Kaguta - Or, Ankūro - The Warrior, The Thief and The Killer

18

Kō

The Sacred Mountain.
The Divines bless its beauty.
This island's mother.
- Nuriaki.

The journey didn't take as long as Kō expected, receiving the good will of farmers with their carts along the way. But, as they approached the awesome mountain, Kō began to have other worries. The child had started out well, but, as they travelled, became more irritable and noisy. No matter what Kiriho, or Kō tried, they could not calm the baby.

Now, as they stood before the browning forests that carpeted the lower reaches of Kūmū-Nē, the child had fallen into a constant wail. The last farmer had left them at the mouth of a path, grumbling about the noise and Kō could only apologise so much. None had slept the night before.

"She is so hot." Sat with the baby in her arms, Kiriho fretted as she touched the child's forehead and chest. "We have to cool her down. I think she is very ill, mistress."

Indeed, the child looked pale, despite her cries causing her cheeks to redden. Kō had no idea how to proceed. The last stream they had seen had held barely a trickle of water and they would have to walk a good mile back down the road to return to it. They had little option but to continue on along the path to the Pilgrim's Trail and hope to find a stream, or a river, or pool along the way.

Her training had given her a wide knowledge of wild plants and flowers that she could forage for food, or to treat injuries, even to stave off the ravages of poison, but she knew nothing of any remedies for sick children. Not for the first time, Kō regretted not leaving Kiriho and the child behind in any of the more populated areas they had passed through.

"Do your best to sooth her." She offered her hand to Kiriho and the young woman helped herself to stand. "I can take the child for a while and hope we find running water to bathe her in."

"No, mistress. I'll carry Norūmo for now." Kiriho's hand reached up to Kō's shoulder, taking the straps of the bags and slipping them onto her own shoulder. "You go ahead. Try and find something. We will follow as fast as we can."

Kō hesitated for longer than she would have before. The illness of the child bothered her, but Kiriho also seemed at the point of exhaustion. To leave both of them like this could leave them to any number of hardships, should anything happen to Kō. This was not a place to walk alone with a child.

But, the child needed cooling, or healing and Kō could not do either of those things if she did not search afar from her two charges. A glance up the gentle slope of the mountain and she identified a few scars that could indicate rivers. Gaps within the trees that could hide a stream, or a pool. With one more look at Kiriho's tired, drawn features, Kō made her decision.

"Very well. Rest often. You'll do the child no good if you collapse yourself." After a second's thought, she took her thin knife from her wide belt and handed it to Kiriho. "If I don't return in an hour, find a safe, hidden place, mark the way how I told you and wait for me."

Kiriho could only give a half-hearted nod and began to walk along the path, up towards the mountain, the child screaming all the way. Kō hesitated once again before starting to run ahead, her covered spear held in one hand, bouncing along with her strides. She had identified one spot more likely than the others, and closer, that could provide for their needs.

As they had travelled, they had heard little talk of the Sansui they had followed this way, Shinoū Sataro. The Sansui that Gunoē had pointed her towards. The man that knew the whereabouts of her brother, if he still lived. The closer they had come to Kūmū-Nē, the less people knew of the Sansui, to the point where she wondered if they had lost his trail completely.