Guardian of the Spirit Read online

  “Then I heard a voice. The Star Reader was chanting, his voice shaking. I saw him raise a shining sword above my son. Forgetting myself, I gathered all my strength and screamed. Instantly, the light disappeared, almost as if I were waking from a dream. Sound and the chill night air returned, and I realized that during those moments I had heard and felt nothing. The prince lay sleeping as if nothing had happened, and for a moment I thought I truly had been dreaming.

  “But it was clearly no dream, because the Star Reader was drenched in sweat, as if someone had thrown hot water over him. And he was glaring at me.”

  “Glaring at you, Your Highness?”

  The queen clenched her teeth. “He said something terrible, something absolutely outrageous to me. He must have been so ashamed that I had seen his fear, he —” She was trembling, but somehow she managed to spit out the words. “He pointed at the prince, and he dared to ask me whether the blood of the Mikado really ran in his veins!”

  “But why?”

  The queen glared at Balsa. “Why? I would like to know myself! No matter how I pressed him, he only shook his head. Then he said, ‘Sooner or later, he who sleeps there will die.’ ” Sobs escaped her lips. “I was furious. I asked him how he could predict the prince’s death without taking measures to protect him. But he said, ‘If he were truly of royal blood, that thing would not be inside him. So do not accuse me of foretelling the death of a prince.’ ”

  The boy woke suddenly, startled by the sound of his mother’s weeping. He patted her timidly on the back, clearly trying to comfort her. Then he turned to glare at Balsa. His eyes were so strikingly like the queen’s that it wrenched her heart. “Did you insult my mother?” he demanded.

  “Shh!” The queen covered his mouth with her small hand. “You have misunderstood. You chose a good time to wake, Chagum. I was asking her to save your life.”

  Balsa broke into a cold sweat, acutely aware that she was being drawn inexorably into deep trouble. “Your Highness, please. Wait a minute.”

  “No. Let me finish my story first. Please.”

  Chagum looked up at his mother in surprise. Balsa was sure that he had never seen her plead with a commoner before.

  “Chagum, you must listen carefully too. Although you are far too young, you must engrave my words on your mind, and remember that you may never have the chance to hear them again.”

  He nodded obediently.

  “I have thought day and night about what the Star Reader said. And I think that I finally understand. He did not reveal any details to me; in fact, I think that he himself does not know what is inside my son — only that it is so terrible it will kill him. But he did make one thing very clear: Whatever this creature is, no one from the gods could ever be chosen to harbor it. Therefore, if it is inside Chagum, he cannot possibly be the Mikado’s child. That is what the Star Reader meant.”

  “You mean the Mikado is not my father?” Chagum stared at her wide-eyed.

  She answered him clearly, her voice quiet but intense. “I swear by earth and heaven, you are the Mikado’s son.” Then she looked at Balsa. “That at least I know for certain. Which means that some power that even the Star Reader doesn’t understand is working upon Chagum. Thus I wrote in secret to a highly reputed magic weaver in the capital, presenting it as a riddle to solve rather than something that had actually happened.”

  “What was the name of this magic weaver?”

  “Master Torogai.”

  “And the message went through? You were lucky. Torogai wanders like the wind and is almost impossible to find.”

  Once again, the prince looked bewildered; obviously, he had never seen a commoner speak to his mother like this before, either. When Balsa smiled at him, he frowned. Not a very friendly child, she thought.

  “Are you sure that magic weaver was any good?” he asked.

  “Yes, as far as I could learn, the very best.” The queen looked calmer now, and a faint smile touched her lips. “This was the essence of the reply: ‘I cannot say exactly what this “creature” is, but if it is the thing believed to have been destroyed long ago, the bearer will only die if he fails to protect the creature inside him. If he can keep himself and the creature alive until the midsummer solstice, he should survive.’ ”

  “That’s all?”

