THEN

At first, Eliis didn't realise what it was that had happened. The frigid cold of the lake numbed his nerves almost instantly, and he didn’t do anything, only watching as he sank away from the hole in the ice growing further away from him with every second. Finally, he snapped back to his senses and flailed around, not feeling his arms but using them to propel himself upwards purely through their visual presence. The air in his lungs was little - he had gasped when he hit the water, which he vaguely remembered being some kind of reflex. That alone was dangerous but he was going to make it, the darkened hole in the ice only a metre away, and then-

Something moved below him, its shadow much larger than he was. Bile rose in Wyatt's throat as he kept frantically paddling away from it, even when he felt a tugging downwards that came out of nowhere. He kept moving his arms, hoping, praying it would be enough to overcome the new force. The panic only really set in when he saw the hole in the ice begin to slowly recede away from him. So this was it. He was going to drown in a frozen lake in the middle of nowhere out in Talosa's largest national park, and to some creature he couldn't even see no less.

A shape entered the water from above, but as Ellis' fading vision and depleting air made it difficult to tell who it was.

The last thing he felt before everything went black was the sensation of moving upwards.

"Great plan you had there." Raya said, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. "Now they're going to throw us off the mountain."

"Those two tengu swordsmen were not intending to kill," Barrett flatly. "They could have killed both of us but didn't. Perhaps you were recognised, to an extent."

"They wouldn't have killed you. Kofuku told me about you."

Barrett growled softly.

"You could break out of this, couldn't you?" Raya moved against the ropes binding her to the chair to indicate them.

"It would not do us any favours."

"I also didn't do us any favours bringing you here."

"If it makes you feel better, I won't let them hurt you. Even if it means I have to hurt someone else."

Raya whistled. "Are you serious?"

"I'm never not serious."

"Shit." She cast her gaze around the room. They had been moved into a small house at the edge of the village, one that had signs of living in, but also had been cleared out to their arrival. There were still futons in the slightly ajar cabinet in the back, covered in dust, as was the floor and walls in general. "You better be on that because this looks like a place they're going to kill us in without the rest of the village knowing."

The wooden partition before them slid open, and one of the red-beaked tengu knights ducked in, moving to stand behind Barrett. Then a woman entered, possessing a pair of stark white foxy ears and two identical tails that swished behind her, her gaze locked on Raya. She wore a beautiful flower-patterned silk robe, tied at the waist by a red sash.

Raya's own ears perked up. "Kanako."

"What have you done?" the kitsune asked, walking around the both of them. "After all the help I've given you, this is what we get?"

"It's not like that," Raya said. "We just need to talk to the elders.”

“Then why bring the murderer here? Do you know how many of our kind he has killed? Will continue to kill?”

"We're in a yokai realm, aren't we?" Barrett interrupted.

Kanako moved her to crouch before him. "That's right. You know what that means. These laws are ours and we can exist here as we should be, not as you humans have forced upon us." She grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth. "Even the power of the Wild Hunt is weakened here."

"Then there is no danger in letting me see your elders. Worst case, you can just kill me."

Kanako looked back to Raya. “Why do you trust this genocidal monster?”

Raya took a long look at Barrett, his face stone-cold. It certainly wasn't helping his case now. "If I thought he would bring harm to the village I would have never brought him here. You know me."

"Do I?"

"If anything happens, I'll take full responsibility. But he's not going to do anything."

Kanako paused for a moment, before nodding at the tengu knight, who lifted Barrett's entire chair up with him still in it. As that one left with Barrett - who ducked to avoid, another knight came in and picked up Raya’s chair as well. She was still busy trying to balance herself being held up that way when the door frame came approaching, and shut her eyes in anticipation of the impact…only for the tengu to crouch and move her under properly and out of the hut.

The two of them and their chairs and bindings took the trip up the side of the hill, under the inky sky that they could occasionally glimpse through the thick canopy. Raya was trying to imagine the exact logistics of how the yokai realm worked when a shadow passed quickly over them, barely moving the leaves despite the speed it was moving at. It vanished in the direction of the village ahead. “What was that?”

“You wanted to meet with the elders, didn’t you?” Hanako said. “Be careful what you wish for. Here comes one.”

Right, she thought. She had been in and out of town and talked to no less than two dozen of the denizens, but not once had she ever caught sight of any of the village council. It had always been assumed that they lived further up, closer to the peak of the mountain, but Raya had never actually given thought to what it was that they looked like.

