InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Labyrinth ❯ Cursed City ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13   *~*~*~*~*   The rising of the sun marked the beginning of another day of travel for the group. This time, however, Miroku's horse had decided to be slightly more cooperative, and so they moved on throughout the morning and into the afternoon at a fairly good pace, Miroku and Shippo seated upon the horse, and Inuyasha once again carrying Kagome piggyback style. As predicted, the ground soon smoothed out into long stretches of flat arable land, and by mid afternoon, the city state of Thebes could be seen swiftly approaching.   "And so, just as Hera suggested, the next time Semele saw her mysterious lover, she asked him to grant her a request, but only after making him swear on a vow that could never be broken, even by a god, that he would grant that request."   "Zeus gave his vow, not knowing that Semele had been visited by Hera, and as instructed by Hera, Semele's request was that he, Zeus – though she didn't know that he was Zeus, should show her his true form. Though Zeus begged and pleaded with her to change her request, the princess of Thebes stood firm, and so, Zeus, the god of thunder, was forced to reveal to her his true form. You know what happened then, don't you?"   "No, what?" The sarcasm in Shippo's voice was undeniable by this point, but then who could really blame him? He'd heard this story about ten times already today.   Miroku, however, continued on undaunted. "Well, because Zeus's true form is pure thunder, the second he reveled to her his true form, Semele was burned to a crisp and died."   "Really? Wow." More sarcasm on Shippo's part.   "M-Hm," Miroku nodded, still oblivious to Shippo's tone,   " However, because the child she was carrying at the time had been half god, it was able to survive the blast. And so, Zeus took the unborn child and made a cut in his own thigh. Then, after placing the child inside, he stitched the cut back up, and waited.   Shippo made a grossed out face.   "And you know what happened then?"   "Gag."   "A few weeks later, Zeus sliced open his thigh again, and my lord Dionysus was born! Of course, Zeus couldn't look after the child so he sent Dionysus to live with his mother's sisters in the very city that we are now approaching, Thebes. Oh, isn't it exciting Shippo?"   "Oh wow, yeah, really. Um, I think I'm going to go visit Kagome now, bye!" And with that the kit was gone, leaping through the air and running ahead to catch up to their other friends. Left alone once again, Miroku sighed.    "Thank Dionysus, I thought that runt would never leave. Now, to do a  little 'sightseeing'…" And with that, he pulled the reins of his horse to the right, and disappeared down a side street.   *~*~*~*~*    "Kagome!"   The former princess smiled as she felt a familiar weight alight on her shoulder. "Hello Shippo-chan."   "Oi runt, get off!"   Kagome rolled her eyes. "That's okay, Inuyasha. I think I can walk from here, thank you."   The half god beast simply snorted and let her down. His ears twitched and Kagome instantly remembered, "Oh, Inuyasha your cloak, we have to hide you!"   "Keh!" Was Inuyasha's only comment.   "Miroku. Mioku? …Shippo, where's Miroku?"   The group suddenly stopped, realizing that they were one member short.   "Shippo, where did Miroku go?"   "I dunno. He was right there a minute ago."   "Keh, the pervert took of about five minutes ago, something about wanting to go sightseeing." Inuyasha informed them, having heard Miroku's mutterings to himself. Kagome, however, didn't look too pleased.   "What?" she cried, "But he has everything! All our food, money, bandages, your cloak! What are we going to do?"   "Keh! Forget the stupid cloak, there aren't even any people around here to worry about."   "Of course there's people here Inuyasha, this is one of the biggest city states in all of…" She stopped short when she realized that Inuyasha was right. They were no where near the center of town, but there should still have been at least some sign of life. Instead, the shutters and doors were all closed and some of the buildings were even boarded up and falling apart. What on earth was going on…   "I have a bad feeling about this…" Kagome voiced her opinion.   "Keh. You worry too much wench." Inuyasha raised his head, lightly sniffing the air, "Besides, there are people here, I can smell them. They're just not here."   Shippo rolled his eyes, "Well duh!"   *Bonk!*   "Waahhhh! Kagome he hit me!!"   "Keh, you deserved it, runt!"   "I did not!"   "Did too!"   "Did not! Right Kagome?!"   "Huh?" Kagome had been too busy thinking to notice, or at least that was what it seemed. "I have an idea, lets head to the center of town, there will have to be at least some people there. And maybe we'll be able to find out where Miroku went as well. Does that sound good?"   Kagome didn't wait for an answer before nodding to herself and setting off in the direction of what looked to be the center of town. Behind her Inuyasha and Shippo looked at each other, shrugged, and then began walking after her. What was the point in arguing if Kagome wasn't there to pick the winner?   *~*~*~*~*   Meanwhile, Miroku was busily wandering around town, intent on finding a place that would aid him in achieving his…er, um…goal…However, his search was interrupted when he heard a voice.   "Ah! Lemme alone!"   "Here he is, he's over here!"   "Come on! Let's get him!"   His curiosity piqued, Miroku quickly leapt from his horse and cautiously made his way into the alley where the young voices were coming from.   "Ouf!"   "Take that, stupid bastard!"   "Yeah, it's all your fault that this happened to our city. You and all the other bastards in the world!"   "Ah!"   "Low down, no good!"   "No! Lemme-ack!"   "We'll get you good! All of you!"   "Especially that stupid wannabe god! I heard he's a bastard too!"   "Kill all the bastards!"   "That's quite enough children!" The five boy's who had been picking on the smaller boy suddenly stopped their actions. Their heads all darting up as one to see who had interrupted their bullying. They regarded a rather stern looking Miroku holding his staff for a grand total of about two seconds in silence before panic overcame their faces.   "Who's he?"   "I dunno!"   "Let's get out of here before we get in trouble."   And just like that, the budding hoodlums scampered off like rats out of the back end of the alley, leaving Miroku alone with the little bundle of pain left in their wake. Sighing, Miroku dropped his staff and shook his head. "I guess some things never change.."   His ears caught the sound of a feint whimper, and he looked down into the eyes of a small, scared little boy.   Wh-who are you?   I am Mushin, a priest of Dionysus.   …wh-why did you save me?   Miroku gave his head a shake and cursed under his breath. Fucking stupid memories. Instead, he turned his attention on the boy before him. Slowly, he kneeled down to be at eye level with the child. "It's all right, they're gone now."   The boy blinked, as if realizing for the first time that his attackers were gone. In the next instant, angry eyes were locked on Miroku's.   "Feh! I could have handled them myself!"   As if trying to prove his point, the grubby boy shot to his feet proudly, only to stumble back down to the ground a minute later. "Ai!"   Miroku shook his head, trying to forget how much the young man sounded like a certain half god beast he knew. Kneeling down before the boy, Miroku managed to gently coax the wounded ankle from the protective grasp of it's owner's hands. He watched as the boy scrunched up his face, as if waiting for pain. When none came, the boy opened his eyes again.   Miroku quickly looked down, so that the boy wouldn't know he had been watching. He could only assume that the child was between 10 and 12 years old. But so thin! Terribly dirty, and suspicious of everything. Again, the priest refrained from comparing the young boy to someone else, and instead turned his attention to the wounded ankle. "Nothing much," he concluded after a minute, "just a sprain, though you shouldn't walk on it for a while."   The priest looked up, meeting the boy's gaze so suddenly that the paranoid young man actually stiffened visibly. "I'm Miroku by the way, a high priest of Dionysus."   Miroku may have suspected any number of responses to that statement, but he certainly didn't think the poor lad would actually get up and try to run away.   *~*~*~*~*   "Keh, there's nothing here, wench." Inuyasha felt the need to state the obvious, but still Kagome could not believe her eyes. They were standing in a large open space in the very heart of the town that was obviously meant to be a market, and yet, it was abandoned. Empty barrels and remains of old vendor's stands still stood, while wind swept up the dust and spun it around in miniature twisters. The effect was downright eerie.   "Do you have any food?"   Kagome just about jumped out of her sandals as the old cracking voice broke her thoughts, and spinning around to face the source of the voice didn't help much either. It had old, saggy brown skin, a hook nose complete with a wart, and a pair of thin, trembling lips.   "O-Oh. I'm sorry m' am! You startled me."   The old lady eyed her with greedy, glittering eyes, and repeated, "Do you have any food?"   Kagome gave the lady a strange look. Was this some kind of greeting here? "Um-well, I think I may still have a crust that I saved from lunch… just give me a moment."   While Kagome began searching her pockets, Shippo watched the old lady from Kagome's shoulder. Frankly, this old lady really freaked him out, and the feeling of apprehension only seemed to get worse as the old lady began to inch closer to Kagome, a thin trail of drool trickling from the corner of her mouth.   "Um…Kagome?"   "Not now Shippo I'm looking…I know it's here somewhere…"   "B-but, Kagome!"   "Ah! Here it is!" Kagome beamed triumphantly as she pulled out a quarter of a bun she had saved from lunch. Upon looking at it, however, she frowned. "Oh no, I'm afraid there's some dirt on it. Hang on a second, maybe I can get it p off…"   "FOOD!"   Kagome barely had time to react as the old lady lunged at her, reaching for the crust Kagome held in her hands. Instinctively, Kagome jerked back, holding it too high for the greedy little old crone to reach, sending Shippo tumbling off of her shoulder. "Hey- Wait- I…"   "Food! Food! Give me food! Give it to me!"   Obviously, the old lady wasn't in a mood to be patient. An instant later, She began grabbing and clawing at the young girl before her, pressing forward while Kagome was forced back. "Hey! Ow! What are you-,Inuyasha!!"   The half god beast, who had been off to the side laughing his ass off for the last few minutes, suddenly leapt into action. Grabbing the old lady by the scruff of her dirty brown dress, Inuyasha yanked her away and held her, just far enough to be out of Kagome's reach. For her part, the crone didn't even seem to notice Inuyasha was there. Her eyes were still locked on the piece of bread held in Kagome's hands, arms outstretched, reaching.   "Food! Food! I want food!"   "I think she's possessed," was Shippo's only comment as he leapt back onto Kagome's shoulder, watching the flailing old woman.   Kagome just nodded dumbly, still in shock from the sight she was seeing. Was Shippo right? Was she possessed? What about the rest of the town's people?   She was quickly pulled out of her thoughts, however, as a shadow appeared over  her head.   "Give us the food, and no body gets hurt…"   "Huh?" confusion was written plain on Kagome's face as she turned again, this time meeting the gaze of a middle aged man, armed with a wooden club. He was tapping it threateningly against his hand, and Kagome cringed and backed away. However, it didn't stop there. Now that Kagome's attention was on her surrounding area, she suddenly realized that the square was slowly filling up with people, all of them headed straight for her.   "Did someone say food?"   "There, the girl, she has bread!!"   "Food! There's food here!"   "It's mine!"   "Give it to me!"   "I-Inuyasha…" Kagome began backing away, trying to make herself smaller as the crowd closed in around her. Inuyasha was in a similar state of confusion and wariness, as he continued to hold the old lady at bay. Slowly the circle became tighter, forcing them together, Kagome, Shippo, Inuyasha, and the old lady, surrounded by an angry mob.   "J-just give it to them, Kagome!" Squeaked Shippo. However, Kagome seemed to have gone stiff from fear, so it was Inuyasha who made the first move. Shoving the old lady towards the crowd, he snatched the bread from Kagome, and tossed it up and over the crowd.   