. Oh, gods," muttered Khoru, his heart thudding against his chest.
Seki turned an antique key in the door's lock. "This is a sealed chamber," he announced so that Musa could hear. "No one will interrupt or overhear us." Sheleru's hand gripped her shoulder bag tightly. Seki motioned to his two charges to remain where they were, and took his place behind Musa. She froze as Seki placed his hands on her shoulder. "I would greatly appreciate it if you would settle down, please." Sheleru edged slightly behind Khoru without thinking. They seemed to have been dropped into a nightmare; the torchlight illuminated only Seki and the terrified Musa, and everything else was so black that it hurt the eyes to look at.
"I have had word," began Seki, "that you two have been talking to the Shomas about the Dzunis here."
"No!" Khoru sputtered. "All I said was that—"
"I know perfectly well what you said," continued Seki, his firm voice overriding Khoru's. "And I am not upset about what you said specifically, my little centaur. You gave them very little information, after all. However, I did tell you not to say anything without my permission, correct?" Khoru hesitated. "Correct?"
"Yes. Does Sheleru need to be here?"
"It appears to me that you and Sheleru could use reminders about why talking too freely is dangerous." Seki's nails dug into Musa's shoulders. "When you talked, Khoru, it naturally spread beyond your father and became the choice topic among the older Dzunis. That was to be expected, of course; human nature finds such news irresistible.
"You were extremely fortunate, Khoru," said Seki, his voice dropping to a lower octave, "that the servants did not pick up any of this. In the past, I have killed several servants who were planted on the Shoma estate to be spies for the Ghumani family." Musa whimpered. "Including this young lady's older brother."
"I-I don't understand," stammered Sheleru.
"The Ghumani family is responsible for all the Shoma family's misery. They are always trying to find ways to attack your family, Hotsukhoru and Sheleru." He walked around the chair so the bound girl could see him and asked her, "Is that not true?" His smile contained all the friendliness of a cobra about to strike at his victim. As he approached Khoru and Sheleru, they had to resist the urge to flee. Seki's face appeared a ghostly white despite the torch's healthy flame.
"Now, Hotsukhoru," murmured Seki, "I want you to pretend that this girl found out what you said to your father. That means the family secret has been breached, and to make matters worse, it is your worst enemy who knows." He pointed to the girl for emphasis. "What would you have to do in this case?"
"Can't I just erase her memory?" blurted Sheleru.
"No. That is too risky when a Ghumani is involved. Now, Khoru, what do you have to do?"
Khoru knew which answer Seki wanted to hear, but his teeth clenched and nothing came out. "Yes, that's right," said Seki approvingly. "Take your bow out."
"Khoru!" gasped Sheleru, shaking his arm.
"Back off, little girl." Seki pulled her away from Khoru. Reluctantly, Khoru extended his hand into the darkness. The short pine bow materialized in his fist, its wood cool to the touch. A triangular bump appeared on Khoru's forearm, near the wrist, and he drew the arrow out. It didn't hurt, and there was no blood—taking arrows out of his arm was like taking a contact out of his eye. In a daze he positioned the arrow on the notch, and raised the bow.
He took aim at the girl's heart. Her eyes pleaded with him to spare her, and he stood like a statue for a minute. He noticed the arrow quivering, and then saw his hand shaking. The sweat gathered on the back of his neck. Weak all of a sudden, he let the bow sag, and it disappeared into the air.
"You cannot kill her, can you?" asked Seki softly. "Can you imagine if a gentle Dzuni spirit such as yours were required to do such a thing? Then we would have Ghumanis overrunning the Shomas." He guided Khoru to the door, where Sheleru stood agape. "That is why it is necessary to have a Sakurazukamori trained in assassination to address such threats to the Dzuni. We avoid painful scenes, like what just happened, and the Dzuni are safer. Do you understand now why it is so important to listen carefully to my instructions?" The teenagers nodded. "And will you promise to always honor the Sakurazukamori's wishes?" They nodded again. The lock clicked, and Seki opened the door. "Good night, my dears. I shall save some Ashomi liquor for when you come again."
Once they had entered Seki's apartments, Khoru hustled Sheleru out of the shop. He did not slow down until they had walked a mile away from the teashop.
"Khoru," whispered Sheleru so bystanders wouldn't hear, "What's going to happen to that girl?"
"She's not leaving that room alive."
The ocean's rumbling carried through the air when the entire Shoma estate shut down in the early morning hours. The magnificent estate gardens ran along the eastern boundary, from the house to the stone wall that prevented wanderers from falling off the cliff and into the sea. This eastern wall was easily the most ancient part of the estate; it had originally been built a millennium ago after the family head's daughter jumped into the sea to escape an arranged marriage.
The northern, southern, and western partitions of the original stone wall had long since crumbled and been replaced with brick walls. But somehow the eastern wall resisted any attempts by plants, animals, weather, and humans to damage it. The wall stood in much the same condition as it had a thousand years ago. Many people attributed it to the power of the daughter's tragic end, but Seki knew otherwise.
