The visions eventually ceased. The being, woman, whatever she was, nodded her head several times.
“I see.” She regarded him curiously. “You are journeying to China in order to rescue your mate. That’s quite admirable for a human.”
Kevin’s spine stiffened.
“How did you—” He stopped, then slowly shook his head. “No, never mind. I don’t want to know.” He took a deep breath before focusing back on the woman. “Since it seems you somehow know all about us, would you mind telling me if our friends came by?”
“Your friends?” The woman tilted her head. “You are speaking of the Void Kitsune and the yama uba like that girl on your back, yes?” she asked, pointing at Polydora.
“Excuse me,” Polydora frowned, “but it is awfully rude to point at people.”
“Yes, those are the ones,” Kevin answered.
“They did come by here about half an hour ago.” The being pointed off toward one of the many dozens of tunnels. “If you keep going down that way, you will eventually run into them. This tunnel also leads all the way to China. It will allow you to get inside of that country undetected, but the journey is quite far.”
Shock hit him like a stun baton. Was it fortunate or fate that led to them accidentally ending up in this place? He didn’t know. He didn’t care either. It didn’t matter. If this tunnel really did lead into China, then he and his friends had been granted impossibly good fortune.
Kevin bowed his head slightly. “Thank you very much for your help, um, uh…”
“Nue,” the woman said. “Call me Nue.”
“Nue.” Kevin tasted the name on his tongue before deciding that it was a most unusual name. “Thank you again. Hold on tightly, Polydora. We’re leaving.”
Polydora’s frown more than adequately showed her displeasure. “Do not order me around, Kevin Swift.”
Kevin almost sighed. “You know, I think I liked you better when you were nicer. Whatever happened to that woman who blushed when she saw me naked?”
Polydora masked her blush with a scowl. “That woman died when you started flirting with Lady Phoebe.”
“Huh? Flirting?”
“Never mind.” The scowl deepened. “Let’s just go.”
“Now who’s the one ordering who around?”
“Oh, shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”
And thus, Kevin’s journey continued, but this time, it came with a headache.
***
Nue watched Kevin and his companion leave. Even after they left, it continued watching as if it could still see them.
“Kevin Swift.” Nue closed its eyes as it contemplated the boy. Slowly, its face morphed. Shifted. As if overcome by gravity, its lips turned downward into a frown. Likewise, its shoulders, nay, its entire body, drooped heavily, like an intense weight had been forced onto it. “I see, so it has chosen another one, has it? I wonder if you will do better than its last thrall.”
Silence answered it. Not that Nue actually expected an answer.
***
Iris didn’t know what happened after those tentacles destroyed their lifeboat. It had been the last thing she recalled before waking up, half-submerged in water, in a strange cavern. Kevin and Polydora hadn’t been with her, but thankfully, Phoebe, Euryale, and Menippe had.
She was glad for the company. While she didn’t want to admit it, this cave gave her the creeps.
They had been walking for some time now; after meeting with that strange woman calling herself Nue, they had been directed down a specific tunnel that would apparently lead them to China. Iris didn’t know how long they had been walking. It seemed like forever. Lighting the way were two orbs of fox fire that hovered above her tails.
“I wonder what happened to Kevin Swift,” Phoebe pondered out loud. “I do hope he is doing well, and that he did not suffer in that last assault from our nemesis.”
Iris didn’t really get this woman’s strangely formal manner of speech, but she tried to ignore the weird way the girl talked.
“I wouldn’t worry about the stud. Something like this isn’t going to do him in. Trust me, he may not look it, but he’s pretty tough.”
Phoebe eyed her with the critical eyes of a warrior, though she could see the curiosity lacing that gaze.
“Do you love Kevin Swift?”
Iris almost stumbled when her foot hit a rock. Only just managing to catch herself, she turned an incredulous gaze on Phoebe.
“What? No, of course not. Don’t get me wrong, the stud is a great guy and everything, and it’s not like I don’t like him. Really, if I had to give my virginity to a man, I could think of worse people to lose it to, but no. Just no. The stud is Lilian’s mate, not mine. Besides,” she added as an afterthought, “the one I want is Lilian, not Kevin.”
The procession halted. Iris did not like the accusing stares she received.
“You love another woman?” The inflection in Phoebe’s voice was odd, an amalgam of incredulity and “what the fuck is wrong with you?” It was actually pretty impressive. Iris didn’t know people could emote like that.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Iris placed her hands on her hips.
“There is something extremely wrong with wanting to have sex with another woman,” Euryale said.
“Very wrong,” Menippe agreed.
Phoebe nodded. “You cannot make a baby with another woman.”
“I think it's kind of cute,” Thoe said, only to get strange looks from her fellow yama uba. “W-what?”
Iris pouted at the three. “Oh, whatever. Let’s just keep moving. I want to get out of here… wherever here is.”
“I believe we are in a subterranean cave that runs underneath the middle east,” Phoebe informed her as they began walking again. “I once heard from my mother that, many centuries ago, the Akkrokamui made its home within the Caspian Sea. The legend she told me mentions how it created a network of undersea caverns that allowed it to traverse the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and most of Asia.”
