She looked resplendent and powerful in her long ivory kimono, her hair wrapped in an elegant bun atop her head. Two black hairpins embossed with crimson scorpions held the hair in place. Her full red lips glistened, and her eyes flashed with the lightning. "Quickly. We do not have much time."
They followed her through a blighted garden to a nondescript section of palace wall. Kachiko moved one stone, pulled back another, and pressed a hidden stud. A section of the wall slid away, revealing a long, dark passage leading toward the castle's interior.
She stepped into the darkness, and the others followed swiftly behind. The passage closed behind them, leaving only the dim light from Kachiko's red-paned lantern to lead them on.
"Now, we are seven," Kamoko said quietly.
The others rumbled their agreement.
As they entered, Togashi Yokuni spoke, his words echoing in their minds. Even though you are powerful, even though the spirits of the original Seven Thunders live within you, Fu Leng is more powerful still. In his current state, you cannot harm him. His soul is split between Jigoku and Rokugan. While he is not fully of this world, he is immortal. If you fight him then, he will surely slay every one of you.
The others nodded their understanding.
I must battle him first. If my plan succeeds, he will lose his advantage. Then you will be able to destroy him.
"What if your plan fails?" Tadaka asked.
Then the world will die.
"The Great Dragon's plan will not fail," Hitomi said, scowling.
"How will we know if your plan has succeeded?" Doji Hoturi asked.
A faraway look crossed the Dragon lord's brilliant green eyes. If my plan succeeds, Hitomi will kneel beside me and then rise again. When she does, you will know the time has come for battle.
"Yosh," said Toturi. "Let's find Fu Leng so we can slay him. Kachiko-san, lead the way."
Kachiko moved cautiously down the secret hallway toward the heart of the castle. Toturi and the others followed.
As they walked ever deeper into the palace, the Great Dragon slowed his pace and quickly fell to the rear of the group. Mirumoto Hitomi hung back as well and stopped altogether when her lord came to a halt.
"What is wrong, Great One?" she asked, glancing from the Dragon daimyo to her rapidly disappearing allies.
I have things to tell you that are for no other ears.
Hitomi merely nodded.
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"Hitomi's gone," Yakamo said, glancing back the way they'd come. He peered suspiciously into the darkness.
"Yokuni is with her," the Hooded Ronin replied. "She will return to us when the time comes. Have no fear. Hitomi will fulfill her destiny."
"As will we all," Hoturi said.
Kachiko opened another panel, and the six Thunders stepped into a hall deep within the palace. "Though there are hidden places within the chamber itself, there is no secret access to the throne room. We must walk these last steps in the open."
"As it should be," Yakamo said, puffing out his chest. "We are not all Scorpions to be hiding in the shadows."
Kachiko's beautiful face grew stern, and the green specks in her black eyes flashed brightly. "The emperor is not to be trifled with. He is not the sick, weak boy you all knew."
"Truer words have seldom been spoken by my wife," a low, sweet voice said.
Out of the antechamber at the far end of the hall came Hantei the 39th. He was taller and more muscular than when last they'd seen him, and his eyes blazed with unholy light. His hands and toes ended in long, ragged nails, and his stringy black hair trailed down over his shoulders. Blood stained the front of his white kimono a bright crimson.
Toturi and Kamoko stepped in front of Kachiko and drew their swords. Hoturi and Yakamo drew their weapons as well. Kachiko studied her husband, seeking signs of weakness. Tadaka began to chant softly.
"You expect to harm me with those?" Hantei asked sweetly. "I assure you, it's far too late for that."
He roared, and the hallway filled with his pestilent breath. Hot wind coursed through the corridor, blasting the Thunders and stinging their eyes. Kachiko pressed herself against the wall; Tadaka staggered and fell to his knees.
Thunder echoed in Toturi's ears and he thought he heard Matsu Tsuko's voice crying, "Kill him, you fool!" Despite the Great Dragon's warning, he would have tried to attack then, but the noxious wind held him back.
Toturi watched in horror as the boy's skin began to split open. Spines and black scales shone through the cracks in Hantei's pale flesh. His face grew long and narrow; his ears turned into horns. The thing that had been the emperor grew rapidly, like a bellows filling with air. Soon, the corridor was too narrow to contain his huge form.
