Never Die

by Rob J. Hayes

  Not to be outdone, Chen Lu buried the end of his parasol in the rocky ground and placed his keg and mace underneath. The keg was long since empty of wine, but they had filled it at every stream they came across and the big man carried it with him everywhere they went. Rather than try to remove his short trousers from his enormous midsection, Chen Lu just waddled in after Bingwei Ma.

  Zhihao backed away from the water and sat on a rock nearby. He was wearing his sulky frown rather than his smile, so Cho guessed his thoughts were on the fatalistic side. She had noticed The Emerald Wind's mood seemed to shift and change as often as the actual wind. One moment he was as cheery as a kitten with a mouse, and the next he became morose and quiet, brooding or snapping at the others.

  "Do you not wish to join them?" Cho asked as she turned her attention back to her sword.

  "Not really. I can hear Lead Belly calling me skinny already. As though being the prize pig on auction day is a good thing."

  Cho smiled at that. The fresh air, and a few nights undisturbed by yokai attacks, had put her in quite a good mood. If she tried really hard, she could almost forget that only a dozen days ago she had buried a friend next to an inn the name of which she had already forgotten. If she tried even harder, she could pretend she didn't quite remember the feeling of being dead and so alone it was as though no one else had ever existed. No. She had a fresh day, a purpose, and the company of people who were fast starting to feel like friends.

  Ein stared east, always east. They could see nothing but hills and haze in the distance, but the boy focused so intensely one would think he could see Wu even though they were still many days away.

  Roi Astara, on the other hand, spent more time watching behind them, staring out towards the west in case of pursuit. The leper squatted on wooden sandals, secure in his footing despite the treacherous terrain. Cho thought she saw something in his eye, a longing every time he glanced at the water.

  "Should you not wash your wounds?" she asked.

  Roi Astara shook his head. "I would only foul the water. A village down the mountain may rely on it. One soothing wash for me, a lifetime of illness visited upon them. Every action has a consequence, and I already struggle to live with mine."

  "Won't the wounds fester? You have not changed your bandages since Sun Valley."

  He turned his pale eye. "I am dying, Itami Cho. Nothing can stop that. My life is entirely in the hands of that boy." A raspy chuckle escaped the bandages around his mouth. "I don't really belong with you all. I can't fight. I'm no hero. But I will fight alongside you, with my rifle and my wits. And I will hope the boy chooses to bring me back when I die. Because only death can cure my disease." He coughed then, raising his right hand to his mouth. When he stopped and pulled his hand away, the little finger bent off at an impossible angle. Roi Astara stared at it for a few moments, then tore the digit away, and threw it into the rocks behind them. "I hope there is still enough of me left to bring back." His morbid laugh echoed around the rocks before turning to a wet cough.

  "Something is coming," Ein said, finally lifting his gaze from the eastern horizon and turning it north, along the river. He was fiddling with his red scarf again. "They should get out of the water."

  Cho set her whetstone down and hopped off the rock. She could see nothing but flowing water and rocks to the north. At times the river churned white as it rushed over rocks beneath the surface, flowing ever downward. But Cho knew better than to doubt Ein. It was clear he could feel the yokai coming. She waved her arms to get the attention of Chen Lu and Bingwei Ma.

  Zhihao let out a long suffering sigh and stood. "The boy says to get out of the water," he shouted. "Something is…" Zhihao paused and Cho saw the colour drain from his face. "That! That is coming!"

  Far up the river, a giant ball of pulsing green rolled down the river on the current. It was huge, easily three times as tall as Chen Lu, and seemed to writhe as it rolled towards them.

  "Mizuchi," Ein said, his voice cracking a little.

  "What does that mean?" Zhihao asked.

  Roi Astara picked up his rifle and strode forwards, sighting along it towards the twisted pulsing sphere as it rolled closer. Both Chen Lu and Bingwei Ma were wading towards the shore as fast as they could, but Iron Gut stopped, a mad grin on his face, and turned back towards the oncoming mass.

  "It's a river dragon," the leper said "A yokai far more powerful than any we've encountered so far. No bullet will stop that thing."

  "Lead Belly, get out of the water!" Zhihao shouted.

