Kitsune-Tsuki by Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Kitsune-Tsuki by Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Author:Laura VanArendonk Baugh [Baugh, Laura VanArendonk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: Æclipse Press
Published: 2012-07-18T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter 6

Shishio chose the night of the quarter moon to lay their trap for the rice thieves. Tsurugu dressed warmly — the late spring could still be chill on the mountainside — and went to the shrine early. Shishio would come singly and invisibly, and then the handful of warriors would take their places in hiding before the rice bait was left.

Tsurugu passed beneath the red torii and paused to kneel beside the white fox guardian statues. “Inari-sama,” he breathed, “you bless all with rice and prosperity.... Protect your servants on this night, and guard us as we defend both rice and wealth.” The prayer sounded cheeky, but he thought the goddess might like it; he had always privately assumed that any deity who chose mischievous foxes as messengers must have a sense of humor. “And, Inari-sama,” he added more soberly, “bless the girl Murame, who has suffered at the hands of your rivals’ servants and of her own people.”

He rose, bowed once more, and then went to settle comfortably in his hiding place. He was not expected to fight as Shishio and the others would, though he would send shikigami to assist them.

The greatest onmyouji of old were alleged to command their shikigami as assassins, he mused. They must have had power he would never know.

Dusk fell, and the temperature with it. Tsurugu drew his knees to his chest, comfortable in the privacy of his hiding place, and wrapped his arms and voluminous sleeves about his legs. He rested his chin on his knees, warming his face in the fabric. He had been warned to keep still, lest they alert the thieves; he could wait comfortably like this for hours.

But they did not need to wait that long. There was a shout from below, nearer the road, and then a great rustling of leaves and feet as the warriors converged. A few voices cried in surprise and then pain. Tsurugu rose almost leisurely; it was no kitsune, as he had predicted. Shishio would need no protection from fox magic. Still, he ought to send a shikigami or two, to show support.

He reached for an overhanging branch and plucked a young leaf, holding it between his fingers as he breathed a spell. He released it and watched it float down toward the road, swirling in the night air. He sent another after it. Then, stretching his arms overhead, he started down the shrine path.

He felt the little burst of energy as the first leaf transformed. Surprised shouts informed him that his aim had been true; the apparent mononoke had appeared in the midst of the fighting. The second appeared immediately after, blocking retreat on the road. Tsurugu’s smile vanished as he heard new screams, and he lifted his fingers, working a spell of discovery as he increased his pace down the path.

The mononoke had frightened the daimyou’s men as well as the all-too-human thieves, and all had scattered on the road. But he sensed others as well, near the combatants in the dark.



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