AA303 - Bandits! (Patreon)

James summoned his armour and looked around frantically. Suki was right beside him, and another arrow was heading right at her! Without a moment to spare, he put his hand in the way. The arrow shattered against his glove, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Harue caught an arrow that flew at her.

“This is really weird,” she said, examining the arrowhead.

“Harue! Focus!” James yelled. Suki had crouched down on the ground, and he was trying to look in every direction for incoming arrows.

Harue looked at him with annoyance. “James, James, James. The thing to remember about bandits is that they’re more afraid of you than you need to be of them.”

She tossed the arrow back the way it came. James was sure it went out faster than it went in. Then her eyes widened as the arrow turned in a wide arc and shot back at her. She caught it again with a peal of laughter

“It comes back! It’s a homing arrow!” she said delightedly. “Those Whadjuk clevermen think they’re so smart with their boomerangs; wait until they see this!”

“Can you please pay attention to the battle?” James pleaded.

“This isn’t a battle, James,” Harue said scornfully. “As soon as Shion figures out she’s been attacked, she’ll get mad and wipe them out.”

A cry of pain form Amilie gave the lie to Harue’s words, but it was a different cry that attracted James’s attention.

“Insolence!” Kana flew into the sky in dragon form, searching for whoever had offended her.

“Or that will happen,” Harue shrugged. “Imagine, shooting at a dragon with arrows. Unless… huh.”

She squinted at the arrow in her hand. “Still a bad idea, though. Ima gonna check out those guys!”

She pointed and disappeared. James could hear screaming from the direction she indicated, but he didn’t think she’d caused it. It was too far away, and the wrong type of screaming.

As he watched, the screamers came into view. It was a horde of bandits, screaming as they charged, waving a mismatched assortment of weapons.

Kana must have noticed them, but she ignored them completely. None of them were carrying bows.

“There you are!” she shouted, and dashed through the air, out of sight over a small hill.

“This isn’t… how you fight in groups!” James said, to no one who was left to listen. He looked down at Suki, who waved at him. “Let’s get over to Amilie. She sounded hurt.”

Suki nodded and got to her feet. She looked around. “Do you see her?” she asked.

“She was this way…” James said uncertainly. He didn’t see her. Shion was still standing in the open, demanding answers. Arjun and Katarzyna were sizing up the approaching horde.

“Where’s Amilie?” James asked, running up to join them.

“She took off like she saw something,” Katarzyna said. “Right now, though, we need to take care of those guys.”

“Right,” James said. With Kana taking care of the archers, they could form a line to meet the charge. “Shion! Form up with us!”

“Huh?” Shion had pulled the arrow out of her neck and was waving accusingly. “Those guys? Did they do this?”

“Just get over here! We need to protect Suki!”

“I’ll be fine, James,” Suki said. She had pulled her sword out and was standing next to him. “These bandits don’t seem very skilled or strong.”

“You can keep them off me,” Shugen said, scuttling behind the line that was forming. “My magics are not to be wasted on lesser threats.”

Shion scoffed, but stalked over. “I’ll send them flying,” she promised.

The bandits were close, now, only seconds from reaching them. James could see, now, that most of them looked desperately afraid. Of what, though, James couldn’t say. In the back, he could see faces that were more firmly set. Hatred or anger instead of fear.

“Guys! Hey! Guys!” Harue’s voice came from above. “Some of these guys are possessed!”

Then the charge hit. Although hit might be too strong a term. Two bandits came at James. He smashed a pitchfork aside with his sword and caught an axe by the handle. He pulled at it, trying to wrench it free of the man’s grip, but only succeeded in pulling the bandit over, to fall at James feet.

The bandit screamed at him.

“What are you talking about?” he yelled at Harue, who was floating above the battle.

“Those guys!” she said, pointing at the back line. “I don’t think they’re in control of their own actions!”

James stuck his blade between the tines of the pitchfork and twisted, sending it flying. He kicked the bandit beneath him in the stomach and looked to where Harue was pointing.

The bandits near Arjun were exhibiting an extreme reluctance to enter the sphere of whirling death that his bladesword had become. The bandit behind them was pushing them forward with blows from his hoe, snarling something that couldn’t be complimentary.

