Guardian of the Darkness

by Nahoko Uehashi

  One night, a piercing whistle split the air. Balsa jolted awake and sat up in her bed in the rock chamber. In the darkness, she could vaguely make out Toto, who had been sleeping on the other side. He rose slowly, unusually tense. “Have we been found?” Balsa whispered.

  “No. Something even worse has happened.”

  After a short interval, Balsa sensed someone else enter the space beneath the rocks. When the small figure emerged from the darkness, however, she was startled. He looked like one of the Herder People, but his eyes glowed green like a wild beast’s, and when he moved, he left a trail of light against the blackness.

  Not bothering to sit down, he began talking quickly to Toto. To her surprise, he was not speaking Kanbalese. Toto said something and the other responded at length, gesturing at times to emphasize a point. Toto nodded and seemed to give him instructions. The man bowed and left.

  “What happened?” Balsa asked. Toto did not answer, but sat motionless in the dark. Finally, she felt him turn toward her. In the faint light from the rock window, she thought she could see his eyes gleaming at her.

  “Balsa,” he said. “May I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you feel any loyalty toward Kanbal?”

  “Do you mean to the Yonsa clan?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.”

  “Loyalty? No, none. Perhaps I care a little about my native land, but I don’t have a trace of the kind of clan loyalty Kassa has.”

  Toto nodded. “You said that you make your living as a bodyguard, right? That you’re paid to protect people?”

  She nodded. Toto leaned toward her. “Can I hire you to do a job then?”

  Balsa pulled back, frowning. “Why? Who on earth could you want me to protect?”

  “It’s a tangled ball of yarn, as we say here. The story’s so complicated it will take a while to explain. And to do that, I’ll have to break one of the laws of my people. But there’s no point in obeying the rules if it means we lose everything else. Balsa, rest for another thirty lon. When I wake you, put on your kahl and your boots and follow me. I’m going to take you to our meeting place.”

  Balsa sensed danger ahead, but she owed the Herder People. Although she did not understand what was happening, she could not desert them in a crisis.

  Kassa felt someone shaking him and woke with a start.

  “Kassa,” Gina whispered in his ear. Her teeth were chattering. “Wake up. Nahna’s waiting.”

  “Nahna?” Kassa repeated sleepily. Nahna was a Herder — Yoyo’s mother.

  “She threw a stone through the smoke hole to wake me up and told me to get you. She’s outside. She said to be sure you wear your kahl.”

  Kassa rubbed his eyes and hastily pulled his boots from under the bed. The freezing air struck him as soon as he threw off the covers. Shaking with cold, he got ready.

  “She said I couldn’t come,” Gina continued. “Kassa, do you think something’s happened to Balsa?”

  “I don’t know. Anyway, I’ll go see. Hurry up and get back into bed. You’ll catch a cold like that.”

  Kassa felt Gina’s anxious eyes on him. Taking her by the shoulders, he gave her a gentle nudge. “Off you go now. It’ll be all right. No matter what happens, I’ll stand by Balsa.” He felt the tension drain from her body.

  He lowered the rope, climbed down from the smoke hole, and ran over to Nahna. Her eyes gave off a green light, and he started when he saw her face.

  “Master Kassa. Toto the Elder needs you. Come with me. I’ll take you to Eagle’s Nest.”

  “Eagle’s Nest? Now?” Kassa exclaimed. Eagle’s Nest was halfway up the crags and so steep and rugged that not even the mountain goats approached it. Kassa had never been there, but he was sure it would be impossible in the pitch dark.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll guide you. But hurry.”

  “Wait. I need to get a torch.”

  “No torches. People will see us. It’s all right. Give me your hand and I’ll show you the way.”

  Nahna was so short she only came up to Kassa’s navel, but she moved very quickly. He ran after her through the dark.

  Balsa woke after sleeping for about an hour and followed Toto outside. Although her night vision was comparatively good, it was still difficult to climb the rocks just by the light of the stars. Thorny shrubs growing between the stones scratched her hands as she hurried after the Elder, who moved as nimbly as if it were midday. Suddenly he seemed to vanish between two rocks. A second later she heard his muffled voice. “The path slopes a long way down here. Be careful not to slip.”

