The Wings of Dreams

they are; whether they understand human speech; where they well up from in times of trouble; what scents or indicators bring them to the surface—we don’t know the first thing about them. That ignorance makes it all the harder to protect ourselves.”
    “Huh,” Shushou muttered.
    Just then, a cheerful voice rang out. “Oh, good. I see you’ve arrived safely.”
    Shushou turned back toward the wall of people. “You—”
    Rikou waved from among the crowd of onlookers curiously regarding Shushou and Gankyuu.
    Shushou ran over to him, her eyes wide. “What are you doing in a place like this?”
    Rikou laughed. “Oh, I just had to find out whether you’d made it here in one piece. What happened to Hakuto?”
    Shushou’s head drooped. “After all the effort you went to securing me that certificate, he ended up getting stolen.”
    “Oh,” Rikou said and gave Shushou a sympathetic pat on the back. “And still you made it all the way to Ken. I should have tagged along with you.”
    “That’s okay. I really loved Hakuto and it hurt terribly to lose him. But this has got my dander up.”
    “But of course.” Rikou smiled broadly.
    Shushou said, “What are you doing here in the Yellow Sea?”
    “I couldn’t help wondering what kind of trouble you might be getting into on your own.”
    Shushou looked up at Rikou’s grinning face. “Are you suggesting you want to come along?”
    “You should have a bodyguard, no? You’re a tough little girl, but hardly equipped to swing a sword and keep the youma at bay.”
    The smiling Rikou indicated the sword slung around his waist. Shushou smiled back. Gankyuu clapped his hands on her shoulders.
    “Who’s this?”
    “Ah, he came to my rescue on my way to Ken. His name is Rikou. He says he wants to come with us.”
    “He what?”
    “It must be my virtuous nature at work. Rikou, this is Gankyuu. I hired him as my bodyguard. Though I don’t suppose one can have too many bodyguards.”
    “No, I don’t suppose one can,” Rikou said.
    Gankyuu regarded the affable young man with a startled expression. Have you been chasing after her all the way here?”
    “Wouldn’t her welfare weigh on any man’s mind? A little girl like Shushou alone in the vast Yellow Sea—”
    “You knew she was coming here?”
    “She said so herself.”
    Gankyuu barked into Rikou’s bright face, “Then you should have stopped smirking and stopped her!”
    Rikou only grinned. “I can only imagine you said as much. And yet here she is.”
    The quick comeback caught Gankyuu off guard. He stumbled for an answer. “I, ah, tried to stop her.” At a loss for words, Gankyuu scowled at the happy-go-lucky countenance in front of him.
    “Gankyuu, there’s nothing to fight about,” Shushou looked up at Gankyuu with a complacent smile. “He’s a nice guy. A fellow bodyguard can keep you company.”
    “You don’t have any desire to go back? We could make it back to Ken today.”
    “No matter how many times you ask, the answer will always be the same. I hired you. You need to snap to it and start leading the way.”
    However Shushou wished him to hurry up, the gates of the fort leading to the Yellow Sea took some time opening. A subdued aura emanated from the watchtowers above them. Voices urging the opening of the gates came from without. Finally the soldiers standing guard slid open the massive bolts.
    Strong light poured in, accompanied by the fresh stink of blood and death. Shushou narrowed her eyes. The soldiers motioned them forward. Having hoisted up their traveling packs, the people waiting there timidly stepped through the gate.
    Shushou and Gankyuu joined the line. Exiting the gate, the source of the smell was hard to miss, the corpses of dreadful-looking beasts piled up in corner of the large plaza outside the fort.
    “Gankyuu—” Shushou said and pointed.
    Gankyuu nodded. “Want to turn back?”
    “That isn’t funny,” Shushou retorted, but couldn’t resist a glance over her shoulder, searching for Rikou in the crowd as he went to retrieve his kijuu. She spotted him soon enough. He saw her and waved back. The sight of that indomitable smile did make her feel a bit better right then.
    The soldiers on the watchtowers atop the fort and on the nearby stone terraces scanned the heavens. Nothing was visible in the warm blue skies above.
    Shushou sighed as she looked at the people crowded into the plaza. A rugged, bolder-strewn slope sharply descended from the plaza. Spreading