CHAPTER 5 -- Storm Warnings
The town of Shantian was a small one, even by normal standards. It was scarcely more than a village, far off the main road. Few travellers passed by, even in these desperate times, and the inn that stood on the edge of town served as a bar more often than not.
So the innkeeper was honestly surprised when, one stormy night that saw the even locals staying at home, a guest showed up on the doorstep.
He looked like he'd been blown in by the storm. Soaked by the rain from head to toe, water ran in rivulets down his face and accumulated in puddles on the floor. The wind chased the hem of his dark cloak, whipped little strands of hair into his face.
"What a night. You're lucky you got here when you did -- there isn't another settlement for miles about," the innkeep said, bustling his guest in and shutting the door against the howling gale outside. "Get in front of the fire and dry off... do you want a drink?"
Amethyst eyes blinked at him in confusion for a moment. His visitor looked utterly exhausted.
"No... yes... yes. Sake," he replied, shivering slightly with fatigue or cold.
"Right away," the innkeep bustled off.
When he returned, his guest had shed the cloak to reveal a nondescript shirt and pants. In the light of the hearth, his hair was a rich shade of gold.
"Sake. Warm, since you don't look like you'd appreciate a cold one right now."
The proferred bottle and cup were accepted silently and exchanged for a handful of coin.
"Staying for the night?"
A nod, and another handful of coins slid across the table.
"A meal? Something to go with your wine?"
The other sighed and shook his head. Pouring himself a glass, he tilted his head back and swallowed it at one go, apparently oblivious to the heat of the liquid. Then he was pouring himself another cup.
"I think you should go slow--" the innkeep was cut off in midsentence by a narrowed glare.
"Are there any mountains around here?" the visitor returned.
"Mountains? Funny that you should ask. There's one, actually, a solitary affair, which is unusual. It's just North of here, about a day's trek away."
He thought he heard a muttered expletive in reply, and the man swallowed another cup of wine.
"Another bottle."
The innkeep shook his head, but departed for the store nevertheless. He'd seen this before, and more often of late -- his guest was, for whatever reason, trying to drink himself under the table. Normally, he might have tried to dissuade him -- drunken guests sometimes made for repair bills -- but there was something... something that made words die in his throat and fall away, unspoken. It was the sense of growing desperation, a dangerous anxiety that threatened to break loose and destroy everything in its path, then turn on itself. It was the look on his face when he'd first stepped in, the look of a man fast reaching the end of his tether.
Are you running from something? the innkeeper wondered. Or are you running to someplace?
He carried several bottles of sake back to the dining room. It looked as if his guest would need them all.
***
He'd been hearing the voice fo ra while, a voice that called to him in his mind and in his dreams. It was a child's voice, high and plaintive, that said Come back find me help me. He'd learnt to ignore it after a while; it was that or go insane.
It had gone away after a while, only to re-emerge of late. The further East he travelled, the stronger it grew, beckoning him away from his road and Up, up North, to the cold mountain where nothing grows...
He'd held out as long as he could, until the voice invaded his dreams with a persistence that made him want to clutch his head and scream.
Someday, you might hear a voice too, his teacher had told him, but he'd never expected it to be like this. In recent days, it had grown to the point of distraction. Two days back, it had nearly cost him his life in a youkai attack, trying to catch his attention in the middle of a fight.
It grew muted only after six bottles of sake, where the world spun from the effects of alcohol and the fatigue that seemed to knaw at his very bones. He needed sleep, quiet, undisturbed sleep, away from voices.
Find me...
It was definitely softer now, lost in alcohol-induced fuzziness in his head. But it was still there.
Shut up... he told it, ordered it, practically begged it.
North, it beckoned. Up north...
It seemed that he slept, and he saw an oddly shaped mountain rising out of the wilderness. There were forests about it, but on the gray slopes themselves nothing grew, not even grass.
North north north the voice chanted, and he swore at it. He had abandoned the road, following the dirt path that led to Shantian, in some sort of concession to the voice. It was off his route, it was wasting his time and the Minus Wave was spreading while he dallied here...
