The Heavenward Path (14 page)

    But soon the mighty head of the dragon emerged from the fog in front of me. "I am told," rumbled Kai-Lung, "that you have come to beg forgiveness of me."

    "I have, Most Wise One," I said, bowing deeply. "What you told me yesterday is true. I have been a great fool."

    Kai-Lung's eyes widened. "Well! You have had a change of heart indeed. Rare are the mortals who will admit to their failings so readily. I will give you the chance to make amends. What do you offer me in exchange for my forgiveness?"

    I stared into the dragon's enormous golden eye, the pupil dark and deep as a well. I felt as though Kai-Lung could see into me perhaps as clearly. Lies or trickery in the tengu manner would be fruitless, or even dangerous, and, worst of all, insulting. This was a time when only the truth would do. "I wish to offer you, Great Kai-Lung, a story."

    The dragon raised his head suddenly, but in surprise, not anger. "A story? That is unusual. Not gold or silk or lifetime service?"

    "Gold and silk may be stolen from you, and the life of a mortal is short compared to yours. But a story can remain in your memory to give you pleasure forever, Great Kai-Lung."

    "Assuming it is a
good
story," said the dragon. "Good stories are a treasure, indeed."

    "I am pleased that you think so, for it is all I have to give. I will begin, if you will permit me."

    There came a rumbling around me as if the whole mountain were shifting, changing position. Two enormous talons appeared beneath the dragon's head, and Kai-Lung crossed them, then laid his long chin down on them. He slowly blinked and sighed and said, "Begin."

    And so I told him the same tale that I have written hereabout Lord Chomigoto and my promise to repair the shrine. Even about Goranu, for I felt it unwise to omit anything. Even about my being sent back to Kai-Lung to request a ride to Izumo. It had become late afternoon by the time I stopped speaking and bowed.

    "Hmmm?" said Kai-Lung. "But this story has not ended!"

    "No," I agreed, "it has not. And my further gift to you is that you may decide, Great Kai-Lung, how it ends."

    "Mmmm. You are a clever girl. This is an irresistible gift, as you must surely know. Were you to disappear from my sight this moment, I would still be wondering how it would end, perhaps forever. Mmmm. In some sorts of stories, it might end with my killing or eating you."

    "That is so," I agreed.

    "But such stories stem from unkind humor and offer no wisdom or enlightenment. I will not choose such an end."

    I confess, I did feel some relief when he said this.

    "Then again," Kai-Lung went on, "in some stories, I would simply send you away, and you would have to wander back to Heian Kyo, perhaps to be kidnapped by brigands or disowned by an angry father. You might hide yourself away in some old, rotting house, as is so fashionable in the monogatari these days, until you faded away into some skeletal spirit to keep company with the mice and frighten those who happen upon you."

    "I have seen such stories, too, Great One."

    "Hm. Well, I don't like them. Too melancholy, too wallowing in sorrowful feelings. And again, there is no moral, no uplifting message. A useless sort of story. No, I will not choose that sort of end, either."

    I was pleased to hear this, as well. "What sort of end would the Great Kai-Lung like to see?"

    "There is only one direction the story may go that is right and proper. You have suffered injustice, therefore justice must be served. You must, indeed, speak to Lord Emma-O in Izumo. And since your tengu friend is being typically cowardly and selfish, you will have to get there some other way."

    "Yes?"

    "And since I, myself, dearly wish to know how this story will end-and the only way I can be sure to know that is if I witness it myself-then I am naturally the one to take you there."

    "That does seem reasonable," I said, filling with hope.

    "Then I have decided," said Kai-Lung. "I will take you to Izumo. But not as you are. You are a bedraggled, sorry, wretched sight, and I will not have such a creature on my back in front of all the Great Kami. Come into my cave, and we will see if we can make you more presentable."

    Kai-Lung's head withdrew into the mist, and a light appeared in front of me. I followed the light, and it led me into a huge, open cavern. I gasped in astonishment, for the light revealed a cave filled with jewels, gold and silver, swords and lances and armor, embroidered kimonos, mirrors of bronze, treasures everywhere I looked.

