Tasakeru

BOOK IV, CHAPTER 1

13 Mar 2010 3 Comments

by BHS in 2nd Volume: Night and Day, Book IV: Twilight Dreams Tags: adventure, animal, anthro, drama, exile, fantasy, fiction, forest, furry, hanami, japanese culture, kemono, mammals, outcast, samurai, Tasakeru, twilight dreams, web fiction, web serial novel, zero

INTRODUCTION

“Ignisday, morning.

1549^S1-1

My name is Hanami, and I’m not who you think I am.

Three months ago, I ran away from everything I ever knew. I ran to the forest called Tasakeru, where I knew I wouldn’t be followed. There I found the Outcasts… They saved my life and accepted me for what I was, even knowing what I’d done…

You see, I’m a witch.

At least, that’s what I’ve been called. ‘Harlot’, ‘filth’, ‘desecrator’… I’ve heard those names too. With the flower I wear, I can make plants grow… any plant I’ve ever touched. All I have to do is hold my little Mage Flower and think about what I want, and it’ll grow just like that. Using magic or even having it is forbidden by my people, so I was forced into exile…

It’s forbidden, but that’s not the only reason.

I’m writing this because I want someone to know the truth. Because I’m scared… Something inside me is changing. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it there, every time I close my eyes. It’s something that I can never quite find, always just out of reach when I grasp for it. A whisper that says things I can’t understand.

I’m afraid I may not be here much longer.

So, someone has to know the truth. Someone has to understand what really happened to me back then. I hope that whoever finds this journal can give it to my friends. Tell them that I’m sorry… sorry for not letting them know. Sorry for not saying what I should have said.

Please forgive me…

- Hanami”

[Excerpt from Hanami’s personal journal]

BOOK IV: TWILIGHT DREAMS

CHAPTER 1

Silent as the grave

Following the will-o’-wisp

To a memory

“Long ago, when the land was wild, there lived a samurai warrior of great renown. He was named Hayaoh, and he was known far and wide as the fiercest and strongest of all. His eyes were steel, his heart a stone, and his sword cut like lightning through anything it touched. Those who fought the great Hayaoh seldom lived to tell the tale, for he was as merciless in wrath as he was in resting. For years, Hayaoh lived a solitary life, meeting those who dared challenge him, wandering the countryside of our lands in search of worthy opponents. But though the causes he fought for were just, deep within himself he was empty and cold, having nothing to drive him onward…”

[The Legend of Hayaoh, squirrel folktale, circa year 500]

It’s quiet…

Alone, Hanami wandered through the soundless forest. It seemed to be before sunrise, but none of the familiar noises of the Tasakeru wilderness could be heard. Even the constant song of faraway crickets had stopped; the entire area was deathly still. Dry leaves crunched under her bare feet as she walked, but without the dry, brittle, crinkling sound, the effect was quite disturbing. Hanami swallowed and tried to ignore the growing dread that was gnawing at the pit of her stomach.

What happened? Where is everyone? The squirrel looked around for any signs of movement, any trace of another warm body. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. Hanami shivered and hugged herself tight, noticing for the first time that she was in the middle of the forest in her bare fur. Her ears swiveled back in embarrassment though there was no one to see her nakedness; she wrapped her long bush of a tail around herself, more for comfort than for warmth. Unsure of where else to go, she sat on the leafy ground, her knees tucked underneath her chin.

At last, the morning sunlight began to peek through the ceiling of leaves far above. Its warmth was as welcome to her as an old friend, but there was something wrong with the color… instead of clarifying the hundred different hues of trees and branches, whatever the light touched had its colors slowly siphoned away. Hanami shrank back in horror; the world was being bleached with the coming of the dawn. She alone remained her blonde-haired, caramel-furred self while all around her was consumed, turned to monochrome in that terrible silence…

“Why doesn’t somebody stop it?!” she cried as she rose to her feet, feeling tears welling in her eyes. There wasn’t even an echo; her voice simply traveled for a few seconds and then fell muted like everything else. Terrified beyond all reason, the last thing she expected was to hear an answer, but then…

“We can’t, Hanami. It’s gone too far,” said Zero’s voice.