Wrapped in a black cloak to better camouflage himself, Seki stood under Old Blood, the huge flame tree that overlooked the northwestern corner of the gardens. The moon had just passed its halfway mark in the sky. Old Blood had been part of the Shoma estate even longer than the eastern wall. Its roots hugged the wall intimately, and over time, had even grown into some of the foundation stones.
Like every other Sakurazukamori before him, Seki learned that Old Blood provided the life force for the entire Shoma estate and its people. The closer to Old Blood any object was, the greater its ability to survive. Anyone who stepped onto Shoma grounds would automatically pick up some of Old Blood's preservative powers. The eastern wall had never needed repairing because Old Blood had merged with it, and even the other walls had stood for seven hundred years before they needed replacement. The houses required much less maintenance than normal, and the people tended to be healthier and longer-lived. The gardeners always remarked how easy the gardens were to take care of; the flowers proved strangely hardy during the country's worse droughts, and the plants never suffered blight.
The tenth family head under the former Dzuni curse, who had been in her grave for three hundred years now, believed that Old Blood was maliciously sapping her life, and ordered her gardeners to destroy the tree. The poor gardeners were extremely hesitant, but feared their superior more. They tried axes, fire, poisons, and even explosives. The tree didn't show a single dint. Afterwards, it was said that those gardeners were never really healthy again. They complained of fatigue, aches, and anemia, and the cause remained unknown. This incident solidified the family's fear of Old Blood for good, and the Shomas left the tree to brood in relative peace.
Ghumani Musa's milky-colored body contrasted sharply with the craggy roots of the tree. Seki had taken off her clothes so the tree would have an easier time digesting her. He had also chosen to merely frighten the girl to death, so that more blood would remain. Since Seki was unable to feed Old Blood very often, it became imperative for the bodies he offered to be as whole as possible.
A leaden weight in his head threatened to make Seki faint, and he braced his feet against the sensation. He couldn't stay near Old Blood much longer. The roots refused to move, letting the body sit limply on them.
"Please," Seki begged. The lowness of his position wounded him, but he had to make the tree accept the girl. "I must have more strength." A rusty crackle responded, and Seki smiled as a thick root encircled the girl's midsection, and another took hold of her legs. The crackling grew louder as several other roots began pulling the body into the ground. Inch by inch, the white skin melted out of sight.
Seki felt the tree's rejuvenating energy travel from his feet to his head, and the fainting sensation vanished. He breathed deeply. This new health would last him only a short time, and he must make the best of it. "I thank you, Old Blood. Will you permit me a few of your blossoms?" The tree lowered a branch with blood-red flowers in full bloom. Seki could use these to make invigorating teas to help sustain his life a little longer. So went his grotesque exchange: death for life, which Seki had conducted for twenty-five years now. He tucked the flowers safely into a silk bag, and placed the bag into a deep pocket in his cloak. "Good night, Old Blood. I do not know if we shall meet again."
A deep voice disturbed the night. "Well, even Old Blood not like you anymore, Sezuko."
Unrattled, Seki turned and inclined his head. "Dzin-E." The ghost floated further down an overgrown path; only her head had fully materialized. Seki strode towards the wolf. "I should remind you that Old Blood does not care who feeds it. If no one attends to it, Old Blood will turn to the graveyard or anyone who happens to walk by." The family graveyard was situated just to the south of the tree's niche.
Dzin-E grinned lopsidedly. "You had to beg, yes?" Forcing his facial muscles to keep still, Seki cursed the wolf inwardly. Now he would have to waste precious strength to leave through magic to throw off the wolf. "Even Old Blood can tell when Sakurazukamori disgraced."
"Well, Old Blood will soon have a much better servant," concurred Seki. "If you came to kill me, you may as well do it." Dzin-E fell silent. "My goodness, you are actually obeying your master. What a shock." He saw the ghost fidget, and knew that she was drooling over the idea of sinking her fangs into his throat. "In any case, you are wise not to kill me now. There is too much for me to do yet."
"We no want Sakurazukamori anymore."
"I assure you, I shall die quite soon."
"No. Demons not want any Sakurazukamori."
"Do you speak for yourself, or for all the demons?" asked Seki. "I thought so. You're still quite irrational. In any case, no Sakurazukamori would be impossible, I am afraid. It would cause a war in the Oresho, and it is chaotic there right now. I am taking a grave enough risk with my successor as it is." The Oresho was short for the "Fog Lands," the name given to the spirit world by Hothans. The Dzuni demons came from the Fog Lands.
"Who is your successor?"
"There is no need for you to know." Seki smiled, for the wolf clearly had no idea what his plans were. It meant that he had escaped detection by the demons well enough. "Good night, Dzin-E." The wolf leapt as a vortex of flame tree blossoms swept Seki away.