by Hickory Mack
“I’m not surprised he knew, though I did my best to be inconspicuous,” the tree woman said. There was no aggression on her face, she looked peaceful. Slowly she was looking more human, her fingers drawing in and rounding off, the ridged bark pattern in her skin fading until she was one smooth texture and tone. She was beautiful.
“Why did you want to speak with me?” Chiori asked cautiously.
“I was there, the first time you crossed into our forest,” Creek said. “You were nothing to me, a mild curiosity. Until I understood what your presence meant. You crossed the witch’s barrier, you came out of the human’s nest, is that not true, child of the Devil’s Black Fox?”
“Yes?” Chiori answered, thrown off by Creek’s name for Lord Makkai.
“By the time I pieced it together and found you again, the whisperers said the fox had sent you away. I’d thought you lost, and my hope died anew. Then you returned and I scented her on you. I wanted to speak to you so badly, but his mark was all over you, and it promised death at his hand if I approached,” Creek said. Understanding settled like a warm blanket on her shoulders. His mark hadn’t just made her scary to others of her kind; it had made her untouchable by other demons.
“It was you, that night. You scared me witless,” Chiori accused.
“Unintentional, I assure you. I was equally afraid of you, broken and harmless as you looked, to touch you was a death sentence. You went into his territory and I thought I’d never see you again. I wept bitterly, few that go in there ever come out. Yet, here you are, a fortnight later, not only very much alive but under his continued protection,” Creek looked at her, wonder on her face.
“Here I am,” Chiori said lamely, wondering how long it would take for Fen to show up. She didn’t think she was in any danger, but the dryad was making her uncomfortable.
“I know I’ll owe you my life for asking, your kind can be brutal at exacting favors owed, but, I need your help,” Creek said, taking another step forward. Chiori looked up into the dryad’s eyes in surprise.
“My kind? What do you mean by that? What sort of help? And why would you need to separate me from Lord Makkai to ask for it?” She was starting to suspect that the trouble he was taking care of was somehow caused by Creek, but the tree woman shook her head in denial. A single leaf separated from her crown and slowly drifted to the ground.
“I am only taking advantage of his absence, I have nothing to do with why he left. It is easier to talk with you without him here. He has killed my kind in the past, some deliberately antagonizing him, others were simply in his path when he was in one of his moods. With the way he protects you, well, I wanted to get a chance to speak before he could light me on fire,” Creek said, looking around as though she expected Lord Makkai to return at any moment.
“He was curious about you. He wants to know what you want,” Chiori said, hating the reminder that he was a far different person for her than what everyone else saw. “What is it you need help with?”
“You came close to her, close enough to carry her scent. She’s my lover, stuck on the other side of the barrier,” Creek said, wringing her hands together and licking her lips. Chiori heard a loud crack, as though something had broken the air itself. Creek’s eyebrows drew together. “That boar is stronger than he looks.”
Fen was coming for her.
“He’s a lot stronger than others of his kind,” Chiori recited what Asuka had told her about Fen’s power level.
“Neither of us can cross the barrier. When the hunters find her in their nest they’ll kill her. But you can cross it. You can save her!” Creek’s words were rushed, her face tense. A pounding echoed through the air and then another crack! This one sounding like it fractured, rippling off into a hundred smaller concussive sounds. “I’ll come back. Please think about it. Help us, Fox Child.”
“Come back tomorrow, after I’ve had a chance to talk with him. Next time, come when Lord Makkai is here, no more sneaking around or I won’t be able to trust you,” Chiori said. Creek was retreating, becoming more tree-like with every second.
“Tomorrow, yes, I will come,” Creek’s voice was all that was left. The stillness in the air lifted and cleared, the noises and breeze came back, a bird sang his love song in the distance. A threatening presence pressed itself down on her.
Chiori sighed and looked up into Fen’s furious eyes.
