Little Yokozuna Read online

  "Well," said Q.J. "I think he's right."

  "Easy enough to check," said Owen Greatheart, and he walked over boldly and slid a door open a few inches. It moved with only a whisper in its polished wooden track, but a surge of other sounds leaped through. Owen Greatheart exclaimed something incomprehensible, and jumped back, sliding the door shut with a sharp snick. He looked at everyone, wide-eyed.

  "There's a million people in there!" he whispered. "Unbelievable!"

  "What do you mean a million?" said Libby. "How could you count them that fast?"

  Owen Greatheart ignored her. "There's not much light in there," he said. "But it's a gigantic place, full of people"

  "So let's go in," said Q.J. "They'll hardly notice eight more people, in the dark."

  "And one monkey," said Basho.

  "And one monkey," said Q.J., scratching him behind the ears.

  Owen Greatheart took a deep breath. "OK," he said. "I just wasn't expecting that. But I guess we're here to find things out. Just open the door a crack, and try to sneak in. I think it will be less noticeable if we just do it in one quick rush, rather than opening and closing the door more than once. I'm not kidding, this is a crowd like you've never seen."

  They did just that, slipping in the open door and pulling it quickly shut behind them, then slithering sidewise into a secluded nook, behind high-backed seats. They huddled there on what felt like smooth stone or concrete, and waited for their eyes to become accustomed to the dimness around them.

  When they finally began to make out shapes, they could look only up, because of the high-backed seats. Only a foot or two over their heads, they could make out the dark forms of thick, carved roof beams and rafters thrusting their way into the stone of the wall. There seemed to be a whole forest of great beams extending out into the deep shadows above them, laid together in a complicated arrangement like trees fallen haphazard together, and spreading out and away from them in a roof of unthinkable dimensions.

  "I don't like looking up," whispered Libby to Annie. "It looks like giant spiders could come crawling down out of there."

  "Don't be silly," said Annie.

  "Well, maybe not giant spiders," insisted Libby, "but I'll bet there's at least a billion spiders of all sizes up in those rafters."

  "Stop it," said Annie.

  "If any of them falls on me," Libby promised, "I will scream at the very top of my lungs."

  "Stop it," said Annie.

  To the left and to the right of them, as far as they could see, there was the back of a row of seats, and nothing else but a stone ledge, running along behind the seats to a distant corner. Over the seats, without standing, they could just see the tops of heads, tipping toward each other and bobbing, as if having conversations. The crowd noise, which out beyond the shoji doors had sounded like the sea, now sounded like what it was, a deep mumble of many voices.

  Kiyoshi-chan was the first to have the courage to move, crawling carefully over to the nearest gap in the seats, perhaps ten feet to the right. When he got there, he peeped around the seats, gasped, and clapped his hands to his head in astonishment.

  "What is it?!" hissed Owen Greatheart. Kiyoshi-chan gestured fiercely to them to come and join him. As quietly as possible, they made their way over to him and looked for themselves. They stared in awe.

  Spreading out and down from them in all directions was the vastest indoor auditorium any of them had ever seen. Rows and rows and rows, levels and levels and levels of high-backed, slatted wooden seats filled the huge arena, and every one of them was filled. Here and there, hanging by ropes from the distant rafters, were great paper lanterns embellished with cryptic characters, giving out a subdued light that barely seemed even to reach the murmuring audience. The stone slab on which the children knelt dropped away from them in a long narrow staircase, one of many that streaked the sides of the arena, all coming together far below.

  The brightest light came from the center of the whole dark, cavern-like place, where a raised flat platform of some kind was lighted by many lanterns. Above it was suspended a huge wooden covering, an indoor roof resembling a Shinto shrine, that must have weighed many tons. Giant tassels of different colors hung from each corner of the suspended roof.

  Even the American children knew enough to see that this whole vast arena served only one purpose.

