The Gate of Sorrows (49 page)

U-ri shook her head once, twice. “Kotaro, you don’t understand. My brother made the same mistake—”

Uoooon …

An eerie call resounded in the distance. Kotaro doubted his ears.

“What was that, a siren?” Shigenori said. Ash looked quickly around. U-ri’s eyes were wide with surprise.

Uoooooon
. It came again, closer now. But from which direction?

His face still hidden beneath his hood, Ash turned to U-ri. His hands had disappeared inside his cloak.

“You won’t escape a lecture if you intend to just stand there with that silly look on your face.”

“Forgive me, Ash. This is my fault,” U-ri answered in a voice filled with tension. “I used a wounded book to open a path here.”

“It was wounded, yet you used it?”

“I didn’t know it was hurt so deeply. Kotaro!”

“What did I do?” Kotaro said, thoroughly anxious.

“Is that note still in Mika’s book?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to leave it lying around.”

Uoooooooon.
The cry was very close. It was a chorus of like-sounding voices, savage howls from the pit of bestial stomachs.

“Why didn’t you take it out?” U-ri shouted in irritation. “It’s been eating away at the book all this time—”

The howling was almost on top of them. They could hear ceaseless panting.

“The Hounds of Tindalos are on the scent of your book,” Ash said grimly. He strode to the center of the roof, threw off his cloak in a single motion and tossed it high in the air. “Get under there and keep your heads down!”

He swept his swords from their scabbards. Slowly, almost languidly, Galla grasped the handle of her scythe, drew it from her belt and assumed a battle stance. She stared intently at a point in space.

“They come.”

Beneath his cloak, Ash was still clad in black. His swords were strangely shaped, with large hooks curving forward from the cross guards. Long, black hair streaked with silver fell below his shoulders.

That was the last thing Kotaro saw before the cloak fell on him and Shigenori, covering them neatly.

“What the hell?” Shigenori said.

“Don’t move, old man!”

“Are you starting that again?”

“Just do what I said, okay?”

The Hounds of Tindalos came in a pack. Kotaro could hear their labored breathing and feel the pounding of their feet under the cover of Ash’s cloak. He sensed something leap over their heads. Its howling and snapping sounded from inches away, and it stank of the beast. Shigenori huddled close to Kotaro.

“Sorry, kid. I’ve had just about enough for one day.”

“Me too. Let’s hunker down and wait.”

From the tremors and deafening noise, they could sense if not see that all was pandemonium. The air was rent with the shrieks of hounds being slashed and stabbed. The stench was enough to make them nauseous.

Kotaro could hear U-ri chanting an incantation. The moment she stopped, there was a strangled, high-pitched yelp just outside the cloak. It sounded very much like a dog of this world.

A pair of paws pressed against Kotaro’s back. His family had kept dogs and cats, and he knew what the footpads of these animals were like. This was different. The sensation was horrible; the paws seemed to be melting their way into his flesh. The claws would soon pierce his skin.

He felt something graze the top of the cloak, followed by a thud. Again there was a high-pitched yelp. Ash—or was it Galla?—had taken out another attacker. He hunched over and closed his eyes. An eternity seemed to pass as the battle continued.

“You can come out now!”

The instant he heard U-ri’s voice, the cloak was swept away. When he looked up, Ash was already shrouded in it, with the hood over his head. He seemed to be going well out of his way to keep Kotaro and Shigenori from seeing his face.

Shigenori gagged and retched. Kotaro held his breath and fought the urge to do the same. The hounds were nowhere to be seen, but the air was thick with a sour, bestial stench. Kotaro realized that the mounds of shredded fluff scattered over the roof were hanks of fur.

“Give me a second, I’ll cleanse everything.” U-ri strode to the center of the roof, placed her palms together over her heart and bowed. In a clear, sweet voice, she began to chant an incantation in a strange tongue. Though the phrases repeated over and over, Kotaro couldn’t remember them or tell where one word stopped and the next began.

