Rana
She met Lea at the agreed-upon place.
Against her better judgment, Rana accepted the offer of a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. They were unbelievably comfortable. Also, a very smooth ride, magically silencing her steps and speeding her stride. In return, as part of the deal, Rana shared her Clair-like perception of all the frogs she’d stashed throughout the House—which the girls clearly enjoyed.
The adventurous twins wanted to be worn by as many Wildlings as possible before the strangers left. If she’d been in a real hurry, she could combine their power with slick slime sliding, but Rana wasn’t ready to ditch her ‘guardian’ Akachochin. She wouldn’t feel bad about leaving the red paper lantern behind, as his true mission was likely to keep an eye on her.
No rule against it existed, but making herself a target for assassination would be foolish.
:Cold?: asked a flying strip of cloth passing overhead.
She couldn’t say ‘yes.’ That would admit weakness. Though the depths of the underground cavern never saw the warmth of the sun, Rana could endure. However, :You can hitch a ride if we’re going the same way.:
The cloth wound himself around her neck and thickened into a warm woolly scarf, protecting her sensitive amphibian skin from the cold air. It felt fantastic. :Wow, you can practically see everything!: he sent as she shared her senses. The girls’ giggles tinkled in her mind as they enjoyed the view.
Lea wore so many Tsukumogami she was hardly recognizable. A beautiful, full-length robe served as the base for her accessories. She had multiple pens, folded fans tucked into her sash, a completely unnecessary oil-paper umbrella in one hand, a flower petal purse, coiled wire sunglasses, straw sunhat, tiny lantern earrings, a lacquered hairbrush, a compact, and eight-inch elevated wooden sandals.
:You said ‘yes’ to every one of them?: Rana sent on a private channel. Besides showing solidarity for the restriction on Lea’s voice, the walls literally had ears in this house.
Lea managed a fake-guilty expression despite her face being veiled. :I might hurt their feelings if I said no. They happen to like me, and I do not mind the attention. What is wrong with that?:
The frog girl smirked, :Nothing, except you look ridiculous. Although, what will Koto and his officials think when they find you’ve been corrupting the youth?:
:I am not corrupting anybody!: Lea objected, then smiled under her veil as she peeked through a slit at Rana’s slippers, :I had no idea you were a ‘pink’ kind of girl,: she sent with a wink.
Rana changed the subject. :You called me here for a reason, Lea?:
The smile fled from her friend’s face as the girl sent, :You remember your promise?:
She nodded, and Lea led the way.
Through the parting walls of paper screens, they penetrated room after room into the mansion’s mazelike construction. Lea moved with purpose, guided by some advisor unknown to Rana. At last, they reached their destination, the private—as private as one can be in a colony of Tsukumogami—chambers of Shami-chōrō.
The old instrument knelt on his cushion at a heavy oak desk, writing on a scroll. As they entered his room, the dip pen returned to its inkpot, and the scroll rolled itself up. Shami lifted his head to greet them with an insincere smile. “Ah, welcome, come in, at your service. I see you’ve made a few friends.”
About ninety percent of the Tsukumogami with them departed at his words. Rana’s three companions were among the brave few who stayed.
He smiled again, smug. “Please, have a seat however your kind feels most comfortable.” A pair of nearby Tsukumogami shifted into cushions for them, and they both sat properly across from him at the table. He gestured to Rana, “I see you’ve brought your purse.”
She didn’t dignify the racial slight with a response.
:Rana is my business associate,: Lea countered. :We will be negotiating the transaction together. However, if you cannot keep a civil tongue, there will be no deal.:
“My apologies, ladies,” he replied, far more formal than earlier, “If anything I said offended. Although, it’s always good to see loyalty.”
:No offense taken, sir. May I ask if this conversation is private?:
Rana counted over a hundred pairs of eyes on them at the moment. Lea’s question was not literal, and Shami didn’t take it as such.
He strummed his strings and chuckled. “Koto Furunushi is aware of everything that goes on in his House. It’s difficult for a Tsukumogami to keep secrets.”
:Then we can expect at least some measure of fairness,: Lea sent to Rana.
