The Way of the Fox (48 page)

“
Hurry! Drive them to the water!”
Kenta waved a harpoon over his head.
“Drive them!”

At one end of the line, a whaler moved forward through the darkness, arrow nocked and ready. H
e glared at the reeds, at the bushes, at the black shadows up ahead. A dozen yards away, his companions crashed forwards. He lifted his bow and almost fired at a shadow just ahead, but instead halted on good footing in the grass, and turned to look back to his shipmates. The whalers were becoming more stealthy – moving forward and rustling the grass and reeds – keen hunters thirsting for their prey.

The man walked on.

A crunching sound came from beneath his sandalled feet. The whaler looked down and saw little pieces of nut shell scattered all across the hard dirt. He frowned – then the grass beside him suddenly jerked. A massive length of spiked iron crashed into the pirate’s head, shattering his skull. The man dropped, stone dead, his armour clattering as he fell.

The
thud
of the death blow made an ominous echo. A second pirate came racing through the reeds, pausing to fire at a shadow. The arrow struck something solid. The pirate dropped his bow and drew his sword, racing in to charge his target down – but clattered to a halt as he suddenly found nothing but a broken tree with his own arrow quivering in the bark.

There was a flicker of movement – the sense of something huge in the dark. The pirate whirled, trying to parry with his sword as a huge tetsubo hammered straight down at him in the dark. The sword blade shattered: the tetsubo crashed through and snapped the pirate’s neck. The man fell dead, almost without a cry.

Other men came blundering towards the patch of brush. Tonbo crouched down and slipped forward, now well behind their line. Tetsubo black and deadly in his hand, he moved on into the gloom.

Elsewhere in the darkness, a tight group of four pirates moved forward with steady, sinister discipline.
They advanced relentlessly, trampling the reeds flat in their path. Two men stayed loaded at all times: arrows were fired into nearby shadows and stands of reeds. Approaching a stand of trees, they fired at clumps of grass and  weeds, scouring potential hiding places clean.

From behind them there came the sudden sound of screams in the dark. There was a
crash
– a horrifying sound as if steel and flesh were being pulverised by a titanic blow. A second shocking smash rang out, and the screams abruptly ceased. The four pirates turned and stared behind them: two men half raced a few steps then halted, listening for more sounds of chaos in the dark.

Kuno
stepped out from a tree behind the pirates. He drew his sword in a silver blur, killing one man before he could turn, slicing down another, and then cutting through the bow of a third. The two remaining pirates desperately tried to snatch out their swords. Kuno carved twice through one man: the other turned and tried to flee, only to be cut down from behind.

Two
more pirates came charging through nearby reeds, firing wildly at Kuno, screaming in challenge. Their shots went wide in the dark. But as they lurched across the mud, huge crabs burst up from below. Claws flashed, and the two men screamed as the crabs dragged them down.

Kuno held his sword and sp
un it along its axis, striking it behind the
tsuba
to free it of blood. He spun the blade about and sheathed it once again. As shouts and blundering footsteps came crashing through the reeds, Kuno moved forwards. He saw Tonbo twenty yards away. They signalled to each other. Both men went left, Kuno in front of the enemy lines and Tonbo behind. They faded swiftly off between swaying reeds.

The pirate leaders stood
at the point where the Spirit Hunters had split their forces. Red Kenta found piles of empty clothing lying on the ground and frowned in confusion. There was no sign of his grandmother – nothing but blood all across the mud. He kicked the muddy clothes aside, then whirled around, looking at the crushed reeds.

“Koro!”

The one-eyed lieutenant strode forward, his titanic sword gleaming in the moonlight. He brought with him a team of nine men – the scarred, veteran swordsmen who led the pirate horde.

They heard a scream off in the darkness – the
sound of swords ringing. Kenta gave a vicious curse.

“They’re decoying us! Some of them have headed for the shrine!” He waved to his inner circle. “This way! We’ll kill them at
the shrine.
Move!”

The pirates moved in a group, blades drawn,
marching through the dark towards the path.

Back in the reeds nearby, Tonbo and Kuno saw the pirates
head off in pursuit of Sura and Chiri. Ducking low, the two men ran forward – back over terrain they already knew well.

They raced ahead of the pirates, while in the dark beside them, the crabs began to stir,
click-click-clicking
their sharp claws.

Chapter 6

Deeper in the marsh, things were
beginning to get just a
tiny bit
trickier. Nothing too bad yet though – nothing a fox couldn’t deal with… Sura wildly dodged between enormous crabs, scrabbling up onto a row of rocks, while behind her, the whole world shuddered to a giant, angry tread. Sura panted – finally tiring. But a crab came scuttling at her from the side, and the pounding, crashing tread came closer. She ran on through the moonlit rocks with Chiri clinging to her back, and then felt the little rat tugging at the fur on her left side. Sura sped to the left, running, running, running. A crab lunged up from the mud ahead, and Sura leapt high overhead. An instant later, a vast claw smashed down from above, the open pincers gaffing deep into the mud to either side. The huge claw clashed shut – severing the smaller giant crab clean in two. Sura raced onwards, while behind her the gargantuan monster crab tore its claw points from the mud and gave a numbing, deafening roar. The fox charged off amongst ever-swelling tidal pools, while the behemoth came blundering on her trail.

