L5r - scroll 01 - The Scorpion

by Stephen D. Sullivan

  XXXXXXXX

  At sunset, the Master of Secrets stood alone in the high tower of the palace, watching fires ravage the outskirts of the city.

  "The peasants have their Fire Festival after all," he said to no one in particular.

  Despite the animosity between the competing armies, the meeting of their generals had stirred something within the city walls. Small pockets of rebellion broke out in Otosan Uchi. As the Unicorn and their tenuous allies encircled the outer walls, resistance within the city grew stronger.

  Since Aramoro's return, no Scorpions had left the city and lived. Even the envoys Shoju sent to explain his actions to the other great lords were slaughtered. Shoju sent more ambassadors to take their place.

  As the Scorpion daimyo stood, trying to read his future in the smoke, the fusuma entrance to the room slid open. Tetsuo entered.

  "Master," he said breathlessly, "I have word of your latest envoys."

  The Scorpion turned toward his cousin. Behind his mask, Bayushi Shoju's brow furrowed. "And?" he asked.

  Tetsuo bowed low. "Dead, my lord. All of them."

  "Did any reach their intended destinations?" Shoju asked.

  "One, I think, was killed by Matsu Tsuko herself," Tetsuo replied.

  Shoju's eyes blazed, and his hand stole to the hilt of his sword, Yashin.

  "They should have a care," he said, his voice strong and deep, like the purr of a tiger, "lest I ride from this tower and show them the true strength of the Scorpion."

  Tetsuo bowed.

  Shoju let out a deep breath.

  "Try one more time," he said wearily. He turned back to the window again and watched the city burn.

  HATSUKO FALLS

  The dragon in Akodo Toturi's mind writhed and coiled in agitation.

  "Fool! Imbecile!" it hissed. Great blasts of steam escaped its wide mouth.

  Toturi looked around, wondering where he was. Blackness enshrouded him. Not even stars shone. Only the brilliance of the dragon illumined the darkness.

  Toturi began, "Great One—"

  "You have failed! You are undone!" the creature said, its voice like thunder in the mountains. "The empire is in flames and you—" the dragon paused, and lightning flashed from its eyes "—you lie asleep, insensate, satisfied, having quenched the fire of your loins. You are a fool, Akodo Toturi."

  "I... I did not mean—"

  "No one ever means to bring about his own destruction—or the destruction of those he loves. Yet, you have done it. You

  ignored my warnings, and now your destiny is upon you." The dragon scowled. "Never has a mortal more deserved his fate."

  Alone and naked in the darkness, Toturi felt even smaller.

  "I can make amends," he said.

  "Never!" cried the dragon. "If you were to live a thousand years, you could never undo what your selfishness has done!"

  "I will!" Toturi said. "Just show me the way!"

  "I have shown you the way; you did not follow it! You must keep your own counsel now. Let us hope it serves you better than it has thus far. An empty throne and bitter defeat await you, Akodo Toturi. Go!"

  With that, the dragon twisted and coiled and vanished into the darkness.

  As it went, Toturi found himself falling. Wind whistled past his face. The world around him grew brighter. Gray gave way to swirling colors. Sound assaulted his ears.

  Crying. Someone was crying.

  Toturi sat up suddenly.

  Hatsuko jumped back and gasped.

  The Lion tried to rise to his feet, but his body rebelled against him. Hatsuko rushed to his aid. Hope and love played across her tearstained face. Toturi's limbs felt wooden, heavy. Movement brought a tingling fire to his entire body.

  "M-my lord," Hatsuko gasped. "My love ..."

  "What have you done to me?" Toturi asked, his voice filled with accusation.

  Hatsuko shied back, as if he had struck her physically. Still, she supported him under his arms.

  "I... I..." she began. "She said you would leave me. She said we could be together only in death."

  "Who?" he asked, turning his blazing eyes on her. "Who said?"

  "Aki," she replied, tears streaming down her face once more. As she looked at him, she felt something in her soul shatter. "She said your fiancee would kill you if you married me."

  "Kaede?" Toturi asked, confused.

  Hatsuko nodded, her hair flailing around her face like tiny black whips. "I had to protect you from the burning death," she said.

  "You poisoned me," he said.

