Lieutenant Kanai watched with sickening horror as Lady Mia slid off her mount and disappeared over the edge of the pass trail. His shout of warning could not have prevented the equipment failure. He was mounted behind the Assistant Suitani as they galloped to intercept the enemy in their midst.

In the back of his mind, Kanai was already mourning the loss of at least three men and maybe as many as five. His mind flew from strategy to strategy searching for a way to keep the death toll from this encounter from rising. This "thing" was obviously a killing machine; pure and simply. Even the three arrows that protruded from its body seemed to have no effect.

Beside him, the two archers, the second sumo wrestler sized warrior and the double-edged ax wielding Kajihara, thundered down the trail to aid the rider-less war horse. Their goal was not only to destroy this threat, but to prevent the creature from following Mia over the side of the ravine. There was some hope that the feisty woman could survive the descent down the mountain, and they were determined to give her every chance to be rescued. After seeing the destruction caused by the two lightning swift passes through their column, it was certain that Mia would perish if they didn't stop this juggernaut of death.

Tank still stood up on his rear legs and lashed out in a defensive maneuver. One enormous metal shoe made contact with the claws of the raging beast and sparks showered the snow. The gray gelding held his ground as if he knew he prevented this danger from pursuing his Mistress.

Finally the other soldiers were within range and swords and arrows flew about the pass. Loud clangs and whinnying echoed in the small space as the battle rolled down the pass trail. With shouts and anger, the warriors pushed the evil creature farther away from the site where their friend had fallen.

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Chichiri had cast his spell to return him to the back of his horse, which he assumed would be galloping at break-neck speeds towards the Western Pass. As such, he was braced to go from stationary to moving in the blink of an eye when he rematerialized. But to his shock and confusion, he found himself sitting on an unmoving horse. A quick scan of his surroundings revealed Eguchi, the ninja healer, bent over the bleeding forms of several soldiers. Scattered about were also the dead and dying mounts of other warriors from the column. A sick feeling of dread settled in the wizard's stomach as he remembered Taiitsukun's words. "You need to return to your companions if you wish to save this priestess from being slaughtered."

Chichiri spied Yamane who struggled to rise and demanded, "Where is Mia?!" in a strained voice. Eguchi answered for the disoriented soldier and pointed further down the pass trail. "The Seiryu beast chased her down the trail." Chichiri's eyes left the pools of red stained snow under the downed men and snapped towards the trail to see the distant figures of the column in a pitched battle. The mental image that Chichiri had created of Nakago's beast warrior from Mia's tales chilled him to his spine as he spurred his horse in that direction.

Sweat broke out on Chichiri's face as he urged his mount onward. This was the horrible creature that had defeated and killed Noriko in Mia's past. How was the slight girl supposed to defend herself against such brutish strength? The sounds of battle grew louder as he neared the commotion and he scanned the shapes for the smallest soldier, who should be Mia. She had groused about looking like a twelve year old boy, but in this instance, that would help him locate her.

The problem became clear when Chichiri realized, none of the battling shapes looked like a boy. They all were obviously seasoned, hardened soldiers. Lieutenant Kanai struggled to direct his forces in a manner to defeat Ashtare without exposing them to further casualties. The six men and five horses struggled to stay together. It was then that Chichiri noticed there was actually a sixth horse; Miaka's great gray gelding who was minus a petite rider or even a saddle.

Chichiri galloped up and shouted, "Where is Mia?" without even thinking about giving this information to one of Nakago's underlings. It didn't matter who knew her name as long as she was safe! No one could take the breath or time to respond. Any little distraction in the face of the whirling and gnashing claws and fangs would spell death for the soldiers. In a fit of frustration, Chichiri raised his hand in a prayer motion and expelled the strongest repulsing spell in his repertoire. The enormous shock wave ripped through the group and hurled the Seiryu beast against the mountain side with such force as to bury the monster six feet into the rock formation. Snow and debris tumbled down the mountain face and buried the creature from sight.

After a brief moment of shock, Chichiri again yelled, "Where is Mia?!" Assistant Suitani supported Kanai with one of the Lieutenant's arms over his shoulder. Both men turned to face the wizard and Kanai barked, "She went over the edge!" Chichiri's normally calm voice almost shrieked as he shouted, "What?!"

Chichiri turned to scan the edge of the trail. It only took him a moment to see the area where the snow was disturbed by horse hooves and blood. He questioned and pointed, "There?" Suitani grunted an affirmative as he leveraged the Lieutenant up onto the back of one of the surviving mounts. Of the remaining men, only six were uninjured and Chichiri had no idea if any were good at tracking.

