Yoko raised a gloved hand and minutely adjusted her tight 
bun.

Um... are you talking about her hair, or...

<slaps hand to face>  This is even worse than the inadvertent pun in 
Chapter 23.  Will make it PERFECTLY CLEAR what I'm talking about for the 
webpage copy.  -.-

    Tingling apprehension crept on spindly legs up her spine and
neck.  "I am sorry," she said after a moment's gathering of
thoughts.  "Are you another acquaintance of my sons?"

son?" (She's only got one)

Should be "son's?".  Will fix.

    Akari took an unconscious step back.  The memory came all of
a sudden;

I've always heard that expression as 'all of the sudden'

<blink> I have always heard it as 'all of a sudden'. 

    "Who are you?" she tried to ask through the gag.

"I'm Ratman."

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh...

    "Oldyoung man," a voice hissed from above.  He could not
pinpoint the location, for it seemed to come from everywhere.  
"You come here alone and challenge I, fool?"

"Yes! To a pronoun-using contest!"

The use of 'I' to replace 'me' for parts of Hako's speech is actually 
intentional and meant to convey some of the alien nature of the 
possessing spirit.

    Mistress reached out her hand and Ratcrowsnakewormmaggot
leapslithercrawled up her arm and perchclung to her thin
shoulder.     

The way this creature puts words together is really neatcool. I like 

it.

Thankyou Garykleppe.  I am pleasedmuch.

    "Whatever you do," Tarou gasped, "don't throw me in the
water."

Nice try, Br'er Pantyhose....

Yes, it's another episode of Uncle Ranmus's Tales!

Very good chapter; lots of suspenseful action, combined with WUE's
trademark vivid descriptive work. Looking forward to the next one soon!

It will be soon, Gary.  I believe you've heard the tale of how Chapter 
34 (formerly 33) was actually mostly written before I began Chapter 33 
(formerly 34)...  ;)

Thanks as always for the comments.

Ciao,
-Alan Harnum

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com