Spirit's Princess (26 page)

“I know that. If it weren’t so, my father wouldn’t be wasting his time negotiating with yours right now.”

“Negotiating?”

“For an alliance. That’s why we’ve come. Your people do have a reputation as good fighters, even if you’ve let your warriors’ swords rust for years. Your father could stand a lesson from his predecessor, Lady Tsuki. Now
there
was a chieftain! If she hadn’t died, she might have led
you
to conquer us!” He laughed harshly. “When the Matsu join the Ookami, there won’t be any clan that can stand against us. We’ll be so rich and powerful that our lands will reach all the way to the sea, our people will wear silk, and even our smallest children will have slaves to serve them. Everyone will benefit.” The corners of his mouth lifted lazily. “Especially you.”

“Everyone but the slaves,” I said coldly, remembering a pair of bleak eyes and a forlorn face. “You’re talking about war. How would that benefit me?”

“As a chieftain’s bride, you’ll have your choice of every luxury. I’m sorry that I’m already married. Chizu’s a nice enough girl, even if she’s got a face that’s plain as rice gruel. You’re much prettier than she is. I wish I’d met you first. You deserve a higher rank than junior wife. Who knows? If you please me enough, I might consider demoting Chizu, or
setting her aside altogether. You can help me decide.” He spoke as casually as if he were juggling horse chestnuts instead of human lives.

I no longer hoped that Ganju and Ume would see me in this man’s company. I wanted nothing more than to be free of him and his cold arrogance.

“Fine,” I said. “I’m good at making decisions. In fact, I’ve made one right now. I’ve decided that if the gods ever force me to choose between marrying you and swallowing a live salamander—” I tilted my head back and pantomimed gulping down the wriggly creature.

He slapped me. When I cupped my hand to my stinging cheek, he grabbed me by the wrist. His fingers dug in so deeply, it felt like they were grinding my bones. I sucked in a deep breath, but before I could shout
Let me go!
his lips covered mine. Fighting to free myself from that loathsome kiss, I took a few lurching steps sideways, to the very edge of the bridge. The instant he felt himself teetering, Ryu released me and jumped away.

“Be careful, you clumsy turtle!” he barked. “You almost made us—”

I rushed at him with outstretched arms and struck him directly in the center of his chest with both fists. The impact threw him off his feet and over the edge of the bridge. I paused just long enough to hear the satisfying thud he made when he hit the bottom of the ditch, then ran.

I didn’t head back through the palisade gates. Our moat wasn’t deep enough for Ryu’s fall to do him any lasting harm. He’d be clambering out of it all too soon, and when he did, I was certain he’d assume I’d run home. While he
went hunting me within our village walls, I planned to be well out of sight in a hiding place he’d never suspect.

Once I’m there, all I’ll have to do is outwait him
, I thought as I put distance between myself and the Ookami lordling.
It will be safe for me to return when the feast is ready. He won’t dare say a word about any of this in front of so many people. At best, he’d be humiliated because I beat him, and at worst, his father and mine would make him pay with his hide for how he treated me!
I was breathing hard but grinning with triumph as I stepped past the boundary stones that marked the borders of our burial place.
Even if he realizes I’m not in the village, he’ll never dare to look for me here
.

I moved among the low mounds with reverence. All of Yama’s lessons about the summoning and dismissal of the dead were with me. I didn’t fear their presence, knowing I possessed the lore that would keep any angry spirits too far away to harm me. Still, I found that one hand strayed to my sash, where my cherry tree wand was tucked, and the other to my chest, where my dragon stone amulet hung from a cord long enough to keep it secret from everyone but me.

Most of the grave sites around me were no higher than my ankles, their original height worn away by the turning of the seasons and the slow shifting of the earth. I recognized the places where we’d buried Yukari’s and Emi’s infants and wondered where my family’s other lost children lay. I clapped my hands to call out to the gods and whispered prayers for the spirits of our dear ones to rest undisturbed.

There was one mound there that stood out from all the rest. I’d noticed it every time I’d come to the burial ground, but whenever I’d asked about it, I was told to find better
things to occupy my mind. Even Yama refused to speak of it, shaking her head and saying,
“Another time, Himiko
. That
one’s listening—I sense it. Remember what I taught you? For some spirits, just to mention them is as good as an invocation. I’d rather not deal with banishing the uninvited today.”

