Page 31 of Night of the Dragon

“Yumeko-chan!”

The voice rang outside the door, a moment before it was flung open with a snap, revealing the shrine maiden in the frame, Chu at her heels.

“Yumeko-chan, get up! We have to—Oh, Kage-san. You’re here, too.” Reika blinked at me, and her cheeks flared red as she realized what was happening. But, even then, the shrine maiden refused to let a small thing like embarrassment distract her. “Jinkei’s mercy,” she groaned, “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. If you two are quite ready, we do have a madman to stop and an empire to save. And the risks just got a lot higher.”

“What’s happening?” I growled, rising swiftly and stepping in front of Yumeko, shielding her from the miko’s gaze. Yumeko’s cheeks were tinged pink, and she had drawn her robe tightly around herself, but she seemed more concerned about Reika’s warning than the unexpected interruption. The shrine maiden gave me a grim look.

“Kiyomi-sama has called for us. An army of demons and yokai have been spotted coming toward the city. They’ll be at the eastern gates before dawn.” Yumeko gasped, and the miko’s eyes hardened. “It seems the Master of Demons has been one step ahead of us.”

“We’ll be right there!” Yumeko leaped to her feet, and Reika quickly averted her gaze. I silently stepped into the hall, closing the door behind me, while the kitsune prepared herself for what was likely our last battle. After only a few seconds, she shoved the doors open and stepped out, golden eyes hard and determined.

“All right,” she said, and took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

This is it, then.I nodded and shoved Kamigoroshi through my sash, resolve settling in my gut like a stone. “Let’s go.”

We hurried into the corridors, where confusion and panic were already spreading throughout the palace. Servants and nobles alike rushed through the halls or hovered in doorways, looking lost. Samurai in suits of black-and-gray lacquered armor hurried past us, ornate helms perched atop their heads. They looked like noble warriors, but their presence only added to the tension and fear sweeping through the halls. Samurai dressed in full battle gear only when they were going to war.

“Yumeko! Kage-san!”

The call echoed behind us. We turned as the ronin stepped through a door into the hall, hurriedly tying his obi around his waist. The Taiyo noble followed on his heels, as poised and unruffled as always, though his hair seemed a bit more unkempt than normal.

“We heard the commotion,” the ronin announced as they joined us. “Is it true that an army of demons is marching on the city right now?”

“Yes,” the shrine maiden confirmed as we rushed down the hallway. “Thankfully, Kiyomi-sama was already gathering her forces, so the city won’t be caught unprepared. But the army is very close. We’ll need to help with the defenses as quickly as we can.”

The corridor opened into the main hall, where a familiar woman in silver and black stood in the center of the room, a cluster of robed figures around her. The figures’ robes were black, their faces white but for a single, moon-shaped crescent painted onto their foreheads. The majutsushi of the Moon Clan, I realized.

“Kiyomi-sama,” Yumeko cried, rushing forward. The Moon Clan daimyo glanced up, and for just a moment, the similarities between the two women were unmistakable.

“Yumeko-san.” The daimyo stepped toward us, her expression grave. “I am sorry,” she told all of us. “But I will not be able to send my forces to Tani Kaminari to engage the Master of Demons. It seems he has sent his army to my doorstep, and I must defend my people.”

“Of course, Kiyomi-sama,” Yumeko said immediately. “What can we do to help?”

“Hang on, Yumeko-chan,” interrupted the ronin. “You don’t see what’s happening, do you? This is exactly what Genno wants. To keep us distracted with his army while he makes his way to the Summoning site. If we ignore him, he’ll get there without opposition.”

“I’m afraid your friend is right, Yumeko-san,” the Moon Clan daimyo said. “Unfortunately, I see little that you could do to stop that. The cliffs of Ryugake lie beyond the Valley of Lightning, which is where the army is coming from. There is no way to sneak around the demons.”

I narrowed my eyes and gripped the hilt of Kamigoroshi. “Then we’ll carve a path straight through.”

“Kiyomi-sama!”

An armored samurai raced across the floor and fell to his knees before the daimyo. “My lady, the demons are massing at the eastern wall,” he said in a rush. “We are holding them back, but we fear the gates will soon be breached.”

“Hold them,” the Moon daimyo said in a hard voice. “Send every warrior we can spare to the eastern wall. The gates cannot fall. Those monsters cannot be allowed into the city. The people will be slaughtered.”

I caught Yumeko’s gaze as she looked at me, pleading and terrified. Not for herself, but for the rest of the city. For Kiyomi-sama and the lands she now called home.

“We’ll stop them,” I told the Moon Clan daimyo, who glanced at me warily. “Send us there. We’ll hold them back.”

Kiyomi-sama’s jaw tightened, and she gave a short nod. “Go,” she said, and I immediately turned and began jogging toward the doors, hearing the others do the same.

“Yumeko-san!” the daimyo called before we had crossed the room. Yumeko stopped and turned to gaze back at the Moon Clan daimyo, who watched her with a dark, conflicted expression.

“Come back to me,” the daimyo ordered softly. She said nothing else, but her voice seemed to resonate through the chamber, shivering off the walls.

Yumeko nodded once. “I will,” the girl promised, then continued on to join me near the doors. The look on her face sent a chill up my spine. Her eyes glowed an angry yellow, a mask of grim determination set firmly in place. Yumeko the peasant girl had disappeared; this was a kitsune prepared to fight tooth and nail for what she considered hers.

We sprinted out of the palace and into a panicked, terrified city. Civilians rushed down the streets, heading toward the palace and away from the gates, while samurai hurried past, going in the opposite direction. A tinge of smoke hung in the air, mingling with fear and desperation, and in the distance, I could see a few trees and roof corners flickering with orange flames. Grimly, I realized it hadn’t been long from the time the first alarm was sounded at the palace; if the city was already in flames, the situation was dire indeed.

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