War Priest: The Complete Series, page 97
“Did you learn anything more about Saiyo Haro?”
Tayaura shook her head. “No, but I was able to encounter one of the false shinobi in Iga and extracted a little information from him. So there’s that.”
Arik didn’t like the way she said the word extract, but he didn’t press her for what she meant by the statement.
“It appears we have our work cut out for us. Saiyo is rumored to be in Tenrikyo, where they are holding coronation ceremonies for your former master.”
“Master Guri Yarna,” Arik said, aware of the anger that rose in his heart in simply saying the man’s name. He took a sip from his ale; it did little to calm him.
“Saiyo may or may not be there. He keeps his location secret from all but a few people. Regardless, we shouldn’t head there first. The Demon Charm of Katano is where we should go next. To Mogra.”
“Mogra, right. But what about the ceremony? Wouldn’t that be an ideal time to strike?” Arik asked. “And my sister. Mori Ehara is there.”
“She is, or so we assume. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say we probably need the charm.”
“Even if we don’t know what it does,” said Arik.
“Coro Pache had the sword. He had the mask, and he had the charm. All were tools. And the ceremony isn’t set to happen for at least another week. It’s a huge affair in the realm for obvious reasons, especially with the counterattacks that Nobunaga’s son has led to take the throne, all of which have failed thus far.”
“Mogrunaba has tried to take the throne?”
“According to the man I spoke to, yes. There will also be a public execution as part of the ceremony, following it.”
“Really? A public execution?” What a barbaric way to celebrate, the disciple thought as he took a sip from his ale.
“Anyone not loyal to the cause must go. There’s another thing we need to consider.”
“What’s that?”
It was a moment before Tayaura spoke, as if she were truly contemplating what she was about to say: “How far up does this go? If your teacher was lying in wait the entire time, this begs the question why. Why did he strike when he did? Why did he wait? Who is actually in control—”
“Who? What are you suggesting?”
“Hear me out,” Tayaura said, “because this is going to sound crazy.”
“I can’t wait,” Meosa told Arik.
“Your realm, the Onyx Realm, was the aggressor during the last war, the one Coro Pache settled. What if they still are?”
“What if they still are?” Arik shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“What if this was orchestrated to make it seem like the Crimson Realm was going to invade. The true ploy was to put someone loyal to your realm—this former master of yours—in charge of the Crimson. I may be wrong here, but I have a feeling this is much more complicated than it seems on the surface. I just don’t understand the disciple execution part. But we haven’t been in the Onyx Realm, we don’t know if there are others who were kept alive. What if it was a necessary sacrifice? And I don’t, please, don’t take this to mean I’m not honoring any of the deaths. I’m just trying to think of this from a different perspective.”
Arik stared down into the surface of his ale. He didn’t want to believe Tayaura. There were still parts of her theory that didn’t make sense, but something certainly was off about the entire affair. Not only that, it felt orchestrated, in a way that told him there was much more than what was on the surface.
“It is a rather strange theory, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the realms operated in such a way,” Meosa told both of them. Arik knew that it was possible for the aqueous kami to extend his powers in a way that would allow him to speak to both of them, without being heard by anyone else, not that there were many other people in the tavern to hear them. “What I’m saying here is that it is possible. Or something like it.”
“Something like it,” Tayaura repeated, conviction in her eyes. “I’m just wondering why he waited until that moment to betray him. It seems like Yarna could have done so at a different time, perhaps already at the seat of the realm in Tenrikyo. This would have prevented your former master from having to race south to fend off Nobunaga’s son and solidify power.” Tayaura finished her ale and slammed it down on the table, loud enough that the barmaid heard. The woman gave her an annoyed look, but ultimately fetched another ale.
“Maybe you’re right,” Arik finally said after he had thought it over. “It would make sense, but the disciple part doesn’t. It just doesn’t seem like him to agree to that. I studied under him for years. I never felt or saw any indication that he would do such a thing.”
“People change. Or, they don’t; they just eventually show you who they really are.” Another ale came, and Tayaura finished it in two gulps.
“Slow down,” Arik told her as she slammed the mug down yet again.
“Why? You can heal me if I’m too drunk, right?”
“I can,” Arik said, “but then I will become drunk in the process. It’s a poison, you know.”
“It’s a good poison.” Tayaura grabbed Arik’s mug and drank it as well. She nodded at him, her eyes slightly glassy now. “You look different.”
“How so?”
“I know it’s only been a week, but you look different.”
“I’m still the same old me,” Arik said. Why does she keep saying stuff like that?
“No, something is different. Maybe it’s all that fighting you have been doing. It’s in your shoulders and your neck.”
Meosa snickered. “I think the disciple is finally becoming a man.”
Arik was about to tell the water spirit to keep his mouth shut when the barmaid appeared yet again, with two more ales. “I guess this is what we are doing tonight,” Arik said as he toasted Tayaura.
