Opening his eyes, he resumed his search of the unconscious men. Running his hands over the first, he discovered a chafed spot where the beard met the hairline. His eyes narrowed. Spreading the man’s hands, he found not only sword callouses but also a bruise on the back of the left thumb—the kind caused by a bowstring. An archer? That would explain the rubbed hairline. It was probably where the man’s headband had chafed the skin.
But neither the soldiers of the Aluhan nor the Se Zan that protected the Yojeh were permitted to grow such thick beards. Judging by the length, they must have left the army at least a month ago. The ambush had been carefully planned and executed. Reaching a hand inside the man’s robe, he found a pouch weighed down with coins. When he dumped the contents out, his brows rose, and he stared numbly at two foreign coins which lay among the regular currency.
He stood up and walked over to the oven. Picking up two beans, he slipped them inside a small bag that hung on the soot-blackened wall. With swift strides, he stepped into the back room and pulled a large satchel from a cupboard. The cloth smelled damp and dusty and was cool to the touch. He filled it with the bare minimum of things he would need along with Jesse’s last change of clothes and enough money for a long trip. Swinging the sack onto his back, he went to the kitchen and made sure the fire in the oven was out.
Before he left, he stopped in the doorway and looked back at his home, at the half-finished cabinet, at Jesse’s clothes soaking in a basin, at the curtains that Elin had sewn. Then, pressing his lips together, he stepped into the dark alleyway.
The public bath was still crowded. The men’s changing room was full, but Jesse was not there. Ialu wondered if he was in the women’s section, but he couldn’t go in to look.
“Have you seen Jesse?” he asked the man at the counter.
The man raised a hand, signaling for him to wait while he continued counting coins, muttering the numbers under his breath. When he finished, he put them into the drawers. Only then did he look up at Ialu. “Jesse you said? I haven’t seen him since he left with you a while ago.”
Ialu’s pulse began to race. “I’m sorry to trouble you, but could you check if he’s in the women’s bath?”
“Sure,” he said, then waved at someone behind Ialu. “Hey, Aina! Have you seen Jesse?”
A woman had just emerged from the changing room and was wringing out her wet hair with a towel. She looked up and shook her head. “Jesse? Nope. He wasn’t in there. Good evening, Ialu. How’ve you been? I haven’t seen Elin around for a while. I was worried she might be sick.”
Ialu bowed his head slightly. “She’s fine, thank you, but she’s away for her work right now.”
“I see.”
Before she could ask any more questions, Ialu bowed and left the bath. His forehead felt cold and tight. The route that led to the bath was crowded, but it was only used by locals. If a stranger had abducted Jesse here, there would have been a commotion.
But if he hadn’t been kidnapped, where could he have gone? A few of Jesse’s friends popped into Ialu’s mind, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t find Jesse with them. When Ialu had told him to go to the bath, he had nodded. It was unlike him to break such a promise. In that case, there was only one place he could have gone. The Kazalumu Beast Sanctuary.
Surely he wouldn’t have walked …
It would take more than an hour for a child of Jesse’s size to walk that far. The livery stable where Elin usually hired a horse and buggy would be closed by now, and even if Jesse had gone there, they wouldn’t have let him hire one if he was alone. Still, Ialu decided to check it out.
His headache was growing worse, and he had to fight down his nausea. All around he heard the sounds of shopkeepers closing up. The lights went out one by one. Hunching his shoulders, he hurried along the broad street. When he turned the corner, his eyes widened. The livery stable door was open, and light was streaming onto the street.
Stepping inside, he called out, “Hello! Is anybody here?”
“Coming,” a voice replied. It came from behind the large stable where the horse and buggy were usually kept. The stable was empty. A few moments later, the shop master’s wife emerged through the door on the opposite side. She appeared to have been washing up, because she was wiping her hands on her apron. Catching sight of Ialu, her eyes grew round. “Ialu! Are you all right? Can you walk?”
“What?”
“Jesse came dashing in here, saying that you’d been badly injured and that you’d told him to go and get the headmistress…” Catching sight of the expression on his face, her voice trailed off, and she cocked her head. “Isn’t that what happened?”