  The queen nodded. “This reply seemed to offer only more riddles, so I immediately sent a second message asking for a clearer answer. But by then Torogai had left the capital — to go where, no one knew. Still, I was happy that there was some hope.” Her eyes grew stern again. “But my relief did not last. Very soon after that, the ‘accidents’ began. It was then that I realized the Star Reader’s words had another, more sinister, meaning.”

  The prince clenched his fists.

  “Rumors that the prince carries such a creature would destroy the Mikado’s reputation as a descendant of the gods. To prevent this, he decided to have Chagum killed before anyone finds out, and to make his death appear to be an accident.”

  “My father? My own father?”

  The queen put her hand over the boy’s mouth again and drew him close in a tight embrace. “You must not hate him. He has no choice. Listen. Should he try to help you by summoning an exorcist, rumors would be bound to spread. Then it would no longer affect just you; it would affect the Mikado’s honor, his reputation, the entire future of this country. As long as you are his son, the prince, he must kill you.”

  Her voice shook and died away on the last words. Silence fell. Desperately suppressing her sobs, the young queen cleared her throat and looked squarely at Balsa. “I’ve thought about this carefully. Yesterday when I saw them bring Chagum into the palace, his wet hair clinging to his face, I made my decision. I want him to live. Even if he is no longer royal, he will still have a chance to experience the many joys of life. He will know what it is to fall in love, to be blessed with children…. If I can know that somewhere he is alive and safe, I think I can bear it, even if it means I never see him again. Separation is much, much better than the grief of seeing him dead. And if he is ever to have that chance, the time is now. Balsa, you are strong. I will give you a reward that no commoner could hope to receive in a lifetime. Please save my child. Protect him for me, and make sure that he has a happy life.”

  Gently she pushed the prince from her arms and removed two bags from inside her robe. She loosened the strings that fastened the richly woven sacks; gold glittered brightly in one, and pearls gleamed in the other. She looked up at Balsa confidently but then froze in surprise. Balsa remained totally unmoved, even at the sight of so much treasure.

  “Your Highness,” she said. “I’ve already explained that no matter how much you might give me, it’s no good to me if I’m dead. Forgive my rudeness, but I must speak plainly. You have dealt me an unfair and cowardly blow.”

  The queen went pale and began to tremble violently. “What do you mean?”

  “I saved the prince’s life, yet you reward me by taking my life. What would you call that but unfair and cowardly?”

  “I never said anything about taking your life!”

  Balsa looked her directly in the eye. “Are you sure? I am of lowly birth. If you summon me here, I have no choice but to come. If you wish to speak to me, I have no choice but to listen. And now that I’ve listened, I have two choices left: to die trying to do your bidding, or to refuse and die now. Both paths will certainly lead me to my death.”

  She knew the prince was glaring at her, but she ignored him to gaze steadily at the queen. Standing as she was on the brink of death, she couldn’t care less if she was being insolent.

  “I see,” the queen said. “You are right. I am indeed being unfair and a coward. But I was left no choice. I do not care if it is unfair or not. I will do whatever I must to protect him.” She lifted her chin. “It is true that you cannot be allowed to live now that you know this secret. Which do you choose, Balsa Spear-wielder? To die here? Or to protect the prince, take the treasure, and gamble on surviva
l?”

  Balsa smiled icily. “There are three men behind me, another two in the corridor, and three more behind you. You could trust only eight people, my queen? Nobody move! If you do, my spear will pierce the prince’s heart.” Her spear was already in her hand; she had snatched it up when the other two had glanced away. She could feel the men’s anger from behind the doors. The queen stared at Balsa, biting her lip.

  “Now, Your Highness,” said Balsa, “let me have that treasure and the prince.” The queen hugged the boy to her and glared. “Hurry!” Balsa urged. “Once dawn comes, it will be too late for us to get away. If you want us to escape safely, you must bring a dark cloth to cover his face and tell me a safe way out of the palace. When you think we’ve reached it, set fire to the prince’s bedroom. You can say he started it while lost in a nightmare, and the fire spread too quickly for you to save him. You must make sure they think the prince is dead! They will begin to suspect something when they don’t find a body in the ruins, but the time it takes them to make that discovery will determine our fate. Our success depends on how convincingly you act your part.”

