Chapter 86

The keep
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"The time's up. We're closing the gate." The young soldier named Yamazaki said to Mai, who refused to listen to him. The girl was still impatiently waiting for Sesshomaru and the two other soldiers, mostly for the dog demon though. Half an hour was up and he wasn't coming back.
"Wait a little more. Sesshomaru will come. He won't get killed so easily." She said to Yamazaki. The man furrowed his brows.
"I'm closing the gate. Move." He ordered her. The girl glared at him and folded her arms.
"You wish." She said dryly, having no intention to be ordered around by some soldier. Yamazaki narrowed his eyes at her, returning the glare. The man was obviously at loss, when it came to reasoning with Mai. Most women would listen right away, maybe would cry a bit, but she was stubborn to the point of absurd.
"I gave you an order! Get out of there!" Yamazaki fussed. Mai arched her eyebrow.
"I'll pretend I didn't heard that." She retorted and ignored him. The soldier clenched his teeth, angry, that he couldn't cope with a mere village girl. He made his way to the place, where she was standing.
"Listen, I know, that you're waiting for your betrothed, but he's probably dead and would want you to get inside." He tried to speak to Mai in gentle and compassionate way. As a response he got her best poisonous glare.
"Don't be ridiculous. That idiot is too stubborn too die." She said, forcing herself to smile, despite the worry she felt. What if Sesshomaru would really die?
"Move, you obstinate woman!" Yamazaki hissed out, grabbing Mai's shoulder and trying to pull her inside, so he could finally close the massive gate.
"Let me go, you asshole!" the girl screamed and tried to free her arm from the soldier's grip, but Yamazaki didn't get the message and was still attempting to drag her inside. Then something, he didn't expect, happened. Mai's fist suddenly landed squarely onto his nose, as the girl put all her strength and speed into this blow. The surprised man let go of her, as he felt a stab of pain and heard the sound of breaking a bone. He staggered back, grabbing his broken nose.
"Hmpf!" Mai looked at him triumphantly.
Then, they heard the sound of hooves and looked at each other with tension, unsure whether it was enemy or the returning allies.
"We have to close the gate." Yamazaki said quietly.
"It has to be Sesshomaru." Mai protested, unsure if she was right. Both of them were standing still as statues, anticipating the riders to show. Finally two long-haired men rode from between the trees. It took the girl a split second to realize, that the man with very long jet black hair, dressed in brown was indeed Sesshomaru, only in disguise. She sighed with relief. He was alive.
"Yamazaki!" the captain yelled from afar. "Why the gate is open?!"
The younger soldier opened his mouth and closed it, as the captain and the demon rode closer and dismounted. Sesshomaru scanned Mai up and down.
"I'm fine." She confirmed, beaming a smile at him. He nodded, relieved.
"Yamazaki!" Harada didn't intend to let the poor Yamazaki of the hook. "Not that I'm complaining, but didn't I order to close the gate?!"
"Yes, I tried… but…" the young soldier was babbling, looking embarrassed. The captain furrowed his brows and glared at Yamazaki's broken and bleeding nose.
"And what the hell happened to your nose?!" Harada kept yelling at his subordinate.
"I tried to close the gate…" Yamazaki was obviously too ashamed to admit, that a girl broke his nose.
While Harada was demanding answers, Sesshomaru linked the facts, having known Mai for some time now, and arched his eyebrow. The girl shrugged her shoulders.
"He wanted to close the gate." She explained to visibly amused Sesshomaru. The captain stopped yelling at unfortunate Yamazaki and stared at Mai, also understanding, what happened. Then, he looked back at the young soldier, now with a wide grin.
"A girl broke your nose, Yamazaki?" he mocked the poor man.
Suddenly, all four of them fell silent, as they heard a low, rumbling sound.
"Riders." Sesshomaru recognized the noise and without delay pushed Mai inside.
"The gate!" Harada cried, running to get the mechanism running. Yamazaki ripped out his sword and the dog demon did the same, ready to stop the enemy, should the captain fail to close the gate in time.
Mai stood behind the men and could only watch and pray for Harada to make it. The gate began to close, but was moving awfully slow. The distant figures of riders were now visible. They were still quite far away, but were moving very fast and the gate quite the opposite. Finally, the both parts closed. Sesshomaru and Yamazaki threw their swords away and placed the bolts on their place, just in time, before the enemy's riders came. The gate shook, as the horses slammed into the solid wooden wall.

"To the upper keep!" Harada commanded and made his way down. Sesshomaru and Yamazaki retrieved and sheathed their swords swiftly, before making a run for the smaller inner stronghold. The inu-youkai grabbed Mai's wrist, pulling the girl behind himself. They were skipping few steps at the time, only to get higher as fast as possible. Finally they reached the inner keep and bolted the gate. Mai was panting heavily.

