MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

THE WAY OUT

"Feel the might
Inside of you
Raise your blade
It's time to fight

I heard the sword's song
And it sang to me
Both the iron, the will
Under my control."

-Sword's Song by Battlelore

SONG OF THE SWORD...

When Minami swung her sword it felt like years had passed. So slow, so much introspective. My head had so many thoughts. Betrayal- I thought her a friend. A sense of maturity- The realization of how dark this world was. I had been through so much. I was tired, careworn and just wanted either Azusa or Mio at my side. So many things in a second. I brought my sword up hard, an eternity going through my head. It was amazing how so much could go through my head in so little time..

Snow flurried up as I raised the sword Minami wanted. I remembered riding to Varyag- brigands accosting us. Mio letting her defenses down and unleashing death unholy. I think she did it for me. A show of power. A waste of life to show me how Midgard was. Mugitsu did the same. My heart throbbed for Mio and I didn't even realize I was screaming. Mio was dead . It kept ringing through my head. Mio was dead.

Then our swords clashed. Her sword for blood... mine for my life. Talvimiekka came up to intercept a swing at my neck. There was a splash of metal. My sword cut through her's like it was wood. The katana shattered, the tip of my blade slashing her face. Minami fell on her back, crying out in pain. Talvimiekka was in my right hand as she writhed on the ground. I had hurt Minami badly.

"Minami-chan?" I ushered, sword limp at my side. "Are you okay!?"

Minami winced, bringing her hand up to the deep gash across her face. Her sword was broken. She spoke in a whimper, "I'm done for. Find that wolf. Run!"

I shook my head, "We fought together! Just hold on. We can make it out! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this!"

Minami laughed in a sad way and looked up at me, "They'll leave me... I made the mistake of joining on with this crew. We did things at Tartungar's Grave that I can never make up for. I just wanted... oh, forget that... I see your wolf coming..."

"What did you want!?" I cried at her.

She lied on her back and spoke softly, "I made mistakes, Mugi."

I fell to my knees in the cold snow, "You're not alone."

Minami inhaled and exhaled. I saw Pedon racing to join me. The warrior shook her head weakly, "I lost my honor." She looked hopeless behind the bloody wound I had inflicted. Defeated. Yet I knew she could still fight. She rested in the snow and begged, "Please, Mugi, I can't return. End this right here right now."

"No," I shook my head, rising to my feet. "What's the point? What does you dying do good for either of us?"

Pedon was at my side, excitedly wagging her tail and pushing her face against mine. A giant tongue lapped at me but I shoved her away. This wasn't the time.

"I can't return," she repeated. "I lost sight of it all when I came here."

I took a deep breath and offered my hand to help her up. I could hardly look at the blood on her face as I spoke, "In my heart I think even Mugitsu is worth redemption. You're not that different in that regard. Come one, let's get out of here. But... what was so important that taking my sword was such a priority?"

She took my hand and sat up. Her other hand was pressed firmly against her wounded face, in some attempt to slow the bleeding. It made it that much harder to read her expression as she spoke. "A friend. A close friend cursed with something so unfair it made me renounce every god and goddess upon Midgard. A sickness born in demon blood. It... it spreads in the Aibureidon islands. Demon blood, in fish... rice... plants... so rare but no cure. A priestess said she could help for a large some of money. Yutaka is so little, so frail... I had to help her."

Something came from me- an explosive ball of anger like some mage's spell in this world. I kicked her with my soft boot and sent her back down, writhing. I shouted down at her, "One girl's life isn't worth what happened at Tartungar's Grave! You're better than this! I thought you were a heroic mercenary!"

On her back, tears mixed with blood, "I thought that too... I don't think I can return to Yutaka."

At the edge of the forest around the clearing, I saw men gathering with those great wolves. I swallowed hard and considered my options. Leaving her there and fleeing would have been easy, but it wasn't in me. Even through everything that had happened up 'til now I wasn't cruel. I hated to think of what I would have to do to get Mio back. Who would I hurt? How far would it take me? Who would pick me up when I was down?

I grabbed her hand and pulled her up into a clumsy stand. "Come on, we're making a run for it."

She accepted my help but looked uninspired. "Little honor to return with. My quest has failed and I shattered my father's sword."

"Well, you swung it at the shiny and blue magic sword. That's on you," I reminded her. I hopped atop Pedon and helped her up behind me. "Your quest isn't over yet. It isn't over until you give up."

Minami wrapped her arms around my waist and let her face bleed into my back. Pedon was warm against my bare thighs but certainly uncomfortable with no saddle of any kind. Minami left her broken blade in the snow and sighed, "I'll find some way, I suppose."

"You and me both!" I called back and saw raiders moving in on us. They were after revenge or something equally petty. Talvimiekka was in my right hand and I slapped Pedon's side with my left, "Onwards! To Nekonotochi- or at least just not here!"

