"Why have I never seen your kind before? Can you tell me that much?" she asked, not that she expected him to know.
"Our kind as a rule stay away from humans."
"I don't mean monkeys, I mean I've never met a Yokai until the past couple days. How is that possible?"
The monkey frowned. "That is very strange indeed." He examined her for a moment, dark eyes probing, searching for the answers to be written on her.
Well, he's no help. "Do you have a name, oh elder of the Northern Monkey Clan?"
"I'm glad you asked. My name is Kichiro." He puffed up his chest.
"So, Kichiro, are you just going to keep me here? What's step two of your nefarious plot?"
"That will come in time, once we can be certain the Dragon no longer poses a threat."
She leaned forward, curious. If this monkey could rid her of her dragon problem, she might be willing to help him.
"So that's what this is all about? You're using me to get to the Dragon?"
He stood and kept his back to her. "You don't even realize how valuable you are, do you?"
She scoffed. "I realize, but I don't think you realize how royally angry the Dragon is going to be when he finds out you poached me. Not that I care. I honestly would be glad to be rid of him."
"Then you have no need to fear, the Dragon will not trouble you again."
She should have been relieved, she had wanted to get rid of the Dragon, but somehow she felt like these monkeys would not be much better.
12
"Wake up."
Kaito dragged his eyelids open. He tried to move his arms but found his limbs unresponsive. Whatever spell she had put on him had him paralyzed. He rolled his eyes to one side and a priestess crouched beside him. She smiled down at him. It can't be her. She should have died five hundred years ago. Is this her reincarnation?
"Sorry for the spell. After the way we parted, I couldn't risk letting you up. Not yet." She smiled.
He opened his mouth with an effort and croaked, "Who are you?" His throat was dry and just forcing the words out felt like shards of ice were scraping against the back of his throat. He did not want to admit it aloud, but after five hundred years of dreaming of revenge, he thought his heart would be made of ice, but one glance from her and his heart had already begun to thaw. I am a fool for loving her even after all she has done to me. And now she taunts me with a mystery and I want to forgive her.
"Don't you recognize me, darling?" She brushed his face lightly with the tips of her fingers. He closed his eyes, relishing the feeling of her skin against his. I've dreamed of you for five hundred years. No matter how I try I could not let you go. Nothing had changed, just as he had been released, she came back for him. Drawn together by fate, they could not be parted. He tried to hold onto the anger, the bitterness, but it melted like snowfall in the spring.
"You were reincarnated, I assume?" he said. He turned his gaze inward, trying to access his spiritual energy, but her spell had locked it away, creating dams in the river of energy that flowed through him and gave him power. She's learned new tricks.
"Something like that," she said, and sat back, legs crossed, hands flat on her thighs. He wanted to trace her digits, relearn her body in this new form. She still braided her hair down her back. Kazue's reincarnation carried an uncanny similarity to the woman he had known. He had never known a reincarnation, but everything about this woman down to the shape of her lips was just as he remembered. It hurt to look at her, as if the barbs of their past love were lodged into his chest, making it difficult to breathe.
"Why did you not come to me, release me?" he asked.
She tilted her head and regarded him. "Why would I let you go?" A smile curved her lips as if she was holding back a secret joke.
A warning bell went off in the back of his head. That was not like the Kazue he had known. The sweet vision of Kazue had blinded him to everything else, to the subtle hints, powers she had not had before. Mannerisms that were unlike the woman who he had loved and had sealed him away. Intoxicated by the idea of seeing her again, he had let himself believe what he wanted. When he looked closer, he could sense something was not right. But weakened as he was, he could not place it. This was not his Kazue. His Kazue would never have done this. A part of him hoped even now that the woman that had sealed him away had not been Kazue. He wanted this woman—whoever she was—to be the one who had done the deed.
"Why did you do it?" He asked the question that had haunted his dreams, causing his restless sleep, and fueled his rage.
"You don't know yet?" She laughed. Her voice echoed in a manic, almost crazed way. This was definitely not his Kazue.
"For power, of course."
Three figures materialized out of the darkness. Suzume's eyes darted towards them as they approached and she half rose, preparing to protect herself. They were the same three monsters from the swamp, with black slick skin and yellow gleaming eyes. They saw Suzume and grinned at her. Kichirou saw her staring and glanced over to them. He stood to greet them.
"I've told you not to appear that way before me," he scolded.
The middle one grinned, displaying his pointed white teeth. He glanced in Suzume's direction before bowing to Kichirou. The three Yokai pulled at their foreheads, as if they were taking off masks, and when they did, they changed from gruesome swamp creatures to monkeys like Kichirou. In their hands they held leaves, the anchors of their disguise. Dressed in haori of lesser quality, with plainer designs, Suzume assumed these were Kichirou's underlings.
"Where is our brother?" Kichirou asked.
The middle one lowered his head. "Dead, brother. The Dragon killed him."
Suzume shook her head. What did they expect when they tangled with a dragon? As much as she wanted to be free of the Dragon, she doubted these baboons would be the ones to do it.
