by Julie Kagawa
omachi kudasai: please wait
omukade: a giant centipede
onikuma: a demon bear
oni: ogre-like demons of Jigoku
onmyoji: practitioners of onmyodo
onmyodo: an occult magic focusing primarily on divination and fortune telling
onryo: yurei, a type of vengeful ghost that causes terrible curses and misfortune to those who wrong it
oyasuminasai: good night
ryokan: an inn
ryu: gold dragon, currency of Iwagoto
sake: alcoholic drink made of fermented rice
sama: an honorific used when addressing one of the highest station
san: a formal honorific often used between equals
sansai: edible wild plant
sensei: teacher
seppuku: ritual suicide
shinobi: ninja
shogi: a tactical game akin to chess
shuriken: throwing star
sumimasen: I’m sorry, excuse me
tabi: split-toe socks or boots
Tamafuku: Kami, the God of Luck
tanto: short knife
tanuki: yokai, small animal resembling a raccoon, indigenous to Iwagoto
tatami: woven bamboo mats
tetsubo: large two-handed club
tora: silver tiger, currency of Iwagoto
ubume: yurei, a type of ghost who died in childbirth
usagi: rabbit
wakizashi: shorter paired blade to the katana
yamabushi: mountain priest
yojimbo: bodyguard
yokai: a creature with supernatural powers
yurei: a ghost
zashiki warashi: yurei, a type of ghost that brings good fortune to the house it haunts
Soul of the Sword
by Julie Kagawa
Chapter One
Birth of a Godslayer
His throat was raw from screaming prayers into the wind.
The storm raged around him, beating against the cliffs and sending sprays of ocean water crashing against the rock. The night was pitch-black, his drenched clothes were icy cold, and he could barely hear himself over the howl of the wind and the roar of the sea. Still, he kept chanting, the scroll clutched tight in shaking hands, the flickering lantern swaying wildly in his grip. His vision blurred from salt spray and tears, but his voice never wavered, shouting every line on the crumpled parchment like it was a challenge to the gods themselves.
Reciting the final prayer, letting the wind tear it from his throat and fling it over the ocean, he collapsed to his knees on the stones. Gasping, he bowed his head, his arms falling to his sides, the opened scroll fluttering in the gale.
For several desperate, pounding heartbeats, he knelt there, alone. The storm thundered around him, slashing him with foamy talons. The blood from his wounds ran down his chest and arms and over the scroll, staining the parchment pink.
Many yards out to sea, the ocean boiled. Waves surged and roiled, and the surface of the water began to shift as if something monstrous stirred below.
With an explosion of spray and the howl of a god, an enormous dark shape rose out of the depths, coiling into the night. Lightning flashed, sliding off massive horns, fangs and glimmering scales the color of the tide. A rippling mane ran down the length of the creature’s back, and a pair of whiskers as long as a ship writhed and fluttered around it as the great dragon curled in the sky, flowing in and out of the clouds. A pair of eyes like glowing moons peered down on the tiny figure below, and with the rumble of an approaching tsunami, the Kami spoke.
“Who summons me?”
Clenching his jaw, the man lifted his head. His heart trembled with the knowledge that he should not gaze so carelessly upon a god, the Harbinger of Change himself, but the despair and hate-sickness deep in his soul drowned out any other emotion. Swallowing the pain from a throat raw from screaming, he raised his voice.
“I am Kage Hironobu, son of Kage Shigetomo, and I am the mortal who has called upon the power of the Dragon’s prayer.” His voice carried into the wind, thin and raspy, but the huge creature cocked its head, listening. Its inhuman gaze, carrying the wisdom of eternity, met his own, and he suddenly felt as if he were falling into a deep, endless pit.
Placing his hands on the ground before him, the warrior bowed, touching his forehead to the rough stone, feeling the eyes of the Dragon on his back. “Great Kami,” he whispered, “by my right as scroll bearer, on this night, the thousandth year after Kage Hanako made her wish upon the scroll, I humbly ask that you grant my heart’s desire.”