Frost was kicked up in clouds as Pedon bolted forwards. I held on with my one free hand for dear life as Minami clung to me. It was not fun in the least as Pedon's hard back slammed into my crotch repeatedly as she galloped through snow. My right arm ached as I tried to keep my sword from touching anyone with its chilly edge. We were moving straight through the forest and behind us riders were advancing. They were spreading out, hoping to flank me in the forest, probably. It was another, 'Oh god, I'm totally screwed scenarios'. They were becoming much more frequent day by day. Knowing my luck we were riding into a dragon or something.

I took a deep breath and gripped my sword tightly. We galloped hard through the woods and I struggled to hang on. Trees rushed past us and I gritted my teeth. To my right I saw a man riding on a wolf between the trees. He gestured threateningly at me and I raised my sword and stuck my tongue out at him.

It was such a bold move of me. I thought it would display my confidence and hide the fact I had no idea what I was doing.

The rider came close and swung his sword at me and Pedon. I was faster. Talvimiekka took his hand off and the tip of my sword swiped the animal. It fell to the side and I kept hanging on to Pedon for dear life.

My grip left much to be desired however and I felt hard ground and snow hit my back as my wolf continued forward without me. Pedon stopped with Minami on her back. I shouted, "Keep going! I'll catch up!"

What was I doing? I wasn't a hero. Still I raised my blade against my enemy. I won't die here I told myself. This is not where it ends! I am a Chooser the Slain!

A man on a wolf came rushing at me and I kept the sword ready. It happened in an instant- I swung and cut the beast's neck. It fell across the ground and dropped the rider. I swung again and ended the wolf's life. Blood stained the snow all around. Quickly, I rushed around and met the rider. I didn't think before I swung and nearly cut him in half. He was dead in an instant. My blue sword was stained with red.

I had to make it to the clearing and north. I was killing people now. I ran and ran. I just really hoped Pedon was waiting for me like some get-away vehicle in an action movie. Or that some Deus Ex Machina would save me if anything went wrong.

I ran some twenty yards and was already out of breath. The old air was stinging my lungs and I heard heavy footfalls of a great wolf coming for me. I thought fast and ducked beneath the roots of a tree like they did in that Lord of the Rings movie. I hid in a little hole and was glad it was too cold for centipedes. I really hated centipedes. While there were no centipedes I remembered suddenly wolves were renown for their smelling abilities. And I was now crouched in a hole. After a quick mental debate I realized really big wolves were worse than centipedes and took off running again. Taking advice from Peter Jackson movies never helped me before and it wasn't helping now. Still, normal sized centipedes were infinitely better than giant spiders.

As I ran I felt something crawling on my arm. It was a centipede. I wailed, "This is my nightmare!" and flicked it away. At that moment an arrow stuck into a tree near me and I decided arrows were worse than both. I was fast running out of breath from running through snow. A sharp pain hit my leg. An arrow flew through the foliage and was luckily slowed enough that it only grazed me.

"That could have killed me!" I shouted back without thinking.

"That was the plan!" A man called from somewhere. The forest was too thick for me to tell. He did have a point. I supposed that sort of was their idea no matter how much personal stance I had against it. Branches and vines seemed to have made some sort of pact with the snow to make my life hard as I tried to push through. Then I remembered I had a giant blue machete and decided to start hacking bits away to get to... somewhere.

My own plan wasn't so sound. I guess it was... try not to die? I supposed Sun Tzu would have agreed with me on a personal level but I was still breathing and he wasn't! I played Bear Grylls for a couple more minutes. Then I heard a man cry off to my right. Which would have been east if that mattered. Morbid curiosity drove me over despite all the voices telling me how stupid that was. If I listened to those voices I wouldn't have been here now. The foliage was a bit more forgiving but my outfit was tattered to pieces. I followed something resembling a trail before the logic center of my brain hit the emergency breaks. It hit them hard.

Thick webs were coating the way ahead to the east. They snagged at my sword and I stumbled back. I heard the cry again and saw forms ahead. A wolf shaped form was suspended in the webs with a man a few feet above him. Most of that area was covered with nothing but webs, and from above I saw the shadow of a spider. A spider larger than my last one. A goliath-ier Goliath Maneater.

"Nope," I whispered to myself and turned around. "Nope. Nope. Nope."

A dragon? Sure. Twenty men-at-arms? Why not. Eila mad at me for looking at Sanya? I could handle that. Another Goliath Maneater? NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

The forest seemed to just let me pass as I strutted confidently away. I was going nowhere near another one of those. My path was laid clear before me as I saw a large form of a wolf and body near it with what looked like arrows. I wondered when this had happened. We were too far into the forest for Tartungar's Grave's soldiers to have battled here.

I pushed towards the path and saw they weren't arrows. They were barbed quills. Something else had killed the wolf and rider. I approached in total silence and saw the wolf still twitching. Its golden eyes looked at me. I swallowed hard and felt some mix of guilt and compassion. I whimpered, "Let me get these out of you, bud. As long as a spider didn't do it."

The big brown and red animal was breathing heavy as blood pooled from its mouth. There were more than a dozen quills. I took a deep breath and reached for one. Bad idea. The moment I grasped one my hand was on fire with pain. I squeaked and fell back on my butt. My hand was bleeding from several cuts. It was like grabbing at a feather pen but the feather was razors. That was my sword hand too.

