Chapter Nine
Gojyo tensed his shoulders as he looked around the hall again, surveying it with a tactical eye. The close-set pillars would get in the way if he tried anything complicated with his shakujou, and the sticky webs -- Kougaiji was still busy proving just how sticky they were -- and frankly the fact that there were huge eggs hidden under the webbing all around him was freaking the life out of him. He deliberately refused even to consider that some of them might already have hatched.
"Can't you do a small-scale fire and burn yourself free?" he suggested helpfully in Kougaiji's direction. He'd been tactfully ignoring the other man's attempts to get loose without disarranging the webs, but this was taking too long, and he for one didn't intend to become any spider queen's dinner date.
"Any sort of fire here would risk a general blaze," Kougaiji replied sharply. "Can you use the sharp edge of your weapon to cut me free?" He pointed at where most of the sleeve of his jacket was attached to the webs, the white silk like embroidery against the dark leather of the jacket and the bronzer shade of his hand.
With a thought, Gojyo called the shakojou to his hand. "Hm." He spun it so that the point of the crescent lay against Kougaiji's sleeve. "Hm," he said again, considering the situation.
Common sense said that he should cut Kougaiji free of the webs and make for the nearest exit without any sort of delay. Common sense was Hakkai's business, and he'd be sure to explain all this to Hakkai when he managed to catch up with the other man, in full and literal detail, especially when it came to why Gojyo had been stuck running through this damn fortress in a skirt and high heels.
Or perhaps he wouldn't mention this part.
"Just here," Kougaiji said impatiently.
Gojyo leaned in and kissed him again.
---
"Where precisely are we going?" asked Sanzou. He hadn't commented on the web-laden decor of the cellars, or on the fact that Yaone was staying safely behind him, spear in hands -- not that the confined space gave her much chance to use it -- or on the fact that she'd left the manacles on him. She suspected that the first was due to a refusal to be impressed, and that the second and third were merely reflections on her common sense.
"We're looking for Kougaiji-sama," Yaone replied politely. "Once we've found him, we can all leave this place."
"All of us?" Sanzou asked. He gave the first word a peculiar emphasis.
"Yes," Yaone replied. "Well, we need to find Lirin too, but Kougaiji-sama should be able to find her, once we've found him . . ." She paused, realising that his tone might have another explanation. "You don't mean that all your friends are in here too?"
Sanzou was silent for several paces. Finally, he stated, "You could simply let me go and walk away. We're looking for different people. There's no reason for us to stay together."
"Yes, there is," Yaone pointed out. "You're chained up and I'm behind you."
"Besides that," Sanzou growled, shoulders tense with the air of one who has had enemies behind him far too often. "We both know that you're not going to cut my throat while I can't stop you, so let's stop pretending that you are."
Yaone hesitated. He had a point. "On the other hand," she said, thoughtfully, "I could knock you out and carry you over my shoulder. It would be difficult, and I wouldn't want to put you to the embarrassment of being seen like that by your friends . . ."
"You think I give a fuck what those morons think?"
Yaone hated herself, but had no choice. "Sanzou-sama," she replied politely, "do you honestly think I'd trust you at my back with your hands free, in a situation like this, where you have no real reason to trust me and you suspect that I'm going to hand you and the sutra over to Kougaiji-sama?"
A pause. Several more steps. He snorted. "At least you do have a brain in there."
"I try to be competent," she said primly. "But I do apologise for the insult to your honour."
Sanzou made a noise which was difficult to define. Really, she hadn't wanted to suggest that a man of his abilities and virtue might be unreliable in that respect, but he hadn't left her a great deal of choice.
A soft noise, a suppressed cry, from the room ahead of them. Images immediately flashed through Yaone's head of some helpless victim -- even Kougaiji-sama, oh no, don't let it be him -- in the clutches of the spider Queen herself. She gestured Sanzou out of the way with the butt of her spear, and stepped forward, slipping several grenades into her hand as she did so.
---
It had been comparatively easy to gain access to the cellars for somewhere that was supposed to be the most heavily guarded place in the entire fortress. Yet again, Hakkai found himself wanting to give some strategic advice to whoever was supposed to be in charge of the guards. It was an unfortunate habit, which he did his best to suppress, but -- as he had said more than once to Gojyo -- he did prefer it when things were tidy and efficient.
"There are all sorts of spider webs down here," Lirin whispered noisily.
Apparently the maids didn't see their way to doing a very thorough job of dusting, either. "Yes," Hakkai replied temperately. "I noticed." It was difficult not to. "Would you rather wait up above, Lirin-san?" he offered hopefully.
