LIN

Crouched like a dog on the bare black boards beside the spindly table, Lin kept her head down. From the corners of her eyes she studied every inch of the Laughing Moon's feast hall. Riots of laughter poured through the narrow crack in the shuttered doors of the private room that took a place of honor at the back of the massive banquet room. Beyond the thin moon-colored paper partitions the tea house crawled with spiders of every size and age imaginable. Seated in long rows that filled the rectangular room with a flurry of waving, reaching, flashing white hands, the host of God women were all dressed in fantastic silks that made the gaudy interior pale by comparison. Servants hurried amongst them half crushed under mammoth platters of fried rice; steaming kettles of hot and sour soup; trenchers of fried meats; stacked baskets of monstrous steamed dumplings; and bottles upon bottles of crimson silk capped rice wine. All of this they devoured ravenously only to call for more and more and more.

They were just as bad as Kaonashi.

Silent and formidable, soldier spiders lined the walls at regular intervals like tall obsidian pillars. They held the crimson hour glass banners proudly. More guarded the steps leading up to the private room wielding sharp silk lances. Shimizu herself stood frowning dourly against the wall behind them. The captain of Shurui's soldier's wore a red and black hour-glass sash to mark her distinction. Although the scarred and horse faced spider lost some of her formidability as Lin caught her looking longingly at the untouched meal on the table between her queen and the mistress of the Laughing Moon Tea House. But in the main atrium outside the feast room the guards were eating in shifts. Lin could hear the clank of their armor and the hard edge of their barking laughter.

There were too many to fit them all at the feast hall tables.

Too many spiders; they spilled out of the feast room into the rest of the tea house.

Lin was sure the other customers loved that.

She barely resisted the urge to scratch her head as a maddening itch tickling the back of her skull. Unfortunately, keeping her head down made her heavy hair drag painfully on her scalp. The sugary smelling pomade the spiders used to oil their hair made her scalp itch and the weight of it all was giving her a headache. The spiders had piled it high in the same ridiculous lacquered style they wore theirs, skewering it with several resinous hairpins finished with dangling bits that kept knocking against her cheeks. Grinding her teeth savagely, Lin wanted nothing more than to tear it all down into a nest of tangles. Likewise she wanted to shred the hideous red and yellow striped silk kimono she was forced to wear. Her skin crawled at the touch of spider silk. It was hot and the tightly bound black hour-glass obi at her waist made it hard to breathe. Clenching the empty fabric in her only hand, Lin resisted the urge to lift her fingers to touch her stomach where she had secreted away Umi's knife.

That was especially hard given how close she was Shurui's pale white feet.

Lin would've liked nothing better than to cut off her toes one by one.

The spider queen towered above her dressed in a flooding fall of black, gold, silver, and red silks that pooled across the wet black surface of the lacquered floor. As Shurui lounged on the fat cushions of her low wide chair the fabric shifted and whispered against her long bare legs, brushing Lin's shoulder from time to time making her shudder. But Lin bit her lip and endured the sensation. One false move; one false word, and Shurui wouldn't hesitate to kill her. And so she forced herself to wear spider colors, just as she forced herself to give Kokoro to Fumiko. Shurui had left Makoto behind in the care of one of her handmaidens just as she had left Kiri behind as well. A spider turned up demanding to take Kokoro as well. Before Lin could kill the reaching spider Fumiko appeared and shoved her sister aside, offering more and more and more of her hands all the while staring in desperate silence begging Lin without words not to argue. What could she do but trust the spider with her daughter?

Better her than a stranger. Better with Fumiko than here.

At Lin's back Mistress Mei Mei hiccuped and laughed shamelessly. She hadn't changed at all. Like a curtain her hair rolled off the top of her head in a long fiery orange cloud that fell straight to the floor so thick she seemed small beneath its lustrous bushy bristling abundance. The full moon of her face was a ruddy red to match. She smiled so completely, revealing her drink yellowed teeth, until even her eyes became smiles. The moon gilded edges of her black and white satin robes slipped off the rounded curves of her shoulders revealing the voluptuous curves of her body. She revealed all of her fleshy red legs as she tucked up one knee, bracing her foot on the edge of her chair so she could balance the huge bottle of rice wine in her lap. Out of this she poured and poured and poured endlessly into a moonstone saucer as if the bottle would never be empty.

The shōjō was drunk. But then again, she was always drunk. That was the nature of shōjō: to be drunk and to laugh at everything and everyone. Lin couldn't remember a time where she had seen the shōjō sober. Anyone who didn't know Mei Mei would take one look at her grin and think she was a fool. But Buddha smiles often hid scorpion stings. And Lin couldn't wait to see if Shurui was dumb enough to overlook that.

"You shay your daughtersh made your shilks?"

