Chapter 4 The demon
When San woke up she was inside the shelter, wrapped in one of her animal skins. She propped herself up and saw Ashitaka standing by the entrance of the shelter.
"Oh, you're awake. Last night I think you must of walked in your sleep because early this morning I found you out of the shelter lying on the river bank. You looked so pale so I carried you back to the shelter. San, are you all right?" Ashitaka said while untying the elk from where it had been kept.
"Ashitaka, I saw the nightwalker. It was in the forest last night. And there were Kodama and a little girl and she sang and she spoke to me and…." San blurted out. She stopped and thought carefully.
"I do think there is something near to us that is worse than any normal demon. I think the girl was trying to warn me but the nightwalker came and carried her back into the forest. Her eyes, Ashitaka, they were just blue holes of swirling water. But I think she and the nightwalker were connected somehow. It felt wonderful to see all the Kodama out with the nightwalker but I just wish I knew more." She slowly said.
Ashitaka nodded his head, quietly taking all she had said in. They packed up their belongings and mounted Yakul and rode into the forest.
After making a quick stop at the nearest town for provisions, as planned, the duo (and elk) continued on with their journey.
The sun had nearly set and San was drowsily leaning against Ashitaka's back. Suddenly she felt him tense up.
"Something's coming. From behind us, and fast." He cried. Yakul turned to the forest behind them. San squinted in to the distance through the trees. Then they both heard it. Click.click. She turned to see hundreds of Kodama appearing in the branches above them.
"A demon?!" Ashitaka shouted as San turned her eyes back to the distance and saw the oozing mass shape of a demon charging towards them crushing anything in it's path. It was bigger than anything she had seen before. She couldn't see what animal the demon might have originally been but she could see hooves – they were grey with white skin above them. Just like Okkoto…. Ashitaka and her seemed to have frozen. The demon's eyes were glowing red but everything else was covered in the worm like ooze. Then San saw them out of the corner of her eye. The Kodama. They were falling from the trees. Dying…
"Ashitaka, we have to move! Lets go!" she screamed. He snapped out of his trance-like state and Yakul sharply turned and they darted down the hill at full speed dodging trees and falling Kodama. They could hear the demon close behind them. Then they heard it screech. It sounded like a boar. San thought of Okkoto again. They were nearly at the edge of the forest when Ashitaka realised the noise had stopped. The thing behind them had stopped chasing them. He slowed Yakul down and they turned around.
The demon was about 20feet away. It had completely stopped. It let out another ear-piercing screech and the ooze shot up into the air. And they saw the demons true form. It had a wolf's body and the legs of a white boar and it had two wolf tails. Then it struck her. It was the body of Moro, her mother and the great boar God Okkoto's strong legs and hooves. But then San saw the creature's face. She let out a cry. It had the kind smiling face of the forest spirit himself but blood was seeping from its neck where a great cut was marked all around its neck. That's where they cut of its head… she thought to herself. All the ooze dropped back onto the creature and it squirmed and pulsated its way around the creature's body taking on the form of a spider.
"Why has it stopped?" San whispered into Ashitaka's ear.
"It's scared of the little girl…," he said clearly and loudly.
San looked hard at the demon and saw the girl in the black robe, she had seen the night before, standing directly in front of it. She wasn't standing though. She was floating about two feet above the ground. She reached out her hand to touch the demon when San cried out.
"Don't touch it. It'll turn you into a demon as well!" she shouted.
The girl turned around and San heard Ashitaka gasp as he saw her eyes.
"Do not worry San. I know what I'm doing" the voice of her mother, Moro, erupted from the girl's mouth.
The girl turned back to face the demon and force her hand through the decaying goo, which seemed to be melting away at her touch. Her hand was on the demon's mouth, which was the smiling mouth of the forest spirit. The ooze fell off the demon and it collapsed to the floor.
"She's trying to rid the creature of its hate like the forest spirit did to Okkoto…… and your Mother." Ashitaka said suddenly.
The demon started to struggle against the girl's hand as if it were fighting an inner battle whether to resist or give in to the girl's healing power. Suddenly it opened its still smiling mouth and sank it's wolf like fangs into her hand. The forest spirit never had fangs like that…thought San. The girl collapsed to the floor. The demon gave one last shriek and crawled back into the depths of the forest.
Ashitaka and San quickly dismounted Yakul and they rushed over to the little girl who was lying on the ground. Her eyes were normal again. Like any other fourteen-year-olds. Her hand was a bloody mess. Ashitaka quickly ripped a piece of his shirt and tied it around her hand.
Neither San nor Ashitaka had realised that while their encounter had happened with the demon and this mysterious little girl, the sun had completely set and night had flooded the forest.
"It's coming again." San said, her eyes misted over.
"You mean the demon?" said Ashitaka
"No. Look." San said gazing to her right.
The Nightwalker was gliding through the foliage towards them. It stopped and gazed down at the two people next to it's child. It's Ruri. It saw all the dead Kodama covering the forest floor like a fresh layer of morning snow. It scooped up the child and headed back to where it came from.
San clung to Ashitaka and a tear trickled down her cheek.
"What was that thing in the forest and who is that girl?" she whispered.
Then they heard the soft but steady rattle of a single Kodama.