L5r - scroll 01 - The Scorpion

by Stephen D. Sullivan

  He rushed forward again and thrust his sword high. Shoju parried and stepped aside. The Lion had expected it. Toturi counterthrust low, piercing the Scorpion's black kimono. The Lion's sword found only billowing silk.

  Shoju twisted and brought the pommel of Ambition crashing into the side of Toturi's head.

  Toturi reeled back; he stumbled against the throne.

  Shoju backed away from his fallen foe in long, graceful steps. He twirled his sword in an intricate kata. "You may rest on the throne, Toturi," he said in his musical voice, "but it will never support you."

  "Are you a man or a demon?" Toturi asked. He thrust himself off the throne and toward his foe.

  The move caught Shoju by surprise; he took a step back.

  Toturi swung his right leg forward in a sweeping motion, making contact with the Scorpion's shins. Shoju tottered back. Toturi thrust upward with his sword.

  The Lion's blade caught between Shoju's face and his mask. The Master of Secrets flinched away. The sword cut the straps that held the grim mask to the Scorpion emperor's face. The mask fell to the floor and shattered. Shoju leapt back, Yashin parrying a second thrust by Toturi.

  Both men paused to catch their breath. The dim lantern light revealed Shoju's true aspect. His face was thin and skulllike, with waxen skin and pale, crooked lips. His large eyes bulged slightly, making the red pupils even more menacing. His brow slanted down toward a long, hawklike nose. The whole formed an arrow to the daimyo's pointed chin.

  "A demon after all, then," said Toturi. He let out a soft breath and adjusted his grip on his sword.

  "Has your beautiful visage won you so much, Lion?" the Scorpion asked. "Sometimes truth is ugly and deception beautiful. I fight for the empire. For whom do you fight? Some geisha? For adoration of the masses? For the emperor's approval? Of the two of us, whose motives are more pure? Which one of us truly wears a mask?"

  Toturi shook his head to clear it. The Scorpion's words had begun to wear on him as much as the fight. Could there be any truth in what the Bayushi said?

  Shoju beckoned with long fingers. "Come, then," he said softly, "let us see if truth is indeed beauty." He stretched out his sword behind him and held out his right hand.

  Toturi charged forward, an incoherent scream on his lips. He cut high, then thrust low. Shoju spun, just as he had with the Emerald Champion. Toturi was ready for the move and parried the thrust.

  Shoju whirled away and traced a thin gash across the Lion's exposed back.

  Toturi turned in time to parry the cut aimed at his neck. He thrust forward.

  Shoju danced back, easily beating the Lion's blade aside. The Scorpion whipped his sword in a circle, catching Toturi's katana just below the hand guard. The impact ripped the blade from the Lion's hand and sent it skidding across the throne room floor.

  Toturi ducked to avoid the follow-up blow, but it never came. Instead, Shoju withdrew, gesturing for Toturi to retrieve the weapon.

  "Is truth beauty?" the Scorpion asked as Toturi fetched his sword. A hideous smile creased Shoju's face. "To think, I once feared you," he said with a laugh. "Sheep in lion's clothing. Pretender. Whore master."

  Toturi snarled and charged again. Shoju parried his blow, and the next, and the next. Toturi turned aside the Scorpion's thrusts and forced the emperor back toward the Emerald Throne. All the while, Shoju smiled at him, as if privy to some secret joke.

  "Perhaps fate saved you from the poison so I could kill you myself," the Scorpion said. Wickedness permeated his sweet voice.

  Toturi realized he was sweating. His breath came in labored gasps. Perspiration dripped into his eyes. A knot of fear twisted inside his gut. Still he pressed forward.

  As they reached the imperial dais, Shoju's heel caught the edge. He toppled into the seat of the throne. He reacted quickly, spinning out of the way. Toturi's sword crashed down, splitting the back of the Emerald Throne in two before the blade caught in the seat.

  Toturi gasped. Both men stood silent for a moment.

  Slowly, Toturi withdrew his sword.

  Shoju let out his breath first. "I understand now," he said quietly. "My dream ... it has come true. I have rent our people as surely as you have rent the throne. I can be the emperor, but I will sit on a throne of skulls and rule over a land of the dead. I have saved the empire but destroyed the throne! Such a price, honor! Such a price, ambition!"

  With that he charged, dancing, twirling his sword over his head as he came.

