Scott McGough - Guardian, Saviors of Kamigawa

Toshi cocked his head. “If you’re thanking me, why are you-?”

“Because I no longer need you, now that I have this.” She patted the plate on her hip. “I can pursue my own path to vengeance. When I get the soratami where I want them, I’ll invoke it and kill them all.”

“But you’ll never-”

“Maybe not,” Kiku interrupted. “But now I might never have to. I will deal with this in my own way, in my own time. Thank you, oath-brother. Now piss off.”

Kiku turned away, and Toshi’s brain fairly whirred as the thoughts assembled themselves. He had to act quickly and speak carefully. He hadn’t wanted to do this, but he absolutely needed Kiku and Marrow to make his plans work.

“I will release you from the hyozan oath,” he said.

Kiku stopped. Slowly, she turned, a sly grin forming at the corners of her mouth.

“Say that again.”

“I’ll let you go,” Toshi said. “Do this one last thing with me. One last go-round for the hyozan reckoners. Work with me and Marrow to take down the soratami. You’ll be entirely free. No gang, no masters, no shadow curse, nothing to stop you from doing exactly as you like, whenever you like.”

Kiku stepped up to Toshi. She looked him full in the face, her maddening, enticing scent wafting up to his nostrils.

“Say it again,” she said. “Once more, and plainly. Toy with me and I’ll plant a bloom in your throat before you can breathe.”

“Once last job,” Toshi said. “Be a reckoner with Marrow and me one last time, and then the hyozan will cease to exist.”

Kiku shook her head, still smiling. “I knew you were lying. What about the ogre?”

“He’s still around, still a central pillar that supports the oath,” Toshi said. “And that’s how you know you can trust me.”

The gorgeous mahotsukai’s eyebrows raised, but she said nothing.

“Our first stop,” he said, “is Minamo Academy. That’s where the soratami are. And that is where Hidetsugu is, actively and enthusiastically pursuing his own grudge against the moonfolk and their patron kami. With our help, he will very likely succeed.”

Kiku toyed with her flower. “And if he can’t?”

Toshi held her eyes. “If he can’t or won’t, we go on without him. If he tries to stop us, we destroy him.”

Realization flashed across Kiku’s face. “Which you cannot do if the oath is still in place. But as long as he thinks it’s in place, he won’t attack us.” She grinned mirthlessly. “I like it.”

“Told you I was crafty.”

“No, I told you you were crafty. And I was drunk when I said it.” She paused. “All right, ochimusha, you win. But let me out of your little gang now, before we take another step.”

“Bad idea,” Toshi said. “Without the oath, Hidetsugu can hurt you. He hasn’t been the most rational being lately, and I wouldn’t trust him to restrain himself. He might suffer for killing us, but we’d still be dead.”

Kiku looked at him icily.

“Also,” Toshi added, “if I let you off the hook now, there’s no guarantee that you’ll come with me … or leave me alive, for that matter. I need your help and I want to stay alive, so I’m going to wait a little while longer.”

Kiku stood and stared for a while. Slowly, she started to nod, and the gesture grew stronger until she was shaking her purple-black hair vigorously up and down.

“All right. I know there’s a lot you’re not telling me, but that’s just you. Even so, you make a compelling case. It will be nice to be free of certain … entanglements for a change.” Kiku pressed her palms together and bowed slightly. “You win, Toshi. Let’s go.”

“You won’t regret it.” Toshi was careful not to let the relief show on his face. He needed Kiku’s power, even without her masters’ curse enhancing it. He hoped convincing Marrow-Gnawer would be easier, because even though the ratman was far less useful in a fight, he was ultimately as important to the job as Kiku or even Toshi himself.

Kiku straightened up and took a step closer to Toshi. She trailed a finger up his throat and touched his lips.

“Do you remember last night?” she cooed. “Every thing we did, every sound we made, every sensation we felt?”

Toshi nodded, enthusiastically earnest for the first time in a long time. “Every second, Kiku.”

She chucked him gently under the chin. “Good,” she said. “Because it’s never going to happen again.”

The mahotsukai turned and wafted into the dwelling. Toshi waited until she was completely out of sight, then blew a long, thin stream of relief between his pursed lips.

So far, so good, he thought.

They found Marrow-Gnawer in the western quadrant of Takenuma. The nezumi-bito ratfolk were everywhere in the swamp, but most of them made their homes as far from human society as they could. They were generally vicious and filthy creatures, but they were tough and cunning and could follow orders. Marrow was a leader among his people due to his size, his smarts, and his long history of working with humans. There was no job too dirty for a nezumi, but Marrow brought a bit of competence and common sense to his criminal endeavors.

As Kiku and Toshi approached the huge nest Marrow’s people had excavated into the side of a hill, they noticed hundreds of yellow pinpricks staring at them. Fiery rat eyes shined from the brush, from behind trees, from holes in the ground. Usually, a crowded nezumi den would be a noisy, chattering mess, but despite so many ratfolk being nearby, the hillside was eerily silent.

Marrow emerged from the nest and motioned for Toshi and Kiku to stop. They waited as the ratman dropped to all fours and scurried toward them.

He was big for a nezumi, almost four and a half feet tall, and he was armed with a rusting but viciously sharp short sword. His rough-woven clothes were caked with grime and threadbare, but he had covered his chest with a piece of someone else’s shield and fashioned a leather harness into crude protective headgear.

Marrow stopped a few feet away and tentatively sniffed the air. Satisfied, he rose and offered a cringing little bow. “Fellow reckoners,” he said, “it’s not safe here.”

Toshi looked around. “Soratami?”

Marrow shook his head. “Kami,” he said. “The spirits have been very restless for the past few days. We’ve got nowhere else to go, so we’re digging in until things settle down.”

Toshi pulled back his sleeve and showed Marrow the false hyozan mark there. “We’ve got reckoner business, oath-brother. The nest will have to manage without you for a little while longer.”

Marrow glanced back at the yellow eyes watching him from the tunnel entrance. His voice suddenly rose, echoing off the hillside. “I can’t possibly leave now, oath-brother,” he declared. “As the pack elder, my place is here.” Marrow’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m in,” he hissed. “Take me with you.”

Toshi cocked his head, confused.

“No, don’t argue.” Marrow’s voice rang out loud and clear. “My people need me.” Whispering again, he said, “Come on, Toshi. Get me out of here. We’re crammed in there six-deep, and I don’t know how much longer I can take it.”

Toshi opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Marrow bawled, “All right, then. An oath is an oath.” He winked at the ochimusha.

A concerned chattering began to rise inside the hill. The other nezumi didn’t seem happy about their new elder leaving them to fend for themselves.

“Do you need to get anything?” Toshi muttered. “Maybe you should say goodbye, soften the blow a bit. They seem upset.”

Marrow-Gnawer stared at Toshi for a long moment, and the ochimusha could almost see the thoughts assembling in the nezumi’s brain. When everything fit, the little brute’s eyes snapped open and he flashed a devilish grin.