The Adventures of Nine Tails: The Hunt For Raiju Part 2

      Grimoire stepped out of his portal and was in the forests of Faedin. The information he read from the document and got from the wolves all lead him here but didn’t say anything about where their main base is. It was a bit frustrating, especially since he could just learn exactly where they were in an instant but he got in trouble the last time he did. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any leads on where they would be and searching the whole forest would take too long. He still wore Raiju’s cloak but he had removed the hood.

      After walking for maybe an hour, he started to get a strange feeling that he was being watched. He stopped walking and took out one of the maps and acted like he was looking at it when he was listening for any sound that would indicated that he wasn’t alone. It’s a good thing that whoever was following him were far away since he was holding the map upside down. He got the confirmation he was looking for when he heard an arrow be taken out of its quiver and was nocked. Grimoire stayed perfectly still when he heard the bow get drawn back but when he heard it be released, he rolled out of the way before the arrow could hit him. His eyes flashed yellow as he summoned a bow and quiver of his own and he quickly had an arrow ready as he looked out into the forest. “Show yourself and I’ll go easy on you!”

      There was silence until he heard the same sound from earlier. Following the sound, he located a panther hiding in the trees getting ready to fire another arrow. Once he did, Grimoire ducked and fired an arrow back but his arrow hit the top nock of the panther’s bow. “You missed fox!” The panther said as he vanished into the shadows.

      “Did I?” Grimoire whispered to himself with a grin. It was easy for him to track the panther as he could hear the very quiet footsteps and he got an arrow ready but he didn’t face the direction he knew the panther was, waiting for a very particular sound. The panther, who fully thought he had the upper hand, nocked another arrow but when he drew his bow, the top nock snapped off as a result of Grimoire’s arrow hitting it and he shouted out in pain as his elbow slammed hard into the tree behind him. Not even a second after an arrow struck his clothing right under his right armpit and slightly pinned him to the tree. “Try to move and I’ll make sure you can’t walk!” Grimoire shouted to the panther who just sat there frozen.

      Once Grimoire got to where the panther was, he started to panic. “I’m not going to tell you anything! I-I’m not scared of you!”

      “Relax. If I was going to hurt you, do you really think only your clothes would be pinning you to the tree?” The panther just growled. “What’s your name?”

      The panther hesitated. “Samhain (pronounced sow-in).”

      “As in the ancient Celtic festival?”

      The panther’s face lit up. “Yeah! How do you know that?”

      “I know a lot of random things. I see why you have that name. You move just like a ghost.”

      Samhain’s body dropped along with his ears. “Clearly not if you could track me.”

      “I’m not a good reference for stealth. I have really good hearing. So, why did you try to kill me?”

      “Some wolf hired a lot of us to watch the forests for a fox matching your description. He said if we see you and can manage to kill you, he’d shower whoever brings him your head with more riches than they could ever imagine. Why does he want you dead?”

      “To be honest, I don’t know. I beat him in battle once and I guess he wants revenge?” Grimoire removed the arrow that was pinning Samhain.

      “Why didn’t you kill him once you defeated him? Why haven’t you killed me or, are you going to after you get information from me?” Samhain rubbed his arm and elbow.

      “I don’t like fighting. I’d rather just help others opposed to harm them.”

      “It seems like you know how to defend yourself very well for someone that doesn’t like fighting.”

      “I’ve studied a lot of martial arts and even though kyūjutsu isn’t my favourite, I still enjoy archery.”

      Samhain tilted his head. “Why study martial arts if you don’t want to fight?”

      “The true goal of martial arts, is to never use it. I know how to do a lot of things really well in case I need to but I never plan on using half of what I know. I’ve trained to become the best I can be at everything so if I ever had to, I’d know the skill well enough to use it non-lethally.”

      Samhain looks at his broken bow. “I can see that.” He sighs as he puts the broken piece as close to where it use to be as he can.

      Grimoire is about to speak when his ear twitches. There’s the familiar sound of a bow being drawn. He turns just in time to see the arrow release and that the arrow was headed for Samhain. Using his quick reflects, Grimoire moves just enough so that his right shoulder takes the arrow. Yet again that shoulder is taking the brunt of the damage. Just after the arrow hits, he throws an orb of rock his his left paw towards the archer, knocking them out of the tree and falling to the ground unconscious.

      “Are you ok! How’d you even, just, how?” Samhain was panicked trying to decide if he should talk or help with the arrow or go find the archer.

      “I’m fine. It’ll heal. Seems like talking with me is enough to be considered treason.” His eyes flash white for a split second. He then picks up the broken bow and his eyes turn yellow as he fixes Samhain’s bow. “Go deal with whoever that was however you need to and be safe out there. They should be the only one that knows you were talking to me so no one else should attack you.”

      “But-”

      “Just go. I’ll be fine.” Samhain slowly leaves and goes to where the archer fell and Grimoire quickly starts walking away from the area while putting on his hood. He knew where to go from quickly looking into Samhain’s memories.

      As he walked, Grimoire managed to pull the arrow from his shoulder and using his magic this time, healed himself to almost perfect condition. Not long after, he found the town he was looking for and walked into the tavern.

      “What can I get ya?” The bartender asked with a bright smile.

      “Do you carry sake here?”

      “Carry what?”

      “Water’s fine.” Grimoire said and the bartender just shrugged and got him a glass of water.

