Reiji Kageshiro's Arc

Chapter 9 of 4

The road north lay open, but the ice was not done with them. Reiji led the group along the wheel ruts at dusk. Scarlett walked beside him, one hand on her wolf's neck. The purple lines under its fur had darkened. The company moved in a tight line, glad the serpent slept. Then the frozen crust split again. The beast rose a second time, faster now. Its glacial scales shone, and the runes along its coils burned bright. This was no half-woken monster. It had learned. Its tail came down between Reiji and the others. The impact threw up a wall of shattered ice. When the fog cleared, Reiji stood on one side with Scarlett. Corvus, Crimson, and Aria were gone from view on the far side. "Split us like cattle," Scarlett said. She raised both crossbows. Her wolf snarled, but its legs shook. "It kept us apart on purpose." Reiji drew his mother's katana. The blade hummed against his palm. On the far side he heard Corvus fire, and Crimson shout. The serpent's body blocked them all. He could not reach them. He could only fight what stood in front of him. "The runes," Reiji said. "Aria dimmed them last time. Without her we cut them out." He pointed at a glowing mark on the nearest coil. "Break the light and it slows." Scarlett understood. She fired both bolts at the rune. They struck true and cracked the ice around it. The glow flickered. "Wolf!" she called. The great animal leapt despite the corruption in its blood. Its jaws clamped the wounded coil. The serpent thrashed and bellowed. Reiji ran along the beast's side. He drove the katana into the cracked rune. The blade screamed with light. The mark went dark. He pulled the sword free and struck the next one. Scarlett covered him, bolt after bolt, guiding his path. The wolf held on, though blood ran from its mouth. One by one the runes died. The serpent's coils lost their glow. Its huge head dropped. Reiji climbed to its skull and drove the katana down through the seam behind its eyes. The beast shuddered and went still. The ice wall between the two groups collapsed. Corvus stumbled over the rubble, scythe smoking. Crimson and Aria followed, cut but standing. "You killed it," Aria breathed. "For good this time." Reiji dropped to the snow. His arms burned. The road north lay clear now, and the guardian would never rise again. But Scarlett knelt over her wolf. It lay on its side, breathing hard. The purple lines had spread up its neck and reached its jaw. The fight had drained what strength the flower left it. "He's fading," Scarlett said. Her voice broke. "The road is open. But he won't reach the end of it." Reiji looked north. He had cleared the path to his mother. Now he had to choose whether to save the one who found it.