Dark Tempest (The Red Winter Trilogy Book 2)

  Chapter 17

  She had never known such complete darkness. Her breath echoed loudly in her ears, the sound amplified by the strip of silk tied tightly over her lower face. The only light came from the glowing ribbon that followed her through the caves.

  How long she had been wandering in the darkness, she didn’t know. Her throat was parched and her body ached with weariness. She had passed the narrow cavern where Yumei had fallen a long time ago, though she’d had to backtrack repeatedly to find it.

  The caverns had grown rougher, shrinking until she had to duck in places. They sloped downward almost constantly now, leading her deeper and deeper into the mountain. Vines crawled over the rock, the fungus bulbs shooting their poisonous spores as she passed. Where the caverns branched, she chose her route by following the fungus. If bare stone stretched on for too long, she turned back and tried again until she found a route with vines twining over the rock.

  She had little doubt she had located the correct path beneath the mountain. There were no more branches or forks, just one tortuous tunnel that led deeper and deeper.

  From where it hung at her hip, Kogarashi bumped her leg with each step. The sword was a comfort, even if she had no idea how to wield it. Point the sharp edge at the enemy, she supposed. That was the best she could do. She swallowed, her dry throat scratching painfully.

  The utter darkness pressed in on her. Every tiny sound—her boot scuffing on stone, her quickened breath, the clatter of a pebble disturbed by her passing—echoed back at her over and over. She glanced yet again at the thread of silver light stretching away behind her. It hadn’t grown dimmer, had it? Had she gone too far? What if the thread snapped? She would never find her way out again, not even if she had weeks to search.

  Panic stirred in her chest. She stuffed it down again, controlling her fear for what seemed like the hundredth time. Her heart beat rapidly, ignoring her internal monologue of “stay calm, don’t panic, stay calm.”

  As she passed through a narrow section of the tunnel, a nearby cluster of bulbs puffed a cloud of spores in her face. She snorted through her nose, blowing the spores away. Was the ache in her muscles from exertion or was the poison beginning to affect her? Would the lightness in her head inevitably lead to unconsciousness or was it just the lingering panic she couldn’t shake?

  Hurrying past the spore cloud, she forged ahead with steady steps. Had Yumei woken yet? What if he didn’t wake, poisoned permanently? She told herself he wouldn’t die. Izanami had most likely used the same poisonous spores on Susano, and her plan did not include killing the Kunitsukami. If any of them died, they would eventually revive and come after her.

  Her thoughts turned to Shiro as she walked through the endless darkness, her legs burning from the strain of the uneven ground. He would be so furious with her. She smiled at the thought of his anger. She would enjoy getting yelled at, because it would mean she’d returned safely. And it would also mean she had scared him. He only got angry with her when she frightened him with her frail mortality.

  She walked on. As much as she tried to occupy her mind, eventually, she couldn’t find the voice of her thoughts in her head. All she could hear was the scrape of her boots on rock and the rasp of her breath echoing back at her. The simmering panic grew and her racing pulse throbbed in her ears.

  The narrow tunnel gradually widened. Her steps slowed as the walls on either side spread farther from her until they were swallowed by the darkness. She stopped, standing in frightening isolation in a small circle of faint light. The air was utterly still and disgustingly stale. The reek of fungus was overwhelming and spores formed a sickening yellow cloud that was thicker here than she’d seen anywhere else.

  Trying to wet her parched mouth, she swallowed and crept forward with cautious steps, her hand on Kogarashi’s hilt. She felt as though she were walking through the empty oblivion of space, a single, faintly glimmering star amidst vast nothingness.

  At last, the far wall of the cavern took form in her faint light. She hesitated, searching the rock for some sign of where she was supposed to go next, but she saw no openings or tunnels. Instead, she found a dark, lumpy shape in the deep shadows a few yards away—a shape that was definitely not made of stone. With a sharp inhalation of rancid air, she sidled closer, ready to draw her sword. As she approached, the dim glow of the anchor spell illuminated the shape enough for her to recognize it.

  A person.