Kanai seemed to have read the blue-haired warrior's thoughts as he started hollering orders. "Eguchi! Kajihara! Uno! You will accompany Assistant Suitani and Warrior Chichiri to retrieve Lady Mia! Ishiyama! Furutani! Tend to the injured and dispatch the critically wounded horses. Keep alert! This could be another ambush. Time is of the essence! We need to depart before the trailing force catches up to us. You have your orders! Move!"

With that, the ninja healer sprinted over to the area where they had last seen Mia, and leapt down the slope. Blood dotted the landscape as the group of five descended; admittedly, at a much slower rate than the one they followed had descended. In the back of Chichiri's mind he kept chanting, 'Let her be safe. Let her be safe. Let her be safe." Even though, he couldn't really believe that someone could fall off a cliff and "be safe." He simply hoped there were no other Seiryu warriors waiting in the wings to catch her after her fall.

The group of trackers had only been rolling down the snow slopes for a few hundred feet when they found the first evidence of Mia's collision with a tree. The little sapling was twisted and stripped bare of any branches on one side where she had rolled over the little tree. Luckily, it was small enough that it had given with the impact instead of being an immovable object. Though, they were all sure she would have some serious scrapes and bumps from the ride.

The snow beneath them was mostly torn up with still only traces of blood which indicated she had slid or tumbled down the slope, instead of going airborne. A few more hundred feet down the slope, they found the resting place of the mangled saddle. It had veered off to the side after the impact with the first tree apparently separated her from the slab of leather. None of the soldiers did more than give it a passing glance as they each realized, in their own heads, that it would never carry a passenger again. It was obvious from the twists and bends that the tree of the saddle had been shattered, and it was now simply junk.

The sun slipped lower in the sky and turned the deep ravines and crevasses in the mountain a deep, foreboding black. Each took turns looking up and searching as far as their eyesight could see for a glimpse of a brown uniform and an orange scarf. If they didn't find her soon, the light would fade and their chances of rescuing her would fade with it.

Above them, in the distance, the rescue squad heard a deep rumbling, followed by an explosion. The experienced mountaineers immediately thought, 'Avalanche!' A new sense of urgency and dread filled the men as they pushed themselves harder; into an almost free-fall speed. Chichiri found it almost impossible to keep pace with the soldiers.

It was a few moments later when the men realized what they heard had not been an avalanche. Instead, they felt the evil presence of a force behind them and slowed only enough to look around. Above them on the slopes was a green and brown blur moving in their direction. In utter disbelief, the men braced themselves and readied their weapons as they realized that Ashtare was descending on them like a meteor with fangs.

Just before reaching the band of soldiers, the careening beast skated a bit to the right, and slid around the group and continued on with a snarling sneer. Chichiri shouted, "He's going after Mia!" There was no way the column could reach her before that brute tracked her. She would be vulnerable. She would be shredded! Chichiri chanted another transportation spell and vanished into a passing shadow.

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The hushed quiet was strange and annoying. Her ears rang from the lack of sound. Even her own breathing seemed to be muffled by the sound stealing snow. Realization dawned on her slowly as she became aware of her surroundings and her body. There was a distant, burning pain throughout her entire being, but her mind seemed to only be able to grasp that her face was half buried in fluffy, innocent snow. The evil white stuff was even partially packed up one nostril which made breathing rather difficult. But, actually, she wasn't just breathing, she panted like a dog on a hot sidewalk in summer.

Behind her, a sweet, song echoed in her newly discovered reality and her dazed mind identified this new addition as a bird. Piece by piece, her thoughts processed this date. Snow; bird; hush. She was outside in a snowy forest.

With a Herculean effort, she attempted to pry one snow crusted eyelid open. What greeted her were the feathery, soft green branches of a small cedar tree. A trivial fact snapped to life in her brain. 'Cedar trees are pioneer plants that grow in inhospitable climates or in clearings.' She felt sorry for the poor little tree. She knew that with the increase in leafy hardwoods, the shade from the other trees would kill this sweet, lacy tree.

She tried to turn her head to look closer at her neighbor the tree when all thoughts of flora and fauna were driven out of her head by a searing pain that split her skull. The movement tore a scream from her lips that was caught and muffled by the evil snow. Blood tainted the snow just under her face where it had leaked out of her mouth and cracked lips.

She returned to her previous resting spot and prayed that the pain would recede back to the low ebb it had been before her ill-advised attempt to move. Her mind frantically tried to remember what had led her here. Flashes of red and blurry images of people were all that came to her. With those snippets of memory, a feeling of urgency and dread arose as well.

