The Beast Player

by Nahoko Uehashi

  If she had been looking at Damiya, she would have seen the sorrow that rose in his eyes at that moment. But by the time she noticed anything, he had already moved. Hearing a cry of surprise from her maidservant, she turned to see Damiya grasping the blue flag.

  “I won’t let you do this, Seimiya.” He smiled the way he often had when she was little and had done something naughty.

  “Give it back!” She held out her hand, but he continued smiling and made no move.

  “Se Zan!” she cried. “Seize that flag!”

  But not a single Se Zan responded to her call. Half of them had whipped out their daggers and placed them against the throats of the others.

  “At times like this, it is foresight that determines one’s fate,” Damiya said calmly. He turned his eyes to Elin. “Come now, Elin. It’s time. Go back to your tent and get on Leelan. You’re a clever girl. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which Toda to attack first… Off you go now.”

  Elin stared at him and gritted her teeth. Shining with a light as hard as stone, his eyes never wavered. On feet that did not seem to be hers, she moved slowly toward the tent, but as she approached the entrance, she noticed that the Se Zan who had been standing there a moment before was gone. She glanced at the space where he had stood and, at that moment, a black shadow moved by her. Just as it passed, something bright flew from its hand. Turning, she saw a trail of light, and then something sank into Damiya’s right hand. It had taken less than a second, and happened in complete silence. Before blood even began spurting from Damiya’s hand, the running shadow had slipped behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck.

  “Elin!” With his voice, sound returned to Elin’s ears. “Grab the flag and give it to Seimiya.”

  For a moment, Elin stood frozen, too stunned to move. Even though she understood that it was Ialu holding Damiya, she seemed to have gone numb.

  “Hurry!”

  At his urging, her body came to life, as if her soul had returned. She ran toward them and snatched the flag from the ground at Damiya’s feet. The grass was red and wet with the blood dripping from his arm. She shook the flag to remove the dirt and then handed it to Seimiya. With a bloodless face, Seimiya took the flag. As if fearing that she would hesitate, she thrust it high above her and waved it at the men surging up the hill.

  At that moment, the young man beside the Aluhan stopped his Kiba and removed his helmet. He looked as though he could not believe what he saw. In the next instant, a cheer rose from the front line and spread like a wave through the ranks behind. The sound shook the earth. However, it was not taken up by the army’s left wing. Oblivious to their silence, the Aluhan and Shunan removed their armor and dismounted. Leaving their Kiba with the standard bearers, they began walking up the hill.

  When they were just twenty or thirty paces from the top, the earth suddenly began to rumble, and the Toda forces broke into disarray. The Toda at the head of the left wing charged after the Aluhan and Shunan with ferocious speed, and the rest followed suit. In no time, the two men were cut off from their troops.

  One Toda rider, his banner flying in the wind, raised his sword to the heavens and charged straight at the Aluhan. Fleeter than a horse, his mount charged up the hill as if flying through space and whistled past the Aluhan, who barely had time to draw his sword. When the Toda stopped, blood was spurting from the Aluhan’s neck. His knees buckled, and he crumpled face down on the grass.

  “Father!” Shunan cried. He raised him in his arms, but the Aluhan had breathed his last. Covered in his father’s blood, Shunan looked up. The warrior raised his helm, and his face leapt into Shunan’s eyes—his own brother, eyes wild and face strangely contorted.

  “Nugan…”

  “The Aluhan’s proper station is that of a faithful vassal!” Nugan shrieked. “I will not let it be sullied by rebellion.” Again, he raised his sword, dripping with his father’s blood, and pointed it at the heavens.

  Troops rushing to the Aluhan’s aid collided with Toda Riders who sought to stop them. Cries of “Sai Gamulu! Sai Gamulu!” could be heard among those loyal to the Aluhan. Thus began a fearsome battle of Toda against Toda.

  Seimiya and the others stared aghast at the melee of Toda troops. When the Aluhan fell and Nugan turned his blade toward Shunan, Seimiya cried out, “Somebody! Please, please save him!” Her voice shook, and she looked around desperately for help, but there was nothing anyone could do. Finally, she turned, white-faced, to Elin.

  “Elin…” Pressing her hands together as if in prayer, she begged. “Elin!”

  Her plea washed like a wave through Elin’s heart. Should Shunan die, Seimiya would have no choice but to marry Damiya and appoint Nugan as the next Aluhan, even though he had murdered his own father. The calm composure on Damiya’s face when she glanced his way was in stark contrast to the distraught Seimiya. Suddenly, she knew. This is exactly how he planned it. In that instant, she made her choice.

