Chapter 7
o
Vengeance
Neji had grown wary of bargaining, and he certainly would not do so carelessly with the likes of a witch. "Prove your wisdom to me, and then we shall talk. I have no need of frauds."
She pulled the hood of her cloak back, revealing violet tresses and eyes that were filled with eternities of knowledge. "You are right to be cautious, but my power is genuine. The knowledge of prophecy can only be granted by the whisper of the White Snake, into the ears of a worthy one." Her lips twisted in distress. "Alas, you will find no others with my gift, for the White Snake is no more."
"A fine tale," was Neji's pithy contribution.
Catching his cynical gaze, she plucked a bone from the basin beside her. "I suppose I shall have to humor you, or else risk losing your business. Speak; one question."
"Will I find the cure?"
Holding it tightly betwixt her fingers, Anko set the bone into the flame of a candle. A crack appeared, whereupon she held it up for them all to observe. She smiled cryptically, her answer a single, enigmatic word. "Yes."
"Yes, but?" urged Tenten, not to be fooled by the seer's insinuative undertone.
Anko's eyes landed upon her, causing Tenten some measure of unease. Her gaze was unwavering, piercing, and fraught with unspoken significance. "Yes, but he must make the correct choice."
"A festival trick," Neji scoffed. "You have proven nothing to me."
Anko slammed the bone into the table, shattering it to dust. Tenten and Lee stepped back; Neji, however, was not to be intimidated by her display of bellicosity. "Brazen words from one who has yet to prove himself! You wish to see more—so be it. My price will be steeper. You have been forewarned." Anko's eyes flicked over to Tenten. "Bring your sword to me and I will prophesize for you."
"My sword?" Tenten managed uncertainly.
Anko tilted her head, entertained by her bafflement. "I require an object you hold dear to clear the haze of all that is possible and illuminate what is most likely."
Tenten pulled her sword from its scabbard and set it across the seer's table. She had cleaned of blood before her arrival, but streaks of scarlet were still visible. Anko's expression darkened considerably as she ran her hand over the metal. Her finger skimmed a spot of blood against the sword's decorative carving, and her gaze darted from the crimson stain to Tenten, eyes flashing murderously. The seer finally closed her eyes, though Tenten remained on her guard. Suddenly, an oppressive heat filled the room, but Tenten alone felt chilled. An unintelligible whisper, urgent like the hiss of a snake, sounded at Tenten's temple. She struggled to contain a shudder of revulsion. Neji would regret his skepticism of the seer's tale, she thought, before Anko spoke.
"A beautiful woman will seek to take two treasures from you, one of more value than the other," the seer's voice rumbled with an unearthly undercurrent, "and should she not succeed, she will take you instead."
Anko's eyes flew open. The chill left as swiftly as it came, but the ice in Anko's gaze did not. Tenten stood, dumbfounded, by her prediction. Without turning to address Neji, she said, "Now, your sword." Neji, whose doubt had been expunged by the demonstration, handed over his sword.
The same occurred with him, only Anko seemed indecisive as she spoke the prophecy. "You will be offered two chances to remove the curse. If you take the first, you will not be given the second. If you take the second, you will be freed. The longer the voyage, the more difficult the choice will become."
Neji roused himself from the icy clench of the unseen specter at his ear. "I will take the first. Your magic, surely, can remove it."
Anko returned his sword to him, her lips curling. "I welcome your praise. Do not be misled, however. Fairies are rare beings of pure, magical power—and their curses are a reflection of that power. It would take magic much more potent than mine to reverse what has been done to you. I have only the power to show you the way."
"Then, show me," commanded Neji.
"Shall I? Will you go? Even into the Wild Lands? Then, take the path least taken, along water. Abstain from the mountain path, for it will only take you back the way you came." Here, her simper faded. "Three days hence, you will happen upon a fortress. A powerful warlock resides within this fortress. He, alone, has the power to dissolve the curse upon you."
"The name of this warlock?" asked Neji, to which Anko's expression became cold with barely-suppressed loathing.
"Lord Orochimaru."
"If I were to seek the second, where must I go?"
Anko shook her head, returning his sword. "The second cannot be done without first having encountered the first. Both will take you to the Wild Lands." She surveyed their faces. Lee had visibly blanched, and Tenten's stance was rigid with apprehension. "Your voyage may be terminated now, if that is your wish. Only take the mountain path."
Neji turned to them, expression riddled with the beginnings of doubt. He knew it was much to ask of them. Even the brave shrank at the thought of crossing the Wild Lands, where beasts and magic abounded.
"I will go with you, Neji," said Lee with a nod of resolve.
"There should be no question of my answer." Tenten straightened. "My oath stands."
