Shadow of the Fox

by Julie Kagawa

  I nodded, and the noble strode away, smiling at his relative. But he hadn’t gone more than a few paces before a pair of noblewomen swept up to him, blocking his path. Daisuke’s polite smile never wavered, and he looked wholly interested in what they were saying even as he smoothly edged around them, only to find his path blocked by another. By the looks of the crowds converging on him, it seemed he might be a while.

  Moving to the edge of the lawn, I stood beside a perfectly groomed azalea tree and gazed around, wondering which of these elegant, fluttering humans could be Lady Satomi. I also wondered if, somewhere among the sea of robes, Tatsumi was there, hidden by a spell or a disguise. I imagined him in an elegant black kimono, patterned in purple and gold, his violet eyes shining as they met mine through the crowd.

  “You’re blushing, Yumeko-chan,” Okame remarked, grinning as he bent down to stare at my face. “What are you thinking about?”

  “N-nothing!” I turned away, feeling my cheeks flame, hearing the ronin snicker behind me. “I was just...ano...thinking of robes, and how mine is very hot, and how nice it would feel to take it off. And...that didn’t come out how I wanted it to at all, stop laughing, Okame-san.” I didn’t dare turn around to face him. “Baka. Be serious. We’re supposed to be looking for Lady Satomi...”

  And then, one of the women seated closest to the emperor raised her head and looked right at me.

  Behind my robes, forgotten and unnoticed by everyone, Chu began to growl. I suddenly felt itchy, like insects were crawling around in my sleeves, scuttling over my skin. The woman held my gaze, a faint smile gracing her full, painted lips. She was very beautiful, standing out among her fellow nobles, her crimson-and-black kimono hanging a bit more loosely in some areas than others. Not blatant or obvious, but suggestive.

  Something squirmed through my hair at the base of my skull. Frowning, I reached up and grabbed something long and thin, pulling it from my head.

  A red-and-black centipede wriggled between my fingers, coiling back to bite me. I threw it away with a violent jerk, barely managing not to yelp. The insect landed in the grass and was instantly pounced upon by Chu, who snatched it between his jaws and shook it like a rat. Okame, his laughter forgotten, muttered a curse.

  Heart pounding, I glanced back at the woman, who was smiling at something the emperor said and not looking at me anymore. But I knew she was responsible for the unwanted visitor, and an icy chill raced up my spine as, quite suddenly, everything came together. This was the person responsible for everything. The giant centipede, the undead crows, the demons that destroyed the temple; it was all because of her. The unseen hand behind it all. The blood witch in the emperor’s court.

  I trembled, not knowing if it was from fear or rage, and felt Reika move beside me, also gazing at the red-clad woman. Chu was still growling quietly near my feet, though no one around us seemed to notice the dog. “Well,” Reika said softly, “judging from Chu and how white your face has gone, I have a feeling we might have found our Lady Satomi.”

  I nodded. The woman glanced my way again for just a moment, a smug triumph shining from her eyes, and I clenched my fists. If this was Lady Satomi, I also had the feeling that she wasn’t going to make things easy for us.

  “Yumeko-san.”

  Daisuke returned, the taller man at his side, both smiling at me as they approached. I wrenched my gaze from Lady Satomi and turned to face the nobles. “Yumeko-san,” Daisuke said again, “this is my uncle, Taiyo Morimasa.”

  “Hello,” I said to the older Taiyo. Then, remembering where I was, bowed low and said, “It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”

  “The honor is mine, Yumeko-san,” Morimasa replied. He looked much like Daisuke, except his hair was in a warrior’s bun atop his head, and he had a neatly trimmed goatee. “You honor us with your very presence. We have not had an onmyoji at court for quite some time. Forgive my impudence, but your name is unknown to me. Which master did you serve under? I had heard rumors that the great Tsuki no Seimei was holding a contest to choose a new apprentice.”

  “I...did not serve a master,” I said, groping for a reply. “I just...um...had the talent for it, I suppose. I learned on my own.”

