The Wrath Of the Forgotten (19 page)

At night, he either saw flashes of his nightmare from before or he conjured grotesque images of humans suffering at the hands of some unknown enemy.

Nori halted Mac at an intersection, and then dismounted. He handed the reigns to Apisa. “I should be able to secure passage on a ship today. If Saito favors us, then we’ll be on our way tomorrow.”

Flara urged her horse to move down the street. She glanced back at Nori. “Thank you for taking care of this. We’ll arrange everything with Madame Hao. Please meet us at the university gates after breakfast.”

Flara whipped her horse’s reigns and moved through the crowds quicker, and Rayko and Apisa trailed in her wake. Nori scoffed a little. Perhaps Rayko had been right, perhaps they only saw him as the help. It didn’t matter, for this was his life. Nori moved down the street along with the throng of people.

Every now and then, he placed his hand on his sheathed knife. Nori winced and felt a hollow ringing in his chest. As soon as he secured a ship, he needed to get a real weapon.

People all around him moved with a visible sense of relaxation and contentment. A few of the citizens even gave him pleasing expressions. Most people still gave him a wide berth though. These poor people had no idea what lingered in the background. To be honest, Nori wished he didn’t know. Would these fine lowlanders experience the same kind of devastation that he had dreamed for his own people? Was there anything he could do to prevent such a thing?

The trip to the docks took a little longer than Nori anticipated. He moved to the first ship on the end of the docks. Only a few people moved about the deck, and they performed simple cleaning tasks. As Nori approached, one of the sailors stopped sweeping and gave him a wondering review.

“Can I help you find something?” the sailor asked.

Despite the tone in the man’s voice, a hint of unease danced in his eyes.

Nori stopped right before the gang plank. “I’m looking for the captain of this vessel. Is he aboard? I need to book passage.”

Several of the other sailors stopped what they were doing and moved beside the first sailor. Each of them had troubled expressions on their faces.

“Well, if you want the captain, you might try going down to the White Lily Mistress. It’s a tavern and inn down that road there.” The sailor pointed to a particular avenue. “Our captain is there, no doubt alongside the other captains too.”

Nori swallowed in attempts to moisten his dry throat. The sailors had gripped their cleaning tools tightly when he asked about the captain, and they watched him with growing apprehension.

Nori gave them a curt nod. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll head there now. The White Lily Mistress, right?”

The sailor said “That’s right.”

Nori took several back steps and then pivoted around. The sailors still stared at him as he melted back in with the crowd. They hadn’t moved or said anything to one another, they just trailed him with their eyes. A slight pressure expanded below his stomach. It got a little better once he took several deep breaths, but it remained constant until he finally found the tavern that the sailor had mentioned before.

The White Lily Mistress was a three story building with a red tiled roof and white walls. A weathered brown door beckoned for him to enter. Above the door hung a sign with the painted image of a young maiden carrying a basket of lilies. Loud voices boomed from within. The faint humming of music provided an undercurrent of sound, but the voices and laugher carried over it.

Nori stepped up to the door, but he only placed his hand on it. His head swam. He ran his thumb against the inside of his fingers. When he tried to imagine what he wanted to say, the words vanished as soon as they appeared.

“You can do this,” Nori said softly. “Onistans endure. Onistans can be counted on.”

He pushed open the door and entered the tavern. Men and women sat around every table. The pungent smell of alcohol and food wafted around him. People clinked glasses together before they brought the glasses to their lips. Prior to Nori’s appearance, everyone looked to be having a grand time.

As the door closed behind him, the room got quiet. Most of the people sat around round tables, but a few of the individuals had been maneuvering around the seated patrons. These people carried trays in their hands.

The gravity of their silence and speculation settled upon Nori. He studied each of them in turn. Weather-beaten faces with steely, bold eyes stared back at him.

An older man standing behind a bar called out to him. “Well, it’s not often we have an Onistan stop by our humble establishment. Are you a captain of a ship? Or are you a sailor?”

Nori swallowed as he moved away from the door and stood in the center of the floor space. “I’m neither of those things. I was told that I could find ship captains here though.”

