Warnings: This chapter is about battle, and as such there is some violence. I've tried to do it tastefully, but this may be raised to an R (or edited down) due to the subject nature. Jury's still out on a coffee break :D
Author's notes and response to reviews at the bottom.
Lightning flashed over the north-eastern valleys also, but the rain had not yet started, still lost in a snarl of thick, ugly clouds. Instead, the sky was filled with demons; massive, taloned beasts wheeling in the sky on feathered wings, cawing hoarsely to each other. Crows.
The largest one screamed harshly before diving through the cloud layer, flexing its talons as if tearing through them bodily; the lightning flickered above it but dared not touch. Proud, beady eyes glinted harshly in the residual flares, and it swooped down lower over a certain horse-shoe shaped valley to continue searching. The remnants of what looked suspiciously like tendon hung limply from its thick, sinuous beak.
It could not be properly called a crow.
This was a raven.
A towering whiteness sliced through the mist on the valley's floor, streaked with red on the edges and rising fast; the raven screamed again and wheeled to attack. A massive ruff of fur breached the tip of a storm cloud like some kind of lunatic whale, bristling with accumulated static. Lightning struck again, blasting muddied hairs backward, but the animal's paws were no longer touching the ground.
Twin clouds of demon energy spawned up under house-sized paws, supporting the creature's ascent into the heavens, and lighting curved around it as it burst through the cloud ceiling. Crow demons slashed at its sinewy torso rending flesh and fur alike, but the colossal beast paid little attention, sweeping some off with its tree-trunk sized tail. Red, blazing eyes swiveled to focus on the raven, and muscles rippled backward as it pulled its face into a grimacing snarl. It was canine in form, but only a fool would name it "man's best friend".
The white demon lunged, faster than a beast of its size had any right to, but the raven rolled right and easily dodged. It flipped around to dive at one enormous eye, seemingly diving straight into a pool of molten lava. The dog reacted, but not quickly enough to prevent the tip of the crow's beak from piercing the eye's soft lower corner. Howling in rage, the white demon slammed the side of its muzzle against the bird's body. It let out one startled, half-squawk as the wind shot out of it, propelling it downward. Like a marionette with its strings cut, the crow shrilled weakly and plummeted straight downward. Ignoring the smaller demons messily pulling on its back and legs, the strange, gigantic parody of a dog gave chase.
It met the raven before the small demon could hit the ground, catching the bird in its mouth and shaking it angrily for all the world like an Olympian-sized ragdoll. The raven beat its one good wing frantically, screeching in terror, but the saw-toothed fangs squeezed harder. The raven's eyes rolled crazily in its head, and a thick coat of spittle blew out around the edges of its beak. It slashed at the canine bitterly, making one last attempt to tear sensitive flesh before its talons quivered and dropped.
The dog nearly spat the raven out, wrinkling its muzzle as if tasting something foul. It fell like a wet rag, hitting the ground with a horribly wet noise. The monstrous canine stood over it and roared, sounding more like a lion than a dog, turning one baleful eye up toward the remaining black dots in the sky.
No earthly hound has ever made such a noise.
The remaining crows spun about frantically, startled, and that was all the time the white demon needed.
Inutaishou, reverted to human form, surveyed the damage reluctantly.
Blood still oozed weakly from the gash in his scalp, leaving him with an itchy, unwashed feeling, but the slash in his eye was slightly more worrisome-if he was attacked again soon, he'd be going in with tunnel vision. The gashes on his arms and torso were numerous but superficial, for a demon lord - he could already feel the edges twitching, aching to join together. His right leg was a different matter, though: it felt achy and heavy, hard to move below the knee. If it weren't for years of conditioning, he doubted he'd be able to stand--and even so, he knew he couldn't put any weight on it.
Probably broke it when the bastard ambushed me... he sniffed, still angry that he'd been touched at all. Cold or no, there was no reason he shouldn't have been able to smell that coming. He had known the crows were close, he had felt their presence all morning...and yet somehow, when he was slightly distracted, the damn raven had darted out and smashed his leg.
In a sudden burst of fury, he savaged the raven leader's corpse again, eyes flashing red as if expecting the bird to get up and fight back. Why had they done it? What purpose could there be to these petty campaigns, which inevitably ended with nothing but dead crows? In all his long years, Inutaishou had never seen anything so completely pointless. Why waste decent warriors by pitting them against a demon lord? It was very obvious the ambush had been set for him, which was why he led the crow hordes away-the rest of his pack was already injured from work on the front lines. For that matter, he couldn't understand how Lord Achou was continuing this...by all accounts, the raven clans were a flighty bunch, the lesser members unable to keep their minds straight on anything. The dog clans had familial ties (and pure bone-in stubbornness, he thought ruefully) to give them the dedication to fight such a prolonged war, but this...
Then, he remembered the fear-stink that even his stopped-up nose could discern, the desperate look in the raven-beast's eyes as it clipped him with its wing. It had known it was dying from the minute it laid claw on him, and yet it kept pushing, maddened...
It's like something's driving them.