  Turning to Seimiya, she nodded. “I will save him.”

  Tears rolled from Seimiya’s eyes. “Please! I promise you. If you save Shunan, I will free the Royal Beasts and make sure that the ruler never again uses them as weapons of war.”

  Elin held her eyes. Then she nodded once more and dashed toward the tent.

  If she flew on Leelan in front of this many people, then Seimiya’s vow would probably be meaningless. But she no longer hesitated. If a Toda Rider ruled, everything must change. To see that change, she would have to rescue Shunan.

  She knew that Leelan could never understand what she felt, even if she tried to share it. She knew her thoughts would only spin around in her own brain, yet she could not help speaking to her in her mind.

  So, Leelan, I am using you as a weapon after all.

  With each stride, the Silent Whistle bounced, and each time it struck her chest, she felt a pang in her heart and clenched her jaw. When she reached the tent, she stepped across a body that lay upon the ground and pulled the ropes. With a dull sound, the canvas split in two and fell away. Leelan blinked in the sudden brightness. The scent of Toda carried by the wind was so thick it made Elin feel ill. Leelan’s nostrils flared, and her fur stood on end with the anticipation of falling upon her natural foe.

  Elin quickly unwound the bandage binding her left hand on which only two fingers remained. Waving it, she looked into Leelan’s eyes. “Let me up!” Leelan obediently bent down so that she could climb on. Swiftly, she wound the reins around her left fist and shouted, “Fly!”

  She felt the movement of Leelan’s wing muscles against her stomach. Leelan dropped into a crouch and then sprang into the sky. “Take me there,” she shouted, pointing at Shunan, then, spreading her arms wide, she placed the plugs in Leelan’s ears.

  A tumult arose from below when people saw the Royal Beast glide through the air, straight for Shunan. A long, high-pitched whistle issued from Leelan’s mouth. At the sound, the Toda surrounding Shunan flipped over en masse, exposing their bellies to the sky. Warriors who failed to leap in time from their rolling mounts were crushed beneath them, or sent flying through the air to lie sprawled on the ground, staring up at the sky in bewilderment.

  Leelan’s claws sank first into Nugan’s mount, ripping it to shreds in moments. Splattered with Toda blood and chunks of flesh, Nugan was thrown to the ground. He stared at Leelan with a look of blank astonishment.

  Leelan did not stop there. One after another, she ripped the prostrate Toda with her claws. Snarling with rage and crazed with blood, she butchered them until she was covered from head to foot in gore.

  As the warriors regained their senses, they grabbed their bows and shot at Leelan, but she was impervious to their arrows. Before their eyes, the lone Royal Beast slaughtered Toda by the dozens.

  “Leelan… Leelan!” Elin pounded on her back with all her might. Reaching out one arm, she removed an earplug and yelled into her ear, “Stop! That’s enough! Enough! Put me down over there!”

  But the Beast showed no sign of halting the c
arnage.

  “Leelan! Stop! Now! Or I’ll blow the whistle!” Elin shouted. Only then did Leelan reluctantly drop the Toda corpse in her claws and glide a short distance away. Dismembered Toda radiated in a broad circle around her. Beyond them massed those Toda that had remained unaffected by her whistle. Their Riders had, at first, been so overwhelmed, they had failed to grasp what was happening. Now, however, they began to tighten the circle around Elin and the Royal Beast. They raised their bows, and a hail of arrows whistled toward them.

  Elin ducked her head. Sliding off Leelan’s back, she ran over to Shunan. “Hurry! Come with me!” She grabbed his arm and half dragged him toward Leelan. “Take him!” she shouted. “Take him over there!” As she shoved him onto the Beast, she felt something thud violently into her back and pitched forward. She choked, unable to breathe, then realized that she had been struck by an arrow.

  “You…” Shunan began, but she pushed his chest.

  “Get on,” she gasped. “Hold onto the reins.”

  “You, too,” he said, grabbing her hand, but she yanked her arm away.

  “She can’t carry two. Go!” She shoved the plugs into Leelan’s ears. “Go!” she yelled again. While Leelan probably could not hear her, she understood Elin’s gesture. She flew up into the air and sped off without looking back. Her figure blurred in Elin’s eyes. Falling to her knees on the grass, she gazed up at the sky. Leelan’s figure, shining in the sun, grew hazy.

  Pain coursed through her with every breath, and tears trickled down her cheeks. The Toda drew closer, and their scent overwhelmed her. The thought occurred to her that everything until this moment had been nothing but a dream.

  She was with her mother now, about to be eaten by Toda.

  In those few moments before the Kiba reached her, she dreamt her whole life.

