Page 48 of Night of the Dragon

Ninetail

Suki

Seigetsu-sama?

In a daze, Suki watched Seigetsu emerge from the darkness. He was smiling, his silver hair and white robes seeming to glow as he stepped from the shadows. Taka was not with him, and for some reason, this made Suki very nervous. Like something terrible was about to happen.

The demonslayer leaped to his feet, drawing his blade in a flash of purple light. From the shadows behind him, the ronin and Daisuke-sama appeared, coming forward to flank the Kage warrior.

No, Daisuke-sama!Suki threw out a hand, wanting to fly down and grab the noble before he could step forward and challenge the silver-haired man. The Taiyo was a fierce warrior and amazing swordsman, but she had seen a little of Lord Seigetsu’s power, and knew that he was capable of so much more. She didn’t know if Daisuke-sama could win a battle with the mysterious man she had been following all this time, and she did not want to find out.

“Who are you?” The Kage’s voice was hard, chilling. He took one step forward, placing himself between the fox girl and the stranger who had appeared out of nowhere. “What do you want here?”

“Peace, Hakaimono.” Lord Seigetsu held up a hand. His words were as low and soothing as a mountain spring. “I am not your enemy. I did not come for a confrontation, merely to claim an item I left here long ago. Yumeko...” His golden eyes shifted, fixing on the fox girl, who stiffened. “Child of dreams.” He chuckled, and Suki was shocked to hear genuine affection in his tone. “You have done well. Only you could have freed the spirit of grief and rage who had dwelled here for so long. You have played your part admirably, as I knew you would. For that, you have my gratitude. But now, if you would kindly hand over the item I left behind...”

He raised a hand, and the mask that had been clutched in the kitsune’s fingers somehow left her grip and floated across the cavern. As it came to rest in Seigetsu’s palm, a terrible smile crossed his face, eyes gleaming. In that moment, he looked like a stranger.

“The mask.” At that moment, the fox girl sounded as Suki felt, on the verge of a terrible realization. The pieces were coming together, not enough to form a whole picture, but very close. “You...left that here.”

“Sixteen years ago,” Lord Seigetsu agreed. “Along with the shrine, and a few special items that were tied to the birth of a particular infant. The shrine would serve as the anchor, or perhaps a beacon, for Kiyomi’s feelings of grief and loss. Those emotions were drawn here, grew and festered by the day, and eventually became the spirit you just encountered. The kami could do nothing against it because it was a manifestation of Kiyomi herself, her rage and sorrow that, over the years, became a powerful curse that shadowed the whole island. Even the real Kiyomi, though time has dulled the pain and the memories of that night, could not forget or find solace. Only one thing could placate the spirit and convince it to move on. The source of its obsession and grief.” He smiled, his gaze lingering on the fox girl. “Child of dreams. The monks raised you well. I could not have hoped for a better outcome.”

“Then...you...” Yumeko’s face had gone the color of the porcelain mask; her legs trembled, and she sank to her knees on the stones, staring at Lord Seigetsu. The others, too, seemed dazed or stunned into silence. “Youwere Kiyomi-sama’s husband.”

Suki felt numb, as if everything she had known had been ripped away from her. She had followed Lord Seigetsu, obeyed him, watched as he moved his pieces around the board—pieces that were the lives of everyone around her. She thought she had been helping the fox girl and Daisuke-sama, keeping them alive, but it seemed Lord Seigetsu’s plans went far deeper than she could have ever imagined.

“Why?” Yumeko whispered after several moments. “Why did you do all this? Everything we’ve gone through, everything we’ve faced...coming to this island, running into Kiyomi-sama...have you been watching us the whole time? Has this been a game to you?”

“A game, she says.” Seigetsu-sama chuckled softly, shaking his head with a wry half smile. “It has been averylong game, Yumeko,” he told her. “One that was started many years ago, before you were even a glimmer in your mother’s thoughts. And now the game is almost finished. The final play is in sight. And the last piece is finally ready.”

