[It's possible that the warning sign itself had held some kind of cursing power.... Perhaps once it was read, the curse was already laid. Matoba had suspected as much when he'd set out.]

[Ayakashi spoke in whispers of places like this of natural wonder, which held power entirely by virtue of their purity from outside influence. Curious, then, that an ayakashi would actively seek to bring outsiders here. For what purpose? The trail was a spider's web, but at its center should still be the spider.]

A necromancer? I've heard of it in passing, [Matoba muses with a tone of interest, bringing a thoughtful hand to his chin.] Although I'm sure the common perception of it largely misunderstands the job. I deal mostly in non-human spirits, so your knowledge in handling them would certainly be handy.

I'll tell you what I expected, then. Generally, a trail such as this would be intended to lead the unsuspecting victims directly to an ayakashi's lair to be devoured. In other words, you fail whether you turn around, or not. I expected to be met by this territory's master, but as you can see, we seem to be alone in this. Instead, I felt a presence only on the trail itself, but was unable to determine its location.

Perhaps the only way to force it to appear is to fall for the trap after all, [He muses, with a small sigh.] It must be baited out.

[His next move, then, is to determine the bait.... His eye slides back towards Sabriel, and he smiles.] What do you think?