Emperor of the Fireflies

by Sarah Ash

  And there was something unnatural about Naoki’s movements, something stilted and awkward. Yet as Kai shifted his gaze to Masao, he saw another faint figure superimposed over Masao’s, a kitsune warrior spirit with a mane of wild, white hair and a malicious, cunning grin twisting his handsome, fox-like features. His whole being radiated a powerful aura of blue foxfire.

  Another warning throb resonated through Kai’s body, lighting up the seal.

  I’m almost out of time.

  Masao made a sudden move, raising Foxfire-Fang and bringing it down toward his brother in a swift, graceful arc. Naoki parried deftly – but fell back a step. Even Kai, who was not experienced in martial matters, could see that Masao was not attacking with his full force and skill. He must be trying to disarm Naoki or weaken him with a flesh wound.

  But why were they fighting?

  The next instant, Naoki raised his left hand, aiming it at Masao.

  A girl screamed, “Look out!” as Naoki flung a fistful of fire-flecked darts toward his brother. Masao swerved, instinctively raising Foxfire-Fang to deflect the lethal flames. Not quite fast enough, as one caught his upraised sword arm, searing a burn into the exposed flesh. Masao, face contorted with pain from the fiery dart, tried to recover himself.

  That warning cry was Sakami’s; he spotted her, on the far side of the cave entrance. Naoki turned his head – jerkily – to stare in her direction.

  “Get down, Sakami!” Kai yelled. Naoki turned back and Kai saw the glint of red in his eyes. Now he understood why the brothers were fighting; Kurika had taken control of Naoki’s body.

  “Lord Kaito?” Naoki said, but his voice was darkened and deepened by Kurika.

  A third warning throb pulsed through Kai’s body, emanating from the glowing seal.

  No time left. It has to be now or. . .

  Kai tore from his hiding place to Masao’s side.

  ***

  A swift glance told Masao that Kai was far from in a fit state to attack. He was haggard and the unnatural sea-blue of his eyes gleamed more intensely than usual.

  “I won’t kill your brother,” Kai said. “Just a scratch from the sacred sword should be enough to drive Kurika out.”

  “But you’re not –” Masao began and then broke off. What Kai had not said aloud was that he must have chosen this moment to cut himself loose from Flood. Had he told Flood of his decision and made his peace with his protector? He looked so pale that Masao feared he would not be able to muster the strength to get anywhere near Kurika, let alone strike a blow. But he hadn’t the heart to tell him not to take his chance.

  “I understand,” he said quietly and presented Firefox-Fang to Kai, just as Susumu would have presented it to him, hilt first. “I’ll cause a distraction,” he murmured as he came close. “Use it well.”

  “Hey there, Flood Boy – I’m your opponent.” Kurika’s mocking challenge, fraught with impatience, rang out in a voice that sounded so like Naoki in goading mode that Masao twitched to hear it.

  Kai raised the sword and braced himself. Anyone with any training in martial arts would see that he was not used to wielding a blade. Masao’s heart ached to see him staunchly challenging Kurika, knowing full well that he was facing Naoki who had years of sword-skills dinned into him by Master Yoriaki.

  While Kurika’s marking Kai. . .

  Unarmed, Masao had been eyeing his own katana which still lay where it had fallen after he’d struck it out of Hotaru’s hand. If he made a dash for it, he could take cover behind the boulder that lay beyond on the edge of the pool in case Kurika used Flame Feathers again. Such a move might be just enough to break Kurika’s concentration and allow Kai a brief chance to strike home.

  It was only then that he noticed the blue glow pulsing on Kai’s breast, just above the heart.

  The tide’s turning. Flood’s calling him back. It’s too late.

  Chapter 66

  Ayaka could not bear to see Hotaru’s body lying unmoving on the stony ground. Even though she could not forgive him for what he had done, she felt nothing but shock and sadness. It seemed an ignominious end for a prince who had written such delicate, sensitive poetry: cast aside like a broken doll on this bleak mountainside.

  She began to crawl toward him, keeping as far away from the men as the rocky terrain would permit, slipping behind bushes. She was terrified that Kurika would notice her but Kai, dear, brave Kai, was doing all he could to keep Kurika’s attention occupied.

