Balsa frowned, wondering what he meant. He continued calmly, “First Kassa, and now Jiguro’s foster child! I know many illusions appear in the Mountain Deep to test those who enter, but listen carefully, servant of the Mountain King! I have been chosen as the Dancer. None of the King’s Spears are foolish enough to be swayed by you, no matter what you might say.” He turned to the Spears. “Isn’t that right? You, the King’s Spears, the greatest warriors in Kanbal — you’ll stand with me no matter what.” He saw the hesitation in their faces. “I would stand with you,” he said quietly. Then he turned to Balsa and spread out both hands. “So, you monster of the Deep! If you have been sent to kill me, do so, if that is truly the wish of the Mountain King.”
Balsa stared in amazement at the man who stood before her with his arms spread wide. He is the real monster, she thought. He feels no shame at all that he betrayed Jiguro, his own brother, to become a false hero. She remembered Jiguro’s joy and relief when he had passed on the Spear Dance and the gold ring, and a wave of nausea rose from deep in her chest. This worthless man had taken all the misery they had endured and exploited it to his own advantage: Jiguro’s agony at having to slay his own friends, his grief-stricken face streaming with tears, the days of hunger and sleeping in the mud, the shudder of his spear in his hands as he plunged it into flesh — just to make enough money for them to survive. The rage that had simmered and smoldered inside her since she was a child flared into a white-hot flame.
Softly she lowered the point of her spear to the ground and slipped it under Yuguro’s spear, flipping it toward him. She gazed at him with a cold smile on her lips. “I’m impressed. It appears I have no hope of defeating you in a war of words. If you insist that I am a dweller of the Deep, then so be it — I will play your game. But only the strongest spear-wielder is chosen for the Dance, yes?” She swung her spear once through the air and leveled it. “Come, then, and see what the spear of Jiguro can do.”
In a thunderous voice, she shouted, “Yuguro of the Musa clan! I, Balsa of the Yonsa clan, raised by Jiguro, challenge you! Guardians of the Darkness, watch carefully, and judge who truly deserves to join the Dance.”
As soon as the words had left her mouth, the light in the chamber dimmed. Balsa and the warriors looked up, startled. Behind them stood shadows deeper than their own.
Stillness filled the chamber. They felt as if the Darkness itself were watching them.
“It looks like they answered,” Balsa commented.
Yuguro’s mouth lifted in a smile. “So it does. Fine. I accept your challenge. Come!”
In his heart, he was laughing. What arrogance! She thinks a mere woman can beat me! That’s like baring her throat and asking me to kill her. Then a white flash grazed the side of his neck and he shrank back in surprise. Before he could register the searing pain, a blur of lights seemed to shoot toward his throat and he leapt away.
An icy chill swept through him. Never before had he encountered a spear that moved so swiftly and with such deadly accuracy. He opened his eyes wide and exhaled sharply. Any trace of contempt had vanished. All that remained was a burning hate. He took a deep breath, and energy radiated from him, electrifying the very air.
In a streak of light, his spear tip blazed toward Balsa’s face, and she swiftly leaned away from it. The spear point vanished, only to leap up at her from below. Reflexively, she knocked it aside with her spear grip, swinging her own weapon around to strike his knees. He jumped and brought his spear down upon her from above. Balsa repelled the stroke, but the force of the impact made her hands tingle. A chill raced up her neck as Yuguro’s spear point snaked toward her — from the right, then left, then from below. She parried each blow, slowly pressing forward. They were almost evenly matched. Kahm had finally regained consciousness, and he stood motionless with the other warriors and Kassa, watching spellbound as the two spears collided like bolts of lightning.
Then the spears crossed, each fighter aiming at the other’s throat. Blood spurted from Yuguro’s chin and Balsa’s cheek. Yuguro turned his face aside at the blow, but Balsa did not, and that difference tipped the balance. She thrust her spear through Yuguro’s shoulder, then pulled it out, kicking him in the chest as she withdrew. He fell writhing to the ground.