Mei Mei slurred her words with a lisp that whistled between the massive gap in her front teeth, slowly, as if she couldn't really think clearly. Her voice was deep and sweet with good humor.

"Yes. They are fine weavers."

"You're a lucky mother. But you keep shtrange petsh, Shurui-dono. Ish that one a human?"

She listed sideways in her chair to peer at Kubi. The Lin didn't miss the fact that shrewd black glittered behind the hiding smiles of the shōjō's eyes. The ruse of her inebriation broke only for a second as she looked with interest at the collar around Kubi's neck. Kubi sat on the boards at Bah Fuh's filthy feet dressed and coiffed in the same ridiculous livery as Lin. Still holding her leash the leash attached to the iron collar, the bat was gorging herself on Peking duck, ripping the flesh from the roasted bird's neck so she could gnaw the exposed bones. Undisguised disgust crossed Shimizu's face as she looked away from the bat. Shurui ignored Kubi as well. Before Mei Mei's attention could amble sideways to the Bah Fuh, the spider queen held out her blood red saucer. Eagerly the shōjō filled the cup without spilling a drop only to fill her saucer as well and drink deeply.

"I'm not sure what she is. Isn't she curious?"

Surfacing with a gasp from her now empty cup, Mei Mei laughed high and sweet.

"Curioush ish putting it lightly, Shurui-dono."

Here the shōjō pointed a weaving finger down at Lin. She froze, keeping her face lowered just in case Mei Mei recognized her. She hadn't exactly been a frequent customer at Aburaya, but the shōjō had come on many occasions for a bath.

"And that one? Did your sholdier pull off her arm?"

As Mei Mei jabbed her thumb at Shimizu Shurui sipped her sake and reply mysteriously.

"Perhaps."

It wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the truth either. Blinking in surprise as if noticing her for the first time, the shōjō hurriedly poured and offered a saucer of sake to Shimizu. Even as she rocked and leaned out of her chair, the red-faced God didn't so much as spill a drop. Mildly amused by her state, the soldier refused it with a polite bow. Mei Mei offered it again frowning as if she was stupid for refusing. When again Shimizu declined wordlessly their host laughed explosively and downed the drink, wiping her mouth before rounding in a weaving lurch.

"Don't you let them have any fun, Shurui-dono?"

Before she could answer their hostess began blabbering nosily.

"Yoursh ish t'first train we've had shince t'bath housh Aburaya went out of bushinesh. Did you really come all the way from Shitamachi?"

Lin saw Shurui's toes clench at the name Aburaya. For an instant the spider's red eyes flicked down at her. They were a cold knife of pressure on her exposed neck. But the spider hid her calculating expression by turning her head from side to side making all her fantastic hair ornaments flash and jingle. Fascinated, Mei Mei stared in drunken awe as if distracted while Shurui sipped her sake again.

"We come from the Uguisudani Cavern, not Shitamachi. You say the bath house is closed? Pity. I would have liked a proper bath."

Mei Mei chortled with lecherous glee, gesturing overhead with her empty cup before filling it.

"I can offer your girls a bath, Shurui-dono. But I can't promish it'll be proper."

Shimizu shifted at that uncomfortably, going a bit pink in the cheeks as she looked away. Here Shurui pressed the shōjō for more information with carefully crafted indifference.

"Why did they close?"

Again she didn't so much as spill while pouring from her massive bottle, struggling to keep her bristling hair from getting into her drink only to giggle absently as if it was some silly game she was playing by herself.

"Aburaya? It didn't closh actually. It wash abandoned."

Feigning interest, Shurui held out her cup for more sake.

"Abandoned? Why?"

Happily Mei Mei filled the vessel and then filled Shurui's head with exactly what Lin wanted. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the shōjō continued with an expansive gesture that left her laughing drunkenly.

"Aburaya was kept by a great big fat witch named Yubaba!"

Shurui snorted at the name even as her eyes glittered brightly.

"Yubaba?"

Here Mei Mei leaned in beckoning with her hand. She giggled uncontrollably even as she whispered.

"Ish bad luck t'talk of the dead. But Yubaba wash sho greedy she got shloppy. She got eaten by an evil she created. The place is curshed now. Nobody goesh near it. Too bad. She used t'heat her water with coal. Wouldn't it be lovely t'have hot water heated by human fire for a bath?"

Mei Mei lurched back into her chair staring overhead dreamily as she drank her cup empty. As her leg slipped out from under her she sagged only to squirm her way back upright.

"T'shmoke shtack wash going earlier today. I guessh theresh coal in there after all. Maybe itsh true about t'gold too."

Lin blinked in surprise. Why was the stack smoking? More and more hands appeared to grip the edge of the table and Shurui didn't need to feign her interest.

