Shattered: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Seven (12 page)

Oberon had been so patient while we fixed my tattoos that I declared we needed to hunt before we did anything else. Owen thought it a fine idea but decided to be our spotter instead of joining in. In the earliest gray of dawn, I shape-shifted to a hound and he assumed his bird form, a red kite, before taking wing and searching for game. After a few minutes he gave a screech to the east and we ran over to see what he had found, and it was a small herd of deer.

Owen and I shifted back to human after we brought down a buck, and we waited until Oberon had eaten his fill—neither of us was particularly fond of eating in our shape-shifted forms. Owen practiced speaking English with me to fill the time. He could understand the flow of speech pretty well now, but speaking is always tougher than listening. He was nailing the accent, though, and once he achieved fluency he would fit in fine.

It was as we were getting dressed again, back at the binding site, that we were surprised.

I squatted down by reflex to minimize my silhouette, and Owen did the same without knowing what had alarmed me. We were squinting toward the tree line when a tiny, delicate woman wearing a rich red-and-white kimono appeared from behind an alder, perhaps fifty yards away. Seeing that I had spied her, she bowed. I inclined my head but kept my eyes on her. Aside from the fact that she was something of a visual non sequitur—an outfit like that belonged in Kyoto, not the Pyrenees—there was something off about her. Unprovoked, Oberon growled and then barked aggressively.

Oberon, what’s wrong?

Okay, thank you. I’m warned of her, and she is warned of you. Please hush so that I can hear her if she speaks
.

She had a narrow face, high cheekbones, and large, close-set eyes. Those eyes were currently fixed on Oberon, and her entire frame seemed to quiver, the way frightened animals sometimes do. Her black hair was twisted and piled atop her head, held in place with jade pins, and these blurred in my vision with distance and her shuddering fear.

Oberon, I need you to retreat out of sight. Let her see you leave
.

I think she wants to talk but she won’t while you’re here, and I would really like to know what she has to say
.

I won’t. I don’t
.

Oberon turned and trotted away until the underbrush obscured him completely, though he’d gone only thirty yards or so. I rose and bowed to the woman, and she nodded in return but did not move toward me for a full minute. Her eyes focused behind me where Oberon had disappeared. Perhaps she was making sure he wasn’t coming back. During the course of that minute, her shaking gradually calmed and she regained her composure, and Owen rose and stood next to me.

“Who the feck is that, Siodhachan?” he whispered. “Never seen a woman like that.”

“And you probably never will again. This is a treat. Just watch. It’s safe, I think.” I could have checked her out in the magical spectrum, but there was no need. Judging by clues of her behavior, I thought I already knew what she was. Owen didn’t, and I heard him speak the words to cast magical sight. I doubted it would tell him much beyond what Oberon had already said: That lady wasn’t really a lady at all.

Finally satisfied that it was safe to draw closer, she approached another ten yards, then twenty, before stopping. She bowed again and spoke Japanese in a soft, ethereal tone. Owen quietly breathed, “Balls,” frustrated that he couldn’t understand.

“Begging your pardon, honored sir, but may I speak with you briefly?” the woman said.

“It would please me if you did. This one is called Siodhachan Ó Suileabháin.” At the mention of my name, Owen shot a questioning glance at me. I didn’t have time to explain, unfortunately.

“Then you are he whom I seek,” the woman said. “This unworthy one is called Fujiwara-no-Kuni. We are much alike.”

“How is that so?”

“We are both bound creatures. We serve that which is greater than ourselves. And we do not always show the world our true face.”

I gave her a small smile. “I serve Gaia. Whom do you serve?”

“I serve the celestial and radiant Inari, who wishes to speak with you on matters of great import, provided your will and convenience be untroubled.”

“This one is honored and grateful for the invitation. Where should I seek an audience?”

“Seek her at Fushimi Inari-taisha near Kyoto. Do you know of it?”

“Yes.”

