Chapter 9
Mid Autumn, 1236 – The Unknown Lands
There is new prey in her hunting grounds today.
Soft prey. Sweet prey.
Toothless prey. Clawless prey.
Yes, it had the scent of the heaven of all animals upon it. Lesser creatures would turn away from such prey. But she was no animal. She was the daughter of the Endless Hunger, the spawn of the Red Bashe who brought eternal death. Whose fang could slay a god. She was Bonedrinker. She feared no wrath of beast or spirit. And she was hungry.
But first…to not be foolish. She had hunted and eaten such prey before. Many had a hard metal shell around them when she faced them, but this one looked soft and tender. Even so, these creatures were tricky. They could summon the sharp tooth that cut deeply. The prey she had eaten before carried their tooth in their hands. Still, they never got the chance to use their tooth before she crushed the life out of them. And no tooth, however sharp, could be summoned before she could encircle her prey. She saw no tooth in this prey’s grip, but she must be wary when dealing with such creatures. She had no enjoyment of pain.
Besides, another was near. The cat could steal her prey first, it was true. But the cat would not hesitate to strike at Her should she let down her guard within his territory. The lord of these woods would attack while she swallowed her meal and force her to disgorge. He would give her no rest while she digested her prey here.
It was no matter. She was wise and cunning and had no need of haste. She could see which way this stumbling prey was moving through the cat’s territory, and await it nearby. At just the right moment…
The bonedrinker slithered off. She was hungry, but she was always hungry. She was a hundred years old and patient. She could wait a little longer.
Once she was a safe distance from the crocodiles and her thirst and hunger could no longer be easily ignored, Arahime sat down on a fallen log to rest. She removed the bisected crab from one of her bags first. It will spoil quickly anyway. I can’t save it. She looked at the creature with assessing eyes. It’s not so different from the crabs they would catch in traps near Otosan Uchi. The meat is probably fine. She had never prepared such a thing for herself, but eating crab raw was not strange for her. Seafood around the purified city had started growing more abundant in the last 5 years, and crabs were carried live in barrels to other places like the Academy. Arahime used the kogai hairpin from her wakizashi to break open the crab, pushing it into the crevasses and eating the tender, sweet flesh. A few of the nearby hollows where leaves attached to stem still held some of the last night’s rains, and she could drink. She gratefully cleaned her kogai and dutifully buried the remains of the crab.
Refreshed by the protein, the Crane samurai-ko had to face the next obstacle. Without geta, her feet were bound to get injured, and she shuddered to think of what would happen if she found herself unable to walk. Fortunately, she still had her haori and jubon. She didn’t like the idea of giving up much of the haori; the night had been cool, and it would be colder still under the trees. But she was able to cut the sleeves from her jubon and use strips cut from them to bind pieces of bark to her feet. It was a rough effort, but it would serve.
Five hours later, Arahime realized she was beginning to lose track of the sun. When there were spaces between the trees, she could see it shining ahead of her. But now it had passed overhead. Even though the ground was clearer and less muddy the trees overhead had grown closer together, casting all into a perpetual gloom. Each time she came across the broad channel of a river in the jungle, she ended up being driven inland in order to be able to cross, and it was harder to determine where she was.
Weariness was overwhelming her also. She was forced to turn her attention to finding a place to rest. She had no hammock to string and no way of making one, and she had no desire to sleep on the ground. Ants that would eat a samurai out of his armor… She shuddered at the remembered warning. Finally, she found a tree with a few promising low branches. She picked up a pair of fallen limbs and rested them parallel to two of the branches, creating a space big enough to sit on and at least a few feet above the ground. Too tired to do more, she crawled into the pathetic nest and quickly fell asleep.
It was just before dusk when she awakened. It was hard to see in the growing gloom. Around and below her, the jungle had grown very still and quiet. Except there. Not four feet away, gleaming, powerful, and majestic in the darkness, Arahime could see a pair of glowing golden eyes. A hide of dark orange and black strips. No mane, but a powerful head and jaws. And paws that could pull her easily from her poor shelter with a single swipe. Tiger.
