Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,106

hit a dip in the path with a jolt that clicked my teeth together. “It’s no kago, but at least we’re finally on the road and moving faster than if we were on foot. That’s something at least.” He eyed the noble, sitting across from him with his back straight and his hands in his lap, and a faint grin quirked his mouth. “Don’t worry, Taiyo-san. If we spot any samurai coming down the road, I’ll be sure to yell so you can hide in one of the barrels. Wouldn’t want them to see a noble Taiyo traveling in a vegetable cart with a bunch of dirty peasants.”

Daisuke only smiled.

“Let them see,” he said calmly. “I travel with the most interesting and honorable of companions, and I am not ashamed. If they cannot see beyond the outward appearance, that is a stain on their honor, not mine.” One eyebrow rose, and he regarded Okame in an almost challenging manner. “Unless you simply want to see me dive into one of the sake barrels, Okame-san.”

The ronin smirked. “Would you?”

“No.” Daisuke shook his head, though his own smile widened. “At least…not alone.”

Beside me, Reika made a strange gagging noise in the back of her throat. I blinked at her, while Chu and Ko, sitting in a stack of empty crates, poked their heads out to look at us. “Are you all right, Reika-san? Do you need some water?”

“Maybe some sake,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes. “Merciful Jinkei, I hope it’s not going to be like this all the way to the Steel Feather temple. You and the demonslayer, and now these two baka. It appears Master Jiro and I are the only ones with our heads not in the clouds.”

I looked up at the wisps of clouds streaking the otherwise empty sky and frowned. “I don’t understand, Reika-san.”

She rolled her eyes, but did not explain.

The cart rattled on, weaving a jostling but steady pace through the lands of the Mizu, the Water Clan. After we left Jujiro, the land flattened out, becoming rolling plains with shreds of clouds drifting above them. We passed many small lakes and rivers, where flocks of white-and-black cranes clustered along the banks and in the shallow water. Sometimes, a pair of them would face off in a strange, leaping dance, wings spread and necks craned to the sky, almost seeming to float in the air. Daisuke appeared to share my fascination, for he murmured a poem about rippling water, a summer moon and two dancing male cranes. It sounded very pretty, but there must have been a hidden meaning that I didn’t catch, for Okame went extremely red and stared at the side of the cart for a long time after that.

Sometime in the afternoon, a dark ridge appeared against the horizon, looming and ominous, making my insides curl.

The Dragon Spine Mountains.

The sun climbed higher into the sky, sliding in and out of the clouds, and the rolling plains went on. We dozed in the back of the cart, Reika slumped against the crates, Daisuke with his hands in his lap and his head on his chest. Okame snored quietly, echoing Master Jiro’s shallow, wheezing breaths and occasional cough from the front. My eyes fluttered closed, and in that strange place between consciousness and dreams, I thought I heard Tatsumi’s voice. Calling to me.

A tiny growl cut through the silence.

I opened my eyes, just as Chu climbed out of the box he shared with Ko and hopped onto a stack of crates, facing the wind. Raising my head, I squinted in the bright sunlight and gazed around. We were on a wide dirt road that cut through open plains, a sea of waving grass surrounding us in every direction. Wind whispered through the stalks, and the sun beat down on us relentlessly, scouring faces and reddening skin. But except for the buzz of the cicadas and the hypnotic sway of the grass, nothing moved in the silver-green ocean surrounding us.

Chu growled again, and the hairs on my arms rose. I looked at the others and saw Daisuke’s eyes snap open, his gaze hard and frightening. His fingers tightened around the hilt of the sword across his lap.

“Daisuke,” I whispered, “what—”

I heard it then, a sudden hissing all around us, like a swarm of insects flying through the air. I looked up just in time to see a hail of arrows strike the horse and driver’s seat from two directions, catching Roshi and Master Jiro in a deadly