Good news. Over Spring Break, I was able to write another chapter. And here it is. And now, bad news: the North Carolina Tar Heels lost in the second round of the NCAA tourney. Damn…I was really hoping for a repeat. Well, until next year. This is going to be one hell of a tournament, anyway.

I had some trouble uploading this chapter. I would have had it up last night, but some unknown error was preventing me. Anyway, I'm happy with the reviews I got for the last chapter. And it looks like I've got a few more readers. Thanks you all, and enjoy chapter eight.

Being Alive

Chapter 8

It had been barely more than an hour since Dante had taken off running from what was left of the group of samurai he had encountered. After he was sure he was far away enough from any possible civilization, he had stopped. He now sat on a log near the side of the country road, catching his breath and trying to recollect on what happened back at the market village. And he thought things were bad enough a mere week ago.

Right now, he was thanking all things godly and righteous that he hadn't stayed in the Emishi village, or allowed Ashitaka to accompany him. The poor bastard probably would've been ripped apart like the rest of those assholes that had called themselves samurai. He was also thankful that the catastrophe had happened outside the village, away from the rest of the townsfolk. Still, despite all his speculations, one cold hard fact remained: the curse he carried was an extreme danger to anyone around him. And that didn't make things any easier.

"I don't believe this shit," he said to himself. "This can't be happening."

But he knew it was. After he himself had not been able to do any more against the thugs, that symbiot force that lived on his arm flowed through his body and took over. From there on, there was nothing he could do. Sure, he had somehow been able to stop himself from killing the gang leader at the last minute, but that didn't mean a thing in terms of control. The curse had a will all its own, and it controlled him completely when it was active. Just the thought of some other life force controlling his mind and body haunted him beyond reason.

Times like these called for a good smoke.

As he lit up a Marlboro, he thought of what he had to do next. I definitely can't be around other people that much now. And I certainly can't lose my cool in public anymore. I was fortunate not to be in the village when that happened. If I was, a lot more people probably would've died, and now, everyone in Japan would be on the look-out for the pale-faced-boy-who-turns-into-a-demon, or whatever. And that's another thing: I've gotta do something about my appearance. I can't go around in these clothes anymore, or people are gonna act weird around me. They might even do more than that…

Puffing out another lungful, he took the cigarette out of his mouth, and thought some more. He frowned to himself.

"This sucks," he said to himself before taking another puff.

A day later, he had walked as far as he could, finding himself in a more southern part of the country. He would soon have to start heading west in order to reach his destination. If there was a destination, that is. Ever since he had left the Emishi village, he had been in the dark as to what he was searching for. The Oracle had simply left him with a lone instruction: 'See with eyes unclouded by hate'. He still didn't know what she meant by that, and didn't think he'd ever know. At this rate, he didn't know if he'd ever get home.

At the moment, he didn't have any clothes to wear other than his uniform. But he still tried to hide his equipment the best he could. He'd managed to stuff everything he could into his backpack, and had wrapped up his two long guns in a small tarp, which he carried by a strap over his shoulder. And, since it was blazing outside, he had taken off his fatigue, and tied it around his waist. A wife beater didn't look as suspicious.

And, by this time, he had found his next sign of civilization. Only, this time, it was different in its own grim way. After stepping out of a path in the woods, he found himself on the edge of what looked to be the remains of an old village. Only the remains looked like they had been pillaged, and either torn down or burned to the ground. He also took the time to notice that several men, many of them on horses, were patrolling the area. And they all wore what appeared to be high-ranking samurai armor. These men wore the kind of bamboo armor and uniform that he had seen royalty wear in the history books. The horsemen and the guards carried swords and spears, and the horses all had a flag waving from a small pole attached to the saddle. Dante guessed that the mark on the flag, which consisted of a hexagon-like figure with three stripes inside of it, was the insignia for the local daimyo that the men worked for.

