of the sword must come first. They had, the previous night, washed their clothes in a stream and thereafter dried them over the fire, so they didn’t look or smell quite as ragged as they felt when they presented themselves at the Great Eastern Temple’s gate.
“Jien and Aito, you say? I think they’re still in,” one of the guards said. “Do you need help locating them? We can—”
The second guard, staring at his bonded dragon bumping nose with a much larger dragon, spoke over his colleague. “Is that a great dragon?” The small dragon, though fully grown, was hardly bigger than a man’s arm; Yuki’s dragon was over twice as long and much bulkier. This kind of baffled reaction had been getting annoyingly frequent in the last few months.
“What else could I be?” Drac inquired.
The guard, resorting to the default response to an awkward situation, bowed deep. “Excuse my rudeness!”
Jien saved them from further delay by suddenly appearing, waving wildly. “Hey, Aki! Yuki! We’ve been expecting you. This way!”
The moment they were beyond the guards’ hearing, Yuki asked Jien the obvious question. “Did Sanae tell you we were coming?”
“Yes. She about frightened me to death, appearing out of nowhere! I took her for a ghost at first and Aito thought I was an idiot.”
That last sentence was as unexpected as a thunderclap from a clear sky. Aito didn’t think the lookalike was a ghost? Jien might have been fooled, but a man like Aito, who possessed familiars, couldn’t possibly be tricked by a spirit.
But if it wasn’t a ghost, then… then…
He was saved from thinking about it by Jien’s continuing babbling.
“She had time to explain about—” Jien flapped a hand about in search of words “—everything, about death and not death. Very interesting. She said you’d found a special sword you wanted to bring here. It didn’t take long for us to realize it’s the same sword we’ve been looking for!”
Akakiba halted mid-stride. “You’ve been looking for this sword? You know what it is, then?”
“Aito will tell you. Stables first.”
Jien led the way to the stables, where dozens of horses were kept, whether war-trained beasts or swift-footed ones ready to bear off messengers. A few empty stalls near the entrance looked little used, possibly meant to accommodate visitors like them. They surrendered their mounts to be unsaddled, rubbed down, and fed.
The next stop was the dormitories, a large building spacious enough to house a hundred monks. Yuki’s dragon made a beeline for a nearby pond while the rest of them went inside. Ascending to the second floor, where the spacing of the doors indicated the rooms were bigger than those on the first floor, they found Aito beckoning to them from an open doorway.
A steaming pot of tea and a plate of rice balls wrapped in seaweed waited for them inside.
“I apologize for the plain snack,” Aito said. “There wasn’t time to obtain better. Tea?”
They took the proffered cups but hardly took two sips before polite chitchat made way to the matter at hand. The strange sword was unwrapped and presented for inspection.
Aito recoiled when the blade was uncovered and, with a visible effort, shifted forward again to flick the blanket back over it. “So much energy,” he said. “Where did it get it?”
“The forest around it was dead for miles around,” Yuki said. “Nothing lived there.”
“We were told as much but I had doubts. I didn’t believe it possible the sword could draw energy from something it wasn’t actively in contact with. Seeing its huge reserves, I’ve no choice but to believe.” Aito produced a map from a corner of the room where several scrolls were piled near a writing table. He unrolled it carefully. “Show me where you found it.”
Yuki studied the map before putting his finger down. “About here.”
“That’s the middle of nowhere,” Jien said. “Aito, is there something special about that
“Jien and Aito, you say? I think they’re still in,” one of the guards said. “Do you need help locating them? We can—”
The second guard, staring at his bonded dragon bumping nose with a much larger dragon, spoke over his colleague. “Is that a great dragon?” The small dragon, though fully grown, was hardly bigger than a man’s arm; Yuki’s dragon was over twice as long and much bulkier. This kind of baffled reaction had been getting annoyingly frequent in the last few months.
“What else could I be?” Drac inquired.
The guard, resorting to the default response to an awkward situation, bowed deep. “Excuse my rudeness!”
Jien saved them from further delay by suddenly appearing, waving wildly. “Hey, Aki! Yuki! We’ve been expecting you. This way!”
The moment they were beyond the guards’ hearing, Yuki asked Jien the obvious question. “Did Sanae tell you we were coming?”
“Yes. She about frightened me to death, appearing out of nowhere! I took her for a ghost at first and Aito thought I was an idiot.”
That last sentence was as unexpected as a thunderclap from a clear sky. Aito didn’t think the lookalike was a ghost? Jien might have been fooled, but a man like Aito, who possessed familiars, couldn’t possibly be tricked by a spirit.
But if it wasn’t a ghost, then… then…
He was saved from thinking about it by Jien’s continuing babbling.
“She had time to explain about—” Jien flapped a hand about in search of words “—everything, about death and not death. Very interesting. She said you’d found a special sword you wanted to bring here. It didn’t take long for us to realize it’s the same sword we’ve been looking for!”
Akakiba halted mid-stride. “You’ve been looking for this sword? You know what it is, then?”
“Aito will tell you. Stables first.”
Jien led the way to the stables, where dozens of horses were kept, whether war-trained beasts or swift-footed ones ready to bear off messengers. A few empty stalls near the entrance looked little used, possibly meant to accommodate visitors like them. They surrendered their mounts to be unsaddled, rubbed down, and fed.
The next stop was the dormitories, a large building spacious enough to house a hundred monks. Yuki’s dragon made a beeline for a nearby pond while the rest of them went inside. Ascending to the second floor, where the spacing of the doors indicated the rooms were bigger than those on the first floor, they found Aito beckoning to them from an open doorway.
A steaming pot of tea and a plate of rice balls wrapped in seaweed waited for them inside.
“I apologize for the plain snack,” Aito said. “There wasn’t time to obtain better. Tea?”
They took the proffered cups but hardly took two sips before polite chitchat made way to the matter at hand. The strange sword was unwrapped and presented for inspection.
Aito recoiled when the blade was uncovered and, with a visible effort, shifted forward again to flick the blanket back over it. “So much energy,” he said. “Where did it get it?”
“The forest around it was dead for miles around,” Yuki said. “Nothing lived there.”
“We were told as much but I had doubts. I didn’t believe it possible the sword could draw energy from something it wasn’t actively in contact with. Seeing its huge reserves, I’ve no choice but to believe.” Aito produced a map from a corner of the room where several scrolls were piled near a writing table. He unrolled it carefully. “Show me where you found it.”
Yuki studied the map before putting his finger down. “About here.”
“That’s the middle of nowhere,” Jien said. “Aito, is there something special about that
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