sageoftruth
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Sayuri the Outlandish Exorcist
Story 2: Nine-Tailed Trouble
(part 3)
Story 2: Nine-Tailed Trouble
(part 3)
Sayuri and Emily reconvened at the inn later in the evening. They shared a table and drinks when a man with a familiar and handsome face came by. “Hello ladies,” he said with his whimsical grin. He pushed between them and dropped down onto the bench. “Enjoying your lodgings? How goes the hunt?”
“So-so,” Emily replied.
“Very good,” Sayuri replied. “I think I’ve managed to identify our beast.”
Harold’s eyes lit up. “Ah, that’s great news. Well, don’t keep me in suspense. Out with it.”
Sayuri cleared her throat. “First of all, we heard it was a big furry beast on two legs, which narrowed down the possibilities somewhat. Then, while checking her tracks, I spotted two interesting things. First, her weight was always on her toes, much like a cat’s paws. Second, she was dragging nine tails behind her.” This information drew a gasp from Emily, but Sayuri ignored her. “…Which means our beast must be a Cat O’ Nine Tails. The feline way of walking, and the nine tails make that certain. Judging from the residue she left behind, she’s also very powerful. I’ll prepare accordingly.
Harold flashed a toothy grin and rapped on the table with his palm. “Very good, very good! This sounds like progress to me. Is there anything else?” Emily rubbed her chin, then looked up at him and shook her head. “Okay then. You two sleep well. I imagine you have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Actually, I have something,” Emily stated. “The more I hear about this beast, the more she reminds me of Fura.” Harold’s smile dropped from his face and he stared at Emily with concern. “She walked in front of me today and I noticed she walked with her heels up as well. And the nine tails could easily be the nine tassels she has strapped to her waist.”
Harold paused and scratched his head. After a moment of silence, he slapped his forehead and laughed. “Haha! You’re quite the character, Emily,” he said. “You had me scared for a second. Then again, there’s no way someone like Fura could be the beast. She’s been a close member of our society for years, and her inn’s been the main attraction of our village. Surely someone would have caught her red-handed by now if she was the one.” Harold got up from his seat. “Anyway, you two have clearly had a busy day, so you should get some rest. Take care ladies.” With a wave, he walked off.
Emily turned to Sayuri. “Well, he doesn’t believe me, but how about you?”
Sayuri leaned forward and rubbed her chin. “It sound reasonable… A Nine Tails of her maturity should know how to shapeshift, so being able to take a human form such as Fura’s should be possible and the tassels could actually be her tails.” Sayuri paused and squinted as her mind processed a handful of possibilities. “There’s just one thing that feels off about your idea.”
“What’s that?”
“You,” Sayuri replied. “When she approached us today, she showed an interest in you.”
Emily shuddered. “She sure did. She refused to tear her eyes away from me, and wouldn’t stop commenting on my body.”
“Hmm… A Cat O’ Nine Tails should not be able to attach its eyes to another person, but we can focus on that later. My point is, as an exorcist, my spirit is much richer than yours, so she should have taken an interest in me rather than you.”
Emily smirked. “You’re sure this isn’t just jealousy I hear? Maybe her attraction to me had nothing to do with my spirit.”
Sayuri giggled. “No, this is not about jealously. Tell me, Emily. When you meet a man for the first time, what is the first thing you notice about him?”
“His appearance of course.”
Sayuri nodded. “Right. For a magical beast, our spiritual essence is the first thing they notice, and by far the hardest thing for them to ignore. Between the two of us, any being of a magical or spiritual nature would be drawn to me before you.”
“What about back at the lake?” Emily asked. “When we had our first little ordeal over there, I was the one who got possessed, not you.”
Sayuri nodded, but the confidence in her eyes had not wavered. “The lake spirit had already tried to break my will and possess me but could not. As we were escaping the lake, the spirit had no choice but to settle for the easier prey, you. Otherwise, we both would have made it out before it could possess either of us.”
Emily shrugged and giggled to herself. “So, it chose me because I was ‘easy’? That’s reassuring. Still, I get your point. So, what should we do then?”
“It would be irresponsible to assume Fura is the beast based on this evidence, but it would also be irresponsible to rule her out as a suspect. I suggest we stay secret about her being a suspect, and carefully prod her for more information.”
Emily nodded and grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get some rest then.”
