Pilgrim 2, p.9
Pilgrim 2, page 9
“Pfft! Of course it’s necessary. Before we reach, ahem, our final destination, we are going to have to blend in,” he said, as if the shopkeeper wasn’t there. “We’ll be staying at nice hotels, having nice dinners. It is important that we fit the part. You should shave as well. You look like a mutt.”
Danzen ran his hand along the contours of his jaw, feeling his beard stubble.
“Then I will take the green one,” Kudzu said, making a decision quickly. She motioned toward a set of silk robes that were embroidered with yellow dragons.
“Certainly…” the shopkeeper said, once she realized how serious they were.
Jelmay now held his roll of kip before him and was already in the process of counting it out. He went with the same line he had told the previous seller, letting the woman know to give him a price just a few thousand kip above her lowest price.
“You are up,” he told Danzen. Jelmay looked from his roll of cash to a crimson red set of robes that would match what Kudzu was currently wearing.
“That’s not my color.”
“Blood? Blood is certainly your color,” Jelmay said with a chuckle, his laughter dying off as he read the former assassin’s expression. “Right, not your color. Maybe something dark. Dark and shiny. You have something dark and shiny?”
“Not shiny.”
“Fine, just dark, like your mood.”
The shop owner found a set of dark-purple robes and began rattling off how fine the silk was, and where some of the dyes had come from.
“Got it, got it,” Jelmay said, waving her explanation away. “Let’s get these two measured up, and we will take the robes in an hour or so. Does it give you enough time for any modifications?”
“If I grab my sister to help me, yes.”
“Better get her. We are in a hurry to catch the next boat out of here.”
“My lord, the next boat won’t leave for three hours.”
“In that case,” Jelmay said with a shrug, “we’ll be back to get it on our way in two and a half hours. This gives us plenty of time to have a nice lunch and down a few ales before we set off. Sounds like a solid plan to me.”
After he paid the woman just a bit over ten thousand kip, Jelmay led Kudzu and Danzen back to the main road, to the tavern where Danzen had once enjoyed a stew. As they walked across the street, a militiaman turned to them, a look of curiosity taking shape on his face as he peered at them.
“Hey, I know you,” he said to Jelmay, pointing a finger at the bakeneko. “You ripped off my father. I know exactly who you are! Boys,” he called to a few of the other militiamen, “this is the guy I was telling you about, the one who tricked my father.”
“What did you do, Jelmay?” Kudzu asked him, glaring over at the bakeneko.
Rather than respond, Jelmay began arguing with the militiaman. “Ripped off your father? I did your father a favor. What was he going to do with all that wheat? It was past harvest season, the prices were already starting to drop…”
“You tricked him! You lied to him, and…” The man, who was a head taller than Danzen, bristled, practically snorting smoke now. His face grew redder and redder as he launched into a litany of things that had resulted from what Jelmay had done to his father.
“Pay the man some money,” Danzen said so only Jelmay could hear him. “We don’t need this kind of attention.”
“Have you lost your mind? Pay this dolt some money? This is my money.”
“You just bought us robes we didn’t need. You clearly have extra,” said Kudzu, her hand already on the hilt of her sheathed blade.
“I earned this money over the last…” Jelmay thought for a moment, ignoring the man who continued to curse him. “Twenty or thirty years? Something like that. I’ve had other accounts before, but I’ve had to cycle the money out because people wonder why I haven’t died yet. Ha! Humans, can’t live with them, can’t live…”
The militiaman came forward to swing a fist at Jelmay, Danzen throwing his hand out just in time to catch the man’s fist.
It was clear that the militiaman was accustomed to his punches landing, and judging by his size, he used his stature to his advantage every chance he got. A look of surprise splashed across his face as he realized that the hooded fellow who had just been standing next to his target was now holding his fist, that Danzen had completely absorbed his punch without even a flinch.
There had been times in the past where Danzen had to exhibit his powers on the fly, be it with another assassin, or a few times where it was necessary for him to deal with something quickly in a public space.