“Don’t worry. It will be fun.”
It turned out not to be as fun as Tayaura had promised.
Even though they only had to cross the road, by the time they left the tavern, the illusionist was drunk enough that Arik had to help her walk. The pair stepped into the dusty streets of Omoto; Tayaura pushed away from him and threw her arms out. She spun a couple of times. The illusionist made a face like she was going to vomit; Arik immediately came toward her with his hands wide, like he could help.
Tayaura laughed. “I’m fine, disciple. We might as well loosen up. Starting tomorrow, things are going to get rough yet again.”
“You think?” he asked as she plopped down into the middle of the road.
Arik’s eyes darted left and right. There had been patrols the previous night, yet the street seemed empty at the moment. He cautiously took a seat in front of her, noticing that he too was feeling inebriated.
“They always do when I’m with you.” Tayaura glanced up at Arik. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if she was just playing with him or not. Something about the way she looked at him told him otherwise.
“It sounded like things were pretty rocky before you met me,” he said, remembering that when he had first encountered Hojo, the master illusionist had been trying to find his daughter, who was pursuing Sengum Minamoto. There was definitely a divide between the two at the time.
“That was simply the build-up to what has happened since. But it’s fine.” Tayaura offered him a thin smile. “I like being with you, you know.”
Arik didn’t say anything, and he was glad that Meosa was being quiet for once.
The illusionist continued: “There have been multiple times where I’ve had an urge to leave you. Just disappear into the night. You know that I can do that, right? Even with your kami.”
“I know you can.”
“But I won’t do it. You and I are in this together. We will do what we need to do here, we will honor my father’s wishes and start a joint academy.” Tayaura relaxed onto the palms of her hands. “We will leave our mark on this world for him, and for those that you lost. Revivaura, Chimaura. We will start there. We will go over my father’s manuscripts. If we have to take a trip to your realm to try to uncover more of your lessons, we will. Together, Arik. That is what I’m proposing.”
“And my sister?”
“We will teach her. She has no natural inclination for the power like you had; we will do it the illusionist way.”
“You will train her to become an illusionist?” Arik asked. While he saw this as an option, he’d yet to really consider the implications of Mori Ehara becoming an illusionist. It wasn’t his choice to make. Then again, maybe that wasn’t what Tayaura was suggesting. In the way Tayaura had begun to understand more about healing from Arik, perhaps his sister would be able to transfer knowledge to other concepts of chi.
This got Arik thinking.
If the illusionist style trained a person who didn’t have an inclination for chi to be able to understand and manipulate the power, who was to say that his sister couldn’t find another way to use it?
“We would have to come up with a curriculum.”
“I would be willing to do that with you,” she said. “I like being around you.”
“That’s the second time she’s told you that, my boy,” Meosa told Arik softly. “If ever you thought that she didn’t appreciate you, it only takes… How many ales did she have? Was it seven? Why does she seem drunk at the same time that she seems sober? These blasted illusionists. Anyway, as I was saying, it only took seven or nine ales for her to be honest with you. She likes you; you like her. You know what that means for people your age, right?”
If Arik could have elbowed Meosa he would have. Instead, he offered Tayaura an awkward nod. “I like being around you as well. I missed you. I mean, I was worried. I mean, I was worried and I missed your company. I mean—”
Meosa sighed miserably. “I can’t watch this any longer. I’m going inside the infirmary. If you need me, I don’t know. Don’t need me.” Arik felt the sensation of Meosa leaving him.
Apparently, Tayaura picked up on this as well. “Good, he’s gone.”
“How did you know?”
“The kami made it a point to pass by me and say something along the lines of ‘tell the disciple how much you love him.’” She rolled her eyes. “He can be the worst.”
“He can. But for better or worse, he is with us.”
Tayaura shifted closer to Arik. She reached her hands out and took his hands, pressing her thumbs to his palms. “My father liked you. He rarely liked people.”
“He seemed friendly enough.”
“All illusionists seem friendly, disciple. It is part of our deception. But he genuinely liked you. I could tell.”
Arik thought back to the limited interactions he had had with both of them at the same time. “You could?”
“He wouldn’t have united us if he didn’t like you. At first, I found you to be a bit too solid for someone like me.”
“Solid?”
Tayaura nodded. “Like a board. Rigid? Maybe that’s a better word. You grew up in a very specific type of structure. Then, everything came crashing down. You tried to maintain the structure until you reached the point where you had to let go. You had given in to the mask, to your weapon, to the journey itself, and the sacrifices that we had to make. Not only that, you had to go against your own personal belief system to become who you are now. I understand that better. I didn’t at first. And now I see it. Your loyalty, your kindness, the kind of man you would prefer to be conflicts with the man you were forced to become.”
Arik felt proud in that moment, aware that she was complimenting him in her own way.
