Pilgrim 2, p.27
Pilgrim 2, page 27
But Danzen had a solution for that.
“They seem so peaceful together,” Kudzu said on the tail end of a yawn, her tongue curling.
Like Yama, the female lion dog he had named Nama was silent. She was a bit smaller than her male counterpart, but there wasn’t too much of a difference, and they did make some noise when they rammed into one another, or rubbed their sides together.
According to lore, she was supposed to watch the inside of the monastery, but thus far, Nama spent most of her time outside with Yama. Neither of them seemed to like Danzen’s fire chicken, which meant they mostly kept to the front of the monastery.
One of the things that Danzen and Kudzu had discussed over the last two days was the orochi and her child. Kudzu was happy that he hadn’t engaged the monstrous yokai. She was of the belief that the serpent may have killed them, at least if she could have gotten the former assassin into the water.
Danzen honestly didn’t know how to call it.
His instincts would have never sent him close enough to the shoreline to actually get into the water, and if he did, all he needed to do was find something to jump from—likely the side of the orochi’s body—to get back to dry land.
While it may have taken a while, another option for him would have been to continually toss his boomerang sword at the yokai until she was dead. Then again, he didn’t know if she had any other powers, and dealing with all eight heads at once would certainly complicate things.
Danzen was happy not to speculate, glad that Jelmay wasn’t around to fan the flames.
Eventually, it came time for the two of them to get some rest, Kudzu deciding to sleep outside that night, Danzen choosing his bedroom with the window open, a light breeze cooling the space.
He was surprised the next morning to wake up to the smell of food. Upon exiting his bedroom, Danzen found Kudzu in her human form standing in the kitchen, wearing the crimson robes that Jelmay had purchased for her as she cooked breakfast.
“I told you I would cook you something one day,” she said. “Just relax.”
“I need to check on the chicken.”
“I already did,” Kudzu told him. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear her.”
Danzen ran his hand through his long hair, and put it back into a bun. “I must have slept hard.”
“You were tired yesterday after all the bending.”
That had been a thing they had worked on the last two days, Kudzu simply watching as Danzen went through the routine that Abbot Monpo had taught him, conjuring the energy within, pressing it out and pulling it back. Over the course of his practice, Danzen realized that the leg stances were akin to some of the things he had learned early on in his sword proficiency classes at the Diyu Brotherhood.
He had also discovered something else as well—holding Astra as he bent his echo actually made the sensation stronger.
Danzen didn’t know if it was amplifying the power in any way, but it at least allowed him to feel something as he glided his sword through the air, the power making all the muscles in his body pulse.
He was sore now from all the bending he had done the previous day. Danzen could feel it in his calves and his biceps, his stomach in a knot. Whatever he had done, it had certainly had an effect on his body.
Danzen stepped outside, where he found Nama and Yama perched on their pedestals, both lion dogs hopping down to greet him.
He sat in his normal spot on the hillside, which was starting to have an indention showing that someone routinely sat there.
Yama collapsed in a comical way, his stone back now against the side of Danzen’s leg. He looked over his body at the former assassin, his stone tongue falling out of his mouth. Nama circled around the two of them and eventually found a place on Danzen’s other side. The female lion dog set her head on his lap and looked up at him, a fondness in her eyes.
“Someone is comfortable,” Kudzu said as she stepped out with a plate in her hand. Her white hair was swept behind her pointed ears now and the sleeves of her robe were rolled up. For breakfast, she had fried up the fish from yesterday along with Basan’s egg, a dish which Kudzu had garnished with red pepper and rock salt.
Danzen took the plate from her and began eating, both lion dogs still watching him.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked Kudzu.
“I ate while I was cooking. I figured you would want to head out while it was still cool, so I hurried. We need to get to Tudan.”
“Right,” Danzen said as he picked up his pace.
“How is it?”
“The food?” Danzen took another bite. “It’s good. I like it.”
He washed up after he finished eating, and then prepared for their journey to the Floating Lantern Festival in Arsi.
Danzen folded the robes Jelmay had purchased for him and placed them inside his leather satchel along with his horned momiiji facemask. Many of the citizens of Arsi wore masks at the festival, and Soko would be wearing a mask anyway, so he figured it would help him blend in. He set his sugawara helmet in the bag that went over his shoulder and retrieved all of his weapons from his new rack, Danzen finally ready to leave the monastery.
He stepped outside to lock up and found Kudzu in the armor that went over her center mass.
“You aren’t wearing your armor?” she asked.
“I don’t normally…”
“Why would you try to sabotage yourself? What’s the point in that?”
“You’re right.” Danzen went back in and repacked his things, this time bringing his armor with him. He returned, Kudzu now with a smug smile on her face.
“You should listen to me more often.”
“I really try to,” Danzen said as the two headed down the hill.
They made the walk to Suja Village in relative silence, the day just starting to warm up. Once they reached the Third District, they were greeted by Temur’s boys and yellow-robed Enkhmaa, who were chasing each other through the streets, the children not paying much attention to Danzen and Kudzu as they continued on with their games.
