Along with Onudaka, Iniru, and Lu Bei, Turesobei bowed before the sengi. “Thank you for the help you gave in rescuing my father.”
“Keep your promise to us,” said Condor, “and fare well.”
The sengi all bowed again and then silently ran, flew, and slithered out into the forest. Their hazy forms disappeared amongst the vegetation.
“Their presence was almost like a dream,” Onudaka said. “I never thought to see anything like that in my life. Up until now, I don't think I'd seen more than a dozen spirits total.”
“It was amazing,” Iniru said. She eyed Lu Bei. “I’ve seen so many things I never thought to see. I’m not sure what to make of it all.”
Turesobei climbed into his saddle, and Lu Bei sat on his shoulder. The fetch didn’t want to be a book again just yet.
Turesobei flicked the reins. “Let's get moving.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Just before nightfall, they turned off the cultists' well-worn path to the Storm Dragon Shrine and headed up the mountain on an old, cobbled road that somehow remained clear of the forest's undergrowth, as if it were kept up by gardeners.
“Why is this road out here?” Turesobei asked.
“There were once many thriving villages in this area,” Iniru replied. “Some of the roads have been lost in floods, overtaken by vegetation, or destroyed by earthquakes. This one is in the best shape of any that I've ever seen.”
Onudaka shook his head in amazement. “In Tagana, almost everywhere you go you will find villages and people. A road like this would never become abandoned, and the forests are never this thick anywhere because we've cut all the trees down. It's one of the reasons you don't see many spirits there anymore.”
“Tagana was only wilderness when I first came to Okoro with master,” said Lu Bei. He hadn’t yet returned to book form, which was fine with Turesobei. He could spare the energy for now, since it didn’t take much with Lu Bei sitting still and riding with him.
“I thought Turesobei was your master,” said Iniru.
“He is.”
“So he’s your current master. And your original master was….”
“Chonda Lu, founder of the Chonda Clan created me. And he has always been—”
“Lu Bei,” interrupted Turesobei, “gets really confused when talking about his master. My kavaru was original to Chonda Lu, and it was used to create Lu Bei. So he calls whoever wears it his master.”
“Well,” said Lu Bei, “that’s not—”
“It’s accurate enough,” snapped Turesobei.
Iniru raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
* * *
They stopped only for a brief meal and to make camp at midnight. Turesobei had drowsed in the saddle for much of the time. A stone marker lay nearby. Presumably the glyphs on it named the mountain or the monastery, but none of them could read the ancient zaboko runes. Lu Bei claimed he could read many of the old zaboko scripts, but he couldn’t puzzle out any of this one.
Turesobei returned Lu Bei to book form, ate quickly, and prepared for bed. Onudaka and Iniru tried to make small talk with him, but he ignored them. He had nothing to say to them. He hated the world and everything in it. He hated the ones who'd taken his father from him.
Iniru approached him with a small, wet cloth in hand. She lifted it up toward his cheek. “Let me clean the blood off.”
He slapped her hand away. “No.”
“There's no reason to leave it.”
“It reminds me of the vow I made.”
“Fine.” She turned and stamped away.
* * *
In the morning, while gathering brushwood for a fire, Onudaka discovered a small stone shrine hidden just off from the road within a growth of kudzu. He cleared some of the vines away to reveal a granite arch that rose only four feet. Beneath it was a zaboko statue with large onyx eyes. The figure was seated with his legs crossed in the lotus position.
“Lord Moshinga,” Turesobei murmured.
Onudaka nodded. “Help me clear the rest of this out.”
Iniru put her hands on her hips and frowned. “We don't have time for that.”
“Aye, lass, we do. If this is a haunted mountain, then we'd be fools not to honor the gods before ascending.”
Iniru rolled her eyes and looked to Turesobei. His first impulse was to agree with her. But then he thought of the hauntings and a lesson his grandfather had given him about spirits and deities.
