The Telling of One Billion Ghost Stories (draft) - Part 27
Correction on the ETA for part 27 - k-chan009 (who is now conveniently only five minutes away from us since our move) has been wonderful enough to let us invade her house on Sunday morning and hijack her Internet connection. <3 So part 27 goes up one day earlier than I was counting on~
Other parts: The original ficlets, Plot notes, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Side Story 1
Watanuki would later remember very little of the flight except the uncomfortable impression of the square-edged bench he’d been told to sit on, the deafening roar of the engines and the rare glimpse of the areal landscape through the windows he didn’t dare look at any more closely. For the first hour he felt nothing but relief.
Hadn’t he always known this was going to happen - his inevitable capture by another gang? Kurogane’s camp had never been large enough to defend him for long - and at long last, he’d actually been taken by a gang so big he’d never be fought over again. Not unless other Complexes decided to fight over him, and that didn’t sound like how they did that sort of thing. The important thing was that, for the first time ever, he’d been taken without bloodshed. No-one one had died for him - Doumeki - and all the others - they’d all survive - and that was better than anything he’d ever dreamed he’d have. The relief of just knowing that was almost more than he could stand.
Then, over the next hour of the flight, Watanuki slowly came apart at the seams. He’d been taken by a Complex - an actual Complex! He’d never heard or even dreamed of anything so crazy. And it wasn’t just him, it was Kohane and Sakura too - the two people who had the most reason to fear the place they were going, and now Syaoran had lost Sakura, and Fye had lost Chi - and they’d never see them again and it was all Watanuki’s fault - it had to be his actions that attracted the Complex there. And the others might have survived so far but it would be naïve to assume they could stay that way. Doumeki wasn’t going to let him go. The idiot still thought he was invincible - he’d do something crazy like run off on a rescue mission, and Syaoran would go just as crazy without Sakura and they’d both get themselves killed. Even if Fye and Kurogane still had the sense to stay behind, without Chi to retrieve the weather reports, they’d be useless to their landlords, and without that bargaining chip how long would they be allowed to survive?
They were all doomed - all because of him.
And even if they pulled through somehow, he’d never see Doumeki or any of the others ever again.
***
It had been an unusually busy year for news.
Kamui was expecting them well before they arrived - had been ever since his last conversation in which he’d impressed on Doumeki how important he felt it was that certain news which they might come by in the future was delivered quickly. Their real reason for visiting today was very different to what he was expecting, and that wouldn’t improve his mood or make the job in front of them any easier. However, when they brought the bike to a stop in front of him, he did not ask whether they’d brought him the news he wanted, nor did he offer any comment on the oddity of seeing Kurogane and Doumeki dismounting from the bike today. On the other hand, maybe it was the look in Kurogane’s eyes that kept him in watchful silence. Whatever the case, on the visit to ask the most unheard of thing they ever had, it was left to them to make the first move.
“We’re here to ask a favour,” said Kurogane.
“I suppose it was too much to expect that the news I had been waiting for would have reached us so soon,”
I had begun to think this year had brought me more than my share of your news,” said Kamui. “The Diet Building is not in the habit of granting favours.”
“We’re not in the habit of asking for them,” said Kurogane. “This isn’t a request for charity. We’ll be in your debt,” he ground his teeth, not enjoying the idea, “for as long as it takes us to pay it back.”
Kamui looked from Kurogane to Doumeki and back again, unconvinced. Kurogane had not said ‘assuming we live that long’ aloud, but something in his tone had managed to imply it.
“We’ve done enough trade with you in the past for you to know it can be of value to you to have us in your debt,” said Doumeki. “This isn’t something we’d be asking if we had another way.”
Kamui continued to glare at them, but replied, “You may as well explain what kind of favour it is you expect.”
“We need transport to a Complex,” said Kurogane. “The same one we went to trade with before. No cargo, but we need to get there fast.”
“Fast,” Kamui echoed skeptically.
“If we arrived an hour from now, we’d already be late,” said Doumeki.
“That’s a very big request,” observed Kamui, “and a strange one.”
“We know.”
