The desert of the real...

[The Cinderella Man]

((Closed to Reiko. All bunnies in this quest are approved by both parties.))

“That’s what I get for playing a hero...”

The boat sailed through the humdrum landscape at an agonizingly slow pace, shimmying left, right, left, right, like a carousel ride gone wrong. To the left stood the yellowish wasteland of Fallien, a scorched realm of chafing sand and irksome dry heat that used the sun as the amplifier, tapping onto your head like a leech and purging all your energy effortlessly. To starboard side of the Arenal was the same disconcerting sight, sans the yellow color and instead painted by a deep blue shade. The ocean was endless, relentless, spreading the salty scent through the air despite the lack of prominent wind. The blazing orb above was unforgiving, heating up the air to the point where every breath was an effort worth mentioning.

The crew of the Arenal seemed to be dealing with the temperature remarkably well though. The bronze-skinned Fallien folk walked and climbed the masts and did all the tasks that enabled smooth sailing without any problems whatsoever. They were like a well greased engine and all the cogs were fitting perfectly. It made Victor wonder how their bodies solved the coolant problem and the disconcerting feeling deep inside the gut that kept standing between regurgitation and status quo ever since the ship left the coastal town of Kithdir.

Truth was, Victor wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for the ships. A little while ago he was a crewmember on a ship called Dedalus that got robbed by a band of pirates. By sheer luck the prizefighter managed to survive the ever-infamous walk down the plank and after a good swim he found himself on an island. Of course, since trouble never came alone, the town wound up being attacked by a group of bewildered men led by a warrior driven insane by a magical sword. Now that Victor looked back at it, it seemed like one of the tales you always hear about, but never believe in. But it happened, and it had peculiar consequences.

In the midst of the turmoil and the fires and the spilled blood, a strange woman named Doji saved his life. She and her daughter were uncanny figures, gifted by a feline gene or two that turned them into a pair of foxy females. Literary. So at the end of the day, when the flames were extinguished and the attackers were defeated, Victor wound up with a debt as big as a house that kept prodding at his morals, insisting that he pay it back. And since a life debt could only be repaid by a similar action and there were no perils at that very moment from which he could save Doji or her daughter Inari, he offered his services to the two until they settle the score. The reiko couple accepted, saying that they had to go on some ludicrous mission to subdue the sword that stood at the root of the attack on the small town, and off they went, to the one place that could break the will of the dark sword. Fallien.

Victor stood slanted on the fence surrounding the main deck like a punched out fighter. Even though he didn’t throw up yet since they left Kithdir, he felt that the lunch he had earlier that day was more keen on going north then south, so he played it safe, sticking to the edge of the vessel. Corone to Irakkam, Irakkam to Kithdir, and now Kithdir to the Ruins of Katahkir... It was starting to be too much for a man whole longest naval journey before this one was the ferry from Scara Brae to Corone. The heat wasn’t helping either. He was in a sleeveless shirt made out of white linen and a pair of light brown pants and still he felt like the polished deck was a frying pan and an invisible hand kept shaking the surface so he wouldn’t stick to it.

But it was all for a good cause. Doji seemed like a strong woman that knew how to take care of herself and her daughter, but it was always good to have some cannon fodder as well. So he straightened up his posture a little bit, his squinted eyes trying to notice some deviation in the dour environment that passed by them at snail pace. They failed to find any.

[Reiko]

You think to bury me in the desert like a bitch with a bone!

Kit hated that voice that would pop in her mind; there were no kind words in the dark sword for the fox girl mother and sometimes the blade would have the timing to have its dark voice disturb Kit’s sleep or interrupt what she was doing but in this case it woke her up. Kit had used her will to sleep though the Onitahci’s voice and she had a nightmare that had her rolling around and screaming in her sleep, even rolled over and woke up her daughter as she brought them down on the floor with a few bruises.

I know better to try something like that. Just shut up. Kit commanded as she left the sword under the bed while Inari slept above and Kit thanked the gods that her child didn’t face the disturbing dreams and words of the cursed sword. But if the shaman she met was wrong and Fallien wasn’t the place to purify the sword then who knows what she would do. If Kit got rid of it then maybe the blade could get a worse host than the last and one that could not or would not resist.

The room was cool and dark, the perfect sanctuary from the heat of the desert sun but the darkness made it difficult to see yet Kit went out the door into the dark hallway, while making sure the door was locked so no one would come for the sword then she went above deck.

Kit felt like she walked into an oven meant to cook the fox slowly for an ogre that liked tender meat. Not pleasant at all and especially her tails with their dark red fur seemed to be cooking faster. The vixen looked about to see Victor at the railing and looking at the monotonous landscape. She felt sorry and thankful to the man who ha decided to help Kit with her burden even though she didn’t agree with the reason he must.

“You know we don’t have to stay up here.” Kadenzaa walked up to the man while swishing her tails happily to see her new partner doing so well, except for the heat. “I had a little adventure in the desert a while back. You learn to do everything at night when it’s cool and it can really be a pretty sight in the moonlight. But during the day it’s just painful.”

The vixen took a spot next to the boxer and looked over the desert and sea. It was so bright with the way the sun came off the dunes and to tell the truth it stung a little. “I guess I should thank you again for coming. I don’t know if me and my daughter could cope with that sword if we were alone.”

[The Cinderella Man]

During the moments of solitude, when the world around him seemed oblivious to his existence, his thoughts always fled back to her. The reality would crumble like an old parchment, yielding to the rush of memories and images that always led to his Delilah. She was always his, the hue of her eyes could always be read in the fragment of the sky above, the lock of her hair an uncanny dune on the horizon. And he would stroll through this summoned forest of images like a lost child, touching every single one of them in search for that one single sliver of warmth that lingered in the multitude of icy shards that prodded at the open wound on his heart. And he would hold on to the touch he never felt, the kiss he never received... the love he never experienced. She was always his. Always and never.

Subtle, soft footsteps at his side snatched him from the painful recollection of his lost love, saving him from sinking further into the pit he always so readily dug for himself. The mulling usually took him on a joyride that ended up with blaming the gods, the world, the people, the bitch of a Destiny, but Doji’s appearance on the main deck prevented him from taking it that far. That was good. He needed to leave something for the dull hour of the night when he would desperately seek for an answer while taking out a lock of her hair, trying to remember what scent it carried.

The furry woman spoke with benevolence in her voice, her kind demeanor and the peculiar swishing of her tails just enough to erase the grizzling expression on Victor’s face. He managed to smile in a courteous automated motion, hoping he brought his defenses up in time and prevented Doji from noticing the acute pensiveness that more often then not lingered on his facial lines. She didn’t need to know. Nobody needed to know. Unlike the demon in the sword, his demons couldn’t be defeated by a collaborative effort. That’s why his smile was on, just genuine enough to prevent further inquires.

“I know.” he started once she joined him in the gaze towards the great pile of nothing that seemed almost like a still frame around them. “I just have a tough time shifting to the nocturnal life. Being a light sleeper doesn’t help much either. Not to mention this accursed rocking.”

Though there was bitterness in his words, there was still enough benignity to make him sound more like he was making a jesting remark about his nature. Doji seemed to have enough problems on her own, wrestling with the will of the wretched sword and taking care for a child while doing so, and his acrimony was not the aid he had sworn to offer. Besides, he grew to like the peculiar woman for some reason. Despite the obvious bestial traits, the redhead vixen was a sight for sore eyes, with a gracious figure and a smile whose warmth wasn’t unwelcome even in the Fallien heat. He couldn’t remember the last time that a woman smiled to him, even in the most platonic manner.

“And I should be thanking you, Doji. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be carrying my head in a handbasket right about now. This was the least I can do. Though I’m not sure how much of a help I am given the fact that you can wield a sword better then anybody I ever saw.”

True, Victor was far from an expert when it came to swordplay, but what Doji did during that attack left him wondering just how useful his hand-to-hand combat prowess was. The woman sliced and diced and cut her way through the ranks as if they were training dummies made out of straw and sand. She was a demented fairy that graciously scampered through the battlefield, spraying blood like fairydust. Just how much of a help was a crummy prizefighter with a baseball bat to her was an unanswered question for now.

Uncomfortable silence occurred between the two, making Victor almost as antsy as a schoolboy. He was never a smoothie when it came to speaking to women and oftentimes he felt tension so prominent that he felt it was an actually physical substance that stood between him and the person with whom he was speaking. His face failed to show it though, his eyes clinging to the smooth sandy curves that passed by them agonizingly slow. Ultimately, his gray matter gifted him with another topic.

“Let me ask you something, Doji. Why are you going through with this? I mean, you could always leave that sword, or hide it somewhere. Hell, you could throw it overboard right now and rid yourself of its haunting voices. Or even have some of the blacksmiths melt it down or something. It just seems too much of a risk to me.” he spoke, his face turning to her at the end of it, offering a minute smirk that meant to signify he meant no offence. “Of course, I’m not a swordsman so it’s just another sword to me.”

[Reiko]

“Yeah the rocking does make it tough. Though light sleeping is the sign of the warrior.” Kit smiled back though she could smell his pain. Victor was hiding it but at least the scent weakened from when she was first talking to him. “We all can’t sleep like Inari.” The three tails giggle hoping that if she’d act cheerful then the pugilist’s empathy might make him happier as well.

This was the time to brood, the lazy ocean and the lazy dunes and nothing to do but drink water and wait and lose the water and eat at the proper times, too much time for brooding. But when the two talked there wouldn’t be time for brooding or for the damn cursed sword to invade her mind, well when she was this far from it at least.

Victor thanked her once again for saving his life and while she couldn’t blame him for it the hyperbole of her skill made Kit blush. “It’s not much, I just had lots of practice and I’m not that good. I’ve seen better swordsman and I even slacked off on practice once Inari was born.” Sadly the conversation died once again as the pair looked off to the sand to brood.

Haha! Just ignore me. You think it’ll be that easy to be rid of me. You’re just a stupid fox slut and I’ll win out.

Kit did just ignore the blade and she closed her eyes with a single tear coming out as she forced the foul weapon out of her mind. She turned away while wiping them off with her sleeve. “It’s nothing.”

Some how victor brought up the cursed sword in trying to rebirth a conversation. It was a very valid question but Kit really didn’t have much an answer for. The vixen shrugged as she looked down to the water. Some of those suggestions had crossed her mind but now she really wondered why she kept the evil sword. “I don’t know, really. I guess I think there’s a better way than the easy way.” Kit held silent as she thought a little longer. “It’s just it seems that those items are rare and they tend to have a way to come back no matter what you do for them.”

Yeah! Throw me overboard! It’s perfect.

Kami! That blade was a terrible liar.

Kit shook her head again and looked into Victors eyes to show him her honesty though it made her feel a tad uncomfortable to look someone in the eye even just for comfort. “Maybe I just couldn’t see myself sending such a sword to the bottom of the ocean. Someone poured his heart out to forge such a fine blade; it’d belike me hiding Inari where no one could find her.” Kadenzaa fell silent and hoped the Onitachi would not speak to her for a while. When that blade spoke it felt like a cold needle in her heart that wanted to bust out.

“I think we’ll get to port today from what I heard, maybe we can have some fun before the search, we’ll have to do a little shopping for supplies.” Kit smiled at the thought of reaching land and shopping. It would be a nice break from the monotony.

[The Cinderella Man]

At first it all seemed like an unnecessary risk to Victor. If this blade of hers actually had a will of its own and it was strong enough to turn people in nothing but empty shells, then the logical solution was to stay the hell away from that thing. But the more he listened to her, the less certain he was that it would be that simple. There was one thing specifically that made him wrap his head around this issue a bit tighter. “They tend to have a way to come back.” she said, personifying this piece of metal that kept haunting her thoughts. And though he was rather certain that swords didn’t grow legs, even his ignorance couldn’t deny the fact that there were powers at work that were beyond his comprehension.

Because he was there, he witnessed the destruction that this blade provoked. Once you see a father throwing his own child on a pyre like a dry log, you start thinking that there is something wretched behind the scenes that is distorting the normal picture. And if this blade was that something, ignoring it wouldn’t do the trick. Because if you threw it overboard, a fisherman catches it in his net a year or two or a hundred afterwards and wreaks havoc once he reached the shore. If you took it to the blacksmith, the blade would possess the smithy. If you bury it in some backwater region of Salvar, you set up a time-bomb that is ticking the time away until somebody just happens to stumble over it. Everything save breaking the sword’s will was mere postponing of the inevitable and damage control once it actually occurred.

Looking at it from that angle, Doji seemed like a goddamned saint. Despite the fact that she was a woman with a child in tow, she was adamant in seeing this until the end. Hero stuff, no doubt about it in Victor’s mind.

“I think I understand what you mean. The easy way isn’t always the right way, no matter how much we’d like it to be otherwise. You throw that thing overboard, it might be forgotten. Then again, it might find its was into the hands of a tyrant that would make the massacre back in that town seem like child’s play. But if you subdue it somehow, you not only eliminate the threat, but gain an ally.” he paused, looking the furry woman in her strange purple eyes and feeling the same kind of discomfort as she obviously did. His hand grasped her shoulder gently, his lips curling in a think reassuring smile. “And I’m certain you’ll be able to do that, Doji.”

Another moment of silence occurred, making Victor remove his hand and turn his attention back to the humdrum surroundings, hoping that he offered at least a shred of support to the woman. When it came to inspiration speeches, especially with women, he was as skillful as a blind man with a crossbow. Luckily, she spoke of their soon arrival to the port and even as she did so, his eyes noticed a deviation in the monotonous landscape. In the blistering heat that stood unyieldingly around them, the first line of the houses seemed like a mirage, hovering on the tendrils of heat that the sand emanated. But instead of fading away, the settlement ahead became more coherent the closer the Arenal got to it.

“I’m certainly glad you were right about the port. I’ve never been more eager to set my feet in a heap of sand.” he spoke with a smile that finally came out genuine and heartily. “You should go get Inari. I think she’ll be particularly happy with the shopping idea.”