“It is the language of an ancient people. They disappeared long ago.”

Kotaro looked up to see Galla standing next to him.

“Some among the wolves fight their battles with sorcery. This girl is gifted for one so young.”

“Is it her specialty?”

“Indeed. Sorcerer wolves guard their spells closely. Ordinary people might hear a scrap of an incantation and misuse it. To prevent this, wolves craft their spells with dead languages.”

After each incantation, U-ri changed direction and began again. At first Kotaro assumed she was facing the points of the compass; then he noticed that she had faced five directions, not four.

When she returned to her original position, she placed her palms on either side of her head and gave a short call. A pattern of white light, like the luminosity of a million fireflies, began to glow on the roof around her.

A pentagram.

U-ri stood in the center, moving her arms in graceful arcs as though conducting an orchestra. The pentagram responded to her movements by glowing brighter. One by one, its individual lines grew thicker. Finally it began to rise into the air, transforming slowly into a giant, three-dimensional flower with five petals of light.

The flower was exquisite. Kotaro was awestruck. Shigenori seemed to have found his legs again; he stood next to Kotaro with a hand on his shoulder for support, watching with wonder as the spectacle unfolded.

The flower of light opened and closed as it floated gently upward. Each time the petals opened, they released a flood of life energy. Kotaro could feel it flowing over him. With each pulse, the bestial, frightening stench of the hounds was slowly purified away.

The flower began to rise faster, as if it were being drawn upward by space itself. Kotaro never took his eyes from it, even when he had to crane his neck as it faded from sight.

“Do you always have to put on a show?” Ash snorted with disdain as he rejoined U-ri. “Does everything have to be so elaborate? It’s not a performance.”

“It’s not?” U-ri laughed. Her ponytail was blowsy from the fighting. “We take these things for granted, but if you’re not a wolf, it’s pretty amazing. May as well make it pretty, don’t you think?”

Galla strode to the edge of the roof, reached down and grasped something embedded in the wall. As she pulled it out, a few fragments of concrete fell.

It was a shiny black dart, about six inches long, fired from her gauntlet. Kotaro was shocked, though he knew about the darts.
They’re powerful enough to pierce concrete.
Galla had once aimed them at him and Shigenori. He was truly grateful she hadn’t used them.

“I guess even a guardian of the Tower misses her target now and then,” U-ri said with a mischievous smile.

“I did not miss. The dart passed through the hound.”

Ash gave U-ri a gentle poke in the temple. “You should’ve known that. And see? The dart pierced the beast, yet it remains undefiled. Only a guardian of the Tower wields such weapons. Best mind your manners.”

“I understand, Ash. I’m sorry.”

As U-ri stuck the tip of her tongue out in vexation, her eyes met Kotaro’s. He smiled, and she returned his smile with a hint of pride.

Galla spun on her heel and advanced quickly on U-ri with the dart in her grip. For a moment, Kotaro sensed danger. He swallowed with fear. But Galla held the dart out to U-ri and said, “This is for showing me that beautiful flower. I am sure you will find a use for it.”

U-ri straightened and bowed, and accepted the dart with both hands.

“I thank you, Mistress Galla.” She put the dart between her teeth and raised both hands to undo her ponytail. She smoothed out her hair and bundled it again quickly behind her head, using the dart as a hairpin.

“How do I look?” she asked Kotaro coquettishly. “More grown-up, don’t you think?”

“Very.” Kotaro chuckled.

Ash gave another snort of disgust. “Okay, I know,” U-ri said. “It’s time to go.”

She gazed wistfully at Kotaro. She knew she had run out of words to make him change his mind. She turned and looked up once more at Galla, who towered beside her like a wall.

“If Kotaro decides he’s had enough, please let him go.”

Galla nodded. “Very well. I shall.”

Maybe we can all be friends after all … ?

“Now go, wolf.”

Okay, guess not.

