The Way of the Fox (43 page)

“One punt, one whale boat.” He motioned to the blank mud near the water. “
Far higher up the shore than us.”

Kuno was somewhat loathe to plant his feet into the mud – but over he went. He looked at the two groups of tracks – both of them merging and heading up into a bank of reeds, With the mud sucking at his sandals, he moved higher up onto the shore.

“Honoured elder – how often does the tide arise?”

“Hmmm? Ah
…” The old man scratched his chin. “There have been two small tides since midnight, samurai. But the highest tide is at the lesser hour of the rat.”

“These were made at about midnight.”

Tonbo squelched forward, fighting through the mud. He pointed to the tracks.

“Three sets of tracks
lead from the punt. Four from the whale boat.” He pointed to another set of tracks that came back in at an angle. “Four sets of tracks come back.”

Sura came pad-pad-padding over the mud. She had affixed a basket lid to each of her feet, and was spared the indignity of sinking into the mud. She walked past the others and over to the higher mud banks, pushing apart the reeds and finding slight signs of a
trail. Chiri came behind her – also wearing basket lids upon her feet. Her elementals whirred on ahead, taking position in the reeds and spying out the marsh.

Kuno looked over at Sura.

“You could have told us why you wanted basket lids.”

“Y
ou didn’t wait around to tell!” Sura readied equipment, passing each of her friends a bamboo tube filled with fine flour, and a paper flour bomb. “Right – invisible monster. If you suspect an area, throw a flour bomb, or blow out a cloud of flour. If we find hard footing, I can also throw out the nut shells. We’ll hear the thing as it walks.” She turned to the old fisherman, where he sat grandly in the bows of the punt. “Honoured grandfather. Where exactly was your shrine to the sea kami?”

“At the far side of the rocky peak,
priestess.” The old man pointed to the east. “The old path through the mud flats is marked with bamboo poles. Surely it is still there?”

“Excellent.” Sura waved to Atsushi. “Atsushi san!
This area is not safe. Please return the honoured elders to the village. If you would kindly wait with the boat at the creek after sundown, we shall send the air elemental to fetch you when we need to return.”

The huge youth listened, then nodded. He bowed – first to Sura, then to Bifuuko – then to the other
Spirit Hunters – then to Bifuuko again. Atsushi heaved on his pole and thrust the boat back out into the lagoon, then threaded off amongst the reeds. The boat slowly disappeared from view.

Satisfied with arrangements, Sura clomped her basket-lidded way up and away from the gooey shore, and onto the more solid mud flats up above. She fought to take off her absurd footwear, then stripped the sheath from the blade of her spear.
Her companions joined her in the reeds, and they all remained quite still, looking out across the marsh.

It was a narrow land – a place where open strips of mud flat were hemmed in by weeds, reed
s and low, tangled trees. Great spider webs stretched between grey, lichen covered bushes. Little rivulets of oily water ran across the mud, filling the air with the slow, endless seep of water.

There were sounds: distant birds, and the slow drone of insects – the far off
murmur of the surf. The Spirit Hunters listened carefully, scanning slowly, seeking for any sign of the ‘Eater’.

There was a
weird, watchful sensation: a sense of something moving slowly, carefully and utterly unseen. Tonbo half rose out of cover, watching the reed tips for any sign of motion – but the swamps were strangely still.

Sura rose
quietly, wiped her fingers along her spear, and set the blade shimmering with a magic spell.

“One Tao, one sight, one world, one mind.

Let the hidden souls come forth.

Let ghosts appear to mortal eyes…”

She scanned the marshlands up ahead, the world seeming to haze and warp in a fan ahead of her spear. She moved forward slowly, circling around and around, but no disembodied creatures shimmered into view. The spell died down, and Sura tucked her spear beneath her arm, pondering the mudflats and reeds.

S
he hemmed and hummed in thought.

“
Well… No spirits. No ghosts.” The fox kept her eyes fixed on the marsh, and spoke to Chiri beside her. “Have Daitanishi and Bifuuko picked up anything?”

