XXXIV
Mos Maiorum
The very same day that she gets out of her confinement, Kagome finds herself back in it again, because that evening she collapses into unconsciousness from which Kouga cannot rouse her, and stays that way for almost four hours. It is the time during which Kikyou comes back to life, but she has no way of knowing that, and neither does Kouga – he assumes that she has overexerted herself and puts her back on bed rest for two days.
The morning of the third day, finding that stretching does not hurt and that she can even roll over without pain, Kagome insists that she be allowed out again – stomps her foot and flashes her eyes at him, speaks with such fire that he has to agree she certainly must be better. When nothing terrible happens that day or that night, Kouga begins to make plans for the following morning; it has been almost three weeks, and to wait any longer is to invite reprisals, the very thing that he wants most to avoid.
Thus it is that while Inuyasha wakes to confusion and sets himself on the way to the village of Edo, Kikyou trailing behind, Kouga takes the howling guard of his pack, and Kagome, and sets out on a journey of his own.
The wolves form a howling line that sniffs out trails of possibility in the wood; Kouga runs before them, Kagome on his back and Ginta and Hakkaku beside him. Three weeks have passed, but not in idleness; while Kagome healed, and many of his wolves with her – while Kagome learned about them, and they learned about her – Kouga has been running, every day, for many hours, learning the directions of his enemy's attack.
He knows where they came from now; the line of howling wolves are merely meant to frighten off any ambush, to make sure that there is no auxiliary force of foes lying in wait where they might escape the main thrust of Kouga's attack. The travel through the woods toward the northeast at great speed, though not Kouga's greatest speed – the others could never keep up with that.
After a few hours, Kouga turns their run a bit further to the north. He is heading out of Echigo and its mountains, aiming for the Ou mountains, where the freshest and most numerous scent trails of the harpies led. There is something else there too, a dark stench...something rotten, something foul, a presence of youki that seeps across the land full of evil intent. He had thought at first that it was only the harpies themselves, what they have done to the land they occupy – but it is not so. The twin leaders of the harpies are the most powerful of their kind, and this is a power still stronger, still more deadly.
He has considered his course carefully, in light of it; he will not go past the abode of the harpies and attack from the north, as was his first, best thought – instead, he will go by the coast and attack from the east. Only Ginta and Hakkaku know the fullness of his plan – and the potential danger that awaits them beyond the harpy's territory. To the wolves that follow, seething for battle, he has told only what they need to know to carry out their attack; to Kagome, clutching his back, a quiver of shining arrows on her own back and a bow she barely knows how to use clutched in her fingers, he has told even less.
They fly over the landscape, gain the crest of the long ridge that leads towards the mountains they are seeking, and then turn a sharp right, heading toward the eastern coast now.
The scent and presence of the harpies grows stronger. Kouga runs with a snarl on his face, a low growl rumbling through his body.
Kagome feels Kouga's growl even through the smooth metal of the armor over his back, and holds on tighter. She wants there to be no battle, but she knows there will be; she wishes desperately that she knew how to use the bow she is holding, that she could be of some use to Kouga beyond just using a sight that she doesn't understand.
If I could be like a miko should be – if I had been trained – if I knew what I was doing with this bow, at least, if I had been in archery club or...or anything! I wish – I wish -
A/N: Tada! Took longer than I thought because I got distracted editing, but an hour or two I'll not grudge myself! Today's chapter title, "Mors Maiorum", means "the customs of our ancestors". Can anyone guess the consequences of Kagome's thoughts? Next time, battle and death! Will Kouga and his wolves prevail with Kagome's help? Will Kagome be more help than she thinks? Read on tomorrow, and find out! Much thanks to all my reviewers; onward!
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