Hanami nearly jumped out of her skin; every hair on her body stood straight up at once. The familiar voice had come from directly behind her. Frantically she turned and searched for him, but there was still no one to be seen, no handsome buck squirrel striding toward her to once again reassure her that everything would be all right. “Z-Zero…? Where are you?” she whispered.

“I’m here,” he sighed, his voice somewhere above her line of vision.

She looked up and let out a long, wordless cry of terror; Zero’s face and upper body were embedded in the trunk of a dead oak. It was as if the tree had somehow swallowed him; his fur and flesh had been replaced by gnarled grey bark, and his clothes hung in tatters from his body. He stared blankly straight ahead with wooden eyes like knotholes, his face locked in rictus with his lips hanging partially open. His voice emerged dry and pitiful from the hollow that had once been his mouth. “You could have stopped it, but now it’s too late.”

Hanami reached upward to touch the male’s cold, hard face. “Please, no…” Teardrops matted the fur of her cheeks as she let out a heaving sob. “Please forgive me…”

“It’s too late,” said another voice from the opposite side of the grove. Hanami wrenched her gaze away from Zero, and let out an agonized moan at the sight of Faun Reinaka in the same state.

In contrast to Zero, Faun seemed to have been caught in mid-action. She too was merged with the corpse of a tree, one arm reaching out plaintively with fingers spread wide. Her mouth was frozen open in what was unmistakably a scream. “Why did you lie to me, Hanami?” she asked, her voice soft and wounded. “We were friends, we could have helped each other.”

Hanami sank to her knees, shaking uncontrollably. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… Faun, you have to believe me!”

“No, Milady,” said a third voice from the vixen’s side. Ashpaw’s voice was faintest of all, emerging from a trunk of mahogany from which only his face protruded. “The time for beliefs has passed,” he said with a mournful sigh. “Alas, this is our end.”

“Goodbye, Hanami,” chorused all three voices at once.

With a sudden roar, every tree in the forest burst into raging flames. Hanami sat still, paralyzed with terror as her three fellow Outcasts blackened and crumpled into ash along with their prisons. Not one of them made a sound. Within seconds, the inferno surrounded her, tongues of fire licking hungrily at her fur until she too began to burn.

Hanami sat upright in bed with her ears pressed flat against her skull, her tail stiff as a flagpole, the fur stood on end to double its size. The squirrel clutched at her heart and fought to breathe, the nightmare seared into her mind like a brand. Pulling herself out from under her covers, she crossed the room and reached for the latch on her window shades with a trembling hand. Throwing the shutters wide, she drank in the morning sunlight greedily, absorbing the gentle trilling of the birds outside with a shudder of relief. The helpless terror of the dream faded away as she stood there in the sunbeam’s warmth, her eyes shut tight as she whispered a heartfelt prayer of thanks to the Gods for being awake.

“ARRGH! I hate this!”

There was a soft whumph as the girl sat down on the leafy ground and curled her bushy tail into her lap. Grumbling with annoyance, she began to pluck stray twigs out of her tailfur for the third time that morning. “I don’t know how our ancestors managed living in forests like these!” She was hungry, tired, scratched, and dirty, and her green healer’s robes were torn in a dozen places. In fact, the lower quarter of the robes were still entangled in a pricker bush a half-mile away. Naole winced as one of the twigs took several fine hairs with it as she yanked it out. “I swear, I’d be better off in my bare fur…”

Her friend shuffled over to her and watched her work, frowning slightly. <Naole angry?> he asked. The question was not put into spoken words; he pointed at her, then at his own face mimicking her expression, ending by raising his eyebrows in an inquisitive manner.

The doe squirrel sighed and leaned back against a tree trunk. “No, Legion, I’m not angry,” she replied. As she spoke she repeated his gestures, then shook her head. “I’m just tired. Tired of being lost.”