Chapter 16
When Lord Makkai returned two hours later, Chiori leapt to her feet, disentangling herself from the Matriarch’s roots where she’d been pouting. His body relaxed when he saw her, tails swishing behind him. They met halfway across the clearing, and he touched her face. Chiori nearly cried with relief, the pain in her chest broke up and dissipated. He was back, she wasn’t alone anymore. Fen hadn’t allowed her to stray further than an arm’s length away, but he wasn’t who she wanted, so he didn’t count.
“What are you doing to me Little One?” Makkai murmured, petting her hair.
Then the wind shifted direction and he’d smelled Creek on her, though she’d showered at Fen’s insistence. His ears flattened and he’d growled low in his throat, his entire countenance had changed. He pressed her against his chest and Chiori looked up at him. The fangs she sometimes forgot he had were bared, his nose wrinkled up in a silent snarl.
“How could you let this happen?” he demanded of Fen. This wasn’t her Makkai.
The creature standing before her, his face a cloud of seething anger, this was the Lord. This was the creature that would kill nine men for sport. She turned her head, her cheek flat against Lord Makkai’s chest to be able to look at the boar demon. The discomfort on his face was the guilt she needed to make her brave. It wasn’t Fen’s fault she’d wandered so far from the Cabin. The boar already thought poorly of her, Chiori didn’t want him to resent her for this on top of everything else.
“Don’t make excuses for him,” Lord Makkai said sternly when she started explaining. Fen’s eyes stabbed at her, urging her to shut up, but she refused.
“It was nothing. Let me explain,” Chiori spoke up, pushing at him so he’d release her. He looked down at her, his snarl turning to a frown until he realized what she wanted and let her go, his ears clamped down even tighter. That wouldn’t work. She needed him to listen, and how could he when he shut her out like that? She tugged on his sleeve.
“Chiori, go into the cabin while Fen and I have a discussion,” he ordered and Chiori frowned.
“No,” she said. Fen made a warning sound behind her. Makkai’s ears flicked forward for half a second in surprise, but only for that half second. Chiori tugged at his sleeve again, harder. She couldn’t reach him, she was too small, so he needed to come to her. “Come here, please.”
Glaring at Fen he lowered himself to meet her at eye level.
“What is it?” he demanded, but some of the heat had left his voice.
“I didn’t think you could hear me way up there. You stop listening when you’re angry. And, it’s kind of scary when you look like that,” Chiori said, holding tight to his sleeve. Makkai’s eyebrows furrowed and he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What is it you need to say?” he asked.
“What kind of work does Fen usually do?” Chiori asked. One of his ears flicked forward for another second, then flattened again.
“He does whatever I need him to do, and he does it well, or he hears about it from me. He has now twice proven himself incapable of looking out for one little girl. There is nothing he does that is more important than your safety. That goes for every member of my household,” Makkai said, looking in her eyes. Chiori bit her lower lip.
“You said you trust him?” she continued.
“I did,” Makkai said, his gaze moved beyond her, undoubtedly stabbing Fen in his grumpy demon heart.
“Okay, then trust that he did the right thing in this situation. It was safe where he left me, but I wanted to be alone, so I wandered off against his orders. You can’t blame Fen for my choices, right?”
Chiori questioned. She could almost feel Fen’s tension.
“The point is he should not have left you in the first place,” Makkai growled.
“He was given conflicting orders, both concerning me. How could he
make lunch and stay with me if I refused to come back to the cabin?" Chiori said.
"My orders come before anyone else's and he knows it," he countered.
"Do I have no say in what I do or who I spend my time with? You get to tell someone to follow me around and I have to accept it whether I like it or not?” she touched her chest. “I can feel it now. When you left, it physically hurt. I didn’t want Fen.”
Makkai sighed, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. They breathed several breaths of each other’s air until he let out a long, ragged breath and took both of her hands in his.
“Go home, Fen,” he said quietly without pulling away.
“Yes, my Lord.” Fen’s voice was tight.