* * *
The following morning, Sayuri and Emily returned to the bar and sure enough, Fura had arrived on stage for another dance. Emily waved her over and once again, she table-hopped over and landed in a crouch atop their table, before she folded her tanned legs to her side and tucked her feet behind her. She rested atop the table like a mermaid atop a rock and stared down at Emily with piercing hazel eyes. “Did you miss me?”
Emily looked past her and received the nod to go ahead from Sayuri. “Well, yes,” she replied, turning back to Fura. “Your dance was great as usual. It’s good to see you again.”
“Oh, is that so?” Fura brushed a strand of her dark hair away from her cheek and stared directly into Emily’s eyes. “You were awfully cold to me yesterday. I thought I’d seen the last of you.”
Once again, her directness caught Emily off guard. She took a deep breath and tried to focus. “Of course not,” she dismissed. “I… I was just a bit overwhelmed, that’s all.” It wasn’t exactly untrue, except when she said “a bit”. Smiling, she placed a freckled hand on Fura’s forearm. The warmth from Fura’s arm made her palm sweaty, but she did not pull away. She leaned forward and forced a smile. “…but you were so kind in agreeing to make me a new dress. I realized I’d been very ungrateful. I hope…” Emily paused, and did her best to keep a straight face. “I hope… we can get to know each other a bit better.”
Fura’s coy grin deepened upon hearing that. “Oh, do you? Well, I know the perfect place. It’s nice and private, in the woods.” Emily saw a flicker in Fura’s eyes. They appeared to change color and shape if only for a moment. She resisted the urge to back away as Fura reached forward and toyed with a strand of her red hair with a finger. “No one will find us there. We can be together as long as we wish.”
Emily’s heart raced and massive warning lights went off in her head. “I appreciate your…enthusiasm,” she said, putting up her hands and pushing her chair back an inch. “However, I’d like to slow things down a bit first.”
Fura sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “If that is your wish. Sometimes I forget how uptight your kind can be.”
Bingo! Emily thought as she leaned in. “My kind?”
Fura’s body tensed up and a look of shock flashed across her face. Just as quickly, it was gone and her confident smile had returned. “Oh, well it should be obvious, no? I’m sure you can tell that these aren’t the clothes and skin color of a Finis-born citizen. The people are much freer with their affections back where I come from.”
“Oh, are they?” Emily did her best to hide her disappointment. Fura’s momentary distress had not gone unnoticed, but it could just as easily have been awareness of a social faux pas. Regaining her confidence, Emily shifted her chair forward and leaned in, focusing her gaze on Fura’s eyes and trying her hardest to feign interest. “That’s uh… pretty neat. Tell me more about where you come from.”
“Oh, that place?” Fura rested her head on one hand and rubbed her foot against her other leg as she thought. “It’s been a long time since then. It was somewhere to the south of here… there was lots of sand…” She paused and her eyes widened. “There was…” A shudder rippled through her statuesque body.
“Is something wrong?” Emily asked.
In a sudden blur, Fura wheeled around and swatted Sayuri’s hand. Yelping, Sayuri dropped the tassels hanging from Fura’s waist. “DON’T TOUCH THOSE!” Fura snapped with a fierce glower. Carefully she checked each of her tassels and sighed with relief.
“I’m sorry,” Sayuri said in a calm voice as she rubbed her wrist. “The fabric on those tassels was so impressive, I had to feel it for myself. It was smooth, and yet as sturdy as a cat’s tail.”
“And that is exactly why they’re not for touching,” Fura said, outwardly unfazed by Sayuri’s cat comparison. “Fabric of this quality can only come from my homeland, so I don’t want to risk ruining it.” She smoothed out her tassels and then turned back to Emily. “Sorry about that. This outfit is everything to me.”
Confident that Sayuri had learned her lesson, Fura rolled onto her stomach and supported her head with one hand. She eyed Emily with a mischievous smile and pointed towards her with a long bejeweled finger. “So, you still need to tell me about yourself. It’s only fair after all.”
“Oh gee. Where to begin,” Emily began.
Fura giggled, visibly amused by Emily’s discomfort. “That’s so cute. Are you shy about your past?”
Emily was not shy, she was merely waiting. Then it came. A startled gasp from Fura, then a giggle. “Is something wrong?” Emily asked feigning confusion. Sure enough, just ahead, Sayuri knelt atop Fura’s ankles and tickled both of her tanned soles with her fingers. She traced two fingers up and down the center of Fura’s arch with ease as if Fura’s soles were made of nylon. Meanwhile, her other hand plunged into the undersides of Fura’s large, red-polished toes and stroked away at the most sensitive, hard-to-reach areas.
