(A/N: Things get a little, how should I say, drastic in this chapter. Now that the gods have decided to ignore Eboshi's plan and to attack, everyone begins to act rashly.)
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.
Chapter 10: A Deadly Attack
Eboshi angrily slammed her fist against a tree, using the side of her hand rather than her knuckles so she would break the bones in her hand.
"It's foolish!" she cried. "They're going to get themselves killed, and us along with them. Once they attack, Asano will retaliate against all of us." She turned to Ashitaka and the wolf tribe. "And you're certain that they can't be persuaded otherwise?"
San nodded. "They are determine to fight, whether we're with them or not."
Gonza growled. "They'll get us all killed! Those stupid bloodthirsty gods!" The wolves growled at him and Gonza realized his mistake. "Uh, present company excluded of course."
"You can't really blame them." Ashitaka told Eboshi. "It is their natural instinct to defend their territory. Asano is threatening it, so they're retaliating."
Eboshi sighed. "I know, I know. I just hoped that it wouldn't come to this. If I know Lord Asano, and I do, once those gods attack, he'll send all his samurai to kill each and every one of us."
She looked worried, much to the concern of Gonza. Eboshi worried was not a good sign. He dared to rest a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What do you plan to do, milady?"
Eboshi sighed again, appearing to be deep in thought. "There is no way we have time to send a messenger to the emperor before the gods attack Iron Town. It will be too late by then. And since we have made it clear to Asano that we have aligned ourselves with the gods, he will hold us just as responsible as them, even if we do nothing." She closed her eyes, hating what she was about to say. "We have no choice. We will have to fight. Perhaps, with the gods' help, we will be a match for Asano and his samurai. It is our only chance." She turned back to San. "If we agree to fight, will the gods accept our help?"
San thought about it. "They won't like having you around, but they might be willing to fight with you. I can't say that all of them will want your help though. Some will find it insulting that we would need to rely on humans."
Eboshi seemed unaffected by this. "That's good enough for me." She turned to the wolves. "Since I doubt that I will be allowed to attend any meetings that they might have, can I rely on you two to inform me on what happens?"
Isamu narrowed his eyes. "As long as you know that we are only doing this to save the forest and not because you're telling us to."
Eboshi nodded. "Understood. Now Gonza," she turned to her bodyguard, "I'm going to need you to help me."
"Yes, milady." Gonza said. "What will you have me do?"
Smiling at Gonza's desire to please, she replied, "I need you to gather up all those willing to fight. We will need as much help as possible."
"Yes, milady."
"I also need you to go around and find out-"
"Milady, milady!"
Eboshi stopped talking and turned to the woman running over to her. "Yes Melke, what is it?"
Gonza didn't appear happy about the woman, Melke, interrupting Eboshi. "Go away! Milady is very busy right now. Come back lat-"
Eboshi held up her hand to silence him. "It's fine, Gonza." She said calmly. "Tell me what the problem is."
Melke looked worried out of her mind. "I just found out that several of the men have gone to challenge Asano."
Eboshi's eyes widened. "What? When was this? Why wasn't I notified?"
"I've only just found out." Melke explained. "The attack on Kohroku angered them and they've gone to fight."
"The fools! They'll get themselves killed." Gonza exclaimed.
"Please, milady, you have to help." Melke begged. "My husband is among them."
Eboshi paced around with worry. "Why did they have to do this now?" she asked herself out loud. "Now, when there is so much going on." She stopped pacing and turned to Ashitaka and San. "I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality, but can you go bring them back. I fear we won't reach them in time."
Ashitaka turned the San. "San?"
San closed her eyes in frustration. She hadn't planned on getting so involved with the humans. She had planned on getting rid of Asano and the demon, and then going back to the forest and letting the humans return to their town. But still, she couldn't just let those men go off to their deaths, could she? One look at the pleading look on the woman's face made her realize that she couldn't just let those men die.
"Fine." She said. "But make sure no one else tries something stupid like this."
Eboshi nodded. "I will." She turned back to Gonza. "From now on, I want everyone to report to me before doing anything."
"I hope that doesn't include us." Kenji muttered.
San mounted him. "We'll talk about that later. We have to stop those men before they reach the town."
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"Milord, it appears we have some visitors." A samurai reported, not daring to look at the assassin by the warlord's side.
Asano raised an eyebrow. "Eboshi again? Or the wolf-girl?"
The samurai shook his head. "No, sir. Just seven men."
The warlord snickered. "Well, I've made it perfectly clear that I have no intention of negotiating or surrendering. They must be here to challenge me. How amusing. The fools don't even realize that I could send out all my men to kill them and not even bother with their little challenge, or whatever they have in mind."
