Chapter 78

Since the train car didn't have actual windows, but wood shutters in case of rain/snow/high wind, we had to keep a close eye on the kids. More than once we had someone do the 'head out of window' thing, and nearly lose their balance.

We also had to stop Spot from sticking his head out of a window, because most of the children were mimicking him. We cheered him up with headpats. You know, after we stopped giggling at his cheeks fluttering in the wind.

More than a few times, I caught myself thinking on ways to improve the car. Shutters were good, windows would be better, BUT, without a way to properly cushion the glass a good bump would break it. If a monster or arrow hit it, you'd have glass coming in as well. Maybe small spoilers to extend the slip stream over the window to stop air from howling in...

But no, I wouldn't build it. Just suggest it. The project wasn't mine anymore. Now... I might ask Odds to assist me in the class room next time I did a 'how to boats work' class. Aerodynamics and Hydrodynamics were basically the same.

"Everyone off!" Odds said as the train screeched to a halt.

This of course had woken up any napping children, and made almost everyone cover their ears, so her sudden order might have been because those children were unhappy. Oh, and almost as tall as she was. Easy to feel outnumbered.

So, once more we did a child round up, and disembarked. I stayed behind just for a moment to talk to Odds, "Forget to change the break pads?"

"We were going to switch them out before the next trip to the mines. Speaking of, since I'm out here, might as well keep going."

"How are they doing up there anyhow?"

"In a few years we might run into another problem. They're doing REALLY well up there. But like any mine..." Odds shrugged, "But, with the railway, and the templates we've made to build it, they've been expanding in both directions to hunt for more. But that's a later problem."

She reached up to me, hand extended, and I knelt down and shook her hand, "One problem at a time. Thank you Odds, we'll be ready to come home whenever you get back here."

"That might be tomorrow. That okay?"

"I'm pretty sure we can manage." I grinned, "We teach survival at the Manor too."

She nodded, let my hand go, and went back up the steps into the Engine car of the train. Once I heard a couple of 'clunk' noises from inside, I stepped back, turned, and went to join the slowly dispersing crowd of tourists from the Manor.

It hadn't changed much from when I was here with the prisoners from the Special Region. The train platform had been touched up a little, with a clear 'off loading' spot behind the main platform. A good idea, making a separate spot for 'large items'.

Like a few new triangle stacks of logs. Or a few new heaps of Rakia stone. But aside from that, no actual building had... oh wait. There were two buildings. Small temporary sheds. Inside were several crates with the Goibniu Emblem stenciled in on the side.

I could feel the urge to just... pick a spot and start doing something. That little voice in my head that spoke to me while I worked at the forge or tailoring table or what ever place I used to create. But no. We were making ready for people who would do that. My part was mostly done, and I had to take a step back to make sure others could do their part without too much interference.

Wait... No. There was one thing I was going to build. But that could wait until I was done suddenly being 'It'.

We, parents and children, simply had fun. We played in the river (after checking it for sharks, fish with too many teeth, or some kind of weird water vine with thorns...). We played Tag. Tossed a ball around (not me of course). Cheered the Amazon Mothers on while they wrestled in a hastily made 'battle circle'. More running around. Clearing tall grass and looking for things that were (or were not) dangerous for the children to study and learn about (then kill or let go depending on danger level).

Of course, we (the parents) made some hasty preparations for the inevitable need for 'creature comforts'. I had planned on only building one thing, but it ended up as four things. A pair of outhouses, and a little cooking stand. Temporary, but once I told them about Odds coming back tomorrow, we all thought it would be for the best. All the things we needed to make them with were already in neat stacks, and it was a good a time as any to test the tools Goibniu made.

As for the fourth thing? We got that set up just before dinner time. It was a group effort, with all the adults working, and the children cheering us on or hauling away little things under supervision. Like dirt. Because any child will play with dirt, even if it is 'playing with it in a certain direction' to get it out of the way.

We stood over our work, and while it looked kind of... irrelevant compared to all the work that was left to do, I felt it was important.

A big flat stone foundation.

Located at the narrowest point of the river delta, with the beginnings of 'anti erosion' measures in place to keep it from washing away, it was just a big flat square of stone. Several paces wide on either side.

"So... Why did we do this?" One of the Amazon asked, scrubbing her forearm over her face to clean a smudge of mud away.

"Too small for a real house." Another commented.

"I dunno... the Room I left was about this size."