The port town, adjacent to the Ruins of Katahkir, seemed to be running away from them, staying at the same distance despite their approach, but the optical illusion faded more with each splash of the weary waves against the hull. The crew once again turned the main deck into a beehive, climbing the masts with bestial limberness, lowering the sails, tying them down, and even managing to joke in the midst of it all. Less then half an hour after Victor noticed the town on the horizon, Arenal docked and delivered the pair of vixens and a washed-out boxer to their destination.

“We should check into an inn, get some proper rest.” Victor begun once all three once had the solidity of the dock planks underneath their feet. His face turned to Inari though, giving her a minute wink. “But after we do some shopping.”

[Reiko]

Kit nodded, Inari wouldn’t want to sleep through the docking and Kit had left her daughter alone long enough with that blasted sword. It was sheer luck that the weapon’s voice could not reach the innocent girl but for some reason she would not touch it but Kit didn’t mind that part.

The three tails moved passed the crew, deftly dodging between the busy members doing sailor stuff that Kit could not comprehend, she was a fox of the land and the sea wasn’t her place but still she could adapt enough to go about her business without getting in the way.

Thankfully it wasn’t difficult until Kit reached the dark room that they stayed in with the blade under the bed. For some reason Kit went to check the sword first, the initial sight of Inari’s chest calmly rising and falling was enough for the mother to know her child was alright. But Kadenzaa wasn’t sure if the sword would still be there, it was being very quiet. Getting on her hands and Knees Kit could see the slight glimmer of the cursed sword that brought her here. A quick reach and soon Kit had her hand grasping the sword.

Kit’s heart pounded as she whimpered and fell to the floor. Her breathing was fast and unnatural while her tails shuddered and her eyes fluttered. The blade was laying siege on the girl and as she lay there she was defending the gates of her soul and in moments the blade gave up.

Bah! It’d be easier if you give in sooner. If you give me control I’ll spare your child.

Kit went to her knees holding her captive. She wouldn’t buy the threats and promises, and Kit knew the sword would make her child its first victim when it won for the blade had no honor. Kit stood up and brushed the hair away from her face, it really didn’t take much to make a girl a mess. After a few moments of improvised grooming Kit finally nudged her daughter awake.

“Sweetie it’s time to get up, we’re at town and need to get off the boat.” Kit held a smile despite what had just happened earlier, no since greeting a girl’s ‘morning’ with a problem. Inari went through her quick grooming before following Kit out the door.

The two foxes were met outside with Victor who mentioned an Inn and proper rest. Inari felt shocked and was ready to pout but the man mentioned shopping first. It was unfair if all Inari got to do was switch beds when there was a whole town. So instead the girl felt excited and wagged her blue tail.

“I never been here before, I bet they’ll have pretty clothes.” Inari really liked the idea of shopping, Kit nodded too, she wasn’t going to shop for fun stuff but you never know what’d come up.

“I bet they do, I hear this town’s a prosperous trading port and we’ll find everything we’ll need. But lets stay together it’ll be easy to get lost.”

After a while of celebration the ship landed at the port. The buildings were quite stunning in the fact they all seemed to be made of clay as if the builders wanted to show that they didn’t need wood at all but being it was in the desert then wood would be tough to find.

You girls are so shallow for someone who wants to rid the world of evil.

Kit ignored the blade and felt her tummy growl and twist, it’s been a while since she ate anything. “Let’s get some food and eat while we’ll shop.”

Inari nodded happily. “Yeah I think I can smell some pastry stands just nearby.” She then dragged her mother and even hoped to take Victor’s hand down to the dock. She was right and there was a baker’s stand hoping to sell some fresh meals to sailors after a long trip but too busy to get to a tavern.

[The Cinderella Man]

Inari seemed elated by Victor’s proposition. Blue-haired teenager wrapped her right hand around her mother’s and protruding her left towards the prizefighter with a harmless playful look on her face. Looking at that cherubic face and the jubilant exposition left Victor defenseless, the high spirits of the fox child overwhelming his acrimony and inviting him to play along. He was never a big fan of children. All the little rascals were good for was whining and crying and ultimately making you want to close them in a room with no windows. But Inari was different somehow, her demeanor always between the oblivious innocence and adult seriousness, making her a kid that had all the benefits of childhood and none of the drawbacks. That’s why he allowed a minute smile on his face, his meaty hand accepting the frail one of the girl and allowing her to drag Doji and him down the stretch of docks and into the dusty heat of the streets.

Their first stop was an expected one. The food on board of Arenal was sufficient at best, combining pickles, cabbage, more pickles, dried meat and - would you look at that - even more pickles. It took you through the day with a rock in your gut that slowly dissolved and provided just enough fuel to burn. Needless to say, once they were finally static, their stomachs ached for some diversity. Inari’s nose found a pastry stand with remarkable ease, the feline girl leading the way through the streets with Doji and Victor in tow.

“Welcome, strangers!” the vendor spoke from the shadow created by the sunshade above his head. Though, given the perspiration on the scrawny man’s forehead and the lithe clothes, Victor had a feeling that the artificial shade offered little or no safety from the tremendous heat. “We most certainly don’t get many visitors this far to the east. No we don’t. Now, how can I be of service?”

“Oh, oh, I want that one.” Inari let go of Victor’s hand and pointed towards something that looked like a croissant with chocolate sprinkles. But even as the dark-skinned native from the other side of the stand wanted to reach for the chosen goods, the girl spoke again. “No, wait, I want that one. Oh, I can’t choose.” she pointed to a piece covered with white sugar.

“Tell you what? You can have both, alright?” Victor spoke, handing over a couple of gold pieces to the man that accepted them with a mild smile.

“Really? Thank you.” the girl said with a beaming smile that just provoked the broody boxer to smile as well. She took the two pieces of pastry that she liked, digging in almost immediately after she picked them up.

“Cute kid you two have there.” the vendor spoke in a dry ancient voice.

“She... uh... She’s not mine actually. But thanks. We’ll take a couple of these as well.” Victor spoke, a little embarrassed at the confusion as he took a piece filled with meat chunks and bid the man farewell.

Inari was running ahead of them, pushing her chocolate-sprinkled nose into each stand and reminding Victor just how much energy kids had. He forgot how it felt to be so invigorated, so alive, so obliviously free. The girl scampered from one merchant to the other as light as a fairy and just as beautiful, her demeanor simply emanating her vigor and he could almost feel it brushing against him. Because if she found a reason to smile in every new thing she discovered, in every new image that life offered to her, then maybe life wasn’t so bad.

“Well, she is certainly having a ball.” he commented, turning his head to Doji as they followed the maverick trail that her daughter was leaving. The Fallien town around them (which name they didn’t know as of yet) rolled by slowly, wearily, as if it too was slowed by the bewildering heat that made them feel as if they were walking on oven lids. Simple terracotta buildings stood their ground against the heat though, the narrow windows offering glimpses into what seemed like comfortable coolness of the shadows. Fallien folk seemed undaunted by the heat though, moving up and down the streets like ants with a task to do, lumbering their burdens at a steady relaxed pace.

“If you don’t mind me asking, but what happened to her father, Doji?”

He knew it was most likely an awkward question, one of those things that people liked to keep buried somewhere in oblivion, but it’s been prodding his mind ever since they set out on their journey to Fallien and now it just burst out of him. He chewed on his food slowly, his feet set on auto as they trailed through the busy streets of the harbor town.

[Reiko]

Kit was really surprised to see victor buy her child both pastries. It looked like he was trying to spoil the girl but seeing Inari’s bright smile made Kit at ease, she should have a treat from time to time though when Inari ran off looking at every merchant stand in the desert bazaar, Kit knew she had too much sugar.

Kit bowed to the merchant while taking meat bun and putting sown some coin. Kadenzaa couldn’t help but smile to see her child like this, despite all she went through and the fact that her mother was burdened with an evil weapon; the young vixen still knew how to have fun.

Victor made a comment on how Inari was having quite a bit of fun. “Yeah, she hasn’t been this excited in a long while. You certainly have a way to bring it out of her.” Kit strolled as she felt the hot sun against her. Kadenzaa had a slight problem when it came to being in the sun too long, she tended to take it rougher than most other people and as much as she liked to keep up with her daughter she was forced to take her time on the stroll but luckily the child would stop to gawk at whatever goods caught her interest, whether freshly caught squid or pretty maiden dresses, it gave Kit some time to catch up.

Somehow the quiet stroll in the marketplace had to stop and be replaced by conversation a subject that always brought a blush to Kit’s cheeks.

Tell him the truth that you a slut and don’t know the father.

That’s not true, I know her father! Kit felt sick as she replied to the sword, it’s voice filled her belly with spiders that would scuttle all around like Inari at the market.

Kit’s tail twitched as she decided on a half-truth. “Well we lost each other one say while fleeing from some angry guards and I didn’t see him again.” Going into heat was something of an embarrassment to the vixen and the fact that one night of passion was all it took to lead to Inari’s existence and during that night it felt like love eternal but the next morning shown it was not to be. Kit didn’t say any more on the subject.

“I need to get inside, there’s always a shop around here that has everything we need.” Kit changed the subject while she entered the shade, too much of the desert sun for one day. “Hey Inari!” Kit called out.

“*Squawk* Fox, get away!” cried out a bird that fell under Inari’s curious glance, a talking bird! Inari never saw something like that before, her tail wagging cheerfully. But her left ear twitched back to her mother as she called. The young girl made her way back to the three tails.

“Mommy? Something wrong?” The blue haired girl asked with a hint of worry.

“I’m alright just have to get inside, we’ll do some of the important shopping now.” Kit smiled though she could feel the blade trying to capitalize on her weakness but she fought it off.

Kit led her way to the terracotta building with a bright sign saying ‘general store’ in three different scripts. These shops were common in the entire world but Radasanth was famous for them, you could almost find any item you wanted from swords to dresses, even Nihon kimonos. This was the place where Kit would get her supplies though she had to take some breaths while her skin felt like it was burned earlier. Good thing she found some respite away from the sun burning heat.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor was no telepath when it came to women. His younger sister Yavannha – who was growing up to be quite a scholar and a bitchy philosopher back in Scara Brae – called it a social dysfunction, a couple of other wiseass things as well. Bottom line was, when it came to reading between the lines, most of the time Victor wouldn’t even know where the lines were. But even dumb old he could notice the anxiety in the three tailed vixen at his side once he asked what seemed to be a very touchy subject. Her tails stopped the reflexive waggling with a twinge, her face instantly sprayed with carmine hue all over her cheekbones, making the boxer sorry he pried into matters that were none of his concern.

Her answer was short and to the point, reflecting the chagrin that crept under her skin with the question he asked, and making the prizefighter wrap his head around the whole issue a bit tighter. Because he looked at Doji and at Inari and the only thought that appeared in his mind was that whoever left them on their own, whoever passed on taking a part in the life of his child and its mother, was either a major prick or a just plain stupid. Possibly both. He looked in front, where Inari was heedlessly scurrying from one stall to the other, occasionally looking back and smiling that overwhelmingly young smile. Probably both. He looked to his side again, to Doji who despite the fatigue from the heat still looked tantalizing, her light kimono hugging her curves just tight enough to provoke looks and just loose enough to leave a lot to imagination. Definitely both.

Before he had a chance to respond with a comforting word – though he was certain he would fail to find a suitable one even if he tried – Kit changed the subject rather abruptly and that was probably for the best. When it came to the mushy matters and the deep talks Victor was generally as chatty as a mute. Not because he was a simpleton that couldn’t put together two sentences without stuttering and spitting, but because of the foolish male pride that disdained all situations where a less bullheaded approach was required. So when she called Inari back, he wordlessly followed the pair inside the store, postponing the mulling for later.

Only when the trio broke away from the grasp of the blistering sun and entered the store, Victor acknowledged the divergence between the streets and the sanctuary that the interior offered. But once his head cooled down enough to think rationally, he realized that there was a logical explanation for this. Fallien folk made their houses from what seemed like a mixture of earth and cement, where the latter gave the solidity to the building and the former provided means to insulate the building. This made the boxer smile. Two years of architectural study back in Scara Brae finally justified the reason why they clung to a portion of his gray matter.

Unlike him, Inari wasted no time for pondering and started exploring. He didn’t need to follow her with a glance to know she went for the clothes. It was a women thing... or so he tagged it at least. Though given the warrior type of females that he ran into a couple of times now, he felt that archetype was starting to loose solid grounds.

“I bet you nearly fried out there.” a raspy female voice came from the other end of the store, originating in the rather voluminous woman that sat behind the counter with a book in her hands and what seemed like the tiniest spectacles he ever saw. They hung ridiculously low on her large nose, always that agonizing fraction of an inch from falling of. Her hair was so gray it was completely white, fixed in a pair of braids that cascaded down her shoulders. Her face was old and wrinkly, shamelessly ruined by the salty dryness of the air and the sands of time. “You strangers always come here unprepared, thinking it’s just a tad hotter then an average summer.” she added with an accent that was supposed to mimic Corone noble talk. She failed utterly, but Victor got the message and smiled courteously.

“Good day, ma’am. And I’m afraid you’re right. It’s a furnace out there.” the prizefighter bowed his head minutely, walking up to the counter.

“Oh, nonsense. It’s one of our gentler springs actually.” the woman waved of and Victor gave Kit a rather perplexed look. He was afraid to think what would’ve happen in they came in mid summer. They could probably kick them out of the ship and then gather their charcoaled remains half an hour later. “Don’t worry. I have the thing for you. You strangers always come here with the bright idea to wear as little as possible. And then you get sunburns. That is if the sun doesn’t burn your brain first.”

She moved from behind the counter with a gimp, doddering past the pair and maneuvering her body to where Inari already looked over the clothes studiously. “Here, see this light fabric? It blocks the sun but allows the body to have... you know... proper ventilation. If you’re planning to journey into the desert, you should definitely take some of these. I think a red one would fit your missy perfectly.”

Victor smiled minutely as he looked at Doji. She wasn’t his missy, but he had to agree with the old woman; she would most certainly look good in scarlet. That was the trick when journeying with a woman. Every one look wound up being two, one seeing a comrade and an ally and the other seeing the woman that stood beyond the iron mask. He managed to push the mental image aside for now.

