Chapter 6

The Curse of the Dark Priestess

After Miroku and Hachi arrived at the nearby temple, yelling was heard from the outside, and Miroku hurried inside. Mushin was standing in the doorway, and a man and a woman were sitting near the monk that was on the floor. The man looked at the woman, and she shook her head. The two wore priestess attire, and had a pair of bows and arrows on their backs. “Is that his son?” the man asked. “Yes,” the monk Mushin replied. “Could one of you get him out, for a second?” the woman asked.

One of the people got up, and left, with Miroku. Once they were out of earshot, the man said, “I know you people came to us for help, but this is no illness.” “Go on,” Mushin said. “It's a curse from a dark priestess. I've

seen it before. We both have. Our mom was killed by the curse, which was placed on her, by Tsubaki. If this was caught at an earlier stage, we might have been able to but now...” the man trailed off. “How would you have stopped the curse?” Mushin asked. “There is only one way to stop a curse put by a dark priestess, and that is to kill the dark priestess that caused it,” the woman said.

When she said that, the monk lying on the bed died. The man used the blanket, to cover him up. “Thanks for the help,” Mushin replied. “Sorry we couldn't do more,” the woman said. The man nodded, and said, “Come on sister, we'd best get back to the village. I don't know how long Aunt Kaede, can keep the small fry demons out,” the man said. The two headed out and went home.