      “I’ve never seen ya here before. What brings ya to this run down town?”

      After taking a few drinks, Grimoire looked towards the bartender. “I’m looking for the mushroom’s shadow. Know where I can find him?”

      The bartender’s face went white. “Listen, I don’t want no trouble. I’ve rebuilt this tavern more times than I can count.”

      “Relax, I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m not here for him. I need information on someone he’s working under.”

      “Oh! I can help with that! Which master do you want to know about?”

      Master? Grimoire’s head tilted when he heard that. “His current one, I think. Wolf. Fancy armour.”

      “Ah yes! The man-wolf! He’s not very nice but pays well. He was here the other day. Said his other man-wolfs will be coming through here and we’d be best to avoid getting in his way.”

      “Do you know where he went or where his, man-wolfs, went?”

      “They came through not long ago actually. They went towards the river.”

      “Thank you.” Grimoire got up and placed a gold coin on the counter. “If anyone asks, I was never here.” The bartender took the coin and nodded with a big smile and Grimoire left towards the river. When he got close, he could see paw prints and cart tracks in the softer dirt. He followed them until they suddenly vanished. As he looked around trying to see if he could see anything, a strong gust of wind blew him back and he landed with a thud on his back.

      “Stay down if you know what’s good for you!” A cloaked figure, presumably female by the voice, stood near the water with two daggers drawn. “I’m not letting you follow them.”

      Grimoire sat up rubbing the back of his head ad he looked towards her. “Follow who? There’s no one here but you.”

      “Don’t act coy with me fox. Or should I say Tenko.”

      “So you know who I am so you must know why I’m here as well.”

      “You’re here to kill the wolf and all of his men.”

      “What wolf? Markus or some other wolf?”

      “So you are here to kill him!” She jumps at him but he rolls out of the way and her daggers dig into the ground.

      Grimoire lands on his feet from his roll. “I’m not here to kill anyone. I just want the wolf they captured back.”

      She throws her hand towards Grimoire and a gust of wind hits him but he stays on his feet this time. “Why? So you can kill him too? I’m not letting you leave here alive!” She charges him again but when she goes to stab, he turns and grabs her wrist and pulls her in the direction she’s going and causes her to fall. When she gets up, she strikes his way again but he sweeps her legs out from under her and she falls on her stomach. Before she can get up, he grabs her right wrist and pulls her arm back and puts her in both a wristlock and an armlock forcing her to use her free hand to keep herself from falling on her face.

      “I’m not here to kill anyone. They took him from me and I want him back. Simple as that.”

      “They said you’d tell only lies! I’m not giving up until I have your head!” She moves to try and kick his leg but can’t reach so she tries to flip herself and Grimoire uses her motion to throw her to his right and she slams into a tree. She gets up quickly but doesn’t have her daggers any more so she charges with just her fists but Grimoire grabs her wrist after her first strike and blocks the second before sweeping her legs but this time she manages to get a hold of Grimoire and when she falls, she takes him with her and she uses her legs to throw him against a nearby tree. She quickly gets up and grabs her daggers again and try to charge him before he gets up and manages to get a decent slice on his chest before he creates some distance between them.

      “I’m trying not to hurt you! Can’t you see that if I was going to kill anyone, you’d already be dead?”

      “Stop acting like you’re oh so good at fighting! I’m just too good and you can’t kill me!” Grimoire sighs as she runs towards him again. She fakes a stab with her right arm and goes to slice him with her left but blocks by hitting her forearm with his but he jumps back as she lunges to stab him. She goes for another strike but he parries it with an open palm to her chest, knocking the wind out of her before he kicks one of her daggers out of her hand and he hits the other to the ground. She tries to hit him but he ducks, grabbing one of her daggers, and hits her chest again with his open paw. Then he gets behind her and puts her in a chokehold after kicking her knees so she falls to the ground and to ensure she stops, he puts the tip of her dagger against her throat under his elbow.

      “If I wanted you dead,” he tightens his hold on her before releasing slightly so she can breath but not get free, “you’d be dead. So, are you going to stop or will I have to kill you?”

      “I’ll stop! I promise! Please, just don’t kill me!” He keeps her in the hold for a little while longer before finally letting her go. He throws her dagger with the other one.

      “Now, tell me where Markus is and I’ll leave you alone.”

      She rubs her neck and looks up at him with fear. “He’ll kill me if I tell you.”

      “I could have killed you many times already. Still can if you’d rather go that route.”

      “No! Please, no. He stays in an abandoned temple on Aridin. Do you have a map? I-I can show you where!” He pulls out the maps he got at the camp and she draws a circle on a temple. “There! Can I- watch out!”

      Grimoire turns around and sees a giant golem behind him with a stone club. “Fore!” The golem shouts before doing a golf swing and sending Grimoire flying, shattering a tree before getting stopped by the second one. He draws his katana as he slowly stands but the golem picks him up by his arms. With a single bite, the golem destroys his sword leaving the tsuka with a small bit of the blade left in his paw. “You’re coming with me fuzz ball.”

      “In your, dreams.” Grimoire stutters as he summons vines to trip the golem which causes him to throw Grimoire. Quickly, Grimoire gets up and creates a portal before the golem can get himself free and runs in it. The golem throws his club but the portal shuts before the impact.