"What gold?"

Mei Mei beckoned for her cup telling the story in distraction as if more interested in her wine.

"Yubaba wash rich. Itsh all in there shtill. All her treashure. Nobody can get it. Mother Tanuki tried jusht recently and she got eaten. Maybe you and all your sholdiersh should give it a try?"

A thrill sang up Lin's spine leaving her light headed as she finally realized what was going on. Shurui and Shimizu exchanged glances over the shōjō's head as she busied with pouring. Abruptly, as if she'd forgotten what they were talking about, Mei Mei changed the subject.

"Sho… What bringsh you t'Clock Tower Town?"

Again Shurui set her hair pins sparkling as she smiled demurely.

"We are passing through on our way to Heian-kyo."

The shōjō blinked and blinked then repeated the name as if she hadn't heard correctly.

"Heian-kyo?"

Here Mei Mei laughed explosively as it Shurui had said something funny and she'd only just now gotten the joke. Lin looked up sharply as the shōjō almost fell out of her chair, rolling around in hysterics but never spilling a drop as she drank and laughed and then drank some more. Not wanting to insult her host, but obviously insulted herself, Shurui drew back into her chair with a tight expression. Lin barely contained her glee as the spider queen almost sputtered in confusion.

"Good luck on your journey, Shurui-dono! I wish you well!"

Here Mei Mei cut her off by producing a long thin piece of paper blotted with ink tallies. Lin didn't need to see it to know the amount owed would be monstrous. Taking the sake saucer from the spider queen's hand she replaced it with the page. Shurui stared at it stupidly.

"What is this?"

Mei Mei poured her another cup of sake placing it in one of the spider's many hands.

"The preliminary bill. It'll be more come morning if your daughtersh keep eating."

Such sweet satisfaction sang in Lin's blood as silence fell over the room. Shurui had come here to play Mei Mei. But the drunken mistress had played the spider in return. The shōjō had stopped laughing, but more poured through the gap in the paper shutters. The spiders had brought out their own entertainment. Pipes trilled and cymbals clinked as the musicians played rollicking shamisen duets. You could barely hear Shurui's choked reply over the revelry.

"You offered us hospitality!"

She spat the word like an accusation. Smiling happily as if absolutely nothing was amiss Mei Mei gestured toward the main hall.

"I offered you hoshipitality, Shurui-dono. I didn't extend that offer to your daughtersh."

Rising to her feet so swiftly her chair toppled over, Shurui glared down at the mistress of the Laughing Moon murderously. Lin scrambled aside, jerking upright against the adjacent wall pressed into a corner with a hand on her obi. But even as Shimizu advanced on the shōjō, the warrior God and the spider queen froze as the paper walls on all three sides and the lantern ceiling folded up and inward to reveal a score of stone faced oni wielding crossbows. Lin froze as one sighted on her. The rest sighted on Shurui. As her ruby eyes darted around the room she paled and threw up a quelling hand.

"Stand down, Shimizu!"

The soldier spider bared her teeth in a vicious snarl, red eyes scanning the once hidden force as if counting. Finally she jabbed her lances into the floor and lifted the flock of her gauntleted hands grinding her sharp teeth furiously. Only now did Bah Fuh's head jerked up. Her telescopic ears swiveled and twitched. A bit of gristle was hanging from her oil-slick face. It wiggled and waggled as she jerked her head back and forth.

"Shurui! Shurui, I smell stones!"

"Shut up, bat!" Shurui seethed in a hiss, "You are useless!"

Here Mei Mei broke and she giggled uncontrollably. The mistress of the Laughing Moon was hiccupping and holding her sides as if in pain. Mei Mei had to take several deep breaths before she could speak.

"If you can't pay now you can pay in the morning."

Shurui's eyes were deadly as her pale hands balled into shaking fists.

"And if I don't?"

Mei Mei pouted, unaffected by the spider's barely restrained rage.

"Why wouldn't you? I told you where you can find plenty of gold. More than enough t'pay your bill and get you on your way to Heian-kyo. But if you prefer to keep t'gold what shay I keep your daughtersh? They make shuch lovely shilk. We don't have anything like it here in Clock Tower Town."

Shimizu jolted making her armor clatter loudly. Turning to Shurui crestfallen she protested loudly.

"Mother, no!"

Again the spider queen cut her off with a slash of her pale white hands. Fixing the red faced God with a frosty stare she bargained.

"They're worth much more than the bill."

Mei Mei lurched back into her seat with a considering grin making her sake bottle slosh.

"True. Not t'sholdiersh then. I have plenty of oni. I'll just keep the weaversh."

Here she smiled like the moon and held out a full sake cup. Still smiling so widely her eyes disappeared into more smiles she poured it out onto the floor. Lin's blood turned to ice as the mistress of the Laughing Moon chirped the next sweetly.

