Toshi nodded. “It suits me.”

  “Splendid.” Sharp-Ear clapped his hands and rubbed them vigorously. “Princess, shall we collect Riko and return to the training ground?”

  “With all due speed,” Michiko said. “I am eager to hear what Pearl-Ear thinks of all this.”

  “Absolutely not,” said Pearl-Ear. “The elders are making steady progress. They expect a breakthrough before dawn.”

  “Dawn could be too late, sister.” Sharp-Ear had led them directly to his sister at the edge of the training ground. They stood on one side of the great fallen log while the elders meditated, chanted, and communed on the other.

  Pearl-Ear glared at her brother. “Weren’t you supposed to be figuring out how to set the entity free?”

  “I am and I have been. Toward that goal I say the ochimusha’s notion holds merit. The elders themselves said communication was the first step. Michiko-hime is in a unique position to communicate. If she can reach the entity, we will be a good deal closer to learning what it wants and how we can help.”

  “But the danger to Michiko …”

  “I am not afraid,” the princess said. “I welcome the chance to do this.”

  Pearl-Ear stood flummoxed as she tried to formulate another argument.

  Sharp-Ear prodded her. “Come on, sister. There is no reason to wait.”

  “There is no reason to rush.”

  “There is every reason to rush,” Michiko said. “Sensei, you said the elders are expecting a breakthrough. I think I can achieve it. If the elders will let me try, it’s possible nothing will happen. I could be hurt. It’s also possible the entity will recognize me due to our birth connection and respond more quickly than she has to the elders.

  “But the point is we will know right away. The elders’ result will be slow in coming and far from sure. This way is better.”

  Desperate for a supportive face, Pearl-Ear turned to Riko, then Toshi. The student archer seemed overwhelmed by the scope of the discussion, but she had always been a clear and rational thinker. Pearl-Ear could tell by Riko’s expression that emotion and logic both had told her to support Michiko’s idea.

  The ochimusha was another matter. During the audience with the elders he had pressed for direct and swift action, but now he was distracted, tense. Was he truly so afraid of O-Kagachi’s sudden arrival? Or was he simply uncomfortable acting in the open, where his actions could be seen and judged?

  “Toshi,” Pearl-Ear said, “you have been very quiet.”

  “I think we’re all doomed,” Toshi said. “I think we’ve already wasted enough time for O-Kagachi to be arriving any second. Either he or Konda will descend on this village and crush it in order to reclaim the prize.” He turned to Michiko. “Sorry, Princess, but that’s what I’ve seen.”

  Michiko bowed slightly and encouraging Toshi to continue.

  “The entity reacts differently to different people. She let me touch her, carry her, even toss her around. She tolerates me, but I don’t think she trusts me. She has no reason to.

  “But Michiko is different. I think if she touches the disk, if she speaks to it, it will respond.” He shrugged. “That’s all.”

  “But why do you care?” Pearl-Ear said. “You are not a prisoner. You can leave here any time you like.”

  “I’d never get far enough,” Toshi said. “I’ve been … diminished since I saved you at Minamo. I can no longer travel that way I used to. When the fight for that stone disk starts, I’m going to be stuck here with the rest of you. Letting the entity go free is our best hope for avoiding the great serpent and the ghost army, and that’s my main goal.

  “It’d also be a powerful ally.” A mental picture flashed across Toshi’s mind, his myojin’s mask shattered from a single blow. “I’ve seen her do amazing things.”

  Pearl-Ear nodded. Toshi’s candor was welcome and, for a change, genuine. “Very well,” she said. “I shall petition the elders. If they agree, you may begin immediately. But if and when you do, we will take precautions. The elders and I will be standing by if anything threatens you, Michiko-hime. I will not allow you to be harmed. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sensei.”

  “Then we are agreed.”

  Sharp-Ear smoothed the fur around his muzzle. “When will you go to the elders?”

  “Now,” Pearl-Ear said.

  The elders agreed quickly. Toshi suspected they had already reached the limit of what they could do some time ago, and so were happy to have an excuse to regroup. Pearl-Ear made a compelling case, however, so maybe the kitsune elders were simply convinced.

