Again, Nakoruru cast a fearful look over her shoulder. Tears stung her eyes as she pushed through a tangled Juyshon bush as silently as possible. Every time a branch snapped under her foot or a leaf rustled, the terror would claw at her throat again, tightening her airways. He wasn't there…yet. But she knew it if was only a matter of time before she would see those two flickering lights following her behind the trees, the ghostly lightning humming in Galford's eyes. Those eyes, they burned themselves into her mind. There was a horrible storm raging in them, and she was trapped in it.
      Everything ached. Galford had taken great delight in battering and ruining her mercilessly and she was covered from head to toe with ugly bruises of many colors. She still couldn't comprehend what had happened to him. Maybe he had been possessed with a demon like that Shinto priestess, Mizuki, had been - the lightning he could summon seemed to indicate supernatural forces at work. She didn't want to consider the possibility that he had always been like that, just hiding his evil until the right moment. Deep in her heart, she still held onto the thin hope that there would be a way to bring the Galford she used to know back again. Of all the things in the world there were to fear, Nakoruru never thought Galford would ever become one of them.
      Her body continued to protest every movement, and above all she simply wanted to lie down and sleep. Sleep, it seemed such a beautiful, elusive thing, to close her eyes and float away…but would he be waiting for her there too, in her dreams?
      Hurt and sore as she was, Nakoruru could move faster than she was, but she would not leave her Grandmother to that devil. She imagined he would pause just long enough to snap Grandmother's neck, and then he would continue on with his relentless pursuit of Nakoruru. Mamahaha, so fragile now in her tight embrace, depended on her as well.
      He had stolen enough from her already. Grandfather, Cousin Shin, Uncle Bentsai…and all the others. Rimururu was still missing; Nakoruru hoped he had not killed her as well.
      Grandmother's labored breathing grew more hoarse behind her, and tiny icicles of dread pierced her thumping heart. We're not going to make it.
      "Nak..Nakoruru…leave me…leave me behind…save yourself…" Grandmother rasped. There was no way the beloved old woman would be able to continue at this pace.
      Nakoruru slowed her rate and gently helped to support Grandmother's reed like body. So fragile, Nakoruru thought to herself, I remember when you were much stronger than I, Sweet Mother. They continued on.
      "No, Wise Old Mother, if we die, it shall be together."
      There hands joined as one, each lending their diminishing strength to the other. A stand of bamboo stretched out before them. Not a stitch of cover could be seen between their rigid, knobbed stalks. If they were to be caught, here is where it would be.
      Grandmother looked up at her with her kind, wrinkled eyes - a glimmer or hope in them. This was it. If they could only reach the denser jungle on the other side, they might really elude him. After all, this was their forest, and they knew it far better than he.
      "Spirits, protect us!" Nakoruru whispered, and then they were out in the open. Nothing to shield them from the light in his evil eyes except for the mottled, yellow-green spears shooting out of the ground and reaching for the heavens.
      A kite screamed a warning from the dark, living scaffolding behind them. For once, Nakoruru wished she couldn't understand the speech of animals. Panic truly set in, and she fought the urge to run. He was coming.