San awoke at twilight with Ashitaka lying down next to her and her brothers at the mouth of the cave. The wolves had fallen asleep just a few hours after she and Ashitaka had gone to bed. She did not sleep very well. Her slumber was haunted by the sounds of the forest she was so used to. They had only begun to bother her because of the spider demon. Every falling branch, each tumbling rock, and each landing lark caused her attention level to spike. Ashitaka appeared to have slept through it all. Surprising, considering he was a human.
San sat crossed leg and took some dried meat from her bag to eat for breakfast. The sound her ripping the meat apart with her teeth caused Urufu to wake.
"Don't worry," San said, "There isn't anything nearby."
"One can never be too sure, sister," Urufu said, "this demon we are fighting was once a spider. They are silent creatures who never make a sound with the steps they take. Even this enlarged one which calls itself Kumo makes no noise when it leaps to attack." Urufu stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff edge. The sky was dark blue with a reddish-pink horizon. There was not one cloud in the sky. The forest stood silent as it had for the past several days since the incident that created the spider demon. "What should we do now? Your mate is still hurt and though he was able to harm the demon, we still do not know what exactly caused its pain."
"I'm going to help Ashitaka first. The wound in his side looks like it's becoming infected."
"He seemed fine yesterday."
"He's strong but I don't think he'd want the gash left untreated." San went over to the small pile made of her pelt, Ashitaka's sleeves, and their various weapons and pouches. She put on her pelt, keeping the mask up, and took her knife and spear with her. "I'm going to find some plants or herbs that will help him."
"I'm going with you. Okami can stay back and make sure the demon doesn't discover our home."
San nodded and mounted Urufu as she stepped out of the cave. The wolf leapt down the side of the cliff and the two siblings immediately made their way to the forest.
"By the way," Urufu said as he was running, "Should we go and get your mate's elk, Yakul?"
"I'm sure he'd be happy to see Ashitaka again," San replied, "We should get him after we find what we need."
Ashitaka woke up from the pain in his side. By now it didn't bother him too much, but it did hurt when he sat up. He removed his shirt to see how the wound had healed. While it had scabbed over, for the most, but he knew he had to keep it from becoming even dirtier than it was. The cut was deep and Ashitaka had fallen into the dirt more than once. It had probably been infected by now.
Ashitaka looked around the cave for San but found she had left some time before.
"She left with Urufu," Okami told him when he saw Ashitaka awake, "They went to go find some things to help your injury." The large wolf stood on his four paws and walked into the cave. He went up to Ashitaka and seemed to examine him, his brown eyes moving up and down as he circled Ashitaka. "What is it you saw in my sister?"
"What?" Ashitaka asked. He didn't expect to be asked such a question at the moment.
"You heard me clearly. You are a human and you live with other humans within the safety of a walled town. She is a wolf who lives in the much more dangerous forest. There are so many other women in that town who adore you and you would have a much easier relationship with them. So why is it you chose my sister over them?"
"I chose her for who she is," Ashitaka replied, "I grew up very close to nature in my home village and not in large towns like the one I live in now. The women in the town are also too… flirtatious, but that's just because of their pasts."
"Hm. My sister speaks highly of you for similar reasons. Perhaps I didn't make a mistake by not killing you when we first met."
"And I'm glad you didn't."
"Now we need to get back on topic, however. Did you find any weakness in the demon the day before? The last thing I remember before falling unconscious was the demon was hurt by the dagger you gave to San."
"Didn't Urufu tell you anything?"
"No, we remained silent to make sure we would be able to hear all that goes on within the forest." Okami paused and turned his head to the forest. "We didn't hear much."
"I noticed it, too. Not even the kodama have appeared. The forest feels almost as if it was dead, like when the forest spirit died."
"That demon we are facing is the exact opposite of what the forest spirit was. It cares only for destruction and little for nature. It is an evil entity which we must destroy."
"We still need to find its weakness. I can't just keep using that dagger; it will break before it has damaged the demon enough to destroy it."
"What about your arrows? They harmed the demon in the past."
"I don't have any more, though I can simply make more out of stone. I'll make more once San gets back."
