The shrine-maker’s eyes narrowed as he looked around the room. “I believe I can construct another shrine and get these shamans out, but I will need help to gather the right materials.” He pulled in a long breath. “I am much too weak to manage it on myown.”
I nodded, then rose and went over to where thetenguwas standing guard. “Tengu, stay here and assist Sojiro-san while we go ahead. I want you to help him, then guard the shrine once he’s taken everyonethrough.”
“But mistress,” thetenguprotested, “I want to come with you to fight Kai! He must be punished for hisactions!”
“I understand,” I said, laying a hand on theyokai’shuge forearm. “But I am worried Kai may send someone to destroy the shrine, and we will need it to escape this place. It’s very important that you stay behind and guardit.”
The glower cleared from thetengu’sface, and he nodded. “I will guard it with my life,” he saidsolemnly.
“Good.” I patted him one more time, then turned to Raiden and Shota. “Come on. We need togo.”
We bid the shrine-maker farewell, then exited the dungeon and continued along the path. My senses were on high alert as we walked, ears and eyes straining for any sign of an approaching enemy, and I knew Raiden and Shota were doing the same. The two men had their weapons out, and I fingered my bracelet, ready to summon ayokai. But the seconds turned to minutes as we made our way forward through the darkened hallways, and even though the flickering torchlight caused shadows to dance along the walls, no monsters jumped out at us. The only sound accompanying our footsteps was the drip, drip of water from the cavern walls and the hissing oftorches.
Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the path flowed into a steep staircase. The three of us climbed to the top and found ourselves standing at the threshold of a huge room with another mural of the Kai-Haruki-Kaga-Fumiko story painted on the walls. In the center were fourkofun—megalithic Japanese tombs made of rectangular slabs of stone and stacked on top of the deceased’s cremated remains. Atorigate and shrine, about the size of a tool shack, stood just behind thekofun—the first tomb was completely unadorned, the second one covered in flowers, and the third one broken into several pieces. A ragged crater sat on the ground beneath it, and from the look of things, it seemed like someone or something had torn its way out ofit.
“This must have been Kai’s,” I said, wandering over to it. Sure enough, a large black stone box was buried in the ground, its broken lid flung to the ground beside it. “And these otherthree…?”
“Fumiko, Haruki, and Kaga,” Raiden said tightly, crouching to look at thekanjicharacters written in the stone. “This one is Fumiko’s,” he said, pointing to the tombstone with the flowers on it. “And this shrine…” He trailed off and stepped past the tombs towardit.
“What is it?” I asked, hurrying beneath thetorigate with him. There was a small purification trough and a pair of lion-dogs guarding the entrance, but to my surprise, Raiden ignored them both. He ducked beneath the eaves of the shrine itself, where the statue of a female goddess sat, and knelt before her. She was cordoned off by ashimenawa, the sacred straw rope that marked holy spaces, and her pedestal was surrounded by piles of flowers and small bags ofrice.
“It’s Amaterasu,” Shota said in a hushed voice filled with awe. We knelt in front of the shrine next to Raiden. “Someone built a shrine to herhere.”
I stared up into the face of the sun goddess who had joined forces with Himiko to seal Kai away all those years ago. And an epiphany struck me. “Do you think Kai built this shrine? And that these offerings are toher?”
Raiden frowned. “How would Kai have been able to build this while trapped in here? It’s been less than two days since he was freed. Besides, I don’t see why he’d worship the goddess who locked himaway.”
I shrugged. “Maybe he’s been praying for forgiveness from her. And maybe he got theyokaihe’s been using to help him. After all, he built those dungeons somehow, didn’the?”
Raiden was silent for a long moment. “I suppose it’s possible,” he finally said, standing up. “There’s no point in staying in this room—Kai isn’t here. I don’t know how, but he’s made some upgrades to the tomb. Maybe Amatsu’s powers have allowed him to create new rooms, like the dungeon down below that we saw. I don’t know much about the dark god,” headmitted.
Silently, we retreated from Amaterasu’s shrine, then followed another staircase leading out of the tomb. As we left, I glanced back toward the tombs, my gaze lingering on Fumiko’s for a moment. Those flowers meant something, and despite what Kai had done to those poor shamans, I felt a tug on my heart. He clearly still loved Fumiko, despite the choice she’d made in theend.
“Greetings, travelers,” said a voice from the shadows as we reached the final step. The room was too dark for me to see, but as I turned my eyes toward the sound of the voice, I readied my charmsanyway.
“Greetings,” Raiden called back, edging forward. He had one hand on the hilt of his dragon blade, but so far he hadn’t drawn it nor invoked Katsu. Part of me wondered why he hadn’t done it yet, but then it was a strain every time I used thekyuubi. Maybe using the samurai wassimilar?
“If you wish to pass, you must answer my riddle,” the voice said. As it spoke, torches lining the walls began to blaze with ethereal green light. “Do you wish totry?”
I bit back a scream as the speaker was finally revealed in the light. It was a gnarled tree about twenty feet tall with peeling bark and swaying weeping willow branches. Only… instead of fruit, human heads hung from those branches. Their faces writhed in anguish as they tried to scream without voices. The largest head leered at us, and the urge to turn and run struck me hard. Unlike the others, which were sallow and unhealthy-looking, this head looked perfectlyfine.
“What the hell is that?” I hissed, shrinkingback.
“Ajinmenju,” Shota whispered, looking fascinated. “Despite their horrific appearance they’re mostly harmless. They pretty much just block the way and ask for their riddles to be solved. If you get it right, you canpass.”
“What happens if you get it wrong?” I asked, eyeing thejinmenjususpiciously.
“You die!” the demonic tree cackled, its branches rustling in unseen wind. The lips on all its faces curled into Cheshire cat grins, and it leaned forward. “But no one ever won anything by not trying,eh?”
“Fine,” Raiden said impatiently. “Let’s hear theriddle.”
The massive tree cackled again. “Very well,” it said, holding up three severed heads on a single branch. “Riddle me this,shamans.”
The three heads turned so that the one on the far left stared at the back of the middle head, the middle head stared at the right head, and the right head stared off intonothingness.
“The head on the left is named Ken, and he is married.” Ken, the head on the left, opened his mouth in a low moan as he was addressed. “Pan, the head on the right, is not married.” Pan began to moan then, leaving only the middle headunnamed.
“Um… okay, so what’s the riddle?” I asked, and as I spoke, the tree’s laughter boomed like a bassdrum.
