Raven's Quest

by Karen Hayes-Baker

  “Dear Gods in heaven! Have you ever seen anything like it?” Thom uttered as much to himself as to the men by his side as they stared at the blazing city enveloped and shrouded in its black cloaking umbrella cloud. Panic threatened to overtake him. How were they going to get into the city let alone the castle in this? He glanced at Karasu and the Generals and was somewhat gladdened that they too looked dismayed. He thought about their plan. He was supposed to give the order to fire upon the castle, but he could barely discern where the fortress stood and he balked at inflicting more horror upon the hapless inhabitants. He looked to the gun turrets and could see his own men staring with disbelief at the scene before them. Suddenly he understood the enormity of the task he had set himself. Pumice rained down lightly around them despite the wind carrying most of it northwards. He watched its ineffectual splashes into the sea and wondered at the ability of rock to float.

  “Thom?” Karasu prompted sensing the Kapitan’s wavering courage. “Thom, I need your help. We must go.”

  Devlin stared at him and at the two Samurai. He heard the plea in the young ronin’s voice but his fortitude was failing. Taku helped Hayato onto the deck where the four stood with a handful of expectant and fearful looking men. He swore as he beheld the scene and turned anxiously to his brother.

  “Mizuki? Is she…?” he asked.

  Karasu shook his head.

  “I do not know Brother. I cannot find her. I do not know what that means. She could be dead or she could be paralysed with fear. It has happened before when she dare not contact me. There is only one way to find out. I think the Kapitan has lost his nerve though. I may have to go alone,” he replied.

  “No Karasu-san. I will come with you,” Jun announced and was joined in this conviction by Hiraiwa and Taku.

  “No! You cannot go. I need my generals for the fight which is to follow. Taku may go, but it would be better for us if it were some of these pirates. They and their Kapitan are more dispensable than any of you,” Hayato responded harshly. His brother and Hiraiwa cast a guilty glance at Devlin who noted their expression but took it to be one of pity. He could not understand their conversation. Under normal circumstances this alone would have spurred him on, but as the volcano thundered, lightening flickered and the streets beneath glowed with hellish fires, he struggled to find the strength to react. He looked once more at his men.

  “Stand down lads. None of you will go to your deaths today,” he said to them and noted their absolute relief upon his words.

  “Thom!” Karasu ejaculated knowing that all was lost, that the Kapitan was not going to help them anymore.

  “No Karasu, I will not sacrifice my men for my gold or for your sister. Their lives are not mine to give,” the Kapitan snapped and turned away.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  Mizuki came around with a start and the sure belief that her eternity in Hell had begun. Her head pounded with hammer like blows and she put a hand up to her temple bringing it away with blood on her fingers. She tried to stand, but with the combination of giddiness and the constant tremors shaking the ground, she could not manage to get further than her knees. With mounting hysteria she called out loud and with her mind to her brother. Immediately his thoughts flooded and mixed with her own. He was near, but he too was overwrought with terror albeit one borne of the fear of losing her.

  She shuddered and sat heavily upon her bed of straw. Above her the din of the eruption echoed and reverberated through the cave, but along with it she was sure she heard a malignant cachinnation and saw dark shadows moving. She stifled a cry and reached outwards to the ship sending her spirit soaring forwards in time and space and she understood immediately that Karasu could not help her. His abhorrence at violence would prevent him acting decisively when the time came. She cast around frantically, knowing others held no such moral high ground as she found the Samurai Generals and the faithful Taku, but it was with another man that her faith and hope were restored. She had not thought to look for him, but once she found him, a peaceful warmth spread through her borne of the certain knowledge that he shared the affection she felt for him and that he would come for her. She pushed her spirit outwards towards him. It was something new. An ability she had not even known she possessed and whether it was her extreme circumstances that made it possible or whether it was the fact that they had connected previously, she would never know, yet she reached out and touched Thom’s soul.

