Umiho Na-Ri 02 - English

Kumiho-Na-Ri

Demoness of storms part 2

by

J. Paschmann

Campfire story

"I don't need to tell you about the battle against the samurai, because you were there!"

De-Yong had eaten plenty of food and drunk water and now, lying by the fire with the two soldiers, enjoyed makgeolli from a bottle, which was passed around in turn. The Korean rice wine was hardly intoxicating, but made for a relaxed atmosphere.

"I was injured. When I saw that we had lost, I took flight."

He gazed sadly into the flames.

"So many good men lost their lives that day. And we couldn't do anything."

The two soldiers nodded in agreement, remembering the horror of the battle.

"I hoped to be safe in the forest, but a samurai caught up with me and confronted me. We fought and I lost. The last thing I remember was kneeling on the ground, badly wounded and dying, awaiting the killing blow."

He took a deep sip and shook himself.

"Then I woke up deep in the forest and a beautiful, naked woman was nursing my wounds!"

The men opened their eyes.

"A beautiful, naked woman?" Cha-He asked. "Lieutenant, surely you were dreaming?"

De-Yong shook his head.

"No, if I tell you: the most beautiful woman you can imagine! And completely naked!"

The men stared dreamily into the flames and tried to imagine the picture.

"But she wasn't human. She was a kumiho!" De-Yong burst out in surprise.

"A Kumiho?" both men exclaimed at the same time. "You mean a fox demoness?

"Yes. She had been secretly watching the fight and saw my amulet, which I was wearing on my neck at the time. A protective amulet from my great-great-grandfather. And this Kumiho of all people had given it to him as thanks for his help, a long, long time ago!"

"Oh!" was all the men could manage.

"Yes. She had killed the samurai and saved my life to repay the debt to my ancestor."

"Lieutenant, what happened then?" Cha-He wanted to know impatiently.

"Well, she had treated my wounds, but they were still very deep. There was a good chance that I would die from them. That's why I asked her for a support pact."

"You begged a demon for help?"

The men looked at De-Yong in horror.

He nodded.

"Yes, because I was desperate. Alone, very badly injured in the forest. What would you have done?"

The soldiers nodded slowly in agreement.

"But what I didn't know at the time was that I would be bound to this demon for life!"

"So you didn't make the pact?" Ju-Won, who had rarely spoken before, wanted to know. Presumably also because De-Yong had not been his officer and he did not know him.

"Yes, I am! She gave me her pearl. That is her life force. I took it inside me and now it's inside me."

"Pearl? You took her in, lieutenant, how?"

"Through a kiss!"

"Ohhhhhhhh!"

"So you have a pearl in your belly now?" Cha-He wanted to know more.

"No. They just called her that. I can't describe it exactly. It's a fire, a power that burns inside me. It makes me stronger, faster, and also ensures that my wounds heal faster. Much faster. My almost fatal wound was healed the next morning!"

He could see from their faces that they didn't believe a word he said. But he continued his report.

"After our nocturnal union, however, we both began to worry that we had made a mistake. So we decided to go to the Samshin temple near Panyio to break the connection again."

"Association?" asked Cha-He.

De-Yong was embarrassed.

"Well, uh, yeah. Part of the kiss involved us being naked and her sitting on me. You know."

"Ahhhh!" The men nodded and grinned suggestively.

It may have been a made-up story, but it now appealed to them. Now they were even more curious.

"Lieutenant, is the Kumiho built like a normal woman? I mean, underneath, you know."

De-Yong nodded in annoyance. He shouldn't have mentioned that.

"Yes, yes! When she's human, everything is as it should be."

"If she's human? What do you mean by that, Lieutenant?"

"She can change back into her fox demon form from one moment to the next. Especially when she gets angry. And then her eyes also glow blue. It's very frightening, I can tell you!"

The men drove back, shuddering.

"Is that what happened, I mean, with your union, Lieutenant? Is that why you wanted to sever the connection right away?" Cha-He showed obvious understanding for De-Yong's inner conflict the next morning.

"No. Fortunately not with any of our associations!" De-Yong blurted out in somewhat wistful thought.

"Unions?" both men shouted at the same time. "You repeated that?"

De-Yong blushed.

"Uh, yes. Hard to explain. That was part of the agreement with her. I had to go with her three times a day, you know."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The idea of having to unite with a beautiful woman three times a day made the soldiers a little envious. Demoness or not.