“I’ll take the white one.”

[Reiko]

While Inari charged towards the clothing, Kit found her self looking over weapons. It was strange how she almost always went to look over the various swords and other implements of destruction. Being a ronin meant she was tied to battle and it just seemed to give comfort if she looked to see how she could improve her arsenal for an upcoming job or self defense.

What junk, you’re not thinking of baying any of that?

Just looking.

Don’t!

Kit shook her head and left the weapon, yielding the argument to the blade, it’s whining was a pike through the skull and Kit had to use all her willpower to not let out a whimper. She didn’t want to draw any unneeded attention to herself and worry Inari or victor.

The three tails decided to join her daughter and victor in the clothing as the aged woman shown off some robes. The old woman was really being patronizing and forced Kit to bite her tongue and flip her tails like a feline that was being rubbed in a place it didn’t like. Her words were as if Kit, Victor and Inari were idiots and needed desert life explained. Victor gave the ronin a strange look when the shop lady mentioned it being a mild spring.

Kit shook her head and looked to her new companion then to the shop lady. “Well we do know what we’re doing no matter what you think. Me and Inari’s clothes are fine, both can breathe just as well as those and we don’t have a kings ransom to spend.” Sure the crimson desert robes were pretty things but they were probably more than the group could afford, women’s clothing for some reason always was priced higher than men’s for some reason.

Inari was almost oblivious to the woman though she did like some of the robes, they just didn’t look right, she saw some woman wearing some outside and they wore lots of jewelry and those that did not just felt like their was something missing and Inari. “yeah mom’s right. I don’t see any difference other than they sorta look different.”

Kit smiled at victor as he chose the white one, he did in fact need some of these robes and his would be simpler and cheaper. “Good choice that’ll be perfect.” Kit smiled and wagged her tails, she decided that she would ignore the woman or get her to help. “we’re going to need a light tent to keep the sun off when we sleep, some water skins and a map showing all the nearby oasis.” Kadenzaa smiled as the patronizing woman was gone.

That woman’s quite the old bitch.

Kit shuddered when she thought that she somewhat agreed with the demon blade.

“Well let’s let her look for what we need.” Kadenzaa smiled as she felt like she was victorious in getting the woman to shut up on the fact that they were not used to the desert.

Inari who decided to brave the clothing without a guide and to find her own thing, emerged having found something, her smile big and bright. “Hey mom they’re almost like yours!” Kit blushed for her daughter as the girl held up a bikini much like the one that Kit owned, except for the color was a midnight blue instead of crimson and of a unknown silk that wasn’t as strong as the Sifan that Kit’s was made from.

“Alright I’ll get you that too. If we find an oasis we’ll regret not getting it.” Kit was making sure she’d find one so her daughter would have some fun on this trip, but it seemed the upbeat daughter was already having plenty of fun. “well next stop the inn, once we pay anyways.” Kit messed up the hair of her daughter fairly teasingly. She could have at least kept that a secret from Victor instead of taunting the fist fighter.

[The Cinderella Man]

To Victor – who preferred simplicity when it came to clothing – the light semi-pellucid robes seemed like a jigsaw beyond comprehension. He had a vague idea where the hands and the head should go, but there was some excessive fabric that just seemed to dangle at his sides and drawing beside him like pieces of a wedding dress. Inari giggled at this, especially when the prizefighter spread his arms with a what-am-I-doing-wrong look. The annoying hag that served them came to the rescue. She instructed him – in a rather condescending manner – how to outfit himself for the desert, showing him how to properly don the robes so they achieved maximum efficiency without hindering his movement. Once she was done he looked like one of the locals save for the much paler complexion.

Extremely satisfied with his purchase – the light clothes felt like feathers compared to his usual shirt – Victor let Doji take care of the details while he browsed the shop items. She seemed more experienced in these adventurer antics anyways. However, while his eyes were focused on the shiny weaponry that was of no real use to him, his ears picked up the conversation between the females. He let his eyes to stray at the exchange between the mother and daughter, catching them in their discussion about what seemed like a rather scant outfit. Apparently Kit had one of these in her inventory as well. Victor’s first thought was typically male. “I sure wouldn’t mind seeing the one she has... only not in her inventory...Look away, stop that!”

He obeyed the warning of the stronger voice that came at the end of his thought. This ludicrous task seemed hard enough without him drooling over his companion. “Remember why you’re here, remember that you’re just a bodyguard, cannon fodder...” he reminded himself, returning his eyes on the arsenal that stood on display. Yes, that was for the best. Romantic twists with happy endings only happened in fairytales where love was always victorious, the dragons were the bad guys that lost in the end, and the knightly figure was somebody not looking like down-and-out boxer. That thought was enough to put him in his rightful place.

While his two companions were bringing their shopping to a close (which happened remarkably fast given the fact that they were women), Victor examined the weaponry. He didn’t really need any of this sharp-and-shiny crap, but what he did need was a good knife. The one in his bag was old and rusty and just sharp enough to cut through butter. Paying no real heed to the craftsmanship, his fished out a random blade out of the bunch and approached the counter where the gray crone already tallied the price of their purchase.

“Thirty for that... another fifteen... take away two... carry the six... add seventy...” she muttered at the abacus in front of her, moving the round pieces this way and that, looking utterly ridiculous to Victor who in his youth attended advanced algebra studies at the Scara Brae university. “One-hundred-and-twenty-five gold pieces.” she finally said, her tone as if she just achieved some great personal victory. The prizefighter placed his sack of gold to the counter, steadying Kit’s hand with his own.

“I got it.” and then after seeing that this might not sit right with the reiko woman, he added. “You’ll pay for the tavern.”

Once the money changed owners and crossed the palm of the shopkeeper, the eagerness to help them changed to the eagerness to escort them out of her shop. The trio was more then happy to obey; despite the cozy coolness of the interior, that artificial smile and patronizing tone got old in a hurry. The outside greeted them with the same inferno, whipping them with heat like an edgy slave driver. Victor lumbered most of the new supplies on his back, his bag-o’-stuff now packed tight as they searched the streets for an inn.

It turned out that Fallien was significantly different then Corone when it came to taverns. While in places like Radasanth or Gisela you could find two taverns for each turn you made in the streets, Fallien folk seemed much more conservative and introverted then it came to outsiders. Though there were no obvious signs and the bronze-skinned desert folk nodded and smiled courteously to the uncanny trio, Victor started to get the feeling that they weren’t really wanted here. They were disrupting the common course of the life with their peculiar appearance and different demeanor, like strangers walking into the backyard uninvited. Fortunately, not all were keen on leaving them high and dry and they were directed to an inn before they became a human roast, extremely well done in the Fallien sun.

“May I see your Pass?” the innkeeper said once the three finally fled from the burning rays of the noon sun. The interior was rustic and plain, with unpolished wooden floorboards and rugged non-descript walls. Even though there was plenty of light coming from the outside, the clerk at the reception desk (a dangerously lissome brown-haired man with studious gray eyes that seemed to conserve all the dull patience of the world) had a small candle burning beside the large dusty tome.

“Our pass?” Victor asked. The man shook his head in mild annoyance.

“Your Exit Pass.”

“Ah, yes.” the prizefighter remembered. It seemed like months ago when they acquired the Pass in Irakkam, even though it was less then two weeks ago. His hands went to the left pants pocket, right pants pocket, within his robes. Of course, the Pass wound up being in the side pocket on his bag.

“Thank you.” it was a bleak, professional thank you. “I’m afraid we have only one room vacant with a single large bed.” he continued, writing down the names from the Exit Pass into the tome with a well-refined handwriting. It seemed not all of these tribals were uneducated. “I hope that will suit your needs. If not, I can recommend you an inn on the other side of the town.”

Victor looked at Kit and Inari and was rather certain that none of them wanted to get back out in that heat without some rest. “It’s fine by me. I can sleep on the floor. I slept on worse places, that’s for certain, and definitely with worse crowd then you two.” he smiled and winked at the end, reassuring the feline duo that the accommodations suited him.

[Reiko]

Kit was glad to be out of the shop though not the fact to be once again at the sun’s mercy. This time the trip to the inn wasn’t as pleasant or fun as the one to the shop. Inari for one stayed near her mother and the boxer and did not dart from stall to stall as she was doing when they first arrived but she did smile and hold close to her mother.

The trio made little noise as they walked the streets, conserving energy as to not get exhausted from the heat, especially since Kit was not the greatest of friends with the sun’s rays, being a reiko and aligned with the opposite energy to the sacred sun.

It seemed like forever since the vixen felt the cool shade of indoors and she welcomed it greatly. Taverns were taverns, and this place was no exception, near dead in the day light hours, yet Kit could still smell the scents of drinking revelry.

You should just give up. You’re only allies is the child and a man that’s so shy around girls he’ll faint if he’s around you much longer. I however give power to my allies and you can have that power if you cease.

Kit almost wondered why the sword spoke just then but it was hard to when her head felt dizzy and violated as if a huge black claw picked her up and swung her around be her tails. Stop it. I won’t. I’ll finish what I came here for. Kit retreated backwards and took support in the doorway in fear if she moved she’d trip over her tails.

“Mommy, you should lay down” Inari was holding on to her mother’s arm as Victor searched for the exit pass, some evil compromise of bureaucracy to keep xenophobes happy by making it difficult for foreigners.

“ok so one room with a large bed. 15 gold, it’s a luxury room, all the cheap ones are taken.” The old barkeep said as he put his nose in the reports.

“Yeah that’ll be fine.” Kit said as she moved up and placed the gold down. “And lets see the room before we decide if anyone’s sleeping on the floor.” Kit managed to smile as she quickly recovered. Taking the Key the older reiko led her daughter upstairs to the room.

The room was quite large and so was the bed, it’s ornate blankets looked like they could hold a great demon, it was definitely made to be shared. Inari giggled as she jumped on the while landing on her back. “I never seen a bed so big!” The younger vixen smiled and looked at the tiles on the roof while wagging her tail, the seen was of some heroic fighter that was facing an army.

Kit smiled at Victor. “I paid too much for this room to have anyone sleeping on the floor.” After Kit laid the demon sword aside, she slowly went in and tucked herself under the thin sheets. “lets rest and relax because once evening sets in we’ll begin our journey” The three tails was definitely feeling tired.

[The Cinderella Man]

The room turned out to be surprisingly gallant given the rather cautious manner in which the Fallien folk handled their material possessions. With the weather being so unforgiving and ungenerous, they obviously learned how to live with the few necessities that they managed to extract from their native soil. Their houses seemed to be abridged to the very basics, and the same went for their clothes, their conversational skills, their ships... Every aspect of their life was in sync with the nature around them solely because in the heat of the desert this was the only way to survive.

That was why the lofty room seemed so out of place, like a doorway to some other where, far away from the land that already survived an Armageddon. The walls were decorated with refined crimson tapestries, the bed – covered with silken purplish sheets that gleamed mildly – seemed large enough to satisfy even the prissiest nobles, even the carpet seemed like a miniature work of art, depicting a meadow in a faraway land. Victor wasn’t unfamiliar with such lodgings. During the time he was on the top of his game and the Coalition managers swarmed around him like flies, he spent a fair share of nights in similar rooms. Never with a woman though. He was saving himself for his Delilah, clinging to his fidelity as if it was the very thing that would be his Exit Pass, allowing him to enter the life of a noble’s daughter.

While that certainly didn’t prove to be truth (or relevant for that matter), he still had a slight reluctance to lay in the bed with Ran and her daughter. The time of his childhood and religious upbringing seemed eons away, but there were certain rules to which he adhered to. And one of them was not to share a bed with a woman he was not bound to, regardless how platonic their relationship might have been. And yet, despite this phobia of his, Ran seemed completely indifferent towards the issue. The prizefighter wasn’t certain what to make out of this fact, but seeing the completely exhausted reiko creeping beneath the sheathes postponed his mulling. It seemed she wasn’t making a fuss about it. Inari definitely wasn’t making a fuss about it, giggling playfully as she joined her mother and leaving plentiful space for the boxer.

“Come on, Vic! We don’t bite.” the younger furry was cheerful as ever, inspiring another smile on the usually broody face. He had to sign his forfeit in front of her mirthful invitation. He took off his shoes, struggled with the robe a little bit – thinking he wouldn’t be able to put it back on properly – before he lay down on the bed.

The suave coziness swallowed him almost immediately. Compared to the bunk he had onboard the Arenal and the constant rocking, the bed beneath him seemed like a serene cloud hovering over an endless sea of green. His tensed muscles ached from the sudden relief, making him utter a silent sigh as he stared at some ancient struggle in the fresco above their heads. He dared not to move, partially afraid to break the enchantment of the moment and partially not to disturb his peculiar bedfellows. Inari was saying something else in her dulcet little voice, but by that time Victor faded away, enjoying the first sound sleep since they left the Fallien capitol, Irakkam.

***

The evening – that was bound to serve them as morning from this point on – came around even as the prizefighter closed his eyes. Or at least, that’s how he felt. The dreamless sleep passed at the speed of light, bringing instant refreshment and leaving the ache for another five minutes. His eyes opened up to the hopeless scene of hero standing against the legions, then drifted to the window to discover a dark blue sky instead of a faded blue one. There was even a brush of wind, faint to the point of barely existing, playing with the translucent curtains.

Only then he felt something warm wrapped around his left arm. The sight made him smile again. Inari was leaning her lithe body against his muscular arm, her hand holding his every so gently. Family was something he always ached for, strived for, prayed for, and though he wasn’t allowed to have one with Delilah, he was getting a crash course with the furry pair. Though they didn’t know it, they were giving him a taste of what life was supposed to be, of how it felt to be a part of something larger then just yourself.

And then it hits, warm and bitter, like an assassin’s breath after he stabbed a knife in your kidneys. This was not a taste of how things should be. This was a teasing taste of something he would never have. It was a charade that the Fate liked to play on him every now and then, giving him glimpses of another life, a better life. But that was not what hit him in this situation. No, it was the premonition of something bad lurking around the corner, something vile, something that would tear through this idyllic setting. Because this was no tale and he was no hero. In his story love didn’t overrule all and people died. And he was afraid that it might be one of the two that he grew to like during the short time. Because that was how that bitch Fate worked in his storyline.