"We made it." Yamazaki commented, looking at his superior. "Katsu?"
Harada shook his head.

"Dead." The captain confirmed. "Go on the lookout, Yamazaki, and report back."
Yamazaki nodded and ran off to carry out the order. Harada sighed.

"Let's go inside." He said and set off towards the small building, the heart of the keep, with the intention to lead the way. However, Sesshomaru was never the one to take orders and his heavy hand landed on Harada's shoulder. The captain looked at the demon quizzically. The inu-youkai used the moment, when the human was confused and pushed him behind himself, as he stalked towards the building.

"Hey, I'm the commander!" the captain protested, being left behind.

"Hn." The demon didn't even turn back. "No one commands this Sesshomaru."
Harada gritted his teeth, angered by the inu-youkai's arrogant behavior. Then he noticed Mai smiling at him.

"I think, he likes you." She shared her observation. The captain narrowed his eyes, glaring daggers at Sesshomaru's back.

"How is his behavior connected to liking?" he hissed out. Mai nodded, sympathizing with the captain.

"Well, you're still alive. And he didn't try to throttle you even once. For him, it counts as liking." She pointed out and skipped after Sesshomaru, leaving the dumbfounded captain.

"Just who the hell are those people?" Harada muttered to himself, before following the pair.



As soon as she arrived at the inner keep, Mai looked around the dusty room. It looked as though it hadn't been used since century or so. Everywhere were laying rusty elements of weapons, shields and armor. It was surprising, that no one stole them yet. Sesshomaru sat down near the door, leaning his back against the wall, while Harada took place on the other side of the door, making the two men look like some guardian statues. In the middle of the room their small group was gathered, causing a considerable commotion. Mai came closer.

"Matsuko, don't move, you have to rest!" Souichiro was scolding his daughter-in-law, who was wriggling, while laying on her side on the dirty floor. The arrow was still sticking out of her back. Mai kneeled beside the woman and helped old Souichiro to place her stably, so that she couldn't move.

"Mother…" Chiyo whispered, tears in her eyes, as she looked at Mai hopefully. "Will she be all right? Please tell me…"

Souichiro dragged his granddaughter away to make more place for the older girl, so that she could take a good look at Matsuko. The girl took out the knife and carefully cut the fabric of kimono around the wound. She parted the cloth and clenched her teeth, not to curse loudly. The arrow was stuck deep, must have pierced the lungs and missed heart just by a centimeter. If she took the arrow somehow out, Matsuko would bleed to death in a matter of a minute. If they were in modern times, the emergency surgery could have saved her life, but now… Mai bit her lower lip, knowing, that the woman wouldn't survive this.

"Is it bad?" Matsuko asked faintly, having difficulty to breath. Mai closed her eyes.

"No, not at all." She lied, her voice shaking slightly. "You'll be okay. Just don't move much."
Mai opened her eyes and met master Sekiguchi's gaze. The old scholar was looking at her with sadness in her eyes. He too knew, that there would be no salvation for the poor woman. Sekiguchi stood up, reaching his hand out to Mai, wanting to help her up.

"Come, child." He said to her. "We should let Matsuko's family be with her now."

Mai stood up and slowly made her way to Sesshomaru, feeling sadness in her heart, as Chiyo, all in tears, fell to her knees beside her mother. The older girl sat without word beside Sesshomaru and master Sekiguchi joined the captain. Mai glanced at the dog demon. He was sitting with his eyes closed, probably resting, meditating or whatever he was doing right now. He was barely recognizable now, when he had the disguise on. The girl pulled the knees to her chest and motioned herself to sit closer to him. Somehow the warmth of Sesshomaru's body was helping her not to think about all the fear and sadness, she was just experiencing. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder.

Mai lifted her head almost immediately. Was it her imagination or was Sesshomaru's shoulder wet? Carefully she touched the spot and examined her palm. It was blood smeared all over it – the wound from earlier must have opened. Without any further warning, she grabbed the hem of the demon's kimono by the collar and pulled it off his shoulder. Sesshomaru's eyes shot open and he swiftly pushed Mai away, before placing the clothing in its proper place. He sent a warning glare at the girl. Mai returned the look.

"Let me take a look." She insisted, trying to get close to the stubborn dog demon, but he kept her at the arm-length distance. "Sesshomaru, you're bleeding!"

Their struggle earned Harada's and Sekiguchi's attention, who were observing the pair with mild interest.

"Hey, mercenary," the captain addressed Sesshomaru after a while. "If you're injured better let the girl take care of it. It's not that you have any spare arms."

