Little Yokozuna (15 page)

"Come down!" rumbled the demon. "Come down and we will restore her to you at last!"

"What is he talking about?" Annie hissed fiercely.

"Look at me!" shouted the demon. "Look at me! Don't you know me, little human maggots?"

And the children looked, and for the first time saw that the armor of the great spokesdemon was red and blue.

"He's the one!" said Q.J. "He's the one who stole Little Harriet! He's the one!"

"Rats!" hissed Knuckleball. "And all this time I've been hoping it was his block I knocked off."

"I wish I had a big rock," said Libby. "To drop on his big ugly head right now."

"The little creature you seek," roared the demon, "is intended as a sacrifice to the gods. Her lot has been drawn, and we took her from the world of men to make a sacred offering. But you can still save her, and only you! Your last chance is almost gone!"

The children clung to the rafters in agony, trembling with anger and fear and horror.

"How do we know they're not bluffing?" said Q.J., her voice shaking. "She got away! How do we know they have her again?"

"We don't," said Annie. "We don't."

"Decide now!" roared the demon.

"We don't have a choice," said Q.J., her logic sorting through things quickly. "We can't stay up here forever, they'll get us sooner or later anyway. If we come down now there's a ninety-nine percent chance that they'll do something horrible to us. But if there's only a one percent chance that we can still save Little Harriet, we have to do it. All the other choices are closed. This is the easy kind of decision. It's only got one choice."

They all thought for just a moment.

"You're right, Q," said Annie. "As usual."

"This is your last chance!" blustered the demon.

Annie leaned over the edge of the great rafter and looked what seemed to be miles down at the huge redand- blue demon.

"Hey!" she cried. The hideous audience whirled back toward her voice as if it were one person, with a clamorous clash and outcry of voices.

"Hey, you!" she said. The gigantic spokesman of the demon warriors, the kidnapper of Little Harriet, looked upward toward her voice. His mask had the same gaping, ghastly expression as ever, and red flame seemed to flicker around his head. "How do we know you really have her?" cried Annie. "Prove it, and we'll come down."

"Prove it or not, we still have no choice," muttered Q.J. "We still have to come down."

The demon laughed with no humor at all. "Do you doubt the word of a demon samurai?" he bellowed. "Come down now, or the archers will come and shoot you down like chickens on a roost. They are on the way now."

"No, they won't," whispered Owen Greatheart. "Or else they wouldn't be trying to coax us down like this. They can't see us up here. Look how they lie. Listen, we could lose ourselves in these rafters for months."

"And how many months can you go without food,Owen?" said Q.J. "Think we can live on raw pigeon forever?"

"Or rats?" said Libby. "Or spiders?" She shuddered.

"Why not?" said Owen Greatheart. "Something might happen. Somebody might rescue us."

"Just let Annie decide," said 'Siah. "She's oldest."

"Fair enough," said Owen Greatheart, who really didn't want the honor.

Annie thumped her fist on the rafter in frustration and buried her face in her hands. Finally she leaned over again.

"Here we go," said Knuckleball, rolling his eyes.

"We're coming down!" Annie called in a clear strong voice. "And you'd just better have Little Harriet."

"Or else," said Libby.

 

 

 

 

The mask of the great demon leered at them as the children were hustled down the long staircase and thrown at his feet. They jumped back upright, indignant.

"So where's Little Harriet?" said Annie. "We came down; you give us Little Harriet. It's the deal."

"Of course," rumbled the towering warrior. "I'm sure you know, though, that it could never be quite as simple as that."

"Of course not," said Owen Greatheart.

"We're dealing with gods here," said the demon warrior. "They expect their sacrifice, we give it to them. We sometimes play a few games along the way, to keep life interesting."

He crossed his massive arms while his demon audience chuckled with ugly humor.

"What are you talking about?" said Annie. "Just tell us what we have to do to get her back, and we'll do it."

