Sorry it took so long to update. Things have been busyaround here lately. Enjoy the next chapter.
Ashitaka looked up at the forest across the lake. It had grown beautifully the last few weeks after the forest spirit disaster. Ashitaka turned away and sighed. There was still too much work to do before he could leave. He missed San terribly and as the days turned to weeks he went further and further into himself. He hardly ever talked and the only thing that kept his mind off her was work.
Iron town was beginning to look like a town again. When they first began building, the ape tribe caused a riot until an agreement had been reached. The people of Iron Town were allowed a space in which they could clear the land and use the trees, but they had to plant new trees where they had cut down if they were in a space outside of the town. Lady Eboshi and the ape tribe were now trying to come up with a way to take the ore from the mountain without cutting down the forests around the mountain and destroying the environment.
The evening air was filled with the sounds of workers going home for the night, and children being called home for supper. The air was filled with merriment and laughter from families and loved ones, but for Ashitaka it was more than he could bear. He wanted to leave, but for some reason every time he decided to leave something happened. The first time he tried to leave a roof caved in and the men on the roof were badly hurt and they couldn't work, so Ashitaka had to stay and help them. The second time a fire started, and almost half of the buildings they re-built were burned down. They were now behind schedule and shorthanded, so he couldn't leave now.
Ashitaka sighed, put away his tools, and started home. Every day he was the last to leave and the first to arrive. He lived on the edge of town in a small lean-to, enjoying his closeness to nature. He didn't really mind the chill of the night; it helped him keep his mind from thinking of San and her wolf family.
As he passed through the town he saw families eating together, playing board games and fighting; but all of them belonged together. Some of these people had lived in the town their whole lives, while he had only come around a month ago, and had only stayed a night. At these times, he couldn't help but feel like an outsider who didn't belong and felt he should leave as soon as possible. In one of the houses, he saw his friend Kohroku and his wife Toki in another argument over something. Since they hadn't built the building where the iron was made, the women and the men lived together until it was built.
He paused for a second to watch, and felt something behind him, like something was coming, something evil. But as soon as he felt it, it disappeared. He dismissed it, using hunger and exhaustion as an excuse. He had gotten up before the sun rose to go on a walk and clear his mind of the nightmares that had been haunting him since after the forest spirit incident. He had then gone to where they were working for the day, and didn't stop for a break until the sun had completely set in the sky.
He finally reached home, and couldn't wait to go in eat and finally get some sleep. Standing close by was his faithful red elk Yakuul. He then remembered he needed to take Yakuul out or he'd get out of shape and restless. One time, when Ashitaka was younger, he had gotten hurt (which wasn't very rare because of his many forest adventures). He couldn't leave the house for weeks. By the time his parents told him he could ride Yakuul again, Yakuul was so excited to go out that he ran at breakneck speed on one of the most dangerous trails in the forest. That had been the last time Ashitaka had gone that long without going on trail rides with Yakuul.
"I'm home," he said patting Yakuul, "I know. I'll take you out for a run after supper," as Yakuul nudged him impatient to leave for a nice run and have his supper.
Ashitaka started getting ready for supper when the feeling came back, only this time it was stronger, like something was moving toward their town and quickly. It had caught him unawares, even after years of honing his talent, and he dropped the dish he had been holding. The sound brought him back from his reverie and bought him a questioning look from Yakuul.
"I'm alright. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing," he tried to reassure his old friend.
Talking to his elk was like talking to a really close friend. Even though Yakuul couldn't understand what Ashitaka was saying, it felt as though he understood what he was feeling. For weeks now Yahkuul had been worried about him, and he couldn't tell the elk what was bothering him as he didn't know himself.
Ashitaka started picking up the dish pieces and sighed again, he couldn't suppress the feeling any longer. Now he was certain that something was coming and whatever it was, it wasn't friendly. He couldn't tell what it meant and knew that whatever it was, he'd never come across it before. He was slightly relieved, but at the same time, scared. He was relieved because that meant that his friend Jigo wasn't behind the attack. It frightened him because he knew that he hadn't met the worst of the creatures that lived on the western plains of his ancestors' homeland. He knew that he should tell Lady Eboshi, but he didn't want to create a panic if there was no need for one. He decided to wait for the next sign before telling Lady Eboshi. He knew signs like this shouldn't be ignored and were never wrong; but he was tired and hungry and if anything came this way the scouts would see it first and report back before it reached Iron town.
