“We’ve gotten very lucky today, three priestesses,” said one of the oni. His swollen lips were encumbered by the yellow tusks which protruded from them. He was missing an eye. Where it should have been was a puckered hole.
“You stay back,” Akane snarled.
She pushed Tomoe behind her. Faced with real yokai, Tomoe had frozen.
The oni laughed as he closed in. Akane threw a punch, aiming for his gut, but her blow only sank into his jiggling flesh.
The yokai laughed harder. “Stop. That tickles.”
Akane backed up, keeping Tomoe behind her.
The yokai stalked closer, inhaling deeply and looking down at her with a menacing gaze. “You’re no human.” He took another deep whiff. “An okami? Why don’t you use your teeth like your friend?”
A white wolf, five times the size of a regular wolf squared her legs and bared her canines. The oni with the missing eye swung his club at Shinon, who jumped out of the way before lunging at the oni. She had speed on her side, and while the oni was pulling back his club for another swing, she went for his jugular.
Tomoe came to her senses and picked up a rock, hitting the second oni between the eyes. He rubbed the spot where she’d hit him.
“You’ll pay for that,” the oni roared as he thundered toward them.
“Run,” Akane shoved Tomoe ahead of her.
The beast inside Akane pulled at her last thread of control, threatening to unravel her. If she lost control now... She wouldn’t let that happen. Tomoe ran ahead of her. Behind them, Shinon yelped. She shouldn’t have looked back. The wolf lay on the ground, not moving, and the oni were hot on their heels. Its club smashed into a nearby tree, which exploded into a thousand fragments.
Tomoe screamed. Akane turned just as a man wrapped his arm around Tomoe’s neck. There was something wrong about his appearance. The edge of his silhouette was blurred, and if she stared hard enough it was as if he bled into the shadows around him. He was carved out of darkness itself. His clothes, hair, and eyes were the deepest black. And when he met her gaze, she felt this crawling sensation inside her skull. As if he was rummaging around inside her head.
“Let her go,” Akane lurched forward, only to be pinned against the oni.
Tomoe’s eyes were wide and terrified. Something inside Akane snapped. The wolf she’d kept in check so long burst out of her. Her fangs descended, her claws elongated, and she slashed at the arm of the oni. He yowled and let her go. Akane charged the man in black.
As soon as she reached him, he disappeared. Akane spun around. She was half wild. He had Tomoe a few feet away. She ran toward him again.
“Take care of her,” he said to the oni, with an impatient gesture toward Akane.
“Akane, help me!” Tomoe cried.
She reached for Tomoe, but her fingers grasped at air as a fist crashed against the back of her skull.
8
Shin woke with a foot against his throat. “Where is she? Where did they take her?” Akane’s eyes were glowing red as she interrogated him. Her descended fangs pressed against her bottom lip.
“Where’s who?” His head was throbbing painfully. That damn oni’s club really packed a punch.
“Don’t play dumb. You followed me back to the temple to kidnap Tomoe, didn’t you?”
It looked like his cover was blown. “Do you think they would have clubbed me if I was in on it?” Shin rubbed the back of his throbbing head and winced.
Akane rocked forward, bringing her face very close to his. Her pupils were tiny pinpricks as they darted around.
“I don’t care why they did it. You pretended to be a woman and snuck into the temple.”
He had to diffuse this situation before she tore his throat out.
“Look, I’ll admit I deceived you to get into the temple.” She pressed harder against his windpipe. Nothing came out but a strangled wheeze.
Shin waved his arms, signaling for her to give him air. She eased back and he coughed. She was rather forceful when she wanted to be.
“I don’t know who those guys were,” Shin croaked. “I came here for you.”
Akane grabbed the collar of his kosode and yanked him to his feet. The pungent scent of wolf was rolling off her. The power he’d sensed in her before was palatable and intense. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
“I can help you find her.”
