Demon Sword Dance
Book 2 of the Dororo Novel Series
Toriumi Jinzō
Part 4 - Priestess Mai
Chapter 1
The forest near the village of Hino close to Lady Mai's estate was teeming with newly hatched gypsy moths. The cherry, plum, and oak trees were stripped of their bark as the ravenous insects consumed it. Chestnuts and apples were eaten on the tree or when they fell to the ground. Many moths emerged from the forest and consumed the food growing in the villagers' fields. There was a fear that the village would starve in the coming winter.
Famine caused by pestilent insects was hardly a rarity. From 1394 to 1441, Ezichen and the surrounding provinces had suffered from widespread starvation caused specifically by insects. The last time the village of Hino had suffered from starvation on this scale was in 1404, when the gypsy moths swarmed from the forest and ate everything in their fields. The villagers, with great regret, had burned the entire forest around the village down.
That same year, shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu received recognition from the Chinese Emperor, Zhu Di, as the ruler of Japan. Japan and China had improved trade relations from then on, but that did nothing to alleviate the famine in Hino village or elsewhere. Only the shōgun and people who lived in cities really benefited.
The forest around the village had grown back in the intervening years, and now the gypsy moths were back as well. The villagers had suffered greatly from burning the forest the first time, since what they grew in their fields was supplemented by the wild food that grew there. They hated the gypsy moths, whose small size belied their ability to cause so much suffering and death.
The leaders of the village made a pilgrimage to Ōmushi Shrine1 to pray. Ōmushi Shrine was far to the south of the village on the banks of the Hino River. Though Ōmushi Shrine was much smaller than the Ise Grand Shrine,2 the two shrines had been built at around the same time.
It seemed that the gods at Ōmushi Shrine had chosen to ignore the villagers' prayers.
All of the village's people gathered outside the home of the headman, Tōshichirō, to discuss what should be done about the gypsy moths. Some villagers remembered burning the forest and the lean times that had followed.
"We must work together to exterminate all of the moths now," an old woman said. "We need to kill the caterpillars, too, to prevent more from hatching into worse pests."
"That's easier said than done," a different old woman replied. "We can get rid of a lot of them, but there's no way to get rid of them all. We don't even know how many there are—thousands? Tens of thousands? More? And the children won't be able to help us. Being stung is too dangerous for them."
"Then we need to burn the forest, as we did back then," the first old woman said.
Tōshichirō listened to what everyone had to say, then said, "We'll burn half the forest and preserve the rest. Before we do that, let's capture as many insect predators for the moths as we possibly can, especially praying mantises and millipedes. Oh, and bees as well: bees eat the caterpillars. We will plant more flowers to attract more bees. And we'll stop hunting game in the preserved part of the forest, since the animals eat the caterpillars and moths as well. We'll build bonfires near the forest at night and kill as many of them as we can."
The first old woman who had spoken shook her head. "That's not good enough. The young should climb the mountain with torches and burn every moth and caterpillar they see."
The young farmers and workers grumbled. "Who will protect our fields and bring in the harvest?"
"The caterpillars hide under leaves during the day. They only come out at night," the old woman said.
"What if you're wrong and we burn too much of the mountain?" a young man asked.
"I'd gladly burn the entire mountain if it would rid us of these vile pests," the old woman said. She remembered the last time the gypsy moths had swarmed over the village, and she was not eager to repeat the experience.
The next day, the villagers started working on exterminating the gypsy moths. The children went to the other villages and higher up the mountain to capture predators for the moths; they released what they'd caught into the forest. Women and girls planted flowers in all the clear patches of earth that they could find. When the farmers were done with their work, they climbed the mountain with torches, searching for caterpillars and cocoons to burn. Half the forest was cleared in a controlled burn. The marshy patches left over gleamed silver on the blackened landscape, looking like some kind of illusion or mirage.
The world had become a living hell for the gypsy moths. They either burned to death in the forest or burned when the torches found them at night in the woods that remained. The moths were drawn to the flames, throwing themselves at them as if they wished to die. Maybe they did—maybe the fire was purifying to them, somehow.
The villagers had learned that it was impossible to eradicate every moth. In giving themselves to the flames, there was a possibility that they would swiftly be reborn.
