Free The Heavenward Path by Kara Dalkey Page B

caged here, and I want her released."
        Kuroihane spat out a growled caw at me and kicked the old man on the ground. "You. Get up. Prince Goranu says you can let the mortal girl go."
        "He does?" asked the old-man tengu, sitting up. "Well, that's different then." He stood and clambered up the tree as easily as a monkey. He crawled out onto the branch holding the cage and released the catch or knot holding it there. The cage crashed to the ground with a thud.
        I ran up to it. "Suzume! Are you all right?"
        "I think so." She stood, rubbing her elbows and knees, though they had been padded by her layers of kimonos. "My brother and I used to climb and jump out of trees all the time."
        I tried to imagine a life where one could do such things, and it seemed very strange. My sisters and I had been taught to admire trees and write poems about them, not climb them.
        The old tengu dropped down from the branch and untied the knot of the cage door. Suzume pushed it open and stumbled out.
        "Now," I said to the old-man tengu, "why was she in a cage?"
        But it was Kuroihane who answered. "You might be interested to know that after Prince Goranu flew you to your sister's house and came back here with that cursed scroll, he felt someone else summoning him. He was so eager to read those ridiculous sutras, he sent us to see who had the impertinence to call him, since he knew it wasn't you. Well, we found this little creature in some nobleman's yard in Heian Kyo, with one of Goranu's feathers, saying Goranu's name. So we brought her here and caged her up until Goranu could decide what to do with her."
        "Is this true?" I asked Suzume.
        She nodded, hanging her head. "I did not know what to do when I saw you flying away on the tengu's back. Really, you place quite a burden on your servants, you know? I was afraid your father would blame me for your running away and beat me or throw my family back onto the street. So I found the feather in the garden, and I did just what you did. And a tengu came and carried me away. I hoped I could find you and talk you into coming back before anyone noticed we were gone. But it is too late now. Now they will find us both missing and truly wonder." She wiped away a tear with her sleeve.
        "Poor Suzume," I said, hoping to calm her. "I did not realize what effect my actions might have on you. I do not think my father would have beaten you or sent you and your family away." Given how angry and upset he had been when he demanded that I marry Prince Komakai, I truly did not know what he might have done. "But you should not have used the feather to call the tengu."
        "I am beginning to see that now," Suzume said.
        I had a frightening thought and turned to Kuroihane. "What would you have done with her if Goranu had died?"
        "Oh, I don't know." He tilted his head to regard her as a bird does a possibly edible worm. "Probably something quite entertaining… though rather unpleasant for her. A pity you have robbed us of such a game. Oh well. Try not to cause any more trouble, either of you, or we'll fly you to the top of Morning Sun Cliff and drop you there." With that, he turned to the old-man tengu and said, "You, come with me." The two tengu walked away through the village without another look at us.
        "So," said Suzume, "this is where your demon friend lives. Such nasty creatures they are."
        "Goranu is… not like them," I said, although in some ways he was.
        Suddenly, Suzume flung herself prostrate on the ground at my feet. "Forgive me, Lady Mistress!" she cried.
        "Oh, stop it," I said, sighing.
        "But I have caused you trouble by behaving foolishly." She tilted her head to regard me through strands of her hair. "Isn't this what I'm supposed to do?"
        "Oh, I do not know. It does not matter now what you are supposed to do. We are not in the Palace or my father's