igniting in a wash of burning blue flame that outlined an unseen

thaumaturgic portal, a hidden door that had been spell warded

against detection.

Suddenly the lights in the basement came on.

“All right, nobody move!” said a voice in Japanese.

There were two men standing on the stairs leading down from

the shop, aiming 9-mm machine pistols at them. Three more men

came down, passing behind them. They reached the foot of the

stairs and covered them while the two men on the stairs above

them came down.

Fugisawa held up his hands slowly. “Take it easy, ” he said. “My

name is Fugisawa. You must be Kobayashi’s men. I—”

“We know who you are. Everyone just stand very still. First one

of you tries any magic, we start shooting. Understood?”

“Wakarimasu, ” said Modred. “You’ll have to forgive my friends.

They don’t speak Japanese. I’ll have to translate what you said for

them.”

The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously, then nodded. Modred

repeated what he said, without adding anything of his own.

The Yakuza man smiled and nodded. “Good, ” he said in heavily

accented English. “No tricks. I speak English, you see. ” He

switched to Japanese and told two of the men with him to check

them for weapons. They relieved Kira and Billy of their knives,

found nothing on Wyrdrune, then took Fugisawa’s 9-mm, as well as

the backup. 32 he wore in his ankle holster, and Modred’s 10-mm

Colt.

The man who seemed to be in charge snapped his fingers and

took Modred’s 10-mm. He admired the big gun briefly, then stuck it

in his waistband.

“So, you are the famous Morpheus, ” he said. “You speak

Japanese very well.”

“If you know who I am, then you should also know that we’re all

working for the same man. We came here looking for Kanno, same

as you. Are the weapons really necessary?”