Spirit's Princess (12 page)

I smiled at her shyly. “My name is Himiko. I belong to the Matsu clan.”

“Matsu?” A faint crease showed between her eyebrows, then was gone. “I don’t know the pine tree people. If our paths ever crossed, it must have been very long ago, before my great-grandmother’s time. Of course, up here, we’re so out of the way that most clans don’t even dream we exist, and that can be a good thing. As long as the gods know where to seek us, it’s enough.” She smiled. “So, Himiko of the Matsu clan, how did
you
manage to find us? Did the gods show you the way?”

I told her all about my wanderings, from my decision to go see the cherry blossoms on my own to the moment when I’d seen the herd of deer go running away from me in the little valley. All that I held back was how I’d heard the wild creatures’ words as clearly within me as if they’d opened their mouths and spoken our language.

When I was done, she pursed her lips and looked pensive. “A stag with does at
this
time of year? That’s not right. Usually, they keep to their separate ways until autumn. I was joking when I asked if the gods guided you here, but they’re the only ones laughing, and they’re laughing at me. I need to consider what it means for my people, what
you
mean, Himiko.” She gave me such a solemn look that she reminded me of our shaman at those times when she seemed to gaze beyond our world into another realm. It frightened me.

“I—I don’t mean anything,” I said. “I just got lost, that’s all. I want to go home!”

My distress worked an instant change in her. Her arms encircled me, and she held me as tenderly as if I were her own child. “Poor little one, of course you want to go home,”
she crooned. “Of course you do. I’ll do everything in my power to make it so.” She hugged me and sighed.

I knew what she wasn’t saying:
Everything in my power is nothing at all. How can I send you home if I don’t know where you come from? How can I find the village of a clan I didn’t even know existed?

I pushed myself gently out of her embrace. “I know you’ll help me,” I said, forcing myself to speak calmly. “Thank you.” It was the bravest lie I ever told.

Her chin lifted, and she regarded me as if trying to untie a stubborn knot. “You
are
a rarity. Tell me, Himiko, would you happen to be a shaman’s child?”

I shook my head. “Lady Yama’s our shaman, and she has no children. I’m our chieftain’s daughter.”

“Now, that’s odd too. In every clan I’ve ever heard of, the chieftain and the shaman are one and the same, like me.” She bowed her head slightly. “Well, who knows how many other ways the Matsu differ from us? I know nothing about your people. You’ll have to tell me more.” She looked at me with kindness. “For now, I owe you some answers, don’t I? First, know that I am Ikumi of the Shika clan and you’ve been under my roof for two days. You were carried here by one of my best hunters, a man named Sora. According to him, he saw you running across a mountain meadow, calling out to the deer, commanding them to return to you. Your face and clothes were smeared green and brown all over, and you waved a black wand. That was enough for him to decide you must be some kind of demon, trying to cast evil spells over us by enchanting the guardian creatures who give our clan its name.”

“If he thought that, why did he bring me here?” I asked. A darker question arose in the back of my mind:
Why didn’t he just kill me?
I shivered at the idea.

“Luckily for you, Sora is a
mostly
sensible man—when he’s not seeing demons in the wrong places. After you collapsed in the grass, right before his eyes, he reasoned that maybe you were human after all. He chose to bring you to me so that I could decide your true nature. If you were human, he knew I’d heal you. If you were a demon, he believed my magic was strong enough to overcome you.” Her smile lit the house. “I’m very glad you’re human.”

“So am I!” came a girl’s voice from behind me. I turned to where a small figure stood backlit by sunshine in the doorway of the house. “I’d hate to think I was taking care of a demon.”

“Kaya, is that any way to speak of our honored guest?” Ikumi put on an exaggerated scowl, plainly done in jest. “Come here at once and apologize.” Looking at me again, she added, “Please forgive my daughter Kaya, Lady Himiko. My other children are courteous, but this one has the manners of a badger.”

The girl in the doorway came running in to kneel beside her mother and give the Shika chieftess an enthusiastic squeeze. “But a very
nice
badger, Mother; not the kind who bites.” She grinned at me. “Not like you.”

“I don’t bite!” I protested.

“Then explain this.” She thrust one plump hand under my nose. She was quite casual about it, but to my horror, I saw a semicircle of teeth marks. A few looked as if they’d bled.