“Uh huh…”
Iris had no clue what this Akkrokamui was, and frankly, she wasn’t sure she cared.
Silence descended upon them. Left with nothing but the sound of their own footsteps to keep them company, Iris could focus on nothing but the obnoxiously loud sound of their shoes pounding along the rocky ground. Their footsteps echoed through the cavern, bouncing along the walls and coming back to them three, maybe even four times as loud. It grated on her nerves and made Iris even more anxious than she already was.
“I do not like this place,” Menippe suddenly said into the solitude. Iris nearly bit her tongue in surprise. “It has an ominous presence to it. It feels like there is something watching us.”
“I agree with your assessment,” Phoebe admitted, “and I believe you correct; there is something watching us. I can feel its presence like a finger poking me in the back of the head.”
Iris said nothing, but she could feel the presence, too. She didn’t know what it was—her sensing abilities only allowed her to detect life, not identify it—but she could feel something close to them. It grated against her mind like sharpened nails scratching her skin. Her breathing began to unconsciously pick up as she fought the minor surge of panic. It was only now that he was no longer by her side that Iris realized how much she’d come to rely on Kevin for comfort.
Maybe I really do love… She shook her head, not willing to finish that thought.
CLACK!
Everyone stopped.
“Did you hear that?” Menippe asked, her tone hushed.
CLACK! CLACK!
“I did indeed hear it.” Phoebe readied her club. In the sparse illumination offered by the Kitsune-bi on her tails, Iris saw how the woman’s knuckles had turned white.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
“It sounds like it’s coming closer,” Euryale gulped. A trickle of sweat ran down her brow.
CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK!
“I have a bad feeling about this,” T
hoe mumbled as a droplet of sweat rolled down her temple.
Harsh and growing louder by the second, whatever was coming toward them had clearly decided to increase its pace. Iris tried to prepare herself. She tried to steady her mind and face whatever was closing the distance. However, no amount of preparation could have readied her for what appeared before them.
It was giant. A towering monstrosity with a dark red carapace covering its form like blood splashed against a mannequin. Its six spindly legs moved precariously forward, the pointed tips sinking into the ground like it was made of sand. Each one was nearly four times taller than her and twice as thick. Two chelate, pincer-like appendages clicked and clacked, which sounded out to her like a death knell. Iris watched in apprehension as one of those claws trapped a stalactite between its pincers and proceeded to crush the object like it was rock candy.
Iris pointed at the monstrosity with a single, shaky finger. “Holy crap! It’s a giant Kingler!!”
Phoebe, Euryale, Thoe, and Menippe stared at her.
“I do beg your pardon,” Phoebe decided to correct her, “but I am pretty sure that creature is a very large Heikegani, not… whatever you just called it.”
Heikegani is a species of crab native to Japan, with a shell that bears a pattern resembling a human face. According to Japanese folklore, the Heikegani crabs contain the souls of the Heike samurai warriors, who were slain at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 AD. The story goes that the Heike samurai, reincarnated into the Heikegani crab, were showing their allegiance to their clan by donning a fierce mask on their shells. The battle of Dan-no-ura, immortalized in The Heike Monogatari, was a pivotal moment in Japan’s history, which established the first shogunate and resulted in the death of a child emperor.
“I DON’T CARE WHAT IT IS!” Iris shouted. Unfortunately, shouting wasn’t the best idea. The noise drew the giant crab’s attention to them. Its massive body tilted. Gigantic legs bent down, and the two large, round eyes, like two massive black holes surrounded by blood, glared down at them.
It looked angry.
“Oh, shit.”
Iris’s eardrums nearly shattered when the giant crab yōkai unleashed a piercing wail. She and the others pressed their hands to their ears. Trace amounts of blood leaked between her fingers. Even when the squeal eventually died out, it continued to echo around them like the aftereffects of some cataclysmic explosion.
And then the thing moved. Giant legs rose in the air and slammed onto the ground with earth-shattering force. Equally massive pincers smashed rock formations to pieces, showering them with a spray of sediment fragments. It moved surprisingly fast for something so large and ponderous, but Iris was more concerned with the fact that it was coming toward them than anything else.
“I think we’d better run,” she suggested quietly. Despite how soft she spoke, her words echoed loudly enough for all to hear.
Phoebe nodded her head. “That is, indeed, a grand idea. Everyone, we’re retreating.”
“You mean running away?”
“I mean a tactical withdrawal!”
“Same difference.”
The crab squealed again, and suddenly, Iris and Phoebe had more to worry about than semantics.
***
“I wonder how Iris and the others are doing. Do you think they’re okay?”
“...”
“We’ve been walking for a pretty long time.”
“...”
“Are you ignoring me?”
“...”
Kevin sighed as his companion continued to ignore him. After leaving Nue, they had wandered through the tunnel that she (it?) had directed them to. They had also argued for a while, though their arguing eventually stopped when Polydora clammed up. Now she refused to even speak with him.
Women are so troublesome sometimes.
