The Fox's God by Anna Frost

fallen tree. His hand no longer hovered near his sword’s hilt. “Wasn’t the clan house established while you were still alive? Tell us about it.”
    Inari told them many things. Somewhere along the way, she started to talk about the friendly spirit who lived in the pool—the Mirror Pool spirit!—and Sanae realized she believed . This was Inari. This was their great-grandmother—though she had no idea how many “greats” needed to be added to be correct.
    To think they’d come here intending to kill her! Ah, wait…
    If you’re already awake, she asked Inari, who or what are they trying to resurrect by draining so much energy out of the world? Everything is dying.
    I can see the strain, Inari said. I woke early in the process, because my mind-part is small. Now they’re pulling the rest of me out, the part I separated from so I might become human. Oh, let us call it my mindless body. I never merged back with it, but neither can I break free. As long as they have a hold on that part of me, I cannot travel far from this area. It was vexing to be forced to wait and call for you.
    We couldn’t hear , Sanae said . Not until we got closer.
    “We’re sorry it took so long for us to come,” Akakiba said. “How do we free you from their hold?”
    And, just like that, they became traitors. Hachiro had been right. In the end, fox would side with fox. Stopping a cult from bringing back a god at great cost to the world was good. Killing their own god was less good. Killing their own ancestress? Never.
    Destroy the object they use as focus and their work will be undone. But there are too many guards for us three to reach it.
    “We came here with humans who want the cult stopped,” Akakiba said as he drew the special glyphed sword he bore alongside his own. “We have three of these weapons to use.”
    The fox padded a few steps closer, ears angled forward in curiosity. Interesting.
    Do you know how to destroy one of these? Sanae said. We’d like to release the energy inside once we’re done here.
    Extreme heat would melt them like any other sword, Inari said. A volcano might be safest, considering there will be an explosion.
    Evil swords were bad enough, but exploding evil swords were worse. Well, there would be time to consider the problem later.
    “Leave the matter to us,” Akakiba said. “With the humans’ help, we can get through the guards and destroy the focus. The information we have says it’s in a guarded box, but not what it is. Do you know?”
    The remains of my body, likely.
    “How would they have found those? Wouldn’t you have died in the clan house, even if we don’t remember?”
    Inari’s tail twitched. I did not stay in the clan house past the time my youngest married. I wandered, afterwards, to explore the land. My human body died here, on this northern island. I left it as it died and told my then-companion to dispose of it. Knowledge of who I had been must have been passed on down the years, until someone struck upon this disastrous resurrection idea.
    “We’ll destroy them,” Akakiba said. He looked back towards camp. “We’ve been gone too long. Stay away from the humans. It’ll be safer.”
    He strode back to camp with Sanae still on his shoulder. Thanks to her superior night vision, they evaded the guards easily and slipped back inside the building where their friends slept.
    “I was about to come get you,” Yuki said sleepily.
    Sanae waited for her brother to seize the chance to start talking about Inari and how meeting her had changed their plans, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he settled down to sleep as if nothing had happened.
    She was still clinging to his clothes, so it was easy to grab some hair, chatter, and point at Yuki.
    “Unnecessary,” he grumbled, brushing her off with a hand.
    Unnecessary to tell their friends? What was he thinking? She sat and sulked and wondered how unhappy their friends would be when they found out.

Chapter E ight
    Mamoru
    A nother