Page 60 of Shadow of the Fox

I realized what he was getting at, and gave a shaky nod. “I don’t think that will be much of a problem,” I gasped, as overhead, the omukade snaked through the branches after us, gnashing its jaws.

Tatsumi nodded. “Go,” he ordered, and we fled, scurrying down the trunk, dropping to lower branches while trying to outpace the huge yokai slithering through the limbs like a serpent. About halfway down the tree, I noticed that Tatsumi had disappeared, or I could no longer see him through the leaves and branches.

Something buzzed past my face, startling me, just as an arrow clinked off the centipede’s hide. Hissing angrily, it halted, glaring around for the sudden attacker, perhaps remembering the arrow it took to the face.

“Okame, wait!” I called, glancing down at the ronin. He stood under the tree with a grim look on his face, bow raised and pointed at the centipede. At my words, he paused and lowered his weapon, but in that moment of distraction, my fingers missed a branch and I fell, dropping several feet. Pulse spiking, I lashed out wildly and felt my palm smack into another limb, halting my fall. I heard Okame’s cry of alarm as I dangled, my feet swinging over empty space, and I grabbed desperately for the branch with my other hand.

Something warm dripped onto the back of my knuckles. Gulping, I looked up to see a pair of shiny black pinchers a few feet away, opening wide to snick off my head. At the same time, a blur of darkness streaked overhead, as Tatsumi ran full tilt along a branch and sliced Kamigoroshi through the exposed belly of the omukade.

The omukade screamed, rearing up as it split in two with a spray of green-and-yellow ichor. Its top half, now separated from the rest of its body, slid from the branches of the tree and collapsed to the ground on its back, legs curling frantically as it struggled to right itself.

“The head, Okame!” I shouted over the mad hissing of the huge yokai as it thrashed and writhed, too tough to die even now. “Cut off the head—that should kill it for good!”

Understanding dawned in the ronin’s eyes, and he turned to the downed monster. But before he could react, Oni no Mikoto strode up to the struggling yokai, raised his sword and brought it slashing down beneath the monster’s still gnashing jaws. The bulbous crimson head rolled back, the spasming legs stilled and the lethal jaws finally stopped moving, as the great yokai admitted defeat at last.

I breathed a sigh of relief, then tried pulling myself up the branch, as my hands were starting to slip and surviving an attack by a great omukade, only to fall from a tree and break my neck, seemed like very bad luck.

The branch shook, and a pair of tabi boots appeared next to my fingers. I looked up to see Tatsumi standing over me, Kamigoroshi held loosely at his side. His expression was chilling, a faint, curious smile gracing his lips, as if this situation amused him and he was contemplating what to do next.

“Tatsumi?” I panted, as he continued to stand there, watching me. “What...what are you doing? Help me.”

For a moment, he continued to stand there, regarding me in that way that made my skin crawl. Kamigoroshi flickered and pulsed, and in the eerie light, Tatsumi’s eyes glowed red, his pupils slitted like a cat’s.

Then one of my hands slipped, and I yelped as I lost my hold on the branch.

Strong fingers closed around my wrist in a grip of steel, lifting me up and pulling me back onto the limb. Gasping, I clutched the black haori in front of me, my heart racing in my ears, as I waited for my arms to stop shaking and my pulse to return to normal.

“Yumeko.” Tatsumi’s voice was strained again, but sounded normal this time. He had gone very stiff, his arms held rigid at his side, his heartbeat racing under my palm. I suddenly realized we were pressed very close, our chests nearly touching, our faces a few inches apart. The narrow end of the scroll was pressing painfully into my ribs.

“Gomen!”Face burning, I released him and stepped away, shifting my weight to balance on the narrow branch. He relaxed but continued to watch me, his expression grim, his eyes back to normal. And even through the embarrassment, I felt a tiny flame of relief. There was no hint of the scary, red-eyed Tatsumi I thought I’d seen a few seconds ago. Maybe it hadn’t been real. Maybe, in the eerie light coming from Kamigoroshi, I had imagined it, after all.

“Oiii!”called a voice from below. “Yumeko-chan? Kage-san? Are you two all right?”

“Hai, Okame!” I called back. “We’re fine. We’ll be right down.”

A few minutes later, we had all gathered at the base of the tree, the massive corpse of the omukade looming above us, both on the ground and still dangling from the branches. I wondered what people passing by would think, if they looked up and saw two-thirds of a giant centipede curled around the limbs of the tree.

“That,” Okame said as Tatsumi and I walked up, “was disgusting. Look at that thing! I don’t care how ancient and special it was, there is no logical reason bugs should ever get that big.”

“It must be ancient,” I said, staring at the monstrous corpse. “But...why did it come after us? It’s like it knew exactly where we were.”

“It matters not.”

The Demon Prince turned to Tatsumi. “The monster is dead,” he announced, as if being attacked by and killing a giant centipede was commonplace. Something he did every evening before tea. “We are victorious, and the night is still young. Now that there are no more interruptions, shall we continue our duel, Kage-san?”

25

Proposal for a Demon Prince

“Nani?”Yumeko stared at him. “Now?” She waved an arm at the giant corpse, leaking greenish fluid into the trampled grass. “We barely survived being eaten by a giant centipede. Is this really the time to keep fighting?”

“The duel was issued, and accepted,” Oni no Mikoto said in a reasonable voice. “Interruptions aside, honor demands that we continue until a clear victor is determined. Kage-san.” He bowed his head at me. “Shall we return to the bridge? I am ready.”

I nodded wearily. If this was the only way to cross, then I would have to cut him down. I didn’t necessarily want to; he had proven himself in the fight with the omukade and refused to flee when it would have been the wiser choice. And from the glimpses I’d caught of his fighting, he was extremely skilled and fast, perhaps the best swordsman I had seen. He was going to be a deadly opponent, indeed.

But he wasn’t going to let me go, and I still had a mission to complete. If he wanted this duel, then I would give him an honorable death.

“Wait.” Yumeko stepped forward as we started toward the bridge. “Oni no Mikoto, stop.”

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