“Doubtless you’d consider this none of my business,” said Kamui, “but that is a lot to ask of me with no guarantee of compensation, nor a word of explanation as to why. I have already expressed my feelings on the thought of drawing the Complex’s attention to ourselves at this time, and I gather that there’s no treasure to be bought or won there, or you would have offered us a share as your price.”
“Nothing we can share, no.”
“Then what business can you possibly have so soon, at such a place?”
Neither of them spoke.
“The tale is yours to withhold. Likewise, the favour you ask is mine to withhold, if I am not satisfied as to its purpose.”
“Men from that Complex stole something of ours,” said Kurogane. “We mean to get it back.”
“Your answer raises only more questions,” said Kamui severely. “Even were that true, what could possibly have been taken from you that you feel you have any hope of retrieving?”
“Our weather reporting system, for one thing,” said Doumeki. He could feel Kurogane’s eyes on him as soon as he’d said it. This was a gamble that had never even been discussed - the circumstances it would justify revealing the truth behind the bargaining chip that had allowed them to live under the protection of the two most feared powers in the country. It was a great liberty Doumeki was taking, by making that decision of his own accord while their camp’s leader was only a pace away, but it was too late to turn back now.
At least he had Kamui surprised enough to keep listening. “Explain yourself.”
“The system is a computer which allowed us to intercept transmissions between the Complexes, including their weather reports,” said Doumeki. He’d only confuse issues now by referring to Chi as a ‘she’. “That’s what has been taken. Three of our people were kidnapped as well.”
“This computer,” said Kamui thoughtfully, “cannot simply be rebuilt?”
“We’d never find the parts a second time,” said Kurogane. “If we can’t get that one back, that’s it.”
“Grave news,” said Kamui. “So my incentive to help you is two-fold - the loss of any future warning that the acid storms have returned on one hand, and the debt of a favour on the other. None of which begins to explain what makes you imagine you will be able retrieve anything from a power so great as a Complex.” The last part came out much sharper, and every bit as skeptical as it deserved to be.
“We know it’s a long shot,” Kurogane replied, which should have been an understatement, but coming from his mouth it sounded like no more than the simple truth, “but there’s no hope if we don’t go at all.”
“And should you never return, any favours owed to us are no longer your concern. How convenient for you.”
“We don’t plan on…” Doumeki started.
“Enough,” Kamui silenced him. “In any case, this talk is meaningless. I am sorry,” and for once, Doumeki believed he truly was, “but no matter what effort you make to convince me I should aid you, there’s nothing in the possession of the Diet Building that would allow you to travel so far or so fast. We can do nothing to help you.”
With a proclamation like that, there was nothing left for them to do but get back on the bike and move on.
“Wait,” said Kamui when they were just about to go. He didn’t look pleased about whatever he had left to say, but he never looked exactly happy about anything much. “Tell Fuuma,” (the name crunched out like something he found indigestible) “if he is able and willing to provide you with what you need, I will consider that incident repaid.”
Doumeki couldn’t imagine what Kamui was talking about, but he clearly wasn’t meant to. “You would do that?”
”I’m no fool,” said Kamui. “If there is any chance you may retrieve your computer and return, it’s in no interest of ours to see you more in the Tower’s debt than our own.”
“Aa. We’ll remember that,” Kurogane pulled the bike away.
***
Fuuma treated their story with a good deal more interest and a good deal less attention, so as to almost suggest he’d already heard it. With Fuuma, it was never safe to be too sure one way or the other.
“It’s a lot you’re asking of us, for a favour you may never have the chance to repay,” he mused, closer to smiling than should have been fair. “Not an easy thing to ask us to send you so far so quickly. Life wouldn’t be easy for you without this computer here, would it? So even if you fail, you haven’t much to lose, yet all we have is a debt that will never be repaid. Quite a gamble.”
This was not surprising, they’d known he’d be difficult about it. Odds were this was all bluster and he’d already decided whether to help them our not, but this was their cue to put any remaining cards they might have on the table.
“We have a message from Kamui,” said Kurogane. “If you can help us, he’ll consider what he referred to as ‘that incident’ repaid.”
“Really?” said Fuuma, with rising interest. “Now what on earth did you say to our Kamui to convince him to do that?”
