“Shiori,” it hissed.
I went immediately still.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” The snake flicked out its tongue, thin and forked. Those yellow eyes darted to the enchanted satchel on my hip. “Her Radiance warns you not to interfere with the spell she has cast. There are events in motion you do not understand.”
I swung at it with my dagger, and as it dove back into the leaves, I sprang to my feet and ran.
I didn’t know which way I was going; I wove through the wash of orange and gray and brown. Kiki screamed something, but my heart was pounding too loudly in my ears to hear. I figured she was telling me to go faster. Only when my legs started to tire and my throat began to burn did I look back.
The snake was nowhere to be seen, thank the gods. I leaned against a tree to catch my breath.
That was close,I breathed, expecting Kiki to laugh withme.
But she wasn’t there.
Kiki?I cried, spinning. I didn’t look where I was going and stumbled. Over a dead body.
I wheeled back in horror.
Two cloudy eyes peered up at the sky, still wide with shock. The blood was bright against a scattering of dead leaves and spilled from a neat slash to the abdomen. It was a recent death; the birds and insects hadn’t gotten to him yet.
Shiori!Kiki screeched.The hunters!
Twigs snapped. Footsteps crunched in the fallen leaves.
I froze. My knees locked as I crouched, hiding behind a bush. But I forgot about my breath. It frosted in the air, the steam curling up and giving away my presence.
“Who’s there?” yelled a man, not far.
The shouts grew closer, and I went very still, everything sharpening into focus. I’d run the wrong way. I couldn’t hear the river anymore, and—no, no. I cursed my terrible luck.
An arrow shot out from behind the trees, whizzing so close my ears rang, temporarily deafened.
“Lord Hasege, it’s a girl!”
I bolted, my heart beating twice as fast as my steps.
There’s four of them!Kiki screeched.Watch out! Behind the bushes—
A hunter leapt out, low, his knife angling for my leg. My first impulse was to scream, but luckily, fear closed up my lungs. I scraped away, only barely.
Another one! On your side!
Another hunter knocked me to the ground. It happened so fast that I tasted dirt before I felt the ringing in my head, but I quickly scrambled to my feet.
I dove into the bushes, skidding across leaves and tumbling down little mounds. It felt like I had been running for hours, but I could still see the dead bodies peeking out from beneath the foliage. It couldn’t have been more than a minute before I heard footsteps again.
There were four of them, just as Kiki had said. Only they weren’t hunters, not with their feathered helmets and leather armor. They were sentinels.
“When you’re overpowered by an opponent, flee,” Reiji had told me during our lessons. “Benkai will tell you to stay and fight, but winning is not about honor. It’s about surviving to fight again.”
I was trying. But the tallest one—the leader—was fast. Strong, too. I narrowly ducked the tip of his sword as it came slicing toward my face. Thinking myself victorious, I let my guard down; I didn’t see his foot sweep out to throw me onto my back.
The earth thudded under me, and I bit my cheek not to cry out in pain. By the time I rose, three arrows were pointed at my head. The leader lifted his helmet.
Takkan.
The cruel stare he gave me was the same as before. Black eyes, hard and unyielding. Crooked smile, so cold that my stomach turned to ice. Yet something was different. His armor was plain and unadorned—no deep blue chain mail—and the scabbard of his sword was bereft of the Bushian crest.