He managed to squeeze his hand from Inari’s grasp without waking her, getting up slowly and turning to the sleeping pair. “Alright, you two sleeping beauties. Let’s rise and shine. The sun is down and we should be heading out soon.” he spoke in an elevated tone, figuring that with their feline ears, it would be more then enough to snap then from the sweet embrace of slumber.

[Reiko]

Kit wished that sleep would come easy but it did not; despite not being alone with the Onitachi and despite have more company then usual as Victor was between her and her daughter, the blade kept disturbing her sleep.

Give up you can’t win. I will not be changed or destroyed! the blade screamed in her mind and forced Kit to use her will to keep from getting sick.

You’re daughter really likes victor huh? Really quick, a little slut like her mother. Kit squeezed tears out her eyes as she resisted the urge to throw the sword out the window and give up on her quest while letting someone else take the burden. If she could break the sword she would have, no one talks about Inari like that and it hurt Kit most of all.

No one will blame you for giving up, you’re just a silly fox and this is too big for you Kit shut her eyes and her mind, letting the voice in her mind become nothing but Babbling and soon silence as she passed out, her mind shutting down like a business that had grown weary of it’s customers. Kit was completely numb in her sleep until Victor woke her. Kit rose out of bed like a zombie from it’s grave to look almost blankly as her mind went through it’s procedure to open for business though it’d be opening a bit late.

“Morning Mom, Morning Vic… err evening.” Inari energized her mother as she pounced on her mom and licked Kit’s cheek, seemingly washing away the filth on the soul from the sword’s bile tongue.

Kit managed to smile as she kissed her child’s cheek in thanks for the greeting that warmed her soul. “Yeah lets get going as soon as we get all our stuff together.” Kit went to the bags, which seemed to be already together since there wasn’t a need to unpack anything and grabbed the dark sword, only to yelp and trop it as if it was a hot coals she tried to pick up. Kit steeled herself and grabbed the sword by its sheathe and took a small bag of supplies. “I don’t really want to wait.”

“How ‘bout breakfast?” Inari inquired with a wag of her tail, sometimes that girl could be hungry all the time, but she never looked like she ate much.

“We’ll get something on the way out.” Kit said with her tails swishing in chaotic anxiety as her voice seemed to show. Kit wanted to get into the desert and find the way to purify the sword as soon as possible. The night of taunts wasn’t helping her mood in the least.

[The Cinderella Man]

To Victor, who had seen enough bruised faces painted with fatigue to last him two lifetimes, Kit somehow looked more tired then she was when she lay to sleep a couple of hours ago. In the dim evening light that gave the entire room a haunted disquieting look, the three-tailed reiko seemed sickly pale and exhausted to the point where he expected that she would collapse back on the bed. Whatever power that sword had, it was ruining Doji gradually, tearing her apart one small piece at the time, like a sea that restlessly abraded the shore. He only hoped that they would settle this matter before there was nothing more abrade.

Once he lit a small petroleum lamp that hanged on the wall and Inari joyfully jumped on her mother – making Victor ask himself yet again where in the world the kids find the energy to be so lively all the time – Kit seemed to spring back to life a little bit. Her pretty, coy smile was on, her violet eyes sparked ever so slightly and Victor was more then glad to see it. This task was hard enough, and with the hero of the group on the ropes, the success wouldn't only doubtful, it would be downright impossible. But she seemed to be slowly getting back to working temperature, lumbering herself out of the cozy sheets and back to her feet. Unfortunately, it lasted only for a short while.

As soon as she grabbed a hold of the sword, her face paled in an instant as she dropped the blade as if it had thorns all over the hilt. The prizefighter wanted to ask her if she was alright, but by the time he noticed what happened, Doji already recovered enough to pick up the sword again. He hated that sword with a vengeance. He never even touched the blade, never felt the dark power of it ripping through his mind, but he could read what it did from Kit’s eyes, he could almost smell her agony that stood like a weight around her neck, pulling her down with each passing second. And the more he witnessed this unfortunate assailment that the reiko had to endure, the more adamant he was to help her defeat the blade. At the beginning of this perilous voyage he was in it merely to repay the life debt that he wound up owing, but slowly this matter was becoming personal. The more he got to know Kit and Inari, the more ready he was to do anything to help them. And anything was a pretty big word.

“Would you die for them?” a voice asked, a vile, malicious thing that always tempted him when he started to think of the possible drastic turn of events. He looked at the female pair getting ready for the continuance of their journey, looked at the pair that decided to go out on a limb for the sake of something as cold and ungrateful as the world. He looked at them and saw nothing but a mother and a daughter that just wanted to live. And he reached the answer to his question. It made him smile faintly.

He retraced the process of donning the robes surprisingly accurately, then proceeded to put on his boots and in a matter of minutes the trio was ready to move. Victor left the room with a touch of regret, thinking that maybe it wouldn’t hurt if they stayed a day or two just to rest. But a day or two had a tendency to become a week, a week turned into two and two turned into never soon enough. He knew that well – it took a procrastinator to know how postponing worked. And he most definitely was one. In his early years, when he was still en route to become an architect like his father, his motto was that whatever you don’t have to do today, you leave for tomorrow. Nowadays though, he couldn’t afford a motto. Nowadays he just took things as they came and hoped to come out on top at the day’s end.

“You’re leaving us so soon?” the clerk asked with no real concern or regret in his voice. Again, it was professionalism taking, cold and unemotional, the sallow man already writing some info in his tome.

“Indeed. We have some pressing business elsewhere. We’d like something to eat though... if that is possible.” Victor, never a diplomat in situations like this one, hoped he didn’t sound too much like a beggar.

“Dinner time is over, I’m afraid.” he spoke, lifting his eyes from the tome and setting the quill aside. Once he saw the disappointed expression on Inari’s face though, his façade cracked a little but. “But I think Keisha can make something you three can eat on the road. Keisha!” he shouted and in a couple of seconds a young black-haired maiden appeared with an obediently bowed head. “Make some rations for these kind folk.”

Keisha was back with six large wraps, handing them to Victor with a deep bow and lack of eye contact. Victor didn’t know if the girl was a slave or if slavery was allowed in Fallien for that matter, but she certainly acted like one. However, once they stepped out of the inn and entered the coolness of the evening, the encounter slowly faded away from his memory. He was no hero. That wasn’t his battle. Hell, this quest that Kit was on wasn’t his battle until recently either. And there was only so much that a simple prizefighter could do to make the world a better place.

With his heavily loaded bag resting on his back – not feeling that heavy, but he knew that a couple of miles afterwards it would be a different story – and his mouth slowly chewing on one of the large sandwiches that Keisha prepared for them – extremely salty and spicy strips of dried meat with salad and a strange yellowish sauce that looked like mayo but wasn’t – Victor felt rather lighthearted for some reason. The heat was gone, the food was better then he usually got back in Radasanth and he was traveling in a company better then the smelly hobos. Much better then the smelly hobos. And yet the quest they were on was like an executioner’s axe that you felt above your neck regardless of how hard you try to ignore it.

“So how far is it to these ruins we’re are going to?” Victor asked Kit in between bites, the trio walking down the surprisingly crowded streets. The town was bustling with activity when they came, but it seemed just as active now that the sun set. The stores still worked, the vendors still traded their goods under the shimmer of the streetlamps, and the people still looked at them with a queer eye. Despite the fact that there was nothing but dry sand outside the town limits, somehow the boxer felt he would be more at peace there then with looks hanging on his back like fishhooks. “And are you sure this tribe and their enchanter can do their hoodoo with that blade of yours?”

Victor spoke hoodoo with a teasing accent and Inari giggled. He liked to hear her smile. Such innocence and mirth was somehow making this whole matter easier to bear. To know you’re helping something so pure and good from getting destroyed made him feel good about himself after a long while.

[Reiko]

Kit could do nothing but feel sorry for the girl with ebon hair; she was like an animal trapped in a cage of her own making. Fallien seemed a place where women had more respect and freedom, or else the old lady at the shop wouldn’t be in business like that and even then it seemed surprising to the reiko that she did. But this girl was one that was probably the type that wanted men to be her master and care giver; there was always that type in every culture.

You should learn from her, she lives a life of ease and peace, nothing but fun, sandwiches and sex for her.

Kit shivered as she bowed to the girl and the innkeeper. That sword’s words made her want to smash the blade but she couldn’t, it would only cause trouble. “Thank you for the generosity.” Kit smiled at them as despite whatever problems with them they made Inari happy.

The walk though the streets was pretty quiet as Inari simply ate her wrap with few words other then the occasional yum sound to appreciate the food. Victor asked how far the ruins were. Kit thought a moment about the instructions. “I think two night’s walks with evening and morning, not far.” Though it was far for a desert. “It shouldn’t be too hard, I hope.”

Before she was done the city walls gave way to a land of sand that seemed like it drown in the bleak wasteland. Inari giggled lightly as she was intimidated a bit by the journey ahead and Victor seemed to make light about the blade and asked the question, sadly Kit only could remain serious. “I hope their magic will work… Or else I won’t know what to do.” It seemed so far fetched that the small tribe could purify the blade to make its dark spirit become light or at least silent and impotent.

“The shrine we need to find is northwest of here.” Kit announced then she mumbled. “face sunset, slightly to the west, we should hit some dotting oasis pool and then cross a rode that leads to the shrine.” Why there was no road from this city was beyond Kit but it seemed the fates wanted to make things hard.

“Wow mom, I didn’t know you could use the sun like that.” Inari looked to the seemingly endless sand and trusted her mother was right.

“Well It’s the best I have since I can’t read the stars very well down here and there’s no major landmarks that I can see.”

Just give in, the desert will eat you up.

No it won’t Kit set her feet in motion as she walked over the shifting sand. “Lets hurry, we’ll rest during the day.” Kit hoped that she and her daughter and Victor would last.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor was never adept when it came to social skills. He could never walk into the room as if he owns it, with presence so staggering that he could make the dourest people smile, with charisma seeping out of his pores. It came as no surprise that he failed to cheer Doji up. Her demeanor was strict, her resolute firm and she seemed to keep most of the talking down to what was absolutely necessary. It seemed that the sword was becoming too much of a burden, a weight around her neck that wanted to pull her down to the very bottom and let her drown. It was such a shame; she seemed like such a sweet woman.

“Well, if this fails, I think there is this School of Magic in the elven lands that works with all types of magic. Those elves would probably be wise enough to know what to do.” Victor spoke as the last houses passed by them, opening up the monotonous landscape that slowly sunk into a grayish monotony of the evening. “And even if we succeed, you two can always visit it anyways. I’m sure Inari could learn a spell or two from the fair folk there.”

“Really? What kind of spells do they know?” Inari asked, seeming much more interested in what the prizefighter had to say. Victor reckoned it was probably because Kit was tired and already knew a lot more then he did about something as obscure as magic.

“You know, I have absolutely no idea. But I’m sure you’ll be more then able to learn some fancy firework.” the bulky man replied, tousling up the girl’s hair benignly and making her smile widely. “And if they don’t know what to do, then I say you just sail as far south as any ship captain would take you and toss that blade overboard. You can’t save the world if you lose yourself.” he added, looking at Kit with a sympathetic expression, hoping that he’s offering at least some help on her dastardly voyage.

***

They managed to stay on course for the better part of the night due to the fact that Doji had some good orientation skills and that Victor recollected the basics of navigation by stars. He was no tracker, but he remembered an anecdote with his father that happened on a starry night not so much different then this one. “What you do is you find the Dedalus constellation, then measure three lengths to the left from your outstretched thumb to your forefinger, and the most shiny pair of stars near that spot always point to the south.” The boxer was relatively certain that those weren’t Hector’s exact words, but the concept was what it mattered and it managed to prevent them from walking into a circle.

The majority of their trek was tedious and irksome. Though there was no wind and the temperature sunk to a relatively comfortable level, the sand still snuck through their every pore like an unwelcome guest, causing chafing that drove Victor insane. He had sand-provoked itchiness on places he didn’t even know he had on his body. Even Inari’s ceaseless lightheartedness got drained after a couple of hours of nothing but sandy dunes and moonlit sky. She kept checking up on Victor’s method of orientation every now and then, half-expecting it to fail, but it stayed true and they managed to find their way through was seemed like the land forgotten by gods.

About the time the eastern sky begun to lose the inky black hue and gave in to the dark blue that was the first harbinger of the oncoming day, the horizon before them offered a deviation from the humdrum smooth curves of the sand. It was nothing grand, just a couple of palm trees and some bushes lost on a gray pallet, but it beckoned them more then anything they saw the whole night. Which, once Victor thought about it clearly, wasn’t such a bad thing. They could’ve run into much worse enemies then dullness in the dry wilderness of Fallien.

The oasis proved not to be a mirage and all three welcomed that fact, picking up the pace despite their weariness. However, once they reached the actual spot, the relatively unremarkable sight they saw before turned into a magnificent one. The sand gave in to lush soft grass that encompassed the crystalline pond in the middle that shimmered in the remnants of the frail moonlight. It was a haven for them, bound to provide more then enough rest and relaxation during their short stay.

“Well, I’ll be damned. You know, for a while there I though we were going to get lost in that damned desert.” Victor spoke, taking off his backpack that made his back pass the point where they ached and reached the one where they became numb to the weight. Once that was out of the picture, he wasted no time, kneeling at the edge of the pond and dipping his head directly into the water. He drank deeply, the water so cool it sent a sharp pain though his temples, but he didn’t care. Pain he could deal with. Thirst he could not, not when there was so much water on one spot. And unlike the one in the waterskins, this one was so fresh it was almost too good to be true.

Once he was done drowning himself in the cool goodness, he sat back and looked at the two females who took a much more delicate approach. It made him wipe the water from his face swiftly. “I’ll...uh... I’ll set up the tent. Hopefully I’ll manage to get it up before the dawn arrives. Never had too much skill with that.”

“I’ll help you.” Inari spoke immediately. He figured he would end up helping her instead since he never even tried to put up a tent and the two reikos seemed like the road was their second home. Maybe even their first home.