The rat drew out her gleaming natagama.
She looked at the reeds, feeling decidedly wary.

“
They are cautious, Sura san. Something here unsettles them.”

They all looked at the marsh. Sura sucked on one fang, then walked over to a
patch of relatively clean grass.

“We’re going to need some stealthy eyes and ears here.” Sura
moved forward carefully, red fur blending with the dead reeds all around her. “I’ll nose ahead. You guys all be careful.” The fox crept stealthily ahead. “Daitanishi? You’re with me.”

Accom
panied by the flying rock, Sura threaded off through the weeds. She hesitated and sniffed suspiciously at a patch of open mud just ahead, then padded across the soft brown surface, her feet as delicate as a cat’s. Daitanishi moved silently beside her. They moved softly into cover, spied out the route ahead and signalled to the others with a wave of Sura’s fluffy tail.

Kuno arose and moved forward, testing the muddy footing
before moving across to a narrow band of grass. Moving softly through the reeds, the Spirit Hunters felt their way carefully forwards – on into the watchful, quiet marsh.

At the head of the bay, a strong wind stirred the waves into an heroic foam. The whaling fleet – two bold ships surrounded by the lean shapes of smaller boats – shot forward through the surf.
The festival crowds came flocking to the beach, but the whaling fleet had no carcasses in tow or meat aboard. The crowds cheered in welcome, even though disappointed at being deprived of their thrill.

They
forged in through the surf. The whaleboats arrayed themselves out behind the two great ships, making a wonderful display. The boats all surged through the waves and shot up onto the beach. Crewmen leapt into the water and swiftly raced the whale boats up onto the sand. The two whaling ships warped across to the jetty, oars thrashing. Ropes sailed through the air as the two sturdy vessels made fast.

The largest of the whaling ships
had hung itself with red banners. Standing in the prows was Red Kenta, the savage leader of the whalers – his blade-hand waving at the crowds. He leapt down to the jetty and strode forward, bellowing out to address the crowds in his sea-going roar.

“
A false alarm! It was just an old bull – a scout!”
The man was massively confident – in no way disappointed.
“The main school will be in the bay tomorrow at dawn, and the whalers will be awaiting them! But tonight, we feast!”

The festival goers cheered. Whale flags waved and streamers were shaken. Red Kenta posed with his harpoon before the crowd.

“We feast! Tonight there is sake, rice and venison for everyone – compliments of our patron, the revered Prince Horigawa!”

The prince’s palanquin was once again present in its lofty place overlooking the beach. The crowds
gave a hearty cheer for the prince. Horigawa himself did not appear, but his servants moved coolly forward to lead the crowd towards a great stack of sakē barrels. The prince’s bounty was praised by one and all as the scent of grilling meat flooded up into the air.

The whalers came from their boats, heading towards the pleasures of the n
ight – enthusiastic girls, hero worship and brimming cups. But one of the warrior monks came quietly to Red Kenta, bowed, and motioned towards the prince’s palanquin. The whaler chieftain nodded, and signalled to his huge lieutenant. The two men threaded past the last of the departing whalers and moved up the beach, passing through the prince’s watchful guards.

Discrete servants made certain that the conversation would not be overheard.
Red Kenta and his man both knelt before the palanquin. The whaler jerked his head down in a bow.

“
My prince! I trust you are pleased with the festival. There will be whales tomorrow.” The whaler leaned forward, his face wicked with predatory greed. “Is there news of other prey?”

The prince’s curtain had been raised. Horigawa’s cold eyes glittered in the shadows.

“My agents report a foreign merchant ship is on its way. You will be able to intercept it off the cape in three days time.”

The two whalers bared their teeth in savage smiles. They bowed to the prince, making ready to
go.

Horigawa sat back amongst his gleaming robes. He brooded, preoccupied, then turned to one of his
servants.

“You there! Has the
kitsune been seen at the festival this afternoon? Is she drinking at the sakē barrels?”