“Only what we’ve told you.”
“Well, that does shift the balance,” said Fuuma, now definitely smiling. “Perhaps there is some assistance we could lend you on this occasion…”
***
Doumeki was not a very huggable person and even Yuzuriha could appreciate that, but the greeting she gave him still projected the intent of a hug in its enthusiasm if not in its substance.
"Doumeki! Wow, it feels like it's been ages and ages, how've you been? Have you caught up with anyone from the Diet Building lately? Heard from Kusanagi-san at all?" She waved enthusiastically and grinned from ear to ear. The oddity of him and Kurogane being inside the Tower did not appear to have occurred to her at all.
"Not since I last saw you," said Doumeki, choosing to avoid the rest of the questions. Yuzuriha's disappointment was very mild, and Doumeki hazarded a guess that she'd heard from Kusanagi herself far more recently than that, relations between their camps notwithstanding.
The Tower, befitting its name, towered over them. The thought he'd ever find himself standing at its feet had never before occurred to Doumeki - the Tower might as well have belonged to another country for all it was accessible to someone like him. No outsider stood a chance of getting close without an invitation, and until today invitations had always been unheard of. Fuuma could just as easily have made them wait at the boundary while whatever was needed for transport was fetched from within (as had been the norm on every visit they'd ever made in the past), or had them blindfolded or tied up like prisoners, but he'd lead them in as casually as if this was a regular event. Quite possibly he wanted to impress on them just how little threat he felt they posed.
Fuuma patted Inuki's head by way of greeting Yuzuriha himself, a gesture that was tolerated as though the recipient had no particular opinion on it either way. "Well then, Yuzuriha, how would you feel about making another trip to that Complex we sent you to before?"
"Another visit?" echoed Yuzuriha. "Are we trading with them again?"
"No, not this time, but our guests here are going to need some rather speedier transport in that direction."
Yuzuriha took only a second to catch on to whatever it was Fuuma was asking from her. "Oh! So Doumeki, you and your friend are both going there again? That's..."
"There's two more back at our camp who'll be coming with us," said Kurogane before she could go further. "We intend for there to be another four on the way back, three of them children."
"Hm..." murmured Yuzuriha, locked for a second in mental calculations. "That should still be fine, though we'll have to sit tandem and go slower on the way back with all that weight. So when do we need to leave?"
"I understood," Fuuma replied without so much as a look at Doumeki or Kurogane, "that our guests wanted to get there as quickly as possible."
"Right away then!" Yuzuriha announced, throwing a sloppy salute, eager as ever to be able to drop her mundane chores in the name of an adventure. "Can we get some of the others to pack us some supplies? We shouldn't need much." After Fuuma's answering nod she turned back to their guests. "Do you want to come up and see the eyrie before we go? If you don't mind a few stairs, that is."
Doumeki and Kurogane exchanged glances, but neither had any more useful insights than the other
"Sure," said Doumeki. It seemed like the sort of time to go with the flow.
***
Although the Tower was one of the rare structures which had miraculously withstood both the disaster that had levelled the city around it and the weather in the years since, it had never been a structure design to live in. The numerous residents who called it home lived around its feet, or in a network of tunnels dug into its foundations. The great metal structure above that served as their name and symbol was more limited in direct use - though not useless. There had been no power wasted on the old elevators in years, but as Yuzuriha had promised, there were still stairs to carry them (with some effort) as high as the first major lateral beams. There, in a grass and straw nest large enough to house a human family, Yuzuriha, mistress of all neigh-untameable beasts, was raising a clutch of Deadland birds.
In shape they resembled something like an overgrown combination of a raptor and a goose, slate-grey in colour and each sporting a wingspan the size of a hanglider. Doumeki and Kurogane had seen their like in the wild, and hunted them on occasion. They were carrion birds primarily, but no more inedible than anything else in the Deadlands. Close up, the living specimens were as ugly and hostile as they remembered, and in Yuzuriha's hands they were tame enough to answer to name, and to treat the sudden intrusion of strangers with no worse than a few indignant squawks.
Tame enough to be saddled and ridden, and flow across the country.
