L5r - scroll 01 - The Scorpion

by Stephen D. Sullivan

  The Scorpion's eyes looked out from behind his mask and took in the face of his cousin. Behind the dirt and grime he saw a noble man, crushed by shortcomings that were not his own.

  "What did the Crab say?" the Scorpion emperor asked.

  Tetsuo rose somewhat, though he remained on his knees.

  "Lord Kisada said he would never side with the weak. He had thought, perhaps, when you killed Hantei, it was a sign of strength—a sign that the time had come for a new imperial line.

  "But when I came to him, he changed his mind. Had I not asked, he would have given you his support gladly—because it would have proved you did not need his support. By asking for his aid, I doomed our cause."

  Tetsuo collapsed on the tatami once more.

  "Please, Great Lord," he said, "if you do not kill me yourself, allow me to commit seppuku. Nothing else will erase the stain of my failure."

  Shoju looked down on his young cousin. In his mind, the Scorpion emperor could hear Yashin crying out for blood— always more blood. His hand went to the hilt of the sword, but he did not grip the hilt.

  Instead, he knelt beside Tetsuo and put his hand on the broken man's shoulder.

  "No," the Scorpion emperor said quietly. "It is not your fate to die now."

  "My lord . . . ?" Tetsuo said, looking up with tearstained

  eyes.

  The Scorpion extended his right hand to help his cousin rise. "The fault is mine," Shoju said. "The words you carried belonged to me. It was I who miscalculated. I should have realized the only way to obtain the Crab's support was not to ask for it. I was a fool."

  Tetsuo took Shoju's hand, and the two of them stood. The Scorpion lord's shoulder twinged as he helped his cousin up.

  "Never, my lord," Tetsuo said. "It was I who failed to convey your words properly."

  Shoju shook his head. "The failure is mine."

  "But the stain ..."

  "It will fade with the passage of years," said Shoju. "The stain is largely on me. The time has not come for you to die. Not yet. I sense you have another part to play in this drama before it is over."

  Tetsuo dropped his head and looked at the floor. Shoju put his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

  "Come," the Scorpion emperor said, "there is much we must do."

  THE LION ARRIVES

  Inside a pavilion near the High Gate, Hida Kisada studied his fellow daimyos. His gaze finally settled on Doji Hoturi. The Crab lord scowled.

  "Saving the outer city from fire is futile while the Scorpion holds the Forbidden City," Kisada said. He crossed arms over his great chest. His armor made a sound like scuttling crabs.

  Hoturi stood firm. "We've forced the Scorpion back within the inner walls," he said. "Only a few stragglers remain, and we'll soon sweep them up. If there is to be anything left of the city, we need to put out these fires. The peasants can't do it on their own. They need our help." The Crane daimyo turned and paced the pavilion. "That bastard Shoju can wait. He has no place left to run."

  "Just what I'd expect from a Crane," said Matsu Tsuko, acting head of the Lion. "You

  have no stomach for fighting. Some problems—this problem—can't be solved with politics, though. Only force will pry the Scorpion from the palace."

  "I'm not disagreeing with that," Hoturi said impatiently. "But the city is still burning. We're only now getting it under control. We need to concentrate on saving Otosan Uchi. It's what Hantei would have wanted. Would you have the new emperor rule over a city of ash?"

  "Better a city of ash than a city of Scorpions," Kisada said. "What say you, Yokatsu?

  The Unicorn daimyo scratched his chin. "The inner wall still holds. Its enchantments are strong. You haven't dented it with flames or rams or magic. Ladders set against it catch fire. Men trying to climb it die screaming. Even the River Gate, where the water flows through the wall, appears impregnable. My samurai can't ride over walls. More force is obviously necessary."

  "Hear that, Hoturi?" Tsuko said triumphantly.

  Yokatsu held up his hand to quiet her. "But now may not be the time for force," he concluded.

  Matsu Tsuko looked at him and snarled, "It's taken us six days to get this far. I won't give up now. Fight fires with Hoturi if you want. I'll be fighting the Scorpion."

  Kisada nodded in agreement.

  "What do you plan to do, Yokatsu?" Hoturi asked.