Fura clutched the edges of the table. “Whahahaht’re you doing!? Hahahahaha!” In a fit of anger, she kicked her legs, sweeping Sayuri into the air, but as soon as her legs returned to the table, Sayuri still knelt atop them. All heads in the bar turned to face them and no one touched their drinks. Women watched with barely stifled giggles while men stared slack-jawed. Emily could hardly blame them. On-stage, Fura had projected power and staggering sexual confidence, but as she lay here, thrashing in hysteria on the table her laughter sounded like a weak plea.
“Sayuri, leave her be!” Emily ordered if only to stay in character. As expected, Sayuri did not budge as she made the two large feet dance for her.
Fura pulled in one leg, planted her foot on Sayuri’s back and shoved her off. Almost immediately, she bounded off the table and landed on the floor, arms out by her sides. As she raised herself from her crouch, and fingers curled and uncurled, strangling imaginary prey.
Emily watched her with unease. Maybe Sayuri had truly gotten Fura to cast off her human disguise, or just made her dangerously livid, but all this progress would amount to nothing if Sayuri did not survive it.
Fura stared down at Sayuri with a look that could melt ice. This was no time for wondering about possibilities. Emily hurried up to her and placed her hand on Fura’s arm. “Fura! Are you okay?” she asked. “Look, I’m sorry about Sayuri. She just tends to act without thinking sometimes.”
Fura turned her head. “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me… darling.” It was the hardest “darling” she’d heard Fura utter. “I’m sorry about my display.”
“Don’t worry about it. The fact that you’ve got a vulnerable, ticklish side to you is actually pretty cute.”
“Oh, thanks.” Fura stared ahead, meeting no one’s gaze. Emily could not tell if “cute” and “vulnerable” were words Fura liked being associated with, but judging from her vacant expression, she was probably trying to figure that out as well.
Sayuri got up from the floor and dusted herself off. “It was a joy to meet you again, Fura,” she said with a bow. “I hope we meet again.”
Fura turned to her. “Don’t you worry. I’m sure we’ll meet again.” Her friendly, flirtatious tone had returned, but her eyes harbored a predatory gaze that promised anything but tea, hugs, and girl talk in their next encounter.
Emily grabbed Sayuri by the arm. “Come on, Sayuri, let’s go.” She turned back to Fura one last time. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she understands what she did today.”
Together they left the bar in a hurry and returned to their room. After leaving their sandals by the door, the two of them collapsed on opposite sides of their shared bed. “Phew! Can I breathe again?” Emily asked.
Sayuri wiped down her cloak with her hands. “It’s wasn’t that bad was it?”
Emily paused to catch a few breaths she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Even though we planned this, I still can’t believe you actually went through with it and tickled her. I’d figured it would be a quick tickle to see how she reacted, but you just went all-in, and before you ask, yes that was another expression.”
Sayuri grinned. “I could not help it. She was a fun one to tickle. That aside, she could not look more suspicious at this point.”
“But not enough to confirm it,” Emily sighed as she stared at the ceiling. “She covers her tracks well. She had a convincing story explaining every odd thing she did. I hope this wasn’t all a waste of time, because it’ll take more than a basket of flowers to get her to forgive you after this stunt.”
Sayuri nodded. “Fura could be nothing more than a very convincing false lead. Her interest in you over me, still has me puzzled. Still…” She reached to her side, grasping Emily’s hand and then looked at her with confidence. “Still, if she is the beast we will know very soon.”
Emily idly reached for her quill. The look on Sayuri’s face was just what she’d been searching for. The look of a person who faced danger with confidence. The look of a hero. She fumbled blindly, and eventually gave up. After the shock of the morning, she badly needed to rest.
* * *
They awoke three hours later, when there was a knock on their door. Emily yawned and rolled out of bed. She made her way to the door, enjoying the feel of the fur rug beneath her feet. After undoing the latch, she moved the door open.
Harold awaited her on the other side. Emily hardly recognized him at first. His usual mirthful expression was absent. His hands were tightly clasped together and his eyes shifted about. “Oh, there you are! Thank the spirits!”
“Is everything all right?” Emily asked.
