L5r - scroll 07 - The Lion

by Stephen D. Sullivan

  He led them stealthily over three intervening hills to the perimeter of the Lions' defense. There, they subdued two sentries and replaced the guards with their own Lion-dressed samurai.

  Leaving most of the spies in the woods beyond the camp, Ibturi and Toku stole out among the Lion tents. The encampment was dark; the Lion eschewed watch fires, to avoid giving I heir position away to Toturi's troops. The darkness made Toturi's mission easier.

  He discovered the Lion general's tent with little trouble; it sat in the usual position and was unguarded—testimony to the leader's bravery. Toturi posted Toku outside to warn of stray Lions, and then crept through the tent flaps.

  Toturi held his breath as he gazed into the dimness. A thin futon covered with warm quilts rested on the far side of the tent. Under the blankets lay a young woman, asleep and breathing deeply. Small white clouds of vapor hung like halos above her head. Toturi recognized her.

  Her name was Ikoma Tsanuri. Before his disgrace, she had been his greatest pupil. Tsanuri was nearly his equal, both in martial prowess and in strategy. No wonder he hadn't been able to give these Lions the slip.

  Toturi frowned. Though he made no sound, Tsanuri suddenly woke. She sprang to her feet and drew her katana from where it lay near her head. Facing him across the narrow tent, she recognized her old teacher. A smile creased her pretty face, and her deep brown eyes sparkled in the darkness.

  "Hello," she said quietly. "I didn't expect to see you here."

  "I didn't expect to see you, either."

  "Did you come to kill me?" she asked.

  "No," he replied.

  "What then?"

  "The empire is crumbling from within," Toturi said. "I intend to stop it if I can."

  "You've come to discuss philosophy?" She smiled darkly. "I'm afraid you have me outclassed, there. Sorry I didn't study to be a priestess."

  "You know the empire's troubles as well as I," the Black Lion said. "We don't need to debate them."

  "What do you need, then?"

  Toturi's eyes blazed warmly in the cold darkness. "I need you to step aside. I need you to let me pass through the Lion lands so that I can fight the darkness beyond."

  Tsanuri shook her head and flexed the iron muscles of her supple limbs. "You know I can't do that."

  "The clans are slaughtering each other to no end," Toturi said firmly. "It is our duty—as citizens of the empire—to prevent that from happening."

  "I know my duty," Tsanuri said testily. "I have given my vows to Matsu Tsuko, and she to the emperor himself. My duty to the empire is clear: You will not pass these borders—not without my blood on your sword." She assumed a defensive stance, her sword raised parallel to her face.

  "I don't want to fight you," Toturi said.

  "You can't avoid it," she replied. "I am bound by my honor to oppose you."

  "Tsanuri," he said gently, "we are friends. You were my best pupil...."

  "That is why I will not let you pass, Toturi-san. If you were me, you'd do the same."

  "I would have, once. But I've grown up since then."

  His words stung her. Her mouth drew into a thin line, and her eyes narrowed. "Kill me, if you're so sure you're right."

  Toturi felt his padded armor hanging heavily upon his well-muscled frame. Tsanuri stood before him wearing only a heavy kimono. She was strong and fast, but Toturi knew he could best her. He knew, also, that to beat her he would have to kill her.

  Slowly, the Black Lion backed toward the tent flaps. "If you follow too quickly or rouse the guards," he said, "I will have to kill you. For now, though, I prefer to hope that someday we will be allies once again." He turned quickly and exited Tsanuri's tent.

  "Where's our captive?" Toku whispered as Toturi came out.

  "A complication arose that I hadn't anticipated," Toturi said, striding toward the edge of the enemy camp. "We can't go through Lion lands. We'll have to skirt the mountains and go south, even if it means marching all the way to the sea."

  "But that will take forever," Toku said.

  Toturi nodded. "Longer than I'd like," he said. "Let's hope it's mil more time than we have."

  They gathered Tetsuo and the others and made their way to the sentries they'd replaced. As the group of spies reached the edge of the encampment, though, a young Lion guardsman stumbled out of his tent for a breath of fresh air.

  Spotting the unfamiliar band, he shouted, "Alarm! Enemies in the camp! Everyone to arms!"