The mound was almost as tall as me, a raised square of soil surrounded by its own narrow moat. The sweet, new grass of springtime that covered every other grave grew only sparsely over this one, the waving blades a sickly shade of green. I felt a qualm as I gazed at the desolate tomb, but tightened my grip on the reassuring shape of my amulet and it passed.

It doesn’t matter who lies there
, I thought.
I know the chants by heart for sending ghosts away. I know them even better than the chants for summoning! This place is as safe for me as any
. I circled the mound until I found a spot where its surrounding ditch had collapsed inward and settled myself down to wait for the day to pass.

The sun was warm on my face, and a gentle breeze carried the scent of newly turned earth from our fields. I rested my chin on my up-drawn knees and idly watched the comings and goings of insects at my feet. Somewhere birds were singing, declaring their courtships and challenges from tree to tree. I fished my amulet from its hiding place and let my lady of the dragon stone drink the light.

I was enthralled by the play of sunbeams on the gold and silver web embracing her, but not so absorbed that I didn’t hear a new sound invading my peaceful retreat: a stream of curses slashing through the air, their brutal ugliness coming closer with my every breath. I shifted into a
crouch and crept on hands and knees to peer around the corner of the tomb.

I knew what I’d see before I laid eyes on him, but I had to confirm my dread: it was Ryu, filthy and battered from his fall, striding toward my hiding place. His mouth spewed oaths and threats of what he intended to do once he caught me. Would he
dare
? Had I enraged him so much that he’d give no thought to my clan’s retaliation? I didn’t want to find out. He was coming closer, his long legs devouring the distance between us. His eyes were fixed on the ground, a hunter on the trail of his quarry. I’d hidden myself, but not my footprints in the dirt.

If I remained where I was, he’d find me. If I broke away and ran, he’d catch me. If I screamed, no one was close enough to hear it. I closed my hand over the dragon stone, tightened my fingers around the black branch that had once been sweet with flowers, and stepped out of the shelter of the tomb.

“Stop where you stand, Ryu!”
My shout echoed so loudly over the place of the dead that the sky itself pulsed with the sound. The Ookami lordling froze, astonished, but not as astonished as I.
What just happened? Did that voice come from me?
I pushed my amazement aside. I wasn’t out of danger by any means, and I had to build on this unexpected advantage while I could.

“Don’t come any closer!” This time, the power that had possessed my voice was gone. It was still loud and forceful, but there was nothing extraordinary about the sound. “This ground is sacred! This is where the spirits of our people rest. You will not profane it!”

Ryu’s awestruck expression withered and hardened into his old, self-assured sneer. “Listen to you chirp, you puny cricket! Playing grown-up, are you? But grown-ups know the meaning of good manners. What do you think will happen when I drag you back into your pathetic village and tell your father how you attacked his honored guest?”

“What do you think will happen to you when I tell him and
your
father how you attacked
me
?” I countered.

His scornful laughter was as cold as his eyes. “You call that an attack? A kiss? You
are
an infant. A woman would feel grateful.”

“Then I’m glad to be an infant! The only thing I feel for you is disgust, and for your wife, nothing but pity.”

“What you
feel
?” he repeated. He laughed again, the lifeless sound of dead leaves rattling on the branch. “Better learn to
think
. Do you know what an honor it is for you if I even
consider
taking you as my bride?”

“You’re right; I wasn’t thinking.” I smiled as I spoke. “That proves I’m not worthy of such an ‘honor.’ Thank the gods for that!”

“Is
that
what you’re thankful for, little fool?” Ryu took a step toward me, and I saw how abruptly a handsome face can turn ugly. “You’re a rude child, and it’s time I taught you respect!”

“Stay where you are!” I raised my arms like a hawk’s mantled wings. “This place is forbidden to you!”

“Who forbids it? You?” He showed his teeth, and the image of the wolf’s skull flashed across my sight. “Try.”

He moved forward, his expression taunting me. He was
in no hurry. I think he expected me to run and was relishing the thought of the chase and the capture.

I didn’t feed the wolf what he wanted. I took a single backward step, and stamped down hard on the earth that covered the Matsu dead. In that place where so many of my clanfolk’s bones were laid, I lifted my voice to the spirits.

