Spice & Wolf X (DWT) Page 15

  He was preparing himself because thieves were unexpectedly common in such places. Most people out here would assume that only those they were familiar with would bother showing up here, and thieves preyed on that unguarded attitude.

  He opened the door to the room with the stove, and the dragging sounds became even clearer. No, they sounded like footsteps.. footsteps, and the scraping of some hard object. It was the sound of someone walking with a staff. They were being far too careless for a thief, and Lawrence wasn’t dumb enough to mistake the sound for a thief tiptoeing in the night. Who could it be at such a late hour?

  “..Nnnn.. ugh..”

  Holo turned over in bed to discover that Lawrence was no longer there. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, throwing a questioning glance in his direction. But her uncharacteristically immature display didn’t last long. She immediately noticed the footsteps and her eyes became those of a wolf’s. She climbed out of the covers so quickly it was impossible to tell that she was drunk, but her body was still no match for the cold and she shivered once.

  The footsteps were getting quite near. Ssshh.. thump.. creak. Holo looked at the door and then at Lawrence. She clearly wanted to inquire who their midnight visitor was, but Lawrence didn’t know any more than she did. The footsteps halted in front of the door, then someone reached out to turn the knob.

  The door slowly opened.

  “..Hu–”

  Lawrence didn’t have time to finish his sentence. He rushed toward the figure, to catch it before it fell over. It was covered with snow, apparently having arrived with much effort. It seemed to have the form of Huskins, but it wasn’t human. Lawrence was speechless.

  “..”

  The unknown creature before him had icicles dangling from its eyebrows, and he couldn’t tell if that was a beard around its mouth or just more icicles. The hand clutching the staff was frozen under snow such that it was impossible to know where the staff ended and the hand began.

  The creature was breathing very quietly.. so quietly, in fact, that it was a bit unsettling. Its eyes, buried in ice, gleaming with a piercing glow. Everyone was silent. This visitor was almost demonic, with an oddly hunched back, a head with sharp, coiled horns growing out of it, and crooked, goat-like knees.

  “Dear god..”

  The moment Lawrence instinctively murmured that, they heard the ice crack and fall off the demon’s face. By the time Lawrence realized the demon was smiling, Holo was already at his side.

  “..So you were a wolf..”

  Each time its lips moved, the icicles dangling from its beard rattled clearly against each other. It was Huskins’ voice.

  “Did you not even have the time to disguise yourself?”

  “..”

  He silently smiled, and slowly wiped his face with his free hand. A normal person would have died if they’d gone through what Huskins just had.

  “Are you here to mock me?”

  Holo’s spoke more coldly than the air that surrounded them. The half-demon named Huskins squinted as if she had pricked him in the eyes, then hobbled to his feet. Lawrence reflexively reached out to support his shoulder.

  What was before their eyes was a demon. It was a demon no matter how one looked at it. But Lawrence was obligated to support this demon, because Holo hadn’t made any attempt to conceal her ears or tail.

  “..Before a wolf.. a sheep should naturally hide itself.. isn’t that right?”

  Every move Huskins made was accompanied by the sound of ice crackling somewhere. Lawrence supported Huskins and walked him to the stove, letting him sit down. As he did they heard a gasp. Cole had awakened, and inhaled sharply.

  “As the old adage says, it is best to hide a tree in a forest. I did not even notice.”

  “..I am different from you.”

  Huskins watched Holo with one eye. Given her expression and her tail’s response, his words had clearly angered her. Even so, she had the capacity within her to admit the truth. She nodded and grudgingly spoke.

  “So what?”

  Huskins and Holo were similar beings, and Lawrence didn’t have a problem with that. This journey had taught him that their kind often kept a low profile by mixing in with humans. They lived in forests near towns where numerous dark rumors circulated, or in isolated districts where townspeople feared to tread, or tending fields of wheat even after people no longer had faith in them. As such his heart was even calmer than Holo’s, as they waited for Huskins to reply.

