Allies
Sesshoumaru
and Jigokuyari learned nothing useful the first night and had been unable to get into a
position that would have enabled them to hear Umeko and Lord Yasha report to Lord Yomitora
in the morning. The audience chamber lay at the center of the palace, away from outside
walls and windows, making it impossible for the two demons to hear what was going on
without actually entering the palace. In the dead of night, they might have risked it, but
not in the morning when the palace was bustling with people. The two spies had been forced
to return to Lord Nishi knowing no more than Sesshoumaru had learned the night before.
The second night of their mission was clear
with just the barest sliver of a moon and a sky full of stars to light the treetops.
Sesshoumaru and Jigokuyari flew high over the forest that held Lord Nishi’s den, on
their way to Lord Yomitora’s palace. The trees ended abruptly, opening onto a broad
plain, dotted with rocks and trees and cut by a narrow road that ran to the southeast. The
demons followed the road for no other reason than the fact that it was going the same way
they were. Then Sesshoumaru’s sensitive nose picked up a strange scent. Demons of
some kind, he thought, but none that were known to him. He scanned the countryside but saw
nothing, then turned his eyes to the heavens—there! A pair of shadows against the
stars. He would have missed them had he not been looking to find something out of the
ordinary. He headed down, pulling Jigokuyari with him.
"What?" Jigokuyari hissed to his
friend.
Sesshoumaru pointed at the shadows that were
rapidly growing larger. "See them?"
He nodded. "They don’t feel
familiar."
"No," Sesshoumaru agreed.
"Demons out of their own territory, it would seem, but who do they serve?"
Jigokuyari frowned thoughtfully. "They
seem to be headed toward Lord Nishi’s forest," he observed, watching the shadows
get bigger as they approached. They had broad wings that appeared to be webbed, like those
of a bat, but their bodies appeared human in shape, though much larger.
Sesshoumaru frowned. "Why would they be
doing that, I wonder? My father didn’t say anything to me about summoning
allies…"
"Enemies, then?" His friend wondered
carefully. "The only demon enemies Lord Nishi has are Lord Asahi’s people. Do
you think Yomitora has made an alliance with Asahi already?"
Sesshoumaru thought about it. "We don’t know when, or even if Lord Yomitora
approached Lord Asahi about an alliance. I do know one thing, however: If these are Asahi
spies, they won’t get past us."
Jigokuyari shifted his grip on his long spear.
"What if they’re not spies? Or even enemies? What if Lord Yomitora approached
Lord Asahi for an alliance but was turned away, and Lord Asahi has sent these to warn Lord
Nishi?"
Sesshoumaru gave him a withering glare.
Jigokuyari shrugged. "Stranger things have
happened."
"Not between demon Lords,"
Sesshoumaru countered wearily.
"I guess you have a point. They could be
from one of the other lords. Arashi, perhaps? Lord Nishi has a truce with him, if memory
serves." Jigokuyari watched as the shadows drew closer, then hovered over their
heads. "If my opinion matters, I recommend we wait and let them make the first
move."
Sesshoumaru nodded. "Agreed."
The winged demons alighted upon the grass
across from them, no more than six paces away. Sesshoumaru spoke first:
"I am Lord Sesshoumaru, son of Lord Nishi,
Great Demon of the Western Lands," he gestured to Jigokuyari: "This is Lord
Nishi’s vassal Lord Jigokuyari."
The taller of the winged newcomers replied:
"I am Lady Houseki, and this is my mate Lord Hebi. We serve Lord Arashi of the South
and come in peace, Lord Sesshoumaru."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at them but
didn’t relax his guard, and neither did Jigokuyari. It was true his father had a
truce with Lord Arashi, but the two old Lords weren’t exactly friends after the war
they’d fought on Yomitora’s lands. The two bat demons kept their swords sheathed
and their hands away from the hilts, held out in a gesture of peace. "Why have you
come?" He asked them politely.
Houseki let her hands drop to her sides, seeing
that Sesshoumaru wasn’t relaxing his guard any. Beside her, her mate did the same.
"We came to warn Lord Nishi of an alliance against him, between his old enemies: Lord
Asahi of the East and the human Yomitora Clan."
Sesshoumaru looked bored, but his eyes sparkled
sharply. "Lord Nishi is aware of the Yomitora’s intention to make war on him
again and of the possibility that Lord Yomitora will align himself with Lord Asahi."
"It is no mere possibility," the Lady
insisted. "The alliance will happen. Even now, Lord Asahi’s emissaries are
bringing the news to Yomitora. It won’t be long after that that they attack Lord
Nishi!"
Sesshoumaru and Jigokuyari exchanged worried
looks, then Sesshoumaru asked: "Is that the only reason you came? To warn Lord Nishi?
What does it matter to Lord Arashi if Lord Nishi fight Lord Asahi and the Yomitora? Lord
Nishi had little trouble handling a demon-human alliance against him before."
That stung the bat demons, and their
expressions hardened as Lady Houseki replied: "That battle was not as easily won as
you think, Lord Sesshoumaru. Be careful what you say to those who bring an offer of
friendship to your Lord father."
Friendship? Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at
her suspiciously. "Lord Arashi is offering an alliance?"
