Mononoke Samurai
Part Nine: Ambition, Pride, Passion, Hate
There was not a trail for Jack and Ashitaka to follow as they gave a steady chase to Raynard. They had perhaps allowed too great a time lapse for the madman to get away, and with the stride of the demon he was "riding" on, he and Eboshi could've been miles away by that time. Since nobody knew anything about Raynard (except Eboshi herself), nobody could tell either warrior where he lived, or how to get there, or even what to look for. Jack could assume that once Raynard reached his destination, he would most likely stay there to "catch up on old times" with Eboshi, so it was likely that he would stay there.
But the question still remained. Where was Raynard hiding out?
Here was where the two young men needed San's tracking skills. If the wolf-girl had went along with them, she would have been able to sniff out the villainy that was exuded by the demon, or the insanity by Raynard, or the eternally-present hatred she felt for Eboshi. But no, San stayed behind in Iron Town rather than joining them. Considering her past with Eboshi, her decision wasn't a very surprising one, just a very unhelpful one. Jack and Ashitaka were going to have to find Raynard and Eboshi by themselves.
Still, they managed to make do with what they had already. The large demon that had carried Raynard into Iron Town left a small, almost unnoticeable trail behind. One would think that a monster of that size and girth would leave the most clear and obvious path behind it, probably bending trees and smashing rocks and putting large footprints in the ground, but the monster barely left anything for them to go on. In fact, the only way they could discern its presence at all were the occasional "black spots" they saw here and there, probably left over from the demon as it shuffled along. These "black spots" weren't much, and they were terribly hard to find, but it was the only thing either man had to go on.
Jack and Ashitaka spent quite a bit of the remaining day tracking down the demon and its two riders. The forest surrounding Iron Town was an immense one, and for the first time ever, Ashitaka secretly wished that it had not been restored. Such a large forest as this was a perfect place for a few people to hide out in, so it was not a blessing to be able to scour through the woods to find them. Besides, the forest only made the pursuit more difficult by camouflaging the "black spots", and when night well, the two warriors decided to rest for the time being. There really wasn't anything else they could do.
When first light came, both Jack and Ashitaka woke up almost at the same time, and silently began their pursuit once again. The passing hours of night had not hidden the spots of darkness left behind by the enormous demon, so the hunt was on again. By that time, Eboshi and Raynard might have arrived at their destination, unless it was extremely far away. Both warriors hoped that the mad necromancer didn't "live" too far away, because they were already experiencing a bit of fatigue from tracking him down. The cause of their pursuit was to follow Eboshi and her apparent beloved, and to make sure that neither of them were getting into trouble--and perhaps, perhaps, to put a stop to all that madness. Raynard was a threat no matter where he went, and it was Jack's job to eliminate such a threat.
So they continued weaving through the forest, in-between trees, over rocks, across chasms, through rivers, and over the endless fields of flora that decorated the floor of the forest. Neither one of them had the time to appreciate the beauty of the woods around them, nor the gentle stillness of the air and the brooks--and if they did, it was to locate more of the dark spots that the large demon had left behind. Their search would end up taking one more day at the rate they were going, so Jack ended up hunting for food while the two of them were on the move.
When the next day came, Jack and Ashitaka finally came to the end of the beast's dark "tracks", and found themselves looking at a very large cave that had been cut in the foothills of a magnificent mountain. The place was not too terribly obvious, since there was likely more caves around, but the tracks of darkness led to this one in particular. Jack and Ashitaka breathed out a sigh of relief as they came to it, and both young men deduced that it was here where their foe resided. There was no activity to far, and since they were tired from their journey, both young men decided to rest and wait.
-----
"Well, here we are, my dear," smiled Raynard as he helped Eboshi into his home. "Tell me, how do you like it? Be brutal, now--I spent many hours fixing it up just right. Of course, it will never be equivalent to the alchemy rooms they had in Europe, but…"
"It will do," she said faintly. She and Raynard gazed at each other, lovers separated across time and great distance, and brought back the old, fond memories she had of spending her youth with this man. She remembered that special night they spent together, where they shared each other under the stars and beside a merry, passionate fire. She remembered the midnight conversations they had, about their individual dreams and the goal that they wanted to achieve--and the occasional hiss of provocation they would whisper from time to time. Eboshi couldn't help but smile--she was so young back then!
"Are you pleased with what you see?" he asked. "It's a pity that it's nowhere near as bright as I wanted it to be. Ah, well. Well, Eboshi, now that I have ridden off into the sunset with my fair damsel, what shall we do next? Shall this prince and princess live happily ever after?"
"You're hardly a prince," she said wryly, "and I'm no princess."
"You're my princess, Eboshi."
