Sheer Turmoil Utter Peace Chapter 9
Hope you enjoy this chapter, this one is going to be short but hopefully not too short. I'm using this chapter to help explore different characters and plot tangents and see where they go from there. Almost forgot, I do not own zoroark, copyright stuff, blah, blah, blah, Kenshi and the others are mine though, so on and so forth, thanks for reading.
Chapter 9
(Toshi POV)
Twelve days had gone by since Toshi gathered his "family" and left behind their home and, with no small amount of dumb luck, Tom's coup. As they continued east the dense forest that surrounded them for the last eleven days grew thin and tress grew sparse as the forest gave way to rolling grasslands forcing them to land on the ground and walk the rest of their journey. We're nearly at the border, just another day of this and we can take a rest once we're outside Persan territory and head into Dectarter Nonimod Territory. Toshi thought to himself as he and the group looked down at the border crossing on the horizon from atop a hill as the sun started to set in back of them.
"Is this the Dectarter Nonimod border Toshi?" Benaji asked walking over with Kenshi coming to a stop at her side, squinting to see the border guards around the post in the fading light.
"Yep that's it, once we pass that border, it'll be almost impossible for Tom's or any other traitorous parties to catch us." Toshi replied as he crouched down lower to the ground motioning for the others to do the same looking back towards the guard post and waiting as the sun finally set over the horizon plunging the land into darkness. Lights could be seen flickering to life in front of the guard post casting black swirling silhouettes of the guards as they resumed their patrol in front of the crossing. Putting a finger to his muzzle to shush the others he spoke in a hushed voice so it wouldn't carry across the wind towards the guards and alert them to their presence.
"I'm going to sneak forward and see if I can get any intelligence on what the situation is back home, maybe we can learn something we can use. Under no circumstances are you to move from this spot" He whispered to the group his eyes going over all of them, stressing the importance that they follow his directions if they wanted to stay alive and out of Tom's clutches. He turned around and took a step to go down the hill when he turned around and pointed a finger at Kenshi then at Laurran "and no arguing either. I think that you two can go one day without arguing can't you." Toshi told the two sternly and quickly clamped a hand over each of their faces when Kenshi and Laurran opened their mouths to argue with him. "No, I'm not hearing it! If you two start arguing, I swear to every god and deity I can think of, I'll string you up like piñatas and beat you like a candy deprived child on Halloween, do you understand me?!" Toshi hissed at the both of them staring straight into their eyes, a sadistic smile spreading across his face when their eyes got bigger as they saw the truth in his words as they stared in his eyes, the painful future playing out within them as their heads nodding frantically like bobble heads in understanding told him they perfectly understood. Toshi turned around again and quietly made his way down the hill towards the guard house staring at the guards out of the corner of his eye as he slowly crept in back of them and slipped into the booth quietly and quickly searching through the papers and mug shots scattered over the booth. A quiet cough from behind made Toshi freeze and snapped his head around to look back at the two guards who hadn't strayed from the spot they were in before. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he settled his nerves and continued searching through the papers and mug shots until his search stopped when he saw his face on the front of one of them. The paper read: "WANTED! Toshinamase lo Sempe Tensuge-An, is wanted for questioning in the murder of the late King Sherro and the mysterious disappearance of Prince Kenshi, Princess Laurran, Prince Hiranose, and Princess Shinaji. Any information regarding the whereabouts of Toshi or the missing parties is to report to the Court Guard Squads. In addition any information submitted that leads to the capture of Toshi or the whereabouts of the missing parties will be GREATLY rewarded." Toshi's mouth hung open as he read the wanted poster shocked that he would not only be the prime suspect in Sherro's murder but in the "disappearance" of the others but if Toshi was shocked by the fact the he had a wanted was quickly replaced when he continued reading and saw the amount they were willing to pay for his capture.
"*Whistles* that's a whole lot of zero's in the reward ain't it? I stopped count after twelve though." A masked figure said in a feminine voice making Toshi jump and bump the table wincing as it made a screeching sound as its metal legs slid across the floor.
