It was nightfall by the time Ashitaka returned to Iron Town. The place was still just as busy as always, and the new bellows glowed softly against the night sky. Toki and the other women, as usual, greeted him excitedly.
"Hey! Ashitaka!" cried one girl.
"Where have you been all day?" asked another.
"We were beginning to think that the wolves ate you!" Toki added. Warm laughter followed.
Ashitaka just smiled and gestured for the girls to settle down. It was times like these that made the boy appreciate the peace of the forest, but that wasn't to say that this company was any less pleasant.
"I was admiring how the new Iron Town looks from the forest." he explained quietly.
"Oh, come on now!" one girl grinned. "We know you were out there with the wolf girl! You don't have to lie to us, Ashitaka!"
Ashitaka thanked the darkness silently for hiding the bit of color that rose to his face. He had to admit that he had a fondness for San, but the way the Tatara women put it made it seem like much, much more. He simply smiled and continued on towards his home.
"Oh! Wait! Ashitaka!" called Toki, gesturing for him to come back. "I just remembered. There's someone here who wants to meet you."
Ashitaka turned around, blinking curiously. He watched as the other girls giggled and Toki pulled another girl out of the workhouse. This girl was about San's age, but she had the wildest of ebon hair that was clumsily pulled back and glistened red in the fire light. She grinned an energetic grin in Ashitaka's direction.
"Hello," the girl said softly in a low, deep voice. "I understand that you are Ashitaka. My name is Rin. Pleased to meet you."
"The same." Ashitaka nodded politely. "I don't recall seeing your face before. Are you new here?"
Rin nodded.
"Lady Eboshi bought her brothel contract the last time she went to buy rice." Toki ruffled Rin's covered head. "She looked so shy when she first showed up here that we thought she'd run off, but after a couple of hours working, she was just like one of the family!"
"I've heard so much about you." said Rin. "Are you really a friend to the Princess Mononoke? Or are these girls just teasing me?"
"I know San well." Ashitaka uttered. "She lives with her brother wolves in the forest of the late Deer god."
"Interesting." Rin smirked smugly. "And the animals don't bother or bite you?"
"No, they don't." he explained. "The wolves dislike me, but they do not bite. The kodamas are as harmless as their mother trees."
"Hmm..." the girl raised her hand to her chin in thought. "I see. Well, it was a pleasure to meet the 'Great Ashitaka' of the Western Lands. I hope to see you again sometime. Goodbye."
With that, Rin retreated to the warm interior of the forge, leaving Ashitaka the center of the other women's attention. Ashitaka gulped as he felt the giggling, girlish stares fall upon him.
"Ooo!" grinned one of the girls. "I think the new girl has a crush on you, Ashitaka!"
"And she's jealous of the competition too!" shouted another girl from the back of the small crowd.
"If that is all ladies," Ashitaka cleared his throat. "I bid you good night."
"Aww!" the girls laughed childishly. "I think he's shy now!"
Ashitaka didn't respond to the girls' last comment. Instead, he hurried back to his house, his growling stomach and the urgency to escape the forge girls making his legs move all the faster.
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It was the dead of night when Ashitaka awoke to the sounds women screaming and the sharp tone of the alarm. He grabbed his bow and quiver of arrows as he raced outside to see what was all the commotion. A man racing by him was abruptly pulled aside and interrogated.
"What's going on?" Ashitaka demanded.
"A beast is attacking the forge again!" the terrified man sputtered. "This is the second time today!"
"The second?" Ashitaka gasped. "Why didn't I hear about the first one?"
"By the time you came back, the damage had already been done and no one knew it was there until it leapt out of the town."
"What kind of beast was it?" the boy demanded of the frightened man.
"I don't know." the man replied. "I didn't see it for myself. All I heard was that it was a fox god of some sort!"
Ashitaka's eyes widened at the animal mentioned. Hadn't he and San just been discussing the topic? Kohroku had brought up the subject with him only the previous day as he claimed to have seen one running in the distance. Was it all just a coincidence?
By this time, the man had run ahead of him towards the forge. Ashitaka put his thoughts aside and raced to the forge as well.
A loud clang told Ashitaka that something big had hit the melting pot. As he neared the workhouse, a great beast crashed through the wooden walls. At first, Ashitaka thought it was one of the wolves, but then reasoned that they could not be the culprits with the truce San and Eboshi had made.
The creature threw up its head, howling its sharp, shrill cry. It was not a wolf's sound by any means. It's colored fur was a reddish-yellow with flecks of black, and it's two tails and underbelly sported white like San's wolves. The creature could only be described as a giant fox god.
Several arrows flew from behind Ashitaka and into the hide of the fox, but the animal simply shook them off. It glared down at Ashitaka silently for a moment before dashing towards the gates. When the fox leapt over the wall, Ashitaka was sure it had jumped to its death on the pointed spikes below, but instead, it curled into a ball, losing its shape as it melted into azure flames. In its new form, it hastily sped away into the distance and disappeared.
"Damn it!" one of the men shouted as he threw his coolie hat onto the ground. "It got away again!"
Just then, Lady Eboshi, escorted by several of her ladies, came running to the scene. She surveyed the area and scowled silently.
"What happened here?" she demanded.
"A fox monster attacked the forge, milady." Toki explained. "That's the second time today!"
Eboshi winced as the pain in her torn shoulder chose that moment to aggrevate her. Her women assisted her immediately. That's when she noticed Ashitaka.
"You were out in the woods today, Ashitaka." she said calmly. "Did you see that beast at all while you were out there?"
"No," he shook his head plainly. "I did not. I was also unaware of the other attack I understand occurred today until just a short time ago. What does it want, Eboshi? Do you know?"
"I was hoping you would know what this was all about, seeing it as you visit the forest so frequently." she replied. "All I know is that it kicked the melting pot earlier and may have tried to do so just now."
"What purpose would doing that serve?" he interrogated.
"I don't know." Eboshi stared out into the distance. "But if nothing is done about it soon, we're going to have another war on our hands. I won't have it spilling the hard-mined iron."
"You swore that you would keep your warriors out of the forest." Ashitaka fumed. "That was part of the truce you made, Eboshi!"
"I'm not talking about war with the wolf-girl, if that's what you're worried about." Eboshi smiled her smuggish smile. "Just with that particular beast."
"If you make war with the fox, you'll break the truce!" Ashitaka raised his voice angrily. "Is that what you want?"
"If you can find and reason with this creature, Ashitaka," Eboshi turned to leave as another streak of pain shot through her. "then all will be well and there won't need to be another war. But if nothing can be done, the beast leaves me no other alternative."
Ashitaka fumed angrily, but kept his rage silent. Eboshi was willing to wait and see if a positive outcome could come of this, but he wasn't sure just how long she would do so. Remembering his promise to San, he returned to his home, mounted Yakkul, and dashed out the gates and into the forest.
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This is Chapter 2. Where would you like to go next?
