Toturi nodded and turned reflexively toward his friend Hitomi. The Lion's face fell. He would never again hear the Crane's pleasant voice. "Let's leave this accursed place. We'll send someone back to attend to Hoturi."
One by one, the remaining Thunders nodded, even Kachiko. Toturi and Kamoko joined together to lift her. They carried her out the doorway and made their way through the ruins to the courtyard.
Tadaka clung to his borrowed staff, refusing any help. He staggered out past burning buildings. Bursts of lightning lit the ruins of the palace. A flash of white atop the castle wall caught his eye. He stopped and concentrated, peering through the gloom and rain.
Lightning crashed, and in the pale illumination he saw the Kuni witch hunter standing on the parapet. Her long, black hair waved silently in the wind, and her eyes flashed behind her jade mask. In her gaunt hand she held her forked spear.
"What is it?" Kamoko asked. She foEowed Tadaka's gaze but saw only the storm.
"Nothing," Tadaka replied. "Just an old debt that needs paying." He turned to the others and said, "I go to fulfill my destiny."
Toturi nodded in understanding. "What shall we tell your clan?"
Tadaka paused and took a long, ragged breath. "Tell them I died from the wounds Fu Leng gave me. After all... it's the truth." His black and bloody face broke into an ironic smile.
Toturi bowed to him; the others did the same.
Tadaka bowed back weakly. Then he turned and wandered into the storm.
In a flash of lightning, Toturi imagined he saw the Master of Earth standing atop a ruined wall, side by side with a pale ghost of a woman. When lightning struck in the next instant, both figures had vanished.
Toturi and Kamoko carried Kachiko out of the courtyard and into the ruins of the Forbidden City. Together, they climbed to the top of the battlement and gazed down on the wreckage below.
With their master's death, Fu Leng's troops had fallen quickly. Only a few escaped. Most died before the swords of the allied samurai.
Kamoko's keen eyes gazed over the burning ruins of Otosan Uchi. "There's still life here," she said. "The darkness has ended, and tomorrow brings a new dawn. We can start rebuilding then."
"Hai," Toturi replied. "There is much to rebuild."
Kachiko said nothing, but her dark eyes strayed back to the palace once more. A single tear rolled down her pale cheek.
EPILOGUE:
THE LION EMPEROR
Toku pulled at the bandage on his chest and
scratched underneath the silk. "All in all, things could be worse," he said jovially.
"I suppose," Toturi replied. He matched the young samurai stride for stride as the two of them walked through the ruins of the capital.
Toku frowned at his friend. "You should cheer up, Master. Rokugan's free and it's a lovely fall morning; General Bentai's helmet must be pretty pleased with the view from the castle's highest tower. The Unicorn are working with the peasants to rebuild the outer city, and I'm very glad that you and the other Thunders weren't killed battling Fu Leng. Losing only two of you was pretty lucky."
"If you call it luck," Toturi said. His mind flashed back to Hoturi, Bentai, and all his other fallen comrades.
"Well, I suppose you'd feel happier if you had died and Hoturi and Tadaka were alive," Toku said peevishly.
Toturi stopped walking and shook his head. "No. Everything turned out the way fate decreed. Who am I to argue with the Fortunes?"
"You said it," Toku replied. "If it hadn't been for you, the whole world might have died. Now we've got the Unicorn helping the peasants, and your friend Tsanuri coordinating the clans' recovery. Things are better now than they've been in years. Even the plague is gone. We'll have this place put back together in no time."
"Maybe. I doubt, though, that anyone will submit to Kachiko as empress. Perhaps she was just another of Fu Leng's victims, but many still distrust her."
"Who can blame them? I don't trust her either," Toku replied. "Once a Scorpion, always a Scorpion, as Bentai would have said."
Toturi sighed heavily at the mention of his old friend. "Let's check in on Tsanuri."
Together, the two of them went to the encampment outside the main walls of the city. They found Ikoma Tsanuri bustling about, shuttling between the Lion troops and the tents of their allies. She bowed low at Toturi's approach.
"It's a difficult job you've set me," she said, sighing. "In the end, you'll probably wish you'd chosen a diplomat rather than a warrior."
Toturi smiled at her. "I'm sure you're doing fine. You fought hard in the battles outside the castle. All the others respect you."
"Respect, hai," she said, tossing her black hair over her shoulder, "but they won't follow me much longer. What we really need is a new emperor."
"Perhaps," Toturi said, scratching his chin. "When the time comes, I'm sure we'll find someone to pull things together—a person both the peasants and the clans look up to, and who can manage the affairs of the empire."
Tsanuri smiled at him. "I think we already have a leader like that. I've spoken to the other clans, and they all agree."
