The Fox and the Dragon (Shrine and Shadow Book 1) by S.K. Ehra

Author:S.K. Ehra [Ehra, S.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

A bell clanged for the changing of the hour. Guards called to one another, announcing all was well along Seiki’s wall. Crickets sang in the garden outside the window and no moans from the nightbeasts escaped the dark. Kisho couldn’t remember the last time he heard a night so quiet. Even after Shen had arrived at Tama, he still had heard the demons’ cries.

He rested his back against the raised tub, sitting so he faced the window to achieve the balance between the company and privacy Shen desired. The room smelled of old herbs, incense, and salt. Kisho assumed the physician used the tub for medicinal baths to heal both physical and spiritual maladies.

“I think we can trust Nanashi,” Shen said.

Kisho nodded. They would have to. He was too weak to travel and completely at the physician’s mercy. Having successfully managed to hold down water, Kisho had been allowed broth and tea. That along with the poppy tincture lifted him from the clutches of pain while leaving him slow-witted and tired.

A ghostly light drifted across the night sky, dancing in soft flashes of silver and white. The display had begun at dusk, and as no outcry came from the village, Kisho assumed it nothing immediately threatening.

“Those lights look like what I saw over Tama that night,” Shen said.

“You saw them too?” Kisho had been unsure if the light illuminating the nightbeasts’ approach had been a fever dream or his curse blurring into reality. Flashes of Takao’s memories came back, and Kisho closed his eyes to endure the images of pale lanterns and promises of dead souls guarding the living.

“Yes, but at Tama it looked more agitated. More wrong,” she said. “Are you sure it’s safe? Staying here?”

Not letting his head turn to look at her was difficult. Particularly when he felt her so close, leaning against the high tub’s edge right beside him.

“We can rest for a night or two,” he said.

Three nights or more would be better considering the sorry state they both were in. So long as Nanashi kept secret the identity of his patients, there was momentary reprieve to be found here. Sumai’s arm had limited reach and he lacked a Tanin to allow him easy travel through the unlit corridors of the mountains. Where Kisho and Shen were able to cut across forests without fear of the demons that rose as night fell, Sumai’s forces were restricted to firelight and the few paths where the sacred warding had not yet failed. But the Madou—Kisho shuddered—it was difficult not to imagine he was all-reaching and all-seeing.

“I think you should rest for longer,” Shen said.

Kisho agreed, but doubted they had the time to allow for it.

“Do you think Madou Minoru will come after us?” Shen asked. The white light dancing in the sky flared bright to bathe the room in an ethereal glow.

He will hunt you to the ends of earth and time, Kisho thought.

“It’s safer to keep moving,” he said.

Water sloshed, and Kisho imagined Shen nervously fidgeting.

“How long would it take for horsemen to reach here from Kenzo?” she asked.

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