Ialu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “Where’s Jesse?”
“My husband took him to the school.”
“I see. I’m so sorry to have bothered you when it was past closing time.”
The woman frowned and stared at Ialu. “Are you sure you’re all right? Your face is white as a sheet. I don’t think you should be walking around like that.”
Ialu smiled. “I’m fine. I just hit my head. It gave Jesse such an awful fright, he ran off. I thought he might’ve come here, but I guess I was too late.”
At this, the woman’s face cleared. “So that’s what happened. The boy looked so frightened. Like he was being chased by demons. I was scared you’d been badly injured.”
“I’m so sorry to have worried you.” Ialu bowed his head.
“Not at all,” she said, waving her hand. “Jesse paid my husband properly for driving him there, you know. He’s a very capable boy. He was just worried about you, that’s all.” She urged him to stay and rest, but Ialu thanked her and left.
Honestly …
Jesse was such a good talker. Ialu could picture him jabbering away, twisting the kindhearted couple around his finger. Still, if he’d gone by carriage, he must have reached Kazalumu safely by now. As the fear that smoldered in his gut eased a little, Ialu felt his body grow heavy. Pressing a hand against his forehead, he began walking slowly toward Kazalumu.
3
IN LEELAN’S SHADOW
By the time Ialu reached Kazalumu, it was long past the students’ bedtime, but the lamps were still shining brightly in the main hall, and everyone seemed to be awake and out of bed. Here and there, he could see lights flickering in the woods and fields.
Hearing voices, he turned toward the sound. Children were leaning out of a dormitory window on the second floor. Below them, a teacher waved up at them and said, “That’s enough now. Go to bed.”
Ialu hurried over to the gate and reached out to ring the bell. At that moment, the front door opened, and a plump man stepped out. It was Yoshi, the master of the livery stable. He stopped and peered into the darkness when Ialu hailed him.
“Ialu? Is that you?” he exclaimed. He hastened to the gate and pulled it open from the inside. Sweat beaded his forehead beneath his balding pate, and words tumbled from his mouth. “Ialu! What’s going on? Jesse said you were badly hurt. But when I brought him here, he disappeared while I was wiping down my horse. Now the place is in an uproar.
“When he ran off, I didn’t think anything of it at first. I figured he must be with the headmistress. But when I went to fetch them, the headmistress said she hadn’t seen him. I couldn’t believe it. Then everyone got involved. They’re all out looking for him, the teachers and custodians and everyone. It occurred to me just now that he might be hiding under the buggy so I came out to look.”
Ialu bowed low. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t worry about us. I’ve got a pretty good idea where Jesse is. I’ll go look for him. Please go on home. It’s late, and you have to be up early for work.”
Yoshi dabbed his forehead. “You’re sure, are you? I’d like to stay and see that he’s all right, but I do have a customer at dawn.”
“Yes, I’m sure. Really, there’s no need for concern. We’ll be fine.” Ialu took some coins from his jacket and handed them to Yoshi. “Thanks, and please accept my apologie
s.”
Yoshi scratched his head and flashed him an embarrassed smile. With a wave, he began walking toward the carriage. Suddenly he stopped and looked back. “I don’t know what happened,” Yoshi said, “but don’t scold him too harshly. Elin’s been gone a long time, so he’s probably lonely. No matter what he did, I’m sure he’s already regretting it. When he came to our place, he was chalk white and shaking all over. On the way here, he didn’t utter a word either. He didn’t seem like Jesse at all.”
Ialu nodded. “I understand.” Yoshi smiled and gave him a short wave, then walked off to his horse and buggy.
Ialu opened the school’s front door to see Esalu talking with a group of teachers in the dimly lit corridor. She turned and raised her eyebrows. “Well, here comes his father,” she said.
Ialu bowed his head. “I apologize for all the trouble we’ve caused.”
Esalu walked over to him. “Trouble is right,” she said with a wry smile. “Elin used to scare the wits out of me, too, but I think Jesse might be even worse.” When she saw his eyes, however, her face grew grave. “What is it? You’re pale as a ghost.”
