Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,7
if Hakaimono kills me…I have to try. I’m sorry, Reika-san, I know it’s dangerous, but I can’t leave him to suffer. If there’s the smallest chance to save Tatsumi, I have to take it. But, I swear, I’ll get the scroll to the temple first. You don’t have to worry about that.”
She rubbed her forehead in a resigned, exasperated manner. “As if delivering the scroll is going to be a simple task, as well,” she sighed.
“Well, that settles it, then.” Okame stood and stretched his long, wiry arms, as if he had grown tired of the debate and had to move. “Tomorrow morning, we take the Dragon scroll to the Steel Feather temple and save the empire from a plague of evil and darkness. And after that, we hunt down Hakaimono to rescue the demonslayer and save the empire from a plague of evil and darkness.” He snorted and shook his head. “That’s a lot of evil and darkness we have to deal with. I bet life will seem quite boring afterward.”
“Unlikely,” Reika muttered. “We’ll probably all be dead.”
Okame ignored that. “I’ll take first watch,” he announced, leaping gracefully onto an overhanging branch. “Everyone can rest easy, and don’t worry—if I see any bandits, they’ll be dead before they know what hit them.”
“Do not be greedy, Okame-san,” Daisuke said, making the ronin pause with his hand on the next branch. “If you see any dishonorable curs attempting to sneak up on us, pray give me a signal so that I may greet them on my feet. And if you see Hakaimono himself, remember that I have a promise to duel Kage-san. I would ask that you not deny me that most glorious battle.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Taiyo-san. If I spot an oni lord trying to sneak up on us, the whole forest will hear me yell.”
He shot us a final grin and disappeared into the branches. As the noble leaned against the log and Reika tucked her hands into her billowy haori sleeves, I cast about for a good place to lie down. I didn’t have a blanket or pillow, and even though it was late summer, the night was chilly so close to the Sky Clan mountains. But my red-and-white onmyoji robe was heavy and the material was warm. I curled up in a patch of dry leaves, listened to the hoot of an owl and the rustle of many small creatures around me, and tried not to think too much about Hakaimono. How strong he was. That I had no idea what the five of us could do to defeat an ancient oni lord, much less drive him out of Tatsumi. And how a rather large part of myself was completely, absolutely terrified to face him again.
“Hello, little dreamer.”
The unfamiliar voice was deep and lyrical, caressing my ears like a song. Blinking, I raised my head to find myself in a bamboo grove, green-and-yellow fireflies drifting through the stalks like floating stars. The dirt beneath my paws was cool and soft, and a tiny pond shimmered in the moonlight just a few feet away. When I peeked into the water, golden eyes in a furry face stared back, black-tipped ears standing tall against the night.
A low chuckle made the stalks around me vibrate. “I am not in the pond, small one.”
I turned, and a shiver raced from the base of my tail all the way up my spine, making the fur along my back stand straight up.
A magnificent fox sat where a pool of moonlight had collected between the bamboo, watching me with eyes like flickering candles. His fur was a brilliant white, thick and flowing, and seemed to glow in the darkness, casting a halo of light all around him. His bushy tail was a plume of silver-white that rippled and swayed as if it had a mind of its own.
“It is not polite to stare at your elders, little cub.”
I shook myself, and around me, the grove seemed to ripple, subtly shifting in appearance. Or perhaps it was just a trick of the moonlight. “Who are you?” I asked. “What is this place?”
“Who I am doesn’t matter.” The white fox rose, his elegant tail waving in the breeze. “I am kin, though a great deal older than you. As for where you are…can you not guess? You are kitsune, it should not be that difficult.”
I looked around, noting that the bamboo grove had changed. We now stood in a forest of blossoming sakura trees, their pink petals