Dendera (24 page)

Tsusa Hiiragi shouted, “Wait! Hold on,” breaking the silence that she herself had solicited.

The two in front halted, and Kayu Saitoh made her legs stop walking. With some effort, she turned around on the narrow path. Tsusa Hiiragi’s face was the color of white seen only on those who had witnessed something terrible—and who knew that that terrible thing was getting even worse. Kayu Saitoh had been about to ask what was wrong, but she didn’t need to; the reality was so obvious that she recognized it at a glance.

Tema Tsukamoto, who should have been walking at the rear, was gone.

Immediately Kayu Saitoh asked, “When?”

“I don’t know,” Tsusa Hiiragi mumbled. “She … was quiet for so long, and I thought that was odd, so I looked over my shoulder. But she was already gone.”

Itsuru Obuchi said, “She probably fell into the ravine,” but her expression looked like she was having trouble believing the idea.

Kayu Saitoh squashed the possibility, saying, “If so, she would have screamed.”

“She was with us on the way up,” Kyu Hoshina said. “It must have happened on the return. Let’s go back.”

The four old women went back the way they had come. Because they had to reverse course on the narrow path, Tsusa Hiiragi now took the lead. Holding out her wooden spear ahead of her, she walked on unsteady legs. Itsuru Obuchi told her to hurry up, but the woman had been overcome by fear and walked no faster. Soon, the four women found a pool of red on the trail. By now, this was no unfamiliar sight to them, and before they could react with surprise at the bloodstain, they had already gone on the alert. The blood ran up the side of the ravine.

“An ambush,” Itsuru Obuchi said, glaring up the steep slope. “That damned bear has changed tactics. It must have recognized that it couldn’t win by acting as it had before.”

Itsuru Obuchi’s conjecture was both astonishing and clear.

Up until now, the bear had attacked them head on, while cunning stratagems had always been the domain of the women. But this time, it was the women who had been outwitted. And their situation was grim: the four were in the Mountain—the bear’s stronghold—and worse yet, they were caught standing on this narrow trail.

The bear would use its head when it attacked.

Kayu Saitoh realized that her hand, holding the spear, was trembling.

Tsusa Hiiragi shrieked, “What do we do?”

“Keep quiet,” Kyu Hoshina warned. “We have to run. We have to keep quiet and run.”

“But Tema Tsukamoto …”

“We leave her.”

For a moment, the women seemed about to say something against Kyu Hoshina’s decision, but then they quickly turned on their heels and ran. On the narrow animal trail, they couldn’t work up too much speed; one misstep would mean a tumble down the ravine. Kayu Saitoh moved with little grace. Then she smelled a familiar, pungent odor, and she heard something plowing through the snow, but she ignored these things and ran. From behind her, Tsusa Hiiragi screamed, and when the blood rained down, Kayu Saitoh couldn’t help looking over her shoulder. The bear had pierced its claws through Tsusa Hiiragi’s back and lifted her off the ground. As she was being dragged up the wall of the ravine, she looked down in shock at the tips of the claws poking out through her stomach. Unable to spare the time to watch her go, the three remaining women ran as hard as they could.

The ground rumbled, and the bear’s head appeared above them.

The next instant, its front paws swung down, the old women ducking by reflex. Claws swished through Kayu Saitoh’s hair. Like a cat trying to catch a barely escaping rat, the bear tenaciously stretched out its front legs. Keeping low, the women scurried forward, but then, at the front of the line, Itsuru Obuchi screamed as her right hand sailed off into the air.

“Jump down!” Kyu Hoshina shouted.

Without pausing to ready themselves, the women jumped down into the ravine. Unable to perceive any sights or sounds, Kayu Saitoh tumbled down, striking against one small, hard object after another, and the next thing she knew, she was landing hard. Her breath stopped, she was numb from the inside out, and flashes of yellows and greens and violets came to the edges of her vision. She coughed away the pain in her back and somehow managed to stand. She was inside the woods. She looked down at herself, saw that her straw coat had disintegrated and that countless scratches ran along her arms and legs, and realized that the branches of a fir tree had softened her landing. Kyu Hoshina and Itsuru Obuchi had also lost their straw coats and were covered in similar scratches, but they too were able to stand.

The trees blocked their view of the bear higher up the ravine, but the three women shared the same thought: the bear wouldn’t likely hesitate to give chase. They didn’t have much time.

