Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,127

cutting at the whole party. Okame yelped, jerking back as it missed him by inches, and Reika dove out of the way. Daisuke leaped straight into the air, drawing his sword as he did, and cut at the statue as he came down. But Yoshitsune stepped in front of the large man, raising one of his swords, and Daisuke’s blade screeched off the stone weapon instead. Almost at the same time, the second sword lashed out, cutting at the noble, and Daisuke twisted aside, sleeves billowing, to avoid it. He spun to face the other swordsman, and had to leap aside to avoid the giant stone spear smashing to the earth. The smaller statue pressed forward, both blades moving in a spinning, deadly dance, and the noble retreated, his own sword whirling to block and parry.

An arrow ricocheted off the large statue’s head, leaving a white gash in the stone but little else. “Um, we might be in trouble, Daisuke-san,” Okame called, taking aim from atop an empty statue plinth. He fired again, but the dart struck the large man in the neck and went flying off into the darkness. “Any ideas on how to pierce solid granite?”

“I am still working on it,” came Daisuke’s breathless, somewhat wry voice. He evaded a flurry of blows, then turned, vaulted off the head of a statue and landed atop a row of broken pillars that stood upright like broken fangs. The swordsman statue didn’t hesitate but leaped after him, and Daisuke retreated to the next shattered column. The clang of their weapons rang overhead, as the two master swordsmen continued their duel several feet off the ground.

With a roar, the large statue swung his spear at the ronin, and Okame dove away as the weapon smashed right through the pedestal, turning it into a crumbling pile of pebbles and dust. Okame hit the ground and rolled to his feet, but a fist-size rock struck the back of his head and he staggered, dropping to his hands and knees. The large statue didn’t make a sound as it turned, raising its spear to crush him into the stones.

I gasped and, without thinking, stepped from behind the pillar and threw a ball of kitsune-bi toward the statue about to crush Okame. The flaming globe soared over the ronin and exploded in the statue’s face, flaring a brilliant blue-white and banishing the darkness like a flash of lightning. The statue paused and staggered back, waving a hand before its eyes.

A booming howl rang through the chamber, as with a streak of glowing red and gold, an enormous komainu leaped over a broken wall and landed beside the ronin. Reika was on his back, sitting between his massive shoulders and golden mane, as Chu’s guardian form roared at the statue still looming over Okame. Reika held an ofuda before her, the strip of paper fluttering wildly, and drew her arm back as the statue turned, raising its spear.

“Shatter,” Reika cried, flinging the ofuda toward the living statue, as Chu dodged the spear blade crashing into the earth. The tiny slip of paper struck the statue’s chest and clung there for a moment, as the kanji on the surface started to glow.

With a sharp crack, a portion of the statue’s chest exploded outward, filling the air with dust and rock shards and knocking the giant back a few feet. It made no sound, but flailed as it staggered, lashing out wildly with its spear. The blow was fast and unexpected, and Chu wasn’t able to react quickly enough. The haft of the weapon struck him across a meaty shoulder, lifting him off his feet and sending him and Reika flying through the air. They hit the ground, rolled into a statue base and lay there a moment before struggling weakly to get up.

Heart pounding, I looked at the giant. There was a gaping hole in the statue’s chest, big enough for a samurai’s helmet to fit, but the stone warrior was still on its feet. And though it was nearly impossible to catch any type of expression on its stony features, I thought it looked angry now.

The clang of stone on steel echoed somewhere overhead. Daisuke and the other statue were still dueling on the pillars rising from the ground, running up broken columns and leaping from pillar to pillar, and an idea flitted through my head like a butterfly.

I bent down, snatched up a pebble and stepped away from the column toward the large statue, which