I stood up and didn't know what to do. The way back consisted of spooky forest and mercenaries. The other way had a spider. The west was a rogue element that I wasn't trusting. The path was clear to the north but my enemy had been turned into a pin cushion of the damned. I swallowed hard and held Talvimiekka in my non-dominant hand. Hopefully anyone after me would see my awkwardness and not see me a threat despite my clearly amazing sword. I grasped the tatters of my tunic to help quell the bleeding of my hand.

The trail was thankfully clear as I slowly followed it. If Pedon wasn't waiting for me then my only option was just to fall over and die. I had no supplies if night came. Twilight was already beginning to form. I stopped and exhaled hard. I hurt and ached. I was bleeding but the only option was to keep moving on. I supposed I wasn't used to to this. Every other time I had some outside help to guide me through this hostile world. Being alone and clueless wasn't fun. I made a fist with my bloody right hand and winced. I supposed I could fight with it if I just focused on kitten or hugs or something.

Hugs... In the distance I saw an open white plain of snow. I knew it was decorated with corpses somewhere from our battle. Hugs though. Mio gave great hugs. Mio who was dead. I had kissed Azusa too. Even though it was just on the cheek. I felt weird feelings towards her. Weirder since she was still alive. I walked and held my head down. Is that how this world worked? We just cycled feelings through who just happened to be alive and present? Me and Mio were perfect right? She was the princess with her magic and beauty and I was her hero? Mio was perfect... So perfect it hurt and I felt I somehow fell short of a good partner. Yet Azusa didn't seem to care where I came from or what I was. I didn't know what to think.

My hands were bloody now.

The clearing was closer and I thought of my goal. The sampo could bring Mio back but it was somewhere. I had no clue where to start. Would I even have my friends or allies for this? Beyond that the idea of going home was so far back in my mind I no longer considered it. Right now with the blood covering me and my tattered clothes I was worried more about being mistaken for the dead and shot down with arrows.

I came to the clearing where the wind decided to sprinkle my face with a fine dust of snow. I was getting rather tired of just being cold all of the time. Actually I was tired of this twenty chapters ago. Ahead was a vast plane of white marked by a shadowy figure in the distance. A sort of mix of shadowy figures. Some looked liked people atop creatures larger than those wolves. Creatures with high backs and long tails with the humanoid figures holding long pole-arms. The other shadows looked suspiciously like dead things in the snow. I wondered what new fresh hell awaited now. Horrible new developments were happening at a pace too fast for me to keep up with since I left Sakuragyfli.

No sign of Minami and Pedon though... unless they were a dead pile in the snow. I really wasn't ready to handle that thought so I just kind of not thought about it. Honestly, I just considered leaving back the other way to take my chances with my spider. The spider had considerably less dead bodies around it and maybe we could be besties. I'd take my sword and draw a line in the snow. Spider-chan would stay on her side and I'd stay on mine in the forest. I'd build a little hut and eat weasels or whatever was easy to catch while Spider-chan ate people. I wouldn't mind so long as she didn't eat me or anyone I knew. Maybe we'd find a day that fit into both our busy schedules to play cards and drink spider cider and catch up pretending to be friendly while we both hated each other.

While I maintained this fantasy I neglected to notice one of the scary shadows was no longer a shadow. I was caught with my pants down again trying to picture a better life. The creature it was riding was over three meters long from teeth to pointy awful tail. It was some hellish mixture of cat and porcupine. Golden eyes stared at me as it easily pounced through snow on six legs. Its tail wagged around and ended in star of barbed quills. It wasn't hard to imagine that just one of these had demolished that rider and wolf pair from before. The rider here with his great spear was just the cherry on this cake of death. He sat atop the thing and was nearly twice my height.

He pointed his spear and shouted, "Not one of them! Their goal? Speak!"

I flinched as I saw he had two pupils. Two normal ones hiding at the corner of his eyes and two glowing green ones staring at me. I dropped my sword and babbled, "I'm not one of anyone! I'm just Mugi-chan! The last six hours have been really weird. Forgive me if I don't sound, well... sound!"

"Mugi..." He turned the others and raised his spear. They did the same and cheered.

"Princess," he told me. "Audience. We go now."

"What." I said and looked at my sword in the snow. It was too much. Too much too fast and I felt uncontrollably dizzy. Me and the ground became fast friends as my body met the snow. I had no strength. Embarrassing as it was I finally fainted. Exhaustion and mental fatigue had broken all my barriers and I was subject to death or whatever fun thing Midgard had in store for me next.

My last thought was sort of weird before I blacked out. I wondered how Mio's family felt about the hickey I left on her neck the night before her death during her ceremony. Then I faded into that strange recurring dream of me missing the bus to school back home...

To Be Continued

Author's Notes- Fired this up again because it was fun and my current musings were frustrating me. I barely remember any of this plot but remember how it ended. May as well finish it.