Chapter Seven:

The Imperial Army

Voices in the dining hall crashed over each other like waves upon the ocean.

Sesshyo was the only silent one in the hall, holding his face in his palm; his claws digging into his own skin in his frustration. Sia had given up the argument he was having with Sark, now he was pinning him to the ground, chewing on his ear, while Sark kicked him in the chest. The others were jabbering unintelligibly.

The two human children sitting at the table were silent; staring at the chaos around them, when Katsumi rose and walked over to Sesshyo. She looked up at him and tugged on his sleeve. He stared at her for a second, then stood up so quickly he almost upset the table. "Silence." he said to the others, then, seeing they weren't responding, he shouted "Shut up!" That got their attention, and they turned to look at him. "It appears I am surrounded by grossly incompetent fools."

Sesshyo said, snappily. "This human girl has more sense than any of you."

Sia growled. "And what is that supposed to mean?" he snapped.

Sesshyo smiled. "We don't need Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru's help."

"What?" all the occupants of the hall stammered.

"This girl is the reason we don't."

From the stunned looks on their faces it was clear they weren't following Sesshyo's same train of thought.

"Her father is General Striffe."

All of a sudden the other demons seemed to get it.

"You don't know how much of a stroke of good fortune that was, Sia, you saving those girls;" Sesshyo said, nodding at Katsumi and Mika.

"Now we have someone with a reason to help us. Even more incentive is that his daughters are here; and Star Castle will most likely be the main target of their attack." all the other demon stared drop-jawed at the two little girls.

Who would've thought two human girls would be their trump card to victory?

******

"And what if he won't help?"

"He will."

Sesshyo strolled casually down the dark hallway from the battlements, followed closely by Sia.

"You do know that it takes ten days for our messenger to reach Tokyo and back? That is, if they even let him past the city's border. Do think we can hold out that long?"

"Gah, Sia its just ten days; and you said their army was only three times ours, it'll be bad but not that bad."

Sia sighed. "You don't seem to understand. Their front line consisted of three thousand; their main bulk is closer to ten."

Sesshyo's jaw went slack. "W-what? Even with the Imperial Army those're almost impossible odds! The Imperial Army has twelve thousand men; and it'd take more than eight times that to evenly match humans and blood-demons!"

"So. You're saying that we haven't a chance. We should just give up now and save some lives?" Sia snapped.

"I never said anything of the sort." Sesshyo snapped back.

"Now I'm sure that poison has messed you up."

Sesshyo growled. "Don't you get it? They've been planning this all along! If I wasn't so young I would've seen that; that's why they chose the Southern Lands, even though the Western Land is bigger, and the Eastern Land is richer.

"They've singled me out because they think I can't handle the pressure of commanding a war-time standard army." he snarled even more savagely than before. His hair began to float upward on breeze that seemed to come from nowhere; his equivalent of raising his hackles. Realizing he was letting himself get freaked out, he sighed heavily and seemed to shrink several inches.

"Ok, first we need to figure out what they plan on doing. First they'll probably send out spies to find other demons who'll help them. A lot of demons don't like being under a lord younger than their their youngest child. And every ally the blood-demons gain is one we've lost. Next they're probably going to stage a few minor assaults on Star Castle itself to test its defenses. They've most likely also have someone already in the castle. It would be the logical thing to do.

With someone on the inside they would be aware of our battle strategies, and would be able to plan around them. That's number one priority; finding the spy."

"What if they don't have one?"

"Humph. They do; I'll bet anything on it. Probably been here at least a year.

"Sia, I want you to watch everyone who's been here less than a year and everyone who kind of comes and goes, doesn't really hang around much."

"Yes, My Lord."

******

So... that young whelp thought he could sniff him out. Foolish child.

He had no idea what he was getting into.

It would take a lot more than that to rat him out.

But... just in case...

******

Katsumi walked into the main hall where Sesshyo was closely watching the other demons that were milling around. He turned to see the girl carrying a bow, with some arrows in a quiver over her shoulder, and a small katana hanging at her waist. She also had a knife tucked in the belt of her demon-made silk kimono the ladies-in-waiting had given her to replace her old ragged goat-skin one. She bowed to Sesshyo then made her way toward the castle doors.

"And just where do think you're going?"

"To help stand watch."

That hadn't been what he'd thought she'd say. Maybe that she was leaving, or going out to get some fresh air... but stand watch? Even demon women didn't do that except in times of great peril when the men where unable to, due either to war or injury. This girl was striking his curiosity even more with each word she spoke. He would be sad to see her go; but after all, she was only human.

******

The creature slipped closer to its prey, silver knife glinting in the light. The knife in the creatures hand had tasted the blood from the throats of many a demon.

It was thirsty again. The blade gleamed in anticipation. So close, the creature was only a few feet away... just a little closer...

******

"Sesshyo!" Sia growled.

"Yeah?"

"There were only three people who are recent members of the court; and only two wanderers, one of which isn't here currently, though I'll vouch for him, he was a devoted member of Lord Sessbiinshi's royal court. The other is in the dungeon for insulting the daughter of Lord Sari."

"Lemme guess what his name is. Sark."

"Bingo."

"Humph. He might be the spy; but he's really to stupid to be of much good."

"Right. I'll continue."

******

Argh... so close... that stupid wolf didn't know when to keep his snout out of other people's business... if he had come in just a minute later he would've found his master released from the pain of the blood poison for all eternity...

Well, no worries. There was always tomorrow.

******

Sia glanced at the girl standing before him; Katsumi. She didn't look at all like her sister, not at all. Curious. "You don't look like your sister at all." Sia said, in wolf tongue; the girl was a gem among humans indeed, though she couldn't speak wolf, she could understand it.

"That's because she's not really my sister. Just like General Striffe isn't really my father, though he loves us just as much. We're orphans. General Striffe adopted us. His wife died right before she had her baby; the baby died too.

Daddy was so miserable he didn't know what to do. Then during a training exercise they encountered some bandits slaughtering a village far to the west; beyond the borders of the Western Land; he said it was cold there but that was about all. Well they came upon these bandits, but by the time they had gotten there, the bandits had killed just about everyone except for us. So Daddy took care of them and here we are. Can I make it simpler for you?"

Sia snarled. "No, that was all I wanted to know. Now, I have more important thing to take care of. Farewell, little human."