Rage consumed Balsa as she approached him, the blood pounding in her temples. She gazed down at him where he lay moaning, one hand pressed against his shoulder, and she murmured, “Now you die.” Raising her spear, she brought it down with all her might —
And in that instant, all light disappeared and the world plunged into darkness.
Balsa felt the blow she had aimed at Yuguro repelled and leapt back. Then she froze. In the pitch darkness, she sensed rather than saw a hazy blue figure standing between her and the prostrate Yuguro, looking down at him. She felt the hair rise on the nape of her neck, and goose bumps covered her skin.
The shape of that blue shadow seemed impossibly familiar. It can’t be … The words of Laloog’s message floated into her mind. “The Guardians of the Darkness are not servants of the Mountain King. They are those who have left this world, your —”
It can’t be.
She peered at the shadows in the darkness that surrounded the ring of warriors. She recognized one of them, and then another and another.
It can’t be.
An icy coldness washed over Yuguro and set his teeth chattering as he stared up at the blue figure. The cold was so intense it numbed the burning pain in his shoulder.
What’s this? Am I dreaming?
He tried to scramble backward. Those eyes watching him from the darkness — they belonged to a man he knew well. You mean you’re still alive? But the energy radiating from the shadow above him was not that of living flesh and blood. Through the pain and fear that gripped him, he suddenly remembered what Laloog had told him. Of course. I forgot. You’re a hyohlu. And I’ve come to put you out of your misery, to send you back to the bottom of Darkness. Desperately he searched for the right words to convince it to return to the land of the dead. “Brother,” he whispered, “do you blame me? Perhaps what I did seems unfair. But surely you can understand. I had no choice. It was the only way to redeem the honor of the Musa clan.
“It must have been hard for you, brother. Very hard. But I’ll ease your suffering; I’ll ease your pain. Open the door to the palace of the Mountain King — for the sake of the people of Kanbal, for their happiness. You understand, don’t you? This is the only way I can save you….
“If you do this, Kanbal will become a rich nation. No one will go hungry, you see? Your people will be filled with gratitude. The shame you bore will become a tragic legend, and your life will at last have meaning!”
Yuguro looked up at the figure expectantly. But it did not respond. It merely gazed at him silently with those dark eyes, apparently unmoved by his words.
As Yuguro gazed back, anger and disgust slowly welled inside him. You fool! he thought. You pitiful man, clinging to past tragedy just because the path you chose ended in disaster. Yet you dare to blame me! You terrible, terrible fool!
Something inside him snapped with twenty-five years of suppressed anger. Damn you! It’s me who should blame you! Do you realize what you did to my life by fleeing Kanbal for someone else’s daughter? Do you know how I felt all those years I spent trying to be invisible? How I hated you!
A burning rage filled his chest and his hand moved of its own accord. He felt it reach behind his back to unsheath his dagger. He knew that he should stop himself, but the desire to cut this man down was overpowering. He swung the dagger out sideways and stabbed the shadow in the leg.
Instantly, a fiery pain shot up his own leg. He screamed. The smell of blood filled the darkness and blood spurted from the wound with every heartbeat. What happened? Why am I hurt? Gasping for breath, he backed away. In his terror, he could no longer think clearly. Die, damn you! You’re dead already! How long are you going to keep ruining my life? If you’d just go away, the glory would be mine! So
bbing, he groped for his spear in the darkness and pulled it toward him. He felt the shadow stoop over him, reading his thoughts. In his heart, he shrieked, If you’re truly my brother, give me the luisha! Make up for what you did to me! Give it to me!
And then die already! Go back into the darkness forever!
He felt nothing but hate for the one who stood there.
Balsa felt a deep sadness surge through the darkness. The familiarity of it struck her with such painful intensity that she staggered. Each time Jiguro had killed one of his friends, she had been there watching, never averting her eyes. And she had felt what he felt, as if the emotion bled from his back and shoulders — a sorrow so sharp and tangible she could almost touch it….
That same grief now flooded from the hyohlu that bent over Yuguro.
He’s going to kill him…. And it makes him sad….