"The Dragon, has he escaped?" Kichirou asked.
"She has him," the one to the right replied.
"So is this woman your leader?" Suzume asked.
The monkey ignored her and she scowled at his back. He was damnably persistent in keeping her in the dark. "Then we should move now."
"I want the Dragon dead as much as you four, but I seriously doubt any of you have the power to stop him," Suzume said.
Kichirou turned to face Suzume. "It is not one of my clan who has him now. She who has him is much more powerful than you can imagine."
"Who is she?"
"She has many names and many faces, you would be better served to worry about your own head. Forget the Dragon, he is as good as dead."
Initially, she thought the monkey was a bit of a joke, but his tone had her second-guessing. She did not think anyone was powerful enough to go against a dragon, but her knowledge of the Yokai world was woefully limited. And she hoped it would stay that way. Once she returned to her place at the White Palace, she would forget any of this ever happened; it would be all a bad dream. Either way, she had no intention of staying with these monkeys a moment longer than she had to. They were no better than the Dragon, and at least he was good looking.
The monkeys approached her, long-fingered hands grasping at her. Suzume felt her power rise like the tide within her. She had sat close to the fire, drawing the red aura into her, and she felt stronger by being near it. She pulsed with energy, and it rippled beneath her skin—she was full to bursting. When the two monkeys grabbed onto her arm, the power exploded out of Suzume and hit the monkeys, throwing them backwards.
The force of it had Suzume stumbling backwards as well. The warmth cocooned her but did not burn, though sparks jumped along her fingertips. The two monkeys who went flying collided with the third underling, who came too late to help. Suzume caught her balance and used the momentary distraction to run. She got a few feet before two more monkeys dropped from the treetops and grinned at her.
"You cannot run, Priestess." She shoved them with all her might. They screeched as if burned and fell down on the ground, writhing in pain. She ran around
them and into the forest. The power coursed through her and the shimmering red aura surrounded her.
The monkeys, undeterred, followed after her but at a safe distance. She ran through the forest, blinded by the night, and she tripped over a fallen branch. She landed on the ground and scraped her knee. Cursing, she scrambled back to her feet, but the monkeys surrounded her on all sides. Hands up in the air, she spun around in a circle; the light on her hands had already begun to fade. Her reckless burst had used it all up, it seemed. Great, so it's not limitless.
"Grab her, Shiro," Kichiro said.
Suzume stood her ground as the monkey, Shiro, approached her. She held up her hands, preparing to zap him. "Like I am willing to go anywhere with you." She sneered.
"You would be wise to come with us," said Kichirou.
"Ha, and why's that?"
"Because the entire Yokai world is looking for you and not all of them will be as kind as us."
"You're lying. This has to be about the Dragon." What could they possibly want with me? She touted her divine lineage often, but Suzume doubted Yokai with their superstrength and powers cared one little bit about any of that.
Kichiro laughed, throwing his head back. The other monkeys joined in a whooping laughter. She placed her hands on her hips, having forgotten her intention to zap the monkey, which made no attempt to approach now.
"The Dragon has no power anymore. The priestess ensured that when she sealed him away long ago."
"What do you mean? He's back now."
The monkey shook his head. "You really know nothing."
"Care to enlighten me, then?" she asked.
They closed in once more and Suzume held up her hands to threaten them, but the power had faded to a couple sparks. If she was lucky, she would have enough to stop one of them but not all five. The one closest to her rushed her and the aura around her shot out and burned the monkey's hand. The fur on his hands burned away and left charred flesh, which split to reveal angry red muscles. Suzume stared at the injured monkey, wondering how this could have happened. Where had these powers come from and why could she not control them?
The leader looked to his injured companion.
"Why don't you ask the Dragon? He is with his beloved now. Perhaps she can provide the answers you seek."
"That's not possible, Kazue is dead. She would have died five hundred years ago."
"Who said it was the original Kazue? Can she not be reincarnated? Is that not why the Dragon set out on this mission?"
"You're tricking me," she replied.
"You wanted to know who our leader is, well, now you know. She is Kazue's reincarnation."
Invisible bindings crawled up his chest, constricting his breathing. Black creeped around the edge of his vision, and keeping his eyes open proved a challenge. He should have noticed from the start that this was not some human spell. How could I be so blind as to not see it from the start? Kazue is dead, and even if she has been reincarnated, it does not change that betrayal.
"Who are you?" he snarled from behind clenched teeth. Just opening his mouth to speak took all his effort and concentration.
She laughed, covering her mouth with her hands. "I've already told you, I'm your beloved Kazue, of course."
He glanced down and long strands of hair like tentacles wrapped around his body. She's a shifter, a powerful one who uses other Yokai's energy. This must be the Yokai the giant salamander heard about. A Yokai like her usually stuck to luring human men in with their pretty face before they ate them alive. They were known to eat lesser Yokai when given the chance, but this one had grown powerful—more powerful than he had seen before—if she could read minds and take on Kazue's appearance based on his memories. Kazue's spell did more than I realized if I fell for these petty tricks.