"They won't compete with the Complexes' flying machines for speed," said Fuuma, lounging against a crossbar as Yuzuriha fussed around with saddles and harnesses, "but they'll do a journey that took you weeks on land within a day of flight."
"Why weren't they used on the trading mission?" Doumeki had to ask.
"Travelling is a very different matter when there's that much weight to carry," said Fuuma dismissively. "We keep our Yuzuriha's favourite pets for special occasions."
Doumeki felt a sneaking suspicion there was more to the reason than that, but he obviously wasn't going to find out what it was. They were going to owe Fuuma an awful lot for a favour of this magnitude, but there would be no help concerning themselves about it now.
"Hey, don't go talking about favourites like that, you'll make Inuki jealous!" Yuzuriha scolded. "Is everyone ready? The saddles are all strapped on now." She patted the nearest bird on the shoulder and it sat down obediently to allow itself to be mounted, though it craned its long neck around to watch the unfamiliar riders every step of the way. Doumeki and Kurogane exchanged one last glance before stepping forward to the strange new experience that awaited them, Fuuma smiling encouragingly from behind.
***
Their first flight was a short one, only as far as from the nest to the ground where supplies for their journey were being assembled, and it was over before Doumeki could properly decide what he thought of the experience. The supplies were light and simple enough - mostly food and water to last a few humans a couple of days, and were all quickly and efficiently hooked on to the birds' saddles by the people who'd brought them without any of the riders having to dismount.
"The other two people who are coming with us are back at our camp," Kurogane reminded Yuzuriha while they were safely grounded.
"Sure thing, we can stop and pick them up on the way," Yuzuriha replied, balancing with practiced ease as her bird beat its wings a few times in anticipation of take-off. Inuki whined piteously from the ground at the sight of his master leaving.
"Don't worry Inuki, we'll only be gone a few days," Yuzuriha called down, waving to him. "Be good for me while we're gone!"
Inuki barked once in answer and sat down on his haunches to watch for as long as the birds carrying his master were still visible in the sky.
Take off from the ground was more laboured than the easy glide down from the nests. Doumeki gripped the pommel as the world fell away from under him, and wondered what Fye and Syaoran would make of the sight of this procession landing at their camp a few minutes away.
Other parts: The original ficlets, Plot notes, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Side Story 1
Watanuki would later remember very little of the flight except the uncomfortable impression of the square-edged bench he’d been told to sit on, the deafening roar of the engines and the rare glimpse of the areal landscape through the windows he didn’t dare look at any more closely. For the first hour he felt nothing but relief.
Hadn’t he always known this was going to happen - his inevitable capture by another gang? Kurogane’s camp had never been large enough to defend him for long - and at long last, he’d actually been taken by a gang so big he’d never be fought over again. Not unless other Complexes decided to fight over him, and that didn’t sound like how they did that sort of thing. The important thing was that, for the first time ever, he’d been taken without bloodshed. No-one one had died for him - Doumeki - and all the others - they’d all survive - and that was better than anything he’d ever dreamed he’d have. The relief of just knowing that was almost more than he could stand.
Then, over the next hour of the flight, Watanuki slowly came apart at the seams. He’d been taken by a Complex - an actual Complex! He’d never heard or even dreamed of anything so crazy. And it wasn’t just him, it was Kohane and Sakura too - the two people who had the most reason to fear the place they were going, and now Syaoran had lost Sakura, and Fye had lost Chi - and they’d never see them again and it was all Watanuki’s fault - it had to be his actions that attracted the Complex there. And the others might have survived so far but it would be naïve to assume they could stay that way. Doumeki wasn’t going to let him go. The idiot still thought he was invincible - he’d do something crazy like run off on a rescue mission, and Syaoran would go just as crazy without Sakura and they’d both get themselves killed. Even if Fye and Kurogane still had the sense to stay behind, without Chi to retrieve the weather reports, they’d be useless to their landlords, and without that bargaining chip how long would they be allowed to survive?
They were all doomed - all because of him.
And even if they pulled through somehow, he’d never see Doumeki or any of the others ever again.
***
It had been an unusually busy year for news.