The look was always the same—first shock, then confusion, then, depending on the person’s level of training and awareness, a variety of expressions took shape. He had seen everything from fear to anger, the big man in front of him going with the latter.
The militiaman ripped his fist away from Danzen but didn’t swing it again, several of the other men now gathering around him, murmuring about what had just happened.
“Pay him,” Danzen said again, not taking his eyes off the group.
“Fine,” said Jelmay, “but he certainly doesn’t deserve it, and all of you need a bath. You all smell like yesterday’s cheese. Don’t they smell?” he asked Kudzu.
“Pay him,” she said, gritting her teeth, her hand on the grip of her new blade.
Danzen watched as Jelmay forked over a couple thousand kip, grumbling as he did so.
“You think I want your money?” the militiaman asked, looking like he was just about to spit at Jelmay.
“Take the money and go to the nearest spa. Have a bath, relax, forget that you ever encountered us,” Danzen said, summoning his Demon Speak ability.
The militiamen’s expressions all went blank.
After a momentary pause, they slowly turned away, headed in the direction Danzen and the two yokai had just come from. Once they were gone, Jelmay groaned with disappointment: “Couldn’t you have used your little Demon Speak power before I handed them some money?”
“I suppose I could have,” said Danzen, noticing now that Kudzu was smiling at him. “But you seem so willing to spend money, and what you did to that man’s poor father sounded so terrible, that I thought you wouldn’t mind.”
“What? Of course I mind! That man’s father was an absolute moron. I did him a favor by ripping him off so badly that he never let someone do it again. There’s a madness to my method; if he had learned his lesson, he could be rich by now. Apparently he hasn’t, or his son wouldn’t be in the militia. What rich man sends their son to fight in a militia? Not anyone I know of. Then again, his son was clearly a blathering oaf, so maybe that’s why he let him join the militia. You saw him. And while we’re on the subject, what did they feed that guy when he was a kid?”
“How many more of these types of encounters are we going to have in our trip to Sainshand?” Kudzu asked, cutting him off.
Jelmay simply turned to the tavern. “I’m hungry. And I’d prefer not to put a number on something that may come back to haunt me.”
“Fair enough,” said Kudzu. “Let’s get inside.”
Once they were in the tavern, Jelmay turned to the bar, leaving Danzen and Kudzu behind.
“We’re going to have to keep an eye on him,” she said, her eyes narrowing on the bakeneko.
“I’m aware.”
“Not for his safety, but for ours. I’m assuming you want to keep the same low profile that you have tried to maintain over the last two years, even if you are going to face the Brotherhood head-on.”
Danzen nodded.
“Jelmay’s going to make that difficult.”
****
A flagon of ale calmed Danzen’s nerves a bit, yet he was still on guard as they sat in the tavern, awaiting their clothes and the ship’s departure. He was glad that the place was poorly lit, and he recalled how many times he had sat at Suja Raksi Hall, in the back, his hood over his head, Zorya the barmaid always careful around him.
He appreciated that about her, that the barmaid didn’t stop to talk for very long, nor did she make a big deal out of his appearance.
He felt that the tavern they were currently in could also be a place like that, a place where no one asked questions, where people generally kept to themselves, where one could melt into the furniture. There was a placard on the wall behind the bar featuring a black ponytail with red thread around its tip hanging from it. Naturally, as the barmaid brought stew to them, Jelmay asked about the piece.
“That…” A frown formed on the woman’s face. “That belongs to the bartender who used to work here. He was killed a week or so ago, executed out back.”
“Do you know who did it?” Kudzu asked. “Was the killer caught?”
The woman shook her head. “People say it was a ghost, and someone claimed to have seen a floating woman in black robes, a white mask on her face. I don’t believe that stuff. Ghosts don’t kill people.”
Danzen wanted to tell her that she was dead wrong about this, but he let the woman pass and enjoyed his stew while Kudzu discussed it further with Jelmay.
