Chapter Five – Rescued

Hold on, Kagome, hold on! Koga raced wildly into the lair, panting uncontrollably. "Come… on… Not much time…" he panted, beckoning to the nearest wolves.

"Koga? What's wrong?" Shippo came bounding out of the shadows. "Are you alright?"

"Shippo, get Ginta." The young fox hesitated, looking around. "Now!" Koga snapped, face darkening. Shippo ran off in search of the lieutenant, and a young cub stepped forward with a water-skin.

Koga downed the cool drink quickly, and stood up. Hakkaku walked out of an adjacent tunnel, grinning widely. His grin disappeared, though, as soon as he saw his chief. "Koga? What's wrong; was there an attack?"

"You might say that," Koga sighed, now under more control. "A harpy carried off Akiko, and Katana. Kagome just went after them; she's on the cliff now, trying to get to the nest."

Just then, Ginta and Shippo came running in. Ginta's eyebrows rose up so far, it looked like they were about to merge with his hair. "She went after them alone? Is she insane? Akiko's gone… what are you going to do, Koga?"

He glared. "The thing took Katana! I have to get all of them back. I need you two to come with me. Shippo and Washi, you stay here and tell the rest of the pack where we went. Now come on!" With that, the three of them sped off towards the harpies' nest.

Meanwhile, on the cliff…

"Why did I even bother coming? Now it just gets worse…" Kagome nearly cried aloud in frustration. Then, she heard the beating of wings, far ahead, followed by a shout. This sealed her resolve. Using her other arm, she swung her leg up onto the narrow ledge, pulling herself up. Once she was secured, she began once again to scale the precipice, attempting to be calm, lest the harpies smell her fear. She wasn't sure whether they actually could or not, but as Akiko's, as well as her own, life was at stake, she decided to err on the side of caution.

Suddenly a sharp talon grasped her shoulder, roughly wrenching her from the side of the mountain. "Ah!" Kagome shrieked, then cut off. After a few moments' climb through the air, she was dropped onto a much wider ledge than she had been on. Scrambling to her feet, she realized that she was standing in the mouth of a wide cave, and there were several birdlike creatures leering at her from its shadows.

Once again, she barely managed to stifle a scream. One harpy stepped forward, laughing maliciously. "Well, if it isn't our little princess," she cackled, "Come to save her buddy, no doubt." The others shared her laughter, and Kagome felt bile rising in her throat.

Her eyes sparked furiously. "Where is he?" she asked, her voice as cold and unwavering as steel. Thank goodness! I was sure that would come out as a squeak.

Katana raised one eyebrow. "Aren't we the brave one? But I'm afraid we don't lower ourselves to negotiate," she sniffed disdainfully, as if the very word was beneath her, "with wolves. So you can just sit back and wait for the charming prince to come up and rescue me. In fact, he'll come just in time to see you all get slaughtered!" The evil witch laughed gleefully.

Another harpy spoke up. "Yes, but fortunately, he'll come just in time to save the love of his life!" They all laughed this time. "And there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, so you might as well sit back and enjoy the show, dearie."

Kagome was seething, but then she realized that they were right. There was absolutely no way to remedy this situation… unless… "You're right. I can't bear it… he was so young!" Katana grinned, seeing the girl begin to sob. "Can I at least see Akiko one more time, before… before…" At this point she broke down, sobbing completely.

"It will only add to your misery, girl." One of the beasts leaning against the cave mouth shook his head, looking down at her. "Which is exactly why we'll bring him right out!" Laughing, the young bird walked into the cave, returning shortly with the struggling wolf. "Hold still, whelp! Or I'll shove you right off this cliff!" Akiko sullenly obeyed.

Then he saw Kagome. "Kagome… they got you, too? I'm so sorry…" She shook her head. Her eyes flicked to the ruby hanging around Katana's neck, then to the edge of the cliff. This was nearly imperceptible, as her eyes were filled with tears, but Akiko saw it. Understanding, he went as if to embrace Kagome, and reached out suddenly for the gem.

"Now, Akiko!" Kagome shouted. He threw the necklace to her, leaping just out of reach of his captors. Grabbing his hand, Kagome pulled them both – and the necklace – all the way to the edge of the cliff.

"Now what, girl? You've got nowhere to run! If you drop the necklace, we'll just fly down and get it, but you? What will you do? You can't fly, and you can't save the gem. Just hand it back, and I'll make your death quick." There was a hard glint in Katana's eyes. "Can't promise it'll be painless, but it'll be quick."

Kagome laughed. "I doubt it." Putting both arms around Akiko's shoulders, she leaped off the face of the cliff, and they both plummeted to the ground impossibly fast, eyes watering.

Ah, Kagome! What have you done? Akiko cried in his mind as they fell. He didn't have the time to say it out loud, but he didn't need to; the look in his eyes said it all.

I can't let Koga do this. Not to himself, and not to his pack. Kagome steeled herself for the impact. The last thing she saw before they hit the ground was the figures of three wolves, racing towards them. It might have been a trick of her life, but… was that Koga in the front? She didn't have time to find out, before she hit the ground, feeling Akiko hit simultaneously.