Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) - Julie Kagawa Page 0,2

should be lying down, resting, before he tore open the wounds she had spent the night stitching closed. But Daisuke insisted he was fine. Even with his once beautiful kimono torn and filthy, his skin pale and his long, silvery-white hair hanging limply down his back, he emanated poise and elegance.

“Yes,” Master Jiro confirmed. “Because Hirotaka wanted revenge against the oni that killed his family and the woman he loved. A way not only to destroy the demon but to make it suffer, to know pain and rage and helplessness. He got his wish. Not long after summoning the Dragon, Kage Hirotaka faced Hakaimono on the field of battle and, after a terrible struggle that nearly wiped out a village, managed to slay the demon. But instead of banishing the oni back to Jigoku, Kamigoroshi sealed the oni’s soul within the blade, trapping it for eternity.

“Unfortunately,” Master Jiro went on, “that was the beginning of the Kage’s downfall. The demon drove Hirotaka mad. It did not possess him—perhaps its influence was still too weak, or perhaps it did not know it could do such a thing yet. But, little by little, it broke down Hirotaka’s resolve, using his lingering rage and grief to overwhelm him. Until, one night, when Hirotaka finally lost himself and changed the course of the Kage forever.”

Daisuke stirred, realization crossing his face. “The massacre at Hakumei castle,” he said, looking at the priest. “The interrupted treaty between the Hino and the Kage.”

“A scholar of history.” Master Jiro nodded in approval. “Yes, Taiyo-san, you are correct. The following spring, there was a meeting between leaders of the Fire Clan and the Shadow Clan, to discuss a marriage between the two families. The rivalry between the Hino and the Kage was growing out of control, and war was imminent if an accord could not be reached. The treaty never happened. In a room full of unarmed diplomats and courtiers, with a typhoon howling outside, Kage Hirotaka appeared and slaughtered every member of the Fire Clan. Not a single Hino survived that night.”

“That was the beginning of the second Great War,” Daisuke stated. “After the massacre at Hakumei castle, the Hino vowed to wipe the Kage from existence, and they rallied the Earth Clan and the Wind Clan to their cause. The Kage turned to the Water, Sky and Moon Clans for aid, and the resulting war lasted nearly two hundred years.”

“Nearly destroying the Kage in the process.” Master Jiro nodded again. “Because one man made a wish on the Dragon scroll with hate in his heart and unknowingly invited a demon into his soul.

“That is the story of Kamigoroshi and the Dragon’s prayer.” Master Jiro blew out a long curl of smoke that writhed away over my head. “Now you know how the sword was created, and how the Dragon’s Wish, well intended as it might be, brought ruin and disaster to the empire.”

“That’s why the scroll was split into pieces,” Reika added. The shrine maiden was also sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, the billowy white sleeves of her haori folded to her chest. Chu and Ko, a pair of small dogs that were really komainu shrine guardians, lay curled up in her lap, dozing on the red hakama trousers. “No one knows the exact details, but it’s said that as the war raged on, a council of kami, yokai and an order of monks came together to discuss what should become of the Dragon’s prayer. They made the decision to separate the scroll and hide the pieces throughout Iwagoto so that something like the last wish could never happen again.” Reika’s lips thinned. “It was the right choice. The scroll holds far too much power for a single person to be trusted with it. Look at the chaos and destruction it’s caused this era already, and the Dragon hasn’t even been summoned yet.”

Across the fire, Okame snorted. “So, if the scroll is so dangerous, why don’t we destroy it?” he asked with a shrug. “Sounds like an easy solution to me. Toss the thing in the fire right now and let’s be done with it.”

“It is not that easy,” Reika said. “And it has been tried before. But the Dragon’s prayer is a sacred artifact, a gift—or curse if you wish to look at it that way—from the Harbinger of Change himself. Much like Kamigoroshi, if you destroy the Dragon’s prayer, it will simply reappear in the world again. Always in a place where