  "That is the dohyo and tsuriyane," said Kiyoshi-chan, in a whisper of high-pitched excitement. "The wrestling ring and the sacred roof over it. There is no sumo arena on Earth like this one. This is an unbelievable place. I have been to Grand Sumo Tournaments in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo, but I have never seen such a place. Think of it! This whole place, just for sumo!" He was almost beside himself with delight.

  The other children looked around, impressed, though they could hardly feel the intense excitement of Kiyoshi-chan.

  "This must be a dohyo for the gods," said Kiyoshi-chan. He clutched his head again. "Maybe this is where the god Takemikazuchi wrestled Takeminakata and won the Japanese islands for our people!"

  "Look!" said Owen Greatheart. "Something's happening!"

  And indeed, from a faraway arch came a column of what must have been the most gigantic sumo wrestlers who ever existed. Their size was unfathomable because of the great distance across the arena, but even from their perch up near the roof, the children could tell that these were not merely mortal rikishi. These were gargantuans from another dimension, mountains of flesh who would have dwarfed Akebono or Taiho on earth. These wrestlers came marching down the aisle toward the dohyo with ponderous dignity, their splendid embroidered aprons swaying before them. Every one of them wore the thick white braid of the yokozuna, the grand champion. This was to be a tournament of champions like no one on earth had ever seen.

  "Ohhhh!" breathed Kiyoshi-chan. "If I died now I would be happy, having seen this."

  "No, you wouldn't," said practical Q.J. "Don't be ridiculous. You've been around Knuckleball too much. You're starting to exaggerate."

  Knuckleball poked her, but Kiyoshi-chan ignored the comment. "Look!" he whispered again in higher excitement than ever. The huge wrestlers had climbed to the dohyo and formed a ring around it. "They're beginning the opening ceremonies!" he said, barely trying to keep his voice down any longer. "I can't believe I'm going to see this!"

  But as it happened, he never would. His excited whispers had finally begun to attract attention, and the ancient wooden seats began to creak with impatience. Finally one of the spectators, grumbling deeply, thrust his head around the end of the row to see who was making the annoying hissing noises.

  The children cried out in terror. For there, scarcely two feet away, was the black, gaping mask and helmeted head of a demon warrior. Seeing them, he roared with anger and leaped from his seat. All around, more and more goblins jumped to their feet to see what was happening.

  "No!" cried Kiyoshi-chan.

  "Run!" said Owen Greatheart.

  They fled along the stone walkway at the top of the arena, and now could see that the entire vast audience were demon warriors, armored in every possible combination of colors. The disturbance was arousing more and more of the hideous spectators.

  "Where can we go?" wailed Libby.

  There was only one direction to run. Going back into a hallway without exits would be of no use at all. Owen Greatheart swung Libby onto his back. "Hang on, Squibber," he said, and jumping up into the low rafters, he disappeared into the dark shadows of the roof. Basho swung along after him, hand after hand. Kiyoshi-chan followed, then Knuckleball, then Q.J. 'Siah leaped onto Annie's back and she went nimbly after the others, just snatching her long legs out of the reach of the pursuing demon.

  Too thickly built to follow the children up into the intricate jungle of rafters, the demon warrior roared his anger after them. The awareness of the human intrusion spread like a flame, and soon the whole multitude of hideous warriors were on their feet shouting, and the noise pounded against the roof like an armored fist. Even the huge rikishi
in the ring were distracted from their ceremony, and peered out of the brightness of their platform to see what was happening. The children scrambled and swarmed higher and higher into the shadowed rooftop, until they could look down a terrifying distance onto the top of the roofed dohyo.Finally, out of breath, they stopped to rest.

  "Well," panted Knuckleball. "This is just a great idea, Owen. I always wanted to spend the rest of my life sitting on a rafter like a pigeon."

  "I didn't hear any other suggestions," said Owen Greatheart. "Let me know if any occur."

  They sat in somber silence, looking down on the insane scene, trying to collect themselves and calm their pounding hearts.

  "If a spider falls on me," said Libby, "I'm gonna jump."

  CHAPTER 16

  The Demon Warrior

  Makes Promises

  "Silence!" thundered a great voice. "Silence, I say!"

