Chapter 4: Prelude to the Quest
Miaka awoke with a start, gasping in terror. "Oh, no… what an awful dream," she murmured, trying to make sense of it. In her dream, she had seen something strange happen to Tamahome, Hotohori, Nuriko, Tasuki, Mitsukake, Chichiri, and Chiriko on their hunting trip. They had been sitting on a riverbank and suddenly turned into large swan-like birds with elegant scarlet and gold plumage. They had tried to fly away, only to be caught by hunters' nets and shot with arrows.
"Princess, what's happened? I heard you screaming," a voice said. Miaka turned to see her maid, Xi Fang, standing in the doorway of her bedroom.
"There's nothing to worry about, Xi Fang. It was just a dream, that's all." With that, Miaka turned to the task of preparing for the day.
All through her lessons that day, Miaka couldn't shake that dream she'd had. It had felt so real. I hope Tamahome and the others will be alright. I've had a bad feeling ever since they left to go hunting yesterday, she thought as she joined her family for their mid-day meal. For some reason, her mother and Yui had self-satisfied expressions on their faces that made her feel even more uneasy.
By dinner, Miaka had begun to worry. Tamahome and the others hadn't returned, but they had assured Miaka they would be back by midday. As she reached for her cup of tea, it suddenly cracked and broke in half. "An evil omen if I ever saw one," Miaka whispered as the maids sprang into action, cleaning up the mess and fussing over her. That's it. My mind is made up. I'm going into the forest to look for them, she thought.
Once the meal ended, Miaka returned to her rooms and changed into simple traveling clothes. "Xi Fang, go to the stables and tell them to saddle a horse for me at once! And get me a travelling cloak!" Miaka ordered.
"You want to go now? But it's almost dark and it looks like it is going to storm."
"That's an order, Xi Fang! I haven't got time to discuss this!" Miaka demanded. Nodding, Xi Fang left to carry out Miaka's commands.
Once Xi Fang returned with the cloak and the news that the horse was ready, Miaka rushed to the courtyard. As she mounted the horse, her mother approached. "Miaka, what are you doing? It's almost dark, and it's started to storm!"
"Tamahome and the others should have been back hours ago. Something's happened to them, I know it. And I'm going to find out what."
"At least wait until morning and take a search party with you, dear. What good is it going to do to go look for them now, in this weather, when soon you won't be able to see your hands in front of your face?"
"I can't wait, Mother. They need me now; there's no time to lose!" Miaka cried insistently. "Open the gates!" she called to the gatekeeper. He did; Miaka urged her horse into a gallop, ignoring her mother's frantic calls. It began raining heavily after she had cleared the city gates; lightning split the sky and thunder roared.
"Keisuke, you've got to send someone after her! It's not safe for Miaka to be out in this storm!" the Dowager Empress demanded frantically, turning to her son.
"I can't; this storm… it's going to be a bad one. We can't let anyone else leave the palace until the storm passes."
"But…"
"Mother, Miaka knows the way to the forest like the back of her hand; I'm sure she'll be fine and able to find shelter for the night when she needs to. We'll send out a search party at first light."
Miaka sighed as she rode through the storm, her travelling cloak doing little to protect her from the elements. Tamahome… everyone… just hold on; I'm on my way. I'll find you all soon, I promise, she thought. Another flash of lightning showed she was on the edge of the forest where Tamahome and the others had made camp. "C'mon, horse. We're almost there," she exclaimed with relief.
"Okay, I can do this. How many times did we all go riding through this forest when they wanted to hunt or fish? They always make camp near the big river. If I can just find my way there…" she said as she took a small lantern from her saddlebag. After some struggle, she managed to light it.
Trying to shield her lantern from the rain, she continued into the forest. Ten minutes later, she arrived at the area where her friends always made camp. Located under a thick cluster of trees, the interwoven leaves and branches protected a still-burning campfire from the raging storm. With a sinking heart, Miaka saw there was no sign of their horses. Dismounting from her own horse, she approached to get a better look and warm herself by the campfire.
"How odd… they're not here, but all their things are. Camp's all made up, but no one's here watching it. (Gasp) Tasuki's fan! He never lets it out of his sight!" Miaka cried, catching sight of a small iron war fan lying on the ground. "Hotohori's sword…. And Nuriko's lucky bracelets, the ones his mother and sister gave him when he became a guard… he never takes them off. What could have happened here?" she said in horror as she saw more of her friends' belongings.
She began packing up their treasured possessions, securing them in her own saddlebags. "Where are you all?" she asked, her voice choked with concern. Vaguely, she noticed a flock of seven scarlet and gold birds just like the ones from her dream flying over the river. A yawn escaped her. "Mother was right; it's no good searching out in this weather. I'd better rest up and go back and form a search party in the morning." Miaka went towards the river to gather water to put out the campfire, but as she approached, the ground gave way and she fell in.
It was a struggle for breath and to stay afloat. Then suddenly, she felt something lift her out of the water and deposit her on land. Opening her eyes, Miaka gasped to see the seven birds she'd seen earlier standing around her. Then she began coughing. One of the phoenixes flew behind her and began beating at her back with its wings. Coughing harder, Miaka vomited up the water she'd swallowed when she fell into the river.
As she turned to face the bird, an old memory resurfaced. 2 years ago, when she'd accompanied the others into the forest, she'd fallen into the river then as well. Tamahome had fished her out and Mitsukake had helped her expel the water and breathe air into her lungs. There was some expression in the swan's eyes that made her think of how he'd looked that day. "Mitsukake?" she asked in disbelief. The bird nodded eagerly.
"But… how? What happened?" Miaka asked, knowing they couldn't answer.
"It was the blankets, y'know," said one of the other birds in Chichiri's voice.