  “I have.. a request.”

  “A request?”

  The room was so cold that even the ice that was melting off of Huskins was freezing up once more. He purposely gave an exaggerated nod and the words that he spoke next came out of his mouth like a sigh.

  “It’s a disaster.. a situation that my power alone can no longer deal with.”

  “So you wish to borrow my power?”

  Huskins nodded at Holo’s words, but Lawrence soon realized that it wasn’t really a nod, but that Huskins was laughing. His shivering hands then pulled a letter out from under his shirt.

  “Your strength lies in sharp fangs and claws.. but the era in which such things ruled supreme is over. That’s why I wish to give this to..”

  Huskins turned his eyes to Lawrence.

  “To me?”

  “Indeed.. I wish to give this to the human who travels with the wolf. My purpose in letting you stay here was.. to observe you. I believe this was the will of the gods.”

  “Ha! The gods?”

  Holo laughed and bared her sharp fangs as she spoke. Her threatening and belittling expression only earned a cold smile from Huskins.

  “Just as you cling so closely to this.. unusually kindhearted human, I cling closely to my gods.. that is all..”

  “I-I do.. do not..”

  Holo desperately tried to refute him, but in her unusually flustered state she found herself unable to say a thing. The difference between her and Huskins seemed like that between a child and an old man, and not just from appearances.

  Huskins watched the speechless Holo, but didn’t reveal the proud smile of one who had bested an opponent. That reaction revealed the difference between them. He managed to reveal a look showing both kindness and sympathy toward Holo, without making any expression at all.

  “You’re a merchant, aren’t you? Please take a look at this..”

  “This is..?”

  “Such incidents happen frequently.. I was searching for a lost sheep in the snowstorm.. when the sheepdog accompanying me discovered a man. He was under heavy snow, posed as if praying to the gods, but his spirit had already left him.”

  It was a sealed letter, though the red sealing wax on its sheepskin envelope had already been broken. If the man had perished in the snow he must have been a messenger who’d lost his way traveling here from another town.

  Going slowly would cause one to get snowed over, but quickening one’s pace would rapidly deplete stamina. People inevitably fell victim to this tragedy, and there would always be good-for-nothing opportunists to steal the possessions off their unfortunate corpses once the snow had melted.

  “I am but a sheep, after all.. young wolf, you understand my meaning, don’t you?”

  Huskins steered the topic to Holo. She grabbed her chest tightly, as if some secret of hers had been revealed.

  “In the face of this thin piece of paper, our strength means nothing..”

  Having said this, Huskins slowly exhaled and and closed his eyes. The flames in the stove had already spread to the freshly-added firewood, and were burning brightly. The ice encasing Huskins was finally beginning to melt. Cole, having returned to his senses, was carefully tending to Huskins, who seemed quite comfortable in the boy’s care.

  Huskins had already reverted to his human form, though that had somehow escaped their notice. His earlier demonic form seemed almost like a dream now. Yet Holo’s wolf ears and elusive tail were still plainly visible, as she stood above Huskins and looked down on him. Lawrence opened the l
etter Huskins had given to him and checked the seal. It then dawned on him why Huskins had said his strength meant nothing.

  “Mr. Huskins. You said you wished to borrow my strength, but.. what is it exactly that you want me to do?”

  “..I wish for you to protect..”

  “..”

  Lawrence was rendered speechless. For his part, Huskins closed his eyes and spoke with a faint smile.

  “That’s right. To protect the monastery.”

  “I’m.. sorry, but why would you want to do that?”

  Huskins opened one eyelid and focused the gray eyeball under it on Lawrence. He looked as dignified as a wild sheep on the untamed plains, taking one proud step after the other. The power he possessed was different from Holo’s. She could be described as a sharp unsheathed blade and he a giant metal hammer.