The creature shook his scaly body, and his long tail shattered the fusuma panels on either side of the hall. He rose up and leered down at the six Thunders, no longer a boy, but an immense, black dragon.
"I am not the weak and callow Hantei you knew," the dragon hissed. "I am Fu Leng!"
THE GREAT DRAGON
As the evil dragon spoke, the stifling wind died away. Fu Leng lunged at the assembled Thunders. Iron talons shredded the oak floor as Toturi rolled away. A huge barbed tail swished just over Hoturi's ducking head.
Tadaka began to mutter a spell, but a fit of coughing caused the incantation to die on his blistered lips. Kachiko helped the disfigured Master of Earth to his feet. "I am weak," he muttered. "These paper walls and wooden floors vex me. I need stone to replenish my strength."
"The walls of the throne room are stone," Kachiko said, "if only we can get there." Her black eyes searched the corridor for some way past the monster.
"I fear," Tadaka said, "we may not survive that long. As Yokuni said, Fu Leng is all but indestructible in this form."
"Where is Yokuni?" Kachiko hissed. "We need his power!"
Lion, Crab, Unicorn, and Crane scrambled
out of the monster's way, retreating down the corridor.
Fu Leng pursued, destroying the castle's ancient walls with his iron scales as he sought to kill the six Thunders
Hoturi ducked under another blow. "We can't wait for Yokuni!"
Fu Leng reared back, and a smile parted his monstrous lips, showing row upon row of daggerlike teeth. "You needn't wait. You may die—now!" The monstrous body took a deep breath. Wafts of smoke billowed from his gaping jaws and flared nostrils. Within the awesome mouth, obscene fires glowed.
The Hooded Ronin stepped forth, his katana held before him like a torch. The weapon shimmered in the corridor's dim light. "Back, creature of the pit!"
"Shinsei!" Fu Leng hissed. "I have been looking for you!"
"You have found me or, rather, I have found you," the ronin said. "I am not Shinsei, though his blood flows in my veins. As he and his allies defeated you a thousand years ago, so shall I defeat you now. Begone, I say! Return to your dark realm and trouble us no more!"
"You have no power over me, little man," the Evil One said. "I, however, have the power to make you die!" At the last word, the black dragon exhaled a huge burst of fire.
Togashi Yokuni suddenly appeared between the Evil One and his intended prey. The fire smashed into Yokuni's golden armor like waves against a breakwater.
The Thunders shielded their eyes. The heat from the blast scorched their lungs. Yet, the Dragon lord did not perish. When the flames had passed, he stood proud and unharmed.
The dragon that was Fu Leng cocked his immense head. "Brother!" he purred. "I wondered where you were hiding."
"Not hiding, Fu Leng," Yokuni said. "Waiting for the proper moment. That moment is now!" Casting aside his swords, he began to change. His arms and legs grew longer and more powerful. His body became sinuous and serpentine. His golden armor transformed into titanic scales.
The dragon that had been Togashi Yokuni was as awe-inspiring as Fu Leng was terrible. Togashi flexed his immense body, and the castle shook. The two creatures, one as bright as the sun and the other as black as midnight, s
tared at each other across the devastated corridor.
"He's a dragon, too?" Kamoko asked.
"He is the dragon." Kachiko replied. "He is Togashi, the kami who fell from the sky a thousand years ago."
"Surely he's the kami's great great grandchild," said Hoturi, "a descendant of Togashi. Becoming a dragon is some kind of magic he's using."
"No," Tadaka said, leaning against his borrowed staff. "Can't you feel it? He's the original. For all these years, he's led his clan in secret—pretending to be human. That is why he can fight the immortal Fu Leng; he is immortal himself. Togashi reveals himself to battle his dark brother."
"The Master of Earth is correct," said a firm voice behind them. Mirumoto Hitomi stepped out of the shadows and joined the other six Thunders. "We should keep out of his way, so that he can do what must be done."
The dragons lunged at each other, talons flashing, bodies coiling. They effortlessly smashed a pillar wider than two men. The ceiling above caved in, raining timbers and tiles down on both titans. Neither one even noticed.
"Give them room," the Hooded Ronin said, backing away. "There is nothing we can do to help. This battle is for the kami alone."
