New Friend, New Comfort
Here's my official Fic-a-thon entry, enjoy the introduction of a type of magical creature rarely mentioned in fiction. Next story: Clamcor
Maddie swung the pink, spiked baseball bat that her dad had given her into the side of smugglers head with a sickening thud and watched him go down hard. Breathing heavily, she spun around only to find that there were were no foes left.
It had been more than a year and a half since Toby's death, she still hadn't completely forgiven him for not letting her be a proper Mizar sooner, perhaps if she had been things would be different. Ever since the two had that talk after the funeral she had been undergoing intensive training in combat,
magic and tactics. Then yesterday Alcor had told her about the smugglers who would soon be docking in Spokeane. Father and daughter had blipped to the harbour and Alcor had called out a challenge from the bottom of the gangplank, and in a few seconds the two had been surrounded by a dozen thugs.
Maddie looked down at the burned and beaten bodies of the smugglers and was violently sick. Her dad flew down from where he'd been burning 'Alcor and Mizar were here' into the side of the small container ship and put his arm around her.
“Are you okay Mizar?”
“I'm fine Alcor, I just didn't expect them to make that noise when hit with this thing.
Alcor looked around at the carnage, “Your aunt Mabel would be proud kid.”
The girl smiled faintly, “thanks, now lets go rescue those captives.”
The two quickly made their way though the ship taking out the few stragglers as they went, a few surrendered and were left tied togather on the deck for the poliece to pick up. Once the pair were sure there was no one left, the two made their way to the cargo hold,.
Most of the hold was filled with boxes of magical contraband, but about a third of it was divided between a workshop and several rows of empty cages. Confused, Maddie went to look at the workshop and started crying. It was filled with dissected corpses, the organs of which were carefully preserved for sale.
“We're too late,” she said softly.
“No look!” Alcor was standing by the farthest cage.
Cowering in the cage was the weirdest looking magical creature that Maddie had ever seen. It looked like an old fashioned paper umbrella but instead of a handle it had a single, long, birdlike leg. On the oiled paper were two rips, on of with showed a single round eye, and the second had a look slimey tongue poking out.
“What is it...?”
“Alcor knelt down and began picking the cages lock with his claw. “Its a Karakasa Kozo or paper umbrella priest boy. You know how these smugglers came from Japan, well those islands have some pretty weird magic energies which often result it old objects and animals changing, like this guy.
Alcor grinned with satisfaction as the lock clicked open.
Maddie rolled her eyes, “Your such a dork Alcor.” She pushed her dad away from the cage and knelt down in front of it. “Its okay little one,” she said comfortingly. “We got rid of all the smugglers, your safe now and we'll take you back to your home.”
The umbrella yokai began crying, “No home, nowhere to go! Rikku and friends give bad men everything to take us to better life across big water. Bad men lock all in cages then kill one by one. Only Rikku left. Bad men say Rikku have no insides to sell. Rikku have no home, no family and now, no friends...” It broke down completely, howling with misery.
Maddie took the weeping yokai in her arms and gently rocked it. “There, there, you can come stay with us, we'll give you a place to belong.”
Alcor gave his daughter a look that spoke volumes, she shot him one back that said more. They locked eyes for a long moment but finally the demon nodded, he knew she was right and this kind of creature wasn't dangerous. Still there was something he'd have to discuss with his daughter later. He snapped his fingers and blipped the three home.
Rikku would go on to live with them for the next three years, it took months to recover from his terrible ordeal and begin making trips outside the house. He loved to jump out and surprise visitors with a huge oiley lick, but he would only do that to Maddie if she was having a particularly bad nightmare about Toby. It never failed to jerk her awake. He would often wait anxiously while Maddie was out cult bashing with her dad. In the end he got a job at a haunted house attraction, which paid enough for him to live on his own, even then he would often come to visit them.
