The Way of the Fox (30 page)

“Can you walk?” Sura slid down the burial mound. “Chiri can fix you up once we find water.”

“I can walk, Kitsune san.”

“Right – you guys fall back out of the forest.
Make sure you stick to the trail! Hide back where we came in. Chiri and I will check out the river. This is no place for humans.”

Benten looked at the deeper forest, quite appalled.

“Sura san – they have killed everything that tried to enter. Somehow they can
see
– can find anyone who trespasses.”

“We’ll be fine
, don’t worry.” Sura waved her tail. “Trust me; I’m a fox!”

Chiri
moved beside Sura and knelt in the grass. They consulted for a moment, then both lay down flat. The two women shimmered and changed into their animal forms, emerging from now-empty clothing to shake their fur. With stealthy paws, they headed toward the undergrowth. Kuno and Tonbo folded the clothing, took up their comrades’ weapons, and followed on behind. Benten limped with them, finding himself a sturdy stick to help bear his weight.

As Tonbo
had folded Sura’s robes, a slight chink of coins could be heard. Clambering onto Sura’s back, Chiri looked back towards Tonbo then cast a sharp eye at the fox.

“
Did you take money out of that dead samurai’s purse?”

“Well he isn’t using it!” Sura happily
wagged her tail. “Hey – he stole it from the peasants! I’ll use it to buy drinkies and cool snacks, and get it right back into the local economy. It’s sheer practical charity!”

The rat shook her whiskered head. “
You are an incorrigible being.”

“Oh!” Sura seemed honestly touched. “
Oh! Oh Chiri – that’s so sweet to hear!”

The fox turned for a moment and made certain the humans were all safe. The boys had all vanished
into the trees. She was quietly relieved – stealth was hardly a human speciality.

“I like that Benten guy’s covered
armour. Keeps it quiet – good idea.”

“Should we suggest it to Tonbo san?”

“Aww – I love his green armour lacing. It really brings out the blood red of his eyes.” Sura spied dead ground ahead – tangled brambles no human being would ever dare approach. “Here we go – into the briar patch. Duck your head.”

“It’s ducked.”

Sura slipped carefully into the bramble thicket. With Chiri riding on her back, she padded quietly onwards, heading towards the darker depths of the woods. Keeping mere inches from the ground, Bifuuko and Daitanishi followed on her trail.

Sharp rat ears and a sharp fox nose soon felt their way into the Raiden clan’s
defences.

There were
‘hides’ concealed in the forest – huts camouflaged and dug into the sod, covered with leaves and planted with bushes. From carefully hidden slits, Raiden huntsmen kept a watch upon the surrounding area. Sura smelled the scent of the occupants from afar, and led the way to stealthily observe the first of the guard posts. Chiri burrowed under loose leaves and explored carefully behind the hide. She returned to quietly whisper into Sura’s ear.

“It sounds like six men.
They’re on the alert.”

“Can they see to the rear of the hide?”

“No, Sura san. Not unless they leave.”

“Good.” The fox jerked her nose towards the rise beyond.
“There’s another over there. I think they have a whole chain of them.”

Sura led the way to a fallen log. They climbed carefully on top, hiding behind some bramble coils. Sura
pointed with her nose off towards a distant hummock in the underbrush a hundred paces away.

“There
. Do you see that?

The rat gave a frown. “S
ura – my range of vision is rather short in animal form.”

“
Oh!” The fox blinked, taking the information on board. “Well – there’s another hide – inside an old collapsed hut. This one has some sort of officer – looks like one of those Raiden samurai. Must be more of those archer guys as well.”

“Do you think they killed the child lost in the forest?”

“Benten thinks so. And he’d know...”

They retreated back down to the forest floor. The two hides could almost see one another: they
certainly covered the ground between. Humans would find it impossible to enter the area unseen, but the animal spirits were another matter entirely.

A shallow fold in the gr
ound a mere hand span or two deep proved to be the way past the guard posts. It led off towards a rise, heading for the river. Sura looked for a covered entry point, and the two friends slipped off through the weeds.

The low
ground was perfect. Sura took the lead, nosing carefully forward, orange fur blending perfectly with the fallen leaves. Chiri scampered behind her, occasionally pausing to listen and test the air. Moving stealthily, they bypassed a second line of lookout posts. With these behind them, the two animals moved onwards at a better pace.

A narrow cleft between some boulders
led across a great, steep rise. Sura scanned carefully for any sight, scent or sound of unwelcome observers, but the area seemed quiet. Somewhere off and beyond, she could hear the sounds of a river. But the scent of the forest was tainted by something worse – a distinct scent of rot and carrion. Sura sniffed again at the cleft, very unhappy with the stench. Chiri joined her, and made a face at the smell.

“A
deer?”

“It’
s sure something. Smells old.” Sura considered for a moment. “The Raiden huntsmen have clearly been taking a toll on the local wildlife. Let’s take it slowly again.”

They nosed
their way up and along the cleft – stopping in cover to carefully watch the way ahead. They had crept forward thirty paces or more, when suddenly Sura halted, carefully sniffing at the air.

The scent of rot was far, far stronger
here.

The ground just ahead seemed
wrong
– too dry and smooth. The rest of the cleft had deep, soft layers of leaves over moist soil, and yet the leaves mere inches ahead seemed subtly drier.

Interesting...

The fox dug at the soil with her front paws, shovelling away industriously. Suddenly a section of ground ahead collapsed, spilling down into an open space below. Sura instantly jerked back.

A great stench of decay arose.

