Shadow of The Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,90

it was created. A weapon existed only to obey...and to kill.

“Oi,” the ronin demanded as I walked away, pointing to his face and the shallow cuts across his skin. “What about me? This isn’t Kabuki makeup, you know.”

“Why would I think it’s Kabuki makeup, Okame-san?”

He sighed. “Never mind.”

I watched Yumeko take a cloth from her obi and walk over to the ronin, then crouched down to look at his face. “What about the gaki?” she asked, dabbing at his cheek. “Do you think there could be more out there?”

“I sure hope not. Ite.” He flinched back from her administrations, making her frown. “Damn hungry ghosts. Well, come morning, I know several farmers who are going to die screaming for mercy.”

Yumeko lowered the cloth, her eyes going wide. “Why?”

“Yumeko-chan.” The ronin shook his head in exasperation. “This was a setup if I’ve ever seen one. That headman knew about the gaki, hell, the whole village did. We were bait—they might as well have tied a bell around our necks. I know it, and Kage-san knows it, right, samurai?”

“They were expecting us to die,” I agreed, pressing salve to my own wound. “That’s why they were so eager to have us spend the night. So the gaki would eat us and leave the village alone.”

“Yep.” The ronin gave a grim nod. “Only, now I’m very much alive and a lot angry.” He took the cloth from Yumeko, then stood and sauntered over to my corner, gazing down at me. “So, Kage-san,” he began, “I think a bit of retribution is in order. What say we go kick down the headman’s door, stick his head on a pike for the gaki and burn this whole cursed place to the ground?”

19

Talking to Yurei

He’s not serious. I stared at the ronin, who stood over Tatsumi expectantly. Though Okame wore a grim smile, his eyes were flat and dangerous, promising reprisal.

He was entirely serious.

“Okame-san, you can’t,” I protested. “They’re not even armed. We can’t slaughter these people in their homes.”

“You might not be able to.” Okame’s evil smile grew wider, showing those slightly pointed canines. “I, however, don’t take kindly to being fed to gaki, especially by treacherous, lying farmers. At the very least, I think the headman’s house should be razed, and his head stuck on a post at the edge of town, as a warning to other travelers. What d’ya say, Kage?”

Tatsumi wound a cloth strip around his wounded arm and used his teeth to tug it tight. “No.”

“No?” The ronin gaped at him, even as I slumped in relief. “Why the hell not? Aren’t you a samurai? These peasants just tried to kill us.”

“My mission is not to burn down villages.” Tatsumi didn’t look up. “It would be a waste of time. Stay and take your vengeance if you wish, it doesn’t matter to me. Yumeko and I will be leaving this place at dawn.”

The ronin gave a disgusted snort. “Suit yourself,” he muttered. “I suppose that’s poetic justice though—let these peasants get eaten by their own hungry ghosts. I bet in a few years there won’t be a village left at all, just a graveyard full of gaki.”

“But why are there so many gaki around?” I wondered. “Where do they come from? Do they just pop out of the ground, starving and cranky?”

“Gaki are the souls of humans who were greedy in life, whose selfishness caused great harm,” Tatsumi said. “They are being punished for their greed, and will continue to be eternally hungry, until they have suffered enough to move on.”

“But the villagers here were the complete opposite of greedy,” I argued. “You saw them. They were almost frantic to give things away.”

Okame shrugged. “Maybe they’re hoping not to come back as gaki when they’re inevitably eaten. There’s probably a bad joke in there somewhere, but I’m too tired to figure it out.”

I shook my head. “Something is wrong here,” I murmured, walking to the door to stare down the path. “There’s more to this village and the gaki than we’re seeing. And I bet that monk has something to do with it.”

“Monk?” I heard the frown in Okame’s voice. “What monk?”

“The yurei who...never mind. We should talk to the headman,” I said, turning back. Okame looked incredulous, but it was Tatsumi’s gaze I sought, meeting his eyes. “I’m thinking he can tell us what’s going on. We already survived the attack—they’re not going to expect us to go marching back through the village, not when we were supposed to