[Reiko]

Victor was a good companion for the trip, even if he failed to cheer the girl up, he still tried and it worked on Inari. It was kind of funny that the young Kitsune girl didn’t realize that Vic was talking about the Raiaeran schools, the ones she trained at and Kit was arrested for. “Inari, you forgot that I took you there once to study.” Kit actually giggled at the thought; perhaps Victor’s plan was working. But then again that was not a place that Kit would bring the sword. They’d probably arrest her for bringing the dark blade, since she was accused conspiring to attack a bladesinger and somehow she was freed on a technicality. Turns out magic showed that Kit wasn’t the one that made the chimera attack the blade singer.

Kadenzaa fell quiet and put her entire mind to setting one foot in front of the other and keep going as it took the rest of her will to ignore the sands getting in her kimono and the dark words getting in her mind.

Thankfully as the predawn came where the light at their backs announced the coming sun. But something else was appearing in the distance, something that might make the approaching hellish day not so hellish. A small pool of water that was surrounded by small palm trees and shrubs that promised a paradise, ever so small but so welcomed.

The whole gang made as much haste as weary bodies could to greet the pool of water. Inari went on all fours and daintily lapped it up like a kitten, while Kit cupped her hands and drank like a human, though it wasn’t doing so well.

Once the ritual of hydration was complete Victor and Inari had decided to work together in building the tent. Vic didn’t seem so sure of himself but Inari was pretty sure she could. It was simpler than it looked for the tent was made to be cheap and light, to let in the airflow but keep out the sun. It was just two sticks some special canvas the let though air but not light and some stakes. It wouldn’t take them long at all but Kit was just left to thinking.

I get it! You’re playing hero so you can convince Vic to mate with you. Quite the desperate slut to try catching a wash up like him. Guess your little girl isn’t company enough.

Kit winced and screamed, probably ’shut up!’ or the like but it came out as a primal scream of near pain. Kadenzaa went to a patch of sand next to a palm tree and started digging with her bare hands. It’s all she could think to do with the weapon. Bury the awful thing, maybe that would teach it a lesson to stay quiet.

You know that’s not going to work, I’ve been buried before.

Kit shook her head and tried one last thing, her kimono filtered magic and hopefully would stop the sword if she laid it atop the burial site for the time being and just wear her bikini that was underneath. After she laid the robe down like a carpet, the sword tried to speak but could not for the words seemed quiet and garbled, something Kit could easily ignore.

Kit returned to her daughter and Victor in her slight attire, her face wasn’t smiling and she looked pale form the sword. “I think I put the sword in its place.” Kadenzaa announced with a quick smile and a blush for the strange behavior, Inari didn’t notice much as she was busy putting up the tent and while worried about the scream it resolved itself.

“Yay swimming!” Inari cheered as she went to the bag and took out her new swimsuit and dove in the nearly completed tent for a hidden place to get dressed. There was a moment of ruffling and the kimono flying out for Kit to catch it then a few more moments before Inari emerged with her skimpy outfit covering taboo places and her tail swishing happily, her infectious mirth seemed to cheer Kit up and they ran down to the cool pond. Despite the fact it was cold the two reiko girls as they splashed and pounced each other. Inari looked up to Victor as she called out, “Vic why don’t you come in? it’s really fun and we’ll be really hot all day.”

Kit smiled as she dove under water and popped up while splashing her daughter at the rise with a giggle and “gotcha!”. This play was much needed unwinding, it felt like forever since she had fun with her daughter like this. It was something that would help her keep going on her quest without failing.

[The Cinderella Man]

Putting a tent up was relatively easy when there were two people working on it and one of them know what she was doing. Victor just tagged along for a ride and did most of the muscle work as Inari took care of the specifics. He found a bit of irony in it though. Here he was, former student of Architecture that could probably draw a rather precise blueprint if somebody procured a fine sheet of paper and a proper pencil, and yet he didn’t know how to put up a tent. That changed today though. By the time he and Inari put all the stakes in the sandy ground, keeping the ropes taut and the canvas in its proper position, he was pretty certain he could redo it if need be.

Still, even during such a simple process he managed to hurt himself. Not too seriously and not entirely by his own mistake, but enough to make him feel embarrassed and make Inari giggle. It was, of course, when Kit remerged from behind the palm tree, stating that she put the sword in its place. Victor didn’t know what that place was, but the reiko seemed to lose her kimono in the process as well, which left her in nothing but an abbreviated scarlet two-piece swimsuit. With the sun rising above the horizon and bathing her wan scantly-clad body, Doji walked gingerly towards the pond. The bestial aspects of her body detracted nothing from her beauty. In fact, the prizefighter was forced to admit that, as uncanny as they might seem at first sight, they only added to the whole picture, like a touch of unearthly panache that raised her above and beyond normal women. It gave her exotism beyond anything that the hardy boxer every witnessed, captivating his eyes for that one perfect moment.

And that was what caused him to hurt himself. The rock he used to hammer the stakes into the dry earth fell from his rapidly-loosening grip, landing on his foot and burying one of the jagged edges right into his thumb. He let out a muffled yelp and Inari giggled and it was more then enough of a cue for him to take his eyes off the woman. Once she dipped into the lucid pond, her daughter wasted no time to join her, both overjoyed by the moment of relaxation. Victor couldn’t help but smile, looking at them just enjoying a moment of solace and mirth, detaching themselves from the dire mission at least for one morning.

However, the more he observed, the less platonic his thought became. Because his eyes kept going back at Kit, kept watching her coyly, kept moving away in fear of being too apparent, but then running back to envy the cool water that passed over her porcelain skin, dampening her fur and striking a rosy color in her cheeks. Inari’s invitation snapped him from this game of evading to be noticed.

“No, you two have fun. I was never much of a swimmer. I always say that if gods wanted us to swim, they would’ve given fins and flippers.” he spoke, shaking his head with a mild smile. It made sense and it was always a good defense to be used, but it was as false as a wooden coin. Because he wanted to join them, just didn’t know how to express it. Emotions were something he kept in check and hid like the snake hid its legs. Joy, sadness, anger, fear, they all gave way to this melancholy that he wore like a mask for so long it started to become his real demeanor. Luckily, some were still able to see beyond the surface.

“Aw, come on. Don’t be like that, Vic. I’ll drag you in if I have to.” Inari spoke in her high-pitched jocund tone, smiling widely. He didn’t think she’d really do it. But when she jumped out of the pond and started to drag him by his hand, he remembered just how simple and effective children dealt with things. Everything was so innocent to them, so perfectly alright, and the consequences were something that never even became the part of the calculation. In fact, when it came to a young mind, calculations seldom even existed.

“Alright, alright. Just let me get this shirt...” He didn’t get it off. The cheerful girl pounced at him like a cat and though he was more then able to sustain the attack, he let them both crash into the pond. However, while the reiko managed to get back to the surface, Victor seemed to sink like a rock. Inari cringed for just a fraction of a second because that was all the time she got before Victor came from underneath her and pushed her up with his shoulders, lifting the lithe girl up and making them both crash into the water again. Once they emerged from the water again, they were both smiling and somewhere in the process the prizefighter started to feel what it was like to be alive again, and happy, and just be around people that didn’t detest his presence. He took of his damp shirt, but that was all the pause that he was given.

“Mom, let’s get him!” Inari exclaimed, once again trying to tackle the bulky boxer and hoping her mother would aid her in a seemingly impossible task.

[Reiko]

Kit could tell that Inari really needed to unwind, the amount of excitement that she had with her rough play was definitely something that showed release. Sometimes Kit wished she didn’t share her life with her daughter, days on end worrying about money, bandits, demons, evil swords and whatever adventures was hard on the girl and she always seemed to handle it with cheer. But then Kit wished her daughter could play like this everyday where her child and fox nature led her to play like a fox kit as she wrestled and ran.

It was ludicrous to see the young girl keep pouncing and trying to get an advantage over the older man who was undoubtedly stronger and able to lift her up with easing. To tell the truth it seemed like he was letting each skirmish become a draw. Still Inari called playfully to her mom for assistance.

“Aw I think you were wearing him out, soon you’d win. But you’re going to have to share the victory now.” Kit giggled and smiled brightly, something she hadn’t felt in a long while. She waded though the water, her tails swishing in the woman’s wake and she playfully charged and pounced on Vic, the strong man met it fairly well, because Kit wile a bit heavier than her daughter still wasn’t all that heavy. Kadenzaa enjoyed being this close o Victor, even in play but the moment wasn’t long to last as Inari joined in, toppling the fighter and fox ronin making a large splash. Kadenzaa panted as she came out of the cold water.

“Thanks mom, I knew we could take him!” Inari smiled brightly as she readied herself for round two but then stopped as she Saw Kit’s dripping form exiting the pond and went to sit in the shade of a small tree while brushing the sand off her ankle.

“I think that’s enough for now, that water’s cold.” Though it was that cold water that made the warm morning air feel well, it wouldn’t be long until the air would be hot and the sun turn into a burning light of wrath. But still the morning was a time that the daylight could be enjoyed.

“Awww, I wanted to play some more.” Though having a calm moment made the young girl shiver, mom was right and it was cold, her smooth skin was rough like a plucked bird thanks to the cold water. She exited the water slowly and yawned, realizing how tired she was. “I think I might go to bed, I feel sleepy now.” Inari went to the tent and laid down in its shade and used her kimono as a blanket.

Kadenzaa turned a smile over to victor. “Why don’t you join me for a moment, the suns out but we have a little time before it gets too hot.” The vixen said as her tails wiggled joyously while the girl’s hands patted the ground next to her.

“You did a good job tiring her out. Though I wish I could let her have more fun than she usually gets.” Inari sure could fall asleep easily, as if the girl had no care in the world. “I’m probably the most vile of mothers to put her though this life, I’m so greedy that I’d die before giving her up. How can the life of a ronin be good for a kid?” What could cause her mood to change like that, Kit didn’t know as the sword was buried and muffled with the magic kimono and she was having such fun a moment earlier. Some how her thoughts always wondered what was best for her child and it surely wasn’t searching the desert. Kit shook her head. “Ack listen to me! I must be getting you down too. I’m sorry, I just worry a lot.”

[The Cinderella Man]

For Victor, the atmosphere got too hot the second he saw Doji in her scant two-piece that presented her luscious body with enough freedom to give a man ideas. Being a lone wanderer and somewhat of a bum as well certainly didn’t make you the most wanted man around. So images like the one the reiko was - sitting in the shade with her skin still glistening in the morning light and her fur still damp - were a vision to him. He kept his glances as subtle as possible though, keeping his eyes off the private parts where they yearned to go and on the peculiar violet eyes of the fox ronin. He was gladdened to see her smile, to see her face without the burden of the dark sword casting a shadow over it. It made her seem more alive somehow and even more beautiful. Suffice to say, he never stood a chance at refusing her invitation.

He got out of the pond slowly, trying not to reveal his desire to get to her side as soon as possible, and picked up his robes. Doji was right, the water got mighty chilly once you stopped having the motion of your body keep the coolness from creeping into your bones. But he didn’t put the light clothes on. Instead, once he approached the vixen, he draped it around her shoulders, covering her bare skin that started to show the first signs of chill creeping over it. “Here,” he said with a mild smile. “So you don’t end up with a bad case of cold.”

The prizefighter sat next to Kit at what he figured should be a safe distance, listening attentively to her words. She started with a smile, the gorgeous sweet looking thing that made her entire face shine, but soon enough her spirits were tainted by doubt and uncertainty. Victor didn’t see this as too much of a surprise. Between the inhospitableness of the lands of Althanas and the malice of the people that dwell in it, there wasn’t much space left for a child such as Inari. Still, she was being too hard on herself. Victor set his eyes on the horizon, exchanging his gaze with the one of the blazing orb that brought forth the pale dawn.

“You’re being overly critical towards yourself, Doji. You love her, take care of her, give her the best life you can give. There’s no vileness there if you ask me.” he spoke in a soft tone, turning his head to offer her a benevolent smile before his eyes sunk to the sand below. “Besides, adventuring isn’t as bad life as you think. When I was Inari’s age, I would’ve given anything to be able to just hit the road and see where it takes me, be a part of something you read in the books. I know such life is dangerous, but everyday monotony can kill you in ways you can’t even imagine. You find yourself getting up every day to the bland reality in which you keep doing the same thing over and over again. And before you know it, you turn around and your life faded away without you doing anything worth mentioning. That kills you from the inside, makes you hollow.”

Victor stopped again, his mind replaying the images of his own life and his reason telling him he was the one that was bringing her down right now. He decided it was not the story she needed to know. Empty tedious lives make uninteresting stories anyways. “Bah, who’s bringing who down now?” he added more jovially, once again making eye contact with the beautiful furry vixen. His large hand found its way to her own, covering it and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“For what’s it worth, I think Inari is growing up into an amazing person, Doji. But given the mother, I’m somehow not surprised. I hope you two find home one day.” Victor offered his feeble attempt at being honest and kind at the same time. He looked into her eyes for what seemed like the longest time and though it only lasted for a couple of seconds, he thought that whoever she settles with was bound to be the happiest man alive. In the back of his mind, he could even see himself in such a role, but such a thing only happened in fairytales. She maybe was a beauty, but he was no prince in the shinny armor and he couldn’t even save himself.

[Reiko]

There was something about Victor that seemed strange. It was probably the fact that he was different than Kit expected him to be. The man was some kind of fighter but didn’t trust his self with a sword and he seemed smarter than one would guess. But here was something really special about him as he sat next to her and did his best to comfort the vixen.

“Thanks, yeah, at least Inari can’t claim I bored her to death.” The smile returned however so slightly. Brooding was so much like a weed that it could pop up when not expected and even in a beautiful garden of smile but all it took was a small inkling of doubt and the built up happiness would crumble was it sprouted and took over.

Vic was the one who’d be weeding Kit’s soul with his comforting words and draping his desert robes over her shoulder to keep her warm, though with the sun rising the warmth seemed moot yet something in the action helped.

