The Beast Warrior Read online

  “Yes. We collect eggs every year, but once every five years, we put all the eggs gathered into the Kiba Pond and raise the hatchlings with tokujisui. They grow quicker and larger than the other Toda and have big, strong fangs. In other words, the only difference is that Kiba are given tokujisui while the rest aren’t. When we found out that all the Kiba were female today, I was shocked. Do you think that giving them tokujisui turns them into females?”

  As Elin mulled his question over, her thoughts were drawn to the Royal Beasts. Those raised on tokujisui never fully matured, but Leelan, who had been raised without it, had matured and mated with Eku to produce their cub Alu. She frowned. Alu and her siblings should have reached maturity by now but had not. Esalu had said that there was no need to worry just yet: with large animals like Royal Beasts, there was quite a bit of physical variation. But Elin couldn’t help feeling that something important was lacking in Alu and her siblings’ environment.

  Elin had raised them without tokujisui in conditions very similar to those in nature, so why hadn’t they started mating yet? Perhaps with Royal Beasts there were multiple factors, complexly interrelated, that affected sexual maturation. Even so, it was clear that tokujisui affected reproduction. That must be why the Kiba, as well as the other Toda, which were given a diluted version known as hakujisui, didn’t mate and reproduce.

  But was tokujisui really powerful enough to determine sex? If it was and all the Kiba given heavy doses became female because of it, then it was unlikely that tokujisui caused the mass deaths.

  Elin raised her face and looked at Chimulu. “Do any Kiba die of old age?”

  Chimulu nodded. “Yes, of course.” He glanced at Yohalu. “But they’re surprisingly susceptible to disease, and many are killed in battle, too. I’ve only seen two or three Kiba that died of old age.”

  Yohalu gave a wry smile. “Because Kiba form the vanguard. The Kiba troops lose the greatest number of Toda Riders, too.”

  Elin stroked her chin. “But some Kiba do die of old age. In that case, the fact that all the Kiba were female may not be the direct cause.”

  Chimulu and Yohalu looked taken aback. “Ah, I see,” Yohalu murmured. “If being female is what caused their deaths, mass die-offs should occur much more often.”

  “You’re right!” Chimulu exclaimed. “And while they may not live to be that old, many live ten years or more.”

  “How old were the Kiba that died this year?” Elin asked.

  “They were all three.”

  Elin frowned. “They were all the same age? Do you mean that you kept only one generation of Kiba in the Stone Chambers of this village? Weren’t there any older ones?”

  Chimulu grimaced. “No, there weren’t. Like I said, they’re more susceptible to disease and more often killed in combat. The last of the older ones were all killed in the most recent battle. There were six of them, eight years old and thirteen years old—”

  “Hang on a second.” Elin stopped him as she tried to catch the tail end of a thought. She pressed a finger to the spot between her eyebrows, and gradually, the idea came back. Eyes bright, she gazed at Chimulu. “The Kiba that died this time were all three years old,” she said slowly. “But the older ones that you had left, which would’ve been the eight-year-olds and thirteen-year-olds, were still healthy before the last battle. Excluding those that had already died of illness or been killed.” Chimulu nodded, looking a bit perplexed. “The Kiba that died this time were all three-year-olds,” Elin repeated as if to herself, her eyes still on Chimulu.

  “Yes. What about it?” he asked.

  But Elin didn’t hear him. The dead Kiba were all born in the same year. If so, something may have happened that year that led to their deaths. Maybe some difference in the weather or the water temperature when they had hatched had caused some kind of physical change. Hope dawned in her heart. There were still too many unknown factors to judge, but she felt sure this line of reasoning could help her find the cause of the mass deaths.

  A hot rush of excitement warmed her skin, but she quenched it; when a breakthrough seemed within reach was when she needed to use the most caution. If she became obsessed with exploring a single path, it could blind her to other possibilities.

  They knew so little about the Toda. She had to collect facts, one by one, and think them over. Still, she was happy to have found a clue that would serve as a starting point. She would take her first steps from there. The path she had glimpsed through the mist might be a mirage, but she would never know until she followed it.