  Karasu fought a whirl of fear and anger. He had heard Mizuki’s frantic cry for help and then almost as quickly she was gone again from his mind. He called out to her, but she was not there. He gazed at the Generals and his brother, at the retreating back of Devlin and he made his decision.

  “Kapitan,” he called, “If you be so good to wait here, I fetch my sister alone.” He then explained to the Samurai.

  “No Karasu-san, you could not do it alone. You would not get to the shore. It takes more than one man to row the boat and the pumice will make the going harder. You must have help. Some of the Samurai if the pirates have lost courage,” Jun interjected grabbing the ronin’s arm.

  “He is right Brother. You need help. Taku, go and find five men. Make sure they are volunteers,” Hayato instructed and as the warrior ran below deck he too turned to shout at Devlin, but as he opened his mouth to reiterate his sibling’s request he saw the Kapitan stagger, his hands flying to his head.

  Thom fell to his knees. The men around him thought he had been struck by a missile and as some rushed forwards to his assistance others looked fearfully up at the sky. Densall reached his Kapitan first and made to help him to his feet. However, before he bent to lift the man, sure he would find him horribly hurt, Thom’s head shot up and he clambered assuredly to his feet. He ran to the rails and gripped them with white knuckles gazing at the devastation ashore.

  “Mizuki,” he whispered to himself as his mind filled with images from her. He saw through her eyes the place where she was hidden, he heard through her ears the terrible sounds of her prison and he felt her almost paralysing fear and her humbling faith in him.

  He turned and looked at the pirates and Ashiman about him, saw their puzzlement at his behaviour and he grinned broadly.

  “Mr Densall. Prepare the for’ard port boat. The General’s men can row her. Once we are away take the ship to a safer distance and wait. We shall return before the tide turns. Mr Oyama, I would be honoured to accompany you ashore,” he announced with a flourish of his hands and though Karasu felt relieved to have the company of such a man, the pirates were assured that their Kapitan really had lost his mind.

  The boat was prepared and four Samurai warriors were brought forth by Taku. Karasu and the men climbed into it and it was lowered onto the water. Before he left the ship Thom leaned close to Densall and uttered in his ear.

  “Josef my friend. You may all think I am mad and perhaps I am, but I do not wish you to risk your lives. If we are not back by nightfall, then take the ship back to the bay where we picked up Lord Oyama. Wait there for another day and then go. Return to the Rose and set sail for home.

  “Tell my mother I am sorry that I failed her and let Dafidd know that I would never have killed him and I am sorry to have said it. He is a true friend and I am unworthy of his friendship.”

  “You’ll be back Kap’n. We will not leave you in this Hell,” Densall objected and Thom grabbed his arm squeezing it tightly.

  “I am not asking Josef. These are my orders,” he impressed. With reluctance Densall nodded. Thom climbed down the ladder to the waiting boat and the resolute party of rescuers began to row to shore.

  THIRTY-NINE

  Lord Kurohoshi felt deeply afraid. He busied himself shouting unreasonable orders at his servants as the terrified people ran hither and thither with buckets of water trying to quench the fire that had taken hold in the makeshift grain store. They knew it was hopeless. They longed to flee for their lives. The pumice and ash rained down thickly upon them and the castle courtyard. It hurt their unprotected heads
and faces despite its weightlessness and the ash made them cough and choke, billowing into clouds around their feet. Nevertheless their fear of their master was even greater than that of the volcano. Surely the mountain would grow quiet soon, they whispered to themselves. Never before had its spirits remained angry for so long.

  The Warlord tried to occupy his mind with anything but the task he must now do. He did not want to enter the tunnel, to walk underground through the hot dank burrow to the cave where Mizuki remained a prisoner. He had not wanted this, any of it. He had seen a beautiful woman, wanted her as his bride. He had seen her as his queen while he stood triumphant as the glorious ruler of the whole of Ashima. He did not want to give her up to his mother’s demon, to share her body with some foul fiend.