The bartender said, “That’s true, there are plenty of captains here. Why are you looking for one?”

“I’m in need of ship passage to Xian Ba,” Nori replied. “It’s very important that we leave tomorrow, and we’re able to pay very well.”

A slight grumble rippled through the crowd. The bar tender gave him a smug, yet sympathetic grin. “Clearly you’re not familiar with river travel. No one’s going to be traveling for the next couple of weeks.”

Nori’s eyes opened wide. “What do you mean a couple of weeks? We need to leave tomorrow. This is a matter of life and death.”

Many of the other patrons went back to their drinking, but a few continued to gaze at him. Those who did had more of the smugness and less of the sympathy in their expressions.

One of the men spoke up. “It’s because of the Great Kappa Migration, you daft fool.”

Nori asked, “The Great Kappa Migration? What’s that?”

Several of the patrons laughed out loud, while others hid their delight behind their cups.

“Apparently they don’t have Kappas where you come from,” The bar tender said. “Do you know what a Kappa is?” He said the last sentence much slower.

Nori narrowed his eyes. “Yes, I know what they are. They’re water yokai. Kind of like turtles. They’re usually pretty harmless.”

“That much is true, unless it’s during the Migration,” the bartender said, as if explaining something simple to a child. “During the migration, they are thrown into feral crazes that make them deadly. No man is going to risk his ship against the likes of that.”

Once more, Nori scanned the faces of the men who looked back at him. He formed tight fists and squeezed his brows together. “Well then is there a woman who’s willing to do what these pathetic lowlander men are too scared to do?”

All at once, the arrogance of the men fell away. A dozen faces glared at him, and the men sat straighter in their chairs. The muffled grumbles of threats and curses whispered on the edge of Nori’s hearing.

One of the men stood up. By lowlander standards, he was quite large. The top of the man’s head came to Nori’s chin, but he wasn’t as wide as Nori.

“Pathetic huh?” The man asked. “Maybe we should show you how pathetic we lowlanders really are? What do you say, boys?”

Three other slender. shorter men stood up in various places. Nori found himself surrounded.

Nori’s lips curved upward and he glanced at each of them in turn. “Four on one? Typical lowlander cowardice. No wonder you aren’t willing to help me. Come on then. Show me the depth of might.”

The large man lunged at him first. A split second later, the other three advanced on him too. Nori leaped back into one of the smaller men. His elbow shattered the sailor’s nose, and Nori grabbed his flailing form. With ease, he lifted the smaller man and threw him into one of the other attackers. Other men rose up and went for Nori as well. Fists came at him from every direction.

Nori bobbed and weaved, but many knuckles pressed upon his skin. He kept punching and kicking back. With each successful blow, one of his attackers stepped back. Another person would fill their spot. The large man planted a forceful strike in the side of Nori’s head. In response, Nori grabbed the man by his chest and stomach. Nori gripped hard and latched on to significant portions of flesh. As he hoisted the large man above his head, he heard the other sailors gasp in surprise.

Just as quickly as Nori had lifted him up, he slammed the man’s head down on the flat of the floor. Any resistance the man had put up before faltered. Nori rose him back up in the air and then hurled him across the room. He grinned as he punched a surprised sailor in the neck. Another attacker got kicked in the stomach.

Nori chuckled as he blocked a man’s arm. His large hands wrapped around the slender person’s limb. It snapped a moment later.

A woman called out to him. “Onistan! Behind you!”

Nori whipped around. A sailor had drawn a knife and advanced on him with the point leading the charge. Nori’s happiness faded, and deadly serious replaced it. The knife blade came closer. Nori leaned back and batted it away. As the sailor tried to bring it back around, Nori grabbed the man by his throat. He pivoted and tossed the man over him. The sailor landed on his back, and he gasped as the air escaped him. Several more sailors had drawn weapons.

Nori placed his foot on the sailor’s neck. “If you want this to turn deadly, I’ll be more than happy to comply.”

The bartender stepped up to Nori, and he held an unsheathed sword.

