Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,110

No flicker of emotion, no hint of thought or feeling that wasn’t my own. He had retreated deep inside himself, shutting me out completely, and nothing I did seemed to penetrate the wall he’d erected between our consciousnesses. If I wasn’t so preoccupied with traveling to the Steel Feather temple, I might’ve been concerned, or at least curious; why this sudden change? What could have happened to make him hide his thoughts from me completely? As it was, however, I had other issues to worry about.

Like finding a hidden temple somewhere deep in the Dragon Spine Mountains.

At least it had been an easy two days of travel, journeying across the forested rolling plains of the Water Clan. I traveled at night, avoiding the sprawling towns, farms and villages spread across the plains, like someone had flung a handful of rice and let it fall where it would. There were a lot of towns. Save for the Imperial family, the Mizu were possibly the wealthiest of the great clans simply by virtue of location; their lands were lush and fertile, protected by ocean on the west and the Dragon Spine Mountains in the east. And the Forest of a Thousand Eyes separated their lands from their hotheaded neighbors to the south. Add the fact that the Mizu were well-known for their pacifism, and that they boasted the finest healers in the empire, and the Water Clan rarely had scuffles with the rest of the empire. Or at least, they had fewer scuffles than the Hino, the Fire Clan, who, it seemed, declared war against the other clans every other year.

On the third night, I finally reached the foothills of the Dragon Spine Mountains. The longest mountain range in Iwagoto began far to the south in Earth Clan territory, curved up past Fire and Sun lands, and ended near Dragon Mouth Bay in Water Clan territory, essentially cutting the empire in half. It was a harsh, endless stretch of icy peaks and soaring cliffs, and I was already mildly annoyed that I was going to have to cross it a second time. There was one pass that cut through the Dragon Spine, but it was farther south and also heavily guarded, and I wasn’t going to waste another two days of travel going around the mountains.

Leaning against a pine at the base of the hills, I looked up. The Dragon Spine soared above me, bristling and dark except for where snow touched its highest peaks. Somewhere among those crags and ice-covered cliffs was the temple that held the final pieces of the scroll.

I felt a flash of irritation that bordered closely on rage. I was Hakaimono the Destroyer, Jigoku’s strongest oni, being sent to fetch an item like a dog. The fact that Genno had promised to break the curse on Kamigoroshi didn’t help. Maybe when I had completed this task and Genno had upheld his end of the deal, I would remind the Master of Demons why it was always a risky business to bargain with Jigoku. One thing was certain—when I was free of the sword and at my full power, the Shadow Clan would pay for the centuries of imprisonment, madness and torture I’d endured since the day Kage Hirotaka made his wish to the Dragon a thousand years ago. They would die in droves, man, woman and child, and I wouldn’t stop until I had made my way to their immortal daimyo herself, ripped the head from her withered neck and torn the heart from her chest to eat it in front of her.

I paused in my thoughts of revenge and turned my consciousness inward. Nothing, Tatsumi? I thought to the emptiness inside. I know you’re still in there. Not even a flicker of remorse for the complete destruction of your clan? Have you given up so easily? I pondered that, then smiled. Or, is it something else—someone else—that you’re worried about?

There was the faintest stirring, like a spider drawing even farther into a crack to escape a predator. I chuckled. Oh, Tatsumi. You can’t hide what you feel for that girl from me. But don’t worry; I have something special planned for her. She is going to die slow, screaming in agony, and you are going to be forced to watch. Before she dies, I’ll make certain she knows that you can see everything and cannot save her. What do you think about that?

Nothing. No flicker of emotion from the soul inside; he had closed off his