VI
Ashitaka: Through the Ancient Forest
Despite the protests of Kohroku, the man I rescued we take the route through the forest. More kodama appear, watching us trek through the greens, clicking merrily. I carry the more gravely wounded man on my back, while Kohroku rides upon Yakkuru. Kodama jump around us like little children.
Kohroku regards them uneasily. "Let's go back! Please! There's a path on the other side of the river. It's impossible to escape this forest!"
"The current's too strong to cross," I reply between panting breaths. We are going uphill on mossy branches and rocks. "Besides, if we don't hurry, it will be too late for this man."
More and more kodama appear in front of us, running around. "Huh. Are you leading the way, or getting us lost?" I murmur, amused.
"Sir, these things aren't going to get us home! There are more and more of them!"
I stop on the top of a hill to catch my breath. As I do, kodama run past us, carrying others of their own kind on their backs, copying me.
As we keep on walking, we pass a great tree filled with kodama on every limb. "Is this your mother?" I ask the little spirits. "A splendid tree!"
Soon after, we come to a pond in the forest, with ancient trees and moss growing out of it, and on the surface. The serenity of the atmosphere calms me. I gaze around in amazement.
There are footprints beneath me on the wet moss. Small human ones, and larger ones of animals. "That girl and the wolves. So this is their domain," I realize.
"We're going deeper in now, sir. This way leads to the other world," Kohroku warns me. I lay the wounded man on the ground.
"It looks like it, doesn't it? Let's get some rest," I reply, and go to fill my bowl with water from the pond.
A small island of moss with fluttering iridescent butterflies catches my attention. "A hoof print? Three toes; and still fresh." I glance around.
The forest pond is as peaceful as ever. But something between two trees far to the other side of the water make me lean closer to observe.
It is a herd of deer, walking in golden sunlight. I stare at them, unblinking. As the last deer passes through, the largest one, with huge antlers like branches of a tree, stops and seems to look back at me. I gasp.
A horrible noise startles me. My right arm has started to convulse again, like the time at the village skirmish with the samurai. Pain shoots up my arm, and I use my free hand to try to control the crazy wriggling of the demon mark.
"Sir! What's the matter?" Kohroku calls out from behind.
I plunge my arm into the pond. It pulses like a heart, but the pulsation soon recedes as I feel the great deer leave. I pant, sweat beading on my face. I rise up slowly with the bowl full of water, still shaking a little from the experience.
"Sir! Are you all right? You're deathly pale! I told you this is dangerous," Kohroku mutters the last part.
"Did you see anything?" I lift up the other man's head and put the bowl to his lips. I bandaged his head earlier.
"Huh?" Kohroku says.
"Forget it." To the man on the ground, "Hang on a little longer."
"Thank you," he groans.
I look back at where I saw the deer herd. "He's gone," I mutter. The beast, his herd, and the golden light have been replaced by the darkness of a regular forest.
We continue on through the trees, uphill once more. But I walk at a much faster rate, still carrying the man. "How is it…that this man's body is suddenly so much lighter?"
Kohroku, mounted upon Yakkuru, takes his broken arm out of the sling and exclaims, "Hey, it doesn't hurt anymore!" He pumps the arm. "I'm healed! Ouch, ouch, it's still broken." He nurses the arm. We finally emerge from the trees, safely out of the forbidden forest.