Chapter 14

Shota trudged. There was simply no other word for it. Honshu was a very big island and it was taking him impossibly long to reach his sister. He'd be late, he knew it. It would be bad for him, bad for Azuki, and would disappoint his parents if they lost their human identities because of his slowness, but he just couldn't go any faster! His feet hurt, as he'd just had to get new sandals. He was hungry, too, and he didn't know how far away the next village was. As he approached a bend in the road he heard a roar that echoed inside his head.

"OUCH!"

He began to jog towards the sound. Suddenly he heard men's voices, only this time with his ears.

"What's wrong with your horse?"

"Lazy." Shota heard the slap of a whip. "Move on!"

"IT'S MY FOOT! THERE'S A ROCK IN IT!"

As Shota rounded the corner, he saw the man riding the huge black horse crack it hard with his whip. The horse stumbled. The man half-fell, half-climbed off, cursing.

"JUST TAKE THE ROCK OUT! I'LL BE FINE!"

But the men didn't seem to hear.

"Dead lame, it is," the man who apparently owned the horse said. "It'll never make the livery stable."

"You can ride with me," another man said.

"I can take your tack," said the third. "But what about the beast?"

"You might have to leave it with a farmer," said the second man.

"NO!" the horse screamed. "I'LL BE FINE IF YOU'LL JUST GET RID OF THE ROCK!"

The men couldn't hear the horse, but Shota could. He ran, not even listening any more to the men, who seemed to be arguing. This just might be the opportunity he needed!

"Sir, sir, please!" he called, running up to the men, who were armed and garbed as Samurai soldiers. He positioned himself beside the lame horse.

"What is it, boy?" The Samurai looked annoyed.

"I'll trade you for the horse." Shota held out the bolts of fabric. "This is fine fabric, the latest patterns, from Kyoto. You can use it to get a fresh horse."

"That horse is no good, boy. That would be a fool's bargain," one of the riders said.

"The boy knows his own mind," the warrior who owned the horse said, eyeing the fabric, which Shota knew was far more valuable than a permanently lame horse.

"He's just a child."

"Bargain," the horse's owner said, anxious to be off with the fabric he could use to get a fresh horse. He began to remove his tack from the injured one.

"It'll be alright," Shota thought to the horse. "I'll help you, if you'll help me."

The horse looked at him with gratitude and surprise. "You can hear me? Humans usually can't."

"I'm not entirely human," Shota thought, as he helped the man load his tack on his friend's horse, except for a halter and lead rope.

"Thank you, sir," he said, as he gave the horseless Samurai a boost up behind his other companion. "Thank you very much."

When the rider with the tack looked back, puzzled and not entirely happy at letting his companion make such a bargain with a child, Shota waved and smiled. "Good journey to you, sirs." The rider shook his head and called, "Good luck," before wheeling his own mount and riding after his companions.

"There," Shota said aloud. Now he had a horse, and horses could travel quickly. He allowed himself a glimmer of hope. They might just make it.

"They're gone," the horse said with surprise. "They're actually gone. They left me behind!" He turned his right eye's gaze on Shota. "Will you really help me?"

"Of course, and then you can help me. What do I do?"

"You don't know horses well? Sometimes rocks get caught in our feet. It hurts, sometimes a lot. Mostly, the rock works its own way out, but sometimes it needs a little help. It's this foot."

The horse extended a rear foot.

Shota approached cautiously. One thing he knew about horses was that they sometimes kicked.

"I won't kick you," the horse said, having heard Shota's most emphatic thoughts. Shota didn't know horses could do that. He'd have to watch himself. "You're going to help me. Can you see the rock?"

"I can," Shota said, examining the massive hoof. "Can I touch it?"

"You won't get it out of there otherwise," the horse said caustically.

"Here goes." Shota drew a breath and reached out to touch the rock. It seemed securely embedded in the grooves of the hoof. He rocked it, and the horse winced, but said, "Go on. You might need to use a tool. My grooms carry pointed and hooked metal things they use as levers. Don't you?"