  He sat against the cavern wall, leaning almost casually against it. It might have appeared as if he’d just stopped to rest if not for the thick vines wrapped around him. They coiled around his arms, torso, and legs, and spread across the nearby stone, binding him to the heart of the mountain.

  “Susano,” she whispered.

  Between the darkness and the vines, she couldn’t see much of him. Slender of frame, he was not a large man. His tousled hair was pale in the darkness, with a single dark streak tumbling across his forehead among the lighter locks. She crouched in front of him, tilting her head to see his face. His eyes were closed, his face handsome and young, almost boyish in the poor lighting. There were markings on his cheeks that she couldn’t make out, and his ears were pointed like Yumei’s.

  After a quick, wary glance around, she looked him over. Aside from the vines holding him down and the toxic cloud of spores, nothing else seemed to be guarding him. Shiro must have been wrong about Izanami setting an additional safeguard.

  With a relieved sigh, she carefully drew Kogarashi. The sword hummed softly in her hand as though asking what she needed. Gripping the hilt in one hand, she closed her other hand around the thickest vine across Susano’s chest so she could lift it and slip the blade beneath it.

  The moment she touched the vine, she realized her mistake.

  Every fungus bulb in sight ejected its spores in a violent burst. The vine beneath her hand writhed like a snake. It snapped away from Susano and slammed into her, throwing her backward.

  She landed hard on her back, barely keeping her head from hitting the rock. Scrambling to sit up, she choked on a scream as a hundred vines squirmed toward her. They coiled rapidly around her ankles and slid up her legs. Jerking away, she slashed with Kogarashi. The silver blade sliced through the vines as though they were nothing more than paper.

  Lurching to her feet, she waved the sword again, cutting down vines as they streaked toward her face. More crawled over her feet and started up her legs again. Wobbling precariously, she yanked one foot free. A vine caught her sword arm, looping around her wrist. She lost her balance and fell, the sword clattering loudly against the rock as she struggled to keep hold of it. The snaking plants slid over her and a panicked image rose in her mind: her body covered in vines just like Susano, bound forever in this dark, reeking hole beneath the earth.

  A hoarse scream tore from her throat as she twisted violently, struggling to break free. The tough vines stretched and twisted with her, winding tighter and tighter.

  “Shukusei no tama!” She shrieked the purification incantation. “Shukusei no tama!”

  Light flashed, nearly blinding her. The vines shriveled and stopped moving—but they didn’t break or dissolve. They held her fast, as strong in death as they’d been in life. Dozens more crawled over her, winding over their purified predecessors.

  “Shukusei no tama! Shukusei no tama!”

  Again the vines died, but more kept coming. She was being buried beneath them, hardly able to breathe. She jerked her wrists and Kogarashi’s blade twitched.

  A tiny breeze whispered across her face.

  She tightened her grip on the sword. Kogarashi was a wind blade and Emi, by whatever strange phenomenon, had once called the wind to her aid.

  Gritting her teeth, she concentrated on that tiny breeze she’d felt, filling her mind with it. The vines slid over her, creeping across her face and poking at the cloth covering her nose and mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut and bent her thoughts on the breeze, on the wind, searching for it, calling it.


  Kogarashi shimmered brightly and hummed soundlessly in her hand. The breeze whispered across her again. Emi’s eyes flew open and she threw her wordless plea to the wind.

  The air in the cavern surged. A shrieking gale whipped around her, forming a wild cyclone. It tore through the vines, ripping them away from the rock. As their anchor points came free, the pressure on Emi loosened. She heaved her body off the ground, snapping the remaining tendrils. As the cyclone howled around her, destroying the new vines that surged toward her, she tore the remnants off her body and launched toward Susano.

  Half the vines covering him rose like snakes, preparing to strike. She swung Kogarashi, severing the ones that reached for her. She grabbed one of the thickest vines binding him.

  “Shukusei no tama!”

  With a flash of light, the vines covering him died. As the wind destroyed the attacking plants, she started cutting away the netting of dead fungus as fast as she could. Once he was free, she faltered, realizing she had to somehow carry a grown man back through the caverns.

