Akimune stared at the door now plastered shut with ofuda papers. He had heard what the medicine seller had said, but he had to process it for a moment. This was a temple in the middle of a snowy mountain, hardly the place to create a mononoke. Had the medicine seller not shut the door without touching it and plastered it with protective ofuda, Akimune would've marked it off as a superstitious mistake.
"A mononoke? That's preposterous!" exclaimed one of the monks. He was an elder monk, much more graying than Akimune, holding himself with a superior air as he folded his hands behind his back. "I know you are a guest of Master Yoshimune, but to make such proclaims? Are you after more money?"
The medicine seller pursed his lips. He had hoped that monks would be a bit more respectful of a member of the merchant class, but generally most weren't. They always assumed the worst, especially when presented by a mononoke. He could feel Kayo practically claw up his shoulder in protest to the assumption.
But Akimune spoke first. "Let's not be so judgmental, Master Tadakata. Something was definitely out there, causing this. I caught sight of it as well."
Tadakata scoffed. "I can't believe you're buying into this! This is a temple, not some degenerate village!"
"We have several frostbitten monks on our hands!" Akimune pointed out. "Even with the harsh training, no one turns into an icicle just by lighting the lanterns outside!"
"It is the weather, nothing more!" Tadakata insisted. "Stop making this greater than it is!"
The medicine seller glanced between the two elder monks, listening to their arguments. He slipped the taima sword from his sleeve, holding it calmly between his hands as Kayo was practically perched on his shoulders. It was possible they could let something slip to tell why there was a frozen mononoke woman standing out in the courtyard, but at the moment, they were arguing over whether Akimune actually saw something or not. This wasn't getting anywhere fast at the moment.
He shook Kayo from his shoulder, turning and kneeling down next to the frostbitten monk. The elder monk had been flash frozen, his skin blue and icicles forming along his hairline. His body showed signs of extreme hypothermia. Even with the training the monks endured, no one could really prepare for an angry frozen mononoke lashing out against them.
"He's dead, isn't he?" one of the younger monks questioned with worry knit in his brow.
"Quite," the medicine seller confirmed. "How many times has this happened before?"
"Five times," the young monk replied. He scooted closer to the medicine seller to talk quietly, not that the arguing elders were really paying attention to anything but each other. "Each time, it's always an elder. Master Masanobu here is the latest victim. Truly sad, as he was a very good teacher. He didn't deserve this."
"Mononoke do not always operate with reasons that make sense in the human world," the medicine seller said. "They may lash out with unrelenting ire, consuming everyone in their path."
The young monk rubbed a hand over his face. "So it is like the scrolls have said."
"It is not their fault, however," the medicine seller added. "They did not ask to be created, but they are now here. They must be slain so the mononoke can finally rest."
The young monk frowned, glancing down at the taima sword still in the medicine seller's hands. "That's a sacred sword, isn't it?"
"It is."
"Then you can help stop this mononoke?" the monk questioned.
The medicine seller was impressed with the trainee's knowledge. And he found the young monk much more reasonable than most he encountered. "Only when the truth, form, and reason are revealed. What do you know of these incidents?"
The young monk frowned. "Not much, but there was something we all saw one day training recently. A woman in a frozen kimono. I thought she was a traveler caught in the snow, but when I tried to talk to her, she smiled with a lot of large teeth then disappeared in a flurry of snow."
Interesting. This mononoke was selective, pointing at the elders as a possible truth. But the elders were busy arguing behind him about whether or not a mononoke was possible. Yoshimune had joined the conversation, mostly listening and not contributing while one of their own lay dead on the floor. They weren't exactly being helpful. "A human-shaped mononoke. How many times have you seen her?"
"Each of us at least once," the monk replied. "She always looks the same. We tried to bring it up to the elders, but they marked it off as hallucinations brought on by the cold."
Denial didn't seem as expected here as other places mononoke had been born. Yoshimune was aware that the mountain was filled with supernatural energies, and ayakashi and yokai often lurked in such places. Monks training in such a location would know this. The elders seemed to be denying that something was clearly out there.