Yuguro drew his spear back and then drove it at his opponent with all his might. Like a mirror image, the hyohlu raised his spear and struck. But just before its point rammed home, Balsa blocked it with her spear and swung it up in a wide arc away from Yuguro.
The hyohlu leveled his spear at her. In that instant, all doubt was banished from her mind. They had crossed spears thousands of times for sixteen years and more.
Jiguro. A hot lump rose in her throat. You mustn’t kill Yuguro. If you do, you’ll grieve forever.
In the same way she had felt his sorrow, anger now seeped from his shadow. Suddenly his spear flashed toward her, slicing through the darkness. Startled, she parried the blow and turned it aside. He struck again, and she parried again. With each exchange, they moved away from Yuguro to face each other alone. Their spears struck with blinding speed until, gradually, their movements melded into a fluid, rhythmical dance.
“The Spear Dance has begun,” the old Herder whispered in Kassa’s ear. Although it was pitch dark, the Dancers’ thoughts and feelings hummed and flashed in the heart of every man in the chamber. More clearly than sight, they could feel the two dancing with dizzying speed as their thoughts intertwined.
“Pray for them, Kassa,” the Herder whispered. “Pray that Balsa will be able to lay the hyohlu to rest.”
As they danced, each thrust and jab of Jiguro’s spear seemed to transmit his emotions. One violent thrust grazed her side, and she felt his pent-up hatred burning in the open wound. He hated her! This realization shocked her, yet somewhere deep inside she had always known.
If only I hadn’t had to care for you …
How many times he must have suppressed that thought. If he had not sworn to care for her, he never would have been forced to kill his friends. If he had not been burdened with her life, he never would have had to flee Kanbal. Rogsam was not the only one who had derailed his life; Balsa had too. Jiguro attacked relentlessly, and each time he broke through her guard, agony ripped through her, permeating her very bones. And waves of hate rolled from the eight other hyohlu who stood in the darkness, spears in hand. But for you, they whispered, we would not have had to die so young.
A bone-gnawing pain sank into her chest, and as it did so, something stirred deep inside her — a fierce, aching rage. All the feelings she had locked deep in her heart, hidden even from herself, burst forth unchecked.
Then tell me, what could I have done? she lashed back, repelling Jiguro’s spear. I was only six years old! Are you saying I should never have been born? Or that I should have killed myself? She drove her spear at him and felt the hard shock in her hands as he blocked the blow.
I never asked you to save me! It was your choice, not mine!
Her spear grazed his arm and she saw him recoil.
Did you think I didn’t know? Did you think I didn’t feel how you resented me every time you had to kill a friend? I always knew!
Her cries were directed not only at Jiguro but also at the eight hyohlu who stood watching.
Your deaths hurt me. They cut me to the core. And the pain they caused could never be relieved because I could never hope to atone for them.
Her spear tip sliced across Jiguro’s ribs.
Even after you died, even to this day, I still carry that burden!
His own spear shot toward her, and with a great wordless cry, she turned it aside. It flew up, leaving his chest unguarded. If she drove her spear home, he would die. In the darkness, she felt his eyes on her. She thought she heard his voice.
Kill me then, Balsa, he seemed to say. Take all your rage and kill me. Then find your way through to the other side.
At the sound of his voice, a warm, moist sadness welled up inside her, as if large drops of rain had begun to fall, one by one, on the bleak, parched sands of her fury. Her skin recalled the smell and warmth of his body as he held her in his arms at night, when they huddled in the mud beneath the eaves of some shop in the freezing rain.
Despite his grief and pain, at times weeping with the burden, still he had protected her, embraced her, raised her….
She felt him drive his spear toward her, inviting her to attack. Though she knew the blow was aimed directly at her heart, she did not move. It pierced her chest. Pain exploded through her body, and she saw herself die. In the agony of that death, she staggered toward Jiguro and threw her arms around the darkness there.
His warm, familiar presence enveloped her. Her feelings for him and his for her turned to warmth … then fused together. She heard him whisper in her heart, Farewell, Balsa.
