A sudden and unexpected weight had settled within Nori’s chest. Silent questions echoed in the depths of his mind. One of them found its way to his lips. “What happened that caused you to hate Onistans so much?”
Slowly, Rayko met his eye contact. The determination and poise that he had been forced to contend with had started to reclaim her. “I mean no offense, but that is not something I am comfortable sharing with you. Rest assured that I will exert enormous control over my deeply imbedded dislike for your people and treat you fairly. I did not mention this last night, but thank you for saving my life.”
Rayko reared her horse back and positioned herself beside her two friends. They spoke in hushed whispers and kept their attentions to themselves. Nori winced as he whipped Mac’s reigns lightly. The great weight had spun several times in his stomach. Slight discomfort and nausea festered in the depths of his throat. Nori dismissed it. More times than he could count, Nori had encountered outright hatred and disinterest. Even those who treated him kinder never expressed such genuine concern and remorse for him. Nori took several deep breathes and carefully considered his feelings, all the while scanning the surrounding area.
Nori’s shoulders wanted to slump, but he kept them stiff and upright. His spirit waivered a little, much the same way it did when he traveled on the river alone. Nori wasn’t alone, so why did he still feel so…isolated?
Mac stopped in his tracks and let out a very low grunt. The horse’s ears flopped several times, and his tail flicked about. Nori followed Mac’s line of sight. The tops of the trees were covered in a thick, white substance. Large strands stretched from various trunks. Even less sunlight poked through to the forest floor. An unnatural stillness gravitated from the path ahead of them.
Flara gasped. “That looks like spider webbing. I knew it! The Tsuchigumos that attacked us did come from these woods.”
“Well forgive me if I’m not really excited about you being right,” Apisa said. “Those monsters were bad enough to deal with, and there were only twelve of them.”
Nori grimaced. “There’s no way around it. We’re going to have to pass under their webbing if we’re going to get to the ruins in the center of the wood. Does anyone have any ideas?”
A wily grin covered Rayko’s face. “As a matter of fact, I do have a grand idea. Granted, it doesn’t come without risks.”
“What’s your plan?” Flara asked. “I’m going to assume it has to do with illusions.”
Rayko pointed at her and gave the meek princess a wink. “As a matter of fact, it does. Watch, and be amazed.” She focused her attention on Nori. “Now don’t be alarmed by what you’re going to see. This will work if we just play our parts.”
Nori narrowed his eyes, but refrained from spitting back a response.
Each of Rayko’s different color sections on her tattoo blinked several times in succession before flashing together brightly. A ghostly shell fell over Nori, but rather than take solid form, it remained opaque. A bulbous body sounded Mac’s body, and eight little spindly legs extended from the spider torso. The sections of Mac’s legs that penetrated the illusion faded from existence entirely. When Nori extended his tetsubo out of the spider body far enough, the end disappeared as well. Three hideous Tsuchigumos stood where Rayko, Flara, and Apisa once were.
Nori regarded Mac, but his horse remained absolutely calm.
“Why aren’t the horses freaking out?” Nori asked.
One of the spiders spoke. “I cast an illusion on their eyes. Until I lift it, they’re going to think they’re walking through a meadow on a warm summer’s day. They won’t hear anything that happens around them either.”
Nori’s voice cracked. “You can do that? Even while maintaining the illusions over us?”
The spider raised two of its legs in the air in a dramatic pose. “Darling, I told you before, I’m the best illusionist in all of Jadai. Of course I can.”
Flara’s voice came from one of the other spiders. “Take this.” Two ends of rope extended from one of the spiders. “This will help us determine we’re us, instead of one of them.”
After a few seconds, a clump of rope flew at him. Nori tied it to his saddle bags. As soon as it had been secured, the rope transformed into thick strings of webbing.
“Lead the way when you’re ready, big guy,” Apisa called out from the back.
Nori rolled his shoulders as he settled himself in his saddle. The trees appeared to grow in height, and the forest became all the more overwhelming. At least before, Nori had Mac to share in his concern. Now, he didn’t even have that. His bones trembled, and his spirit waivered slightly. Despite that, Nori tightened the grip on his tetsubo. The girls needed him to be both an Onistan and a Qu-Tar. Onistans never backed down from challenges and carried with them the fortitude of the mountains. Qu-Tar served faithfully without complaint or sign of weakness. Nori urged Mac to move forward.
