Shadow of The Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,45
their advantage when fighting superior forces. That they can melt into shadows or disappear in a cloud of smoke, and that their daimyo is a mysterious lady who is rumored to be immortal.”
I relaxed. Those were all common rumors, some of them true, but encouraged by the Shadow Clan to keep our foes guessing and off balance. She hadn’t heard anything that the Kage did not approve of, which was good, because the true secrets of the Shadow Clan were not supposed to be known to outsiders; those who discovered too much were usually silenced, quickly and permanently.
Hakaimono approved of this idea, urging me to strike now, to cut her down. You don’t need her, the demon seemed to whisper in my head. One quick blow, and it will be over. There would be no pain. She wouldn’t even realize what had happened until she woke up with her ancestors.
I pushed those thoughts away. I had no orders to kill the girl, nor did I believe that she was a threat to the Shadow Clan. Besides, I had promised to accompany her to the Steel Feather temple, and I needed her help to find the scroll. Unless the clan told me otherwise, that was my first and only priority.
The shadows of the forest were growing long. I could still feel the crow’s eyes on me, but could no longer see it in the branches around us. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, blips of light began to wink in and out of existence, as fireflies drifted through the wood and floated through the air.
“Ne, Tatsumi?” Yumeko asked, holding up a hand so that a firefly perched on her finger, winking green and gold in the twilight. Bringing it close to her face, she watched it curiously, casting her skin in an eerie glow. “The sun is starting to set,” she said, unaware as I paused to gaze at her. “Are we very close to Chochin Machi?”
“Yes.”
She raised her arm, and the insect spiraled off into the forest. “Why is it called Lantern Town?”
We came out of the trees, and the road sloped gently away down a hill, toward a river and a series of docks on the other side. “See for yourself.”
Gazing down the rise, she drew in a slow breath.
Chochin Machi sat on the banks of the Hotaru River, glowing like a torch against the night. It wasn’t a large town like Kin Heigen Toshi, the capital city; it boasted a small castle, a handful of inns, shops and restaurants, and a fishing industry that did a fair job of supporting the town. Though that wasn’t why Chochin Machi was famous, or why it drew pilgrims and travelers from around Iwagoto.
On nearly every street, every corner and business and shrine, hundreds of red paper lanterns cast their soft glow into the darkness, lighting up the town. They hung from rooftops and tree branches, from doorways and awnings and from the helm of every ship floating on the river. The glow of the town could be seen for miles in every direction, and travelers flocked to it like moths to a flame.
“Sugoi,” Yumeko whispered. Amazing. Her eyes were round pools of black, and the lights of the town flickered in their depths. “It’s beautiful. The monks never told me there was anything like this beyond the temple.” She paused, then cocked her head, as if listening for something on the wind. “Are those drums?”
I stifled a groan. Late summer in Iwagoto was festival season, which meant Chochin Machi would be especially crowded tonight. “Stay close,” I told the girl. “It’s not a big town, but we don’t want to be separated.”
I turned away and started walking down the rise, hearing her hurry after me. We crossed the arched bridge over the river, where lanterns flickered atop the posts every few feet, and stepped into the ethereal glow of Chochin Machi.
Yumeko’s eyes remained wide as we walked down the broad, dusty street that cut through the market district. Unlike many towns that closed their doors when the sun went down, Chochin Machi’s shops thrived after dark. Strings of lanterns swung overhead, sometimes blocking out the sky, while individual chochin flickered in the doorways of shops, inns and restaurants, indicating that they were open. Market stalls sold their wares in the streets, everything from food to sandals to miniature paper lanterns, popular souvenirs of Chochin Machi.
As we neared the center of town, the sound of drums, deep and booming, began