  "The Phoenix concern me," he said. "We still don't know why they left. Some of my scouts say the Phoenix may rejoin the war on the side of the Scorpion. We should be wary. Someone needs to set patrols, keep the city free from invaders within and without. My people are best suited to the job. You can fight the fires, Hoturi, and the Crab and Lion can bang their heads against that wall. My people will keep the city secure and keep watch."

  Hoturi kicked the dirt floor. He went to the front of the pavilion and pulled back the silk. Gazing out over smoke-stained Otosan Uchi, he wondered if the city would ever be the same.

  xxxxxxxx

  Bayushi Aramoro fell to his knees and bowed low before the Scorpion emperor.

  "My lord," he said, "I beg you ... let me return to the battlefield."

  Shoju looked hard at his half-brother. Sweat dripped down the brow of the Master of Assassins, though the room was not hot. Aramoro trembled. His breathing was ragged. He was not well, despite receiving the best medicines and treatments available.

  "Brother," Shoju said. "Your wound burns with infection. You are not suited for battle. I won't sacrifice your life foolishly, and I forbid you to do so as well."

  "Brother ... please," Aramoro said.

  Shoju shook his head. "No. I make you yojimbo to Dairu once again. He needs a bodyguard now more than ever. Besides—" the Scorpion looked to Kachiko on the other side of the chamber "—my wife desires it. Dairu has taken too many reckless chances lately."

  Aramoro took a deep, shuddering breath. "Hai, Otennoo-sama," he said. He rose and left the room.

  Kachiko crossed the smooth wooden floor and stood by her husband.

  "Thank you, my lord," she said, taking his hand.

  Shoju nodded. "What news?"

  She took a deep breath. "Our lines of control are fraying," she said. "Enemy shugenja block many of our magical communications. Sneaking out of the city has become impossible, even for the best ninja. The assassination attempts I've coordinated against the allied leaders have failed. If only Aramoro were well!"

  "Hai," Shoju said grimly. He looked at his wife's face and read the worry behind her silken mask.

  "At least," she said, "our enemies do not sleep well, either."

  Shoju merely nodded and gazed out over the city. The fires had died down, but the sounds of the dying still echoed over the walls.

  xxxxxxxx

  Tetsuo crept to the edge of a burned-out Scorpion safe house, just beyond the wall of the Forbidden City. No one had discovered the secret passage below the house. Tetsuo had used the tunnel to take several small bands of samurai through to harass the enemy.

  Tonight, they had done their jobs well. His first band killed some Lion sentries. His second stole supplies from the Lion's camp. The dimming fires made the Scorpions' stealthy jobs easier. Hidden by the darkness, their training made them nearly invisible.

  Shoju would be pleased with the raid's results.

  It still wasn't enough.

  Standing in the ruins of the safe house, Tetsuo spotted a Unicorn patrol. Their route would take them right by the Scorpion position. There were only four of them.

  Tetsuo looked at his samurai. They were battered and bruised, still catching their breath from the evening's skirmishes.

  "Five of you," he whispered. "Come with me. The rest, back in the tunnels." Five samurai, Rumiko among them, hurried forward. "If we don't return," Tetsuo said to the others, "tell the lord of our failure."

  The remainder of the group nodded. Silently they disappeared into the trapdoor. Tetsuo's allies crouched low beside him.

  The young Bayushi looke
d at Rumiko. Pain was written on her face. The wound in her side troubled her. Yet, she had volunteered for this mission. They all had.

  Tetsuo felt proud of his people. He steeled his mind for the attack.

  The Unicorn patrol rode closer. At a signal from Tetsuo, the Scorpions sprang.

  Tetsuo took the lead rider. He slashed across the man's chest, sundering his lacquered armor and dashing the horseman to the ground.

  A red haze drew over Tetsuo's eyes. In his mind, he could hear the song of Yashin, Shoju's bloodsword. He chopped the rider's head from his shoulders, but he didn't stop there.

  Again he stabbed the Unicorn's body. Again and again. Yashin's song screamed in his mind. He could hear the sound of battle raging around him—the clash of swords, the screams of horses and men—but it came as if from a great distance.

  A hand fell on Tetsuo's shoulder. He spun, ready to kill.