  She sheathed Kogarashi, praying the wind wouldn’t cease. It continued to tear through the cavern and the sword hummed, still working its magic. Or was it channeling Emi’s new ability to command the wind? She didn’t know and didn’t have time to worry about it.

  Grabbing Susano’s arms, she pulled them over her shoulders like Shiro had done with Yumei. As she heaved the Kunitsukami onto her back, she again called on the wind for help.

  It surged behind her, lessening Susano’s weight and helping her stand. She staggered forward, half carrying, half dragging him. Her back muscles screamed in protest. It wasn’t enough. She needed more.

  The cyclone in the room lessened, losing speed and drawing in around her. At the same time, the wind gusted behind her again, almost lifting her as it pushed her onward. A wave of writhing vines broke through the weakened cyclone and shot toward her. She lurched into a stumbling run, following Byakko’s shimmering anchor line.

  With the wind at her back, she ran. In every rocky corridor, the vines writhed furiously and reached for her. The spiraling gusts beat them back, but every time they had to strike down the vines, the wind supporting her weakened and Susano’s weight sent her to her knees. She climbed to her feet again and ran, the wind sweeping her along.

  Tunnel after tunnel. The howling wind and snaking vines. Her body filled with pain, so much she couldn’t even tell what hurt. She sucked in air, her head spinning from the exertion.

  For a countless time, her legs gave out. Her knees struck the rock, the pain jarring her. She fell, scraping her elbows on the stone floor. Panting, she pushed herself onto her knees and got a grip on Susano’s arms. What she wouldn’t give for yokai strength right now.

  The wind swirled around her as though encouraging her and Kogarashi hummed its soundless song. She lurched to her feet—and immediately fell. Biting the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood, she pushed herself up. This time she made it two steps before falling.

  She hit the ground on all fours and Susano slid off her back, landing beside her. She gasped for air, trying to slow the spinning in her head. She needed to get up. She needed to keep going. Her thoughts were so fuzzy. It was so hard to think.

  Her head snapped up. I can’t think. Shiro had said that when the poison had started to affect him. No, she couldn’t succumb. Not now. Not when she was so close.

  Panic careened through her, compounding her dizziness. She pushed onto her hands and knees. Her muscles trembled with weakness. The poison had to be affecting her, but why? Why now? The wind whipped around her as though asking what to do. Could it be that her use of the wind, of whatever magic allowed her to command it, had made her susceptible to the spores?

  “No,” she moaned, reaching for Susano. Too weak to move him, she couldn’t even turn him over. Desperate tears pooled in her eyes. The wind spun another circle, but it wasn’t quite as fast or as strong. It would fail soon, along with her body, and she and Susano would be trapped here forever.

  With shuddering limbs, she staggered to her feet and drew Kogarashi. She had to protect them from the vines. Turning the point down, she dug it into the rock. She’d only intended to scratch a line, but the blade shimmered and sank an inch into the rock as though it were soft earth. Too frantic to be surprised, she dragged the sword in a circle around Susano.

  She completed the circle and fell to her knees, unable to stay standing any longer. The poison dragged at her limbs, calling her toward darkness. Dropping the sword beside Susano, she pulled out her ofuda. They fell from her trembling hands and she whimpered as she scrambled to pick up the right one. The wind lost speed around her. Vines crawled out of the darkness, reaching for the circle.

  Grabbing the ofuda she needed, she slapped it down on the line carved into the rock.

  “Sekisho no seishin,” she gasped.

  Light flared over the ofuda and a shimmering dome snapped into existence, enclosing her and Susano. The wind dwindled to a faint breeze that eddied weakly, stirring the floating spores caught inside the barrier.

  She slumped onto the ground beside Susano, her whole body quivering. As vines crawled up the sides of her barrier, she struggled to stay awake. Every thought, every moment of consciousness, was an effort of will.

  One of the ofuda she’d dropped lay a few inches away from her face. She inched one hand along the rock until her fingers touched the edge of the paper.