  Faces floated into her mind and out again, like clouds blown by the wind. Joeun, Esalu, Yuyan, Tomura and Ialu.

  Images rose in her mind’s eye: Leelan when she had first responded to Elin’s harp, her first flight, her shining figure as she mated in the sky.

  What a rich dream it was.

  She smiled. With shallow gasps, her body crumpled slowly to the ground.

  Mother.

  She felt the grass caress her cheek, and awareness returned. Ruthlessly, the knowledge that she was about to be devoured by Toda pierced her mind, and an indescribable despair spread through her. Is this how her mother had felt? When she had known that her life, which she had lived so hard, was to end like this, had she, too, felt a desolation that gnawed her very bones?

  I don’t want to die yet… This thought hit her with sudden force. I don’t want my life to end this way.

  Sobbing, she struggled to move. The ground shook as the Toda drew ever nearer. Pressing her left elbow against the earth, she turned to look up at the sky. Tears blurred her vision, and everything seemed very far away.

  As her consciousness began to fade, in a corner of her mind, she thought she heard her mother’s finger flute. And with that high note came the sound of beating wings. Something huge was gliding toward her.

  Leelan! Her eyes widened. But why…

  Breathing like a bellows, her fangs bared in a snarl, and her fur stiff and straight as needles, Leelan dropped from the sky. The shouts and screams of the Toda Riders echoed all around her, and arrows began to fall like rain. Elin could only screw her eyes shut and cover her head with her arms. Something blocked the light of day, plunging her into darkness. The sounds of arrows whistling and people shouting grew distant, and her body was wrapped in stillness, as if she were in the sudden lull of a storm.

  Opening her eyes, she saw Leelan’s face right before her, fangs bared. She had covered her with her wings. Elin froze, staring at that snarling face.

  Suddenly, Leelan shoved her muzzle at her, and butted her in the chest before she could grab the Silent Whistle. Pain seared her back where the arrow had pierced her. Groaning, she uncurled from the protective ball in which she had been huddled. As if waiting for that moment, Leelan snatched her up in her jaws.

  Elin screamed, and her muscles went rigid, but for some reason she felt no pain. Instead of the agony of rending fangs, she felt only a dull pressure, as if she were being pressed by thick fingers. Leelan, she realized, must be holding her in the back of her mouth where there were no teeth. She was caught between her gums. At that moment, she felt something warm and soft move beneath her.

  Leelan’s tongue. Deftly, she used it to roll Elin’s body so that she lay on her side, with nothing touching her wound. Then she kicked the ground with her feet and flew up into the air.

  Elin felt her body lift. Wind roared in her ears and whipped at her hair. Her arms were stretched above her, and she rested them against Leelan’s muzzle, gazing at her shining fur. Leelan’s saliva, still smelling of Toda blood, soaked into her clothes. She closed her eyes.

  A hot lump rose from the pit of her chest into her throat. Why?… Why would she do this for me? When I’m not her child, or her parent, or her mate. When I used the Silent Whistle like a whip to make her obey me. Why?

  Her feelings for Leelan, which she had locked away deep inside for fear of that sweet delusion, burst forth and shook something awake inside her.

  Leelan, I just wanted to know. That’s all I ever wanted… I stood on the edge of that abyss between man and beast and played my harp for you, checking each note, one by one, to see if it would reach you. Because I wanted to know. I wanted to know what you thought.

  And you – you spoke to me, one note at a time. We explored each other’s incomprehensible minds from across that yawning chasm.

  Sometimes we hit the wrong notes like clashing echoes.

  Yet sometimes, just by chance, the notes we played for one another made unexpected music, like this.

  Her eyes filled with tears.

  As long as the life you have given me continues, let me stand on the shore of that great abyss and play. Let me pluck my harp, note by note, and speak to the creatures of earth and sky, so that I may hear music as yet unknown.

  *

  Opening her eyes, she turned her head and saw the plain of Tahai Azeh stretching far into the distance. The Toda and their riders were now so far away that she could no longer distinguish one from the other. They dwindled to tiny black dots, like a swarm of bees, while the earth and sky went on forever, brimming with light.

  Elin listened to Leelan purr in encouragement from deep in her chest, and gazed, transfixed, at the land below.

  About the Author

  NAHOKO UEHASHI is a writer of fantasy titles, whose books have sold more than a million copies in her native Japan. She has won numerous awards, including the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award, which she received for her contribution to children’s literature throughout her life. She has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and has studied indigenous peoples in Australia. She lives near Tokyo, Japan.

  We created Pushkin Children’s Books to share tales from different languages and cultures with younger readers, and to open the door to the wide, colourful worlds these stories offer.

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