"This place..." I started, "This place will be the first home for a lot of different people. And twice as many or more different races than what we have in Orario. I don't want to do the work for them though."

"Sure. Gotta work to eat." Came the comment, "As it is... well I might have looked over Maki's shoulder... I didn't know numbers could get that high."

"Low you mean."

The Amazons chuckled, while I made a sad little laugh.

"You want them to build a statue of you or something?" Aisha laughed, "I knew you had some vanity in you someplace." She elbowed my ribs a little.

"No." Haruhime smiled, "She wants them to think of it on their own."

"That's right. If they put up a statue of me, I'll toss it into the water. I want one of their first acts, as a group, to figure out what to put here. I want this to be their home, free from the tyrants who gave them no other option but to fight or submit." I shook my head, "If they put up a statue of me, they'd be cheapening their own struggles."

"You gave them a way out though!" Amani said, "I mean... That's worth something, right?"

"So they can give me a free meal and drink when I visit. Write it in a book or something, after we teach them how to read and write. I want them to put something here that represents them, not me. All I did was motivate people, and put most of my friends in debt. But there was too much effort that wasn't mine going into this to have them put up a single statue." I laughed.

"They will think of something." Okakai started.

"Though with so many races, it may be a while." Fukawa added.

"This is Rakia granite." I tapped my foot on the stone, "It's not going anywhere."

"Shall we get to dinner then? Who wants to help? Who will help setting up shelter for the night?" Haruhime asked.

We had to forage a little for dinner. But there river was plentiful, there were a few 'wild' edible plants around, and our efforts to do a little 'taming' of the area had come up with a couple monsters that were probably okay to eat.

The children helped as well, learning by doing, repeating what they'd learned in class as well. A literal 'field test'.

And in the end, using only what we'd found in the area, we had a near literal feast, and we ate it on hastily made picnic tables, like an open air mead hall. Though the 'mead' was just tea from the local plants.

Good cheer, happy children, slightly bland but filling food... The only complaint we had the entire time was the lineup for the outhouses.

Shelter, since we were losing daylight, was once again a bit slap-dash. A bunch of Rakia Stone for a foundation to keep the bugs and moisture off. Logs that were already on site cut in half and partially driven into the ground for walls. Thinner logs for a simple triangle roof. Reeds and tall grass laid over the thinner logs to help just in case it rained and to help keep heat in. We hadn't planned on an over night stay, but, with adventurer strength and lots of hands big and small, it was the work of maybe two hours.

By then though, the children were all starting to get sleepy, and a bit grumpy, so we started to get them set for bed. Using smoked reeds and grass for bedding (to get rid of any insects) on the stone floor, we started to drift off.

"Ko-san?" Haruhime sat down next to me as I took first watch by the fire outside the cabin.

"My love." I replied, my tails lifting her up just a little, moving her over so she was pressed to my side, then setting her down. She shifted a little to snuggle into me, "I hope they have just as smooth a time setting up as we did."

"They lack our strength, but if they are as you've described, they will be up to the task." She hugged my arm gently, the most affection she usually showed 'in public', "Today was quite fun." She laughed quietly, "You couldn't help but turn it into work though, could you?"

"One day we will have to see them leave. They may stay close, they may travel. But one day they won't have us at hand. They will turn to us, or their siblings, and see they are alone." I sighed, leaning a little and resting my head on top of hers, "It's a horrible feeling, to be alone when you're so used to having people around. But I want them to understand that being alone, isn't the same as being helpless."

I felt her nod a little under my cheek, "Was there..."

"After Phryne, when I woke up on the eighteenth floor alone and naked, I had to figure out how to return. I secured water, borrowed clothing for shelter, and owed a favour for food. But on the way back, more than once, I looked to my side, and for the first time in a long while, no one was there." I recalled, "Well... I had Chime in my hand... But the feeling of not having anyone when I'd grown so used to it was pretty painful."

Her fingers laced with mine, but she still only nodded.

"When I was taken away with part of the dungeon. Again, water, shelter, food. All I needed to do was ask Rias, since she isn't shy about helping people. But once I had my basic needs covered, I felt I could start moving forward again. They must know how to take care of themselves, so that when they have only themselves to rely on, they won't feel helpless."