  The crevice slanted steeply downward and was barely high enough for her to crouch inside: It would have been impassable for a grown man. Still crouching, she worked her way along it for some time before her feet finally touched level ground. She ducked under the edge and came out into a strange grassy field. Massive rocks towered on every side, as if they were at the bottom of a deep bowl. A light flickered at the foot of the west wall. Beckoned by Toto, Balsa stepped onto the grass, but then stopped dead. She sensed others there — not just one or two, but a huge crowd. Yet when she looked around, she saw no one, just the tall black stones looming in the darkness.

  “Come to the fire. I thought you might find it too cold here, so I lit one for you.”

  A warm flame wavered above a pat of dried goat dung in the middle of a simple fire pit. Balsa sat down beside it and wrapped her kahl tightly about her.

  “Let me share with you one of Kanbal’s secrets,” Toto said quietly. Perhaps due to the shape of the space, his voice echoed up the stone walls. “There are two kingdoms in the Yusa mother range: the kingdom above ground, which is ruled by the king of Kanbal, and the kingdom beneath, which is ruled by the Mountain King. We, the Herder People, once belonged to the kingdom below.”

  Balsa breathed in sharply.

  “We used to travel freely back and forth between the two kingdoms.” Toto spread his arms. “That’s why we’re so small. And we know how to see in the dark.”

  He stood up and walked behind the fire pit. Balsa saw him bend down and take something from where the grass met the rock. He returned with a small leaf from which hung a drop of water. “Close your eyes.” She did as she was told and felt the cold leaf brush her eyelids. “Now open them.”

  She opened her eyes and gasped. The world was transformed. Everything glowed bluish-white, as if bathed in moonlight. Even the hollows in the stones were lit up in stark relief. And crouching on the walls that towered above her, the Herder People stared down at her, like birds perched on rocky ledges.

  “This has happened before,” she whispered. “When I was poisoned — when I saw the Titi Lan, everything looked bright, just like this.”

  “That’s right. This is a togal leaf. If you boil a few of these down, you can make a deadly poison. But a drop from a leaf soaked in water isn’t poisonous. Long ago, we could see in the dark without this, but we spent so many years in the sunlight that we gradually lost our night vision. The Titi Lan, and others like them, still live in the caves under the mountains. It’s too bright for them outside during the day.”

  He sat down at the edge of the fireplace and Balsa narrowed her eyes. The light from the flames was so intense that she could not look at him directly.

  “I don’t know when we first began to live above ground, but it was long, long ago. The people of Kanbal were very poor. Sometimes they found precious gems in the river. Assuming that there must be a huge hoard of jewels under the mountain, they decided to invade. Unlike the world above, however, the land below was in utter darkness. Many Kanbalese perished there in the dark, dyeing its waters red with blood.

  “A few men of greater mettle survived. When they saw the Mountain King, they realized just what they had pitted themselves against and begged forgiveness. The King pardoned them and promised to send luisha every few decades to these poor brothers who lived above ground. They thanked him and vowed that when they came to receive his precious gift, the
y would prove their sincerity to the Mountain King. This was the beginning of the Giving Ceremony.

  “Our ancestors originally lived in the caves near the surface and worshipped the Mountain King. To the Kanbalese, however, we only showed ourselves as the Herder People, who tend the mountain goats on the crags. We hid the fact that we were subjects of the Mountain King in order to keep an eye on them. They’re a very hasty, greedy people. We were afraid that someday they might break their promise and again stain the land below with blood.”

  Toto smiled suddenly. “But after so many years of living with them, we gradually came to love them. Now we think of them as our friends. They may be foolish and hasty, but they are also a kind, warmhearted people. We don’t interfere with their lives out under the sun. But if any of them should wander like a lost goat into the caves with some foolish idea of stealing the stones, it’s our duty to stop them.”

  Balsa could only stare at Toto speechlessly as he related this tale. He grinned. “Some among the Kanbalese know our secret. And they hold us in great esteem…. Your foster father, Jiguro, was one of these.”

