Write Club Prompt #17
Escape
“What do you mean, she’s escaped?” the head monk looked at his subordinate. His face not revealing the panic that was sprouting in his gut.
“Pardon, but we believe the sealing scrolls were misapplied. Or perhaps the brothers missed sealing some crack in the-”
“Silence!” The head monk cut off his subordinate’s speculation. “It matters not how she escaped. If she is out then all of our energy must be focused on her swift recapture. Wake the brothers and sound general alarm. If we’re lucky she will still be weakend and we may catch her in the forest.”
The subordinate bowed a full ninety degrees and as if spring loaded about faced and marched out.
“Escaped? That figures.” Joshu rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he lined up next to his brother monks. He took is assigned staff and joined a group of his favorite brothers to head into the forest.
“Why do you say that, brother Joshu?” the brother next too Joshu asked as he lit the lantern and raised it up on a pole.
“Because,” said Joshu “nothing at this monastery ever goes right. Don’t you know our reputation?”
The brothers kept a stern silence. They all knew too well the monastery’s reputation as having been built on cursed ground. Forsaken, the legends said, after a kidnapped emperor’s son was slain at the center of the forest. It was said to have happened beneath the giant oak that still stood in the center. The spot where Joshu and his band were heading now.
Through the forest occasional lights could be seen. The bobbing lanterns of other search parties. All looking for the same tell tale tracks. Two fox paws followed by two human feet. The foxmiku spirit was a crafty creature. She would not be recaptured easily. When a junior brother first found her she had been bathing in the river. So taken by her beauty he almost drowned when he slipped and fell into the river.
The sun was just rising when Joshu reached the middle of the forest. There perched on the cursed rock beneath the ancient oak was the foxmiku. She chanted in a forgotten ancient tongue. A chant meant to summon powerful allies. Joshu heard the brother next to him blow the alarm as he rushed in. If he could reach her in time she could still be recaptured.