Legion raised his eyebrows again. <‘Lost?’> he said, his mouth forming the word experimentally. <What ‘lost?’ Food?>

She giggled. “No, silly, it’s not food! ‘Lost’ means… hmm. How do I explain this?”

Legion was probably the most extraordinary creature to ever walk Sankami; he had been created as a hybrid of each of the eight sentient species. Blood stolen from dozens of victims, including Naole herself, had combined with a foul magic in order to give him birth. However, what was intended to have been a savage, feral predator had emerged as harmless as a newborn kit. His creator had considered him “flawed” and had abandoned him entirely… after which Naole befriended him, extending her hand to show him the first kindness he had ever known. They had escaped together, running out into the rain to seek out Naole’s exiled older brother who lived in the mostly-abandoned forest. What they had not counted on was becoming hopelessly lost in the vast expanse of Tasakeru for over a week… On the upside, the time they had spent wandering was invaluable to both their friendship and their ability to communicate.

Legion could not speak. Gods knew why that was, but his lack of a voice had only drawn more of his creator’s contempt. Being both mute and completely innocent of the way the world worked, it was often hard for Naole to explain things to him. Together they had developed a basic method of “speaking” through a combination of gestures, expressions, and lip-reading, but the more abstract concepts were still difficult to explain.

The hybrid was proving to be a very good student, though. He was as eager to learn as a schoolchild, and scarcely a day went by that he didn’t learn a new word. <What ‘lost?’> he asked again.

Naole frowned. “All right, I think I’ve got it. You remember the tower, right?” She pointed back in roughly the direction they had come, and raised her hand as high as it could go. “The place you were born?”

Legion nodded. <Tall tower.> He smiled, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth. <Legion met Naole there!>

“That’s right. Well, I know you didn’t spend much time there, but that tower was sort of… your home.”

<Home?>

“The place where you sleep. Where you’re happy and safe.”

Legion smiled even wider and made a rapid series of signs. <Home! Home where Legion happy, safe. Home is with Naole!>

She laughed again despite herself. “That’s sort of the idea, yes. But anyway, ‘lost’ is when you don’t have a home, or can’t find it. Do you understand?”

The hybrid put on a thoughtful expression as he digested that. <Lost,> he signed. <No home. Feels sad?> he asked, putting his clawed hand over his heart.

“Yes, it does,” she said with a sigh. “We’re never going to find Zero’s drey if we keep wandering around… We need to find somewhere to stay. A home.”

Her ears swiveled back in surprise as Legion put his strong arms around her, drawing her into a hug. “L-Legion…!”

After letting her go, he signed to her with a somber expression. <Naole not feel sad,> he said. <Legion with Naole. Naole be happy, safe.>

Naole patted him on the shoulder and ruffled his fur a bit. “Yeah, I know.”

“Nightmares?” Faun’s expression was unreadable as she watched Hanami help herself to another cup of tea. The vixen noted that the cup was trembling slightly in her grip.

Hanami nodded. “I’ve been having them almost every night, but… this one was the worst.”

Leaning backward on the couch, Faun scratched the side of her nose. “Well, you know why that is, don’t you?”

“Why?” Hanami blinked at her friend. “No, I don’t. Should I?”

“It’s trauma, Flowers.” Faun sighed and took a tiny flask out of one of the many pockets of her bandolier. “Stalker broke into your home. Considering what he would have done if you hadn’t stopped him… Frankly, I’m amazed you haven’t had trouble sleeping before now.”

The squirrel stared down into her half-empty tea cup as if it contained the answer she was looking for. “But he didn’t do anything. Why would that give me nightmares? And why now? It’s been over a week since-”

Faun took a swig from her flask before she answered. “Doesn’t matter. The mind is funny that way… When you’ve gone through a shock like that, it takes a while for it to sink in.” She tried to look nonchalant about it, but for a moment there was something wounded in her emerald eyes.

“Faun…?”