Sura plunged behind a brake of fallen brush, then took a radical right turn, racing beneath cover to head away from the crab. But a deep pool of water suddenly appeared – salty, full of silt and fresh from the sea. The fox saw more rocks to her left, and ran off between a pair of lichen-smothered boulders, heading west.
She leapt upwards – towards the high top of the rocks far above.

She was tiring. T
he going was horrible – mud, high rocks and bushes bristling with thorns. The fox scrabbled up onto higher ground, panting. On her back, Chiri managed to jam the tear vial under one of her front legs, and looked back in panic at the monstrous crab.

“
It’s still coming this way!”

The two little flying elementals sped forwards, showing the way ahead.
Sura leapt for the top of a rock, scrabbled, got her footing, and climbed higher. “Sodding crab! I’m going to make that thing eat bricks of its own sun-dried urine!” The fox found the top of the rocks. “Any sign of the shrine?”

“
Not yet!” The rat suddenly saw the vast, towering crustacean shift direction and come straight towards them. “I think he sees us!”

“Crap! How the hell is that thing tracking us?”

Chiri blinked. “Could a magical giant crab
smell
magic?”

The fox made a little
“
Oh
…” of enlightenment.

It was a horrible thought.

Sura powered onward. She clambered through rocks, climbing ever higher, as the titanic crab ground relentlessly onward, slowly mounting the promontory, clashing its vast claws against the stones.

At least they were on the promontory at last. But the damned thing was enormous – full of up
s and downs, crags, boulders and standing pools of water. Sura looked about, trying to find her way forward through the maze – when suddenly she saw several bamboo poles standing in the dark.

A zigzag path led up a steep rock face, wending between boulders and straggling clumps of brush. Face
d with a steep climb, Sura made a tired noise – then flung herself forwards, running hard uphill.

Up, up – with the titanic crab climbing behind her. The fox burst out onto a flat
crest at the top of the rock pile. All around was nothing but boulders, trees and open air. A stiff sea breeze whipped past, forcing Daitanishi and Bifuuko to fight to make any headway. Sura turned about, looking for any sign of the sea kami’s shrine, while the giant crab climbed higher and higher towards her perch.

“Where the hell is this thing? Can’t they at least put up a sign?”

“Sura! Left! To the left!”

A knurled, twisted tree stood nearby. Chiri almost danced in excitement. Sura paused to catch her breath, then drove herself on, scrabbling beneath the branches of the twisted tree and looking madly around.
Chiri held on with a grip of steel, then saw a pathway leading down to the seaward side of the rocks.

“
There!”

Suddenly the world shook to the great, burbling roar of the massive crab. A shadow cut off the moonlight. The animal spirits and elementals looked back to see the vast crab towering overhead, clinging to the sheer face of the rocks.

“Oh for…”

A
huge claw swept down at them, striking boulders, rocks, bush and trees. The great wave of rubble crashed into the fox and her companions, hurtling them back and over the sea-edge of the rocks.

They plunged down a steep cliff of rocks and rubble, bushes and dry trees, bouncing and slithering.
Swearing and cursing, Sura’s backside took the impact of several larger rocks and her tail was dragged through something with spines before she ended up sliding on her back down a steep slope of dead weeds and scree. Bifuuko sped past, catching the tear vial on the fly. Sura slid to a halt hard against a boulder, and was almost buried by an avalanche of dust and gravel. A huge boulder crashed past mere inches from her head, jouncing free from a cliff edge and sailing down, down, down until it smashed into a reef-strewn sea below.

Sura blinked and peered over the edge of her boulder
, to see a rocky cliff that plunged straight down into the ocean fifty yards below.

Chiri slithered to a halt beside
Sura – her descent braked by clinging to Daitanishi. The rat goggled at the fall below, then looked back up to the crest of the cliff high above.

The giant crab raged
. The cliff slope was too treacherous for it to climb down. Bubbling with fury, it seemed to descend the far side of the rocks – perhaps looking for a better way around. Sura struggled out from beneath a coat of rock shards, then looked off along their cliff.

A path led along the edge,
leading to a great, broad recess. A red painted
tori
gate had been set there, with a shrine altar set back inside a little cave beyond. Limping slightly, Sura moved swiftly to the shrine, chivvying Chiri and the elementals along. She raced beneath the heavy lintel of the
tori
gate, and ran up to the shrine itself.

The two animal spirits swiftly sat side by side before the altar, and
each clapped their front paws together twice. They bowed, then Sura sat up and loudly prayed.

“Oh sea Kami, guardian of the straights, friend to the fishermen. We implore you to forgive the foolish humans and to accept their sincere respects. We implore you to come now and protect them once again. We offer you these pure tears shed by an old woman full of regrets. We offer you the tears of a pure soul.”

Both animals clapped their paws again and spoke as one.

“Please accept our humble prayers!”

Sura opened first one eye, then the other. She peeked at the altar, and then the cave – but there was no sign of a kami. No mighty spirit arose to commune with them. There was no surge of might – no blast of power. There wasn’t even a flying fish or the ghost of a dancing prawn.