"Blankets, Chichiri?" Miaka asked, confused by both his response and the fact that he had spoken.
"Yes; it was these blankets provided by Princess Yui," said one of the phoenixes in Hotohori's voice, gesturing at the seven red and gold blankets lying around the campfire. "We were transformed as soon as we covered ourselves with them when we turned in for the night yesterday."
"But why… why would Yui do such a horrible thing?" Miaka asked.
"Who cares why she cursed us?! What matters is that she did! That Kutou witch is going to pay for this, princess and engaged to the Emperor or not!" a third snarled in Nuriko's voice.
"I can't say," said Mitsukake, turning to Miaka. "It's no secret that Princess Yui has never been made welcome by many at the palace since she came to Konan, and it has always seemed everyone had preferred you. Perhaps it all got to be too much for her, and in her anger, she lashed out in the way she thought would hurt you most."
"Poor Yui… I know that coming here as a child for an arranged marriage wasn't easy for her, and it's true, many at court and even the servants always treated her like an outsider. But I never imagined it could be that bad, or that she'd hate me so much because of it, that it could drive her to this."
"The important thing now," the Tasuki-phoenix said, "is how are we gonna change back?"
"We'll have to go back and talk to her; there must be some way to convince Yui to lift the curse."
"It's worth a try, y'know," said the Chichiri-phoenix happily.
The Chiriko-phoenix whimpered. "I don't want to go near Princess Yui and those servants of hers! They're scary!" he wailed.
"Damn it, Chiriko, quit being such a baby! It could be our only way to change back," said the Tamahome-phoenix, smacking him with one of his wings.
The group sat for a few minutes debating what to do. Just as they had finally agreed to return and see what Yui would want in exchange for lifting the curse, a bolt of lightning struck one of the nearby trees. Everyone watched in horror as a massive fire broke out and quickly began to spread amongst the trees. Miaka rushed over to untie her horse, but as soon as she had untied it, it ran away from her before she could climb on.
"Miaka, hurry and get out of here! Jump into the river! You'll be too overwhelmed by the smoke to make it out of here if you try to run, you've got to swim away!" the Hotohori-phoenix demanded.
"Go back… into there?" Miaka coughed, staring at the raging river, swollen from the storm.
"It'll be okay! We'll swim with you and keep you afloat! Go, now!" called Nuriko. Miaka ran and dove into the river, the others following her. True to their word, they surrounded her and swam beside her, doing their best to support her and keep her floating on the surface of the water.
After what felt like hours, they washed ashore on the riverbank some distance away. By now, it was nearly dawn.
"Where… where are we?" asked Miaka, turning to face her loyal guards, after coughing up more river water. But now they could only squawk. Due to the curse, they only retained the power of speech for a short time each night. Miaka then caught sight of a nearby mountain.
"I recognize that! It's Mount Taikyoku! Wow, that river was fast if it took us this far," she exclaimed. "There should be a village around here somewhere, if I remember right. There must be someone there who can help us get home. Tasuki, Hotohori, Tamahome, Chichiri, go fly around for about half an hour and see if you can find any settlements. Mitsukake, Chiriko, Nuriko, and I will go see if we can find something for our breakfast as it's almost morning." With that, they split up into 2 groups as Miaka had directed.
Miaka, Nuriko, Chiriko, and Mitsukake went off and foraged along the riverbank and in the forest. They found plenty of fruits and berries for Miaka, while the three birds swam on the river and snatched up fish for themselves and the others. The scouting party soon returned, with no success, judging from the way they carried themselves. "Oh, what will we do?!" cried Miaka, bursting into tears. "It'll take us forever to get home on foot!"
"What's all that noise?" an old woman's voice called. They turned to see a small, old woman walking out from behind a tree.
"Who… who are you?" Miaka asked. "I am Taiitsukun, the wise woman and mystic sage of Mount Taikyoku. And you are Princess Miaka of Konan, are you not?"
"Yes. How do you know my name, though?"
"I take an interest in the royal families. In particular, I have been keeping an eye on many things in Konan over the years, child. Now, follow me, child; we'll get you some clean clothes and discuss how to help your friends."
They walked into a small clearing where 2 horses were waiting for them. After arriving at Taiitsukun's palace, and being provided with a change of clothes for Miaka and refreshments for all, Miaka poured out the story of what happened.
"Yes, that magic mirror on the wall behind me has shown me everything as it happened. Indeed, you are right that the girl Yui was motivated by anger and jealousy, but that is a matter to be dealt with after your friends have been restored to normal," Taiitsukun said after Miaka had finished her story.
"How do we do that? Can you lift the curse?"
"Lifting a curse is an extremely complicated process; among other things, I would need the items that were used to cast the curse initially; in this case, the blankets. But, unfortunately, they were destroyed in the fire. And not to worry; the horse that you took into the forest made it out safely; it was retrieved by the search party your brother sent for you this morning."
"So how do we change them back without the blankets?
"It will not be easy. You will have to work very hard and endure much to break this curse."
"I'll do it! Just tell me what needs to be done!"
"Very well; In order to break the curse, you must journey through all four kingdoms and gather stinging nettles, but only the kinds that grows on graves in churchyards. You must beat the nettles into flax, and from this flax you must weave seven blankets of your own. Once these blankets are draped over the victims, the curse will be broken and they will regain human form. But most important is this. From the moment that you begin this task to the moment the curse is broken, you must not speak a single word. Should you speak before the curse is lifted, your friends will drop dead at the first word you utter."
Miaka nodded.
"Are you still willing to undertake this labor?"
"I am. If it's the only way that we can change them back, I'll do it."
"Very well; rest here for the night. I will give you a horse and some provisions, and you can set out in the morning."
*End Chapter*