“Look, let’s assume I betray you,” the badger said, holding his paws out in front of himself. “We’ll fight, and the pretty shaman lady”—he pointed at me—“will summon herkyuubito burn me. That will hurt so much, I’ll beg for help in exchange for opening the cages, and you’ll agree because that’s what you want anyway. With all due respect, I’d rather just skip to the part where I help you and save all of us, but mostly me, some pain andanguish.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said, before Raiden could argue. I was tired of standing around in here—we needed to free these people and get toKai.
“Excellent.” A cold smile flitted across the badger’s face. “I hope cold doesn’t bother you, ’cause it’s about to get downright frozen inhere.”
As the badger lifted his paws into the air, snow and sleet began to rain down from the sky and hoarfrost snaked over the cage bars. I was just about to ask him how this was supposed to help open the cages when he brought his paws down sharply. An earsplitting crack rent the air as a flurry of ice slammed into the cage bars. I shrieked as they shattered into a billion frozen fractals, instinctively flinching away as shards of glass and metal wentflying.
The badger folded his arms across his chest and smirked. “See? I just had to let itgo.”
Raiden groaned. “I thought you guys were supposed to betricksters.”
“Like I said, just let it go,” the badger said, shaking his head. “That was a long time ago. The past is in the past,right?”
And with that, the creature vanished in a flurry of frozen wind, leaving the three of us standing there amidst a bunch of unconsciousshamans.
22
With the badger gone,there was no one to stop us from taking those poor shamans out of the cages. There were about fifteen people total, and we laid them out on the floor and triaged them as best as wecould.
“It doesn’t seem like any of them have serious wounds,” Shota said. “A couple of flesh wounds here and there, and it looks like one got a hard knock on the head. The rest of them are justunconscious.”
“So, what, do you think we should just leave them here?” I asked. “I mean, there isn’t anywhere we can really take them, butstill…”
Raiden’s eyes lit up. “Why don’t you see if yourkamaitachican healthem?”
“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that.” I glanced down at the charm hanging from my wrist. “Do you think itcan?”
“Thekamaitachiwon’t be able to replenish theirki,” thetengusaid. “But he should be able to heal any physicalwounds.”
Nodding, I summoned thekamaitachi. The weasel-likeyokaiappeared at my elbow in a flash of bluefire.
“More healing, mistress?” he asked, his nose twitchingexcitedly.
“Yes, please.” I stroked the top of his head, unable to help myself. He was just so damned cute, and if not for those scythe-like forelegs, I’d be tempted to cuddle him. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to help them all, but pleasetry.”
Raiden and the others stood guard at the entrance while thekamaitachiand I went around and healed each of the shamans. Many of them didn’t wake up, even after I’d flowed mykiinto them, but a few groaned and stirred a little before rolling over and snoring again. My heart sank—I strongly suspected that most of them were tooweak.
But just when I was about to give up hope, one man groaned louder than the others. “W-where am I?” he asked, his voice weak. He opened bleary eyes that widened when he saw thekamaitachilicking his arm. “Hey, get away!” He flung his arm out, and thekamaitachiscurriedback.
“Be nice!” I scolded the shaman. Thekamaitachichittered angrily at him, then disappeared in another flash of light. I felt bad—I hadn’t even gotten a chance to say thank you—but I didn’t see any point in calling him back. Instead, I touched the charm and said a silent prayer of thanks, hoping theyokaiwould hearit.
“He was helping you,” I said, kneeling next to the shaman. He was a middle-aged man, in his late fifties, with weathered skin and salt-and-pepperhair.
“I’m sorry,” he said, relaxing back onto the ground. “It’s just…I was startled. Were you controlling thatyokai?”
I nodded, checking his temperature with my hand. His forehead was a little cooler than I’d have liked, but it was much improved from the icy skin I’d felt earlier when we’d first found theprisoners.
“But how is that possible…” The old man trailed off, eyes drifting to the charms hanging from mywrist.
My shoulders tensed. “I’m ayokaishaman. We’re here to defeatKai.”
The man’s eyes widened in alarm. “You must not confront him. He is too powerful. We tried to defeat him, and he…he…”
“He drained you of yourki,” Raiden finished, coming over. He knelt by the old man’s other side and took his hand. “I know it’s dangerous, elder, but we have to do this. Aika and I have the means to stop him. “What is yourname?”
“I am Watanabe Sojiro,” he said, attempting to sit up. Raiden immediately slid his arm beneath the shaman’s back to assist him. “The shrine-maker.”
“Thank the gods,” Shota said. “Do you think you can get the rest of our people out ofhere?”
