Wolf and Keeper

Chapter 37: The Beating Heart of the Land

Days passed by with no further incidents as Seiko found ways to get the group in to see Kohaku. She kept the details to herself as she worked her magic, but by this point, Maru had nothing but complete confidence in her for better or worse. He pushed in another trunk of essentials into the second of two ox carts as he watched Sen and Hachirou help hitch the animals up to the first. It had been quite some time since he had travelled by cart anywhere, let alone to the capital.

"Can you fit?" he saw Sen look over and ask Hashi, who poked his head inside of one of the ox carts and turned back to Sen with a small shrug of his shoulders. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"So, this city is your capital?" Maru turned to see Avery one-arm a massive box of items up into their cart and turn to look at him as if he hadn't. "You ever been there?"

Maru shook his head, "No. This will be my first. What about you, Nobu?" He turned to ask his friend and got distracted by watching Sen trying to help shove Hashi up into the first ox cart, grunting while he tried to shove him up with his shoulder.

"Once when I was younger," Nobuhiko had stopped carrying his things to watch as Sen finally managed to shoulder Hashi into the cart, and soon the yokai's head popped out with a satisfied smile. "How strong is Sen, Maru?"

"Too strong," Maru muttered before he saw Emi and Hachirou round the corner with kanko and Tama, seemingly with the last of the supplies.

"Hoshiga told us that you had a quick way to Heiankyo," Hachirou leaned on his naginata as he watched Seiko's servants finish loading up the ox carriage. "I fail to see how this will be quick."

Kanko snickered, "Oh, silly monk! We won't be walking!"

Seiko chuckled as she approached the group from where she had been stroking the ox's face, "See, the carriages are a front, really. Who needs to walk when you have magic?"

"Magic?" Avery looked over at Maru. "Now you're telling me that we can magically move from one place to the next?" He paused and slowly turned to look at Kanko, "We... We can't actually do that, right?"

"Tail Magic," Kanko supplied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Only kitsune can use it. It's onmyodo with more perks."

"More like fewer restrictions," Tama corrected as he handed Kanko a small satchel of food before turning to Seiko with a bow. "I will remain here and watch over your home, my lady. I assure you, it will be in one piece when you return to us from the capital."

"Tama," Seiko gave him a fond smile and rested one hand on his shoulder, "you needn't worry yourself. I know that our home is in capable hands."

Without another word, she turned to Kanko and nodded, prompting the other woman to walk beside her as the two knelt down and placed two painted strips of paper on the ground. The symbols seemed vaguely familiar, and he realized that they looked much like one's he had seen Ujiyo paint on his own paper slips before. The two briefly chanted something in that strange yokai language before reaching up and pulling the air before them apart like a curtain to reveal a large black space with the tiniest speck of light shining in the distance. Without prompting, Tomo and some of the other kitsune began to move the carriages through the open space as Kanko rolled her eyes and looked back at the group, "Hurry up! This takes a lot of energy to do!" Sen and Hashi stepped into the space together, and it felt like all of the air had stilled. There was no noise aside from the snorting of oxen and the sound of shoes as the group moved along. It was a space of absolute perfect stillness, though Sen could see Seiko walking beside them with a look of concentration hard on her face with her brow furrowed and her hands folded tightly in front of her.

The speck of light gradually grew closer, and Seiko looked to Kanko, "Can you take it from here?"

The other fox nodded as Seiko stepped quickly up into one of the carriages with a sigh and Kanko seemed to assume the burden. Emi looked to her, "So... They sustain the magic for this journey themselves? Remarkable!" It was as if they had emerged from a cave. The speck of light became a column, and when they made their way through to the other side, they found themselves standing in a road. "This puts us half a day's ride from the capital," Seiko's voice came from her carriage's window as she smiled out at the blinking party. "That way, we'll look like we've been travelling."