  Toturi leapt back, fear building in him. He saw his death in the Scorpion's red eyes. He parried wildly, but Shoju's sword never touched his.

  Instead, the Scorpion emperor mounted the dais in two quick steps. He brought the sword down swiftly, as though stabbing his own heart, thrusting Yashin into the cleft in the seat of the throne. The sword sparked and screamed with rage. Shoju twisted with all his might.

  Yashin broke. The wailing of a thousand lost souls filled the room. Blood gushed from the shards of the bloodsword, splattering the white plaster walls with indelible crimson. Shoju's lame arm screamed in pain, and his tattoo spread burning fire through the limb.

  Shoju felt as though lightning coursed through him, but still he twisted—still he persevered. For long minutes, blood gushed from the sword, as though a red river had been dammed within it. At last, the spouts of blood stopped, and the broken sword fell from the Scorpion's hands.

  Covered in the gore of his own ambition, Shoju threw his arms wide and turned his hideous face to the sky. "Forgive me!" he cried.

  Awestruck and gasping for breath, Toturi faced the throne. Fear of the Scorpion twisted like a dagger in him.

  Shoju stood with his back to the Lion, wrapped in his own reverie.

  Desperate, Toturi ran forward and thrust his katana through the Scorpion's body. The point came out Bayushi Shoju's chest. For a moment, the Master of Secrets stared at it.

  Toturi withdrew the blade.

  Shoju turned and gazed into his killer's eyes. In the Bayushi's blood-red orbs, the Lion thought he saw relief.

  Then the Scorpion emperor spun, dancerlike one last time, and fell gracefully to the floor, dead.

  THE THRONE OF SKULLS

  For a long moment, Toturi stood over the body of his slain foe. The Lion heard the shouts of his men outside and their fists pounding the iron doors.

  Shoju's dead eyes stared at the ceiling. His twisted lips wore a final smile. Even in death, he seemed to claim victory.

  Toturi crossed to the remains of the Emerald Throne and pressed the stud that Shoju had activated earlier. Weights and counterweights moved again, and the great doors slid open.

  The Lion's men rushed into the throne room, greatly relieved to find him alive. Among them came Ikoma Bentai, Toturi's general and old friend. Bentai and the others glanced around the gore-spattered chamber and, when they saw the Scorpion's body, shouted with joy. They laughed and clapped each other on the shoulders and congratulated their leader for his victory.

  Toturi barely heard their words. Instead, he stared at the man he had killed. Toturi now saw the nobility in Shoju's monstrous form. The Scorpion daimyo had given everything for the empire. He may not have been right in his actions, but he had believed them, and he had given his life—and the lives of his clan—for them.

  Truly Bayushi Shoju had been samurai.

  Guilt over what he had just done welled up in the Lion's breast. Shoju had beaten him, just as surely as if he had run Yashin through Toturi's heart.

  The sound of footsteps and voices came at the door. Doji Hoturi arrived in the throne room along with a small contingent of Crane samurai.

  "What has happened here?" he asked, surveying the bloody scene.

  "Toturi killed the Scorpion," Bentai said proudly.

  Lion samurai nodded enthusiastically at their daimyo and grunted their approval.

  Hoturi sheathed his sword, threw his arms wide, and laughed. "Ha ha! Tell me how it happened!" he said to Toturi.

  Slowly, the Lion
brought his gaze from Shoju's body to the eyes of his old friend and rival. The joy in Hoturi's eyes made the guilt in Toturi's breast even greater. The Lion looked away.

  "He closed the great iron doors, trapping me in the chamber with him," Toturi said. "My men were locked outside. Long we fought." The Lion glanced at the cleft throne, rent by Yashin. He could not bear the thought of what he had done. "Bayushi's sword caught in the throne. It shattered. I slew him."

  Ikoma Bentai laughed. "Our leader has grown suddenly modest! Is this the teller of stories known throughout all Rokugan?"

  Hoturi crossed the room and smiled at the Lion daimyo. "Why so grim?" the Crane asked. "It seems to be a good day to slay Scorpions! I slew the Bayushi pup myself. We should rejoice in our victories!" He noticed the wounds on Toturi's back and shoulder. "I guess you didn't escape unscathed. To tell the truth, I'm amazed your wounds aren't worse. I guess the Bayushi's skills were overrated."

