Page 30 of Shadow of the Fox

The bear charged again with a roar, and I tensed to spring away. But as it drew close, a blast of wind howled through the ravine, and something hit me from behind, slashing a line of fire across my back. I staggered and barely dodged aside as Kiba-sama plowed into the gully wall, crushing stone and vegetation and leaving a massive hole.

The wind witch’s laughter rang out overhead. “That was almost it for you, Kage-san,” she mocked, as I spared her a split-second glance. Several yards away, Kiba-sama backed slowly out of the wall, shaking his head and shedding rocks and dust. The wind witch laughed again. “Ignore my kamaitachi, and they’ll slice you to pieces. Ignore Kiba-sama, and he’ll devour you in a heartbeat. I wonder how you’re going to—ite!”

A fist-sized rock flew through the air and struck the side of her head. Clapping a hand to her temple, the wind witch glared at the other side of the ravine, where Yumeko stood with a stone in one slender hand.

“You talk too much,” the girl said angrily as the witch spun toward her. “And your voice is very shrill. Kamaitachi!” she cried as the woman stiffened in outrage. “Listen to me! I know this isn’t what you want. I know you’ve been manipulated, that she’s made you her familiars against your will. Help us, and I’ll do my best to set you free.”

“Silence, vermin.” The witch gestured sharply, and a whirlwind shrieked through the gully, lifting Yumeko up and slamming her into the wall. The girl cried out as she collided with the ravine, tumbled to the ground and collapsed limply against the stones.

Yumeko.I clenched a fist, knowing I couldn’t go to her now, as the monstrous bear stood between us. The wind witch sniffed in disdain, turning away from the girl’s limp body. “Do not presume you understand our situation,” she said. “The kamaitachi aremine, and will remain so, regardless of what you think.”

Kiba-sama charged again, swiping a huge claw at my head as it tried cornering me against the ravine. I leaped aside and ran along the gully wall to escape the demon bear. But my legs were moving strangely now, an odd weakness spreading through them, and a tremor went through my body as I landed. Jaws gaping, Kiba-sama whirled and lunged. I slashed at the blocky muzzle, making it recoil with a howl, blood streaming from its nose.

“Oh-hohoho, you are certainly putting up a fight, Kage-san.” The wind witch laughed. “By the way, if you’re feeling a bit strange, don’t worry. That’s just the poison on the kamaitachis’ claws, starting to paralyze you. You should be completely incapacitated in a few minutes. Tell Kiba-sama thank you for being such a lovely distraction for my kamaitachi. They never would have gotten close otherwise.”

Poison. Dammit.I could feel the numbness in my legs, making it hard to move, and my fingers were starting to tingle. Kiba-sama stalked toward me, blood and ribbons of drool dripping from its muzzle, eyes burning with madness. Hakaimono raged at me, fighting the barriers of my consciousness, demanding entry.

Let me in, a furious howl echoed at the back of my mind.You’re going to die otherwise. Open your mind now!

“No,” I muttered through clenched teeth, and raised my sword. “Not yet.”

With another earsplitting roar, Kiba-sama bore down on me once more. This time, I didn’t leap away, but scrambled backward, dodging claws and the snapping teeth, lashing back when I could. The wind witch’s laughter echoed, and a gust of wind sliced across my leg, making me stagger. I fell backward, and Kiba-sama immediately lunged, huge jaws gaping, to bite me in half.

Now, Hakaimono!

Purple fire erupted along the edge of the blade, illuminating the symbols carved into the steel. They flared a brilliant white in the eyes of the bear, who flinched back with a snort of alarm. Power filled me, burning away the weakness of my frail human body; with a snarl, I leaped at Kiba-sama, vaulting off a thick foreleg to land between his shoulders. Spears and arrow shafts jutted out of his fur as I raised the sword high, then plunged it through the back of his neck.

Kiba-sama bellowed and reared onto his hind legs, thrashing and shaking his head in an effort to throw me off. I grabbed the end of a spear jutting from his hide and sank the sword in deeper, as the demon bear roared and bucked. I caught a split-second sight of the girl, still crumpled on the ground, just before Kiba-sama spun and lurched blindly in her direction.