“Tell me what happened,” Makkai said.
Chiori told him everything the dryad had said and done. She described Creek in detail and told him about what the air had felt like, about the silence that had fallen. She told him how Fen had battered his way through Creek’s barrier. Watching his face she told him Creek was frightened of him.
“It would be unwise of her not to be,” he said.
“I want to help her, but I don’t know how. Will you help me?” Chiori finished.
“No. You think because it turned out alright that you were safe, but you have no idea how dangerous a situation you were in today, how badly it could have gone,” Lord Makkai answered. “I won’t let it happen again.” He turned and stalked into the cabin. Chiori muttered a curse under her breath and trotted after him, kicking off her shoes and hopping up the stairs.
“It was a request not a requirement. I’ll figure out how to do it without your help!” she said, then yelped and whirled around, her face ablaze. He’d taken his shirt off and was inspecting it when she’d barged in. Chiori peeked back over her shoulder, certain she’d seen…
"You won't be going back to that nest, Chiori. You made me a promise, and I intend to see you keep it," he said, unaware of what she'd seen.
“Are you hurt?” she demanded, turning around, her shyness evaporated. That was definitely blood. He was covered in it. She crossed the room, looking him over. How had she not noticed the entire time they were talking? She glared at him accusingly. “You used your illusion magic on me!”
“I did, but I’m fine Little One, it isn’t mine. I didn’t want to frighten you. You’ve seen enough blood for this lifetime,” Lord Makkai said, setting his bloodied shirt on a chair, small silver bells chiming in his hair. "Normally I'm not this filthy, but I was in a hurry."
“You agreed I’m not your pet. I get to make decisions for myself. If you’re hurt I get to be worried about you. Don’t hide things from me because you think I won’t like it. If I can help someone else with the power I have, I will,” she said.
“You want me to let you worry needlessly, but I’m not allowed to worry when there’s an actual threat? That doesn’t balance. You aren’t trained. That dryad came to you acting innocent and sweet because she wants something from you. She could easily kill you, Chiori,” Makkai said, making her flinch. “And there's the second thing you promised me, you won’t use your magic until the witch teaches you to do it properly.”
“What she wanted wasn’t something trivial, it was a person, her lover. It’s important to her that I help her. What if it was me?" she asked suddenly.
"That scenario would never happen," he said dismissively, his lip curled. "No barrier would keep me from you."
He obviously wasn't in a mood to play with hypothetical situations.
“Also, I don’t use magic to cross a barrier so I wouldn't be breaking that promise,” Chiori said. “Wouldn’t I feel it? I felt nothing when I crossed out of the nest.”
Makkai tilted his head at her words.
“You should have felt something, yes,” he agreed. He took a fresh shirt and pair of jeans from the closet. “I dislike arguing with you, Little One. We will resolve this, peacefully. Before that can happen I need some time to think, so I’m going to shower. I won’t call Fen, but please, behave yourself and stay here. I’ll place a barrier around the clearing, so nothing can get in. You can obviously get out if you want, I’m asking you not to.”
“Okay,” Chiori agreed. “I want you to tell me what happened where you were, when you come back.”
“I will,” he said and swished his tails in parting.
Chiori went out and stomped around the clearing for a few minutes but it only further worked up her temper. With a huff she tucked herself against the wall of the cabin and leaned into it, waiting.
She woke up hours later, her head in Lord Makkai’s lap. He played a soft tune on a wooden flute. Chiori didn’t move, hoping he would think she was still asleep so he’d finish the song. She hadn’t heard music since before she’d left her father’s house. It didn’t work. The moment she opened her eyes he knew.
“Are you still very angry with me?” he asked, setting the flute next to him.
“I wasn’t angry with you. I was frustrated though,” Chiori answered, sitting up so she could see him properly. “It’s you I thought was angry, I just felt... unheard.”
“I’m listening now,” he said, “tell me how we can compromise.”