Ashitaka woke from a sound sleep when the next warning came and he knew that he couldn't wait any longer. He could almost figure out what was coming. He knew it was big and moved quickly for its size. He also knew it was coming this way. He dressed quickly, found his weapons and saddled Yakuul. Mounted on Yakuul he went to find Lady Eboshi.
He found Lady Eboshi outside her house talking with one of the scouts. As he drew nearer he recognized the man. He along with Kohroku were rescued by Ashitaka when he had first come upon Iron-town.
"Excuse me, Lady Eboshi. I need to talk to you," Ashitaka said, dismounting as soon as he was near enough for them to hear him.
"Can it wait? I'm busy," Lady Eboshisaid. The man was clearly startled. The only time Ashitaka talked or interrupted a conversation it usually meant that something was going to happen.
"No it can't," Ashitaka said clearly startled.
"What do you want?" Lady Eboshi said waving the man away.
"There's something coming. I'm not sure how far away it is, but it's traveling towards us and it could be here tonight," Ashitaka said quickly knowing that in the mood she was in, she would loose interest fast.
"Are you sure?" Lady Eboshi asked
"Positive," Ashitaka said
"What do you suppose we do?" she asked Ashitaka
"Well we should bring everyone inside the walls including the scouts and put up archers around the boarder. But you already know that and you know that something is coming. How do you know?" Ashitaka said unnerved by her stale humor.
"The scout that I was just talking to informed me of the attack. I want you out on the back wall."
"Wouldn't they attack from the mountain pass?"
"That is where the real battle will begin. A few of their soldiers will come from the mountain pass to draw our attention away from the others that will sneak in around back. Tell everyone you see to get to their posts and get the children into the underground exit. If anything should happen they'll at least be able to escape."
He knew instantly that something wasn't right. Normally Lady Eboshi would wait until she could figure out how strong their enemy was before sending the children into the safe zone. He couldn't help, but wonder if she was hiding something from him.
He could hear the slight rustling noise of the gunmen getting into their positions as he rode to his. Even with his trained ears it was hard to separate the sounds of the gunmen's feet to the leaves rustling in the wind. There would be no alarm this time lest the enemy heard them and figured out they had been spotted. Everyone was tense waiting for the first sign of battle. For once there was silence in the village; even the younger children were quiet and in the forest. That's what alarmed him the most because the forest was never quiet; there was always noise, the only time it was quiet was when unwanted was in the forest creatures midst.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw something move. He turned to see what it was, but whatever it was had moved. He could hear people shifting in their positions getting tired of waiting and losing focus. Briefly Ashitaka thought this would be the perfect time for an attack. The sentries were falling asleep and wouldn't be quick to attack. Then all hell broke lose.
The wall next to Ashitaka exploded. Wooden splinters flew everywhere. A few hit Ashitaka, but he didn't feel them. He could hear the screams of the fallen men echoing in his mind, but he paid them no heed. For filing out of the woods were hundreds of riflemen. The people of Iron town had heard the explosion and were coming over to help defend the weak spot. They were able to hold them back for awhile before the riflemen ran back into the forest to regroup. The people of Iron town decided to defend the entrance of the tunnel to secure a safe passage for the children from Iron town to safety since their wall had been destroyed. The townsmen that couldn't fight led the children to safety while those that could fight stayed behind to defend the entrance and hopefully allow the children safe passage. Ashitaka, at the front of the guard hadn't had time to find out who had stayed behind before the next attack came. He shot his arrows with perfect accuracy at lightning speed. Around him he could hear the guns. He had refused to learn how to use one because it seemed to him that as soon as someone learned how to use one it changed them. He had run out of arrows and knew that the gunmen ran out of ammunition because they had ceased firing. There was silence and then all the riflemen charged, swords drawn. Ashitaka was prepared and was ready when they came, but he was tired and he didn't know how much longer he could fight. Then he felt a prick in his neck and everything became bleary. The person he was fighting figured out something wasn't right and attacked again and hit flesh. Ashitaka felt like he was on fire. IT started from his side and slowly washed over the rest of his body. Darkness was closeting in around him, but before it completely surrounded him he saw San and her wolves coming towards him. And then he fell into oblivion.
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