The Fox's Quest (6 page)

Chapter Nine

Sanae

T
he pulse of stolen energy disappeared from Sanae’s perception, which she took to mean the cursed sword had been neutralized.

She popped in the room where she sensed her brother.
Ah, much better. What did you do?

“Containment,” Jien said, indicating a wooden chest covered with carved glyphs. “But don’t be too happy. There’s probably others like it.”

What? Why do you think that?
After Jien finished explaining what she’d missed, her mood bordered on cranky.
We have to find those things,
she growled.
They’re hurting our clan.

Akakiba gave her a
look
and she gave him one right back. He could say all the silly things he wanted about her being an impostor, but she was still a child of the Fox clan.

The old monk named Toshishiro—who’d hardly blinked at her arrival—produced a map marked with the location of known energy sinks. It was a detailed map that showed the truth of their long and narrow country; it was not a single land but a collection of islands close together in the sea.

The Great Temples were loosely situated in the center of the country, on the bigger islands. Besides the energy sink they had already visited, there were three others marked on the map—one to the southwest, one to the northeast beyond mount Fuji and one so far north it was close to the Great Northern Temple.

“There must be others,” Toshishiro said, “but I never had the opportunity to investigate beyond this area. We could consult with the other temples but I don’t think it wise to betray our interest in these places.”

Sanae peered at the map laid on the
tatami
floor.
You boys should split up and visit the two closest ones. I can scout ahead, but I can’t do anything if I find a sword or enemies using one.

The thought of those weapons in the hands of her clan’s enemies made her shudder. Even a normal un-glyphed sword could wound a fox mortally, but these super powered ones wouldn’t allow even a chance of survival—nor the opportunity to abandon flesh as she had done. She’d have to trust that if it came down to battle, Yuki would keep her idiotic brother alive.

“We should assume the enemy is based somewhere in the vicinity,” Aito said, indicating the area covered by the map. “They would have tried to keep all the swords close by to avoid unnecessary travel.”

“We’d best hurry,” Jien said, “If they notice one of the swords is gone, they’ll try to remove the others from their positions.”

“I will request appropriate supplies,” Aito said. “Be ready to leave after breakfast.” Then, eying his older colleague, “Master Toshishiro shall stay here and keep watch over Saji. If the demon returns, we must know of it.”

“Oh, I see how it is,” Toshishiro grumbled. “You don’t think an old man can keep up with you young ones, eh? Very well, you disrespectful boy! I will stay.”

Sanae studied Aito, familiarizing herself with his aura so she might later home in on him as needed. It wouldn’t be difficult: Aito and his familiars together shone exceptionally bright on the other side. Old Toshishiro shone a little, too; she hadn’t failed to notice the spirit twirling invisibly about his head. She had the strange impression the spirit was exuding hostility at her as if it were jealous of its human’s attention. Maybe that one didn’t like sharing.

Sanae stewed in envy as the five men left for the refectory, but she didn’t torture herself by going along to watch them eat food she couldn’t smell or taste. Instead, she drifted outside and watched a pack of trainees make war on fallen leaves with straw brooms. They worked with such diligence she suspected they’d been told they must finish their task before going to dinner.

Once, autumn had been full of pleasures for her, among them the abundance of fresh nuts for use in desserts, the pleasant temperature, and the lovely sight of colorful leaves. The last pleasure remained, but only in a limited way. Spirit “eyes” simply weren’t as sensitive to colors as human eyes. Over time, she might even lose the ability to distinguish colors. Depressing thought, that.

She ghosted through random halls, looking for distractions. A dragon noticed her, turning its scaled head to follow her progress, but it didn’t alert its bonded human. The place felt empty. Besides guards on duty and a handful of monks bedridden by age, everybody appeared to have congregated in the refectory.

Here and there on the walls were glyphs that glowed softly when she passed them by. She studied them, wondering what they were supposed to do. She faded into the spiritual realm to see if the glyphs resonated there, but they had no presence at all in that world. As she crossed back over, the glyphs flared.

Ah ha! She tested further, making herself more real, more solid. The glyphs’ glow became brighter and brighter in answer, until—

Ow!

She jumped as a shock coursed through her and dispersed into mist by reflex.

The cursed things were demon wards! Since demons were spirits like any other, their way of keeping demons out was apparently to use glyphs meant to sting any spirit going physical. Normally, it was a demon thing to do.

But I can do it, too,
she mused.
I
should try again, to confirm.