What really caught his eye, though, was in the center of the small town: an old-style Japanese castle, risen on a high stone platform. The castle, too, looked like it had seen better days. All the buildings were torn apart, and several parts looked like they had been burned, too. And, just like down in the village, several guards were posted throughout the area, notably up in the towers that had not been destroyed.

Dante didn't have a good feeling about the place, but he knew he had to go through there if he wanted to get onto the trail that headed west. The woods were just too thick for him to make it in less than a day, so going through the town was the best option. If he was careful, he might be able to slip through without the guards getting suspicious.

The soldier made his way down the path that led into the village, carrying his luggage without making any suspicious movements. He approached the entrance to the village, where two guards holding spears were standing watch. As he passed them, they both gave him looks of suspicion and contempt, but did not move. He merely glanced at them before continuing on.

They gotta stay at their posts, but they'll probably report me later on. Hopefully, I'll be outta' here by then, he thought. He continued to walk through the destroyed town, where tons of people, including both the guards and peasants, were running around. Peasants and farmers were trying to get whatever they could out of the village before the samurai took it for good. And the guards were apparently inspecting everything they had to make sure they weren't taking anything valuable.

After a few minutes of walking, Dante found himself at the foot of the castle. He could see several men coming up and down the long, spiraling path that led around the platform rise, and up to the castle. Most of them were guards, but he noticed that a small group of men, clad in not much more than loincloths, being led up the stairs as well. They were all bunched together, and were being led up at spear-point. Probably prisoners in forced labor, he thought.

Although he knew he should probably keep moving, he just couldn't resist to go up and take a look at the castle. He'd never actually seen one this big in person, merely getting the photograph version of the Nagoya castle as his best view until today. The only castle he'd seen up close was the Nijo castle in Kyoto, which was a shrimp compared to this one. Even if it was practically destroyed, it was still one hell of a sight, and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity. So he walked closer to the stone platform until he was about thirty feet away. People were passing through the roads, and he had to move to be out of their way. He looked up at the ruins, completely awed at the sight he stood before. He could only wonder how great a structure it had been before war had consumed it. He was so preoccupied with the sight that he didn't care to notice that he several passing peasants were giving him stares again.

When he looked down at the road around the castle, he saw an even larger group of men being escorted by the guards into the entrance of the path that led up to the castle ruins. This time, there were at least 40 men, if not more. He had turned his head back up for one last look at the castle when, all of a sudden, he heard the yell of a samurai guard. When he looked back down, he saw no less than five sweaty, tired prisoners running his way. And five guards on horseback were chasing after them.

Dante immediately turned and ran in the opposite direction. Of course, he didn't get far until he ran into another demolished building on the other side of the road. When he looked back, he saw that the men were trying to escape their chain gang, but they ended up exactly where he was. The one at the front of the group ran into the wall, and threw up his guard as the nearest horseman raised his spear at him. It did him no good, and he was skewered to the wall by the weapon. As the guard removed his spear from the fresh corpse, the other men were rounded up to be taken back to the chain gang. And that was when Dante felt the tip of a spearhead lightly jam into his backpack.

He turned around to see one of the mounted guards standing over him. "Who are you?" the guard asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Dante was about to answer when he was interrupted by the other guards that rode up. "Hey! That one looks suspicious!"

"You think he's a spy for the Yoshiaki clan?"

"He must be! Who else would wear clothes that even look like that?"

Dante tried, fruitlessly, to talk his way out of it. "Wait a minute, you don't understand-"

"Get him in with the others!" The guard began pushing him with his spear.

"Listen, you've got the wrong guy!"

He was silenced when a kick from one of the horsemen sent him tumbling to the ground. He hadn't been on the ground for a second when he felt the arms of several ground troops grabbing at his backpack. They were pulling it off, and grabbing his arms to pull him to his feet. He tried to fight back, but was easily restrained.

"Get the fuck off me, assholes!" he yelled as his bag and wrapped-up weapons were taken away from him. "Hey! Give that back-"

He turned to see several troops pointed spears at him. "Get going!" one of them said, jabbing his spear forward. When he didn't move in time, he received another jab in his direction. He decided to bite the bullet, and reluctantly moved on with the other prisoners, as they were forcibly ushered back up the path.