  “Shukusei no tama,” she whispered.

  The spores inside the barrier purified in a flicker of light. She inhaled the stale but clean air and sighed. Then, with nothing left to cling to, surrounded by darkness and terror, she slipped into oblivion.

  Fear chased her through nothingness. Her eyelids twitched, awareness returning slowly as panic hammered at her. Her head spun as though the hard rock under her was a churning ocean. Her body ached all over, with sharp, cutting pain searing her knees and elbows and a terrible pain throbbing deep in her back muscles.

  With a shuddering gasp, she forced her eyes open.

  The soft glow of her barrier spell illuminated the inside of the circle. Beyond it, a solid carpet of vines covered the dome, so thick she couldn’t see beyond them. Her ofuda had blackened, leaving only a small patch of glowing paper in the center.

  Tremors ran through her limbs. She had failed. She had freed Susano only to collapse halfway back, still too far for anyone to reach them. She had failed everyone—Shiro, Yumei, Uzume, Amaterasu. Why had she thought she could do this?

  With building despair, she looked at Susano, lying on his side next to her—and the faint light caught on liquid sapphire orbs.

  His eyes were open and watching her.

  “Susano!” she gasped hoarsely. Desolate misery surged through her like a suffocating black tar, dragging at her lungs, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she choked. “I couldn’t get you out. I’m sorry.”

  “How far?” His voice was even rougher than hers.

  “I don’t know.” She looked at the shimmering anchor thread extending from her palm, then at the barrier ofuda with a tiny spot of unburnt paper in its center. “I’m sorry.”

  With painful effort, he pushed himself up to sit beside her. The tremors in his limbs mirrored her quivering weakness. His eyes, though … his sapphire irises churned like storm clouds.

  “Are you ready to die?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Then rise and take up your sword.” He stretched his arm up and pressed his palm against the top of the barrier, his finger spread wide. “Until you are dead, the battle is not over.”

  He was right. As long as she was breathing, she couldn’t give up. As her ofuda flared with the last of its magic, she shoved herself up and retrieved Kogarashi, squeezing the hilt with trembling fingers.

  With a final flicker, the barrier dissolved.

  The vines surged to life, and in the same instant, Susano hissed a soft incantation. Crackling, electric teal light exploded from his
raised hand and surged over the vines. A smoky stench hung in the air and in the wake of the light, the vines blackened and died.

  Emi lifted Kogarashi. The sword hummed softly and the wind swirled, then gusted, tearing through the encasing vines that Susano had killed. Clambering up, she reached for him. He hooked an arm around her shoulders to lever himself to his feet. She slung her arm around the small of his back, Kogarashi in her other hand, and together they staggered out of the circle, following the glowing line of the anchor spell.

  Through endless caverns they walked. Susano struggled with each step, his body horribly weakened by years of poison and neglect. The vines attacked them ceaselessly, but between her wind and his magic, they forced their way through. Too many times, she stumbled and fell, pulling Susano down with her. Too many times, his legs buckled and they both hit the rocky ground. Each time, they got up again.

  Finally, she realized there were no more vines. The cave walls were clear. Susano wasn’t falling anymore. He walked steadily, and now it was his arm around her waist pulling her onward. He’d drawn her arm over his shoulders, holding her wrist and supporting her weight as she staggered at his side, panting for air. At some point, he’d taken Kogarashi from her shaking hand and returned the sword to its sheath at her hip.

  When the faintest lightening of the never-ending darkness reached them, she thought she must be hallucinating. Susano’s steps slowed and his arm tightened around her waist.

  “Let us return to the sun,” he whispered.

  The air shuddered around them and ki weighed on the air like the hush of a thunderstorm about to unleash its fury. Her connection with the wind vanished—claimed instead by Susano. It swirled around them, gathering, building. His legs bent in a crouch as power formed around them.

  In an explosion of force, he launched forward. The wind caught them and they blasted through the cavern, airborne and flying on the roiling gusts. The caves flashed by, the light growing until suddenly the dark ceiling of rock was gone and sunlight stabbed her eyes.