Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,35
seemed to materialize out of the shadows beside me. She was small and slender, her jet-black hair streaked with silver, and fine lines threaded out from her eyes and lips. She wore a simple robe in the black-and-purple colors of the Kage, and if she hadn’t spoken I would never have known she was there. Is it just a talent all the Kage have? I wondered, as the woman bowed and told us to please follow her, she would show us to our rooms. Or do they teach everyone how to sneak up on people like a yurei ghost?
We followed her down several hallways, lit by swaying lanterns and flickering torchlight. I surmised we were deep underground, probably beneath Hakumei castle, as the floors and some of the walls were made of damp stone. I wondered how anyone could find their way around, as the corridors all looked the same and there were no signs or any way to get your bearings.
“This place is like a maze,” I whispered to Reika, walking beside me with Chu and Ko at her heels. “Do you think the Kage get lost down here?”
Reika snorted under her breath. “From what I know of the Kage,” she whispered back, “and it’s not much, understand, but I’m fairly certain the castle was built this way on purpose. Hakumei-jo is said to be a nightmare to attack, because it’s designed to be as confusing as possible.”
“Indeed,” came Daisuke’s voice, behind us. “Every builder and engineer in the country has studied the works of Kage Narumi, the architect of Hakumei castle. She was brilliant and, according to some rumors, a little mad. Her design for the Shadow Clan castle is how the Kage have held on to their territory for so long, though they are the smallest of the clans and the Hino have done their best to drive them out. It is said not even the Kage themselves know all the secrets of Hakumei-jo, and those who wish to attack the clan must defeat the castle itself, which is no small feat. In the past, armies who have invaded Hakumei-jo have been decimated. Survivors speak of hidden doors, false walls, being trapped in hallways that spew fire or spears or arrows. There was a famous incident of a Hino general who lay siege to the castle, intending to starve the Kage out rather than risk assaulting Hakumei-jo itself. For three months, he and his army surrounded the castle, letting no one enter or leave. All demands for the Kage’s surrender were rebuffed, though it was obvious no supplies were going to the castle, that they had no way of feeding their people. The Hino general had greater numbers than the army who huddled behind the walls—it was only a matter of time until the Shadow Clan either surrendered, or perished from lack of supplies. He just had to wait them out.
“Until one day,” Daisuke went on, “the commander woke to find half his army ill or dying. His food stores had been poisoned, though no one could tell him how this came to be. Furious, the Hino commander gathered his remaining warriors who could still fight and assaulted the castle, intending to overpower the weakened Kage and destroy them. But when the army reached the inner walls of Hakumei-jo, they found a massive force of Kage waiting for them. Not only had the Shadow Clan thrived during the siege, they had somehow brought in reinforcements, though no one had seen even a single Kage enter or leave Hakumei-jo. The Hino general and his army were wiped out nearly to a man, and no one has laid siege to Hakumei castle since.”
“So, the moral of that long-winded story?” Okame broke in, a faint smirk crossing his face as he joined us. “Never try to outbluff a Kage. You’ll end up with a sword in your back before you realize they’ve moved.”
His voice was harder than normal, his tone cutting. I sensed an invisible coat of prickly armor surrounding the ronin, as if he was using harsh words and language to keep us all at bay. Reika rolled her eyes, and Daisuke gave the ronin an unreadable look. I glanced ahead of us, to the woman walking quietly down the hallway, making turns without hesitation. It wasn’t hard to imagine losing my way in this dark, twisty place, taking a single wrong turn and walking in circles forever. “But how do the Kage themselves not get lost down here?”