He hadn’t the slightest idea who had taken Tomoe or where. But he was smart enough to know she’d do anything for that girl. This was the perfect excuse to lead her away from the temple. Though the idea of turning her over to Akio made him sick. It was either her or him, and she hadn’t exactly endeared herself to him.
Akane narrowed crimson eyes at him. Energy uncoiled from her, explosive and wild. Even when Tomoe was in danger she hadn’t unleashed its full potential power, nor did she now. What a fearsome sight she must be at her full strength. Too bad he’d never see it.
Very slowly, she uncurled her fingers from his collar.
“See, you can—”
Akane grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around to grab his arm, pinning it behind his back.
“I’ll let the head priestess decide what to do with you.” With a rough nudge, she forced him to march.
He was left with two options. Fight her and drag her kicking and screaming back to Akio. Or play along and hope he could come up with a better plan. Considering he didn’t really want to bring her back to Akio, he was willing to bide his time.
When the red torii appeared in the distance, Akane’s footsteps slowed. He tested her grip. Just in case.
“Don’t even think about it.” Akane twisted his arm harder.
A priestess sweeping the main courtyard paused when she noticed them, her mouth agape. When they passed she ran toward the dormitories. Shin shook his head. These girls really lived such simple lives. Seeing Akane bring in a prisoner must have been the most exciting thing they’d seen ever.
They passed by a pair of priestesses carrying a stack of scrolls. Their eyes widened. They weren’t even out of earshot before the whispers started. Akane tensed again behind him.
When they reached the head priestess’ chamber, Akane leaned over Shin to knock on the door. Then she fidgeted as they waited on an answer. Her restlessness wore on him and he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Akane tightened her grip on his arm. After a few tense moments, the door slid open. The head priestess looked at the two of them, her expression neutral.
“You’ve found out then?” the head priestess asked.
“You knew?” Akane and Shin said in unison.
The head priestess moved out of the doorway. “You both better come inside.”
Akane forced him into the room. As she did, a small crowd of priestesses had gathered outside the door craning their necks, trying to get a glimpse. Shin favored them with a smile. An eruption of nervous laughter rippled through the crowd. Akane slammed the door shut, muffling the sound.
The inside of the head priestess’ chamber was small and cluttered. Stacks of books and rolls of parchment were meticulously stacked against a wall. Across from it, floor to ceiling bookshelves, crammed with all manner of books. There was a strong scent of paper and ink. On her desk, beside a perfectly neat stack of parchment, was a brush and ink.
“Head Priestess, how could you let this okami into the temple? He kidnapped Tomoe!” Akane shouted right next to his ear.
Shin leaned away from her grimacing. “Could you not shout in my ear?” He rubbed the pointer finger of his free hand into his ear.
“What happened to Tomoe?” the head priestess’ tone was laced with authority.
Akane forced Shin forward into a bow, along with her.
“I’m sorry, Head Priestess. Tomoe ran from the temple, and when I went to bring her back she was captured by yokai.”
The head priestess stood. Her footsteps hardly made a sound on the tatami mats as she approached. Akane’s pulse thrummed against his skin. She raised he
r hand to slap Akane.
Standing between them, Shin tried to block the blow, but she knocked his hand aside. Her palm cracked as it made contact with his face, and sent him reeling backward into Akane. The blow split his lip and sent blood trickling down his face.
It was only for a moment, but he felt immense spiritual power unfurling from around the head priestess. As quick as he had glimpsed the power, it disappeared. He stared at her wide-eyed. Who was this old woman? Apparently Akane wasn’t the only one hiding unseen depths of power.
“You hit pretty hard for an old woman.” Shin smirked.
They stared at one another for a moment, locked in a silent stand-off before the head priestess bowed her head. She shuffled over to her desk, groaning as she lowered herself to the ground. But he’d seen through her charade.
“Let him go.” The old woman waved.
“Head Priestess!” Akane said.
“Don’t argue!” She slammed her hand down on the table, setting the brush on her table askew.