"The dungeon is dangerous." She nodded again, "I do not like the thought of it, but it is..." For the first time I could remember, she seemed at a loss for words. Just for a moment though, "The nature of our fight against it. Adventurers die. As a mot... heehee... as a parent, I don't want them to go. But as someone living in this world, in Orario, I know they might one day enter the dungeon, fight monsters, and maybe not return."

I added a little more wood to the fire and looked up at the stars, "Shall we go wake the next watch?"

I might have smelt it before I heard the cry of, "FIRE! WE'RE UNDER ATT-"

The call was cut off by a heavy, sharp -Thunk- against the wall of the cabin, followed by an ember, small and bright, falling from above me.

All around me, Amazon and children were getting up. Shaking off sleep with adrenaline, bundles were picked up, and we started to assess.

"We will go first." The Oni said, stomping forward towards the door, then using big arms to cover their face, throat and abdomen.

There were a few more -thunk- noises and several grunts from them as they were hit by spears and arrows, but once the first volley had passed, the Mothers were already getting out. Even as the children panicked, they kept their heads on straight and started to use the Oni for cover...

But the log cabin was the only cover, other than the Oni, and the outhouses. We were sitting ducks out here. There was another grunt of pain, a cry from a child, and Aisha had to catch both as one of the brothers tossed them both back inside, an arrow protruding from the Mother's shoulder.

"Ko-san!" Haruhime called, "The roof!"

Reminding me once again I needed more practice with my other magic, I gathered the children up with my tails, just to hold them down really, and wove my fingers together, "Koyo ea basuto!" Yes... I still needed words to remember the hand gestures.

The 'uplifting air burst' sucked in air from the doorway, then blasted it upwards towards our thin log and thatch roof. Wood and embers exploded upwards, and it was the work of seconds to smother and coals that had clung to the wood walls.

But now even the Oni had retreated back inside, the two of them pulling spears and arrows from each other, their cruel jagged points obviously made from teeth or stone.

"We're missing the three who were on watch." One of the Amazon said as looked to see if anyone else was hurt. Aside from a bunch of minor injuries on the Oni and the arrow in the one Amazon we were all okay...

But I'd had enough. "One last try for diplomacy." I said angrily, "Buddha forgave three times. But I'm not him." This was the third time they'd attacked, and I was already envisioning a box of severed heads being sent to Telskyura.

And I stepped outside.

Angry and hyper-aware, I caught three spears, two arrows, and a sling stone all in the span of a deep breath.

But even as those weapons clattered to the ground, let go by my tails and hands, I could find no enemy. My eyes saw no shapes in the grass outside what little we'd cleared for the thatch roof. No glint of metal, no shine of polished stone or jewellery... Even with my ability to see in near total darkness, I could not find anything out of place.

I was about to call out, issue some kind of ultimatum, but the instant I opened my mouth, one of my tails flicked away another spear, and I had to catch an arrow who's shot had been hidden by the sound of the spear hitting the ground.

These were more than hunters. These were assassins. The make of the weapons, unless it was a trick from some Familia in the city, told me where they came from. But I could think of only one place where killing people was popular enough for this kind of skill.

From just around the corner of the cabin, there was a weak cough, "help..."

I glanced behind me, meeting the eye of Aisha, then dashed in that direction. The cut grass around the cabin rippled slightly as I extended my 'slow' aura in front of me!

I watched as my magic extended out, started to cover one of the Mothers who had been pinned to the wall by a spear, then vanish abruptly as a second bone tipped spear passed through my aura, and the Mother, pinning her to the wall a second time. The blood red runes on the spear head flashed for a moment as it cut through my magic as if it weren't there, illuminating the badly bleeding Amazon on the cabin wall.

Then there was an exclamation from inside the cabin as something small hit the wall behind me from the inside.

"Fire arrows!" Okakai called out.

We needed space, we needed cover, and we needed it before the barely breathing Amazon stuck to the wall behind me bled to death. Sure, I cared about what happened to her. But the Oni were VERY serious about taking care of their 'Wives'. If any of the Mothers or Children died, I wouldn't be able to stop them from marching to the Jungle and burning it down.

And I would probably help.

Aisha came up with an idea first, "Fox, knock on wood."

So, still bodily covering the Amazon on the wall, I tapped one of the logs she wasn't stuck to.

With no roof for it to support, there was no danger of collapse as two heavy impacts struck the log from the inside. With a growl, Fukawa, log in his hands, walked out of the wall, the chest thick three metre tall log in his hands. A spear thumped into it, but he already had it in motion, and with a huge heave he sent it spinning in the direction the spear had come from.

