The Wolf, seeming to have calmed down, invited (or, as he put it, permitted) the group in his cave to, as he put it, shelter the "weak" humans from the snow. The wolves followed him inside without any problem, though Ashitaka was more uneasy about going inside, and even San looked hesitant to enter. Still, they both wanted to know more about this wolf so they went inside. At least it won't be as cold inside. Ashitaka thought.
Ashitaka could tell that the wolf wasn't exaggerating about how he killed Lord Asano the second he saw the inside of the cave. Blood was splattered on the walls and ceiling. There was far too much blood for it to have come from one man, so Ashitaka guessed that the wolf had probably brought many humans here. A few bones were protruding from the ground, so he guessed where the bodies of the humans were buried. Lying in a small pile in a corner of the cave was a heap of bloody clothes and a sword. Ashitaka had no doubt that they were Asano's.
"This is my den," The wolf said as he lied down on a large bed made of leaves and straw, "I have lived here for over eighteen years now, ever since Moro's death."
"Moro died less than a year ago." San told him.
"Not for me. For me, she died long ago. If she is truly dead, then my heart is saddened, but not to the extent it was eighteen years ago."
"What did our mother do to you to become dead in your eyes?" Okami asked.
With a simultaneous sigh and low growl, the great wolf said, "I should start from the beginning, from the time when the humans and those that dwell in the forest were not in a constant struggle."
Ashitaka dismounted Yakul, who went near the entrance of the cave. San got off of her brother and sat next to Ashitaka. The wolf glared at them momentarily before he turned back to Okami and Urufu.
"It all began when humans began to settle in the region. At first, there were only a very small few who only lived in camps. Eventually, this number grew to a point where the humans began to create a full settlement. They cut down the trees to build their homes and a wall to protect them from attackers. Moro and I had no problem with this, so long as they only took what they needed. That small settlement eventually grew larger and larger and Moro and I knew that the peace would not last forever. By now you two had been born along with a daughter, your younger sister, we named Saiai. At that point, tensions between the forest and the humans were beginning to mount. I do not remember who the humans' leader was, but he began to cut down many of the trees in the forest so he could go to war against the others around what he called his territory. It came to a head when Moro and I found the body of a pair of apes, killed by arrows made by the humans. We found a trio of hunters as we hunted for their killers and approached them to ask if they knew what happened. Before we could utter a single word, they suddenly panicked and shot at us, shouting 'They've found us!' as they drew their arrows. Their arrows were not much more than stings to me and my mate, and we chased them down. She was faster than I was and managed to kill all three of them, but we knew the humans would begin to question where the three had gone. The human lord, however, didn't seem interested in hearing what we had to say and instead sent warriors to try and kill us. It was a fruitless effort; the men that were sent did not return."
"This marked the point where the fighting truly began. Because our tribe was so small, the boars became the vanguards of the forest and the spearheads of our attacks. This continued for many, many years. Do you two remember this?" Okami and Urufu nodded. They had been raised to battle against the humans since they were young and could remember fighting alongside their father, mother, and sister. "Humans, however, are stubborn creatures which rarely give up even if they know they've been beaten. Even though we were not invincible, their weapons were almost useless against us. You two remember the fighting. We would ambush the humans to confuse them and would crush them while they scrambled to organize themselves."
"I believed that we would win the struggle. They began sending less and less of their own against us. However, it was also at this time that they began to bring humans from other lands to assist them. Because of this, all humans in the forest were considered to be our enemies. Moro and I swore that no human would survive, even if they were young, as they too would grow and begin to fight against the forest. When Moro broke this vow, I was furious beyond words."
"What happened was that there were three groups of humans arriving in the forest. I remember you two went to deal with one, I went off to find another, and Moro and Saiai were to take care of the third. I don't know how she died, but Saiai was killed in the fighting. Moro told me this as she came back with an infant human asleep on her back. She told me what happened to our daughter but my attention was soon focused on the human she was carrying. She said that the humans she encountered, a young woman and a few armored warriors, ran as soon as they saw her and threw the baby at her feet in an attempt to distract her. Saiai had given chase but Moro found her dead. I don't know what she saw in the human or why she saved her, but it enraged me to think that she would spare a human and try to raise it as one of her own. We argued for a long time, but she would not kill the child and said she would raise it as her daughter. I would have no more of it, so I left and headed west. Moro had broken a sworn oath, so from that point on she was dead to me, having spared a human after the humans had killed our daughter. I found this forest not long after and found that the humans here were just as bad, if not worse, than the ones which inhabited my old home. I began defending it as if it were my birthplace and the creatures here made me the master of this forest, much like the great Forest Spirit is where I am from."
