Page 3 of Night of the Dragon

Yumeko cocked her head. “Why is that, Daisuke-san?”

“Because the Moon Clan is very reclusive, Yumeko-san,” the noble replied, “and they dislike outsiders coming to their shores. Visitors need special permission from the daimyo to move freely through Tsuki territory, and we have neither the time nor the means to acquire the necessary travel papers. The Moon Clan is very protective of their land and people, and trespassers are dealt with harshly and without remorse.” He raised one lean shoulder. “Or so all the captains will tell you.”

“We’ll have to worry about that when we get there,” the shrine maiden said. “Stopping Genno from summoning the Dragon is our first and only concern, even if we must defy the clan leaders and daimyos to do it.”

The noble looked slightly horrified at the thought of defying the daimyo, but said nothing. Beside him, the ronin sighed and shifted to another position.

“It’ll take us a couple days to reach the coast,” he muttered. “And we have no horses, carts, kago or anything that will make the journey faster. I suppose tomorrow we start walking, and hope we don’t run into any demons, blood mages or Kage shinobi still after the Dragon scroll. One assassination attempt was enough, thanks.”

I stirred, glancing at Yumeko. “The Kage came after you?”

She looked faintly embarrassed. “Ano... Lady Hanshou asked us to find you,” she answered, making my stomach turn. “She sent Naganori-san to find us, and we walked the Path of Shadows to meet with Hanshou-sama in Kage lands. She wanted us to save you from Hakaimono, to drive him back into the sword so you could be the demonslayer again.” One of her ears twitched as I raised a brow at her. “I guess this isn’t what she was hoping for.”

I felt a bitter smile cross my face. Hanshou’s relationship with the demonslayers had always been a point of contention in the Kage. It had been Hanshou’s decision to train young warriors to use Kamigoroshi rather than have the Cursed Sword sealed away in the family vault where it would tempt no one. The official reason was that this allowed the Kage to manage and control Hakaimono rather than risking the sword falling into the wrong hands. But everyone suspected—though no one would dare suggest—that Hanshou kept the demonslayers around because of the fear they inspired. The Kage demonslayer was trained to be efficient, emotionless and fanatically obedient. A perfect assassin who also shared his soul with a demon. There were whispers in the Shadow Clan that Hanshou kept her position mainly because no one dared challenge her and the pet oni she could unleash at any time.

But even this was only partially true. The real story between Kage Hanshou and Hakaimono went far deeper and was more sinister than anyone could imagine.

“No,” I told Yumeko. “This isn’t exactly what Hanshou was hoping to achieve. And now that you’ve failed to contain Hakaimono and find the scroll for her, she’ll likely send someone to kill you all.”

“Forgive me, Kage-san, but I fear I must ask.” The Taiyo noble turned a solemn gaze on me. “Technically, you are still part of the Kage. Did not your daimyo send you to retrieve the scroll for her? What will you do if that order still stands, or if she commands you to leave no witnesses behind? Will you kill us all to retrieve the Dragon scroll?”

I felt Yumeko stiffen beside me. “I...ceased to be part of the Shadow Clan the moment Hakaimono took control,” I told them. It was a sobering realization; I had been part of the Kage my whole life. Since the beginning of the empire, the expectation had been to serve clan and family unflinchingly, without question, for as long as you lived. I’d owed the Kage my loyalty, my obedience, my very existence. If they had given the order to face a thousand charging demons alone, I would have obeyed—and died—without hesitation, as would all loyal samurai. But now I was an orphan. I had no clan, no family and no lord. Like the ronin wandering the empire, dishonored and lost, except I was something even worse.

“My loyalty to the Kage will not come into question,” I assured the noble, who still looked concerned. “Lady Hanshou would not risk having dealings with oni, at least not publicly. And I have no intention of returning to the Kage. Not until I find the Master of Demons and make him pay for his betrayal.”