  It was one of his own men. "They're dead, Tetsuo-san," the man said. "I hear more coming. We must go."

  Tetsuo nodded and took a deep breath. Rage seeped out of him. His ears still pounded with blood, but now he could hear more horses coming.

  He looked around. All of the Unicorns lay dead. One of his people had lost an arm; the man clutched the bloody stump as his brethren tried to tourniquet it.

  Nearby, Rumiko lay in a pool of her own blood. She was dead, her skull crushed by a horse's hoof. Her black hair was splayed about her head like a sunburst.

  The sight made Tetsuo's gut clench tight. He couldn't stand the thought of leaving her there in the mud. Not caring that he touched an unclean thing, Tetsuo took hold of her armor and began to drag her away.

  "There's no time!" his man said. "Quickly, Tetsuo-san! We must go!"

  Tetsuo nodded and dropped Rumiko's body. Her cold, dead eyes stared up at him, reflecting the light from a distant fire.

  Tetsuo retreated inside the trapdoor and pulled it shut behind him. Though rites could cleanse his hands of the taint of the dead, nothing would ever wash the sight of Rumiko from his memory.

  xxxxxxxx

  In the hours before the dawn of the seventh day, a lone figure rode silently past the outskirts of the allied position. His coming was hidden by heavy rain. He rode directly to the tent of Matsu Tsuko and dismounted. Recognizing him immediately, the guards allowed him to pass within. One man ran to spread the news of his arrival.

  Matsu Tsuko glared at the map of the city. She pounded her fist on the low table. She had been unable to sleep and, at the same time, unable to plot some strategy to defeat the Scorpion. With bitter vindictiveness, she hoped the other generals were having no more luck than she.

  The man's entry into her tent startled her. She jumped to her feet. Her hand went to the hilt of her sword.

  The man removed his broad-brimmed hat and cast it to the floor near the pavilion's entryway.

  Tsuko gasped. "Toturi!"

  The Lion general bowed.

  Tsuko snarled at him. "Idiot! Where have you been?"

  "Poisoned," he said simply. "Held by our enemies."

  "I suppose you expect me to turn leadership of my troops over to you," she said angrily.

  "Of course," he replied. "I'll need to talk to the other generals as well. Please summon them."

  Tsuko's hand strayed once more to the hilt of her sword. She slid it out a few inches. "I should kill you where you stand, traitor."

  Toturi's eyes narrowed, but he made no move for his katana. "You can try if you like," he said, "after this is over."

  The Lioness pushed the sword back into its scabbard. "With pleasure," she said. She left the tent.

  Twenty minutes later, the heads of the clans had gathered in the Lion's pavilion. Of them all—Hoturi, Kisada, Yokatsu, Tsuko, a Mirumoto captain from the Dragon, and a Shiba sergeant from the Phoenix—only the Lions seemed fully awake.

  The others looked tired and somewhat stunned by Toturi's sudden appearance—even Kisada.

  All wanted to know more of what had happened to Toturi—why he had not been present when the emperor needed him. The Lion General brushed these questions aside, saying there was time for answers once the Scorpion had been defeated.

  "After I escaped my captivity," Toturi said, "I rode directly here. During the trip I collected intelligence from those I met on the road. Citizens have fled the capital in great numbers, and many had vital information to tell.

  "As I crested the final hill and came within sight of the city," he said, "a vision came to me. I saw the rain and the fire and the smoke engulfing the City of the Sun, and—suddenly—I knew a way to pry the Scorpion from his perch."

  Kisada scoffed. "You ride into camp having spent the day listening to peasants, and you expect us to follow you?"

  Toturi fixed the Crab with his eyes. "Only if you want to win," he said. "The Scorpion took the city by a combination of force and subterfuge. They planned this for months. We do not have that luxury."

  Toturi stood and, like a huge cat, paced the room. "Our forces are greater than Bayushi Shoju's—though his have been better prepared. He expects us to make frontal assaults. That is what we are best at, and that is what we have done so far. You can see the good it has done.

  "Shoju sits on the Emerald Throne, his troops secure within the walls of the Forbidden City. He has our people held captive. Why he has not killed them, I do not pretend to understand. It is his mistake. This error means that we have allies within his walls.