Late one night, Lady Mai stood at the foot of Mount Hino, watching the light of the torches and the bonfire with hatred in her eyes. So many young caterpillars had nurtured themselves on the vegetables and plants in the fields and forests, and now they would die before adulthood. She wanted to see them pollinating the flowers and flying through the marshes and meadows.
But the villagers hated the gypsy moths. If they had their way, none of them would be allowed to live. New caterpillars and mature moths alike were eaten by other insects, burned, or trampled as the villagers continued their extermination campaign.
Male moths emerged from hiding under leaves at night, but female moths often stayed perched on their leaves, watching and waiting. The female moths emitted pheromones that drew the males to them.
There were even more torch-bearers on the mountain now. Most of the villagers must be out burning the moths. Mai heard footsteps behind her and turned around.
It was Sabame Nuinosuke. "What are they doing?" he asked Mai. "Hunting? At night?"
"I don't know," Mai said. She looked up at the sky. She couldn't bear to watch the villagers killing the moths for a single second longer.
Nuinosuke took in her expression with a little frown. "You aren't usually this upset."
"Let's go back to my estate," Mai said. "I want a drink."
Nuinosuke followed Mai as if he were being pulled by a rope, though he wasn't aware of just how closely he followed her home.
***
Half a year passed after the night Mai observed the villagers on the mountain. It was autumn now. Thanks to the villagers' concerted efforts to exterminate the gypsy moth population on the mountain, they were able to bring in the harvest and store enough food to last the winter.
But the villagers were still cautious. They couldn't afford much leeway for mistakes when storing their harvests, or the village would still starve. And the female gypsy moths had laid many eggs in the forest before the villagers had moved against them. Some of the villagers said that they moths had laid even more eggs that they normally did in an average year. The prediction was that next year would be an even worse year for moths than this year had been.
If the prediction proved true, the villagers would have to burn the entire mountain in spring. Losing the food they gathered from the forest would cause immediate hunger. Starvation and famine were a certainty. The same thing had happened sixty-four years before.
The villagers didn't rest after the harvest was over; they couldn't. They went into the forest on the mountain and looked for caterpillar eggs. They gathered all the eggs they could find and burned them.
Mai said her prayers in the shrine every morning. She performed many ritual ceremonies, either alone or with the other shrine maidens. Aside from Mai and the shrine maidens, no one else in the village prayed to any insect gods. No lamps or fire were ever permitted inside the shrine.
That autumn, something strange happened to the shrine's sacred object, which was a mummified cocoon of a swallowtail butterfly. A butterfly actually emerged from the cocoon, though no one could explain how.
The villagers were so busy with hunting down caterpillar eggs that they didn't visit Mai's estate much anymore, not even to bring supplies. The only person Mai saw on a regular basis was Nuinosuke.
The more time Nuinosuke spent with Mai, the more time he wanted to spend with her. Simply touching her was intoxicating. He sometimes worried that he was in over his head. She's a remarkable woman. So mysterious...
Nuinosuke had never been so overcome with desire for a woman in his life. It was like she knew exactly what he wanted, at all times and in all ways. She indulged him frequently, but the way he wanted her was like a physical ache. It pained him to be apart from her for too long.
She had such intimate understanding of his needs that he suspected her of having other lovers, either now or in the past. The suspicion made him irrationally jealous. Mai never had other men around her and Nuinosuke knew it. He scarcely ever left her side. He believed that he would never find another woman like her.
Nuinosuke's desire to kill had not abated. If anything, he'd gotten crueler and meaner since settling in the village. He had to exert great force of will to keep himself under control so that his activities remained secret.
When Nuinosuke had free time—usually, this was when Mai was busy—he went out into the wooded garden behind the estate and practiced with Nihil. He had killed so many people with the sword, and had been dependent on it for so long, that his own will and the sword's were very much in alignment. Nihil's bloodlust had become his own. Nuinosuke was Nihil in every way that mattered.
This change in will and intention was reflected in Nuinosuke's altered physical appearance. He was too thin when he'd arrived at Mai's estate. Though he ate regular meals, he lost more weight until he appeared as thin and angular as his blade. The will of the sword and his unrelenting lust for Mai were his only animating forces. They were the only reasons he had to stay alive.
Nuinosuke gave the villagers an uneasy sort of feeling. They whispered to one another about him.
"Who is that Sabame guy, anyway? He looks like a prisoner—or a rogue."
"He never leaves Lady Mai's estate."
