Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [140]
“Who’re y—hey! It’s that kid!” one of the boys said, pointing at Wataru and holding out his knife. “Let’s get ’im!”
The boy howled and leapt for him, but Wataru managed to move aside in the nick of time. The boy made a wild grab and was able to latch onto the sleeve of his shirt. He swung his knife again.
Uh-oh!
“Huh?”
The Brave’s Sword had deftly blocked the boy’s knife. It was as though his arm—no, the sword itself—had moved of its own accord. Wataru took advantage of the boy’s forward thrust and leapt up on his back.
“Put the sword down, or she gets it!” Wataru heard the other boy shout. He saw him standing with a knife pressed close to the kitkin. “Move a muscle, and I cut her throat!”
Wataru hesitated, and in that instant the boy beneath him threw him off. Wataru fell to the floor.
At that moment, something black and slender came through the window from outside, wrapping itself around the hand of the boy holding the knife. Wataru saw it jerked taut, and the boy was yanked away from the cat-girl.
“Whoa!” the boy shouted, as he flew through the open window and disappeared outside.
The three remaining in the room stood in shock. Again the long black cord lashed through the window, this time wrapping itself around the chest of the boy next to Wataru.
Of course! The whip!
One hand on the window and the other gripping her whip, Kutz leapt inside onto the bed. “I’m a Highlander, and you are under arrest!” she said with authority, jumping down to the floor in front of the boy and giving him three swift kicks with the tip of her leather boot. The boy groaned and slumped to the ground.
“The one outside didn’t fare much better than this one,” Kutz said, baring her white teeth in a smile. “Are you two okay?” she said to the girl on the bed. “Ah, the wound on your back’s opened!”
Then the world began to spin.
“What’s wrong, Wataru?” Kutz chided. “Don’t worry, you saved her. Of course, you wouldn’t have been able to do it on your own. Good thing I was watching your every move.”
“I…see…thanks,” Wataru said, clinging to the edge of the bed.
“You okay?” the cat-girl asked, twitching one ear.
“The open casks…” Wataru muttered. “I think I’m drunk.”
Chapter 6
The Highlanders
It took a full day for Wataru’s hangover to mend. By the time his headache, dizziness, and nausea subsided and he was able to eat again, Kee Keema returned from his trip to Sakawa.
“Never have I been so surprised in all my days!” the waterkin announced, clapping his hands furiously and literally bouncing in his chair. His loud voice echoed through the lodge. “I made it between Gasara and Sakawa in record time, I did. Yet still, in a few days, you managed to not only tangle with Kutz the Rosethorn but become the hero of Gasara!”
“I didn’t do anything so amazing,” Wataru said. “Just the sort of thing they’re always doing in the TV mysteries my mom watches.”
“TV mysteries?” Kee Keema said, cocking his head. “Something from the other world? Anyway, Kutz wanted you to come down to the branch when you were feeling better. So let’s get going!”
Down at the branch they found not only Kutz waiting for them but the tiger-man Trone and a wizened man with long whiskers that Wataru hadn’t met before. He looked like a goat. Must be another -kin, Wataru thought. His eyes were gentle and sparkling with intelligence.
“This is High Chief Gil, responsible for all thirteen Highlander branches in the land of Nacht.”
High Chief Gil reacted to Kutz’s rigid introduction with a warm smile, as he took Wataru’s hands into his own. “Quite impressive to stand up to two violent criminals like that at your young age, my brave Traveler.”
“If Kutz hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have stood up to much,” Wataru admitted. “I was wondering, what happened to the wounded girl, the kitkin?”
It was Kutz who answered. “She needed more stitches after the fracas in her room, so now she’s resting. Give her a few weeks and