Page 32 of Night of the Dragon

As we neared the eastern wall, a scream rang out ahead of us. As I drew my sword, we rounded a building and came upon a scene of horror. Bodies were scattered in the road, mostly citizens, but a few samurai, as well. Most were burned, charred to blackened husks, and several were missing a limb or two. Yumeko gasped, her hands going to her mouth, and the ronin let out an emphatic curse.

“What the hell? What happened? Have the gates been breached?” He gazed toward the wall, squinting to peer through the smoke from the flames and charred bodies. “How did these bastards get into the city?”

“They’re demons, Okame-san,” the shrine maiden snapped, yanking an ofuda from her sleeve. “Some of them can fly.”

The smoke billowed around us like a black curtain, and as the light dimmed, something flew toward me through the cloud—a spinning wheel wreathed in flame. I twisted aside to avoid it and saw a face, grinning madly as it passed me, in the very center of the spokes.

“Wanyudo!” cried Reika, just as another flaming wheel came at Yumeko from behind. I lunged forward, managing to push her out of the way, and felt the burning edge of the wheel strike me in the ribs, sending me crashing into a pile of crates. Grimacing, I shoved my way free to find two wanyudo—demons with human faces trapped in the hub of a burning wheel—circling us like grinning sharks. One of them held a dismembered arm in its jaws, and it crunched down and swallowed the limb even as I watched.

“Tatsumi!” Yumeko rushed to my side. Her eyes flickered yellow in the dancing flames and smoke. “Are you all right?”

“Get back, Yumeko,” I growled, raising my sword. Wanyudo were not minor demons. They were creatures of pure rage, hate, madness and pain, and were extremely nasty. A few feet away, Chu erupted into his real form with a howl, and Reika flung her ofuda at a circling demon, but the flaming wheel pulsed with a gout of fire, and the paper strip dissolved to cinders on the wind.

With a maniacal laugh, one wanyudo rose higher, the heat from the hellish flames washing over us. The ronin raised his bow and sent an arrow streaking at its face, but the demon spun like a top, knocking the dart aside, and lunged at him with a shriek. I didn’t have time to respond as the second tilted on its side and flew at me like an enormous shuriken. I stepped forward and slashed at the demon, but Kamigoroshi was knocked aside by the velocity of the wheel’s edge, and the wanyudo slammed into me like a battering ram. Pain erupted through my ribs as I was hurled back again, tumbling to the ground with the stench of blood and burned flesh in my nostrils.

Kuso!Rage flickered, and I dug my fingers into the dirt to control the surge of bloodlust, feeling claws extend and slice through the hard-packed ground like paper. I could not lose control now. Raising my head, I saw Chu lunge at a demon with a roar, saw the wanyudo veer out of the way, spin around and slam into the komainu’s side. The shrine guardian let out a yelp as it tumbled away while the Taiyo noble drew his sword and sliced at the second demon swooping in. Like Kamigoroshi, his blade clanged off the spinning wood, and the demon slammed into the noble, knocking him into the side of a building. The Taiyo crumpled to the ground, the edge of his sleeve on fire, as both demons swooped around and flew toward him with gaping mouths and twin howls of triumph.

I pushed myself upright, knowing I would never get there in time, but with a roar, a wall of blue-white fire erupted from the ground in front of the noble. It flared in the darkness, almost blinding in its suddenness, and the wanyudo veered away with snarls of alarm.

Yumeko and Reika stood in the center of the chaos, the shrine maiden beside the kitsune, their hair and sleeves whipping about in the wind. Yumeko’s eyes were narrowed, her jaw set in anger and determination as she held out a hand wreathed in foxfire. Reika held up an ofuda, the strip of paper beginning to glow with power.

“Everyone cover your eyes!” the shrine maiden called, as with enraged howls, both wanyudo shot toward the two women, gaping jaws showing jagged teeth. Yumeko and Reika didn’t move, but as the demons came in, a circle of foxfire flared around them, lighting up the darkness once more. The wanyudo flinched but didn’t stop, careening through the flames to slam into the kitsune and miko in the center—

Only to have them disappear in a puff of smoke. As they winked from existence, I caught a split-second glance of the ofuda, still glowing with power as the demons came in, and quickly turned away as the talisman exploded in a brilliant flare of holy magic. I felt the light even through my closed eyelids, heard the stunned shrieks of the demons and hoped that the rest of my companions had heeded the miko’s warning.

