The Wrath Of the Forgotten (20 page)

The captain studied him for a moment. “I’m sorry. That’s not good enough. I need half now, and half when I get to Xian Ba. If you want me and my crew to brave the Great Kappa Migration, then it will cost you twenty thousand golden coins.”

The blood drained from Nori’s face. “That means you want ten thousand coins up front.”

The captain hooked her thumbs in her slacks. “I love a man who has brains and brawn. So as soon as you get me the coin, then we can prepare to set sail.” She started to move to the mouth of the alley when Nori held up his hand.

“Wait, don’t go. Perhaps if I’m truthful, maybe you’ll reconsider,” Nori said.

The captain narrowed her eyes and rested a hand on her sword hilt. “Go on. Have you been lying to me?”

Nori shifted to the edge of the alley and looked out. To his delight, no one had been near the mouth of the alley. Even still, his ribs shivered within him. He moved deeper into the alley and gestured for her to follow him. She did.

Nori said “I’m going to trust you with an incredible secret. I’m a Qu-Tar, and my…”

The captain interrupted him. “A Qu-Tar? As in one of the Royal Guard for the Imperial Family?” Her mouth fell open for a moment, and she stepped back away from him. “Tell me, Onistan. What did you and your… client find in the forest? Was it even a forest?”

“Yeah,” Nori replied. “We found an ancient ruin in the middle of Tsuchigumo-infested woods . What we found inside is even more horrific than the spiders themselves. My client found a set of scrolls discussing a terrible prophecy that is going to come true very soon. We have to get to Xian Ba to warn her mother.”

“Her mother, as in the damned Empress?” The captain whispered.

Nori winced, and then nodded.

“Isn’t that as salty as a dehydrated whore.” The captain leaned back up against the wall and let her eyes go unfocused. “You weren’t kidding when you said I could name my price.” She turned a critical eye on him. “How can I be sure you’re telling me the truth this time?”

Nori reached into a side pouch and pulled out his jade seal. As soon as the captain saw it, her eyes opened wide.

“You can hold on to this until we get to Xian Ba,” Nori said. “It’s made of pure jade. I’ve been told it alone is worth five thousand coins.”

The captain took it and examined it. “Fifty thousand coins, all when we reach Xian Ba. Is that agreed?”

“I’m sure my client won’t object to it, nor will her mother,” Nori said. “You have to keep this a secret though.”

The captain put the jade seal in her own side bag. “Since you let me know your big secret, I’ll let you know mine. My name is Captain Alfana Luxi. My ship is the Grinning Panda.”

Nori just stared at her.

“You’ve not heard of the Grinning Panda?” Luxi asked, a hint of surprise in her voice.

Nori shrugged. “Should I have?”

Luxi let out a breathless chuckle. “It’s so refreshing to meet a man who doesn’t already know about me. I’ll put it to you this way, big guy. I’m a notorious wanted smuggler. You’re sweet princess is going to hitch a ride with a criminal. How does that make you feel?”

“To be honest, given what we have already experienced, it doesn’t faze me in the least,” Nori said. “So we have a deal, right?”

Luxi nodded. “Yeah, follow me and I’ll show you where my ship is docked.”

Nori followed her out of the alley. “By the way, do you know any good weapon vendors in this town? I need to get a replacement for the one I broke.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Luxi said. “I’m an arms smuggler, so I have something you can have. I’ll just charge it to your client’s bill.”

“How very generous of you,” Nori replied.

Luxi let out a loud guffaw as she led Nori into the crowd.

AN ARROW WHIZZED
past Tov’s head and dug into the trunk of a tree. He darted to the left and kept running as fast as he could. In one hand Tov held his energy sword, in the other he grasped a slender wooden wand. The tip of the wand still glowed with a slight green hue.

Tov’s leg muscles ached with an increasing burning pain. His heart thumped hard within his chest. The trees that surrounded him had their branches all crisscrossed above him. Flying away was out of the question, so Tov ran. The tip of the wand still had a slight green illumination. Tov’s palms moistened with sweat. His energy sword crackled due to the added wetness, and he almost lost grip on his wand three times.

A cat-like figure hopped down from a tree branch and stabbed at him with a spear. Fur covered this creature’s body, much like the other Nekomata that he encountered. This particular Nekomata had white fur with numerous black spots intermixed with the white. It stood on its hind legs and gripped the weapon in its hands. The creature’s tail whipped about in a frenzy, and the Nekomata snarled at him.

Tov parried the spear tip and pointed the wand at the Nekomata’s chest. In an instant, the cat’s anger and hatred were replaced by knowing fear. A green beam of energy shot from the end of the wand and struck the Nekomata. Its body shuttered and it fell to the ground. The creature moaned and shivered violently.

Rather than wait any longer for the other Nekomata to catch up with him, Tov sprinted away. His lungs burned with unholy fire, yet he couldn’t afford to stop. Images of his daughter kept the fire in his belly. A savage growl echoed just behind him. The sounds of pawed feet trailing his own sent tremors through out the spots where his wings would normally pop out.

Tov stopped, pivoted, and brought his energy blade around in a wide arc. The Nekomata pounced into the air, over the blade. Its furry body barreled into him, knocking him to the ground. As he hit the forest floor, his shoulder collided with an exposed tree root. Pain shot up his nerves. He brought the wand up to the Nekomata’s chin just as its claws started to dig into his skin.