“Once more, a Kage calls upon me.” The thunderous voice sounded neither amused nor surprised.”
“Once more, the Shadow Clan dances with darkness and holds the fate of the realm in its hands. So be it.” Lightning flashed and peals of thunder made the clouds shudder, but the great dragon’s voice rose above it all.”
“Kage Hironobu, son of Kage Shigetomo, bearer of the dragon scroll, what is your heart’s desire? What wish would you see come to pass?”
“Vengeance.”
The word was barely a whisper, but the air seemed to still as he spoke it.”
“My family was killed by a demon,” the warrior went on, slowly sitting up.”
“It slaughtered everyone. My men and servants were strewn from one end of the house to the other. My wife...my children...it didn’t even leave anything to bury.” His voice wavered, and he closed his eyes, shaking. “I couldn’t save them,” he whispered.”
“I came home to a massacre.”
The dragon said nothing, a cold, indifferent observer in the clouds, waiting. The warrior’s hand strayed to the sword at his belt, fingers curling around the sheath.”
“I don’t want it dead,” he gritted out, his voice choked with hate.”
“Not by a simple wish. I will kill the monster myself, drive my sword into its black heart to avenge my clan, my family, my wife.” His voice quavered, and the knuckles wrapped around his sword turned white.”
“But when it dies, I don’t want its spirit to return to Jigoku. I want to trap it here, in this realm. To know pain and rage and helplessness. To understand there is no relief, no way for it to return as the demon it was.” The warrior bared his teeth, clenching his jaw in fury.”
“I want it to suffer. For eternity. That is my wish.”
Overhead, the great Kami peered down through the storm.”
“Once spoken,” it rumbled, as lightning gleamed off its blue-black scales, “there is no going back.” Its moonlike eyes glowed through the clouds as it tilted its head, the endlessly long whiskers rippling in the wind.”
“Are you certain this is your heart’s desire, mortal?”
“Yes.”
Thunder boomed, and the wind intensified, shrieking as it beat against the warrior and the rock. The dragon seemed to fade into the storm, only its eyes shining through the darkness. Then, they, too, disappeared into the black, as the clouds seemed to swirl faster, faster, until they resembled a great whirlpool in the sky.
A blinding streak of white descended from above, striking the rock where the warrior knelt. The samurai flinched and shielded his face as stone and rock shards flew everywhere, cutting his flesh where they hit. As the brightness faded, he peered up, squinting painfully as blood and water ran into his eyes. He blinked and froze as he saw what the lightning bolt had left behind.
A sword stood upright in a smoking crater of rock, the point jammed into the stone, its blade gleaming brightly against the darkness. The warrior shivered with both fear and excitement as he gazed at it, sensing an almost hungry power pulsing from the blade, as if it were alive.
His wounds forgotten, the Kage samurai rose and walked on unsteady legs to the sword, which still gleamed faintly against the black, fed by its ow
n inner light. Overhead, the dragon’s voice echoed through the storm, though the mighty serpent had nearly disappeared, fading once more into legend.
“It is done.” Its voice held the finality of death, of a sword cutting the life from a body.”
“Let it be known, the wish of this era has been spoken, and the winds of change have shifted their path. Let no mortal call upon the power of the scroll for another thousand years. If this realm survives what is to come.”
“Wait! Great Kami, what should I call it?” The warrior reached out and touched the hilt, and a prickling sensation raced up his arm.”
“Does it have a name?”
The warrior felt the Dragon depart, felt it slide from the world like an eel through a net, returning to its kingdom deep below the waves. On the echo of the wind, he heard the Kami’s final word.
“Kamigoroshi.”
Kage Hironobu stood alone on the bleak platform of rock, wind and spray whipping around him, and felt a savage smile cross his face. Kamigoroshi.
Godslayer.
Copyright © 2018 by Julie Kagawa
ISBN-13: 9781488097225
Shadow of the Fox
Copyright © 2018 by Julie Kagawa
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