And for the first time so far, I heard something other than a spear or arrow make a noise out past the ring of feeble light our camp fire was making.

From the other side of the cabin, I heard a similar heavy crash as Okakai, or Aisha, maybe even Haruhime since she knew the same magic I did to make herself stronger, tossed a part of the wall out into the field.

"We need light!" A Mother shouted, "It will make us a target!" Another retorted sharply.

"A-ma?" A much smaller voice, one that made my ears twitch, and nearly made me abandon the wounded Amazon behind me.

"Yes you may." Haruhime said, "GROW!"

And above us, like a little shooting star, a pure white light zipped into the air.

Dozens of them. The bright, soft white light cast dark, sharp shadows over figures in the tall grasses at the edge of the clearing we'd made while gathering thatch for the roof. Then motion started again, and I was suddenly catching arrows from the air, protecting myself, and the one behind me.

"Get her inside, now!" I said to Fukawa, "Make for the river." I added, a little quieter, hoping not to be overheard.

For a moment, it looked like he might refuse, but with a second huge spinning heave of another log, he got behind me and pulled the Mother from the wall. He did not remove the spears, but he did snap the shafts before moving her.

The river wasn't far, but it was too far for me to use my Senjitsu. Considering what we'd seen living in it while we played and fished in it, we wanted a little space from it in case it had other creatures that came out at night. If we could make it there though, I could make enough ice to cover everyone in something that didn't burn, and we could fight back in one direction.

Throwing the big logs in the direction of arrows was a good start, but that was also our cover. Enough of that, and we'd be totally vulnerable...

"Heading out!" I heard Aisha yell, the thump of a big log slamming to the ground on the fire side of the cabin, then the 'woosh' of torches being thrown. That brought another couple of unfamiliar shouts, "Cover them girls!"

I couldn't see what was going on on the other three sides of the cabin, and I was still busy swatting arrows out of the air.

But blocking wasn't doing. I had to trust the rest of them to be there, because I was going to be busy here. So I rushed forward, letting the battle cry from the others of my group push me forward, even as the muscles of my legs bunched up and snapped taunt.

The first Amazon I hit managed to get one more arrow into the air, but I ducked under it, letting my tails slap it off course. I didn't even stop as I hit her, her body wrapping around my shoulder then flopping away as I made a right angled turn towards the next one. Her entire body, face, hair and even weapons, were zebra striped to blend in with the tall grass. But now, with my child's light in the sky, their camouflage was less useful.

This one managed to get her spear between us, but I put my palm through the shaft and straight-armed her right between the breasts. My elbow and shoulder locked, I could feel things crack under my palm just before she, too, was bounced away from me.

A third made a good attempt to stab me, but I was already turning in her direction, grabbing her forward wrist, bracing my foot, spinning, and throwing her like a Frisbee towards targets four and five.

The sixth slammed into my middle, making me slide a little. But I slammed my palm into her back, and she all but vanished into the soft ground at our feet.

A second foxfire. Gold with purple edges from the direction of the scent of water.

Something heavy whipped out and lashed around my wrist as I started to turn towards the signal. I didn't even register the next motion, only heard a gurgling noise as a body hit the ground, blood now covering my entire arm as a bola dropped from my wrist.

My tails lashed again and again as I stopped hunting them and ran at the signal. Arrows getting flicked away, a spear caught and broken, and one foolish Amazon being flayed apart before being thrown back in the direction I'd come from.

The Oni, Aisha, and a couple of the Mothers were holding up logs, crude but effective shields as they got their backs to the river. But an ambush this complete...

"BEHIND YOU!" I shouted, even as I saw some of the wood piles, meant for the wave of refugees, start to go up in flames.

But to my surprise, delight, and worry, Haruhime and our children had created a wall of ice to cover the rear, the vast empty area behind the even cruder defensive walls salvaged cabin. As soon as I got close enough to feel a little more of a connection to the water of the river, I started to weave my hands together.

"Mizu Age! Kori no Yosai!" I shouted, a little twang of pain from my middle telling me I really really needed to work on my Senjitsu.

But the effect... The river, on my first command, surged upwards. Like a wave almost every surfer wants, it crashed upwards, started to form a dome over our group... Then my second command, turned it into a fortress of ice. It wouldn't win any awards, and Yasaka would certainly have frowned in disapproval, but even as it solidified into existence, it caught several arrows and even a spear. It would hold a little while at least.