A wide, deep pit had been dug into the path – a hole that had then been carefully covered over with a light framework of woven river canes smothered in dead leaves. Sura edged carefully forward, wary of the crumbling edges, and peered down into the space below.

“Oh no.”

“
What is it, Sura san?”

“One of our
missing townsfolk.”

A pit trap had been
set into the damp ground of the cleft – a deep hole with sharpened bamboo stakes at the bottom. A body lay amongst the spikes – a mere skeleton now, decayed and rotten. Sharpened, discoloured stakes jutted upward through the bones.

Chiri stared
, quite chilled.

“He must have been there for a year – maybe two.”

“They never even buried him.” Sura was darkly angered. “Just re-covered the pit and hoped for another kill.”

The fox looked off along the cleft.

“Yeah – I’m hoping to spear a
lot
more of these guys...”

There was no pathway past the pit, but it was a
simple jump for a fox. Sura measured the distance happily, then opened her mouth to hold the rat. Chiri winced away.

“Not in the mouth!”

“Hey – it’s no fun for me either! You put some sort of funky herb stuff on your fur – it tastes like soap.” Sura gently picked up Chiri and spoke past a mouthful of white rat. “Eww! It’s kinda weird!”

Chiri hung with her middle between Sura’s teeth, her head and rump both hanging out in the air. She gave a scowl.

“I am not happy.”

“
Don’t be such a baby!”

Bifuuko and
Daitanishi flew at Sura’s side as she leapt clear over the pit. Soggy and decidedly not pleased, Chiri clambered out of Sura’s mouth. She shook out her fur – but only a bath would put things into order now. Sura sat and rubbed at her tongue with the back of her paws, trying to work the taste out of her mouth. Chiri glowered.

“It is a pleasant, herbal taste!”

“It sure isn’t chicken. Maybe you should switch to that peach kernel stuff too?” Sura padded onward towards the far side of the cleft. “Come on. Let’s see what all this is for.”

The cleft fed up and over a sharp ridge. The ridge itself was perched high above the river valley. Chiri, Sura and the two elementals crept to the edge
and peered carefully down past rocks and boulders towards the valley floor.

The
river was an utter hive of industry.

A shabby village sat on flat land beside the
water – a place of rough thatched shanties and streets of mud. There were Raiden foot soldiers on guard, and pack horses being loaded with heavy boxes. But most startling of all, there were perhaps two hundred men wading in the shallows on both river banks. Men had stationed themselves all along the valley, some of them on gravel islands – some working on the banks, or even in boats, dredging gravel from the river with ropes and buckets.

The
men all had shallow pans and trays, and were sluicing through the river mud. Yet more workers were high up on the banks, digging trenches. Baskets of earth were carried to the river and dumped into wooden troughs, where buckets of water were washed through the slurry. Raiden samurai oversaw the operation. Patrols of Raiden huntsmen came in from the forest, threading their way towards the campfires, where rice and tea were being made.

Both
Sura and Chiri changed into their larger ‘fur forms’ – both lying naked in cover. With greatly improved eyesight, Chiri peered down into the valley, watching the teams of labouring men.

They were panning for gold.

There were clearly more teams further up the river – the current ran horribly with mud. It was a considerable operation for so quiet and supposedly worthless an area.

Chiri laid a hand upon Sura’s arm. She quietly pointed
to one of the large sluicing trays beside the river. An overseer had taken a small vial in hand, and was shaking out a drop of two of some substance into the slurry. Chiri nodded, then whispered into Sura’s ear.

“Quicksilver! It binds with gold dust so that they can extract it more easily from the mud.”

“And the quicksilver then washes into the river…” Sura settled back behind a rock. “This fief must be worth a fortune! But why not exploit it properly? Make a road from the town – bring in miners and make a proper camp?”

A patrol
of Raiden huntsmen began mounting the ridge, heading in the general direction of the rock cleft. Sura and Chiri pulled back, returning themselves to animal form. It was high time they were gone. They padded back down the cleft. Once again, Sura gently took Chiri in her jaws and leapt across the pit trap, the two elementals forging forward to scout the way ahead. They flitted carefully back down into the woods, back to the little sheltered fold of ground, and bypassed the watchful guards inside their hidden bunkers. They retraced their path into the forest – past the scene of their battle, and back along the twisting, turning trail.

At the edge of the forest, they found Tonbo, Kuno and the ronin Benten
waiting for them. Sura and Chiri threaded themselves back into their robes and changed back into their human forms. Sura took a drink, then let Tonbo help her up off the ground. She was damned glad to once again be holding her spear.

“The whole forest is full of traps.
They have guard stations camouflaged down amongst the leaves.” The fox passed her canteen to Chiri. “A human would never make it in unseen.”

Benten
listened intently to every word.

“Did you reach the river, K
itsune san?”

“Yeah. There’s a
mining camp. Two or three hundred workers are panning the river for gold. The quicksilver is used for gold mining.” Sura took her canteen back, and led the way across the fields. “Quick – let’s get back into town before that dead patrol gets found.”

The group headed out across the field, marching for the protection of the town, helping Benten with his wounded leg. Kuno kept a sharp eye upon the surrounding fields.

“A gold mine? But why go to such lengths to keep it secret?” Kuno scowled, ordering his thoughts. “This must have been the reason the Raiden attacked the Usagi. And they deliberately keep up the pretence that this fief is impoverished.”

“Yeah – I’m starting to see a
murderous scam.” Sura cast an eye at the first houses, now a few paces ahead. “But what were the deaths in the town? People who blundered into the scheme and knew too much?”

Kuno shook his head. “That would not explain the dead
lord. And the methods are far too dissimilar.”