Between Claws and Shadows

Ren heard some noise. Zel and the soldiers were packing up the makeshift beds and putting them back in their boxes. Ren got up, his joints aching, and trudged over to Haku. He was grateful that she had sacrificed herself for his safety so he could get his not-at-all comfortable or restful sleep. He gently shook her shoulder. No response. He took a step forward to get a look at her face. The girl was sleeping with her eyes closed and her mouth slightly ajar, her chest rising and falling evenly, each exhale producing a soft sound. Ren regretted ever thinking he was grateful to her. He glanced at the large sword under the girl's arm and kicked it away. The girl fell face-first to the ground and instantly jumped up. She pointed at Ren accusatorily.

"It was you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just happened to trip over it by accident. More importantly, didn't you say you were going to stand guard?" That's when the realization hit him. "When you were so motionless last night, did you fall asleep right away?"

Haku scratched her face and looked around. "I don't know what you're talking about. I mean, did something attack us? No. That's 'cause of me!"

"But if something had attacked, you wouldn't have done anything!"

They snarled at each other, and their eyes flashed with fury. Haku's long incisor tooth flashed dangerously.

Zel stopped a step away from them and extended his hand slightly awkwardly. "Okay, okay, there's no reason for you to fight. This is just a misunderst—"

Haku and Ren shouted at the man at the same time, "You stay out of this!"

After things calmed down and they prepared to continue the journey, Ren turned to them. "So what's in this forest?"

"Have you been living under a rock until now?" Zel's eyebrow rose to the middle of his forehead.

"His abusive parents didn't let him out of the house until now. Now that they're dead, he wants to explore the world."

Zel found it an acceptable answer, while Ren thought it was quite strange that she could come up with a lie so quickly. And why so morbid? Haku turned to him with a grin and gave him a thumbs-up. Now he was sure: This girl was an idiot.

The early golden sun filtered through the trees, stroking their faces and brushing the tops of their heads, illuminating the dark and frightening forest. An ominous mist swirled from the forest floor. Weirdly, no birds were chirping, as if they had gotten bored with this place and flown away.

Zel gently unwrapped his sword from the tough fabric on his back, its size ridiculous compared to Haku's. He wiped the hilt with his sleeve and gripped it in his left palm, like some ritual. While the sword was expertly forged, it lacked the abundance of spirit that the girl’s weapon possessed.

All eight of them crossed the border between the forest and the wasteland. The atmosphere inside had changed. The air grew heavy. A long, low growl sounded from somewhere, echoing through the plants. Their eyes uncertainly flicked toward the trees, which rustled sharply. Shadows sprinted between them, barely visible. Wolves. With tails and fur bristling, they stared with foaming mouths and bloodthirsty eyes. They just circled them, and it was impossible to tell how many there were. Ren went behind Haku for protection, but it was too late. One of the wolves pounced, straight at one of the soldiers. He couldn’t react immediately. The armor didn't prove strong enough, because the wolf easily dug its claws deep into a gap between the armor plates, its teeth tearing his throat before he could scream. It dragged him away, vanishing somewhere behind the trees. The others didn't even flinch, as if losing someone was an everyday occurrence.

Haku, without even looking, kicked away a few growling animals while she threaded another one onto her sword. Above her sword, she scanned the distant wolves, who hadn't taken another step toward them.

Zel spun his sword with surprising dexterity and cleaved a wolf from one side to the other. Ren's stomach turned slightly as he thought the same weapon had been inside him.

They fought in perfect unison with the soldiers, raising a defensive line that let nothing near them. This harmony was disturbed when Haku's big sword accidentally clashed with Zel's. They were both not used to fighting together. They stopped and looked at each other. Taking advantage of this, one of the distant wolves leaped from the ground and used its two front legs to knock one of the soldiers to the ground. The man with the angry beast on his chest panicked and stabbed wildly with a small dagger that he took out from who knows where. The wolf dodged every swing. Zel—showing no sign of his previous composure—saw that and surged forward, cleaving the wolf in two with one brutal strike, saving his comrade’s life and leaving him lying on the ground still in shock. By the time Zel turned back, the three remaining soldiers' defensive line had crumbled without him, and it was too late. A sharp scream. Another wolf was clinging to someone’s arm. He lost his balance but didn't fall. Unfortunately, it was enough for three wolves to appear next to him immediately, and they began to tear his body apart, all while he was still screaming. The one on the ground who survived the attack started choking; it looked like his immune system didn’t react well to the phantom essence. His eyes rolled back, foam appeared at his mouth, and his body shook, making his state painfully obvious.

Zel looked at him with huge eyes. He didn't want to believe what he saw. "Samuel!"

Ren didn't want to watch the heartbreaking scene, so he turned his head away. It was irritating that he couldn't do anything. He raised his hand to glance at his fingers. As the thought of helping crossed his mind, Haku grabbed his wrist, jolting Ren out of his thoughts.

"They're starting to dwindle!" the oni shouted, to give new strength to everyone, or Ren. He didn't know.

Zel turned back just in time to parry a lunging wolf attack. He drove his sword into its belly. It howled, but not for long, because his comrade’s blade went through its spine, finishing it. Haku grabbed another one by the fur, slammed it to the ground, and finished it with a thrust. The last wolf growled low, its ears flattened, and its tail went between its legs. Then it ran away.

The sun had fully risen now, and it felt as if the air had become lighter. The clearing was quiet again.

Haku finally let go of Ren’s wrist, which she had held with tremendous force, and gestured with her head forward, then set off in that direction. Ren, understanding the hint, started walking after her, but he took one last look back. Zel was kneeling on the ground next to the only intact corpse. The other two dead bodies were either unrecognizably damaged or nowhere to be seen. The last two standing soldiers stood silently over him, their hands pressed to their mouths.

Though Haku wanted to keep moving, Ren pleaded for a rest. He was genuinely exhausted, but his true motivation was to wait for the others. The recent events had left him saddened, and he felt lost about how to react.

"Wipe that sorry look off your face. You're a nobody. He isn't curious about how sorry someone who doesn't even know him is."

It hurt a little for the boy to hear this, but he understood it somewhere.

The other three stepped out from the dense tree canopy. Zel was holding Samuel's dead body. He looked old without his head armor. Black blood dyed his white hair, which was stuck firmly to his head. The foam had been wiped from his mouth. They laid the body on a larger grassy area off the dirt road and began to dig. With their hands, swords, sticks—whatever came to hand. Then they laid him in the pit and buried him. On top of the ground, they placed torn grass and a piece of cloth, which they secured to the ground with the dead's weapon so the wind wouldn't carry it away.

"Haku, aren't you sad about this?"

"I didn't know him. The elves are expendable. If they had had the chance, they would have killed us too. My only task is to keep you alive. It's not every day someone falls from another universe to be our guest. You might have something to do with Master's disappearance. And if I have to exterminate the entire Ivory Concord to find out what happened, then I will." She dusted off her pants. She was ready to move on. "Don't get too attached to anyone. Here, every single day is a struggle for survival. Unless you're an oni, you can't protect more people."