"Ah, Haku," the old woman in the pink apron and blue dress greeted them as he and Nausicaä strode into her garden. She waved the watering can she held in their direction. To the Princess the difference between Zeniiba and her twin was prominent and startling; it was as if Yu-baaba had suddenly decided to turn her hand to domestic work and adopt a much more pleasant air. "It's been a long time since I've seen you here in Swamp Bottom."
"Good morning, Zeniiba," Haku replied, bowing slightly. "Why did you send the foot-lamp and Kaonashi out to waylay us?"
"Waylay you?" Zeniiba laughed. "Yu-baaba told me you'd be passing by, and I just wanted the pleasure of your company before you left."
"Well, we don't have much time," remarked Haku. "It will be dangerous trying to cross worlds when the sun goes down."
"I won't take too much of your time," Zeniiba said sweetly. "Come, I have tea and cakes waiting inside." She set her watering can down and beckoned for them to follow her.
She led them into a part of the garden walled off by tall hedges of sweet pink honeysuckle. The herb had no flowers now, and its light fragrance greeted them as they stepped into the enclosed space.
Waiting for them was the shadowy black bulk of Kaonashi, who gestured Nausicaä and Haku to rattan chairs set round a diminutive white table. He seated Zeniiba, then began to pass out cups of tea and little wavy-edged, silver-gilt saucers with forks and cakes from a serving caddy beside the table to all. Bou-mouse and the fly-bird shared one plate and cup. They began munching and sipping with gusto, and Zeniiba smiled.
"Uh." Kaonashi extended a saucer to Nausicaä, who accepted it gratefully. Then, to her surprise, several pieces of golden Dorok Imperiums emerged from Kaonashi's hand. He offered them to her, repeating his "uh, uh" sound. His white mask looked vacantly down at her.
"For me?" Nausicaä asked. "I don't need them, but thank you anyway." She nodded meekly and turned her attention to the cake on her plate. She speared it on her fork, took a bite, and was about to comment on how tasty it was when she found Zeniiba and Haku looking intently at her.
"Uhm... yes?"
Haku turned to Zeniiba. "This cake of yours is delicious, Zeniiba," he said. "Don't you think so, Nausicaä?"
"Yes. Yes, it is." Nausicaä looked up at the tall form of Kaonashi and was somehow reminded of Ohma, shortly after she had given him his name.
I named you 'Innocence,' as I would a child I should care for, she thought. And yet I betrayed you, pretending to love you when I didn't. My child the judge, juror, and executioner. Could it be Innocence is what judges us during our lives, measuring how clean we remain despite all the filth we wade through in the world?
"And I hope you'll forgive Kaonashi, Princess, for testing you," Zeniiba addressed her, breaking her reverie. "He does that to almost everyone who comes here. He means no harm. Think of it, rather, as the laughter of one heart to another."
"Hm? He was testing me?"
"Yes. And like Chihiro you passed it." She set her teacup down. "But I already had a feeling you would."
As if to emphasize the sorceress' point, Kaonashi once more offered his Imperiums to Nausicaä, and again she refused. Then he did something Haku had never seen him do before: he shrugged nonchalantly and cast the golden coins into the air, where they instantly turned into large butterflies and fluttered away in a gathering of iridescent pink wings.
Nausicaä clapped her hands together. "So pretty!"
------oOo------
After about half an hour of conversation and cake-eating and tea-imbibing (Nausicaä found the beverage refreshing, and when she asked Zeniiba where it came from the old lady answered, "Oh, from an old acquaintance of mine. He sells me the best tea I've ever tasted. You might know him--a cat about two feet tall, walks around on his hind legs, always wears a suit and a top hat, acts in a refined manner?" To which Nausicaä replied, "No, I'm sorry, I can't say I've made his acquaintance.") the pair took their leave of Yu-baaba's twin. She accompanied them to the front of her cottage, while Kaonashi stayed behind to clean up.
