"Caw, caw, caw-"
Several startled crows circled overhead, still eyeing the scraps of flesh below hungrily. Isaribi picked up a leaf. The blood on it had already dried, and she rubbed her fingers together.
"The mountain dog was probably killed this morning. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but things may be changing."
"Miss Isaribi, has something gone wrong?" Hirota Tulio asked in confusion.
"The fox demon and the mountain dog were both monsters on the outskirts of the sea of trees. They'd held their territories for over a decade, yet both met violent ends within a single day." Isaribi spoke frankly. "And there was that five-colored serpent I've never seen before. I suspect someone else has landed on the island besides the earlier intruder."
"Could the monsters be killing each other over territory?" the long-haired woman suggested, thinking herself clever.
"Perhaps, but territory on the outskirts isn't worth much to monsters."
Without committing either way, Isaribi asked Hirota Tulio a question.
"How many people were aboard that strange little boat when you came?"
"The four of us here, Antonio, who fell behind, and Dr. Kabuto Yakushi, who was shot dead. There were only six of us in the lifeboat. No one else." Hirota Tulio counted them off on his fingers.
Reaching back to touch the Jeweled Branch of Mount Penglai wrapped in hide and thatch on her back, Isaribi nodded slightly.
"True. Anyone without a token connected to Mount Penglai would be turned away. Surely there couldn't be such a coincidence."
Isaribi looked up at the sky. The sunlight was brilliant. Then she turned to look at the sacred peak in the center of Mount Penglai Island before warning everyone.
"We're about to enter the inner sea of trees. The monsters there are all powerful. Even I might not be a