by Ben Stevens
‘There are sometimes wonderful things to be seen in nature; breathtaking symmetries and patterns,’ declared my master, so that I glanced in some confusion at him.
‘Take, for example, the spider’s web,’ he continued. ‘It is truly a thing of beauty – and yet also utterly deadly to whatever it traps.
‘And in this case, perhaps, we have a similar… Well, item, perhaps. Something so wonderfully crafted, that it seems as though it was almost deliberately made. And yet it belongs, entirely, to the natural world…’
‘A spider, master?’ I breathed. ‘There is some strange – no, incredible – spider which, somehow, has these… darts?’
My words sounded utterly ridiculous even as I said them, and my master did not spare my embarrassment with the look he gave me.
‘Hardly, Kukai – and yet you are not so very far from the truth. Not a spider, I suspect, but a – Shh!’
Instantly he stopped talking, his eyes focused on something a short way in front him. I followed his gaze – and there it was! As hideous a flying insect as I have ever seen, as large and as thick as my thumb, with that repulsive-looking dart (or stinger, as I now knew it to be) emerging from the rear of its yellow body.
Yellow and… I stared hard… Yes, there were slight black ‘rings’ also on its body, so that it looked like some strange variety of bee or wasp. And yet, color aside, it really was very different from anything I had ever seen before in my life.
Different and… Well, quite frankly, disgusting. Even it eyes seemed outsized and menacing.
Slowly, very slow, my master’s hand stole inside the top of his kimono. As it gradually reemerged, I saw that he’d bought a small net with him – like that used for catching butterflies, attached to a short stick.
The colossal insect came ever closer, as though it could somehow see or perhaps just sense us… Sense the blood coursing through our veins… Through the naked, exposed jugulars on our necks… Just before the last Chinese man had been stung – with the stinger then remaining in his skin, as does a bee’s (but, just like a bee, did this cause this particular insect to die, I wondered?) – he’d glimpsed his killer. Those large wings vibrating countless times a second, that bright yellow body with the slight black ‘rings’ only noticeable if you really looked for them…
And then the realization that he’d been stung, and the poison quickly beginning to paralyze his limbs and shut down his organs…
Yes – small wonder that he’d gasped the words ‘the Yellow Killer’ to those who’d found him, just before he’d passed away. There could hardly be more fitting a term for this particular insect.
…At once my master struck! The net flashed out, my master extending his arm, and the trapped Yellow Killer was brought down to the ground. Furiously it flew against the small net, its disgusting ‘stinger’ jabbing at the material with the countless tiny holes in it, but it was useless.
‘Behold the murderer of those two Chinese laborers!’ gasped my master. ‘Something living in this swamp, where nobody ventures… Somehow drawn to attack what it can sense in other, larger animals… The beating of blood in the veins… Attacking at night, not even needing to see with those huge eyes – or maybe these eyes can see in the dark…
‘There are others like it, no doubt, existing in this area as well as in other similar, remote places. Indeed, who knows what insects, animals, people, even, are yet to be discovered by the so-called ‘civilized’ world…?’
My master has since been credited with having been the ‘discoverer’ of this insect, with the Chinese characters of the name consequently given to it literally reading the ‘Yellow Killer’. Only a few other specimens have been sighted – with just a couple of these again being captured – away to the far-north of the country.
But it has been shown that even with the loss of its ‘stinger’, the Yellow Killer does not die. Instead, over several weeks, it actually regenerates this truly remarkable, if deadliest, part of its body!
As such, it can only be hoped that this particular insect remains somewhat rare…
The Beauty
‘What is it you want from me? You have only to give the word, and I will gladly kill myself…’
‘I would rather you live, and pay some pressing bills of mine,’ returned the beautiful woman, surveying the young man groveling on the floor before her with hooded eyes, the ghost of a smile playing around her full red mouth.
‘But I have no more money!’ the young man cried out. ‘I cannot ask my father for any more –’
‘Your father is one of the richest men in this whole region,’ declared the woman, her voice like ice. ‘Ask him again…’
‘I cannot, I cannot,’ whimpered the man, beginning to cry. ‘You have taken all my money, and caused me to borrow even more. I am ruined, now. My family have all but disowned me. I have only you, my darling…’
The woman began to laugh. Quietly, mockingly, her eyes like steel.
‘You do not have me, idiot,’ she said finally, her voice soaked in scorn. ‘You never did. You were useful to me only so long as you had access to your father’s wealth; and now that it appears you do not, you may go – and make sure that you never trouble me again.’
The young man lifted his head to stare up at her, his expression ashen. His face trembled as he attempted to speak. Finally, he blurted –
‘Please, no… You cannot mean this… I have sacrificed everything for you. After all we shared, all the things you said…’
‘You stupid little fool,’ retorted the woman, shaking her head. ‘You have been played, as I have played so many others. That is all. And now that you have been used up…’
At this, she glanced either side of her, at the two colossal former sumo wrestlers who served as her bodyguard. She gave a tiny nod towards the young man on his knees before her, and the two bodyguards at once started forwards.
