by Paul Kidd
With the wet skin hood ripped away, the mamono’s slick, glistening flesh was caught in the full light of the morning sun.
The creature screamed in agony, bucking wildly in Tonbo’s gasp. The huge man bowed backwards, somehow keeping his grip. He forced the monster’s head directly into the sunlight, where the flesh charred deeper and deeper, bubbling and cracking apart. Jaws burst and slashed through the monk’s robes, and the mamono exploded outward – immensely taller than a man. It tried to hurtle Tonbo free – but now its entire body was caught in the sun. The wet, red flesh scorched and sizzled, exploding into ashes. Tonbo held the monster firmly in the light, until with a final raging scream the mamono completely burned away in his grasp.
The monster was nothing but coals. Tonbo hurtled the ruins aside as they charred away into nothing. He staggered, shook his head, then reached over to seize Kuno by the back of his robes and haul him to his feet.
“Come!”
He snatched up the fallen wood axe. Hauling Kuno behind him, Tonbo raced through the cowering, astonished crowds of monks and charged towards the monastery gates.
Sura ducked, the red fox rolling snout-over-tail as a falling tree crashed down towards her. The mamono had staggered inside the dark shadows of the woods, slicing a tree clean through as it passed. Sura dodged again, leaping clear just as tons of falling timber came thundering down at her from above. She raced forward and locked her fangs onto the mamono‘s ankle, ripping free yet more human skin. The monster turned and stabbed down but Sura had already dashed away, spitting out a mouthful of human hide.
The mamono split apart the last of its disguise – rags and skin exploding away as the monster swelled to massive size.
Its flesh looked like flayed, red muscle – half again the height of a man, and bulging with power. The fanged head snarled – and then the horrifying vertical mouth of the monster’s torso split open in a deafening roar.
A silk bag gleamed wetly inside the immense mouth the sacred mirror! Sura caught a brief glimpse of the prize, and then the immense monster strode towards her, crashing saplings aside. It was in pain – its flesh horribly burned from where unfiltered sunlight had seared it. The monster’s red eyes glared at the fox in hate.
“Fox spirit! I will skin you slowly over a hundred days of pain!”
Sura shifted her weight back and forth, looking for an opening to attack. “No. You will die, and I will dance the happy dance on your remains!”
The monster crashed its arm sideways into a tree.
“Die!”
The tree hurtled through the air at terrifying speed, tumbling towards the fox. Sura flung herself aside. Broken branches missed her by a whisker. She rolled in the fallen leaves, shocked at the narrowness of her escape.
A clear voice suddenly pealed out through the trees.
“Little spirits of the wood! Come now to aid your friends!”
Chiri was there in her half human form, white fur shimmering, dressed in robes stolen from the brothel. All around her, slivers of wood detached from the trees.
“Wood darts!”
The slivers flew in a sudden storm of jagged darts. Hundreds of needle sharp wooden fragments hurtled inwards, slamming into the mamono from every side. But the monster merely laughed. Dozens of wood splinters jutted out of its flesh, but none had managed to strike deep. The mamono brushed them all away.
It turned and gazed at Chiri with eyes of sheer lust.
“A little mouse, so softly sweet!” The creature slowly stropped its claws. “Your skin will be mine!”
The creature stalked towards Chiri. Daitanishi and Bifuuko dashed up into the air before her. The mamono came onwards, chuckling evilly. Chiri fell back, looking left and right for weapons and ideas.
Sura noticed the gap where the fallen tree had stood. She whirled and shouted over to the rat.
“Chiri – strip the trees!”
The rat looked up into the tree boughs – heavy with leaves turning brown and gold. She threw out a hand in triumph, and the air suddenly pulsed with power.
“Seasons fly through grass and trees.
Surrender now your cloaks of leaves!”
The leaves all flew off the forest trees. They swirled around and around in a wild breeze, leaving the monster at the centre of the storm.
The mamono looked up in shock, as sunlight hit it full force.
