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Fox & the Peach by Nick Thaler

This new book we are truly delighted to publish. Author Nick Thaler has created a fabulously rich universe in his debut fantasy YA novel, Fox & the Peach.

It is the late 16th century and Japan has fallen under the grip of the renegade warlord Oda Nobunaga. Such matters mean little to Momo Takamoto, a young girl adopted by the local silk weaver of a small village. But Momo is not all she seems - she is kitsune, blessed with the power to shift between a fox and a human - and those who know this soon come for her. Caught between a tribe of assassins and a mysterious group of outsiders, Momo finds herself in a web of bloodshed and intrigue. But while strange and terrifying creatures such as tengu, tanuki, and oni go to war over her, Momo realizes that her own powers are just beginning to emerge…

The cover was created by UK artist Steve Sampson who did a tremendous job capturing the essence of exactly what we wanted.

Below is the prologue for the book. We hope you enjoy.

Prologue: Slaughter in Sato Village

To the casual eye they would have been invisible, three figures slipping through the brush and trees without so much as a rustle. With the grace of herons, they ghosted down the slope toward the tiny camp and paused at a ledge overlooking a sheer white cliff. A stream trickled through the valley below, where little mud huts lay peacefully along its banks in neat rows. The moon was full, brightly illuminating the still night, but it did not matter to the three figures standing together in their black masks and padded clothes – they were shinobi, and they had come to this village to kill.

One of them flashed a hand signal to the others: “Filthy animals,” it said. Though his face was hidden beneath his hood, the other two could read his contempt. The Yan Tribe was the only ninja clan that developed its own hand code for silent conversation. “We should have done this long ago.” His name was Kawaru, the youngest of the group. This was his third mission, but he had first tasted blood years ago and had found it much to his liking.

The other two glanced at each other. Only the young upstart’s prodigious abilities stayed Rinji’s hand at that moment. The older shinobi quickly banished his anger and raised two fingers. Tsukimi, the woman of the group, gave a brief nod as her body shimmered and faded away. The others heard her soft tabi boots pad to the east. Rinji gestured to Kawaru and pointed to the river. “Strike from there,” he signaled.

Kawaru grinned wide beneath his thin cloth mask. He closed his eyes and summoned the chi needed to form his invisibility shield. As always, there was a brief tingling on his skin, as if he was stepping into drizzle, and then the slightly unsettling sensation of floating. Once he was unseen, he impulsively signaled to Rinji, “Of course, ‘My Lord.’” If Rinji had seen that sign, he might have struck down Kawaru immediately – the idea of master and vassal among the Yan was a filthy notion that only lesser humans possessed. To the Yan, all within the tribe were equal except for the Dai-Yan, their Shadow Lord.

Rinji didn’t see what Kawaru had signaled, but his heightened senses picked up the rustle of the younger ninja’s fingers. As he switched his own invisibility on and dashed down the sheer ledge, he briefly reflected on Buddha’s lesson on patience. Kawaru’s time would come.

*

A small brown rabbit hesitated as it reached the edge of the rice paddy, its nose twitching urgently in the cool air. The night was still and the sky was clear of predators, but something seemed amiss. The creature barely had time for a muffled squeak before a boot darted out of the rows of rice stalks and slammed down hard onto its head. Kawaru laughed silently as his heel crunched and pressed down harder. A warm wetness seeped up his cotton leggings and sent a chill down his spine. He flicked the remains into the bush, uncaring that villagers might smell the blood with their own heightened senses. The residents here may have appeared fearsome to some, but to Kawaru they were as insignificant as that rabbit, small lives that were his for the taking. He slipped into the rice paddies banking off the river and passed through them without letting a single stalk sway. Crouching in the shallow paddy water, Kawaru unsheathed his kodachi and waited. Two minutes passed before he heard the trill of a great egret. The signal. He rose and gracefully flowed into the village

Inside the first hut was a lone old man, likely a hermit, resting comfortably in a hammock with a pipe slowly smoking by his side. A brief jab to the throat finished him instantly. Kawaru flicked the blood off and observed the corpse – it remained still. Ah, a real human then, hiding out among these tanuki. Kawaru had heard that some eccentrics actually liked living among the othermen, but he was nonetheless disappointed; he had hoped to witness a transformation right away. Still, there were so many yet to kill.

The second hut proved to be far more interesting. A young couple – perhaps the farmers of that rice paddy – slumbered, blissfully unaware. Both died soundlessly. Kawaru watched the bloodied corpses sag and sink like wet cotton dolls, compressing upon themselves to revert back to their natural animal form. The dead tanuki was bestial in its natural form, a hybrid of dog and raccoon. Their pointy teeth were bared in silent snarls as they met death, and their brown fur was blackened by blood. Kawaru gleefully laughed out loud – this was far more entertaining than killing mere humans.

Suddenly a cry went up and the camp came alive. Kawaru cursed under his breath and wondered which of his companions had been careless. It did not matter, the tanuki would all die tonight. The ninja closed his eyes as his practiced hands flew into motion. He summoned a body double that split from his body and immediately dove out of the hut and into the battle. Through his double’s eyes, he saw tanuki, in various states of transformation, running around in panic and disarray. He couldn’t see the other ninja. Kawaru quickly restored his invisibility and followed his double outside, lurking carefully behind its shadow.

A large bearlike tanuki reared up and struck at the double with a mighty blade that jutted directly from its shoulder blade, as if it were an actual arm. The double dissolved into a black fog and then Kawaru was upon the creature, stabbing deftly upwards underneath its chin. The sword bit through flesh and the creature let out a roar before abruptly lumping over, still standing in front of Kawaru. Its blade-arm faded into a small claw and the body shrank to its normal proportions as the tanuki died.