“Hardly! My poor girl Mary has gone missing! I’ve been asking everyone in town, but no one has seen her for the past hour. Please tell me you know something.”
“Ah, it begins,” Sayuri commented as she approached the door. “This must be the work of the beast.”
Harold’s face went white, nearly matching Sayuri’s complexion. “Impossible.” His voice was barely a squeak. “No! She must be all right.”
“Hold your tongue!” Emily hissed at Sayuri. “The poor man is scared enough already!”
“How will thith make him theel better?” Sayuri asked as the pinched her tongue between her thumb and forefinger.
Emily ignored her. “Harold, don’t worry. We are close to tracking the beast. I’m sure your daughter is okay.”
“Oh, thee’s fine,” Sayuri butted in. “Thith beatht ith thar thoo clether to conthume her enthirely.”
Harold’s breath caught in his throat. Emily cuffed Sayuri behind her ear. “Just keep quiet for now!” She turned back to Harold with a nodded apology. “Don’t worry Harold. Sayuri has unusual methods, but she knows how to deal with creatures like this. For now, you’ll just need to have faith in us.”
Harold held his gaze for a moment longer, before his chest deflated and he hung his head. “What choice do I have? Please get my girl back!” It hurt Emily to see a man of action like him in this sorry state.
“We will,” Sayuri said, releasing her tongue. “If you wish to help, come see us in an hour.” She pulled a list of items from her robe and handed it to him. “Bring these with you when you come. We’ll be waiting by the bar.” Harold looked up and nodded before walking off.
Emily watched as he left. “Please tell me you actually do have a plan. If we end up disappointing him I’ll probably never forgive you.”
Sayuri flashed a confident grin. “So far everything’s gone as expected. You needn’t worry.”
Her calmness shocked Emily. “You mean Harold’s daughter getting kidnapped was part of your plan? How could you?”
Sayuri shook her head. “I suspected Fura would act out, nothing more. We may not have exposed her, but we let her know that her cover as Fura the innkeeper would not last. Also, my tickle attack must have left her in a very vulnerable state.”
“From a tickle attack?” Emily scoffed. “I understand why she might be upset about that, but anyone can walk off something like that.”
“But she is not just anyone,” Sayuri corrected. “She is a magical beast. Remember what I said about them and spirit energy?”
“You mean that they can drain it from us when we’re vulnerable?”
Sayuri nodded. “The truth is, it goes both ways. When vulnerable, a magical beast can lose its own spiritual energy.”
Emily put her hand to her mouth. “By tickling her, you made her lose her daily meal? By the Father! She must really hate you then.”
Sayuri nodded. “And now that we have her cornered, it is time to strike.”
* * *
Emily and Sayuri sat on a bench just outside the inn. Villagers pushing wagons of furs, wood, and plants passed by them, and drunk friends wandered out of the bar chatting with loud voices. As expected, Fura was nowhere to be found. Eventually the sound of boots scraping on the grass and deep huffing caught their attention. Harold ran up to them with a large paper bag in his arms. “Thank goodness!” he sighed. “You’re here as promised, and as promised, here are the goods you requested, although I have no idea what you plan to do with them. Jars of water… balls of yearn… catnip!? Are we hunting a beast of did you just want gifts for your cat?”
“You will see soon,” Sayuri said. “While we were waiting, I noticed that our quarry has left a trail of magical residue, leading out of the inn.”
Emily and Harold stared at the ground. “All I see is grass,” Emily said.
Sayuri paused the laughed to herself. “Of course. How could I expect you to see it without training? Anyway, the beast went this way.” Sayuri led while Emily and Harold followed close behind.
Before long, they had left the bright open familiarity of Enywey and entered the darker, thicker, and less comfortable forest. Hector puffed out his chest and tried to put on a brave face, while Emily turned her head at every rustle of leaves and snap of twigs. They were in the beast’s territory now and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d be hearing that gutturally sweet voice again soon.
Meanwhile, Sayui kept her gaze on the ground in front of her only occasionally stopping when low-hanging tree branches smacked her in the face. It unsettled Emily. Was Sayuri truly this oblivious to the danger they were in, or was it she who was oblivious to their situation as she jumped needlessly at noises and shadows?
The further in they went, the slower Sayuri began to walk, and the lower she got to the ground. Bit by bit, she went from bending, to stooping, to hunching, until she was crawling on all fours, white robe and red skirt dragging along the dirt, with her eyes inches from the ground. “Is everything ok?” Emily asked.