"Really?" Toturi said, arching one eyebrow. "Who have they chosen?"
"Some tall, handsome, stubborn fool who's too blind to see that the job's already fallen to him," Tsanuri replied.
A smile broke over Toku's young face. "Oh! I get it."
"So do I," Toturi replied. "Though I'm not sure I like it."
"It's not up to you," Tsanuri said, mock-gravely. "I've told you, all the other clans agree. Whether you like it or not." She winked at the ronin lord and smiled once more.
Slowly, he smiled back.
xxxxxxxx
Toku poked his head out of the door and peered into the starlit night. He gazed out over the castle walls and spotted a tall, dark figure silhouetted beneath the autumn sky and looking up at the stars.
The young Emerald Magistrate stepped out onto the parapet and pulled the shoji panel closed behind him. He ducked under the bamboo scaffolding along the walls and, quickly and quietly, walked to the new emperor's side.
The Lion Emperor glanced at his young commander. Then he turned away, and gazed over the city stretching out below the castle. The sound of carpentry drifted up to them through the cool autumn air.
Toku stood silently at his master's side for a moment. Then he asked, "What are you thinking, Toturi-sama?"
"I was thinking that fall is a time when things wither and die. Yet, here we are, rebuilding, bringing new life into the world."
"Hai," Toku agreed. "That's odd, I'll admit. Still, we couldn't have waited for spring to start, could we?"
Toturi turned toward him and chuckled. "No, we couldn't."
"Do you like being emperor so far, Master?"
"I don't feel much like the emperor—so far," Toturi said wryly. "My ascension was only this morning."
"I was just curious, because I think people are asking after you already," Toku said. "In the great hall below, I mean. Wondering where you've gone."
Toturi nodded. "They'll find me soon enough, I expect. It didn't take you long to find me." He paused and smiled at his friend. "I wouldn't let anyone else hear you talking to me so informally, though. My advisors would probably insist I have you executed for insolence."
"My etiquette may need polish, but my wits are sharp, and I know you pretty well," Toku said. "That's how I found you so quickly. It'll take the rest of the empire a while to catch on, probably. You'll have to come up with some new ways of avoiding people."
Turning his face up to Toturi's he asked, "Have you heard anything of Kaede, um, Toturi-sama? I meant to ask earlier, but I forgot. Do you think she'll become your fiancee again, now that you're emperor?"
Toturi shook his head. "No, no further word," he replied. "Even the Phoenix—what's left of them—don't know when she'll return." He folded his arms and sighed. "As to whether she'll marry me, the stars only know." He turned his gaze toward the heavens once more.
Overhead
, the constellations whirled slowly, imperceptibly, in their preordained paths. Scorpion, Unicorn, Crane, Phoenix, Crab, Dragon, and Lion—all had their place within the heavens and on Rokugan.
"Is there a Mantis constellation, Master?" Toku asked. "I'm only wondering, because if there isn't, Yoritomo will probably want one."
Toturi folded his arms across his broad chest and chuckled. "Yoritomo will have to wait. I think he's garnered enough favors for the moment and shouldn't press his luck. Besides, I've another heavenly matter I want to attend to first."
"Like what?"
Toturi pointed toward the stars. "Do you see the Lion constellation, dancing there next to the Scorpion?"
Toku nodded.
"I want to rename it... for Matsu Tsuko."
The young samurai smiled. "I think she'd like that, Master," he said. Then his face fell, "I'm not sure the other lords will go for it, though. I don't think they like change very much."
"No one does," Toturi said, "except maybe the Scorpion."
"I think those guys have probably had enough change to last them for several generations. Kachiko especially."
"Let's hope," Toturi replied. He took a deep breath of the cool evening air. "Anyway, no matter what anyone else says, from now on, those stars will always be Matsu Tsuko to me."
"To me as well, then," Toku said. "Look! She's winking at us!"
Toturi laughed again, his deep, warm voice filling the autumn night. He shook his head and sighed. "From ascetic, to daimyo, to ronin outcast, to emperor. I wonder if this is what the Fortunes had planned for me all along."
Toku shrugged. "I never try to outguess fate. I have enough trouble trying to guess what's for dinner." He paused and looked hopefully at the new emperor. "By the way, Master, what is for dinner?"
Toturi chuckled and turned back toward the castle. "Let's find out together."
The Lion Emperor and his young commander walked together to the Palace of the Shining Prince. They slid back the many-paneled paper screen and stepped into the brightly lit room beyond the veranda. Then they pulled the shoji closed behind them, shutting out the darkness.
THE END
L5r - scroll 07 - The Lion Page 25