“Yeah Inari is wonderful, sometimes I think she’s raising herself more then me. Though I don’t think we’ll find a home if life keeps going this way. Never came close since mine was destroyed when I was just learning the sword.” Kit looked at her reflection in the calm pull while the wind took a break and the weeds tried to take root again. Kadenzaa scooted over towards Victor, as he seemed to deliberately put some space between them.

He was like a shy puppy, eager in some ways and afraid in others, like he couldn’t fully trust Kit or his self. But his shyness would be a problem for what Kit wanted to shoe away brooding. The vixen leaned against the fighter as she rested her head on his shoulder and her tails went around the back and placed their tips on his laps.

“You’ve really helped me on this trip. Thank you.”

Kit liked the feeling of being close to Victor; his muscles were that of a fighter and nostalgic to the vixen. She wondered if the being close had the same relaxing effect on him as it did her, she focused her mind on simply feeling how the muscles would react and what scent his spirit would take.

Oh would Kit like to hold this moment much longer.

But problems rose, the trio was no longer alone was sand was kicked up men approaching, wearing desert clothes that were similar to Vic’s new attire while carrying wicked curved swords.

“You have tainted the spring of our ancestors!” Called the one in the lead of the men. His black robes seemed ludicrous in the desert yet he showed no sign of minding the heat.

Woohoo! Looks like someone came to free us of boredom. You and you’re daughter will pay for burying me like that! The voice seemed happy at first but went into a rage that clawed Kit’s belly so hard she thought it would bleed out and the three tails bowled over to clutch it.

“Mommy help! Let Go!” Inari was crying out as she was dragged out of the tent, sleeping until the harsh arms of the men were on her.

I have to do something. Kit thought as she squirmed against the ground but came up blank.

We could make a deal. You’d be worth far more than any of these weak men. They’re no fun but you’d be fun if you let me have you. It’d save Inari.

[The Cinderella Man]

Being close to a woman was far from an uncharted territory from Victor, but as Kit delicately motioned herself closer to him and leant her head on his shoulder, he realized that he most certainly needed some refreshment in that department. Because a part of him was jittery, unprepared, somewhat surprised by her advance, making him feeling like a schoolboy that sat at a stack of hay with his first love and not knowing what to do. That part of him wanted to reinstate the safe distance and keep this relationship strictly platonic. It was a part of him that liked to retract into a cocoon, into his own personal emotionless fort, and keep everything out. Emotions and affections always wound up hurting too damn much, that part said.

Luckily, that part was currently in a minority. He pushed his doubts aside, locked the scars of his past behind the door, and decided to accept the moment for what it was; two people finding comfort in each other. Her lush tails circled around him and came to rest on his lap and he returned the gesture by wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closely ever so gently. She felt so warm, not just on his skin, but creeping beneath it, her words soft and sincere. It was lack of this that hurt when you were a lonewolf, the lack of this closeness, both physical and mental, that made you dead on the inside, that ate through your soul like a horde of maggots. And now, at least for a moment that would probably seem so insignificant to Kit, he didn’t feel rejected and alone and utterly forgotten.

He looked down at her tranquil face, into her violet eyes that seemed to radiate with genuine kindness, and he wanted to tell her that being around her and Inari was the best thing that happened to him in what seemed like an eternity. Fighting for scraps and living on the street that was his reality was postponed while he took part in this quest, and he felt he was the one who should be thanking her. She saved his life, but more importantly she saved him from drowning in the river or monotony that swept over every aspect of his life. And even if this was as close as they would get, he was grateful for a moment of solace in what seemed like a lifetime of struggles.

“I...” he wanted to add something, wanted to say something appropriate, something that would maybe earn him a kiss, but by the time he thought up of something that didn’t sound like a yammering of an idiot, the tranquility of the moment was broken like thin glass. Over a dozen of men came charging over the dunes and into the oasis, all dressed in attires similar to the one he bought yesterday. They were tribals, all of them, bronze-skinned folk with fuming faces and brandished weaponry. Victor got up to his feet swiftly.

“Easy there, people. We didn’t know.” but by the time he was finished with his feeble diplomatic attempt, two towelheads already yanked Inari’s lithe body from the tent. The prizefighter didn’t think, her cry a trigger that sent him on a wild dash towards the young girl and her captors. He tackled one of them, sending them both crashing into the sand, and by the time the tribal understood what was happening, Victor’s fist crushed his nose and sent him unconscious. The other let go of Inari for the time being, allowing the girl to run towards he mother while he took a swing with his staff. The side of Victor’s head exploded with pain as he rolled through the sand like a runaway tree trunk. By the time he stopped, there were three similar men standing in front of him, looking like triplets moving in sync.

“It’s just... a bloody... pond...” he managed to mutter, trying to regain his bearing. His words obviously struck the wrong cord, since the three men came down at him. He didn’t get them enough time to hit him again, launching his body in another tackle from his kneeling position and grabbing the man around the waist. They tumbled down onto the tent, tearing it down and taking the rugged cloth with them as they spun through the sand. In the end, Victor wound up pinned to the ground with the wooden staff pressing into his windpipe and a growling tattooed face of a tribal peering down at him with what seemed like utter hatred. The boxer – who found himself on the short end of many a stick in all the street fights his hobo life generously provided – knew well what to do. His knee jerked upwards, hitting the man’s behind and sending him stumbling forward. Victor used the momentum to turn the table, executing a rather shabby back-roll that set him on top of his attacker. His meaty hands pressed on the wooden stick vigorously, then let it go swiftly and struck the man in the mouth, sending a tooth or three into the sand, together with mucus and a spray of blood.

"And stay down!"

[Reiko]

All Kit could do was watch through tear filled eyes as the men fought to neutralize Vic and her daughter. Victor was quite the fighter when he wanted to. The man fought in a strait forward manner but had strength, skill and courage to make him as deadly as any man with a blade but against many he didn’t stand a chance.

Inari faired worse as she was attacked in her sleep and was pretty much putty in their hands as her struggles were futile in the barbarian’s strong hands. Her cries could not raise her mother from her curling position and only broke the older Reiko’s heart.

Laughter, the sound that echoed through Kit’s mind and made her body numb like being dumped in a foul pool of anesthesia jelly. The sword enjoyed the torment of the vixen’s child and her new friend. The men paid the girl little mind as she was harmless and helpless, not worth wasting a man who could help if the fist fighter somehow got free.

I could end this for you. Who knows what they’d do to Inari once they got her home. Kill her definitely but maybe they’d have some fun. She’s definitely pretty enough for them to think about it and probably they…

All right you win! Kit’s mind yelled before it was drowned out.

The body stood itself up as fast as a fire rocket with a small fuse. She felt like a puppet as she ran towards her kimono and where the sword was buried.

“Ha seems she’s just playing snake-rat. Silly coward, the desert will kill her.” The man smiled to victor then to the men holding Inari. But the blue haired fox girl was lying against the ground panting and guards were lying still covered with no heads. The coward had killed them.

The crimson vixen held a dark smile that wasn’t her own as she attacked the man with the staff, blade running strait to the heart. The man was skilled with the blunt weapon and could easily fend off a simple attack but the staff could not hold and a dark bolt of black lightning shot forward, parlaying him, the fool stood no chance against the dark sword.

See all dead and I’ve done my job. Now for the fun, I saved them from the brigands but I won’t save them from me.

No! Kit’s mind screamed but her mouth said something else as she went to her daughter. “You think you’re safe? Your mom gave herself to me willingly. To save you but now you will die. I’ll savor your death.”

Inari only whimpered as she felt the ice cold blade touch her cheek, sending a small tear of blood to slowly run down her body. “Please don’t. Don’t do this, mommy.” Normal tears caught up to the blood.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor saw Doji’s combat face once before, but this wasn’t it. Back in that village off the shores of Corone, when she saved his life, she had her combat face on, the dauntless perceptive mask that made her look like a weathered warrior forged in heat of many a battle. It was a fearsome thing with blazing fires in her eyes, emotive and beautiful in a peculiar dominant fashion. He was stupefied by that expression back then, completely captivated by the keen eyes and the battle prowess that it seemed to inject in the reiko. She was a war goddess, slicing through foes as if they were cornstalks.

She did that now as well, but her face was different, malformed in such an uncanny barely noticeable way. The fire in her eyes was dead, substituted by the chill that struck like a hammer, a vile emotionless glare that sent out a completely different message. She wasn’t a warrior anymore, an honorable ronin trying to succeed in a fool’s errand to make the world a better place, a safer place. Instead, what peered down at Inari was a murderer, a malevolent variation of what was once a friend, a mother. Kit’s words stung her daughter more then the minute wound on her cheek, the maddened vixen smirking like a demented tormentor that enjoyed her work a bit too much. Victor looked at her weapon and he found out the reason for the marred face and the relentless murder of the tribals.

It was the sword, the accursed sword. Somehow it succeeded in grabbing a hold of the reiko before she managed to expel the demon from the enchanted weapon. In the end, after all the effort she put into this mission to break the sword, the will of the dark force within the sword broke her and remade her into something horrible. Into somebody that was ready to kill her own daughter.

“Stop it, Doji! This isn’t you!” Victor finally found courage to both speak and intervene, grabbing the red-furred three-tails by the wrist and moving the blade away from the frail girl that whimpered in disbelief. He looked into her eyes, those violet eyes that only moments ago radiated with such warmth and kindness, and found nothing but emptiness.

And then she moved. In a single fierce motion she snatched her wrist from his firm grasp and lifted the sword above her head. Victor had only his combat-honed reflexes to thank for a swift jerk backwards that probably saved his life. The metal flashed in front of his eyes, the slash starting at his forehead, passing over his left eye and slicing through his cheekbone before he even managed to blink. His eyes filled with blood, his mouth uttering a painful grunt as he fell to one knee and held his face. Inari jumped to his side, grabbed a hold of his arm desperately, sobbing, crying, burying her face into his shoulder and begging her mother, begging her to...

“Stop! Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt us! Mommy, please, stop!” she muttered, hoping that there was the mother she knew and loved somewhere beyond those icy eyes. But mommy was gone, subdued by the bloody blade that needed only to put a foot inside the door before taking over completely. Victor thought – in a foolish way his mind always did in such a situation, thinking of inane things – that it was rather ironic to die by the hand that saved him mere weeks ago. But then his mind reiterated. It wasn’t ironic. It was just realistic, it was the way the world worked. Heroes and the people that walked around with an illusion of heroism didn’t always win and didn’t always wind up with a wife, a kid and a house in the good neighborhood.

“Antareth!!!” a queer, reverberating voice rose with such a might that Victor got a feeling he was standing in a stone hall and the world’s loudest man just screamed from the top of his lungs. Only the incomprehensible words weren’t yelled, but simply spoken with such power that the ground beneath the shook. And though prizefighter’s vision was ruined for the time being, that didn’t change a fact that there was another tribal standing on the nearby dune. His attire was significantly different then the ones on the beheaded corpses that lay around, consisting of a simple tattered monk robes. He held no weapon save his bare hands that he held out in front of himself as if he was praying. The blade in Doji’s hands, that so vehemently claimed the lives of so many, stood still, the woman unable to move it, as if it somehow stood imbedded in a piece of invisible rock.

Victor, of course, saw none of this, trying to use his hearing to try to ascertain what was going on. He had no idea who the owner of the voice was, but Kit wasn’t chopping the boxer’s face anymore and right now, the mysterious figure seemed like an unlikely ally.

[Reiko]

“Damn you, you old crone!” Cried out the possessed Kit. All the demon could do was talk. “Using my name! That’s cheating!” It protested to no avail with the old man simple smiling.

“You think you can escape my watch when you bring your chaos to my home. You’re worse than the Dune beetles. I thought I was rid of you.”

“You need more than my name to do that,” The blade made Kit laugh with the unnatural voice. All Kit wanted it do was to stop and comfort her child who was cowering behind Vic.

The priest moved forward towards the frozen three tails, he had to get this out of the desert and seal the sword again but that would be tough. After the slow steps he ran at the girl and jabbed a needle long knife into her.

“You touched me, you idiot! Now I can kill you!” Kit went forward with her blade, as she was able to move again but not fast enough to skewer the priest. “How could you? You were never that fast.”

“I drugged your host, she’s going to sleep soon.”

The words were blurred to Kit as she fell in the sand, asleep.

*~*~*

“Ow my head hurts.” Kit moaned as she opened her eyes to see a dark room. Was there anyone there? There’s enough light to see but not much more and Kit’s senses were still numb from the drug. The ground was sand but she noticed there was writing around her, someone had written around Kit while she slept.

“Good morning Doji.” Came the voice of an old woman.

The voice woke Kit up more and she could see the wrinkly face of the witch. She smiled like a content merchant that had so much money that he couldn’t be unhappy. But it made Kit notice that her clothes were different, she was wearing a simple white robe.

“Where’s Inari?” Kit asked for the first thing she could think of.

“Don’t worry, she’s almost here. Your daughter will be here soon”

With that a tall, strong, young man entered while gently leading her daughter who was clad in her kimono once again. Sadly when Inari saw her mother she hid behind the man. “She won’t hurt me?” Inari whimpered and Kit fell to the ground, her eyes sending tears down her cheeks.

It wasn’t a dream. “I’m sorry Inari. I didn’t want to hurt you. I’d never do it.”

Still Inari’s fearing eyes tore holes into Kit’s heart. Kit had hurt her daughter, had threatened to kill the child while under Antareth’s control. It was too much for the mother as she started to cry while repeating, “I’m sorry” over and over.

[The Cinderella Man]

Seconds after Doji succumbed to whatever drug was injected in her system, the shaman was joined by a pair of warriors that approached Inari and Victor. They were imposing figures, broad-shouldered and muscular to the point where the usually spacey desert robes seemed taut. The young reiko recoiled in front of their approach, withdrawing further into Victor’s arms that right now seemed like the only place even remotely safe. Because even though she knew it was not her mother that looked at her with a snarl and got a hairbreadth from murdering her, she didn’t find enough courage too look into that face again. The demon could still be there, erasing the mother she loved so much and pasting a horrid face over once benign expression. Victor couldn’t even imagine how the girl felt, but she shivered and sobbed and he held her gently, waiting for whatever fate the tribals had for them.