"I like shilk, but I don't need shilk. If you come back for vengeance, Shurui-dono, I'll kill every last one of them."

With that Mei Mei slouched out of her chair hefting her massive bottle on her hip. The Oni continued to sight their quarrels on Shurui as the shōjō staggered for the gap in the paper shutters. She hung on them heavily waving back at them with a merry grin.

"Shtay and enjoy the food and drink, Shurui-dono. I'll shee you in the morning."

Only after Mei Mei was long gone did the walls and ceiling snap closed.

"Shurui?!" The bat cried tremulously, "Where are you Shurui!?"

Instantly the spider queen wheeled on Lin baring her fangs as she seemed to stretch taller and taller. Scrambling back into the corner only to realize she had nowhere to go Lin's blood turned to ice as at once the ruse of the white faced woman faded. As Shurui pulled on her hideous insect black skin she towered over her filling the room and making it small with her huge abdomen and shifting legs.

"You let her make a fool out of me, weasel!"

Shurui hissed in a metallic voice that was gone deep and monstrous. Trapped in the spider's cold shadow Lin froze as she tasted death on her tongue. But then something hit her from the side. Stunned, the world spun only to stop as she was yanked upright by a score of rough hands. Shimizu shoved her behind her blocking the spider queen's path. With her empty hands she reached and begged for reason.

"Don't kill her, mother!"

The spider queen ignored her captain's prostrations.

"Get out of my way!" Shurui seethed as she lashed out with a lance of silk.

They were lucky. If she had used her bell they'd both be dead. Shimizu climbed the wall only to flip like a whip, arching them through the air as the blade went whizzing by beneath their backs to embed in the black wood of the floor. Lin's insides seized and lurched as the soldier spider danced away hauling her along by her only arm as they retreated around the tables. Shimizu had her by the wrist which was the only reason Lin didn't reach for Umi's dagger. Lumbering after them still hissing unintelligibly Shurui followed.

"You idiot!" Bah Fuh wailed as her blind eyes searched the room uselessly, "What are you doing now!? Shurui! Shurui!?"

The bat was yanking on Kubi's leash so hard she was choking the stranger. But there was blood on the woman's neck. Catching its scent Bah Fuh dropped the lead and began snuffling the air in ecstatic puffs between her protests.

"Don't kill her! We need her help to find the gold!"

Shurui rounded on the bat hissing furiously.

"Why should I believe anything you say, bat!? You're as blind as you are useless!"

Unfazed as the monster bore down on her the bat grinned revealing her vicious needle teeth.

"You need me as much as you need the weasel. Otherwise you'll never get to Heian-kyo!"

Lin blinked and then Shurui was a white faced woman again. Her hair and clothes were wild and her eyes stricken as she stared at the bat uncertainly. Gone was the monster. Gone was the proud queen. What was left was a thin and brittle. And that gave Lin hope of crushing her beneath hr feet.

"There is gold?"

Shurui's question was little more than a hoarse rasp. The bat grinned wickedly revealing the thick knots of flesh stuck in her rotting teeth.

"All the gold and all the coal we could ever want."

Without turning the spider queen threw a cold command at Shimizu.

"Tell the soldiers to eat as much as they want. We leave for Heian-kyo at dawn."

Her captain froze bolt still as her voice thinned with horror.

"What about the weavers, mother?!"

Shurui gave her no answers. Throwing open the shutters, she swept out even as Shimizu reached after her.

"Mother, wait! What about our little sisters!?"

As her voice shredded with fear she dropped Lin. Scrambling away, the need to run hummed in her veins like life-giving blood. But there was nowhere to go and Lin redirected quickly as Bah Fuh cackled mockingly.

"Your mommy's not listening, little soldier. You know she doesn't hear anyone but herself."

Whirling on her toes Shimizu hurled a handful of silk right in the bat's face. The fat filthy creature tumbled out of her chair with a muffled squeal and fell at Kubi's feet. The hard-faced God woman looked on in revulsion but couldn't pull away. Sitting there like a frozen statue, she watched in hatred as the bat writhed on the floor clawing the matted patch of silk sealing her lips. Bah Fuh fell still as the blunted tip of Shimizu's silk lance knocked her between the eyes and set her unconscious. Movement attracted Lin's attention. Anxious spider soldiers clambered at the open door peering in uncertainly. Shimizu whirled pointing and barking.

"Shut the door and stay out! Go eat! That's an order!"