  ***

  The instant Kai took Foxfire-Fang from Masao, he felt a jolt of powerful kitsune energy shoot through his hand and up his arm. He closed his eyes for a second, hearing the faint, fearless laughter of the sword’s spirit.

  “You think you can break through my guard, Kai?” Naoki was smiling. “You’re nothing but an apprentice healer who’s wasted his life growing herbs and winding bandages.”

  “Don’t listen to him!” Masao shouted.

  Kai took a step forward. The seal throbbed again.

  No time left.

  He was so weak from fire-fighting that his head was spinning and he could not focus clearly.

  All I have to do is score one hit. A single scratch. A graze.

  “Come on, Kai,” mocked Naoki. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  Kai narrowed his eyes, trying to spot a chink in Naoki’s defensive stance to aim for. The steam drifting from the hot springs was making it hard to see. Or was it the heat emanating from Kurika?

  He tightened his grip on the hilt. A vulpine voice whispered, “Now.” There it was, an opening, a place on Naoki’s upper left arm.

  Kai lunged. Sparks of blue foxfire traced an arc in the gathering gloom. The tip of the blade struck a glancing blow even as Naoki swung his blade to deflect it.

  And the incessant pulsing of the Sacrifice seal suddenly ceased.

  ***

  Sakami clapped both hands to her mouth to smother a cry of shock as Kai sank to his knees.

  Foxfire-Fang dropped with a dull clang as he toppled face-forward on to the ground.

  He’s failed.

  Ayaka looked up from where she knelt beside Hotaru.

  Naoki came toward Kai, katana raised as if to deliver a final blow.

  “Naoki!” Masao yelled, his deep voice rasping, harsh with warning. “Wake up!”

  A russet streak launched itself from the rocks and sank its teeth in Naoki’s leg. It was the same reckless move Honou had made when he had defended her from the Red Kite shinobi and Sakami remembered all too well how brutally they had fought him off. She was not going to stand by and see him take the same punishment, even though he was now fully grown.

  She put her head down and ran. As she ran she saw Naoki stumble, cursing. He raised his free hand, aiming at Honou, and Sakami heard the sizzle of Flame Feathers.

  “Honou – look out!” She could not bear the thought of having to see him die a second time.

  But the darts of fire flew wide, sizzling against rocks and tree trunks as Naoki’s body suddenly sagged, going down on to one knee. Honou yelped and rolled clear.

  “Did Kai strike a blow after all?” Sakami stopped, uncertain if it was just a trick. Foxfire-Fang still lay where Kai had dropped it. She had to retrieve it. If Kurika was still in Lord Naoki’s body, he would do all he could to destroy the sacred sword

  As she hovered, torn with indecision, Lord Naoki made a sudden convulsive lurch, attempting to get to his feet again. He raised one hand, trembling, as if the effort was too great, and pointed it toward her. Startled, she leapt back, expecting to be struck down by a volley of lethal fiery darts. But no volley came; instead Lord Naoki suddenly collapsed, his body twitching and writhing. As he flung one arm outwards, she saw a thin patch of blood darkening his jacket sleeve. Then the convulsions ceased and he lay still.

  If Kai wounded Kurika, there should be a dark stain on Foxfire-Fang’s blade too.

  She itched to go and check for firm proof. But this collapse could merely be a ruse to lure them closer
. Or it was just a moment of weakness and at any moment now, Kurika would force Lord Naoki to rise and attack again.

  And then she noticed. A thin black smoke had begun to seep from Naoki’s nostrils and slack mouth.

  ***

  Kai held up both hands in front of his face. They looked solid enough. He looked down at his bare torso, anxiously searching for the blue luminescence of the Sacrifice seal which had been pulsing so violently just a short while earlier.

  He couldn’t see it. Neither, to his horror, could he see the illusory clothes he had been wearing. Suddenly his body felt cold, vulnerable and naked. Ashamed and exhausted, he doubled up on the stony ground.

  “Here,” said an amused voice and someone knelt beside him, wrapping a jacket around his nakedness. Kai dared to look up and saw Masao grinning exhaustedly at him. “It’s harsh, isn’t it?” he said, his arm resting protectively across Kai’s shoulders. “Coming back to being fully mortal again?”

