L5r - scroll 05 - The Crab

by Stan Brown

  Yakamo turned a measured glare at the young foot soldier.

  "These creatures are not our allies," he said in a low voice. "Never forget that. They are tools the Great Bear has given us to use in our great work." Yakamo made a point, when addressing the troops, to refer to his father by one of his titles.

  "W-well if we cannot use them to do even menial labor, what part are they to play?" asked another samurai, who stood naked to the waist and drenched in sweat despite the autumn chill in the air.

  "Trust me," Yakamo said with a sly grin. "The part I have planned for our guests is much more horrible than the work you've done these past two days. Now hurry up! At sunset we march on Kyuden Kakita!"

  A X A X X A X X

  By the time Yakamo's army arrived at the Crane stronghold, stars filled the sky. The moon was a mere sliver in the sky, but the Crab samurai could see the great plain approaching Kyuden Kakita, and the castle itself was awash in torchlight. They could see tiny figures coming to the battiements to try to get a look at the approaching Crab army. Clearly someone had warned the garrison at Kyuden Kakita—they were ready for an attack.

  As he led his forces closer, Yakamo saw that the fog seemed to have worked in his favor. The figures on the wall scurried here and there pointing at the Crab troops. Indistinct voices rose in argument. The Crane appeared to have no idea how large Yakamo's army was.

  "Make rows of camps by platoons!" Yakamo called out. "Cavalry farthest back, then infantry! Every camp light a fire— I want them to start guessing at how many of us are out here."

  Yakamo turned to the leader of the Shadowlands troops, a creature that looked similar to the oni to which he'd given his name but it was less than half that creature's size. "I want your troops to make similar camps too, but I want you closest to the castle."

  The creature looked at Yakamo with burning orange eyes and spoke in a gravelly, popping whisper. "We will not fight for you, son of the Bear."

  "I know full well what you will and won't do," Yakamo spat at the thing. "I'm not asking you to do so much as draw your weapons—but I am telling you to make your camps at the head of my army!"

  The creature ground its teeth, or would have if it had any teeth to grind. Instead it made a soft wet sound as it clenched its ropy jaws.

  "As you command."

  xxxxxxxx

  Hida Tsuru rode back and forth in front of the main gate to Kyuden Kakita. The sun had risen two hours before only to be immediately swallowed by gray, menacing clouds. The day was sufficiently warm that it would not snow, but rain waited to burst from the sky.

  "Surrender, Crane!" Tsuru called out. At Yakamo's order he offered the Kakita officers an honorable alternative to being overrun. Both men knew the proud Crane would never accept such terms. "Half your garrison is dead from the plague, and the rest are falling down with exhaustion."

  In fact, the battlements looked very sparsely manned. Crane samurai stood around in clusters of seven or eight, shaking fists and swords above their heads and hurling curses down at the Crab army.

  "We have nearly ten times your number," shouted Tsuru. "There is no chance of defeating us. If you try to hold our armies at bay, you will gain only the slaughter of your men. Give us the palace, and we will allow your troops honorable deaths!"

  Tsuru rode just out of arrow range, which happened to be between the front ranks of Crab samurai and the rear ranks of Shadowlands troops. He harangued for half an hour with no response, then guided his horse to the Shadowlands commander's camp.

  "These are your orders from Yakamo-san," he said holding forth a scroll but making no effort to hide his disdain for the creature.

  "I told your leader, we will not fight for you," it said.

  "Yes," said Tsuru before the creature even finished its sentence. "We know all that. If you bother to read the scroll, you'll see that your orders are to maintain your camps and observe the battle."

  The Shadowlands commander blinked its ropy eyes.

  "But we are within range of the—"

  "Your orders are quite clear—and within the parameter of your master's agreement with Kisada-sama!" Tsuru pulled on the reins and turned to go. Before he nudged his steed, he said over his shoulder, "Personally, I hope you all sit around your campfires and let the Crane pepper you with arrows. The Crab have had the pleasure of slaying your kind for so long, it's about time another clan had the same opportunity."

  xxxxxxxx

  "Death to the Crane!"

