Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [115]
I found it! Wataru rubbed his head and began to climb down the ladder. It wasn’t that long, ending before the twelfth rung. Wataru stepped off the ladder onto soft, damp earth.
He was surrounded by darkness. Above him he could see something like a cave mouth, and through that—stars! Wataru looked up to see something shining like hundreds of stars above him. Occasionally they would flit from one side to the other in a seemingly random fashion. Fireflies? Perhaps these were the fireflies of this world.
By the wan glow they cast, he could see that the cave continued on, deeper. The walls were of jagged stone, and the floor was wet here and there with rivulets of water coming out of the rock.
The cave twisted and turned but eventually began to climb. It seemed to be heading for the surface—which gave Wataru much hope. He began to walk faster. At last the cave tunnel ended, and he found himself in a small courtyard paved with flagstones. In the middle, a single ray of light stabbed straight down from above. It seemed to be centered on a blue symbol of some sort drawn on one of the flagstones. Wataru felt his body grow lighter. He seemed to be walking on clouds.
Then, he blinked. He was standing in the middle of the forest, back in front of the entrance to the Cave of Trials. He could hear the birds singing. The sun shone through the trees at an angle, and a faint blue mist was beginning to creep through the woods.
The entrance to the cave was already closed, leaving only a featureless lump of rock in its place. He touched it. No rumbling in the ground. No southern accent. Nothing.
Wataru followed the path back through the woods to the place where the five huts stood. The wizard was nowhere to be seen, and Wataru saw smoke rising—not from the first hut, nor the second, but from the chimney of the third one.
Chapter 3
The Novice Brave
Wataru walked straight up to the door and knocked. Immediately, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The door opened and the old wizard stuck out his head. Wataru gasped. He was crying.
“Y-you’ve come home at last!” the old man said, sniffling. He wiped away the tears with one hand, and waved Wataru inside. “It took you quite a while to solve the riddle, didn’t it?”
Wataru sat on a sturdy chair hewn from a single tree stump, and watched the old wizard sit down and brush the tears off his cheeks.
At the first hut, he was angry. At the second, he was kind, and now…
“Um, Wizard?”
“What? If you’re wondering about your weapon, I was about to explain that to you.”
“Well, before that…”
“Ah, yes, an introduction is long overdue. My name is Lau. You may call me Wayfinder Lau. Though I suppose I’m more of a way-shower than a wayfinder, but no matter. Yes, I am a wizard by trade, but my role here is to serve as a guide to Travelers such as yourself. You’ve been through the Cave of Trials, you’ve passed the test, so you may call me Wayfinder…actually, why don’t you call me Lord Wayfinder. Yes, I think that will do quite nicely.”
“Yes, Lord Wayfinder,” Wataru said, speaking quickly so that he wouldn’t be cut off again. “Just let me ask one question. Does your mood change depending on which house you appear in?”
Wayfinder Lau stroked his narrow chin with a bony hand. “What, you just realized this now? You are slower than Mitsuru.”
Wataru winced. That one hurt. “But I’m right, right?”
“Quite, yes. That is the way of this village. The Watcher is bound to guide travelers to the best of his ability. Should I let my own emotions get the better of me, and become lax in my duties, then Travelers would needlessly suffer. That’s why each hut is set with its own mood. That way I’ll never be confused. I know I’m to be mad when I’m in the Hut of Anger, I know I’m to be kind when in the Hut of Kindness. And…”
“Let me guess, this is the Hut of Tears?”
“No, Wataru, the Hut of Sorrow.” The Wayfinder blinked glistening eyes. “Tears can fall even when one is joyous, no? One can even cry from laughing too much. No, I cry