  "It may be," Toturi continued, "that others of our people still lie hidden within the Forbidden City, or even in the palace itself, waiting for the right moment to strike."

  "When will that moment come?" Hoturi of the Crane asked. "If they did not strike when my father fell, when will they?"

  "They will strike when we are there to support them," Toturi said.

  "Within the palace walls?" Tsuko scoffed. "How?"

  "Using the means of the Scorpion himself," Toturi said.

  Kisada folded his arms across his broad chest and leaned back. "We're listening," he said.

  "Rain and smoke and fire are not just destruction," said Toturi. "They can also be an ally. They can mask an army's true intentions. Is it true that when Shoju left the Forbidden City, he did it by the River Gate?"

  Yokatsu nodded. "As impossible as that seems, he did. The wall's defenses are impenetrable at that point, but..."

  "Obviously they are not impenetrable," Toturi said. "The walls are under the Bayushi's command, and they do his will. Probably, he subverted them to that purpose even before he slew the emperor."

  The generals around the pavilion nodded.

  Toturi slapped his hand on the map table. "We can do the same!" he said.

  "The walls are too well guarded," Tsuko complained. "We can't possibly take control of them."

  "We don't need to take control of all of them," Toturi said. "We need only one small section—the section the Scorpion will least suspect, the least vulnerable section."

  "The River Gate," said Hoturi.

  Toturi nodded. "Hai. So far, your most successful forays have been to the south. Now we will pull back. We will go north and east to the Fudotaki Gate, by the waterfall. We will mass the bulk of our forces there, as if to make a large assault.

  "As they go, our people will set fires throughout the city."

  Some gasped at this. Hoturi said, "We've only just brought the fires under control!"

  Toturi looked at the Crane daimyo and replied, "It is sometimes necessary to remove a limb to save a man's life. The fire and smoke and rain, if it holds, will help to mask our true purpose.

  "While the Scorpion concentrates his forces to defend the Fudotaki Gate, all our best shugenja will work a subtle spell. They will regain control of the wall near the River Gate, without alerting Bayushi's people.

  "The Scorpion shugenja will be distracted by the very real assault we will mount on their eastern sector. We will fight all through the night, giving no quarter.

  "Then, just before sunrise tomo
rrow, I will lead my people through the River Gate. Smoke, fire, and even the Imperial gardens will provide cover for our forces. Most of us will go directly to the palace to carry the assault home, but enough will stay behind to hold the section of wall we have won.

  "When I give the signal, the rest of you must come as quickly as you can. You will flood through the wall behind us and take the Forbidden City. You will crush the Scorpion beneath your heels." Toturi folded his arms over his chest and waited for comments from the others.

  The Crab spoke first. Kisada rubbed his graying chin and said, "Acting like the Scorpion would bring dishonor upon my clan."

  Toturi leaned toward him.

  "Then you can storm the Fudotaki Gate until we open it for you."

  Kisada leaned back and nodded. "Yosh."

  "Are you all with me then?" Toturi asked, placing his hand on the low table in the center of the room.

  One by one, the others nodded their assent.

  Toturi nodded. "Good."

  XXXXXXXX

  "They have gone mad," said Shoju, looking out over the vast fires spreading through the outer city of Otosan Uchi. All day, the combined forces of the allies had swept north, around the enchanted wall, toward the Fudotaki Gate. It seemed they set fire to everything as they went.

  Soon, most of the city had been set ablaze. Wind wafted smoke toward the imperial palace, making noon seem twilight and twilight seem midnight.

  The Scorpion emperor shifted his forces to fend off the concentrated effort being made by the Crab and the others— but he could make no sense of the attack.

  Yashin sang for blood. The sword urged him to ride out, to destroy his enemies. The Scorpion resisted.

  The walls by the Fudotaki Gate held, even though the allies threw powerful spells and endless numbers of men against it. The Scorpion marveled at the workmanship of the wall—built by the clans in a joint effort so long ago. Now not even the combined power of the other houses could bring the walls of the Forbidden City down.

  Something about the attack troubled the Scorpion emperor, though he could not determine exactly what.

  Late in the evening—an evening as black as the pits of Jigoku—Kachiko brought disturbing news to her husband.