"Not with me. Rest a minute."

First Shota tried a stick, but it wasn't strong enough and it broke. Frustrated, he went in search of a pointed shard of rock, while the horse stood resignedly, its weight on its three good feet.

"What's your name, horse?" Shota asked as he searched along the edge of the cobblestone road.

"Blackie's what I'm called. My name in Horse can't be said in human language." Shota caught a fleeting glimpse of rushing speed and power. Was that how horses named themselves?

"How about you?" Blackie went on. "And what did you mean by 'not exactly human?'"

"Here!" Shota picked up a long shard of hard granite. "Let's try this. My name is Shota," he said as he returned to the horse with his tool. "I think this will work!" He inserted the point under the edge of the rock and carefully moved it back and forth. At last the rock popped out.

"Oh, that's much better," Blackie said. He set his foot down. "It'll be sore for a little while, and I'll have to take it easy, but it'll heal all right." He experimented with putting weight on it. "Thank you, Shota. Even though they depend on us, those war riders are ignorant about horses. They rely on the grooms who feed and tack us." Blackie snorted. "You'd think mounted warriors would learn about their partners. We know all about them! Those men are Samurai, and we were going to war!"

"You're going to war?"

Blackie shook himself and straightened, his neck arching proudly. "I'm a Samurai war stallion. I fight with my riders against our enemies to save the lands of our liege lord from invaders and keep peace for our people, humans and animals both. When I get older, I will retire to pasture and breed many strong foals with the retired war mares."

"Do you like it?" Shota asked. "Being a war horse, I mean?"

"I never thought about it." Blackie considered. "It's my job, it's what I do. What I was bred for. Can you just see me pulling a cart or a plow?" Blackie snorted again in laughter, shaking his huge head. "I will think about it, but there's little point in doing so now. My war days are done. My loyalty is to you, Shota, because you helped me. Do you think," he asked rather plaintively for such a large and dignified beast, "we could go over to that stream and get a drink? Then perhaps you'd tell me about yourself, and how I can help you."

Blackie limped just a tiny bit on his way to the stream, Shota walking beside him. The horse dropped his head so quickly that Shota jumped, and then he extended his long neck to drink for what seemed to Shota a very long time.

"That's good," Blackie said when he finished, lifting his head and blowing to clear the water off his nose. "I'm hungry, too. I see some grass over there." He inclined his neck towards the other side of the stream. It ran rather quickly and was deep enough in the middle to give Shota pause. He'd have to tell Blackie he was a bird child since they were obviously going to partner. But if he changed now, to get across the stream, what would he do with the purse that contained what was left of the money the captain had given him?

"Go ahead," Shota said. "I'll wait here."

"Don't be stupid," Blackie said. "It's on our way."

The horse shot him a sidelong glance from his left eye. "Too deep for you? Get on that boulder there."

Shota clambered up the boulder while Blackie positioned himself next to it. "Climb on," the horse said. "I'll take you across." Shota must have looked dubious.

"You don't weigh anything," Blackie said encouragingly. "You won't hurt me by riding me. And, frankly, you'll be boring to walk with because you're naturally slow and almost too small to see."

Shota laughed and climbed on board. This partnership just might work.

Blackie's back was broad and comfortable, but Shota didn't like riding much at first. He rocked unsettlingly with every step the horse took, and he couldn't quite get the rhythm. It'd be easier if he could fly.

"You're a bird?" Blackie gently maneuvered down the bank and into the stream where there was evidence of many prior crossings. Shota had forgotten Blackie could hear Shota's loudest thoughts, even if they weren't directed at him. Distracted, Shota lost his balance and began to slide. Blackie stepped under him to get him back in place.

"You look like a boy," the horse said. "Don't worry. I won't let you fall. Just hang on to some mane."

"That's alright?" The hair on the horse's neck was braided into little knots. Shota could grab one like a handle, but hadn't known if he should. It was far more secure than the halter rope.