When they had reached the top of the spiraling path, Dante could finally see the inside of the castle walls. Nearly everything was completely demolished. The buildings that had once no doubt been the training halls and living corners for royal guards had been reduced to rubble and splinters. Several of the stone walls were beginning to deteriorate as well.

I knew I shouldn't have stuck around to look at that castle, he thought to himself. How the hell am I gonna get outta' this?

The group of men that surrounded Dante was made up entirely of shirtless, sweaty men who were no doubt feeling the blazing heat from the sun, which was shining off their tanned bodies. The youth had grown weary of the excessive heat as well, and had tied his wife beater around his waist, the white bandage still wrapped around his right arm. The way the men all looked, they might as well have been connected by chains. It was like something out of that movie he and his unit had seen the previous year during the holidays…he couldn't quite put his finger on it…

Cool Hand Luke, he thought, chuckling to himself.

He wondered if most of the men were actually criminals, or just captives from who had fought for another warlord. They could have been either one, but he was willing to believe that most of these men had probably done nothing wrong. Judging by what they thought he was, these guys had probably worked for another master.

The group finally stopped when the guards leading the gang halted in front of the old remains of a building that had once been part of the castle. Dante, who was taller than most men around him, was able to see a bit: the building opened to reveal a tunnel that led underground. Other than that, he couldn't see much further from where he was.

An old man, at least in his sixties, sighed in depression as he stood next to Dante. "Not grave-digging again."

"Quiet, you scum!" The man received a jab in the back from the butt end of a spear, and fell on his hands and knees. Dante immediately stopped to help the old man up. He really looked exhausted, with a bony and malnourished figure.

"You okay?"

The old man gave the youth a look, and smiled in assurance. "Yes…thank you, lad. The work they've been putting us through is murder-"

"You! Shut up, and get moving! I'm not gonna tell you again!"

Dante, not thinking about the consequences for a moment, turned around, and cockily said, "Why don't you shut up before I give you an idea where you can stick that spear?"

This, of course, earned him an immediate jab from the spear, which he dodged. Three ground troops closed in, and the crowd of prisoners backed away to make room for the ensuing scuffle.

One trooper immediately came at him with a spear. Dante simply grabbed the end of it as he dodged, reeled the man, and delivered a right-footed roundhouse kick to the head. The man fell to the ground, and Dante held up the spear against the other troops. He managed to knock a few of them away before he was kicked to the ground from behind by a horseman.

Dante stood up, coughing up the dirt he had nearly eaten in his meeting with the ground. He turned to the horseman, and clutched his spear. "Motherfucker, I'll kill you!" He tried to charge the cavalryman, but was overpowered by troopers who jumped on him like the pile in a football game. They soon had him restrained, and raised him up to his feet again.

"Get moving, you pale-faced little bastard! One more move, and our archers will kill you where you stand!"

At first, Dante wondered what they meant, seeing as how no one in the group was carrying bows and arrows. But then his attention was directed upward, and he saw them: posted in small structures and still-steady balconies on the buildings. They were looking down at the prisoners as if they were ants.

Whoo. Thanks for telling me, Dante thought to himself.

The guards ushered the men together again, and they resumed walking. Only now, their attention was mostly on the red-haired youth. They had been aware of him earlier, mostly because of his clothes, hair color, and skin color. But the little act of anti-authoritarianism sent their attention on the boy skyrocketing. Dante, however, didn't care. He was keeping a watchful eye on the horseman who was carrying his equipment pack. The same guard was also carrying the wrapped-up tarp, which contained his rifle and shotgun. The men no doubt planned to dig into his stuff once they were done with the chain gang.

When he turned back to the front of the long line, he saw that the men were being led into the tunnel. He and the others were eventually led in, and, after a brief descent, found themselves beneath the castle: apparently inside the stone basin that the castle stood on. Everywhere, there was nothing mud and earth, with tons of digging tools lying on the ground next to the walls. When Dante saw the tools, he groaned, knowing what was coming.

