The Wings of Dreams

going on?”
    “What’s going on is we got lucky,” Gankyuu said, wiping off the sword with a handful of grass.
    Shushou balled her hands into fists. “You expect me to believe that was mere chance?”
    “Well, it was, so what do you want me to say?”
    “You’re lying. I don’t believe in coincidences, and certainly not when it comes to coincidences like that. Last night, you and Kinhaku were wishing for an attack. There’s no other way to interpret it. And an attack happened. An attack happened and people died—”
    “You don’t know that anybody died.”
    “That’s not the issue!” Shushou’s voice grew louder. “Why were you wishing for a youma attack? You hoped for them to show up, and they showed up. What’s that all about?”
    Oh, good grief, Gankyuu’s sigh said. “I also said you were smart enough to be a little handful of trouble and a big pain in the ass.”
    “Answer my question!” the girl looked up at him, all but ready to stamp her feet.
    “Yeah, I wanted the youma to attack. The next three days down the slope from that lake will be dangerous going.”
    “You’re telling me you wanted the scent of blood in the air?”
    “That’s right. The next three days will be bad enough. This takes at least one worry off the table.”
    Shushou fixed her eyes on him. “So you summoned them?”
    Gankyuu shrugged. “Who knows? Kinhaku hoped they would show up, and I agreed. That’s all we did.”
    “Then I’ll ask it a different way: are there ways of summoning youma?”
    “There are. Sacrificing a goat or horse or bird usually does it. But I’d hardly call that summoning them.”
    “You—you beast !” Letting her anger get the better of her, Shushou flung out her arms in a rage.
    Gankyuu seized them easily. “I’ll tell you this. You hired me, and told me to take you to Mt. Hou.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “You being the one who hired me, and I being the one hired to protect you, the end result is no different than you protecting yourself.”
    Shushou gaped at him. “You must be joking!”
    “Why? It is what it is. We’re not here on my account, but yours. Try exercising that imaginative mind of yours before you go shooting off your mouth.”
    “I didn’t—” Shushou wrenched her body, but couldn’t tear her wrist free of Gankyuu’s firm grasp. “Nobody here told you to do awful things like that!”
    “That’s what asking for safe passage means. A goushi protecting the person who commissioned him has to make maximum use of every resource, person or thing, at his disposal. There are no exceptions. None. ”
    “That can’t be—”
    Gankyuu released his hold. Abruptly finding herself yanking against nothing, Shushou fell on her behind. However she wanted to jump to her feet and fling herself at him, she didn’t have the strength left in her legs.
    “I never expected such despicable means.”
    “You think that is despicable? You are naive.”
    Gankyuu glanced up at Rikou, sitting on the broad bench of the fallen tree, arms folded across his chest, silently looking down at Gankyuu.
    “The Yellow Sea is not a place where humans should be. Setting foot here was madness in the first place. You think killing every youma would be the end of it? That’s the joke. Take that approach and your bodyguard, meaning me, would be dead on his feet in no time. Forget about me, there are youma out there that an armed regiment of twenty-five hundred men couldn’t handle. And yet you tell me to put my own life on the line and protect you. Failing that, are you going to use me as a shield while you scamper to safety?”
    Shushou was at a loss for words.
    “Do you think that with a bodyguard close at hand, the youma will just give you a pass? That’s the kind of thinking that makes you a troublesome brat. This is youma territory. We’re the ones who crossed the line onto their turf. They’re going to come at us, no matter what. It’s a month and a half to Mt. Hou. Did you think you’d be so lucky that none of them would run into you? How long did it take you to get here from Kyou? Was it smooth sailing the whole way?”
    “That’s a—”
    “You couldn’t get here from Kyou without having your kijuu stolen out from under you. Did you think there was no risk of having your life stolen out from under you after traveling for a month and a half in the Yellow Sea?”
    “Just because—”
    “How is using me as a shield any different from using them for the