"Oh, stop it!" she chuckled. "Ah, Raynard, still a dirty old man…"
"Old?" he parroted. "My dear sweet lady Eboshi! I am not old! I'm barely a year your senior! I'm not even forty yet, my love!"
"I know," she said with a bright grin. Eboshi walked over to him, and gave him an embrace of apology. "Sorry… I do love to tease you, though, but only because I love you so."
"And I love you, very much," he replied softly. They kissed, twice, and grew a little more serious. "But really, my lady, what shall we do now? Dare I ask that we try and have another child?"
"Raynard…" Uncomfortably, Eboshi began to stroke the remainder of her right arm, the one that Moro had bitten off so long ago. It was a habit of hers that appeared only when she was under great distress, as if there was some ghostly remnant of the past she still grieved over.
"Yes? What is it, my dear? What troubles you so?" Eboshi bit her lip, and stroked her shoulder again.
"…Our child… is…"
"I know," he said softly. "…Yes, I do know what happened to the little one--perhaps more so than you."
"I know as well as you do!" she retorted. "But Raynard… you were not serious when…" He suddenly silenced her with a kiss, and drew her in to hold her delicate, strong, feminine body. Raynard placed his face up against the side of her neck, nuzzling her like he did so many years before, and whispered things even he could not interpret. A word of loving comfort (or two) were snuck into the nothings, and by the time he drew away to smile at her again, she was looking a little better.
"Only if you desire it, my love." She blushed.
"We'll see."
In the dead of night, Raynard's eyes fluttered open suddenly. He awoke to find his beloved nestled close to him, her delicate and fair skin glowing just barely in the moonlight that spilled into the warm cave. Eboshi's beauty was not lost on Raynard, but something even greater gnawed at his soul, until it became so absolutely unbearable that he began to scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Again and again, the orange-haired madman let out vicious howl after vicious howl, screaming out from some extreme injury or nightmare. The howls reached Iron Town itself, and stirred San from her restless sleep, and the Princess Mononoke shivered as she dared think of what sort of demon could make such a noise.
Eboshi woke up.
"Ray! What's the matter! What is it?"
"The pain!!" he screamed. "Stop it! Don't know what you're doing! No! NO! I'm not that anymore! I don't want it! The PAIN!! Increasing! I'm not that man anymore! I want peace! I want love! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!"
"What is the problem?!" screamed Eboshi, but by that time, Raynard was a writhing lunatic, completely uncontrollable and raving without any sense in his head at all. He became maniacally violent, and twitched and jerked so much that he fell out of bed. Eboshi was at his side in an instant, screaming into his ear and demanding to know what sort of demons were eating away at him. Raynard's vicious, sudden insanity cleared for but a moment, and in that time, his wild orange eyes burned with intense fire as they gazed at Eboshi.
"…Help me…" he whispered hoarsely. "Help me…"
"Help you with what? What is it? What do you want me to do?"
"…H…ellll…p… mmm… eeeee…"
"Raynard! Raynard! What should I do!" Raynard's terrified fce suddenly exploded into a violent cackle of laughter, and he screamed out a guffaw powerful enough to crack the rock walls. He rolled around, completely uncontrollable, and continued to mutter the same nonsensical words over and over again:
"I must create another! I must construct another being! Must make another! Must create more! It demands another creation!!!"
"What is it?!" screamed Eboshi. "Raynard! Raynard!! What is it??!" As her beloved rolled around the floor, clawing his way back to his feet, Eboshi noticed that his bare back was now glowing with an intense flame. Her first reaction was to pour water on him, but when she got a closer look, she became horrified at what she saw. There was a mark on his back, a drawing, of a creature so complex and maddening that it could exist only in psychology. It was a uroborus, a creature that simultaneously destroyed itself and gave birth to itself, and it was glowing like the hair and eyes of Raynard Gelasso.
"Burning!" he screamed. "Must make another! Another! ANOTHER!!!"
"Raynard!!!"
"HELP ME, MY BELOVED!!!!!"
"What was that?" Jack suddenly broke out of his sleep, his ears picking up a shrieking sound so powerful, that even a few of the people in Iron Town could hear it. Ashitaka had heard it too, and in the darkness of the night, he could not come up with an answer.
"It sounds like it came from that cave," he pointed. Jack grimly noticed that this had been the same cave where the large demon's tracks led. He braced himself, and though he wished there was more light to see by, he knew that there was no better time to strike at Raynard than now.
"Come on!" he shouted. "Lady Eboshi could be in trouble! We must investigate!" Ashitaka agreed, and the two warriors stormed towards the cave with their swords drawn. Instantly, an explosion of flames barred their way, and when the fire extinguished itself, a trinity of nasty demons stood in its stead. One was the large monster that Raynard had been riding on, another resembled a gigantic scorpion, still another looked to be a type of Minotaur. All three demons seemed completely mindless, completely vicious, and completely set on annihilating the humans before them.