    "People keep giving me these things," grumbled Kai-Lung. "I do not know what they think I will do with them. I have no need for gold or weapons or clothing. I am glad you offered me an intangible-a story-as it won't add to the clutter. Just this morning, some monks left me some rice and pickled vegetables as an offering. As if that is what dragons eat! You can have it, if you like. It's over there by the jade mask."

    "Thank you," I said, for I suddenly realized I was very hungry. I went to the mask the dragon indicated and found the covered bowl. The rice and pickles were still wholesome, so I sat down on a fine lacquered chest and ate a bit. It was very strange to be sitting amid wealth that surely equaled the Emperor's, and yet I was not impressed by it. Instead, it struck me as seeming rather silly, as if too much effort had been put into things that were unimportant. Of course, that is what they had been trying to teach me all along at Sukaku Temple.

    After I had finished eating, Kai-Lung showed me where there were combs and mirrors and long golden hairpins so that I could make myself presentable. He even gave me fine kimonos of white silk and a grand outer kimono embroidered with gold and silver threads in a pattern of clouds and cranes.

    "That is much better," said Kai-Lung when I had finished dressing. "You are no longer an embarrassment."

    From what glimpses I could get of myself in the polished bronze mirror, I was quite amazed. No one outside of the Imperial Family would wear such finery as I had on. It was fortunate I was not going to Court, or there would be much wagging of tongues, I am sure.

    "Darkness has fallen," said Kai-Lung. "Now is a good time to leave. If you are ready."

    "I am ready," I said, although I was not sure if this was true. I walked out of the cave and peered around me. It was no longer quite so misty, but the dim twilight made it hard to see. I wondered just how I would get onto the dragon's back and how I would ride.

    "Climb up those rocks over there," said Kai-Lung. "And then you will see my back ridge spines."

    Very carefully, so as not to damage the gold-embroidered outer kimono I wore, I climbed the stones. At the top, I saw flat scales ahead of me and a row of tall, slanting poles which must have been the spines he mentioned. I walked awkwardly across his scales and sat myself between two of the spines-there was plenty of room-and held on to the one in front of me.

    "Are you settled?" Kai-Lung's enormous head rose up some ways ahead of me and turned to look back at me.

    "Yes, I am prepared!" I called back to him.

    "Hang on, then."

    It seemed the whole mountain began to move beneath and around me. Wind blew at my face, and suddenly we were in the air. I looked down, hoping to see the tengu village, but there were only dim clouds below. I wished at least Goranu could see me. I wanted to shout down to him, "Look, Goranu! I have done it! Kai-Lung is flying me to Izumo. I was worthy of your teaching after all." But if he no longer cared, perhaps he was not even watching.

    Once Kai-Lung was high off the mountain, it was almost as though we were not in motion at all. Had there not been cold air rushing against my face, I would have thought that the dim land below was scrolling by me and that I was sitting still. It was a quite different experience from when I flew on Goranu's back. Instead of warm, soft feathers, I sat on cold, hard scales. I felt much safer, but it was not nearly so exciting. Kai-Lung's body was so wide that I could not see much of the ground. The sky had gotten so dark that there was little to see-only a glow of purple in the sky behind the western mountains. The stars, however, were magnificent. I leaned back against the spine behind me and stared up at them for a long time.

    
I wonder if I can see the Lover's Bridge
, I thought,
and the two stars that are the separated lovers. How sad that, if the tale is true, they can only meet once a year. How fortunate
, thought another part of me,
that they can meet at all
.

    We flew west and a little north. I had heard that Izumo was far away to the west of Heian Kyo, so we must have been flying fast, but I could not tell. My hands and face felt quite cold, but I did not care.

    At last, Kai-Lung called back, "We are there. Look down and see." He turned his body so that I sat at an angle, but I could see nothing but darkness below, and I said so.

    "Ah. Of course. I forgot. One moment." Kai-Lung snapped his mighty tail far behind me, and thunder pealed across the sky. His body shuddered, and suddenly, below, I saw an enormous shrine with a high, steep roof and a tall torii gate. The shrine glowed with a golden light, as if built from the sun itself. "There it is," said Kai-Lung. "The meeting place of the Great Kami."