She knew that she should draw and attack, that there was no chance for her should she become pinned by the magnificent animal. But for that moment, fear, awe, or raw instinct stayed her hand.
She stared into its glowing eyes; entranced.
It stared back at her.
Arahime prepared herself for death.
The tiger merely blinked slowly at her, turned, and walked away, disappearing into the darkened forest.
Arahime slept again. She did not understand why the tiger had not claimed her life. In the end, though, she decided that, whether it was her fate to die in a tiger’s jaws or not, she would surely die if she did not sleep.
In the morning, thirst and hunger stalked her again. Time for cutting practice. At the Academy, you were not allowed to compete in the Topaz championship unless you’d proved your draw against an iron do, an iron chestpiece. Arahime knew the shape and hardness of the coconut would prove a challenge, but this, at least, was something she’d been trained for. She was rested and as fresh as could be hoped for. She braced the coconut between two fallen limbs and took her stance.
Breathe.
Focus.
Strike.
Her silvery blade flashed through the muggy air and sliced the top of the green coconut, sending it spinning. Arahime couldn’t help but smile at the clean cut, and, aware of the humor of the gesture, bowed to the coconut. She wiped and resheathed her katana.
The coconut water may have been the sweetest, most delicious thing she had ever tasted. Even after just a day the leaf-trapped rainwater had been growing stagnant, but this was sweet and fresh and she drank greedily. Using the kogai again, she was able to scrape free some of the coconut flesh and eat it. Arahime found it delicious. She gave thanks to her ancestors that had left this worthy blade to her. It had saved her life many times already, and she had only been in the jungle three days.
The sweet prey has come out.
Her tongue could easily mark the boundary of the Tiger, though the prey walked oblivious through the domain it had taken her two days to pass.
She who was Bonedrinker was unwilling to challenge the cat, especially while digesting. But he was simple to avoid. The treetops were as easy to pass as the ground to her. She glided, silent, limb to limb, watching the passage, waiting for her moment. A moment of greater cover, greater gloom. A moment of distraction.
The trees grew closer together here, leaning in, dark. Vines hung from the branches. It was her favorite type of hunting ground.
A few more steps.
She shifted slightly in the treetops to loosen her coils, and then release….
“This one will be mine!”
The leaves gave only the barest rustle of warning from above, but trained reflex from ten thousand hours of sword took hold. The blade of Masarugi was out of its saya before even thought, moving with force in front and above her.
It connected and sliced through scale, skin, flesh, bone, before Arahime had even registered what had attacked her. The head and a foot or so of enormous serpent, still moving, fell to the ground at her feet, no longer attached to the body.
The Kakita had no time to stare at it, for the snake’s attack had been made with more than just the head. Already in motion, weight overborn, coil after coil of reptile fell from the close, vine-filled tree canopy above. Though no volition moved those lifeless coils, they were massive and heavy, and they dropped on the much smaller human below. The weight of them knocked Arahime to the ground.
A sharp pain stung Arahime’s back as she collapsed under the weight, driven down onto a sharp rock propped amidst the roots of the tree above. But that was an inconsequential pain compared to the giant snake that was crushing her with its deadweight. She let go her katana and heaved with all her strength, finally pulling herself free of the body of the giant serpent.
It took much more pushing and tugging to win free her katana from under the still-twitching corpse. Only then, after she’d cleaned and resheathed the blade, could Arahime take a look at the creature which had attacked her.
It was, she could see now, an enormous snake. Its body was thicker across than her forearm. Its blunt, squarish head was even larger. Its scales were swirled patterns of dark greens, blacks, reds, and browns, indistinguishable from the trees overhead. Golden eyes with slit pupils stared blankly at her, and the open mouth had wickedly sharp-looking teeth.