Ialu lowered his voice. “There’s something I have to tell you, but I need to find Jesse first.”
Picking up that it was confidential, Esalu just nodded and said, “We’ve split up to search for him, so I’m sure he’ll turn up soon. Although to be honest, we’ve looked everywhere, even in the storage sheds, and still haven’t found him.”
“Did you check the Royal Beast stable?”
“Of course. It was the first place we looked, but he wasn’t there.”
Ialu held her gaze. “Please tell everyone to stop searching,” he said quietly. “Then take me to Leelan’s stable. I’ll thank everyone for their help later.”
Esalu’s eyebrows shot up. “But I just told you. We already looked in Leelan’s stable.”
Ialu’s lips twitched. “I think he might be copying his mother.”
As Esalu led him through the dark forest, she warned him that Leelan was irritable because of her pregnancy. “Don’t do anything that might disturb her,” she said. “You may enter the stable, but whatever you do, don’t go near her cage.”
Ialu nodded wordlessly.
“I hope you realize that for me to let you enter the Royal Beast stable and stay there on your own is an extraordinary exception.”
“I do. And I promise to be very careful.”
Esalu sighed but said nothing more. When they emerged from the woods, everything suddenly seemed much brighter. The moon had risen, and the stable roof glowed a pale silver, as if covered in frost.
Esalu opened the door, and Ialu felt something stir inside. A huge black shadow spread its wings in the darkness. Ialu’s unfamiliar scent must have alarmed Leelan, because she began to growl with a low rumbling in her throat. Feeling the hairs rise on his neck, Ialu stared up at the enormous creature. The scent of beast surged toward him, and his eyes stayed glued to the two bright orbs that shone in the darkness.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Esalu whispered in his ear.
Recollecting himself, Ialu nodded. “Yes, I’ll be fine.” As he stepped inside, Leelan’s warning growl rose sharply. He pressed his back against the wall beside the door and slowly lowered himself to the floor. With a creak, the door shut, and everything was wrapped in darkness.
Even after Esalu left, Leelan kept her wings spread and continued to growl for some time, but she did not throw herself against the cage bars. Ialu sat still, staring up at the towering black shadow.
Like the ebb and flow of waves against the shore, Leelan’s growls rose and fell, eventually subsiding into a murmur and fading away like the receding tide. Slowly she folded her wings, but her eyes never left Ialu.
Exhaling, Ialu whispered, “Do you remember me, Leelan?” At the sound of his voice, Leelan twitched, but she did not unfurl her wings. “You saved my life. A long time ago. Elin hid me behind you. I was so shocked. Who would have thought that a Royal Beast would hide me?”
That distant memory came flooding back, vivid and powerful. He felt again the warmth of Leelan’s body. “When Elin was young, she used to hide behind Leelan to avoid a teacher she didn’t like … Did you know that, Jesse? Your mother once did what you’re doing now.”
He heard the sound of suppressed sobbing, but he kept his eyes on the Royal Beast without looking toward the noise. “Leelan, our family owes you a lot.”
The gleam in Leelan’s eyes never wavered. What thoughts passed through the mind behind those eyes? Ialu wondered. Did beasts, like humans, treasure memories of the past? Or did such things have no meaning for them?
His eyes blurred, and he took several slow, measured breaths. “Jesse,” he said. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
The boy’s sobs grew louder, gouging Ialu’s heart. On his way to Kazalumu, Ialu had pondered why Jesse had broken his promise and gone to the school alone. Gradually, an image had formed in his mind. He saw Jesse running through the dark, trembling. Fear must have driven him to Kazalumu. He was the type to dive under his mother’s covers if he had a bad dream. He must have been so petrified that all he could think of was burrowing under Leelan.
I’m so dense. Especially when it comes to fear.
As a Se Zan who shielded the Yojeh, fear was an emotion that Ialu had learned to rigidly control. When under attack, fear could cost him his life. He had pushed fear aside for so long that he’d failed to see how terrified Jesse must have felt when his father had sent him off on his own like that. Listening to his son’s faint sobs in the darkness, Ialu closed his eyes.