  A shuriken appeared in Tetsuo's hand, but Toturi kept him from throwing it. "No!" the Black Lion hissed. "Now, we run!" He turned and dashed downhill toward the river. The others quickly followed.

  Watch fires sprang up around the Lion encampment. Tsanuri emerged from her tent, dressed in full armor. She scowled, watching the fugitives retreat down the hill. Matsu Gohei appeared at her side, bow in hand.

  He drew the string to his ear and took aim at Toturi's back.

  Tsanuri looked at him and said firmly, "No."

  Gohei did not relax his aim. "Mistress," he said, "they will escape. I think that might be the Black Lion himself. Let me fire."

  "No," she repeated. "I won't spill his blood unless I have to."

  "I doubt he'd have the same compunction about you," Gohei said.

  "He visited my tent," Tsanuri replied. "He could have killed me, but he didn't. Now we are even."

  Gohei nodded and let his bow fall to his side. "I understand."

  "Find out which of our guards let Toturi slip into camp," Tsanuri said. "If the guard lives, have him or her flayed."

  Gohei bowed. "Hai, Tsanuri-san."

  xxxxxxxx

  The Black Lion and his companions splashed back across the river, not caring now who heard them. They scrambled up the hill on the far side, cut down Toku's tree-bound prisoners, and quickly made their way back to camp.

  Toku and Tetsuo seemed disappointed that they'd returned from the mission without a captive, but they said nothing.

  Toturi went about his purpose grimly, saying only, "I've found out what I needed to know. To do more would have been a waste of blood."

  The others nodded, accepting their leader's decision without question.

  As they reached the edge of the ronin lord's camp, Ikoma Bentai sprinted up to them. He looked around and, seeing no prisoners, frowned. Spotting Toku, he said, "Well, you picked up a stray cub even if you didn't beard the Lion."

  Toturi and the other men laughed; Toku scowled.

  "Tsanuri is leading their troops," Toturi said.

  Bentai nodded. "That explains a lot."

  "Yes," said Toturi. "It would be foolish to engage them any longer. We'll go south until we can either outflank or outrun them."

  "Hai," Bentai said, stroking the stubble on his chin. "There's something you should know before we move though: Doji Hoturi is in the camp."

  "What?" Toturi asked, surprised. Many of the samurai with him put their hands on their swords.

  "That madman, here?" Tetsuo said. Toturi silenced the young Scorpion with a glance.

  "Hai," Bentai said, "though he's not as mad as reports would make. In fact, he says that the man leading the undead troops is an imposter. He says he wants our help to regain his birthright."

  Toturi frowned. "Do you believe him?"

  "It's not my place to believe him or not, Toturi-sama," Bentai said. "However, he does look as though he's been to Jigoku and back."

  "Take me to him," Toturi said.

  THE SCORPION

  Empress Kachiko walked quickly through the cold, dark corridors of the palace at Otosan Uchi. The immense white walls of the castle had gone gray with soot, and the interior stank of mold and decay. Outside, late winter held the once-proud city in an icy grip, and plague ran rampant through the broad streets.

  Kachiko felt nervous, which was even more disturbing to her than it would have been to most people. The Mother of Scorpions was used to being in control at all times, just as her late husband—Bayushi Shoju—had been. Her mind was
filled to overflowing with plots and schemes and a million tiny details; very little escaped her notice.

  Still, lately, events were slipping out of her grasp. Someone had freed the true Doji Hoturi from the dungeons below the castle, showing up his demon-double to be a fraud. Kachiko didn't know who had perpetrated this deed, a fact that annoyed her even more than Hoturi's escape.

  The Crane daimyo's return home, she knew, would be a difficult and painful one—and he deserved every excruciating moment. Once her lover, Hoturi had killed her son, Bayushi Dairu, during the final hours of the Scorpion Coup. The horrible irony was that Dairu was Hoturi's blood son, the result of a long-ago affair with the Scorpion Lady.

  No matter how much Hoturi suffered, it would never be enough for Kachiko. Never. Her black eyes blazed at the thought even now. Still, the Crane would fall within her grasp again, Kachiko felt sure. "It is not over between us!"