By now, all the men had been ushered in, and the guards blocked off the exit. That was when they all heard a voice above them. They looked up to see pieces of the wooden structure of the castle. And, sitting on one of the beams, with a basket by his side, was one of the guards. He cleared his throat before he spoke.

"All right, you useless rat-weaklings, listen up! There is a stash of gold of the Yoshiaki clan buried somewhere in this castle! You're going to find it. And until you do, you're no longer men, but moles! Now dig! Dig until you die, moles!"

He sent down the basket, which was attached to a rope. At that moment, everyone picked up a tool, and started digging at the walls of earth that surrounded them. Dante picked up a pick-axe, and started digging as well, albeit with less energy than the others, who felt as if their lives depended on their job.

After fifteen minutes or so of digging at the ground, which was quickly turning into hard clay, Dante set his pick-axe down for another breather. A number of others were doing this as well without getting angry reactions from the guards.

Dante turned to his right, and, two men down the line, saw the old man whom he had helped earlier. He was really struggling to keep up with the others, and didn't look like he had much energy left. Still, he kept lifting his little pitchfork as though it were his own life. Slowly bringing it up, over, and down into the clay. He looked as though he would keep going until he dropped dead on the spot.

Dante almost thought it too soon. After a failed lift of the tool, the man suddenly went limp, and fell back into the ground, giving a thin cry of pain as he hit. But, despite this, none of the men around him seemed to notice. They just kept on digging as though nothing had happened.

A guard from up in the structure noticed him, and immediately reacted. "You! Get back to work, old man, or it's the graveyard for you!"

Knowing that he couldn't get up on his own, Dante immediately ran over to help him up. He helped lift the old man to his feet, gave the guards a look of utter contempt, and handed the man his tool. "That's it, up you go. You sure you're okay?"

The man coughed, and nodded his head. "I'll be fine. I'm just really tired from all that work earlier." He straightened himself up some more. "Thanks again, friend. Not many men here are willing to help out an old man."

Dante chuckled. "Well, I'm not from around here. In fact, I'm pretty new to this whole thing."

They both shared a short laugh, and would have talked some more, had the guard above them not yelled at them to get back to work. Dante reminded the old man to be careful, and went back to his spot in line, reluctantly picking up his tool again.

After another half hour or so, things had gone so smoothly that the guards were starting to let their attention slip. There had been the usual men who lost all their strength and could work no longer. Those men had been dragged off to be thrown in a ditch with the dead. Still, this was pretty normal for a chain gang.

While Dante was putting his axe down to get another breather, he felt a tap on his left shoulder. He turned to see another man, probably in his mid-forties and with a grown-out goatee, holding a primitive-looking shovel. He smiled a wide smile at the youth and spoke in a low voice so as to not be heard by the guards.

"Hey there, lad. You're the one who took on three legions and a royal guard! That's a nice spunk you got, kid! I wish we all had the will to take on these bastards like you did! My name's Hideji Takeda, by the way. Pleasure to meet you!"

Dante sighed, and held up his hand. "I'm Dante. And don't mention it. Didn't do me much good anyway." He looked around once more, then turned back to the man. "Just what's going on around here, anyway?"

The man had to stifle a laugh. "I figured you weren't from around here. But I should have guessed that just by looking at you." He cleared his throat, and continued. "A long war just ended between two nobles in neighboring regions. The family that ruled this region, the Yoshiaki clan, was defeated by the Tanaka clan from out east. They completely stormed the city, sparing almost no one. Normally, I wouldn't care about these conflicts, seeing as how I'm from Kyoto."

No, you probably wouldn't, Dante thought.

"But I was doing business around here with a couple of friends, and we had the bad fortune of getting on the wrong side of the conflict. They mistook us for the enemy, murdered our guide, and threw us in along with all the prisoners left over from the Yoshiaki town. I've been digging graves for two days with these bastards, and we've been waiting for a chance to get the hell out. What about you?"