Akane let go, her grip lingering. She took a step back, her feet squared. Shin felt her eyes burning into the back of his head.
Arms over his chest, Shin studied the old woman. “If you knew from the start who I was, why let me into the temple?”
“A man could not enter this place any other way.” The head priestess readjusted her ink brush on her desk so it was aligned with the ink pot.
“He works for the forest guardian, Akio.”
“Not by choice,” Shin said over his shoulder to Akane. He wished she would at least stand beside him. Having her at his back made him feel like a knife was about to be plunged into it at any moment.
“Which is exactly why I let him in,” the head priestess replied.
Shin quirked a brow. “I don’t believe we’ve met before. How could you possibly know who I work for?”
“Do you think me a fool? It was too much a coincidence that an okami arrived at our temple gates so soon after she escaped.”
Shin barked a laugh. She was a crafty old woman. “Are you in the habit of letting your enemies’ people into your temple?”
The head priestess folded her hands on the table in front of her. “You let Akane ago, and I had a hunch you were not loyal. Am I wrong?”
“It looks like you’ve got me all figured out. But what is it you want from me?”
“Tomoe is not the first priestess to go missing. We believe Akio is behind the disappearances.”
He cocked his head to one side. This was news to him, not that Akio was in the habit of sharing his plans with him. Not wanting Akane to be more suspicious than she already was, he shrugged. “I don’t know anything about kidnapped girls.”
“Pity.” The head priestess sighed.
“You can’t believe him, Head Priestess. He’s obviously part of the plot.” Akane stepped forward and pointed at Shin.
He’d done a lot of detestable things for Akio. He’d killed and he’d hurt the people he cared about most, all for the guardian’s amusement. It wouldn’t be shocking if Akio were kidnapping priestesses. But as far as Shin knew he wasn’t. Lucky or maybe unlucky for him. This was his chance to get Akane to Akio. She obeyed the head priestess.
“I’ll find the girl for you, but I can’t do it alone.” He tilted his head toward Akane with a grin.
Akane shook her head violently, her braid swinging back and forth. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”
“Those are my terms. Take them or leave them.” He turned toward the door. Akane cut him off, putting her body between him and the door.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Changed your mind about coming with me?”
“I’m not letting you leave until you tell me where they took Tomoe.” Akane bared her fangs at him.
“Wait.” The head priestess’ voice rang across the room with power. It vibrated through him down to his very core. There was power in that command, and it froze him in place, his feet unable to obey his commands. The only thing he’d experienced close to this was with Akio.
Shin studied the old woman, her face was wrinkled and lined with age. At the corner of one eye was a crescent-shaped scar. Her eyes had an ageless quality as if she’d seen millennia. She’d piqued his interest. If she was powerful enough to freeze him with a single word, what else was she capable of?
“The collar you wear, I can break it.”
Shin’s hand drifted to the cool metal around his neck. He couldn’t remember a time when it didn’t have a stranglehold over him.
“I’m listening,” Shin said.
“Find Tomoe and bring her back to me. In exchange, I will free you.”
A warm tingling spread across his chest. He couldn’t have heard her right. Freedom? Where would he go? Back to the dragon? Find Rin? His mind raced with the possibilities. It was all too much. There had to be a catch.
“Not that I don’t think I can do this, but why the girl? She has little power. Why go out of your way to rescue her?”
“You don’t need to make a deal with him, Head Priestess. I can get Tomoe back on my own.”
The head priestess sighed, and then looked at Akane. “No, you can’t. Tomoe isn’t just any girl, she is one of the most powerful priestesses to be born in centuries.”
Akane shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. Tomoe hasn’t mastered even the simplest incantations.”
The head priestess stared down at her desk. Something wasn’t adding up: the priestess’ immense hidden power, the kidnapping, the girl who Shin hadn’t sensed any power from. Then it hit him.
“You sealed her power,” Shin said.