After a quick stop at Khamdo’s place to explain how he was going to pay the carpenter, and ask him to check on his fire chicken from time to time, Danzen and Kudzu started their journey to Chutham.
“Does she always offer to make you breakfast?” Kudzu asked, referring to Sarnai’s offer of a meal, which Danzen had declined.
“Always.”
“No wonder Jelmay likes her. Humans can be so hospitable,” Kudzu said.
The two once again fell into a spell of silence, one peppered by the occasional bird, or the wave from a passing merchant headed in the opposite direction. The rain had truly made Genshin Valley come alive, the vegetation between the two cities greener than Danzen had ever seen before. Flowers seemed to bloom everywhere, from old tree stumps to cracks in the soil, adding a bit of color to their walk. Kudzu hummed at some point, the woman gazing at the sky as she did so.
As they approached the city gates, Danzen remembered Jelmay’s warning about not letting Kudzu see inside Selden’s Emporium. Once they entered Chutham, he led her to the brewery across the street and ordered a meal for them, telling her he needed to take care of something quickly.
“Can’t I come with you?” she asked.
“It’ll just take me a minute.”
“Are you sure?”
“The food will be here by the time I return,” Danzen told her. He crossed the dirt road, which was crowded with people and carts, the townsfolk preparing for the local Floating Lantern Festival. Along with all the shops that lined Chutham’s main thoroughfare, merchants had erected makeshift booths hawking paper lanterns of all shapes and colors, people crowding around.
Happy to step out of the crowd, Danzen entered Selden’s Emporium to find the shop owner behind the counter as always, glasses on his face as he flipped through the pages of an old book.
“Pilgrim,” he said, his bushy eyebrows lifting as he took Danzen in. “I was wondering when you would come by. I have your books…”
Before he could turn, Danzen stopped him. “I’m here for something else.”
“You are?”
“I owe a carpenter in Suja Village money for work he’s done at my home. I believe I will have some money coming soon, but in case I don’t, I would like to sell this.” He placed the sugawara helmet on the counter, its black metal with just a hint of sparkle to it after Danzen had polished the piece.
“Sell it?”
“I’m going back west to see about something; I don’t know when I will return…”
Selden laughed. “This seems to be a reoccurring situation you find yourself in.”
“Unfortunately, yes. I have told the carpenter to come here in two weeks and collect the money for this helmet if I don’t make it back by then. Would you be agreeable to that?”
“I would have to adjust what I can pay accordingly…” Selden squinted at Danzen for a moment. “How much do you owe the man?”
“Several thousand kip.”
“Which is?”
“Four thousand kip.”
“I would be delighted to pay four thousand kip for this helmet,” he said hurriedly. “Agreed, deal. And I am assuming if you make it back before that time, that you will pay me something, right? For holding this item?”
“That can be arranged, yes.”
“I wouldn’t charge you much, maybe something like five hundred kip as a fee for this rather strange transaction. Would that work for you?”
Danzen nodded.
“Then we have a deal.”
“Thank you. The carpenter’s name is Khamdo.”
“Khamdo? Yes, yes, I believe I’ve met him before. Big hands? A scar across his forehead? A bit muscular?”
“That’s him.”
“I’ll be waiting, Pilgrim. Good luck.”
Danzen left Selden’s Emporium and crossed the road again, his focus narrowing on anyone who looked suspicious. There were drunks, there were men who looked to have once been part of a militia, but there was no one that caught his eye in the way that an assassin would, someone who was blending in so well that they looked almost too natural.
He found Kudzu, two hot bowls of stew now sitting on the table.
“Have you tried it yet?”
She shook her head. “I was waiting for you.”
“Sorry.”
As they ate the stew, Danzen occasionally looked around the brewery at the two barmaids and the patrons that seemed to file in and out, many grabbing an ale before heading back to the streets.
Always ready.
“It was good,” was all Kudzu said once they finished, Danzen using what little money he had to pay for their meal.
“Were you able to deal with your helmet?”
He nodded. “It isn’t an ideal situation, but I don’t want to leave Khamdo empty-handed.”
“You know Jelmay’s going to have money, right?”
“If he doesn’t, I may have to pay a visit to a bank in Arsi. I do have some funds available, I just haven’t accessed them because I didn’t want to be traceable in any way from the Brotherhood.”
“I know I’m going to sound like our favorite bakeneko here,” Kudzu began, “but why don’t you just use your power? Human money means nothing to yokai, which makes it even stranger that Jelmay and Usagi, and for that matter, Monobake, continually have put themselves in situations where they were trying to get it.”
“I wondered about that too.”
“I know that you don’t like to exploit your power, but you probably should have a helmet.”
“I need to listen to you more often,” he said with a shrug.
Kudzu laughed. “I keep telling you this, why don’t you ever believe me?”
“I can be stubborn,” Danzen told her, a smirk taking shape on his face. “It isn’t my best quality.”
.Chapter Two.
Once they reached the outpost of Tudan, Danzen and Kudzu headed straight to the tavern, hoping that it would be the easiest place to locate the bakeneko.