"The Forest Spirit is dead," San said, "it was killed by the humans several months ago."
"I was afraid that was true. I felt a great pain in my heart and I thought something terrible might have happened, but I never thought it could have been the death of the Forest Spirit until some apes began saying that the Forest Spirit, along with many other gods of the forest, had died in a great battle against the humans. I had heard that the entirety of the Boar Clan had been wiped out in the fighting. I figured so once the boars from this region did not return. Not even Okkoto returned from the fighting, and he was one of the strongest gods in existence. They spoke of many other things, such as weapons which spew forth hot balls of iron at great speeds, a gigantic spider-demon, and how the humans and forest were somehow at peace. I believe little of it."
"You should listen to them," Ashitaka said, "they're telling the truth. Ever since the death of the Forest Spirit, the fighting between the humans and the forest has stopped. The weapons you're talking about do exist and they're powerful enough to turn a god into a demon. Moro was killed by one of these weapons, but she was fortunate enough to have not turned into a demon before then."
"How is it that the Forest Spirit's death is the cause of the peace between the forest and the humans? If I was still in that region, I would have charged the lines of the humans and torn them all to shreds until not a single one was left standing." The wolf stood from his bed and walked over to Ashitaka and San. "I don't know why I haven't done so to you two yet."
"The humans learned their lesson when they killed the Forest Spirit," Okami replied, "it destroyed their homes and town, and since many of the trees of the forest were also destroyed, they had to work non-stop to rebuild their town. Ashitaka, the boy, is from a different village far to the west, but he remains with the humans to help them and because he has not lived in the forest long enough to remain there for a long time. San is our sister, the one who Moro spared after our sister died."
The wolf turned his eyes to San, who remained unintimidated by him. "You are not like the other humans, are you? I can tell by the markings on your face, the work of the Ape Tribe, and they despise humans almost as much as I do." San remained still but kept her eyes on the wolf as he circled her and Ashitaka. "You wear the pelt and teeth of my daughter and carry the mask and weapons of a yambushi."
"She is the one that Moro chose as her daughter. She has fought alongside the forest against the humans since she was a child and risked her life many times doing so. She is a wolf, not a human."
It seemed as if the wolf was about to say something but stopped. He circled San and Ashitaka once more before returning to his bed. "If she is a wolf, then what is the boy?"
"He is human," Urufu replied, "but he is also San's mate."
"A wolf mat…" The wolf let out another sigh before continuing, "I suppose it is good to hear that the fighting has finally ended, but what will happen once it begins again?"
"There would be no reason for the humans to fight the forest," Ashitaka said, "with Lady Eboshi in charge, the only things that they will fight are other humans who try to take over Irontown so they can destroy the forest themselves and mine the iron in the mountains."
"And when she dies? You humans have lifespans that are much longer than most other creatures, but you are not immortal. A new leader shall take this woman's place, and what will they be like? What if they become greedy and begin to mine the iron themselves?"
"Then the forest will fight back like it always has." Okami replied.
"Can the forest fight back any longer? With the death of the Forest Spirit, the annihilation of the boars, and the increased destruction of the humans' weapons, how much longer can the forest survive? Eventually, perhaps not in your two's lifetime, the forest will fall. It is inevitable and no amount of fighting will be able to change that. My sons will be dead, you two will have long passed, and I will likely be the last of my kind, simply prolonging my death as I continue this endless struggle against the humans."
"The forest will never be completely destroyed," Ashitaka said, "it may become smaller, but it will not be wiped out entirely."
"I admire your optimism, boy, I truly do, but you have not been alive for as long as I have. I've seen what the humans are capable of. I am one of the last leaves in the great forest, as are my sons. Once the leaves are gone, the forest will die, whether you want to believe it or not." The wolf lied down on his bed and licked the blood around his mouth. "If you two do not mind, I would like to speak with my sons in private to hear what has occurred since my absence."
"What about San? She's your daughter."
"Moro simply adopted the girl. I have not accepted her as my own… yet. There is another cave not even two hundred feet from here that you can stay in. I have not used it in a long time, but there is still a small amount of straw and leaves you can use as a bed." San nodded and left quickly. Before Ashitaka turned to leave, he asked the wolf if he could tell him his name. "I am Hanto, Vanguard of the Forest. Now, go to your… mate, as I am eager to speak with my children once more."
Ashitaka bowed and caught up with San. As he walked next to her into the snow –with Yakul following behind- he noticed that she had a slight snarl on her face. He knew it was because of Hanto and how he seemed to utterly reject her. Once they found the cave, they would have a better opportunity to talk about it.