The second jolt was no more pleasant. By now the glyphs’ activity had attracted a nearby guard’s attention, forcing her to retreat. She didn’t want to be run through with a glyphed spear; that might kill her.

Sliding out of the temple’s grounds and into the city, she went in search of a valid reason to test her abilities. In such a large city, there would surely be villains to be found.

Sad as it was, she was right. Within moments, she had found a pair of tall boys tormenting a shorter one in a shadowy alley. The men and women passing by paid no attention to the scene.

“Don’t be stupid,” one of the tall boys said. “You can’t come to the temple with us. Broken people can’t become
sohei
.” He must have been referring to the short boy’s right ankle; it was bent in an odd way and likely caused a limp when he walked.

The second bully wasn’t quite as tall. That made him the medium one. Medium Boy said, “I’ll become the greatest
sohei
ever seen and slay demons by the dozen, every day of every year!”

Tall Boy smacked Medium Boy behind the head. “I’m going to be the greatest. You can be second greatest.”

“Ow, fine.”

“Mother says I can do as well as you,” Short Boy shot back, his voice wavering.

“Is your mother blind? Hasn’t she noticed you’re a stupid cripple?” With a casual push, Tall Boy sent Short Boy crashing to the dirty ground.

A better opportunity wasn’t likely to present itself. After a quick check to ensure no demon-blade wielding samurai or
sohei
were in the area, Sanae went to work. She focused her essence as strongly as she could, going further than she’d done before.

Gasps arose as three pairs of eyes fixed upon her. Okay, she had visibility… Half-way there… Focus harder, harder… Her essence was now as dense as she could make it.

“Fox spirit,” Short Boy whispered in awe.

“Shut up,” Tall Boy said, drawing a foot back for a kick.

Sanae bared her teeth, willing them to look razor sharp, and lunged at Tall Boy with a snarl.
Leave him alone!

Incredibly, her teeth closed on fabric. She yanked, causing Tall Boy to tumble to the ground with a fearful screech. If she’d wanted, she could have sunk her teeth in his throat. Instead, she raised a paw to inflict shallow but stinging slashes in the soft flesh of his cheek.

Next time you pick on someone weaker than you, I’ll tear your throat out. Understood, pup?

The bully scrambled backward into the dirt, lurched upright, and ran away gibbering. Satisfied, Sanae stepped behind Short Boy to ensure passers-by peering in the alley wouldn’t see her.

The remaining boys were staring.

To Medium Boy she snarled,
You! If you don’t want me to tell the monks to deny you entry, you’re going to listen to every word I say. Sohei are protectors, not bullies. This is the last time you pick on anyone. Yes?

“Yes, Ms. Fox!”

Pleased, she flicked her many tails before turning to inspect Short Boy’s ankle.
Hmmm. I assume you broke it and it started to heal wrong before you saw a healer. Why didn’t they break it again to fix it?

“The healer said the bones are weak. She worried it might never heal properly if we did. And Mother needed me to work. It would have taken forever to heal again.”

Sanae poked and prodded at the ankle, making a humming noise that didn’t require the use of a throat. She knew the theory of how white spirits stimulated wounds to close and bones to mend, but also knew already healed wounds couldn’t be healed over. If she tried to heal this, she’d be reinforcing the bad fusion.

“Can… can you heal it, Ms. Fox?” Short Boy watched her worshipfully, likely recalling every story he’d ever heard about good spirits and miraculous healing. Half the stories told about white spirits involved raising the dead back to life, which proved you just couldn’t trust stories.

What could she say? Never tried, don’t know how?

It’d have to be broken anew,
she said.

“Break it then. I promise I won’t cry.”

Sanae stared at his determined little face. He was, what, seven years of age at best? She wasn’t in the business of breaking children’s bones!

“I can help!” Medium Boy, who was barely older but far more muscular, shuffled close. “My grandmother fixes people sometimes. I’ve helped her set broken bones.”

Healing couldn’t be that difficult. The other spirits she’d met had more clouds than wits in their heads and they could figure it out. How could a smart girl like her not be able to do it?

Let us try
, she said, hoping she sounded wise instead of unsure.

Medium Boy came close and seized Short Boy’s leg. “You need to bite down on wood or cloth or you might bite your tongue,” he said with the authority of a child who repeats what he’d heard adults say.

A search of the alley turned up wooden twigs, the sturdiest of which was put in Short Boy’s mouth. Then, without much concern for the patient, Medium Boy grabbed the leg with one hand, the foot with the other, and twisted hard.

Promise or not, the patient howled and kicked.