Tayaura shifted even closer to the disciple. “So, when I say that we will do this together, I mean it. You and I. I see it now. And I hope you see it as well.”
See what? Arik wanted to ask, but he found himself looking at her lips at that moment, and from her lips back to her dark eyes. He glanced away.
“Together.”
Tayaura pressed herself to her feet. She reached her hand back to Arik and helped him stand. She didn’t let go as they took a few steps in the direction of the infirmary.
“We will explore this together, we will be triumphant together.” Tayaura stepped aside, allowing Arik to open the door. “I look forward to it.”
.Chapter Three.
“Move like a ghost.”
–A quote painted onto a strip of cloth by Hidden Warrior Hirata Masuhiro de Iga of the School of Illusion and later published in a collection of his carvings, Hirata in Stone, First Edition, Yoshimura Books, Year 1019.
The next morning came as mornings generally do, fast and without warning.
Arik still didn’t know what to make of the conversation he’d had on the road with Tayaura the previous night. He couldn’t help but feel she was coming on to him, even if their conversation had mostly revolved around the academy Tayaura planned to start in her father’s honor. These weren’t rational thoughts, Arik was well aware of this. Yet he couldn’t stop them from coming to him.
Once he was ready, Arik sat up and glanced over to the other bed, where Tayaura was already seated with her legs crossed beneath her, a cup of tea in her hands. Arik bit his lip. What am I going to do with you? he thought as a smirk traced across his face.
Nothing about her features was disguised at the moment. Her dark, curly hair was swept back and tucked behind her ears, something vulpine about her eyes as she took him in. “You feeling all right, disciple?”
“Considering how much we drank last night, and that I had to help make sure you didn’t have a hangover, I’m feeling fine,” Arik told her. “Miraculously.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“It is.”
“The nursemaid has tea out there if you want some.”
“Her name is Indra.” Arik placed his feet on the ground. Even if it was warm out, the infirmary could get quite cold at night, especially the stone flooring. Soon, he returned with a cup of tea, which had a citrus flavor to it that certainly brightened his mood after the first sip.
“There are a lot of injured men out there,” Tayaura said after a short spell of silence. “More than I expected.”
“There are discharges daily, but more come in every night. It is never ending. Sometimes there are so many we have to pull out cots so they can rest on the floor.”
“There’s not a lot of space here, but I do see why you are using the tournament for training. That was clever of you.” The illusionist offered him a faint smile.
“What was strange was injuring someone, healing them up to the point that they could survive, and then later healing them once they got here in a different disguise. I guess it kind of worked all of the skills I currently possess.”
“Thunderaura, Revivaura, and Chimaura.”
“Yokaura,” Meosa said, finally making his presence known. “But you already knew that, shinobi-ess. All is one and one is all. Pretty sure some famous itako said that back in my day. Ugh. Let me be the first to say that I’m glad the two of you are sober. If either of you ever get that drunk again, I swear I’m going to drown myself.”
“You were in here most of the time when we were talking,” Arik reminded him.
“Yes, but you weren’t done talking once you came in from outside. Not only that, you snored,” he told Tayaura. “Loudly.”
“I did not.”
“How would you know if you snored or not unless you woke yourself up?”
Tayaura turned her nose up at the kami. She set her tea down, went to a corner of the room and drew a curtain over a partitioned wall, allowing her to change.
“Was it something I said?” Meosa asked Arik.
“Sometimes I think it’s not what you say, but how you say it. Although in that case, I think it was what you said.”
“We are leaving now, right?” Tayaura called from behind the curtain, as if she couldn’t hear Arik talking to the kami.
“Istvan is on the other side of the border; we will need to find him first.”
“Oh, joy,” Meosa groaned in Arik’s ear. “It looks like we will have to caravan through the desert again. Or we could move as we did last time, letting me handle things fully. Keeping three of you alive won’t be easy, especially in my old age. A carriage is probably better.”
“I assume you’d be strong enough to allow us to go on foot,” Tayaura said. “And I have gone on foot before, as you may recall.”
Arik remembered his first encounter with the illusionist. He had run into a woman in a kitsune mask battling a demonic yokai in the desert down south, one that later turned out to be Tayaura. It was strange to think how long the two had been together now. “If we can take a carriage, it will be best. Besides, we have funds.”
“And our disguises?” Tayaura asked Arik. “Any thoughts there?”
“I really haven’t thought much about that. I’ve been going out wearing infirmary clothing.”
“That would probably work, but we would have to get rid of the clothing later and that could be a waste. Since we are heading across the border, perhaps we can pick up some square hats along the way. Those are helpful in hiding one’s identity.”
“I have your father’s hat—”
“And I have Hirokuni’s hat. But those will make us stand out. Best to keep them on our backs.”
“Square hats on your head and conical hats on your back?” Meosa asked the illusionist. “Wouldn’t that make you stand out even more?”