"Me? I just got dragged in because of the way I look. I could have gotten out of town faster, but I, uh…had a few complications."

"I see. Still, you surprised nearly everyone back there. Not many would even help an old man like that, let alone take on the guards."

"Yeah, whatever." He looked up at the guarded entrance, and remembered something. "Listen, what were you saying earlier? You think it's possible to escape?"

At this, the man behind Takeda poked his head out from the line, surprising Dante. "Of course escape is possible, kid. But it takes an idea! And we've been trying to think of an idea for the last two days!"

The man behind him spoke up this time. "And we haven't got much. It's really been a big problem for us. If only we could reach our friends back home, they'd come an help us for sure!"

Dante turned back to Takeda, and gestured to his friends. "These are my associates: Shingen and Daisuke. You see, lad, I'm a man with power back in Kyoto. I'm a lord of one of the houses, and I've got plenty of friends who could help me out in situations like this. Of course, none of them are in this region. So we've been trying to formulate a plan to sneak away. But the guards never drop their attention for long!"

"There's always someone out there watching, even during the dead of night!" Shingen, the taller one with graying hair, said as he worked with his pitchfork.

"Well, who says you guys need to sneak out?" Dante asked.

This earned him a look from the three men, and they stopped their work to listen. "What are you saying, kid?"

Dante thought to himself for a minute. Could this thing actually work? Well, he really had no choice. If he didn't get out of this place soon, he'd suffer a fate worse than manual labor or death anyway, so it was a go.

"I'm just saying that an escape doesn't have to be quiet. Think about this…"

Hours later, darkness loomed over the castle. The underground was lit by several torches, which revealed the state of all the prisoners: they were all sprawled out on the ground, asleep. Some of them were exhausted. Others just wanted a break.

The guards came down from their posts to check the progress, which really meant to see if any of the gold they were searching for had been swiped. There were a dozen of them on the ground level, while the rest remained at their posts. They slowly looked around at the sleeping men, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Then, as the guard in the back of the group passed a torch, the leg of a 'sleeping' prisoner suddenly kicked it over. As soon as the torch hit the ground, there was an uproar in the bowels of the castle as every last one of the prisoners jumped to their feet, and, grabbing their tools or any other blunt object, charged the frightened troops. And beat them into submission.

Dante watched from his hiding place as the guards, completely outnumbered, were taken out by the dozens of angry chain gang workers. Soon, they had stolen their weapons, and were now heading for the exit. The youth turned around, and motioned for the four men behind him to follow: Takeda, Shingen, Daisuke, and the old man he had helped, who had earlier introduced himself as Gorobei. Dante had asked the others to let Gorobei join them, and they had complied.

Following the signal, the men followed Dante, and made their way to the exit, following the crowd of raging prisoners. But just before they reached the exit, Dante stopped them for a second.

"What's wrong, friend?"

"I need to grab something. Just wait here."

He climbed up a ladder that led to the wooden structure where several guards were sitting earlier, and found what he was looking for: his backpack, and his two long guns. He threw the bag over his shoulders, did the same with his shotgun, but kept his rifle out. He made sure a fresh magazine was loaded, cocked the gun, and leapt down off the structure to join the others.

"Let's go!"

As soon as they had gotten out of the deteriorated building, Dante almost had to duck. He could see arrows flying all over the place, and heard the sound of small explosives being thrown at brawlers by the guards. When he and the others got into the path that led down to ground level, he saw what had to be the most amazing sight ever:

Dozens of prisoners were charging down the long, stone staircase, right towards a unit of archers, who were lined up in multiple waves, firing their arrows at the charging men. As each line fired, another would step up while the previous group reloaded. Each wave of archers was able to bring down some prisoners. Still, their efforts weren't enough to contain all the raging men, and they soon turned and ran for their lives down to the bottom of the staircase.

