Horror, the Priestess Delivered

Nikoru sat with her heels folded beneath her, crouched behind an ancient dogwood jutting out from the cliff face. One hand gripped the gnarled bark and the other was clutched with ashen knuckles about the neck of a golden dagger hilt that gleamed ethereally as silvery fingers of moonlight slipped through the thick canopy above.

An eerie silence had eclipsed the village. Never in her life had she witnessed such despondency. Even the air was thick with a fetid odor that stung her eyes and nose. She sniffed, hoping to ease an itch without having need of her dirt-clad hands, and regretted it immediately. It was as though life itself had been sucked from the village until nothing but rotting corpses remained. The stench was so repulsing she very nearly decided to never breathe again.

"It's gotten worse," the boy beside her murmured. Koto, Hiroshi's youngest brother. He shifted his weight onto one leg as he pushed away from the dogwood and leaned further over the cliff edge. "That's all miasma down there. It's going to seep out of the valley if it's not cleansed soon."

"Fortunate for us, we've got some divinity on our side," Nikoru replied wryly, gripping the dagger tighter. "Who knew gold was useful for exorcisms?"

Koto scoffed. "If only Hiroshi could see us now."

"I'd be glad if he couldn't see us," Nikoru admitted. "He'd probably spend the next century lecturing us for attempted murder of a witch."

"He'd think us insane," Koto agreed solemnly. "He'd probably crow at us until we had retreated back into the woods with our tails between our legs. He's gallant like that, even if he chooses not to admit it."

"Damn straight."

The wind began to howl, sifting through the charcoaled branches of the dying trees until their spindly branches began to creak and snap in resignation. Not even the lilies that had once flourished were immune from Umber's darkness; their wilted stocks still protruded from the blackened dirt as grave reminders of vitality the valley once possessed. It both saddened and empowered Nikoru. She had not known the valley for very long, but it had become an irrevocable significance in her life. It was her home, a home she had never fathomed existed before she'd stumbled upon it.

It was a memory—for past, present, and for future. She would be damned if she left it to melt out of existence, to become nothing more than a memory of what could have been. How surprising it was to think that she once believed the open road to be her only home. How surprising it was to recall how foolish she perceived others to be, others who were contented to spend the rest of their lives in one, lonely place. How miserable she believed they would be.

And now she had glimpsed the reality of their foolishness. It was a beautiful thing to call this village home. It filled her with a sense of belonging and a family she couldn't bear to abandon. This was something new for her to experience, something wondrous and oh-so glorious.

I have my darling Hiroshi to thank for that, she mused dubiously. Family and, soon, a husband. Once Umber was destroyed, of course. Nikoru wouldn't rest until Hiroshi was liberated from her possession forever. The bitch would rue the day of her birth.

"Are you nervous?"

Nikoru raised her head. Koto was watching her demurely and she realized he must have noticed her contorted expression.

She shrugged, feigning confidence. "Not at all. I'm impatient, if anything. Ready to blow that bitch out of the water and send her packing to the Underworld."

A small smile wormed its way onto his lips, though he still looked uneasy. "I'm a little nervous, but just as impatient. I just want this to end as soon as possible. It hasn't been peaceful in so long. I miss the morning songs from the birds and the breeze that once whispered through the trees when they weren't so…" He frowned. "Charcoaled? Was there a fire recently? Yet leaves are red as ever…"

Then, he shivered. "Red leaves?"

Nikoru returned her gaze upon the village. "It seems Umber's been busy redecorating. I wonder how she'll feel when I redecorate her heart. I think that this dagger will look glamorous jutting out from her chest."

"You know, I don't believe I've ever heard you speak so..." A shiver wracked Koto's spine. "Darkly."

"Then come find me after Umber's been taken care of," Nikoru muttered. "I assure you I'll be a lot less murderous once she's gone."

Koto coughed a nervous laugh. "Oh, I don't doubt it! Now, er, how should we approach this? I doubt anyone still believes we'll be returning, not after Umber's last little exhibition. I don't doubt that they all believe you're dead after that fire."