  Whatever their reason, Silk-Eyes and the other two solemnly moved back to allow Michiko near the stone disk. Toshi, Riko, Pearl-Ear, and Sharp-Ear all stood behind her as the elders chanted a blessing and an invitation to the Taken One to come forth and be heard.

  The princess’s face was calm, but her eyes anxious. Toshi tried to imagine what she was thinking, tried to guess which emotion was dominating the others. Fear? Guilt? Pride? Duty?

  Toshi decided to offer what little help he could. “Michiko-hime,” he said, “you know how to approach her, right?”

  The princess glanced back, annoyed. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s like I told the elder,” Toshi said. “She let me touch her and carry her across half of Kamigawa, but she lashed out at anyone else who tried.”

  “According to you,” Sharp-Ear added.

  “According to me.” He turned to Pearl-Ear and gestured toward Michiko. “May I?”

  Pearl-Ear stared at him for a moment and then nodded.

  Toshi stepped up to the princess and bowed. “Give me your hands.” Michiko stretched out her arms with the palms up. Gently, almost reverently, Toshi took each of Michiko’s hands in turn between his. He turned her hands down and spread her fingers wide, his own digits moving gently across her down-turned palms.

  “Like this,” he said. “Approach slowly and lay your hands on the surface of the disk.”

  “Should I address her before or after we make contact?”

  “I’d say before. I don’t know if she ever listened to me, but it’s worth a try. When you touch her, you’ll feel a shock almost like your hands are being slapped back. I think that’s all it will take. Once she recognizes you, she’ll be ready to talk. And I think we’ll all hear that.”

  Michiko nodded. “Thank you, Toshi.” She finally turned and faced the ochimusha. “And if this doesn’t work? If she won’t speak to me, or even attacks?”

  Toshi grimaced. “Let’s just hope for the best right now.”

  Pearl-Ear stepped forward and said, “The elders are through, Michiko-hime. Whenever you’re ready you may begin.”

  Toshi stepped back from Michiko and stood alongside Sharp-Ear. The little fox nudged him and whispered mockingly.

  “Hope for the best?” Sharp-Ear chuckled. “They should hire you to motivate armies before the big battle starts.”

  “I didn’t see you offering any encouragement.”

  “Michiko,” Sharp-Ear called, “don’t be afraid. We believe in you.”

  Toshi snorted derisively. “Oh, that’s much better than ‘Hope for the best.’ You sure showed me up.”

  “Both of you be silent,” Pearl-Ear said. “Go on, Michiko-hime. Our prayers are with you.”

  The princess strode gracefully forward as the kitsune elders continued their haunting chant. The soft lowing rose in pitch as Michiko stepped up to the disk and knelt before it. She called out to it as the Taken One, and then, as Toshi had instructed, Michiko placed her palms flat against the face of the stone disk below and to either side of the etched serpent.

  White light crackled under Michiko’s hands, and her back arched. The sheen began to spread across the princess’s hands and up her forearms. Smoke rose from the Taken One, and the princess let out a deep, painful moan.

  Sharp-Ear and Pearl-Ear shot forward like twin arrows from the same bow. They were twice as fast as Toshi, but he had positioned himself to stop them before they reached the princess.

  “Don’t touch her!” Toshi sprinted as hard as he could, but the kitsune made him feel like he was standing still. They heard, however, and stopped within arm’s reach of the princess and the Taken One, their eyes heavy with concern.

  Toshi caught up and circled the princess and the disk so he could see Michiko’s face. The princess’s eyes had gone murky white and her mouth moved soundlessly. Nearby, the kitsune elders’ chant reached its crescendo.

  Michiko’s teeth snapped shut and she threw back her head. The stone disk vibrated under her palms, and the glow grew painfully bright. Then the princess jerked her head back down and stared directly at Toshi through shrouded eyes.

  “Release me,” she said, but the voice was not her own.

  “Sharp-Ear,” Pearl-Ear said, and her brother pounced. He landed on Michiko’s shoulders with both feet and both hands, his compact little body just the right weight to push her free without injuring her. Michiko’s mouth opened wide as Sharp-Ear forced her back, but her hands stuck to the stone disk. For a moment they hung suspended, Sharp-Ear bearing down with all his weight and strength and Michiko clinging to the Taken One. The disk rattled and shook below them, throwing off steam and light and cacophonous sound. The entire forest began to shake as motion and sound radiated out from the Taken One, engulfing the entire assembly.