The old woman turned her ancient gaze on him. She looked very tired. There were dark circles under her eyes. “It was for her protection.”
“But you were going to send her back to the palace!” Akane shouted.
“Only as a precaution. After we lost Mei, we could not risk losing another kamigakari. I suppressed her power and planned to unlock it once she became a vessel for the kami. But with priestesses being taken, she is in even greater danger. Even the temple is no longer safe. I planned to send her to the palace until the day of her ascension.”
“But Tomoe said she was to marry her half-brother,” Akane frowned.
Shin arched a brow. Now this was getting very interesting.
The old woman’s gaze flickered to the bookshelf as she addressed Akane. “A fake engagement was arranged between myself and the palace. We believe there are those at the palace who have aligned themselves with the yokai.”
She was lying. He had his doubts about the girl’s power. But he’d sensed the head priestess’ power, despite the illusions she cloaked herself in. He didn’t care what she wanted the girl for, as long as she could remove this collar from around his neck.
“I’ll bring her back, just take this collar off me and I’ll be on my way.”
“Head Priestess!” Akane stepped between them again. “Think about this, can we really trust him?”
“You are right. We are not certain Shin can be trusted. That’s why I will need you to keep tabs on him—”
“I can do this on my own. Let me prove it to you!”
“This is no time for your pride and recklessness, Akane. Putting Tomoe in danger will not bring back Mei.”
Akane lowered her arms to her side and brought her chin toward her chest. Her resentment rolled off her like a heat wave. He would have rather gone alone. It would have been easier that way. It seemed the head priestess didn’t quite trust him, and to be fair he didn’t trust her either. But he was willing to take a chance, if it meant his freedom.
“There’s just one complication,” Shin said.
Akane’s gaze was flinty while the head priestess looked only curious as the pair of them turned their attention onto him.
“I still serve Akio.” He plucked at the collar around his neck.
“You have my word. But in the meantime...” The old woman pulled an ofuda from her sleeve.
Shin took a step back. The tools of a powerful priestess could turn a yokai to ash.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” She said as she hobbled over to him. Then she sang, the notes high and reverberating. The ofuda flickered in her hand, taking on a life of its own. Then grasping his collar, she wrapped the ofuda around it. The paper grew, stretching and winding its way until it completely covered the collar.
There was a bright flash, and Shin threw his arm up to shield his eyes. When he lowered his hand, perfect copies of both Akane and Shinon were standing in the room with them.
The clones stood eerily still, unblinking.
“The fake Akane and Shin will take over your places here at the temple.”
Akane’s eyes were wide as she examined her copy. This was advanced magic, indeed. If anyone had the ability to break his collar, it was the head priestess.
“With my binding, Akio cannot command you with the collar. Once you bring her back safely, I will remove it,” the head priestess said.
Shin pressed the tips of his fingers to the collar. It was warm, but otherwise unchanged. For the first time in centuries, he felt the hope burning deep within him.
9
“We should be careful. The yokai in this region are ferocious,” Shin said.
Akane kept walking as if she hadn’t heard him.
Maybe he was exaggerating a bit. The crushing silence was starting to get to him and he felt compelled to break it. Akane seemed determined to speak to him as little as possible. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left the temple. For centuries he’d endured the isolation of Akio’s forest. Standing next to a woman who ignored him was worse.
He ran in front of her, forcing her to look at him. “Feel free to grab my arm if you get scared.” He held out the appendage.
She turned her head away from him. She had to be the most stubborn woman he’d ever met. A large tree had spread out its roots into her path. But because she wasn’t watching where she was walking, she wasn’t going to see it in time.
“Look out!” Shin shouted.
But it was too late, the root sticking up from the ground caught her foot, and the momentum of her stride propelled her forward and into his arms. For a heartbeat, she stared up at him, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and her lips parted ever so slightly. It was rather endearing.
Okami: A Little Red Riding Hood Retelling Page 6