But help me find me help me, the voice cried, dogging his days and nights. There was a cave on the mountain, a cold, barren place where one couldn't see the sun, just a sliver of sky. And there were no plants, no animals, just cold, unyielding rock rock rock...
Shut up! he cried, desperate.
North! the voice insisted. Years, five hundred years... find the mountain, the barren mountain that stands alone.... not too far away now...
Shut up, he swore at it. I need sleep. I'm dying on my feet here and I can't do anything if you don't shut up...
It seemed to recede then, or it could have been his imagination. Reality and dream met and merged and splintered into two again. He saw wooden stairs room bed, and superimposed over that mountain forest stone and they blended and seperated in confusion.
Find me... the voice called softly, the plea of a lost child. Five hundred years...
Five hundred years of what? he wanted to ask, but in the silence both mountain and room were fading, fading into the darkness of dreamless sleep.
Five hundred years... the voice echoed mournfully, fading away.
***
Somewhere, a child born of stone lay within a prison of stone and dreamnt of the sun.
***
"...So they've been closing in lately, and they say that the Minus Wave is reaching us..."
"What caused this Minus Wave anyway?"
"They said that someone in the West combined the power of chemistry and youryoku ... or sourcery ... which releashed a massive surge of magical energy that's been sweeping across the land..."
"And this is what's causing the youkai to go crazy?"
"Well, crazy's not quite the word for it. They're frighteningly organized. We've never seen them this organized and this united."
"United? But they're never united..."
"Now they are. Several hundred of them have gathered under the banner of the Centipede King, and he's been turning on humans, big time. A number of towns already pay tribute to him."
"He'll never be able to breach our city."
"So they say, but you know... the youkai are a lot more powerful than we are..."
Gojyo poked at his warm beer and uninspiring dinner. The city had been talking of nothing else for a while, since the excitement about Genjo Sanzo had died down and the youkai attacks had begun. The city had barricaded itself in, and, apart from a few that had fled at the onset, the rest were more or less stuck within its walls now. Taking the road out was analogous to suicide.
"You know, they say we're next," the younger of the two men at the next table said, his tone worried.
"They've been saying that for a week already. Nothing's happened, besides the little raids on the outskirts. Besides, those stupid peasants who sneaked out of the walls were asking for trouble."
"Yes, but, sooner or later they'll come for us. And it's not just the Centipede King. It's that blasted Crow clan that's reported allied itself with the Centipede."
"What, them too?"
"That's the latest update from the scouts."
"That adds another couple of hundred against us. And here we were hoping that the Crows would stay neutral in this fight."
"Unlike the Centipede bastards who were viciously anti-human even before this farce started."
"Yeah..."
Gojyo shoved away the remains of dinner, stood, stretched, and ambled away. He'd heard enough.
Viciously anti-human, eh? And you humans weren't viciously anti-youkai? he thought, with no little bitterness. It was surprising that no one had caught on to his youkai heritage yet, or perhaps everyone was too tied up with the prospect of an assault by the Centipede clan. Nonetheless, he'd been watching his step, and his back every step of the way.
"But whatever. This mission is officially stuck up the creek," he said loudly to no one in particular. I knew I should have left earlier. But no, Mister Too Smart For His Own Good Sha Gojyo hung around to see whether Mister Genjo Sanzo would appear... until they shut the gates and barricaded everyone in.
Which meant that the city was slowly starving to death, now that no supplies of grain and vegetables came up the road from the surrounding farms. Not that there were a lot of surrounding farms at the moment. Besides, no one really cared about the long term at the moment.
And there aren't any more refugees, he noted. A sobering thought, and a silent testimony to deadliness of the road West. Which means that even if I find Mister Smartass, knock him over the head and sling him over one shoulder, I'll still have a fine time trying to drag him back to Chou'An. One sure as hell hopes that the gun isn't all for show.
He kicked a stone across the path in annoyance. What the hell do I do now? Divine intervention would be cool, but even that seems to be in short supply today...
