Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,136

human warriors led the way to the main hall, making me curl a lip in amusement. I was still covered in dust, my body aching and bruised from that last little challenge. I hoped the sculptor who had created all those guardian statues was dead, because his heart would probably burst from shock when he found nothing remained of his creations but gravel and dust.

At my back, the icy wind howled up the sheer drop down the mountainside, a mountain I had to climb to reach the temple at the top of the cliff. I noticed a pulley system with a large basket sitting near the gate; they had obviously pulled the basket up in the hopes that it would stop me. Too bad for them, this wasn’t the first mountain I had scaled. I hoped that a cavern full of living statues and a slightly challenging climb up the side of a cliff weren’t the only defenses these protectors had, or I was going to be disappointed.

With Kamigoroshi glowing a baleful purple in my hand, I stepped through the gates into the Steel Feather temple.

Nothing happened. I had been bracing myself for arrows, traps, for a burst of magic as the temple defenses went off. A cold wind howled over the rooftops, but other than a dry leaf skipping across the courtyard, there was no movement or sign of life anywhere.

Which meant that they knew I was here, and I was walking into an ambush.

I sighed. “Well, isn’t this an obvious setup? You know I’m only going to get mad when you spring whatever it is you’re planning,” I called, walking steadily across the courtyard toward the temple steps. Kamigoroshi flickered and pulsed in my hand, casting eerie shadows over the stones. “You could save me some trouble and attack me now, or keep hiding and force me to hunt you down. The outcome will be the same either way.”

No answer. The courtyard was dark and still as I made my way up the stairs and stepped through the doors into the main hall. The floor of this shadowy chamber was polished onyx and jade, with lines of gold threaded through the tile. Large jade pillars marched down either side of the room, and even more statues of humans and tengu lined the walls. If this was a normal temple, the back of the room would be reserved for the gigantic statue of the humans’ Jade Prophet, who was neither kami nor god but simply a mortal who had apparently reached enlightenment. But, as I had guessed earlier, the guardians of the Steel Feather temple were tengu, who believed themselves above mortal enlightenment. Instead of a huge green statue of a meditating woman, a great serpentine dragon had been carved into the wall, head and coils seeming to emerge from the stone. The roaring head hovered over an altar crafted of dark wood and gold, where a long, lacquered case rested on a stand in the very center. But the dais that held it wasn’t empty.

A single human with long white hair stood calmly in front of the altar, a shining length of steel held loosely at his side. His face was covered with a pale oni mask, a grotesque parody of my kin, with a grinning red mouth bristling with fangs and a pair of horns curling from the brow.

I smiled, recognizing the noble from Tatsumi’s memories, realizing that if he was here, she would be, as well.

“Oni no Mikoto,” I drawled, walking forward. “Or should I say Taiyo Daisuke of the Sun Clan? Where are your friends, the ronin archer and that annoying shrine maiden? And the little half-fox?” He didn’t answer, and I chuckled. “Just you, then? Do the tengu here really believe a single human can keep me from taking the Dragon scroll? Or are you trying to recreate our first meeting on the bridge?”

“You will not touch the Dragon scroll, demon.” The human’s voice was cool, unruffled. He took one step forward to meet me and raised his sword in a protective manner. “On my honor, I will protect it, and this temple, with my life.”

I shook my head. “One human warrior cannot stop me, and the guardians here know that.” With a smirk, I stepped farther into the room, raising Kamigoroshi and my voice. “But very well, I’ll go along with this little farce, if only to get things moving. I do not believe for a moment that we are alone, but if