The Wings of Dreams

forward. Like sailors lost as sea finally spying land, they surged ahead with renewed hope.
    It was past noon when screams erupted at the rear of the long procession. Shushou caught a glimpse of a big ape-like creature. The tail end of the line disintegrated. People scattered onto an adjoining rise that provided a fuller view of their surrounding.
    The horses drawing the wagon set off at a gallop. The people on foot quickly fell far behind, then disappeared behind the gentle rise and fall of the terrain.
    “Shitsu-san, you can’t! Those people—!”
    “I can’t do anything for them anyway, Shushou. We must take this opportunity to escape.”
    “But—!”
    “I certainly feel sorry for those who were attacked. What could I do by turning back? Salve my own conscience? Don’t we have a more important mission to accomplish?”
    “A mission?”
    “That’s right. Why are we going on the Shouzan? One of us must go to Mt. Hou, become emperor, and save the Kingdom of Kyou along with its three million subjects. For any of those capable of ascending to the throne to sacrifice their lives out of concern for a handful would only place the lives of those three million in greater danger.”
    Shushou glared at Kiwa. “Do you think that those incapable of saving a handful can save millions?”
    “Do you think any emperor can reign without killing a single person?”
    Shushou set her jaw and didn’t answer.
    “Do you sacrifice the few and save the many? Or yield to sentiment and save the few while consigning the kingdom to wrack and ruin? Those who choose to sit upon the throne must be prepared to make countless similar decisions, Shushou.”
    “That—”
    “I am not saying I do not deeply regret sacrificing them. If I possessed to power to save them, I would do so without hesitation. But I do not. The best way I can thank them for their honorable sacrifice is to press forward. Afterwards, the only way I can recompense their losses is to never forget my thanks to them and do good by others in equal proportion.”
    “That is—”
    The same attitude as the koushu. When push came to shove, they saved themselves while others were falling victim. But would any other strategy leave more survivors behind?
    “I really am an bloody fool,” Shushou said to herself, her words drowned out by sound of the racing wagon and galloping horses.
    The strong rescued the weak. That was their duty. But nobody was strong in the Yellow Sea. The strong saving the weak only made sense in a world where the strong could save themselves. In the Yellow Sea, the goushi were anything but strong.
    When a big youma showed up and they couldn’t defend themselves against it, they took the long way around. Under more favorable circumstances, they could maybe save two or three besides themselves. So while the goushi were hired as bodyguards, in the Yellow Sea that by no means made them kings of the hill.
    In the Yellow Sea, a goushi could defend himself. Expend the minimum amount of energy doing that and he’d have enough left over to protect his employer. But exhaust those resources and he wouldn’t be able to save anybody else, even if he wanted to.
    “That’s what it comes down to in the end.”
    No matter how at home they were in the Yellow Sea, even the koushu didn’t rule the roost. They could hardly set forth on such a journey burdened by somebody unprepared in body and mind, and a stranger to boot.
    In order guarantee their safety to the greatest extent possible, every member of the expedition must be ready to accept the goushi’s advice from the start.
    Where drinkable water wasn’t available, jug rocks would be provided. Whatever wasn’t packed beforehand wouldn’t be available later. There weren’t any stores in the Yellow Sea. There weren’t any roads in the Yellow Sea. The places that were flat and level and straight weren’t roads. There was no room for regrets, no way to call off the journey halfway there.
    Success in the Yellow Sea was determined by the preparations made before even entering it.
    Accept the advice of the goushi, diligently prepare well ahead of time, grant the goushi’s knowledge the respect due it, trust the goushi’s intuition—otherwise, the protection of the greatest guardian in the world wasn’t worth a thing. He who hired a goushi was not the goushi’s master. All the authority on the journey must rest with the goushi.
    Only the koushu could definitely address such seemingly trifling matters as