“Did I do that?”

“Oh yes.” She shrugged it off. “I was trying to get you to drink. Mother said you had to have water or you’d die, but you had your jaw clenched shut like
this
.” She demonstrated, gritting her teeth and making a face so hideous I had to laugh. That pleased her. “It
is
funny, isn’t it? And you did it all in your sleep! But you wouldn’t wake up and you wouldn’t open your mouth, and you
had
to, so I pried it open with my fingers and dribbled in a little water, the way Mother taught me—not too much at once, or you’d choke—and I thought you were going to wake up then, because your eyelids fluttered, but instead, you sat up straight and yelled, ‘Come back! Come back!’ and then you
bit
me.” She paused, trying to catch her breath after that landslide of words.

The chieftess shook her head. “Tsk. My mistake. My younger daughter has the manners of a badger
and
the tongue of a magpie.”

“I like magpies,” I said quietly, and smiled at Kaya, who returned my friendly look eagerly. “Thank you for taking care of me. I’m sorry I bit you. I must have been having a bad dream.”

“Better that than a dull one,” she replied cheerfully. “So! Why is Mother calling you
Lady
Himiko? Are you important?”

That made me giggle. Kaya’s mother answered for me: “She’s the daughter of a clan chieftain. Of course she’s important!”

“Well, then, so am I, but you don’t call me
Lady
Kaya,” she pointed out.

“That’s because I’m still waiting to see if you’re really a human child or a shape-shifting spirit,” her mother returned, patting her head affectionately. “I can call you Lady
Badger
, if you insist.”

“I’d like that!” Kaya exclaimed. Snorting and grumbling, she threw herself onto hands and knees to imitate the shambling walk of the beast. Her mother and I laughed until we couldn’t sit up straight. “
Whoof-whoof-whoof
. Stupid humans!” Kaya declared.

It didn’t take me long to recover from my experiences in the forest. After she saw that I was able to eat gruel without any ill effects, Lady Ikumi gave me a heaping bowl of rice with pheasant meat and mushrooms. I felt like I could have eaten three! When I finished it, I asked if I could get up.

“Can you?” Lady Ikumi asked. “How do you feel? Remember, it’s been a couple of days you’ve been lying there.”

I moved my legs tentatively. They felt rested rather than weak. “I think so, but—” I began.

“Then who’s stopping you?” Kaya piped up. She offered me a hand to help me rise, then stood there, hands on hips, studying me. “My big sister’s old tunic looks nice on you,” she stated. “You can keep it. It’s not pretty-pretty-pretty enough for
her
anymore. She’s got to wear something to make the
boooooys
pay attention to her.” She started mincing around the house, flirting with imaginary people, then made a disgusted face. Her mother just rolled her eyes.

“Kaya, my dear, why don’t you take Lady Himiko outside so she can meet some other people? I don’t want her getting the idea that we’re all badgers.”

“Don’t be silly, Mother, she
knows
we’re the Shika.
We’re
deer
people, not badgers!” With that, she grabbed my hand and dragged me after her.

I stumbled a little when we had to clamber up to get out. To my surprise, the chieftess of the deer clan didn’t live in a raised dwelling like my family and the Matsu nobles, but in a square pit house like everyone else in our clan. Once outside, I saw that it was much more elaborately thatched than the other houses nearby, with a high, flared roof that covered it cozily. It reminded me of one of those pines whose lower branches swept down to touch the earth and made a wonderful hiding place.

The Shika village occupied a mountain valley much like the one where I’d seen the deer. There was no moat, but the palisade was backed by thick stands of fir trees that scaled the steep slope. Golden daylight bathed the houses. I could almost see the sun goddess’s smiling face in the heavens, but couldn’t tell if she was still climbing the sky or already beginning her descent. Had I emerged from my long sleep in the morning or the afternoon? I shook my head; I’d know it all, in good time. Besides the cluster of pit houses, I glimpsed a single tall structure on pillars, half hidden in the trees.

Kaya saw where I was looking and proudly informed me, “That’s our storehouse. Our fields are so rich that we always fill it, every harvest season. And we’ve got plenty of grain to trade too!”

