~~~

It looked kind of like water.

A little murky perhaps.

But it was in an ordinary artisan-made cup and didn’t have fumes rising off the top.

And the Suwa guard who’d brought it in was the same one who’d shoved them into the cell earlier [and called his katana a rusty piece of green shit], so he was unlikely to be a spy.

‘Miho…’ Akira whispered, reaching out an elbow and accidentally connecting with his young fellow prisoner’s cheek as he turned his head in response. ‘Kuso...'

‘Why are you using your elbow?’

‘Forget that. Drink the water.’

‘What? I was waiting for you guys to drink first.’

‘Ah…good. Finally, you discover cynicism.’

‘Personal habit, actually. My father said it was rude to drink before others. Why aren’t you drinking?’

Akira picked up the cup and forced it into Miho’s hands. ‘I insist.’

‘Okay.’

Miho put the cup to his lips and took a sip, then offered it back to the ashigaru.

‘Drink a bit more.’

‘Are you sure? We haven’t got that much.’

‘A third each. You can take yours now.’

Miho nodded and did as he was told, a rogue voice in his brain telling him that Akira was only worried about being poisoned, even though all his enemies were back in Kai and the guard had spat in the cup when he’d delivered it, which would be an odd thing to do if you were trying to poison someone.

‘How do you feel?’ asked Akira, his eyes following the projected path of the liquid down Miho’s throat.

‘Less thirsty.’

‘Give it to him next.’

‘I think he’s asleep,’ replied Miho, looking over at the slumped figure of the mage in the other corner of the cell. There was a rat slumped next to him, possibly dead, so if he wasn’t asleep then he was extremely tolerant of disease-associated animals. Not that Miho believed any of that propaganda. His rat back in Nambu had been fine, always bathing in the little tub he’d made for it. Completely non-plussed at crumbs that used to drop down from the dinner table.

‘Probably trying to tempt us into killing each other…’ muttered Akira, almost under his breath.

‘What’s that?’

‘Nothing. How do you feel now?’

‘Fine.’

Akira made a tutting noise and studied the cup, then switched to the cell door. If he’d been a four-year old waif, he could’ve possibly fit through the bars. Then crept up the narrow, annoyingly sloped, windowless passage and been stabbed with his own katana by the two guards with unusually alert eyes on the tatami platform at the end of it. Apparently, they never slept on duty - at least that’s what they’d said in their opening spiel - and if any prisoner ever felt sick then they would have to sit there and either die horribly or ride their way through it.

And even if he did make it beyond those two, there was another passageway beyond the door with four more guards, also incapable of feeling sleepy on duty.

Basically, this place was an actual dungeon compound. Surrounded by samurai barracks and the usual maze-like system of courtyards and blind alleys and sudden rock gardens. Absolutely no hope of escape…unless it came from inhumanly talented help outside.

Which in his case meant…what? A girl with no real survival skills who despised him?

Ah, there was a chance she might feel sorry for Miho…but sorry enough to infiltrate this pit and commit suicide trying to break him out?

‘If I could get to my bag…’ said Miho, snapping Akira back to the foreground and the live rat who’d just appeared next to his foot.

‘What?’

‘There’s something in there that could help us.’

‘A dagger?’

‘No, a small rock.’

‘Gods on a washing line,’ the ashigaru said, kicking away the rat. ‘Just give me the cup.’

‘You want to drink now?’

‘No, I want an unorthodox hat.’

‘Unortho-…’

‘The cup. Please.’

Miho ignored the dripping sarcasm on the please and held out the water to Akira, who swiped it off him and downed the whole thing.

‘What about him?’

‘I’ll give him first dibs on the rat.’

Possibly hearing the comment and feeling annoyed, the live rat came back to Akira’s foot and tried to nibble at his toes…forcing the ashigaru to throw the cup at it.

His aim was solid, but the rodent was too fast, darting to the left and scurrying into a crack in the wooden wall as the cup skidded across to Daiki’s leg.

The mage woke up with start, his hand reflexively grabbing the red and white ribbons in his hair.

‘Gods, still this place…’

‘Thanks to your stubbornness,’ answered Akira, stretching out his arms.

Daiki loosened his grip on the ribbons and then let go completely, glancing down at the dead rat next to him.

‘Nothing to say for yourself, magic man?’

‘I don’t think we should start arguing again,’ said Miho, leaning over and whispering into Akira’s elbow.

‘Why not? Nothing else to do.’

Akira used the cell wall as leverage to push himself up, flinching a bit at some of the jagged wooden splints, then continued his stretching routine.

Miho followed his lead, and positioned himself as a buffer between the two men, adding more whispers about how the mage had saved Akira from drowning and maybe he should focus on that part of things.

‘Yeah, I’m afraid that was cancelled out by getting me stuck in here.’

‘Really?’

‘Basic samurai code, endangerment carries twice the weight of expected rescue.’