To his despair, only half the people in the circle ran after it, the rest of them stayed, unmoving. "What?" he yelled, "We gave you your fucking food! Now go!"   One skinny, drooling man came forward, his eyes glistening with greed. "You have more, don't you!"   "No I don't!" It seemed Kagome had gotten over the frozen panic phase, and was now into the screaming panic phase. "I don't have any more!"   "Did you hear that! She says she has more!"   "Let's get it!"   "Take it all!"   They moved in, and Inuyasha snapped. It was too many people, too close to him. The next thing Kagome knew, she was flying through the air, over the heads of  the crowd, and landing in distant corner of the marketplace. Inuyasha set her down gently, as the crowd turned to charge them. Kagome watched as Inuyasha took up a fighting stance, the tips of his claws crackling energy.   "No!"   The words were followed by someone throwing themselves against Inuyasha's back, and grabbing his arms in a weak hold. Acting on instincts, Inuyasha whirled on her, stopping himself from shredding her just on time.   "What the fuck are you doing, wench?" There was anger and confusion written all over his face, the mob was swiftly approaching.   "Just…if you can help it…don't kill them…" Kagome gave him one more pleading look before giving his arm an affectionate squeeze and letting him go.   "…Keh!" Inuyasha turned back to the mob, fists ready.   And then, as soon as the first one was within striking range, a strange sound filled the air.   "What the fuck was that?" Inuyasha punctuated his sentence by breaking some guy's nose.   "It- it's a bugle!" Was Kagome's stunned reply.   "What the fuck is that?"   Another seven or eight people got the wind knocked out of them, or black eyes before a horse suddenly emerged from the chaos, parting the crowd and forming a barrier between the angry mob and Inuyasha's group. Again the bugle sounded, and slowly, the crowd came under control.   "Nothing to see here! Move on! Nothing to see!"   Now that there was more space, Kagome could see the men on horses, slowly driving the crowds back, using the flats of their swords as persuasion on the rowdy few.   "Move on! King's orders! Nothing to see! Who might you be?"   Kagome snapped out of her spectatorship, realizing that the last question was directed at them. "Travelers." She supplied quickly, still not quite believing what was going on, "From out of town."   For a long moment, the soldier just gave her a funny stare. "Then you'd better come with us."   *~*~*~*~*   "Ah, get away! You Asshole! I didn't do nothing! I swear. Leave me alone!"   The young man was still struggling to get to his feet, having fallen after only taking a few steps on his first attempt. Miroku watched in shock as the strange boy continued to half crawl/half drag himself away. How could someone be so adverse to wine and merriment?   "Um, perhaps you mist understood. I am a priest of Dionysus, the god of wine and merriment. Born and raised in this very city?"   "He's a demon! A bastard of Zeus! Everyone says so!" If any words could be like a slap to the face for Miroku, it was those words. But the boy wasn't finished yet. His fear having been overtaken by pure rage, the youth was now slowly forcing himself to stand, fists clenched, as if ready to fight. "Everything is his fault! It's his fault everyone's so hungry, and angry! Just leave us alone! I hate you!"    The boy charged, only to fall short when his ankle failed to support his weight. He caught himself on his hands and knees, and much to Miroku's surprise, managed to fight back the tears the priest knew had to be just below the surface. The boy was shaking with the effort, scraping his grubby fingers along the hard packed earth.    To say Miroku was impressed would have been an understatement, but the same would also be true of his being both appalled and confused.Obviously, there was something going on in this city, and his lordship, Dionysus, was being blamed for it; a condition that he, Miroku, the handsome, heroic, (yadda, yadda, yadda,) high priest of that same cult would rectify to bring peace to this land once again. And who knows, maybe he'd even get a reward or two or…however many beautiful women there were in this city…   And so, putting on his 'business' face, Miroku spoke to the young man again.   *~*~*~*~*