He raised a hand, and the mask floated up, outlined in soft blue-white flames. “Sixteen years is the blink of an eye,” he murmured, gazing at the porcelain image in contemplation. “And yet, it can be a lifetime. A lifetime of grief, rage, hate and despair can corrupt even the purest heart and drive anyone, or anything, to madness. Even those who are immortal. All it takes is a tiny splinter, a crack in their armor, and they can be consumed.”

The flames surrounding the mask flared, becoming almost too bright to look at. Suki flinched, turning away for a moment, and when she looked back, the porcelain mask was gone.

An arrow floated in the air before Seigetsu-sama, flickering with soft blue flames. The pointed arrowhead was white, streaked with lines of crimson, and the wooden shaft was the purple-black of the flowers that had once carpeted the chamber. A cloud of ash and darkness clung to the arrow, tendrils of dust swirling through the air before drifting to the ground. It sent a chill through Suki just looking at it, but Lord Seigetsu smiled, his eyes glowing yellow in the flickering light.

“Did you know that all living things can be corrupted?” His voice was triumphant, a murmur in the darkness. “Nothing is immune. Not even the Kami themselves.”

“I’ve heard enough.”

Raising his sword, the demon lunged at Lord Seigetsu with a snarl, his blade flaring with purple fire. Suki covered her mouth, a spear of alarm coursing through her, not knowing who she was more frightened for, the half-demon or Seigetsu-sama.

“No, Hakaimono.” Lord Seigetsu raised his head, and fire erupted before him, a wall of blue-white flames that filled the cavern with light. Even though she was transparent and had no body, Suki could actuallyfeelthe heat, a searing, terrible brightness that threatened to burn her from existence. She cringed, darting behind a stalactite, as below her, the fox girl cried out and even the demon flinched back, shielding his eyes.

When Suki dared peek out from behind the stone, the world fell away, and she was suddenly frozen with terror.

Lord Seigetsu stood in the same place, surrounded by ghostly flames that cast a terrible shadow over the walls and floors around him. His eyes glowed, his robes and silver hair glowed, billowing in an unnatural wind, the eerie firelight dancing over them.

A long, bushy tail rose behind his shoulders, swaying slowly, as if it had a mind of its own. It was silvery white, the same color as Seigetsu’s hair, and pulsed with dancing blue flames at the tip. Another followed, and another, rising like serpents to sway and coil about, until there were nine of them altogether, framing Seigetsu-sama in a halo of light.

Nine tails.

A chill unlike anything Suki had ever known settled over her. She knew the stories. The legends of the ninetailed fox. Of how, when a kitsune grew old enough to acquire its ninth tail, its fur would turn gold or silver, and it would become one of the most powerful yokai in existence. A ninetailed fox was an ancient, mysterious, dangerous creature, possessing the knowledge of a thousand lifetimes and the magic to rival the Kami themselves. Some myths claimed they could create their own kingdoms of illusion and shadow, destroy whole cities with fire, even call down the moon. In one of the most famous, frightening stories, a ninetailed fox had been responsible for the near destruction of the country by becoming the emperor’s favorite wife and driving him to madness. The stories of ninetailed foxes were many, but that was all Suki had thought they were...stories.

Until now.

Lord Seigetsu flickered with pale fire, his tails swaying hypnotically as he observed the small party before him, his gaze lingering on the kitsune girl and the demon. “I am not your enemy,” he said in a low, compelling voice. “And you are running out of time. Genno has begun the ritual to summon the Dragon. Even now he prepares to recite the incantation on the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. It will not take him long to complete it.”

His inhuman gaze lifted then, finding Suki near the ceiling, hovering behind the stones, and he smiled. “Suki-chan,” he said quietly, sincerely, “thank you for doing your part. For leading them to where they needed to go, for keeping them alive when I could not be there. It has been an honor traveling with you, but I fear our time together has come to an end. I have no more need of you.” His billowy sleeve lifted, one hand gesturing toward the sky through the ceiling. “Move on, Suki-chan. This was never your fight. You have no part to play anymore, and I am certain Meido has been calling you for a while now. This world is no place for the pure of heart.”

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