Mysterious Journey to the North Sea, Part 2

by Hideyuki Kikuchi

  “So, you didn’t do it either?” Su-In said, looking down at the body as she got to her feet. “Then I wonder who could’ve rescued me.”

  “I don’t know. Who is this character, anyway? One of the people after the bead?”

  “How did you know about that?” Su-In asked, a dubious look in her eyes.

  Not at all flustered, the priest explained, “I was asked to lead a prayer for a bountiful catch today, and the house that I called on ended up being the home of one of the village’s leading citizens. That’s where I heard about the situation. Realizing how serious this was, I came over to see how you were making out, only to find you like this.”

  Su-In nodded. “A hell of a summer this has turned out to be.”

  “That it has,” Ban’gyoh concurred. “But there’s nothing to be gained by moping about it. Let’s get rid of that body.”

  “We can’t do that. We’ve gotta get it to the sheriff.”

  “It wouldn’t do to stir things up any more during this precious summertime,” Ban’gyoh said gravely. “From what I heard at that house, everyone from the mayor to the town council has decided to cover up the present trouble. The finer details can wait until after summer is over.”

  “That would be for the best,” Su-In conceded. It was the right way to handle things. Right now, the week-long summer festival was the most important thing for the village, and it was no time to have everyone trying to solve Su-In’s problems. “What’ll we do with this body?”

  “I suppose it’d be best to bury it in the backyard. He may’ve been a villain, but in death he sins no more. I’ll give him the proper rites.”

  Thirty minutes later, Su-In went and put her shovel back in the barn while Ban’gyoh wrapped up the service before rejoining her.

  “What’ll you do next?” asked the holy man.

  As they went back into the main house, Su-In explained her situation, then picked up her bag and returned to her truck.

  “D must have the bead then, right?” Ban’gyoh said, wrapped in deliberation. Waving his hands to dismiss the subject, he then said, “I have an idea. What do you say to me seeing you safely back to your hiding place?”

  “I’m sorry, but we’re keeping it a secret from everyone. Even priests, I’m afraid.”

  “It grieves me to hear that.”

  “I’m sorry,” Su-In said as she started the engine.

  “I won’t force the issue, then. Could you kindly give me a ride part of the way?” And with these words, Ban’gyoh climbed in beside her without even waiting for her reply. Su-In made no complaint—she was a resolute woman. They pulled out onto the street. Darkness played across the roar of the sea.

  “Going right,” said Su-In.

  “Left for me,” replied Ban’gyoh.

  “Then this is where you get out.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the priest said as he jumped out of the front seat. His right hand was stuck in the breast of his cassock.

  “Well, take care,” Su-In said curtly, and then she turned the steering wheel to the right.

  There was the sound of metal on metal.

  The truck started to pull away. To the left. Although Ban’gyoh had gotten back into the seat beside her at some point, Su-In didn’t even notice him. The vista that greeted her eyes must’ve been exactly the one she expected to see. Something glittered and shook in Ban’gyoh’s right hand—a pair of gold rings that’d been separate a second ago, but were now interlocked.

  “It must be fate that these served me with both you and your sister,” he said in a voice so youthful it was inconceivable coming from someone with such an old and tattered appearance.

  Ah, that voice and the golden rings in his hand—these were the trappings of none other than “Backwards Toto.” The fact that Ban’gyoh was actually the Frontier-roaming master thief was a secret not even D had penetrated when they’d traveled together to the village.

  “After hearing D had declared he was heading out to take care of the sea monster, I thought there was a possibility the girl had been left alone. And I see I was right on the money. I’ll be able to question her at leisure and get the bead for myself. And what better hostage could I ask for?” Chortling in a low voice, Ban’gyoh/Toto stared straight ahead.

  Though the truck had only gone about forty feet since turning left on the road, now the headlights picked out a black shape before them.