  “What?”

  “He was a great Dancer, you know.”

  “Dancer?”

  “The one who partners the hyohlu in the Spear Dance. Only the best spear-wielder is chosen for this honor.

  “At the time of the Giving Ceremony, the greatest warriors from each clan — the King’s Spears and their attendants — descend beneath the mountain. They compete with each other, and the one who emerges victorious dances with the hyohlu, who guards the Last Door. When the hyohlu acknowledges the Dancer as the victor, the door finally opens, and the true form of the Mountain King is revealed. That is when the men of Kanbal learn for the first time who we, the Herder People, really are.”

  Toto sighed. “I knew Jiguro from the time he was born. He didn’t show his feelings much, but he was a solid, honest man. And he was a gifted spearman, far surpassing any other from his youth. It didn’t surprise me one bit that he beat all the Spears to become the Dancer, even though he was just an attendant. Still …” He stopped and stared steadily at Balsa. “His gift brought disaster to Kanbal.”

  “That’s not —” Balsa began, but he raised his hand.

  “I know. He was forced to make that decision in order to save your life. But it still doesn’t change the fact that he brought great misfortune to this land.” He gazed at her with piercing eyes. “Yuguro claims that before he died, Jiguro chose him to succeed him as the King’s Spear. Even if he lied about defeating Jiguro, is it true that Yuguro was chosen as the Spear?”

  Balsa shrugged. “How should I know? All I know is that they practiced together in the dead of night, and when he left, Jiguro gave him his gold spear ring.”

  Toto nodded. “If Jiguro, the last Dancer, gave his ring to Yuguro, it means that he wished him to become the next Dancer. Jiguro brought much unhappiness to Kanbal, but that was the seed of the worst evil.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Toto looked at Balsa with glittering eyes. “You think that Jiguro killed his friends. But that’s because he couldn’t say more. Like all those who have been to the Mountain King’s palace, he vowed to remain silent for life about what he had witnessed there.” Toto moistened his lips. “Let me tell you how the ceremony works. If you think about why youths of only sixteen or seventeen are allowed to attend when it’s supposed to be for the strongest spear-wielders in Kanbal, you’ll understand why he did something much worse than just killing his friends.

  “Up until now, this ceremony was held about once every twenty years. To participate more than once, a man would have to be under twenty-five the first time he went as an attendant or a Spear, because by forty-five he’d be reaching his limit as a spear-wielder. The first Spears, who knew just how difficult, how terrifying, the ceremony was, made sure that at least some of the participants would be experienced enough to prevent failure. They started the custom of bringing attendants so that nine participants were always young enough to participate in the next ceremony.”

  The stern light in Toto’s eyes sharpened. “Now do you understand? All the young men that Jiguro killed had served either as a Spear or as an attendant in the last ceremony thirty-five years ago. In other words, Jiguro slew all those who might have become the Dancer in the next ceremony.”

  A shiver ran up Balsa’s neck.

  “The king called Rogsam was a terrible man. Not only did he kill his older brother to seize the throne, but he also found the perfect excuse to eliminate the best young men from every clan … Jiguro.”

  Balsa felt her body go numb. What an appallingly clever trap Rogsam had hidden within the lie that made Jiguro a thief. And Jiguro had played right into his hands.

  “Rogsam was probably aiming to weaken the clans and make his rule as king absolute.” Toto shook his head. “But he lacked a vital piece of information. He had never seen the Giving Ceremony. It was his older brother Naguru who had served as the king’s attendant, so he didn’t know what it meant to wipe out all future candidates for the Dancer.”

  Toto suddenly brought his face up close to Balsa’s. “I’m the eldest of my people. Though I have only a few years left to live, I still receive all messages and make all final decisions. We’ve known that something was afoot for some time now. Tonight I received word from the Herders who live in the mountains near the capital, confirming that our fears were well founded. Yuguro and the current king of Kanbal have hatched an incredibly foolish plot.”

