The Wings of Dreams

left behind belonged to Kiwa’s retinue, along with an equally unlucky few whose employers had died, leaving them no choice but to soldier on.
    At any rate, they’d run away as fast as their own two feet would take them. Fighting for each breath, they fled the last place the youma sprang on them from the surrounding field. They didn’t feel any safer. The youma would win any footrace. Without a horse or kijuu, there was no secure place to run to.
    Such thoughts spinning through their minds, their legs turned to lead. Once the sheer futility of their efforts welled up in their hearts, they couldn’t take another step.
    By the time the moon rose over the eastern horizon, a hundred travelers had crowded into the dry wash at the base of the hill. They sat there in silence, broken by the occasional curse hurled at the heavens. Such outbursts went unanswered.
    “The night’s coming on.” This observation of the obvious floated like a puff of smoke above the heavy silence.
    “Yeah,” Shoutan answered.
    The night was coming on. The dangers would multiply. While they were all sitting there, that youma was drawing ever closer.
    “Like that makes any difference,” somebody spat out.
    Shoutan nodded to that too. They’d been tossed aside like such much refuse. Not a single one of them came to the Yellow Sea because he wanted to. They’d followed their master.
    Shoutan was one of Kiwa’s live-in servants. Ordered to accompany him, he couldn’t refuse. And so he’d ended up here. He’d walked a long, long way while his master rode on his wagon, never out of his sight. When his master rested, he worked. And then Kiwa cast him aside and saved his own skin.
    When the youma attacked, Shoutan and the others fled on foot. The horses and fleet-footed kijuu made good their escape. They were stuck here. That was pretty much the sum of it.
    “What an asshole,” somebody blurted out.
    Shoutan couldn’t help but agree. “Definitely.”
    “He travels in the lap of luxury all thanks to us, and then when the going gets tough uses us as human shields.”
    “Yeah, he saves himself and runs off to Mt. Hou. Hey, don’t let the likes of us slow you down or nothing.”
    “If he’s lucky, he gets made emperor and lives the high life forever.”
    “Huh. Like a guy who abandons his servants will ever become emperor.”
    “I wouldn’t bet against it. A bunch of good-for-nothings are running this world.”
    “You got that right.”
    “Either way, we are never going to know.”
    “Yeah. It’s not like we’re gonna see the gates of Mr. Hou get slammed in their faces.
    “Hell, I’ll be happy enough never having to see the likes of him get any more full of himself than he already is.”
    A ripple of derisive laughter filled the hollow. Shoutan had to smile as well. He couldn’t do anything else.
    “Hey—”
    The tense exclamation made Shoutan reflexively draw himself into a defensive crouch. For all of his not giving a damn, that could only be the warning of a youma attack. He was already on his feet and making ready to run for it. He wasn’t the only one. They held their lives dear, after all.
    “Something’s coming—”
    They drew a simultaneous breath and glanced up the incline that marked the way forward. Those resting at the edge of the wash craned their necks to peer over the edge.
    “A youma?”
    “No.”
    “It’s a person.”
    “Coming this way.”
    They all gulped in expectation and faced forward.
    “One person.”
    “But that’s—”
    The men lined up along the rim of the wash clamped their mouths shut. Perched on the forward slope, Shoutan could hear the tiny footsteps too. In the dead calm, each footstep rang out clearly. Then another sound fell down on them like a gentle, warm rain.
    “Is somebody in there?”
    The footsteps quickened. A small figure appeared atop the sloping bank of the wash.
    “Are you all right?”
    The question brimmed with concern. The people in the wash had pooled there like sluggish runoff. Now they instinctively answered all at once. Shoutan was no exception. This one girl had come back. She could surely do something for them. But that wasn’t what mattered at the moment. They knew she wasn’t a servant. She was going on the Shouzan.
    The muddled mix of voices became a cry of joy. Taken aback by this reaction, the girl cast her confused gaze across the wash. “You do seem happy to see me. I’m sorry to say that I have no weapons or any other provisions. Just