"Have there been any visitors lately?" the medicine seller questioned much more loudly than before, catching the attention of the three elders behind him.
"What exactly are you implying, merchant?" Tadakata scowled.
"Oh nothing at all," the medicine seller replied as he stood back up, tapping the taima sword on his shoulder. That reaction told him that they knew more about this situation. Akimune looked perturbed, Yoshimune clammed up, and Tadakata was fuming. "Nothing that may have created a mononoke here."
"There haven't been any visitors aside from you two since the snowstorm had started," Akimune replied first. His expression became more and more concerned until it finally twisted into horror. "Unless…"
"Don't believe this presumptuous nonsense!" Tadakata hissed. "That merchant is putting wild ideas in your mind."
"Don't think I haven't heard the whispers around the temple!" Akimune shouted. "You all stop talking when I walk into the room then claim nothing is wrong!" He jabbed a finger at the frozen Masanobu on the floor to indicate the third person. "Something happened a month ago, didn't it?!"
"Ho~?" the medicine seller hummed.
"You stay out of this!" Tadakata jabbed a finger at the medicine seller.
"He's right, isn't he?!" Akimune continued to shout. "Something happened a month ago, didn't it? Something that created this mononoke! The elders have been frozen to death since the storm began!"
"There is no mononoke!" Tadataka insisted.
"There are only three of us left!" Akimune pointed out. "Are you willing to take that risk?"
The medicine seller turned back to the sealed door as the ofuda flared up in red. The ofuda along the seam of the door froze and cracked before falling to the ground, and the door jimmied open just a crack. Cold air blasted in, snow and ice plastering the walls.
"Get into the inner sanctuary!" Akimune barked as he beckoned everyone to follow him.
The door burst open, the wood and paper paneling shattering on impact as piles of snow rushed forward like an avalanche. It quickly overtook the younger monks.
The medicine seller leapt forward, grasping Kayo as she tripped and fell to the ground. As she curled up, he used his body as a shield to protect her from the snow. He could feel the sharpness of the snow itself and the severe cold as it rolled over his back. It was heavy like a person leaning on him, and he found his arms trying to bow under the weight. He could survive the cold, but she was human. She wouldn't be so lucky.
"Mr. Medicine Seller!" Kayo exclaimed. There he went again, trying to protect her. She wasn't certain how long he could keep this up given the strain showing on his face. She curled up closer underneath him and his large kimono, trying not to get caught in the snow. It was threatening to get into her kimono and freeze her fingers and toes. There was so much of it.
"This is the mononoke's work," he said calmly despite the situation. They still didn't know what it was or what had caused its anger, though he was quickly narrowing down the list given the behavior.
He felt the immense weight of the snow on his back. Even his strength was having trouble fighting against it as it caused his arms to buckle. "Tell me what has made you so angry."
"Please, mononoke!" Kayo pleaded. "Please don't freeze us to death! We just want to help!"
"Help? Ha. No one wants to help." It was the mononoke's voice, a deep female voice that grated against their ears as it spoke. It was twisted and mangled by the conditions that created it.
"We do!" Kayo insisted. "We can help relieve you of this anger!"
"No, you'll stay here while I punish the wicked!"
"No, wait!" Kayo reached out for a moment but recoiled as the frozen snow reached her fingers. "Come back!" She curled up even tighter as the weight of the snow pushed them both down into the floorboards. They were going to freeze to death, weren't they?
…..
Author's musings
We had sleet and snow here recently where I live and all I could think about was what mononoke was suddenly outside and why it was trying to steal the wreath off my door and take it out into the cold. It was about the same time as I was posting last week's chapter, amusingly enough, but I haven't seen a spooky woman in a blue kimono with too many teeth around here. Well at least I hope there isn't one. I'm not one to go out into the sleet unless I absolutely have to. Perhaps the medicine seller and Kayo had come by to quell its anger before it could bury my car.