Mai and the inu-youkai immediately stopped struggling. Sesshomaru glared daggers at Harada, while the girl gave the man thumbs-up for helping her cope with the insufferable demon. Obviously pouting in his own distinctive way, the inu-youkai let her examine his wound. Apparently Harada's argument got to him. She slid the kimono from his shoulder and looked at the cut. It healed about as fast as on a human, what meant, that it healed only a bit and now it was all open once again. Mai removed the old bandages and looked around, searching for something she could use. Seeing no other alternative, she tore off the hem of her own kimono and used the fabric to wrap the wound. Once she was done, she pulled the demon's clothes back up.

"Done." She said with a cheerful smile. Sesshomaru didn't share her enthusiasm.

"Captain!" Yamazaki's voice echoed in the room, as the young soldier ran into the room, before reporting. "Captain, the enemy is at the gates!"

Harada furrowed his brows, while Sesshomaru straightened his back, listening to Yamazaki's words carefully.

"How many?" the captain asked. Yamazaki made an uneasy face.

"I counted fifty. There can be more." He said. The silence fell, as Sesshomaru and Harada exchanged looks. Both of them knew, that taking on fifty opponents was way too risky and would be rather a suicide. Yamazaki continued reporting. "They are mainly Echizen's forces, joined by mob – outlaws and such. Rather guerilla than soldiers."

"Echizen. Damn them all to hell." Harada hissed out, clenching his fist and standing up. The man began pacing, as though he was thinking about something intensely. He began thinking aloud. "Why the hell would they gather so much men? And sacrifice so many?"

Master Sekiguchi cleared his throat.

"Your mission was to escort me to haven safely, captain. Perhaps it's me, they want." The scholar suggested. Harada didn't pay attention to him an kept pacing.

"Captain…" Yamazaki began, but was instantly silenced by his superior.

"Shut up, Yamazaki." Harada barked, before turning to Sekiguchi. "No offence, old man, but I doubt, that young master's teacher would be that important to hunt us so persistently, even though we killed off over forty of them. It just doesn't make any sense…"

"Captain." The young soldier was attempting to get Harada's attention once again.
"Shut up, Yamazaki." The captain said mechanically. "It looks like they are after someone more important…"

"CAPTAIN!" Yamazaki yelled out of sudden, gaining everyone's attention. The young man took a deep breath and was intent on making good use of this moment of silence. "Captain, there is something you have to see. It's urgent!"

Harada furrowed his brows and without any further words, went after Yamazaki onto the wall. Sesshomaru stood up and followed him, along with Mai and scholar Sekiguchi.
Once the group was on the keep's walls, the young retainer pointed something with his finger.

"Captain, look!" he said. Harada narrowed his eyes, trying to discern the shapes in the darkness of the night, lit only by the starlight and bonfires. The large enemy group was, instead of sitting under the gate, working in the forest.

"They're cutting down a tree?" Mai asked, judging mostly by the characteristic sound of chopped wood.

"Hn." Sesshomaru looked at Harada. "It looks like your plan failed."

The captain returned the look, worry all over his face.

"The thing, they're making is…" he said grimly.

"A battering ram." Sesshomaru finished for him. "The enemy will crush the gate before the sunrise."

An uneasy silence fell, as the five people were observing the camp at the foot of the wall, weighing the few remaining options. Mai bit her lower lip, hardly believing, that they managed to get into such a mess. If the dog demon was right, and she knew he was, the reinforcements wouldn't come in time.

"We're screwed." She commented, voicing aloud everyone's thoughts.

As they were standing still, a characteristic whiz could be heard. Mai instinctively got down and saw an arrow stuck in the wall behind Yamazaki. The man wasn't moving and the girl saw a thin red line on his cheek, where the arrowhead cut his skin.

"That was close." The young soldier commented and reached to retrieve the arrow from the wall, where it was stuck.

"Everyone, into the building." Harada commanded and the group marched into the spacious room.

"Um… captain?" Yamazaki spoke unsurely.

"Shut up, Yamazaki, I'm thinking!" Harada snapped at him.

"But, captain!" the young retainer insisted. The captain whirled around.

"What?!" he nearly yelled at poor Yamazaki.

"They sent an arrow with a letter with their demands!" the younger soldier recited quickly, showing a piece of paper attached to the arrow, that nearly killed him.

Harada rolled his eyes.

"Why haven't you said that earlier?" the man scolded his retainer. The young soldier with the bleeding nose glared at him.

"I tried." He mumbled.
Harada waved with his hand impatiently.

"So, what are their demands?" he asked. Yamazaki took out the folded piece of paper and furrowed his brows, the confused look on his face.

"That's a little strange, captain…" he began unsurely. "They wrote, that they'll let us all go unharmed…"

Harada was beginning to lose his patience.

"Surely they have a condition, don't they?" he urged Yamazaki to tell more. The soldier nodded.

"That's the weird part." He said. "They want the princess and the demon's head."