Flesh searing, the monster screamed. Blundering away, the creature tried to claw its way into the deeper forest. But its limbs were charring fast – flesh breaking into glowing coals, crumbling from its bones. Screaming and screeching, the monster dissolved away, to leave nothing but a pile of ashes, and a silk bag sitting in the middle of the remains.
Tonbo and Kuno arrived at a dead run, skidding to a halt beside Chiri. They stared as Sura trotted over to the ashes and delicately reached over with her muzzle, picking up the silk bag by its tie-cords. She prodded at it, making certain that there was definitely a mirror hidden inside, then put it aside.
The fox looked cheerfully back over to the others.
“Excuse me. I just have to do something.”
The fox reared up onto her hind feet. She skipped and pranced about inside the smoking remains of the monster, happily swirling her tail.
Bruised, bashed and still dazed, Tonbo sat on a stump and stared.
“What are you doing?”
“The happy dance!” The fox pranced merrily away. “Eh – you had to be there.” She danced around and around inside the pile of ashes, and sang a raucous little song.
“Let’s all dance the happy dance!
The happy dance! The happy dance!
Let’s all dance the happy dance.
The happy happy dance!
I’m alive and now you’re not!
The happy dance, the happy dance!
You’re stone dead and I’m red hot!
– The happy happy dance…!”
The other Spirit Hunters watched. Kuno could only shake his head, feeling quite bewildered.
“I am disturbed by that woman on so many different levels…”
The fox danced on, leaping merrily about. The others sat and took stock of the ashes, trees and fallen leaves.
All in all, it had been an exhausting morning…
Discretion had been stressed, so Sura and Chiri spirited the mirror off into the wilds, keeping well hidden from the Ishigi samurai. Tonbo and Kuno returned to the monastery to retrieve their equipment. The samurai guards were in great confusion, awaiting more orders. To avoid explanations, Kuno and Tonbo slipped secretly back through the drainage tunnel, vanishing without a trace.
Chiri and Sura had found a hiding spot on an obscure little mountain trail. They had done their best to clean the mirror bag of all traces of mamono drool, wiping it carefully down then hanging it up to dry. Daitanishi and Bifuuko concealed themelves in the trees on guard, making certain all was well.
Finally they could get back into their own clothing. Sura changed back to her human form and plunged into her comfortable travel robes. Pulling on her breastplate, she took her spear in hand and at long last felt like her normal self. She left the weapon unsheathed in her usual careless way and gave a sigh of relief.
The lads were back in their armour and Tonbo’s pleasure at having his massive tetsubo back in his grasp was a beautiful thing to see. His hair would eventually grow back, but for now he wound his usual towel about his head, tying it happily in place.
Kuno squared his shoulders. There was armour on his back and a well-folded cap upon his head. Play-acting was over; things were back as they should be. He led the way down the hill slopes, heading swiftly towards the sea.
They put on a good pace, soon leaving the hills far behind. Sura kept them moving – scarcely even condoning a break for lunch. They made a brief halt in the cover of a little dell, boiled water for tea, soup and noodles, and ate it all swiftly down.
Sura was keen to be off again. She crammed down two enormous helpings of nood
les, rinsed her bowl in the stream, then urged the others on towards the town.
There was a good amount of traffic on the roads – traders heading to the town, some wandering yamabushi and a little troupe of entertainers. The Spirit Hunters joined the familiar road at last and settled into a quieter march, finally seeing the Ishigi castle on the headland just beyond.
The sun grew low on the horizon. In the town, streets thronged with people. Inns were taking in lodgers for the night, and soon cooks would be busily making the evening meal. Sakē booths were being opened, and peasants were returning from their work out in the fields. Men from the garrison were drinking at some inns, their laughter loud and easy.
A bridge led over a little river in the centre of the town. Chiri walked side by side with Sura, while Kuno and Tonbo marched somewhat to the rear. The castle was above – comfortable inns were close at hand. Chiri walked onto the busy bridge and gave a sigh of quiet relief.