"I have something for you, Haku," said the sorceress. "But it will have to wait. Pass by here when you return, and I'll give it to you. Now you had better go, or you might lose the light."
Kaonashi came out into the front yard as Haku and Nausicaä, with the mouse and fly-bird tucked away in her bag, flew away. He looked up into the sky after them.
"Uh."
"Yes, I know. Every time Haku comes here with a girl... strange things happen. I hope he's more careful this time." Zeniiba reached out and patted Kaonashi's inky-black side. "Thanks for bringing them here. Now, let's get back to the garden. I haven't finished watering the fleshweed yet. Should we add a little more powdered brains, you think?"
------oOo------
They flew on beyond Swamp Bottom for the greater part of the day. Nausicaä chatted with Haku and kept Bou and the transformed Yu-bird safe, peering out of the mouth of her sack. Then, late in the afternoon, when the sun was already westering, they came to a vast body of water. This was no land submerged by the rain, but a sea. Its waters were blue and green, reflecting the various aspects of sun and sky above it.
"What's that?" asked the Princess as they left the land behind, pointing out into the distance at an impossibly tall mountain whose snow-capped peak bulked high among the clouds.
Haku turned to her. "It's a place where spirits go to be alone, if they so wish. I got into trouble there once, and sort of fell into Chihiro's world... It marks one of the gates between the Spirit World and other realms."
"The unknown?"
"Yes. Few who set out beyond the mountain ever return. That's where we're going. Hold on tight, because I'm going to start speeding up."
The wind-rider lay down and pressed herself against Haku's back, smelling his strange and unfamiliar scent. A door that leads beyond the Country of the Spirits, she thought. And what does lie beyond the Spirit World? She guessed she'd find out soon enough.
------oOo------
Whether through some magic of Haku's or another agency, Nausicaä was kept from being blown off his back. She didn't know how it happened, it just did. The sea below them suddenly started going past like she had never seen it before. Haku was soon flying far, far faster than any craft of her world that she knew could, but the breeze still just simply continued to ruffle the ends of her brown hair and tug at her sleeves. The mountain seemed to grow like magic, until they were so near the Princess could see every detail on its the parts of it she could bring her sight to bear on.
"Haku, aren't you going to pull up?" she asked hesitantly. "Haku, we're too near the mountain already! Turn aside!" She felt the muscles in his back tense.
"Keep quiet!" the river spirit snapped. "Close your eyes and hang on!"
Nausicaä closed her eyes. The world went crazy.
------oOo------
Kushana, Queen-Regent of Torumekia, ducked back into the gully she and her party had sought shelter in. A bullet whined through the air where her head had been.
"Well, Kurotowa, you're definitely right." She rechecked her carbine. "There are an awful lot of them."
Her aide and one-time spy for her father the Vai Emperor was reloading his own pistol. "You know, Highness, this is one of the times I wish I was wrong." He squeezed his gun's recocker and went back directing the mixed defensive line of Charuka's priest-soldiers and Kushana's own bodyguards.
Kushana looked up at the monitor gliding silently through the clouds above them to the south. It was too bad her troops were too close to the enemy and the weather was too foul for the monitor to lay down supportive fire. On their trip through the Periphery nations they had come across two large groups of men who appeared to be fighting each other. She had assembled a party to parley and perhaps make peace between them. It wasn't an altogether altruistic gesture; she also wanted to remind these two bickering factions who the real heavy hitters were, by showing off the combined Torumekian-Dorok fleet and soldiers. It was a way of making her kingdom's power felt. The Doroks were, to her mind, just along for the ride. Charuka had placed his contingent under her command, and in reciprocation Kushana told her troops to follow whatever orders the priestly Dorok Council head (in the wake of Namulith's passing the Council of Priests was reconstituted with its few surviving members, in order to rule the Principalities and prepare for Chikuku's eventual ascension to the throne) gave; but enmities were not so easily settled after years of bitter war. That led to suspicion, and suspicion led to distrust, and distrust led to confusion and reduced combat power. Personally, after being subjected to the machinations of the royal court of Torumekia during her still-brief rule, she had grown more cynical of human nature and found it amazing that the force they had cobbled together had come as far as it did, bound together by nothing more than a girl--Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, the Blue-Clad One, a teen from a backwater Periphery country who somehow had the power to let them all see past their differences and work for a common goal.