“It sounds like someone you used to run with,” Jelmay eventually said, nodding to Pilgrim.
“It was Soko. She told me she did it while looking for me.”
“Figures,” Jelmay said with a sad snort.
Rather than wait for them to ask what he was referring to, Danzen explained how she had stopped him in the trading post and had gotten his whereabouts from the bartender, whom she subsequently killed. “You saw her,” he reminded the bakeneko. “She can’t go around in the daylight like that.”
“No lie,” said Jelmay as he finished his stew and looked to Kudzu’s. “Eat it.”
“It’s not that great,” she said, sliding the bowl to him.
“In that case, let me help you with that.” Jelmay gladly took Kudzu’s bowl, drinking directly from the bowl this time rather than using a spoon. “And for the record: it was hard to separate this female assassin you know from those demons.”
“Slow down,” Kudzu told him. “We can’t have what happened last time.”
“You mean when I turned into Uncle Gempachi? That was just a rare side effect, honest,” he said, referring to the first encounter Danzen and Kudzu had had with the shape-shifting bakeneko, when he had nearly eaten Mansukh and Yeni out of their family store. “It barely ever happens.”
After Jelmay had a third bowl of stew, the three shared another round of ale. It was more than Danzen was used to drinking, but he was in control, always ready to draw his blade at a moment’s notice.
It came time for them to get their robes, Jelmay leading the way back to the woman’s robe shop. The robes that the bakeneko had bought for his companions were packaged up nicely, Jelmay also purchased a bag for Kudzu about the size of Danzen’s burlap sack, which would allow her to carry more items.
They left and made their way down to the harbor, past all of the small shops that made up the sprawling market set before the river. Jelmay led them over to a ticket seller calling out prices near a plank.
“Three to Arsi, best cabin you have,” Jelmay told the man.
“Someone has already purchased the best cabin, my lord. We do have one that is almost of the same quality, but a bit smaller.”
“How long is the ride again?” Kudzu asked.
“Two days, but there are stops along the way. We have an herbalist who also sells concoctions that will keep you asleep for most of the trip. Do not worry, the cabins are secure.”
“I’m not worried about the cabins being secured; I am worried about not having the best cabin possible,” Jelmay said in a haughty tone. “Who bought the better cabin? Maybe I could have a word with him.”
“Um…” The man, who was hunched over and sinewy from a lifetime of shipwork, started to look away.
“Name…” Jelmay said again.
“Harsha,” the man whispered.
Danzen recognized the name instantly. He had killed Harsha’s son, who had the same name as his father, in Suja Village during the fire chicken incident. Later, he had dealt with Harsha senior personally once he found that he was abusing women at Eva Yin’s pleasure house in Chutham.
“In that case, I guess we need to pay this Harsha a visit. Where is he?” Jelmay asked, flashing a bit of kip, which he tucked in the ticketseller’s pocket.
“He’s in his room now on the second floor. You can’t miss it; the door is painted in red trim. He arrived not long before you did, my lord.”
“We will take the smaller cabin,” Danzen told the man.
“Wait a minute,” Jelmay started to say.
“I’ll explain everything later.”
Disgruntled as ever, Jelmay forked over more money as they were motioned onto the ship, the large boat creaking as they took a set of stairs that led them to the second floor, where they were presented with a cabin with two beds in it and a quaint view of the river.
“This isn’t big enough for the three of us,” Kudzu said in disgust.
“We will make do,” Danzen told them.
“What’s the deal with this Harsha guy? What do you know about him?” Jelmay asked.
“I’ve already explained this story to you before,” Danzen said, once again connecting the dots for the bakeneko, and how he’d killed the man’s son.
“Ah, that’s right. So you offed his kid and later, you forced him to dress as a woman and embarrass himself in front of his men, not to mention the fact that you took all of his money. And now, after all of that, you don’t want to use your power to get us a bigger room?”
“I don’t use my power at your whim,” Danzen reminded him.