She chewed her lower lip, then stuck her chin forward, her whole pose screaming Girl Heroine. "I'll be fine! We need to find my brother!"
"Hush!" Hakkai breathed. He'd heard some sort of noise to the south. "This way."
She followed him obediently, taking care not to brush against the trailing strands of web. Two corridors and a narrow passage brought them out into a larger room, and . . .
"Hakkai!" Lirin was banging against his back, since he had for some reason frozen stock still in the doorway. "What's going on? Is big brother there?"
"I have that general impression," he remarked dryly, "but it's a bit difficult to tell with Gojyo in the way."
---
"Kougaiji-sama!" Yaone's glad cry of relief lost enthusiasm as she took in the full scene, and her cheeks scorched red. "I, ah, didn't mean to interrupt you . . ."
"Don't be an idiot," Sanzou sneered, watching Gojyo trip over his skirts in shock and fall flat on his rear. "It's that molesting moron over there who's harassing your poor helpless prince."
"Kougaiji-sama is not helpless!" she blazed.
"Oh, he wanted to kiss Gojyo, then?"
"He . . . wanted . . ." Yaone finally identified the sprawling figure in skirts and corset as Sha Gojyo. "Oh, Kougaiji-sama! How could you?"
Kougaiji assessed the situation, and found it bad. Admitting to helplessness was even worse than any of the other alternatives. With casual ease -- and a hidden wince -- he ripped his arm free of the web, leaving a patch of skin behind, and slid out of his trapped jacket to step free of the thick silk cords, upper body bare. "Quite easily, really."
"Big brother!" A Lirin-shaped guided missile hit him around the waist, almost making him stagger back into the webs again. "There's an evil plot against you!"
Back near the door, Hakkai picked himself up from where he'd hit the ground and been trodden on. Next time, he reminded himself, let Sanzou take care of Lirin. He's so good with children and animals. "Gojyo," he said, smiling gently. "How good to see you're safe."
Yaone -- and Sanzou -- to the right of me, Hakkai to the left of me . . . Gojyo scrambled to his feet. "Hey, Hakkai. The skirts look good on you," he tried desperately.
"Kougaiji-sama! You're hurt!" Yaone ran across to check on Kougaiji's bleeding wrist, deciding that the whole thing was clearly Gojyo's fault.
"Nice shawl," said Kougaiji dryly to Hakkai.
"Oh, it's on loan," the other man replied modestly.
"Hey, moron," Sanzou kicked Gojyo's ankle to get his attention. "If you can get your attention away from your latest --"
"He's not my latest!"
"Don't worry," Kougaiji tossed across. "He's already told me about the Buddhist tantric sex secrets."
There was an appalled general silence. It was a silence that blended tacit promises to kill by slow beatings on the one hand, with fascinated curiosity on the other hand. It was broken only by Lirin asking, "What's tantric, big brother? What's tantric?"
Hakkai walked across, and helped Gojyo brush the dust off his dress. "Later," he murmured quietly, a certain glint to his visible eye.
Gojyo swallowed.
"If one of you morons wouldn't mind." Sanzou clanked his manacles meaningfully.
"He's my prisoner," Yaone explained to Kougaiji, who was still trying to detach the limpet known as Lirin from his waist. She did her best not to check his torso for injuries too obviously. "We need to leave here fast. The Captain of the Guard warned me that someone in power here wants to catch you in an awkward situation."
Gojyo coughed.
"Ah," Hakkai put in, "I believe that would probably be the Princess of the Keep. Lirin-san and I overheard her attempting to blacken your liege's name to the guards, Yaone-san. And as Lirin-san believes that . . ." He trailed off tactfully.
"The kitchen entrance should be due east of here," Yaone added helpfully.
"Key," Sanzou stated to Yaone. It wasn't a question. It didn't entertain the slightest possibility that she might say no.
"Later," she replied.
"Much later," Gojyo muttered sotto voce.
"Wait." There was a sudden authority in Kougaiji's tone. "There's something . . ."
The webs leapt from the walls as he spoke, drawing themselves into long tendrils which hung swaying in the air. Further down the passages leading to the room, the cobwebs which lined the walls began to squirm and move, flexing and writhing like living flesh, exposing the eggs which were nestled in them, great pearly ovals the size of a man's head.
A female voice, dark and sweet like a low-toned flute, hummed and whispered in the shadows. "Well now. And what should this be? Food, perhaps?"