His train of thought was derailed as he banged unceremoniously into someone coming around the corner. He stumbled and barely saved himself from a fall by grabbing hold of a window sill. The other party was not so lucky -- he went sprawling backwards.
"Hey, sorry," Gojyo called, and reached down to offer him a hand up. "Didn't see where I was going."
"Ah.. it's alright," came the sunny response. The stranger paused to realign his spectacles. "I should have paid more attention as well..."
Green eyes met red ones.
Oh damn. It's him again... Gojyo thought, barely suppressing a wince.
And one will kill a thousand youkai, reviving a legend lost in time...
I hate Goddesses who talk in riddles, Gojyo swore.
"Is something wrong?" the other man had found his feet and was dusting off his clothes.
"I should be asking you that," Gojyo shot back. "You okay?"
"Perfectly fine." He smiled, a bright sunny smile, and Gojyo felt a pang of guilt. I should tell him to run. To run now, far far away, before he loses one and everything...
But you cannot change the course of destiny, Kanzeon had told him gravely. No matter how tempting it will be to meddle... for Fate will always find its way, and some ways are more destructive than others...
More destructive than the slaughter of a thousand youkai? Gojyo thought with a shudder.
"Well then, sorry about that," he smiled back, shrugged, and let his feet carry him away. Behind, he was certain that a pair of green eyes followed his movements.
***
Gonou regarded the man he had just run into with a certain amount of curiosity. He recalled, just on the very edges of memory, something about people with red eyes and red hair, but he couldn't remember the specifics. Making a mental note to check it up again, he continued on his way.
The tension around him was palpable. He'd been in school when the classes had been abruptly suspended and the children told to go home with all speed and not to linger. Later, the principal had summoned the teachers.
"We're under attack?" his colleague had asked in disbelief, her brown eyes wide and frightened.
"But it's far too soon!" someone else protested. "They said that the youkai were at least--"
"--We are not under attack, but a youkai army is headed towards us. It is not common news at the moment," the principal said gravely. "I advise all staff to return home and to take necessary precautions."
He'd stayed, or rather, he'd accompanied some children home, avoiding their questions. It's a surprise holiday, he'd told them with a smile. He didn't enjoy lying to them, but there wasn't much point in telling them the truth either...
...they'd find out soon enough. They'd find out more than they wanted.
By the time he'd set off for home himself, the sun was already setting. By now, the talk of the youkai army had run rife through the city, and the streets were deserted. The red-haired man was the only one he'd seen around and about, apparently oblivious to the situation.
Gonou quickened his footsteps.
"It's a beautiful evening," he mused. "A red sunset for an evening of bloodshed..." he smiled grimly. "Yet it is very pretty."
A voice disturbed his reverie. "Hey! Gonou!"
He looked up, squinting against the sun. Someone stood on the corner, waving to him. He waved back. It was a former student of his, now in the army.
"Aren't you on alert?" he inquired.
"Didn't you hear? Apparently they got the Crows to leave us alone. I don't exactly approve, but the Crows marched an army three hundred strong to the gates and... well, with the Centipedes behind them, it does get a little scary."
"We parleyed?" Gonou asked.
"Yeah. I mean, for all that we call ourselves a city, we're not that much of one. Just one stone wall isn't going to stop these guys any -- they can fly."
"What happened exactly?"
"No one really knows. The Crows sent a herald, and he talked to the commanders at length this afternoon. And it seems they settled on something, because the Crows pulled back."
"They pulled back?"
"They were here for something. Apparently, they got it, they're going away, and... Up There is still keeping really quiet, so all we've heard is that we've reached a deal and we're not going to be overrun by tomorrow morning. It's a relief, actually. The odds didn't look good at all."
"A compromise?" Gonou asked.
"Like I said, I don't know. We're still on alert, though. I'm just ferrying messages from the command post across the city. I'll tell you when I know more."
"Thank you," he replied, and the former student nodded and trotted off.
"A compromise?" he muttered again, under his breath. The barest whisper of disconcertion grew in the back of his mind. Turning down the street, he headed for home as fast as his feet could carry him.
***
TBC
***