  Up until now he had not truly believed in Akuma, the evil one. Up until now he had thought it all a part of his mother’s perverse imagination. He had done everything the old woman had asked to appease her and because he was still afraid of her, just as he had been as a child. He shivered at the memories. Times when he had cried out for love and affection as a small boy, only to be cast aside. Times when he had been thrown into the dungeons with the rats and left for three days without food because he had displeased his parents.

  His father had been a drunkard and a bully, beating his child and wife senseless because it satisfied him to do so. His mother was Sennjo, a witch who used the occult to strike fear into her son’s heart, playing upon his childish imagination and conjuring monsters and demons to ensure his obedience.

  As he had grown into a man, Kurohoshi had inherited his father’s cruel sadism and talked himself into disbelieving his mother’s world of mysterious presiding Kami who fought between themselves for the control of mankind. He had told himself it was all a dreadful fairytale aimed at frightening a small boy and he had almost believed it. Almost. Deep down he had always feared this supernatural world and he feared his mother even now.

  He shuddered as he thought of what he must do. His mother was waiting for him to go to the cave. Only then could Akuma come forth and scatter his seed into the world, through the violation of a Sennjo virgin. Kurohoshi had not known when he had triumphantly brought the Oyama girl back to Hana-Shi-Ku that she was Sennjo. He had not known until his mother had called him to her fetid rooms and gleefully told him and laid before him his duty to the dark lord. He had been devastated. His hopes of happiness once more quashed. He had wished then that he had not brought the girl back untouched. That he had taken her when he found her peacefully resigned to her fate and bathed in the silvery light of a summer’s day. He had not wanted to spoil that fragile, innocent beauty and he had dared dream of something other than the brutal cruelty of the life he had known.

  Now he must go and obey the Kami. Now he knew they existed. He had seen their dark faces in the mushrooming cloud that loomed above his city; he felt their rain of hot ash, a foretaste of Hell. But still he did not go. He thought he might die in the cave and he did not want to die. He feared what he would encounter and he did not wish to watch his precious Mizuki defiled by demons. Besides, he told himself, he doubted he could perform under such circumstances. Terror had a shrivelling effect upon one’s manhood unlike anger, but the latter was far from his heart at present. He felt his mother probing his mind and ignored her instead he turned to berate the hapless servants as they scurried below him with buckets of water, their silhouettes dancing feverishly like devils before the pit of Hell in the flickering light of the fire.

  The explosion took Kurohoshi by complete surprise. He had hardly heard the whining scream until it was upon him and then he wondered stupidly at the unfamiliar and unnatural whistling screech. Dimly he became aware that another horror was being unleashed upon his beleaguered home. As the scream intensified he noted how everyone stopped their work and clamped their hands to their ears, the unearthly din loud even above the grumbling of the volcano. It seemed to last endlessly long, as if time had stopped and everything moved in a macabre red and black world of slow motion. Sudden brilliant white light momentarily blinded him and the tremendous deafening roar of the exploding shell burst painfully through his head. The shock wave knocked him to the ground and he lay dazed for some seconds before shaking his head to dispel the ringing and clambering to his feet.

  All was disarray. Before him several bodies lay strewn across the courtyard. Other servants were pulling themselves to their feet and rushing for cover, finally more afraid of the angry Kami than of their master. Kurohoshi looked about him and saw a great yawning hole in the north wall of the castle. His blood ran cold and his anger began to rise. He could taste its bile in his mouth. This had not come from the mountain. This had come from the sea. He looked to where a thin band of pale grey light could be seen on the horizon, but the darkness enveloping the city was all encompassing and he saw nothing. Yet he knew he was under attack from something other than the supernatural and it spurred him from his lassitude.