“Sorry!” Suki said. James turned to see that she’d opened a nasty gash on a bandit’s arm, forcing her to drop her sickle. Suki slipped past a swing from the other one and tripped him.

Behind her, one of the bandits went flying past. Shion had hit him hard enough to send him flying.

“Can you help us restrain them?” James yelled at Harue.

“Eh? I already did the hard part; you want me to do more?”

“Please and thank you!” James said through gritted teeth. He raised his fist at the woman who had been wielding the pitchfork. She cowered away from him, screaming something. “Just stay down!” he yelled, knowing she wouldn’t understand him.

“Nah, you’ve got this,” Harue said confidently.

“We do,” Shion said. She had fought her way past the frightened bandits and had grabbed one of the angry ones by the throat. Lifted off the ground, his fists and feet pounded on her ineffectually.

“He’s possessed by a ghost; he’s not gonna stop just because you choke him out,” Harue said helpfully.

“Will he stop if he dies?” Shion demanded.

“I dunno!”

“Don’t kill him!” James shouted.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this,” Arjun stated. He and Katarzyna swept over the enemy back line. Arjun had put away his whipsword and was using some kind of SAS-style martial arts, while Katarzyna was demolishing defences with precision strikes from her polearm. She would freeze bodies or weapons just long enough for one to be separated from the other, allowing Arjun to come in and take them down. They even had some kind of zip-ties to secure the belligerent ones.

James had one more opponent before they were all down. Lacking a non-lethal attack with his sword style, he just barrelled over a possessed bandit, knocking him over and then just holding him down until Arjun could reach him.

After a bit of cleaning up, they were left with nine bandits kowtowing in the dust, five that were bound and struggling furiously, and one that was having his arm bandaged by Suki.

“Sorry, but you were trying to kill us,” she said to the unheeding woman.

Harue and Shugen were examining the still-struggling bandits. Shugen was sitting back on his heels, examining them from a short distance, while Harue was right up in their faces, sniffing them.

“What happened to Mitsue?” James asked.

“Here!” Mitsue called as he came around the hill. He was leading a train of five more bandits. They weren’t tied up, but they looked thoroughly discouraged. Kana was behind them, walking in dragon form. Even without a human face, James could tell she was feeling very proud of herself.

“I went for the archers, but I wasn’t as fast as Kana,” Mituse said.

“Indeed!” Kana declared. “These worthless fools surrendered as soon as they saw me. I look forward to their swift trial, judgement and execution!”

She smiled. On a dragon’s face, it didn’t look friendly.

“The execution will be carried out by me, of course.”

“You might be out of luck, Kana,” Harue called out. “There are sorcerous shenanigans afoot! Which might mean these poor fools are innocent.”

“What? Who would deny me my rightful prey?” Kana demanded, glaring at Shugen.

“Not me, My Lady!” Shugen declared nervously. “I would never! But, ah, someone seems to have taken control of these bandits.”

“It’s pretty cool!” Harue said. “Some necromancer controlled a ghost, and then he had that ghost possess a person, and now he controls that person!”

“Bleaugh. Such a taint from a carrion spirit would surely spoil the taste.” Kana looked over at the remainder of the bandits, still cringing in the dirt. “These ones, however, will still be fine.”

“Let’s wait and hear what they have to say, first,” James said. “Which means someone who can talk to them, doing so.”

“Fine, fine,” Shugen said, breaking off his study of the possessed bandits. “I hate talking to uneducated people,” he muttered.

“Wait, wait,” Harue said quickly. “Check Shion first.”

Shugen glared at the fox-girl. “Check her for what?” he asked.

“You’ll see!” Harue said in a singsong voice.

Shugen grunted and stomped over to Shion. “Excuse the intrusion,” he said as he moved closer.

“Take a picture; it’ll last longer than your face,” Shion sneered.

“I’m not sure what that even means, but—” Shugen stopped and stared. He whirled around to look at Harue, who giggled. “What? What is going on?”

Harue just laughed louder.

“What is it?” James asked.

Shugen sighed and looked back at Shion. “The girl is… possessed.”

