The Princess and the Shadow

Chapter 5: The stranger in the forest

Ina rode toward the forest, she looked in that direction, she wanted to see if Masayasu would send a signal to her telling how many men there were. She did not know which signal to receive, but that did not matter, she would know it was a signal at the right time.

It was late afternoon, the sunset was ending, in fact the sunset looked very shy that day, perhaps because it was cooling down a bit. She looked around quickly, just to make sure there was no one else around, and then looked at the forest again. Her violet eyes attended every movement, every shadow that appeared.

Ina felt her heart beat so hard she feared that anyone could hear. She released the bow of the mount and held it in her hand and was observed, in case she needed to pull a quick arrow from the quiver that was now on her back. This whole Masayasu's plan seemed very tense. She just wanted to get over it and cross the forest without concern, but her heart said there would be combat.

Ina had the impression of far from seeing movements amidst the trees, but it could be just the wind moving those red leaves. She was attentive, did not want to fail, especially because she felt that the Masayasu's life would be in danger.

She then began to approach the forest, her heart beating louder and louder. She saw some foliage move. Slowly she pulled an arrow from her quiver and pinned the bowstring and pointed in that direction.

Ina tried to calm her heart, she made a movement with her legs for Mako to stop, so Haku also stopped when realizing that the other horse had stopped. Ina was trying to breathe calmly, she looked and was about to drop the arrow and then saw Masayasu come out through the foliage and look around and then back to Ina.

"You do not have to shoot me, you know."

Masayasu mocked at the look on Ina's face who does not understanding what was happening. She lowered her bow and stared at Masayasu and followed his gaze.

"I did not see anyone, this is weird. Do you believe there's no one here?"

Ina looked toward the unbelieving forest that there was no one, something inside her said there was someone, somebody lurking to attack them when they were on low guard.

"No, there's someone in there, I can feel it."

She spoke and Masayasu looked into her eyes. She stared at the forest as if searching for someone, for some clue that someone was inside.

Masayasu followed her gaze, if she felt something and should take it into consideration. She was trained to feel the energies around her, as archer she could feel more than he might. Although as shinobi he managed to identify presences, she as an archer might feel energies or sensations, was her instinct.

"Do you feel any presence? Because I feel nothing and did not see anyone, Inahime."

Masayasu spoke and looked at Ina, she looked around, in whatever direction her eyes could penetrate into that forest, she felt something, but she was not sure if she would be able to tell what it was.

"I'm not sure I can say I feel a presence, but there's something inside that forest, something hidden, something that our eyes might not be seeing."

She looked at Masayasu. He watched her severely, then put his hand on his chin to think about it. Maybe she was right. But what could it be? Something that could erase his presence, because he could not feel anything, at least not in the same way as Inahime.

"My father, my real father, Tadakatsu-sama, once told me a story when I was a child. He said that oni still existed, and that they could hide their presence from humans. When I was a child I was charmed by this kind of story, but today I come across something unknown and strangely this story came to my mind after years and years without hearing."