Page 9 of Night of the Dragon

A groan just outside the door caused us all to fall silent. The merchant turned a white face toward the entrance, then beckoned us farther inside. Swiftly but silently, we moved into the sake house, away from the door and the shuffling dead just beyond. Farther in, more people emerged, peering from corners and behind decorated fusuma panels. Several men and a few women and children, all staring at us with eyes that were both hopeful and fearful. I hung back, keeping to the shadows, as Reika and the others pressed forward. The last thing we needed was for someone to panic and alert the dead swarming just outside.

I felt a presence behind me, and Yumeko softly touched my elbow, sending a shiver up my arm. Silently, she pressed a straw hat into my fingers and continued into the room. Her hand trembled when it touched mine, whether from fear, adrenaline or something else, I wasn’t sure, but it made my stomach curl in response. I slipped the hat on, covering the horns, and followed her into the room.

Reika stepped forward, facing the strangers that had edged into the open, and the presence of a shrine maiden seemed to calm them somewhat. “Don’t be afraid,” she announced, her calm, firm voice soothing the tension. “We’re just simple travelers who came to find passage on a ship. Can you tell us what happened here?”

There was a moment of hesitation, and then a woman stepped forward, a small girl clinging to her kimono. “They came from the darkness,” the woman whispered. “Last night, the dead swarmed the streets and started killing everyone. Those who fell rose again as corpses and joined in the massacre. We had no chance. The town was overrun in a night.”

“Where were the samurai?” the noble asked. “Umi Sabishi is not defenseless. Surely there were guards, warriors, who could protect the town.”

“We don’t know,” another man said. “Everything was chaos. But there are those who claim they have seen corpses with blades wandering the town, so we can only assume most of the samurai fell in the first attack.”

“And there are no other survivors?”

“There were two men here earlier,” said the woman. “But they left. They said they had to get to their ship at the end of the docks. But...” She trembled, her eyes wide and terrified. “That’s where all the dead seem to be congregating. As if they’re being drawn to the warehouse down by the harbor. If you go that way, they’ll tear you to pieces.”

“Oh, well, how lucky for us,” the ronin sighed. “The docks are exactly where we need to go. It’s as if someone knew we would come this way.”

“Someone did,” I said.

All eyes turned to me. I was suddenly grateful for the wide-brimmed hat concealing my demon marks, even if it was an illusion. “Do you think Genno is here, Tatsumi?” asked Yumeko.

I shook my head. “Not anymore. But he knows we survived the massacre at the temple. And he knows we’re going to the Moon Clan islands to stop him. He’s trying to slow us down, or keep us from following. This is the most likely place we would go to find a ship.”

“So, this is because of us,” Yumeko said quietly.

“No.” The shrine maiden frowned, her voice firm. “This is because Genno is a madman with no respect for human life. All the more reason he must be stopped.” She glared back at the entrance, dark gaze narrowed. “We need to get to the docks. Maybe there is still a ship that can take us to the Tsuki islands.”

“You’re leaving?” The woman with the child pressed forward, her voice and eyes desperate. “No, please, you can’t leave us like this! We’re not warriors. The dead will slaughter us all if they find us here. You must help us.”

“I’m sorry.” Reika shook her head, her voice sympathetic. “But we are only five, and there is no time. I will pray to the Kami for your safety, but we cannot offer any aid.”

“We have to help them, Reika-san.”

This, of course, was from Yumeko, who stepped toward the shrine maiden, her own expression pleading. “We’re responsible for this mess,” she argued. “Genno left these things here for us. We can’t abandon these people to die.”

“Yumeko.” The miko’s voice was not nearly as sympathetic as she glared at the kitsune. “We cannot fight an entire town of raised dead. Even if we could somehow slay them all, it would take far too long, and Genno already has a head start on us.”

“What if we stopped the source?” Yumeko asked, and glanced at me. “This is blood magic, right? Is there a spell or a talisman that is causing the dead to rise? Could we end the curse that way?”

Once again, all eyes turned toward me. Uncomfortable with the scrutiny, I crossed my arms. “This is blood magic,” I confirmed. “And typically, with a curse this strong, a coven or cabal of mages would have to be close by, maintaining the spell. Kill the cabal, and the spell fails. The dead will return to being dead.”

“But we don’t know where the mages would be,” the shrine maiden said. “They could be anywhere in this town.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “but the greatest concentration of blood magic is where the dead will be drawn to. So, the area swarming with corpses is where we will find the cabal.”

“The docks,” the peasant woman gasped. “The warehouse. All the dead are coming from that direction. The coven must be there. Please...” She clasped her hands together, gazing at us hopefully. “Please, will you save us? Save us from this curse. I beg you.”

“We have to go there anyway, Reika-san,” Yumeko said, refusing to wilt as the shrine maiden glared at her. “We’ll just take care of a coven of blood mages on the way.”

Reika let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I suppose we have no choice now,” she muttered, and looked at the rest of us. “If everyone else agrees...?”

“Of course,” the noble said immediately. “These are not my lands, but what has been done here is blasphemous and an affront to the empire. Blood magic is punishable by death, and those who engage in such darkness forfeit their life. I will gladly rid the empire of such evil.”

The ronin shrugged. “Well, I’ve got nowhere else to go,” he said. “Fighting hordes of the dead seems a fun way to spend an evening. Unless we vote to stay here and make sure all the sake doesn’t go to waste...? No? Fine, blood mages it is.”

Yumeko glanced at me. “Tatsumi?”

“I’m with you, Yumeko,” I answered simply. “Just point me at the cabal, and I’ll make sure they die.”

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