The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon

sparkled.
    "This is an ornament?"
    "That's right."
    Being this close to the sword made her feel that much better. But Youko focused instead on the man. He put his hand on the hilt. Go ahead, she urged him, try and pull it out. That man back in the field, he hadn't been able to. Keiki said that only she could wield the sword. Perhaps it was true that no one besides her could, but she wanted to be sure.
    He put all his effort into it. The hilt didn't budge from the scabbard even a fraction of an inch.
    "Please, give it back to me."
    He laughed to scorn at Youko's request. "Like I told you, it gets turned over to the authorities. Besides, it won't do you much good, what with your head chopped off. No matter how much you want to look, you can't see much with your eyes shut."
    Youko bit her lip. If not for these ropes, the sword would be hers. Perhaps Jouyuu could help her out, she thought. But as much as she tried the cords would not give. Not even Jouyuu could give her supernatural powers.
    Glancing about for some way to cut the rope and get hold of the sword, a flash of gold in the passing terrain caught her eye.
    The horse cart turned onto a mountain road. There amongst the rows of trees neatly arrayed in the dark forest she recognized a familiar color. She opened her eyes wider. At the same time Jouyuu sent his presence crawling across her skin.
    There was a person in the forest. A person with long golden hair, a pale face, wearing a robe that resembled a long kimono.
    Keiki.
    As Youko whispered his name, a voice she knew that was not her own echoed inside her head.
    Taiho.

Chapter 14
    " S top!"
    Youko leaned forward and shouted, "Keiki! Help me!"
    "What the . . . ! " The man next to her grabbed her shoulders and shoved her down.
    Youko whirled around. "Stop the wagon! There's somebody I know out there!"
    "There's nobody you know here."
    "He was just there! It's Keiki! Please, stop!"
    The horses slowed their gait.
    The golden light was already in the distance. But she saw enough to know that there was definitely somebody there, that next to him was another person, and that person was wearing a dark cloak over his head like the grim reaper, and that he had gathered about him a number of beasts.
    "Keiki!"
    As she turned and called out, the man yanked back on Youko's shoulders. She fell hard on her behind. When she raised her head again the golden light was gone. She could see the place where it had been, but the people there had vanished.
    "Keiki!"
    "Enough already!" the man said, roughly shaking her. "There's nobody there! Quit trying to play us!"
    "He was there!"
    "Shut yer mouth!"
    Youko cringed. The horse cart continued on its way. Youko cast a resigned glance back behind her. Of course, there was nobody there.
    Why?
    The voice she had heard, in the instant she believed she had seen Keiki, it had surely been Jouyuu's. So it must have been Keiki. She had seen his fellow creatures as well. So they must be okay.
    But then why didn't he help me?
    Wracking her thoughts in confusion, she let her gaze wander. But she couldn't see that golden glow anywhere.
    At that moment from within the forest came a cry.
    Youko stared at where the sound was coming from. So did the man next to her. It was the cry of a baby. They were hearing the spasmodic wailing of a child.
    The driver had up to that point said nothing, only driven the wagon forward. He shot the two of them a look and loosened the reigns. The horses quickened their pace.
    "Hey . . . . " His companion pointed off in the direction of the crying. "But it's a baby."
    "Don't care. You hear a baby crying here in the mountains, that's good reason to keep your distance."
    "But, still . . . . "
    The baby began wailing like it was being scalded, a pressing, urgent cry that no human could bear to ignore. The man continued to search for the source of the sound, leaning out over the side of the wagon. The driver snapped, "Pay it no mind. I've heard there's man-eating youma in these mountains that'll howl just like a baby crying."
    Youko felt herself tense up at the mention of the word. Youma. Demons.
    The man frowned, looking at the woods and then at the driver. With a hard expression on his face, the driver snapped the reins again. The wagon began to bounce and sway along the hill road. The forest crowded the trail on both sides, shadowing it in gloom.
    For a brief moment Youko had believed Keiki was going to save her, but Jouyuu's presence was growing more intense, her entire