I didn’t use the chant that Yama had taught me for summoning the dead. She’d warned me that my skills were still too new, too untried to begin such a potentially devastating spell.
“The words are only part of what controls our ghosts,”
she told me.
“Our hands, our feet, our bodies, must all be a part of the dance that weaves this great enchantment, and you, Himiko—”

She didn’t need to say it: no matter how many times I tried to copy the shaman’s steps and motions, I failed. I couldn’t dance, and so I mustn’t chance setting loose powers I’d be unable to command or dismiss. Words were not enough to bind the dead.

That was so, but words could still command the living. Ryu was an outlander. He didn’t know our ways, or the ways of our shamans. All that I had to do was make him
think
that I was calling the hostile spirits to help me, and that would be enough to send him fleeing. I pitched my voice low and threatening, rolling with its own thunder, then high and shrill, like the edge of a knife scraping over stone. I swayed, and made grand gestures with my black branch, aiming it at the sun, at the tomb beside me, and at Ryu’s heart.

“What are you doing?” He stood still, caught between anger and uncertainty. “What nonsense are you jabbering?
Do I have to slap you silent? I will! I swear by all the gods, I—!”

A shiver of motion rippled under my feet. I swayed again, this time without trying. He felt it too. His eyes opened wide, and his mouth was a circle. The tremor shocked the chanting from my lips. The hush that hung between us was heavy with a presence I could not name but also could not deny. I inhaled a breath that prickled over my tongue and made my whole body burn.

I drove it out of me in a screech that would have frightened demons.

Ryu ran.

I watched his retreating figure, but felt no sense of victory. I was too drained to feel anything. My legs folded under me, and I dropped to my knees, hands hot and dry as they clung to the amulet and the wand. I don’t know how much time passed before I was able to stand up and go home.

I didn’t attend the feast. All of the cooking was already done, but there were plenty of other fetch-and-carry tasks I could use as excuses for my absence. Our clan potter’s bossy, quick-tempered nature made her an excellent supervisor for the event, since Mama and my stepmothers couldn’t be absent without insulting our guests. After the Ookami left, she made it a point to seek out my parents and tell them about what a wonderful help I’d been.

“So that’s where you were, Himiko?” Mama hugged me. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Hunh!” Father was taken aback by the potter’s report. “Praise that comes from that one is something special. She doesn’t like anybody.”

I felt like a fraud.

That night, when everyone was supposed to be asleep, I overheard Father and Mama talking about our visitors.

“An alliance?” Mama whispered. “We’re joining the wolf people? When?”

“Never,” Father replied, and I nearly yelped for joy. “Lord Nago
wants
us to join his people, but he also wants to go out and look for wars to fight. I don’t.”

“I’m glad. I didn’t like his looks, and that son of his—! A good-looking young man, but there’s something nasty about him.”

“A pig dropping covered with gold.” Father chuckled.

“He was covered with filth, anyway. Did you see how ragged and dirty he looked at dinner?” She clucked her tongue.

“He didn’t look like that when Himiko took him to tour the village. Believe me, dear one, as soon as I saw how unkempt he looked when he rejoined his father, I sent someone to see what had become of her. That wolf puppy doesn’t know how fast I’d have clipped his tail if anything had happened to our girl. Lucky for him my man reported that she was already helping with the feast, safe, unrumpled, and clean as a washed egg. However our Ookami prince managed to get himself into such a mess, Himiko had nothing to do with it.”

They fell silent. I thought they’d gone to sleep, but then I heard Mama say, “Did the nobles agree with your decision not to ally with the wolf people?”

“Eventually. After Lord Nago and his men departed, one of my lords confided that he was worried. ‘If we’re not
their allies when they make war on other clans, how long before they come to make war on us? At least if we sided with them, we’d be safe.’ ” He sighed. “I told him that I’d known overly ambitious people like Lord Nago before. Their word of honor means nothing. They make countless promises to win over others—friendship, riches, power, security—but keep their word only as long as it suits their purpose.” Father’s bedroll rustled. “A mouse that makes a bargain with a viper is safe only until the viper gets hungry.” I heard them kiss, and then I fell asleep.