She had grown tired of settling the fights that had cropped up in the fleet during their journey and left the job up to Kurotowa and the senior Cavalry commanders and Dorok chieftains. Some days after she had done that, she was sure the wide-mouthed man was about ready to burst at the seams, so she gave him a pep talk to encourage him. She had even smiled a little at him that time--a genuine smile, not the dangerous, malicious one she was well-known for--as his frustration and the look on his face amused her. After that it seemed Kurotowa calmed down and became more assiduous in his duties, and the various bickerings and murmurings in the fleet died down to a tolerable level.
Rather unwisely she had placed her troops in the middle of the two fighting factions, which turned out to be a group of Valley of Sand people and a motley band of settlers from Pegase, Saju and Nanaki Doroks. One monitor and several Torumekian Corvettes made one low pass to fire their guns and order the parties involved to stop firing, and she herself had come forward to talk to their leaders. They met in a tent in the middle of her encampment and talked, but the gathering was interrupted by flaring tempers; it was only with much difficulty that Kushana was able to to let the leaders go without anyone shooting each other. They went back to their own factions, and in a matter of minutes the fighting began again--and this time both sides were giving her all their attention. The Corvette that had stopped by to pick up Kushana's band was shot down along with two Flying Jars. Everyone on board them had been killed. To make matters worse, surprise, surprise--one of the factions had somehow obtained a pair of large-caliber, quick-firing, flat-shooting guns that even managed to damage the flagship that had tried to come in for a pick-up. She would've liked to know where they had gotten them. Perhaps they had dug them out of the ground, out of the ruins of some ancient city?
Through her signalman Kushana told the mothership to back off. Then the sky became hazy, as was usual in this part of the Periphery, and the warring factions began to use the impeded visibility to close with each other. That was the last message the party had been able to send: the signalman and his equipment had, before Kushana's horrified eyes, been blown into smithereens by a direct hit from a mortar shell. She had known the man well: he had previously resigned his commission, to go be a farmer and live with his wife and son near Tolas, the capital city, which her people were trying to repopulate, but upon hearing that the Viper's Daughter was going to go and search for the Blue-Clad One, who was rumored to be missing, he signed up again and resumed his former post, out of nothing but loyalty to her.
And it was a loyalty she felt she had betrayed. Bloodied as she had been throughout all the Torumekian-Dorok war, she still felt guilty when she thought of the man's family. What will I tell his wife? His son? That Daddy went back to the army and the White Witch got him killed? The battle-rage overcame her, and she forgot what she was supposed to be doing and why she was there in the first place and went berserk. She had ripped off her faceplate and thrown it aside, jumping out of the gully and shouting "There! I'm no longer Kushana the Regent, just Kushana the daughter of a crazy woman! Come and get me if you can, you bastards!" She had been standing there in the open, her carbine blazing wildly at the enemy, when Lord Gazo, her chief military commander, tackled her and dragged her back into the safety of the trench. Only his urging and that of Kurotowa--plus the worried look on the faces of the soldiers surrounding them, the look that said to her 'Has our leader lost it? Are we about to die?'--made her calm down enough to think rationally again.
And now they were stuck on top of a low hill, hidden among its blasted rocks and crevices like worms seeking to avoid the blinding sun, while two bodies of enemies, now facing a common foe, poured fire upon their position, which they gamely tried to answer. Standing orders were to kill as little as possible, but in the swirling dust and fury who knew how long that would last? The presence of the big guns prevented their fleet from coming closer and helping them; the haze, gusty wind and flying sand prevented fire from afar. Her party numbered around eighty or so, mostly foot soldiers and a few horseclaw-riding cavalrymen and several machine-gunners and Dorok grenadiers. The forces assaulting them numbered in the hundreds. Kushana knew she could blame no one but herself for bringing along so few men, and lightly-armed ones at that. If her soldiers were cursing her right now, however, they kept it among themselves and didn't make it known to her.
