This day in Jukai, against the orochi, the soratami armada was an unstoppable force. They drove the snakes east from the ground and above, shattering the orochi’s beloved trees and burning their territorial homeland. Soratami warriors used blades and spells to maim and kill, their perfect rows hardly noticing the steady stream of reptilian bodies. From above, the soratami seemed like a silver-white plow blade, separating the soil as it ripped through the forest. Only this soil was made from living beings Konda hoped to have as allies, and the plow driven by intimates who had already betrayed him.
“Unacceptable,” he growled from his place at the head of the moth-riders. “Completely unacceptable.” Konda turned back to the east, where the bulk of his ghost army was charging to catch up to him with all possible speed. They would arrive here at this cursed site in a matter of minutes. Would it be soon enough to stop the slaughter?
A plaintive cry ripped through his ears and Konda grimaced. The sound was simultaneously foreign and familiar, like a stranger singing new words to a melody he knew by heart. Before the pain had faded, Konda recognized the Taken One.
His eyes had never wavered from the right spot, but now Konda turned his face, his body, and his entire being toward his goal. There, in the distance, where the column of light touched the sky. It was there, well within range of his moth-riders. It was so close he could feel it, so close he could leap to the ground and run to it.
The moth-riders responded to their lord’s unspoken command and soared up over the canopy, gathering speed as they bore down on the tower of light.
Faster, Konda thought. Faster.
The moths would carry him to his prize. His army would follow behind, engaging the renegade soratami on the way. Once Konda had recovered the Taken One, he would carry it triumphantly back and rejoin his ground forces. Together they would punish the presumptive soratami and decimate their army.
The closer he came to the brilliant white beam, the more anxious he became and the faster his moth-riders flew. Konda put his hand upon his sword, every muscle in his body tensed and ready. I’m coming, he thought. You will be mine once more.
Below him, Jukai became nothing more than a blur as he closed in on his goal.
CHAPTER 19
Toshi saw the moths bearing down on them and cursed the double burden of his duty and his stubborn insistence on avoiding that duty. It would be so easy to run now if Night’s Reach hadn’t just gone out of her way to save his life. Would it make such a difference if he were to escape into the nearest shadow and let Konda have his prize? The daimyo could contend with O-Kagachi; let those two determine how important it was that the Taken One was showing signs of life and self-interest. All Toshi would have to do would be to keep his head down for a year or so and these truly important entities could all kill each other off without his help.
Toshi scrambled to his feet and rushed to the stone disk. Abandoning the disk was not an option he could pursue … at least not yet. Better to load it up on the moth and take to the sky. He had outrun Konda and his ghost-moths before, and with Night’s help he was sure he could do it again. In fact, he was eager to do it again, just to imagine the look on Konda’s face.
The Taken One still floated just above his head, so Toshi placed his hands on the lowest edge and pushed. Whatever was keeping the disk afloat also allowed Toshi to move it easily without turning it insubstantial. In fact, it was faster and easier to move it this way, as he could really dig his heels into the turf and use his body weight to hurry things along.
He reached the moth in short order and guided the disk into the harness. This would be a narrow escape, but it would still be an escape.
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Toshi paused as the Taken One’s voice echoed in his head. When the lingering sound faded, so did the shining white tower. Toshi continued to squint, dazzle-blinded. The half of his body closest to the Taken One’s beacon felt seared and tender.
His eyesight returned to normal just as he completed tightening the last strap. He started to swing his leg up over the moth’s back, but something heavy seemed to be pressing in on all sides. He glanced up to check on Konda’s approach and noticed the ominous purple sky glowering from the east. Had it grown much darker all of a sudden? Or was the storm casting a shadow over all of Jukai?
Twelve flaming suns suddenly ignited around the spot where the tower of light pierced the sky. Toshi stood frozen and agape as O-Kagachi materialized behind the six sets of sun-eyes, appearing whole and solid in one fell swoop. Six square, horned heads roared from massive, swaying necks. Its coils formed an impossibly large and complicated tangle of muscle wreathed in jagged scales, and their bulk filled fully half the sky from here to the horizon.
Toshi still stood motionless, awestruck by the titanic beast hovering so close. O-Kagachi opened all six of his mouths and roared. Back to the east, Konda’s moths had begun their descent, silent but no less threatening than the old serpent.
Toshi’s eyes darted back and forth across the sky. Konda himself was streaking toward them and he was surrounded by an unsettling glow. O-Kagachi opened one set of jaws wide and likewise drove down at Toshi and the stone disk. There were only seconds in which to decide. One way or the other, the chase for the Taken One was going to end here.
Or, Toshi thought suddenly, I can do things my way. He took hold of the moth’s tether and made himself insubstantial. The leather strap separated from the tree and fell to the forest floor. Then Toshi became solid, unbuckled the harness, and slipped it off the moth so that the leather straps were still fastened to the stone disk. He slapped one hand onto the surface of the Taken One and pulled, guiding the prize over to the closest tree.
“You’re free,” Toshi told the moth. “You lucky bastard.” He slapped the moth lightly on the rump. It burbled one last time and rose into the air.
Toshi locked all ten fingers around the Taken One’s harness and swung himself like a child on a rope swing. His weight pulled the Taken One down so that when he slipped into the shadow at the base of the tree, the stone disk was pulled along with him. The last things he saw were Konda’s furious face and a wide-open mouth that could have swallowed a mountain.
Then he and his cargo/passenger floated safe and alone through an endless black ocean of silent darkness.
Konda’s roar of frustration was almost as loud as O-Kagachi’s as they both watched their prize follow Toshi into the shadows and vanish. Fortunately for the daimyo, his moth-riders were far more agile than O-Kagachi’s crashing coils, and they veered off as soon as it became clear that their target was gone. The old serpent was not as maneuverable and he plowed into the forest.
The ground exploded in a white-hot blast of destructive energy. The back of the moth formation was blown across the sky like leaves in a typhoon while the front was merely buffeted. Konda’s escorts tilted him perpendicular to the ground before regaining control.
The daimyo’s eyes had lost sight of their quarry and they darted maniacally across his face. He commanded his moths to turn about so he could confront O-Kagachi-he would at least avenge the attack on Eiganjo. In the time it took to return to formation and complete the about-face, the great serpent had already begun to fade away. As the terrible serpent went, the bright light of early afternoon reclaimed the sky.