The samurai replied with a question. "Shall I give the order to have them killed?"
Asano laughed. "And spoil all the fun?" He shook his head. "No, I want to see how this turns out."
He headed for the gate and climbed the watchtower. Just as the samurai had said, there were seven men approaching the gates with pitchforks, swords, knives, and other weapons. When they got as close as they dared, one of them stepped forward.
"Lord Asano! You have taken our home and killed our people! We challenge your best men to fight for our home!"
Asano sneered at them. "My best men, eh?" He looked at Teralis, who got that hungry look in his eyes whenever the desire to kill came to him. It made the warlord chuckle in amusement. "Very well, but I'll make it easier for you. You shall face only one man. And if you can beat him, my men and I will leave, never to return." He turned to Teralis. "I am counting on you. Don't let me down."
Teralis looked at the seven men foolish enough to come here. It didn't take long for him to decide that they wouldn't stand even the smallest chance against him. If he wanted to, he could kill all of them in less than five seconds.
"These men are not warriors." He replied emotionlessly. "They won't even be a challenge."
Asano smirked, turning his back on the men who were about to go to their deaths. "Then it won't be any surprise as to how this battle will turn out."
Without waiting for Asano to even give the order, Teralis jumped off the watchtower, much to the surprise of the samurai and the town folk, and landed in a crouching position with his sword held out in front of him, pointing down. The town folk took a step back as Teralis' cold cruel eyes looked them over.
"You are foolish to come here." he said. "Foolish, or suicidal."
And then he was at them, faster then any of them could react. His blood red sword swung through the air as he ran right past the seven of them. He paused a short distance away and remained perfectly still, seeming to wait for something.
Out of the seven men, five of them recovered from the shock of Teralis moving so fast. The remaining too dropped dead.
"What the hell?" one of the men cried, spotting two of his comrades dead on the ground. A moment later, Teralis' sword burst from his chest.
"You should not have taken your eyes off me." The assassin whispered in the dying man's ear.
A ripped his sword from the man and turned to face the others. Only four left now, and they seemed hesitant to attack, as they should be.
"Get him!" one of them yelled.
The four men ran forward. The one in the lead, wielding a pitchfork, stabbed forward. Teralis did a flip in the air, jumping over his attacker while swinging his sword, cutting the man from his rear up to his neck, severing the man's spine, killing him instantly. From behind him, another one of the men attacked. Teralis jumped high in the air, landing behind whoever was attempting to stab him from behind. One clean swipe of his sword, and Teralis hacked the man's head clean off his shoulders.
Five men lay dead. Teralis turned to the other two, each of them looking terrified. With one swing on his sword, Teralis cleaned in of the blood. "Who's next?"
One of the men completely lost his nerve, dropping his weapon and turning to run. Teralis had other ideas though. Running right by the man brave enough to stay, he caught up with the retreating man in a matter of seconds. The man was dead before he even realized Teralis was after him.
Now there was only one man left, and Teralis turned to face him. The man shook with fear as Teralis slowly and calmly made his way over to him. There was no mercy on the assassin's face as blood ran down his chin and dripped from his nose. Teralis didn't seem to mind in the least that he was covered in gore.
The man held out his sword in a pathetic attempt to keep the assassin at bay. A look of boredom crossed over Teralis' face for a brief moment before he swung his sword, cutting through the man's arm up to his elbow. The man cried out as his arm fell away, falling backwards and landing on his rear.
The pain was intense, but the fear made it barely noticeable as he stared up at Teralis. "P-Please. I-I have a wife."
Terlis didn't show the smallest bit of sympathy. "Then she's about to become a widow."
The man's death was in Teralis' eyes, but he couldn't help but beg for his life. "Please, I don't want to die."
"Then you shouldn't have come here." Teralis raised his sword to deliver the killing blow, but suddenly stopped. He looked at the man curiously. "Funny, I thought I would have found someone who can actually challenge me by now." He looked the bleeding man up and down. "You have no idea what I'm speaking of, do you?"
Trying his best to ignore his pain, the man held his bleeding stump, willing to keep Teralis talking to prolong his life as long as possible. "N-No."
Taking his eyes off his prey, Teralis examined his sword. "I am 26 years old. For 10 years I have been a killer. Ever since I've started, there haven't been many days that have gone by during which I haven't taken at least one life. My record is 217 lives in one day. People say that I have killed countless individuals, but I have counted each and every one. My life goal is to have a million kills before I die. I'm still very far from my goal, but I'm getting there." His gaze returned to the pathetic man at his feet. "Guess what number you are."
