The Way of the Fox (46 page)

Kuno pointed back towards the west.

“Just head back to the village.”

Chiri sighed – her beautiful white fur now muddy and brown. She gathered up Daitanishi and Bifuuko, shook herself and gave a sigh.

Tonbo helped heave the old blind woman up out of the water. Rokuko coughed, drenched through and through, flicking mud from both her hands.

“
Your life would seem to be quite challenging, honoured samurai.”

Tonbo gave a shrug.

“It is.”

Mud covered and reeking, the group made their squelching
way back through the swamp, while before them the setting sun dropped down behind the hills.

Chapter
5

As
passionate and driven as she was, old Rokuko’s endurance was withering. In the marshes, the reed banks slowly turned into red-black shadows, while sunset flooded crimson across the skies. The Spirit Hunters led the old woman dripping and hobbling back the way that they had come, across pools and banks of driftwood. At a fallen tree, they finally sat her down to rest.

Tonbo walked over to the edge of a mud bank. He casually crashed his tetsubo down onto a small
er-sized giant crab that came boiling up out of the mud, killing it with a single blow. He sank down beside the dead crustacean and listened carefully to the sounds of sunset, his armour almost invisible against the tall, dark reeds.

Kuno came to confer, his eyes quietly searching the shadows.

“Are we almost there?”

“I hear the creek. Not far.”

“We must let the honoured elder catch her breath.” Kuno arose and looked back towards the sea. “At least the giant monster has left us.”

“Hmmm.” Tonbo nodded. “Breathing tubes. Good trick.”

“The fox has her moments.” Kuno scowled. “Do not tell her I said so. It would go to her head.”

Over at the fallen tree, Chiri and Sura carefully
attended the tired old woman. Sura bent down and rubbed Rokuko san’s legs and feet for her – managing to be cheery even when covered in mud.

“There we are! Soon get you warm, and then we can hatch a few new plans.”
She knelt on the grass and caught her breath. “All’s well, all’s well.”

Rokuko nodded a weary bow.

“You are kind, Kitsune san. Most kind. I shall be recovered soon. My legs…” She winced, flexing her calves. “Standing all night and all day. You understand.”

Chiri searched through her robes. Her own water bottle was all but empty. “I wish we had something to warm you, Rokuko san. Sura
… You do not... Perhaps possibly you have somehow remembered to carry sakē?”

“
I’m a fox!” Sura produced a carefully hoarded flask from her sash: the inevitable plum wine. “Here – Rokuko san? Please drink.” She made certain that the wine went down, then passed the bottle to Chiri. “Here we go.” She watched as the rat drank, then took back the bottle. “I’ll go pass this to the boys. They’re tired.”

“Are you not having some yourself, Sura san?”

“I’m a fox!” Sura departed with a beautiful swish of her tail. “Friends first, self last.”

Off she went, merging with the dusk. Chiri sat quietly on a log, drawing in a
soft breath. Bifuuko and Daitanishi nested happily beside her, enjoying the sunset’s glorious red glow. Dragonflies darted back and forth across the mud, making the most of the evening light. There was moss upon the fallen wood, and distant, drifting sounds of nesting birds. In the nearby bushes, a large and beautiful spider was making her evening web, busily clambering up and down along her silken threads. Chiri rested her mind.

“
Were it not for the crabs, this marsh would be quite peaceful.” She watched the spider move with infinite grace and subtlety. “Whoever thought such beauty could be hidden in a mire?”

Rokuko hung her head, resting her forehead upon her walking stick.
Bifuuko fluttered down to sit beside her, looking up with her little blue, intelligent face. Rokuko felt the elemental’s presence, and turned to it with her sightless eyes.

“
They never leave you, Chiri san?” Her voice was soft and sad. “Never?”

“
Never, honoured grandmother.”

The old blind woman’s shoulders bowed. She reached out a hand towards the marsh – as though trying to feel movements somehow hidden behind the light, behind the air.

She let her hand fall.

“
I used to feel them everywhere. I could sense them always with me. The love I felt for the world made the world reach out to love me in return.

“
They were there for me. Always.”

Chiri’s heart was wrung. She turned to look at Rokuko
with tears in her eyes.

“
They never leave you, Rokuko san. How can something that is a part of you ever be gone?”

“
When you shut it out, Chiri san.” The old woman’s hands clenched about her walking stick. “Or when you turn your back upon it…”

Rokuko sighed,
bowed down with painful memory.

“
The mist came over my eyes, Chiri san. In the capital, there are great men who might cure me with their magics – but such men do not work for free.” Bitterness dripped from every word. “Money. The world around me had closed in, and all because of money.

“
When I lost my sight, a great many things dimmed, Chiri san. They did not return.”

The rat girl listened – lost and saddened.

“I am sorry, honoured grandmother. Truly sorry”

Rokuko turned quietly towards Chiri.

“Thank you, Chiri san. It is a long time since anyone called me that with any real affection.”

The old woman shook her head.

“I thought only of money, Chiri san, and what it could win for me. I ceased caring how it came to me. I lost my sight – but it was the smallest loss of all.”

She turned away, wanting to be alone with her sad thoughts.

Chiri rose and moved to sit herself down again close to the water. Bifuuko and Daitanishi came with her, and moved to softly caress her cheek. Muddy and forlorn, the rat trailed her hand across a bed of soft green moss. Her heart felt wounded and heavy deep within.