Jack and Ashitaka glared at the beasts coldly.
"Let us dance," said Jack huskily, and the two warriors leaped into a vicious battle…
Jack screamed after the scorpion first, his blade held out in front of him like the lance of a knight on horseback. He vaguely remembered fighting something like this monster in his very first duel against Aku, except now he had a few more years of experience on his side, as well as Ashitaka, and this was not exactly the lair of an evil wizard he fought in.
Jack slashed at the scorpion, catching it by the stinger of its tail. The two of them held their stance for awhile, testing the others' strength while extending their own lives a little further. The scorpion, with its larger mass, finally shoved Jack away, leaving the samurai to prepare himself for another round. He merely held his sword in a ready position, waiting and watching the vicious monster, hoping that it made some kind of mistake.
While he was traveling around the world in his youth, Jack had studied the fighting abilities of "normal" scorpions from Chinese monks, so he knew how they moved fairly well. If Raynard was as smart as he claimed, then he would have created this beastly giant as accurately as possible, and herein laid the beast's weakness. Jack knew how smaller scorpions fought, so he applied this knowledge to this battle, and struck again.
The monster blocked with one of its pincers, and used the other to slap Jack away. He fell backwards without his sword, which had been caught in the grip of the monster's claw. It scuttled towards him quickly, stabbing at the ground with its tail and swinging its claw around like a morning star. Jack was weaponless, but far from defenseless: he had a plan forming already.
As the scorpion neared him, Jack quickly leaped to the side, letting the beast charge past him for a brief moment. Before the monster could turn around (he had to act quick because the scorpion is a fast creature), Jack quickly grabbed hold of the monster's tail with both arms and legs, and hung on tight as the beast turned into a bucking bronco. Jack was now safe from the monster's claws, and the tail could only stab forwards and not backwards. All he had to do was hang on…
Ashitaka, meanwhile, was taking on the bullish Minotaur. The young Emishi prince was no spring chicken when it came to fighting: he had done battle with samurais and even the insane god-turned-demon Nago, so he knew how to handle beasts such as this. The Minotaur obviously had an offensive and defensive advantage, but the axe it swung was heavy and slow, giving Ashitaka the edge on speed.
The young prince leaped out of the way of the large axe as it split the ground apart, then ran around the bull while it was pulling its weapon out of the ground. Quickly, he rushed forth and slashed twice, barely scratching the creature but still injuring it. The Minotaur's hide was very thick, so it would probably take a stab wound in a critical area to slay it for good. Ashitaka kept his teeth gritted and his senses sharp the whole time the beast chased him around.
With all the noise they were making, it was a wonder that nobody else could hear them…
Jack couldn't hold on any longer, and so with his grip gone, he leaped off the scorpion's tail and made a beeline for its claw, which still carried his sword. Quickly, Jack scooped up a large rock in the ground, and carried it with him as he dashed towards the beast's face. He had to leap and swerve through impossible attacks, both from the claws and the tail, before he could make it to his destination. With a fierce toss, he threw the rock at the scorpion's face, injuring and stunning it severely, and buying himself a bit of time as well.
As the creature writhed around, clawing at its face, it dropped the magic sword it had been holding so proudly. Jack had to slide under the creature's waving claws to grab it, and the very second the hilt was cradling in his palms, he swung it and cleaved one of the monster's claws off. The creature let out a nasty scream, and began slamming its venomous tail in every direction, hoping its random strikes would hit its target.
Jack would have to run at top speed if he hoped to destroy that tail--or maybe not. He kept watch of the dangerous appendage as it rained down on the ground, and when it drew close to him, he made a quick slash with his sword. The barbed part of the tail was hacked off, now rendering the scorpion much less harmful, and still screaming and writhing from the injuries it received.
Without wasting time, Jack leaped up on the creature's body, and quickly swung his sword to eliminate the rest of the tail for good. Using his momentum, he then swung around and slammed his sword into the creature's back, skewering it into the ground and destroying it for good. The very second the creature died, a shroud of mist formed, and disappeared as it flew into the night.
Jack let out a sigh of relief.
Prince Ashitaka took a fast swing at the Minotaur as it batted at him with its arms, producing another scar yet not inflicting much more. The creature growled, snorting and huffing madly, and stormed towards the young man like a true toro. Ashitaka leaped out of the way like any bullfighter would, and quickly spun around to slash at the monster's backside. The brute snarled again, and decided it would be better to throw its axe away, and crush the young man with its bare hands instead. Suddenly, Ashitaka lost a bit of his speed advantage.