Arahime stared at it, unable to even comprehend the size of this creature. She could feel the trickle of blood running down her back where she had caught against the rock, and the trickle of sweat running down her face. Suddenly the overwhelming nature of the challenge of this place finally impressed itself upon her, with a blow as heavy as the descending serpent.
She had been raised in the palaces of the Emperor, in the halls of the Kakita Dueling Academy where the Emperor’s own son studied. She had never even been outside that bejeweled world. She only listened to stories of the dangers beyond those walls. She knew those dangers were out there; she was sure Harun had seen them already. But she, even in her journey to Second City, had never really left the courts.
And now she, the pretty, white-haired Crane princess, was all alone in a vast, trackless wild. She was surrounded by creatures who could eat her, from tigers to leeches to bats. Creatures so huge they could eat an elephant, if the stories of the Red Hunger were true. Creatures she could never hope to fight. And it was getting harder and harder to tell where she was. She thought she was heading east, but she couldn’t find the paths south that would reach the shoreline; the trees grew too dense. She had nothing, not even a sense of direction, to show her the way. All she had were the swords of Masarugi, a torn haori and jubon, six coconuts, the giant, probably poisonous, body of an enormous dead snake…and…what else, exactly?
Harun would say “Hope” in that calm, quiet way of his. He’d just put his head down and plow through it over and over until it is done. He probably wouldn’t even wonder if it was hopeless. It was always me with ten thousand questions and no answers.
Arahime wasn’t going to give up yet. She’d done well so far. But Second City…I could be trying to reach the Jade Sun. I’d make it there alive just as easily. If I make it back to Second City, maybe I’ll go to Tengoku next…go right up the Jade Dragon and ask him to start guiding Ningen-do again. Maybe talk to a few Kami along the way.
The image was so funny, her course so impossible, that at that moment she did the only thing she could do when faced with the hand her fate had dealt her.
She sat down on the coils of the dead snake and laughed until she cried.
Mid Autumn, 1236 – The Unknown Lands
There is new prey in her hunting grounds today.
Soft prey. Sweet prey.
Toothless prey. Clawless prey.
Yes, it had the scent of the heaven of all animals upon it. Lesser creatures would turn away from such prey. But she was no animal. She was the daughter of the Endless Hunger, the spawn of the Red Bashe who brought eternal death. Whose fang could slay a god. She was Bonedrinker. She feared no wrath of beast or spirit. And she was hungry.
But first…to not be foolish. She had hunted and eaten such prey before. Many had a hard metal shell around them when she faced them, but this one looked soft and tender. Even so, these creatures were tricky. They could summon the sharp tooth that cut deeply. The prey she had eaten before carried their tooth in their hands. Still, they never got the chance to use their tooth before she crushed the life out of them. And no tooth, however sharp, could be summoned before she could encircle her prey. She saw no tooth in this prey’s grip, but she must be wary when dealing with such creatures. She had no enjoyment of pain.
Besides, another was near. The cat could steal her prey first, it was true. But the cat would not hesitate to strike at Her should she let down her guard within his territory. The lord of these woods would attack while she swallowed her meal and force her to disgorge. He would give her no rest while she digested her prey here.
It was no matter. She was wise and cunning and had no need of haste. She could see which way this stumbling prey was moving through the cat’s territory, and await it nearby. At just the right moment…
The bonedrinker slithered off. She was hungry, but she was always hungry. She was a hundred years old and patient. She could wait a little longer.
Once she was a safe distance from the crocodiles and her thirst and hunger could no longer be easily ignored, Arahime sat down on a fallen log to rest. She removed the bisected crab from one of her bags first. It will spoil quickly anyway. I can’t save it. She looked at the creature with assessing eyes. It’s not so different from the crabs they would catch in traps near Otosan Uchi. The meat is probably fine. She had never prepared such a thing for herself, but eating crab raw was not strange for her. Seafood around the purified city had started growing more abundant in the last 5 years, and crabs were carried live in barrels to other places like the Academy. Arahime used the kogai hairpin from her wakizashi to break open the crab, pushing it into the crevasses and eating the tender, sweet flesh. A few of the nearby hollows where leaves attached to stem still held some of the last night’s rains, and she could drink. She gratefully cleaned her kogai and dutifully buried the remains of the crab.