------oOo------
"I have orders from the Council to keep you safe," insisted the young priest-recruit as he blocked the door into the Corvette. "I will not let you board this craft."
"One side, fool!" the bald-headed man in the black robes thundered. "I won't let our men die down there!" The string of beads hanging from his neck jiggled in anger, and a muscle in his cheek twitched.
Please, let him through, came a voice in their minds, clear and powerful. We must leave now. If death will come to any of us, it will come, and nothing in this world will stop it. There was a hint of amusement in it as it added, Not even an order from the all-powerful Council.
The young man shivered and signed himself, stepping aside to allow Charuka to enter the dark interior of the craft. To be addressed like that by a person who used to be declared a heretic... The Devil himself was powerful indeed, he thought.
The hatches were dogged, the handlers stepped away, and the bi-winged craft's engines came to life. It rose from the rear deck of the Dorok flagship and flew away, a giant mechanical insect disappearing into the lowering clouds.
------oOo------
"What do you propose to do?" asked Asbel, leaning over to look at the instrument panel of the Corvette. He was in the rumble seat behind the two pilots, also manning the upper front machine-gun mount.
"We've got to destroy those guns," replied Flying Officer Setoru. "That will enable us to evacuate the landing party." The noncom who had once been saved by Nausicaä scanned the instruments. "Tell me again, Pejitan, why you wanted to come along. It's no secret to us that you hate Kushana."
"It was getting boring in the monitor," Asbel answered, giving off a jaw-cracking nervous yawn. "I wanted a little action. Is that so bad?"
Setoru threw the wheel to one side. The Corvette heeled to port. "I guess not. But watch your step around us. If you threaten her in the slightest, you will have to answer to all my people. And there are those among us who are ready to kill you without hesitating."
Asbel nodded, and as Setoru turned his attention back to flying, he thought, I wish Nausicaä were here. She's the only one I can think of who can talk some sense into these people and stop the fighting. All in all, he would have preferred to be in his old Gunship, but one made do with whatever tools were at hand. The Corvette was simply too big and ponderous for his liking.
------oOo------
With a long-drawn-out roar Haku reemerged into the real world. To Nausicaä, who felt like she had been bracing herself for an eternity against the perceptual maelstrom that was their passage between realities, the sudden relaxation of her body and mind made her feel as if she was going to explode, to fly outward into nothingness bit by atomic bit.
She opened her eyes, and found that the Haku she had been holding on to was gone. In his stead was a sinuous dragon with silvery-white scales and a greenish-gray mane, onto whose horns she found herself clinging.
"H-Haku?" Nausicaä stammered, bracing herself against the sudden return of the wind. They were flying above the clouds. "Is that you?"
Yes, hime-sama. I don't frighten you, do I? the dragon asked, his voice quiet in her mind. I have to stay like this while I'm in your world.
"No, not really. I was just surprised, I guess."
Just then something flared in the clouds beneath them, a flower of quick radiance that spoke volumes to Nausicaä, who had seen its like before.
The dragon peered downwards, his eyes piercing the soupy mess below them. There are a lot of people below us. They're fighting.
The wind-rider's eyebrows came up. "I'd like to have a closer look, if you don't mind."
Haku roared and plunged into the murk.
------oOo------
Down the Corvette dove, piercing the bottom of the cloud layer with its dun-brown bulk. Through the armored windows Setoru could see that they were headed for the rear of the Valley of Sand encampment. Which was just right. On top of a low rise in front of them were the guns they sought to destroy.
Shouting a warning, Setoru's copilot pointed out that the guns' long barrels were rising and traversing to meet them.
"I see it! A volley of rockets, on my command!"
Asbel craned his neck and suddenly shouted, "Don't shoot!"