The five of had them started to descend, when, suddenly, Dante noticed a couple of archers who were posted on a balcony, ready to fire on an unsuspecting group of prisoners. Acting on instinct, he shouted, "Look out!" He then aimed his rifle, and fired a short spray of rounds at the archers. One of them simply dropped his bow, and fell back as the bullets hit him. The other fell forward, off the balcony, and plummeted forty feet to the ground.

Dante sighed in relief as the men escaped unscathed. He then noticed that his comrades weren't running ahead of him, and turned around to see them staring in disbelief.

"Huh? Hey, what's wrong?" It was a second later that he realized the stupidity of the question.

Takeda stepped forward, his eyes not leaving the M-16. "Good gods, dear boy, what is this?"

"How did you bring down those archers like that?"

"What is it? Is it some kind of weapon from wherever you come from?"

Dante stared at them open-mouthed for a few seconds before coming back to his senses. "Look, now's not the time! We have to get out of here before an reinforcements show up-"

"You there! Halt!" yelled a guard as he and another came out of the castle, spears raised.

Once again, Dante turned to his target, and fired off a few rounds, mowing down the troops. "I spoke too soon. C'mon!" He took off down the staircase, and the others followed him.

Once they reached the bottom, they ran into the streets, and saw the effects of their little riot. The town was in an uproar now, probably because most of the guards had been called in to take care of the problem at the castle. Men, and some women, were running everywhere, either carrying stolen goods, or weapons to fight off the Tanaka guards with. And several of the buildings that that had not been burned earlier were now ablaze.

After regaining his grip on the situation, Dante turned to the lord. "Okay, which way do we go now?"

"The border between this province and the next is west of here, not a long walk from this town. If we hurry, we get there very fast. Then we'll have to deal with border patrol."

"Border patrol? Whaddy'a mean?"

"Since the conflict between the Tanakas and the Yoshiakis turned one-sided, the Tanakas wanted to make sure that none of the enemy would escape into a neutral province. Word on the street is they made a deal with one of the outside families. But it should be no problem for us, lad. Most of the patrolmen have most likely had to run down here to help contain the outbreak. We'll get across just fine!"

Dante breathed a heavy sigh, and turned towards the street. "I hope you're right. Okay, let's move!"

The group of five took alternate routes as opposed to the ones that were full of rioters. They took alleys and other paths that went through demolished buildings. Still, after they had winded their way through half the city length, they found themselves right back in the riot, separated only by a lone, demolished house.

"Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out" Dante said. "Wait here."

Clutching his rifle, he moved along the side of the house, his back up against the wall. He could hear the sounds of arrows being fired, as well as the screams of those being trampled under the stampede of men, and found it hard to breathe because of the mass amounts of smoke sprouting from nearby houses. He peeked around the building, and observed the chaos. A much larger group of soldiers, at least thirty strong, were trying to hold back the stampede of dozens of prisoners, who were clutching everything from spears to swords to tools to flaming pieces of lumber. The soldiers were firing arrows into the crowd, striking men every so often. And, from what Dante saw, the next few waves appeared to setting fire to the tips of their arrows. That would really makes it harder for them to get out. And it was then that he got an idea.

He moved back to the others, and pulled off his backpack. "It looks bad. I think those reinforcements have arrived.

Shingen groaned in agony. "Dammit! And they've no doubt got even more men on the way!"

Dante's head shot up as he dug through his bag. "Which is why we've gotta get rid of these guys right now, before any more show up."

Takeda raised an eyebrow. "Really? And just how are you going to do that, friend?"

"You got another trick up your sleeve? Like that thing on your shoulder?" Daisuke asked, gazing at the rifle on Dante's shoulder.

Dante met them all with a grin. "You could say that" he said, pulling out a hand grenade. He turned around and ran back to the street. The other men followed him.

When Dante got into the street, he moved along the line of houses, keeping his eye on the legion of soldiers and archers who were still trying to mow down the crowd of brawlers. Quickly, before anyone else could notice, Dante pulled the pin out, causing the handle to flip off the grenade and into the air, and tossed the grenade into the heart of the legion.