  Bayushi Aramoro, the empress' yojimbo and Scorpion brother-in-law, gazed at Kachiko as he walked beside her. His eyes held reverence and devotion, both things that Kachiko valued highly. She trusted him implicitly.

  Kachiko turned to Aramoro and asked, "Any word on our fugitive?"

  Aramoro shook his head. He was a handsome man with a strong jaw and serious features. As a Scorpion, he had worn the traditional face-covering mask. With the clan outlawed, he looked similar to any other courtier at Otosan Uchi, though the color schemes of his kimonos tended toward crimson and black— Scorpion favorites.

  In all of Rokugan, only Kachiko openly maintained the tradition of mask wearing. Even the persuasive powers of the emperor couldn't convince her to give up the delicate silken lace that decorated her lovely face. Her clothing, though, spoke of the imperial line, not her Scorpion heritage. She wore a vast multilayered robe of ivory silk, decorated with patterns of the sun, the moon, clouds, and stars. The fabric rustled around her like a flock of birds as she walked.

  "Hoturi seems to have vanished," Aramoro told her. "Probably he's made his way home." He smiled grimly. "I'm sure Hoturi's kinsman have prepared a warm welcome for him."

  Kachiko nodded, the sea-green flecks in her black eyes sparkling. "If his twin has left any of them alive." She walked to a wood-paneled wall, opened a secret passageway, and stepped inside. The Mistress of Scorpions knew more of the palace's secrets than anyone.

  Aramoro followed her into the seldom-used corridor. Cleverly placed mirrors in other parts of the castle reflected dim light into the passage. Kachiko and her bodyguard walked silently over the smooth wooden floors toward a panel at the other end.

  "What about Toturi?" she asked. "Any word of him?"

  "Thanks to information we supplied to the Lion, their armies have him hemmed in against the Spine of the World. If he's planning to help the Crane, he'd better think again."

  "Good," Kachiko said. Her heart burned for the chance to murder her husband's killer, but she knew she would have to wait. Eventually, Toturi would come to her.

  "And our people have gotten word to Matsu Tsuko of the Crab's planned trip to the capital," Aramoro said. "Her armies are on the way here. They should be enough to stop any Crab assault."

  Kachiko nodded, a bit of the nervousness seeping out of her body. Despite some setbacks, her plans for revenge against the men who murdered her son and husband were proceeding apace. All she needed to do was wait, and Scorpions could be very patient indeed.

  A slight sneer wrinkled her red lips. "I'm glad that the empire's most 'valiant' defenders will be on hand to fight for us," she said. "Even though we did summon them, we wouldn't want the Crab to think they have run of the capital. The Great Bear must be held to his agreement with us, after all. As it is, the Lion and Crab should balance each other out nicely."

  "Hida Kisada is wily and shouldn't be underestimated," Aramoro said.

  "I don't underestimate him," Kachiko replied. "That is why I sent for the Lion. But Kisada is a fool, nonetheless. He thinks only with his muscles and could never become a true emperor—even if he were to slay the Hantei."

  "Still, he could cause a lot of trouble," Aramoro said. "I've prepared a plan in case you need to leave the city."

  "Leave the city?" Kachiko said, raising her delicate eyebrows. "Why should I leave my city? I have everything under control."

  "Including the emperor?"

  She nodded gravely. "Including my young husband."

  "He worries me, Kachiko-sama," Aramoro said. "There's something not right about him."

  Standing near the exit on the far end of the corridor, Kachiko rolled her head languidly. Her long hair fell over her shoulders like a black waterfall, and the pale flesh of her neck looked like silk in the semidarkness.

  "I have the emperor well in hand," she said. From a fold in her kimono, she removed a small vial of poison. "This will make sure that he doesn't slip out of my control. Which reminds me, it's about time for his evening 'feeding.'"

  Aramoro bowed. "Is there anything further I can do, my empress?" .

  "Continue searching for Hoturi," she said, holding her jaw muscles tight. "I don't want him popping up in the wrong place at the wrong time."

  Aramoro bowed again. "I will attend to it, my mistress."

  "And see if you can find your nephew, Bayushi Tetsuo," Kachiko added. "It's been too long since we've heard from him."

  "He was one of Shoju's favorites," Aramoro said.