The approach of evening found the priest walking along the rode holding the reins of his horse, talking calmly to the young boy who sat astride the beast. It hadn't taken much to win over the boy's respect and trust. Miroku's smile and charm were so perfect after all, that no one could doubt his trusting face, not even the most suspicious little street rat in the entire world. The boy would start spilling his guts any second now, as soon as he managed to pull his face out from the orange he was eating. Of course Miroku hadn't had to bribe the boy with food, but the poor thing was so thin as it was, the priest had decided to give him a few things out of the goodness of his heart.

"Hey priest man, turn right at the house with the blue shutters."

"Of course. Are you ready to tell me what has happened to this fine city?" Asked Miroku politely, silently congratulating himself for keeping the strain out of his voice as he turned the desired corner. He was rewarded with the sounds of more open mouthed smacking from behind. Miroku grit his teeth so hard he felt his jaw muscles jump.

"It's all because of the sphinx."

"The what?" Miroku had been so busy directing a mental stream of curses at the boy that he'd almost missed the words. "A sphinx?"

There was a loud sound of gulping from behind. Then more ravenous smacking, broken by words, "Yeah. A sphinx." Gulp. "It was sent here by Dionysus,"
chew, "three months ago." Here another gulp and a bit of a pause. "Apparently, the king wouldn't worship Dionysus because he didn't think he was really a
god. So Dionysus got angry…"

Miroku, who was now looking back at the boy, was able to see him shrug, as he chewed and swallowed the last of the bread roll he had been eating.

"So the sphinx began attacking everyone who tried to go in or out of the city, asking them a riddle and then eating them when they couldn't answer. Oh, stop
here."

Miroku did as obeyed, and watched as the boy slid down from the horse and landed. Still favoring his uninjured leg, the boy straightened and began limping off in the direction of a nearby alley. He stopped after a few steps to turn to face Miroku.

"So, because of this, no one could go out to work the fields, and no one could get in to sell food. The reserve supply ran out, and now everyone is hungry. I don't mind it too much 'cause I'm used to it. Actually it's kinda funny seeing all the rich people turned all skinny now. But everyone's angry, they're looking for someone to blame I guess. I'd watch out if I were you priest man. If you tell them you're on of 'His' high priests, they're libel to boil you alive and eat you right after."

Miroku took a minute to absorb this all in. The situation was indeed grave. Should he deny his faith for the sake of his own life?...

"Well, so long sir. Good luck."

"Ah, you too…" Miroku hardly took notice as the boy disappeared into the darkening ally. …Then there was the question of if he should help these people
at all. Certainly they deserved grave punishment for their crime of faithlessness. However, there was the humane aspect to consider. They must believe in the divinity of Dionysus now. What was the reason to prolong their punishment? Surely his Holiness had reason. Yet what of the plight of that boy, and others like him, bastards all through the city.

Miroku was so deep in thought as he walked along that he barely noticed a limp sack that slipped off the horse's back to land on the ground with a quiet slap. Still in deep contemplation, he stalled his horse long enough to bend to pick it up. Strange, he mused, he couldn't remember packing with him an empty sack before. Let's see now, this morning he'd packed up the bed roll, the bandages, the money, and of course the foo…

Miroku looked at the sack in his hand, then back along the way he'd come, then back to his hand. The brat had eaten all their food! They would have to buy
more…

Then the priest recalled the words of the boy…there was no food in this town. The sphinx had seen to that. And they still had a long journey ahead of them.

The priest stood motionless in the street for another minute or so, thinking. With a loud sigh, he realized that there was no point in going after the boy. Even if Miroku did manage to find him, the holy man was of the sentiment that not even Inuyasha would want to eat regurgitated food, and that was saying something.

The monk felt a chill pass down his spine. Kagome would be angry with him about the food, Shippo would probably bite his ankle, but Inuyasha…a sudden image snaked it's way into his brain. Inuyasha, standing on the summit of the Acropolis, blood dripping off his fingers, the white marble around him painted red with the blood of fallen soldiers…

Miroku shivered again, forcing himself to mount his horse, half tempted to run away. The half-god beast had killed an entire army and sustained in injuries barely a scratch. He had walked away from a battle with two god beasts created by Zeus himself. He was also not renown for his calm temperament. Miroku absently found himself praying for Dionysus to send a spirit to guard His poor defenseless priest, preferably a god beast of some sort…a female…with breasts, and…

The idea struck him so suddenly that he jerked his head up while he rode, yanking the reins and thus bringing the horse to a standstill. There was such a beast, in this very city! Perhaps…

And then the monk smiled, a quick plan forming in his mind. Of course, it was so obvious, like killing two birds with one stone!

Regaining his confident smirk, giving himself a mental pat on the back, he pushed his horse into a trot, and then to a fast paced canter letting out a chuckle as even more pieces began to fall into place. Yes, it was the perfect plan! Now, if only he could find the half god Beas-

"Oi! Letcher! Where the fuck have you been!" The priest snapped his head up and whipped it around, just in time to see a shadow fly off the roof of a building and land in the middle of the road behind them.

Miroku flashed him a 'friendly' smile. "Ah, Inuyasha."

Oh yes, the gods had smiled on him today.