“Many people,” Grandfather Kahenan had said, “think that they have encountered ghosts or demons when they have merely angered otherwise benign spirits. Always treat spirits with the same respect you would your elders.”
Thinking of his grandfather made his heart lurch. He missed the old man more than he'd ever thought possible, and yet he didn't really want to see him again. He didn't want to break his heart and tell him that his son had died.
“No,” Turesobei said to Iniru, “as much as we’re in a hurry, I think it would be best to honor Lord Moshinga and ask for his blessing and his permission to go on.”
“Lord Moshinga departed with the other Shogakami centuries ago,” Iniru argued. “I don't think he cares.”
“But the mountain spirits must still honor him,” Onudaka said. “If we don't do the same, we may offend them.”
“I agree,” Turesobei said.
Iniru sighed with frustration, pouted, and then grumbled while she used her sickle-bladed kama to chop away the kudzu. Turesobei pulled weeds. Onudaka swept and dusted. Beneath all the mess, they discovered an intricately sculpted statue standing on a black and white mosaic. With water from a nearby spring they scrubbed the shrine clean.
When they finished, it was nearly noon. Onudaka pulled three sticks of incense from his pack. “This is all I have, I'm afraid.”
They knelt together, each with a smoldering stick of jasmine incense. They bowed three times and spoke the Shogakami Prayer to the Great Deities. Then they asked for Moshinga's blessing and permission to travel the mountain road. Finally, they placed what little fruit they could spare before the statue and bowed three more times.
* * *
Nothing unusual happened the rest of that day or the next. Though they struggled going uphill, they still moved much faster than they would have if they were cutting through the dense rainforest. The road was clear, and the denekon made good speed.
At dusk on the third day, they reached the monastery. Its condition wasn't as bad as they had expected. The grounds were clean and the gardens maintained. Statues yet stood, though they were worn by time. Some walls had crumbled, but the stones had been piled up in an orderly fashion nearby. The main temple hall was open to the elements in the front, but the architecture within remained intact.
“Someone must live here,” Onudaka said.
“Aye,” said Iniru, “be wary.”
As they rode in closer, they spotted the monastery's caretakers. A group of dusty, red-brown mountain spirits knelt before the main hall and bowed serenely to them. They stood only four feet high, and their bodies appeared jagged and hard, as if someone had carved them from stone. Onudaka, Turesobei, and Iniru climbed down from their saddles and returned the bow.
The spirits grinned sprightly, waved, and then scampered off with surprising speed and agility.
Onudaka scratched his head. “Bless me, but that was odd. And I think we know now who cares for the place.”
“And likely who haunts the mountain,” Turesobei said, eyeing Iniru.
She bowed her head apologetically. “Forgive me, Onudaka.”
“Think nothing of it, lass. I wasn't sure it would get us anywhere to worship at the shrine. Just thought it was proper.”
Inside, they found out exactly how good a decision it was. The mountain spirits had stacked fallen limbs for a campfire. There was a store of fresh fruits from the forest, root vegetables, fodder for the denekon, three barrels of water, and a bundle of precious cinnamon sticks.
Turesobei slapped Onudaka on the back
. “I think you were really on to something, Onudaka.”
“We owe our thanks to the spirits.”
“Indeed. We are fortunate.”
“Let's hope our luck continues,” Iniru said.
As they rested and ate, Turesobei summoned Lu Bei, who darted about searching the temple.
“What are you up to?” Iniru asked.
“You don’t like me, do you?” Lu Bei said, frowning.
“I like you just fine. The problem is that I don’t trust you.”
“Why?”
“Because you are strange and magical. Because you’ve been listening all this time but were hiding.”
“I couldn’t manifest. I was nearly dead.”
“Still, I don’t like secrets and you reek of them.”
Lu Bei stuck out his chest and his tongue. “I don’t like you either.”
“Lu Bei,” said Turesobei, hoping to change the mood, “could you tell us the story of Naruwakiru? Perhaps you know a different version than we do.”
