The Wings of Dreams

eyes on the treetops. The branch stopped shaking. The black shadow was gone.

Chapter 27
    [4-4]  O ne of Kiwa’s men awoke to find that the horse tethered next to him was gone. Worried it had run off, he looked around and spotted the horse lying in the tall grass not far off. He ran over and discovered the animal’s hindquarters. The rest of the horse was nowhere in sight.
    His alarmed shouts brought the others running. Unable to bear the suffocating darkness, somebody struck up a fire. Here and there among the company, horses and men had disappeared while leaving the rest behind.
    They lit torches, drew their weapons, and sought out survivors. They found a girl and the remains of a goat beneath a tree. For a moment, they thought she was another victim. Then with a shriek of relief she realized she’d been saved.
    The search continued until dawn, turning up four corpses torn to pieces and a number of dismembered livestock, and no sign of the creature that had caused the carnage.

    “Shushou, are you all right?” Kiwa hugged her close.
    She daubed at her face with a damp rag. “I’m alive. I’m fine.”
    “But—”
    “Let me go, please. There’s blood all over my hair and clothing. I need to wash it off.”
    Kiwa started to object again, but instead, he had three stout women from his retinue accompany her to the stream.
    The sun rose over the green campsite. The road shone like a winding white ribbon, so bright and cheerful, as if the land was spinning an elaborate lie about its true nature.
    Accompanied by the three women, Shushou scooted down the shoulder of the road to the bank of a narrow stream. She scrubbed her face and rinsed out her hair. The strong, rough hands of the women pitched in to help.
    The cold stream water numbed her face. She took off her clothes. One woman washed it, as if mourning the soiling of such a fine garment. The others wiped down her body with wet hand towels.
    “It must have been very frightening. You poor thing.”
    “I’m okay. I got out of it alive. That’s all that matters.”
    “You’re okay? My, my. There’s no need to put up such a brave front.”
    “I really am. Though I was scared.”
    Thinking about it was frightening, but now she only shivered from the cold. After a perfunctory toweling off, wrapped in a dry robe, the shivering began in earnest. Back on the warm road, though, her emotions snapped back to normal.
    She was alive and luck was on her side.
    The remains of the humans and the animal were buried in a corner of the campsite. This wasn’t the first youma attack they’d suffered. It was the first time an attacker had left enough of a body behind to bury. That alone was terrifying.
    Shushou watched the scene, the hairs on the back of her neck pricking up. A flustered Kiwa came up to her. “How are you doing, Shushou? Have your nerves settled down?”
    “Pretty much so. Sorry about the goat. I know it was one of yours.”
    Kiwa waved his hand back and forth. “No need to apologize. It’s reward enough knowing that you’re safe and sound.” He followed the direction of her gaze and nervously nudged her in the opposite direction. “You don’t want to look at such things. How about we get something warm in your stomach?”
    He guided her to his wagon. A small fire was burning. Water steamed in a kettle. Shushou accepted a cup of green tea and sat down by the fire. Any lingering anxieties vanished. And once they had, it didn’t take long for her to notice that nobody else was crowding around the fire, for it was quite hot.
    “Unbelievable. Last night, after expressly telling them not to, a couple of idiots started kindling fires. That’s what probably led to this. Those fires must have drawn the youma here. I had to put my foot down. I let them know that any more such foolishness and they were free to head back the way they came.”
    “What?”
    “There’s no stopping fools from doing what fools do, except when it places the lives of others in danger. We’ll be fine, Shushou. Nothing like that will happen again.”
    “Just a minute—”
    “Once you’ve got your wits about you, climb aboard the wagon. We’ll be on our way as soon as the burials are finished.”
    “But Shitsu-san!”
    “What? Still frightened? I certainly cannot fault you for that, but staying here any longer would be dangerous. We have to put this place behind us as quickly as possible.”
    With that Kiwa ran off to order his retinue around. Shushou watched him in