  4

  ESALU’S CONCERNS

  A chill spring wind rustled through the grass, which was wet with morning dew. In the meadow, two Royal Beasts rubbed their heads against each other, sniffing each other’s chests, then looked up and trilled in fluty voices. Lululululu.

  Esalu, headmistress of the Kazalumu Royal Beast Sanctuary, gazed at this scene with a twinge of anxiety. Based on past experience, she knew that Leelan and Eku would take their mating flight today or at the very latest tomorrow. And if they did, Leelan would most certainly conceive. Over ten years had passed since Leelan had borne her first cub, Alu. She hadn’t mated again for another two years, but when three Royal Beasts at the sanctuary had died the following year, she and Eku had mated and conceived a second cub as though trying to fill the empty spaces. That cub, Kalu, was now fully grown, and his younger sister Mina, born a few years later, was growing well and romping about the plateau.

  Overjoyed by the births, the Yojeh and the Aluhan had not only granted the sanctuary a generous sum of money each time, but had also sent healthy wild Royal Beast cubs. Celebrating each birth with a lavish banquet, they had proclaimed far and wide that it proved the god was pleased with the new Yojeh’s rule. Esalu guessed that they sought to allay people’s uneasiness about the Yojeh’s marriage to the Aluhan, a union unheard of in the nation’s history.

  It was the gift of the wild cubs that particularly worried Esalu. Royal Beasts raised at the sanctuary on tokujisui never mated. At Elin’s insistence, however, Leelan had never been given tokujisui, and she became the only Royal Beast in captivity to reach sexual maturity. When Eku, a mature wild male, was brought to the sanctuary to be treated for an injury, she had come into heat, mated, and conceived. This fact had captured the interest of both the Yojeh and the Aluhan.

  Seimiya had never commanded Elin to breed more Royal Beasts. When she had begged Elin to fly Leelan in order to save Shunan from death at the hand of his younger brother, she had vowed never to use the Royal Beasts as weapons again. But it would be foolish to assume the rulers of this land would be indifferent to creatures powerful enough to vanquish the Toda. Esalu knew this and was sure that Elin knew it, too, though she never mentioned it. Everyone had believed that Royal Beasts could never be tamed. But the sight of Elin flying Leelan into battle and single-handedly subduing the Toda troops was seared into their minds, along with the possibility that Royal Beasts could become invincible weapons.

  So when the Yojeh and her husband sent wild cubs to Kazalumu to commemorate the births of Alu, her younger brother Kalu, and little sister Mina, Esalu couldn’t help but suspect an ulterior motive. Had they sent them so that the newborn cubs would each have a mate when they matured? Were they hoping that the Royal Beasts would multiply?

  She looked at Nola, a female sent as a gift at Kalu’s birth, and Ukalu and Tohba, both males. They stood slightly apart, watching with keen interest as Leelan and Eku nuzzled each other. Tohba, who was not yet fully grown, showed no change, but the chests of both Nola and Ukalu had flushed to a delicate pink in response to the scent of the courting pair.

  There was a rattling noise, and Esalu turned to see Tomura, one of the teachers, wrestling with the gate. When they neared mating, Royal Beasts could become aggressive. To prevent anyone from disturbing them, Esalu had asked the custodians to erect a temporary fence around this part of the field. Perhaps it had been put up too hastily, because the gate always got caught on the frame.
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  After a brief struggle, Tomura succeeded in opening it and came to stand beside Esalu. “They’re so lovey-dovey, it’s almost embarrassing to watch, isn’t it?” he murmured, gazing up at the pair. With a slight frown, he added, “It looks like they’ll take their mating flight soon, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, could be anytime now,” said Esalu.

  Tomura shifted his gaze to Ukalu and the others. “Their courtship seems to be affecting those youngsters over there. Do you think Ukalu will fly when Leelan and Eku mate?”

  Esalu folded her arms. “He might. Male animals often fight over a female in heat, although we don’t know if that’s true for Royal Beasts.” Her eyebrows drew together. “Even small animals like tomcats will fight ferociously for a mate, but between Royal Beasts, such a contest could be ghastly.”

  Tomura looked at Esalu. “But they wouldn’t go so far as to kill each other, would they?”