Fear filled the wounded man. "No, please!"
Teralis swung his sword. The man shut his eyes, waiting for the impact of steel. It never came. Finally he dared to open his eyes. Teralis was walking away from him, heading back to Iron Town.
The man laughed in relief when he realized that he was still alive. But when he opened his mouth, blood poured out. It was then he realized that something was wrong. Teralis had struck him. The cut had been so quick and so clean that he hadn't even felt it. A red line appeared across his stomach as his upper half joined the dead bodies around him.
Teralis stopped walking when heard the thud of the man's body. The ghost of a smile appeared over his face as he revealed his kill count. "2,500."
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Ashitaka and San burst out of the forest on the two wolves just in time to see Teralis make the final killing blow.
"No." Ashitaka gasped in horror.
"Damn it, we're too late." San growled.
Kenji glared at the assassin. "It's that Teralis person again. He killed them."
Ashitaka's gaze turned to Teralis. He clenched his fists in anger at seeing the assassin capable of walking away without the slightest bit of sympathy for those he just murdered in cold blood. How could anyone be so twisted and evil?
That's when it hit him. The pain in his arm flared up. His flesh twisted and pulsed as if something was beneath his skin trying to get out. The blinding pain caused Ashitaka to cry out and shut his eyes as he tried to force down the agony.
"Ashitaka!" San cried, realizing he was in pain. "What's wrong?"
Ashitaka struggled to speak through clenched teeth. It hurt too much to talk, but he managed it anyway. "It's… my arm…" he managed to get out, before tumbling off Isamu.
San jumped off Kenji and hurried to Ashitaka's side. His arm took on life of its own and seized San, wrapping his hand around her throat. The wolves jumped in surprise, screaming their sister's name, but did nothing, not knowing how to help without ripping Ashitaka's arm off.
"Ashi…taka…" San gasped.
The Emishi prince's eyes opened and he saw what he was doing. He hadn't even realized it. He couldn't even feel his hand closed around her throat, only the unbearable pain.
"NO!" he cried.
Using all of his strength, he released San. He moved into a crouching position and pinned his arm under his knee to keep it still as it thrashed violently.
San gasped from breath as her brothers looked at her in concern.
"San, are you alright." The elder wolf asked.
San nodded, looking back at Ashitaka attempting to control his arm. "Ashitaka!"
He managed to find the strength to look at her. "Stay away from me, San! My arm isn't doing what I tell it to. I don't want to hurt you, so please, stay back."
San ignored him and knelt by him, much to the fear of her brothers.
"San!" Kenji cried. "Keep away! He's not in control!"
San gave her brothers a sad yet confident look. "He won't hurt me." She said calmly, sounding very sure of herself.
She reached out and touched Ashitaka's cursed arm, taking his hand in hers. His hand immediately closed around hers, a little too tightly, making her wince.
Ashitaka noticed that she was right by him. "San, get back!" he cried in alarm.
"No." San said calmly, resting her other hand on top of their joined hands.
Ashitaka's arm pulsed and squirmed as it tried to find something, anything, to kill. Its closet target was San, and it went for her, but Ashitaka wouldn't allow it, which only made the pain increase.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the squirming stopped and the pain began to fade. Ashitaka gained enough control to stop squeezing San's hand so hard. The pain had left him exhausted and breathing heavily, but it was over, for now.
Slowly he began to relax and he pulled San into a hug. She put her arms around him and held on tightly.
"Thank you, San." He said, still out of breath.
San was close to tears. "I hate seeing you suffer like this. It's not fair. You are the last person that deserves this."
That made Ashitaka smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He assured her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… to…" He couldn't say it. "How's your hand?"
San smiled at his concern for her. "It's fine. You didn't break it or anything. And don't even think about apologizing, because it wasn't your fault."
Isamu walked over to them and nudged them with his nose. "We cannot stay here. It's not safe with Asano's men so close."
Reluctantly San pulled away, wiping the moisture from her eyes. "Yes, yes, you're right. We have to get back."
Ashitaka forced himself to his feet, still feeling disorientated. He pulled back the bandages covering the demon mark and saw that it had spread even more. But he was more concerned about how he was going to tell Melke that her husband was dead.
(A/N: A bit gruesome, I know, but that's the reality. Poor Melke, she just lost her husband, and Ashitaka's curse has spread even more. The part I like the most about this chapter is the end when San is trying to help Ashitaka through his pain; it shows how much she trusts him, even when he wasn't in control. The next chapter will be a real good one, I can promise you that. But while you're waiting, how about some reviews, please.)