"Then, we will go," said Neji, strengthened by their support. "As for the payment—"
Anko seized the hilt of Tenten's blade, eyes filling with malice. "I have chosen my payment. I desire nothing from you; it is from her that I will take." Tenten gasped as the tip of her own blade was pointed at her heart.
Neji stepped between them, glowering at the seer. "She will not come to harm. You will take what I give or nothing at all."
"Step aside." Anko lifted an arm and Neji felt his movements restricted as if live snakes constrained his arms and legs. The longer he struggled, the more tightly the invisible binds held him. As they crushed the air out of his lungs, he ceased his attempts to be freed, for it appeared the seer would not have him interfere. Anko turned to Tenten, and for a moment both men feared she would use her magic upon her, but she only spoke. "You killed my beloved pet. You thought you could hide it from me? You thought I could not recognize the blood of my own upon this vile weapon? For that, you will pay the full price."
Confusion relented to understanding. "Your snakes attacked me—" protested Tenten.
"They would have left you well enough alone had you not wandered into their nest," she interjected harshly. To their surprise, she lowered the sword, tracing her fingers along the insignia carved into Tenten's hilt. "Foolish travelers, I take only what you do not realize you have. I see the past more clearly than I can see the future. Tell me," her voice sank to a low, bubbling murmur, "what this is."
"My family crest. The river dragon."
"Yes, the river dragon, your family's guardian spirit." Anko paused thoughtfully. "You appealed to your dragon spirit on the night when you were at your most hopeless. Am I wrong?"
Tenten inhaled sharply. "How could you know of that?" Her father had been fatigued for days, suffering from headaches and intermittent fevers. She and her mother had tried their best to care for him, but he would not rest. He kept insisting he would work—and work he had, until one evening, he collapsed at the anvil in a faint. Her mother had been witless with worry. When he awoke, he coughed blood, only small flecks, but it was enough. Tenten was stricken, but refused to let her sorrow show. She busied herself that day with finishing her father's work, attending to chores and errands. That night, after her mother had wept herself silently to sleep, Tenten knelt before the household shrine, eyes bright with unshed tears, beseeching the spirit to help her father regain his health; if it would only send some sign that he would recover, she would never ask anything of it again. The effigy of the twin-horned dragon, with its ageless eyes, remained on its pedestal, unmoved by her pleas. Tenten remembered swiping the tear tracks from her cheeks, chiding herself for her foolishness as she rose from bruised knees.
"And on that night," Anko turned, relishing the disconcerted expression on the young men's faces, "you were attacked by a mysterious creature."
Lee's eyes rounded, and he darted a glance at Neji. The creature's ancient voice rang clearly in Neji's head, his memory as sharp as the eyes of the creature he beheld: Thank me, cursed one.
"And was it not the next day that the three of you met?"
"Yes," uttered Tenten, "but it was to mend his sword, which had been rent in two—"
"—that very night," finished Neji. "It led me—to you."
Tenten recalled Neji's arrival into her father's forge with vivid clarity, how she had taken his mention of the healer's name as a sign. She would never admit it to him, but it was that simple exchange that had compelled her to join them.
"Did you think it mere coincidence? You have been blessed with its protection." Tenten stared speechlessly at the sword, as Anko's voice unraveled the threads of their last days. The black, lacquered eyes upon her blade glittered knowingly. "It called rain to delay the bard's departure so that you may find him and, thus, the healer. Has it ever occurred to you to question why your journey thus far has been unhampered by neither human nor beast?"
"That is not true," spoke Lee. "We were beset by thieves on our way to your forest."
Anko laughed. "And was the girl with you when this hardship arose?"
"No," answered Neji softly. "She was not."
"It would seek to defend you until the journey's end," mused Anko, staring into Tenten's disbelieving eyes. "I am no killer, but I will have my vengeance. You understand, don't you? You, too, would seek retribution if a loved one were harmed." Anko's fingers wrapped tightly about the hilt of the sword, obscuring the eyes of the dragon from them.
"No," Tenten murmured weakly.
The room blazed with raw power as the seer recited an incantation. "I will revoke the guardian's protection, now, when you need it most." A colorless vapor flowed out from the sword, dissipating in the air like mist beneath sunlight. When the last of it had trickled away, Anko turned the sword over in her hands. The eyes of the creature were dull, splendid no more. Vindicated, she tossed the weapon to its master. Tenten caught it, lips parting at the strange feebleness that fell over her like a pallid shroud.
Anko waved her hand, and Neji regained function of his limbs. "Leave now, before I take something else of yours." Anko's voice rang like a boom of thunder, threatening them to defy her. They dared not. As they escaped the room, her voiced hung after them like a wraith.
"Beware. The danger begins now."