Sayuri looked up and shook her head. “It looks like I may have underestimated our beast. The residue is becoming increasingly scarce. I think she’s begun masking it. I didn’t think a half-starved beast would have the clarity of mind to do something like this. If this keeps up, we won’t be able to track her.
“Hey! What are you three doing here?” someone asked. Up in the distance was a very thick chest covered in checkered fabric.
As it approached, Emily spotted a familiar set of very beefy arms. “Jacob? I should be asking you the same? You don’t look like you are here to cut trees.” Jacob shook his head. On his face he bore an expression much like Harold’s had been at the inn. “Is something wrong?”
Jacob nodded. “It’s Fiona. She’s gone missing. No one in town’s seen her. She said she was going to the woods with Fura to get some dyes for dressmaking, but…”
Emily and Sayuri shared the same troubled look. “It’s okay,” Emily said. “We can guess the rest. The same thing happened to Harold’s daughter.”
Jacob nodded grimly. “Well, when I last saw them, they’d headed off in this direction from town. I was hoping I’d see something useful.”
“Well, we were tracking the beast, but her trail has almost completely faded, so we seem to be out of luck.”
“We could try tracking them the classic way,” Harold offered. “What was Fiona wearing when she left?”
Jacob stared skyward. “If I remember right, a light blue dress, and a pair of wooden clogs.”
“Got it! And she’s a rather portly woman, so…”
“Hey! She looks fine just the way she is thank you very much!” Jacob argued.
“Yeah, yeah.” Harold ignored him and studied the ground. “Well, we’ve got a bunch of flat disturbed patches of grass down here, and deep ones too, so I think we’ve found Fiona.”
“Now, I know she’s not the thinnest woman in town, but if you say one more thing about my woman’s weight…” Jacob began.
“…and to the left of them, we have some more shapely, imprints, with toe marks. Either Fiona’s found herself a priestess of the grove, or we’ve found Fura.” He looked up from the tracks and eyed Jacob, awaiting his approval.
Sighing, Jacob gave up. “Okay, then. I’ll let it slide this time. Nice work.”
Harold scratched his head. “But I thought we were following the beast. Don’t tell me you were serious when you said Fura’s…”
“Give it a rest for now,” Emily said with a rare instance of authority in her tone. “We have a daughter and a bride to rescue.”
Hector relented. “Okay then. Everyone stay behind me. These tracks have to lead somewhere eventually.”
* * *
As the four of them followed the trail, Harold stopped suddenly. “What the devil? Fiona’s tracks just vanished. They stop right here.”
Sayuri stared down at the ground where Harold pointed. “Perhaps this was where she was kidnapped?”
“Eh, I’m not sure. I don’t see any signs of a struggle. Her footsteps just cut off, while Fura’s continue.” He paused, then his feet suddenly started carrying him forward. “What the heck!?”
“What is it?” Emily asked.
“Fura’s tracks. They’re getting bigger, and deeper.”
Sayuri nodded. “It appears we’ve found our beast.” In the distance, they heard a faint cry. Harold gasped. “Mary!”
Before he could move, Sayuri reached out and grabbed him by the sleeve. “Stay where you are!” she ordered.
“My baby’s in trouble! Let me go!” Hector continued forward. Sayuri held on with both hands, but could not hold her ground.
“We need to prepare. We can’t rush into this!”
“Watch me!”
Emily stepped in front of him and blocked his path. “Listen to her, Harold!” she insisted. He raised his hand to push her aside, but when she refused to move out of his way, he sighed and lowered his hand, to her relief. As Mary’s distressed voice continued to echo through the trees she could imagine the turmoil Harold was feeling. She looked at him with pity. “Harold, I know how you must feel right now, but Sayuri understands the situation better than any of us right now. The best thing we can do is put our trust in her.”
He lowered his head and sat against a nearby tree. “Yeah, I guess so. So, what do we do now?”
All eyes turned to Sayuri. “This area shall be where we trap the beast. She is too powerful to subdue with charms or symbols, so we must turn this area into a shrine and lure her here. It’s open enough to be a decent battle ground.”
Harold was incredulous. “A shrine? I’m a hunter, not a carpenter.”
“And I just chop down trees,” Jacob added. “I can’t build a shrine.”