‘So you never felt anything for me?’ said the young man, his voice hollow and dead.
‘Not a thing,’ smiled the woman. With the slightest movement of one hand, she caused the bodyguards to come to a halt just before the young man. ‘You are an idiot, that is all. Now, will you leave here of your own accord, or would you like to be dragged out by your hair?’
‘I always loved you – now, let me prove this…’ said the young man, still in that strange, dead-sounding tone. With one swift movement, he reached inside his opulent kimono and whipped out a dagger. The beautiful woman made a noise of alarm, and the two former rikishi – sumo wrestlers – moved with surprising speed to grab him.
But just before they could, the young man plunged the blade deep into his heart. Blood spurted out as his eyes locked with the woman’s, in the split-second before he fell face-down onto the tatami mat.
The woman took a deep breath.
‘A nuisance,’ she said then. ‘This inn where we are staying will certainly demand that the mess this idiot has made – these bloodstains – be paid for.
‘But then,’ she said in a musing tone, ‘I’m sure his father can be persuaded to cover that sort of thing…’
She looked at one of her bodyguards.
‘See to it that he is contacted, and the situation fully explained to him, and also get this idiot’s corpse out of here immediately. In death, as in life, I find that he offers precious little in the way of amusement…
‘I grow weary of this inn, in any case. I feel the need to leave this area, and to travel somewhere new. And perhaps there to meet…
‘Well…’
With a secretive smile, the woman swept out of the room with the body of the dead young man lying upon the tatami mat. The two rikishi exchanged a glance, and then bent down to pick up the corpse by its wrists and ankles.
1
‘I don’t know who else to turn to, Ennin-sensei, really I don’t. If you can’t assist in this matter, then…’
‘I assure you that I will certainly do my best to help you, Koike-san,’ said my master sincerely, no doubt seeking t
o calm this wealthy, middle-aged merchant who’d obviously been driven to the edge of distraction.
‘But first,’ continued my master, ‘if I could kindly have all the facts, given in as straightforward a manner as possible…’
‘Of course, of course,’ muttered the merchant, making a valiant effort to compose himself.
‘It concerns my son, Ennin-sensei, who is still only in his twenty-first year,’ said the merchant then. ‘His name is Yuji… He has been – well, he has been ensnared by a demon!’
My master gave a slight cough.
‘A, err, demon, Koike-san?’
‘In the form of a female,’ clarified the merchant. ‘She is exceedingly beautiful, for I have met her myself, and somehow my son has fallen under her ‘spell’, as it were.’
‘Forgive me, Koike-san, but what exactly is the reason you have come to see me today?’ asked my master, his voice becoming a little tight. I knew just how he disliked feeling that he was having his time wasted.
‘Because this woman is a demon!’ reiterated the merchant despairingly. ‘She is causing my son to lie, and steal from me! He goes to visit her at night – he thinks secretly… He takes money from the drawer in my office – how can he think I don’t realize this? It all goes to this woman, and so I made my own, discreet enquiries concerning her…
‘And I found out that just two or so months ago, another young man killed himself right there in front of her, having been squeezed dry of every single penny he could provide! Like my own boy, he was also the son of a… Well, a wealthy man, let us put it plainly…
‘Now my son walks around pale and waxen-looking, his soul clearly consumed by this woman who doubtless plays upon her beauty in order to continue living in the style to which she has become accustomed. He has become a liar and a thief, a sneak, all because of his infatuation for this… this…’
The merchant all but choked on his own indignation, and my master held up a calming hand.
‘I see,’ he said quietly; and as I glanced at him, I saw that his eyes had that curiously fixed look I knew so well…
‘This woman’s name is – ’
‘Mayumi Hata,’ murmured my master.
‘How do you know this, Ennin-sensei?’
‘She was married to a wealthy trader, who died some years ago in what might charitably be called ‘suspicious circumstances’,’ continued my master. He spoke in that curious manner he sometimes had: as though he was not actually talking to someone, but rather himself, clarifying events and details in his own mind.
‘The money she inherited from her unfortunate husband made her an extremely wealthy woman – and she was still only in her twenties,’ said my master. ‘But Hata-san is a woman of expensive tastes, who keeps a retinue including bodyguards as she travels around the country, staying at a succession of luxurious inns…’
‘It is in one such inn that she is staying now,’ declared Koike, who appeared just a little irritated at my master’s somewhat vacant, aloof manner. ‘An inn near here. It is called – ’
‘The ‘Thousand Falling Blossoms’,’ my master again interrupted. ‘A beautifully poetic name which effectively describes the pink majesty which can be seen during Japan’s all-too-brief, but still splendid, cherry blossom season.
‘In recent years this inn has become particularly famous, as having been one of the hiding places of the famous ninja Katsushika,’ said my master. ‘Legend has it that he effectively concealed himself somewhere within that opulent inn, even as the combined forces of three daimyo scoured high and low for him…’
‘But about my son…’ said Koike tightly, so that my master at once nodded.
