“I am Ginjiro, general of the Kitsune Army.”
Kin did his best to return the bow with Kensai’s weight on his arm, the pain of his burns rearing up beneath the fading opiate haze. “My honor, General.”
“Is that really the Second Bloom of Kigen city in your arms?”
“Technically, he’s First Bloom of the entire Guild, now Tojo is dead.”
General Ginjiro signaled for his men to stand down, a cold smile on his lips.
“Then I bid you welcome to Kitsune-jō.”
*
Yukiko and Buruu swooped toward the Kitsune fortress, Kaiah and their other packmates beside them. Limping through the skies behind came a few wounded Kitsune ships and the battle-scarred hulk of the Kurea, a bloodied and bruised Blackbird at the helm. The city had been decimated, pockets of fighting still ongoing between Kitsune bushimen and Tora shreddermen. With no way out of the city, the Tora had barricaded themselves on Last Isle, uncertainty rising in the wake of the earthquake, the destruction of First House, the rise of those demons from the pit.
The gaijin army had been halfway through bridging the Amatsu when the quake hit, their structure collapsing into tar-black waters. Now they stood amassed on the eastern banks, their commanders pacing along the black shores as their engineers began work again. Only one among them walked with his head bowed, swathed in guilt.
But Yukiko only had thoughts for the blind Inquisitor, locked in the fortress dungeons. A man who’d hold all the answers, who could tell them how to defeat the darkness spreading from the ruins of the Stain.
The Earthcrusher loomed out of the smoke ahead, the behemoth listing, its engines silenced. It had smashed its way through the outer walls of Kitsune-jō, but fallen short of the mark. Fox clan soldiers had surrounded it, blades glittering in the light of the fading day. Snow still fell in fitful flurries.
Yukiko felt Buruu tense beneath her, falling instinctively into the space behind his eyes. And then she saw him, picking his way through the ruins at the Earthcrusher’s feet, supporting what looked like the Second Bloom of Kigen city in his arms. Soldiers closing in all about him.
Rage flared in her heart. Rage at his betrayal. At everything it had cost her.
“KIIIIIIN!”
Buruu roared along with her, diving from the skies with the Everstorm pack behind them, her katana drawn. The boy beside Kin quailed, released his grip on the Second Bloom, turning and running as the Shateigashira collapsed. Kin’s eyes were wide, but she seized hold of his limbs, holding him frozen to the spot as they swooped in to land, broken rubble and shale beneath their talons, whipping dust and ash into the air.
She was off Buruu’s back in a blinking, the katana in her hand gleaming in the fading light. Drawing the weapon back, picturing Isao, Takeshi, Atsushi, Akihito, Michi, Daichi, Aisha, the soldiers who’d died defending this city, the ideal of freedom this boy spat on with every breath he could muster. Sorrow in his mind, bursting the banks of his subconscious, rimming his eyes as she drew within striking distance, knuckles white on the blade Daichi had named for her Anger, given to her by the very man this boy had sent to his end.
And without a word, without giving one more breath of herself to this wretched little bastard, she stabbed toward his heart.
The bright note of steel on steel, a burst of sparks as her blow was deflected, clipping Kin’s shoulder and giving birth to a spray of blood. Yukiko turned, eyes wide, Buruu roaring, faint incomprehension swelling in her thoughts.
General Ginjiro stood before her, warclub in his hand.
“Hold, Stormdancer.”
“Stand aside, General,” Yukiko growled, “before I lay you down.”
“I am pleased you still live, girl.”
Four thunder tigers gathered at Yukiko’s back, filling the air with menacing growls.
“Step. Aside.”
The general seemed unfazed.
“This is Kitsune-jō. The Fortress of the Fox. Daimyo Isamu is lord here. Not Stormdancer Yukiko.”
“Daimyo Isamu is dead! All of them dead! Because of this traitor!” Her eyes flashed, staring at the still-paralyzed Kin. “I could smash him open with but a thought—”
“And grieve that second’s folly for the rest of your days, girl.”
“It wouldn’t be folly, it’d be justice! He betrayed us! Betrayed Daichi!”
“Kaori’s father.”
… THIS MAN HAS NEVER MET KAORI.
Yukiko blinked, hesitation breaking through the rage.
“How do you know Kaori? Daichi?”
“Misaki sent missive wirelessly from the deck of the Truth Seeker barely ten minutes past. She returns from the ruins of First House, the remnants of a Kagé sabotage squad with her. Their leader, a woman named Kaori, bid us spread the word amongst the rebels and other loyalists here. The boy named Kin is not to be touched.”