But Ryuichi knew better. One of his father’s retainers had brought him there as an infant and spoken up on his behalf. Peasants didn’t have servants.

His father had been a noble lord. He knew it with everything he had.

“I’m Ryuichi.”

Pim gestured toward the far wall. “Come, Ryuichi. I’ll show you the open bed.”

As he followed, he noted that the other students seemed just as friendly.

Because they don’t know that you have no family.

True. Everyone was kind until they learned he was nothing special.

Had Hiero been anything other than a man and samurai of honor, Ryuichi would have been cast out, just as Yoshi-sensei had so often threatened to do.

Sighing with regret, he placed his clothes and meager belongings in a small chest at the head of his futon.

As soon as he settled his things, a fierce wind blew through all the windows. The lanterns and candles went out.

Darkness consumed the barracks.

A terrifying laugh rang around them. “Dragon, dragon, shadow’s night. Come to me, my master’s tyke!”

“Tengu,” Pim whispered as he helped Ryuichi find his way through the darkness.

“Here, chicky, chicky, chicky . . .” The tengu’s words sounded like a slashing blade. The sound of wings echoed around them.

Ryuichi tried to see Pim in the darkness, but he could only make out the faintest outline of his body. “What do we do?”

The others formed a circle.

More sounds came from outside. The scurrying of feet and the sound of steel.

“Rout the beast!” adult voices cried. “Drive him out!”

Ryuichi tilted his head as the tengu kept calling, trying to lure his prey. Oddly, something inside him was pulled toward the creature, but he refused to give in.

Suddenly, the lights came back on. All the candles and lanterns lit themselves without any help from a human hand.

“There, now. Much better.”

He turned to see an attractive woman in the middle of the barracks. Tall and slender, she had long black hair braided over one shoulder and a thin face with a pointed chin, reminiscent of a fox. But what surprised him most was the fact she was dressed in a yellow kamishimo, complete with the hakamashita and matching umanori hakama and black kataginu. Her sleeves were embroidered with a gold dragon in a way that made it appear as if the dragon was wrapped around her body. “Don’t worry, students. We have others who will handle the tengu. Is everyone all right?”

The boys rushed to stand at the foot of their beds before they bowed to her.

Assuming he should do likewise, Ryuichi moved to stand where he still had his pack on the floor.