“It’s nothing.” The vixen shook her head and smiled. “You’ll be fine, you’ll see. It’ll just take some time.”

Hanami closed her eyes and –

- pressed her hands helplessly against the window, feeling the heat even through the glass. It was a sea of blazing orange and yellow light outside, casting shadows that danced like demons on the wall behind her. Barely anything was left out there but grey, crumbling stalks and the terrible light that consumed them… Smoke and ashes rose up in a great black cloud, large enough to blot out the stars, the whole of her world burning, burning…-

“Flowers! Are you all right? Speak to me!”

Hanami blinked. Faun was kneeling in front of her chair, hands gripping her shoulders and wearing an expression that the squirrel had only seen once before. “Faun?” said Hanami in a daze. “What’s wrong?”

The vixen gave her a small shake. “What’s wrong?! You blacked out on me, kitto! Mange, you had me scared for a minute…”

“I’m sorry,” she said as she clasped her friend’s hand. “I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s all right, Faun.”

“I guess you weren’t kidding about not sleeping well,” said Faun, breathing a sigh of relief. “Tell you what, I’ll get out of your fur for now. You go back to bed and try to get some rest, hear me?”

“But-”

“No buts. Bed.” Over Hanami’s feeble protests, Faun pulled the doe from her chair, steering her around the furniture in Woodhaven’s living room and down the short hallway to her bedroom, only stopping once she was safely through the door. “There you go. Tell me if there’s anything else I can do, all right?”

Knowing it was pointless to argue any further, Hanami simply nodded and bowed. “Thanks, Faun.”

“No problem,” said Faun, smiling sympathetically. “Sleep well, Flowers.”

Only when she was outside and well away from Woodhaven did Faun let her smile drop. The vixen sagged against the strong bark of an oak, looking back at the closed shades of Hanami’s bedroom window. She knew all too well what it was like to be haunted by those kinds of dreams. Once more she pulled out her flask, taking a very long pull of Firewater. Poor kit. She deserves better than –

Faun’s ear twitched at a far-off sound that interrupted her thoughts. A dull thud and a rustling of leaves, like a footstep, but no sentient or animal alive was large enough to make a noise like that from such a distance. She took off at a run towards the sound, dodging bushes and low-hanging boughs, the fur rising on her tail and the back of her neck. Why do I get the feeling that this is very, very bad?

It didn’t take her long to find. A hundred paces away, the leaves and vegetation on the forest path were pressed flat. Kneeling low to the ground, Faun ran a black-gloved hand along the rim of the indentation that the whatever-it-was had made in the soil. This doesn’t make sense. It’s much too shallow for something of that size and weight. She sniffed and wrinkled her nose. And what’s that smell?

More prints were up ahead to the northeast. Making as much noise as a shadow, the vixen followed the scent, every step making her heart pound a little more… There was more rustling and the soft snapping of twigs as she drew closer. Abruptly the prints stopped altogether. On the site of the final step was a tangle of broken branches, and a few shredded leaves drifting down from the canopy above. Slowly Faun directed her gaze upward… and felt her stomach clench itself into a tiny knot.

There was an enormous shadow moving through the trees. The size of two covered wagons, it was moving from branch to branch on multiple legs as thick around as prized pumpkins she had seen at the market in Shinboku. The legs supported a hairy abdomen that Faun could have easily ridden on, connected to a thorax and a stump of a head with eight solid black eyes gleaming in the late morning light… She knew exactly what it was, but it was five times larger than the ones she had seen before, like some sick mind had decided to cast an enlargement spell on it…

Faun took off at a run as fast as her legs could carry her, every hair on her tail raised in alarm. Her heart hammered in her chest and her lungs ached to breathe, but she didn’t dare stop until she was safely inside Ashpaw’s den. Her thoughts were a terrified litany that drowned out everything else…

Spiders. Spiders. The spiders are back…

END OF CHAPTER 1

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***Author’s Note: Mood music for the nightmare scene is The World, by Earlimart.

(©2007 Major Domo Records. Lyrics by Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray)***