  The cry echoed up and down the ranks of Crab, accompanied by the sound of katanas banged against lacquered wooden breastplates. One or two goblins even got particularly caught up in the heat of the moment and joined in the shouting.

  Yakamo ordered the troops to shout, stomp their feet, and make as much noise as possible until the signal was given to commence the attack. Although this seemed strange to many samurai, none questioned their commander. Most had been on only one or two offensive maneuvers, having spent most of their careers defending the Great Kaiu Wall. Yakamo, however, knew the advantage of making his opponents wait and filling their hearts with fear. In duels he always began by swaggering about with an utter lack of concern for his opponent. Shouting was his way of doing so on an epic scale.

  The Crane considered the Crab little better than animals because of their coarse and wild ways. Let them see how wild the Crab could be.

  "They're probably soiling their kimonos, looking out at all those rows of pointed teeth and scaly skin," Yakamo chuckled.

  His generals laughed too, but they also grew impatient.

  "When will we launch the attack?" asked Hida Tsuru, just returned from delivering his messages. "Before or after our voices give out?"

  Yakamo chuckled again. "If nothing happens in the next five minutes, you can—"

  He stopped himself in midsentence. A commotion had begun among the goblins that banged their spears on the ground. A group of Crane archers had responded to all the shouting by firing a round of arrows into the ground in front of the goblins. Naturally, being honorable warriors, they had not actually shot the creatures—just launched a warning shot. The goblins, though, were outraged. They picked up rocks and threw them at the wall, shouted curses in their foul tongue. They even took turns dropping their pants to expose themselves in the Cranes' direction.

  "There!" Yakamo said. "That's what we've been waiting for. Hand me that bow."

  Tsuru did as he was told.

  Yakamo notched an arrow and aimed it on a high, arching path. He looked back down at the goblins, adjusted his aim slightly, and let the arrow fly.

  The taunting continued in the Shadowlands camp. One goblin capered in a particularly amusing fashion, waving body parts in unpleasant ways. Suddenly the goblin stopped and stood very still.

  At first its companions thought it was merely pausing before an even more impressive bit of mockery. Then they saw the arrow sticking straight out of the top of its head.

  The gamboling goblin fell flat onto its face and moved no more.

  A shriek went up among the other goblins—a shriek that spread from one Shadowlands camp to the next and soon drowned out the Crab chants. The Crane were attacking them!

  Yakamo watched as goblins, zombies, ogres, and other monstrosities stopped banging their weapons on the ground and began raising them in anger. The tightly gathered camps broke and became one swelling mass of enraged monsters. With a final shout from their commander—a shout of exasperation rather than anger—the forces of darkness surged toward the walls of Kyuden Kakita.

  "Now we attack!" Yakamo said smugly.

  XXXXAXXX

  "This is torture!" Yakamo grumbled as he paced restlessly.

  After two full days of guiding his army from a hillock just west of Kyuden Kakita, he longed to take his tetsubo in hand and fight the Crane himself. For the first time in his military career, he had to stand back and watch while others did his fighting for him. This was the cost of rising to a position of authority. He'd heard his father so
metimes wonder whether the price of being daimyo was not greater than he cared to pay. Yakamo never understood what Kisada meant until now.

  The army depended on his guidance. He signaled orders to the commanders, telling them to press their assault or fall back and regroup. He judged whether it was better to attack the main gate or batter a hole in the wall. All of this required a full appreciation of everything happening on the field of battle—a perspective gained by observing the ebb and flow of war from a distance.

  But when he saw a squad fail to press into an opening or a company being taken by surprise by a countermaneuver, Yakamo wished he could lead the charge himself. He grabbed a runner by the arm and pointed to an area about two hundred yards from Kyuden Kakita's main gate.

  "See the formation that just avoided having hot pitch poured on them?" he asked. When the young man nodded, he continued. "That is Hiruma Matsu's brigade. Find Matsu and tell him to keep his samurai up close to the wall and to press forward with their battering ram. Tell him that he must not fall back even if the Crane bring more pitch. He is to press the attack. He will not succeed at breaking through the wall, but we must keep the Crane distracted. Kaiu Utsu's force is about to punch a hole through the wall, and we must draw attention away from him until he does."