"Whoops, time to go, you should too I don't think they take kindly to strangers going through their stuff." The masked figure said before standing up and walking out of the door and vanishing into the shadows. Toshi was still crouched staring out the doorway the masked figure had just completely vanished through leaving nothing behind, not even a scent to track her by later. Toshi's mind was brought back to the present when a guard glanced at Toshi then did a double take when the guard glanced back where Toshi was and saw he was gone. The fox guard scratched a spot just above his left ear as he tried to piece together what he just saw and heard looking over to the other guard, a panther who heard the same noise too but they just shrugged their shoulders and continued their shift in silence.
"Do you see him anywhere, I don't?" Hiranose asked anyone who was listening he saw Toshi quietly sneak past the guards and into the guard house and even heard the screeching sound the table made when Toshi bumped it but what really had him focusing was when a masked figure stepped out of the same guard house and vanish into the shadows. Or so he thought, even in the dark Hiranose's eyes were powerful, and he tracked the movements of the masked figure running across the border into Dectarter Nonimod territory before it vanished into the massive old-growth forest. Who was that and how did he manage to sneak up on Toshi, no one sneaks of on him without him knowing. Hiranose thought as him and the others saw Toshi elude the guards again and make it back up the hill.
"What happened down there, did you find anything useful, and who was that who sneaked up on you then just vanished?" Kenshi asked Toshi as he motioned the group to follow him down the hill to the base before they sat down to tell them what he found out. Toshi was about to start explaining everything but was interrupted by Hiranose who suddenly spoke up after hearing about the masked figure who vanished.
"They didn't vanish" Hiranose cut in, and was about to continue when he saw the look everyone was giving him and he just muttered something about being quiet.
"No wait a minute, you saw her leave?" Toshi asked interested and surprised Hiranose managed to track her movements in the near pitch darkness.
"Her?" The group said at the same time as they looked over at Toshi who just nodded in response.
"Did you see which way she went, I couldn't follow her once she stepped out the guard house, not even her scent, she just up and vanished." Continued Toshi then looked over to Hiranose with a curious look on his face as he awaited his response. Rather than saying Hiranose got up and quietly made his way back up the hill and pointed at the old-growth forest, and then looked over at Toshi who let out a long sigh and shook his head in defeat.
"I was hoping you weren't going to say that." Toshi said as he sighed lifting his pack off the ground and looking back down at the guards thinking of a way to distract them so the rest could get over the border.
"Why not, what's wrong with that forest." Hiranose asked Toshi as he looked over at the wolf noticing that he had a strained expression on his face as he ran through different possible scenarios to get them over the border.
"Nothing except two things, the first being that this territory" He explained as his arm swept over the forest in front of them "is probably the scariest and deadliest place on the planet because just about everything and everyone in it wants to kill you, and the second thing" He continued as a impish smile played across his face "this is where you're going to start your training." He finished as he placed his pack on the ground and rummaged around in it until he pulled a useless looking gray cylinder the fit in the palm of his paw. The rest of the group stood there wondering why Kenshi had some gray pipe in his hand until he pushed a small button on the side and the group gasped as the cylinder suddenly extended to about six feet in length with a wire attached to one end. Toshi placed the rod on the ground and placing a paw on the top, pushed down bowing the rod out and with the other quickly connecting the wire to the other end and then picked up the now completed compact yumi bow. With bow in one paw, Toshi reached down to one of his side pockets and pulled out a thin gray, reed-like, pipe about three inches long and pressed a button on its side and it extended into a sixteen inch arrow and notched it to his bow and pulled the string taunt. Toshi slowly let out a long breath and plucked the bowstring with a muffled *twang* as the arrow hissed through the air before finding its target, the floodlight above the guard house striking it and raining down sparks as the light exploded and rained down on the frantic guards below scrambling at suddenly being plunged into darkness.
"Now, let's go while they're distracted." Toshi said as he broke down his bow and he and the group ran down the hill and over the border before quickly being engulfed by the forest completely unaware of the masked figure giggling in the canopy above having seen the whole show from a safe distance.
"They're gonna be fun to mess with especially that cute figer who saw me earlier from the hill." The masked figure said as she faded back into the shadows as her giggling continued to echo throughout the forest.