“So,” Shami laid out the rules, “You shall tell me what you wish to know. If the Tsukumogami know nothing, no deal. If we have relevant information, then negotiations begin.”
Lea nodded and withdrew a metal fragment from her Pwyll’s Pouch, :I’m looking for the one who did this—: She took her Shew Stone in the other hand and focused.
:Let me,: Rana put her palm over Lea’s, lowering the Shew Stone a fraction.
:Thank you, I know this hurts you too, but I have to do this.:
The Libra girl projected a memory through her Shew Stone like a video recording on a 24” infinitely flat screen. A familiar, painful scene played. Standing walls with gaping holes. Pieces of a broken hammer. Elephant bones blocking the circles of a Terminal. Yes, Rana knew this scene well. The place Lea’s adoptive parents had died. Rana corrected herself, where they’d been murdered.
Shami examined the hammer shard. Rana’s instincts said he was trying too hard to be nonchalant while keeping a healthy distance. Perhaps disguising a reluctance to touch the metal? She couldn’t imagine why. “Smart of you to keep a piece. You’ll need it if you can get a tracker.” He watched the video loop. “Hmm, more friends of yours? You are an odd bunch.”
He watched another cycle of the scene as Lea perspired despite the cool air, breathing hard, lips trembling beneath the veil, struggling to hold in tears until he finally broke the tension. “I have a name. And I have more than a name.”
:How much?: Lea replied far too hastily, wiping her eyes as she dropped the projection and stowed the fragment. Rana winced inside but showed no weakness.
The banjo man grinned. “How much do you have?”
That wasn’t a good sign. Shami was the kind of man who’d take them for all they were worth, given half a chance.
:More than enough,: Lea said with confidence. :Rana, give him a taste.:
Obedient, she mentally prepared a path to her extra-dimensional stomach. Her mouth and throat shifted toward froglike, and she regurgitated one of their Cintamani orbs from storage. Shami kept his face blank and leaned forward to inspect the crystalline magical stone.
“A rather small specimen,” he said with jaded disinterest. “I suppose it could help boil water in the kitchens, though we have more than enough stoves.”
Lea tapped her foot with impatience, already tired of this game. :Trade them away later if you don’t have an immediate use for them; they’re plenty valuable.:
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“Does it look like we get many visitors?” Shami asked. “All of our information about the outside world comes from the few travelers allowed in. We are a self-sufficient people with no need for material possessions we cannot easily produce. Your Cintamani are worthless to us.”
:We risked our lives for these.: Lea fumed. :Traveling across Terminals throughout the Wilderness for a whole year!:
“Worthless,” he repeated with haughty pleasure. “And you’ve no Scribe to mark them with Charter and Treatise.” Rana realized he’d anticipated their first move, preparing from the beginning to reject this offer to make their next ones more desperate.
Meanwhile, Lea barreled ahead. :If it’s information you want, as I said, we’ve got a year’s worth of news from the surface.:
:Lea, calm down. He’s playing you,: Rana tried reasoning with her. Taking a second to breathe, Lea forced herself to take the advice.
“Is that all?” Shami pressed them with condescension in his voice. “You’re alive, so I can’t imagine you’ve seen much relevant to our political interests.”
Rana knew how challenging it must be for Lea to talk about the murder of her family. In projecting her memories through the Shew Stone, she’d been forced to relive them. It’d rattled Lea’s composure; even her mental ‘speech’ felt rushed. This was playing poker with their hand exposed.
:No,: Lea sent, restraining frustration on top of everything else. Putting a price on the killer’s identity must feel insane to her. :But, we have months of radio backlogs, a library of books, and hours of television.:
Shami nodded, “Entertainment. Nothing critical or important, but I imagine it could please a few Tsukumogami for a time.” He deliberated for painful seconds as Lea ground her teeth, then said, “Altogether, I think that should roughly equal the name.”
:The name!: Lea raised her mind’s voice and stood in outrage. :All that for a mere name? We have an abundance of names.:
Shami laughed at her reaction. “Remember, it’s not a name you’re buying—it’s an expert’s opinion. You wouldn’t come to me if you had any idea what happened. You don’t know what killed them, mages, monsters, demons, Wildlings, Revenants, some political force, or a wandering god. I’ve seen all those parties in action; I can tell who did this.”
