“I wouldn’t advise staying here too long, Yamada-san,” she said. “The ogre will be here soon.”
“I’m afraid he’s going to be disappointed,” I said.
She shook her head, and she smiled. “Oh, no. Those two are still alive. We foxes know much of the nature of the spine and where to break it. They’ll die soon enough, but probably not before they’re eaten. The fools would have been eaten in either case, of course. Ogres don’t make bargains with meat.”
Her words were like cold water. If they couldn’t totally negate the effect her beauty was having on me, at least they reminded me that I wasn’t dealing with a human being. An important point that I had best remember. I got to my feet a little unsteadily.
“My thanks for saving me, Kuzunoha-sama,” I said, “but I’m afraid that I have some business with you yet.”
“So I assumed. The path is about fifteen paces ahead of you. Stay on it until you reach the river. You’ll be able to hear a waterfall,” she said. “I’ll be waiting for you there.”
Lady Kuzunoha moved quickly away from me. In a moment her image shimmered, and I saw her true form, a silver fox bearing the second tail that betrayed her spirit nature. She ran swiftly and was soon out of sight. I gathered my belongings and hobbled along the way she had gone as best I could.
I wasn’t clear on a lot of things, not the least of which was why Lady Kuzunoha had bothered to save my life. After all, if she knew who sent me, then she knew why I had come and, if she’d been willing to surrender the boy in the first place, she could have arranged that easily enough while Lord Abe’s men searched the wood. And if she wasn’t willing to give up the child, why not just kill me? It’s not as if I could have done anything to stop her, and if I had any doubts of either her ability or will in that regard, I had the wretched bandits’ example to prove otherwise.
A lot of things didn’t make sense, and if I wanted any answers I’d have to go much deeper into Shinoda Forest to get them. Part of me wondered if I might be better off taking my chances with the ogre. Then I heard a large crashing noise in the forest back the way I’d come and decided not. I picked up the pace as much as the headache and my tingling limbs allowed.
I’d been careless once and was lucky to be alive. This time as I moved down the path, I had my sword out and ready. I wasn’t sure how much good it would do me against what I’d likely face, but the grip felt comforting in my hand.
I came to the place Lady Kuzunoha described and followed the sound of rushing water. A cold water stream rushing down the adjacent hill formed a twelve-foot waterfall into the river’s rocky shallows. Lady Kuzunoha was in human form again. She stood directly underneath the rushing water, her slim fingers pressed together in an attitude of prayer, her long black hair flowing over her body like a cloak. Her hair was the only thing covering her. For a little while I forgot to breathe.
I knew Lady Kuzunoha’s human form was an actual transformation and not simply illusion, else she would never have been able to bear a human child, but I also knew it was not her true form. Knowing this did not help me at all. The only thing that did was the sharp and clear memory of what she had done to those two hapless bandits; that was my cold waterfall. That left the question of why Lady Kuzunoha needed one.
When I finally managed to look away, I noticed Lady Kuzunoha’s kimono neatly folded on top of a flat stone nearby. I’m still not sure why I turned away. Maybe it was my common sense, warning me of danger. Or maybe I had come to the reluctant—and relieved—conclusion that this little show was not being staged for my benefit. Lady Kuzunoha was preparing herself for something, but I didn’t have any idea as to what that might be.
There was a small clearing nearby; I waited there. Lady Kuzunoha finally emerged, now fully dressed, her hair still wet but combed out and orderly. If anything she appeared more winsome than before. She looked sad but resolute as she approached the center of the clearing. In her sash she had tucked one of those slim daggers that high-born ladies tended to carry both as self-defense and a symbol of rank. She knelt beside me, looking away.
“I’m ready,” she said. She drew the dagger and put the naked blade across her thighs.
I frowned. Maybe Seita the ghost was right about me, since what came out of my mouth then wasn’t very intelligent. “I don’t understand. Ready for what, Lady Kuzunoha?”
It was as if she hadn’t even heard me. “I would send my love a poem but words are useless now. You may take back whatever proofs your master requires. Now stand ready to assist me.”
The light dawned. The waterfall was a purification rite, which would explain the prayer but not much else. “You think I’m here to kill you!”
Lady Kuzunoha looked up at me. “Do not mock me, Yamada-san. I saved your life, and I think I’m due the courtesy of the truth. Did Lord Abe send you or not?”
“I have his writ and seal if you doubt me. But I am no assassin, whatever you may have heard of me.”
Now Lady Kuzunoha looked confused. “But . . . what else? I cannot return. He knows that.”
If Lady Kuzunoha was confused, I was doubly so, but at least I had the presence of mind to reach down and take the knife away from her. “First of all, assuming I had been sent to harm you, will you please explain why you’re being so cooperative?”
She frowned. “Did my husband not explain the circumstances of our first meeting?”
“He didn’t have to—I saw your message. You said that he rescued you from hunters . . . before he knew that you and the silver fox were one and the same, I mean.”
“There was even more to it that he didn’t know, Yamada-san. You see, I was already in love with Lord Abe, from the day his procession rode past Shinoda Forest three years ago. I came to the Inari Shrine in the first place because I knew he would be there. He already owned my heart, but from that day forward he owned my life as well. If now he requires that of me, who am I to deny my love what is his by right?”
Now it was starting to make some sense. No one had ever claimed that self-sacrifice was a fox trait, but I knew love made people do silly things, and it was clear even to a lout like me that Lady Kuzunoha, fox spirit or no, was still deeply in love with her husband. I had suspected that Lord Abe was deluding himself on that point, but now I knew better.
“If Lord Abe didn’t know you were a fox, why did you leave him?”
“I didn’t want to,” Lady Kuzunoha said, sadly. “I tried so hard . . . You know what I am, Yamada-san. The body I wear now is real, but it is a sort of mask. Sometimes the mask slips; that’s unavoidable. Yet it was happening to me more and more. In my foolishness I thought I would be spared this, but the burden of pretending to be something I am not became too much, even for his sake. It was only a matter of time before my true nature would be revealed and my husband and his family shamed. I could no longer take that risk. I am a fraud, but I was honest with my husband about why I had to leave. He did not come himself, so I assume he hates me now.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Lady Kuzunoha. He understands your reasons and accepts them, though he is very sad as you might imagine.”
Lady Kuzunoha rose to her feet with one smooth motion. “Then why did my lord not come himself? Why did he send his warriors? Why did he send you?”
“My patron said he did not trust himself to let you go if he ever held you again. I can not fault him in this.”
She actually blushed slightly at the compliment, but pressed on. “You didn’t answer my other question.”
“He sent his retainers and me for the same reason: we were looking for Doshi.”