A bright flash exploded between them. The Nekomata’s grip slackened, and it fell limp against him. Tov pushed the creature off of him, but he had to roll to the side as soon as he did. Another enraged cat had pounced toward him, sword in paw. The Nekomata’s blade dug into the dirt just as Tov plunged his energy sword into the cat’s neck. It gaged as its body quaked wildly. All around him, the forest grew quiet. After a moment, a distant horn blared out.

Tov stood up and took several deep breaths.

The Nekomata who had been hit by the beam weakly gaped up at him. Its voice vibrated with each word. “W-why are you doing this? We haven’t done any harm to the h-humans.”

Tov scowled down at the trembling Nekomata. “I’m not a human, you wretched beast. See me for what I am.” Tov extended his wings.

For a long moment, the Nekomata merely stared at him with a sense of wonder. Its eyes widened and it cringed on the ground. “So the legends are true. The elders were right. They spoke of your coming, or rather those you serve. Why do you have such malice toward my kind?”

“Why?” Tov leaned up against a tree. His muscles still felt sore, but at least he had a chance to catch his breath. “You dare ask why you deserve such a fate after your ancestors betrayed their former masters?”

The Nekomata forced herself up to a sitting position. Judging from the shape of the face and the body structure, this had to have been a female Nekomata.

“What our ancestors did should have no bearing on the way we treat one another,” the Nekomata said. A trail of green slime had seeped out of her lower lip. She wiped it away on her fur. “You have ravaged many communities with that …that s-stick. W-why? Neither of us were alive during the time of the Great Liberation.”

“More like Great Treachery,” Tov said. “The Legacy of your people’s actions have devastated my people and their ability to prosper. And as for liberation, what did you liberate yourselves from? Harmony? Balance?”

The Nekomata shook her head. “I cannot say whether you hold the truth or I do. I can only reflect on what my elders have told me. What have you done to me, you tormented soul?”

Tov narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance. The horn blast sounded much closer.

“Am I to die slowly?” The Nekomata asked. “Have you robbed me of a good death?”

Tov winced as he looked away. “No, you will not die slowly, cat. You will suffer in your final moments; suffer in ways that you can’t possibly imagine.”

Another horn blast resounded.

The Nekomata started to breathe a little easier. “Run along you terrible thing. My sisters are close. I’m starting to feel better too. You might just have me chasing after you as well.”

Tov took several backward steps away from the tree, but watched the Nekomata closely. “That’s the point, cat. You’re supposed to feel better.”

He turned around and ran into the forest. If fortune favored him, maybe he would find at least one more Nekomata village before he found open sky.

NORI’S FACE ACHED.
During the scuffle on the previous day, he must have been struck several times in both cheeks. They both looked a little puffy, but at least the cream that Luxi had lent him eased a lot of the potential swelling. He waited by the front entrance and rested his new tetsubo on his shoulder. Nori couldn’t help but marvel at the intense quality of the weapon. Dark wood made up most of the war club, and dark grey iron balls had been attached to the sides. A large ring had been crafted into the hilt of the tetsubo. Every once and a while, he slowly swung the war club with one hand. His muscles tensed under its weight, but it pleasure coursed through his veins.

He had already eaten breakfast at a little café and made his way to the front entrance of the university. After twenty minutes of waiting, Apisa, Rayko, and Flara exited the university.

Rayko gave him a sideways glance. “Oh look, there he is! I’ll have you know we went to your room when you didn’t show up for breakfast. It would have been nice to have been informed that you were waiting on us.”

Apisa had been smiling when she walked out, but her smile deflated into a mixture between a frown and a look of awe. “What happened to your face? You look like you ran into the side of a building on purpose. No offense, but it looks awful.”

Flara’s eyes waivered for a moment. “Oh dear. I hope you didn’t get hurt trying to get us passage on a ship. I’m so sorry.”

Nori gave them his best smile, which made Apisa squeal with delight. “Don’t worry about this. I have some good news and some bad news.”

Rayko crossed her arms over her chest. “Why don’t you provide us with the bad news first, so that way the good news will cheer us back up?”

Nori’s grin fell away. “Oh… um it won’t really make sense if I don’t tell you the good news first.”

Flara adjusted her backpack, even though it looked perfectly fine a moment before. “So is the good news about you getting us a boat?”

Nori said, “Yes, I did. The captain promises that she’ll get us to Xian Ba within a week if we have favorable weather and no unwelcome obstacles.”

“So what’s the bad news?” Apisa asked. “By the way, that’s a nice-looking war club you got there.”

“Thank you.” Nori took a deep breath. “There are three parts to this bad news.”

Somber expressions covered each of the girls’ faces, yet they said nothing. The weight of their combined attention threatened to crush him.

“Okay, the first part is that it’s going to cost a lot of gold in order to fund this trip,” Nori said.

Flara fumbled with her fingers. “H-how much are they wanting?”

Nori swallowed hard. “Fifty thousand coins.”

“Fifty thousand?” Apisa asked. “For that much, we could buy our own boat and crew it too! This captain is swindling us. There must be someone else we can hire.”

Nori waved his hand in front of him, to accentuate his point. “No, there’s not. Apparently there’s this thing called the Great Kappa Migration …”

Suddenly all of the girls let out curiously relieved sighs.

Flara said, “Oh, that makes more sense.”

A slight pout had positioned itself on Rayko’s face. “Still, fifty thousand is inappropriate to charge us. Did they ask for all of it up front, or perhaps half now and half later? That would still present the problem of getting twenty five thousand gold coins before we set sail.”