  Toturi shook his head. "No. He was a noble foe."

  "You mean he fought nobly—for a traitor," Hoturi said. "But never mind. Rest here while I spread the news. The day is ours!" The Crane daimyo turned. He and his retinue left the room.

  "My lord, wait!" someone cried softly.

  The delicate voice startled the Lion troops. Toturi's samurai scoured the throne room with their eyes, searching for the source of the sound.

  "There, my lord!" Bentai said. He pointed to a slender hand protruding from a crack in a nearby wall.

  The Lion's men rushed forward and seized the hand. "A secret panel," one cried. They pried it open and roughly pulled the owner of the hand into the room.

  Doji Shizue spilled onto the floor of the throne room. She looked pale and weak, like a frail butterfly, barely able to raise herself up.

  Bentai poked his head into the secret room. "No other exits, my lord. Just a few empty water jars," he said. "She must have been here for a while."

  Shizue looked into Toturi's eyes. "Yes," she said quietly. "Long enough ... I have remained hidden a long time."

  Toturi gazed at the Crane courtesan's sallow face and saw that she knew the truth. She had seen the battle with Shoju, seen the Lion stab his foe in the back. She knew of Toturi's treachery, his fear, and his self-serving lies.

  "She could be a Scorpion spy," one of Toturi's men said. "We should kill her." He looked at the Lion, anticipating the command.

  Toturi knew he could silence Shizue forever with one simple word. Whatever secrets she knew would go to the grave with her, but the Crane's almond eyes held him. The guilt in Toturi's breast deepened.

  "Do you know her, my lord?" Bentai asked.

  "I am Doji Shizue," she said, not waiting for Toturi to reply. "Hoturi is my daimyo. Please, take me to him."

  "She could be lying," said one man.

  "Should we do as she says, my lord?" Bentai asked. He was watching Toturi's face carefully.

  Does he suspect my shame? Toturi wondered.

  Before the Lion daimyo could answer, Doji Hoturi and his men returned to the throne room. "We are securing the castle, General Toturi," he began. "Only a few stragglers remain." Seeing the girl, he froze, and his jaw dropped. "Shizue!" he said.

  She bowed weakly. "My lord."

  "How did she come here?" Hoturi asked.

  "We found her in a secret chamber near the throne," Bentai replied.

  "Then this day is doubly blessed," said Hoturi. He turned to the girl and smiled. "Beyond all hope you return to us. We had given you up for lost." Two of Hoturi's men rushed forward to help her stand.

  "I nearly was lost," she said, looking from Hoturi to Toturi and then back again.

  Toturi felt as though a fist had tightened around his heart.

  Unaware of his friend's inner turmoil, Hoturi clapped the Lion on the shoulder.

  "You have done a great service to us all this day," he said. "You have rid the world of the Scorpion, and you have delivered a favorite daughter back to my house."

  "But the throne sits empty," Toturi said.

  Hoturi brought his hand to his face and rubbed his cleanshaven chin. "Hmm, you're right," he said. "This could be a problem. Hantei is dead, but what of his heir? Could the boy still be alive?"

  "The heir is dead as well," said Shizue. "I heard them speak of it on the night of the coup. Scorpions killed him while he walked in the gardens." Bitterness and anger filled her young voice.

  For a moment, visions of fire and destruction danced

  before Toturi's eyes. He saw clan set against clan once more— worse than during the siege. Leaderless, the great houses would turn against each other and vie for supremacy.

  In death, the Scorpion would destroy the empire just as surely as he had in life. Toturi had only one choice.

  "Then, as commanding general of the allied forces," he said. "I claim the throne."

  Hoturi and the Crane looked shocked, but Toturi stood firm. He drew himself up to his full height, shaking off his doubts so that no one would suspect the conflicts that lay in his heart.

  "By my wisdom and the might of the combined clans, we have defeated the Scorpion Coup," he said. "The unity of our peoples has served us well, and I pledge that it shall continue. I promise to treat all fairly and equally—even our vanquished foes.

  "For the good of the empire, I claim the Emerald Throne until such a time as the leaders of the great houses can establish a new line of succession. I pray that all of you will support me in this."

  As Toturi finished his speech, all those in the room bowed. The Lions did so first, and then the Cranes, even Hoturi. "Until such a time ..." the Crane daimyo said.