“We’re going to be stuck in this little room for two days, Pilgrim,” Jelmay said, sweeping his arm in front of them. The room was small, not much larger than Danzen’s kitchen back at the monastery. They would certainly fit in the room, but it would be tight.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Danzen said as he turned to the door.
“That’s the spirit!”
“We’re going to have to break a few rules on this trip,” Kudzu assured him. “I’m guessing you have already figured that out.”
“He’ll figure it out soon enough. Come, I’ll lead the way.” Jelmay slid the door open and turned down the hall, where he came to a red-trimmed door at the far end.
Rather than knock, Danzen simply opened the door and stepped into the room, where he found Harsha resting on one of the beds, a dark-haired woman with him, her fingers grazing against his chest hairs. She came alive quickly, and brought the blanket up to cover her chest. Harsha groaned, and as he sat up, he narrowed his eyes on Danzen.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he barked, reaching for a dagger on the nightstand. Like his son, Harsha was a big man, with the face of an ox and jowls that flapped every time he spoke.
“Be still for a moment,” Danzen said, calling upon his Demon Speak ability.
Kudzu entered the room behind him and took a look at it, the fox woman silent as Danzen decided what he was going to say.
“It will certainly be more comfortable for us,” Kudzu said under her breath. “Remember, we have to be stuck in here with Jelmay for two days.”
“You will switch rooms with us,” Danzen told Harsha and the woman. “You will tell anyone who asks that we are old friends, yet you will never disturb us throughout the entirety of this trip. Once you’re dressed, you will tell the crew that we have switched rooms at your request. You will not discuss this further with me. You will forget us entirely once we reach Arsi. Out of bed, clothes on, get your things, find a new room.”
Harsha got out of bed and quickly dressed, the woman doing the same. They gathered their things and left, passing Jelmay in the hall.
“See?” Jelmay said as he came to the cabin, taking a big breath of fresh air and then coughing a little. “Whew! It smells like—”
“—The humans fornicated in a foul way, yes,” Kudzu said.
“A foul way? Ha! I hate the smell of foul fornication. Open a window,” the bakeneko said as he placed his shield on the table, and his sword on a chair.
Neither Danzen nor Kudzu went to the window, leaving Jelmay to do it himself, the yokai mumbling under his breath as he popped it open.
“There, that’s better,” he said as he took another look around the place.
There was an exceptionally large bed, as well as a smaller one in the corner, furniture, and a washroom near the door.
“It’s certainly something,” said Kudzu.
Jelmay nodded to the large bed. “The big bed is mine, you can certainly fit on the smaller one, Pilgrim.” Jelmay approached the larger bed and fell backward onto it, crinkling his nose, trying to ignore the smell. “I may have to get the crew to replace the bedding.”
“Where do you expect me to sleep again?” Kudzu asked.
“On the floor. You’re going to morph back into a fox, right? The door has a lock. We can be ourselves in here. I would already be back in my normal form if it wasn’t for the fact that…” Jelmay slowly stood and began gathering up the bedding. “Yes, I need to replace these sheets. You don’t mind the smaller bed, do you, Pilgrim?”
Danzen sat on the smaller bed, not feeling like bickering with the bakeneko. “It’s fine.”
“Just fine? It’s a perfect size for you, your feet aren’t even going to hang off the end of it. Well, maybe if you stretch out, but you can sleep on your side, right?” Jelmay asked him. “Just think, the three of us are about to be stuck in this room for two whole days. We’re going to learn so much about each other.”
“No, no we’re not,” Kudzu said. “As soon as the herbalist comes around, I want you to buy the strongest sedative he has. I’m not waking up until we reach Arsi.”
.Chapter Two.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take some of the sedative?” Jelmay asked Danzen, the bakeneko now in his cat body. Kudzu had since taken her fox form and had been asleep for the last several hours the boat sailed onward, the herbalist’s sedative on its way to keeping her drowsy for the next two days.