  Then the connection between the princess and the Taken One broke and Michiko fell back from the disk. Sharp-Ear curled himself around Michiko’s shoulders and cushioned her fall with his own body. The strange light winked out when Michiko’s hands left the stone disk, and the Taken One stopped rattling and became as lifeless stone once more.

  “Michiko,” Sharp-Ear and Pearl-Ear said together.

  “Please,” the princess said. “Let me up, sensei.”

  Sharp-Ear scrambled to his feet and bowed, offering his hand to Michiko. She ignored it and rose on her own.

  “We must do as she says,” Michiko said. She turned from Pearl-Ear to the elders to Sharp-Ear and then back. “She’s so angry, so frightened. She doesn’t understand any of this. Most kami choose to manifest in the physical world. She was forced to. It took her years to comprehend the word ‘release’ because she’s never been contained before.” She bowed her head to Pearl-Ear. “We have to help her, sensei.”

  Pearl-Ear hugged her student, soothing her with a tender hand. “We will, child. We will.”

  Sharp-Ear exhaled and dusted himself off. “Well, that was both disturbing and partially productive. Michiko-hime was able to reach the Taken One quickly. And she learned something new … perhaps not the most useful thing to learn, but it is a start.”

  Michiko pushed back from Pearl-Ear and raised her hands. “I would like to try again. Please. She has seen me now, heard my voice. I think she will tell us more if I ask.”

  Pearl-Ear shook her head. “The elders—”

  “Wait,” said Sharp-Ear. “What is on your hands?”

  Toshi quietly stepped back from the stone disk as confusion colored Michiko’s face. Before he could turn and run, Sharp-Ear was beside him with a short knife to his throat.

  The foxman’s voice was cold and menacing. “What have you done, Toshi?”

  He smiled down at the kitsune. “What we all agreed to do,” he said. “I just sped things up is all.”

  Michiko stood staring at her palms. Each bore a single crimson kanji. On the left was written the symbol for “sister,” on the right, “union.” Numbly, the princess looked to the Taken One and saw the same kanji imprinted on the stone disk’s face, precisely where her hands had touched.

  “You know,” Toshi said. “I really thought that would work.”

  “What?” Sharp-Ear pressed the knife in deeper, raising a thin line of red. “You thought what would work?”

  “Well, I used an old fugitive’s trick to hide the smell. It’s meant to throw off dogs and other scent-trackers, but it worked just as well here.” Toshi raised his own hands, slowly so as not to antagonize Sharp-Ear, and showed them his own clean palms.

  “Are you telling me that’s blood?” Pearl-Ear stepped up to Michiko, who was still standing helplessly with her palms outstretched. The kitsune lowered her head to inspect the kanji. Then she turned and glared at Toshi’s hands. When she spoke, her voice was tight and tinged with cold horror.

  “Yes,” Toshi said brightly. “Mine, in fact.”

  “But why? Why would you do this?”

  “I think we’ve spent enough time debating why. What difference does it make? It didn’t work.”

  Sharp-Ear growled. “What didn’t work? What were you trying to do, besides insert your blasphemous magic into matters beyond your comprehension?”

  “They’re sisters,” Toshi said. “We agreed to bring them together. I tried to encourage things along.”

  By now several of the kitsune samurai had closed in and surrounded Toshi. Sharp-Ear kept the knife to his throat.

  “Sister,” Sharp-Ear said, “can I kill him now?”

  “No, brother. Bind him, and keep him under watch. We’ll have no more of his surprises today. Princess, I recommend—”

  Temporarily forgotten, Michiko had gone back to the stone disk. She stood over it, her eyes vacant, and placed her palms over the smeared red kanji on the Taken One’s surface.

  “Toshi is correct,” Michiko said. “This is my sister. And she must be free.” Michiko pressed her palms down.