Inside the lopsided giant ice hamster ball, the Oni slammed down their logs to support the walls inside a bit better, and met me outside of the small entrance.

Like a buzzing, irritating insect, there was laughter all around us, then a log from the cabin was suddenly sailing towards the fortress!

But Okakai, his anger up, his muscles bulging, jumped up, caught the end of the log with one hand, and sent it screaming back in the direction it had come from. The strength and coordination almost defying physics as the log planted itself at a 45 degree angle next to someone who had just barely managed to get out of the way.

Fukawa was about to step forward, but I put a hand on his arm and nudged a rock into the air with my foot. A smooth fist sized river stone was caught in a big blue hand, and sent towards the figure at near super sonic speeds.

But the figure slashed it out of the air with a sickle shaped weapon, smooth halves of the rock smashing down on either side behind her.

"So these are the two fathers! Ha!"

I knew the voice, and weapons, "Jarha!" I called out, "I warned you!"

"Your little demonstration back in Telskyura might have scared a few people. But after seeing those... things... those runaways birthed, we here decided-" She flicked her blade out again, another rock sparking off it and passing her by harmlessly, "Hot tempered! If they weren't so grotesque, even I might want a bit of fun with them!"

I sighed, though I was surprised since I hadn't even seen which of the brothers threw that.

"No negotiation this time!" Jarha mocked, "The other three who were patrolling are still alive you know. Give up the children, get them back."

Okakai and Fukawa stepped forward, and this time I couldn't bring myself to stop them. "Return them, or we will burn Telskyura to the bedrock." Okakai said.

"And we will leave you alive to watch." Fukawa added.

"Are you sure?" Jarha grinned, "You have no idea how outnumbered you are. And we've already proven your oh so precious level seven can't protect everyone." She glanced to the side, nodded, and another Amazon brought her a struggling figure, tied and gagged, she looked to have been beaten up a bit already.

The second of Jarha's Amazon held the Mother up, and put a blade to her throat.

But then, she was on fire.

Dropping from the sky like a little comet, Kei's pure white flame plopped onto the shoulder of the Amazon holding the Mother. While yes, this dimmed the light, casting the area behind Jarha and her minion in a weird ghostly white light, it also set the Amazon on fire.

Fire that I had seen start to burn marble, and that was before Yasaka had started giving them lessons.

But that wasn't all! All at once, six more little fires joined the first, colourful, soft, and apparently VERY hot, they clung to the Amazon even as she started to scream and thrash around. The rescue attempt wasn't perfect though, and as a last act, before she tried to drop and roll around to snuff the fire, her dagger went across the throat of the Mother.

Setting aside what I felt, I started to run forward, the thunderous steps of the two Oni joining me.

There was another battle cry from all around us, but the three of us had only one target in mind. That was too direct! "Fukawa!" I motioned to my left, "Okakai, I'll save her."

(Sigh... battle starts... again... why do I do this to myself?)

Kodori executed a baseball slide next to the fallen Mother. With quick sure motions, she had he vial of potion pills out, and a pill was pressed into the spurting wound across the Mother's throat. A second and third followed almost as fast, the volume of blood hindering the healing effect, but even so, it slowed then stopped.

Fukawa, eyes unhindered by the darkness, dashed towards the closest Amazon. He made no move to defend himself from a sudden hail of arrows, the metal(!) and bone tips leaving gashes across his huge musculature. He did however sidestep a tossed spear, snatching it from the air, spinning, but missing his thrust against his target. He didn't care, swatting aside a blackened metal blade with the spear shaft. With a vicious kick, like he was about to walk up an too tall step, he flattened the one in front of him into the ground, then tossed the spear through someone on his left.

Okakai's first exchange against Jarha's wickedly curved shotel styled swords went poorly for him. Her expert skill and his total lack of armour saw a long slash down the length of one arm, and a near miss to the tendon on the back of his knee.

"Is that it? Is that the skill and prowess that won you those deserters?" Jarha mocked, flaying a long strip of flesh from Okakai's forearm and leaving a long gash over his pectoral even as she danced away from his swiping fists and a wind shredding kick.

But any attack that doesn't kill an Oni, especially one of the first Sons of Shuten Doji, is superficial. Okakai fought on, ignoring his wounds, but his mad rage tempering slightly at the mockery.