"Well," said the giant warrior, "it's like this. I'll give you a chance to rescue your little creature, but I can't make these substitutions lightly. No matter how generous I am. There are just two tests you have to pass before you get your Little Harriet. That's all." He chuckled again, a terrifying stony clatter inside his armor, and looked around at the watching demons. "Hahaha! I do love to play this game with humans."

There was a crash of horrible laughter at this, and the demon warriors all stamped their armored legs.

"The old impossible quest," said Owen Greatheart. "Like Jason and the Golden Fleece. Well, I'm glad you're having a wonderful time."

There was another roar of amusement at this, but the demon spokesman in red and blue bent down closer to the children.

"Oh, you misjudge me," he rumbled in what was supposed to sound like a sympathetic tone. "Impossible quests?" He straightened up and bellowed with laughter again. "Hahahahaa! How can you think that?" He bent down again. "Oh, no, human trespassers, I promise you that neither of these little tests is impossible. At least not in the usual sense of the word."

The crowd howled with delight again, as the children held their ears.

"Get on with it," said Q.J. "Stop playing your stupid games."

"Yeah," said Knuckleball. "What's the first test? Let us at it."

"It is simple," said the demon. "The gods would appreciate it if we would first entertain them with an honorable competition. A sumo match, perhaps. The gods love sumo, you know. It gets their attention like nothing else."

The children looked at each other, puzzled.

"So where's the test in that?" said Owen Greatheart. "We just sit here and watch a sumo match and then move on to the next test?"

"Hey," said Knuckleball to the demon. "Maybe there's a real softy under that ugly exterior of yours. Did you ever think of that?"

Something inside the demon warrior rumbled like a subterranean blast furnace. Knuckleball ducked behind Owen Greatheart.

"You misunderstand," growled the demon. "One of you will have to participate in the bout. The rest may watch, of course. If there are any left to watch."

"Now, just a minute," said Q.J. "There were several parts of that that I don't think any of us quite understood. I think you'd better explain."

"Of course," said the demon. "It's like this. There are very few things that can get the attention of the gods for a piddling matter like your Little Harriet. One of those is a true sumo match, involving one of the people in need of divine assistance. One of you, in fact. You win, the gods might just consider rewarding you."

"I'll wrestle anybody!" cried 'Siah. "I can knock anybody over!"

The demon guffawed again, even as he searched around his feet to see which of the little ones was speaking.

"And Owen lifts weights," said Knuckleball. "We call him Nautilus for short.""And Owen lifts weights," said Knuckleball. "We call him Nautilus for short."

"Cool it, Knucklebrain," said Owen Greatheart.

"Hang on again," said Annie. "Just who would our guy wrestle?"

The demon gestured toward the ring of huge yokozuna above them. "Take your pick," he said. "Any one of them would be a worthy opponent." The multitude of demons rumbled again with amusement.

"You are out of your mind," said Owen Greatheart. "That would be like trying to wrestle Mount Fuji. Don't we get someone our own size?"

The demon shrugged. "There is your choice," he said, pointing again. "Choose the smallest of them, if you like."

"Very funny," said Owen Greatheart. "I don't see a smallest one."

"What about all of us at once?" said 'Siah. "All together we must weigh as much as one of those guys."

"No way. Maybe a quarter," said Annie. "This is so idiotic. It's so male."

"Good point," said Q.J. "Where are all the female demons?"

"Home," said Annie. "Changing little demon diapers."

"Maybe there aren't any female demons," said Knuckleball.

"More than likely," said Q.J. "Almost by definition."

"Maybe all these guys just popped out of somewhere by spontaneous generation," said Knuckleball. "Out of sewer scum or something."

"Look," said Owen Greatheart. "This conversation is all very educational, but I might as well get on with what we have to do." He turned again to the demon. "Where do I go? Up on this platform thingie?"