Ash put a foot on the wall. U-ri did the same. She looked at Kotaro and smiled. Once again she was just an ordinary teenager named Yuriko Morisaki. For a moment, Kotaro was moved—by the past, the sins, and the sense of loss that this girl was carrying.

“Please, Kotaro. Be careful.”

The wolves launched themselves into space. Shigenori, who had been watching them nervously, called out “No! It’s crazy!” Then he muttered something to himself and fell silent.

Ash and U-ri plunged into the night and disappeared.

“Are you serious about this, kid?”

For a long time Shigenori and Kotaro sat on the roof, exhausted. Finally, Shigenori broke the silence.

“Do you really think you can catch the Serial Amputator?”

Galla stood on the wall a short distance away with her back to them. The skyscrapers of Shinjuku rose beyond her, but somehow Kotaro doubted she was looking at them.

“I caught Keiko Tashiro.”

“That doesn’t prove a thing. She was part of the victim’s personal circle. She was physically within striking distance, just as you were to her. The other murders, that’s a different story.”

“Don’t you remember what you told me? You said it right here, when we were freezing our asses off waiting for the ‘giant bird’ to show up. Tomakomai, Akita, Mishima, Totsuka. All the victims were killed by someone close to them. From that angle, Keiko fits the pattern. We use the same approach, we find the amputator. At least it’s worth a try.”

“That’s not the only thing I said. Think back. Each victim knew his or her killer, but how could all of them have been killed by the same person? It doesn’t make sense. The murders took place too far apart. It’s crazy, it’s weird, and it’s just not logical.”

“Do you remember my answer? With the Internet, one person can make friends all over the place. It’s dead simple.”

“They murmur in their thousands,” Galla muttered.

“Huh?” Shigenori was brusque.

“The thousands who have committed crimes, or who know someone who did. Their voices are everywhere.”

Shigenori flushed with anger. “And how the hell do you know that?”

Galla turned and pointed to Kotaro. “I was with him when he stood by the river. I read the words that flowed there.”

She’s talking about the server room.

“The words and stories I read are everywhere. To me they are as the air you breathe. I have no need to search them out. But that … server. That was a great river of words and stories, a river of all the words in this world.”

“So you
did
read it,” Kotaro said. He turned to Shigenori. “But it won’t help us catch the amputator. There are too many voices. That’s what she said. The voice of the amputator is there, but so are the voices of many other criminals.”

“That is so, but …” Galla looked at Shigenori. “It is not that I cannot read them. No; the voices speak both truth and lies, but I cannot tell one from the other. Truth and lies both belong to the realm of words.”

“Ah … okay.” Shigenori rubbed the nape of his neck. He seemed suddenly tired again.

“Look, I figured it would go this way,” Kotaro said. “We’ve got to hit the street and search for clues. It’s the only way.”

“You’re asking me to help?”

“Can’t I ask?”

Shigenori didn’t reply. He just kept rubbing the back of his neck.

“Remember, if we can just come up with the tiniest clue, this eye Galla gave me will do the rest. We won’t waste any time on false leads.”

“I guess …” Shigenori sighed and let his hand fall. He looked up at Galla.

“I was hoping you could do something more for us. I don’t know, something more impressive. Like remote viewing, maybe.”

Galla said nothing. The blade of her scythe, curving above her right shoulder, shone dully.

“Come on, detective. Clairvoyance?”

“Look, kid—we can tell the difference between truth and lies. How come she can’t? Are we superior? I guarantee you, no one ever got the best of me in the interrogation room. No one.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what
is
the point?”

Galla stepped down from the wall. Like a cat, she made no sound as she moved. Her eyes were fixed on Shigenori.

“Galla, wait. Just wait a minute,” Kotaro said anxiously. He stood up and put himself between the warrior and Shigenori.

“Galla, listen. Let’s do this. Give Shigenori the same left eye you gave me. Or the right eye, either way. That will show him more than any explanation.”