  The uproar in the enormous arena was so loud that the demand for silence had to be boomed over and over and over before the demonic clamor finally died down. Even then there continued an outraged muttering, like the tumble of rocks in a sack. The children peered down through the rafters to see who was speaking with such authority to a million goblin warriors.

  Far below them they could see a single armored figure, standing in the aisle, out from under the tsuriyane so he could look up into the shrouded rooftop.

  "Keep still," whispered Annie. "I'm sure they can't see us up here."

  "Human intruders!" cried the demon warrior, standing with sword drawn and feet planted wide apart. "Do you hear me?"

  The children shushed each other with unnecessary forefingers on their lips. No one was about to say anything.

  "You can hardly escape us up there forever," shouted the demon. "Answer me."

  The children clung to the rafters in absolute stillness.

  "You've trespassed upon a sacred place," cried the demon, waving his arms with exaggerated indignation.

  "No common creatures can freely witness this great tournament of grand champions. Who do you think you are?"

  There was an explosion of wings in the faraway reaches of the rafters, hundreds of feet away from the children. A sizeable flock of what looked in the dimness like pigeons blundered their way to new perches in another part of the roof. Thousands of watching goblins whirled toward the sound. Even the huge spokesman, far down on the arena floor, turned toward this new spot, as if the children were there. It was a comfort to have those hideous masks turned away from them, as if a physical grip on the children had been released.

  "What could have spooked those birds?" whispered Q.J. "Do you think goblins have gotten up into the rafters?"

  "No way," hissed Annie. "They're much too big. Look how small these spaces are. It's like a giant latticework, made of tree trunks."

  "It takes nothing to spook a bunch of brainless pigeons," said Owen Greatheart.

  "Maybe just a rat," shrugged Knuckleball.

  Libby squeaked in horror, and clapped her hand over her mouth.

  The great demon was still talking toward the rafters on the other side of the arena.

  "Listen, human vermin," he bellowed. "We cannot allow you to witness this sacred tournament, which is only for the entertainment of gods and demons. But come down quickly and we will let you go without harm. If we have to come up after you, I make no promises."

  "Ha!" whispered Owen Greatheart. "We've read too many books to be fooled by a line like that. What does he take us for?"

  There was silence below them, and the huge crowd of armored warriors stared into the roof shadows far away from the children, as if they could will them to the ground. Knuckleball almost snickered at the sight, as if it were a game of hide-and-seek.

  "In fact," roared the goblin spokesman, "if you come down we promise to treat you much better than trespassers deserve."

  "He is such a bad liar," said Q.J.

  "We will give you things," bawled the demon.

  "Like candy and balloons?" whispered Kftuckleball. "Goody goody."

  "Things more wonderful than you can ever imagine!"

  The children snickered more than their position really warranted, but they could hardly help it.

  "This guy needs help with his lines," said Q.J.

  "In fact" boomed the helmeted monster, "if you come down immediately, I hereby promise to give you the thing you want more than anything in the world."

  "Yeah, right," said Owen Greatheart.

  The voice of the demon suddenly took on a wheedling, confidential tone. "I know," he said, "I know what you want more than anything!"

  "We want Little Harriet more than anything," whispered 'Siah under his breath, with a small sob. "What can you know about that, you big loser?"

  "And we can give her to you!" roared the demon warrior, clashing his sword against his armor, still peering into the far shadows of the rafters.

  The children tingled from head to toe as if from an electric shock. What had he said? There was no way he could have heard 'Siah's whisper.

  "Come down!" rumbled the demon. "Come down and we will restore her to you at last!"

  "What is he talking about?" Annie hissed fiercely.

  "Look at me!" shouted the demon. "Look at me! Don't you know me, little human maggots?"

  And the children looked, and for the first time saw that the armor of the great spokesdemon was red and blue.

  "He's the one!" said Q.J. "He's the one who stole Little Harriet! He's the one!"

  "Rats!" hissed Knuckleball. "And all this time I've been hoping it was his block I knocked off."