She had been stabbed to the heart, and she could still feel the terrible pain; but nothing flowed from the wound, nor did she smell blood. A soft blue light radiated from her arms where she embraced him, illuminating the chamber, and suddenly, light blazed from the other hyohlu as well. She felt Jiguro melt from her arms, vanishing into that blue light. When the warmth of his body faded from hers, only loneliness lingered, like a thin wisp of smoke trailing up from a quenched candlewick.
Kassa, who had been watching in stunned amazement, suddenly realized that the rock floor beneath his feet had become transparent. The king screamed and his Spears cowered in fear, crouching down and hugging themselves at the sight of what lay beneath them.
Then suddenly they were floating in water from the chest down — water infinitely deep and so breathtakingly clear it seemed they were floating in midair. Yet, strangely, it did not feel cold at all. The lights radiated by Jiguro and the other hyohlu encircled Balsa and fused together, holding her for one last moment in their warmth. Then the light passed on, flowing away through the water to embrace the others in turn. As the light touched them, each one heard a whispered farewell. The thoughts and feelings of a father, a brother, or an uncle tragically wrenched from this world softly touched their hearts and vanished.
With stunned faces they watched the blue light merge with the water and spread ever outward until it penetrated the rock walls. The gray stone began to change and glow with an unearthly blue light. Suddenly they realized what they were looking at and gasped, thunderstruck.
Luisha! The luminous stone!
The transparent blue light wrapped itself around them. One of the Spears timidly tried to touch the luisha, but though his hand seemed to reach it, he felt nothing. Just then, Balsa saw something waver far below, deep beneath the surface of the water. The blue light shimmered as something enormous began swirling slowly upward….
The Sootee Lan? she wondered, but immediately realized that it was far too big — and too clear. Everyone stared with bated breath, watching the creature spiral toward them. It was a huge, transparent water snake. It had no eyes, and even its innards were transparent, so that it seemed to be made of water. But its scales were dazzlingly beautiful; they glittered blue as it ascended, rubbing its body slowly against the rocks.
For each time the water serpent scraped against the wall, the luisha rubbed off onto its scales, shimmering; and whenever it swirled and glided through the water, the life-filled water penetrated the surrounding rock. They watched, mesmerized by the serpent’s dance. No one moved, not even the terrified ki
ng. The gifts of cheese and dried goat meat that had been piled on the floor of the ceremony chamber bobbed in the water, where they too were transformed into shapes of hazy blue light. To Kassa, it seemed that the hopes and dreams of the people who made them had been turned into light — and swallowed by the serpent.
For a second, Balsa thought she glimpsed Jiguro’s face reflected in its scales, which shone like mother of pearl. Perhaps it was just an illusion. But rather than the grim and forbidding face Balsa remembered, he looked bright and joyful, much like Kassa. Tears welled in her eyes, and she covered her face with her hands and wept.
The serpent’s dance gradually began to change. Its scales shimmered and rippled, and its skin wrinkled each time its body brushed against the rocks. Kassa suddenly realized what was happening: The snake was shedding. Its skin began to loosen gradually, radiating ripples of rainbow light. As it peeled off, the serpent inside seemed to vanish. The body beneath, which lacked any luisha coating, was as clear as water.
Once its skin had been shed, a warm and tender affection, like that of a parent for its child, emanated from the creature, embracing the men where they floated in the water and causing them to tremble. Then it turned and began swimming down to the bottom, the water swirling gently, until all that was left was its beautiful skin, shimmering in the water.
Realizing instantly what they must do, Kassa called to the king, who seemed spellbound by the blue light. “Your Majesty!”
The king turned absently. Kassa pointed to the skin. “It’s luisha! The gift of the Mountain King.”
The king blinked and looked at him, then at the huge snakeskin floating on the water. “You mean … Am I supposed to go and get it?”
When Kassa nodded, the king looked around desperately for Yuguro. But he was nowhere to be seen. While he hesitated, the luminous blue skin slowly began to sink.
Losing his patience, Kahm roared, “Your Majesty! Do you intend to let the people of Kanbal starve?”
Guardian of the Darkness Page 16