  "Hai," Kachiko replied, a note of sadness in her musical voice. "I hope he survives this madness."

  "As do I, my lady."

  Kachiko turned and opened the panel. "Return when you have news."

  Aramoro bowed a final time, turned, and hurried back the way they'd come.

  The Mother of Scorpions stepped through the exit and into the corridor beyond. Her foot fell softly on the dark wooden planking of the lofty hallway. Great timbers supported the plastered ceiling high overhead. Despite the corridor's white walls, the light filtering in through the high, paper-paned windows seemed dim and confused.

  Kachiko wondered if another storm was brewing outside. They'd had far too many storms this winter.

  She set off down the corridor toward the imperial bedchambers. Until recently, she'd held the young Hantei cloistered within the bowels of the castle. Last week, though, as sick as he was, the young emperor had insisted on moving his quarters closer to the throne room.

  Kachiko had argued that he was too ill to make such a move, but her husband would have none of it. Now he reposed in a chamber on the southern side of the main keep, a room with a view of both the sea and the far-off Spine of the World Mountains.

  The Mother of Scorpions didn't like the room. It was too vulnerable, too accessible to other parts of the castle. She wanted to keep the young emperor as far away from his servants as possible, lest one of them should discover her plot against him.

  She checked the poison again, making sure that she had plenty for tonight's dose. She wouldn't kill the boy—not yet—but her ministrations did make him easier to deal with. With Hantei incapacitated, no one in all of Rokugan could question Kachiko's orders. She replaced the poison in her kimono and smiled. The Mother of Scorpions stepped toward the painted fusuma panel covering the doorway of the royal bedchamber.

  Voices came from within—two voices.

  A chill ran down Kachiko's spine, and apprehension spun in her belly. No one was admitted to this part of the castle. Even the royal yojimbo stood guard several corridors away. Only she and the emperor were allowed here.

  Yet, two voices echoed out of the paper-paned walls and into the tall corridor beyond. One voice belonged to the young Hantei emperor. The other—the voice that should not have been there— was eerily familiar as well.

  Kachiko stepped silently to the panel and was pleased to find it slightly ajar. She put her eye to the crack, and her blood froze.

  The boy emperor stood in the center of the room, before a burning brazier of coals resting on the floor. He wore a pale kimono, decorated with jagged mountains and stor
m clouds. His skin looked wan and sweaty. His black hair hung over his forehead in long points. His dark eyes reflected the fire before him.

  The coals in the iron cauldron burned red in the waning light of late afternoon, and their heat cast rippling waves into the cool air. Her husband wasn't warming himself by the fire, though. He was talking to someone. Someone Kachiko knew very well. Someone she'd hoped never to see again this side of Jigoku.

  The corrupt image of Junzo, the former Scorpion master shugenja, hung above the brazier. Junzo's skin looked leathery and cracked. His hair hung from his head in long white clumps. The sorcerer's parched lips smiled evilly as he spoke to the emperor.

  Kachiko put her ear to the crack, trying to make out the words.

  "... him within our grasp," Junzo rasped. "But it could all fall apart if we don't act soon."

  "Don't worry," Hantei the 39th said languidly. "I'll make sure that everything goes according to plan." Then his boyish face grew stern. "Just be sure that you do your part. Death and destruction can be diverting, I know, but they are only a means to our end. Never forget that."

  Junzo's disembodied head nodded. "Never fear," he said. "I'll find the descendant of Shinsei if I have to burn every temple in Rokugan to do it."

  A sickly smile parted Hantei's lips. "I'm sure you will."

  The evil shugenja's head bowed and then dissipated into wisps of black smoke. Hantei chuckled and turned toward the doorway.

  Kachiko jerked back, away from the crack, unsure if her husband had seen her. Her head wheeled with the scene she'd witnessed. Hantei, the boy emperor, talking to the most evil man in all the empire? What did it mean? Her mind swam with possibilities, and her stomach threatened to turn over. She looked toward the secret passage, thinking to leave before she could be discovered. She needed time to think and clear her head.

  The fusuma door to the room slid open, and Hantei looked at her with his dark eyes.

  "Kachiko, my wife," he said, "what are you doing here?" His tone was placid enough, but his eyes burned with a fire Kachiko had never seen before.