“We won’t hurt you.” the shaman finally spoke again, the prizefighter barely managing to see a vague outline through a filter of red in front of her uninjured eye. “But we need to blindfold you before taking you to our camp.” Victor didn’t buy it though. The goons that first attacked seemed to act with everything but good intentions. But then again, it was not like they had much of a choice. Kit was down, Inari was scared witless and he was as blind as a bat. Blinder even. Bats at least had other means of recognizing the environment. So when they approached he merely whispered to the lithe girl in his arms.

“It’s going to be alright, Inari. It’s going to be alright.”

He hoped it wasn’t just an empty lie. For both of their sakes.

***

The pace that the tribals set was relentless, their weathered feet that saw many a mile in the dry desert environment threading through the soft sand as the morning sun turned up the heat. Luckily, every now and then, a whiff of wind could be felt and for that all seemed grateful. Victor reckoned that the soldiers were carrying the narcotized Doji and thought distantly just how fast the pace would’ve been if they didn’t have to lug a body with them. He didn’t have too much chance for coherent thoughts though. His left side of the face was throbbing with pain, his left eye sending a jolt of mind-shattering pain every time he even tried to move it beneath the blindfold. And because of it, most of his thoughts revolved around the injury and the possibility that the chances were he would never fight in a ring again. One-eyed people saw flat, they didn’t see half the punches in time to block them. He wouldn’t have a chance in a bout without both eyes operational.

Inari trudged at his side, holding his hand as they were led in an unknown direction. And though the regret for his eye was great, he remembered that if he didn’t step forward at that crucial moment, the teenage girl would’ve been cut down like grass. And that thought provided some comfort for the time being.

Victor didn’t know how far did they trek, but he knew that by the time he heard commotion and voices somewhere ahead of them, he was spent and ready to throw in the towel. Fortunately, the soldiers led Inari and him into what seemed like a hut, then took off their blindfolds and told them to stay put. Within minutes a woman entered the hut, carrying a rather large vessel filled with water and she rinsed the blood from Victor’s eyes before proceeding to apply some paste that smelled like horse droppings to the prizefighter. Still, he sat calmly as she applied it, murmuring something in an incomprehensible language before bandaging his wound.

“Are you going to be alright?” Inari asked him coyly, her voice still quivering a little bit as she sat closer to him once the woman departed. Outside the door the two guards acknowledged the woman with a nod, then returned to their role as sentries.

“I hope.” he replied, his tone weary and grievous, but then he saw the girl’s distressed visage and offered her a smile. “If not, I can always work as a pirate.”

She didn’t giggle the way she usually did, but she did smile gently and it was enough to break the dire atmosphere in the room. Doji wasn’t around, but Victor reckoned that the shaman had some business with her and the malicious demon that possessed her. At any rate, perhaps it was for the best that the young reiko wasn’t around her mother right now. If the ronin furry was still under the enchantment, she would have to face the demon within her mother again and he wasn’t certain that the girl could take it right now. So for the time being they rested, both half-dozing and waiting for their captors to make their intentions known.

They didn’t have to wait too long. Victor couldn’t tell with absolute certainty how much time passed, but when the shaman came for them – escorted by the pair of muscles again – the dusk crept over the land and the sky in the west was a dying ember. The village didn’t seem like a permanent habitat - a bunch of wooden shacks with roofs made out of palm leaves, huddled around ruins that seemed ancient, forgotten in time and half-swallowed by the sand. One of such ruins was a temple with one of its side buried in the side of a massive dune while the other remained shielded from the desert winds. Their escort led them inside of this building.

The interior was genuinely cool, the massive stone walls providing ample insulation from the heat. There wasn’t much to be seen under the faint light of the torches mounted on the walls, but even with just one working eye, Victor noticed the red-furred reiko. Inari whimpered and clung tighter to his arm, asking would her mother hurt her. Kit seemed devastated by this inquiry. She was once again the benevolent woman that was out to better the world, her face fair and doleful as she cried desperately, her eyes unable to look at the daughter she inadvertently betrayed. She was a broken woman, down on her knees and weeping, and asking forgiveness through her sobs.

“Go to her, little one. She is safe from the demon as long as she stays within those inscriptions.” the shaman – a bronze-skinned bald man with a tattoo on the side of his face and an exceptional set of teeth for somebody living in a desert – said, but Inari didn’t seem ensured enough. She looked up at Victor, those wonderful blue eyes almost begging him for those words to be true. He didn’t know anything about demons and enchantments, but he knew what genuine tears looked like and he nodded toward the blue-haired girl.

Her first step was precarious, but when her mother refused to lift her head and continued to weep into her own hands, she seemed encouraged enough approach the fallen woman and kneel beside her. Tiny, lissome hands embraced the red-haired ronin, gently at first, but then holding tight as she buried her face into her mother’s shoulder. “It’s... It’s going to be alright, mommy.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Victor finally spoke, taking his eyes from the emotional reunion and onto the scrawny witch-doctor at his side.

“The demon still has a grasp over her, but he’s struggling between the blade and the woman.” the shaman spoke in a raspy antediluvian voice, his eyes pointing towards the blade that stood some ten paces from Kit, encircled by the similar inscriptions. “I first wanted to return the demon to the sword, but at the current state I think we can do better. He’s sitting on two chairs and has a full grasp of none. This gives us an opportunity to banish him.”

“Banish him? To where?” the boxer asked. This was all new to him, fragments of a fairytale he never thought he’d be a part of.

“To where the demons go. To where it came from. Home.” the tribal spoke, his answer deliberately cryptic. Victor didn’t want to pry further into the matter. As long as Doji and Inari ended up safe, the demon could go to the seventh heaven for all he cared. The shaman was joined by five similarly attired figures, three of them being women with the sternest faces that he ever saw on a female. Two figures joined the shaman around Kit, the remaining three surrounding the blade, all of them getting ready to do their voodoo. Victor usually didn’t believe in such magic baloney, but this time around he really hoped that it actually worked.

[Reiko]

Kit was surprised to feel her daughter in her arms, a moment before the child was hiding with Victor, afraid of Kit for what she had done while possessed and Kit was afraid what harm she did to her daughter. But the warm embrace, beating heart, twitching tail and mixing tears seemed to show that most of Inari’s pain was from empathy for Kit’s and thus it made the mother feel better than she was but not good. The demon still could take hold if she left the runic circle.

The two girls felt lost as they held each other while Victor spoke with the arch-shaman about banishing the demon. The ritual’s time was coming and sooner that Kit would have liked since she was not ready to release Inari from the embrace but the old man kindly touched the daughter. Inari’s ears perked but she made no other sign of being disturbed. “I’m sorry child but you have to leave you mother for a little while. You can wait in the outer huts while we combat the demon’s evil and it would be best if you were safe.”

“I won’t leave mommy, she needs me now.” Inari protested as she refused to let go of the Reiko woman and Kit was glad, she didn’t want to lose her child so soon.

“You can watch with your friend but you can’t be in the circle or the ritual will fail with dire results. Your mother might die.”

“Ok…” Inari yielded meekly as she let go of her mother and went to Vic as she sat with him. The priest made a chant that had a sinister sound and Inari held tightly to the fighter. She wanted to hold her mom but she couldn’t.

The chanting continued and distorted as lights flicked about the room and the circle around Kit glowed. Kit whimpered and curled up in a little ball as she felt the presence of the demon magnify, it couldn’t get in her mind but she could see it looking strait at her whether her eyes were closed or not.

Kit wanted it to end but it didn’t, Inari found herself unable to watch anymore and started to sneak towards the door, the blue tail couldn’t do anything to help her mom and it was getting painful as she saw her mother’s chest heave in pain.

Finally the shaman stopped his chant and took out an item rolled in cloth, a sword, the demon sword. Kit looked to Inari who found herself stopped and returned the look to her mother’s eyes. The priest screamed a he dropped the sword and from that blade grew a hand, gnarled and large and from that hand came a strong arm and from that a body and then the demon were in its natural form. The spindly man creature was twice Kit’s height and had a sadistic look in its glowing eyes; the look fell upon Inari.

“I believe I owe you a painful death little one.” The demon made strides forward and picked the teenage girl up in one hand. Kit screamed in fear and anger, she lunged through the circle at the beast but fell; her legs would not carry her.

[The Cinderella Man]

When it came to magic and all the razzle-dazzle bullshit that people called magic, Victor was as superstitious as people could get. He was raised in a mundane bluecollar family, in a mundane neighborhood, in a mundane part of Scara Brae where the pinnacle of magic was somebody pulling a rabbit from a hat. And truth be told, he was rather satisfied with this little fact, perhaps even intentionally ignorant towards magic that seemed so common in the world. Because magic just didn’t feel right to him, creating fire with a snap of your fingers, making things move by sheer power of thought, it all just wasn’t natural, wasn’t like it was supposed to be. However, coming from a man that thinks that if the gods wanted people to swim, he would’ve given them gills and flippers, this aversion towards magic didn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Suffice to say, as much as he hoped that this banishing rite worked, a large part of him was expecting for it not to. He felt a little bit like sitting in an audience, waiting for the performer up on the stage to slip and fall or forget his line. He expected for the chants to finish and the dull silence to follow, announcing that they were all just loonies that thought they could pull out a demon from a blade. “A demon. In the blade. How the hell does a demon wind up in a blade? What kind of a demon is small enough to fit into a bloody sword?” were just some of the thoughts that went through his head as he looked over the ritual. Unfortunately, most of his questions were soon answered.

Even though the shadowy hand that emerged from the blade seemed as tangible as if it was made out of black flesh, he had a hard time believing his one healthy eye. And yet there it was, a hand materializing from the metal of the sword, knobbed and gnarly, rising up as if it was made out of the densest smoke he ever saw. It was enough to shake his belief that magic was just a fairytale. What followed, however, destroyed every doubt in his mind. The hand brought an arm in tow that in turn produced an entire body of what must’ve been the fabled demon that resided in Kit’s blade. It was a horrid creature, veiled in black mist through which his extremities were barely distinguishable. Only its eyes burned like hellfire, crimson and ardent, mesmerizing everybody present to the point where they all seemed like statues caught in uncanny petrified poses.

And then the spindly dark creature made a move towards Inari. It moved with uncanny fleetness, hovering over the stone tiles and grabbing the lithe teenager before anybody had a chance to react. Doji tried, but the ritual seemed to exhaust her to the point where she stumbled over her own feet. Half of the shamans were stupefied by the materialization of the demon while the other half started to mutter another feeble chant. Victor knew it was his cue to act of Inari’s neck would snap in the demon’s hand like a twig.

He didn’t calculate, he didn’t consider the best plan of action, he didn’t even think what he could or should do in a dire situation such as this one. It was as if something took him, a primal emotion that urged him to act with no regard for the consequences and even as the blue-furred reiko started to whimper and struggle against the malicious grown of the sullen devil, the prizefighter picked up the formerly possessed blade and charged with abandon. Despite his lack of training with swords, he brought the blade down on the thing’s elbow with all his might, dismembering the extremity with uncanny ease. Inari dropped to the ground, coughing and struggling for air as she crawled away towards her mother.

“Boy, you just gone and did the dumbest thing in your life.” the demon growled at Victor, the voice coming from the mouthless face that loomed above him like a face of a nightmare. In situations like this one heroes would be fearless, heroes would stand with confident postures and stare back at the face of death with no fear whatsoever. But Victor was no hero. He was scared witless, his gut twisting and turning and spreading the queasy feeling throughout his body like a cold shower. There was no going back from this now, he knew that just as he knew that he would probably lose his life right then and there, in the middle of nowhere in Fallien desert.

“At least you’ll go out with a bang. Come on Padre, prove that you’re worth a damn.”

It was his own voice feebly trying to give him some reassurance and for once it did the trick, making him lunge at the demon, aiming his slice at the midriff. But the blade never touched the smoky body of the apparition. Because even as he swung the blade, the monster that stood before him came at him in the most uncanny way imaginable. It seemed to shrink somehow and dart straight for him, and instead of colliding with Victor’s torso, it infiltrated the prizefighter, crept inside his every pore and filled every iota of his being. For a moment he could feel chill sweeping over his body like a shadow of a grim reaper, and then his eyes went blank.

“What do you want of me?” his mind’s voice spoke in the darkness, fearful and uncertain.

“Shh, Padre. I’m going to fulfill your every wish.” a malevolent, horrid voice replied and though he couldn’t feel his body, Victor knew it was shivering at the sound of that voice.

“I don’t want you to. I want you to leave us.”

“US? Do you really think the two of them would ever consider you anything more then a bodyguard, cannon fodder, more then just meat for the grinder?”

“Yes. Back at the oasis...” but his pitiful voice was interrupted effortlessly.

“Back at the oasis nothing. Back at the oasis the little furry cunt wanted to use you, to screw you silly because her bestial urges told her to. She’s nothing but a harlot, Padre. Why do you think that little bastard child of hers has no father?”

“No. Shut up! Get out of my head!” Victor was desperate, his hands reaching for his head only to make him realize that in this stupor he had no hands, no body, nothing but his voice.

“I don’t think so. I think I’ll make you take a piece of her, because you really want to. And then maybe...” a pause ensued, as if the entity that spoke in this abyss that stood all around him wanted to add more drama to its performance. “...maybe even make you take her daughter as well. You know you want to.”

“YOU LIE!!! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!” the prizefighter was frantic now desperate to the point where he would have tears streaming down his cheeks if he had eyes from which they could flow.

“ANTARETH ELYSSEN FARSWENUS!!!”

The three words were spoken with such divine might that it shattered the inky darkness in which Victor’s mind was captivated. But the boxer didn’t open his eyes yet, couldn’t because he felt such energy surging through his body, that he crumbled to his knees and uttered a shout as loud as his lungs allowed him. The demon inside of him was shrieking, its thoughts clawing in desperation as it was exorcised from its current host. And after what seemed like excruciating hours (and was mere seconds), the demented cacophony of devil voices inside of his head simply disappeared. And there was nothing. Victor fell to the ground like a corpse, the possessed blade falling at his side, its clatter the only sound in the tranquility of the aftermath.