    We circled it, flying lower and lower, and I was amazed at the shrine's size and beauty. I felt insignificant indeed, and I was not sure even Kai-Lung would help me to be noticed here. Goranu was right, as he had so often been. I wished I could apologize to him.

    Kai-Lung landed some distance from the shrine. I hardly knew when we had touched the ground. He walked up to the huge broad courtyard in front of the shrine and crouched close to the ground. Even so, I was still high up, and I feared harming myself if I jumped or slid down. "How do I get off of you?"

    "I will help." Kai-Lung lifted his enormous foot up close to me, and I scrambled onto it. He lowered the talon onto the ground slowly, and I was able to simply step off.

    The courtyard was lit with round lanterns set up on high poles. I wondered how they were illuminated, as no candles or wicks I had ever seen burned so bright.

    "It must be that Amaterasu is here," said Kai-Lung. "She Who Is the Sun lends her brilliance everywhere."

    "Ah, I understand," I said. I hoped I would not encounter her, for surely I would be blinded. "Thank you," I called up to the dragon. His head towered over me.

    "Let us now see if we can finish your story," he rumbled. "Here come our greeters."

    Three guardian oni approached, and ugly demons they were, too. They each had three eyes and two horns on their foreheads. Their skins were gray. They each carried a mallet in one hand and a spiked iron rod in the other. They wore only tiger-pelt loincloths. Bobbing their heads, they approached us with caution.

    "You would be welcome, Mighty Kai-Lung," said the lead oni, "but this is a mortal, and she cannot come here."

    "You fool!" roared Kai-Lung. "Do you not see that this is Great Lady Fujiwara no Mitsuko of the clan who are Guardians of the Sacred Mirror? She does not desire to mingle with the kami. But a great injustice has been done her, and she must speak with Lord Emma-O at once!"

    The oni stepped back, watching me warily. "No mortal may disturb the conference of the kami."

    "Then let it be known," rumbled Kai-Lung, "that I request that Lord Emma-O come forth on her behalf. And that if he does not, I will rend the air above the shrine with thunder so loud and so long that no kami will be able to hear another. Tell them so!"

    All three oni jumped back. "As you wish," the lead one said. He turned to me. "But it will go hard on you if Lord Emma-O is displeased."

    I simply stared at him, saying nothing and making no gesture. After a few moments, he and the other oni turned and scurried off through the great gateway to the shrine.

    "What if Lord Emma-O is displeased with you?" I asked Kai-Lung. "Are you not afraid?"

    "Hah. Dragons are outside his jurisdiction, you might say. If he has a problem with any of us, he must speak to Ryujin-sama. And King Ryujin never listens to the other kami."

    "Is Ryujin-sama here, also, then?"

    "I could not tell you. He follows his own whims. Ah, that was swift."

    The great gateway swung open again, and two horse-headed oni came out. Right behind them was a tall man with a coarse beard. He wore a black robe and bureaucrat's hat and carried a long staff with two faces carved on it. It was difficult to watch him, for he would appear, disappear, and reappear again, like the light of a firefly. Goranu had once explained to me that naturally the Great Judge must flicker like this, for he had many courts in which to simultaneously preside, and the work of the Lord of Death never ceases.

    "I had thought such pranks beneath your kind, Kai-Lung," intoned the Lord of Death.

    "It is no prank, O-sama. Behold your petitioner."

    The Lord of Death's gaze fell on me, and suddenly his eyes glowed red. "
YOU
!" To the oni, he said, "Arrest her!"

    Suddenly, one of Kai-Lung's enormous claws encircled me. "Stay back!" he roared at the oni. "Or I will claim her soul in the name of Ryujin-sama, as is the right of the Clan of Dragons with any who are of noble blood in this land."

    "You would interfere with justice?" asked Lord Emma-O.

    "It is in the name of justice that we are here, O-sama. You are being misused. Your reputation as a righteous judge is in peril. Do you not wish to hear how this may have come about?"

    "Very well," said Lord Emma-O. Again he stared at me. "Speak."

    It took me a moment to find my voice. I felt very, very small beneath the Lord of Death's gaze, and it took all my courage to force any sound out of my throat. "You know of one, O Great Lord, who is called Lord Chomigoto?" I squeaked.