The Wings of Dreams

would—”
    She was about to cast them aside and abruptly stopped and looked again. Finely wrought gold and silver. And jewels.
    Shoutan said softly, “If Shushou-sama wished to take those, I certainly wouldn’t object.”
    Shushou shook her head, reflexively grasping at the front of her kimono jacket. “Gather together as many of these as you can find. I don’t care about the gold and silver. Save anything with gems or jewels, no matter how small. Turn the place upside down.”
    “Everything?”
    “Yes. Check those oil and sake flasks too.”
    Beneath the jacket she felt the outlines of the talisman and thought back to the shrine next to the Earth Gate. A Kenrou Shinkun talisman, for protection in the Yellow Sea. Kenrou Shinkun, with his armor and his shawl strewn with jewels. She didn’t know whether they’d work on that red monkey but it wouldn’t hurt to try.
    “After that, please round up everybody who’s carrying a weapon.”

    Shushou stood in front of the assembled group. Moonlight made any passing face appear untrustworthy. With several dozen men gathered together that was not an impression easily brushed off.
    “We have here oil and sake that Shitsu-san left behind. And necklaces and hairpins.”
    A murmur rustled through the crowd.
    “As long as we’re not doing the hunting, we’ll be the ones hunted. Our numbers will continue to fall. Maybe the next victim will be me. If you’re lucky, it won’t be you. But the fewer there are of us, the worse our odds are the next time. Anybody disagree?”
    As long as that angel of death was tagging along, Shushou had no intention of rejoining the caravan led by the koushu.
    “I’ve heard there’s something inside every youma that’s intoxicated by gems and jewels. I don’t know if it applies to this one. Perhaps not. But we have sake and oil. If jewels don’t work, maybe the alcohol will. The oil could be used in fire arrows.”
    Another murmur erupted in her audience.
    “The tent poles are made out of bamboo. These could be fashioned into one of those big crossbows used to defend castles.”
    “You mean a siege crossbow?”
    “Yes, that. Those who don’t have weapons can arm themselves with bamboo spears. We need to consider anything that might be effective against it.”
    “But—”
    “This gallant band should be more than enough to do the job.” Shushou forced a smile to her lips. “If we can only arrest its movements, we should be able to kill it.”
    The men exchanged nervous glances as Shushou surveyed her troops. “And we’ve got the perfect decoy. Me. Now, you wouldn’t want to see a frail little girl come to a bad end, would you?”

Chapter 31
    [4-8]  T he humans called the youma a shuen. His upper body resembled a red-haired ape. The face alone was white, while his legs were a striking shade of vermillion. He had sharp fangs, and feet and claws that resembled those of a bird of prey.
    And the keen intelligence to use those weapons well.
    The shuen had taken over this particular region of the Yellow Sea. He usually hunted other youma and scoffed at their attempts to intimidate him, no matter how ferocious they otherwise might be. Consistently able to outwit any straightforward attack, he actually enjoyed tearing his victims apart.
    Once he’d exhausted all the available game, he’d switch hunting grounds, periodically shifting his territory around the Yellow Sea.
    Now and then some two-legged critters wandered into his domain. They were weak and small and rarely made for a satisfying meal, but he enjoyed ripping the fragile things to shreds.
    Then one day, for whatever reason, a whole herd marched right past his nest. Slaughtering them all at once hardly presented a challenge. Besides, the corpses soon decayed. Picking them off one by one was more fun.
    So he shadowed them, attacking the herd from the rear one day, circling around to the front the next.
    He snagged one of the two-legged critters, dragged it behind a rock, tore off a few pieces, and took a satisfied nap. He woke up only to stuff the rest down his gullet. Not terribly filling but the taste wasn’t bad.
    When the hunger pangs again aroused him from sleep, he emerged from behind the rock and scanned the savanna. His eyes were drawn to the red dot of a fire. Where there was fire, the two-legged critters were never far away.
    With a cackle of glee—an almost human laugh—he slipped away from the rock.
    Shuen could cover the distance to the speck of light in