De-Yong waved his hand in annoyance.

"It was all about me carrying her pearl inside me. She had to be close to me to be able to tap into the power. Otherwise she would become weak. Nothing more!"

The soldiers nodded with a smile. They didn't believe a word of his obvious excuse.

De-Yong took another sip, then handed the bottle back to him.

"Anyway. So, we set off the next morning on a pilgrimage to the temple. Na-Ri could run incredibly fast, and thanks to her strength I was able to do the same. We ran through the forest and made rapid progress until we unexpectedly came across a Japanese patrol. There were five samurai!"

"Is that where your injuries come from, Lieutenant?" Cha-He interrupted. "Are they looking for you now? And Na-Ri is the name of the Kumiho?"

De-Yong nodded impatiently.

"Right, that was her name. And no: these samurai are no longer looking for anyone. Na-Ri killed them. In the blink of an eye!"

The men looked at him, frowning.

Five samurai killed in the blink of an eye? Completely unbelievable. Not even a demon could do that.

"If you don't believe me, the weapons in my luggage came from them. The sword belonged to the officer. And I got the arquebus from them too."

The looks of his listeners remained skeptical.

"However, we had overlooked the fact that there was a sixth man in the group. Not a warrior, but a scribe. He must have been a bit off to the side at the time of the attack. He probably had to go for a walk. It was only when we were looking through the luggage of the dead that I noticed. By then, however, he was already over the hill."

A truly fatal mistake, as De-Yong now assumed. It could well be that the man who had escaped and the interpreter from the afternoon were the same person. The man seemed to have recognized him.

"Well, whatever. We continued on our way. When we got to the river, we found the valley controlled by Japanese. We had to think of something."

Now the men nodded again. They had had the same problems when crossing.

"I bought a farmer's dress for myself in a village and a bride's dress for Na-Ri. We wanted to get past the Japanese inconspicuously. I had wrapped the weapons in blankets."

"What else was Kumiho wearing?" Ju-Won wanted to know.

"How?" Oh, she had remained naked until then. Na-Ri couldn't stand clothes, she had said. Because it would hinder her."

"So you were chasing after a naked woman the whole time?" Cha-He laughed. "I imagine that's pretty tough!"

De-Yong grimaced irritably. But he decided to ignore this remark.

"So we walked through the village and promptly ran into another samurai patrol. This time there were three men. At first I tried my made-up story that I was newly married and wanted to introduce my bride to my parents in the north. But the strange shape of my luggage made them suspicious. So I drew the samurai's attention to Na-Ri, who was so incredibly beautiful, and then surprisingly drew the samurai sword I had captured. I managed to kill two samurai with it. Meanwhile, Na-Ri took care of the officer on horseback."

"So you've killed three more Japs then? Good, very good!" Ju-Won said grimly.

De-Yong nodded.

"We then hurried across the river and on to the temple. We didn't meet any more samurai until we reached Mount Panyio."

He skipped the renewed argument with Na-Ri, in which she had almost killed him, and after which he had needed almost two days to recover.

"I hadn't expected any more trouble at this point, but unfortunately the mountain is inhabited by a dokkaebi called Cham, who has obviously been at odds with Na-Ri for some time."

"Did this mountain spirit refuse you entry, Lieutenant?"

"No, much worse. He captured Na-Ri and, as punishment for something she had done to him in the past, he put a curse on her that made her stink terribly. And I mean really, really awful. You can't imagine something like that! Then he let us go."

"Eww!" the men grimaced in disgust.

"Yeah, yuck. Even bathing couldn't wash off the stench. Na-Ri really tried everything. And of course, I didn't want to reunite with her afterwards either, as you can imagine."

He received understanding nods.

"The whole visit to the temple was really a trip to the latrine. The only thing we learned was that the connection between me and Na-Ri lasts until I'm dead. And that for some reason, Na-Ri is not allowed to kill me himself."

"Ah, then you must have made a quick getaway, lieutenant? I mean, who wants to be tied to a nasty-smelling demon woman for life?"

Cha-He was able to empathize with his lieutenant.

But De-Yong shook his head.

"We agreed that she should always keep 20 paces away from me at first. Then the monk equipped us with my current disguise as a traveling merchant and we set off again. I was desperate to get back to the south. I was still expected at the fleet. Little did I know that our king had fled and the war was lost."