"That's not true! I saw him in the village once, but he was so pale that he looked half-dead. I didn't talk to him."
"Half-dead? More like all dead. The man is a walking corpse. His eyes bug out like a fish's."
"What's his connection to Lady Mai?"
"Well, she's a woman, and alone. She must have needs, just like all women."
"Shut up about our priestess, you. Aren't you a bachelor? Maybe you're just jealous."
"Have you ever been up to Lady Mai's estate at night? I've seen him prowling around it with a murderous look in his eyes. It's probably better not to get too close."
Tōshichirō, the village headman, heard some villagers gossiping and called for silence. "I will not have you speaking ill of Lady Mai," he said. "She is a priestess, and our benefactor."
"But there have been more people showing up dead in and around the village lately," a man said. "Is that just a coincidence?"
"The culprits there are bandits and thieves," Tōshichirō said. "I'm certain that Lady Mai has nothing to do with it."
"You said that Lady Mai is our benefactor," a woman said, "but an entire family was butchered while they slept! I know she saved the village from bandits once, but I don't think her protection is helping us any longer."
The villagers were silent for a long moment.
"I'm sure the family was targeted by raiders," Tōshichirō said. "Their money and valuables were also taken. It's tragic, but many tragic things happen in the world, especially these days."
After the family had been found dead, Tōshichirō had ordered a watch to be put on the village at night. The family that had been murdered was the same one that Nuinosuke had killed on the night Mai had offered her body to him for the first time.
Nuinosuke thought her timing strange, in hindsight. She must have known that he'd killed that family, but she'd thrown herself at him anyway, as if that act had excited her in some way. He benefited from her protection and never asked her too many questions, but some part of him did wonder if Mai had the villagers' best interests at heart.
After that, he'd refrained from killing people in the village, choosing victims that were somewhat farther afield. Whenever Nihil cried out for blood, he went out on the mountain path at sunset, looking for travelers or stragglers coming off a battlefield. Killing strangers was as easier and caused fewer problems for him. He rationalized his behavior by telling himself that they would do the same thing, in his place.
Most nights, Nuinosuke and Mai ate dinner and drank together before she disappeared for her mysterious nightly rituals in the shrine. It was a strangely domestic thing for the two of them to do together, though neither ever remarked on it.
Mai was slightly tipsy. Her cheeks flushed pink. She was more alluring than Nuinosuke had ever seen her before. He drank what little liquid remained in his cup and stared at her, fascinated.
Mai giggled. "And what is so interesting, Nuinosuke?"
Nuinosuke looked away. "Nothing, it's just...I never get used to how beautiful you are."
"Oh? Such flattery." She blushed.
"It's not flattery," Nuinosuke said. "It's just what I think. Has something made you happier lately? I may be wrong, but you are positively glowing with joy."
"Am I?" She giggled again. "I am never happier than when I am here with you, drinking and forgetting the cares and worries of the world outside."
Nuinosuke's gaze became searching. "Is something troubling you?" he asked.
"No, not now," Mai said.
"But in the past?"
Mai shook her head. "You know I dislike answering questions about the past."
"If it was a man, I'll—" Nuinosuke clenched his fist.
"It could have been. Would that be so strange?" Mai asked. The look in her eyes was teasing.
"I—can't stand it," Nuinosuke said. "Even the idea of it."
"I won't tell you," Mai said. "I'm sure you understand."
Nuinosuke did understand. Like her, he would rather no one pry too deeply into his past. He had killed his promised bride, along with her entire family. He had killed forty-two innocent builders and carpenters on his lord's orders.
"I do," Nuinosuke said. "Let's just drink and try to be happy."
Mai poured Nuinosuke another drink, then leaned forward and seized Nihil.
Nuinosuke gasped in surprise. "What are you doing?" He tried to take the sword back, but Mai just laughed and stepped away from him.
"I was just thinking that this sword had a strange name," she said. She held up the sword before her eyes, looking very closely at the scabbard.
"I named it," Nuinosuke said. "But only on a whim. I'm not that attached to the name."
Mai smiled at the sword as if she were a girl who had just found a new favorite toy. "I've never seen a sword with a red scabbard before...can I take it out and look at the blade?" she asked.
"Don't be silly," Nuinosuke said. "What does a woman need with a sword?" He glanced between her and the Nihil. "Besides, you might hurt yourself. Hand it back to me." His face was flushed from drink.