The shutters slammed closed with skittering shrieks as they rattled in their tracks. Soon music and nervous laughter started up outside. Coiled like a spring, Lin skittered along the wall away from Shimizu as she collapsed in a nearby chair. Pulling off her helmet the soldier tossed it onto the table and dragged over the bill. She studied it frowning deeper and deeper until, in a sudden rage, she tore the page into pieces and threw them into the air. Dropping her head into another pair of hands, the spider sagged as tatters of paper floated down from above. As her shoulder shook she sobbed silently making her armor rattle. All the while the rest of her hands wrung themselves endlessly while more worried the tight knot of her hair and picked anxiously as the straps of her armor.

Lin stared mutely at the stricken spider. Half of her wondered if she could cut her throat with Umi's knife before she could react. The other half wondered how such a monster could cry.

Lin gasped and scrambled in place as one of the paper walls popped open. But there were no crossbows, no leering oni waiting within. Shrewd and cool, Fumiko filled the narrow frame of the hidden passage. She was dressed in a narrow sleeved jacket with tightly bound trousers, tabi, and sandals made of the same sturdy black silk. Her long hair was tightly braided and knotted atop her head in the style the soldiers favored. Shimizu's chair clattered over as the warrior was on her feet with blades of silk in her hands. Her tear-streaked face gawked in shock as Fumiko beckoned with the white flock of her hands.

"Hurry!"

Shimizu stared in confusion remaining rooted in place. Her sister's face twisted with rage as she hissed revealing she'd been listening all along.

"You heard her! She's going to sell us! But not if we get the gold first! We can stay here! The Gods want to buy our silk! We can pay the bill and give Shurui the rest of the gold! She doesn't want us! As soon as she has the gold she'll forget us, get her coal, and leave forever!"

The soldier was scandalized by what her sister was proposing.

"Fumiko, this is treason!"

The handmaiden was out of the passage pulling on her sister.

"Why do you still follow her, Shimizu?!

Torn and conflicted, Shimizu leaned away from the little spider fighting her pulling hands.

"She saved us! She raised us! We owe her…!"

Fumiko bared her fangs in a vicious laugh.

"All for her benefit! She's not our mother! A real mother would never sell her daughters!"

But Shimizu didn't want to hear it. She clamped hands over her ears like a child.

"Stop! You shouldn't say things like that! She'll kill you if she hears!"

Clambering forward she tried to cover the little handmaiden's mouth. But Fumiko didn't seem to care. She yanked the hands away clinging to them tightly.

"Garuda is dead and the war is false! I won't see my sisters go back into a brothel!"

Pulling with all her strength she managed to get Shimizu to take a step toward the passage.

"I won't see you die for the love of a liar who doesn't want you!"

The last seemed to break the soldier's resolve. She turned to claim her helmet only to hesitate. Then she tore the sash from her shoulder and threw it onto the pieces of the bill. As Shimizu bent and disappeared down the narrow hall, Fumiko turned to reach for her.

"Come with us!"

Lin stalled mulishly, testing the agitated spider's intentions. Fumiko had been trying to prove herself an ally all along, but spiders had as many hands as they had faces.

"Why should I help you?"

Her eyes darted at the door over and over as she spat truth in her hurry.

"Because I have your son and daughter!"

Lin felt herself rocking forward onto the tips of her toes. Her insides flooded with white cold shock so strong she barely heard what the spider said next.

"This is your chance, Lin! This is our only chance!"

Lin's skin prickled eerily as she felt eyes. Glancing down she fond Kubi staring at her with gray eyes full of a desperate silent things. Stabbing a finger at the stranger, Lin insisted for some reason.

"She comes too."

Fumiko seemed surprised by that, even a little angry.

"The traitor? Why?"

Lin scrambled for an explanation even though she didn't really have one. Her intentions revealed themselves as she blurted truth.

"She knows things I don't!"

Fumiko circled and circled all her hands in exasperation.

"Fine! Fine! Just hurry!"

Lurching forward on shaking legs Lin seized the woman's leash.

"Get up. Follow me."

Scrambling upright, she followed in Lin's shadow past Fumiko. Lin had to stoop to fit through the squat narrow hallway. Dim light filtered down from above. Looking up she found a network of thin ladders and listening stations that seemed to reach all the way up to the top of the building. Lin jerked forward into the tight gap as the spider folded the wall closed behind them. Shimmying sideways and around a corner Lin gritted her teeth against the ripe barnyard stink of oni. She tugged on Kubi's leash from time to time as the stranger lagged behind. Finally the incredulous question wormed it way free.

"How did you know this was here? What about the oni?"

Fumiko hissed between her teeth, avoiding her question with another question.

"Does it matter how?"

Yes, it did matter. Her confidence in the spider slipped as the passage grew narrower and narrower until the walls snagged her ridiculous hair and impractical clothes. Panic surged in her too small chest. She fought to breathe the stale stagnant air as the light above dwindled into dark. Lin almost bumped into Shimizu, slamming back into Kubi as her skin crawled. She hadn't even seen the soldier spider! She couldn't imagine how she was fitting through the pressing walls with all her armor!