“Worry not,” Sayuri reassured. “If we clear away all of the foliage, some markings in the dirt should be all that we need for our shrine. Help me clear the area and then I’ll draw the markings.”
“Please, can we at least make sure that my daughter is okay?” Harold asked.
“Yeah, and my darling Fiona.”
Sayuri shook her head. “If we do that, then this will take longer.”
“I cannot leave her like this!” Harold complained. Sayuri refused to budge on the matter.
“Sayuri,” Emily offered. “Let me go check on them. If we need to do anything, I’ll come back and let you all know.” She could hardly believe she was saying this. She was no exorcist, or hunter. Still, it beat looking at Harold’s tortured expression any longer.
Sayuri appeared to share her reluctance, but she relented. “Very well then. We’ll have a change of plans.” She reached into the bag Harold had brought and handed her a ball of yarn. “Take this with you and make a trail leading to the beast’s lair. If anything happens, hurry back here!”
Emily was taken aback by the seriousness in her gaze. The often clumsy and naively inquisitive Sayuri was in her element. “You can count on me,” Emily asserted. She grabbed the ball of yarn, and headed off after the voice in the distance.
As the safety of the group faded behind her, she began to wonder what she would find up ahead. Would she have to venture into a cave? Would there be minions? Would there be traps? This was a private lair after all. Was someone like her capable of handling this on her own?
Emily pressed her fingers to her temples and shook her head. “Keep it together Emily,” she murmured to herself. “You’re only going to observe. There’s no need for heroics. You’ll be fine.” The cries in the distance caused her legs to tremble. However, as she drew nearer and the voice became less muffled by distance, it was not screaming she heard. It was laughter.
Curiosity overcame fear and Emily found herself running towards the sound, wondering if she would find Mary hanging by her feet from a tree. She saw a clearing ahead and ducked behind a bush.
Up ahead, Mary and Fiona sat upon a pair of flat rocks with their legs extended out in front of them. A massive log, secured to the ground with two massive stone stakes had been utilized as a set of makeshift stocks for their feet, while their arms had been bound over their heads by vines from a nearby tree.
In front of Mary stood the beast. Emily barely suppressed a gasp as she beheld the creature. It was hard to believe this was Fura. Her alluring tanned skin was barely visible beneath the thick coat of orange fur that lined her entire body. Two angular cat ears peeked out from under her dark hair, and the nine tassels that had dangled from her waist were now nine long serpentine cat tails that each seemed to move independently from the others. Large plumes of brown animal hair decorated the tips of each tail. Four of them had slipped through the sleeves of Mary’s humble blue dress and had her writhing and laughing nonstop. Emily could imagine how much that had to tickle.
Fiona looked on with discomfort as Mary shrieked and howled with high-pitched laughter, shaking her almond hair back and forth across her face. “Plehehease nohohohoho more! My job wasn’t supposed to be like this! Nahahahahahahooo!”
Fura tapped her beastly toes against the ground in irritation. “Come on! Don’t keep a girl waiting, dear. Stop resisting me!” She knelt down and tickled Mary’s feet with the claws that lined her paws. Emily winced as she watched Harold’s daughter shriek, but Fura did not look satisfied.
“AhahahahaI’m not resisting! I swhehehehehear!” Mary insisted.
Fura growled. “No! This can’t be all you’ve got! You’re the village chief’s daughter. You must have richer spirit than this!” The silk and gravel sound of Fura’s voice, made Emily’s feet tingle as she recalled the incident in the tree. “More! Give me more of it!” Fura demanded.
Fiona turned towards Fura with quivering lips, but also a feeble sense of purpose in her eyes. “P…please, beast, you’ve been tickling her senseless for the past five minutes! No one can be that tough. Give her a break.” Fura pulled back her tails and stepped away from Mary, who hung in place, gasping for breath.
Fiona froze as Fura turned towards her. “Did you just talk out of turn? That sounds like defiance to me. Don’t be like that okay?”
“I… I didn’t mean nothing by it… I just…”
“Ah ah,” Fura chided waggling a finger. “What did I say about talking out of turn?” Before Fiona could reply, Fura used her index fingers to tickle both of Fiona’s wide-soled feet at once.