She nodded. "Lord Asahi has been making
forays across the border of Lord Arashi’s territory, sending his servants to hunt
there. At first, my Lord sent warnings to Lord Asahi to stop his servants from hunting
outside their own territory, but Lord Asahi only sent lies in return, claiming the
territory his people hunted was his own."
"Surely Lord Arashi can handle the South
on his own," Sesshoumaru interrupted. "Does he expect Lord Nishi to help him
fight his battles?"
The bat lady refused to take the bait. Instead,
she grinned, showing a mouthful of tiny, sharp teeth. "Does Lord Sesshoumaru have the
power to make alliances for Lord Nishi?"
Sesshoumaru’s mouth clamped shut with a
snarl.
Her grin broadened. "Our message is for
Lord Nishi. Will you escort us, Lord Sesshoumaru, or do you have
business…elsewhere?" She looked to the southeast, in the direction of Lord
Yomitora’s lands, then back at Sesshoumaru with a sly smile.
The growl in Sesshoumaru’s chest got
louder, and his claws dug into his palms as he clenched his fists. Jigokuyari brought his
spear up, causing the bats’ hands to clamp down onto their sword hilts. Sesshoumaru
slapped his friend’s arm down with a sharp: "Stand down, Jigokuyari!"
Jigokuyari quickly returned his spear to a
non-threatening position but he didn’t look happy about it. The bats let their hands
fall away from their swords.
Sesshoumaru forced himself to relax. It was
obvious where he and Jigokuyari had been going, based on circumstances and the direction
in which they’d been heading. Probably, Lord Arashi would have ordered out spies in
the same situation. Sesshoumaru still wasn’t so sure these two weren’t spies but
he was more inclined to believe their story than not, since it was a fact that his father
and Lord Arashi hadn’t been anything but peaceful toward one another for almost sixty
years.
"I will take you to Lord Nishi," he
told the bats, forcing a polite tone into his voice. In light of this new development, he
was sure his father would forgive him for not continuing with his mission. Anyway, he
wasn’t scheduled to meet with Umeko until after the moon had set. He’d send
Jigokuyari on without him but he wanted to keep the odds even while he escorted Lord
Arashi’s emissaries to Lord Nishi’s den.
The Himalayas were snowcapped all year
‘round and the higher elevations remained cold throughout the Summer, so the temple
made fine shelter from the storm that had started a few hours after sunset. A nun knelt
before the enormous silver Buddha and reverently planted incense sticks into bowls of sand
before sitting back on her heels with her hands pressed together in front of her, her head
bowed humbly in prayer. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind of all thought, letting
the fragrant smoke lull her into deep meditation. It was in this state that she was
sometimes given visions of the future, though more often it was the present she saw, or
the past. The past was easy: Her ancient race memory enabled her to understand what she
saw there. The present was harder because she was required to decide whether or not to
take some kind of action. Of course, choosing not to act was also an action. The future
also wanted action but only after patient and careful meditation, for the future was
always changing, depending upon the actions taking in the present. Hours passed as she
meditated, the Buddha the only other person in the room. The sticks of incense burned out,
the candles scattered throughout the room sputtered into darkness, and outside the temple,
the moon rose and set. It was then, just after moonset, that the vision came:
A young demon with long, white hair and
beautiful armor stood in the shadows near the wall of a great palace. A pretty girl in
fine court dress joined him, and they talked for a while. When they finished, the girl
returned to the palace, and the demon watched her go with a sour look on his face. Then he
jumped onto the roof where a handsome, dark-haired demon awaited him. They talked, then
the dark-haired one flew away, to the northwest. After a few moments, the white-haired
demon moved across the roof to another part of the palace, then stopped over an open
window. He seemed to be listening.
The vision changed, and the nun was looking
through the window below the listening demon. The pretty girl was inside, talking to a
tall, lean man with hard eyes. His clothes looked well-made and expensive, and he wore two
blades at his hip: One long, the other half the length of the first. The woman flew into
his arms, and the two of them slid to the floor in a passionate embrace. Outside on the
roof, the demon scowled.
The vision changed once again, and she was
inside a great audience chamber. A Lord in elaborate armor sat at one end of the room,
flanked by men she took to be his vassals, since they wore the same crest as he did: The
character for "Tiger" in black on a yellow circle. Four demons sat before the
Lord, all human in appearance but for their golden, feral eyes, claws, fangs and pointed
ears. They wore fine armor, and their swords lay on the floor to their right. A scroll was
passed from one of the demons, into the hands of one of the vassals, then to the Lord, who
read it and nodded with a pleased expression.
With the visions came a strong feeling of
foreboding, as if something about what she was seeing was terribly wrong. Something about
the young, white-haired demon was familiar—something in his face, the shape of his
eyes or perhaps his almost feminine mouth.
The vision ended, and the nun’s eyelids
fluttered open onto the darkened room. Her body relaxed with a long sigh, and a wry smile
lifted the corner of her mouth, revealing a single, sharp fang. "Time to keep my
promise, Nishi" she said, and bowed to the Buddha with her forehead to the ground.
"Please forgive me for waiting so long, but time flows differently for a
dragon."