Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,138

it before him like a shield. He started chanting, as did the circle of tengu around me, their voices rising in unison to echo off the pillars. At my feet, the binding circle flared red.

“You are not welcome here, demon,” the shrine maiden called, as the strip of paper in her hand began to glow, illuminating the holy words scrawled across it. “And you will never take the scroll fragment from this sacred place—even if we must seal you away for a thousand years, you will never get your evil claws on the Dragon’s prayer.”

She hurled the ofuda at me, where it flew straight as an arrow, crackling with spiritual energy. The chanting of the tengu grew louder, and the strip of paper blazed white as it sped toward me.

I slashed the ofuda from the air, Kamigoroshi flaring with power as the blade struck the paper and sliced it in two. As the strips fluttered harmlessly to the ground, I raised my head and smiled at the miko, showing all my fangs.

“You’re going to have to do better than that, amateur,” I growled, seeing the color drain from her face. “I’m not some weak amanjaku you can seal away with a wave of your ofuda. Dozens of priests and blood mages before you have tried to bind me, and I’ve decorated the binding circles with their insides.” I glanced around me, at the ring of chanting tengu and raised my sword. “I’ve always wondered if crow tastes like chicken. Guess it’s my lucky night.”

Unexpectedly, the shrine maiden gave a grim smile. “Not this night, Hakaimono,” she said. “You will not take one step farther. Your rampage ends here, and you will never lay eyes upon the scroll.”

She raised a billowy sleeve, as if giving a signal. I felt the danger behind me and spun, just as an arrow streaked from the rafters overhead and hit me in the chest.

Snarling, I staggered back, seeing the shaft buried below my collarbone, and reached up to tear it away. The archer, whomever he was, had missed my heart, and that mistake would cost him greatly.

But then, I saw the familiar slip of paper shoved halfway down the shaft, flaring to life as soon as the arrow touched my skin, and growled a curse.

The ofuda burst into streams of light, rising up and spinning around me like a frantic swarm of eels. With a flash, they became glowing chains that wrapped around my arms and legs, anchoring me to the stones. I roared, my voice booming through the rafters, as I sank to my knees, feeling the chains tighten around me. The chanting of the tengu rose, filling the air with power, feeding the magic of the circle and pouring strength into the seal.

I struggled a moment, then gazed up at the shrine maiden, forcing a smirk. “Oh, well-done, human,” I mocked. “I stand corrected. But your seal will hold only for as long as you and your bird friends concentrate. You won’t be able to keep this up forever.”

Her gaze hardened. “It doesn’t have to be forever. Only long enough for this.”

There was a ripple of movement beside me, and she stepped into the open with a billow of red and white. Her ears and tail were clearly visible, and her eyes glowed a subtle gold in the shadows of the hall. She looked different than the terrified kitsune we had left at Satomi’s castle. This Yumeko seemed…harder, older, clearly not the naive little half-yokai who smiled at ghosts and was innocent to the ways of evil. Her golden eyes held a sadness that hadn’t been there before.

Deep inside, I felt a flutter of emotion as the fox girl stepped into the light, a stirring of both fear and cautious relief from the soul within. And I smiled, savoring those tentative feelings of hope, both from Tatsumi, and in the eyes of the kitsune in front of me. They thought they had a chance.

“Hakaimono,” the fox girl said, stopping just outside the binding circle. She appeared calm, but her tail twitched a nervous, agitated rhythm behind her robes. “I will ask this of you only once. Release Tatsumi and return to the sword. We don’t want to have to kill you.”

Meeting the girl’s luminous gaze, I started to laugh.

“Oh, naive little half-fox,” I chuckled, as the tengu around me stiffened, even as they continued to chant. “You have no idea what you’re asking. Or what you’re attempting to do.” I shook my head