Inside the very cold ice fortress, it was very noisy. The Oni children were still too young to really comprehend what was going on, and while they weren't crying it was something close. Like a war cry against something, anything! Just so long as they were fighting it! But, though noisy, they didn't flail or kick.

Haruhime was minding her children. A bit older, a bit wiser, a lot more even of temperament, they simply needed direction. Haruhime had chilled her heart and blocked out the sound of the still screaming Amazon the children had set on fire, and turned them all away to help strengthen the ice protecting them. Collectively, they were able to stop the cracks from the bombardment of arrows and spears, but only just. But that might have been because Haruhime's spell, the gift of strength, was now on Aisha.

Aisha, a ghostly sandy blond tail swishing happily behind her, was guarding the exposed entrance to the ice ball. Salvaged spear in her hand, there was already a pair of enemy Amazon at her feet. Like the Oni, she was pulling no punches, offering no mercy. These two were dead. She herself bore only a single cut on her cheek so far, but she flicked her tongue out to taste the wound and encourage her to do better.

Then one of the thinner logs, like the ones they'd used for the roof of the cabin, slammed into, and through, the upper part of the ice dome, nearly impaling one of the Mothers and her child both. A second one followed a moment later, and there was a cry as a heavy sheet of ice detached from the top of the dome and nearly crushed another of their number, pinning her leg to the ground as she pushed her child away towards safety.

"FOX!" Aisha called out, her spear whirling, sweeping out the legs of a fresh enemy, her long leg lashing out to propel her into the tall grass.

Kodori looked up at the call, sparing only the barest of glances towards the furious red Oni, then the violent rustle in the tall grass. Hoping that the wound had closed enough, she scooped up the Mother and started running towards the ice dome.

"The supply yard! They're throwing-" Aisha's voice cut off for a moment, a loud ring of steel on steel, then a high pitched shriek of pain, "Trees!"

To punctuate this, another five metre long, arm thick tree slammed point first into the dome. It didn't penetrate it, but instead ricocheted off, leaving a line of cracks in the rounded surface before splashing into the water.

Kodori crossed the distance quickly, her tails flicking out to pick up fallen spears, even arrows. "Use the water." She said, dropping the weapons to the ground, then handing Aisha the Mother.

Blinking, dazed, the Mother smiled a bloody smile but said nothing.

"I'm done playing nice." Kodori finished, running towards the bridge to the centre 'finger' in the middle of the river delta, foxfire and ghostly foxes pouring out of her tails.

Fukawa was an easy target. In the tall grass, even crouched so that he could fight the shorter Amazon easier, he still towered over the foliage. More than once he had suffered a deep wound from a warrior as she sprung up from almost underfoot, spear aiming for vitals.

But each time, he shifted just enough to reduce the injury to 'inconvenient', and, for there could be no easier way to describe it, crushed the offender. Bare foot, huge hand, even a massive shoulder to drive them into the ground, he gathered wounds, and drove bodies into the dirt before him.

Once, twice maybe, the Amazon continued to resist, but instead of delivering another strike, he picked her up and flopped her over his back. Living armour against the arrows his broad arms, back and chest were collecting. It was as if he knew Kodori, his master by combat and honour, had stopped restraining herself.

Okakai found himself slowly losing ground. Not because Jarha was stronger or more skilled. But because others had come to her aid. Much like they had with Kodori, they had adopted a distract and strike method against him.

Lithe, well muscled forms slipped around and between each other to try and confound and distract him from the unnaturally sharp blades of their leader. Mocking laughter, rude comments, promises to murder his children, offers to spare them if he submitted.

Okakai also found himself losing his temper. Like his brother, he felt Kodori's Will.

And with a growl, not of pain, for he had long ago mastered that, the next time Jarha darted in, a mocking laugh on her lips, her shotel aiming for a perceived opening in his guard...

He blocked the blade with his palm. No, he didn't deflect it, or parry it. The tip of the blade pierced his palm, his arm moved so that his hand followed the extreme curve of the blade, and his fingers closed around Jarha's hand

Until this moment, even one against seven, Okakai had held no weapon. But like his brother, and Oni tradition, he used what he picked up from the battlefield.