  He sighed deeply and then said with disgust, “When the Last Door opens at the ceremony this year, Yuguro and King Radalle plan to invade the palace of the Mountain King with an army of several hundred men. They aim to conquer the land beneath the mountain and take as much luisha as they want.” A mixture of sorrow and anger kindled in his eyes. “If only Jiguro hadn’t killed those young men. None of the king’s men went below in the last ceremony. They have no idea what a stupid, futile dream this is. The king might be a fool, but if his Spears were wise and steady, such a plan wouldn’t even have been considered.”

  His gleaming eyes bored into Balsa. “The Darkness within the caves reads the minds of men. If the hyohlu detect any enmity toward the Mountain King in the heart of the Dancer, they’ll kill him instantly. No matter how great a warrior he may be, nothing can stop them if they wish to destroy him. And even if thousands of soldiers could be hidden in the Mountain Deep, they could never defeat the hyohlu.”

  Balsa shivered again, remembering the cleanly sliced torch in the cave.

  Clenching his teeth, Toto the Elder declared emphatically, “When hostility fills the Darkness of the ceremony chamber, this country will fall. If the hyohlu kills the Dancer, the Last Door will not open. If the door fails to open, Kanbal will have no luisha. Without luisha, there will be no grain. Without grain, thousands will die of hunger.” He closed his eyes. “How I wish I had never lived to see such things as this.”

  Silence filled the darkness. Not a breath was heard.

  Balsa shook herself as if to throw off the weight of that silence. “And just what are you trying to make me do?”

  Toto looked up. “I want you to protect Kassa.”

  “You what?” Balsa frowned. She could not see how his tale was related to Kassa.

  Toto leaned toward her. “There’s only one way to save Kanbal. The king and his Spears must be convinced to give up their plan before the hyohlu enter the chamber.”

  “Surely you’re not planning to make Kassa do that? That’s crazy! How can you possibly expect him to convince the king or anyone else?”

  “Let me finish, will you?” Toto snapped irritably. “Believe me, I know full well how risky this is. But I can’t think of any other way. If more of those who were at the last ceremony still lived, I wouldn’t even consider it. Anyone who has been below would listen to us. They’d understand the consequences of trying to attack the Mountain King.” His eyes glittered brightly. “But they’re all dead. Even those who wer
en’t killed by Jiguro have died over the last thirty-five years. Only two remain: Laloog of the Yonsa clan and Lonsa of the Muto clan. Of course, the best thing would be for them talk to the king and his men in person, but they’re so old, they’re too weak to walk. And even by horse, it’s a ten-day journey from Yonsa and Muto territory to the chamber.”

  Toto struck the ground twice. “We know a road underground by which you can reach the place in just four days. But while it’s easy for little people like us, there are places where it’s too narrow for the men of Kanbal to pass.”

  Balsa grimaced. She was beginning to see why the Elder had picked Kassa.

  “As you’ve guessed, Kassa’s small. And you too are much smaller than many men. The two of you could travel this road and reach the ceremony in time. Laloog of the Yonsa clan is highly respected by all the clans because he went to the last ceremony. If Kassa takes a message from him, some men will listen —”

  “Are you out of your mind?!” Balsa burst out. “Neither the king nor Yuguro will give up this plan now that they’ve set it in motion! Kassa will be caught and killed! He’s only fifteen. How can you think of risking his life —”

  “That’s why I’m asking you to protect him. Fortunately the chamber where the ceremony takes place is very dark. If they refuse to change their minds, you can take Kassa and flee.”

  Balsa glared at him, but he did not avert his gaze. “No matter how great the risk, it’s the only way to save Kanbal. Won’t you help us?” Once again, he brought his face up close to hers. “Balsa, Spear Wielder, trained by the Dancer Jiguro, when you returned to Kanbal, the hyohlu came up from the Mountain Deep to dance with you. Never has such a thing happened before. And you were rescued by the Titi Lan and so brought to us.” He smiled broadly. “Surely this can’t have been coincidence. Jiguro, though chosen, betrayed the Mountain King and brought great misfortune on his native land. He slew our young spearmen and gave his gold ring to Yuguro. Even if he did it out of love for his brother and for the sake of the chieftain’s line, how can his soul ever find peace in death?”