The
servant gave a deep, perfect bow.

“No, lord prince.”

Horigawa slapped his fan into his hand and glared at the two whalers.

“
There was a man here – an imperial deputy. He was accompanied by three others: a samurai, a white-haired rat woman and a kitsune priestess. They were showing an interest in the marsh.”

The prince looked to Red Kenta and his
sinister lieutenant.

“
A fox is loose where it should not be.”

Red Kenta gave a wicked laugh.

“The red ones will deal with them, my lord.”

“We must make certain.
I will entrust you to silence them.”

The whalers gave an evil bow, then arose. The huge second lieutenant slipped his immense sword down across his back, and made his way to the festival, summoning his men. Armour was brought out from the ships. Red Kenta
strode back down to the sea, looking forward to a bloody afternoon.

Prince Horigawa flicked a finger towards his guards. The curtains to his palanquin were lowered back into place. Surrounded by his
men, the prince was borne away from the village – up towards the cold, wind-swept hill where his mansion awaited him.

Chapter 4

Knowing you
were stalked by an invisible monster could really put a cramp upon your day.

The Spirit Hunters moved on into the marsh, step by step, with infinite caution
, listening to every bend of the grass – every rustle in the reeds. They examined every patch of ground, every mire or stand of weeds, ready to fend off an attack. But so far, the marsh had kept its secrets.

The
tracks they had been following soon faded – one of the incoming tides had washed over much of the lower ground. But there were still clues here and there – crushed reeds, or the smear of a muddy footprint against a fallen log. Sura and Tonbo spied them out, following carefully along the subtle trail.

Tangled trees
blocked out sight of the stony promontory. But the low setting sun gave them direction. They need only head east, and surely they would find some of the old bamboo paths…

…
or so it had seemed.

Moving softly along in f
ur form, Sura pushed her way through the edges of the reeds, creeping softly and as stealthily as she could. Her whiskers were prickling – sensitive to the tiniest quiver of sound. She used every measure of cunning field craft learned through countless illicit expeditions into other people’s business – and all to no avail. The marsh confounded her again and again with twists, turns and mires. At one moment, she was certain that she had found a trail of footprints – only to find the trail had utterly disappeared. Promising pathways through the mud led instead to deep sucking pools of open water, fetid with mats of decaying, bubbling green algae.

Daitanishi kept her company, flitting quietly forwards and looking carefully about – always keeping carefully hidden in t
he shrubs. He came back to guard her as the fox yet again ended up in a mire, her feet sinking clean to her knees in the muck. Sura thrashed and leaped for the shore, making more and more of a mess. As she hit a pocket of decaying goo beneath the mud and drenched herself, she quite lost her temper, hissing a whisper back towards her friends.

“
I should be at a barbeque! I had my whale-eating hat and everything!”

Tonbo edged forward and
seized one end of Sura’s spear, towing the fox back toward solid ground. He hauled her over to a safe landing in the nearby weeds, keeping his voice low.

“
You will have your barbeque.”
He patted the pouch tied to his belt.
“I still have your hat.”

“I want a beach barbeque! With seafood – cooked!
”
Muddy, wet and bedraggled, Sura had suffered quite enough.
“I want to skinny dip, drink plum wine, then lie on the sand and stuff myself!”

“We’ll get you
a beach barbeque.”
He shook her free of the spear.
“Now be quiet!”

From her new perch
on the bank, Sura flicked mud and ordure from her feet. She looked away, and her eyes lit upon an old bamboo pole jutting from the mud at the far side of a field of reeds. She instantly turned back – rather more cheered.

“Oh, hey! Found the path.”
She minced her way through some weeds, trying to find a way across towards the distant pole.
“All right.
I’ll see if there’s a way across. Yoiks and away!”

Daitanishi moved to help her find a way around the water –
then suddenly the little rock elemental whirled. He scowled at a bank of weeds at the far side of the morass. Chiri instantly caught the creature’s mood, and came swiftly forward with Bifuuko shimmering and clattering at her side.