‘But you’re an ashigaru…’

Akira’s arm stopped mid rotation, and the live rat popped its head back out of the crack in the wall. They both held their pose for a while, at least ten seconds, then the ashigaru started laughing. Not a huge laugh, but a relieving one.

‘Ah, I’m too tired to start anything anyway…’ said Akira, walking to the cell bars and leaning against them.

‘How the hell did we end up here?’ said Daiki to himself, clutching his ribbons again.

‘Stubbornness,’ replied Akira, irritated.

‘The orange-haired monk,’ corrected Miho.

‘Can’t believe I let you talk me into all this. And for what? A few cheap magic tricks. Praise from people who think a fucking tree is looking out for them, guiding their crops and love life. Ah, my love life. That’s gone now too. Might as well become a monk. What’s that?’

‘Sorry?’ asked Miho, glancing at Akira, who just shrugged.

‘Yeah, in a fucking dungeon cell, very hygienic. And he’s got the ethics of a belt merchant. Gods, I miss sleeping with men who are easily impressed by my magic. No, it is me. What? I do the showmanship, the hand flourishes. All you do is hide. Can’t even see you most of the time. No, I don’t want to. Yeah, I tried. What? No, I did, I genuinely tried, but…sorry, I just don’t find foxes sexy. Yeah? Well, maybe you should do that. After I’m executed and you’re stuck in my fucking hair forever.’

Miho backed into the cell bars next to Akira, and turned to him. ‘Are you hearing this?’

‘I think he’s mad.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Talking about sexy foxes…no doubt about it.’

Daiki seemed to catch their words and opened his mouth to possibly call them sexy too…but that was stopped from happening by a sudden flash of turquoise light, succeeded by the materialisation in the middle of a cell of something that couldn’t realistically be there…yet actually, visually was.

A fox the size of an nine-year-old child, eyes matching the turquoise light, its left paw stroking the tips of eight extremely well-combed tails.

‘The fuck was in that water?’ asked Akira, staring at his own hand as if the cup were still there.

‘Hello…’ mumbled Miho, taking half a step forward.

The fox glared at them both, but didn’t care enough to hold the pose as its body spun round and pounced on the mage, who just sat there like a bag of salt and let his collar be gripped.

‘Inept layabout…’ the fox yelled, in perfect Japanese.

‘Tiny stowaway.’

‘Eight months and you’ve gotten us nowhere.’

‘Got us into the castle...’

‘The dungeon.’

‘...which is what you said you wanted.’

‘Plus the orange monk debacle.’

‘Gods, you’re pedantic.’

‘Three weeks of surveillance and then this coarse oaf barges in and captures him in not even one day.’

‘Why don’t you go and join him then?’

‘Yeah, maybe I will.’

‘Go on then.’

The fox turned back around and sized up the ashigaru, who was doing the exact same thing to him. Miho too, though he seemed to be focused on the fox’s ass.

‘What are you staring at?’ the fox said, adding an echoed growl.

‘You’ve got eight tails,’ said Miho, confused.

‘… … … … …’

Akira tilted his head, counting them out. 'He's right. Only eight. Where's the other one?'

‘Ah, not completely green then. Good. I hate dealing with that brainless, surprised koi expression. Very irritating.’

‘I didn’t do that either…’ said the mage, pulling himself up to his feet. ‘And stop putting comrade eyes on the ashigaru. He’d last about five seconds with you in his hair.’

‘My ears are closed to you,’ answered the fox, switching focus to Akira, who leaned against the wall and folded his arms. Then pushed forward and rubbed his back, muttering a curse at one of the stumpy wooden struts sticking out behind him.

‘So you're not a myth?’ he said, barely a question.

‘Myth is a human word. But you are correct. I am very much real.’

'Demon?'

'Again, a human word. But yes...you could call me that.'

‘Gods, did someone leave the whole cave unlocked? That’s four in the last week…fifteen if you count the monk as twelve separate guys.’

‘Yes, I saw your performance with the palak demon. Quite impressive. Compared to some others who we don’t need to name.’

‘He got lucky,’ cut in Daiki, walking over and attempting to shove the fox.

'Bold would be a better word for it.'

'Bold?'

‘Speaking of lucky...or bold,’ interrupted Akira, tapping the bars of the cell. ‘How about we skip the petty squabbling and use our new demon friend to get us out of here?’

Both the fox and the mage stopped, the latter with his hand on one of the fox’s eight tails, the former with his paw on the mage’s ankle.

‘You’re not exactly the right size, a bit chubby, but…with some of that demon magic...and a lot of shoving…’

‘… … … …’ replied the fox, shaking its head.

'...it shouldn't be that tough. What?'

'... ... ...'

'Is that a yes?'

'... ...'

'Great. Let’s get started then.' Akira rubbed his hands together, sizing up the full shape of the fox. ‘Hold your breath, see how thin we can get you.’

Daiki laughed, sinking back down against the wall. ‘Still wanna jump ship?’

‘I hate humans,’ muttered the fox, using its tails to lower itself down onto the dungeon floor.

‘Huh? Are we trying this or not?’

‘Especially ashigaru.’