  Bingwei Ma reached the shoreline and turned, water streaming down his bunched muscles. The ball was approaching faster now, crashing over the water. They could hear it, like hundreds of squealing, hissing voices raised as one. Cho saw mouths in the tangled mass, dozens of them. The yokai was a tangle of eels, monstrous creatures each one as thick as her waist. They writhed together in a dizzying tangle as they rolled closer.

  Chen Lu stood waist deep in the water of the river, braced against the current and the oncoming tangle of eels in front of him. He thrust out his arms and laughed, his voice echoing off the rocky riverbanks. "I am Iron Gut Ch—" The mizuchi hit Chen Lu and rolled over him, not even slowing as it continued down the river.

  For a long moment they all just stood there in silence. "After it!" Bingwei Ma roared. He leapt over a heap of rocks and sprinted along the shore line, heedless of the sharp stones under his bare feet. Zhihao sighed and vanished, his image fading away on the breeze; he reappeared running alongside Bingwei Ma, his hooked swords drawn.

  Cho turned to Ein and Roi Astara. "Look after him," she told the leper. "We'll be back." With that she raced after the others, her left hand holding her saya to stop it tangling in her legs as she ran. Nevertheless, The Master of Sun Valley and Zhihao increased the distance between themselves and her. Bingwei Ma ran with reckless abandon, sprinting along treacherous footing at dangerous speed. The Emerald Wind proved as fleet as his name, easily keeping pace with the Master of Sun Valley, but never outdistancing him. Cho knew Zhihao well enough to know he did not want to be the first into the fight. She lost sight of them briefly as they crested a boulder, and dropped down the other side. Cho could no longer see the tangle of eels either as it rolled its way down the river course, but she could hear it. It hissed and snapped and crashed, and the water roared around it.

  Reaching the boulder, Cho leapt over it and braced for the drop on the other side, knees bending to absorb the impact; then she sprang back into motion. She ran as quickly as she dared, eyes fixed on the slippery path over the rocks ahead. One wrong move could easily spell a broken leg and then she'd be useless in the fight. Then she'd be useless to Ein. Cho didn't want to know what the boy would do if one of his champions lost their usefulness. Up ahead, the tangled ball of eels had stopped, wedged on a cluster of jutting rocks. Bingwei Ma ran towards it. He shouted something to Zhihao, then The Master of Sun Valley leapt into the tangle of eels, punching and ripping at the surface as slimy green bodies coiled around him and savage teeth bit at his skin.

  Zhihao slowed to a stop and watched, his hands dropped to his sides, his swords all but forgotten in his grip. Cho pulled up next to him as Bingwei Ma fought his way into the ball of eels.

  "What did he say?" Cho asked.

  Zhihao seemed to start, as though he hadn't even realised Cho was there. "He said to aim for the heads. And that he was going in after Iron Gut."

  There was little of Bingwei Ma left visible now, only one muscled leg, still kicking as he forced his way farther into the ball. Or perhaps he was already dead and being devoured, and the leg was all that remained of him. The thought brought a sour taste to her mouth. She drew Peace and leapt into the shallows towards the writhing ball of angry eel.

  The footing was treacherous. With the water churned to white froth, and the slippery rocks below the surface, each step became a danger. Brutish faces with beady eyes glared out of the tangle, watching Cho as she moved closer. Then they attacked. Heads darted out
of the tangle, jaws wide and snapping, trying to sink their sharp teeth into her flesh. Cho swiped at each head as it came near, still trying to find some sort of stable footing. She opened up cuts in the eel flesh, but that earned her nothing but squeals of agony and splatters of ichor.

  Zhihao splashed into the river behind her, both hooked swords swinging. The weapons were poorly suited to the task, every time he hooked one of the eels it pulled away, its hard-packed muscle and coiling body pulling Zhihao off balance.

  Cho ducked as an eel lunged towards her from the writhing mass. She reversed her grip on Peace and thrust upwards, splitting its face in two in a gout of oily blood. The eel went limp, dangling useless amid the tangle. Another open mouth shot out towards her. She turned a spinning slash that severed its head and sent it whirling off towards the riverbank. She was finding her footing now, moving slowly but confidently in ankle-deep water churning to muddy froth.