  “Probably not. As long as one backs down, the fight will end. In the animal world, that is. Only humans go so far as to kill each other over a female,” Esalu said caustically. Her face grew thoughtful. “Still, when it comes to Royal Beasts, we just don’t know. While they might not kill each other outright, the wounds could be fatal. We’d better be prepared.”

  The Royal Beasts in the sanctuary were the property of the Yojeh, and Esalu, as the headmistress, was responsible for their protection. It was unlikely she would be blamed too harshly if anything happened. Because there had never been more than one pair ready to mate before, no one could expect her to anticipate the consequences. If they weren’t prepared, however, that would be a different story. This thought caused a constant tightness in Tomura’s chest for he had been entrusted with the care of Leelan and the others in Elin’s absence, but Esalu, who had decades of experience at the sanctuary, betrayed no trace of concern.

  Tomura glanced at Alu, Kalu, and Mina, who were some distance away from their parents, and his face clouded. “Alu hasn’t come into heat yet, has she?” he said. The three siblings frolicked in the sunshine, apparently oblivious to the scent of their parents or of the wild Beasts. As Esalu watched Alu patiently endure her younger sister Mina’s playful tugging, she felt a heaviness fill her chest.

  She’d been concerned about them the last few days as Leelan, stimulated by Eku, came into heat, and Ukalu and Nola showed signs of response. Alu and her siblings had never been given tokujisui or been frozen with the Silent Whistle. In that sense, they’d been raised in conditions closer to those in the wild than Leelan had. Yet they showed no interest at all in the scent of the wild Royal Beasts and no sign of sexually maturing.

  Esalu shook her head slowly. “Let’s worry about them later,” she said. “It may be that Royal Beasts mature at different times. Humans do. Not all women begin their periods in the same year.”

  “That’s true,” Tomura said. He sighed. “What a time for Elin to be absent. It’s been quite a while since the Aluhan summoned her. Has there been any word about when she’ll return?”

  Arms still folded across her chest, Esalu heaved a sigh. She’d heard nothing since she had received a brief letter from the Aluhan explaining that he had sent Elin to investigate the cause of some Toda deaths. Considering that any information related to the Toda was top secret, she hadn’t expected to hear more. But she couldn’t help worrying. She opened her mouth to speak, but then paused, eyebrows raised. Her eyes had caught a movement among the trees at the edge of the broad expanse of forest that stretched behind the Beasts. Squinting, she realized what it was. One of the Aluhan’s soldiers, who guarded the sanctuary, was waving to her. She could tell from the motion that it wasn’t an emergency, but when she turned in the direction to which he pointed, she clicked her tongue.

  Tomura cast her a quick look of surprise, then followed her gaze. “Not again,” he muttered with a frown. A little figure was creeping through the meadow toward Alu, crawling on all fours like a pup. He probably thought he was concealed by the long grasses, but from here, he was clearly visible.

  “He must have snuck around from the valley,” Tomura said with an exasperated look. “Though I suppose I should at least give him credit for having guts.”

  No one was allowed in the sanctuary without permission. The front and back gates were well guarded, and people who climbed the road up the hill from the village couldn’t get through without being detected. Even if they did, because Leelan was nearing her mating flight, they would need a key to open the gate through the fence.

  The dorm students were keenly aware of how dangerous the Royal Beasts were, and none, no matter how rebellious, would dare to approach them. Still, the fence had been built to discourage climbers. The only way for someone coming from the village to get near the Royal Beasts was to approach from the rear through the forest. This meant traveling a long way around to ford the mountain stream and climb the steep cliff on the other side, before hiking through the trees, where the Aluhan’s soldiers kept watch.

  The soldier who had waved signaled that he was leaving the intruder in their hands. Tomura took a step toward the boy, but Esalu stopped him and strode off, making a wide arc so as not to get too close to Alu and the others. Alu and Mina paused in their play and stared at Esalu as she walked purposefully past them. She gripped the Silent Whistle that hung from her neck, prepared to blow it at any moment.