“So we have the mirror! And we are in time.” The rat felt herself relax. “We merely have to walk into the castle and this mission is done.”
Sura held her spear up at an angle, trying to keep the weapon out of the way of other pedestrians. She flicked a brief glance up at the castle.
“No… we’re not going to do that.” The fox drew her brows together in a frown. “We need to find a messenger to take it for us.”
More traffic was entering the far end of the bridge – a swarm of off-duty samurai from the castle. They were in casual dress and heading for the expensive inns and brothels at the far end of the town. Chiri tucked Daitanishi onto her shoulder and hastened to keep up with Sura’s pace.
“Why is that, Sura san?”
The fox settled her straw hat down low. “I have an intuition…”
As they passed by the samurai, a man in the middle of the group looked up briefly at Sura. It was the hatamoto from the moon-viewing party up at the castle – the irritating man with the wide sideburns. He saw her flash of recognition, and looked away.
Then as he passed her, the man deliberately clacked the hilt of his sword against Sura’s spear.
The samurai whirled, streaking his sword out of its sheath and slicing down at Sura. The fox moved like lightning, springing back and catching the sword blade with the butt of her spear. In a movement she had practiced a thousand times, she whipped her opponent’s sword blade downwards. Rather than slice down with her lethal spear blade, she hammered the heavy metal butt forward, slamming it into the man’s midriff with all her weight behind it. The samurai staggered backwards, almost rammed off his feet.
Six samurai drew swords and attacked Kuno, Chiri and Tonbo. The furious melee walled Sura off from her friends.
The Hatamoto had a hand clamped against his stomach. He glared up at Sura in absolute hatred. He had two men behind her, and another swordsman beside him, surrounding the fox. Gripping his sword the man bellowed out across the crash and ring of steel.
“You think yourself the equal of a Hatamoto of clan Ishigi?” The man whipped his sword up into attack position, matching the other men. They quivered, all preparing to pounce.
“Honourless fox – die!”
The man gave a great scream of rage – and then his men attacked.
Behind Sura, the battle moved with blinding speed. One man had drawn on Kuno – a whip of steel so swift that it came in the blink of an eye. Kuno had seen the first flicker of the move and pounced inwards. The sword blow missed him. He slammed his own sword hilt into his attacker, then drew his blade in a lightning upwards cut. He slashed up through his man, and then down again, killing him in his tracks.
The body blocked a second assailant’s cut. Kuno crossed blades with the man – a skilled opponent, but far too full of rage. Swords clashed as the men manoeuvred. Kuno’s opponent made a sudden cut to the flank: Kuno dodged and whipped his opponent’s sword up and away, countering with a swift cut to his opponent’s waist, flicking the man’s sword aside as it cut at him again and again. He chased the man back level with Tonbo as the big man came crashing past, tangling with two assailants at once.
Two men cut wildly at Tonbo’s helm. Tonbo simply ignored one man – his sword strike was too weak to penetrate armour. A huge blow of Tonbo’s tetsubo crashed down through his opponent’s useless parry – splintering the man’s shoulder and breaking his neck.
The tetsubo was a terrifying thing to face in close quarters. Tonbo turned and caught a blow from the other samurai on his iron haft. He bulled in, slamming his breastplate forward to crash against the other man, bashing him back and away. It made space for a powerful swing of the tetsubo, crushing the man’s skull with a single blow and hammering the corpse into the ground.
More men were coming – some racing towards Sura at the far end of the bridge, others towards Tonbo. He strode forwards, his iron staff swirling, stalking towards the onrushing enemy like a huge steel troll. He crashed into them head on, never slowing.
Chiri had leapt aside as she was first attacked. Daitanishi cracked into her attacker’s face, then Chiri’s razor-sharp natagama were out and whirring. One man cut at her with blinding speed: she met the blade in a cross block, wrenched his sword down, and scythed one of her hooked blades in a circle. The blurring strike took her attacker’s hand off at the wrist. The man staggered back, screaming. He crashed into another samurai. The next swordsman made a deafening iai shout and tried to slice at Chiri’s arm.