Three seconds later, the ground beneath the troops exploded in a great ball of fire, sending men and severed limbs flying everywhere. The legion was reduced to almost nothing, and the crowd immediately stormed what was left of it. Men were piling out of the city limits now.

As Dante ran back to get his things, the others stared in utter disbelief. Takeda was the first to respond. "That was amazing, lad! No bomb I've ever seen has worked like that!"

"You have to show us how you make such things! I know people who would pay dearly to know your secrets!"

Dante laughed as he threw his bag over his shoulder again. "Maybe some other time." He was ready to go when he noticed that Gorobei was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. The youth ran over to help him.

"You all right?" he asked, bending over.

"It's the smoke," the old man said. "And I think I hurt myself a bit on that last jump. I'll make it, though." He tried to stand up, with limited success.

"Here," Dante said, helping him to stand up. He turned to the others. "You guys go on ahead. We'll meet you at the city limits."

With that, the other men nodded, and took off for the gate. Dante followed them, all the while supporting Gorobei with one arm, and holding his rifle in the other. When they got out into the streets, they could see that most of the crowd had left the city walls, but there were still a number of troops running around, trying to get things back under control.

When Dante stopped to get a breather, he watched as the others continued towards the gate, which was now visible. Then, he heard someone yelling up ahead. Four more soldiers had come running out of another alley, and were running after the lord and his accomplices, spears raised.

Dante quickly stood up, raised his rifle, and fired off another spray of rounds, killing three of the soldiers. The fourth, completely shocked, turned around, and ran back into the alley.

Takeda, Shingen, and Daisuke, amazed and impressed, cheered loudly as the guard ran off. Takeda turned back to Dante, and yelled, "Thanks again, lad!"

"Don't mention it!" Dante yelled back, and bent back down to help Gorobei to his feet again.

After a few more minutes of walking, they had all made it out of the city, and were now climbing up a hill, which, according to Takeda, overlooked the border that led to their freedom.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, they saw it: a long line of thin walls and posts guarding the border, only visible in the dark because of the torches. Despite the size of the guard, there didn't appear to be many men down below.

"Just as I thought," Takeda said, a hint of confidence in his voice. "Most of the patrol left to deal with the riots. Now we have a clear path to freedom!"

"Hold on, Hideji!" Shingen said, grabbing him by the shoulder. How can we know what's waiting for us down there? There could be more men on the other side!"

"He's right," Daisuke pitched in.

Dante was thinking a mile a minute now. If they went down there, he could probably take all the men that were visible from where they stood now, but there might be others around. And the view from the hill wasn't perfect, so they couldn't be sure…

Then, another idea hit him. He threw down his bag, and rummaged through it again. Gorobei watched him, a confused look on his face. "What is it now, friend?"

"Give me a minute," Dante piped. After a few more seconds, he finally found it: the scope from the sniper rifle he had found back at the plane wreckage.

He ran to the edge of the hill, laid down on his stomach, crawled closer to the edge, and looked into the scope. He could see the patrol guards better, and noticed that some of them were on horses. All in all, about seven of them were visible from where they stood. Still, they were pretty spread out. They would have a hard time getting through with a guard at every post.

Then, he saw something that made his eyes go wide. Sitting in front of one of the gates, a few paces to the right of where they paced, was a stack of kegs. Dante had seen those kind before, and he knew they probably contained gunpowder. And the best thing about was that three of the seven visible soldiers were each within five feet of the kegs.

Dante lowered the scope, and smiled. "Perfect," he said.

Gorobei, still looking at him, blinked in confusion. "What's perfect, friend?"

Dante handed him the scope, and pointed to the area where the kegs were placed. "You see where those three guys are?" When Gorobei nodded, Dante motioned for him to put the scope to his eye. The elderly man did so, albeit slowly, and gasped when he looked through it.

"Amazing!" he said. "You can actually see far away with this! How is this possible?"