Kawaru heard a faint wail and rolled under the incoming throwing knife. It sizzled past his ear and buried itself in his enemy’s corpse, still dangling from his sword. Kawaru turned and studied the little child before him. This tanuki had turned herself into a beautiful girl, nine or so, perhaps trying to instill sympathy in the attackers. Kawaru only laughed and plucked out the knife with his free hand, casually flinging it back at the thrower even before she could ready a second one. The girl caught it in the eye and her head flopped back. The shinobi didn’t bother to watch the transformation this time – it had suddenly become a boring affair.

He slid his sword free and sent out another body double. Once again, he waited until a tanuki attacked the illusion, and then countered with a vicious blow. Some of the tanuki were starting to group together now, combining their transformation powers to create great visions, images of ghosts and demons designed to baffle their attackers and send them fleeing. A giant red-fanged devil leered down from the sky and shot a burning fireball toward Kawaru. He merely sheathed his sword and closed his eyes. All ninja were trained to meditate in the heat of battle as a method of dispelling trickery, and few were as adept at teaching it as the Yan. When his eyes were open again, the swirling mists and half formed demons that had begun to emerge were gone, replaced by a dozen or so small, furry animals huddling together in a circle. He suppressed a derisive laugh as he snatched a small clay bomb from his belt and tossed it into the center of the group. Only one tanuki noticed the round object roll toward them and as he knelt down to pick it up, a large explosion sent his body flying. The smoke cleared, revealing the burnt and bloody corpses of the others. Kawaru whipped out his sword and twirled it triumphantly in his hand before slamming it back into its sheath.

*

Tsukimi was on the east side of the village, surrounded by her kills. Kawaru nodded once to her and signaled. “How many are left?”

“None, here. Rinji is taking care of the last few, north,” she responded. Kawaru gleefully noticed that the kunichi had only slain half a dozen. Besides the grenade and the initial kills, Kawaru had killed three more of the animals, bringing his total to seventeen. It seemed proof enough that few Yan could match his abilities, and none as young as him.

“So you killed six. We were informed that thirty lived in this wasteland. That means Rinji should have handled seven.”

Tsukimi ignored the implied boast and turned away. She found no joy in slaughtering helpless creatures, no matter what the Dai-Yan had ordained. Justice, she reminded herself, was the code of the Yan, and these animals were the vassals of that monstrous Oda Nobunaga, warlord and scourge of Japan. Although Makoto felt otherwise, she wholeheartedly agreed that these devious creatures had to be eliminated. Only one daimyo had hired the Yan to eliminate this potentially troublesome village, but all men, great and small, whispered fearfully of Nobunaga’s bloody war and the countless lives it cost.

And yet, she could not help but feel some disgust at herself. She didn’t spend eight years training just for this sort of butchery and didn’t enjoy it as some others apparently did. She eyed Kawaru carefully. The young shinobi was restless, scanning the horizon for more tanuki. He abruptly stopped and stared at someone in the distance. It was Rinji, swaying slightly, as if injured. He appeared to have lost his sword and wielded a crudely fashioned iron hammer. “Stay there,” he called hoarsely. “There are more of them around us. We must regroup.”

Kawaru couldn’t help but laugh at the blatant trickery as he flung a throwing knife at the man. It flew thirty paces and buried itself neatly in Rinji’s chest. The ninja stumbled to his knees.

“Traitor!” he screamed. “Kill him now!” In an instant Tsukimi’s blade was out of her sheath. She regarded the distant figure cautiously.

“Are you certain?” she signaled.

“Kill him! What are you waiting for? He has betrayed us!” Rinji clawed at the knife in his chest and let out loud wheezing gasps. Tsukimi hesitated and the two shinobi warily eyed each other. Kawaru frowned. Could he have made a mistake? Would they both have to pay for his carelessness? He struggled to control his fury and instead focus on the problem at hand. He would have to strike first, before Tsukimi could make up her mind. He slipped out the poisoned needle tucked in his upper right sleeve.

Suddenly, Rinji’s head flew off in a bright spray of blood. Both shinobi stared aghast as the corpse shriveled and twisted, brown fur sprouting out to reveal yet another tanuki. The real Rinji appeared behind the corpse.

“That was foolish, Tsukimi,” he signaled. “I would never speak out loud when there is danger about. Kawaru was right to strike first.”

Kawaru felt an impulsive grin rise. “But!” Rinji added. “Kawaru, always aim for the head of shapeshifters. You thought you struck the chest, but you only hit its shoulder. Such is their devious nature.”

Tsukimi bowed low. “Forgive me Rinji. I was careless.”

“Both of you were careless today,” Rinji responded. Before either could respond, he darted forward and rammed his sword’s hilt deep into Kawaru’s stomach. As Kawaru doubled forward, Rinji drew the youth into a tight headlock. “Who do you think alerted the tanuki, you fool?” Rinji signaled with his free hand, each motion accentuated in slow, deliberate jerks before the youth’s eyes. “Your penchant for finding our work amusing is well noticed, rest assured.” He released Kawaru with a kick and the shinobi fell over retching. Tsukimi nodded to Rinji in silent approval but the other shinobi merely shook his head. “We are done here. Return.”

The other two ninja bounded away as Kawaru lay on his side, each breath a painful gasp. Several minutes passed before he could stand. When he could, he walked over to the corpse of the be-headed tanuki and looked down with his pale gray eyes, regarding the creature carefully. Then he took his sword and methodically hacked the body to pieces.

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