[Reiko]

Kit watched the terror hold her daughter. Seeing the young fox struggle and whine was breaking the vixen’s heart, if she lost her child then the mother would follow. The terror was slow; he wanted to see the fox girl suffer for being at the wrong end of his hand. And All Kit could do was watch.

Move Body! She’s your child too. Kit pleaded with herself while trying to get up and try and stop the demon, the priest was chanting cryptically but what purpose would that do. Would it banish the demon in time to save Inari? Someone do something! Kit tried and failed to cry out. Then Victor moved, as if he heard Kit’s plea. The strong man was never a fighter and Kit could tell by the awkward way he held a sword. So tight that someone could easily disarm him but it didn’t matter her chopped strait and true, severing the demon’s arm and freeing Inari.

Kit thanked Victor silently as he fought off the outraged demon but soon the creature jumped inside the man. Vic screamed in pain as he fought with the demon inside his own mind. While this happened Kit’s body quivered as it was able to move again. The priest continued chanting but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

Inari had fled and Kit found Inari in her arms before she could stand up. The younger fox was shivering and her tail jutted about nervously and afraid. “Please Kit you have to help him, he’s not going to win. I don’t want Vic to die for saving me.”

“Ok Sweetie. I’ll try.” Kit felt weak kneed as she stood up, her whole body was wobbly and moved so stiff that she thought she might have been a machine if they felt pain from moving. She looked around the barren temple in hopes of finding something to use. Nothing the priests had would be any good but a throb in the back of her head moved the girl to a wrapped bundle. Her swords were there, Kit took her crystal katana out, and if any weapon would be useful it would be this one. She took the blade towards Victor’s screaming shell.

No she couldn’t hurt victor, only as a last resort. The Onitachi pulsed and sent waves of black darkness though the room, adding a drone undercurrent to the priests chanting. The blade was the power ,she had to stop it. “please my old friend, help me break the demon sword.” Kit whispered as she held her mystic katana over her head, then after a moment of contemplating she brought the weapon down, striking the evil blade. The ring swords clashing hurt Kit’s ears and the sword in her hand broke into a million pieces.

The priest finished his chant and the world went quiet. Kit fell on her knees as Inari came to hug her. “Mommy, Are you ok?”

Kit nodded as the priest looked at them. “You two better get some rest, Victor will be alright. He’s a tough man and we destroyed the demon. The sword is a husk now.” Kit nodded as Inari helped her out the door and into her room. The sparse place was a nice change and all Kit could do was collapse into bed.

[The Cinderella Man]

When Victor’s consciousness returned and once again there was darkness before his eyes, he was certain that the mental bedevilment that the demon put him through was bound to continue. But instead of a horrid malignant voice that echoed through the abyss the last time around, now there were at least three different voices muttering something in an incomprehensible tongue. Also, there was the distinctive sound of daily bustle, feet paddling through the soft sand, mild desert wind sweeping over the eaves of the hut. And unlike during the conflict with the demon, there was a dry heat in the air around him. All of that, combined with the fact that he was most definitely lying on a relatively soft bedroll, managed to prove his initial pessimistic conclusion wrong.

The prizefighter tried to open his eyes next. His right one obeyed, his left one once again exploding with pain, albeit significantly weaker then the last time he tried to move it. Whatever hoodoo the Fallien lady did with her ointment was probably doing the trick. Then again (his ever-present negative side commented) it might be that his eye was just growing numb before falling to ruin for good. Either way, one eye was enough for him to ascertain the environment. He was back in the hut where Inari and he were situated after they were led to the encampment, only now the two of them were joined by Doji that slept serenely on the second bed. Her daughter wasn’t so calm though, sitting at her bedside with a worried sympathetic look on her face, her tail wagging in a sedated manner.

And for some reason, despite the fatigue still prominent in his body and an aching eye, Victor had to smile. Because it was all worth it. For a long time he played it safe, not risking anything, not fighting for anything. His days were all the same perpetual revolution of a carousel that was slowly grinding down the days of his life. But on this occasion he stood up, he fought for something, for them, and because of it Inari had a mother, and Kit had a daughter, and Victor regained a shred of his dignity. And that was reason enough to smile.

“Hey there, Inari.” he finally spoke, his voice a bit too raspy for a rather joyous start of the conversation. “You two doing...”

He never got a chance to finish. The blue-furred reiko was on her feet by the time he spoke her name and in less then a second she had her arms around him. “Vic, you’re alright!” Inari spoke, forgetting all about her sleeping mother and speaking with genuine excitement in her voice. “Thank you so much for saving me back there. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

She spoke hurriedly, taking a step back after a couple of second’s worth of an embrace with a man that until a few weeks ago was nothing but a common bum to both her and her mother. Victor, who never quite knew how to answer to the scarce thanks he got from time to time, just shook his head in the it-was-nothing kind of gesture.

“Are both of you alright?” he finally asked, his legs swinging down form the bed and his head reminding him that he was still a bit weak from the tribulation with the demon.

“I think so. The folk that brought us here said mommy and you are just tired.” Inari continued in a coy manner that made her look childishly sweet. She returned to her mother’s side slowly, noticing that all the speaking awoke her from her slumber. Victor didn’t fail to notice this either and once those dreamy violet eyes met his own, he couldn’t suppress another smile.

“Good morning, Doji. And I think we’ll all agree that it is, indeed, a good morning.” the prizefighter spoke softly, getting up from his bedroll with several bones in his body crackling and shifting back in their rightful places. “That is, unless the locals still have a beef with us.”

[Reiko]

Waking up’s not an easy thing to do after fighting a demon like that and breaking a sword that was tied to the spirit. Kit thought she might sleep at least for weeks or forever in that case. Still the sight of Inari and Victor raised her spirits. Victor seemed all right and Inari’s bright smile was only worn from being tired for how long she stayed by the side. The only thing to remind Kit of the fight was the blue marks around her child’s neck.

“Good morning Victor.” Kit replied with a smile as she moved to a sitting position on her bed. “And it’s all thanks to you. Might be a good swordsman if you get over holding it like a dead rat.” Kit knew it was that poor grip that saved Inari. “Thank you. I couldn’t ask for a better companion for me and Inari.” Kit smiled as she moved and kissed Victor, surprising her self when she found the lips instead of a cheek.

Inari giggled as she kissed Vic on the cheek and pounced on her mom with a big hug. “You’re Alright, I was so worried when you fell asleep like that.” Inari cried with her tail wagging much more joyously.

“Of coarse I am! It’ll take more than a demon to take me out.” Kit smiled humorously as she returned her child’s hug then turned to Victor. “Well since you fulfilled your oath you no longer have to follow the two of us. But I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind accompanying us as far as Irakkam. It’d make the desert a little more tolerable.”

“Yeah, please.” Inari begged; she wanted to continue on with Victor, at least out of the desert. He was such a fun companion and a good friend. Still even if he agreed, they would lose him like the others. Kit had the worst luck with boys, she met one she liked and would lose them often and Inari knew this as many of Kit’s and her Friends were eventually separated.

A priest walked in the room with a low bow. “Sorry to interrupt.” He looked about to make sure he wasn’t intruding on something too personal and decided it was all right. “I must ask you on the behalf of all my brothers and sisters to take the sword you brought with you. Its evil soul is gone but there are still traces of the evil that we do not want here. I promise you that you will be safe from the demon who no longer controls the sword and is banished to his home for a millennia.”

Kit wished he didn’t interrupt but decided it wasn’t a bi deal. “I’ll take the sword. I broke my katana and I need another weapon.” Kit smiled as she felt the blade placed into her hands. It was cool and none of the evil tingle remained. This blade had caused her such a trial but in the end it was just a tool and without the demon to use the sword for evil it wasn’t truly evil.

“Thank you miss.” The priest ducked away to leave the three alone.

“Well so how about it Vic?” Kit said. “Travel a little further, maybe I can teach you some basic sword work. You have the heart of a good kenshi.”

Inari giggled. “Or we can just play! I know how you don’t like swords that much and I don’t care for them much either.”

Kit smile. “Yeah or you two can just play.”

(Spoils: The Onitachi. A delyn sword that retains some magic from the demon that lived in it. The magic makes the blade extra sharp and it can easily cut though things that a normal blade can't. The blade can cut though stone and wood as long as it's weaker than iron. while it can cut through weapons easier, OOC it's completely up to the owner whether a weapon breaks or not. Weapons and armor are considered to be higher quality. It's mostly for items that are considered as part of the Setting.

Inari get's a two peice blue bikini of spidersilk. all spoils for me are unsellable)

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor wasn’t certain which of the two gestures he found sweeter; Inari’s chaste kiss on the cheek or Doji’s sincere one that landed on his lips. Both were expressions of gratitude and fondness, and they blindsided him completely, mellowing his insides effortlessly. For a long while – ever since Delilah and his departure from Scara Brae – he was never a welcome sight. A down-and-out prizefighter that dragged his ass from one losing bout to another was not something people – especially women – liked to have around. Nobody wanted to stick around with a loser. And during this ordeal, solitude became so prominent in his life that something as simple and innocent as this fragment of gentleness from the two reikos was a milestone moment.

And even though a life debt was always a boulder on one’s shoulder, Victor realized that carrying it in a company of Kit and Inari was a pleasurable task. Suffice to say, when Doji told him that he wasn’t required to do so anymore, the elation of the moment veined a little bit. But only a little bit. Because it seemed that he wasn’t the only one that wanted to break this little camaraderie of three. Kit suggested that they travel together at least until Irakkam, and as if that wasn’t enough of an invitation for him, her daughter was more then eager to make him stick around for a while longer. And once again, that was an emotion that he had not experienced for what seemed like eternity. In the end, it wasn’t even a question whether or not would he go with them. He grew so fond of the pair that he wanted to spend as much time with them as humanly possible, even if it made the final farewell in Irakkam that much harder to accept.

“Well, there is strength in numbers and we’ll need strength while traveling across the desert.” he replied with a mild smile, his hand tousling Inari’s hair gently at which she giggled and tried to stop him feebly.

“I would be honored to join you once again.” Victor added with a mild, semi-serious bow of his head directed towards Doji before he turned to Inari and spoke in a much lighter tone: “And we can do a little bit of both, I reckon. Since I’m a rather slow learner and the desert seems vast, we’ll have plenty of time. We’ll just have to be careful not to jump in any of the sacred ponds again.”

They all laughed, brushing aside the dourness of that moment and remembering the fun parts, and even though he didn’t know it at the time, that moment in the hut - with his eye still hurting and his body still weak – was the happiest time in a long while. Because he was a part of a something akin to a family, something that he longed for and something that always evaded him. It was an illusion for certain, one that would last until Irakkam and then disappear like a cheap magician’s trick, but he clung to it while it lasted and decided to relish in the time with Kit and Inari. Because chances were this was as close as he would get to having a real family. And for a two-time loser such as him, chances were few and far between.

((SPOILS: Victor gains a damascus combat knife (http://www.hayesandassociates.co.nz/Knives/Meula%20Bowie%201.jpg) that he bought from the Fallien merchant.))

[INDK]

Well, this was a fairly long read and in many ways I feel like the story didn’t need to be this long. It just didn’t have enough twists and turns in it. There is some great character that you guys have, but it seemed you rely on it to the point of ignoring other facets that make for good story.

Total Score= 62 This was some good writing, and it seemed that both of you enjoy writing as your characters. Reiko, I’m really surprised to see you give up on Kit, especially after a thread like this.

Introduction – 7 If I judged this introduction just by the first two posts, I feel like I would have been missing a lot. This introduction felt as if it had taken up the length of the first page. This wasn’t a bad thing in and of itself, it can lead to a lower rising action score if you aren’t careful, but there is no reason to fault you just because you did something unique. This storyline lent itself to this kind of an introduction as well, as you two revealed the results of your past interaction with each other in a way that kept my interest and made me want to read on. By the time the introduction was over, I was already involved in the story. For the type of introduction you guys attempted, it was near perfect. My only qualms would be the repetition of the same character traits from The Cinderella Man and issues that deal more with writing and dialogue.

Setting – 6 My big problem here was that while setting was described fairly well, it always felt like a backdrop and not part of the story.

Strategy – 5 I really dislike the use of deus ex machinas like the shaman, but at least he had a purpose in the story. The thing is, I don’t really feel like you guys went out to make this anything unexpected or unique. The idea of a “love of the child saves the mother” was fairly predictable.

Dialogue – 7 Reiko, at times I felt your dialogue was a bit too simplistic. The sword spoke with a bit more confidence than Kit, which is something I liked, but even then, I wasn’t always pleased with the diction. Cinderella Man, I want to congratulate you on your dialogue. You have a good sense of variation between different characters.

Character – 8 For Kit and Victor, this was very strong. An excellent illustration of how using all kinds of different tools will help you create rich character. Setting could have been used a little better, but I’m getting nitpicky there. What I really decided to take off points for here was how flat Inari seemed. Had she been just a plot device I would have understood, but she served the role of an important supporting character and fell flat there.

Rising Action – 7 Strong character kept this entertaining, but the plot was very simplistic.

Climax – 5 A bit disappointing. Character was great throughout most of the thread, but you didn’t really do much with it here.

Conclusion – 5 While the conclusion was a sweet event from Victor, it seems like he went through a lot that the Cinderella Man should have talked about here. Reiko was better here, I got a much better sense of closure from her, that this event had been a meaningful one for Kit that would impact the rest of her life.

Writing Style – 7 Errors from Reiko certainly hurt here, as did the constant repetition of the same words over and over again. Cinderella Man could occasionally get repetitive. However both of you generally had a solid sense of brevity and appropriateness. Also the story had a solid and easy follow to it.

Wild Card – 5 I’m a bit disappointed in the plot here. It wasn’t that it was bad, as much as I felt like there wasn’t anything that really made this story stand out to me.

Spoils=

The Cinderella Man receives 600 EXP his knife and 200 GP
Reiko receives 1100 EXP her spoils and 100 GP

[Max Dirks]

Rewards added!