This time a woman servant she’d never seen before tried to hold her hands down, making soothing noises at her. Another servant held a bowl of cold water, trying to wipe Kira’s face. It smelled of ginger and ginseng.
Kira knocked over the bowl, shrieking that the monsters had consumed her. She shoved the woman off her and continued to claw at her face. Blood began to ooze down her neck. One of the women hurried out the door and returned with her brother. He held her down as she raged at him, pleading for him to kill the monsters. There were tears in his eyes and she wondered why he was crying.
Finally, she returned to sleep.
She’d lost all concept of time. When she next woke, she saw her brother Kwan sitting by her side.
“Water,” she whispered.
Kwan scooped out some water from a nearby bucket and held the ladle up to Kira’s lips.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Terrible,” she croaked. “Where are we?”
“We are in Muju. We beat our brother here. I was grateful to find this estate. The family had left, but the servants were still here.”
“How long have I been sick?”
“For nearly three days,” Kwan said. “I don’t understand—why aren’t you healing as usual?”
“You have to leave me alone for an entire night,” she said. “My tiger spirit won’t come unless I’m alone.”
“I didn’t realize,” he said. “You’ve been having such horrible nightmares, so I thought it was important to have someone with you.”
Kira shook her head. “Please, leave me for a while.”
He leaned over to check her wound first. Pulling open the dressing, he exposed angry red lines that shot out from the puncture wound, a clear sign of poison. But there were no signs of black. He then looked her face over carefully.
“You scratched your face up real good,” he said. Caressing her hair, he rose to his feet. “I was so frightened.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “Get better soon.”
Kira stopped him. “Wait. Where’s Nara? Is she OK?”
“I don’t know. When we went back to find her body, it was gone. I’m sure she’s all right.”
Kira was troubled, hoping the kumiho had made it to safety.
After he had left, Kira closed her eyes and begged her tiger spirit to come. It was not long afterward that she felt its soothing presence. Opening her eyes, she was relieved to see the golden halo of light that surrounded her now. Already, the pain was starting to slip away.
Someone was shaking her awake.
“Wake up! Hurry! You must wake up!”
Kira opened her eyes to see Chansu’s nervous face.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, still groggy from sleep.
“You must come quickly!” He yanked urgently at Kira’s arm. “The prince has wandered into the forest and is in terrible danger.”
Kira got up, still shaky and not completely healed. It was dark outside and she had been with her tiger spirit for only a few hours. But she still felt better than before.
“What happened? Where’s my brother?” she asked.
“He and his men are in the forest,” Chansu replied. “He sent me to get you immediately. You must come now!”
Without waiting for her response, Chansu ran out her door and down the hallway.
“Chansu, wait!”
Kira stumbled from the house, strapping her sword and bow and arrows onto her back. Chansu was at the courtyard gate, waving at her to hurry.
“Young mistress, you mustn’t leave,” an older servant woman said in alarm. “You are still very sick.”
Kira recognized the woman who had been taking care of her. “I must go. The prince is in trouble,” she said.
The cold night air helped to wake her as she raced after Chansu, following the light of his lantern. They were now deep in the forests of Muju.
“Chansu, what happened? How is the prince in danger?” Kira asked.
“You’ll see soon enough!” he yelled over his shoulder.
The terrible feeling of danger was churning in her stomach as Kira tried not to panic. She desperately wanted to know what had happened, but Chansu would not answer her questions. Fear gripped her as she wondered if something truly horrible had happened. Something the soldier was unable to even speak of.
When she thought she could no longer take not knowing, Chansu entered a clearing and came to an abrupt stop. The acrid stench of demon magic filled her nose. She seized her sword and circled the empty clearing.
“Chansu, be careful,” she said. “There’s a demon nearby.”
She saw him take an unsteady step and glance around, a look of apprehension on his face.
Suddenly the air in the middle of the clearing began to shimmer. Kira’s gut wrenched violently at the immediacy of the danger. A dark robed figure began to materialize.
“Chansu, come here now!” Kira shouted. “Dokkae—”
Kira was gripped in a magical paralysis. She tried to scream, but even her voice was frozen and her breath came in harsh rasps. Her sword fell from nerveless fingers and she fought desperately for control that was no longer hers.