“That’s enough, you damned ogre.” He pointed the sword at Nori. “I won’t be having you hurt or kill any more of my paying customers. If you don’t leave right now, I’ll kill you.”

Nori stomped on the sailor’s wrist and caused him to let go of the knife. He squared his shoulders. “You’ll certainly try, won’t you?”

A taller woman stepped out into the open and positioned herself between Nori and the bartender. She came up to his shoulder, and she exuded a presence as powerful as any of the men in the room. Her brown hair had been tied into a braided pony tail that trailed over one of her shoulders.

She placed her hands on her hips and stared into the bartender’s eyes. “Easy, I’ll take him out of here. No need for any more men to have their egos bruised.”

One of the sailors who held a knife stepped forward. “Get out of the way before we stab you too.”

The woman turned around to face him. Her deep brown eyes sparkled with a boldness that sent shivers up Nori’s skin. She rested her hand on the sheathed sword hanging at her belt.

“Oh really?” the woman asked. “Try me. I dare you.”

The sailor swallowed hard, but then he stepped back away from her.

The woman glanced up at Nori. “Come on. We can talk about your trip to Xian Ba outside.” She gestured to the door, and followed Nori as he moved to leave.

The adrenaline that had pumped through him before started to wane. His muscles ached and bits of his face stared to radiate with pain. When they got outside, the woman strolled in front of him. She walked casually over to one of the alleys and then gestured towards it.

“We can talk in there,” she said. “By the way, you handled yourself pretty well back there. Nice job.”

Nori winced, which caused the pain in his face to ignite. “Um, thanks. So are you a captain of a ship?”

The woman walked into the alley. “As a matter fact, I am. So tell me, why do you have to get to Xian Ba do badly? You could have died in there, you know?”

Nori positioned his back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not likely. Compared to what I faced over the last few days, those cowards are nothing.”

The captain lips curved upward. “I admire your confidence. It sounds like you have a few interesting stories to tell. You didn’t answer my question though. Why do you have to get to Xian Ba so badly? You mentioned it was a matter of life and death.”

Nori tightened his arms on his chest. Could he really afford to let Flara’s identity be known? This woman might be a captain, but then again, she might be something else entirely. He locked eyes with her. Genuineness sparkled within her irises. Her smirk reminded Nori of someone, and yet, he couldn’t quite place it.

“Well?” She asked.

Nori sighed. “I’m the bodyguard of the daughter of a lucrative silk merchant. My client has to rush home in order to save her family and those she loves from being murdered.”

“You’re a bodyguard?” The captain pointed to his side. “What kind of bodyguard only carries a knife?”

Instinctively, Nori placed a hand on the small weapon. His soul trembled within him. “I had a tetsubo, but I broke it when I smashed a magical lantern.”

“A magical lantern?” The captain asked. The wildness in her eyes exploded into a vast towering blaze. “So you’re going to just leave it at that? What kind of selfish bastard are you? What do you mean magical lantern?”

Nori grimaced and leaned back harder against the flat of the building. “We were in a spider infested woods looking for something special. Well, we found it, and we need it to save my client’s family. If we don’t get it to them, then a lot of people are going to die. Not just her family. The magical lantern that I smashed actually anchored an army of shadow creatures to this world. We had to destroy it, otherwise we were going to die.”

The captain placed herself against the opposite wall of the alley. Her appearance took on a hungry expression. “So what is this something special that you need brought to Xian Ba?”

Nori stepped off of the wall and puffed out his chest. A darkness swirled within him. “Why are you so interested? Are you seeking to rob me? To rob her?”

The captain’s eyes went wide for a second, and then her mouth shrank to form a tight little line. “You misunderstand me, friend. I’m not thief, nor am I a pirate. I simply wanted to know what the item was. It makes a girl wonder what the daughter of a silk merchant would need to seek from a spider infested wood in order to save her family. I promise upon my dead father’s soul I will not try to cheat or rob you. You don’t have to tell me what the item is. Be warned though, my ship and my services won’t come cheap.”

“Would we be able to work out some kind of deal?” Nori asked. “A little up front, and a majority once we get to Xian Ba? My client is very wealthy… and you could name your price.”