Page 72 of Drawn into Oblivion

Rosuke crossed the short distance between them and pulled her into his arms. The tension in her body drained away, allowing her composure to return. She wrapped her arms around him and concentrated on how warm he felt.

“I just lost ten years off my life,” he whispered against her head. She normally would’ve smiled at his exaggeration but couldn’t—not where they were. Not in this place.

“Is everyone…uninjured?” Shumei asked, keeping her voice down. Mai reluctantly pulled away from Rosuke and gathered with everyone in a tight circle.

“Good choice of words,” Kiyoshi said with a quirk of his head. Mai heard a tremor in his voice. “I’m fine physically but not mentally. By the gods, I’d read a description of the Human Forest, but to see it with my own eyes…”

“Focus on what we’re here to do. Stop scaring yourself and everyone else.”

“Of course, Your Imperial Grace,” he demurred.

“I’d say the gate spell worked exceedingly well. We’re under the best cover to be found in this place, and we avoided both that demon camp and the Human Forest.”

“It certainly would’ve been extraordinarily unlucky if we had popped out over one of those spikes,” Rosuke observed. The others grimly nodded.

The empress sent a nod Mai’s way. “Mai, a quick review, please.”

Right, she was the one with knowledge of demons—that is, everything the old court had learned.

“Most of what we know is from Shizuka’s campaign, as you’ll recall from our last meeting,” Mai began. “But a veteran of Suzu’s campaign said that something he called a Weeping Willow killed his entire unit. Unfortunately, he died of his injuries before the scribe could learn more, but the name makes me think it’s some sort of tree-shaped creature. Other than that, any lookouts or patrols we might expect to come across are typical dog soldiers. Tree diggers were also mentioned in another account from Suzu’s campaign. Both must be killed quickly and quietly.”

“Tree diggers are large, light-colored bumps on tree trunks, correct?” Jun asked.

“Yes. And according to the account, they use the trees close to the demon city. We’re still more than a mile from there, as a bird flies, but keep an eye out all the same.”

“A simple slice of your sword will do the trick, Jun,” Vallen explained, slashing his hand through the air.

Shumei took over. “We’re not going as a bird flies, so we have about three miles of forest between us and the other side of the city where the waste river flows out. Kiyoshi will lead the way as planned and return every ten minutes to report any enemy scouts. Vallen and I will go next, then Rosuke and Mai another hundred feet behind. Jun will bring up the rear.”

Everyone nodded. Then Shumei directed who would place tracking spells on whom. Magical tracking could quickly get complicated, for the spell’s complexity grew tenfold if tracking more than one person and if one was also being tracked. To keep the castings simple, Shumei would be tied to Kiyoshi, Rosuke to Vallen, and Jun to Mai, thus connecting each segment of their procession. Casting the tracking spells took a matter of seconds.

They’d be moving out in only a moment, but hopefully not before Mai could get her adrenaline under control. Unlike Kiyoshi, she doubted she could ever be called an expert in stealth, so ghosting through an evil forest would be difficult enough without knees that wobbled like pudding. And if her thunderous heartbeat didn’t give her away, her heavy breathing would. In fact, everyone was panting, even Kiyoshi. But dog soldiers couldn’t hear breathing, could they?

“Wait,” she said as the answer spilled into her mind.

Rosuke squeezed her shoulder. “What is it?”

“Dog soldiers have exceptional hearing, so let me perform a spell that will mute our movements. We won’t be able to speak to each other, but from here on out, we’ll be using the hand signals, correct?”

“An excellent idea,” Shumei agreed. “I’ll take Kiyoshi, you take Jun. I’m sure Vallen and Rosuke know the spell.” Nodding, Mai turned to Jun, who shifted nervously. She touched his chest and spoke the keyword. When she stepped back, he tested the results, and though his lips moved, no sound came out. Surprised, he touched his throat and tried again. Even the sound of his clothes shifting had been muted.

“That’s some gift the Divine One gave you,” Rosuke said.

“Considering all the knowledge that was lost in the Blondie Uprising, I don’t think we would’ve gotten so far without it.” She brought her hand to her chest. “Ready?”

He nodded as he mirrored her, and together they spoke the keyword. “Chinmoku.”

A quick test ensured the spell had worked. Then she nodded at Shumei and flashed the hand signal that meant success. Lastly, she checked the leg sheath on her right thigh, running her fingers over the handle of her dagger. In case of close encounters…

Shumei signaled to Kiyoshi with her pinkie finger—his unique sign—and then pointed behind him. He would follow the tree line, though from deeper within the forest, all the way to the banks of the waste river behind the demon city. At the moment, the bend of the tree line blocked their view of the city walls, but Mai wasn’t in a particular hurry to see it.

Besides the general layout of the demon city’s outskirts, they knew nothing of the city itself, for no previous empress had gone farther than the main gate, but Mai assumed it would be nothing short of a maze. So their best bet would be to sneak into the city center using the narrow channel that funneled out waste. Mai knew that none of them was looking forward to a river of demon filth, but following it to its source would most certainly take them straight to the fortress in the center.

Kiyoshi set off, footsteps inaudible as he swiftly moved deeper into the forest. Shumei and Vallen followed a moment later, pausing only long enough to share a meaningful look with those still waiting. All too quickly, they disappeared, but Mai remembered the tracking spells that had been cast, and held on to the meager, metaphysical lifeline they represented.

Before she knew it, it was her and Rosuke’s turn to head into the forest. Rosuke silently bid Jun good luck as they moved out, and Mai followed Rosuke’s lead as he followed the pull of the tracking spell deeper into the woods. Just as they turned to move parallel to the tree line, she felt the tug of the tracking spell Jun had placed on her and knew he was following.

The silence was oppressive. Terrifying. Even with Rosuke right by her side, she fought for every step she took through the dead forest.