The bull charged towards him again, its horns aimed to maul and gore. Ashitaka knew he could not counter the attack, and since the monster's speed was now suddenly impressive, he could not run much, either. Without many more options, he went for broke and threw his sword at the beast. The blade twirled in the air and crashed right into the charging beast's forehead, splitting it open and showering the night air with a spray of crimson. Ashitaka took a deep breath of amazement as the beast fell, and thanked all the gods of the world that his desperate attack had worked.
Yet the beast still lived, though in great pain. Steam was exhaled from its nose like a geyser, and the creature twitched in a vain effort to get up. The sword had merely cut a severe slash on the beast's brow, and did not kill it. The young prince decided to remedy this error, and with little to worry about, he snatched his sword up off the ground, and plunged it into the Minotaur's body until a black mist formed in the air. Once this fog vanished forever, Ashitaka crumbled to the ground and let out a deep breath, and gave Jack a brief smile.
Suddenly, the earth began to tremble, and the third demon, the largest, grew angry as its two tiny victims forgot about it. It began to split the ground open, and growled in fury over being ignored for so long. Well, no more. The monster towered over Jack and Ashitaka, and continued to pound its foot into the ground until both warriors were shivering out of control. The earthquakes continued, and while the two young men were distracted, it reached out and grabbed a nearby boulder, so it could smash their bodies into the ground.
A whistling sound broke through the air, and a medium-length dagger soon found itself plunged into the immense demon's neck area. More surprised than injured, the demon accidentally dropped the boulder on its own head, and let out such a loud growl of pain and fury that even the deaf could hear it. Wounded and enraged, it turned around to see who dared attack it. Ashitaka identified his savior for Jack once again, in just a single word.
The Princess Mononoke smiled, and not needing any introductions, she joined the fight against the third demon.
-----
Raynard Gelasso was still cackling madly as he shuffled his way into the makeshift laboratory he had built inside the cave. His face was aglow with insanity, and his burning orange eyes danced with unprecedented wickedness as he began to concoct another demon for his evil purposes. Eboshi, barely clothed in a robe she had thrown on, came into the room with a face full of concern and horror; her love had barely bothered getting dressed in his haste.
"Raynard, what has gotten into you?!" she demanded. "This isn't like you! I know you are mad, love, but it has always been a controlled insanity up until this point! What has happened?!"
"Oh, my dear, it really is a terrible story, really it is," he said darkly. "Did you chance upon seeing that Uroborus on my back?"
"You mean the image of a snake eating itself and giving birth to itself?"
"That's the one," he said with a dark smile. "You could say… it is a curse and a blessing of mine: a blessing because it is where I derive my insane power, and a curse because… well… needless to say, it does cause me to lose my mind once in awhile. Terrible price to pay, perhaps one I now regret--all for sorcery, dear, all for sorcery."
"…Sorcery?"
"A magic spell," he emphasized as he made his demons. "Or a magic curse. Whatever. The point is, this thing on my back has been driving me absolutely mad, and there are only three things in this world that have the ability to negate such an effect."
"What's that?" He turned his head and smiled at her fondly.
"One of them is you, my precious. The other, as you might expect, is the image of a wolf. You know I can't control myself when those ghastly beasts are present, and even this great sorcery cannot overcome my phobia."
"…I see," she whispered, as the man stirred up foreign and forbidden material. "And the third?"
"The third…" He sighed, trailed off, and resumed working without ever giving Eboshi an answer. Yet somehow, this woman that he loved so dearly could interpret his silence.
"…I see… So you figured it out?"
"I have. And you?"
"…Yes. How much love do you have for--"
"Boundless love, my beauty," he muttered. "Boundless love. The same I hold for you, my dear--the same I hold for you. And you?" A pause. Eboshi sadly walked towards him, and wrapped her single arm around his body, crushing her bosom up against the ghastly tattoo on his back.
"Boundless," she whispered. He smiled, chuckled, and continued working.
"I must say, you don't show it." This time, it was Eboshi's turn to chuckle.
"Well, if it became public knowledge…"
"I understand. Oh, be a dear and kill me, won't you? I don't think I'll be able to make any more demons when I'm dead."
"You know I can't do that, Ray," she replied calmly, without ever missing a beat. "Besides, I would want to die with you."
"Dare I deprive the world of its only true beauty?" he smirked. Eboshi smiled warmly at him, and gave his neck a kiss.
"You treat me too well, love. I don't deserve half of it."
"Ah, but that is my line. So, Eboshi, would you have me killed to save all those lives, including… well, you know?"
"No," she replied, nuzzling her face in his shoulders, "I would not. Perhaps for that one, but…" Raynard interrupted her with a chuckle, and an adjustment of his glasses, and an eerie comment.
"Then, the cycle of ambition, pride, passion, and hate shall continue."
To be concluded…