Everyone
else froze. Chiri, her long whiskers sparkling in her narrow rodent face, climbed into the branches of one of the stunted marsh trees. Tall pink ears flicked as she swung her head, trying to focus on an elusive hint of sound.

P
oised in the tree for long moments, Chiri finally came back down scowling. She crouched with the others, beckoning Sura closer.

W
hispering softly, the rat pointed off towards the bamboo poles.

“
I hear something. A clicking sound. It is very faint.”
She pointed to the east.
“That way.”

They moved carefully on, with Sura taking the lead – her senses sifting every tiny motion in the air.

Finally there was a way across the water – a mud field dotted with thick isles of reeds. Sura tested the footing and found it soft. Thankfully, it seemed some driftwood had been sunk into the mire. Sura pressed down and found it to be firmer footing. She crept forward slowly, eyes searching every inch of the path ahead and either side. The Spirit Hunters edged out into the mud flats, moving with infinite care. Bifuuko and Daitanishi kept watch ahead and behind.

Some nearby reeds trembled. Sura
instantly whirled and puffed flour from a tube, sending out a great choking cloud. The dust drifted and settled slowly over the mud. No strange shapes stood out – no invisible stalkers, no serpentine menace from another realm. Sura watched carefully, trying to sense the cold shiver that might herald a ghost – but nothing came.

Daitanishi and Bifuuko had both focussed their attentions
entirely upon a bare patch of ground a dozen yards away. Chiri stayed quite still, but her eyes caught Sura’s. The fox saw where the elementals were staring, and slowly edged a flour bomb out of her sleeve. Suddenly she hurtled the bomb at a patch of empty mud. The paper packet hit the ground and burst into a choking cloud of dust.

N
othing was outlined by the settling flour. Sura gave a thoughtful sigh and thumped her spear butt down against the mud.

“Well
, it’s not leaving footprints. Do you think it can fly?” The fox frowned, then thumped her spear against the mud once again: the taut surface boomed a little like a drum. “Hey! This footing might not be too safe…”

Suddenly the mud under the flour cloud rippled like an
earthquake, plunging straight towards Sura. A huge red crab two yards across its shell burst upward out of the mire. Claws like massive scythes lunged for Sura, trying to shear her clean in two. Sura tried to dodge aside, but the mud clung to her feet. Easily four times her weight, the huge crab swarmed forward, claws clashing. Sura seized her spear behind its blade and pole vaulted wildly out of the way, changing into fox form in mid air. She landed clothing, sword, fox and all in a tangle atop a tree.

The crab rampaged after her, thrusting up at the tree, claws ripping apart the branches and cutting into the trunk. The fox scrabbled to get higher, frantically clawing through the twigs.

“Get it! Get it! Get it! Get it! Get it!”

Tonbo waded forward through the mud
. His massive iron club poised, then smashed downwards in a swing that carried the full weight of Tonbo, iron club and armour. The crab’s shell shattered and bloody ichor jetted forth. The creature staggered and tried to swing about – but a second blow struck the creature between the eye stalks. The tetsubo smashed clean through the monster’s shell from top to bottom. The creature fell with its claws still clicking and legs thrashing, appallingly unwilling to fall over and die, but its soul was clearly off for another jaunt on the karmic wheel. Sura leapt out of the tree onto Tonbo, and clung onto his helmet for dear life.

“
Is it gone? It’s gone? Tell me it’s gone!”

“
It’s gone.” Tonbo shook his spiked club free of a grisly collection of blue crab blood, flesh and shell. “I thought you liked seafood…?”

“
Not seafood that likes me!”

A
click-click-clicking
suddenly echoed through the marsh. The mud flat rippled slowly – closing stealthily inward about the Spirit Hunters. From her perch atop Tonbo’s head, Sura’s looked behind them and saw yet more ripples in the muck.

“Oooooh…
As an ancient sage once said: ‘
I have a bad feeling about this…’
!”