Defeated, Lea reached for her Shew Stone, but Rana covered the girl’s wavering hand with her own. :That belongs to everyone. It’s everything we have of value from Eastwood, Book Town, Radio World, and Cassie’s sense of hearing. Let’s go. Show him we’re not as desperate as he thinks. We’ll return with the others.:
Lea turned their hands over and squeezed. :Rana, I am that desperate. There’s no guarantee he won’t refuse to do business tomorrow on account of our ‘wasting his time’ or some such. That’s a chance I can’t take. Please, let me do this.:
Rana squeezed her hand.
:Will you promise not to tell the others?:
Rana squeezed again.
:Thank you for staying by my side.:
Their hands separated, and Lea went for her Shew Stone. She held it out to Shami, who touched it with his own. Then she sent him a copy of everything they’d collected.
He settled back, triumphant and satisfied. “It’s an intriguing puzzle. The crux of the mystery is thus—why the shattered pieces? The Behemoth obviously wielded the Hammer, increasing its size to elephantine proportions. The tactic one employs, in this case, is to kill the wielder first, forcing the Tool into a more vulnerable humanoid form to fight for itself. A Sanctified Steel sledgehammer of that size would be almost impossible for anyone beneath the gods to break.
“However, we can rule out the interference of gods in this matter. Look at the surrounding area. Little to no collateral damage. If you’d seen a demigod fight, you’d know the evidence is plain as day.”
Rana thought of Red Tail and how he’d obliterated the landscape of a valley and mountainside in minutes.
“We can also discount mages,” Shami continued. “For the same reason, as they always leave the mark of their Elements on the battlefield. That leaves some form of Wildling magic at work—most likely a rampaging monster unless you can give me a clear motive.
“Thusly, we arrive at the name. There is one monster capable of killing a Hammer in its Tool form before dealing with the Behemoth, given the evidence I’ve seen. Its name: Chimera.”
They sat in silence for a moment, absorbing the information. Lea sent a question to Rana, :What do you know of this, Chimera?:
Rana’s answer was embarrassingly meager. :I know that name, but not how it could’ve killed Henry like that. Even if we manage to track it with a name and the shard, we’ll be slain in turn. A mere scrap of information could be the difference between life and death.:
Considering the old man with distrust, Lea asked, :What of your ‘more than a name?’ Can you tell us anything we can use?:
“I doubt you can afford it,” he said. Getting anything from Shami felt like squeezing blood from a stone with their bare hands, an impossible and painful task. “I have an eye-witness report on the Chimera’s nature and abilities. That is extremely high-price information—people died to get it. If our colony has to relocate, detailed knowledge of the monsters plaguing the Wilderness could save thousands of lives. We regard such data with the utmost seriousness.”
A sharp grin spread across Lea’s features, wide enough to be visible beneath the veil. :Have you ever heard of Red Tail?:
Shami raised an eyebrow. “Red Tail the Hawk? The Raptorial monster bordering the Lesser Pantheon—that Red Tail?”
:The very same,: Lea nodded. :Do you know anything more concrete about him?:
Shaking his head, Shami said, “Ridiculous. He sees his opponents from miles away with his Far Sight and either kills them or flees unbeknownst. He’s been spotted by those retreating into safe zones, and we’ve deduced abilities by the traces he leaves behind—but battle tactics, how he fights and uses those powers, no one alive can say.”
He stared for a moment, then cackled, his voice dry. “No, there’s no way you survived such a meeting. He’d have seen right through your Camouflage.”
Lea shrugged with casual grace. :We got lucky.:
Shami’s look of disbelief shifted to one of greed. “Show me.”
They had him.
:Trade information on one monster for another?: Lea mused, taking the upper hand at last, :But wait, you already indicated the Chimera is not a member of the Lesser Pantheon. Those monsters cannot be of the same level. Our information is far more valuable than yours.:
It was Shami-chōrō’s turn to grind his teeth. “You think you’ve got the advantage here, but don’t forget—I’m not the one who called this meeting. You came to me with your questions. I want what you know, yes, but you want what I know far more. Supply and demand.”
