Page 80 of Shadow of the Fox

I looked at Yumeko, whose lip curled up at the corner. “I’m coming, too,” she said calmly. “We’ve traveled all this way. You don’t have to face her alone.”

Alone is better, I thought.Alone means I don’t put people in danger.

A chill went through me. Why was I having these thoughts? The safety of others was not something I’d ever considered before. Perhaps Master Iemon had been right; I was slipping, my concern for others a dangerous indication that I was losing control of my emotions. When this was over, I would submit myself to the majutsushi’s “reevaluation,” and hope that could destroy any lingering attachments. It was unpleasant, and I might not survive, but it was necessary.

Yumeko was still watching me, dark eyes shining with worry. I didn’t deserve that concern, but I didn’t tell her this. What I said was, “Do what you will,” before heading toward the gate and the castle beyond.

The blood witch was nowhere to be seen as we passed through the large wooden doors and stepped into the courtyard. Rubble was scattered everywhere; broken stones, overturned barrels, a few smashed carts, all strewn through the yard. I saw several suits of armor among the stones, and the glint of bleached bone that confirmed what had happened to the samurai here. Broken spears jutted from the ground, arrows were embedded in posts and beams, and katanas lay rusting where they had fallen, glimmering faintly in the moonlight.

“Looks like a battle was fought here,” the noble mused.

“Or a massacre,” the ronin added, prodding the top half of a suit of armor with his bow. A rib cage dislodged, fell out of it, and he grimaced. “I hope I’m horribly, horribly wrong, but this poor bastard looks like he was ripped in half.”

Hakaimono’s presence, which had been building with excitement and bloodlust as soon as we stepped through the gate, went perfectly still. A chill raced up my spine, and I froze, gazing around the courtyard.

Up, something whispered in my head.Look up.

I looked up. To the peaked roof of the castle, silhouetted against the moon.

Something dark and massive rose from the castle roof, standing against the moonlight, an enormous shadow with thick shoulders and black horns curling into the air. Even from this distance, I could see its eyes, burning like embers in the night, and the mane of black hair falling down its back. It swung an iron-studded tetsubo to its shoulders, and a slow grin broke across its face as our gazes met. It dropped to a crouch and leaped off the roof into the air.

“Oni!” I yelled, drawing my sword, as the huge creature landed in the courtyard with a boom that shook the ground and shattered the stones beneath it. Dust and chips of rock flew outward and everyone fell back as the oni straightened, towering a good fifteen feet overhead, to smile down at us.

“The Kage demonslayer,” the demon rumbled, its burning crimson eyes locked on me. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Movement rippled around us, as dozens of smaller demons appeared on the walls and formed from the shadows. The amanjaku snarled and cackled, waving crude weapons, red eyes seeming to float around us like crimson fireflies. Some of them wore pieces of stolen samurai armor—a helmet or shoulder pad that was far too big—or brandished the wakizashis of the fallen in a blasphemous parody of honor.

The shrine maiden’s dog gave a sharp yap and bounded forward, leaping over rubble toward the towering demon in the center of the courtyard.

“Chu!” cried the miko, as the demon casually swung its club at the fleeing animal. The tetsubo smashed to the ground, crushing stone and leaving a large hole behind but somehow missing the dog, which fled across the stones, darted up the steps of the castle and vanished through the open doors.

“Chu, wait!” The shrine maiden started after him, then paused, as if remembering the giant demon blocking her way. The oni snorted, swinging its weapon to its shoulder again.

“Pathetic beast. Barely enough for a mouthful. But I am not interested in dogs.” Its burning gaze swung to me again, sending a flare of savage excitement through my veins. “Come, then, demonslayer,” it growled. “It is your blood I want, your entrails I wish to smear over the ground. Fight me alone or with these puny mortals, it matters not. I will crush you all into pulp and scatter your bones for the amanjaku to squabble over.”

“Go,” I told the rest of them, forcing myself to speak calmly, to not release the gleeful laughter bubbling in my throat. “Follow the dog, find Master Jiro. I’ll take care of the oni.”

“What? Like hell you will.” The ronin came forward, his bow already strung, his mouth curled in a defiant smirk as he gazed at the demons around us. “I see a lot more monsters than the big ugly bastard in the center there. I can at least keep the minions off your back while you cut off its head.”

“Indeed,” added the noble, sweeping his sword in front of him. “You are not allowed to die tonight, Kage Tatsumi. Lady Yumeko,” he added, keeping his gaze on the giant creature before us. “Do not worry about Kage-san. I will not permit him to fall. On my honor, I will fight as if his life were my own.”

The oni chuckled. “Good,” it rumbled, and took a step forward. Stones cracked under its weight, and the air around it shimmered with heat. “Good! Come then, humans. I have been bored for days. At least try to make a fight of this.”

“Tatsumi,” Yumeko whispered, and for a moment, the intensity in her voice calmed the rage within, piercing the bloodlust and vicious glee. “That’s the oni who destroyed the temple and killed everyone there. Please be careful. But if you can...tear him apart for me.”

The oni laughed, the savage sound booming into the air, stirring the amanjaku into a shrieking, cackling frenzy. “Yes, demonslayer,” it mocked, as Hakaimono rose up with a howl of its own, turning my vision black and red. “Take me apart, if you can.”

I bared my teeth in a savage grin. “So eager to die, Yaburama?” I heard myself say, and for the briefest of moments, caught a flicker of shock in the demon’s eyes. “You always were a conniving bastard, even in Jigoku. I’ll be happy to send you back.”

The oni’s face contorted with rage, and it lunged at me with a roar, swinging its club in a vicious arc. I snarled back with the fury of a hundred demons and leaped out to meet him.

32

Fox Magic Unleashed

Ishuddered as Tatsumi gave a snarl unlike anything I’d heard before and sprang to meet the oni, whose giant tetsubo was sweeping down to crush him to the earth. At the last second, he twisted aside, the iron club missing him by centimeters and crashing into the stones. As he darted in, Kamigoroshi flashed purple in the darkness, cutting into the demon’s arm and releasing a spray of blood. It sizzled as it touched the ground, smoke writhing into the air from the puddles, and the oni howled.

With ringing shrieks and cries, the amanjaku surged forward, swarming into the courtyard, as Daisuke and Okame raised their weapons. The ronin’s bowstring hummed, releasing arrow after arrow, and demons screamed as they died. Daisuke took several steps forward, putting himself between us and the horde. For a moment he went perfectly still, only his pale hair rippling in the wind. Then, as the first amanjaku reached him, he exploded into motion, his sword a blur as it sliced through demons, so quickly he was moving on to the next foe before the amanjaku realized it was dead.

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