  Kai nodded.

  “Wait till the pangs start. You’re going to be ravenously hungry.”

  Shivering, grateful for Masao’s supporting arm, Kai got unsteadily to his feet. He looked up into Masao’s face. “Your eyes,” he said. “They’re not green anymore.”

  “And yours are dark brown again,” Masao said. “It’s over, Kai. Inari’s promise held true.”

  ***

  Hotaru lay, his head tilted to one side, the wires of his broken spectacles still wound around his ears. Ayaka reached out tentatively to touch her husband’s pallid face. His skin felt a little warm to the touch. She had never been this close to a dead body before. . .but now she was not entirely sure that he was dead.

  “Hotaru,” she said softly. “Can you hear me?” She bent down closer to see if she could hear or feel any breath issuing from his slightly parted lips. Suddenly she was overwhelmed by emotion; this man had caused her and everyone gathered there so much grief and pain and yet she felt her eyes welling up with tears at his ignominious end.

  “You don’t deserve my tears,” she told him, stroking his face as the wetness spilled over and down her cheeks, splashing on to him. “You lied to me. You used me. So why am I crying over you?”

  ***

  Sakami wanted to run to Kai and hug him with all her might. But, seeing thin wisps of black smoke exuding from Lord Naoki’s nostrils, she hesitated.

  I thought it was over.

  Honou, still in his dog fox form, came limping out from the shelter of the boulder where he had being lying low. Seeing the curling black smoke issuing from Lord Naoki’s body, he stopped, suddenly baring his white teeth and growling, ears back.

  Sakami could only stare in dismay as the smoke swirled more thickly, rising up into a dark column.

  We’ve driven Kurika out of Lord Naoki – but is he looking for another body to possess? What do we do now? Her mind was in shock from the rapid reversal of events.

  Foxfire-Fang.

  There was nothing for it but to make a dash to rescue the sacred sword.

  Just as her hand closed around the hilt, the seething column of smoke wavered and collapsed, tendriling outwards. She raised the blade, holding it more like a naginata than a sword (as Yuna had taught her) but the dark spiral of smoke that was Kurika passed her by, making swiftly to where the empress knelt, the emperor’s head resting on her lap.

  “Lady Ayaka!” Sakami yelled with all her force.

  Hearing her name, Ayaka looked up. Too late. Sakami saw her tear-swollen eyes widen as the smoke wrapped itself around her like a serpent until she was all but smothered in its coils.

  “Ayaka!” Kai’s choked cry rang out across the barren rocky plateau. He made to go to her but Masao held him back.

  “What is Kurika doing?” Masao demanded. “Can you stop him, Miko-san?”

  Sakami looked down at the black-stained sacred blade she was holding, silently cursing Kurika’s clever move.

  It’s no use. If I try to slash through the swathes of smoke, I could kill Lady Ayaka. And he knows it.

  “Help me, Kai.” Ayaka’s voice, drowsy and slurred as if she was losing consciousness, came from the coils imprisoning her. “Kurika’s. . .taking all my. . .energy. . .”

  “Damn him, he’s using her to replenish his strength,” Masao muttered and Sakami heard the bitter frustration in his voice. She took a cautious step closer, Foxfire-Fang raised. She could feel the kitsune’s lithe power flooding her mind and body, but could see no opening to aim for.

  “Stop, Kurika.” The command, pronounced in feeble tones, suddenly issued from Hotaru’s body. Sakami almost dropped the sword in surprise. “I command you.”

  The writhing movement of the coils ceased and Kurika let out a hiss.

  To Sakami’s astonishment, the emperor raised his head and began to push himself up from the ground, wobbling like a newborn colt.

  “Why aren’t you dead yet?” Kurika hissed.

  The serpentine smoky coils unraveled themselves from around Ayaka and began to reform, taking on the human form that Sakami had first encountered on the cliffs above the bay: a tall, powerfully built man, with penetrating eyes, red as molten lava, and flame-streaked black hair. Then she had been petrified by his malevolent aura, unable to run away. But what caught her eye again was the seal glowing on his left breast, the dragon curled in on itself, a circle of scarlet and black. It must be his Sacrifice seal.