  “It’s no wonder you would react that way. You must be confused as to why I would relinquish myself to the gods.. you see, I have allowed myself to rely on humans all along, just like the young wolf next to you.”

  Despite wanting to refute him, Holo was stopped by his gaze. He practically stared her down like a child.

  “I have no intention of incurring your wrath. We live our lives from day to day in the form of humans, so it is only natural for us to look to them to lend us strength.”

  “Hmph.. what have you done, then, with this strength you have borrowed from them?”

  “Built a home.”

  “What?”

  Her eyes widened. Huskins clearly and calmly continued with the same tone and manner.

  “We have built a home. On this land. A home that belongs to us.”

  The burning firewood crackled. Holo’s eyes were as round as full moons.

  “Nothing escapes the hands of humans. Not mountains, forests or plains. As such, in order to establish a peaceful place that will not change over mere centuries, but will stand forever, we must rely on human hands as well. We were also worried at first about whether we could accomplish that goal.. but ultimately we prevailed. We built a peaceful place. One where anyone who returned, no matter how long after, would always say-”

  “-It’s good to see this place hasn’t changed.”

  Huskins smiled gently like a kindly grandfather, and took a deep breath.

  “That had always been our solemn dream. Long ago, our kind was expelled from our original homeland and scattered. Some of us traveled to barren wastelands, others to town in the form of humans. Some of my companions even embarked on endless journeys. But the place where we can reunite, no matter how separated we are at the moment, is right here.”

  “You say your kind was scattered.. could it have been the Moon-Hunting-”

  “Haha.. ha! So you know that much.. then explaining will be even easier. Indeed, it was the Moon-Hunting Bear who took our home from us, or Irawa Weir Muheddhunde in the ancient tongue.”

  Lawrence recalled the numerous ancient legends collected by a monk, which he had read in a remote village worshiping a snake god. Holo took a deep breath, like a child trying to hold back tears.

  “When disaster struck, our kind had little strength to resist. The times have now changed. To protect this place we must rely on a new kind of strength. The structures built by men are too intricate, and my hooves too unrefined..”

  When seeking one’s favor, keeping on equal ground while coming across as neither too assertive nor humble was extremely difficult. As was possessing tremendous pride without being overbearing. But Huskins accepted everything as it was, and did what he could in the given circumstances. He must have lived this way for centuries. That was precisely why he possessed such dignity.

  “We’ve encountered many difficulties in the past as well, but the problem we face this time may already be beyond our power to solve.”

  After a quick glance over the letter, Lawrence turned his eyes to Huskins.

  “The King’s.. decreed a tax, hasn’t he?”

  “These difficulties may actually have been more easily resolved.. during the long period of conflict before this country was founded. Putting forth logical arguments for peace may have ended those warring times, but by then the wars may have laid waste to the land and collapsed this monastery, leaving us with nothing. Thus.. I secretly aided Winfield the First in his unification of this country. If I had to name my greatest mistake, that would probably be it.”

  They were an existence stronger and smarter than humans, who ruled the earth before it fell into human hands. That these existences would fall victim to betrayal over the endless cycles of change was probably just the natural order of things.

  “If even sons and daughters cannot remember the debt they owe their parents, then grandchildren will remember it far less so. I can no longer stand on the public stage. At best, I can show myself every now and then, and attempt to reinforce their authority.”

  “The legend of.. the Golden Sheep..”

  “Correct. That said, a few of those sightings were accidents resulting from my carelessness when I greeted companions I had not seen for a great length of time.”

  Saying a hard-to-laugh-at joke when it was already hard to laugh was sometimes what tipped the scales to laughter. But after the wave of laughter subsided, all that would remain was conspicuous nervousness.

  “I have no knack for counting money, yet it is no secret to me that the monastery is on the verge of bankruptcy. Each time a tax is decreed, our pay is delayed. Some of the merchants we are on good terms with have even told us this monastery cannot survive another such tax.”

  “But, something like this..”