  The last to bow was Shizue. When she did so, she did not bow as deeply as the others.

  When everyone stood, Toturi spoke again.

  "Go now," he said. "Spread the news that the dark reign of the Scorpion is over. The Lion's justice is now the rule of the land."

  The others turned and left. Doji Shizue held the new emperor with her almond eyes for a long time before she went. Ikoma Bentai, the Lion general, lingered behind.

  "Go as well," Toturi said to him. "See that Otosan Uchi is secure. Set details to quench the fires that we spread in our haste to reclaim the throne."

  "Is that the royal 'we' or we as Lions?" Bentai asked, arching one eyebrow.

  Toturi smiled at him. "We as the free people of Rokugan," he said wearily.

  Bentai bowed and left.

  As the iron doors swung shut behind the general, Toturi collapsed into the rent and bloody throne. A throne of skulls, Bayushi Shoju had called it.

  In the end at least, the Scorpion had been right.

  The weight of the empire bore down on the Lion general.

  He couldn't help but think of the terrible cost this throne had exacted. His mind turned first from Hatsuko, who had betrayed him, to Shizue, who might yet betray his secret shame.

  In the wreckage of the Emerald Throne, Akodo Toturi found little rest.

  RETURN OF THE PRINCE

  He's done what?" Matsu Tsuko asked, almost screaming.

  "Claimed the throne," Ikoma Bentai repeated. "Until such time as a new succession can be decided on."

  "Oh, that's good," Tsuko said, her lips curling back in anger. "As if the rest of the clans could ever agree on anything."

  "They fought well enough under Toturi," Bentai pointed out.

  "I'm sure my illustrious 'cousin' is counting on that," she said. "He may be able to sit on that throne, 'keeping it warm' forever."

  "I don't think he relishes the job," Bentai said.

  "He didn't relish becoming daimyo either," Tsuko said. "Yet, somehow, he came to lead our clan—even though there were ... are others more qualified to do so."

  "Others such as yourself?"

  Tsuko wheeled like a caged tiger. "Why should I deny it? If Toturi's brother hadn't died before we could marry, it would be my line leading our clan."

  "And would you have been able to defeat the Scorpion, then?" Bentai asked.

&nb
sp; "Have a care, old man," Tsuko said, fingering the pommel of her katana. "If I had been in charge, the emperor might never have been slain. At least I would not have been off whoring when the Hantei were assassinated."

  Bentai bowed. "Despite your feelings, the other lords have agreed to follow Toturi's plan," he said. "Even Kisada."

  "Crabs!" Tsuko said, making it sound like a curse. "They've dwelt so long in the shadow of darkness, they can no longer recognize the light."

  "Be that as it may..."

  "Very well," Tsuko said. "Tell the Lion I will call on him, though I will not make obeisance."

  "Our daimyo is a simple man," Bentai said. "I'm sure he does not expect you to stand on ceremony ... any more than usual."

  Tsuko frowned. "He better not—or we may have a second coup."

  XXXXXXXX

  Whispers about the new emperor surrounded the Emerald Court like a wall of fog. Where had Toturi been during the coup?

  The people seemed to forget that the Emerald Champion, his son Hoturi, and a number of the other lords had not been present either. The suspicions of the populace focused on the Lion sitting on the throne.

  More forgiving souls said that even had Toturi and the others been present, the emperor would still have been slain. Probably, they insisted, the Scorpion would have killed all those who opposed him that night, and then there never could have been a counterrevolution.

  Akodo Toturi tried to believe that point of view with all his heart. Yet, deep within his soul he felt a black emptiness. He knew he had betrayed his duty to the emperor for Hatsuko. He also knew he had defeated Shoju, the new emperor, only through dishonorable means. His fear had driven him to it, and now fear gnawed at him.

  Doji Shizue held her tongue, though Toturi saw accusation in her eyes.

  The allied forces continued to root out straggling Scorpions and put them to the sword. Strangely, none of Bayushi's high command turned up in the sweeps. Soon, the Scorpion section of Otosan Uchi was all but deserted.

  Though the Forbidden City had survived largely intact, the damage to Otosan Uchi was considerable. Rebuilding the rest of the city began immediately after the Lion took the throne. It would be many years before the City of the Shining Prince recovered from the Scorpion Coup. If nothing else, Toturi's rule had restored order to the once-peaceful capital.