  Kurika staggered, his hand clamping over the seal, fiery light leaking out between his clenched talons.

  “Obey me, Kurika.” Hotaru got to his feet, swaying drunkenly. “Let Ayaka go.”

  “Not until you set me free.” Kurika, one arm around Ayaka, began to drag her toward the cave entrance.

  “I don’t know how!” Hotaru’s anguished admission echoed around the rocky enclosure.

  “Oh, come now, my lord emperor, surely an onmyōji of your experience and skill would never cast a spell that he couldn’t undo?” Kurika said, his voice seething with scorn and resentment.

  “Let her go.” Hotaru took another teetering step forward. “Take me instead.”

  “I did just now and what use were you to me?” Kurika tightened his grip around Ayaka who had slumped against him. “Perhaps the only way to break the spell is to kill the caster.”

  “Kill me? Are you sure?” Hotaru came another step closer. “Perhaps I wove in an extra strand to the binding spell that would destroy you as well if you ever decided to kill me.”

  Sakami exchanged a glance with Honou. Hotaru – whether on purpose, or in his desire to rescue Ayaka – was successfully diverting Kurika’s attention. She braced herself, ready to run at Kurika and attack. But first he had to be lured into the cave.

  “And did you?”

  “You won’t know,” Hotaru said, still advancing, an odd little smile on his lips, “until it’s too late. Now let her go.”

  Sakami could not help feeling a grudging admiration for the onmyōji-emperor as he kept Kurika guessing. But she knew that Kurika would not stay distracted for long; he was too impetuous, too headstrong to fall for Hotaru’s mind-games. And the two had been bound together for long enough for Kurika to know his master’s strategies and weak points. Still she hesitated, while Foxfire-Fang’s power thrummed through her body, lending her the confidence she so badly needed.

  “Not yet,” she could hear the sword’s spirit whispering. “Wait just a little longer. . .”

  ***

  Hotaru could still feel the wetness of Ayaka’s tears on his face. He could still hear the words she had whispered as she wept over him.

  You’re right, Ayaka. I don’t deserve your tears. And you deserve to live, not to die as Aoi did to cement this cursed Sacrifice bond between me and Kurika.

  He managed another step forward, aware that the two Tide Dragon Sacrifices were watching him warily. Both Kai and Masao were pale with exhaustion, propping each other up.

  They’re here on land together. So their bond with the Tide Dragons is finally broken.

&
nbsp; Hotaru began to laugh at the irony of the situation, quietly at first, then, growing louder until the laughter rang out and he doubled up, unable to stop.

  And I tried so hard, so very hard to make them mine to control and command. What was I thinking? What a futile waste of time and effort.

  He became aware that Masao and Kai and the little miko were staring at him; Kurika seemed almost bemused by his outburst. And at that moment he noticed Ayaka stir.

  She’s still alive.

  He came on slowly, steadily toward Kurika. Every bone in his body felt out of alignment, every muscle stretched beyond its natural endurance. Each step was agony. He had been humiliated, possessed, betrayed by his own shikigami. He would not be intimidated any longer – not if it meant he could save Ayaka.

  “This is where it all began, seven years ago,” he said to Kurika, gazing up into his face. “I should have left you here to rot.”

  To Hotaru’s surprise he saw Kurika flinch and a shadow flickered across his flame-bright eyes. He was playing for time, praying that Kai and Masao had understood his plan.

  And for a moment he remembered how he had felt in forging the bond between them, the visceral thrill and terror of taming this wild and elemental creature. Nothing else in his life had excited him so much; not his feelings for Aoi or Ayaka or even Saisho.

  Would it be so terrible an end to die, consumed in Kurika’s flames?

  Hotaru raised his hand toward Kurika’s left breast where the Sacrifice seal was glowing an angry red. He could feel the matching seal over his own heart pulsing in rhythm with Kurika’s, the pulsations growing more forceful as his fingers made contact with Kurika’s burning skin.

  Kurika suddenly struck his hand out of the way, reaching forward to press his talons over Hotaru’s Sacrifice seal. As Hotaru had hoped, Ayaka, alerted by the sudden movement, wriggled out of his grip. In an instant, Kai and Masao ran to her, dragging her clear.