  The runner started to bolt, but Yakamo placed a tremendous hand on his shoulder and drew him back,

  "Once Utsu has broken through, Matsu is to split his troops. He should send half to join Utsu's samurai as they charge the compound and take the other half with their battering ram to join those at the main gate."

  The runner nodded and waited.

  "That's all! Go!"

  The sun stood only a litde more than halfway through its journey. The castle would fall well before night.

  XXXXXXXX

  "He is a monster! A demon! Get out of his way before—"

  Another Crane fell beneath the sweeping strokes of Hida Amoro's no-dachi. It was ironic that—surrounded by zombies, goblins, and ogres—Amoro was the one the enemy feared. Once again wrapped in the crimson haze of his uncontrollable blood-lust, the samurai was clearly the most dangerous opponent to step through the breach.

  Cold rain turned the courtyard to mud and made footing treacherous.

  Amoro hacked at a fallen samurai until a trio of zombies shambled past on their way to intercept an approaching group of Crane. The other Crab were smart enough to stay out of Amoro's way, but the Shadowlands creatures had no idea that he was as dangerous to them as he was to the Crane. In his berserker rage, Amoro knew nothing other than that a new set of targets had come into view.

  He kicked one zombie in the back, knocking it to the ground. Stepping on it, he closed with the second creature and took its unliving head off with one stroke of his massive blade. The third undead warrior knew it was in trouble, though its lifeless brain had not yet figured out why. It turned and raised its katana just in time to deflect Amoro's overhead slash.

  The first zombie struggled to rise, but Hida Amoro dropped to one knee, landing square on its back. The Shadowlands warrior felt no pain, but a resounding crack filled the air. Amoro had snapped its spine. Its legs stopped scrabbling, but its arms continued to grab its human attacker.

  The Crab thrust his no-dachi between the standing zombie's legs. The creature stumbled forward, its katana raised to strike Amoro down. Before it could swing, Amoro pivoted on his knee and drew his blade overhead in a strong pulling motion. The no-dachi cut straight up through the zombie's body, neatly slicing it in two.

  Amoro rose, and his hazy eyes looked around for another victim. The zombie below him snatched at his ankle, but all it could do was scratch at the side of his foot.

  Without even looking down, Amoro used two hands to swing the flat of his blade hard against the side of the fallen zombie's head. He batted it off the creature's shoulders and sent it skidding to the feet of a pair of goblins, who watched with undisguised awe.

  The goblins were beginning to realize that this Crab killing machine was purposely attacking their comrades. What's more, he was looking right at them, bloodlust in his eyes. That wasn't part of the agreement between Hida Kisada and Yakamo no Oni!

  Crane samurai converged on Amoro. He shifted his attack to them. The goblins stared in disbelief as the raging Crab fought four Crane to a standstill—and even gained the upper hand.

  One goblin looked to the other. They silendy agreed that getting far away from this insane Crab was the smartest thing they would ever do.

  The ground was littered with dead humans from both clans as well as Shadowlands creatures, but the fighting had moved on. Crane defenders left their posts to batde the forces pouring through the hole in the west wall. Crab battering rams, left relatively unmolested, didn't take long to pound through the weakened main gate. Troops flooded into the courtyard.

  The ring of steel on steel and the sound of humans dying drifted out from the main palace. Before the goblins could cross the compound, they saw Crab samurai leaving the castle, carrying sacks of rice, bushels of ground barley, dried and pickled vegetables, and barrels of sake.

  "Looting!" one goblin said to the other.

  "Quick, let's go before all the good stuff is taken!" replied the other.

  It was already too late.

  The sound of a horn filled the air. Once, twice, a third long blast-—the signal to retreat.

