I was still trying to catch my breath as I looked up at my house, trying to figure out why it was dark. It looked so vulnerable, so weak sitting out in the open all by itself. At that moment I knew we would have to get off the mountain and get as far away from the Dark Shogun as possible. I cringed at the idea of my stepfather choosing to stay and fight, refusing to leave.
I could hear him now, “I’m not leaving! This is my land, my home. I’d rather die then leave!”
And die he would.
“Is this your house?” Kimiko asked.
I nodded.
We approached the house carefully and stepped quietly onto the back veranda, listening for any signs of life, any signs of danger. I slid open the back door and led Kimiko inside.
Once inside, I felt unbelievably light headed. I was exhausted. My legs were shaking. I found it hard to stand up.
Kimiko saw that I was struggling. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve never covered so much ground before,” I answered. “And never with another person.”
“What exactly did you do? One moment we were in the forest and the next moment we’re all the way out here. Wherever here is.”
“This is my home. We’re above the village. On the other side of the mountain.”
Kimiko’s jaw dropped. “What? How? What the hell did you do?”
“I don’t know what it is exactly. And I don’t really know how I do it. The only thing I know for certain is that it takes all my strength and concentration. It's like if I was actually to run that distance or fly or jump that distance in one go. That’s the kind of strength I need to do it. And then to actually land, to get both feet back on the ground, I need the concentration and precision and focus to land or balance on a wooden beam or something. So if I’m lacking strength or concentration, I can’t do it. I still haven't been able to master it. Sometimes I can do it easily. Sometimes I can't do it at all. When I can’t do it I get frustrated and angry. I'm never able to do it once I'm angry. I have to be calm. I have to be focused.”
Kimiko was shaking her head, still trying to come to terms with what had happened. “Well it was pretty amazing. I owe you my life.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “No. I was just…” I wanted to say I was just saving my own neck, that I was just doing what anyone else would do in the same situation, that I wouldn’t leave her there to be murdered. But I didn’t say any of that because again I felt light headed, my vision narrowed and I thought I was going to pass out. I leant against the wall for support.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “I just need to find my stepfather.”
“And then what?”
“I think we should hide. Maybe even get off the mountain. Maybe we should go to Kumamoto?”
“No we can’t,” Kimiko said. “The Shogun has placed a van guard of soldiers there. They have been patrolling the streets for the past week now. They patrol the streets like some sort of occupying force.”
Again, I‘d heard rumors of this but I didn’t actually believe them.
The van guard’s role was to let the town and the local Samurai know that the Shogun’s army was coming. And that soon they would hand over their swords and in some cases their children. The children were handed over to the Shogun as hostages. This would guarantee the Samurai would not cause any trouble. They would cooperate or their children would die and the town would be wiped off the map.
I sat down against the wall. We were running out of options.
“If we can’t go to Kumamoto,” I said. “Then I don’t know what to do. Maybe we should hide in the forest somewhere. There are caves up near the crater of the volcano. Maybe we could hide up there?”
“Well, there’s no time to rest now,” Kimiko said as she helped me to my feet. “Not yet.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We need to find my stepfather and get the hell out of here.”
We ran up the stairs to the second storey, the stairs that my stepfather had built with his bare hands, along with the rest of the house and the horse stable. I have been told by more than a few of the other farmers that my stepfather was an excellent builder and carpenter in his youth.
I came to my stepfather’s room and slid open the door. I expected to find him sound asleep. But he wasn’t. He was wide awake, kneeling below the window with a look of fear on his face. It was a look I wasn’t used to seeing. He was a master of hand to hand combat, master of the sword and staff. He was a Samurai who had fought and survived the Great War. He was not afraid of any man. And yet there he was. Crouching low, fearing for his life. Just like I was.
We made eye contact, but before I could ask him what he was doing, he leapt silently across the room and put me in a choke hold. He put one hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t scream. He dragged Kimiko and me back under the window. Kimiko was in shock.
I tried to struggle, not because I thought he was going to hurt me but more as a reflex.
It was no use.
He was too strong and too skilled. In moments he had me teetering on the verge of unconsciousness. When he felt me relax, he let me go. As my senses came back to me I saw that he had his finger up to his lips, urging me to be quiet.
He motioned for us to take a look outside.
And then I knew why he was so afraid.
It was the giant monster I had seen in the stable at Aso, the monster that was crouched over the mutilated remains of the horses, eating their guts and crunching and chewing on their bones and cartilage.
How did he get here so fast?
Could he move and travel like I could?
I struggled to comprehend what I saw and I struggled to comprehend the size of this thing. It was huge. It was covered from bare foot to bald head in black tattoos of strange calligraphy. Every now and then the calligraphy would scroll across his body, as though the writing was constantly changing or telling a story.
This monster, it was something I’d only ever seen in drawings or in my nightmares.
I looked back at my stepfather for some sign of what to do. He was staring at the monster, shaking his head.
The thing was crouched down, watching the horizon. His eyes were scanning back and forth like a hunter. He was watching the direction we had just come from. He was sniffing the air. The monster stood from its crouching position and it was then we could see just how big this thing was. It was taller than our two-storey house. It was taller than the horse stable. Wrapped around his massive torso was a chain attached to a battle axe that was large enough to smash the house in one swoop. He seemed to be carrying this weapon with no great effort.
The monster moved over to the stable and began sniffing the outside of the walls. He then kicked in the door and tore the roof away.
The two horses we had bolted. And the monster chased after them.
He was fast, impossibly fast for someone of that size. He ran on his toes, he ran silently. He caught up to one of the horses in no time and tackled it to the ground. He broke its neck and ripped its head off.
It happened in a matter of seconds.
He tossed the carcass aside and chased after the other one.
Just as he was about to reach out and grab it by the throat, Kimiko whispered, “What is that thing?”
And suddenly the monster skidded to a stop, digging the turf up as he did, ceasing its pursuit of the horse. He snapped his head back in the direction of the house.
It smiled.
The damn thing had heard Kimiko.
How?
I knew in my right mind we should run or hide. But I couldn’t move. The voice of reason inside my head was telling me to run, screaming for me to run. My stepfather was still. His attention completely focused on the giant monster, his left hand on the hilt of his sword.
His sword.
I had never seen his sword before. And I had never seen him wear it. He had always kept it locked up. Hidden.
The monster turned and walked slowly back towards the
house. It knew we were there. And it was coming for us.