“It looks like a giant version of my family’s home,” I said.

She gave me a mystified look. “You sleep in a storehouse? Why? Do you have to do it, to keep the rats out of the rice jars?” My laughter only baffled her even more.

I was explaining the differences between our villages when we encountered three of the clan grandmothers. They were seated on the ground outside one of the pit houses, chatting and enjoying the fair spring weather. When they saw me, one of them got to her feet with surprising nimbleness and rushed away, calling out to anyone within earshot, “Come see! Come see! Sora’s little ‘demon’ is up and about!”

My appearance stirred up a great deal of interest among Kaya’s people. We soon found ourselves surrounded by the curious eyes of old and young. Kaya loved being in the midst of so much attention and made a grand business out of presenting me to everyone. She even showed off the place where I’d bitten her, but she did so with such good-natured pride that I didn’t feel the least bit awkward about it.

Kaya took special satisfaction in being able to introduce me to Sora, the man who’d saved me. The Shika huntsman told me how glad he was to learn that he’d helped a lost girl and not some kind of ill-natured mountain spirit. “I’ve never heard of the Matsu clan, Lady Himiko, but I’ll try to think of something to do to help you find your people again.”

“Don’t find them too soon!” Kaya cried. “I like her! I want her to stay.”

“But how does Lady Himiko feel about that?” he asked, his eyes crinkling when he smiled.

“I … wouldn’t mind,” I said softly. “I like Kaya too, very much. But I don’t want my family to worry about me.”

“I’ll go to where I found you and see if I can backtrack your path,” Sora volunteered. “Perhaps the gods will favor me.”

“Be careful, Sora!” one of the grandmothers called out in her reedy voice. “If you’re successful, you might find the girl’s village, but you’ll also find yourself in unknown territory, among strangers! Who knows what these Matsu are like? My mother told me about a time we were attacked by another clan from over those peaks.” She gestured uphill. “She was just a girl, but she remembered how the enemy came streaming down on us like a flood. After our men drove them away, we found that they’d stolen some of our children. Her little brother was gone, taken captive! It was the season of rains, and when we sent a war band to trail them, their tracks were washed away. My poor uncle lived and died as a slave.” She glared at me as if I were to blame for it.

“Oh, for—!” Sora made an irritated sound. “And where is this girl now except in a strange land, surrounded by people she doesn’t know? She’ll think we intend to make a slave of her too. Are you
trying
to terrify her?” He put a protective arm around me.

“It’s all right, I’m not afraid,” I told him. “And when you find my clan, they won’t hurt you. Once you tell them why you’ve come, they’ll welcome you!”

The reedy-voiced old woman snorted. “Do what you like, Sora. I wouldn’t be fool enough to trust people who aren’t Shika!”

“Yet you trust the Kamoshika clanfolk every time they come here to trade with us,” Sora teased. “There’s a strand of their fancy beads around your neck that proves it!”

“That’s different,” she replied stiffly. “The Kamoshika were part of our own clan years ago, until they insulted the
spirits and aroused the anger of a fire-breathing dragon who lived under this mountain. That’s why we drove them away, because the dragon kept thrashing around underground. He was trying to get out and punish the Kamoshika, but he wound up destroying our homes. My mother said—”

“
My
mother told me that
your
mother liked nothing better than to tell stories, true or not,” one of the other crones put in. “Especially stories to frighten children.”

Sora looked a little embarrassed. “My ma was the same way. She did tell some good ones, but now I keep seeing demons behind every tree when I’m out hunting.” With a rueful smile in my direction, he added, “Even when nothing’s there but a nice little girl who needs some help.”

“Are you saying demons
don’t
exist?” Kaya asked, wide-eyed.

The hunter shrugged. “Oh, they exist! They’re as real as the rest of the spirits. I’m just saying that I might be wrong about how plentiful they are. Now, when I saw this girl come running after the deer—”

It was the second time I’d heard one of the deer clan say something so impossible.
Running? Me?
I thought. My disbelief must have put a peculiar expression on my face. Kaya stared at me strangely and took my hand.

“I’m going to show Lady Himiko our fields now!” she announced, and walked away from the group of grown-ups so briskly that it was all I could do to call out my thanks to Sora before she dragged me from their sight.