Saving Touma

Chapter 2.C - Tengu

Koji and Katsuo watched their comrades disappear into the woods one by one. 

One minute they could still hear the sound of shrubs swooshing and twigs breaking from their footsteps, and the next minute, only their voices were audible and slowly fading into silence.

Ryo stumbled upon something out of place from a distance. It was shiny, reflecting the dappled light. He pulled the rope to get Shingen to follow. 

The thing he'd seen became more and more recognizable as they drew closer.

Ryo stopped and fell on his knees as he realized those were human remains, and the thing reflecting the light was a seal similar to his. 

Despite the condition of the body, he knew who it belonged to. He wanted to tear up, but Shingen might find him out if he did. 

As he was about to stand up and get closer, a dark silhouette moved past behind him and knocked him down.

Shingen saw what had happened and was shocked. He froze as his mind tried to make sense of it. 

His eyes darted around to see where the silhouette had gone, and slowly he ducked down and started crawling toward his sensei. That was how they got in that situation.

As soon as Ryo regained composure and was able to walk straight, they began retracing their steps.

"Hiraoki! Yukimura! Kogoro! Tadaoki! Return to the path! Now! Ryo shouted.

Hearing what their leader had said, Koji and Katsuo echoed to bring the four back to the path. Once everyone was back, Ryo frantically untied the rope from his waist, compelling others to do the same.

"We have to move. We're not safe here," Ryo said in a quaking tone.

"What about Noboru-san?" Yukimura asked, causing Ryo to pause for thought.

"We'll come back for him. We'll get help from the village," he continued.

"Wait, we're not turning back?" Shingen asked.

"We can't turn back now. The town is too far away. There's no one to help us back there," Ryo reasoned. Shingen realized he was right.

"Help us to do what?" Katsuo asked, confused.

"Forget it. Let's move," Ryo replied as he jogged off.

"Why are we running? What's going on? Katsuo continued asking, visibly worried. Shingen wanted to tell him what he'd seen, but he realized it would only scare them more.

They jogged for about three hours until they reached a cliff. 

Not far to their left was a hanging bridge made of vines, hemp, and wooden plank stretched to the other side where thatched roofs of houses poked out of the treetops. 

Thin pillars of smoke also towered about the forest. Finally, they'd reached the village. The boys didn't waste time and ran toward the bridge to cross to the village.

The cliff was high, and the bridge was long. Below was a river slicing through the mountain at great speed. 

One by one, they looked down to their death should the bridge snapped and dragged them to the bottom. 

Not far from the bridge was a stone monument, no more than three shaku's, with strange writing on it.