Kuni pulled one of the jade pins out of her hair and flourished it with a graceful twirl of silken sleeve before tossing it to me gently. I caught it and held it still, away from my body.

“Place that at the foot of any kitsune statue around the shrine and call my name,” she said. “There are many statues spread across the mountain. I will come and usher you to Inari herself.”

“I understand and will visit very soon. May I ask, however, how you knew where to find me?”

“You may. This I am permitted to answer, but I must begin with a question. Do you remember a dream you had featuring the Vedic god Ganesha?”

“I remember very well,” I said. He had instructed me to leave Hel alone and delivered a not-so-subtle threat should I choose to ignore his orders.

“I was instructed to say that, in the dream, Ganesha mentioned he represented certain other parties. The one I serve, the sublime Inari, is one of those parties. And another of those parties is omniscient. He can find you regardless of your iron protection. My mistress wishes to speak with you more about the issues originally raised by Ganesha.”

“Understood. Thank you for your trouble. I wish you and your mistress harmony, Fujiwara-no-Kuni.”

“Good health and good fortune to you, Siodhachan Ó Suileabháin. This one apologizes for not speaking to your companion. Please accept this small gift as a token of my respect for you both.” She bowed and then abruptly shrank into her kimono, which fluttered to the ground. A white fox with five tails leapt out of it and, with a flash of fur, disappeared into the forest, leaving the kimono behind.

“A five-tailed fox!” Owen exclaimed. “Why’d it have five tails? Does it have five arseholes?”

“No. Well, I guess I really don’t know—uggh, gods, I hope not! I never thought about it before. But never mind! That was a kitsune, a messenger of the Shinto gods in Japan. The number of tails indicates its relative power. Five is not the most powerful, but neither is it weak.” I silently let Oberon know it was okay to return now.

“What did she want?”

“I have been summoned to visit the goddess Inari. Well, I was
invited, but such invitations are really given with the expectation of attendance. Willing to spend some more time with werewolves?”

Owen shrugged. “Sure, they’re fun when you’re not around.”

I ignored his gibe and said, “All right, let’s go back to Arizona and I’ll present you to the Tempe Pack. The alpha there, Hal Hauk, handles my legal affairs, and if you decide you like him, he can handle yours too. He’s well connected with packs around the world.”

“Sounds like the werewolves kind of run things now.”

“No, not really. They have no interest in running anything but their own territories. I prefer dealing with them because they’re human most of the time and have largely human priorities. And if I want something from them, all they want is money. When you deal with witches or vampires, they always want favors instead.”

“You won’t find me dealing with witches or vampires.”

“I don’t imagine I will. Come on. Let’s grab that kimono and I’ll introduce you to the horrors of the internal combustion engine.”

“Make sense, damn you.”

“That robe is called a kimono. The kitsune left it for you.”

“She did? What am I supposed to do with it?”

“I imagine it will make a great gift.” The silk had whorls of darker red in it, subtle layerings of color from fire-engine scarlet to burgundy, and was bordered at the edges in white with textured grass blades in cool grays.

“Oh, ye want me to give it to ye, is that it? Well, feck off. It’s prettier than three pairs o’ tits, and I’m keeping it.”

Since there was no way to shift directly into the Phoenix metro area—a limitation I appreciated very much when I was hiding from the Fae—we shifted back to Flagstaff, and I rented a car there to drive down into the Valley of the Sun. It was an opportunity to introduce him to modern materials like plastic and rubber and asphalt.

Owen planned to visit the Tuatha Dé Danann after he’d acquired
his ID, and I told him that he should get up to Sam and Ty’s place somehow when he returned and call me from there. Dropping him off on Mill Avenue in Hal’s care, I wished I could stay and enjoy lunch with them, but Inari was waiting for me. I turned directly around and drove back the way I came.

