Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,129

it was an illusion I watched get crushed beneath all that rock and stone,” she snapped, almost sounding embarrassed. “I suppose I should be thankful that you never listen when we tell you something. That you will, in fact, do the exact opposite, because you are a kitsune and chaos flows through your veins as surely as evil through an oni.”

I blinked at her. “I’m still confused, Reika-san.”

“Yumeko.” Okame sighed, and I felt a hand on my head, resting between my ears, as he came up behind me. “Don’t scare us like that. We’ve got to figure out some sort of signal when you’re about to do your kitsune thing, so the rest of us don’t blunder off a cliff or dive under a collapsing roof trying to save an illusion.”

“Indeed,” said a new, slightly strained voice, as Daisuke stepped around the rubble pile. He moved smoothly across the rocky ground toward us, but I suspected he was doing his best not to limp. Okame stiffened and stepped around me, brow furrowed, as the noble joined us.

“That was quite the impressive display, Yumeko-san,” Daisuke told me, though his smile was pained. “I am correct in assuming you are the one responsible for the sudden collapse of everything, yes? My attention was somewhat diverted when the pillars began to fall.”

I winced. Everything had happened so fast. With the giant statue looming over Okame and Reika, I’d made a split-second decision. Only now did I realize it had put Daisuke in danger, too. “Gomen, Daisuke-san.”

“No.” He shook his head. “No need for apologies. Your course of action was possibly the best. Although I admit I would have rather finished that fight myself, steel blades can do precious little against solid stone.” He gazed down at his sword, eyes narrowed, before glancing over the rubble pile. “In any case, we completed the challenge. The way up the stairs should be clear.”

Picking our way over fallen pillars and broken statues, we made our way back to the staircase. However, as soon as we approached the bottom step, there was another loud grinding of stone, and four more statues stepped off their plinths to crash to the steps, blocking our way.

“What?” Okame stumbled back, staring at the new guardians who had stepped forward. “More of them? How many of these things are we going to have to fight?”

“As many as we must.” Daisuke stepped forward and, even though he was bloody, bruised and exhausted, raised his chin and put one hand on his sword hilt. “The entire room, if it means we must get through this challenge.”

Okame cast a nervous glance at the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of statues lining the steps and scattered throughout the cavern. “There’s an awful lot of statues in here, peacock. If they all come to life and attack us, we’re not going to have a good day.”

Daisuke only smiled. “A true warrior welcomes battle,” he stated quietly. “If he must stand against an army, he knows his death will be with honor.”

“Daisuke-san,” I said, with a sudden flash of insight, “wait.”

Stepping beside the noble, I grabbed his sleeve, making him turn with a puzzled frown. “The haiku in the beginning,” I said. “How did it go, again?”

“It reveals the way,” Daisuke supplied, still keeping an eye on the statues. “Prove you are worthy to pass. Or die upon stone.”

“What if it wasn’t a challenge or a test?” I mused, staring at the line of guardians. “What if it was a warning? We tried fighting them, and that didn’t work. What are we missing?”

It reveals the way.

“Yumeko!” Reika called, as Daisuke drew his blade in a flash of steel. “Watch out!” The stone statues had started down the few steps separating us, raising their weapons to strike.

Oh!

“Wait!” I cried, and reached into my robes, shoving my hand between layers of cloth to find what I needed. Taking one step forward even as the statues loomed overhead, I pulled out the scroll and held it up before me. “Stop!”

The statues froze. I glanced up and with a chill, saw that their huge stone blades had come to a halt midswing, and had all been aimed at me. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” I whispered, somehow managing words around the throbbing of my pulse. “This was the key, the it that revealed the way. You just needed to make sure we had the scroll.”

The statues didn’t move. They stood clustered on the steps, silent and motionless, like they had been standing