"There's a door."

The soldier muttered quietly.

"It's locked. I'm working on it."

It popped revealing the spider's long silk crowbars as dim light and rank air filtered in from outside. Shimizu put her shoulder to the plank and shoved the door open, dislodging a rotted mattress that hid the passage. They popped out of the hidden corridor among the plumes of steam and smoke and piles of trash that clotted the dark back alley behind the tea house. Mushi and tsukumonogami skittered and crawled out of their path as they crept down a spongy sagging set of stairs onto the wet cobbles below. Lin knew the alley immediately. It led directly to the night river docks.

Her legs trembled as she lifted her eyes to look at the hazy orange black sky. She had been a prisoner for so long. Laughter echoed down from on high as light and sounds of the street filtered from afar. But as something moved in the dark the soldier whirled with blades of silk in her hands. Pale and thin as a ghost, Kiri peeled out of the dark wearing a haunted expression. Bound to her chest in yards of silk she carried Kokoro and Makoto. Dropping Kubi's leash Lin rushed Kiri reaching with her only hand. Silently the hollow human helped her get the loops of silk over her head and around her ridiculously long sleeves, carefully settling the tiny wiggling bodies against the hollow of her stomach. Fidgeting and cringing, Fumiko gestured at Kiri at a loss.

"I… I couldn't make her stay. She followed me. If I had raised a fuss the sisters would've…!"

She cut off as Shimizu's knee cup clattered against the cobbles. The soldier sank to a seat on her heels as if her legs had dissolved. Her pale face was blank with horror as she stared with red eyes that glittered in the dark. Shimizu cursed and cursed beneath her breath.

"You little idiot... The gold doesn't matter anymore... She'll come after us for this. She will come after us and kill us and I won't be able to stop her. She's stronger than me. She's always been stronger than me ever since she stole those bells."

Clenching her hands into fists she bent over them shaking in rage.

"I can't make this right! I can't bring you back! She'll kill you for defying her!"

Shimizu choked on every word.

"We're dead and there's nothing I can do to save you!"

Suddenly very small and obviously frightened, Fumiko stood watching her sister blankly. Lin ground her teeth as the soldier lamented, not sure if she should be sad or happy. Spiders had smashed her home. They tried to kill her husband. They stole her children. Then Kiri spoke in a thin whisper so soft Lin hardly heard it.

"Then come with us and live."

The spiders faced jerked up to stare incredulously at the haggard female. Lin found herself looking at the human similarly. If anyone had a right to hate the spiders it was Kiri. Suddenly, however, the human was disinterested in hating them. Lin cringed from the human's expectant stare. All at once she realized what she was asking. Gaping, she sputtered, backing away unconsciously as her insides screamed and scrambled.

"Aburaya is haunted! It's no place for anyone God or human!"

Clutching her kits close she stumbled over refusals.

"Its night and the gaki will be out in force and… and...!"

Moving like a ghost the human put a hand on her chest as her white eye burned. Lin stared in revulsion at the thin packet of gold silk shoved down the front of her kimono.

"Garuda says we should go t'the Bath House."

Lin barked a flinty incredulous laugh. They might as well have gone back through the station out into the human world! But she had seen with her own eyes during the black parade the spiders posted beside the tunnels leading down to tracks. Shimizu could probably kill them. But could she? Would she? Before she could curse the advice of God-not-of-this-land a scream echoed out of every window and door of the Laughing Moon Tea House. A scream so shrill and full of rage that is silenced the endless false mirth radiating out of the moonbeam walls. Fumiko shook from head to toe with terror at the sound. Grimly Shimizu was on her feet securing her helmet as she grabbed her sister by the hand.

Lin spun away from the sound seizing Kubi's leash. Putting her back on the restaurant she bolted for the docks. She forced her stiff legs to remember how to run. There was no time to argue. There was nowhere else to go.

Down the dark alley she flew. Back out into the light as they darted out onto a long wharf. Stone became echoing wood beneath her bare feet. The thick mineral smell of water rose out of the glowing yellow mists. They rose in billowing waves around the waterfront. Several lackluster frogs wearing a fisherman's coats straightened at the end of the dock. They were smoking pipes beside the moorings of a wood boat half hidden in fog.

"Wot's all this?" One croaked curiously as they barreled down on them.

Then Shimizu launched past her shoulder like a shadows dividing the mists. Seizing the frog by the throat she picked him up one handed and hurled him into the fog. He squealed like a pig as he flew before landing with a distant splash. His companions stood with squeaks and ribbets of surprise the spider dove into their midst. She whirled in a riot of punching arms and legs sending more frogs flying.