He kept his breathing to a barely audible tone and reviewed the webbing above them. Nothing moved, not even the branches blowing in the wind. Perhaps even gusts were too scared to come to a place like this. At least Rayko had muted the sound of the horses’ hooves.
As soon as they entered beneath the webbing, the area grew darker. The air felt thicker, as if coated with miasma. Chills danced up the back of Nori’s arms. His kneecaps ached. A sudden cracking of wood in the distance made him stop. He peered all around him and then turned his attention above them.
The stark whiteness of the webbing gave the trees the illusion of being cleaner and brighter, despite the lack of sunlight. After a long moment of inspection, Nori moved along the forest path again. Back and forth, his eyes swept to the right and left. At the edge of hearing, a strange scuttling resonated.
Nori stopped again. In the distance, a single Tsuchigumo moved along the webbing. It climbed above them and then lowered itself before them on a string of webbing.
Like the Tsuchigumos they encountered the night before, this monster had the vilest physical features. Over a half dozen eyes gaped at him, and its massive jaw opened and closed. Little tufts of fur or hair covered the bulbous body that followed its proportionately smaller head.
The Tsuchigumo stepped up to Nori’s illusionary spider face and tilted its head to the side. Its front two legs rubbed against one another, specifically at the pointed ends. “What are you doing out here? Why do you disobey Mother’s laws?”
Nori’s insides clenched. He lowered his voice to sound gravellier. “Some of our brothers did not return last night. There was a human camp before. They are gone now. They must be in here somewhere.”
The Tsuchigumo’s jaws opened and shut again, this time with more vigor. “Humans? How do you know? Why didn’t you go too?”
Nori tightened the grip on his tetsubo. His mind raced. “What are you doing out here? Aren’t you breaking Mother’s laws too?” Nori winced.
The Tsuchigumo stepped back several steps and glanced from side to side. “I… I hungered for something sweet to eat. I had hoped to find a stupid animal. Are you hunting for the humans?”
Nori’s stomach threatened to pour out over his lips. “Yes, we are. They are strong, but we will eat them.”
The Tsuchigumo titled its head again. “But why do you travel on the ground like lowly creatures?”
“We want them to be afraid of us,” Nori said. “You know just as well as I that that fear …sweetens the meat.”
For a moment, the Tsuchigumo stared back at him. “Yes, this is true. I will find them before you. It is I who will feast.” The Tsuchigumo raised itself back up the string of webbing.
Nori watched it scamper off rapidly.
“Good job!” Apisa said. “I think I pissed myself a little.”
Rayko’s voice trailed after hers. “Yes, that was a tense situation. I’m slightly impressed. Let’s continue on, shall we?”
Nori hesitated before moving Mac forward again. He scanned the tree tops and listened intently. Any sound of the Tsuchigumo had disappeared into the background of the forest. Somewhere in the forest depths, a mother waited. Even with all of his training, Nori’s hands shook slightly.
Good thing the girls couldn’t see the trepidation that gripped him so tightly.
The webbing got thicker the deeper that Nori and the others went into the forest. Every now and then, one of the webbing strands subtly vibrated. Nori gently whipped his reins, prodding Mac to move faster. Nori’s throat felt dry, and yet he dared not risk the sound of him ruffling through his saddle bags.
Whereas before, noiselessness dominated the air, small sounds started making their presence known. Every time Nori heard something, he jumped. He kept looking back to the other spiders that followed him, just to make sure they were still there. Nori rubbed little circles in the side of his tetsubo with his thumb. He licked his lips, but his tongue felt like a wool blanket.
The path looped around a large collection of trees and then it ran straight for a half mile. An old, faded wooden gateway stood over the forest path, and wooden structures existed beyond it.
He turned around and said ever so softly, “We’re almost there.”
A loud, gut wrenching-voice thundered above them. “Are you? Well, almost doesn’t quite count.”
All around them, Tsuchigumos crawled out from behind trees and from the webbing above. They hissed loudly and rubbed the sharp points of their front legs together. A gigantic Tsuchigumo lowered itself between Nori and the distant ruins.