  The queen looked at her speechlessly. “You …”

  The ice had melted from Balsa’s smile. “I was just a little frustrated. How could I choose to die now? I am, after all, a bodyguard, and I accept the prince as my charge. Now hurry!”

  Tears slid down the queen’s cheeks.

  They had to keep their movements secret, for not everyone in the palace could be trusted, and it was some time before they were ready to depart. By the time Balsa carried the prince to the place where the secret route out of the palace began, the black night was already tinged with the bluish hint of dawn. The morning air nipped their cheeks and turned their breath a frosty white. They would leave the grounds through the large pipe that drained the baths. It reeked of sulfur, and Balsa paused at the entrance for one last taste of fresh air.

  Suddenly they heard voices in the distance — an uproar that grew ever louder, though they could not hear any words. A faint glow appeared in a corner of the dark silhouette of the palace, and then suddenly they saw a burst of flame, like an oiled torch touched with fire.

  Balsa set the boy down and pulled his small body toward her. He resisted at first, but then leaned passively against her, still numbed by the sudden upheaval in his fortunes. “Look there. The boy who was a prince is dying in those flames. When the sun rises, you will no longer be the prince. You will be only Chagum. Remember that.”

  The boy struggled to suppress his sobs.

  “No one knows what his fate will be. If you live, there may come a day when you will see your mother again. If you die, that will never happen. Do you understand, Chagum?”

  He pressed his lips together and looked up at Balsa. Then, wiping away his tears violently, he nodded once.

  He has spirit, Balsa thought. She smiled. Then, giving him a gentle shove in the back, she led him forward into the black mouth of the pipe.

  The first rays of the morning sun exposed the charred ruins of Ninomiya Palace. While others picked through the acrid-smelling debris, one man stood aloof, gazing fixedly at the smoldering beams. Wrapped in a single robe of deep blue cloth, he appeared oblivious to the noisy hubbub around him. Arched brows that seemed almost brush-drawn topped his clean-cut features, and his brown eyes shone beneath them with an intense light. His name was Shuga, and he was rumored to be the most gifted young Star Reader in the country.

  “It should not have caused a fire,” he muttered. “If I’m right, that creature’s nature is water.”

  Worship me … A line from The Official History of New Yogo flitted through his mind. Recently, the legend had begun to plague his thoughts.

  Worship me, for I am the keeper of the water in this land. In return, I will charm this spring so that your fields will always bear plenty.

  With these words, a water demon had tried to deceive the first Mikado, Torugaru. Could that same demon now have possessed Prince Chagum? Shuga frowned, gripped by a cold fear. But two centuries have passed since New Yogo was founded. How could a monster opposed to the divine ruler have survived for so long?

  The Yogoese were not native to the Nayoro Peninsula. Originally, the land had belonged to the large-jawed, dark-skinned Yakoo, who lived in villages scattered across the fertile plain. There they had hunted the wild creatures and used fire to clear small plots for farming. Long ago, Torugaru, the divine founder of New Yogo, had forsaken his war-torn kingdom to lead his people across the sea and build a new country. Now that legend from the distant past threatened to disrupt Shuga’s life — if someone else didn’t foul it up first. Gakai! He clicked his tongue in disgust. This time it seems the Master Star Reader chose the wrong man. Now look what’s happened. It’s made everything so much worse.

  Turning his back abruptly on the smoking timbers, he strode away. It had been his turn to watch the stars last night and he had not slept. Exhaustion dragged at his eyelids, yet he hesitated only a moment before deciding: He would return to the Star Palace to request an audience with the Master Star Reader.