  “D?!” Toto almost cried out in amazement, but he quickly noticed something. The figure wore no traveler’s hat on his damp blond hair, and the road soaked up the water dripping from the hem of his blue cape. “The thing from the tunnel . . . ,” he started to say, and then he chopped Su-In in the neck to knock her out and took her place behind the wheel. It was clear to him it was no coincidence this character had appeared before them twice.

  Flooring the accelerator, Toto sped right at him with the truck. He wasn’t thinking about killing the strange figure. His ultimate goal was simply to see to it they had every possible opportunity to escape.

  The truck barreled toward the Noble like a charging bull and ran him down! Or at least that was the way it looked to Toto until the caped figure suddenly disappeared.

  Ignoring Toto’s grip, the steering wheel turned to the right. The thief didn’t even have time to scream. Taking a sharp turn, the truck was off the road in no time, cutting across the embankment and plowing into the beach nose first. The vehicle came down with such force it flipped forward and landed on its roof.

  Now upside-down in the driver’s seat, the first thing Toto did was to check on Su-In’s condition. The shock must’ve brought her around, because she was looking at him in a daze.

  “We’ve got trouble. The Noble’s shown up!” Toto said in Ban’gyoh’s voice. He still wore the face of an old man, too.

  A fearful shade flooded Su-In’s countenance.

  “And it’s his fault we wound up like this,” Ban’gyoh/Toto continued. “He put some damnable spell on us!”

  Of course, the man had no way of knowing that as the Noble stepped aside a split second before impact, he’d also stuck the tip of his right foot under one wheel and twisted it, taking control of both that wheel and the steering mechanism.

  “Where is he? At any rate, we’ve gotta get out of here fast!” Su-In said, her appraisal and actions both coming quickly. Shoving the door open, she crawled out. Toto followed right after her. Pulling a harpoon from a rack in the truck, Su-In remained behind the cover of the vehicle as her eyes darted all around her.

  A cold wind stroked the woman’s back. Turning, she found a figure in blue standing right there.

  “But you’re . . . ,” she mumbled. Terrified as she was, she must’ve seen something in the Noble that inspired a feeling other than fear and loathing. “You . . . Who are you?”

  Slowly shaking his head, the man replied, “I don’t know . . .” His words were sucked under the roar of the surf.

  “You’re Baron Meinster, aren’t you?”

  Emotion stirred on the man’s face.

  “Mein . . . ster?” As the name trickled from his lips, it seemed like a question aimed at himself. A tinge of confusion flowed into his well-formed face, and in a heartbeat, a piercing light sparked in the depths of his eyes. “Meinster.” This time he said it clearly. “Yes, that is correct. I have returned . . .”

  The expression he aimed down at Su-In instantly became that of a cruel and arrogant fiend.

  “I have returned!” he declared. “But why do I stand before a miserable creature like yourself?”

  “Sorry to be such a disappointment,” Su-In said sarcastically. She certainly didn’t lack courage. And she hadn’t even noticed the sound of people approaching from either side.

  “Who goes there?” someone shouted.

  “It’s him!” another man cried. “It’s the Noble!”

  The beach was still under surveillance. These men had probably rushed over after seeing the truck have an accident.

  The Noble—Meinster—turne
d around. And grinned. Two jagged fangs jutted from the corners of his thin lips.

  “Hey, that’s Su-In’s truck!”

  “Are you okay?!”

  In response to their queries, Su-In replied, “I’m fine,” as she got up. More than a dozen people had raced over to her. “Are you okay, Ban’gyoh? You’ll be better off staying back there,” Su-In called out as she stood ready with her harpoon.

  All the men were armed as well.

  A dozen against one—although those were hardly fair odds for a fight, the villagers gathered around Su-In were all chilled to the marrow. Baron Meinster, the legendary fiend, stood right before them. It wasn’t easy to escape the psychological terror that’d been fostered in them over a millennium.

  Suddenly Meinster went into action. Tugging at the harpoons held by the two men who stood to his right, Meinster took them away, tearing the men’s arms off in the process.

  “Dear lord!” one of them cried in terror.