Their little precession entered the village from the fringes, up along a small side street lined with houses that seemed completely deserted, lit by an unearthly, warm glow from the stone lanterns that were nestled between the buildings. Upon further inspection however, she spotted errant eyes, peeking through gaps in the wooden construction of the houses or holes in their paper dividers, following them with great curiosity.

The smaller street joined up to a larger one, with brightly-coloured paper lanterns strung up across it between the houses, emanating the same light, and the end of the street opened into the large, circular area in the middle of town. This too was deserted, but only just - the presence of trailing paper strips of various colours, pin boards with all sorts of beautiful drawings and still-steaming food carts only haphazardly tucked away told Raya they were in fact, interrupting.

When the tengu set her down and the bonds around her arms came loose, it was in the middle of the clearing. Raya stepped over some loose confetti and joined Barrett, also freed from his restraints. He patted the inside of his jacket, making sure his gun was indeed no longer there, and grumbled under his breath. Ignoring him, Raya looked up to try to see the shape again, only to realise that Kanako and the tengu knights had backed off and stationed themselves at the edge of the clearing.

When the thing Kanako referred to as the “elders” descended, it was almost silent, with only the slightest ruffle of feathers and the sound of its massive talons scraping onto the dirt being perceptible to the ear. From a distance, it would have looked like a massive owl - and it was certainly big, towering over her and Barrett by two entire heads at the very least - but at this distance, she could see what more it was. From underneath the black feathers that lined its front protruded one, one…three? She couldn’t tell how many human arms were hidden in there, but they were blackened from frostbite and of different sizes, likely coming from different people that made up the creature. It made her skin crawl, and worse still was that when she looked up past its massive blade-like beak and to its three red eyes, within which vague, infantile human faces faded in and out of visibility.

Shuddering, Raya cast her gaze elsewhere, towards Kanako in the background, who just bared her teeth again.

“I suppose you’re the elders,” Barrett started, completely unfazed by the creature before them. “Talosa was never a UCF battleground. You must have come a long way.”

The tatarimokke shifted, blinking, and in the ruffling of its feathers there was a sound almost like…laughing. Children laughing. “As have you.” Its own voice was a symphony of others’, of all the souls within itself, projected from its form and not utilising its beak. “To come all this way and threaten our sanctuary with your presence.”

“I mean no harm. I just require information.”

More laughter, this time sounding like it was bouncing inside of a small room. “And what help is it that we may give to a hunter of our kind and a false kitsune. Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Something is wrong in this region. You know it, I know it. I’m just trying to fix this for both of us. The sooner I get the knowledge I want, the sooner I stop gracing you with my reputation.”

The tatarimokke let out a long, drawn out groan or sigh. It was impossible really to tell which it was, perhaps both. “Then what is it that you wish to know, hunter?”

Rara saw Barrett’s jaw visibly set. “Well,” he said. “I need you to tell me about a yuki-onna that used to live here.”

Wyland thrust with all of his strength, and pushed the limp form of Marshal Ellis out of the lake. With his insulated hands, he pulled himself up to, and pushed at the Marshal to roll him away from the broken section of ice, keeping himself as flat on it as well as to reduce point pressure. Once he estimated they were twenty metres away, he rolled the Marshal onto his back and stacked his hands together, getting ready to pump his chest, when-

Ellis sat up, spitting icy water onto Wyland’s front, and stared at him with bloodshot eyes. “Am…am…I…” he stammered, teeth chattering.

“You’re okay, sir,” Wyland said offhandedly, more focused on letting as much of the cold water slide off of himself before it soaked into his clothes too. “We just need to get you real quick to some warmth before you develop pneumonia.” He turned to look across the lake.

A thick mist had permeated the area since he had dived in, and Alleane and Hicks were nowhere to be seen. As if on cue though, he saw muffle flashes and there was the distant sound of gunshots.

Shit.

Wyland went to grab the Marshal to lift him, but was met with Ellis’ own confused stares at his arms. “Don’t mind me. Just a little insulation.”

“What the hell?”

He held up his entire arms so Ellis could see the dark bark-like substance covering them. “Sir, we need to get out of here.”

Ellis looked like he was going to protest, only for a shudder run through him again, and he just nodded.

Wyland scooped him up with his strengthened arms and began walking towards what he vaguely remembered was the edge of the lake, or at least away from the sounds of gunfire. He didn’t want to think about what they were shooting at, and right now his priority was saving the life he could.

Basic ranger stuff, he thought to calm himself, hoping he was going the right way. Just like the old days.