  “Amazing,” the older man said. “And at such a young age. Truly remarkable. Well, that decides it—you must perform for His Highness tonight. It would be a great honor to have such a talented onmyoji take the stage before all the court. What do you say, Yumeko-san? Will you show us your talent?”

  I felt trapped, like a rabbit huddled in a corner with wolves closing in on all sides. Okame and Reika looked just as uncomfortable, though neither were jumping in with excuses. This was not a request. Even I, with my limited knowledge of Iwagoto’s society and politics, knew that a chance to serve the emperor was the greatest honor one could receive, and that turning him down was the most unforgivable of insults. Even if my refusal did not result in imprisonment or execution, our quest would end right here. If we wanted to find Master Jiro, I had to keep the farce going.

  Though I had no idea what I was going to do.

  “Certainly, Taiyo-san,” I told Morimasa, making Okame start and stare at me. “It would be an honor.”

  “Yumeko-chan!” the ronin burst out, then seemed to catch himself. “Er...please excuse me,” he told Morimasa with a quick bow. “I’m her yojimbo, so it’s my job to worry about her. She can be rather reckless at times. Yumeko-chan,” he went on in a low voice, staring at me rather wide-eyed. “Are you sure you can do this?” With the undertone of what the hell are you doing? “If you mess up in front of the emperor, it affects us all.”

  “Your yojimbo might have a point,” Reika said in a voice of resigned disapproval. “Though for this request, I don’t know what else you can do but accept.”

  “Of course you must accept,” Daisuke broke in, looking both puzzled and slightly offended. “Meeting the emperor, performing for him and the entire court—there is no greater honor.”

  “Exactly,” I told the ronin, and forced a smile. “You heard Daisuke-san. When will there ever be another chance to meet the emperor? Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” I hope.

  Okame looked dubious, but I turned away and faced Morimasa again. “Please forgive the interruption, Taiyo-san,” I told the frowning noble. “As I said before, it will be an honor to perform for His Highness tonight.”

  “Wonderful!” He beamed. “His Excellence will be delighted. If you would please follow me.”

  With a last encouraging smile at the concerned ronin and shrine maiden, I stepped forward and followed Morimasa across the yard.

  Nobles stared at me, watching with amusement, curiosity and suspicion as I passed. A few sneered or smirked behind their fans, their scorn plain to see. Perhaps they saw through my onmyoji disguise, or perhaps I was not dressed fancily enough. I tried to ignore them and think of what I was going to say to the emperor, though the pounding of my heart and the frantic swirling in my stomach made it hard to concentrate.

  “Wait here a moment,” Morimasa said, pausing in the shadow of a cluster of trees a distance from the emperor’s dais. “When the time is right, I will announce you. As you hear your name, come forward and present yourself to His Highness, but stay at least twenty feet from the edge of the platform. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  He nodded and turned away, walking toward the platform and the men and women clustered around it. I couldn’t see Lady Satomi, as she was on the emperor’s other side, but thankfully, she couldn’t see me, either.

  I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, just as a hand clamped over my mouth from behind and yanked me back into the trees.

  “It’s me,” said a low, familiar voice, stopping the surge of kitsune-bi to my fingertips. “I’m letting you go, so don’t alert everyone here by screaming.”

  “Tatsumi!” I whispered, whirling on him as he released me. “You s
cared me! Why are you...?”

  I blinked and trailed off. For the Tatsumi before me was not the Kage samurai I had traveled with from the Silent Winds temple. He was clad completely in black, except for a ragged crimson scarf that seemed to float behind him in the breeze. Instead of sandals, he wore split-toed boots that stopped just below the knee, bracers on his forearms and a sleeveless, unmarked jacket that was a much tighter fit than his regular haori. A mask covered his mouth and jaw, obstructing half his face, though the eyes above the cloth were the same, a cold, piercing violet.

  “What are you doing, Yumeko?” Tatsumi asked, his voice soft but intense. His gaze seemed to burn in the darkness.

  “Um...” I glanced around to make sure no one could see us. The air shimmered as I turned my head, and I could suddenly feel the dark, cool touch of Tatsumi’s Shadow magic, surrounding us. “Performing for the emperor of Iwagoto?”

