Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate Read Online Free Page B

when I was at Court. Yet, even if that were true, why would he choose
shikigami
to spirit the letter away? It was in his possession to begin with; removing it and making that removal seem like theft would be simple enough to arrange without resorting to such means.”
    Kanemore shrugged. “I’ve heard these rumors as well, but I gave them no credence. Even so, it is the letter that concerns me, not the workings of Lord Sentaro’s twisted mind.”
    Concentrating on the matter at hand seemed a very sensible suggestion, and I abandoned my musings as we approached the deserted Rasha Gate. At least, it had seemed deserted when we passed through it earlier that evening; I was not so certain of that now. I regretted having to leave my sword behind for my audience with Teiko-hime, but I still had my dagger, and I made certain it was loose in its sheath.
    The gate structure loomed above us. We checked around the base as far as we could but found no obvious hiding places. Now and then I heard a faint rustle, like someone winding and unwinding a scroll. Kanemore was testing the looseness of a stone on the west side of the gate. I motioned him to be still and listened more closely. After a few moments the sound came again, from above.
    This time Kanemore heard it, too. He put his sword aside in favor of his own long dagger, which he clenched in his teeth like a Chinese pirate as he climbed the wooden beams and crossbars that supported the gate. I quickly followed his example, or as quickly as I could manage. Kanemore climbed like a monkey, whereas I was not quite so nimble. Still, I was only a few seconds behind him when he reached the gap between the gate frame and the elaborate roof.
    “Yamada-san, they are here!”
    I didn’t have to ask who “they” were. The first of the
shikigami
plummeted past, missing me by inches before it dissolved. If the body survived long enough to strike the flagstones, I never heard it, but then I wasn’t listening. I hauled myself over the top beam and landed in a crouch.
    I needn’t have bothered; the gap under the roof was quite tall enough for me to stand. Kanemore had two other lumbering
shikigami
at bay, but a third moved to attack him from the rear. It was different from the other two. Snakelike, it slithered across the floor, fangs bared and its one yellow eye fixed on Kanemore’s naked heel.
    I was too far away.
    “Behind you!”
    I threw myself forward and buried my dagger in the creature near the tip of its tail, which was all I could reach. Even there the thing was as thick as my arm, but I felt the dagger pierce the tail completely and bury its tip in the wood beneath it. My attack barely slowed the creature; there was a sound like the tearing of paper as it ripped itself loose from my blade to get at Kanemore.
    Kanemore glanced behind him and to my surprise took one step backward. Just as the thing’s fangs reached for him, he very swiftly lifted his left foot, pointed the heel, and thrust it down on the creature’s neck just behind the head. There was a snap like the breaking of a green twig, and the serpent began to dissolve. In that instant the other two
shikigami
seized the chance and attacked, like their companion, in utter silence.
    “Look out!”
    I could have saved my breath. Kanemore’s dagger blade was already a blur of motion, criss-crossing the space in front of him like a swarm of wasps. Even if the other two creatures intended to scream, they had no time before they, too, dissolved into the oblivion from whence they came. Kanemore was barely breathing hard.
    “Remind me to never fight on any side of a battle opposite you,” I said as I got back off the floor.
    “One doesn’t always get to choose one’s battles,” Kanemore said dryly. “In any case it seems you’ve returned the favor for my earlier rescue, so we may call our accounts settled in that regard.”
    I picked up a ragged bit of mulberry paper, apparently all that remained of our recent foes. There