The last words emerged as a raspy growl, and a sullen rage flickered to life from within. I was something unnatural and demonic, cast out of my clan, and my existence would either end upon the Kage’s blades or with the order to take my own life, but I would kill Genno before I left this world. The Master of Demons would not escape my vengeance; I would track him down and tear him apart, and he would die screaming for mercy as I sent his soul back to Jigoku where it belonged.

“Tatsumi,” Yumeko said in a hushed voice as the rest of the circle fell silent. “Your eyes are glowing.”

I blinked and shook myself, then gazed around at the others, all of whom looked grim. The Taiyo had gripped the hilt of his sword, and the ronin had eased into a position that would let him spring away and draw his bow. The shrine maiden had reached into the sleeve of her haori, and her dog was bristling and baring his teeth in my direction. I took a slow breath, feeling the rage subside, and the tension around the fire eased somewhat, though it still hung in the air, brittle and uncomfortable.

“Right, no sleep for me tonight,” announced the ronin in a forced cheerful voice. Digging in the pack, he pulled out a simple cup and emptied a pair of dice into his open palm. “Who’s up for a game of cho-han? It’s not complicated, and it’ll help pass the time.”

The shrine maiden scowled at him. “Isn’t cho-han a gambling game?”

“Only if you bet on it.”

I rose, causing everyone to glance up at me sharply. “I’ll take watch tonight,” I said. It was a long walk to the coast, and Genno was far ahead of us. If removing my presence allowed them to sleep, even for a couple hours, so much the better. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be outside.”

“Wait, Tatsumi.” Yumeko started to rise, as well. “I’ll come with you.”

“No,” I growled, and she blinked, lacing her ears back. “Stay here,” I told her. “Don’t follow me, Yumeko. I don’t...”

I don’t want you to be alone with a demon. I don’t know if I can trust myself not to hurt you.

“I don’t need your help,” I finished coldly as a flicker of confusion crossed her face. She had done so much and come so far...but it was better if she learned to hate me. I could feel the darkness inside me, a roiling mass of rage and savagery, waiting to be unleashed. The last thing I wanted was to turn on the girl who had rescued my soul.

As I stalked out of the cave into the warm summer night, there was the faintest ripple in the darkness, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. On pure instinct, I twisted aside, feeling the disruption of air as something zipped by my face, andthunkedinto the tree behind me. I didn’t have to see it to know what it was: a kunai-throwing dagger, the metal black as ink and sharp enough to cut the wings from a dragonfly in flight. I felt blood trickle from a razor-thin gash across my cheek, and annoyance flared into burning, immediate rage.

Glancing into the treetops, I spotted a flicker of movement, a featureless blur drawing back into the darkness, and narrowed my eyes. A Kage shinobi, thinking he could assassinate me from the shadows. Or perhaps intending to lead me into an ambush. I knew my clan. If I didn’t take care of this now, more shinobi would follow, like ants swarming a dead cicada, and our nights would constantly be hounded by the shadows.

I curled my lip in a snarl and sprang into the darkness after my former clansman.

I chased him longer than I thought I’d have to, following his scent, the rustle of disturbed branches ahead of me. He was moving fast, leaping through the tree branches with monkey-like grace, barely making any noise as he sprang from limb to limb. On the ground, I was hard-pressed to keep up, so after a few minutes of dodging bushes and tearing through undergrowth, I sprang off a fallen trunk and hurtled into the branches after him.

A trio of kunai came at my face, brief glints of dark metal in the night. I ducked, and one skimmed my shoulder as it flew by and went hissing into the leaves. Growling, I looked up and caught sight of a black-clad figure waiting on another branch, a kusarigama—a weighted chain with a kama sickle attached to the end—spinning in one hand.

I drew Kamigoroshi in a flare of purple light, facing the shinobi across the drop between us. For the briefest of moments, I felt a twinge of reluctance, of regret, at having to kill my former clansman. But the Kage would not relent, and I had sworn to stop the Master of Demons from summoning the Dragon. I could not let them kill me now.

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