  With a growl of rage he stalked back into the castle. He gave orders to the commander of his guards to take his men from the city. They were under attack, but they could not fight an unseen enemy. He had to regroup his men and wait until the time presented itself. He had no doubt that his attacker was the escaped Oyama heir. It had crossed his mind that there would be an attempt at regaining power by the young upstart. Kurohoshi laughed. The attack was pointless. He still held Kyo-To-Shi and to regain it Oyama would have to take his fight there. Now was the time to move. Now Kurohoshi would go to Kyo-To-Shi and abandon Hana-Shi-Ku. He would return when the Oyama clan was well and truly destroyed, when he ruled the whole of Ashima and when the mountain had become a silent giant once more. Now was the time to go to Mizuki and show his mother, the Kami and Oyama Hayato who truly held dominion here.

  He ordered his men to leave and wait at his country retreat of Takewara where he would join them. It did not cross his mind that they would not be able to reach the country palace amidst the bamboo jungle, just as it no longer crossed his mind that the fate of his city was governed by Akuma and his devils. He no longer believed it. The reality of a missile from the sea had brought him to his senses. He was no longer the frightened child cowering before superstition; he was Kurohoshi Ryuudai, the ruler of all Ashima.

  His men gone, he ran to the East tower and descended the spiral staircase to the entrance of the tunnel. Above him another explosion violently shook the foundations of his castle sending ancient dust cascading from the ceiling. Kurohoshi covered his head and held his breath until he was sure no masonry would fall and strike him dead. As the dust settled he continued downwards, his feet sinking into the cool water of the tunnel as he reached its entrance. The ground still tremored and even here he could hear the rumbling volcano, but he no longer feared its wrath. He held a greater anger in his breast. Until a cold hand fluttered across his face and a soft snickering turned the blood in his veins to ice.

  “You come at last Ryuudai and I thought you were too afraid. Come my son, it is time to meet your destiny and take your place in history,” the witch crowed and clamped her bony fingers around his wrist digging the nails into his flesh. He watched with horrified fascination as droplets of blood oozed around her talons and she lifted her fingers to her mouth to lick the warm sticky fluid from them.

  FORTY

  Dafidd Aledd had wondered at his Kapitan’s sudden changes of mind, thought the man unhinged, been angered by his apparent disregard for his own safety and then that of his men and finally worried for the fate of a dear friend. He decided in a moment to ignore his last orders to stand down the gun crews and determined instead to give his Kapitan as much help as he could. He feared that once the boat reached the harbour that it would be beleaguered with terrified refugees all desperate to escape. He feared that if the shore party actually made it into the city that they would be attacked by Kurohoshi’s men once they tried to enter the castle. He did not share the strange and inexplicable optimism that his commander had suddenly realised. So Aledd decided
to add an additional plague of terror upon the citizens of Hana-Shi-Ku.

  As the boat began to melt into the dark grey of falling debris he opened fire aiming at the castle first, careful to point the heavy guns wide of the Eastern tower, although it was difficult to see well through the sifting veils of ash and pumice. His second salvo aimed at the harbour. He did not dwell on thoughts of innocent citizens, already petrified with fear and searching desperately for an escape from their nightmare. He put them from his mind completely and sent a steady barrage towards the town. He stopped only when he saw the little boat reach the outer harbour wall and then he sighed hoping that his Kapitan would understand his reasoning and forgive him.

  “Bon chance my friend,” he whispered to himself as a curtain of smoke obscured the city from view and he inhaled deeply relishing the scent of cordite and hot metal.

  Thom heard the booming guns and telltale whine of the first shells and instinctively ducked his head. He spun around to face the Orca and swore to himself before catching the expression of surprise upon the faces of the four Samurai and Karasu.

  “What happen?” the ronin demanded a hint of panic in his voice. Thom grinned at him. He had been initially angered by the disregard of his orders but, as he caught the flash of an explosion ashore, he understood.

  “Mr Aledd has decided to give Hana-Shi-Ku a taste of pirate hospitality. He has declared war on Kurohoshi,” he answered with a sneer.

  “But why? What about people?” Karasu objected.