Refreshed by the protein, the Crane samurai-ko had to face the next obstacle. Without geta, her feet were bound to get injured, and she shuddered to think of what would happen if she found herself unable to walk. Fortunately, she still had her haori and jubon. She didn’t like the idea of giving up much of the haori; the night had been cool, and it would be colder still under the trees. But she was able to cut the sleeves from her jubon and use strips cut from them to bind pieces of bark to her feet. It was a rough effort, but it would serve.
Five hours later, Arahime realized she was beginning to lose track of the sun. When there were spaces between the trees, she could see it shining ahead of her. But now it had passed overhead. Even though the ground was clearer and less muddy the trees overhead had grown closer together, casting all into a perpetual gloom. Each time she came across the broad channel of a river in the jungle, she ended up being driven inland in order to be able to cross, and it was harder to determine where she was.
Weariness was overwhelming her also. She was forced to turn her attention to finding a place to rest. She had no hammock to string and no way of making one, and she had no desire to sleep on the ground. Ants that would eat a samurai out of his armor… She shuddered at the remembered warning. Finally, she found a tree with a few promising low branches. She picked up a pair of fallen limbs and rested them parallel to two of the branches, creating a space big enough to sit on and at least a few feet above the ground. Too tired to do more, she crawled into the pathetic nest and quickly fell asleep.
It was just before dusk when she awakened. It was hard to see in the growing gloom. Around and below her, the jungle had grown very still and quiet. Except there. Not four feet away, gleaming, powerful, and majestic in the darkness, Arahime could see a pair of glowing golden eyes. A hide of dark orange and black strips. No mane, but a powerful head and jaws. And paws that could pull her easily from her poor shelter with a single swipe. Tiger.
She knew that she should draw and attack, that there was no chance for her should she become pinned by the magnificent animal. But for that moment, fear, awe, or raw instinct stayed her hand.
She stared into its glowing eyes; entranced.
It stared back at her.
Arahime prepared herself for death.
The tiger merely blinked slowly at her, turned, and walked away, disappearing into the darkened forest.
Arahime slept again. She did not understand why the tiger had not claimed her life. In the end, though, she decided that, whether it was her fate to die in a tiger’s jaws or not, she would surely die if she did not sleep.
In the morning, thirst and hunger stalked her again. Time for cutting practice. At the Academy, you were not allowed to compete in the Topaz championship unless you’d proved your draw against an iron do, an iron chestpiece. Arahime knew the shape and hardness of the coconut would prove a challenge, but this, at least, was something she’d been trained for. She was rested and as fresh as could be hoped for. She braced the coconut between two fallen limbs and took her stance.
Breathe.
Focus.
Strike.
Her silvery blade flashed through the muggy air and sliced the top of the green coconut, sending it spinning. Arahime couldn’t help but smile at the clean cut, and, aware of the humor of the gesture, bowed to the coconut. She wiped and resheathed her katana.
The coconut water may have been the sweetest, most delicious thing she had ever tasted. Even after just a day the leaf-trapped rainwater had been growing stagnant, but this was sweet and fresh and she drank greedily. Using the kogai again, she was able to scrape free some of the coconut flesh and eat it. Arahime found it delicious. She gave thanks to her ancestors that had left this worthy blade to her. It had saved her life many times already, and she had only been in the jungle three days.
The sweet prey has come out.
Her tongue could easily mark the boundary of the Tiger, though the prey walked oblivious through the domain it had taken her two days to pass.