---
Gojyo tensed his shoulders as he looked around the hall again, surveying it with a tactical eye. The close-set pillars would get in the way if he tried anything complicated with his shakujou, and the sticky webs -- Kougaiji was still busy proving just how sticky they were -- and frankly the fact that there were huge eggs hidden under the webbing all around him was freaking the life out of him. He deliberately refused even to consider that some of them might already have hatched.
"Can't you do a small-scale fire and burn yourself free?" he suggested helpfully in Kougaiji's direction. He'd been tactfully ignoring the other man's attempts to get loose without disarranging the webs, but this was taking too long, and he for one didn't intend to become any spider queen's dinner date.
"Any sort of fire here would risk a general blaze," Kougaiji replied sharply. "Can you use the sharp edge of your weapon to cut me free?" He pointed at where most of the sleeve of his jacket was attached to the webs, the white silk like embroidery against the dark leather of the jacket and the bronzer shade of his hand.
With a thought, Gojyo called the shakojou to his hand. "Hm." He spun it so that the point of the crescent lay against Kougaiji's sleeve. "Hm," he said again, considering the situation.
Common sense said that he should cut Kougaiji free of the webs and make for the nearest exit without any sort of delay. Common sense was Hakkai's business, and he'd be sure to explain all this to Hakkai when he managed to catch up with the other man, in full and literal detail, especially when it came to why Gojyo had been stuck running through this damn fortress in a skirt and high heels.
Or perhaps he wouldn't mention this part.
"Just here," Kougaiji said impatiently.
Gojyo leaned in and kissed him again.
---
"Where precisely are we going?" asked Sanzou. He hadn't commented on the web-laden decor of the cellars, or on the fact that Yaone was staying safely behind him, spear in hands -- not that the confined space gave her much chance to use it -- or on the fact that she'd left the manacles on him. She suspected that the first was due to a refusal to be impressed, and that the second and third were merely reflections on her common sense.
"We're looking for Kougaiji-sama," Yaone replied politely. "Once we've found him, we can all leave this place."
"All of us?" Sanzou asked. He gave the first word a peculiar emphasis.
"Yes," Yaone replied. "Well, we need to find Lirin too, but Kougaiji-sama should be able to find her, once we've found him . . ." She paused, realising that his tone might have another explanation. "You don't mean that all your friends are in here too?"
Sanzou was silent for several paces. Finally, he stated, "You could simply let me go and walk away. We're looking for different people. There's no reason for us to stay together."
"Yes, there is," Yaone pointed out. "You're chained up and I'm behind you."
"Besides that," Sanzou growled, shoulders tense with the air of one who has had enemies behind him far too often. "We both know that you're not going to cut my throat while I can't stop you, so let's stop pretending that you are."
Yaone hesitated. He had a point. "On the other hand," she said, thoughtfully, "I could knock you out and carry you over my shoulder. It would be difficult, and I wouldn't want to put you to the embarrassment of being seen like that by your friends . . ."
"You think I give a fuck what those morons think?"
Yaone hated herself, but had no choice. "Sanzou-sama," she replied politely, "do you honestly think I'd trust you at my back with your hands free, in a situation like this, where you have no real reason to trust me and you suspect that I'm going to hand you and the sutra over to Kougaiji-sama?"
A pause. Several more steps. He snorted. "At least you do have a brain in there."
"I try to be competent," she said primly. "But I do apologise for the insult to your honour."
Sanzou made a noise which was difficult to define. Really, she hadn't wanted to suggest that a man of his abilities and virtue might be unreliable in that respect, but he hadn't left her a great deal of choice.
A soft noise, a suppressed cry, from the room ahead of them. Images immediately flashed through Yaone's head of some helpless victim -- even Kougaiji-sama, oh no, don't let it be him -- in the clutches of the spider Queen herself. She gestured Sanzou out of the way with the butt of her spear, and stepped forward, slipping several grenades into her hand as she did so.
---
It had been comparatively easy to gain access to the cellars for somewhere that was supposed to be the most heavily guarded place in the entire fortress. Yet again, Hakkai found himself wanting to give some strategic advice to whoever was supposed to be in charge of the guards. It was an unfortunate habit, which he did his best to suppress, but -- as he had said more than once to Gojyo -- he did prefer it when things were tidy and efficient.
"There are all sorts of spider webs down here," Lirin whispered noisily.
Apparently the maids didn't see their way to doing a very thorough job of dusting, either. "Yes," Hakkai replied temperately. "I noticed." It was difficult not to. "Would you rather wait up above, Lirin-san?" he offered hopefully.