Kamui was expecting them well before they arrived - had been ever since his last conversation in which he’d impressed on Doumeki how important he felt it was that certain news which they might come by in the future was delivered quickly. Their real reason for visiting today was very different to what he was expecting, and that wouldn’t improve his mood or make the job in front of them any easier. However, when they brought the bike to a stop in front of him, he did not ask whether they’d brought him the news he wanted, nor did he offer any comment on the oddity of seeing Kurogane and Doumeki dismounting from the bike today. On the other hand, maybe it was the look in Kurogane’s eyes that kept him in watchful silence. Whatever the case, on the visit to ask the most unheard of thing they ever had, it was left to them to make the first move.
“We’re here to ask a favour,” said Kurogane.
“I suppose it was too much to expect that the news I had been waiting for would have reached us so soon,”
I had begun to think this year had brought me more than my share of your news,” said Kamui. “The Diet Building is not in the habit of granting favours.”
“We’re not in the habit of asking for them,” said Kurogane. “This isn’t a request for charity. We’ll be in your debt,” he ground his teeth, not enjoying the idea, “for as long as it takes us to pay it back.”
Kamui looked from Kurogane to Doumeki and back again, unconvinced. Kurogane had not said ‘assuming we live that long’ aloud, but something in his tone had managed to imply it.
“We’ve done enough trade with you in the past for you to know it can be of value to you to have us in your debt,” said Doumeki. “This isn’t something we’d be asking if we had another way.”
Kamui continued to glare at them, but replied, “You may as well explain what kind of favour it is you expect.”
“We need transport to a Complex,” said Kurogane. “The same one we went to trade with before. No cargo, but we need to get there fast.”
“Fast,” Kamui echoed skeptically.
“If we arrived an hour from now, we’d already be late,” said Doumeki.
“That’s a very big request,” observed Kamui, “and a strange one.”
“We know.”
“Doubtless you’d consider this none of my business,” said Kamui, “but that is a lot to ask of me with no guarantee of compensation, nor a word of explanation as to why. I have already expressed my feelings on the thought of drawing the Complex’s attention to ourselves at this time, and I gather that there’s no treasure to be bought or won there, or you would have offered us a share as your price.”
“Nothing we can share, no.”
“Then what business can you possibly have so soon, at such a place?”
Neither of them spoke.
“The tale is yours to withhold. Likewise, the favour you ask is mine to withhold, if I am not satisfied as to its purpose.”
“Men from that Complex stole something of ours,” said Kurogane. “We mean to get it back.”
“Your answer raises only more questions,” said Kamui severely. “Even were that true, what could possibly have been taken from you that you feel you have any hope of retrieving?”
“Our weather reporting system, for one thing,” said Doumeki. He could feel Kurogane’s eyes on him as soon as he’d said it. This was a gamble that had never even been discussed - the circumstances it would justify revealing the truth behind the bargaining chip that had allowed them to live under the protection of the two most feared powers in the country. It was a great liberty Doumeki was taking, by making that decision of his own accord while their camp’s leader was only a pace away, but it was too late to turn back now.
At least he had Kamui surprised enough to keep listening. “Explain yourself.”
“The system is a computer which allowed us to intercept transmissions between the Complexes, including their weather reports,” said Doumeki. He’d only confuse issues now by referring to Chi as a ‘she’. “That’s what has been taken. Three of our people were kidnapped as well.”
“This computer,” said Kamui thoughtfully, “cannot simply be rebuilt?”
“We’d never find the parts a second time,” said Kurogane. “If we can’t get that one back, that’s it.”
“Grave news,” said Kamui. “So my incentive to help you is two-fold - the loss of any future warning that the acid storms have returned on one hand, and the debt of a favour on the other. None of which begins to explain what makes you imagine you will be able retrieve anything from a power so great as a Complex.” The last part came out much sharper, and every bit as skeptical as it deserved to be.
“We know it’s a long shot,” Kurogane replied, which should have been an understatement, but coming from his mouth it sounded like no more than the simple truth, “but there’s no hope if we don’t go at all.”
“And should you never return, any favours owed to us are no longer your concern. How convenient for you.”
