The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

same time her eyes grew wider with amazement. Kantai's body sank lower and lower to the ground. For a moment she feared he had been struck by an arrow, but he sank even lower. More than sinking, she got the impression that his body was somehow contracting. This wasn't because of an arrow. His forward progress made that clear.
    What in the world--!
    The shape and form of his body seemed to be dissolving. A moment later, he began to grow larger. His mutating form was both growing and taking on completely new dimensions. Or so it seemed to her.
    From the wall walks as well, from every direction, a great stir went up. Kantai was some different kind of human. His hands emerged--no doubt about it--as forepaws. He shot across the ground up to the siege tower as fast as an arrow. He coiled up his body--now resembling a small mountain--and raked the side of the siege tower with a huge forepaw.
    That single blow shook the thunder bridge. The siege wagons connected to it rocked back and forth and crashed to the earth, halting its forward progress.
    He's a hanjuu.
    Lances jabbed at the enormous bear, as it reared up on his hind legs. Youko ran forward to sever the spear tips from the shafts.
    "Hey, my apologies," came a deep voice suffused with laughter. With a swipe of its paw, the huge bear took off the whole front of the assault wagon and sent it tumbling through the air.
    As she swung her sword, Youko had to smile as well. "Just as I thought, the strength of no ordinary man."

    The sun rose over the hills to the east of Takuhou. The city still smoldered, the smoke blurring the morning rays. But at least no tongues of fire could be seen.
    Between the White Dragon Gate at the castle and the Rooster Gate, a collection of wagons blocked off the side streets, securing direct access to the Rooster Gate. Many silhouettes could be seen occupying the guard towers over the twelve city gates. The countless figures of men and women alike were perched atop the walls stretching out from the main gate.
    Meeting fierce resistance, the Wa Provincial cavalry ringing the city had retreated for the time being. After a great deal of effort, they'd managed to join up with infantry advancing along the highway south of Takuhou and were setting up battle lines on the plains outside the Horse Gate.
    The provincial guard rushed here had no grasp of the number of enemy forces they were facing. To what extent the citizens of Takuhou had joined up with the rebels, or whether they were only holed up in the citadel and protecting that.
    This civilian rebellion was nothing to make light of, the foot messengers said. Already the civilians had taken over the ramparts and were keeping a valuable prize within the prefectural offices themselves. They were going to have to attack the formidable fortress at the heart of the city. Amidst this gloomy realization, even more startling news arrived:
    This morning before dawn, Meikaku fell into chaos.

Part XX
    reat!" exclaimed a smiling Koshou. "We kept 'em pinned down for three days, just like Kantai wanted."
    Looking out from the turret at a corner of the city wall, he could see that the provincial guard troops bivouacked there were pulling up stakes. From the start, they'd faced a fortress of a castle, and Shoukou's large-scale defensive works had turned Takuhou into the size of a provincial castle.
    "What in the world happened? It's amazing!"
    "More than amazing, unbelievable," said Kantai. In the turret, Shoukei and Suzu exchanged glances and smiled.
    "I'm starving."
    Koshou sat down on a bench. There was plenty of food in the prefectural castle, but nobody to prepare it. It'd been left up to the castle cooks to keep the many prisoners of war fed. But as Koshou and the rest of them had no idea where the loyalties of the castle staff lay, they hesitated eating what was being served. The staff had at last been increased, and the night before they'd finally managed a cooked meal. But they hadn't had the time to eat since.
    Suzu giggled. "Some of the women in the city are bringing meals. Just hold on a bit longer."
    Koshou sighed pitifully. A voice called out from the top floor of the corner turret, "Koshou! Reinforcements!"
    "What?" Koshou leapt to his feet and ran to the stairs leading up to the top floor. Everybody followed after him.
    "Koshou!" The man looking down from the top of the staircase looked pretty green.
    "Reinforcements?"
    "Their standards?"
    The man's voice rose to a nervous squeak. "Dragon banners in