  “You’re not an onmyoji.” Tatsumi’s eyes narrowed. “You have no magic. Talking to the kami is not the same as telling fortunes and divining the future, which is what the emperor will expect. If you’re exposed as a charlatan, you’ll be executed.”

  “I know, but what else can I do, Tatsumi?” I whispered. “I can’t refuse the emperor.”

  “I can take you out of here.” Tatsumi stepped closer. “Right now. No one will see us—we’ll use the same spell we did in the gaki village. When it’s safe, I’ll come back to look for Master Jiro. We don’t need to talk to the Satomi woman. I can get into places most people cannot.”

  “What about the others?”

  “I don’t care about the others.” Tatsumi’s voice was flat. “My mission is to get us to the Steel Feather temple. Nothing else matters. If you are caught and executed, the mission ends here.”

  His hand rose, the back of his knuckles coming very close to my cheek. I looked into his eyes and saw conflict burning within.

  “Tatsumi...”

  “You cannot die, Yumeko.” His hand didn’t move any closer, but he didn’t pull back, either, and his voice was very soft. “We both made a promise, to find the Steel Feather temple together. I need you to show me the way. The mission isn’t over yet.”

  “I’ll be all right.” Carefully I reached up and took his hand. He flinched as our skin touched and then, almost tentatively, his fingers curled around mine. I met his gaze and smiled. “I know what to do, Tatsumi. Trust me.”

  He held my gaze a moment longer, brow furrowed and eyes shadowed, then nodded once. I backed out of the trees, feeling the delicate strands of magic fray apart as I moved, and turned toward the emperor’s platform.

  Taiyo Morimasa met my gaze, his eyes widening in relief, as if he had been looking for me and hadn’t been able to see me until now. Gesturing impatiently, he waved me forward. Resisting the urge to look back at the trees, I took a deep breath, lifted my chin and walked toward the platform and the emperor of Iwagoto.

  29

  The Emperor’s Fortune

  I watched the girl walk away, her stride confident, toward the emperor in gold who waited on his platform, surrounded by nobles and samurai. The eyes of the court followed, all gazes on the slight figure in billowing red and white, her long braid swaying behind her. She did not look frightened or even tense, but there was an unfamiliar sensation in the pit of my stomach that compelled me to make her vanish. To drop down, cover us both in darkness and spirit her away. Or, if that wasn’t possible, to draw Kamigoroshi and slaughter everyone who was a threat, nobles, samurai and emperor alike, to save the girl striding so boldly toward the person who could order her death.

  I could still feel her hand, her soft fingers curled around my palm, and clenched my fist against my leg. Yumeko could not die tonight. Letting her walk away was foolish. I didn’t know what she was planning, if she even had a plan, but I’d said I would trust her. A peasant girl with no magic, who had grown up in a temple sheltered from the rest of the world, who was brave and unassuming and clever but ultimately no onmyoji—I was letting her face the most powerful man in Iwagoto with nothing but the assurance that she would be fine. I saw the ronin, the shrine maiden and the noble press forward with the rest of the crowd, forming a semicircle behind the girl, and my chest tightened. For the first time, I wished I could be there, in the crowd, instead of lurking at the edge of the light, hiding in the shadows.

  Great Kami, I found myself thinking, watch over her. Tamafuku, God of Luck, if you can lend your aid to one person tonight, let it be her.

  Yumeko stopped her approach about fifteen feet from the emperor’s dais, sank to her knees and bowed low with her hands and forehead touching the ground. It was clumsy; her posture wasn’t quite rigid enough and her fingers weren’t at the right position, but at least she had the general idea of how to behave when facing the ruler of the country. And it appeared to satisfy the emperor, for he smiled and held out a billowing golden sleeve.

  “Onmyoji Yumeko,” he said in clear, high tones. “Welcome to the Palace of the Sun.”

  “His Highness honors me,” Yumeko replied, sitting up slowly. “I am not worthy to be here, but I will try my best to please.”