Nikoru's brows rose. "Do they? Huh. I guess I should have expected that."

"I don't know if they do or don't," Koto assured her. He cast the back of her head a smug grin. "But I'm sure your resurrection will inspire them."

"I don't think Umber's as powerful as she wants them all to believe," Nikoru murmured complacently. "Once they realize that there's hope, they'll swarm her like fire ants. She wouldn't see them coming—not when she's so preoccupied with…" A malicious leer entered Nikoru's eyes. "Hiroshi."

"No," Koto agreed, "she probably wouldn't. The last I heard before I joined you in Hikoshira was that Umber had imprisoned Hiroshi inside the manor—"

"What?" Nikoru exclaimed, whirling around with a vicious sneer.

"Some of the men pulled your body from the wreckage," Koto explained anxiously. "Well, they thought it was your body."

A hollow pang of guilt nearly staggered Nikoru onto her knees. "Mika. She told me she would make sure Umber didn't notice my disappearance, but not like…like this…"

Koto nodded, gaze lowering. "She was wearing one of your dresses, but her face was too badly marred to be otherwise recognized. They all assumed that it was you. I would have, too, had I not known you'd already departed. I would have told everyone, but Umber was there and I couldn't risk her knowing." His eyes darkened contritely. "Hiroshi was there, too. One of the first to start clawing through the wreckage. He was so desperate, thinking he'd find you, thinking you had a chance. His hands were bleeding and his face was covered with grime and his scarf kept catching on the splintered planks until he tore it off and cast it somewhere behind him. I…don't think I can ever forget how he looked in that moment. It will forever haunt me."

Nikoru clenched her jaw as a pang of fury and grief overwhelmed her. "What about Mika? How did she get away with that? They would have noticed she'd disappeared, too."

"They believed she, ironically, also died in the fire. They had no reason to further evaluate the corpse and they assumed that Mika must have…" He swallowed. "Assumed that she's only ashes now. They were all in an uproar. And then Umber made her appearance and everyone was in more of an uproar than before. Hiroshi…he was devastated. He was on his knees, begging for Umber to…But she accosted him, said she preferred you dead. That way, you could never come between them both again."

With a melancholy sigh, Nikoru knocked her forehead against her arm. "Oh, Hiroshi…"

"He bargained with Umber," Koto continued. "He promised to stay with her—as long as she harmed no one else."

"I wouldn't trust her to lead me to lunch," Nikoru grumbled. She began to emerge from the forest, slowly and methodically. "Let's go. I've got a date with fate and it's not going to wait for me much longer."

"But we need a plan!" Koto exclaimed, tediously slipping down over the edge after her.

"We'll wing it," Nikoru declared, sounding more determined that she believed she'd ever been in her entire life.

X

"We'll rally the others," Nikoru whispered urgently. "We'll take her by surprise on the morrow. It will be tenacious with only the moon to guide us, but it's the only way."

Koto nodded. "Agreed. We should start with those furthest from Umber's sight. We'll reach them quicker and cause less of a ruckus before we actually need to."

The two separated and Nikoru tapped softly on the first door she came by.

"Hide, Verona!" a voice inside cried. Then, much louder and vehemently: "Enter, witch, if it be your death wish! Only my obliteration from existence would permit your entry!"

"No one is here to take Verona," Nikoru announced softly. "It's not Umber at your door. It's Nikoru."

The man sputtered incoherently for a moment before the door slid open. Eyes widened with fear and wonder, the man soon dropped to his knees once recognizing Nikoru beneath the thick clot of dirt clinging to her like a second skin.

"Nikoru!" he all but wept. Hope had been rekindled now that she was truly standing before him in the flesh. Then she smiled and he was certain that the gods had sent his village a miracle. "Oh, praise you! Praise you!"

Nikoru quickly crouched before him and took his shoulders firmly. He saw the fire burning in her dark eyes and marveled at her determination. She had transformed, evolved into a woman stronger than the mountains themselves, and he knew in that moment that she would not be deterred. She had come to deliver them all.