‘It is to this inn that he certainly goes at night, to see this… this… Hata,’ continued the merchant. ‘And having seen just how sick she is obviously making him, I am determined to put a stop to my son’s infatuation with her – in whatever way I must.
‘Which, not to put too fine a point on it, Ennin-sensei, is why I am here to see you now…’
‘You said earlier that you have seen this woman yourself?’ queried my master.
Koike nodded, while dropping his gaze as though ashamed to the floor.
‘I went there,’ he said quietly. ‘Two huge bodyguards stood either side of me as I spoke briefly with that woman. I even offered to give her some money, if she would only leave my son in peace and move away from this area…
‘She is, it must be said, quite exquisitely beautiful…’
The merchant brusquely shook his head, and resumed –
‘She laughed in my face, and when I refused her demand that I leave at once, she had her two bodyguards – those former rikishi – drag me back outside. They then spoke to me, leaving me in no doubt as to… to what would happen to me, if I tried contacting that woman again…’
‘Yes,’ nodded my master. ‘That pair are no strangers to violence, and they are well-paid for their services by their mistress.’
‘But this concerns my son, Ennin-sensei,’ cried the merchant. ‘Following the death of my dear wife, he is all that I have left. I swear I will use all my wealth, all my power, to protect him – to bring him back to his senses! So maybe it’s time I attempted to hire a ninja; let us see how formidable those two bodyguards and that she-demon are then…’
‘I beg you to do no such thing,’ returned my master evenly. ‘I have some experience of dealing with ninja, and while some of them can indeed be extremely useful, in attempting to contact them, you may well just be adding greatly to your existing problem.
‘If you will let me, I will attempt to end this malign influence Mayumi Hata has upon your son. That, at least, I can promise you…’
‘I am most grateful, Ennin-sensei – ’
‘Kindly save any gratitude until this particular case is concluded,’ cautioned my master, his expression at once becoming serious. ‘This is a formidable enemy we face – formidable indeed…’
My master’s gaze again became fixed and inward-looking, so that he barely appeared to notice as the merchant bowed and then left the small room we’d taken in a somewhat shabby inn.
2
‘She has previously been referred to as being ‘the most beautiful woman in all Japan’. For all her physical attributes, however, her mind is nothing so much as a dark and scheming machine...’
My master was speaking of this Mayumi Hata, whom he was preparing to venture out and see. Again, he gave the impression of talking as much to himself as to me, so that I was careful not to interrupt as he continued –
‘She has only ever cared for one man – one even more black-hearted than herself – and she holds me personally responsible for his death. As such, I believe that she has been responsible for several attempts upon my life, two of which you described, Kukai, in those stories entitled The Touch of Death and also The Rain Player.
‘That is, she secretly hired those would-be assassins – not that they knew who had ultimately given them the contract to destroy me, of course. Always, she is meticulous about using several ‘go-betweens’, so that nothing can be traced back to her…’
My head was swimming with this talk of the one man whom Hata had truly cared for – the one whose death she apparently blamed my master for. What did my master mean by this, I wondered… That he’d actually killed that man?
Despite his aversion to taking any form of life (perhaps due to the Buddhist training he’d received as a young man, as described in The Cursed Temple), I knew that my master had definitely killed three men – although one of these ‘men’ had been that revolting, but truly terrifying half-beast as described in The Demon King...
But the others…
I had to stop such thoughts, I realized, and instead focus as my master continued –
‘The young man who committed suicide a few months ago, there in front of Hata-san and as described by that merchant named Koike, is actually not the first of her ‘victims’ to take his own life. She has a strange, indeed bewitching effect upon
so many men; something demonstrated by that merchant’s singular desire to remark several times upon her beauty, even as he begs us to save his son from her clutches.
‘No, two other men have also been driven to suicide by Hata-san’s incessant demands upon not only their purses, but also their very souls. One of these men (a successful and very wealthy artist) was married, with two young children…
‘And now I, Kukai – the man whose death she desires more than any other in this world – must go and visit her in person.’
‘You think she’ll see you, master?’ I asked quietly.
‘Oh, certainly. She no doubt relishes the chance of matching her wits against the ‘legendary’ Ennin, if you’ll pardon any unintentional boasting on my behalf.
‘Especially as I have no choice but to inform her, directly, as to the reason for my visit. Something she knows already, anyway – indeed, I have no doubt she is expecting my call…’
My master returned some time later, wearing a slight but grim smile.
‘We have had lunch together, Mayumi Hata and I,’ he announced, his voice strangely light.
My master must have seen the surprise in my eyes, for he continued in that same airy tone –
‘Oh yes. We were escorted to the very top room – the finest one that already luxurious inn named the Thousand Falling Blossoms can provide.
‘There we were left alone by Hata-san’s two bodyguards, who usually only desert her side when she consents to lavish her lovemaking skills upon her latest prey; and at this, she is rumored to be more expert than any geisha.
