It strikes me as odd that such an eventful chapter ended up slightly shorter than my usual chapter. Oh well. That's how it happened. It's not too much short, though, I promise. And for once, there's not a lot of dialogue. Sometimes I worry my stories are too much dialogue, not enough action. I know not all stories need action, but there should be interesting stuff going on outside of people having conversations, right? But anywho, let's get to chapter eleven!
The village bursts to life as the boy and I raise alarm. Townspeople pour from their houses, the already awake guards scrambling from their posts just as fast as us two from the East, and as everyone begins to understand what's going on, weapons begin to appear. Spears, swords, hoes, chunks of wood, anything a person would loathe to be hit with. Two men even emerge with bows and quivers. All the while, the sun-blocking swarm of demons rushes ever-closer.
"Oh sweet gods, how many of them are there?"
"The children! Where can we put the children?"
When even the mothers grab ahold of weapons, I find myself snagging passing kids and ordering them to hide under whatever they can, wherever they won't be found. Despite the coming of morning, the approaching army prevents the world from growing any lighter, so quickly made torches are thrown up as the older generations yell instructions to the younger ones. Don't turn your back. Swing with all you have. Focus on one enemy at a time.
And then the demons descend.
Talons narrowly miss my back as I duck away, and a second later a swinging blade collides with the beast and it thuds to the ground. I turn just in time to see another fiend clamp its claws on my savior's shoulders and begin to haul him off. I lunge and yank him down, successfully freeing him from the demon's clutches, but the nails leave bloody stripes in the man's shoulders, causing him to drop his blade. A boy immediately snatches it.
My eyes scan for any sort of weapon I could grab, but everything's been taken, and there's no time to search something out.
Something closes around my leg and I jump, startled until I realize it's a human child no older than six. She must have gotten separated from her family. Scared one of the demons might see her as easy prey, I rest a reassuring hand on the little girl's head and quickly move her to my front where I can hold her close with both of my arms. With her to watch and without a weapon of my own, I duck us into the nearest house and move to the darkest corner, trying to collect my thoughts.
It's dangerous. No duh, it's dangerous, Ren. Details! The villagers seem to know how to fight. At least, the older ones do, and the younger ones are in good shape to defend themselves. It's the really old and really little that are the concern. I don't know about any grandparents, but most of the children have scattered. Hopefully they haven't been caught.
What about the demons? Why'd they attack? The village has been peaceful for years, right? What changed? Me? But I have no business…unless Naraku found out I was alive. But isn't he the type to send a single assassin rather than an army? The MO doesn't sound the same! Then my shard? But I've been here for weeks! It's a bit belated for a horde of demons to suddenly realize I've got a jewel shard and try to take it.
A quiet sob has me looking down and gently hushing the girl who's moved to hug me around the waist. This isn't the time to be wondering why the attack happened.
My eyes lock with one of the beasts' through the glassless window and I tense, hardly relaxing when a human fells the creature before it can come after me. This place isn't safe. We're dead the second they realize we're in here if I don't do anything!
The demons, what about the demons? They're birds, right? It really isn't helpful that they can fly. So we take out their wings? I'm sure the others have already figured that out by now. Will that be enough? They still have talons, and maybe beaks? I didn't get a close enough look to know if they have beaks. What do birds do? Eat, sleep, fly…flock? If one bird flies off, the rest have the tendency to follow, right? Maybe if we get one bird to leave, the rest will, too? But how do we get a bird to leave?
The crash reaches my ears before I register what I'm seeing. The dust has no additional wind to clear it after having been tossed up, but it doesn't have to clear for me to see the shape of one of the feathered monstrosities collapsed in the rubble. I shove the little girl behind me as it rises, shaking its head, and pulls an arrow out of its crooked wing.
The girl squeaks, and the demon snaps its head a full hundred and eighty degrees to stare at us. This time she shrieks. It rustles its feathers and pounces.
I grab a jagged board of the broken roof and swing with all I have. When nothing pierces me in return, I drop the board, grab the girl by the arm, and dash around the beast and out of the house without bothering to see what damage I've done.
And then we're out in the open again. The child screeches horribly when she's suddenly confronted with the dead littering the ground, human and demon alike. I pull her closer and try to assess the battle. Both sides have their losses, but the demon corpses far outnumber the human ones. Then again, the demons had far more bodies to begin with. But there are still plenty of humans fighting, even if a number are obviously injured. They're holding out.