  "Take the food! Burn the palace!" called Hida Tsuru from the other side of the shattered gate. "Retreat!"

  xxxxxxxx

  Yakamo sat astride his horse and watched flames lick up the walls of Kyuden Kakita. Thick, black smoke poured from its upper floors. The golden cranes at either end of the roof began to melt and warp into twisted mockeries of the clan namesake.

  "Glorious ... simply glorious" he complimented himself.

  Hida Tsuru rode up, his face smudged and wet. The rain had stopped, but the entire plain had been churned into cauldron of mud and soot.

  "The last of the stores have been removed," Tsuru reported, "and our men are carrying them back to our camps. What's more, the Shadowlands troops are helping!"

  "Excellent!" replied Yakamo, still entranced by the flames. "What about the Crane?"

  Tsuru sat taller in his saddle.

  "The Crane have been routed. Most of them were killed defending the castle, but a few have escaped into the surrounding countryside. Shall I organize a detail to hunt them down and kill them like the cowardly dogs they are?"

  Yakamo shook his head absently. Small droplets of water shook free from the trim of his helmet.

  "No," he finally said. "Let them live with their dishonor. We have what we came for."

  "And none too soon," said Hida Amoro who walked up the hillock. He was covered in blood and mud. He wore as peaceful an expression on his face as Yakamo had ever seen. "My men report that a large force of Unicorn cavalry is approaching from the northwest. They seem to be intent on coming to the Crane's aid."

  All three samurai laughed.

  "Well, let them help the poor Crane," Yakamo chuckled. "Meanwhile, we'll take these provisions back to my brother-assuming that, without my aid, he's been able to hold the single most defensible position in all of Rokugan."

  THE BATTLE OF BEIDEN PASS

  The sun climbed toward the peak of a brilliant blue sky. Not a single wisp of cloud lingered from horizon to horizon. This was a day of purity and focus—distractions had no place on the rocky plain.

  Hida Sukune rode his warhorse before the formation of Crab samurai in full battle armor. They stood just outside the north end of Beiden Pass, their weapons at the ready—a sea of katana, no-dachi, tetsubo, yari, and every other kind of blade, hammer, or polearm used by honorable warriors.

  "If this does not make my father proud, then nothing will!"

  Sukune wore his crab-shaped armor. He grunted approvingly as he reviewed his troops. It was another sound he'd learned from his father. Sukune himself was more comfortable complimenting the samurai on their preparedness,
but most of them seemed to dislike that. The Crab did not take compliments well.

  However, a curt, gruff animalistic sound of respect and acceptance never failed to fill the samurai with pride.

  "Since the days of the first Hida, we have defended the Emerald Empire against its enemies. Your fathers and all their fathers as far back as memory stretches have been the instrument of salvation for the clans of Rokugan. They kept the empire's enemies outside our lands."

  Sukune had practiced this speech alone in his tent for the past two nights. The men and women under his command would follow his orders, but he knew that precious few of them actually trusted that he knew what he was doing. Defending the pass was one thing—they knew how to do that—but going out to face an enemy on an open battlefield, that was not something most Crab had done in generations. Sukune needed to say something inspirational, something to fill his warriors with confidence in themselves and in him. He knew his plan was sound; he just had to convince them.

  "But now a different threat has arisen—a threat that comes from within. The clans are on the verge of tearing the empire apart. We cannot allow that to happen. To save the empire, we must fight our own brothers."

  This was not going as well as he'd hoped. Samurai shifted from foot to foot, looking across the plain at the Dragon troops deploying opposite them. Sukune raised just the wrong image when he called them brothers. The Crab had no great respect for Dragon samurai—or for those from any other clan, for that matter—but they were at least samurai, not soulless monsters like the goblins and other creatures that assaulted the Great Wall of Kaiu every day. Those same creatures marched side by side with the Crab all the way to Beiden Pass. Even now, the monsters camped at the southern end of the mountains, safe from battle.

  "But these are not our brothers. Look! These troops seem to come from the Dragon Clan, yet they march under the banner of the ronin Toturi. These 'defenders of the empire' take orders from a man whose actions were so honorless that he was stripped of his title—indeed, stripped of his name."