Mask lets out a loud battle cry, leaping down from a high shelf. The bear-assassin twists around, raising his sword. Their weapons clash, the sound ringing out like a bell.
Quickly Mask falls to the floor, rolling and slicing her dagger across his legs. Crying out, he drops the lantern, where it shatters upon a stack of scrolls, setting them on fire. Before Mask can slip away, he reaches and grabs her by the braid, yanking her head back. Her mask slips, and for a moment I glimpse rosy cheeks and a full mouth, bared in a grimace.
Screaming my own battle cry, I rush forward. He lets go of Mask to meet my attack. I feel the impact of our clashed weapons in a sharp pain rippling up my arm. All around us the fire now rages into an inferno.
“Mina!” I turn to see Mask has recovered and now holds a pile of firecrackers, her intent clear.
The assassin moves for another strike, and this time my borrowed dagger shatters upon contact. With a triumphant grin, he raises his sword.
Dai springs forward, grabs the arm of the bear-assassin, and bites down hard. Howling, the assassin drops his sword. Quickly I grab it, plunging it through his heavy robes and into the floorboards.
“Now!” I shout.
Mask throws the firecrackers into the fire, and they go off with a crackling boom.
We barrel out of the front, half-singed and coughing from the heavy smoke, as the store goes up in flames.
Outside, I hold Dai and Miki close. If it weren’t for them and Mask, I would have surely been lost.
“Hurry.” Mask pulls us to a stand. “We can’t stay out here on the street. We need to find shelter.”
Dai takes my hand, and together we follow Mask, who’s already a distance ahead, peering around a corner.
Suddenly she turns, a look of panic etched onto her grandmother mask.
“Look out!” she screams.
A huge sea snake erupts from between the buildings to our right. Its tail whips out, knocking me to one side, Dai and Miki to the other.
My body slams into the wall of a building. Dust rises around me, and I cough, disoriented, my ears dully ringing. A cry of pain shakes me out of my stupor. Dai. Miki. I scramble to my feet.
A short distance away, the snake has the two of them cornered against a building, caged in on either side by its coiling body. They’re trapped. I see the moment Dai realizes the same. His hand darts to his shoulder. Quickly he unties the knots of his sack, swinging Miki around and cradling her against his chest. He turns to the wall of the building, baring his back to the great snake. I watch, horrified as Dai leans over Miki, blocking her body with his own.
The snake lifts its tail, slashing it downward.
“No!” I scream.
Dai cries out. A deep slash gouges his back. He falls to his knees, Miki still held tightly in his grasp.
“No, please stop!” I lurch forward.
The snake raises its tail once more.
“Stop!” I look around desperately. “Someone, help—”
There’s a sharp whistle of sound. A golden arrow shoots down from the sky, embedding deep into the back of the snake’s neck. The snake writhes, howling. Another arrow finds its throat, cutting off its scream. The snake twists and falls, transforming into a man, eyes glassy and cold.
Out of the sky comes a great beast, what looks like a horse but with hooves of fire. A woman sits upon the beast, one arm pulling back the string of a large horn bow. Her hair falls down to her waist. Her eyes are like flaming candles. A bolt of lightning flashes and silhouettes her against the darkness. She’s the most awe-inspiring being I’ve ever seen, terrible and terrifying at once. Slowly she turns her mount, her bright gaze upon me.
“Goddess!”
Shin stands on the roof of the closest building, and with him is Kirin. Both show signs of the battle in their ripped clothing and their swords that drip with blood. “Call away your servants,” he commands, “and leave this city.”
Servants? Then she must be the Goddess of Moon and Memory. More Imugi have gathered in the sky above her. Yet if she is their mistress—I shift my gaze to the man on the ground, his body slowly fading—why did she kill one of them?
“Give me the girl,” the goddess says, “and I will leave in peace.”
“I already told your servant, Ryugi. Lady Mina is no longer the Sea God’s bride, but my own.”
This answer seems to displease her more than placate her, her grip tightening on the bow. “Then why does she walk in the Sea God’s gardens? Why does she tell him stories to tempt his heart? Your bride. The Sea God’s bride. It does not matter. To me, she is an enemy.”