"Theif!" One sputtered and splashed distantly, raising an alarm. "Theif!"

Lin snarled furiously as lanterns bloomed along the wharf. Scores of webbed feet hammered the boards as angry shouts echoed from afar.

"You should've killed them! Now everyone will know where we are!"

Shimizu snarled as she dropped into the boat.

"No! I'm sick of killing!"

Lin fumed, barely resisting the urge to kick her. Of all the times for the bloody spider to grow a conscience! As her sister dropped in lithely beside her already fitting oars into the locks the soldier tore up the rope lines with two hands, gripped the dock with two more and offering the remaining.

"Get in!"

Lin's insides weighed with cold churning terror as she stared through the parting mists at the lapping black water. Deep water! It frightened her more than spiders. She couldn't swim. She never could, not even to save Sen as Suzume lay drowning against her knees. Clutching her squalling kits she shook her head and made Kubi and Kiri go first. Then hands seized her in the mist as she continued to hesitate, dragging her over the edge into the bottom of the boat as arrows screamed through the dark. Several thunked loudly against the side of the dock, their humming shafts vibrating like quivering harp strings. Lin cringed over the frightened mewling kits as blades of silk flashed above her. Standing in the stern Shimizu slashed the angry swarm pelting Lin with splintered shafts as she bellowed orders.

"Row!"

They lurched away from the dock out into the obscuring mists. But that didn't stop the arrows. More screamed down from the night, hissing harmlessly as they plunged into the water. Again and again Shimizu cut them from the air until they moved out of range. Finally the only sound was the burbling plunge and creak of oars and the kits cries.

Absently shushing them, Lin stifled a gasp as the boat surged faster. Looking up, she found that Shimizu had produced two more sets of oars and was adding her strength to her sister's. Between all the spider arms they were practically skimming across the top of the water. Sitting up out of the keel beside her, Kiri's white eye gleamed in the gloom as she stared madly the swirling white fog. She was clutching the packet of silk as if it was the only thing in the world that offered her comfort. The shadows seemed to pool like water, writhing and lapping around her body like the water splashing over the sides of the boat.

"Garuda says Shurui's coming!"

Shimizu spat angrily over the side of the boat as she continued to row.

"Garuda's dead, you stupid human!"

Again she ignored the spider's bark whereas once it would've set her cringing in terror. As if she was miles and miles away Kiri touched her chest and her head.

"He is. But now he's here."

Lin was taken aback by the change in the human. She had been different after Shurui forced her to hear the dead God's voice. With a thrill of apprehension that set her skin crawling Lin remembered her two shadows. It wasn't the first time the human had displayed two shadows either. Manami had taken up residence in Kiri's body. And now it seemed slowly Garuda was doing the same. Unfortunately as he did there seemed to be less and less of Kiri. Unsettled by the realization Lin startled violently as Shimizu tapped her shoulder. The spider motioned at the human with a free hand as she hissed behind another even though they all could hear clearly.

"Is she loosing it?"

Lin glanced down at Kubi as suddenly the stranger's eyes began burning holes in the side of her cheek. The eerie God woman was lying on the bottom of the boat in the pooling water exactly as she fell. The bare blades of her iron eyes cautioned silently as they stared through the gloom. She was trying to tell her something but there was no way to know what. Lin hesitated, wondering what the spiders would do if they knew the truth about Kiri.

"Do you know why Shurui sent you after us?"

Lin wasn't sure why she asked. All the same the soldier answered.

"No."

Shimizu didn't sound proud of that. She nodded her head back at Fumiko.

"Until recently I didn't question mother's will. Then this idiot started teaching me to think for myself. Soldiers aren't supposed to think and now I understand why!"

"If it makes you feel any better you're not very good at thinking."

Fumiko sniped from the front of the boat making Shimizu bristle.

"And neither are you! That was the worst half-baked rescue attempted I've ever seen!"

The handmaiden spider muttered sullenly.

"I won't leave you behind! I'll come back and keep coming back even if it's stupid!"

Sighing gustily, Shimizu's face tightened with many difficult emotions.

"I know… And I love you for it."

They rowed in silence for a while as the mists broke and gathered over their heads. But even the rhythmically lapping water did nothing to sooth the riot in her head. Absently rocking the now soundly sleeping kits Lin boiled over. She knew Shurui wanted to bring back Garuda. But wasn't Garuda why they'd started this war? Lin wasn't quite sure. She'd only caught bits and pieces of the spider's idiotic vendetta. If she was going to die she at least wanted to know why.

"Why did you go to war with Shitamachi? You must know that much."

Fury raged in Shimizu's eyes as she threw them at her like lances of bloody silk. She spit venom over the side of the boat and bared her needled teeth.