(Kodori)

My foxes darted through the piles of wood and stone. Some were picked off, a little bit of sympathetic pain going through my body as they were dispelled by a bone weapon. But they had sorely underestimated the number of foxes I'd sent out. Every time one vanished, a half dozen or more would pounce at the attacker, savaging her with ghostly teeth and claws.

They were secondary though. I needed to find the one strong enough to throw those logs. Once I found them... Well, I'd get them to stop. Another log sailed over my head, followed by a crash against the ice. But I trusted them to hold out, and only changed directions, towards the origin of the log.

Another one, from a different place? Were there two of them? I changed directions again, my foxes running out of archers to chew on, fanning out as well.

Then I saw it, and my heart sank.

Children. Amazon children sure, but children. Three of them were holding a log near a pile of stone, waiting. My foxes spotted another trio of them, dashing towards a log pile in a different direction. Then another, and now a forth Amazon, adult, wide shouldered and strong of limb. The children held out the log for her, and in one smooth motion she picked it up, found the middle with one hand, put the other hand to the back, and with a heave it sped away from her.

But I'd seen it, and with a jump I smashed it out of the air with a kick. I spun, my head and eyes focusing on the one who'd thrown it, and as soon as I touched down again, this time on an elevated pile of stacked stone blocks, I jumped towards her.

As I landed though, a child, maybe as old as Amani, latched on to one of my legs.

"Just how set are you, on your message to leave those things alone?" The adult asked, "Attack!"

And I was suddenly covered in children. Not the good kind of covered either. I was torn, between throwing them off as quickly as possible, and being 'gentle', even as they all tried to stab me with wickedly sharp daggers. Hardly strong enough to give me something more serious than a paper cut.

My moment's hesitation cost me, and the point of a spear found it's way through one of the children, and into my shoulder. This went deeper than their little daggers, and, had I not seen a glint of it coming through the pile of young Amazons covering me, I'd have taken that point to the eye.

"GET OFF HER!" Amani, soaking wet and angry, jumped out from behind a stack of bricks. With a fury I'd never seen in her, she used one of those bricks to dislodge someone who'd been clinging to my back.

"I." I grabbed the spear, holding the child impaled on it in place against me, Amani and my tails swatting at the children to get them off of me, "fight people."

The adult, maybe level three, tried to pull the spear away.

"I hunt animals." I snapped the shaft of the spear, pulling it and the child away from my shoulder, seeing that the young Amazon was already limp, dead, the spear through her heart.

The Amazon started to turn, fear in her eyes, making one last attempt to harm me by trying to get me in the face with the splintered end of the spear shaft.

"AND I KILL MONSTERS!" I roared, jumping at her back, my fingered arched like eagle talons.

Fukawa had run out of Amazons.

No, that wasn't quite true. Over his broad back, there were a half dozen of them in various states of... repair. In that, he had a collection of Amazons! But none of them were fighting him. They were either running, trying to feebly pull themselves out of the ground, or buried there permanently. He had not been kind, had not been gentle. Only luck had spared any of them, not mercy. Even the ones still alive on his back were only alive because he hadn't bothered to strike them a second time.

Okakai had also run out of Amazons, and only one of them was still alive.

Jarha, by some miracle of falna, and her status of being at least level five or a high powered level four, was still breathing. By the look of her though, she really should not have been. From the instant Okakai had grabbed her hand, all semblance of tactics and form had fled the fight. He had swung her, bodily, into her Room Mates. Grabbing her leg and stretching her out to parry blades. Swinging her around like a screaming club. Using her skull to crush another.

No finesse. No Mercy. Only brutality.

Broken, bloody, limbs twisted, ribs shattered, eyes almost closed from the swelling of her face, Okakai stood, still holding her hand though her weapons had long since been tossed away.

And waited. He said nothing, did nothing, though, through the narrow slits her vision had become, she could see the many times many wounds he had suffered heal. Close up on their own, arrowheads falling to the ground, rejected by his incredible physique.

Amani hardly needed help with the children who attacked me. But even so, she was covered in cuts and bruises. Once I had finished killing the monster, I heard little but the groans of... children... and the slow rush of the river.

"Are you okay?" I asked, taking a deep breath, trying really hard to calm down, "I don't hear any fighting."

"I think..." She started, mimicking my 'deep breath' but probably not to calm down, "Nothing hurts too much."

"Tie them up or something." I said, a long line of mana cloth streaking out of my hand. "Make sure they don't have any bone weapons first. I have to take care of the fires."