She who was Bonedrinker was unwilling to challenge the cat, especially while digesting. But he was simple to avoid. The treetops were as easy to pass as the ground to her. She glided, silent, limb to limb, watching the passage, waiting for her moment. A moment of greater cover, greater gloom. A moment of distraction.
The trees grew closer together here, leaning in, dark. Vines hung from the branches. It was her favorite type of hunting ground.
A few more steps.
She shifted slightly in the treetops to loosen her coils, and then release….
“This one will be mine!”
The leaves gave only the barest rustle of warning from above, but trained reflex from ten thousand hours of sword took hold. The blade of Masarugi was out of its saya before even thought, moving with force in front and above her.
It connected and sliced through scale, skin, flesh, bone, before Arahime had even registered what had attacked her. The head and a foot or so of enormous serpent, still moving, fell to the ground at her feet, no longer attached to the body.
The Kakita had no time to stare at it, for the snake’s attack had been made with more than just the head. Already in motion, weight overborn, coil after coil of reptile fell from the close, vine-filled tree canopy above. Though no volition moved those lifeless coils, they were massive and heavy, and they dropped on the much smaller human below. The weight of them knocked Arahime to the ground.
A sharp pain stung Arahime’s back as she collapsed under the weight, driven down onto a sharp rock propped amidst the roots of the tree above. But that was an inconsequential pain compared to the giant snake that was crushing her with its deadweight. She let go her katana and heaved with all her strength, finally pulling herself free of the body of the giant serpent.
It took much more pushing and tugging to win free her katana from under the still-twitching corpse. Only then, after she’d cleaned and resheathed the blade, could Arahime take a look at the creature which had attacked her.
It was, she could see now, an enormous snake. Its body was thicker across than her forearm. Its blunt, squarish head was even larger. Its scales were swirled patterns of dark greens, blacks, reds, and browns, indistinguishable from the trees overhead. Golden eyes with slit pupils stared blankly at her, and the open mouth had wickedly sharp-looking teeth.
Arahime stared at it, unable to even comprehend the size of this creature. She could feel the trickle of blood running down her back where she had caught against the rock, and the trickle of sweat running down her face. Suddenly the overwhelming nature of the challenge of this place finally impressed itself upon her, with a blow as heavy as the descending serpent.
She had been raised in the palaces of the Emperor, in the halls of the Kakita Dueling Academy where the Emperor’s own son studied. She had never even been outside that bejeweled world. She only listened to stories of the dangers beyond those walls. She knew those dangers were out there; she was sure Harun had seen them already. But she, even in her journey to Second City, had never really left the courts.
And now she, the pretty, white-haired Crane princess, was all alone in a vast, trackless wild. She was surrounded by creatures who could eat her, from tigers to leeches to bats. Creatures so huge they could eat an elephant, if the stories of the Red Hunger were true. Creatures she could never hope to fight. And it was getting harder and harder to tell where she was. She thought she was heading east, but she couldn’t find the paths south that would reach the shoreline; the trees grew too dense. She had nothing, not even a sense of direction, to show her the way. All she had were the swords of Masarugi, a torn haori and jubon, six coconuts, the giant, probably poisonous, body of an enormous dead snake…and…what else, exactly?
Harun would say “Hope” in that calm, quiet way of his. He’d just put his head down and plow through it over and over until it is done. He probably wouldn’t even wonder if it was hopeless. It was always me with ten thousand questions and no answers.
Arahime wasn’t going to give up yet. She’d done well so far. But Second City…I could be trying to reach the Jade Sun. I’d make it there alive just as easily. If I make it back to Second City, maybe I’ll go to Tengoku next…go right up the Jade Dragon and ask him to start guiding Ningen-do again. Maybe talk to a few Kami along the way.
The image was so funny, her course so impossible, that at that moment she did the only thing she could do when faced with the hand her fate had dealt her.
She sat down on the coils of the dead snake and laughed until she cried.