From the rocks to the left, there came a great bubbling roar. The titanic crab had clambered about the rock promontory, and found the boulders that led up to the shrine. It was heaving itself up along the rock
s, claws scissoring open and shut , slicing through the trees.

Chiri looked fro
m the shrine to the crab, and gave a frown.

“
It is at moments like this that I wish we were more diligent about having alternative plans…”

Red Kenta
, his huge, gnarled lieutenant and his nine picked swordsmen ran past tidal pools in the dark, heading out towards the promontory. But with the moon low behind the trees, the way ahead was a maze of black shadows. The pirates halted in a clearing at the middle of a stand of reeds, casting about to try and catch their bearings.

Red Kenta found
the way, and waved his harpoon. His men began to move forward, stringing out onto the single path.

Suddenly Kuno stepped out from the reeds and cut the rear man down with a single blow. He leapt forward – but his sword rang from the vast no-dachi wielded by Red Kenta’s lieutenant.

The seven foot long sword scythed out, slicing reeds and razoring through a sapling. Kuno dodged backwards and tried to close, but the pirate’s massive strength made light of his blade. The no-dachi slammed downwards: Kuno tried to gliss the blow aside, but the sheer force knocked him from his feet and sent him sprawling. Pirates laughed as the lieutenant hacked down yet again. Kuno rolled aside, his armour clashing and clattering. The no-dachi blade thudded into the ground a whisker’s breadth away. A back-swing sent Kuno scrabbling backwards, struggling to his feet amongst a shower of sliced, falling reeds. The vast blade whipped again and again, driving Kuno back along the path.

The massive lieutenant gave a
deep, wicked laugh. He strode slowly towards Kuno, his sword swishing through the reeds, mowing them flat. The man looked back towards his leader and gave a sneering nod.

“This one is mine.”

At the far end of the group of pirates, Red Kenta watched the scene and laughed. He waved his men to follow him on along the path.

“
The samurai’s a dead man!” Red Kenta pointed his men on towards the promontory. “To the shrine! Hurry!”

The whalers raced off along the pathway to the shrine, leaving the giant swordsman to finish off Kuno. Asodo Kuno backed away from the pirate and circled, his sword up and poised, seeking an opening and trying to plan his fight.

The massive no-dachi should have been simple to face; the inertia ought to have left the wielder open. But the strength of Kuno’s opponent made light of the enormous sword. He dared not meet the weapon with a parry. Kuno could only keep clear, hoping to somehow suppress the weapon and close the distance. But the huge pirate lifted his massive blade, ready to attack – keeping it out of reach until it could strike.

The weapon would shear through an armoured man like paper.

Kuno tensed, trying to edge forward and make the man commit to a premature strike. But his opponent was skilled: he inched slightly forward, trying to tempt Kuno into risking a sudden rush. Kuno flexed his fingers about his sword’s handle, manoeuvring for an opening.

Tonbo’s voice
suddenly boomed out from the dark beside Kuno.

“
Kuno san. Please assist our friends.”

The huge samurai emerged out of the darkness – his massive iron staff thudding against the ground.

“Leave this one to me.”

The one-eyed giant saw his new opponent, and roared in satisfaction. He cut his blade one-handed through the air in a massive show of strength. The man came towards Tonbo, utterly confident of making the kill.

Kuno looked from Tonbo to the massive pirate. Both men were moving forward, intent upon their duel. Red Kenta and his men were already far down the path, racing past the mud crabs. Kuno waited no longer; he ran swiftly in pursuit of the other pirates, armour clattering into the dark.

Tonbo carefully face
d the sneering, scarred pirate. He held his tetsubo beneath one arm, faced the other man and made a watchful, careful bow.

“
Onegai shimasu…”

The pirate roared and arced his huge sword downwards, hoping to
shear Tonbo clean in two. Tonbo met the weapon in mid air with the butt end of his staff, moving his back foot aside a hand’s breadth – just enough to be off line as the blade smashed down into the soil. The tetsubo flashed about in an arc – the blow so powerful that the air thrummed. But the pirate somehow parried, swarming back. Sparks flew as the weapons crashed together. Tonbo whirled and kicked the man full-force in the chest, sending him staggering back along the path.

Tonbo stalked after the pirate as the man
rallied and came back on guard.

The pirate cut at Tonbo, his huge blade
hissing in the dark. It struck a slender tree trunk and cut clean through. Tonbo parried, sparks flying, then slammed his tetsubo forward in a lunge. The iron staff was driven with numbing power. It crashed into the pirate and sent him staggering. Tonbo made a massive swing, but the pirate dodged back, smashing his sword down atop the staff, then trying to scythe off Tonbo’s arm. Tonbo rolled his staff and deflected the attack, but the pirate punched at him with one huge fist. Tonbo moved back, making space. The pirate struck again, then leapt wildly high – an astonishing leap for so large a man. The enormous sword whipped about with the momentum of the man’s flying body. Tonbo somehow caught the blade and flicked it up and away, the edge glancing off his helmet as it flew past.