You will not touch her!With a final shove, the point of Kamigoroshi exploded out the front of the bear’s throat. Kiba-sama gave a strangled bellow and toppled forward, hitting the ground with a crash that echoed through the ravine. His huge body twitched several times, claws raking deep gouges in the earth, before the great demon bear of Suimin Mori gave a final shudder and was still.

I yanked Kamigoroshi free and rose, feeling the sword’s savage glee as it reveled in the fight, the violence and the spilled blood. Power and adrenaline coursed through my veins but, as always, I felt the phantom claws of Hakaimono digging into my mind, trying to gain entrance, to force its way into my soul. I shut my mind to the demon once more, forcing it out of my consciousness and back into the darkness where it belonged.

As I dropped from the huge carcass, my legs gave out, as if the muscles in them had been cut through. I staggered, the blade falling from my numb fingers, and collapsed beside Kiba-sama, as slow, mocking clapping echoed through the ravine.

“Bravo, Kage-san, bravo.” The wind witch floated into my sight, grinning down at me. I lay on my back, panting, my hand just a finger’s width from Kamigoroshi. “That was a truly impressive battle. I understand now why the demons fear you.”

Dammit, I can’t move.I tried pushing myself to my elbows, to roll over and grab my sword, but my body felt like it was made of stone, and my limbs moved only a few inches. The wind witch drifted closer, pulling a short blade from her sleeves as her feet touched the ground.

“Don’t take this personally, Kage-san,” she told me, and raised the blade in a slender hand, the point angled straight toward my heart. I tried once more to move, opening my mind to Hakaimono, but my thoughts were sluggish, the demon’s presence a dim flicker in my consciousness. “But I’ll need to kill you quickly, before the poison wears off. Any last words?”

“Who...sent you?” I gritted out.

“Ah, I’m afraid you don’t get to know that, Kage-san,” the wind witch said, shaking her head. “I can’t go betraying my client. Whatwouldthat do to my reputation? And even if I told you, it wouldn’t help you now, because I’m about to send your soul to Meido. Or Jigoku, depending on how the gods feel about you. Well,” she continued, and raised the blade even higher. “I suppose we should get on with it. Sayonara, demonslayer—”

A blur of red and white crossed my vision, and Yumeko slammed into the woman from the side, tackling her around the waist. Both tumbled to the ground with a shriek of outrage from the witch. From the corner of my eyes, I could see flashes of movement, flailing robes and beating arms as the two women scrabbled at each other.

“Get off me, you disgusting vermin!” With a blast of wind, Yumeko was hurled away, hitting the ground with a gasp several yards from us. The witch rose, furiously brushing off her sleeves, her expression curled into one of hate. “How dare you touch me, you filthy creature,” she snarled. “You will pay for this outrage! You will die screaming for mercy as my familiars slice you into tiny pieces, starting at your ankles and leaving your head for last! Kamaitachi!” she cried, pointing to the girl. “Kill her! Carve her up slowly. Make her suffer the Death of a Thousand Cuts!”

I held my breath, waiting for the shriek of wind, for Yumeko’s screams of pain as she was sliced open by the sickle weasels. But the gully was still; not a single breath of air stirred the leaves around us, and the wind witch scowled in confusion.

“Kamaitachi!” she called again, “you useless, lazy things. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Oh, they heard you.” Yumeko pushed herself upright, one hand curled around her stomach, the other clutching something at her side. “But it seems that the only reason they became your familiars was because of this.”

She raised her arm, and a small ivory netsuke, a piece of jewelry designed to fasten the cord of a travel pouch to the obi, dangled from her clenched fingers. This one was carved in the shape of a weasel, curled up as if asleep. It glittered in the sunlight, and the wind witch went pale at the sight of it.

“Someone told me that kamaitachi always come in groups of threes,” Yumeko went on, breathing hard. “And they’re very protective of each other. You trapped one to force the others to become your familiars, threatening to kill their sibling if they didn’t do what you wanted. Didn’t you?”

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