  Even their pain was forgotten as the men simply tried to get away, but before they could, the heads of both burst like watermelons—the result of one effortless swing of Meinster’s right hand.

  “Ki—kill ’im!” someone shouted, playing more to the men’s fear than their courage.

  From two different directions there was the sound of compressed air being released. Though battered by their own fear, these men of the sea were still true in their aim. In no time at all, Meinster’s body was run through in a dozen places by iron harpoons. And there was definitely a black substance dribbling from his wounds to glisten in the moonlight.

  A weird silence enveloped the darkness.

  Rather than feeling delight at what they’d accomplished, the men seemed to think they’d just done something horribly wrong. They’d turned a Noble into a pincushion—and such a thing was almost inconceivable.

  Meinster had his face turned to the ground. But then he smoothly looked up again.

  Burning points of blood light froze the villagers in place.

  “Well done,” said Meinster. “You’ve done an excellent job of killing a Noble who’s lived more than five millennia. But you cannot destroy me. You lowly worms will never have the power to accomplish that!”

  The people saw his hands reach for the tip of a harpoon that pierced him. In a single action he tore it free and sent it howling through the air to impale the man who’d originally hurled it, as well as the person standing behind him. Even after they dropped to the ground, the rest of the crowd remained immobilized, and in due time they all fell victim to the harpoons they’d thrown.

  Looking at Su-In as she stood there frozen in amazement, Meinster called out to her, “Woman! I’ve never seen you before—and yet, I have the strangest feeling I know you from somewhere. Do you have any such recollection?”

  “No,” Su-In declared bravely. Her tone was so dignified, she even surprised herself. “It’s not my habit to have monsters as acquaintances.”

  “Is that so? Then I needn’t show you any mercy. So here—”

  When Meinster took a leisurely step forward, there wasn’t as much as a drop of blood trickling from his body any longer. As his hand slowly reached for the base of her throat, Su-In tried with all her might to knock it back. But the hand pulled away of its own accord.

  Exhibiting a terribly human amount of uneasiness, Meinster looked at his hand and Su-In’s face time and again.

  Something stirred in Su-In’s breast. Though a horrible fiend stood before her, she felt something that hovered somewhere between grief and nostalgia.

  “Why . . . Why am I here?” Meinster asked her. Another face had taken shape behind the elegant visage of the Noble.

  “Su-In?” the other face said.

  “But you’re—?!” Su-In cried, although she didn’t even know what she was saying.

  He knows me. Who could he be?

  Perhaps due to the humid summer heat filling the air with the scent of the blood that’d spilled so profusely from the slain fishermen, the man’s double-exposure set of features quickly became those of the one who called himself Meinster.

  “You’re a spirited woman,” the Noble said. “Your blood may be lowly, but it should prove delectable enough. Now, show me your throat.”

  Once again the pale hand reached toward the chest of the paralyzed Su-In. The nails were perfectly manicured, and on the back of the hand was a single tuft of hair.

  There was a clear, metallic ching!

  And then what did the Noble do? He changed direction, and with the same leisurely gait he began to walk toward the beach.

  “Now’s our chance. Run for it!”

  As Ban’gyoh’s words echoed in her ear, Su-In voiced her agreement without a thought. “My bag,” the woman then cried. She was still incredibly focused.

  “It’s right here,” said Ban’gyoh, seeming very organized for a simple priest. But then, “Backwards Toto” would’ve been sure to take care of every detail.

  Meinster only noticed the pair running for dear life toward the embankment when the coldness of the seawater that soaked him to the knees broke Toto’s spell over him. The blazing blood light tinged not only his eyes, but his entire countenance, coloring him with hatred. For a Noble, nothing could be more humiliating than being duped by a human being.

  However, Meinster didn’t go after them, but instead calmly extended his right hand toward the figures that were melting into the darkness.

  The pair was just climbing the embankment. A flash of blue light split the darkness, connecting Meinster’s ring and Toto’s right shoulder. Giving a small cry, Toto fell backward onto the beach.

