Page 52 of Shadow of the Fox

She hurled the bloody cloth at Suki’s face. Instinctively, Suki jerked back, throwing up her arms to shield herself. The rag passed right through her arms and face and struck the wall behind her, and Suki felt her body shiver like mist in response. With a soundless cry, the distraught ghost turned and fled, vanishing through the walls of the castle, hearing Satomi’s cruel laughter follow her as she did.

21

The Legend of Oni no Mikoto

“Ithink we’ve crossed the border, Kage-san,” the ronin announced, shading his eyes as he gazed down the hill with Yumeko. “I’m pretty certain we’re in Taiyo lands now. The capital shouldn’t be far.”

Standing in the shade of a ginkgo tree, I gazed down at the sweeping vista before us and concluded that he was right. These were definitely the lands of the Sun Clan. We had crossed into the territory of the Taiyo. While not as martially powerful as the Fire Clan, or as numerously large as the Earth Clan, the Taiyo were perhaps the most influential of all the Great Clans, for they made up the imperial family. They ruled the capital city of Kin Heigen Toshi, and as far back as history could remember, the emperor or empress had always been part of the Sun Clan.

The silvery glint of a river, snaking through the valley toward the distant peaks, caught my eye. “There’s the Hotaru Kawa,” I said. “If we follow it north, it will lead to the capital.”

“Yep. And we got here without having to pass through the border checkpoint, which would’ve been a pain in the ass.” The ronin grinned back at me. “See, it all worked out, Kage-san. A dog always finds its way.”

I didn’t answer. The ronin had kept his word and had led us through the mountains, but he was also responsible for getting us lost in the first place. Still, I could admit he had proven useful in the gaki village; his skill as a warrior had certainly helped in the last battle, even if it wasn’t with a sword. And wehadavoided the checkpoint, though I would need to be careful of any imperial magistrates or guards who might demand to see my travel papers. At best, depending on the circumstances, I would have to pay a hefty fine for traveling through another clan’s territory without proper documentation. At worst, I would be imprisoned and executed, my clan shamed and dishonor brought to my family. Yumeko would be fine; no one paid attention to peasant girls, and ronin were rarely given a second glance. But I was a Kage samurai, or at least I looked the part, and samurai were treated with caution in territories not their own. Especially if that samurai was part of the Shadow Clan.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to the capital,” the ronin stated, his gaze following the river through the valley. “It’ll be nice to relax, get a halfway decent meal, and then maybe I can convince you to have some fun for a change, Kage-san.” He gave me that defiant grin. “I take it you’ve never played cho-han before?”

Cho-han was a dice game popular in all of Iwagoto’s gambling dens, which were rough, seedy places frequented by bandits, ronin, gang members and crime lords. My missions for the Shadow Clan sometimes took me into the darkest of these underworlds, chasing down demons hiding among killers, but reputable samurai rarely ventured into such places, and those that did never admitted to it.

“No,” I said.

“No, you’ve never played it, or no, I can’t convince you to try?”

“Take your pick.”

“Ah, well. Your loss, samurai.” The ronin shook his head and glanced at Yumeko, sitting peacefully under the ginkgo tree. “Maybe Yumeko-chan would be willing to try her hand at it. She can talk to the kami, right? Could she ask Tamafuku, the God of Luck, to bless my dice for a round or two?”

He was baiting me, and I knew he was baiting me, but anger flickered all the same. I knew what kind of humans filled those gambling halls: predators with hungry eyes and bloodthirsty smiles. The thought of Yumeko surrounded by a circle of human wolves, their ravenous eyes watching her every move, filled me with a cold fury I did not understand.

“Tamafuku?” Sitting in the grass, Yumeko cocked her head, and the cricket that had been perched on her elbow sprang away into the grass. “Well, I could try,” she said. “I’ve never spoken to any of the Great Kami before, just the minor ones. Do you know where we can find Tamafuku so I could talk to him?”

“Well, there is a giant statue of him just inside the gambling hall,” the ronin said.

“Oh? Does he live inside the statue then? Do you think it gets up and moves around when no one is looking? There was a teapot in the Silent Winds temple that did that sometimes, until the day Nitoru kicked it across the room.”

“Never mind.” The ronin sighed. “Forget I said anything.”

With a yawn, the girl rose, stretching both arms over her head. “At least we’re almost to the capital,” she mused, gazing down the valley. “WhatI’mhoping for is an inn with good food and soft futons. It will be nice to sleep on a bed for a change and not out in the open. Or in a leaky hut. Or in a cave with a very uncomfortable stone floor.” Her dark gaze slid to me, the smile growing wider. “Unlike certain samurai who will remain nameless, most of us cannot fall asleep wherever we want.”

I masked a frown, confused. I could never sleep as she did, stretched out and prone, easy prey for someone to cut off my head or tear me apart. Sleep for me came in snatches, in an upright position with my back to the wall and Kamigoroshi in my lap, ready to be drawn in a blink. Comfort had nothing to do with it.

The ronin pulled his sake jug around to his front. “We’re still a few days out from the capital, if I had to guess,” he remarked, pulling the top off the gourd. “But there should be a couple towns between here and Kin Heigen Toshi. I think Yashigi is just up the river.” He lifted the jug toward his lips, but then gave a yelp and yanked it away from his face.“Kuso!”

My hand dropped to my sword, and Yumeko blinked at him in shock. “What’s wrong, Okame-san?”

“There’s...a...frog...in my sake!” the ronin sputtered, sounding outraged and horrified. He tilted the gourd upside down, shook it twice, and a tiny green creature tumbled into the grass with the rest of the liquid.

Yumeko burst out laughing. Her voice was like tiny birds, and sent a strange prickle over my skin. “Oh, don’t be upset, Okame-san,” she said, as the ronin stared mournfully at the empty jug, as if hoping it would refill. “Frogs are good luck, after all. You must be blessed by the kami.”

“Not from where I’m standing. Unless they’ve decided to bless me with soberness, which they can keep to themselves, thank you very much.”

I glanced at the place the frog had fallen, but could no longer see it in the grass. Only a bright green juniper leaf skipping across the ground, being blown by the wind. The ronin gave a heavy sigh and hung the gourd around his neck. “Well, shall we get going?” he muttered. “I’m going to need a lot more sake if I’m going to keep traveling with the pair of you.”

* * *

We reached Yashigi just as the sun was going down, casting long shadows over the valley and turning the river the color of blood. The long wooden bridge over the Hotaru Kawa teemed with people entering and leaving town; merchants with carts, ronin, peasants, a few mounted samurai, all mingled together, hooves, wheels and sandaled feet thumping and groaning as they crossed.

“So many people,” Yumeko murmured, gazing around with wide eyes. “Even more than Chochin Machi.I’ve never seen so many people in one place.”

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