Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,6
no way to deal with him. All you’ll be doing is throwing your life away, which does not sit well with those of us who have been trying so hard to protect it!”
“Reika-san.” Master Jiro’s voice was soft, a gentle reprimand, and the shrine maiden sank back, though her eyes still flashed with dark fire as she glared at me. With a sigh, the old priest put down his pipe and turned his gaze to mine.
“Yumeko-chan,” he began in that same calm, unruffled voice. “You must know that what you are proposing is not only very dangerous, but it has never been done before. Driving out an oni, particularly one like Hakaimono, is not like exorcising a malicious tanuki or kitsune spirit. It is not the same as freeing a person from kitsune-tsuki. I am assuming you know of what I speak.”
I nodded. Kitsune-tsuki was fox possession, something that the most evil of my full-blooded relatives, the nogitsune, delighted in. Their spirits could slip into a person and take over their body, controlling them from the inside. What they made their hosts do depended on the nogitsune, but they were mostly depraved, twisted acts for the fox’s own pleasure and entertainment. During my training at the Silent Winds temple, I had spent a single evening learning about kitsune-tsuki from Denga, and had alternated between being terrified and quite sick the rest of the night.
Which, I suspected now, had been the intent.
Master Jiro tapped the end of his pipe against a rock, spilling ashes onto the surface. “Hakaimono is not a kitsune spirit, Yumeko-chan,” he stated. “He is not a ghost, or a tanuki, or something that can be exorcised with words or pain or the application of one’s will. He is an oni, possibly the strongest Jigoku has ever spawned. Whatever became of the demonslayer’s soul is locked deep within Hakaimono, and no priest or blood mage in the history of Iwagoto has been able to overcome the First Oni’s will with his own. If you decide to face Hakaimono, it is likely that you and everyone around you will die.”
I swallowed hard, as a stony weight settled in the pit of my stomach. “I understand, Master Jiro,” I told the priest. “And it’s all right. You and Reika don’t have to come.”
“That is not what I am saying, Yumeko-chan.” Master Jiro sighed and tucked his pipe back into his obi. “Driving a spirit from a possessed body is taxing and dangerous,” he said, “for both the ones performing the exorcism, and the victim himself. To have a chance against an oni of this power, we must be of the same mind. I am willing to accept the risk—”
“Master Jiro—” Reika began, sounding horrified, but the priest held up a hand, silencing her.
“I am willing,” the priest went on, “but to attempt an exorcism, we must first bind the demon so it cannot escape and slaughter those performing the ritual. There can be no doubt, no dissention between us.” He looked around the fire, at me, Reika, Daisuke and Okame, his expression solemn. “The First Oni is not to be underestimated. If we fail, make no mistake that Hakaimono will kill us all. So we must be in agreement. Is this truly the path we wish to take?”
All eyes were on me now, as if my answer would shape the decisions of everyone who followed. And for a moment, I hesitated, as the magnitude of the situation settled over me like a heavy winter quilt. Was I doing the right thing? All of my companions were willing to help me, but at what cost? According to Master Jiro, exorcising the demon might not be possible. If we went after Tatsumi, I would be putting the lives of everyone around me in danger. We could all die facing Hakaimono.
But I remembered the night I’d performed for the emperor of Iwagoto, how Tatsumi’s eyes had revealed worry and desperation, because he’d been afraid I would be outed as a charlatan and executed. I remembered the way he almost touched me, his hand a breath from my face, when before he had recoiled from any physical contact, as if expecting to be hurt. And I knew I couldn’t leave him trapped inside the monster he had become, especially when Hakaimono had gloated that Tatsumi could see and hear everything happening around him and was powerless to stop it.
“I’m sure,” I said firmly, ignoring the shrine maiden’s frustrated sigh. “Even if it’s impossible, even