The Wings of Dreams

sword.
    The haku neighed. Another shadow appeared in the early dawn sky. It had no wings but was galloping through the air.
    “Damn.”
    Gankyuu swore aloud. He guided the haku over the hill below. Past a ragged promontory covered with boulders and underbrush, he set down middle of a grove of trees.
    He dug a coil of black rope out of the saddle pack. The haku was carrying Rikou’s packs. Grouping around by touch alone took him a long minute. A goushi would have stuck the rope in the shoulder bag.
    “Undo the shoulder bags. The water too.”
    As soon as they touched ground, Gankyuu laid the haku down. Favoring his leg, he rolled off its back. He tied the black rope to the reins, hopped on one foot to a nearby tree, and tied the rope around the trunk.
    “Gankyuu? I removed the packs.”
    Gankyuu hopped back to the haku, took the packs from her. He glanced over his shoulder at the haku, stroked its neck and gave it a sympathetic pat.
    “Got the water?”
    “Yes.” Shushou nodded.
    Gankyuu threw his arm around her shoulders. Using her as a crutch and dragging his leg behind him, they hurried along at a half-run, leaving the haku behind.
    “Gankyuu—the haku.”
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    “Don’t worry about it?”
    Shushou looked back at where Gankyuu had tied the haku to the tree.
    “Quit dawdling.”
    “But—!”
    It was a long, thin rope but was tied fast. The haku was still lying down as Gankyuu had ordered it to. Now it followed Gankyuu and Shushou with its eyes as they came to the bottom of the hill and grew further away.
    “Gankyuu, the haku can’t run away. Whatever is after us—with it tied up like that—”
    “It’s fine where it is.”
    “You can’t be serious!”
    “Remember how you said you were going to give the haku a name?”
    She did, back when they first entered the Yellow Sea.
    Gankyuu said, “Koushu don’t give their kijuu names. This is why.”

Chapter 38
    [5-7]  G ankyuu and Shushou ran as best they could, weaving among the rocks and underbrush, following the contours of the hill. Stumbling along, warily rushing from one shadow to the next, they still managed to maintain steady progress.
    I hate this, Shushou thought.
    She could hear the haku neighing far behind them and shook her head. If she could avert her eyes, couldn’t she avert her ears too? She might as well try. This was less about going forward than running away from the haku.
    “Don’t cry, girl.”
    “Leave me alone,” Shushou grumbled. The sight of that haku watching them run away was going to stick with her the rest of her life.
    “Give things names and you start developing feelings for them. So koushu don’t give kijuu names.” But his own voice was hoarse.
    “Don’t be ridiculous!”
    “Go ahead and rail at me for being cold and heartless.”
    Shushou glared at him. “Idiot. Nobody’s saying that.” She shifted her stance to give his arm a better hold around her shoulders. “It’s inevitable, right? We had to get away and that meant sacrificing the haku. If the sun rises by the time it takes for the youma to close in, we’ll be mostly in the clear. Staying with the haku and feeling sorry for him might make us feel better, but then we’d all end up dead.”
    “So you do understand.”
    “Don’t treat me like a fool.”
    Shushou mopped her brow with her free hand. She picked up the pace as best she could. The sooner they were too far away to hear the haku’s cries the better.
    “If anybody’s a fool, it’s the koushu. Not giving a kijuu a name kind of misses the point, doesn’t it?”
    Answering the dubious expression on Gankyuu’s face, Shushou glanced up at him and said, “I mean, referring to your haku as you or him is more intimate than giving him a name.”
    Gankyuu stared back at the tearful child. But with his mind focused on the more important task of flight, he didn’t answer.
    In any case, he couldn’t tell her she was wrong. This made the ninth kijuu he’d lost. He couldn’t forget the number or the kijuu. A glimpse of another one like them brought all those memories to the fore. There were plenty of shushi who insisted on riding the same species of kijuu, no matter what. Gankyuu never owned the same kijuu twice.
    Shushou said, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
    “What is?”
    “You had to sacrifice the haku because of me. If I wasn’t here, the two of you would have made a beeline for those buildings. That’s why you wanted Rikou and me to leave