Even with the delay, I was able to keep that appointment in Japan in not quite six hours. I never did tether too many places there to Tír na nÓg, which often forced me to make some long trips into the cities when I had reason to visit in modern times, but one of the few places I had tethered in the old days happened to be Mount Inari in Kyoto. It had been my good fortune to spend time in the country during the dawn of the Tokugawa shogunate, and I thought Nijo Castle, with its fascinating nightingale floor, was worth keeping an eye on. I tethered an area near the top of Mount Inari because I could see even then that space was at a premium in Japan and the valleys would all be developed soon enough. The only safe place to tie up was on mountainsides.

Parts of Mount Inari were developed anyway, but the developments were Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples rather than residences, and the trees had been left alone, apart from what was needed for the slim paths through them. The largest and most famous of the shrines was Fushimi Inari, with its hundreds of vermilion
torii
to usher the faithful up the mountain. Walking the paths underneath those gates could take an hour or two. When I shifted to the mountain with Oberon, we arrived near the top. Back in Arizona it had been late afternoon, but here above Kyoto it was already dawn of the next day, and wan light filtered through the canopy of trees. We threaded our way through the forest until we found one of the shrine paths and followed it down. At a place where the path crossed another, it was watched over by two kitsune statues. These statues were often carved of gray stone, and the kitsunes were sometimes depicted holding a key to the granary, a scroll, or a ball in their mouths. The one I chose held a scroll, emphasizing the kitsune’s role as a messenger of Inari; it was supported by several levels of
pedestals, blocks rising like a layered wedding cake, high enough so that we had to look up at the statue. Since Oberon had missed my conversation with the kitsune, he wasn’t quite caught up on what we were doing, other than visiting a shrine. When he took in the kitsune, his ears pricked up with interest.

No, it’s a kitsune. A fox
.

No, it’s a scroll
.

scroll
? Okay, I just lost all respect for that fox. Every canine knows you only put food or toys into your mouth.>

Is that so? You used to fetch my newspaper for me
.

Perhaps this kitsune will get a treat after it delivers the scroll. Did you think of that?

I needed Oberon to entertain himself while I concentrated on summoning the kitsune, so I said to him,
Think long and carefully on this before you answer, because it will literally be set in stone. If there was a shrine to Oberon the Irish Wolfhound and you were sculpted with a single treat in your mouth, what would that treat be?

Take your time
.

Oberon swayed on his feet, physically rocked by the magnitude of the query. very
serious question, Atticus. I’d better go lie down over here and consider it.>

Go ahead. I’ll wait
.

With Oberon situated, I pulled the jade pin out of my pocket and placed it at the base of the statue, keeping my fingertip in contact with it as I spoke.

“Fujiwara-no-Kuni, it is I, Siodhachan Ó Suileabháin, here to see Inari as promised. I await you here at the base of this statue.”
I kept my eyes on the face of the statue for several seconds, then I let go of the pin, turned, and sank down until my back rested against the base of the pedestal. I didn’t know how long I’d have to wait. It might be quite some time. Considering that I had met Fujiwara-no-Kuni in the Pyrenees only six hours ago, it was silly to expect her to be waiting for me in Japan now. Unless she had some method of traveling quickly, as many messengers of the gods do.

Turned out that she did. Perhaps twenty minutes later she walked up the path from below, wearing a white kimono this time with a cherry blossom pattern. As before, she stopped some distance away, not wishing to get too close to Oberon.

he said, springing to his feet. He was startled because he’d been so deeply absorbed in his meditation on treats.

I know. But she means us no harm. Do not growl or bark at her, and do not leave my side, okay? It would be rude
.

The kitsune bowed deeply before speaking. “Welcome to Japan, honored Druid. This one will take you to Inari. Please follow me. We will walk for a short distance.”

“I will follow.
Arigato gozaimasu
.”

We trailed after the gray bow of her obi down to the bottom of the mountain, actually leaving the grounds of Fushimi Inari and walking a block away into the neighborhood surrounding the shrine. There were modest single homes with patios or gardens ringed by bamboo fences and tiny cars parked underneath overhanging second stories. During the walk, Oberon shared with me his musings.