“We don’t plan on…” Doumeki started.
“Enough,” Kamui silenced him. “In any case, this talk is meaningless. I am sorry,” and for once, Doumeki believed he truly was, “but no matter what effort you make to convince me I should aid you, there’s nothing in the possession of the Diet Building that would allow you to travel so far or so fast. We can do nothing to help you.”
With a proclamation like that, there was nothing left for them to do but get back on the bike and move on.
“Wait,” said Kamui when they were just about to go. He didn’t look pleased about whatever he had left to say, but he never looked exactly happy about anything much. “Tell Fuuma,” (the name crunched out like something he found indigestible) “if he is able and willing to provide you with what you need, I will consider that incident repaid.”
Doumeki couldn’t imagine what Kamui was talking about, but he clearly wasn’t meant to. “You would do that?”
”I’m no fool,” said Kamui. “If there is any chance you may retrieve your computer and return, it’s in no interest of ours to see you more in the Tower’s debt than our own.”
“Aa. We’ll remember that,” Kurogane pulled the bike away.
***
Fuuma treated their story with a good deal more interest and a good deal less attention, so as to almost suggest he’d already heard it. With Fuuma, it was never safe to be too sure one way or the other.
“It’s a lot you’re asking of us, for a favour you may never have the chance to repay,” he mused, closer to smiling than should have been fair. “Not an easy thing to ask us to send you so far so quickly. Life wouldn’t be easy for you without this computer here, would it? So even if you fail, you haven’t much to lose, yet all we have is a debt that will never be repaid. Quite a gamble.”
This was not surprising, they’d known he’d be difficult about it. Odds were this was all bluster and he’d already decided whether to help them our not, but this was their cue to put any remaining cards they might have on the table.
“We have a message from Kamui,” said Kurogane. “If you can help us, he’ll consider what he referred to as ‘that incident’ repaid.”
“Really?” said Fuuma, with rising interest. “Now what on earth did you say to our Kamui to convince him to do that?”
“Only what we’ve told you.”
“Well, that does shift the balance,” said Fuuma, now definitely smiling. “Perhaps there is some assistance we could lend you on this occasion…”
***
Doumeki was not a very huggable person and even Yuzuriha could appreciate that, but the greeting she gave him still projected the intent of a hug in its enthusiasm if not in its substance.
"Doumeki! Wow, it feels like it's been ages and ages, how've you been? Have you caught up with anyone from the Diet Building lately? Heard from Kusanagi-san at all?" She waved enthusiastically and grinned from ear to ear. The oddity of him and Kurogane being inside the Tower did not appear to have occurred to her at all.
"Not since I last saw you," said Doumeki, choosing to avoid the rest of the questions. Yuzuriha's disappointment was very mild, and Doumeki hazarded a guess that she'd heard from Kusanagi herself far more recently than that, relations between their camps notwithstanding.
The Tower, befitting its name, towered over them. The thought he'd ever find himself standing at its feet had never before occurred to Doumeki - the Tower might as well have belonged to another country for all it was accessible to someone like him. No outsider stood a chance of getting close without an invitation, and until today invitations had always been unheard of. Fuuma could just as easily have made them wait at the boundary while whatever was needed for transport was fetched from within (as had been the norm on every visit they'd ever made in the past), or had them blindfolded or tied up like prisoners, but he'd lead them in as casually as if this was a regular event. Quite possibly he wanted to impress on them just how little threat he felt they posed.
Fuuma patted Inuki's head by way of greeting Yuzuriha himself, a gesture that was tolerated as though the recipient had no particular opinion on it either way. "Well then, Yuzuriha, how would you feel about making another trip to that Complex we sent you to before?"
"Another visit?" echoed Yuzuriha. "Are we trading with them again?"
"No, not this time, but our guests here are going to need some rather speedier transport in that direction."
Yuzuriha took only a second to catch on to whatever it was Fuuma was asking from her. "Oh! So Doumeki, you and your friend are both going there again? That's..."
"There's two more back at our camp who'll be coming with us," said Kurogane before she could go further. "We intend for there to be another four on the way back, three of them children."
