After what felt like hours navigating the treacherous stream and surrounding landscape, Kazu and his men finally reached the end of the road. A giant waterfall stood before them, at least five men in height from top to bottom.

“River begins up there. End of line for kappa.”

“Wait, how are we supposed to get up there?”

“Climb.”

“You want us to climb this? How?”

The kappa rolled its eyes.

“Humans, so useless. Here, look.” He grabbed onto a small rock ledge underneath the raging waters and pulled himself up, then another, and another. The raging waters cascaded around him like it was nothing. Kazu clenched his jaw.

“You forget us useless humans aren’t aquatic creatures like you,” he told the kappa. “It’s not quite that easy for us.”

The kappa shrugged, let go and dove back into the water before emerging not far from Kazu and his men.

“I bring humans here, like Kazu asked. Now humans go. From top of waterfall go straight. Do not be distracted. Only straight. Humans struggle, but humans reach castle.”

Kazu looked up. The dense forest lightened up a little and he could see the moon behind the clouds above them. It was past the high point of the night sky. They had perhaps a few more hours at best. The rain continued to drizzle.

“Alright. Let’s get moving. I’ll go first.”

Kazu grabbed onto the rock like the kappa had. It was slimy and slippery, but enough to grip. Water pounded his face incessantly. He closed his eyes and felt under the water for the next rock. Slowly, hand after hand, foot after foot, he scaled the waterfall.

“Yes, good! Slowly, master! Don’t want to have to eat master when master crushes head on rocks below.”

Kazu stopped to regain his breath for a moment and chanced a look down. His men were following him, slowly. The kappa was lazily swimming in circles on his back, watching them.

“Thank you,” Kazu muttered, trying not to look at the jagged rocks below. Up. Just have to go up.

After what felt like an eternity Kazu grabbed onto a large tree root near the top of the waterfall and he pulled himself up. He’d made it. There was a tiny lake, oddly calm compared to the raging waters below. He pulled himself onto the bank and lay back, breathing raggedly. Soft drops of rain fell on his face. After countless hours of dense forest he never thought he’d be so happy to see clouds. A few moments later Motohisa pulled himself over. He lay his face on the bank, unable to pull himself out of the water. That just left Hisayuki and Tomoki. Kazu peered over the edge.

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“Nearly there guys, come on!”

Hisayuki was nearing the top, but Tomoki was still half way down the waterfall, his arms shaking. He was frozen on the spot.

“Tomoki!”

Hisayuki pulled himself over safely, but Tomoki refused to move.

“It’s just a little further, come on! You can do it!”

Tomoki shook his head. Water continued to pound against him.

“I can’t! Go on without me!”

“What are you gonna do? Go back? We’re nearly there, you can do it! It’s just a little further!”

His arms still shaking, Tomoki looked down at the rocks below. His shook his head.

“I can’t!”

“We’re gonna reach the top, Tomoki. We’re gonna reach the castle, we’re going to break in, and we’re going to win this war. People will remember our names for hundreds of years. Do you hear me, Tomoki? People will be talking about how you, Tomoki, against all odds, broke into the impregnable fortress right underneath their very noses and helped win the war.”

He was silent, contemplating. The kappa continued swimming below. Waiting.

“You can do this!”

Finally Tomoki looked up.

“Okay. Okay! I’m coming!”

He grabbed for another rock and pulled himself up, slowly but surely. Motohisa gave a small, tired laugh and patted Kazu on the back.

“Inspiring words, Kaz-”

And just like that, Tomoki was gone. His hand slipped, he fell backwards and with a splash hit the water below. He emerged a few metres away, blood pouring out of a wound on his head. He wasn’t moving. Kazu’s eyes shot open wide in shock.

“Is… is he okay?”

The kappa swam over to Tomoki’s body leisurely and turned him over.

“I did warn humans.” He looked up. “Sorry master. This one is dead. Can I eat him?”

Kazu had seen a lot of death. If he lived to old age this would be just another in a long string of people who had died around or because of him. But right now, it stung. It stung like when the tanuki had picked off his band of men, one by one, even though he wasn’t particularly close to any of them. But they were still his men, and Tomoki was also one of his men. It hurt. It hurt more than he could let on.

“No, you can’t eat him.” The kappa’s face dropped. “Bury him for me. Then I absolve you of your fealty to me. You may go.”

He turned and didn’t look back. There was no time. He could mourn later.

As the kappa had said, it wasn’t an easy climb, but the remaining three men kept a steady pace and continued straight up the mountain. At some point Kazu could have sworn he heard voices in the trees, calling to him. Was this whole land haunted? They nearly lost Motohisa, who claimed his dead sister was calling to him. After some struggle they got back on track, and by the time they emerged from the thick forest the moon was gone, the rain had let up, and the castle walls stood before them.

“We made it.”

The three men, covered head to toe in mud and scratches and looking like they had just emerged from the pits of hell scaled the cliff before them and mounted the wall. Kazu couldn’t believe they had actually made it. The plan had worked. At least so far.

They surveyed the area below. Soldiers were moving about the open yard, getting ready for the upcoming day.

“There.” Kazu pointed to a few buildings in the distance. “The storehouses. We need to find the powder house and set that on fire. That’ll create a distraction so we can get the front gate open. Come on.”

As Kazu had expected there were no guards on the back wall. Judging by its state of disrepair nobody had even been on it for quite some time. They jumped down and snuck behind some of the residences towards the storehouses. It was still dark, and the covering of mud worked to their advantage.

“Hey! What are you-”

Motohisa punched the guard who had spotted them in the throat, then spun and slashed his neck open before he could even finish his sentence. The lantern he was holding dropped to the ground. Kazu smiled and picked it up.

“Let’s get this party started.”