Fu Leng raked his iron claws toward his brother's golden eyes. Togashi ducked, and the evil kami's talons stove in a huge section of wall. The golden dragon fastened his daggerlike teeth on Fu Leng's arm. Fu Leng howled and sprayed fire from his mouth. Togashi blinked, but did not let go.
The Evil One swung his whiplike tail and coiled it around Togashi's long neck. The good kami responded by twining his brother's ebony body with his own. Together, they rolled across the corridor, knotted in a deadly dance. The palace shook to its foundations as they writhed in mortal combat. Smashing the wall of the throne room antechamber, they tumbled inside.
The Seven Thunders stayed well back, knowing the dragons could crush them and never even notice.
Tadaka drew his bow and several jade-tipped arrows from his back. The wood of the weapons had been blackened by his fight with the Master of Fire, but he chanted strength into them as he fitted an arrow to silken string. He aimed at the dragons, his limbs trembling from exertion.
"You know that you can't harm him; he's a kami—an immortal," Utaku Kamoko said to the Master of Earth. "Why even try?"
Tadaka glanced briefly at the Unicorn and gritted his teeth. "What harm in the testing, then?" He almost faltered, but the empress kept him from falling.
"Take care," Kachiko said, black eyes flashing with worry. "If you should hit Togashi by mistake ..."
Hitomi stepped up behind the two of them. "If he harms my master, I'll gut him before Fu Leng has a chance to," she said, placing her hand on the hilt of her katana.
Tadaka ignored her and let fly. The arrow sailed through the air and struck one of the bony ridges above Fu Leng's eye. The shaft exploded in bright green sparks. The evil dragon hissed and spat fire, scorching the mighty timbers supporting what was left of the anteroom's ceiling.
"You're right," the Master of Earth said quietly to the women. "My aim is not what it should be."
"We must bide our time," Toturi said, "and save our strength, should Togashi fail. Pray the Dragon lord can sunder Fu Leng's magical protection."
"He will not fail," Hitomi said angrily. "See? Even now he gains the upper hand."
As Fu Leng blinked away the jade arrow's embers, Togashi seized the Dark One's tail in his powerful talons. He unwrapped Fu Leng's coils from around his neck and snapped at the ebony dragon's throat. The Evil One darted back too slowly.
Togashi fastened his jaws around his enemy's neck. Fu Leng bellowed in pain, but the good dragon's teeth did not penetrate his iron-scaled throat. Fu Leng slashed his deadly talons across Togashi's eyes, and blood ran down the good kami's face.
The golden dragon winced and lost his grip on his enemy. Fu
Leng's hind claws raked up, leaving long wounds on Togashi's belly. Togashi hissed and smashed his barbed tail into his evil brother's face.
Fu Leng reeled back, blinking away black tears. Togashi leapt on him, claws flailing, teeth snapping. The force of the blow carried them both through the antechamber wall and into the throne room itself; the floor quaked with the impact.
Fighting to keep their feet, the Thunders followed the battling kami.
The black dragon lashed his head forward and snapped his chin up. Fu Leng's horns caught under the good kami's jaw and pierced his throat. Still, Togashi did not cry out. Rather, he wriggled free and smashed the side of his head into Fu Leng's face. Fu Leng reeled back, and Togashi coiled his serpentlike body around the dark lord once more.
Together, they writhed in a conflagration of fire, talons, and blood. The golden dragon's claws struck hard, but they seemed to leave little more than scratches on Fu Leng's ebony scales.
The Evil One's talons opened up great gashes on Togashi's belly, breast, and back.
"You cannot best me, Brother, anymore than your pitiful Thunders can!" the black dragon hissed. "I am of the underworld, not Rokugan. While you have linked your form and power to this pitiful world, my power comes from the bottomless pits of Jigoku!"
"Your time is finished, Evil One," Togashi bellowed. "Never again will your vile form pollute Rokugan." His immense golden body surged up, propelling both of them into the great iron-bound doors of the throne room. The doors smashed into a thousand splinters, and the room's stone walls crumbled where the kami hit them. Rocks the size of boulders rained down on the combatants.
The falling stones seemed to daze Togashi. Before he could recover, Fu Leng thrust them both into the antechamber once more. The golden dragon's neck snapped back, and his head crashed against the oak flooring. The floorboards shattered under his weight, but the impact stunned the Great Dragon.
