Pearl-Ear slapped his glowing hand off her. "I will see Michiko now."
"Not a chance." Toshi pointed back to the hill that kept spawning orochi. "The grunts have been dealt with. But the generals are still to come."
Pearl-Ear followed his hand and saw a half-dozen kannushi priests on the hillside. They had clasped hands and were chanting. They alternated between hisses, shouts, and groans, but the rhythm was clearly that of a summoning ritual. Lady Pearl-Ear understood enough of the words to make her heart sink.
Riko had been standing next to the entrance of the cave, gingerly testing the wall of birds, but now she called anxiously to Pearl-Ear. "They're summoning their kami," she said.
"I hear." Pearl-Ear stepped in front of Toshi. "Can your birds deflect a major spirit?"
"Maybe. I've never tried. Probably not."
"Then let us take her from here. It's not safe."
Toshi's glow was almost completely gone. "It will be," he said. He sheathed his sword and drew a finely crafted silver jitte.
"Stand back," he said. "And watch how we deal with rogue spirits in Numai."
CHAPTER 26
Toshi strode toward the priests on the hill with his jitte out and ready. He trusted the razor birds to keep the foxes clear of his cave until he was ready to let them in which might never happen. He would worry about that after he survived the next few moments.
A thin green shoot rose out of the ground a short distance from the chanting priests. As the first grew and thickened, a second rose from the soil. A third formed, and a fourth. More of the leafy tendrils climbed toward the sky and braided themselves together.
When the vertical shoots were tall and thick enough to be counted as small trees, the lateral growth began. Branches jetted out from the central mass, perpendicular to the ground. In turn, more growth flowed from these horizontal limbs, and the entire mass of living wood grew heavier, stronger, and harder as the ground compressed beneath its burgeoning weight.
A woman's face formed near the top of the construct, one not unlike the Myojin of Night's Reach. It was a similar mask of a woman's face, but this one seemed to be made of smooth, polished wood. Where the black kami was surrounded by a dark shroud and pale hands, the orochi's kami was draped in leaves and moss. Her "hair" was in fact another stand of miniature trees, and her arms curved around her body as they grew and thickened. The more the kannushi priests chanted, the more wood growth occurred.
You have done much damage here, the wood spirit droned. Toomuch. Surrender the child. The balance must be restored.
Toshi stopped a mere ten yards from the kami. "Why did you tie Kobo to those trees?"
The spirit's growth continued. Her face tilted down as if noticing Toshi for the first time.
"I asked you a question. None of this would be happening if you'd left my partner alone."
You're referring to the apostate. The one who turned his back on his own tribe.
"I'm referring to my oath-bound brother, yes. Kobo."
My children hung him out for the monks to see. He was dressed as they were. We left him to his own kind. Later, he died in the rain.
Toshi stroked his chin with the tip of his jitte. "Not good enough. Not by a long shot." He pointed the jitte at the wooden mask. "I'm going to have to punish you now."
Thick, ripe vines erupted out of the ground and coiled around Toshi's wrists. He strained against them, but they held fast. Two more leafy ropes crawled from the soil and wrapped around his ankles.
Punish me? Little man, you have a very high opinion of yourself.
"I do, at that. But you'll find me worthy of it."
The kannushi on the hill continued to chant. Behind him, Toshi could hear the kitsune attempting to storm through the cave entrance, but the birds repulsed them time and again.
What will you do, then, little conjurer? Poison me? Burn me? I am the life force of the forest itself. Fell every tree, and I emerge from the roots unscathed. Plow up the roots, and I shall return when the First seed blooms. Raze all the Jukai down to the bare rock, and I shall survive in the grass, in the moss, in farmer's fields and the city's gardens. I am the essence of life itself, of unbridled growth and unrestricted vigor. What weapon can you bring to bear that would harm me?
The vines tightened on Toshi's wrists and ankles. He felt the rough texture biting into his flesh. He looked up into the wood kami's expressionless face.
The ochimusha smiled. He closed his eyes and said, "Myojin of Night's Reach. I seek your blessing now."
Michiko stood frozen as Toshi's sword sang toward her throat. She was off her guard, exhausted, and overwhelmed by the things she had seen and experienced. It was all she could do to watch as her death homed in.
But Toshi brought the blade up short, stopping it less than Finger's width from her neck. Mochi cried out angrily. The ochimusha was oblivious, focused exclusively on the tip of his weapon.
Michiko stood perfectly still, staring down the long blade at Toshi's intent face. They maintained this stance for agonizingly long, until Michiko could no longer hold her breath. She exhaled, and this slight motion sent a cascade of tears falling from the paths they had forged down her face.
The tears struck the end of Toshi's sword, clear saltwater sparkling and steaming on the blade.
Michiko took a half-step back so that she was touching the cave wall, and Toshi followed her, keeping the blade steady and almost touching her throat. More droplets fell from her face to the edge of his weapon.
"The tears of a princess," Toshi said. "That ought to give me a boost."
He pulled the sword back and pointed the tip up. Michiko's tears ran down the length, but before they could spill over onto the hilt, Toshi spun and flicked his weapon toward the pile of hay kanji. The symbols hissed and crackled where the tears touched them, and the pile began to rustle, eager to achieve full animation and take flight.
"And that will pep them up, once I turn them loose." The sword had begun to glow softly, a gentle white sheen. Toshi ran the blade along the top of his forearm, then sheathed it, subduing the light.
Mochi was no longer smiling. "You are very clever, Toshi Umezawa."
"Yes, I am." He turned his back on the moon kami and faced the towering dark figure at the rear of the cave.
"I have just about everything I need," he said to her. "And what I don't have, I can steal. But there is one thing that want. One gift you can grant that I have never been able to capture."
"What about me? "Mochi interjected. "I can grant blessings, too."
Toshi paused, casting a glance over his shoulder. "One at a time." He turned back to the black kami and sighed. 'With a great show of resignation, Toshi lowered himself to one knee.
"Lady," he said. "I have led a tumultuous life. Everywhere I go, I am braced by the chattering of nezumi, the shrieks of akki, and the hissing of snakes. They threaten; they demand; they ask endless questions. What I want now, and for the rest of my life upon demand, is silence. I yearn for it. And if I get it, I will hoard it and savor it more completely than any miser's treasure."
Mochi began scoffing instantly. "What good will that do? It may help you gain entry to a rich man's house, thief, but it's of no use here."
Toshi did not turn. "I am ready to accept your blessing if you are ready to bestow it. Become my patron, Lady." He waved back at Mochi. "Let's start with him."
The Myojin of Night's Reach drifted forward, bending so that her alabaster face was a mere foot from Toshi's. Her flowing shroud Filled the cave from wall to wall, from floor to ceiling.
Done. The mournful, hollow voice rang in Toshi's ears, though the kami's pale, frozen lips did not move.
The white mask rose and withdrew. The kami's black robesretracted back into the center of her being; the banner behind her folded and sank like a foundered ship. All the while, the wan face watched Toshi impassively. At last, it too disappeared into the shadows that spawned it.