The moss shimmered. Climbing softly out into the world came a fine, plush caterpillar made of moss and lichen. It was joined by a little water elemental, and one of the elementals from the mud. They all gathered close about her, gently resting against her, comforting Chiri in the gloom.

Sura joined the little creatures beside Chiri. She proffered the near empty flask of wine, but Chiri shook her head. Sura finished the bottle, and carefully slipped it back into her belt.

Sura leaned forward to caress the moss elemental, looking at it with glad wonder in her eyes. The little creature arched beneath her touch.

“
Wow. I love these things.” She watched the little creatures, utterly enraptured. “I wish I could do that.”

“
Yours is the real magic, Sura san.”

“
Ha! No – this is something different.” The fox nodded softly. “This is special.”

Chiri reached out to caress the elementals.

“Air and Earth. Fire and Water. Wood and Metal. Each element has its spirits, great and small. The little souls of the universe.”

Sura listened carefully, watching Chiri’s beautiful pink eyes.

“Are there others?”

“
Yes, Sura san. Difficult to reach. There is Void – an element of nothingness. And it is said that in the demonic realm of the Oni, even the elements are corrupted into evil.”

“
But goodness calls to goodness.” Sura’s eyes were wise and deep, deep green. “They come for you because of who you are, my friend. They will always be there.”

Rokuko was a bent, sad silhouette in the dark - a
picture of isolation and loss. Chiri looked at the old woman, and felt cold.

“
Will they, Sura san?” Chiri’s voice was hushed. “You heard her. What if that happens to me?”

Muddy, wet and full of infinite joy, Sura sat calmly at Chiri’s
side. She lifted up the moss creature, and let it climb into Chiri’s lap.

“
Rokuko san’s blindness is a tragedy. But it is not a perfect world. The best and kindest of us can be hit by the most undeserved of fates. The Buddhists would tell you it is karma, or punishment for a past life. I’m not sure that their little coping strategy is much of a help. The
why
does not matter. What matters is the
how
– how we face the injustices, and how we come through them.”

The fox’s voice carried gently in the beautiful gloom of sunset.

“In the end, the only test of character that counts, is if we weather the worst injustices of life and emerge with our souls intact. The artist that keeps painting – the writer that keeps writing. The priest that still believes, even after the worst. Those are pure souls.”

Chiri swallowed. Her voice fell to nothing but a whisper.

“But do I even have a pure soul?” She looked away. “What is there in me, that could ever be stronger than tragedy?”

“The simplest of things.”

Sura lovingly stroked a strand of hair back from Chiri’s face, looking into her eyes – so utterly fond. She placed a hand against Chiri’s forehead, as though gently touching her soul.

“There is a garden gate, and it is an old, dear gate.

There is a path, and the path is winding.

There is a tree, and it is crooked. From its branches

H
angs an old rope swing.

In the house beyond, there is the smell of a favourite meal…
”

Sura bowed.

“
You carry your own paradise within you, Chiri san. Pass through the gate, and you are there.”

Chiri looked up at Sura in awe. She understood: Chiri’s pain and despair had gone. She gazed at Sura in sudden understanding.

“You really are a priestess, Sura san.”

Quietly fond, Sura
grasped Chiri’s hand.

“
Don’t tell Kuno. It would break his heart.”

Sura rose to go. Chiri faced her, making a profound, gentle bow.

“Thank you, Sura san. I thank you for pointing out my error.”

“You are most welcome, Child of the Moon. Most welcome.”

The fox walked over to the waterside nearby. Kuno was kneeling behind the reeds, his eyes scanning the dark waters. He had overheard something of what had passed. He kept his eyes upon the marsh.

“Is all well, Sura san?”

“Yes. All’s well.”

The
four Spirit Hunters gathered quietly by the side of a slowly swelling thread of water. The tide had turned, and the moon was rising – a fine full moon, huge and yellow in the sky. They kept their voices low, with a constant eye open for marauding crabs.

Kuno
nodded softly.

“
We have found Rokuko san – but I would like to pursue a more definite resolution. The pirates must certainly be reported and destroyed.” He looked back towards the distant village. “It would be good to bring the village its luck again.”

Tonbo scratched thoughtfully at his stubble.

“For luck, they need their kami.”

“Indeed.” Kuno
turned to the fox. “Sura san?”

Sura had been sitting frowning
off towards the east. She looked back at the others, and her ears lifted.

“
What? Yeah – the kami seems to be the heart of it. We need to contact the damned thing.” The fox was still thinking about the marsh. She was thoroughly annoyed. “The main problem is going to be that crab!”

Sura mused or a while, then squatted down to brush a strip of mud clear. She made a vague drawing of the marsh, the creek and the distant rocky promontory.

“Right. Let’s try
this
. On four feet, I’m fast enough to out-pace the crabs. The big one probably won’t even know that I’m there. So I’ll go find this kami’s shrine, and talk to the damned thing. Try and get it to help the village again.”

Tonbo gave a nod.

“Good. What about us?”

Chiri looked fro
m the map to the marshes. “I should ride upon Sura, Tonbo san. But we cannot risk you and Kuno san with the monster crab. You should perhaps wait at this end of the marsh to clear our line of retreat.”

“Yeah.” Sura nodded. “
We can’t take Rokuko san back in there anyway. Let’s get her to the creek, summon up the boat, then Chiri and I will go dodge the crabs.”