  The blast sent Toshi and Sharp-Ear hurtling back into the trunk of a thick century cedar. The fox’s knife bit slightly deeper than Toshi was comfortable with, but it was not a serious wound. On the positive side, Sharp-Ear was caught between Toshi and the tree, so the kitsune was crushed almost unconscious.

  Toshi climbed off the stunned fox and dashed back to the ritual site. He hadn’t seen exactly what had happened, but whatever it was had flung Pearl-Ear, the elders, and even Michiko back from the Taken One. The disk itself had risen three feet off the ground, spinning on its axis and rotating end over end. It rattled furiously as smoke and light poured from its edges. A low hum started from within the stone, growing louder and more intense by the second.

  Instinctively, Toshi dived behind the tree that had been holding the disk up. Seconds later, he heard another explosion and a terrible cracking sound. He pressed himself against the tree as a volley of hard, sharp objects embedded themselves in the opposite side.

  The entire forest fell silent. Toshi exhaled, gathered his courage, and leaned out from behind his tree.

  The stone disk was gone. In its place stood a tall figure shrouded in mist and smoke. It was tall, humanoid, and unrecognizable in the haze.

  Good for me, he thought crazily. It had worked after all.

  Konda’s eyes had not wavered in over a day, so he felt sure he was closing in on his prize once and for all. The closer they got, the more he felt the Taken One’s presence and the stronger it called out to him. He kept his moth-riders low, barely touching the treetops as they flew. His handpicked squad of retainers kept pace less than half a day’s march behind, moving swiftly without banners or war cries. There was no way the thief could see or hear them coming.

  He was still receiving flashes from his troops in eastern Jukai, images and sounds that told him the battle with the soratami was turning to his favor. Most of the orochi had moved on to other skirmishes, but with Konda occupying a healthy share of the soratami armada the snakes were mounting a significant effort to expel the moonfolk. When Eiganjo was restored, Konda would send envoys to the snakes, especially the Kashi-tribe orochi in the far east. His new kingdom would be larger, stronger, and more diverse than ever.

  Suddenly, stabbing pain lanced through both Konda’s eyes, and he cried out. Had he been in control of his own forward motion, the daimyo would have stumbled and fallen. Though his moth-rider escorts were startled by their lord’s distress, they maintained their speed and direction.

  His peculiar view of the world changed then, sliding from a series of panoramic glimpses in all directions to a single, focused image of the landscape before him. It took the daimyo a moment to adjust and another to realize what had happened.

  Konda ran his hands over his face, confirming what he had feared. His eyes had become normal, fixed in their sockets. Quickly, the Daimyo tested the other gifts he had received from the stone disk. He still felt young and strong, and the skin on his hands still looked no older. He was still a seventy-year-old soldier in a fifty-year-old’s body.

  Neither had he lost contact with his ghost army. He could still feel their presence and send mental commands that would be obeyed without questions. Indeed, the moth-riders above and the honor guard below continued on as if nothing had changed.

  Whatever foul magic the ochimusha was using had somehow partially severed Konda’s connection with the Taken One. The daimyo still retained his command and his vigor, but he was no longer able to fix upon the disk.

  Unfazed, Konda ignored the searing pain in his eyes and resolved himself. He knew he was close. He knew he was going in the right direction. If the ochimusha had blocked Konda’s access to the stone, he was likely to consider himself safe and stay in one place. Konda knew he could find him. When he did, he planned to punish Toshi as long and as painfully as the thief’s body could stand.

  Grim and determined, Konda urged his moth-riders on.

  The Taken One emerged from the smoke and debris with precise, deliberate steps. As the only one upright in the immediate area, Toshi was the first to see her newly chosen form.

  Naked and unashamed, she appeared to be a full-grown human woman. Her skin was textured like a snake’s scales that formed a cascade of subtle colors that blended into one another. On that supple canvas she carried a band of moody and intense crimson across her shoulders that became a patch of mustard yellow toward the waist, which in turn leeched into a stretch of dusty sage green. Her black hair was also tinted with the barest hints of color, but the hue changed depending on which way the light hit it. Her tresses were cropped short and stood out straight, giving her head the appearance of a lion’s mane or a dragon’s crest. Her lips were dark, ominous green, and her eyes were vibrant yellow orbs with vertical orange pupils.