  Zhihao yelled. The eel he had hooked was pulling him into the tangle and another snapped needle-like teeth at his face. Cho was just about to rush to his aid when Zhihao drove the pommel spike of his other sword through the head of the eel he had hooked. The monster went limp and Zhihao ripped both swords free. He screamed a bellow of rage and attacked another snapping head.

  Then the writhing sphere shifted, the eels below pushing against the riverbed. It started rolling again, cresting the rocks that had trapped it. Then it dropped a dozen feet and continued its chaotic descent down the river. Cho struggled up to the rock cluster, wading deeper into the water. There was no easy way down the drop that wouldn't result in a broken leg or two, and the tangle was picking up speed as it rolled and bobbed along with the current. There was still no sign of either Chen Lu or Bingwei Ma resurfacing.

  "What do we do?" Zhihao asked. He was standing on top of a rock, staring down the drop before them.

  "Get after it," Cho hissed, already wading back to the shore to climb down the bank. "I'll follow as soon as I can."

  Zhihao groaned and his image blew away on the river mist. Cho caught sight of him splashing after the tangle in the river below, keeping to the shallows. She quickly wiped Peace on her haori, and slid it back into its saya, and then clambered over the drop, picking up cuts and scrapes as she descended. Spray from the waterfall stung her eyes as she dropped down the final couple of feet. Cho wasted no time, wading the shallows and running as fast as she dared. She could see Zhihao ahead of her, keeping pace with the tangle, but doing little else. There was not much he could do but lash out at the exposed heads and bodies. There was no way The Emerald Wind could halt the ball on his own. Cho didn't want to admit to herself that there was no way for them to stop it together either.

  As the river ran lower down the mountain, trees began to appear, stretching branches over the rushing water. The tangle of eels started to snag on the trees, snapping off branches. Then it hit a trunk that quested out over the water. The tree groaned under the strain and some of its smaller branches snapped, but a few of them held and again the ball lurched to a stop, writhing and bobbing in the rushing water. Two eels lunged out of the tangle towards Zhihao, he managed to half decapitate one, but the second clamped its teeth onto his left shoulder.

  The Emerald Wind screamed as the eel lifted him off the ground and dragged him through the gnarled branches of the tree. He stabbed at the creature with his sword hilt, but he was flailing wildly, splattering himself with blood, yet accomplishing nothing. Cho ducked underneath his feet and stabbed straight up with Peace, skewering the eel and showering herself with ichor. She twisted her sword and ripped it free, severing the head completely. Zhihao dropped into knee-high water, briefly going under and then resurfacing with the head of the eel still clinging to his shoulder. He screamed again and batted it with the pommel of his sword. Cho sprang to help him, but another head lunged at her, teeth snapping. And then a single large fist punched free of the writhing mass.

  Cho dropped Peace in the shallows; it deserved better treatment, but she needed her hands free. She thrust them into the tangle and grasped the fist, braced her feet on the stones, and pulled.

  "Help me," Cho hissed and then Zhihao was there, slashing at the tangle with his right-hand sword. Blood was running down his left arm and the head of the eel was still attached to his shoulder, but The Emerald Wind continued to batter and slice at the eels that snapped at Cho. He couldn't fend them all off, though, and Cho felt the eels' teeth tearing bits of flesh off her legs and arms as she heaved on the hand gripping hers.

  When she heaved Bingwei Ma free at last, he was covered in oil and blood, and bleeding from a hundred bites. The Master of Sun Valley gasped down a breath and growled as Cho pulled him farther out of the writhing chaos. He wasn't alone. The more Cho freed Bingwei Ma, the more certain she was that he was dragging Chen Lu with him.

  Zhihao continued to dance around them, swatting at the eels as they darted out, but the exhaustion caused him to stumble and he landed on his arse in the water, unable to get back to his feet.