  Again, she nodded. "But I could not... could not..."

  "How long?" he asked.

  She looked at him, uncomprehending.

  He seized her by the shoulders and shook her. "How long have I lain here?"

  "A-a week," she said, sobbing. "Perhaps more. I... I don't know."

  He pushed her aside and rose, fighting the tingling fire in his limbs. Stumbling to the wall, he took his swords from where he had laid them and thrust them into his obi.

  As he turned back to her, he saw her fumbling with a blue gem on a long chain. The gem opened; inside, it held a white powder. She put the gem to her lips.

  "Oh, no!" he roared, slapping the amulet from her hands. The gem smashed against the wall. Its contents burst into a small, white cloud. "Poison is too good for you!"

  She brought her hands up to protect herself, but he grabbed both her wrists with one large fist. Pushing backward, Toturi thrust her to the floor. She lay there, head on the tatami mat, weeping. The Lion daimyo drew his katana.

  She looked up at him, tears running down her plain, unpainted cheeks. Toturi marveled that he had ever found her face lovely.

  "Kill me, Toturi-sama," she said. "I beg you." She lowered her face to the floor, exposing her neck to him.

  Toturi raised his blade high.

  He looked down at the quivering mass before him.

  She had destroyed him, just as the dragon had said. She had poisoned him, kept him here—in this accursed cabin—for who knew how long. Probably his reputation had been damaged beyond repair. But that was not all. The dragon had hinted that far more dire consequences lay before him.

  Toturi's lips curled back from his teeth. He tightened his grip on the sword.

  Hatsuko, his geisha, had ruined him. And yet... and yet... he could not bring himself to destroy her.

  The remnants of passion clung to his heart, and though he no longer loved her, he did feel pity. He could not kill her.

  As he stared at her pitiful, huddled form, a vision of fire and blood and death filled his mind. A black dragon danced in the sky over the capital city, and demons leered in the background. Great armies massed outside Otosan Uchi.

  Toturi swung his blade and cut a large hole in the shoji wall of the cabin. He stepped through the opening and walked outside, sheathing his sword as he did so. Behind him, he could still hear Hatsuko weeping.

  Turning down the hill, he strode into the forest in the direction of Junko's geisha house.

  Hatsuko rose from the floor and staggered to the hole. "No!" she cried. "Come back! End my life, I beg you! Please!"

  Toturi didn't stop; he didn't look back.

  For a long time, her plaintive cries echoed after him.

  Half an hour later, Akodo Toturi sat astride a haggard, borrowed horse and rode toward the column of smoke on the horizon. He knew it came from Otosan Uchi.

  XXXXXXXX

  Hatsuko collapsed on the cabin's threshold as soon as Toturi was out of sight. She cried and called after him for an endless time. He did not return. The shadows in the Imperial Forest grew long and dark.

  Eventually, she could cry no more. Hatsuko raised her unpainted face off the cabin floor.

  The world outside looked lovely in the light of the late afternoon. To Hatsuko, the beauty brought only pain.

  She had lost him. Just as surely as if she had killed him,

  she had lost her one true love. No—more surely. If she had been brave, ha
d done as Aki had told her and not lowered the dose, Toturi and Hatsuko would have been together for eternity. She had not been brave enough, for his sake or hers.

  Now Toturi would face the flaming death of his fiancee's wrath. Perhaps the empire itself would fall.

  Hatsuko rose to her feet, leaning against one of the cabin's posts for support. Her limbs felt stiff. At the same time, her bones seemed made of jelly.

  Slowly she steadied herself.

  Feeling chilled, she pulled her kimono tight around her frail body.

  She had lost everything.

  The realization hit her and she nearly fell to the ground again. Only her grip on the post kept her upright.

  If only she had been more brave.

  Now there was nothing left.

  Her future was empty—like her soul.

  She staggered off the porch of the cabin and into the woods beyond.

  The tears came again. Hatsuko found herself running through the forest blindly. She ran; she wept. Thorns and bracken tore at her kimono, at her skin. They flailed at her face and body but failed to scourge the pain from her soul.

  She ran for an endless time, neither feeling the pain nor caring about the wounds.