  When he realized that he had been discovered, the boy rose from his hiding place behind Alu. For a moment, he looked as if he was about to run, but to do so could startle the Royal Beasts, and he appeared to reconsider. Rather than dashing off, he began to back away slowly. He looked so comical that laughter rose in Esalu’s throat, but she forced it down. Keeping her face stern, she strode up to him and grabbed him by the collar. Silently, she hauled him some distance away from the Royal Beasts, then glanced at Alu.

  Although Alu and her siblings were watching her curiously, they made no sign of approaching. The Royal Beasts were wary of Esalu, and never came up to her or cooed the way they did with Elin. Once she confirmed they wouldn’t follow, she turned back to the boy. “Surely you realize what you’re doing, Jesse?”

  He pursed his lips and looked up at her. His short-cropped black hair and dark eyes were just like his father’s, but the way his eyes gleamed and the stubborn set of his jaw reminded her of Elin when she was younger. His hair was tangled and his soft cheeks were scratched, as if he had crawled through a thicket.

  “Answer me, Jesse.”

  The boy cringed at the sharpness in her voice, but his eyes showed no sign of being cowed. “I just came to see my brothers and sisters!” he said. “That’s all!”

  Esalu’s eyebrows rose. “Your brothers and sisters?” For a moment, she struggled to grasp what he was talking about, then sighed. He’d been coming to this meadow ever since he was a baby on Elin’s back and had been playing with Alu and the others for as long as he could remember. She supposed that to him they must seem like family. Elin had raised him very strictly, and whenever he was with her, he wore a solemn expression as if to say he understood very well how dangerous the Royal Beasts were. But how could a boy of just eight possibly understand their true danger?

  Esalu opened her mouth to give him a good scolding, only to close it again in futility. No matter what she might say, he was simply too young to understand why he shouldn’t go near Alu and the others. Plus, his stubbornness was formidable. If he believed he was right, he wouldn’t budge.

  Changing tacks, she decided to strike his weak side. “I see,” she said, feigning disgust. “Well, I’m really sorry to hear that. I had no idea that you cared so little about your family. It doesn’t even bother you that your actions are going to make them suffer.”

  Jesse looked puzzled for a moment. “What do you mean?” he snapped. “I’m not going to make them suffer.”

  “Yes, you are. Because of you, I’ll have to lock Alu and the others in the stable. If there’s a possibility that an intruder—and by that, I mean you, Jesse—could approac
h them, I can’t let them out into the pasture. What choice have you left me but to keep them inside? From now on, I’ll have to shut them up in the dark. They won’t like it, but it can’t be helped, can it? As long as there’s someone like you around who just can’t obey the rules.”

  Jesse’s expression changed to one of shocked disbelief. Then his face crumpled. Though young, he was old enough to understand Esalu’s logic. He looked at Alu and the others, then raised his eyes to Esalu’s face. The coldness of her expression told him that she was quite serious, and tears sprang into his eyes. He sniffled hastily and struggled to suppress his sobs, but his lips trembled.

  “I’m sorry!” he shouted. Startled, Alu and the other young Beasts swiveled their heads toward him. Esalu raised the Silent Whistle to her lips, but Jesse stretched up, grabbing her hand in his small one. “Don’t blow it,” he whispered fiercely. “Please! Don’t! I promise I won’t come here anymore. So please, please don’t shut them up in the stable. That would be too cruel.”

  Esalu kept her gaze stern, resisting the urge to smile. “You expect me to believe that?” she said. “You already promised once before that you wouldn’t come again, yet here you are. Do you expect me to believe someone who breaks their promise for their own selfish reasons?”

  At this, the tears rolled unchecked down Jesse’s cheeks. Hiccupping, he wailed, “I’m sorry! I’ll never break my promise again, so please, please don’t lock them up! I’ll keep my promise! Really, I will!”

  Esalu glared at him. Although still hiccupping, he never let his eyes waver from hers. At last, she said quietly, “You’re sure I can trust you?”

  Jesse nodded emphatically. His face deadly serious, he raised his index finger and pointed to his chest, a gesture that meant if he broke his promise, she could kill him.

  Esalu bit back a laugh, but couldn’t keep a lopsided smile from her lips. Placing a hand on his small shoulder, she gave him a little shake. “Then I won’t lock them up. Now come. I’ll ask Professor Tomura to take you home to your father.”