Huge crabs erupted up out of the mire. Claws
clashing, they churned forwards, charging straight towards their prey. There were at least five of the monsters – all of them immense. Tonbo hefted his tetsubo and waded forward to meet the enemy, and two crabs immediately moved to flank him, claws spread wide. The huge man spun his tetsubo, then suddenly drove forward, clashing one crab’s claw aside and then trying to pound the other monster right back into the mud. The crabs shifted back, lunging and clashing their claws.

Sura leapt clear and ran bounding and thrashing through the muck in fox form. She changed into her fur form as she reached her fallen spear,
then lunged forward to hold another crab at bay. She cut beneath the monster’s feet, slicing at the legs along the creature’s left side. Her magic spear blade scythed hard: she pulled, and the crossblade cut three legs free, and then a fourth. The monster fell sideways and tried to cut her off at the knees. Sura leapt high, tail flying, fur flashing – leaping straight towards the creature’s shell. She landed spear-first on top of the monster, her spear point crashing through the shell, right between the monster’s eyes. The crab thrashed and bucked,  then died in a welter of blue gore.

“Sura!”

Chiri was in trouble. Two more crabs arrowed in towards her, legs churning through the mud. Daitanishi immediately attacked, bashing a crab upon the eyestalk. As the monster whirled in anger, Chiri leapt and gaffed downwards with her natagama. The razor sharp point of one weapon pierced through the shell. As the crab turned, the natagama was wrenched out of Chiri’s grasp. She cut with her second weapon, hacking off one of the crabs clattering legs – and then a back swing of the monster’s claw knocked the rat aside.

Kuno
lunged forward, protecting Chiri. The crab surged in, claws clashing as it tried to hack off Kuno’s head. Kuno made an elegant sideways slide, sword extended beneath the creature’s incoming wrist. He sliced back, then down, cutting away an entire claw. Sura drove the second monster back and away from Chiri, lunging sharp, deadly thrusts of her spear.

Chiri threw one hand out towards the trees.

“Little sisters of the trees!

Bark and wood, please come to me!

-
dart storm attack!”

Thin slivers of wood peeled away from the limbs of the spindly little trees. They flew in a wild shower at the nearest crab, ricocheting uselessly off the creature’s shells. Only a single dart stuck out of the monster’s armour, which only seemed to push the monster into a wild storm of rage. It rammed forward, trying to rip Sura’s spear from her hands, latching onto the spear haft with its claw.

Sura wildly fought to snatch her weapon back.

“Tonbo! Little help!”

Tonbo smashed a claw
off the nearest of his two crabs, making a second strike to pile-drive the creature’s foreparts half way to the earth’s core. The second crab clambered over the corpse of the first. Tonbo thrust, his huge strength crashing against the crab to flip the monster over onto its back. He left it thrashing and strode over towards Sura’s crab.

Kuno stepped back from another scything cut of a crab’s claws, and once again struck with absolute precision. The monster’s second claw dropped free. He poised, pulling
back his sword, then ran the creature through just below its eyes. The monster thrashed, flailing wildly, and then collapsed.

The last crab
clashed its claws at Sura. Tonbo shattered its legs on one side, then the other, before stoving in its shell with a single massive blow. He walked past Sura – who was naked and utterly smothered in mud, patting her on one shoulder. Crossing back to where the last crab was struggling to flip itself back over on its feet, Tonbo killed it with a single blow.

With the excitement over, t
he huge man leaned on his tetsubo and looked over the battlefield. He gave a slow, sage nod.

“
Hmph. Seen bigger.”

Wide-eyed and frazzled, Sura found her muddy clothes and dragged the
m down out of their tree. She looked at the still-twitching corpses and kept well clear of their claws.

“
Is everyone alright?” There seemed to be no injuries. “Ok – so I think we just solved the mystery of the invisible ‘Eater’.” Sura tied on her robe, staring at a dead crab. “What the hell have they been feeding these things?”