“Are … you all right?” Kayu Saitoh said, seeing that Itsuru Obuchi’s right hand was gone. “It’s come off.”

“That’s not as much trouble as these woods are,” Itsuru Obuchi said, seeming to give no mind to her wrist. Instead the woman looked around at the expanse of fir trees surrounding them. “Can we get back to Dendera from here?”

“We can,” Kyu Hoshina said. “I lived on the Mountain for three years. Most of these lands are stored in my head. We can get back to Dendera—that’s if we can outrun the bear, of course.”

“We have to let them know what happened. We have to tell Dendera that the bear has changed tactics. If we don’t, they’ll be massacred as they go heedlessly into the Mountain.”

Itsuru Obuchi finally looked at the horrific state of her wrist, but quickly looked back up.

The bear had roared.

The roar echoed and echoed, and snow fluttered from the branches of the fir trees.

The next instant, a pungent wind shook through the trees, and the bear crashed down to the bottom of the ravine. Trees violently cracked and snapped, the ground sounded like it had been ripped asunder, and a spreading rumble shook snow from the branches, sending snowflakes showering down on the three women.

The snow settled and revealed the bear’s massive bulk.

Terrifyingly thick legs, aggressively swelling shoulders, an underside with its needlelike fur, honey-colored claws, an exceptionally large head, intimidating fangs glistening, red fur standing up on its back, and its one remaining eye: the sum of these parts, this gigantic brown bear, stood upright before the three women; an already oppressive figure whose stance made it all the larger. Tsusa Hiiragi’s guts dangled from its claws.

The bear moved its left eye.

Absent in that beady orb was any tinge of pastoral kinship, not that such a thing was to be expected. Instead, the eye glittered with unmitigated rage. The beast opened its scarlet maw, sending out its sweet, acrid breath, and advanced one step. The women retreated one step. But the strides of bear and man were insurmountably different, and the only consequence was that they had allowed the bear to get closer.

Glaring at the bear, Itsuru Obuchi said, “Run, you two.”

“What are doing?” Kyu Hoshina asked, “sacrificing yourself? That won’t save any of us.”

“This is my punishment for living too long.”

Itsuru Obuchi clenched her remaining hand and charged at the bear. Urged on by her intensity, Kayu Saitoh and Kyu Hoshina ran the other way. Kayu Saitoh knew that they needed to build up as much distance as possible, and yet she felt that she needed to bear witness to Itsuru Obuchi, so as she ran, she watched over her shoulder. Itsuru Obuchi was clinging to the bear’s thigh by only her teeth and her left hand. The bear had tenacious legs and claws, but to wield them, the beast had developed a bulky frame. And in that bulk, Itsuru Obuchi had planted herself in a place where the bear’s attacks couldn’t easily reach. But that was merely a single surprise attack for which she had prepared no follow-up. The fight was over the moment the beast had regained its composure. The bear reached its front right paw to its thigh and pried her away. She struggled, but against the bear, her efforts hadn’t the slightest effect.

Something struck Kayu Saitoh’s shoulder. It was Kyu Hoshina, running beside her. Immediately understanding the message communicated by the jolt of pain, Kayu Saitoh looked ahead. Itsuru Obuchi did what she had done so that they could inform Dendera of this new threat. It wasn’t necessary for Kayu Saitoh to watch the brutal death that came at bravery’s end; neither had she earned the right to witness it. All she could do was run.

It had been too long since Redback had lost herself in the devouring of flesh. The meat worked its way into her weakened and malnourished body and swept away her fatigue, the blurriness in her vision, and her feelings of starvation. Redback licked the blood from inside her maw with her rough tongue, and for now was satisfied. But her hunger wasn’t. And yet she believed that she would not be able to repeat her most current tactic. The Two-Legs had seen what she had done and would again change their tactics, or at the very least, they would not twice enter the Mountain unprepared. When she compared herself with the Two-Legs, she found herself lacking in wit. It irritated her to be aware that even if she could read their next move, she lacked the capacity to know how to deal with it.

Despite this, Redback went to sleep. Her large body needed rest. As she dozed, she thought of the spring that would come after this season had passed.

With contempt in her voice, Hono Ishizuka said, “So instead of coming to Dendera, the bear is waiting for us to come to the Mountain. At least that’s what those women believe, but where’s the proof? Did the bear tell them? Don’t sow disorder in Dendera with your wild rumors.”