  "I wish I had a big rock," said Libby. "To drop on his big ugly head right now."

  "The little creature you seek," roared the demon, "is intended as a sacrifice to the gods. Her lot has been drawn, and we took her from the world of men to make a sacred offering. But you can still save her, and only you! Your last chance is almost gone!"

  The children clung to the rafters in agony, trembling with anger and fear and horror.

  "How do we know they're not bluffing?" said Q.J., her voice shaking. "She got away! How do we know they have her again?"

  "We don't," said Annie. "We don't."

  "Decide now!" roared the demon.

  "We don't have a choice," said Q.J., her logic sorting through things quickly. "We can't stay up here forever, they'll get us sooner or later anyway. If we come down now there's a ninety-nine percent chance that they'll do something horrible to us. But if there's only a one percent chance that we can still save Little Harriet, we have to do it. All the other choices are closed. This is the easy kind of decision. It's only got one choice."

  They all thought for just a moment.

  "You're right, Q," said Annie. "As usual."

  "This is your last chance!" blustered the demon.

  Annie leaned over the edge of the great rafter and looked what seemed to be miles down at the huge redand- blue demon.

  "Hey!" she cried. The hideous audience whirled back toward her voice as if it were one person, with a clamorous clash and outcry of voices.

  "Hey, you!" she said. The gigantic spokesman of the demon warriors, the kidnapper of Little Harriet, looked upward toward her voice. His mask had the same gaping, ghastly expression as ever, and red flame seemed to flicker around his head. "How do we know you really have her?" cried Annie. "Prove it, and we'll come down."

  "Prove it or not, we still have no choice," muttered Q.J. "We still have to come down."

  The demon laughed with no humor at all. "Do you doubt the word of a demon samurai?" he bellowed. "Come down now, or the archers will come and shoot you down like chickens on a roost. They are on the way now."

  "No, they won't," whispered Owen Greatheart. "Or else they wouldn't be trying to coax us down like this. They can't see us up here. Look how they lie. Listen, we could lose ourselves in these rafters for months."

  "And how many months can you go without food,Owen?" said Q.J. "Think we can live on raw pigeon forever?"

&nb
sp; "Or rats?" said Libby. "Or spiders?" She shuddered.

  "Why not?" said Owen Greatheart. "Something might happen. Somebody might rescue us."

  "Just let Annie decide," said 'Siah. "She's oldest."

  "Fair enough," said Owen Greatheart, who really didn't want the honor.

  Annie thumped her fist on the rafter in frustration and buried her face in her hands. Finally she leaned over again.

  "Here we go," said Knuckleball, rolling his eyes.

  "We're coming down!" Annie called in a clear strong voice. "And you'd just better have Little Harriet."

  "Or else," said Libby.

  CHAPTER 17

  Finding a True Rikishi

  The mask of the great demon leered at them as the children were hustled down the long staircase and thrown at his feet. They jumped back upright, indignant.

  "So where's Little Harriet?" said Annie. "We came down; you give us Little Harriet. It's the deal."

  "Of course," rumbled the towering warrior. "I'm sure you know, though, that it could never be quite as simple as that."

  "Of course not," said Owen Greatheart.

  "We're dealing with gods here," said the demon warrior. "They expect their sacrifice, we give it to them. We sometimes play a few games along the way, to keep life interesting."

  He crossed his massive arms while his demon audience chuckled with ugly humor.

  "What are you talking about?" said Annie. "Just tell us what we have to do to get her back, and we'll do it."

  "Well," said the giant warrior, "it's like this. I'll give you a chance to rescue your little creature, but I can't make these substitutions lightly. No matter how generous I am. There are just two tests you have to pass before you get your Little Harriet. That's all." He chuckled again, a terrifying stony clatter inside his armor, and looked around at the watching demons. "Hahaha! I do love to play this game with humans."

  There was a crash of horrible laughter at this, and the demon warriors all stamped their armored legs.

  "The old impossible quest," said Owen Greatheart. "Like Jason and the Golden Fleece. Well, I'm glad you're having a wonderful time."