The giant spider was the size of a house. Its jaw alone could easily swallow him and Mac without even trying. Icy spasms flashed in Nori’s veins, but he pushed them away. He sat up in his saddle and rolled his tetsubo arm in a small circle. Any apprehension that once took hold of him melted away. The girls needed him, and he couldn’t afford to be anything less than an Onistan Qu-Tar.
The giant Tsuchigumo said “So our prey is tricky, is it? You dishonor us with taking on our perfect visage. Reveal yourselves.”
“Should we do as it says?” Rayko asked.
Flara’s voice sounded harder. “Yes, do it. When I say go, be prepared to ride for the ruins.”
Nori’s spirit shivered and he tensed all of his muscles. Slowly, the illusion covering him faded.
The Tsuchigumo mother back-stepped a little bit and it spit out large clumps of spit on the forest path. “What are you going to do with that little flame?”
Nori narrowed his eyes and looked behind him. Flara’s jaw had tightened and she held a rolled up scroll above her head. The end of the scroll burned with a small flame, and smoke rose into the air. Pink mist floated up from her lips.
A red globe flew up from the fire. As it took shape, Nori’s heart thumped in his ears. The numerous Tsuchigumos skittered around as the fire kami appeared, and even the great mother backed up a little.
Flara clutched her hands together. “Please help us. We need to get rid of these wretched creatures.”
The fire kami nodded, and then delved back into the flame. At first, nothing out of the ordinary happened, but every living thing watched the makeshift torch with baited breath. The fire crackled faster, and the flames swirled about as if caught in a whirlwind. A red face appeared in the center of the torch. Visible lips puckered for a moment, and then a wide tongue of fire blasted out and ignited the trees.
As the flames spread amongst the branches, the fire kami leaped from the torch to the ignited treetops. A blanket of bright orange covered the leaves, and the fire kami grew in size. A terrible laugh echoed out, and the fire kami reached out with its impossibly long arms. Its fiery fingers grazed plant and spider demon alike.
Flara threw the blackened scroll to the ground and gripped her reins. “Be prepared! When I say go, charge toward the ruins!”
The flames spread and the fire kami whipped its arms amount in an excited fashion, all the while chortling manically. Giant spiders ignited and screamed out. The flames ran across the webbing and consumed more of the tree tops. An aroma of burning wood and cooked meat settled in the air. The Tsuchigumo mother started to rise back into the tree branches via the thick strand of webbing, but the fire kami covered the area above her in a bright orange wall. Branches snapped under the kami’s blazing presence. The Tsuchigumo mother fell back to the ground with a loud
thud.
It rose to its feet and backed up on the forest trail.
“My babies! My home!” The mother screamed. “You ruined everything! I have lost all I hold dear. You shall pay for this!”
Just as the Tsuchigumo reared its ugly head toward Nori and the others, the fire kami leaped upon it. The kami wrapped its limbs around the spider demon’s body. No amount of thrashing could dislodge the elemental spirit.
“Now!” Flara screamed. She whipped her reins and sent her horse galloping past Nori.
Nori allowed the other girls to ride past him, and he trailed behind. The Tsuchigumo mother shook wildly, but Flara and the others veered around it. Rather than ride around it, Nori charged the Tsuchigumo. As he got closer, he swung his tetsubo as hard as he could. In all the confusion, the spider hadn’t noticed Nori’s approach. The force behind his smack sent the creature’s bloated body to the ground. With a wicked smile, the fire kami pressed its hands on the spiders face and held it down, long enough for Nori to rejoin the girls.
Nori passed under the gateway to the monastery, but he glanced over his shoulder. Flaming spiders crawled away into the wood. Smoke rose into the sky. A giant mass of flesh sat on the road, and a demonic kami spirit floated above it.
His momentarily satisfaction faded as he beheld the monastery ruins.
Whereas the forest teemed with life, an unnatural void lingered in the wide courtyard. Three lonely-looking buildings stood on the far end of the open space like grim grave markers. Not a single shred of webbing touched any of the buildings or the immediate trees surrounding the complex. A smaller, one story structure sat between a pair of two story buildings. The door to the central building had been left open, and it revealed a golden statue of Saito, the great philosopher. The building to the shrine’s left appeared more rectangular while the one on the right was square.