The tavern was empty aside from just a few patrons, no bakeneko in sight. It was muggy inside, and they first took a booth at the back, as Danzen was accustomed to doing. After sitting there for about twenty minutes, and listening to some of the conversations being had, it became clear that the bartender wasn’t going to be offering table service.
Rather than try to wave her over, Danzen approached the bar.
“Have you seen anyone new around here? Perhaps a man with blonde hair, sort of forgettable features. He’s an old friend of mine,” Danzen said. “I told him I’d meet him in Tudan and I can’t seem to find him.”
“I haven’t seen anyone that quite fits that description,” she said, the woman clearly wanting Danzen and Kudzu to order booze.
“Is there somewhere in the city where people go to gamble?”
“Gambling is generally off-limits.” The bartender grabbed a brown rag and started detailing one of the empty flagons.
“But that has never stopped anyone before,” Kudzu told her as she approached the bar.
“True, but it’s not really my role to tell outsiders information like that, not without a purchase or two,” she quipped. “Were you looking to drink, or were you looking to quiz me?”
Kudzu looked to Danzen, the former assassin intuiting what she wanted.
“Tell us where people gamble,” he said, calling forth his Demon Speak ability, Danzen speaking low enough that the other patrons wouldn’t hear them. “And then forget you ever met us.”
“Certainly, my lord,” the bartender said, her tone changing. “How familiar are you with Tudan? Are you familiar with the pleasure house next to the orphanage?”
“Yes.”
“Head there and look for an abandoned home a few doors down from the orphanage. The gambler’s den is in the basement of that home. Go inside, and then go down a flight of stairs. You’ll find a guard down there. He will be the one that lets you in, so you’ll have to talk to him if you really want to gamble.”
“Let’s go,” Danzen told Kudzu.
As soon as they were out of the tavern, he headed toward the pleasure house. Danzen recalled his encounter with Soko on the rooftop. She had appeared out of the blue after Danzen had dealt with Harsha, after he had given the orphaned boy some money.
Even now, as they approached the area of the outpost known for debauchery, Danzen found himself a little apprehensive. The former assassin scanned rooftops, which were cast in shades of dark red and purple, the sun beginning to set.
They would need to hurry.
One of the things they had gleaned in their short trip to the tavern was that the ship to Arsi would leave soon, the next one leaving in the morning.
As much as he didn’t want to, Danzen knew that he was likely going to have to rely on his Demon Speak power even more before the end of the night, especially if they hoped to speed things along.
They reached the abandoned house in question, Danzen now realizing that it was the exact same one he had used to get to the rooftops, the former assassin secretly embarrassed that he hadn’t realized that the place doubled as a gambler’s den.
But that didn’t matter now.
Danzen approached the front door and saw a marking above the doorknob, a detail he had missed the last time around.
Kudzu behind him, Danzen slowly opened the door and located a staircase going down to the basement, the home surprisingly clean inside, no furniture.
“Found it,” Kudzu said almost as an afterthought.
Danzen could hear chatter as he made his way down the stairs where he was greeted by a man in dark attire, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Can I help you?” the man grunted.
“Step aside,” Danzen told him.
The guard did as instructed, entranced by Danzen’s unique power.
Danzen and Kudzu passed by him, and came into a large room with about thirty people inside, mostly men. They sat around tables gambling and drinking, a pair in the corner whispering something to one another. The space was filled with smoke from the hookah a fat man smoked in the corner, the den reeking of alcohol and body odor.
It wasn’t hard to find Jelmay, who sat in his blonde-haired human form at the table in the far corner of the room. There were stacks of money in front of him, his eyes big and bloodshot.
“Would you like to join a table, my lord?” a man in clean black robes asked, his hair slicked back.
“We are just here for a friend,” Danzen said.
Kudzu stormed right up to Jelmay’s table. “You are done here, Jelmay, done.”
Jelmay didn’t even blink. The bakeneko was so focused on the card game he was playing with three burly men that he didn’t seem to notice Danzen or Kudzu’s appearance.
“Put your cards down, collect your things, and go home,” Danzen told the three men seated before Jelmay, who immediately started to obey his command.
Jelmay’s bloodshot eyes started to twitch.
A snarl appeared on his face as he looked from Danzen to Kudzu. The snarl faded, Jelmay forcing a crooked smile that cut from cheek to cheek. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Snap out of it,” Kudzu said, waving her hand in front of his face. “It’s time that you go back to the Valley.”
“But I’m just getting started…” he said, his breath short and staccato.
Danzen took a quick look around the room and saw a bunch of angry faces all angled in Jelmay’s direction.
“I think you have done plenty,” said Kudzu, not needing to read the room.
A pair of men in evergreen tunics approached, one of them cracking his knuckles.
“If you’re here to collect, we are here to collect too,” one of them said, his voice tinged in ale, his words slurred together.
“You are going back to the Valley tonight,” Danzen told Jelmay.
“Like hell I am, Pilgrim.” Jelmay tilted his head, his eyes so bloodshot that Danzen could barely see his pupils. “I’m just getting started.”