  I sensed disapproval and scorn emanating from the watching crowd, from the nobles and aristocrats in particular. Yumeko’s common birth was suddenly painfully clear in the way she spoke, without nuance or the flattering, flowery phrases of the court. I had the sudden image of dropping into their midst and cutting them all into bloody ribbons, and I wasn’t quite sure if those were Hakaimono’s thoughts, or my own.

  “My advisor tells me you learned onmyodo without a master,” the emperor went on, and a murmur went through the crowd. “Is that correct? You have truly mastered the ancient knowledge on your own?”

  “Yes, Your Highness. That is correct.” She did not give any more explanation, though it was clear the court was waiting for it.

  “Remarkable,” the emperor exclaimed, sitting back. “Truly extraordinary. Of course you must show us your talents, Yumeko-san.” He raised both arms, golden sleeves billowing like sails. “I give you permission to tell my fortune,” he announced grandly. “What do the ages hold for the greatest empire in the world? Peer into the future and tell the court what you see.”

  A hush fell over the garden. Yumeko hesitated, then rose slowly, dramatically, to stand tall before the emperor. “The future,” she said, her voice echoing over the crowd, “is an ever changing stream. Every choice, every decision we make, sends it down a different path. To glimpse the fortune of another is to see hundreds of possibilities at once. It is never a task to be taken lightly or in haste.” She raised her arms, as if drawing on the power of the kami, and a sudden wind caught her hair and robes, billowing them outward. “Let us see what the future holds for you, Your Highness.”

  The crowd was motionless now, hanging on her every word. The emperor himself leaned forward, hands on his knees, staring at the robed figure before him. For a moment, I forgot this was Yumeko, the peasant girl I’d rescued from the Silent Winds temple. Standing in the center of the yard, arms outstretched and the light shining over her hair and bright crimson robes, she really did look like a revered onmyoji, shimmering with power as she prepared to divine the future of Iwagoto’s emperor.

  Yumeko brought her hands together, cupping them below her chin, two fingers raised in a familiar gesture. She closed her eyes, and the court seemed to hold its breath. For a moment, the girl was silent. Not a breath of air stirred the yard; all attention was focused on the robed figure standing alone before the emperor.

  “Taiyo no Genjiro.” Yumeko’s voice, quiet as it was, made several nobles jump. “Lord of the Palace of the Sun.” She paused, then said, very clearly, “There is an intruder in your garden.”

  The emperor straightened, as did many of the nobles and samurai. A few bushi started looking around, hands on the hilts of their swords, as murmurs began rippling through the crowd. I crouched l
ow in the shadows, as Hakaimono stirred, whispering that I should strike her down before it was too late.

  Would she really expose me? Kage Masao’s question about trust came back to me, and my blood chilled. Would you sell me out tonight, Yumeko, to save yourself?

  “It is very close,” Yumeko went on, her voice quiet and somber. “Lurking in the shadows. Watching you and your guests as we speak.” A few of the women gasped and pressed closer to each other, and one samurai half drew his sword. My hand slipped to Kamigoroshi, fingers hovering over the hilt, as Yumeko continued.

  “It is very cunning, this intruder,” the girl said. “Silent, unnoticed, it has already left a trail of destruction behind it, and if allowed to roam free, will continue to bring ruin to everything it touches.”

  “Where?” the emperor gasped, half rising from his seat. “Where is this intruder?”

  “It is close,” Yumeko repeated, half turning in place. I tensed as the girl spun toward me, but she continued to turn, away from where I crouched in the shadows. “It is...” She paused, raising a hand toward a patch of bushes near the edge of the light. “There.”

  The whole court turned, staring at the spot she pointed to. For a moment, nothing moved or dared to breathe. The court was frozen in rapt fascination, unable to move or look away. At the base of a sakura tree, a section of bushes rustled loudly, drawing horrified gasps from the closest spectators.

  A small brown rabbit hopped from the brush into the open.

  An exhalation of breath went through the crowd, though the women closest to the “intruder” let out tiny shrieks before they realized what it was. The rabbit sat up, twitching its ears as it observed the humans, who stared back in confusion and shock.

  A shout echoed over the garden. A man in simple clothes, dirt smudging his hands and grass stains on his knees, rushed forward, his eyes going wide as he stared at the creature on the lawn.