She chewed her lower lip, then stuck her chin forward, her whole pose screaming Girl Heroine. "I'll be fine! We need to find my brother!"
"Hush!" Hakkai breathed. He'd heard some sort of noise to the south. "This way."
She followed him obediently, taking care not to brush against the trailing strands of web. Two corridors and a narrow passage brought them out into a larger room, and . . .
"Hakkai!" Lirin was banging against his back, since he had for some reason frozen stock still in the doorway. "What's going on? Is big brother there?"
"I have that general impression," he remarked dryly, "but it's a bit difficult to tell with Gojyo in the way."
---
"Kougaiji-sama!" Yaone's glad cry of relief lost enthusiasm as she took in the full scene, and her cheeks scorched red. "I, ah, didn't mean to interrupt you . . ."
"Don't be an idiot," Sanzou sneered, watching Gojyo trip over his skirts in shock and fall flat on his rear. "It's that molesting moron over there who's harassing your poor helpless prince."
"Kougaiji-sama is not helpless!" she blazed.
"Oh, he wanted to kiss Gojyo, then?"
"He . . . wanted . . ." Yaone finally identified the sprawling figure in skirts and corset as Sha Gojyo. "Oh, Kougaiji-sama! How could you?"
Kougaiji assessed the situation, and found it bad. Admitting to helplessness was even worse than any of the other alternatives. With casual ease -- and a hidden wince -- he ripped his arm free of the web, leaving a patch of skin behind, and slid out of his trapped jacket to step free of the thick silk cords, upper body bare. "Quite easily, really."
"Big brother!" A Lirin-shaped guided missile hit him around the waist, almost making him stagger back into the webs again. "There's an evil plot against you!"
Back near the door, Hakkai picked himself up from where he'd hit the ground and been trodden on. Next time, he reminded himself, let Sanzou take care of Lirin. He's so good with children and animals. "Gojyo," he said, smiling gently. "How good to see you're safe."
Yaone -- and Sanzou -- to the right of me, Hakkai to the left of me . . . Gojyo scrambled to his feet. "Hey, Hakkai. The skirts look good on you," he tried desperately.
"Kougaiji-sama! You're hurt!" Yaone ran across to check on Kougaiji's bleeding wrist, deciding that the whole thing was clearly Gojyo's fault.
"Nice shawl," said Kougaiji dryly to Hakkai.
"Oh, it's on loan," the other man replied modestly.
"Hey, moron," Sanzou kicked Gojyo's ankle to get his attention. "If you can get your attention away from your latest --"
"He's not my latest!"
"Don't worry," Kougaiji tossed across. "He's already told me about the Buddhist tantric sex secrets."
There was an appalled general silence. It was a silence that blended tacit promises to kill by slow beatings on the one hand, with fascinated curiosity on the other hand. It was broken only by Lirin asking, "What's tantric, big brother? What's tantric?"
Hakkai walked across, and helped Gojyo brush the dust off his dress. "Later," he murmured quietly, a certain glint to his visible eye.
Gojyo swallowed.
"If one of you morons wouldn't mind." Sanzou clanked his manacles meaningfully.
"He's my prisoner," Yaone explained to Kougaiji, who was still trying to detach the limpet known as Lirin from his waist. She did her best not to check his torso for injuries too obviously. "We need to leave here fast. The Captain of the Guard warned me that someone in power here wants to catch you in an awkward situation."
Gojyo coughed.
"Ah," Hakkai put in, "I believe that would probably be the Princess of the Keep. Lirin-san and I overheard her attempting to blacken your liege's name to the guards, Yaone-san. And as Lirin-san believes that . . ." He trailed off tactfully.
"The kitchen entrance should be due east of here," Yaone added helpfully.
"Key," Sanzou stated to Yaone. It wasn't a question. It didn't entertain the slightest possibility that she might say no.
"Later," she replied.
"Much later," Gojyo muttered sotto voce.
"Wait." There was a sudden authority in Kougaiji's tone. "There's something . . ."
The webs leapt from the walls as he spoke, drawing themselves into long tendrils which hung swaying in the air. Further down the passages leading to the room, the cobwebs which lined the walls began to squirm and move, flexing and writhing like living flesh, exposing the eggs which were nestled in them, great pearly ovals the size of a man's head.
A female voice, dark and sweet like a low-toned flute, hummed and whispered in the shadows. "Well now. And what should this be? Food, perhaps?"
---
Fanfic Page