Okami nodded and went back to the outside of the cave to watch for the demon. Ashitaka took some water from a waterskin he had bought in Irontown several weeks ago and poured some water on the wound. The cold water was refreshing to feel on the once burning wound. He didn't bother to dry himself before he put his shirt back on. Knowing that he'd be going out today, though likely later than sooner, he also put on his sleeves and took the gear he would need: his bowl, his sword, and his belt along with the pouches he had attached to it. He went to sit on the ledge to watch for Kumo with Okami.
After a couple of uneventful hours of waiting, most of which Ashitaka spent trying to think of a way to defeat Kumo, he and Okami caught sight of Urufu and San returning to the den. Following them was Yakul. Ashitaka was overjoyed to see his old friend. He ran down the ledge to meet them, ignoring the pain he felt in his side. San jumped of Urufu and ran up to him and the two met with an embrace.
"Did you run into any trouble?" Ashitaka asked.
"No, we didn't really run into anything," San replied, "Most of the forest creatures have gone into hiding because of the demon."
"We'll find a way to defeat it. I can't talk or reason with it so we're going to have to fight it."
"I'm sorry, Ashitaka, I know you hate killing things, but there is no way around it this time."
"I know. I need to go and collect rocks in the forest so I can make arrows out of them. They hurt the demon before, it should work again."
"Alright, but first let me make a paste with these." San poured the contents of a tiny brown bag into the palm of her hand, revealing various roots, leaves, and what looked like some sort of berries. "My mother would rub these on my cuts when I was younger."
San went up to the den to go and make the paste. Ashitaka spent a few minutes with Yakul before going to help San. Okami and Urufu stayed outside; Urufu stayed on the bottom to make sure Yakul didn't go wandering off. He knew the elk was smarter than that, but he didn't want to take any chances and possibly let him be killed by the demon. Okami moved to the cave's roof and peered over the tree tops of the forest. No birds were flying or chirping and the grass remained still. The only sounds he could hear came from his brother's footsteps or Ashitaka and San below him.
In the den, San had made a crude mortar and pestle using a few stones she found while she was gathering the herbs they needed. She threw in everything at once and began to mash them into a paste. Ashitaka couldn't find much that he could help with, so he sat and thought of more ways they could defeat the demon. Making more arrows was, for him, the best idea, as he didn't want to risk having to go for a close attack every time they wanted to hurt Kumo.
After ten minutes of crushing and mixing the ingredients, the final product was a green and white paste that had the consistency of a very thick soup. Ashitaka lifted his shirt so San could apply the paste. The first time she rubbed it on the gash on his stomach, he let out a grunt as the paste settled in, causing him to feel a piercing pain. San told him it was normal and would be gone in less than half a minute. She told him that he would have to wait for an hour or two before the paste dried, so the two lied down next to each other and began talking. Eventually, their conversation came down to the one thing on everybody's minds: the Spider Demon.
"How long do you think it will take you to make more arrows?" San asked.
"I can make a quiver full in a day or two," Ashitaka replied, "It depends on the size and type of rocks that I use. Do you think we should bring your brothers to fight it?"
"Of course! They're fierce fighters and won't back down from some enlarged insect."
"You know it's more than that."
"I know, but my point is that even if I asked them to stay here, they'd go. They're much too proud to back down from a fight. Do you think anyone at that town can help?"
"Not really; we've seen that the demon is immune to swords and guns and that's all the townspeople have to fight with."
For the last few moments, the two remained lying next to each other in silence. Something in the back of Ashitaka's mind was bugging him. It was as if something was trying to draw a connection between two things that would help defeat the demon. Ashitaka knew that two things had harmed the spider thus far: his arrows and the crystal dagger.
What makes them the same? He wondered. He couldn't think of any connection between the two. They're both made from some sort of rock that can be found in nature. The crystal is naturally shaped like a dagger and I don't do much to the stones to turn them into arrowheads…
San noticed that Ashitaka was thinking about something by the way he stared up at the ceiling blankly. "Is there something wrong?" She asked.
"The demon's weakness," Ashitaka replied, "I know that whatever it is, it causes the demon to be hurt by stone arrowheads or unusually sharp crystals."
"You mean that you didn't have to cut the crystal to make it into a knife?" San asked as she took the tiny crystal blade from her shirt and began to examine it.
"No, it was always like that. The arrowheads are similar. I barely touch the stones when I make them sharp enough to be usable."
"Maybe that's it." Ashitaka didn't know what San was talking about at first. As he thought about what she was saying, he began to realize what she meant. "Perhaps the demon can only be hurt by things that are found in nature."