He took the bottle handed to him again and moistened his mouth, which was dry from talking.

"Ah. Well, I thought the demoness would just want to wait for me to be killed and would therefore willingly move with me. But the day before yesterday we came across six soldiers. Our men. Na-Ri had agreed to stay away from me, so I was alone. The men were hungry and saw me as easy prey. When they discovered my weapons in my luggage, they thought I was an enemy spy and wanted to kill me. It came to a fight. And although I killed one of them and seriously injured two, they managed to knock me down. Then Na-Ri intervened and killed two more of you. The survivors fled."

The soldiers looked shocked. It could have been them too, if Cha-He hadn't recognized his lieutenant.

"Well, this morning I had finally recovered sufficiently from my cracked skull for us to move on. But around noon we ran right into a Japanese squad. Not a normal patrol. There were nine samurai, an interpreter and a palanquin carried by four porters. At first I managed to fool them with my disguise. They only asked me for directions and whether I had seen a fugitive couple with a large bounty on their heads. I answered in the negative and they moved on for the time being."

"A large bounty?" Ju-Won asked. "Who were they looking for? Members of the royal family?"

"No, me and Na-Ri!" De-Yong replied bitterly.

The men opened their eyes again in disbelief, then Cha-He furrowed his brow.

"You, lieutenant? Why? I mean, why did they chase you into enemy territory with a palanquin?"

Cha-He was obviously no fool.

De-Yong shook his head.

"I can't answer that question. But they obviously knew that Na-Ri was a Kumiho. I assume they were just after her."

The bitterness threatened to overwhelm De-Yong, so he drank the last of the bottle. Furious, he threw it into the forest.

"For some reason, they recognized me just when I thought I was safe. Four of the samurai were sent to capture me. The others were probably expecting Na-Ri's attack."

"How did you escape, lieutenant?"

"I killed the four samurai. But I was critically injured myself. Then there was the sound of an arquebus. I don't know what happened, but when the smoke cleared, all I could see was Na-Ri lying naked on the ground and the officer of the squad cutting off her head. Because they paid no attention to me at that moment, I managed to mount a horse and make my escape. At some point I fell off the horse from exhaustion. Then you found me."

Silence spread.

Finally, Cha-He broke the silence, which was only interrupted by the crackling of the fire.

"That was a really good story, lieutenant! But, now tell me: why were you really lying injured on the path earlier, next to a Japanese horse?"

De Yong stood up and walked slowly, as if to relieve himself, to the edge of the clearing. With his gaze, he sized up the boulder in front of him, which he had been eyeing for some time. It probably weighed as much as a man. In a flash, he crouched down, grabbed the boulder and lifted it up.

It took a few moments for the men, somewhat befuddled by the alcohol, to realize what they had just seen. Then their eyes widened in surprise.

With the rocks over his head, De-Yong turned to face them. He bent his knees slightly, then threw his load across the entire clearing, where it burst a small tree at the edge with a loud crack.

Startled, the soldiers jumped up and stared in bewilderment first at the destroyed tree, then at De-Yong.

He unwound the blood-soaked silk cloth that had covered the deep stomach wound he had sustained that afternoon.

A freshly healed scar was now revealed under the bandage.

"Every word of my story was true!" he said quietly, with deep sadness in his voice.

"I am Lieutenant Na De-Yong. Condemned to carry the power of a slain demoness within me until my death, and then to reunite with her in hell!"

Decisions

The fire illuminated the tense faces of the three men. Only the crackling of the burning wood broke the tense silence.

"Do you believe me now?" De-Yong finally asked.

The two soldiers nodded slowly. Fear was written all over their faces.

Fear of this man with the power of a demon inside him.

"But that's not your concern, men. You wanted to hear the story, that's the only reason I told you."

Tired, he walked back to the fire and plopped down. He stared absently into the fire.

The soldiers looked at each other fearfully, then cautiously approached the circle of fire again and squatted opposite De-Yong in front of the fire.

"Lieutenant, what are your plans now?" Cha-He finally asked.

"Before?"

De-Yong blinked uncomprehendingly.

"Well. I'm sure the Japanese are still after you!"

He hadn't thought about that yet. They even had his name. So he wouldn't even be able to go home. Because if word of the bounty got around, he wouldn't be safe anywhere he was known.