The face of Chichiri flashed before her eyes and she remembered that he had been gone from their troop for too long. She remembered the quest, and then the enemy that was chasing them through the mountains. She wanted to shake her head to clear her thoughts, but her experience with movement prevented her from doing so. Where were the others? What had happened to leave her alone in the snow in the woods? She couldn't even hear anything that resembled her new friends and traveling companions.

As thoughts came faster and clearer, she remembered the terror of the animal that had intercepted them in the Western Pass of the mountain range. Ashtare! He had to still be back there with the soldiers! He would tear them to shreds! How had she been transported away from the encounter? Had Chichiri returned and whisked her away? No, that couldn't be. For if he had, she would not find herself in the embarrassing position of being face down in a snow drift.

The cold of the snow sifted into her awareness. She had grown to detest the cold, but at that moment, it was having a numbing effect on the overwhelming agony. This was both a good thing, and a bad thing. If no one came for her, she would have to extricate herself out of the comforting snow or risk suffering hypothermia, and drifting off into an endless sleep.

The idea of succumbing to the growing need to sleep was tempting, but the little annoying voice of her conscious refused to let her lie down and die. There was still so much left to accomplish. She still had friends to save. Her mind flashed through the images of all her dead friends and family as she gritted her teeth and attempted to move again. She would not end up a mound of snow with a single stick to mark her passing like Noriko had. She would not let the past repeat itself! She would never lose to her enemies or fate itself! This little bit of physical agony was nothing when compared to the years she had suffered with the guilt of her friends dying because of her failures as a priestess the first time around.

A little shriek of pain tore from her throat as she shifted to bring her arms under her for leverage. As she inventoried her body, it appeared that one arm was broken, sprained or dislocated. Her left arm hung limply as she tried to pull it into a useful position. So, she used her right arm to push up. Instead of lifting her body, her arm pushed down into the light, powdery snow and made a creaking noise as the mass compacted. Finally, the snow solidified into a substance she could push against, and her torso rose an inch or two. The movement shifted her injured sides and back, which caused a lance of pain to spear through her. A quiet huff of air left her as she snorted gently while she thought, "I feel like I've gone a few too many rounds in a tournament. Wish Sensei was here to massage away all the aches." She also found a wish in the back of her mind that her Tamahome was here to collect her into his arms and whisper soothing words of comfort and love.

Then reality returned with a sickening growl. The sound echoed about in the trees, distorting the direction from whence it came. Something was coming, and it was growling. The sound was low, feral and made the hair on the back of her head stand up. Had she fallen into the territory of a wild pack of dogs?... wolves?... Ashtare? Wouldn't that just be her luck?

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Nearly a mile straight down from where the men descended, Chichiri rematerialized. He did a quick scan of the area to search for Mia's aura. Finding nothing, he quickly transported again, half-way between where he started and where he landed. He had to zero in on her location before that brute found her. When he stepped out of the next shadow, his senses detected her aura farther down the slope. He continued this hopping back and forth until he knew exactly where she was. The only problem was that he could also tell that Ashtare was drawing close in the other direction.

Chichiri materialized in a slight clearing from a fallen tree, surrounded by smaller trees that attempted to grow into the old trees opening. His eyes followed the trail of disturbed snow to stop at a slight brown and orange lump near the small trees. His breath hitched, happy he had found her before the beast, but again afraid of her condition. In less than a heartbeat he was sprinting towards her and praying every chant he knew to prevent Ashtare from finding them.

Unfortunately, he must have been using the wrong chants, as once he was within calling distance, the feral Seiryu warrior broke into the clearing. Movement under the brown and orange blur distracted the wizard for a moment, as he watched her rise a bit. The wolf sensed the nearness of his prey and streaked across the intervening ground. It was going to be a close race, and Chichiri had no clue what he was going to do when he got there, other than protect this woman. There was no thought behind his movements, only blind instinct to place himself between the woman and the death that was rapidly approaching.

Time seemed to slow as the wizard watched Mia's face grimace then react to the growl from the wolf-man. He could see the pure fear in her pained eyes and knew he never wanted to see that look again. She was too strong and caring to be placed in such fear. He would not allow it. With a challenging shout, Chichiri jumped over the cowering form and landed heavily on the other side of her. In a maneuver he had never attempted before, Chichiri almost instantaneously mimicked the spell Taiitsukun had used on him just moments before to send him on his way to save Mia. He changed it slightly so that hopefully, the beast would feel immense pain as he traveled between plains. Then, just as the claws were swinging to remove the blue-haired head from his body, the spell ignited. With a rush of air and a howl of indignation, the descending beast vanished.

Silence echoed in the clearing as the world seemed to hold its breath and wait for the next act of this strange play. The only unnatural sound was the heavy panting of the warrior who was doubled over at the waist, with his hands on his knees. He remained there as if he were expecting the spell to suddenly reverse itself and drop the fanged menace right back in his lap. Considering their opponent, it could very well have happened. As the silence stretched on, he relaxed a bit and stood up straighter. A small noise behind him drew his attention, and he turned to survey his priestess.