Fiona gritted her teeth, but it only lasted a second or two before she was reduced to nonstop giggling. Fura grinned. “Such a sweet giggle. You were always so outspoken back in town, but this is adorable.” Fiona tried to respond, but Fura beat her to the punch and raked all ten of her pointy nails across both feet, sending Fiona into immediate spasms of startled laughter. “There you go talking out of turn again, sweetie. You should save that mouth for laughing.” Fiona shook her head and the log around her ankles rocked in place from her thrashing.
Fura furrowed her brows. “I want more! You’re the most strong-willed lady in Enywey! You must have spirit that’s worth consuming!” Her tails darted beneath Fiona’s skirt and stroked her beneath her knees, and soon Fiona was going red in the face, but the harder she laughed, the more agitated Fura became. “No!” she roared. “This can’t be all you have to offer!” She broke off her assault on Fiona, clutched her head between her hands and cried to the sky. “Why?! Why am I not satisfied?” She paced back and forth like a restless caged lioness. “Urgh! Ever since THOSE two came along…”
Emily felt something soften within her and before she knew it she was standing out in the open with all eyes on her. Fura did a double take upon Emily’s appearance, but regained her composure and turned to face her. “My my. I never expected to see you here. Was that first time in the tree not enough for you? If those cute feet of yours would like another round with my fingers, I can certainly accommodate them.”
Fura stood more than a full head taller than Emily, and her inhuman appearance made Emily feel short of breath. However, Emily held her ground. Even as a human, saying that Fura made Emily uncomfortable would have been a massive understatement, but knowing that this terrifying beast was actually a woman who ran an inn and made people dresses for free gave her a sympathetic element that spurred Emily forward. “You can drop the beast act. I know that you’re Fura,” she said.
Fura grimaced upon hearing this. Then she laughed. “I see. The secret is out then. I guess we can skip the foreplay then and go straight for the fun. However, first you should know that you are wrong. I am not Fura.” This time Emily recoiled. She had to be bluffing. “No,” Fura continued. “I am not Fura.” She stared intently at Emily and grinned, exposing many serrated teeth. “Fura… is me. I survived as long as I have by feeding on the spirit of humans. Playing the role of the charming innkeeper was the perfect cover to get me nice and close to several humans with their juicy spirit.”
Emily refused to believe it. Even if Fura was a magical beast, the woman she’d met at the inn had to be more than a simple alibi. Regardless, she found her hand clutching her pendant of the Holy Father for comfort. The beast sauntered over to her, crushing grass and flowers beneath her clawed feet. “You and that damn easterner have caused lots of trouble for me. Such rich, and delectable spirits, unlike anything I’d ever consumed before.” She gazed upon Emily with a savage hunger in her eyes. “I won’t be satisfied until I’ve made you mine.” Emily tried to run, but her legs refused to move as Fura strode up to her.
She looked down at the ball of yarn in her hand. Could this work? It certainly didn’t hurt to find out. “Catch!” she shouted. Gripping the ball of intertwined threads tightly, she leaned back and tossed it over Fura’s head, leaving a trail of thread in its wake. Without thinking, Fura bounded after it. Emily felt her legs free up again and bolted back the way she’d come.
Her heart raced as she ran as fast as her feet could carry her. She had no doubt that Fura could outrun her, and prayed that she’d given herself enough of a head-start. She stumbled on a nearby root and her sandal flew from her foot. There was no time to look for it. She ran faster without them anyway. She kicked off her other sandal and raced along the yarn trail in her bare feet.
Twigs tore at her skirt and her sleeves, and her stomach throbbed from her frantic sprint, but as soon as she heard Fura tearing up the ground behind her, she forced herself to run faster. She saw the light from Sayuri’s designated shrine area up ahead and prepared her tired body for one final push.
The light up ahead was little more than a fist-sized ball when suddenly a heavy weight dropped on top of her. Emily’s knees buckled under her and she dropped onto her belly. She forced herself back onto her knees, but a large foot planted itself onto her back and pressed her back onto the ground.
“Trying to make a fool of me, darling?” Fura cooed in her terrifying voice. “Don’t worry. You can make it up to me with that succulent spirit of yours.”
Emily’s arms shook, as she struggled to keep her mind as calm as possible. Remain defiant! Remain defiant! she told herself. She cannot drain you if you refuse to submit. That couldn’t be too hard could it?
“You’ll n…never get my spirit, Fura! I w…won’t allow it!” She prayed that this pitiful display counted as defiance. Sayuri had never gone into detail about it with her.