He reached into his clothes where he had stuffed the wanted poster. It was still there.

As he pulled it out, he slid closer to the fire and turned so that he could read it in the flickering light.

The profile was bilingual. In Japanese, which he couldn't read, but also in Korean. The description of Na-Ri and him was quite vague. Young woman, about 20 summers old, middle-aged man, ...

No, the description was worthless. But his name was there. And a reward amount that could certainly tempt many people.

The men stared at him curiously.

"Lieutenant, what have you got there?" asked Cha-He

"My profile. Read it yourself!"

De-Yong straightened up and handed it to Cha-He, but he shook his head.

"I can't read!"

"Oh, all right. But there's not much in there either."

He read the description to both of them, as well as Na-Ri and his name. The only thing he wisely left out was the amount of the bounty. He didn't know the men well enough for that. Although he assumed that after his story and the demonstration of his strength, they would think twice about attacking him. Then he folded the note and slipped it into his carrier.

"From the description, no one should recognize you, lieutenant. But if you go home, people will know that you're the one they're looking for as soon as the wanted letters spread around," confirmed Cha-He De-Yong's thoughts.

The man was really clever. He could certainly have made a capable sergeant. If they had still been at war.

His thoughts wandered to his ship. It had become his second home since last year. They had finally launched it at the end of the winter and had been able to make the first test runs. There was still a lack of men for the crew. And under no circumstances should this ship fall into the hands of the Japanese. Admiral Yi would rather sink it than hand it over to the Japanese. But he could not allow that to happen. He would hide the ship. And he needed men for that. Lots of men. And a lot of silver.

The two soldiers were still watching him.

"Cha-He, would you be willing to continue fighting as a soldier against the Japanese?"

The man stared at him in amazement.

"But the royal family fled, didn't they? We have lost!"

De-Yong nodded.

"That is true. But we've lost a few wars before, and we've always bounced back. What if I told you that there is a way not only to escape the Japanese, but also to punish them severely?"

The men looked at each other uneasily. They had just survived a terrible massacre. Almost all their comrades were dead. Those who had somehow managed to run had fled. Apart from their bamboo armor, they themselves were unarmed and without equipment.

"How do you intend to achieve this, Lieutenant?" Cha-He finally asked cautiously.

"Well, you join me and we'll head south. We'll make our way to Admiral Yi and his fleet. My ship is waiting for us there. We can use it to hide on the islands and raid the Japanese supply ships. There would be a lot of loot for each of you."

The men's faces brightened.

But Cha-He immediately frowned again.

"But we have nothing! Nothing to eat, no weapons and no money!"

With a grim smile, De-Yong first pulled out the captured arquebus, then his own sword.

"Well, I have weapons for you if you join me. That'll get us everything else from the Japanese!"

* * *

Yoshimoto cursed his continuing misfortune. Immediately after breakfast, Taka had ordered him to mount his horse and give orders to the soldiers waiting at the bridge to ride out to meet Taka at once.

And on top of that, he was supposed to return with the soldiers. He could barely sit up now. He was also unarmed and had to ride unaccompanied.

In his foreign clothes, he was immediately recognizable as Japanese. He could only pray that he wouldn't fall into the hands of Korean soldiers.

Even the many refugees who were now on the road would be a danger to him. He could by no means risk taking a break, but had to ride through. By nightfall, he would have to hide somewhere in the bushes and wait for daylight if he didn't make it to the bridge by then.

And Taka had told him to ride as fast as possible. If he returned with the escort any later than two days later, it would cost Yoshimoto his head.

That together was actually incentive enough. Nevertheless, he rode just fast enough to avoid the risk of falling off his horse. After all, the stupid animal had already thrown him off once.

As the day progressed, however, his riding skills improved, he found. And his bottom became more and more sore.

Once again, he bent over to relieve his aching backside. Distracted by his pain, he realized too late what he saw on the road ahead of him. His eyes widened as he rode past the man he was looking for, who was now traveling south on the road accompanied by two other men. And they were leading the stolen horse by the reins.

Yoshimoto kicked his horse in the flanks and hurried past at a gallop before they had recovered from their surprise.

Because they were walking so loudly themselves, not only their own footsteps but also the clattering of the horses' hooves next to them, De-Yong and his men heard the rider approaching from behind too late. The whole time, they had only ever looked ahead carefully so as not to run into any Japanese patrols.