"I think I understand the name," Mai said. "It's like a leech that lives on blood, right?" She kept staring calmly at the sword. "I would love to watch you kill someone with it."
When she handed the sword back to Nuinosuke, he put it behind his back so that she couldn't take it so easily again.
Mai laughed hugely and pounced at Nuinosuke, landing in his lap. She was so close and had the same alluring scent as always. Nuinosuke wrapped his arms around her and breathed into her hair. "Mai..."
Touching Nihil had blown her pupils wide in sudden arousal. For a noble lady, Mai had surprisingly vulgar tastes when it came to sex, though Nuinosuke wasn't about to complain about that.
***
A few days later at moonrise, a villager was returning home to Hino after celebrating his sister's wedding in a neighboring village. He was very drunk and found it difficult to find his way. The wedding feast had been extravagant from the perspective of a poor villager like him, and the unrefined sake he'd drunk had gone to his head.
As the villager was walking along the road near a stand of pine trees, he heard a man scream. He rushed toward the man in distress, but tripped over his own feet. He was too late to catch the attacker. All he saw was a man holding a sword running away from him down the road. An old man who appeared to be a traveler lay near the roots of a pine tree.
The old man's throat was slit. Black-looking blood gushed from the wound as he struggled to breathe. His eyes were wide open and expressed nothing but pain.
"Ah, Amida Buddha..." The villager said a prayer over the corpse, then rushed home as quickly as he could.
In his haste, the villager stumbled into a bandit camp. It was full night, so he wasn't easy to see, but when the watchers around the camp spotted him, they gave chase.
The villager fled into the forest, hoping to hide. He stopped running suddenly when he saw a young woman standing before him, naked.
I drank too much, the villager thought. I must have.
He blinked, but the woman was still here.
Maybe she decided to take a bath at night? But the water's so cold at night in autumn...
She wasn't looking at him. He only saw her from the back. Her skin was a pure and dazzling white. She was near a stream, but made no move to bathe herself. She cupped her breasts in both hands and peered at her own reflection in the water's surface.
When the moonlight shone on her face, the villager recognized Lady Mai.
"Ah! Lady Mai!"
"If you don't want me, stay there. If you do, follow me." She left the side of the river and headed for a small hut. There was a straw mat just inside it. Mai lay down on the mat and beckoned to the young man.
The villager followed Mai into the hut and took her hand. Mai guided the young man's clumsy hands over her body while he stammered out, "Lady Mai, I—I—"
It wasn't safe here. He had to warn her about what he'd seen. He told her about the man he'd seen killed on the road.
"What did you see?" Mai asked.
"I couldn't make out much, but the man who attacked him carried a sword in a red scabbard."
The moonlight cut across Mai's face. "Do you think I'm beautiful?" she asked.
"You are very beautiful," the villager said. "As beautiful as a butterfly." He knew that the sacred object in her shrine was a butterfly chrysalis, and she often dressed herself in clothing that had butterfly motifs and designs. In his drunk state, he could think of no better way to compliment her.
"Am I?" She guided him into her with a sweet smile. "I believe that I'm even more beautiful than that."
The villager swore off drink forever: what he saw was impossible. Lady Mai's face melted away under the light of the moon and was replaced by that of a hideous monster. He tried to push himself away from her, but he couldn't move. The space between her thighs contracted around him in a grip like a vise. Her white arms wrapped around his back and held him still with surprising force. She wrapped her hands around his throat and bit into the soft flesh of his neck. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't get free.
Was Lady Mai's sudden transformation simply a trick of the light? What kind of monster was she? The villager never knew. His corpse was discovered under a bridge in Hino Village the next morning.
Translator's Notes:
1 Ōmushi Shrine (Japanese: 大虫神社) Ōmushi Shrine is an ancient shrine in Ezichen Province (modern-day Fukui Prefecture). Three gods are enshrined there: Ōkuninushi, an earth god, Watatsumi, a sea god, and Ōta no Mikoto, an ancestral god. The shrines name means Large Insect.↩
2 The Ise Grand Shrine is located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan. It is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines dedicated primarily to the sun goddess Amaterasu. The shrine buildings are made of solid cypress wood and use no nails but instead joined wood. Purportedly the home of the Sacred Mirror, the shrine is one of Shintos holiest and most important sites. ↩
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