"What? Why?"
"Horseclaws coming up the rise! Kushana's cavalry riders are among the guns! You'll kill them if you fire now!"
Swearing vehemently, Setoru nudged the Corvette's nose away from the guns and leveled out around fifty feet off the ground. He and the other occupants of the cockpit saw the heavily-armored cavalrymen fighting the asbestos-clad gun crews. As they zoomed past he watched someone on an avian mount, in a silver-and-gold-trimmed commander's uniform, bring his long sword down on a Valley of Sand man. Then the armored figure tumbled off his horseclaw, blasted by a point-blank shot from behind, from someone wielding one of the long, archaic rifles that the Periphery people were known to use.
"We can't do anything now," Setoru said. "I'm going to circle and wait. Let's see how things turn out." He yelled into the intercom and instructed his gunners to hold their fire.
------oOo------
In the back of the vehicle High Priest Charuka watched the same scenes of carnage from his passenger seat with horror and pity mingled in his eyes. Madness! he thought. This is madness! Haven't we learned anything from the wars?
It looks like we haven't, came back a calm voice. Charuka turned to his seatmate. Selm of the Forest People looked at him with eyes that were alert but had sadness lurking behind them. I wonder if we'll ever stop walking down Asura's path.
------oOo------
Kurotowa raised his hands, as if to ward off the bullet that was about to come out from the automatic rifle thrust at his face by the Pegasean man standing over him. He shut his eyes and prepared to die.
Ah, if only I could've kissed Kushana before I croaked, he fleetingly regretted. Should've done so at the ball two months ago...
The wooden butt of another rifle smashed into his assailant's cheek, and splintered with the force of the blow. The Pegasean man fell like a tree, becoming just another body among the many littering the ground.
A man wearing the scarlet robes, engraved prayer beads and silver helmet of Charuka's elite Household Guard leaned over Kurotowa and extended a hand. Kushana's advisor gratefully gripped it and the aesthetic pulled him to his feet.
"Thanks."
"No need." The man shook his head. His bass voice was muffled by the kerchief hiding the lower part of his face. "We must fight together, or we will surely die separately," he said as he picked up a rifle from one of the dead around him. "They are overrunning our lines."
"Whatever made you say that?" asked the wide-mouthed advisor with the thin moustache, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he turned the Pegasean warrior over with his boot. The man was still breathing. "I thought they were coming over to share a meal with us."
The priest rolled his eyes. "I wish they were, Torumekian. These are my people I'm fighting." He paused. "Look," he said, pointing up at the sky. "What's that?"
------oOo------
Nausicaä's attention was concentrated on the hill where Kushana's forces were holed out. Something bright and fluttering caught her eye. It was the black-flag standard of the winged, double-headed golden Viper, planted in rocky ground halfway up the hill. She knew it well. A sudden burst of eagerness and anxiety rose in her heart, and she cast caution to the wind and told Haku to head in its direction. She wanted to land behind the Torumekian lines, just below the very top of the hill.
------oOo------
One of the Nanaki Doroks in the rear of the battlefield watched through teary eyes the snake-like thing's progress while holding his dead friend in his arms. Was that one of the enemy's devilish contraptions? It was headed for the enemy lines, and they weren't firing at it, so it probably was. Perhaps, even if he died on the battlefield today, it would be enough of a revenge for him to kill whatever that thing was. He laid the still-warm carcass he held on the ground, wiping the bits of offal off his pants, and gathered up his rifle. He took careful aim and fired.
------oOo------
The Princess felt her ride suddenly jerk beneath her. Her stomach rose into her throat as they began to fall from the sky, and Haku let loose a screech that tore at her ears and her mind.
"Haku! What's wrong?" she shouted, clutching desperately at his horns as she watched the ground spiraling up to meet them. Behind her ear the mouse squealed loudly.
The river spirit didn't answer her. He just kept on violently wriggling and whipping his body, and they just kept on falling.
(Posted Thu, 07 Jul 2005 00:12)
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