"Don't do that thing you did for the ice. We all escaped down stream a little."

I nodded, hurrying towards the closest fire. They hadn't been set very well, but enough of it and it would really ruin money well spent. "When you're done, drag them over to meet Ha-chan and the others, but take your time once you're there."

I found the brothers standing side by side, one, a collection of women over his back, the other, a heap of women at his feet. The two of them were looking towards the first fingers of sun hinting at the horizon.

"mon...ster...s" To my surprise, Jarha was still alive, and able to speak.

"Boys." I said, getting their attention, since apparently Jarha's little mumble was beneath notice.

They both turned. "We want to enact retribution." They said together, slowly, solemnly, almost like a prayer.

I closed my eyes for a moment, the weight of their request a near physical pressure on my shoulders. "We will settle with a clearer message." I said before opening my eyes, "Words did not suffice, but war..."

They frowned, but said nothing.

"I will distract them. Do first aid. The usual." I said, "I do not know if we took any losses..."

Their faces started to twist, their bodies and muscles started to expand again, calm and calamity fighting for control.

"How many of you were there, Jarha?"

"dunno... heh... soft..."

I sighed, moving so Okakai didn't have to shake the Amazon around any more than he already had. "I'm going to go distract the ones you just tried to kill." I knelt down so I filled her view, "These two, while I'm doing that. Will fill a box with the skulls of your dead."

Okakai moved slightly, his hand offering me the wrist of Jarha, so I could hold it up and he could do my bidding.

"I am going to heal you just enough so you can walk back to Telskyura. And you will be escorted too." I stopped, looked to the side, "Not her. I..."

Fukawa stopped, and put a burned and desiccated corpse back down, and went to find another body.

"You, and any survivors, though it will be very few by the looks of it, will walk back. And you will tell people, that every time someone comes after the children... The Oni. There will be another box of skulls returned. And another. And another. Until you stop, or your city is empty. I'm done being nice, I'm done talking."

I took out my bottle of potion pills, and gently set her down. "children..."

"Those will be coming back with me. I will teach them. I will make them better than you." I set one of her legs, three times, her lungs hardly functional enough to do more than wheeze in pain. "And if any of the mothers, or their children, suffer from a mysterious dagger from the darkness. I will skip the box of skulls, and simply start burning your jungle down."

"doom us... for them..." She coughed, then screamed when I straightened out her other leg.

I slid on my knees and leaned over her face, waiting for her eyes to open again, "If that's what it takes for the foundation of their race to survive, yes. Yes I will. Try and clench your jaw. I have to set some ribs."

I wasn't sure what it was, that let me be so cruel. Was it because of the children they tried to murder? Was it because of their near zealot levels of racism? Was it to try and stop Fukawa and Okakai from running towards Telskyura and burning it down?

Maybe all three. Maybe even more.

The Oni, experts in 'crafting with what they had', created a box of thin logs, broken spear shafts and clothing stripped from the dead. Inside, were placed the heads of all the dead Amazon. I didn't count, and closed my ears to the sound of wet snaps as their huge hands twisted them off their corpses.

While they did that, I had one of my foxes go find Haruhime and the others. I quietly, but firmly, told them not to return just yet. That they should stay where they were, and wait. Dry out, do some fishing, make a little camp fire or something. Just... not return yet.

Once the box was done. I summoned foxes. Dozens of them. Two of them, the largest, would carry the 'message' back to Telskyura. The rest, would make sure the Amazon who survived would make it home so they could make sure the message was delivered. I made sure they understood that, before they started to walk. Everything would be provided for them, food, water, places to rest, so long as they just kept walking.

As for Jarha... I'd turned her into a Crone. Her legs worked well enough. Her torso would allow her to breath. Her jaw was still intact enough to eat with. But after I'd made sure of that, I simply forced some potion into her mouth.

Could she be 'fixed'? Yes. But now, like it had been with me, and the Crone my party had encountered when we visited, those mangled arms and twisted ribs would need to be re-broken and set properly before she could even hold a weapon again. I did tell her, that if she were to visit the Manor and ask very nicely after the message was delivered, I would fix her. Maybe if she asked the Crone I'd befriended in Telskyura if she could heal her. Either way, she would have to seek help, humbly.

The message on its way, the fox I had watching the Mothers, children and my two lovers, said it was safe to return.

NOTES!

No, not very cheerful. But maybe, just maybe, the message will stick.

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.