The boy was only eight. Just a child. By rights, he should have still been sheltered under his parents’ wings, blissfully ignorant. But considering what would probably happen next, it would be far crueler to leave him in the dark. Nothing was more terrifying than the unexpected and the unknown. This would likely be Ialu’s only chance to tell Jesse what he and Elin had done and how that was bound to affect him.
Ialu leaned back against the wall, wincing when it touched the place where he had been hit. The pounding in his head was beginning to subside, but there was still a dull ache deep within.
“I first met your mother soon after Alu was born,” he began, his voice barely a murmur. “The Yojeh at that time, Her Majesty Halumiya, traveled here to see the miracle cub, the first one ever born in a Beast Sanctuary. At the time, I was a Se Zan, and I accompanied the Yojeh as her bodyguard. That’s when I met your mother. Do you know what a Se Zan is?”
Receiving no answer, Ialu continued. “Se Zan means ‘impenetrable shield.’ They’re a band of warriors sworn to protect the Yojeh. If she’s attacked, they shield her with their bodies, flinging themselves in front of any arrows that might hit her.
“Even a man who’s born a commoner can rise to the rank of a noble and make lots of money if he becomes a Se Zan. But he never knows when he might be killed. Or when he might have to kill someone else. It’s that kind of job. Anyone who takes the vow to become a Se Zan has to cut all ties with his family.”
Behind his closed eyelids, he could see the light of a hot summer’s day. “I was born among the commoners in the capital. My father, who was your grandfather, was a carpenter. He made beautiful furniture. But when I was eight, just your age now, there was a big earthquake, and my father was crushed beneath a building and killed. It was a hot day, with puffy white clouds in a blue sky.”
Ialu told him everything about the day that had changed his life. About how his mother had been widowed and left with not just Ialu but also a little baby to feed; about how she had sold him to the Se Zan for a bag of gold coins. He told him what had happened after he had met Elin, the events on Tahai Azeh, and the difficult position Elin was in because she could control the Beasts. It didn’t matter if Jesse couldn’t understand everything. It would be enough if he could grasp even a little.
A breeze had sprung up. Ialu could hear the faint rustling of leaves in the darkness when he finished speaking
. Leelan, who had fallen asleep during his tale, was breathing like a pair of bellows. With her eyes still closed, she stirred, her great wings shifting slightly, and a small face appeared from underneath one of them.
Jesse stared at Ialu. Finally, he said faintly, “Is that story true? All of it?”
Ialu nodded. “Yes, all of it.”
Jesse opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. After a long pause, he finally said, “Are you really still you, Dad? The same person as before?”
For a moment, Ialu was at a loss for words. He supposed it was only natural. “Do I seem like a different person?”
“Yeah.”
“Because of what I told you just now?”
“No. Before that. You changed all of a sudden.” There was a tremor in his voice. “I never dreamed you’d do anything like that. Did you do it because you used to be a Se Zan?”
Ialu sighed. “So you saw, did you?”
Jesse’s little head bobbed once.
“And that’s why you were afraid?”
“Yeah.”
“I see.” Ialu searched for words, but found he didn’t know what to say. “You must’ve been terrified,” he began. “But I couldn’t let them kill me.” He stopped and shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he said flatly, “Jesse, that man is me. The carpenter you know as your father, and the man who fights back without mercy when attacked, they’re both the real me.”
Jesse stared at him. Ialu held his eyes steadily. “I know it’s frightening, but listen carefully. Those men were trying to kidnap us. I’m just guessing, but I think they’re after your mother.”
Jesse caught his breath. “Mom?” he asked shrilly. “Are they going to kill her?”
“No. Hold on and let me finish, Jesse.” Ialu spoke slowly and deliberately. “Remember what I said before? Your mother can control the Royal Beasts. There’re lots of people who would like to use them as weapons because they’re even stronger than Toda. But your mother’s the only person who knows how.”
The Beast Warrior Page 17