  “Ban’gyoh!” Su-In shouted. Vacillating for a second, she then jumped down too. She wasn’t the sort of woman who could just leave an injured person there.

  “I’m okay,” Toto said in his false voice. “Don’t worry about me. You’d better hurry up and go. He’s coming!”

  “You’re the one that’s hurt—you go! I’ll buy you some time.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous—hurry up and go now!” he said in a tone that almost shoved Su-In away as he picked himself up.

  Meinster was coming toward them in no particular hurry. He’d passed the shoreline. Taking a few steps up the beach, he then turned.

  Though Su-In and Toto couldn’t see anything with their own eyes, they could hear a sound—the engine of a power boat.

  Meinster alone saw it. He could make out the little boat chopping across the waves as it drew nearer, and the figure in black that stood at its prow. The night and the very darkness were cold and clear, as if they existed solely for that young man’s purposes.

  .

  II

  .

  Once the vessel had closed to within fifteen feet of shore, D gave the order to stop in a low voice. As Dwight gripped the wheel, his eyes went wide. He’d just realized that the reason D had made him turn off their lights on the way back was because the Hunter had noticed the Noble on the beach—but in the darkness, and from a distance of more than six hundred feet. His latest command had come when they were fifteen feet from shore, just about to hit the beach.

  So, I guess that’s what it means to have Noble blood, he thought.

  Leaping easily into the air, D landed on the sand right across from the Noble. Ten feet lay between them.

  “So, we meet again,” said the Noble.

  “You really are Meinster, aren’t you. I saw your coffin.”

  “My coffin?” the Noble said, his face twisting into a dubious expression.

  “You don’t know about it, do you?” asked D, though the way he said it made it seem like he’d expected just such a response. “At any rate, there’s no place for you here. Go back to the darkness.”

  Dodging a flash of silver that whooshed through the air, the Noble sprang. Not back, but rather to the side. Into the sea.

  D seemed to hesitate for an instant.

  “As I expected, you have a problem with water, don’t you?” the Noble laughed in a low
voice. “Such is our fate. However, there have been those who’ve endeavored to change all of that. Like myself.”

  The Noble backed away, and the waves lapped around his waist.

  “Aren’t you coming?” he asked. “If your skills as a bodyguard are of use solely on dry land, I suppose you’ll need to refund your fee. I shall come again. Only next time, it’ll be from somewhere where no one will see me.”

  Before his foe had finished speaking, D stepped into the sea.

  “Well done,” the Noble laughed. “I will favor you with a fight now. You shall have a good taste of Baron Meinster’s power before you are sent to your death.”

  From his right hand, a sharp black point flew at D.

  Not bothering to lower the blade he used to parry the blow effortlessly, D closed the gap between them. From the upper right-hand side, he made a diagonal slash at the neck of the motionless Noble. The blade met no resistance—the Noble had sunk straight down into the depths. Changing his grip on the sword, the Hunter made a downward thrust, but it pierced only water.

  “Take a good look around yourself,” said a voice from underwater. Even with his ultra-keen senses, D couldn’t discern from exactly where it had originated. Worse yet, there was something even D hadn’t noticed up until now. The water that’d only been up to his waist had risen to his chest.

  According to various legends that’d been propagated since ancient times, discovering a scientific basis for their own weaknesses was an endeavor that’d garnered every possible effort from the Nobility. To be precise, they sought to explain the destructive power of sunlight, their innate fear of the scent of garlic, and the way they burned from the touch of holy water—and some of the legends also mentioned running water.

  Nobles couldn’t swim, but water itself wasn’t enough to destroy their immortal flesh. Even with lungs full of water, a Noble would have their heart kept beating by their accursed life force. The vampire wouldn’t drown, but would rather fall into a sort of coma. However, even for a Noble, being left in such a defenseless state out on the Frontier was sure to prove fatal. If a water dragon were to chew one to bits, regeneration would be impossible. Worse yet was what would happen if humans should find the comatose vampire . . .