"Don't start bawling now," Nikoru chided, though it was teasing and good-humored. She offered him an assuring smile and nodded at Verona, who was now standing sheepishly in the doorway. "Are you both well?"

"Yes, yes!" the man whispered reverently, throat thick with emotion. A smile split his lips as he gazed at her. "We are better than well now. The miasma has poised us, killed many, and Umber has been calling forth the youngest and prettiest girls for what we can only assume is selfishly procured—she is using their beauty to restore her own with the intention of wooing Hiroshi. But their deaths will not go unpunished. We finally have hope."

"Did the gods bring you back?" Verona whispered as she cradled her doll closer to her chest.

Nikoru laughed, using it as a moment to contemplate whether or not she should explain what had truly happened. Morally, however, she knew what was right to do: "No, no. Nothing like a miracle. I left hours before the dawn."

"What?" The man frowned. "But the body!"

Nikoru shook her head grimly, carefully choosing her next words. "I was a fool. I was afraid and I wanted to escape, so I fled that night. But on the way out, Hiroshi's brother discovered me. I realized that…that I couldn't leave this life. I'm so in love with what I've found here and I can't bring myself to abandon it. But I did leave—just for a different reason."

She withdrew the dagger from the sash around her waist. The man eyed it warily.

"I found a priestess that might have saved us, if she's not insane," Nikoru explained. "The barrier protecting Umber is indomitable without something powerful enough to combat it. Blessed gold is the only earthly weapon that can penetrate her defenses. This, this right here—" She waved the dagger. "—this is our answer. Blessed and sanctified by the priestess herself. I would have returned sooner, but the ritual lasts three days."

"But—" The man swallowed down the lump in his throat. "It was Mika, wasn't it? Who else could it have been?"

"I didn't ask her for this," Nikoru divulged desperately. "She promised me that she would make sure Umber never knew that I'd departed, but had I known her method earlier…" She weighed the dagger in her hand, gazing down decadently. "I don't know if I would have stayed or not. At the time, I was so afraid. But it might have been the only way to save us. If I hadn't left when I did, I don't know if anyone could have escaped with the way things are now. This miasma is seeping out of the valley and it's devastated the forest. If we'd waited any longer, I don't think things would be much better."

A pall fell over them then as the man mollified over her words. Finally, he looked her hard in the eye and nodded. "We need to stop this before Umber pollutes the world with this darkness. She has taken so much from us these last few weeks, but any hope is immeasurable to us now. It is the only weapon that remains."

Nikoru breathed a sigh, grateful that she had not lost his support. "Thank you. I swear to you, I'll stop her. I'll sacrifice myself if I have to—whatever it takes to end this forever."

"Nikoru?"

Hearing her name on the wind, Nikoru turned on the pads of her feet, expecting to find Koto there behind her. Instead, she found a small huddle of women whom she recognized immediately from the schoolhouse. Their clothes were torn and frayed, but their dark almond eyes glittered with an unbroken faith as though they had expected her to return all along. Upon glimpsing her face under the pale moonlight, the women began cheering quietly and dragged her into their arms. Not one avoided the dirt. They had been sleeping in worse things than dirt for the last few weeks.

"Oh, I knew it had to be you!" one of them cried.

"The men didn't believe us," another chuckled. "Koto immediately came to find us, and the idiots didn't believe a damn word of it!"

"Yet here you are, flesh and bone!" This woman frowned and pulled away to scrutinize Nikoru. "Mostly bone. You feel like you're nothing but bone! Have you even eaten anything since you left?"

Nikoru laughed breathlessly as the women pulled away and began intently examining her. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Leaves just aren't all that filling." The woman exploded into an uproar about her lack of nutrition and Nikoru took a moment to revel in their concern. She had missed their selflessness and compassion. "I didn't actually eat leaves—that was a joke! I didn't eat much, but I did eat. Maybe not enough, but it was enough to get me back here."

One of the women eyed her crossly. "You are going to come back to my home and eat until you vomit. I won't have you starving!"

"But Umber—" Nikoru began.

"—Can wait," the woman interrupted firmly. "You eat first. Then we'll discuss what to do about that gall-guzzler."