Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,112

these villagers are keeping you company?” I returned. “I’d rather not, thanks. No offense, but I hate the cold.”

A disdainful sniff. Mortals are such boring creatures. The voice swept over the frozen ground like a breeze, never staying in one place, though I still could see nothing except little whirlwinds of snow skipping over the ice. One touch, one kiss, and their skin turns blue, their insides freezing solid. I wonder if an oni from Jigoku would be more resilient?

There was a pale shimmer in the corner of my eye, and I turned.

A woman stood at the edge of the clearing where nothing had been before, swirls of snow and ice sparkling around her. Her billowing robes were spotless white with swirls of icy blue, the sleeves trailing to the frozen ground. Long, jet-black hair fluttered in the wind, the ends seeming to writhe away into mist, as did the hem of her robe and sleeves. Her skin was whiter than the snow falling around us, her lips the pale blue of a frozen corpse.

The yuki onna smiled at me over the icy clearing, cold blue eyes glittering like frost, and raised a hand. “Let us find out, shall we?”

I dove away as a blast of frigid air shrieked toward me, leaving a jagged trail of ice spears in its wake. Rolling to my feet, I saw the snow woman had appeared just a few feet away, hair and sleeves billowing around her as she smiled at me. I raised Kamigoroshi and lunged with a growl, aiming for that pale, skinny neck, as the yuki onna’s lips parted and she blew in my direction.

Wind shrieked around me, howling in my ears, ripping at my mane and clothes. Ice coated my skin and spread rapidly across my body. My muscles stiffened and froze from the bone-numbing chill. The cold flooded my nose and mouth, turning solid, cutting off the air to my lungs and making my vision blur.

The yuki onna stopped and drifted back, a serene smile on her face. I couldn’t move, frozen midlunge with Kamigoroshi outstretched before me. Through my blurry vision, I could see my arms and the sword covered in ice several inches thick, hanging in spears from my skin and the edge of the blade.

The yuki onna laughed, her voice sounding muffled in my ice-filled ears. “There now, Hakaimono, you can keep me company, after all,” she said, floating around me like a sculptor admiring his work of art. “I think you are possibly the finest of my statues. Fitting that you should be here, in the center of the village, where everyone will be able to see you.”

All right, now I was angry. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, and as I’d stated before, I despised being cold. The yuki onna tittered and swirled in place, smiling at me through the prison of ice, and my blood boiled.

With a roar and the sound of breaking porcelain, the ice prison shattered, frozen shards flying in every direction. The yuki onna whirled around, eyes going wide, as I shook myself and stepped forward, bringing Kamigoroshi into the light.

“Is that your best attempt?” I sneered, baring my fangs and stalking toward her. The snow woman floated backward, her white face blank. “You thought you could stop an oni with cold and ice?” I laughed, the sound echoing over the frozen village. “The fires of Jigoku flow through my veins. You might as well expect a snowball to survive being thrown in a volcano.”

“Insolent demon.” The yuki onna’s face contorted with rage, and she raised her arm. Frost swirled around her fingers, and with a flash of ice, a gleaming yari spear appeared in her hand. Lowering the weapon, she pointed the glittering head at me. “I am Yukiko of the North,” she announced, as wind began to whip at her hair and sleeves, billowing them into mist. “The ghost of the Frostfang Mountains. I have frozen armies of men in their tracks. You will go no farther, Hakaimono.”

I flourished Kamigoroshi and sank into a crouch. “I’d like to see you stop me.”

The yuki onna narrowed glittering blue eyes…and vanished in a swirl of snow. I counted three heartbeats before I spun, bringing up my sword, as the snow woman appeared behind me with a blast of wind, stabbing her yari at my chest. The icy weapon was knocked away with a screech, and I slashed Kamigoroshi at my opponent’s pale little head, hoping to sever it from her neck.