The first thing he noticed was the blood and scrapes on her delicate face. The helmet had saved her from most of the damage and probably a severe head injury. The orange scarf that she had tied around the neck flaps had actually secured the helmet in place for the whole trip. It would never fit properly again, as there was a massive dent in the left side of the domed metal.

The next thing he noticed was that her beautiful eye lashes were heavy with snow, and the powdery stuff was stuck to the left side of her face. No telling how long she had been exposed to the below freezing temperatures. He had to get her out of here and warm!

Carefully, he moved to her side and noticed the awkward way her left arm hung at her side. It was definitely injured. Then he noticed the source of the blood they had followed down the mountain. There were four even slash marks across her left leg, below the knee. Sluggish, dark blood oozed from the wound. He instantly removed his own orange army-issue scarf and moved to tie it around her leg.

Mia could only stare in shock at the appearance of her friend who threw himself before her imminent death. Then, just as suddenly, the threat was gone. What had he done? She had never seen anything like that before. If she hadn't already hurt so bad it made her want to pass out, she would have felt the familiar pain of her past changing again. Still, it was just more than she could handle at the moment, and her mind simply shut down.

Chichiri finished tying the make shift bandage, and moved to grasp her shoulders. With extreme care, he shifted her slightly so she could roll over to lie on her back. Then he spoke as he checked her for further injuries, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there when this happened. Where does it hurt? And don't try to lie and tell me it doesn't because I can see it in your eyes, you know? Can you ever forgive me?" He fussed over cleaning the blood off her face while he waited for a response.

A frown marred her brow as she whispered, "I can never forgive you." And Chichiri's heart froze in his chest. His eyes locked onto hers and his mouth hung open in disbelief. She then continued, "There is nothing to forgive. Silly! You can't be in two places at one time. You're not a god. You're just a man. A very, good, caring man." Her eyes twinkled slightly as a grin broke out on her split and bloody lips, "Wait, you actually can be in two places at once. Besides, you saved my butt from becoming a chew toy for a rabid wolf."

The breath Chichiri had been holding exploded out of him, and his whole body deflated as he slumped into a sitting position in the snow. He closed his eyes and exclaimed, "You are going to be the death of me, you know?" Behind him, farther up on the slope, they could hear the approaching soldiers shouting for them.

A mini avalanche announced the arrival of the five soldiers. The Sumo wrestler was almost an avalanche in his own right. Eguchi, the ninja healer, streaked straight to the fallen woman while the others fanned out searching for the beast. Assistant Suitani asked the question for all of them. "Where is the Seiryu assassin?"

Mia was the one to answer in a raspy, quiet, amused voice, "Chichiri sent him away. I hope he got send back to Nakago with his tail between his legs." With that information, the men relaxed a bit. Mia turned toward the healer but kept her eyes on her friend, "The short list of aches: slashed left calf, dislocated or broken left arm, several bruised or broken ribs, and a serious headache. Other than that, I'll live." Eguchi shifted closer to untie the scarf and remove her damaged helmet. They would have to find a replacement.

The healer checked over her head for lumps, and in her ears for blood. There were no signs of a concealed head injury. So, he simply started treating the visible injuries. Next to them, Chichiri's hands started to shake in the after affects of all the adrenaline. That had been way too close for comfort. He would have to rethink this whole mission. Surely, she could stay in the palace, under heavy guard, while he or the others trekked out to retrieve the other Shinzaho. This was just too much. The stakes were too high. He ran his shaky hand through his gravity defying blue bangs.

Mia was in pain, but she still registered the effects of this close call on her warrior friend. Of all the warriors, Chichiri was the most mature and second only to Hotohori in responsibility. Even though he tried to hide his serious nature behind his mask of silliness, she still knew how these types of events affected him. He would carry the emotional scar of this near miss for many years, blaming himself.

Behind him, the Assistant Lieutenant, Suitani, was organizing the men into gathering the necessary items to build a gurney to carry her back up the mountain. She truly regretted causing them more trouble, and the fear that the men back at the pass would get caught while they worried about her almost made her sick to her stomach. A thought occurred to her as she watched the men cut and strip saplings. "How is everyone else? Did anyone get seriously hurt?"

Eguchi hung his head and wondered if he should tell her. Finally he figured she would learn soon enough. His voice was quiet, "We lost three men and five were injured fairly seriously." The shock rippled through her body and mind. More good people died because of her. She just couldn't take it right now. So she closed her eyes and let the world fade away.

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