She flickered backwards, changing her guard – threatening. Steel rang on steel as the man tried to fight in past her blades. Suddenly he hammered his sword down, trying to crash one of Chiri’s natagama clean out of her hand.
The natagama was bashed downward, but the rat was already moving, the other hooked blade gaffing deep into the man’s ribs beneath his arm. She wrenched backwards on the blade, twisting from her hips and slicing a terrible wound through the man’s lungs. He staggered – and the rat cut down into the back of his neck.
She stepped back, and the man fell dead at her feet.
Chiri whirled. Kuno was close by, tangled with a samurai who fought with lightning speed. But the man was too savage, too angry. Kuno made a deliberate opening, his point lowering and wavering. His enemy instantly leapt in to make a savage downwards cut. Kuno whipped his own sword straight up and into the incoming attack, glissing it aside. He cut down into the Ishigi samurai’s forehead, killing him with a single perfect blow.
Kuno and Chiri whirled. Tonbo was at one end of the bridge, thundering into three Ishigi. Kuno raced in to assist him. Chiri turned, and suddenly saw Sura standing at the far end of the bridge.
The fox was surrounded by enemies.
There were three men in front of her, and three more behind.
The fox gave a masterful demonstration of spear fighting.
A man came at her. She shot forward and killed him with a swift spear thrust, her kiai shout ringing out across the fight. She flicked the blade free, whirled and cut down at the men who raced towards her from behind. The lead attacker parried: the fox instantly pulled with her blade, hooking his weapon and tugging it towards her. She thrust, slamming the long cross-blade into the man’s throat.
The men behind her victim stalled. Sura whipped about to see a swordsman slashing down at her from behind. She sidestepped, catching the back of the sword with her spear haft and wrenching the blade down and away. ‘Leaf Cutter’ whipped about in a glittering arc, Sura leaping forward to her knees, scything the spear blade down at her target from shoulder to calf. The man jerked back, the spear point slicing his robes. But Sura instantly cut across into the man’s ankles. She hooked the man’s ankle with the razor sharp cross-blade, pulled hard then speared him as he fell.
The enemy samurai hesitated, fearing to close in. Facing her alone to the front, the hatamoto screamed out to the men behind.
“Fools! It’s just a fox with a spear! It’s just a woman!” The man crashed a fist against his breast. “I am Funaji Yorimasa – senior disciple of the Ryushima koku!
Son of the victor of the sea battle at Monojima. Descended in the sixth generation from Funajni no Shinto Koremon, who fell at the side of the retired emperor during the Joemon rebellion!”
Sura stood waiting – mocking and arrogant. She lifted her spear, keeping it levelled at her foes – passed it behind her neck, and coolly brushed her straw hat from her head. She came powerfully en guarde.
The fox gave a great, raucous augh.
“Samurai! I am Kitsune! My ancestors taught the first emperor how to cheat at dice! They taught the sun goddess how to dance, and the moon to sing. They tricked the great centipede into leaving star tracks all across the sky!” Leaf Cutter swirled down into a low guard, inviting attack. “That is my pedigree, human!”
The samurai attacked. Sura met them in a blur of steel.
On the streets behind, more Ishigi samurai rushed in to attack Tonbo and Kuno. The two men were well armoured. Tonbo smashed one man and catapulted him back into a group of others, sending them flying. Kuno cut down two swordsmen in rapid succession – but the enemy were closing in about them. At the centre of the bridge, Chiri made three swift mudra shapes with her fingers, then reached her hands down towards the water. Her power pulled upwards from the river just below.
“Playmates from the rivers deeps – your sister needs your aid!
Wave strike!”
Water elementals resembling savage little eels whipped up from the water. They lashed into the faces of the attacking Ishigi samurai. Tonbo instantly took advantage, hammering two men down into bloody ruins. Kuno cut through one blinded man – sliced another that tried to charge him, then another. Suddenly the streets were clear.