He carefully stepped over a divot in the ground, walked around a stalagmite, and remained vigilant not to let his passenger hit her head on anything. Polydora’s legs swung back and forth as he carried her. Her meat balloons were pushing into his back, but he’d dealt with Iris and Lilian doing the same thing, and they had bigger bazookas than her.
“I hope Iris is getting along with Phoebe and the others,” he mused to himself.
Shrrrkchuhk!
Kevin froze. The strange sound bounced along the tunnel walls. Ever so slowly, he turned his head to look at Polydora.
The young woman was gnashing her teeth.
“Did you just…?”
“That’s Lady Phoebe to you.” Her tone held a dangerous edge, keener than a razor and sharp enough to cut metaphorical steel. Kevin wasn’t too bothered by the tone, having heard similar ones before, and from creatures much more dangerous than Polydora, but it still surprised him.
“Are you jealous that Phoebe wants me to give her children?”
“Wha—” Polydora’s face turned a most interesting shade of red. Kevin thought her face would go well with the neon signs of Las Vegas. “O-o-of course not! Why would I—there’s no reason for me to be jealous of a brat like you!”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.” Polydora’s hardened glare became the imperious expression of a princess looking down her nose at a peasant. Kevin could practically feel the “I’m superior to you in every way possible” wafting off her frame. “I will have you know that I have been Lady Phoebe’s aid and most cherished confidant for many years now. Ever since she was a child, in fact.”
“Uh huh…”
“That is why there is no need to be jealous of one such as you. You are just the person who will give her children, nothing more.”
“You say that like I actually plan on giving her children.” Kevin’s right eyebrow began to twitch.
“While I, on the other hand, will always remain her best and most trusted friend.”
“And you’re ignoring me.”
Kevin didn’t realize that something was wrong until they had walked for nearly several dozen more yards. That was when he felt the rumbling. And there was also…
CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK!
“What is that sound?” Polydora asked.
CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK!
“I don’t know,” Kevin said, “but it’s getting louder.”
“I think I see a light in the distance.”
Kevin followed Polydora’s pointed finger to see that, indeed, there was a light shining off in the distance. Two lights, in fact.
It took him a moment, but he eventually recognized the light as fox fire, which could only mean one thing.
“That must be Iris,” he said before he started shouting to get the vixen’s attention. “Hey, Iris! Over here! We’re over… eh?”
Iris came into view fairly quickly, which made sense because she was running. Dashing alongside her at a frantic pace were Phoebe, Menippe, Thoe, and Euryale. All of them looked frightened beyond belief.
Which also made sense because chasing after them was a giant crab!
“OH, MY GOD! IS THAT A GIANT KINGLER?!”
“THAT’S WHAT I SAID!” Iris shouted.
“IT’S NOT A KINGLER!” came the shouts of Phoebe, Menippe, Thoe, and Euryale.
***
There was something innately humorous about being chased by a gigantic crab monster. Most unfortunately, Kevin couldn’t see the humor in it.
“Dare I ask how you girls ended up being chased by a GIANT ASS CRAB?!”
“You DON’T want to know!” Iris managed to shout, even though he could see her huffing and puffing for breath. Unlike him and the yama uba, she wasn’t in the greatest of physical shape. Kevin knew the only reason she’d even managed to keep pace was because of liberal use of the enhancement technique. He also knew that once she ran out of youki, she’d be nothing but a little fox kit trapped by a hungry wolf.
Or a vixen caught in the claws of what K
evin could only think of as a Pokémon gone wrong.
Speaking of Pokémon gone wrong, the giant crab was gaining on them. Even though it moved ponderously, its six, tree trunk-sized legs gave it a much longer stride, allowing it to easily keep pace with them.
CRCH!
Kevin snatched Iris’s arm and yanked her out of the way just as a massive stalactite crashed into the place where she’d been standing. Even after saving her from being crushed to death, he kept a firm grip on her arm. He could feel her body beginning to lag. Her youki was starting to run on empty.
“Ha… thanks… Stud…”
“You’re welcome.” Kevin noticed the fox fire on her tails flickering precariously. It was another sign of her flagging strength.
“EEK!”
Two squeals echoed out as Kevin slung Polydora over one shoulder, and then picked up Iris and tossed her over his other shoulder, carrying them both like sacks of flour.
“What are you—”
“We can’t afford to have you run out of youki,” Kevin explained. “You need to keep that flame burning, otherwise we won’t be able to see anything.”
“R-right!”
“Then why don’t you put me down?” suggested Polydora.
“With that leg? Not happening!”
“Damn you!!”
The chase continued. Kevin lost count of the twists and turns they took. The only thing he noticed was their elevation seemed to be rising. They were clearly climbing up now.
A series of crashes and bangs let him know that the giant crab yōkai was still chasing them. Not that he expected it to give up so easily.
He and the yama uba with him swerved around giant rock formations jutting up from the ground like fingers grasping for the ceiling. Resting on his right shoulder, Iris was letting them know when the crab tried throwing boulders at them.
A Fox's Rescue Page 27