“Don’t do that!” Medium Boy scolded. “Hold still. There, see? This is how it’s supposed to be!”

Short Boy quivered, his face worryingly pale.

The ankle looked properly aligned to Sanae’s eye so she hurried to the step of frantically trying to get the healing done. Healing, healing… Just grab the energy around and focus it, right?

She let herself fade halfway to better direct her attention to energy that wasn’t part of herself. There were always currents of spiritual energy, like meandering little streams. She took hold of the closest one and pulled, diverting its energy where she wanted it, around the boy’s ankle.

Short Boy sucked in a breath. “Ah, cold!”

Hold steady.

She pulled more and more, using the stream to create an artificial lake around the boy’s ankle. To her eyes the energy was swirling lazily, seemingly doing nothing, but the boy’s reaction said otherwise.

“Cold, cold, cold!” He held still aside from a few shivers. Gradually, the tension of pain vanished from his face. “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

A moment longer, to be certain… Now, this should do.

When Medium Boy released the poor ankle, it looked straight to Sanae’s eye. “Come on, test it!” Offering a hand, Medium Boy hauled the patient to his feet.

Short Boy hobbled around, not used to his feet working together. There was a weakness in the ankle that would never go away, but the improvement was nonetheless vast.

“It’s fixed! I can be a demon killer now!”

“Maybe you can,” Medium Boy said brightly. “Then we’d be
sohei
together.”

Because the level of worship in their eyes had grown decidedly uncomfortable, Sanae excused herself swiftly after tossing out what she hoped was a good piece of advice.

If you have trouble when you go to the temple, ask for Master Toshishiro.

She popped away feeling well near all-powerful. She could travel huge distances in a moment and detect evil swords from afar! She could attack bad guys and heal victims!

If she could have eaten dessert, too, she would have called herself a god.

Prancing, she sought her brother’s location to tell him what she’d learned. When she found his spark and popped in, she found herself in the baths. Akakiba was sitting on a bench scrubbing his body with coarse soap, and Yuki was busy doing the same to his dragon. They were sitting with their backs to each other, not talking.

After emptying buckets of cold water over their heads to wash away the soap, they settled into the steaming bath—but nowhere near each other. Drac didn’t get in the steaming water but rather settled on the edge.

There was something wrong with Akakiba and Yuki’s relationship. It seemed to be getting worse instead of better, too. Was it an effect of growing out of the master-pupil pattern? A reflection of the changes Yuki was undergoing as a consequence of the mind bond with the dragon? Something else entirely?

She could have pried, would have liked to, but it seemed a bad idea to stir the pot at this time. She needed them to work together to recover the next sword because she couldn’t assist directly.

Where’s everybody else? Don’t monks bathe?

Akakiba started at her voice and looked acutely uncomfortable. Not looking at her—what was that about?—he said, “Nobody wants to bathe with the Mad Fox. I don’t care.”

“Sanae, women shouldn’t come on the men’s side,” Yuki said, sinking deeper in the water as if to protect his modesty.

Please. You know I could change my gender at will before. Now it doesn’t even matter.

“You were born female, weren’t you?”

Yes, and?

Akakiba grunted without opening his eyes. “Yuki is of the opinion that since I was born female so very long ago, that makes me a woman. Somehow I don’t think women would be pleased to see this—” He gestured to his strong, scarred, masculine body. “—bathing on their side.” There weren’t any women’s baths in a place populated by monks, but Sanae understood he meant it in a general manner.

“That’s not at all what I said,” Yuki snapped. “Stop misunderstanding on purpose, Akakiba! I simply wondered why you never use your original looks.”

“Haven’t seen those since I was twelve,” Akakiba snapped back. “I had no breasts at that time either.”

“I apologize for asking!” Climbing out, Yuki dripped his way to the dressing area.

Was this the issue poisoning their relationships? Yuki was upset over Akakiba’s birth gender? Why it upset him, Sanae couldn’t quite grasp. Yuki’s obvious crush on Akakiba had begun back when he’d thought his teacher a normal human male. Had Akakiba been a cross-dresser instead of a shape-shifter, then perhaps shock would have been understandable. But since he was as male of body as he was of mind, where was the problem?

Humans were so very strange.

Oh, perhaps that wasn’t a fair thought. Her parents had given Akakiba a hard time too, although not quite for the same reasons; they’d been fixated on marriage and children rather than on gender identity. Nobody had spoken to her about it, but she’d overheard bits and pieces of the family fights that had led Akakiba to storm out of their lives.