The sun beat down upon them as the trees of the Ophidian Forest yielded to a naked trail, coated in a fine layer of sand. Tenten lagged behind Neji and Lee, lost in thought. The minor weakness that she had left the seer's abode with bothered her little. It was the loss of her guardian's protection that troubled her. Lee was convinced that the seer's magic would be undone as soon as their perilous journey ended. Tenten allowed herself to be convinced, yet the fact remained that they were trekking into the Wild Lands of their own volition, unprotected.
Hours beneath the blistering, cloudless sky forced them to take reprieve beneath the waving palms that lined the rocky shore. They and their horses were ferociously parched. As Lee tethered their horses, Tenten surveyed the shoreline. "I will need to go in search of freshwater." Neji's lips thinned, as if he would object, though he did not. She knew they would fail to recognize the markers leading to freshwater.
"Then, we will rest here and wait for your return," he said, albeit tersely.
Tenten smiled, tying the flasks to her waist. "I should not be long." Neji's gazed lingered upon her, as he wished to relay some message, but he turned away. Tenten called to Lee. "Lee, I am going in search of water!"
Lee looked up, startled, as he finished securing his steed. "Alone? Tenten, you cannot!"
Tenten frowned, more in silent reproof than in displeasure. "I will be fine, Lee! Do not overexert yourselves while I am away!" She risked a glance in Neji's direction as well.
Neji did not seem chagrined by her concern, which she took to be a sign of improved rapport. As she strode away, he opened his mouth, but when she stopped to hear him, his eyebrows creased uncertainly. "Tread carefully, Tenten."
"I will, Neji," she responded with quiet surprise.
Lee smiled broadly. "The beach is quite pleasant!"
Neji spared his companion a glance, his face darkening beneath the dappled patterns of leafy shadows against his skin. "It is best not to become attached, Lee. As soon as this," he gestured crudely to the sinister design upon his head, "is removed, we will return home and never speak of our travels again."
Lee pinched some sand between his fingers. "We have never been to a beach, Neji," he said, almost reproachfully.
"I detest this infernal weather." Neji's narrowed his eyes against the brilliant sunlight. He brought his fingers up suddenly to rub at his sun-beaten head. He was feeling alarmingly strange—muddled and distracted. When he looked to Lee to see if he, perhaps, suffered a similar reaction to the heat, he was met with Lee's disturbingly attentive dark-eyed gaze. "Lee?"
"Do—do you hear that, Neji?" whispered Lee tentatively, thick eyebrows drawn together.
"What, Lee? What do you hear?"
"A woman's voice."
"Tenten's?"
"No, I—" He broke off abruptly, his pupils dilating into wide black discs as he gazed out into the sea. Lee rose to his feet unsteadily. "Look there," he exclaimed breathlessly, "she's beautiful!"
Neji turned sharply, his hand clasped to his skull where the dull throb had evolved into an aggressive ache. At first glance, he saw nothing remarkable. But when he looked again at a tender voice's entreaty, he saw it. Beyond the rocks, the torso of a woman was visible above the water. Her eyes reflected all the hues of the sea and sky, shifting and sliding effortlessly between azure, cerulean and cobalt. Her hair shimmered like threads of golden sand, woven in a thick plait over her shoulder, covering a single breast. The other was exposed to them. Deep within his conscience, Neji was repulsed by such salacity, but her voice washed upon him like a wave and it slipped from his mind momentarily.
Come, brave soldier. Sit with me.
Lee stumbled carelessly across the sand as though a child lured by the promise of candy. Neji pressed both palms to his ears, determined to purge the woman's ethereal voice from his mind. "Lee!" he managed painfully from between grit teeth. He would surely be torn apart by the rocks! Lee paid him no heed, his boots but a stone's throw away from the edge of the surf. As if aware of his resistance, the magnificent beauty fixed her gaze upon Neji.
Come, I will give thee knowledge.
Neji hissed, powerless to escape the intoxicating presence of her voice.
Come to me, dear one. You know I will not harm thee.
Neji's arms fell away to his sides, blinking rapidly. Her eyes were not blue, after all. They were darker, like honeyed oak. He distinctly remembered something else—
Neji stood. "Lee," he mustered weakly, his arm reaching out but catching nothing for he had already gone too far.
Sit with me.
Neji blinked once more. Had he recalled incorrectly? Her hair had never been so light. It cascaded over her back, curls the color of copper and chestnut. Confused, but enticed beyond all reason, he took a step, then another.
She smiled prettily at him, cheeks dimpling in familiar sun-kissed skin. Neji did not notice the water lapping at his knees. He was undone.
To be continued.
A/N: These chapters just keep getting longer and longer! Busy times ahead so once again, so I cannot promise frequent updates from here on out. But, rest assured, I love this story and its readers too much to leave it alone for too long. Have any guesses for the identity of the latest creature? Let me know—and if you don't, I'd love hearing from you anyway.
Thank you for reading. Feedback is greatly appreciated.