“Of course, master.” The amber fetch flicked one nasty look at Iniru then fluttered down and landed on top of a water barrel. He settled his wings, loosened his neck, and took a deep breath.
“Millennia ago, long before the baojendari came to Okoro, the wrathful storm dragon Naruwakiru terrorized the land. She was the fiercest of all the storm spirits, who have angry dispositions anyway, and jealousy of her half-sister, Lady Amasan, had corrupted her. When her wicked priests forged a heart of jade for her using sinister blood rituals, Naruwakiru bound herself to it and carried it in her chest. With it, her power tripled. She captured her sister and imprisoned Amasan within her belly. After that, anyone who would harm Naruwakiru risked harming Lady Amasan. The other Shogakami were not willing to take such a risk.
“But the zaboko hero Tepebono was not afraid of Naruwakiru. He was a temple guard, devoted to protecting Amasan and her priestesses. But more than that, he would do anything to free his lover, the Lady Amasan herself. After—”
“A mortal?” interjected Iniru. “You think Lady Amasan had a mortal lover?”
“In those days, such things happened. Greater and even lesser spirit beings would sometimes take mortals as lovers and companions.”
“I’ve not heard of such,” Iniru snorted. “How can we believe this?”
“I have not heard such tales, either,” Onudaka added, quietly and respectfully. “But maybe we have missed them.”
“I am retelling only what my master learned when he came to this land,” Lu Bei said proudly. “I cannot verify the accuracy, but my tales were heard centuries before you were born.”
Turesobei gritted his teeth and glared at Iniru. “Go on, Lu Bei. Ignore our doubting companion.”
“Hmph!” puffed Lu Bei. “Only because master wishes it. Now where was I? Oh, yes…after a desperate battle fought at the summit of one of Okoro's tallest mountains, Tepebono smote Naruwakiru and cast her down. How he defeated her is a mystery that even legends have not sought to answer.
“But when Naruwakiru died, the energies released ravaged Okoro as if a dozen hurricanes had struck the island at once. Lady Amasan broke free without harm, just in time to save Tepebono from the fierce storms that were pounding the mountain.
“The jade heart fell into the hands of Naruwakiru’s remaining priests, who hoped to use it to resurrect Naruwakiru, but the Shogakami priesthood seized the artifact from them and locked it away. It held too much power, power that anyone could abuse, whether they brought Naruwakiru back to life or not.”
Lu Bei sighed. “That is, I am afraid, all that I know.”
“Other than the bit about Amasan and Tepebono being lovers, it is no different from our k’chasan tales,” said Iniru, “if a little more stale in its telling.”
Lu Bei snapped his wings out. “I am a diary, not a storyteller!”
“Enough,” said Turesobei. “Enough. The two of you will stop bickering at once. Lu Bei, I think it’s time for both of us to get some rest.”
* * *
After another day of riding, they reached the bottom of the mountain and found an identical shrine to the first. They cleaned the shrine and worshiped again.
“Isn’t it odd,” said Iniru, “that the spirits don't maintain these shrines as well?”
“They'll be overgrown again within a week,” Onudaka said. “And I think maybe they leave them like this as a test. We didn't have any hauntings the whole way through, did we?”
Following the map they'd seized from the citadel, they rode through the forest again and ascended another mountain, but on a faint, narrow trail this time. The forest thinned as they went, and they frequently encountered boulders and scree. Twice they sighted rams munching on bits of grass growing between rocks.
By midmorning, Turesobei was starting to feel desperate. “If we don’t catch up to them today, I think we should ride through the dark tonight. I need to reach the Storm Dragon’s Heart before—”
Suddenly the earth was spinning about him, and strange waves of kenja passed through his body. His vision darkened, and in the midst of the blackness, there glowed an orb of deep green jade with crimson veins running across it. A forking web of lightning spread through the blackness beyond it, revealing dense thunderclouds and a coiling, winged outline. The Storm Dragon's Heart called to him and it felt as if the very pulse of Naruwakiru flowed through him.