“No, I’m not,” Shion declared. “I was always like this.”

Harue laughed some more. “It was the arrows!” she burst out, unable to contain herself. “They weren’t just homing arrows; they were designed to release the ghost into whomever they hit!”

“But!” Shion objected. “I’m not possessed.”

“If I had to guess…” Shugen said with a shudder. “What functions does that meat shell of yours serve?”

“It makes me look pretty,” Shion said.

“It doesn’t move your limbs, or help you talk?”

“Nah, it’s inert. All the movement is done with my mechanical systems.”

“I see. Then, what has happened is that your meat shell has been possessed.”

“So, she’s possessed, but it has no effect?” James asked.

“Not no effect,” Suki said. “Shion-san, the wound on your neck has healed. Does it do that normally?”

“Huh?” Shion felt where the wound had been. “Um, yes and no. The techs back in the lab could make it grow and heal with electrodes and stuff, but I can’t do it in the field.”

“I suppose, then, that the ghost can trigger that mechanism. Good for you, Shion-san!”

“Yeah, whatever. Not like I need that stuff anyway.”

“Also,” Shugen said with a weary sigh. “Your outer shell is suffused with necromantic energy now.”

“What does that mean?” Shion asked.

Shugen thought about it. “Things that detect undead will register you as one. I can’t imagine that scenario working out well for anyone. Wards against undead… won’t stop you, but you may feel something. Pain or tingling or spontaneously catching fire.”

“Cool!”

“And…” Shugen added reluctantly. “You can punch ghosts, now.”

“Aw, sweet! That guy we’re going up against is a necrowhatsit, right? I bet he’s got some ghosts for me to punch!”

“Wait a minute,” James said. “Didn’t Amilie-san get hit with an arrow as well?”

“Yeah,” Arjun confirmed. “Not a serious hit but—wait. Are you saying she’s possessed as well?”

“Of course she is!” Harue laughed. “Why do you think she ran off like that?”

“What! But—she—” Arjun looked around frantically. “We’ve got to go after her!”

“Slow down!” Shugen shouted. “What are you going to do when you find her? Beat the ghost out of her?”

“I can do that!” Shion declared. “Wait. Can I do that?”

“No,” Shugen snapped. “Sort of. Probably not.”

“Can you break the possession, Shugen?” James asked.

Shugen frowned. “Not… easily,” he admitted, stroking his chin. “You really want a priest for this sort of thing. Or a priestess.”

“Why is everyone looking at me?” Harue asked.

“Aren’t you a priestess?” James replied.

“Well, sure, but I have a particular set of skills that aren’t really applicable here,” Harue claimed. “This is the sort of thing you want Midoriko for.”

“There’s never a dimension-hopping senpai around when you need one,” Mitsue said. “What can we do?”

Shugen glared up at Harue. “Can you channel divine energy, priestess?”

“That’s a very personal question, sorcerer,” Harue said coldly. “Asking a spirit where they get their sustenance from is very rude, bordering on hostile.”

“Why?” Suki asked.

“It implies that you seek to cut off the source,” Kana explained. “Dragons, obviously, don’t care: We dare you to try.”

“To overcome necromancy, divine energy is required,” Shugen said.  “I care not how rude the question is; can you supply it?”

“You already told us you have a contract with a god,” Suki pointed out.

“I probably shouldn’t have, but you were such baby rabbits back then. Okay, fine, yes. Just a spark, though.”

“Any amount is enough. A little goes a long way when it comes to the divine.” Shugen whirled around, his eyes darting everywhere. This dirt is no good. We need a flat surface that I can paint on.”

“We’ve got tarps; would they be big enough?” Arjun suggested. “But we need to start looking for Amilie.”

“That’s the wrong order!” Shugen insisted. “We need to test the ritual with these fools to have it ready for your companion. And we need to interrogate the prisoners to find out about where she went and what we will find there.”

Arjun looked blank. “Aren’t you the only one who can talk to them?”

Shugen froze, and his face twitched. “Then, I suppose we will have to ask—”

“I can get started on the circle if you can tell me what you need,” Suki said. “I can only do the basic outline, but it will save time while you interrogate the prisoners.”