  “I no longer know what I can do. If it was something I could trample flat with my hooves, or scrape away with my teeth, I would happily do so. You are a merchant, yes? When humans force our companions out of the forests or mountains, merchants are always seen lurking in the shadows. So to see one possessing such power chatting so intimately with a wolf.. of course we can only rely on-”

  Huskins let out an incredibly long sigh and ended his sentence.

  “Of course we can only rely on you.”

  “But–”

  “Please.”

  Lawrence had already spent seven years traveling alone. He had more than once honored a dying companion’s request to deliver a message to his family. Seeing this dreaded scenario unfold once more in front of his eyes made him fall silent. A normal letter he could accept. But this was the King’s tax decree.

  “No.”

  Lawrence was standing there unable to speak; it was Holo who first opened her mouth.

  “No. We cannot take such a risk.”

  “Holo..”

  “If it is something you cannot do then just be honest and say you cannot do it. Did you not already decide that your involvement here would be dangerous? We are leaving tomorrow, and if not, then the day after. We are travelers, and this place has nothing to do with us.”

  Her quick, shallow breathing was all that was heard after her verbal onslaught. If she’d spoken those words with a frown, Lawrence might have grown angry. But it wasn’t anger that made him stand up expressionlessly and leave Cole to tend to Huskins alone. Holo shrank back as he did, having come back to her senses.

  The look on her face was difficult to describe. Her pursed lips seemed angry, yet also seemed to be trembling with sadness. Her shoulders sank in, her fists were tightly clenched, and her face was deadly pale. He couldn’t bear to see her like this. He knew she was reacting this way out of jealousy.

  “What-what is it? You.. am I wrong? You said it would be dangerous, so I suggested leaving. And now you are thinking about accepting that man’s request–”

  “Holo.”

  He took her hand as he said her name. She struggled a few times before growing silent. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She knew deep down that her words had been childish. She was able to bear Pisky’s building of a new home for humans, but if it was Huskins who would benefit it was a different matter altogether. And the one responsible for the
destruction of Huskins’ home and her own was the same Moon-Hunting Bear.

  “Young wolf..”

  Huskins spoke.

  “Your home was destroyed by him as well, wasn’t it?”

  The look in her eyes was a chaotic mixture of jealousy, envy and apprehension as she stared at him.

  “Building a new home for ourselves wasn’t easy. We assumed human form, doing our best to not bring attention to ourselves and not be remembered, and disguised ourselves as shepherds to this day. We decided long ago that in order to protect this place, we would be willing to pay any price.”

  “I can do that too!”

  She cried out in anger, but her voice sounded terribly weak. It then turned hoarse, leaving her unable to say anything clearly.

  “If I ever manage to find.. my home.. Yoitsu.. I can.. too..”

  “From your reaction I suspect you’ve never battled the bear before, have you? Are you saying you have the resolve to put your life on the line in a duel to the death with the bear?”

  Her expression turned to rage. She must have thought Huskins was looking down on her. But even in the face of that fury, Huskins remained perfectly calm and composed, staring into her amber-red eyes.

  “When it came to my home, I ran. I ran like there was no tomorrow, because I too had companions who needed my protection. I desperately led them to escape. The memory of that night is burned into my mind to this day, of the enormous full moon hanging in the sky, brightly revealing the profile of the mountains beyond the plains. We fled in terror to get away from the fertile plains upon which we had always grazed.”

  Huskins seemed to grow even frailer. Perhaps assuming a human form subjected him to human limitations, just like Holo. In spite of that appearance he continued speaking without pausing, as if the flames of the stove had melted all the memories frozen deep inside his heart.

  “As we ran, I turned my head toward my home, and then I saw it. I saw the form of that giant bear, whose enormous body could easily have seated itself in the outline of the mountains.. it was an eerily beautiful sight. Even now, I still think that. It let out a roar, and raised a claw up as if to grab the moon. I cannot forget that moment, even to this day..”