"Hm..." murmured Yuzuriha, locked for a second in mental calculations. "That should still be fine, though we'll have to sit tandem and go slower on the way back with all that weight. So when do we need to leave?"
"I understood," Fuuma replied without so much as a look at Doumeki or Kurogane, "that our guests wanted to get there as quickly as possible."
"Right away then!" Yuzuriha announced, throwing a sloppy salute, eager as ever to be able to drop her mundane chores in the name of an adventure. "Can we get some of the others to pack us some supplies? We shouldn't need much." After Fuuma's answering nod she turned back to their guests. "Do you want to come up and see the eyrie before we go? If you don't mind a few stairs, that is."
Doumeki and Kurogane exchanged glances, but neither had any more useful insights than the other
"Sure," said Doumeki. It seemed like the sort of time to go with the flow.
***
Although the Tower was one of the rare structures which had miraculously withstood both the disaster that had levelled the city around it and the weather in the years since, it had never been a structure design to live in. The numerous residents who called it home lived around its feet, or in a network of tunnels dug into its foundations. The great metal structure above that served as their name and symbol was more limited in direct use - though not useless. There had been no power wasted on the old elevators in years, but as Yuzuriha had promised, there were still stairs to carry them (with some effort) as high as the first major lateral beams. There, in a grass and straw nest large enough to house a human family, Yuzuriha, mistress of all neigh-untameable beasts, was raising a clutch of Deadland birds.
In shape they resembled something like an overgrown combination of a raptor and a goose, slate-grey in colour and each sporting a wingspan the size of a hanglider. Doumeki and Kurogane had seen their like in the wild, and hunted them on occasion. They were carrion birds primarily, but no more inedible than anything else in the Deadlands. Close up, the living specimens were as ugly and hostile as they remembered, and in Yuzuriha's hands they were tame enough to answer to name, and to treat the sudden intrusion of strangers with no worse than a few indignant squawks.
Tame enough to be saddled and ridden, and flow across the country.
"They won't compete with the Complexes' flying machines for speed," said Fuuma, lounging against a crossbar as Yuzuriha fussed around with saddles and harnesses, "but they'll do a journey that took you weeks on land within a day of flight."
"Why weren't they used on the trading mission?" Doumeki had to ask.
"Travelling is a very different matter when there's that much weight to carry," said Fuuma dismissively. "We keep our Yuzuriha's favourite pets for special occasions."
Doumeki felt a sneaking suspicion there was more to the reason than that, but he obviously wasn't going to find out what it was. They were going to owe Fuuma an awful lot for a favour of this magnitude, but there would be no help concerning themselves about it now.
"Hey, don't go talking about favourites like that, you'll make Inuki jealous!" Yuzuriha scolded. "Is everyone ready? The saddles are all strapped on now." She patted the nearest bird on the shoulder and it sat down obediently to allow itself to be mounted, though it craned its long neck around to watch the unfamiliar riders every step of the way. Doumeki and Kurogane exchanged one last glance before stepping forward to the strange new experience that awaited them, Fuuma smiling encouragingly from behind.
***
Their first flight was a short one, only as far as from the nest to the ground where supplies for their journey were being assembled, and it was over before Doumeki could properly decide what he thought of the experience. The supplies were light and simple enough - mostly food and water to last a few humans a couple of days, and were all quickly and efficiently hooked on to the birds' saddles by the people who'd brought them without any of the riders having to dismount.
"The other two people who are coming with us are back at our camp," Kurogane reminded Yuzuriha while they were safely grounded.
"Sure thing, we can stop and pick them up on the way," Yuzuriha replied, balancing with practiced ease as her bird beat its wings a few times in anticipation of take-off. Inuki whined piteously from the ground at the sight of his master leaving.
"Don't worry Inuki, we'll only be gone a few days," Yuzuriha called down, waving to him. "Be good for me while we're gone!"
Inuki barked once in answer and sat down on his haunches to watch for as long as the birds carrying his master were still visible in the sky.
Take off from the ground was more laboured than the easy glide down from the nests. Doumeki gripped the pommel as the world fell away from under him, and wondered what Fye and Syaoran would make of the sight of this procession landing at their camp a few minutes away.