Wolf and Keeper

Chapter 3: The Keeper of Ebume

Ebume, Mutsu Province, 1555

Footsteps crunched on the dirt road, a group of men hurried through the darkness, and nothing but the distant sound of frogs and insects permeated the night. Even the birds had gone silent. The area was blanketed in a thick layer of fog that obscured all but what could be seen directly in front of them, and even then it was iffy if they were actually seeing things correctly anyway. Their armor was worn and broken, the sign of deserters who fled from a battle or scavengers who had pulled off the armor on an unfortunate ashigaru or a fallen samurai. They had heard a rumor about Ebume, its small peaceful existence a tempting fruit for those who made their living scavenging, stealing, and pillaging from those left weak by the war or too far removed from it to know how to defend themselves.

"Come on!" One man, his armor better than everyone else's, hissed into the dark. Ten other men stood behind him. "We have weapons! These people won't even fight back."

The man directly behind him hesitantly looked over at the old bridge. With the heavy fog had fallen over the area, and they were lucky if they could even see halfway across, let alone to the other side. "Listen... Not that I don't want an easy score, but... This is Ebume, boss. You heard the stories."

"Oh, yeah, stories about some undead warrior and a yokai, right?" Another man asked as he too looked back to their leader, "I think Ennosuke has a point, boss. Maybe we should... I don't know... Maybe pick a different village?"

Their leader stood before them, dumbfounded that his usually intrepid companions were suddenly cowering at some local legend about this stupid old bridge. He knew better. Yokai may prowl through the shadows, but the talk of ghosts and righteous demons was almost too much for him. He turned to them and snarled, "What? Some old hag gives us a cryptic little warning and suddenly you all are too cowardly to deal with a simple village?"

"Boss, any other village, and I'd agree with you. Remember Kyohei? His group came here and they never came back!" Ennosuke spoke up, his eyes darting around his boss and to the bridge, where he swore he saw something move in the fog.

"Yeah, and Kyohei was a little bitch who was scared of his own shadow! Now, you either follow me, or I'll chase you out of this gang myself!"

The others reluctantly followed their leader as he approached the bridge, but when they did, there was a loud stamp that resonated through the fog and made them stop in their tracks. Out of the fog appeared a shadow. It held an odachi in one hand, and when they edged closer to try and see what it was, the figure stamped the weapon against the bridge again, the sound of lacquered wood on wood echoing through the fog.

"Leave," a voice echoed out from the figure, making the men stop in their tracks. "If you stay, you will die."

"Th-the Wolf!" One of the men choked out. "He's real!"

The leader frowned, "He's just a man!"

Wind blew and the fog cleared enough for them to see the snarling visage of a wooden mask facing them. Long black hair spilled over it from the wearer's head, and some of the men backed away. The figure was lean and stiff, unmoving in the moonlight that peeked out from the clouds overhead, its stillness making the already twitchy men even more nervous than before.

"I won't tell you again," the figure slowly raised its sword and began to pull the blade from its sheath. "Leave this village."

The leader drew his sword, and as he did, something stirred in the fog behind the lone figure. Slowly, a greater black shadow rose from the fog and it seemed to spill off of the shadow like water as it rose up behind the lone figure. It was massive, towering over the man at least twice, and in its hand was a naginata that was even taller than he was. Four great fangs were set upon its face with two burning yellow eyes, and when it unfurled itself to its full height, it let out a deafening roar that made several of the men throw down their weapons and bolt off into the shadows down the road, some screaming as they did.