"I know it's amazing, but just look at that spot, will ya'?

"Oh, right, sorry." He scoped out the area, and noticed the kegs. "Aren't those things full of the powder they use to make explosives?"

"Exactly."

"What's going on over here?" Takeda asked, moving closer to Dante.

Dante handed him the scope. "Look through that, down at the gate closest to us on the right."

Takeda, looked at the youth, than at the scope in his hands, then at Gorobei, who nodded. He then brought the scope to his eye, gasped as he looked, and brought it down.

"Unbelievable. My dear boy, you never cease to amaze me!"

"I know. But do you see those kegs down there by the gate?"

"What about them?"

Dante picked up his M-16, and stood on one knee. "Hand me that."

Takeda handed over the scope, and Dante pulled a small roll of electrical tape out of his pocket. He proceeded to tape the scope to the strap loop at the top of the rifle, and switched the firing lock to semi-automatic. He then held up the gun.

"Just watch this." He turned towards the border patrol, and aimed his rifle. Looking through the scope, he found his target, and placed his finger on the trigger.

With a pull, a single round fired into the night, sailed one hundred feet down the hill, and struck the target barrel. The guards heard the shots, but were too late to do anything. Dante fired three more rounds into the kegs, then immediately fired a single round at a nearby torch. It fell over, into the leaking kegs.

The ensuing explosion of fire sent the three guards diving to the ground. The other guards, noticing the explosion, ran to help their comrades.

"Now!" Dante yelled.

And, with that, everyone took off down the hill for the border. Dante helped Gorobei, and they were able to move fast.

After a few seconds, they finally reached the border. Takeda was the first one to reach one of the long, thin walls. He picked up a nearby spear, and knocked it over. He, Shingen and Daisuke immediately leapt over it, and ran across the border.

"We're free!" he yelled. His two friends followed him, cheering as well.

Dante helped Gorobei climb over the fallen wall, and they too made it into neutral territory. The remaining guards didn't seem to notice as they all kept running until the border patrol was out of sight.

When they were far enough away, they stopped to catch their breath. Takeda walked over to the red-haired youth, patting him on the back.

"Lad, you don't know how happy I am to have met you today. Thanks to you, I'll be able to go back to Kyoto and resume my duty as lord of the Takeda house! And I owe it all to you!"

"So does every other man in that prison!" Shingen said.

Dante nodded as he took another deep breath. "Thanks. Still, I think we were pretty lucky."

"Don't be ridiculous, lad! You were amazing! And I'll never forget any of this! Anyway, we all have to get back to Kyoto. They'll be amazed to see us again."

"I think we can get some horses in the next town, boss!" Daisuke said.

"Wonderful, wonderful. Well, lad, it's been great knowing you. And I do hope we'll meet again."

"Yeah," the youth said.

And, with a final goodbye, Takeda and his friends took off down the western road. After watching them go, Dante turned back to Gorobei.

"Okay. So, are you gonna-"

He then saw that Gorobei was lying on his back, trying to breathe normally.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, crouching down.

The elderly man struggled to speak as well as breathe. "I…I think that smoke back there is still hurting me. I don't know if…if I can make it any further."

"Look, I'll get you somewhere. Where do you live?"

"Well…my village is actually close…about a day's walk from here. But I don't think I can make it even that far."

"Wait, what do you mean? In what direction is it?"

"It's west of here, with a little detour north."

"Okay. If you lead me, we can make it. I'll carry you."

"Oh, you don't have to do that-"

"Yeah, I do. You can't make it on foot. And I'm not leaving you behind. You've come this far haven't you?"

With that, Gorobei sighed in defeat. "All right."

Dante smiled, and helped him up. "Good. Let's go."

Done. Just so you know, this chapter was inspired by a scene in Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. See the movie if you can.

Well, I have to go now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll update again as soon as I can. Read and review. Happy trails.

Music for Chapter 8:

Music from The Hidden Fortress.
(There really isn't much music for this chapter. There will be, however, in the next.)