Calming down a bit, Inutaishou crouched down to think. He could be reading it wrong---perhaps it was a territorial dispute. After all, the raven leader held the markings of a valley close to his pack's most recent camping site. Although most of the crow Houses should have sent their warriors to Lord Achou by now, it would make sense if some of them had kept a few younger members to protect their interests. It was true that no beast who'd attacked him was over 50. Maybe, instead of a tactical ambush, all he was seeing was the desperate fear of grossly inexperienced warriors trying to drive the Big Bad Wolf away from their nest. He'd certainly seen no signs that his camp was been attacked in his absence...
Rising stiffly, the dog demon limped over toward the rapidly cooling bird-beast, still frowning. No, no matter how he rationalized it, something was still awry. There HAD to be a catch, somewhere. Not even a child could have this little foresight (at least, no child of his), so what could...
A flash, almost faster than his sharp eyes could comprehend, and suddenly the seemingly dead raven's talons jerked toward his wounded leg. There was a sudden pain, and then a curious numbness.
Ah, so that was it.
Cursing his inattention, Inutaishou tore the poisoned talon out of his thigh, thanking whatever gods still listened to him that the attack had missed the large vein there. Even with a demon's healing powers, such a rapid blood loss could mean death...and had, for many of his rivals. His head swam slightly, and the dog demon could already feel his chest constricting.
Stronger poison...than I expected...he considered with a gasp, but found the energy to deftly split the raven from crest to tail, making sure its spirit actually left the body this time. His sensitive hearing strained to pick up the scream of the wind as the ugly beast's soul tore through the fabric of the cosmos, floating out to who-knew-where. He sincerely hoped Hell, but that was probably too good for it. It would probably wind up reincarnated and back to annoy him, he considered with a grimace.
Growling, the dog demon forced his leg to move by swinging his hip. It wasn't fatal, he could tell, but severely annoying; he couldn't possibly return to camp looking like this. He could already feel his healing power rushing to his groin, heating up his insides as it ate the poison alive. Unfortunately, the rest of his wounds would heal so much slower, and company morale was already so bad... Inutaishou glowered contemptously at the raven's corpse and added 'Ineffectual Sacrifice Battle Tactics' at the top of his list of things to despise. If they'd intended to poison me, he thought with a smirk, they should have found something more effective.
His vision wavered again, and the dog demon rubbed at his eyes. Thick flakes of dried blood peeled off around them (probably making him look like some sort of bizarre racoon effigy) but the eyesight didn't get any less blurry. Time for plan B, I guess... the dog lord decided, and reached back to pull aside his long, silver mane.
"You can come out now, Myouga."
As usual, it took the flea far too long to untangle himself from the chunks of matted blood in the dog's silvery hair, and if Inutaisho didn't need his retainer's services he might have been tempted to squash the tiny youkai. His best spy, a strong warrior, and his one weakness just had to be the kind that made him nearly useless on the battlefield... Inutaishou sighed. The gods do hate me so...
"Y-yes, my lord?" the flea trembled.
"I have been subjected to an annoying poison. Kindly take care of it." The dog demon instructed, lowering the smaller demon to his afflicted leg. It was slightly disturbing, as usual, to see how the flea's eyes lit up at the sight of his lord's blood flowing.
"I thank you deeply for this favor, master!" the small youkai burbled. "I apologize for..."
"Just get it over with!" Inutaishou snapped, and the little flea busied himself, digging in. The dog demon was already feeling hungry from the effort of healing other injuries, and there wasn't any place to get a decent meal for miles. Sighing again, he crouched down and waited for the flea to do his work.
A familiar shadow passed over head, and Inutaishou's eyes narrowed.
"When you have finished, I want you to follow that crow. See what these mountain clans are up to, I cannot afford to waste any more time with their petty grievances."
Myouga mumbled something incoherent, but Inutaishou trusted his old retainer understood. Warmth was already seeping back down through his torso, rushing life-blood returning the feeling to his lower leg. And naggingly, insistently, his stomach rumbled.
Well, to the victor, the spoils.
Inutaishou dipped his head down to the remains of the raven, and ate.
Author's notes: Wheee! I hadn't actually intended to write this part yet, but I think it will make the flow work better later on (and well, I really wanted to write a battle scene ^_^) Truthfully, I've been so mad at FFN recently that I was ready to pull this fic off and just give the whole thing up, but some very wonderful reviewers changed my opinion entirely. *hugs the readers*
Response to reviews:
Ayame-fataru: Yes! I agree! Backplot stories are exceedingly rare...the best you usually get is backplot worked into another storyline, but sometimes that doesn't always satisfy the curiosity ^_~ Hope you enjoy this one!
Jala26: Thanks. I hope I can continue to entertain you!
Kylara: Wow, I am honored to have such an observant reader ^_^ Truthfully, that characterization issue is the main reason I'm planning to rewrite parts of this prologue - you're right, I don't like the more modern metaphors. But I had a particular feeling I wanted to set, and somehow the modern words were all I could think of :/ I will try harder to avoid that in the future though - it does throw the setting off.
Janet:: Thanks for reviewing! It makes me so happy to see people take a chance on something kind of weird like this.
Thunk: I think I can solidly say this is the most encouraging review I've ever received ^_^ Truthfully, after the most recent batch of FFN stupidity I was about to just call it quits (and maybe sporadically write something for my own webpage), but the existence of readers like you reminded me that there's something to be said for the fan community around here. I am honored to receive such a flattering review, and I hope I continue to entertain you.