A ton of pinpoint pains suddenly stab into my back and I choke, body wracking with quivers. A second later the protrusions exit my skin. I hunch, biting my lip in an effort to endure the pain. With as little movement as possible, I glance over my shoulder at my attacker. The bird's fallen to the ground in a heap, seizing. A faint seafoam glow crawls over its body spreading from its leg, and then the creature stills. I don't have time to question it.
There's nothing I can do. I have to get out of here. I have no choice. I'm injured and without weapon. If I stay I'll just be a casualty. The villagers seem to be doing alright. They don't need my help.
I glance down at the girl. By all means, I should leave her here. I can't just steal her away. Her family might still be alive! But if I leave her alone now she could very well be killed. I hate to take her, but...it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice.
So I start to run. When the little girl struggles to match my pace, I heft her into my arms and continue. Thankfully most of the demons are preoccupied with the armed humans, and although I do have to weave around a few houses to lose one that gives chase, we succeed in leaving the village. We haven't even made it halfway to the forest when the adrenaline wears off, and injuries on my back force me to put down the girl. I try not to let it get to me. I have the shard. If I could recover from that godawful poisoning, I'll be able to recover from this, too. It shouldn't get infected. I'll be fine.
My legs give out when we make it to the stream. The little girl collapses beside me, just as out of breath as I am, as I warily stare back the way we came. We are by no means far enough. At the very least, we need to get to where the foliage is thicker, where the birds will have a harder time chasing us on the ground or seeing us from above. But...I need oxygen. I can only imagine what would happen if I fainted from lack of air.
After a few gulping breaths, I flip onto my stomach and crawl over to the water. When she sees me drinking, the girl also does so. She doesn't bother to make a cup out of her hands like me. She just puts her face to the surface and starts to slurp. When we've both had our fill, I once again glance back in the direction of the village, noticing smoke. It's on fire. Were the torches knocked over? I turn back to the girl, wiping my mouth.
"What's your name?"
For a second, she sits on her knees in silence. It's understandable, considering what she just went through. Then,
"Yukari."
"Yukari. Well if you don't know, I'm Ren. We can't stay here long, Yukari. We'll have to get as far away as we can."
She simply nods, her plump baby lips zipped shut. I take a few more breaths of air, then nod, pushing to my feet. My legs wobble beneath me. Even if I am in better shape than before, this is too much. Stubbornness luckily keeps me on my feet, even if I'm a bit unsteady. Yukari hops right back up, though, as if she hadn't just had to run for her life. Geez, do all little kids have energy like this? I know I sure didn't at her age.
With the weakness in my legs and the muddiness of the bank, it takes a bit of effort to cross the stream, but as soon as we're both on the other side, we take off as fast as my legs are willing to carry me. The trees gradually turn taller and thicker as we go.
SKREEEEEE
I half trip over myself as I whirl just in time to see a flurry of bright colors flying at me. The next thing I know, I'm rolling myself off of Yukari, apparently having dived atop her to force her down. Beyond us, a giant bird person with feathers the colors of the sunset yanks its talons out of a tree trunk. I now have my confirmation. They do have beaks. Gnarly, death-grey, serrated beaks that are particularly alarming when they're open and screeching at you while attempting to bite off your head.
"Thought you could get away, did you?"
I shiver at the scratchy voice as gnarled as its beak. The chill only worsens when the monster cackles hysterically.
"Better luck next time, star child!"
I shove the little girl's shoulder. "Run!"
The demon's laughter grows, but despite that, Yukari only clings tighter to the skirt of my dress. My heart races when she continues to resist my pushing.
"Go ahead and run, human! Flesh is so much tastier when the meal died sweating."
A green stripe suddenly cuts through the beast's chest, and its cackling hitches to a halt.
Its upper half, arms, throat and head, slide off and plop to the ground with a squelch.
A second, much less gooey thud draws my eyes back to Yukari, and I find that she's fainted. Kneeling, I quickly check to make sure she hasn't hurt herself. Then it clicks that the thing that was going to kill us has just been killed, which means there's something more dangerous than it with us right now. I whip up my head to identify the threat.
Standing a few feet away just to the left of the halfed bird, Sesshomaru stands, staring at his claws in thought.
And the boy is back! Good to see you again Sesshomaru! I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms by everyone reading. As always, I eagerly await to hear all your thoughts, and I'll be sure to write a chapter hearty enough to satiate your salivating anticipation (if I dare be narcissistic enough to believe you all so eager to read my writing). But not completely. Satiated, I mean. If you completely satiated, you'd have no reason to read the chapter after, right? So I'll just feed ya'll some good stuff as an appetizer for the rest of the story. I wonder if this analogy is making any sense... But hey, see you again next update!