Kitsune by John Paul Catton

Author:John Paul Catton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: bomb, sci-fi, hunter, science fiction, Doctor Who, adventure, action, time, telos, war
ISBN: 9781845838034
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six: Judayu

Somewhere in the heart of Japan, the trees of an ancient forest hummed with life, their leaves rippling gently in the summer breeze. Cicadas buzzed like living dynamos. Birds chattered unceasingly to each other from the treetops. A woman, slim and with long dark hair, dressed in a city-smart trouser suit, was walking along a narrow dirt track.

As she walked, Emily looked around her, searching for any signs of civilization. In the ditch by the side of the track, the duckweed was so thick and voluptuous that the water could hardly be seen. Across the ditch, the blackened gold stems of the bamboo grove were so tightly pressed together that passage through them seemed impossible. The violent white petals of hollyhocks flashed like butterfly wings among the grass.

The only sign of life so far had come from a worn milestone, half-covered in lichen, that had indicated names and places that told her nothing.

She was still trying to make sense of what she had seen when she had woken. She had escaped through a courtyard, and hidden in a thick clump of bushes. The building in which she had found herself was some kind of shrine, but old, so old, and the decay of long disuse hung everywhere in the air. She had seen a struggling knot of men in black burst from the shrine entrance, dragging – something – with them, the thing lashed with ropes that the men used to control its movements.

But her mind could not register what the thing had been. It had been protean, shapeless, blurred in its wasted efforts to escape, moving so swiftly that it could not be seen.

And she still could not accept that the soldiers had been wearing blindfolds.

She trudged onward, wondering if there was anything in this forest that would prove to be edible. In front of her, she noticed wisps of smoke curling above the trees. Muttering a half-remembered prayer, she hurried on. As the dirt track curved slightly, a clearing in the distance came into view, and Emily stopped as a flash of movement caught her eye.

Two figures were walking along the dirt track in her direction. Hiding and shying away from people wasn’t going to get her anywhere, so she strode towards them, waving her arms to signal.

They became aware of her, and both figures stopped and visibly flinched in surprise. As she got closer, Emily could see them more clearly; they were wearing old-fashioned tunics and breeches. And there was something decidedly odd about their hair; they wore it bunched up right on top of their heads in a topknot.

This wasn’t looking too good. Oh well, she thought, in for a penny, in for a pound.

‘Excuse me,’ she called. ‘I’ve had an accident, and I’m lost. Could you tell me where I am?’

The two men hurriedly conferred with each other – with more than a hint of panic, she thought. At length, one of them stepped forward, his hand placed upon something in his belt.

‘What kind of trick is this?’ he called.

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