"Yes, yes. I barely feel it unless you pull really, really hard. Use my mane to help keep your balance until you get the hang of it. Are you really a bird?"

"Bird and boy both. They call me a bird-child. I can become a bird when I want to. That's why we can talk. Few full humans can hear animals."

"Don't I know that! I've heard of dual-natured beings, but I've never met one before. Hang on!" Blackie surged upward and Shota realized they had crossed the stream, which wasn't so scary after all, when viewed from Blackie's larger perspective. "You can stay where you are while I eat," the horse continued. "Unless you want to get something for yourself? What's it like, being a bird-child?"

Shota shrugged. "Hard to say. Like you, I haven't thought about it much it's just what I am. I'm a bird when it suits, and a boy when it suits. I've mostly been human." His voice trembled a little. "My parents died, and now I'm looking for my sister to bring her home, like I promised our mother. My sister's a bird-child, too. If we don't get back by the quarter-day at the equinox, we'll be declared dead and we won't be able to choose to live in the human world any more. Even if we do get back in time, the Sheriff hates us. Mother said she'd help, but I don't see how, since she's dead, and I'm still afraid of what the Sheriff might do. He wants to keep my sister a bird and take her feathers. I don't know what he'd do to me, but it wouldn't be good." Shota shoved that thought to the back of his mind. First he had find Azuki and get her home in time. The time to worry about what would happen next was when they got there.

"Was your mother a bird then? Or your father?"

"They were both human; they adopted us. But they died, and I must find Azuki. If our names are taken out of the human record books, we won't be able to live except as birds, but we're both."

"Wouldn't you travel faster as a bird?" Blackie asked. "I mean, you birds can fly, so you don't have to stick to the roads or trails or open fields, like I do."

"I'm a very little bird," Shota said. "A sparrow. I'm fast enough for a sparrow, and I would fly, but I have some money in a purse I can't carry as a sparrow, and I did have that fabric I traded for you your freedom," Shota added, thinking it might be rude to imply he'd actually purchased an intelligent being, "so I am staying a boy."

Blackie could munch and talk at the same time. Shota guessed that was easy when you didn't need to use your mouth to speak. Come to think of it, he could do that himself. If he had anything to eat. Hunger stirred in his stomach.

"We can travel together either way," Blackie said. "You can ride me as a boy or as a sparrow if you want, or fly alongside, and let me carry the purse. You'll just need a bit of string to tie it to my halter. I don't actually need the halter for anything," he said confidentially. "It's a way humans tell me where they want me to go. Since we can talk in words, and since I will take you where you want to go, it's not really necessary."

"You will?"

The horse shrugged. "I need a job and you rescued me, which puts me in your debt. I'll carry you where you want to go and help you out as best I can. Is your sister a bird or a girl?"

"Both." Shota found he was now comfortable enough to sit cross-legged on Blackie's solid back. Blackie ate a LOT. Shota could feel the horse's enjoyment of the sweet grass. He was extremely hungry now. "I think," Shota continued, "she's traveling as a bird."

"Where is she now?"

"I'm not sure, but I think she is going to Sado Island to find other toki. She's a bird-child, as I said, but she's a toki, and that's where a lot of toki live."

"A toki," Blackie mused. Shota flashed a mental image of Azuki as bird and then as girl.

"You don't look alike at all," Blackie said. "I've seen toki before, though, so let's go find yours. Can we start in the morning? My foot will be much better by then."

"Yes," Shota said, more than ready to turn into a bird and get his own supper. "In the morning."

***

Azuki flew across the broad coastal plain in brilliant sunlight and brisk wind. A heavy bank of clouds darkened the sky to the northeast, but Azuki didn't notice. She could see Sado Island, though it was hardly more than a shadow on the horizon. Azuki recalled what the Oni, Kukanko, had said, and it wasn't noon yet, so there was no point in stopping. She could get there today! She coasted down the dunes and flew directly out to sea.