"Not so quickly," chuckled the demon. "Before you go any farther, you have to understand that this is a very special dohyo." He gestured toward the raised earthen ring behind him. "You see, not just anyone can wrestle in this ring." He inclined his head respectfully toward the ring of massive yokozuna, who bowed in return. "If anyone tries to set foot on this dohyo who does not have the spirit of a true sumo wrestler, a true rikishi, he will be struck down as soon as he sets foot there. The gods will destroy him."

"Nonsense," said Annie.

"We don't believe you," said Owen Greatheart.

"As you like," said the demon. "Believe it or not, the only one who can participate in this bout is one of you who has the true rikishi spirit, and who can therefore safely stand under this tsuriyane."

"I think we can safely ignore all this superstitious nonsense," said Q.J. "I agree that Owen is our best bet. He's the biggest of us all, and he does lift weights."

"I don't lift that much weight," said Owen Greatheart. "But of course I'll do it. What choice do we have?"

"Why are we even going along with this?" said Annie. "Look at the size of those monstrosities. What chance does Owen have against any of them? It's so futile."

"On the bright side," said Knuckleball, "it may be futile, but at least I never heard of sumo being fatal. You have a pretty good chance of surviving, Owen."

"Thanks a lot, little brother," said Owen Greatheart.

"But don't forget, this is life or death for Little Harriet."

They had almost forgotten this aspect of things for a moment, and grew sober at the memory.

"Maybe I can get lucky," said Owen Greatheart. "Maybe the guy will trip over his own feet and I'll win."

Nobody laughed.

"Sumimasen," said Kiyoshi-chan politely, stepping forward from behind Knuckleball. "But you are all making a very foolish choice."

They all turned to him. "Well," said Annie. "It's not like we have a choice."

"You're wrong," said Kiyoshi-chan. "We have seven choices here. We could choose Annie, or Owen Greatheart, or Quiddity Jane, or Knuckleball, or Libby, or Josiah. Or," he said, "we could choose Kiyoshi-chan."

Josiah. Or," he said, "we could choose Kiyoshi-chan."

"Don't choose me," said Basho the monkey, covering his head. "I don't have the spirit of a rikishi, no way."

"But Kiyoshi-chan," said 'Siah. "You're one of the littlest ones here. Only Libby and me are littler than you. What chance would you have?"

"And what chance does Owen have?" insisted Kiyoshi-chan. "None of us have a chance at all. So we can choose freely among all seven hopeless choices. And of all the hopeless choices, I would have the best chance." He bowed suddenly, embarrassed at this putting-forward of himself.

"But Owen's the biggest and strongest," said Annie.

"What good will that do?" said Kiyoshi-chan. "How could he even set foot on the dohyo? The gods would strike him down without even looking. He doesn't have the spirit of a true rikishi."

"Hey!" said Owen Greatheart.

"He doesn't mean it that way, big brother," said Knuckleball.

"No, no," said Kiyoshi-chan. "I don't mean that you're not strong enough, or good enough, or brave enough. I know you are all brave. Q.J. saved Libby from the falling stone, and Libby saved Q.J. from the cave. Owen saved 'Siah from a beating ("A pretend beating," said Owen Greatheart) and 'Siah tried to beat up demons coming up out of the ground, single-handedly. Annie tried to tackle a charging oni, and Knuckleball knocked his head off with a fence post. But," he said earnestly, "having the spirit of a true sumo wrestler means more than courage. It means certain things about sumo itself that it would take too long for you to understand."

"Well," said Owen Greatheart, "I'm willing to take a chance on that stuff about the gods striking me down. I don't believe any of that."

"But I do," said Kiyoshi-chan. "At least I believe that it could be true. Sumo can be fatal, you see."

"And what about you?" asked Q.J. "Do you think you have the spirit of a true rikishi?"

"I hope I do," said Kiyoshi-chan shyly. "When I wrestle I feel like I become the great Taiho. And Taiho could beat any of these big tubs." He swung his arm at the silent row of yokozuna, who were one by one stepping down from the platform and seating themselves with great dignity around it.