Rana spoke, “Answer us one other question, and we’ll call it even.”
Shami frowned. “What question?”
“How does one obscure their trail from a Black Dog?”
He chuckled, “So, you’re a smart one. Alright, I’m feeling generous. I’ll tell you one way.”
:As long as it’s not ‘eliminate the dog’ or anything stupid,: Lea added, her temper showing.
Shami laughed again, “It’s a deal.”
They began the exchange, reliving the terror and despair of that awful day in the Wilderness. Shami thrilled at their memories of Red Tail, strumming his strings as he watched. “Incredible, look at how he uses his minions as shield and veil—and that screech! I can’t believe you lived to tell the tale.”
:Yes, yes,: Lea sent, body quaking with echoes of fear. :You shall have plenty of time to review everything later. Tell us about the Chimera.:
He couldn’t stop smiling as he tore his eyes away from the projection. “Very well. The Chimera is the ‘Three In One’ monster.” Their eyes widened. “An alliance of three Zodiac members, an Ophid, a Caprid, and a lion-headed Gryphon. They work together thusly: the snake shoots caustic venom to envelope and weaken the Hammer. Didn’t you notice the traces of acid damage? The Gryphon’s roar resonates within the metal, instilling dangerous vibrations. Then the Caprid—”
:—Shatters it,: Lea finished. :We know what a Capricorn is capable of.:
He nodded. “Sources tell us the snake’s name is ‘Naja.’”
“Useless,” Rana scoffed. “An Ophid ‘Naja’ is about as common as a human ‘John.’ It’ll more likely give us false leads than help find the killer.”
Shami showed his palms in mock defeat. “I’m telling you all we know. As for the Black Dog, that is a difficult problem. The traditional trick for ditching trackers is crossing water, but the Black Dog is one with the mists and foam and waves.” They knew this firsthand. “Seek one with a stronger affinity to Water. For instance, wash yourselves in a child of Ganymede’s cleansing draught.”
“Where are we supposed to get an Aquarius?”
“That’s your problem, not mine,” he said.
Rana froze as a thought surfaced. What about a Crustacean or a Cnidarian? Was this the luck of the Wilderness? The crab’s bubbles—if only they’d known to wash themselves in the foam… If only Daniel’s attempt at diplomacy had succeeded.
:Wait a minute.: Lea must feel cheated. :That can’t be all you have on the Chimera! At least tell us about Ophids and Gryphons.:
“Alright, alright. We have a short excerpt we recovered from a Shew Stone found near a distinctly charred skeleton.” Shami showed an archived clip imbued with the hate and fear of a painful death.
A few seconds of soundless, murky images played. They were the last sights of a dying man sliding on muddy Water from a blasted landscape of Ice towers aflame with burning green. Then, something large with three heads swooped spewing green fire, and the screen went blank.
“Usually, it’s the Caprid one watches for,” Shami remarked. “The very scars on Koto Furunushi’s chest are proof. That was almost a thousand years ago, and the wound never healed.
“The Ophiuchus are revered not for their power, but their talent for deception. Their scales and venoms have varied effects—but this Naja has their virulent venom, The Green Flame, for certain.
“However, far above the other two, you must fear the Gryphon. Members of both the Zodiac as Leo and The Thirteen as ‘Angels of Rule and Order.’ Half eagle, half lion, twice king, their kind holds dominion over the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, with a potent resistance to all attacks of claw and tooth and beak and wing. With the Gryphon’s toughness, the Ophid’s scales, and the Caprid’s regeneration, the Chimera may be nearly impossible to damage.”
Shami-chōrō broke off here to lean in closer as he said, “Listen to me, Frog and Fae, if slaying this monster is the insanity you intend. The likes of us have no business with Angels, let alone fighting fallen ones. I don’t know how you got an Angel of Ruin on your side but don’t over-rely on him. The boy is immature, unstable. If he used his true power, he could destroy every one of you before knowing what he’d done.”
Lea nodded, “We acknowledge the risks, but our friends and enemies are our choices.”
“Then leave me,” he said, “I’ve done more than enough for you two in one day.”