He bared flat human teeth at her as she laughed at his struggles.
"Struggle all you like, you'll never escape."
"Since when does your kind go for bigger prey?" he said. He only needed a moment to refocus his energy and break free. Perhaps if he distracted her, she would loosen her grip enough for him to access his energy.
She threw her head back and laughed. "Much has changed since you went to sleep, Dragon."
"That is becoming quickly apparent."
"Don't worry, you won't have much time to lament the changes."
He grinned. Her admission, though indirect, weakened her spell; spells of this kind held power in the belief. The more the victim believed what they wanted, the stronger the hold. But this shifter was a vain creature and had not passed up an opportunity to gloat. If she had kept on pretending to be Kazue, he would not find the chink in her spell that he needed. He saw it like a hairline crack in a vase—running through the black hair that bound him was a single silver hair.
He refocused on putting all the energy he had into that one single hair, what little he had access to. Her tendrils of hair tightened around him, feeling the flow of his energy, trying to combat his escape. She had assumed her meal was coming to an end, she thought she had won. But beneath the bindings, he flexed his fingers and wiggled his toes. He could feel his energy locked behind invisible dams seeping out through the cracks and he unraveled her spell from the inside. She was so busy gorging herself on his spiritual energy she did not realize she was taking too much too fast. A dragon's spiritual energy was much richer than the average Yokai. And too much rich food could make you sick. Overstuffed, she loosened her bindings, getting lazy as she was satiated. He broke through her blocks, one after another.
"Tell me at least before I go, who is it that controls this area?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "What does it matter?"
"Call it curiosity. I've been dying to know."
She leaned in close, whispering her mouth against his skin. She stank like rotting meat. "It was me."
"That was your mistake." He opened his mouth and icy blue energy poured out of his mouth and blasted into her face. She screamed and fell backwards, but her head, encased in ice, cracked down her forehead then a spiderweb of hundreds of cracks stretched across her face. The cracks grew until they split and broke apart in chunks. The pieces tumbled to the floor as she desperately tried to put her face together until one by one she fell apart until nothing was left but her headless torso and the slack bonds of her hair around his body. He tore it away with his claws and then stared down at the shriveled husk.
With her spell broken, she returned to her original form—blue skin, long hands and a humanoid body, shriveled and dried as an old husk. The spiritual energy she had absorbed seeped out of her and into the ground. The earth at his feet burst to life, plants poked through the ground, and flowers bloomed. The Yokai's black hair crumbled into pieces and then turned to dust. She had lived for thousands of years draining the energy of other creatures. These type of vultures usually preyed on the weak. But this poor idiot had finally bitten off more than she could chew.
"Damn Kazue," he said. If it wasn't for her, he would never have fallen for this creature's trap. How can I cut her out of my heart?
"How do I know you're not trying to trick me?" she asked with her hands crossed over her chest.
"What benefit would I get from lying to you?"
She shrugged her shoulders. Everything, if you can win my trust, then you can please whoever is pulling all the strings. She was not sure why, but something in her gut told her that Kazue wasn't the one behind all this. She suspected this was all a ruse to keep her here and it was working.
"All right. So say I believe it's Kazue, what does she want with me?"
"Your mother never told you?"
Suzume frowned at him. "What does my mother have to do with this?"
"You really don't know? I assumed because of your exile…"
Before he could finish his sentence, a bright blue light lit up the night sky. It encompassed the trees and the monkeys turned as one to face it. Suzume too stared as if mesmerized until something struck her in the back of the knee and she fell to
the ground, encased in white light. She heard the energy rush by like a gale-force wind and the monkeys screaming in agony. After a few minutes the sounds died away. The white barrier that protected her shrank back down to size and a small figure no higher than her calf stared up at her with large black eyes set into a round head. He had no mouth but tilted his head back and forth as he regarded her.
"You saved me?" she said to the creature.
It nodded its head and made a sound like branches in the wind.
She was stunned, why would some spirit save her? "Thank you."
Suzume looked past the tiny Kodama. The monkeys were gone; only fragments of them remained. The trees were frosted—even though it was summer—and the leaves had fallen off the trees, creating a blanket of frozen leaves. What did this? Her feeble energy sparked, mixing with blue energy that raised a chill along her spine. The Dragon. She looked up as he strolled into the clearing. He glanced around at his surroundings, bemused by the destruction.
"I told you to stay put," he said.
"What took you so long?" Suzume snarled.
"I had to take care of a Yokai, the one the swamp creature said was draining other Yokai."
"I hoped she would have drained you," Suzume replied.
He laughed and then knelt down to the small spirit, who jumped into his outstretched hand. "I've put you through a lot. Thank you, I owe you a debt."
The spirit bowed.
"You left that thing with me?" She did not think he cared about anything other than his revenge.
Kaito glanced at her. "I have to protect my pet."
13
"I've had enough!" Suzume announced.
Kaito, as usual, was further up the road. The moon was out but just a bare sliver. She had to squint to see him. He tilted his head to regard her.
The Dragon Saga Box Set Page 9