  Bingwei Ma was finally free of the tangle, but the Master of Sun Valley had not let go of Chen Lu. Cho rushed in to help, ignoring the teeth snapping at her, tearing at her clothes and skin. Together they pulled Iron Gut Chen out of the ball of eels until he was almost free. The big man was covered in oil and ichor, but had not a single scratch on his skin. In his left hand he clutched at something fleshy and pulsing, something still attached to the tangle by sinuous threads. The writhing eels grew more and more violent, churning into a storm around Chen Lu's arm.

  Chen Lu drew in a massive breath and reached in with his right hand, clutching at the fleshy, pulsing gemstone. Then he screamed. "I am Iron Gut Chen!" And tore the thing free of the tangle. All three of them stumbled away, and Bingwei Ma stooped down to drag Zhihao farther away from the undulating mass of eel. It was shuddering now, no longer a ball, but a wobbling, shapeless mass. Some of the eels started squeezing out of the tangle into the river and darting away. More and more of the creatures freed themselves, and then the tangle just fell apart, the eels splashing into the water and slipping over each other in a bid to get away.

  Bingwei Ma reached down and pried open the jaws of the eel head still clamped to Zhihao's shoulder. He ripped it free and threw the thing into the churning water. The Emerald Wind was far too silent during the whole process, as though the pain of it could no longer reach him.

  Cho almost collapsed now the danger had passed, exhaustion settling upon her in dizzying waves. She started searching around the shallows for her sword. She could not even think of resting until Peace was back at her side.

  Chen Lu was staring down at the thing in his hand. Despite being inside the tangle for the longest, he looked unscathed, covered in eel blood and oil and guts. Exhausted but unharmed.

  "What is it?" Cho asked as she reached into the water to recover her sword, careful not to touch its blade.

  "The heart of a mizuchi," Chen Lu said, between huge panting breaths. He was grinning, despite having barely escaped the fracas with his second life. "It drains the qi of everything it touches. See." Chen Lu pointed to a bloody cut on his right arm. "Even my Iron Gut has limits." He waded over to the shore and placed the heart on a large rock. "You should kill it, Whispering Blade. If I crush it, it will only come back. But you can kill these things."

  Cho staggered through the water to look down at the beating heart. It looked like a precious gemstone, blue-green, and about as large as an apple. But it was covered with sharp spikes and pulsed with a mesmerising inner light.

  With a violent hiss, Cho drew Peace up, and then plunged it down into the mizuchi's heart. The stone shattered, the soul of the dragon stolen by the sword.

  "We should get back to the boy," Bingwei Ma said as he struggled back to his feet.

  Cho nodded and glanced down at Zhihao. The bandit was propped up against a rock, not moving.

  Chapter 24

  It took them the rest of the day to work their way back to where the mizuchi had firs
t appeared. The time passed in a sort of blur of motion and pain, and it felt to Zhihao like an eternity. They had bound his shoulder as best they could with what they had, but the eel's teeth had sunk deep, puncturing the scale pauldron, and biting into the meat. He had lost a lot of blood and couldn't even stand without aid.

  Bingwei Ma was injured too, hundreds of small wounds all over his body. He had washed away most of the filth and ichor in the river which served to make his injuries stand out, especially since many of them were still weeping. It emboldened Zhihao a little to see the Master of Sun Valley struggling with injuries similar to his own.

  Itami helped Zhihao much of the way, lending him a shoulder or a hand around the waist. She smelled of eel oil and guts, and the stench of it made Zhihao queasy, but he needed the help. Climbing over rocks was the hardest part. Zhihao could use his left arm, but his shoulder felt like it was caught in the grasp of a flaming fist, digging into his flesh. And blood leaked down his arm despite the bandaging, crimson drops splattering on the rocks below.

  The boy stood when he saw them, his little pack clutched in his hands. He didn't rush, nor even look concerned, but approached Zhihao in the same way a rider approaches a lame horse. Zhihao didn't know the specifics of the boy's ability, nor the limits of a shinigami's power. He wondered if Ein might let him die and find another warrior, someone more heroic, to replace him. He wondered if Itami would just accept it like she did most of the decisions the boy made. He hoped not. Zhihao hoped she might stand up for him at least that once. They were, after all, working together quite well these days.

  "I'm fine," Zhihao's voice sounded drunk even to his own ears. "The Master of Sun Valley needs your needle first."