“Izanagi’s balls,” Michi hissed.
The council gathered around the ruined machine, no more than a handful in size. One of the delicate legs twitched, blue sparks popping as the light in its eye slowly died. Buruu growled, a bass rumble felt deep in Yukiko’s chest. The night fell deathly still.
“What the hells is that?” Kaori hissed.
Michi crouched low to the boards, eyes on the ruined machine. Her terrified puppy leapt into her arms, tail between his legs, eyes fixed on Buruu. The thunder tiger snorted once, tail moving side to side with easy, feline grace.
GOOD EYES, LITTLE WOLF. PERHAPS I WON’T EAT YOU AFTER ALL.
“It’s a Guild surveillance drone,” Michi said. “Kigen palace was full of them.”
Akihito nudged the thing with his boot. “What do they do?”
“What they see, the Guild knows.”
The big man’s eyes widened. He lifted his warclub and pounded it a little flatter.
Michi clutched a terrified Tomo to her breast. “Gods, it’s dead, Akihito!”
The big man shrugged apology, smashed it once more for good measure.
“Where in the hells did it come from?” Yukiko asked.
“Stowed away on the Kurea, maybe?” Akihito looked at the Blackbird.
“Amaterasu’s tits, man.” The captain raised one eyebrow. “Why on earth would the Guild have drones aboard my ship? If they knew I was a Kagé sympathizer, they’d have locked me in a torture cell faster than a Docktown strumpet lifts her kimono when the navy hits town.”
Michi scruffed her puppy’s ears to calm him. “One of the False-Lifers I killed in Aisha’s bedchambers had a thing like this hidden in the orb on her back.” She looked directly at Kaori. “Maybe this one belonged to the False-Lifer you kept prisoner here?”
Yukiko’s heart sank. “Ayane…”
“… She was spying on us,” Kaori breathed. “Even locked in her cell, that bitch could see everything!” She hurled the ruined machine into the firepit, voice rising with fury. “Who knows how long it’s been watching? And you want us to lay with these snakes, Yukiko?”
“Kaori, just—”
“Just what? The Lotus Guild has murdered our allies and friends! Butchered thousands of gaijin. If there is a rebellion within it, they’re a pack of cowards, sitting on their hands while this country rushes toward the brink.” Kaori turned to Maro. “Get to the transmission station. We broadcast this news tonight. Name this Misaki openly. We’ll see what the clanlords think when they find out the Guild itself has an insurrection brewing inside it.”
“You can’t do that,” Yukiko said.
“You do not tell me what I can and cannot do, Stormdancer.”
“What do you think the Guild will do if you name her openly? They’ll kill her, Kaori!”
“One less chi-monger. Perhaps her death will spur her comrades into action.”
“Are you serious? Since when were we about murdering innocents?”
“Innocents?” Kaori spat. “Is that a joke?”
“The Guild rebels can be our allies! We’re on the same godsdamned side!”
“Is that so? And what were our ‘allies’ doing while the Guild turned the skies to blood and the rivers to tar?”
“Read the letter! They’ve been working for years, waiting for—”
“Waiting!” Kaori roared. “Waiting while thousands died. Birds dropping from the skies, forests razed, gaijin turned into fertilizer. Waiting for what? An invitation? A perfect moment that would never come?”
“It’s wrong, Kaori. What right do we have to risk their lives?”
“Such a paragon, aren’t you? The mighty Arashi-no—”
“Oh, cut the Stormdancer bullshit!”
Kaori and Yukiko were nose to nose now. Kaori’s hand was on her wakizashi, but Yukiko was yet to touch her katana. The blades were sisters, once wielded by Daichi, given now to his daughter and pupil; women he must have hoped would stand united after he’d fallen.
Buruu growled beside Yukiko, his rising anger mirroring her own. The girl’s fury had also drawn Kaiah, the female arashitora swooping down from the clouds and landing on Daichi’s ruined roof, looking over the rising tempers with narrowed eyes. Lanterns were being lit across the village, sleep-mussed people creeping out their doors to see what the fuss was about. Kaori seemed oblivious, spit flecked on her lips as she continued to roar.
“We are the ones fighting and dying, Yukiko! We are the ones paying the price while these rebels sit in their five-sided slave pits and count the days. Well, now they’ll know what it is to bleed! Like we have bled! Like I have bled!”
“This isn’t about you!”