CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

.

The Tetsusaiga smashed through the dozens of demons, as if they were made out of water and air. Bits of flesh pattered down around the Dog-Lord as he lowered the iron fang.

"Hah!" the Dog-Lord roared. The demons they had sent against him were just crawling weaklings. He had no doubt that the first wave had just been a warm-up -- the stronger opponents were doubtlessly coming. He glared up into the seething wall of demons, listening to them yowling defiantly. "Come at me, cowards!" he snarled. "Or do you fear me? If you fear me, why do you attack me?"

Another high shriek rose from the demons. A handful of them were fleeing down toward the ground, and the Dog-Lord let them go. They would never dare defy him again. "Do you smell the serpent lord, Sesshomaru?" he asked, gripping Tetsusaiga.

"Not yet, Father," Sesshomaru said grimly. He had been doing his own fair share of fighting, and his venomous claws were stained with blood. The Dog-Lord was impressed by his son's cold fighting skill.

"Here they come," the elder demon said. He smiled slightly. How enjoyable would it be if they were all weaklings? he thought.

He smashed through the chest of a giant creature with an eel's body and a woman's torso, followed by a pair of centipedes. These were harder -- he could use the Scar of the Wind on them individually, but some were too large and tough to be dealt with all at once. He could deal with it, but he was glad to have his son by his side.

And then suddenly he felt a sense of unease. He looked to the east, and saw a stream of smoke rising from the valley where the monastery rested...

.

Yoshiko drifted through the day in a daze, hearing the distant roars and crashes. The monks around her were nervously watching the skies, waiting for any sign of a demon's attack. Several of them carries staffs and sutras, just in case they had to fight.

Yoshiko waited at a table, trying to nibble on a dumpling. Opposite her, the abbot was sitting quietly, his eyes closed as he prayed or meditated or whatever he was doing. Yoshiko was more concerned about her baby. He had stopped kicking as much in the last hour. I'm worried enough about your father, she thought, rubbing her stomach. Must I worry about you too?

She just hoped that she didn't give birth in the monastery. Even if one of the monks was able to help her, she didn't know what they would do to a half-demon baby. Didn't monks kill demons?

Don't think about that, Yoshiko chided herself. But no sooner had she banished her worries for her baby than her worries about the Dog-Lord returned. She huddled closer in his cloak, thinking about his face as he had given it to her. He had been so worried...

"Demons are attacking!"

Yoshiko broke out of her thoughts, and ran to the window. Red eyes were peering from the trees, glaring at the monks scattered out behind the monastery. She shrank back -- and a red glow suddenly began to seep through the window, between the wall boards, shimmering like some hideous mirage. The abbot sprang to his feet, holding up his staff.

"WATCH OUT!" a voice called.

Yoshiko stumbled backwards, as a giant wave of fire roared through the room. She barely had time to pull the fire-rat cloak over her body. The flames washed over her, seeping under the edge of the cloak, heating her face and hands. She clasped the cloak as tightly to the floor as she could, trying to shut out the screams of the monks around her, even as the boards under her dissolved into ash and sparks.

When she dared to lift the cloak, she saw that the monks were gone -- blasted away by the fireball. The room around her was in flames, all red and black shadows that flickered and danced like the demon's eyes. Yoshiko looked around for a door, but she couldn't see any that weren't blocked by fallen beams. Trying not to cry, Yoshiko crawled across the floor, around fallen beams that were burning holes under her.

Suddenly she felt a deep, gripping pain inside her belly.

Yoshiko groaned and doubled over. The pain began to ebb away, leaving her baby kicking frantically. "No," she whispered brokenly. "Not now..."

TO BE CONTINUED