Shugen hesitated for a moment more, then nodded. He gave Suki some instructions and then started barking questions at the prisoners.

Arjun helped Suki stretch out the tarpaulin, nailing it to the road with tent poles. Then he paced, watching Suki and Shugen work.

“I don’t like this,” he muttered. “We should be looking for her.”

“We know where she is, or at least where she will be,” Kana told him. “Shugen has already extracted a location, he is working on further details. We will probably need them to guide us.”

She frowned. “It is becoming increasingly likely that despite all my work and forbearance, I will not be able to eat any of them. I am dissapointed.”

“They are innocent, then?” Mitsue asked.

Kana clicked her tongue. “If their story is true, then they are innocent enough that most of you will object to their summary execution,” she admitted. She glanced at the tied up bandits struggling to get free. “And there is a certain amount of corroborating evidence.”

“What are they saying?” James asked.

“They all lived in a village not far from here,” Kana narrated. “Built on the outskirts of an ancient ruined castle. They used it for building materials, so it was mostly demolished, save for one tower. Then a necromancer came. He had a demon with him, and killed many of them.

Kana paused. “I don’t think Shugen believes these farmers can correctly identify a demon, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, it was strong and fast and they couldn’t stand against it. The necromancer raised some of the corpses as zombies, and some as ghosts to possess living villagers.

“He ordered them, under threat of death or possession, to fetch more bodies, both alive and dead from the next nearest village. They brought back two girls, and a few corpses, but the necromancer wasn’t satisfied. He sent them back with five arrows, enchanted to possess those struck.”

“Only one of which worked, but that fight could have gone very differently,” Mitsue said soberly. “Is there a reason that all the targets were women?”

“He is currently asking about defences and the demon, but I am sure he will get to that in time,” Kana said.

An uncomfortable silence fell as everyone considered why the necromancer would be targeting women.

“So we don’t get many necromancers in Japan,” Harue said, “But this is the classic necro ramp-up, right? Kill people, get corpses, kill more people?”

“I suppose,” Katarzyna said. “We run into necromancers from time to time, but I never have. You want one of the other orders for that. Holy Sepulchre or St Michael’s Lantern.”

“Tch, did we bring the wrong order with us? Can we switch you out with one of them?”

Arjun laughed. “I guarantee that you wouldn’t like working with a Lantern. They’d be exorcising you as soon as they saw you.”

“I’m still surprised you’re willing to work with Kana. Shouldn’t you be all gung-ho about killing her?”

“Well, you know, dragons are like people. Some of them you can work with. There’s been times when—”

“Sensei, I’ve finished the basic pattern.” Suki wasn’t trying to interrupt, but her voice drew everyone’s attention.

“Ah, good. Let’s see.” Shugen stomped over and took the brush from Suki. He started muttering to himself in a language that James had never heard and started working on the diagram with swift, sure strokes.

They all watched in silence as he walked around, filling in the circle with elaborate sigils. Finally, he stepped back and let a single drop of blood drip from his hand.

It was barely visible in the daylight, but the entire circle glowed crimson. Shugen inspected the result closely.

“No flaws,” he stated. “Get one of those thugs over here and put him in the circle. Fox, it’s your turn.”

Harue approached and looked at the circle dubiously. “I just have to feed it? Anywhere in particular?”

“Anywhere on the outer ring,” Shugen said impatiently.

Harue grimaced and sat near the circle in the lotus position, her tails spread out behind her. She started meditating. Or maybe she was praying, given the situation.

“Hurry up,” Shugen said, “I want to see if this works.”

“Don’t you know, Sensei?” Suki asked.

“I am a genius, but I’ve never done this before,” Shugen admitted. “If this fellow blows up, we’ve got four more tries.”

Harue ignored him, concentrating on what she was doing. She began to glow with a golden light, again almost invisible in the sunlight, but somehow clear to James’s vision. Her hair twitched forward, and she plucked a single glowing hair from it. Her glow faded, but the hair kept glowing, brighter than before.

Slowly and reverently, Harue brought the hair down on the circle, letting go at the last second to drop it on the glowing line.

The whole circle flared with golden light.