They spent the next hour filtering through what each of them needed and wanted to make Chiori’s desire to help work. His requirements were simple and straight forward. He needed her safe and he needed her close. Hers were a bit more complicated, she didn’t know what the heck she was doing, and she needed guidance. He offered to go get the dryad himself but admitted Chiori was right when she said it wouldn’t come out of hiding because he was too intimidating to approach.
“I can take down the entire barrier and the tree can go get her lover herself. They’ll restore it when they notice it’s down, but they’ll take a few minutes to figure it out, and time to gather enough witches for the spell. It’ll give the dryad plenty of time,” Makkai said.
“That could work, but only if they find each other quickly. It would open the whole nest up to-” Chiori looked up at him and put her hand over her mouth, cutting off her sentence.
“Demons and monsters,” he finished for her. She nodded, ducking her head. “You’re not wrong. Anything in the area with any brains is going to run away when it senses I’m near. Though this nest of yours is just on the outer reaches of my territory, I will not be at my strongest out there. I still think it’s best if we go together,” Makkai said.
“Okay,” Chiori agreed.
“All of this rides on our conversation with the dryad tomorrow. I’ll try not to be biased, but if anything about her stinks of a lie or a trap of any kind, she dies and that’s the end of it,” Makkai said and Chiori rolled her eyes.
“The one-size-fits-all solution to all things,” she said, nudging his shoulder with hers.
“Not all things,” he nudged her back.
“Okay, but, you’re right, I’ve seen enough violence. If you have to kill someone, do it somewhere else. Your turn, what was out there?” Chiori asked.
“Ah, so you can hear about killing and death, and even know it’s happening, but you cannot see it. A good distinction to make,” Makkai said.
She scowled at him. “It was an angry colony of ferrets.”
Chiori stiffened. She knew of only one ferret.
“It seems Yukio was more trouble than I knew I was getting myself into when I invited her into my home. She was not here by force, her presence was voluntary, but she was betrothed to another ferret. He was a low-level Lord, and apparently her future husband was quite smitten. News of her death enraged him.” Lord Makkai flexed his fingers.
“You killed Yukio?” she asked and Makkai's ears perked.
“Was I not supposed to? She was a threat to you, and now there’s nothin
g to fear. Her betrothed was not properly informed, he brought along a fair number of friends, but not enough. They were unprepared for what they were to face.”
“You,” Chiori said.
“Me.”
“You’ve done a lot of killing in the short time I’ve known you,” she said.
“Does it seem that way to you? I suppose it would. The past century has been quiet, once the neighboring lords learned their places there wasn’t much left for me to do. If I don’t kill a colony of ferrets once in a while people will attempt a coup,” he said. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Does it ever bother you?” Chiori asked.
“Killing? No, there are only two deaths I’ve regretted in my life. You would have been the third. It does bother me that it bothers you, though.”
“Who?”
“I’d rather not talk about that right now,” he answered.
“Do you enjoy it?” she asked and he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Yes, much of the time I do. I didn’t the day you were there, with the hunters. That day I didn’t enjoy it at all,” he answered.
“Why?”
“Because having you there, petrified and screaming and covered in blood while I did what I thought necessary made me feel every bit the evil Demon Monster you are so afraid of,” Makkai answered. Chiori touched her fingers to his arm.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said and he grinned.
“I know. You silly little thing. We wouldn’t be well matched if you were. And hasn’t that put us in an odd predicament?” he laced his fingers through hers, raised her hand and kissed it. “I need something from you.”
“What is it?”
“We need to show a united front, you and I. If it becomes known in the house that you can be swayed to work against my decisions, you will become a pawn. They’ll pit you against me for leniency. The demon world is not the same as the human world. Too much leniency for those who disobey will be mistaken as weakness. Someone, probably Haruka, will see it as his time to attack. He'll use you to strike at me and I’ll be forced to kill him. I don’t want to kill my people, Chiori,” he said.