“I’ll kill you!” Kyu Hoshina said. She reached out to strangle the woman, but Kayu Saitoh stopped her.

“Don’t,” Kayu Saitoh said with great, weary patience. “They have no pride. They don’t understand.”

“Pride?” Hono Ishizuka said. “Dressing up your words won’t change anything. Perhaps that word would carry more weight had you not fled and abandoned your companions.”

“I’ll kill you!” Kyu Hoshina barked. “You don’t know anything! You don’t know how brave Itsuru was!”

When Kayu Saitoh and Kyu Hoshina had managed to make it back to Dendera, they ran straight for the manor, where Hono Ishizuka, Masari Shiina, and Maru Kusachi were sharpening sticks into wooden spears. They told the three everything that had happened and everything they had felt, but received only Hono Ishizuka’s cold indifference.

With a single-minded resolve, Hono Ishizuka announced, “We keep foraging.”

“Do you mean to make Itsuru’s death in vain? I should have known you were hopeless.” Flecks of dirt fell from Kyu Hoshina’s trembling neck. “The Doves are a motley crew indeed.”

“Our food reserves aren’t limitless. If we don’t go into the Mountain and find food, we’ll starve to death.”

“If we end up killed—killed on the Mountain and not in Dendera—I suppose you’ll be taking the blame—just like with the Finger-Cutting.”

In the Village, the husbands came up with the new ideas, from changing breeds of rice seed to devising preservation methods for the potatoes. If one of the ideas ended up being a significant mistake, the man who had made the decision could receive a punishment called Finger-Cutting, in which, much as the name indicated, his finger was severed by a hatchet. Anyone, no matter how powerful, who hindered the operation of the Village became the target of hate. If his failure led to the loss of
food,
that hate could very well develop into thoughts of murder. The Finger-Cutting sacrificed a single finger to prevent such sentiments from erupting into acts.

“I’m prepared for that,” Hono Ishizuka said with a nod. “I can even bite off my finger with my teeth.”

“Your
finge
r
? Don’t be so soft.” Kyu Hoshina snorted. “If anyone dies because of your bad judgment, the women of Dendera won’t be satisfied by a single finger. I think it’ll be your neck.”

“In that case, Kyu, I’ll assume you’re prepared to have your throat cut too. Let’s say we trust what you’re telling us, and we stop searching for food. If anyone starves to death, we won’t hesitate to cut your throat.”

Kayu Saitoh let go of Kyu Hoshina’s hand and said, “Hono Ishizuka, do you think that’s how you’re getting out of this? What you just said is a coward’s view. You’re equating entirely different levels of resolve.”

Hono Ishizuka glared at Kayu Saitoh. “But if we don’t go into the Mountain and find food, we will certainly starve, and the bear is certainly in the Mountain. Someone too afraid of both to do anything is the greater coward.”

An intense, interminable silence fell. The three women glowered at each other until Hono Ishizuka looked to Masari Shiina and asked the leader what her opinion was. Masari Shiina placidly parted her lips and said that Hono Ishizuka’s opinion was more correct.

“But,” the chief continued, “we mustn’t ignore the views of those who suffered the bear’s surprise attack. There’s nothing particularly hard to believe about the notion that the bear, having been soundly walloped, is wary of Dendera and has devised some ploy in response.” Masari Shiina turned her one eye on Kyu Hoshina. “Listen to me. I am fully prepared to stake my life upon my orders. I place importance on Dendera’s preservation and improvement, but between the two, preservation is more important. Without preservation of what we have, there can be no improvement. As far as that is concerned, I support your judgment. Together, we built a trap to kill the bear. It was a little fortress. But if we were able to do that, we can make a bigger fortress too.”

Hono Ishizuka said, “A bigger fortress … What do you mean?”

“Dendera itself will be our fortress. We’ll make the whole of Dendera our trap. For now, we suspend our searches for food and women. We’ll wait for the bear to get so hungry that it’ll have to come to us. We’ll see which of us can endure longer. The duration of our encirclement will be determined by our remaining reserves. I’ll report when I’ve made the calculation. That is all.”

“Masari, that’s too risky,” Hono Ishizuka protested. “We’ll starve to death.”

“To fight the bear inside the Mountain would be the height of stupidity. We’d be fools if we got ourselves killed going out in search of food. If we’re to face that beast, we have to make use of Dendera. We have no other possible strategy but to wait for the bear to come to us.”