Fura chuckled. “That’s adorable. You really have no idea what you’re up against do you?” Emily whimpered as Fura ran a clawed finger over her trapped foot. Fura giggled as she watched Emily squirm. “I could do this for days, but you’ve kept me waiting long enough.”
Emily felt something very hairy press against the trembling arches of each of her feet. She felt it spread across the undersides of the balls of her high-arched feet, and spill over the sides. From a distance, Fura’s tails had looked like a ticklish person’s worst nightmare, but experiencing it firsthand was much worse.
Fura pulled no punches. Two more tail tips pressed into the spaces just under her toes. Massive warning lights fired off in her neve ending as all ten of her toes were completely engulfed in tickly hair. She was not ready for this in the slightest.
All thoughts of defiance quickly dissolved into mush along with anything else she was thinking. “EEEEEAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” she laughed. Wildly squirming on the ground, her getting free and escaping these wretched woods were her only concerns. She wanted out. Anything to free her feet from this torture.
“Yes! This is it!” Fura exclaimed, purring to herself. “I should have kidnapped you from the start. You have no idea what you’ve just started, darling, but it will be beautiful.
“Hey, catch!” someone shouted. Fura turned her head and dodged to the side just in time to avoid getting splashed with water. Carefully she checked her fur to make sure not of it had been dampened then glowered at her assailant, Sayuri.
Emily wasted no time scrambling to safety. “Thank the Father!” she said. “Touching feet with those things could be a crime.”
Sayuri nodded without taking her eyes away from Fura. “Hello again, Fura,” she said with a smile. “I imagine you have some very strong feelings about me.”
Fura grinned, but she stared at Sayuri with poison in her eyes. “You sure know how to make an understatement. After we’re finished, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life regretting that you ever crossed me, and I shall enjoy every second of it.”
Sayuri shrugged. “In that case, catch!” She tossed another ball of yarn and like clockwork, Fura shifted all her attention towards it before realizing she’d been tricked again. Emily and Sayuri did not bother looking to see if they were being followed. Together, they sprinted back to their meeting point where Harold and Jacob awaited them. Emily felt a mountain of tension slide off her shoulders as she returned to them.
“Emily! You made it back!” Harold exclaimed. “Is everything all right?”
“The beast will be here soon,” Emily replied. “Fiona and your daughter are trapped over by the beast’s lair. Follow the yarn. Now is your chance to save them.”
Harold pumped his fist, ready for a “Hurrah!”, but decided it was too soon for that. “Are you sure this is all right? Shouldn’t we help you deal with the beast?”
Emily walked up to him and took his hands in her own. Holding his strong hands like this made her feel like collapsing into his arms, but she knew this was probably the closest thing to actual romance that the two of them would ever share. “I’ll be fine,” she said doing her best to sound confident. “Your daughter is waiting for you. She needs you.”
Harold responded with the most sincere smile she’d ever received from him. He then startled her by pulling her into his arms. She felt the warmth from his chest against her cheek and a part of her wanted to let herself sink into it. “Thank you very much, for everything,” he said.
Just over his shoulder, Emily saw Fura approach Sayuri. “The beast is here. You should get going!” He nodded and slowly backed away before turning and running off towards the lair.
Meanwhile, Sayuri stood her ground in the center of the makeshift shrine and watched Fura approach. She angled her head slightly to speak to Emily. “You have done all you can, Emily. This is a job for exorcists. You should run back to the village.”
Emily considered it, but the thought of running away just didn’t resonate with her. “Run away? And miss out on a chance to see a real battle between an exorcist and a magical beast? Forget it!” A part of her wanted to scream at herself for this, but she felt safe enough as long as she remained far away from the action.
Sayuri smiled back at her. “Very well then. Just stay back. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Emily stood beside a nearby bush and watched as Sayuri squared off against Fura. An exorcist vs a magical beast. It sounded like something from one of the old stories she used to write. However, this story had no brawny men with longswords, armor, or even an ounce of fighting ability. Just a petite young woman, armed with nothing but cat products, a few spirit-related spells, and a keen understanding of her opponent.
There was still much she didn’t know about Sayuri’s methods of exorcism, but as she looked at the scenario in front of her, she could not for the life of her conceive how Sayuri could come out on top. Her head of long dark hair barely reached above Fura’s chest. Fura had her outclassed in size, speed, strength and agility. If Sayuri had some plan for winning against such odds, Emily had to see it unfold.