Then his cheek began to burn hot as the Sigil of the Chonda Goshawk flared to life.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Someone touched him and the vision faded. Turesobei looked up into Onudaka's concerned face. “You all right, lad?”
“We must ride. Swiftly!”
“The glyph on your cheek was glowing,” Iniru said.
He didn't like her accusatory tone. “There's no harm in it.” He picked up the reins of his denekon. “They’re nearing the heart. I think they may have opened the vault already. It's calling to me. It wants me to hurry.”
Before the others could voice their concerns, Turesobei urged his denekon into a full sprint. In a mad frenzy, Turesobei raced toward the Storm Dragon's Heart. But after a few minutes, Iniru caught up to him and he slowed a little.
“Are you mad?” she yelled.
“Possibly.”
“A little more caution would be wise.”
“No time for that!”
“You’re certain?”
“I've never been more certain of anything.”
“Why does the heart call to you and not us?”
“I don't know.”
Iniru cursed and started to ride ahead, but Turesobei overtook her. “Let me lead. I can feel the way now better than you can see it.”
“Fine, but you know the denekon can't keep this speed for more than a few minutes. We'll have to slow them to a jog.”
With a desolate sigh, he nodded and pulled up on the reins.
An hour later, they spotted the trail leading up to the Storm Cult Shrine. Just outside the cultists had built a corral, and their denekon grazed there, cropping at sprigs of mountain grass. Two sentries stood guard nearby. One ran toward the shrine yelling a warning, but before he could shout more than three words, Iniru zipped an arrow into the base of his skull.
The other sentry nocked an arrow and drew back on his bow. Iniru loaded and aimed much faster, so that they were both ready at the same moment. They released in unison. His arrow whistled over her head. Hers slammed into his throat.
“They'll know we're coming,” she said as they leapt off their mounts.
Turesobei shrugged, not caring so long as he reached the Storm Dragon's Heart quickly. He started forward, but Iniru grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back.
“Listen to me,” she said, but he was struggling to break free so hard that she could barely hold him much less talk to him.
Onudaka grabbed him around the waist and lifted him off the ground. Iniru put her face right up to his.
“Put me down!”
“Not until she'
s spoken, lad.”
“We do this my way,” Iniru growled. “I'm trained for this. You're not. You follow me and do exactly what I say. If you've got ideas, you tell me and we all work together.”
His nostrils flared, and he cursed at her. Instantly, she reared back and slapped him. His cheek and mouth stung. Blood trickled from a busted lip.
“Ow! What in the—”
Turesobei shook his head.
He still felt the call for the heart, the desire and urgency, but not as strongly as he had a few moments earlier. He took several deep breaths.
“Better?” she asked. He nodded. “Good. You'll do what I say? Cause you know I'm here to help you. That's my job. Let me do what I've come here to do.”
“I-I'm sorry. I don't know what's happening in my head. But I can control it now.”
Onudaka sat him down. They exchanged apologies.
“If they're alerted,” Iniru said, “then they're not coming out. It may be that, since they weren't expecting danger, they're all too far within to have heard us.”
Iniru crept up to the shrine's entrance, a stone gateway carved into the mountain. Like many ancient zaboko buildings, the shrine had been excavated and shaped out of existing rock. Outside the entrance, crumbling statues, a fountain, an altar, and other structures remained. Turesobei knew from his father that the tunnel went deep into the mountain.
Iniru checked the tunnel, then she motioned for Onudaka and Turesobei to join her. The passageway was dark, lit only by a few widely spaced hanging lanterns. Iniru set her bow and quiver down near the entrance. She wouldn’t need the bow's range inside. Turesobei suspected she had a dozen weapons more suitable for this, hidden somewhere within all the secret pockets and folds of her bodysuit.
Smaller tunnels and rooms branched off in many different directions. Reaching the vault would be easy, though. They had only to follow the lanterns and the mass of footprints in the dust.
Storm Phase Series: Books 1-3 Page 18