  A sound made her stop, a soft, melodic sound. She caught her breath. Opening her eyes, she brushed away tears and long strings of her tangled black hair.

  The waterfall. The waterfall was singing to her from nearby.

  "Hatsuko Falls," Toturi had called them in happier times.

  She took a tentative step forward, and then another. She pushed the thorny underbrush aside as she walked. Stones and sticks cut her bare feet. She didn't mind.

  Before her lay the falls. She stood at their top, their head. The small river rushed by her and cascaded over the cliff, singing as it met the rocks below. The song called to her.

  Surely the Fortunes had guided her steps.

  Hatsuko walked carefully to the edge of the cliff and hung her bruised and bloody toes over the precipice. She looked down.

  Sweet oblivion waited below. She heard it calling her name.

  Hatsuko smiled and embraced it.

  For a moment she felt as though she were flying.

  The air rushing past tickled her skin and thrilled her insides. She opened her mouth to scream with joy.

  Then, darkness claimed her.

  THE COUP IN PERIL

  Otosan Uchi continued to burn. The great River of the Sun ran red with blood. Bloated bodies floated over the Fudotaki Waterfall near the palace.

  Dairu and Rumiko ran from the High Gate by the river. Arrows chased them, but none struck home.

  A Phoenix archer stepped from a building just ahead. He fired at Rumiko.

  The arrow stuck in Rumiko's shoulder guard. In midstride, she swung her katana. The archer brought his bow up to parry. Rumiko's sword cut it in half. Her fol-lowthrough sliced the archer from shoulder to hip, and he fell, dead.

  A samurai leapt out from behind the archer. He was older than Rumiko and far larger. He brandished a two-handed no-dachi sword.

  "Don't wait for me," Rumiko called to Dairu.

  Dairu didn't listen. Instead, he jumped forward to fend off the samurai's attack. The no-dachi hit Dairu's katana with such force that the Scorpion heir staggered backward. The samurai looked surprised to be facing two opponents rather than one.

  Before he could recover, Rumiko sliced open his belly. The samurai tried to lift his huge sword, but doing so spilled his guts. He crumpled to the ground.

  Dairu and Rumiko turned and ran again.

  "If anything had happened to you," Rumiko said, "your father would have killed me just as surely as that samurai."

  "Forgive me," Dairu said, trying to gaze beyond the samu-rai-ko's mask. "I did not mean to impugn your honor."

  Rumiko laughed.

  They turned a corner and nearly knocked over Aramoro, who was running in the opposite direction. The three of them paused.

  "What's happening?" Aramoro said. "Dairu, why are you away from the castle?"

  "I came to inspect the troops," the young man replied.

  Rumiko bowed. "Aramoro-sama," she said. "The loyalist forces have pushed inside the High Gate. Our forces are holding them, but..."

  Aramoro cursed. "I feared as much. Go back to the front. I'll take the heir to safety."

  Rumiko bowed again. "I live to serve." She turned and ran back toward the conflict.

  "There are Lion, Unicorn, Crane," Dairu said breathlessly. "Even a few units of Dragon and some Phoenix stragglers."

  "They've united?" Aramoro asked.

  "No," said Dairu. "They still squabble like cats and dogs— but there are many of them."

  Aramoro nodded. "Too many for you to battle single handed," he said. "Come. Your father will need us both."

  xxxxxxxx

  In the high tower of the palace, Bayushi Shoju feared all his plans would come to naught.

  The foray Aramoro and Dairu reported at the High Gate soon became an alliance foothold in the city. Loyalists within Otosan Uchi rallied. Soon, all those devoted to the late emperor's cause had gathered near the High Gate.

  Despite the disarray of the allied troops, the Scorpion found it nearly impossible to dislodge their enemies.

  Shoju's talks with the captives went little better. Despite the clear hand of fate, those whom he kept prisoner still refused to believe the Scorpion had acted for the greater good of the empire. Even Seppun Bake held steady to his position, even after Shoju allowed him a room of his own and free access to the Scroll of Bayushi Daijin. The Scorpion lord suspected Bake was waiting to see who finally won the day.

  Once a toad, always a toad, Shoju thought.

  The battles to hold the city became fiercer every day, as did the Scorpion lord's battles against the siren song of Yashin.

