Page 9 of Son of Shadows

Koichi scowled. “How so?”

“You have a real purpose. Hers is only to annoy us.”

Laughing, Koichi ruffled his hair. “Don’t get cheeky with me, boy. I might find a hungry yōkai to feed you to yet.” He glanced at Masaru.

“Don’t look at me, old man. I don’t need the indigestion,” Masaru replied.

Ryuichi picked up his pace to catch up to their tengu guide, who was leading them past the site of their greatest defeat.

In the not-so-distant past, this was where Ryuichi had opened the sacred torii, merging the spirit and human realms together.

As he looked around, he could still feel Ryukage’s ominous presence here. Memories flooded Ryuichi’s thoughts. In his mind, he could see his friends from school, fighting demons and yōkai who were out to kill them.

He could hear the sound of war drums beating in his ears.

He could taste blood in his mouth. Rivers of it had been spilled everywhere.

It had been an awful, awful day.

And the source of his greatest shame.

Ryuichi still felt as if he’d failed the entire world. Failed his mother.

Failed himself.

He’d wanted to make his mother proud. To live up to his destiny with honor and dignity.

Become the man his father should have been.

But this was his second chance. To show everyone he’d hurt that he’d never let them down again.

This time will be different.

Ryuichi chanted that in his mind with every step he took. It almost became an incantation, conjuring the confidence he was going to need for this mission.

But then came a distraction.

To his left, he heard the softest rustle of cloth, like someone was hiding in between the trees. A sudden chill rippled across his skin. Ryuichi could sense that off in the distance were his former classmates, lurking and watching him.

His former teacher Hattori Hanzō had trained only the best soldiers at his academy, and that included the ability to hide unseen and strike with lethal precision.

Ryuichi assumed that ever since their battle, Master Hattori had stationed them here to guard the gate and make sure none of the yōkai or oni escaped to wreak havoc in the mortal realm.

As if reading Ryuichi’s thoughts, their tengu guide pulled up short and stopped them.

“We must move quickly,” he whispered. “Before the guardians attack us again.”

“Again?” Ryuichi asked.

“I wasn’t the only one who was sent to fetch you, lordling. Nearly two dozen of us came through the gate together. Your old friends attacked my search party, and I’m the only one who survived.”

That explained why he’d collapsed near their camp.

Masaru let out a low whistle. “Then you must be desperate to sacrifice that many swordsmen for one boy.”

“We are indeed.”

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past Ryuichi, barely missing his face.