  Shuga fought his way against the flow of people hurrying toward the smoking ruins. Passing out of the gate to the palace, he headed quickly toward the east quarter of the Ogi no Kami district, where the Star Palace was located. Kosenkyo, the capital of New Yogo, meant “shining fan,” and true to its name, it unfolded from its center in Ogi no Kami, or “the handle of the fan,” at the river’s fork near the mountains. Ogi no Kami was divided into four quadrants. In the north quadrant lay the majestic Yogo Palace where the Mikado lived, its roof tiles trimmed in blue and gold. In the west stood Ichinomiya Palace, the home of the First Prince, and Ninomiya Palace, the home of the Second Prince. Sannomiya Palace, in which the Third Queen resided, was located in the south quadrant, and Hoshinomiya or “Star” Palace, where the Star Readers lived, sat in the east quadrant. A high plastered wall separated the entire district of Ogi no Kami from Ogi no Naka, “the center of the fan,” where the mere nobility lived. Through the middle of the wall passed the Great South Gate, opening onto the broad main street that ran through the center of the capital.

  Shuga crunched along the gravel path from Ninomiya Palace, thinking about the legend he had memorized during his apprenticeship as a Star Reader. It unfolded in his mind with the scent of musty paper …

  Once on a large continent far to the south, many kingdoms grew and flourished. The most powerful of these was Yogo, and it was there that the great seer, Kainan Nanai, was born. Highly gifted, he could see what happened in distant places and predict the future by reading the stars. When he reached manhood, he dedicated his life to Tendo, the Law of the Universe, by which our supreme god, Ten no Kami, governs all that happens in this world.

  Now it happened one day that the king of Yogo fell mortally ill, and his four sons launched a bloody war over the succession. The third-born son, Yogo Torugaru, grew weary of this bloodshed among brothers, and he declared that he would renounce his right to the throne. At the age of twenty-five, he left the capital and began living in quiet seclusion with his wife and child. One night, Kainan Nanai appeared at his door, bearing a strange prophecy that was to transform his fate and that of Nayoro Peninsula.

  “Sail across the northern sea,” he told Torugaru. “There you will find a peaceful paradise on a green and verdant peninsula. In that land, the voice of Ten no Kami can be heard more clearly than anywhere else. Rugged mountains will protect you from northern invaders, and the sea will guard you against attack from the mainland. Build your capital on the fan-shaped plain at the fork of the river flowing from the misty mountains. You must establish the power of Ten no Kami in that land, for you were born as his son to do his will on earth and are protected by his divine grace and favor.”

  The rumor of Nanai’s prophecy spread rapidly. Many flocked to Torugaru’s side, intent on following the son of their god to paradise. Torugaru resolved to leave his homeland behind, and he led a fleet of ships across the sea. Nanai r
ead the stars from the deck, guiding them safely across the mighty deep to the green peninsula of Nayoro. Torugaru traveled upriver toward the Misty Blue Mountains until he came to a fertile plain between the two rivers, just as was prophesied.

  As Torugaru was a peaceful man, he had no intention of overcoming the indigenous Yakoo by force. The Yakoo, however, frightened by the arrival of strangers from a foreign land, abandoned their villages and fled into the mountains.

  Faithful to Nanai’s instructions, Torugaru built a magnificent capital on the plain and began farming the land. That year, however, not a single grain of rice was harvested. Nanai’s Star Reading revealed that an evil spirit envied Ten no Kami’s power and cursed the river’s source, causing the crops to fail.

  Nanai beseeched Ten no Kami to aid Torugaru, his heaven-born son. For seven days and seven nights he remained lost in prayer, taking no food. On the night of the eighth day, the god spoke: “Give Torugaru a sacred sword, engraved with my seal. He and eight mighty warriors must travel to a spring deep within the Misty Blue Mountains. There he will find one whose soul has been devoured by this wicked spirit. It must be slain with the sword and its blood spilled into the river to wash away the evil spell. Only then will this land be purified and blessed with my bounty.”

  Nanai took the king’s sword and engraved on it the god’s symbol, the North Star. (This same sword, named Star’s Heart, has passed down through the royal line to this day.) Torugaru chose from among his vassals the eight most just and courageous warriors. Then, armed only with the sacred sword, he pushed his way deep into the mountains.

  Upon a mountain path, the warriors met some Yakoo, who were weeping bitterly. “Why do you grieve?” Torugaru asked.