  Wield me! the sword whispered. I will deliver the day unto you!

  Those closest to the Scorpion lord—Kachiko, Dairu, Tetsuo—noticed a change in his demeanor. He rarely spoke, and when he did, his temper was short. The transformation worried the daimyo's friends. Not even his wife spoke to him of it. Often, Shoju walked the ramparts of the palace alone. It was on one of these battlements that Tetsuo found him, just as the sun slipped behind the Spine of the World Mountains.

  "Great Lord," Tetsuo said, kneeling.

  Shoju continued to stare at the billowing black smoke rising from the city's western fringes.

  "Am I emperor?" the Scorpion asked in his quiet, melodious voice.

  Tetsuo seemed surprised by the question. "Who else, great lord?" he asked.

  Shoju shook his head. "I do not feel like the emperor," he said. "I have the palace. I have the throne. I have the mirror, the jade, the sword, and yet... somehow, it is not enough."

  Tetsuo rose and stood by his lord. He, too, looked out over the burning city.

  "They will understand," the younger man said. "You will make them understand."

  "Will I?" Shoju asked. His voice was impassive, and his grim mask disguised whatever true feelings he might have. He pointed to where the fire spread. "They're doing better since Satsume arrived. I think we might lose the outer city."

  "I pray not, Majesty."

  Shoju turned and looked at his young cousin. "Why have you come?" he asked.

  "We have confirmed the reports," Tetsuo said. "The Crab is on the march."

  "How far?"

  "Within three days."

  Shoju nodded and turned back to the burning city.

  "For which side does he march?" Shoju asked.

  "No one knows, great lord."

  "If Kisada joins our enemies," the Scorpion emperor said, "we may fall." He took a deep breath. "We need to send an envoy to the Crab—secure his aid."

  "But, how, my lord? Our enemies' shugenja daunt our communications outside the city. We were lucky to receive this intelligence at all. Most of our spies are discovered and killed as soon as they approach the outer walls."

  "Then I will have to s
end better people," Shoju said. "I will have to make sure they reach their goal." He put his long-fmgered right hand on his younger cousin's shoulder. "You will go to the Crab for me," he said. "Explain to Kisada our position."

  "I, Your Majesty?"

  Shoju nodded. "Don't worry, I will give you a message, tell you what to say. I will see that the loyalist clans are kept busy while you slip away. Come, we need to talk to Kachiko, Junzo, and the others. I have a plan."

  In the back of the Scorpion lord's mind, the song of Yashin grew strong once again.

  xxxxxxxx

  The Emerald Champion, Doji Satsume, rode beside Matsu Tsuko of the Lion. They patrolled the outer precincts of Otosan Uchi near the High Gate. Night was rapidly descending, and fires within the city lit the darkening sky.

  "Where's that son of mine?" Doji Satsume called, cursing under his breath.

  "His forces are conducting a foray toward the Temple of the Sun," Tsuko replied.

  "W/iflf is he doing?" Satsume asked. "That's too close to the Scorpion quarters. We could never hold an outpost there. We should reinforce our position here, and then move north— retaking the quarters of our own clans."

  "I agree," said Tsuko, her long white mane blowing in the wind. "But Yokatsu agrees with your son. They want to bring the fight to the Scorpion directly. They think perhaps they can break his back."

  "Anyone on the back of the Scorpion is sure to be stung," said Satsume. He spat dust from his mouth and turned to one of his lieutenants. "Inoshiro, find my boy and tell him to retreat to this position."

  The man bowed, "Hai, my lord." He rode off.

  Tsuko smiled at Satsume. "I guess you don't get to be Emerald Champion without having some sense," she said.

  Satsume snorted. "Apparently, you need less to be clan champion."

  Tsuko nodded. "I would agree with that. I always said Toturi was a mistake."

  "Hai. At least Hoturi's here, even if he won't listen to good

  sense."

  A cry went up among the loyalist forces. "The Scorpion!" they shouted. "The Scorpion has left the castle!"

  Satsume wheeled around, trying to see from which direction the cry came.

  "Surely he would not be so foolish," Tsuko said.

  Something exploded to the east. A crowd of panicked loyalists retreated into the square, sweeping the armies of the Lion and the Emerald Champion apart.