"Shitamachi went to war with itself, weasel woman. Once it caught fire there was nothing anyone could do but watch it burn and hope to survive! They blamed us as we stood in the ashes knowing every one of us held the flame to the fuse. But still! They expelled us to die in the sun! When we didn't die, when we found one of the caverns that survived the old wars they sent their dogs after us! They harried us with blades and fire until I watched my sisters go mad with blood!"

Lin looked away from the hate and the suffering in the spider's eyes. It was contagious. Still she pressed for the understanding that eluded her.

"What do you want? Why do you keep fighting?"

Shimizu shoved Kubi with the toe of her boat as her red eyes gleamed. The stranger glared back with venomous contempt.

"At first we were after her! She betrayed Garuda! She killed him and stole his soul! The only reason I haven't killed her yet is because mother ordered me not to!"

Lin knew she was the one who killed Garuda. She knew Shurui had come after Kubi to find where she'd hidden him away. But still, that wasn't all of it. Rowing viciously, Shimizu proved unnaturally strong as they lifted out of the water. Panting beneath her breath, she continued to spill truth.

"We had to leave when mother set the Wheel of Yamanote on Shitamachi in retribution for the way they persecuted us. It destroyed our cavern just as it destroyed theirs. We followed because she promised us a new life and a new home. We obeyed because she promised to bring Garuda back. She promised so many things."

Shimizu stopped rowing, hanging over the hafts staring blankly at her hands. As they coasted soundlessly through the water she hissed in an agonized choke. Her grim and ugly face twisted with bitterness as she chewed the words sullenly.

"I believed her because I was desperate for something! Anything to hold back the dark and the madness! I called her mother because I thought she loved me! But Shurui used us the way Shitamachi used us! She sold us for a bottles of sake and a bowls of fried rice!"

There it was: the answer Lin had been looking for. All this murder and destruction for nothing but spite and it was staggeringly stupid. It made Lin sick to her stomach with grief and rage. Sometimes Gods were no better than humans. Here the human corrected the spiders with the same distant voice.

"Kubi didn't betray Garuda."

Suddenly wringing the hafts of her oars Shimizu glared daggers at the wan female's back.

"Human! I'm getting really sick of hearing you talk about things you don't know shit about!"

Luckily they ran aground in the thick swirling mists. Otherwise the solider might have traded her oar for Kiri's neck. As the stupid human spilled across Kubi's lap Shimizu yanked in her oars and splashed over the side, pulling them up to the foot of the wide stone stairs and mooring the boat around the neck of the fat granite frog at its top. Lin could barely see it the fog was so thick. But as Fumiko stood to follow Lin grabbed her by the belt and hauled her back into the boat.

"Don't!"

She hissed furiously, scanning the shifting vapor for true movement. Lin's eyes crawled over the black heaps of rubble that had once been restaurants. With every hair on her body standing on end she held her breath and listened for shuffles. Coiled with terror she sniffed the air for the reek of death. It was utterly ridiculous that she would seek sanctuary here after all this time. She's only just escaped the hell lurking here. Humming with memories of horror she stared up at the ruin that'd once been her prison. But as she did all the air seemed to hiss out of her lungs as she exhaled endlessly. If she hadn't already been sitting she would've fallen. Clutching her stirring kits Lin stared. She stared and stared at the ghost hanging above the thick mists and the rotting roofs.

It illuminated the night with the stacked rows of its gold paper lattices and long wood balconies. The red exterior was still pocked and flecked and its green tiles broken and black in the dark. But the banned that bore its name flapped in the sky catching the dregs of light. Aburaya. Yubaba's bath house. Not the split and listing carcass that housed the gnawed bones of so many of her friends. This had to be a dream. This couldn't be real. Shimizu loitered on the stone steps looking between her and the distant ghost before snorting.

"Doesn't look so haunted to me."

Still dreaming, Lin turned her eyes to the front of the boat as the human sat up. Distantly her instincts shrieked and clawed inside her head as Kiri picked up Kubi's leash. The human stared long and hard at the stranger with an expression that made Lin's skin crawl. Even as she reached for Kiri with her only hand the girl's lips moved. Lin didn't hear the words so much as she saw them.

"Take off your collar."

Iron snapped and clattered in the keel of the boat. Lin jerked against the side of the hull as a pale bare foot struck Fumiko square in the chest. The smacking impact made Lin's chest resonate like a drum. Stunned, the handmaiden spider flew over the side and splashed into the water. Huddled over her kits in confusion Lin saw the stranger's mask clearly. Dour faced and frowning, but perfectly smooth and white; it gleamed like the moon. And the cruel edge of her naginata flashed like lightning as she vaulted off the edge of the boat. Directing its point at Shimizu, Kubi launched herself at the spider.