Fu Leng lunged. His fangs tore a huge chunk out of the golden kami's breast. Togashi gasped and smashed his talons into the side of Fu Leng's head. The blow merely scratched the Evil One's scaly hide. Fu Leng laughed and spit his brother's blood from his mouth.
"It seems it is your time that has passed, Brother," the black dragon said.
The wounded Togashi tried to get to his feet.
Before he could, Fu Leng seized Togashi's bleeding body in his dark coils. White steam spurted from the golden dragon's mouth as his evil brother squeezed.
The Seven Thunders stood stock still, rapt in fascinated horror.
Togashi never cried out, though the light in his golden eyes began to dim. He breathed flames, but they shot harmlessly to the ceiling. He tried to cut himself free, but his claws slid off Fu Leng's black scales. He snapped at his brother's face. Fu Leng opened his wide jaws and caught Togashi's snout between them.
The castle quaked with their titanic struggle. A thunderous sound shook the palace to its foundations.
"He's broken Togashi's back!" Kamoko gasped.
The Great Dragon fell limp in his brother's coils, his body shrinking even as it slumped to the floor. Fu Leng raked his iron claws across Togashi's belly, and the Great Dragon's guts spilled out. White steam leaked up from the golden body and through the shattered ceiling, into the storm outside.
Fu Leng laughed, and the sound was more terrible than the winds of a cyclone. The undamaged rafters swayed, and pestilent yellow dust, a mixture of plaster and evil mold, drifted down from the ceiling and settled on the dying kami's body.
Horrified, Hitomi knelt beside her master's bleeding form.
"My brother can no longer protect you," Fu Leng hissed, his voice shaking the pillars of the castle. "Prepare to die!"
THE HEART OF THE DRAGON
Hitomi, my daughter, a pain-racked voice whispered.
"You still live!" The Dragon Thunder gasped. She gazed into her dying lord's golden eyes as she knelt beside him.
Togashi Yokuni nodded his huge head. The time ... we spoke of.. . has come. Do what. . . you must.
Hitomi's Obsidian Hand tingled and glowed with arcane power. She plunged her fist into Yokuni's chest and
pulled out the Great Dragon's still-beating heart. She gazed at it only a moment before crushing it in her ebony fingers.
The heart caught fire, burning so hotly that Hitomi felt the blaze through her stony skin. When the flames died away, only a long, dark object remained—the final Black Scroll.
The wizened silk was as dark as midnight and wrinkled like ancient leather. The air hissed with evil whispers as Hitomi held the cursed artifact in her fist. The fingertips of her
Obsidian Hand throbbed with the scroll's obscene power.
You must open it, but do not read!
Hitomi broke the seal and slowly rolled the unholy artifact open. As she did, she squeezed her eyes shut, turned her head away, and rose to her feet once more.
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The room went cold, and the howling of a thousand tortured souls filled the air.
Fu Leng's glowing eyes grew wide and a wicked smile drew across his monstrous face. His laughter shook the castle to its rotten core. "Do you know what you've done? The original Seven Thunders died to trap my spirit in those damnable scrolls. Since you opened the final one, my power is complete!"
"Now!" Toturi yelled. While Hitomi had knelt at her master's side, the Lion had organized the remaining Thunders in an attack plan. Now, the six advanced as a fighting unit.
Tadaka fired jade arrows at the dark kami's eyes. Kachiko supported the Master of Earth's ravaged body and poured poison onto each arrowhead as Tadaka shot. Kamoko, Toturi, the Hooded Ronin, and Hoturi ran forward brandishing their katana. Yakamo charged beside them, swinging his iron-studded tetsubo toward the evil dragon's belly.
Fu Leng hissed and blinked when Tadaka's arrows struck the horns above his eyes. His arms lashed out to ward off the weapons that slashed at his chest and belly. Metal clanged and slid off ironlike scales. The Evil One swung his huge talons at the Thunders, but they darted nimbly aside. He struck Yakamo with his barbed tail, but the Crab dropped his tetsubo and seized the black armor with his jade hand. Where Yakamo's fingers touched, Fu Leng's scales burned. The Evil One howled with rage. He shrugged his massive form and shook the Thunders from his body.
L5r - scroll 07 - The Lion Page 22