“Now, everyone!” Yumeko’s voice echoed from somewhere I couldn’t see. I looked back as Chu lunged through the shadows and slammed his clawed forepaws into a dazed wanyudo, crushing it to the earth, while Reika’s voice rose above the cacophony. “Aim for the center!”

The wanyudo in the air howled. I glanced over and met the eyes of Taiyo Daisuke, on his feet with his sword in hand. He nodded, and we flew at the demon as one, slashing our blades through the snarling face and out the other side. It screamed, a piercing wail of rage and hate, before the burning wheel split in two and vanished into tendrils of smoke. I whirled to see Okame leap onto the komainu’s broad shoulders, raise his bow and send an arrow directly between the eyes of the second demon. It shrieked and disappeared, curling into black smoke and flames that drifted away on the wind.

Panting, I lowered my sword, gazing around for Yumeko. She appeared from the shadows of a building, stepping into the light with Reika beside her. Relieved, I nodded at her, and she gave me a fierce smile, the remnants of fox magic still flickering between her fingers.

“Is everyone all right?” the miko asked as Chu impatiently shook the ronin off and trotted back to her. I glanced at the noble, trying to judge his injuries. One sleeve was charred, and he was standing a bit more stiffly than normal, but he didn’t seem seriously hurt. Unless something was broken on the inside. I could feel my own ribs twinge, protesting if I moved too quickly. It would be annoying, but it would not slow me down that much.

The ronin muttered a curse as he got to his feet. “A little worse for wear, but I think we’re fine,” he gruffed. “Though, if this is the scouting party, I’d hate to see the main force.”

The noble stepped forward with a decisive nod. “We must get to the gates as quickly as we can,” he said, and I did notice a flash of pain that he did his best to hide. “The people here will not stand a chance if more demons like this break through.”

We hurried on through the smoking city, now eerily empty of people. Briefly, I wondered where Genno was at this very moment, how close he was to the Summoning site, and how we were doing exactly what he wanted right now. Which was defending a city from demons and not going after the man responsible.

But leaving an entire people to be slaughtered was not an option, either.

“Tatsumi,” Yumeko said in a breathless voice, and pointed a finger toward the sky. “Look!”

I followed her gesture above the trees and the rooftops interspersed between them, past the city walls, to the statue of the Great Dragon towering far overhead.

A figure stood on the Dragon’s skull, tiny and indistinct, though I could just make out the billow of sleeves and a faint crimson glow surrounding it. On a hunch, I looked at the statue across from it, the majestic Phoenix with outstretched wings, and saw a second figure atop that statue, as well. The line of trees and buildings blocked my view of the other two, but I didn’t need to look at them—the mighty Tiger and sacred Kirin—to guess that they, too, would be occupied.

“Blood magic,” the shrine maiden said darkly. “Genno must be performing some sort of ritual.”

“Targeting the entire city?” Yumeko asked, sounding horrified. “He can’t do that, can he? Do you think Kiyomi-sama is in danger?”

“We don’t know what he’s doing,” I told her. “But we can’t get up there now. The eastern gate is just ahead.”

As if in answer, a thunderous boom echoed over the rooftops, shaking the tree branches. Another followed, making the air vibrate with the distinct, chilling sound of something big and heavy smashing against wood. We rounded the corner of a building and reached the main road, and the eastern gate loomed tall and elegant before us. The heavy wooden doors were barred from the inside, but they looked dangerously cracked and weakened. Samurai stood atop the walls, firing arrows and hurling spears down on whatever clustered below, and bodies of both human and yokai were scattered over the ground and along the parapets. Beyond the gate, the shriek and howl of a massive army was deafening.

And then, I saw an enormous tetsubo—a giant, iron studded club—rise into the air beyond the gate, and I realized what kind of demon was assaulting the wall.

“Everyone get back!” I roared, knowing it was too late. “The gate won’t hold—”

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