Chapter Twenty-Five: Into a Trap
Duck quacked softly when she caught sight of the hut looming at the edge of the forest, recognizing it immediately as their likely destination. Duck felt uneasy just looking at it, but it wasn't the hut itself that bothered her.
It was the spiderwebs that fairly cocooned it.
InuYasha changed course to head more directly for the hut, confirming her fears. And still her companions gave no sign of being aware of the webs at all. InuYasha charged recklessly onward, heedless of any danger, and Duck was overcome by the sudden fear that if the webs ensnared her, she would die. Frantic, she wriggled her way free of Shippou's grip.
He cried out and tried to catch her, but he was a second too late. Shedding yellow feathers and quacking wildly, she tumbled to the ground. Despite the high grass, she landed hard and it wasn't until she finally rolled to a stop that she realized just how quickly they had been traveling.
She shook herself up and got to wobbly feet in time to see Shippou jump off of InuYasha's back and head toward her. For some reason, it pleased her greatly to see him escape the webs.
"Quack!" she said as Shippou crept over to where she was standing.
"What's the big deal?" he asked. "I wasn't going to let you fall."
She wished she could tell him, that's not what I was afraid of.
Suddenly, she remembered InuYasha. He had slowed to a walk, but he ignored her quacked warning and she did not dare go any closer to the webs.
From somewhere within the darkness of the hut, a female voice cried, "No, InuYasha, don't come in here!"
But it was too late: he had crossed the threshold.