Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,113
She darted back like a puppet attached to strings, then flew at me again with a flurry of blindingly quick thrusts. I fell back before the onslaught, swinging with Kamigoroshi and knocking the spearheads away as the yuki onna pursued me across the yard. She was very fast, I had to admit, grinning as I was driven back through the village. Much faster than a human could ever hope to be, and quite skilled with that ice yari. This would be a good fight; I was thoroughly enjoying myself, though something nagged at the back of my mind.
Knocking away a spear thrust, I spun with the movement, circling inside the snow maiden’s reach, and lashed out with Kamigoroshi, aiming for that slender white neck. The yuki onna’s eyes widened, but the moment before the edge would’ve cut the head from her body, she dissolved into a swirl of snow and mist. The blade passed harmlessly through, tossing flurries in its wake, and I growled, shaking my head.
Lowering my arm, I gazed around the village, carefully watching snow eddies as they swirled and danced over the ground.
“Yukiko of the North,” I repeated, turning in a slow circle, knowing the snow maiden could hear me. “Ghost of the Frostfang Mountains. The Kage tell stories about you, did you know that? Do you know why they never bothered to send their demonslayer after you? Because they didn’t care about the armies invading Sora territory, or the wars between the Sky and Wind Clans. Because the ghost of the North stayed in the North, and as long as you don’t meddle in Kage affairs, they have no reason to come after you. Even a yuki onna whose territory is filled with an army’s worth of bones and weapons, hidden under the snow.”
There was no answer from the frozen village, just the wind howling through the rocks and surrounding peaks. I continued to scan the surroundings carefully, all senses primed to respond if needed. “So, my only question is what is the Ghost of the Frostfang Mountains doing way out here in the Dragon Spine, so far from home? This isn’t your territory. You have no claim to these mountains, no reason to be here. Unless…” I paused, smiling as the obvious reason came to light. “The sole reason you’re here, at this exact spot, in this exact time, is because you knew I would be coming through,” I said. “You’re here for me.”
There was a blast of frigid air at my back. I spun, knocking away the ice spear stabbing at my chest. Immediately, the yuki onna vanished again, dissolving into snow swirls, then came at me once more from another direction. I barely avoided being skewered a second time, but didn’t have time to respond before I found myself fending off lightning-quick attacks from all sides. The snow maiden would lunge, stabbing at my chest or face; I would parry and she would vanish in a billow of white, only to repeat the attack from another direction. Staggering under the relentless assault, I slashed viciously at the snow maiden in front of me, only to have her vanish like before. At the same time, something finally struck the back of my shoulder, sending a jolt of pain up my spine.
Annoyance flared. The snow maiden appeared before me in a swirl of white, but this time, instead of parrying the yari thrust at my chest, I ignored the weapon and slashed at the yuki onna instead. The icy spear tip hit me in the ribs, lodging between bone, but Kamigoroshi bit into the snow maiden’s arm, severing it at the elbow. With a shriek, the yuki onna jerked back, clutching at the pale stump, and disappeared.
Wincing, I reached down and yanked a shard of ice from my ribs, the pointed tip covered in steaming blood. As I watched, the whole thing melted in my hand, running between my claws and dripping to the snow.
“Monster.”
The snow maiden appeared once more, glaring at me with glowing blue eyes. Her empty sleeve billowed and flapped in the wind, but as I watched, snow swirled around her, and a pale new arm emerged from the storm of white, clutching another ice yari that crinkled as it came into being. Brandishing the weapon, she gave me a chilling, triumphant smile.
“You cannot defeat me, Hakaimono,” the yuki onna said, drifting forward again. “I am as formless as the falling snow, as eternal as winter.” She twirled the yari, floating toward