Cymurai

003

THE MISALIGNMENT of the towering wall rocks hadn't been a detectable thing to the untrained eye. They seemed steady, fit well, and the gaps had been filled with a proper amount of hardened resin that had lasted some five centuries. As the surrounding work was solid, none who beheld it were any the wiser. Guards passed it on a daily basis, visual inspections were held half-yearly with special inspections held after mutant attacks or incursions onto the land as a precautionary measure.

The real problem, was that no one could have predicted that a mere four-year-old like Kanjiro would find the kink in the castle wall's defense, and so with a simple smack of a small hand, send the rocks tumbling outward into the wild country. The daimyo's son, being curious, soon followed out into the warm sun of the spring day.

His nanny should have noticed, and would have noticed if she hadn't been busy enjoying a chat-up with an amiable and good-looking guard. But such is the way of things with youth in spring.

They were both later executed for their "five minutes" of trouble.

Little Kanjiro wandered as far as an adventurous tot of his age can, into the thick woods, new with a vivid verdant colors of greenery and the welcoming, fresh aroma of life. The breeze was warm, and he chased the fallen leaves from the previous season that magically blew this way and that, reaching to twirl above his head like tops.

Though a few scant animals were kept on the farthest edges of the castle town, he had never seen a mutant before. The one that rose before him from the thick surrounding bushes was the size of a large dog. An arthropod with a silver carapace which glittered in the sunlight to the boy's delight, it possessed a cruel mouth of leeching tentacles and feelers that made his eyes go wide with wonder.

It reached out to touch the boy, tickling him up and down, causing him to giggle with excitement, in an assessment to see whether he was edible or not. Not being one to stand around for too long, the youngster pranced around the terrestrial crustacean in joy, riding on its back and slapping it playfully.

When it rolled up in defense and slipped partially down a hill for its efforts, the boy too, rolled down the hill, over and over, bumping into the mutant when possible, calling for it to join him.

The mutant struck in both defense and hunger, binding the boy with its whip-like tentacles and injecting him with a paralyzing sting. Its mouth attached to his arm and slowly siphoned from his body. It was not a fast eater, relying on keeping its prey alive until the very end of the feeding ordeal, lest the blood sour and coagulate.

It was like this that the ashigaru troops found the youngster in the mutant's grip, its body wrapped around him. Unwilling to endanger the boy's life with their weapons, they beat the monster until it let him go, scurrying off into the late afternoon before they could set upon it further.

Rushed to his parents in the safety of the main keep, the castle biodoc was summoned and consulted. Though the boy's eyes were open wide, his expression was slack, and he did not move or response to stimulus at all. The prognosis was grim as, though the soldiers were questioned, they confessed to never having seen any mutant of its kind before, and thus it was difficult to determine what was needed to save the boy's life.

The biodoc utilized all the knowledge of their ancestors in the bid to do so, but in the end, it came down to time. And so the entire population of the castle and the city held its breath. As they watched, and waited, and worried.

Six days later, Kanjiro came out of his paralysis as if nothing had ever happened. He was happy and seemed not to understand or care what had happened to him despite the days and weeks of questioning that followed.

In time, the incident was forgotten.

But not by all.