"I chose well when I called you to my service, Junzo," Fu Leng said. "Go now, and do my will."
Junzo bowed, his crimson robes rustling in the draft from the
fire.
The burning priestess' dead lips ceased moving. Her head lolled limply to one side, snapping her charred neck. Her skull fell to the flagstones and rolled to Yakushi's feet, leaving a long trail of blackened skin. The flaming samurai picked up the grizzly object and kissed it on the teeth.
Junzo surveyed the destroyed temple. Though he had not obtained the information he desired, the carnage pleased him. He gazed from the tall pile of bodies nearby to the temple gate. Then, turning to Yakushi, he said, "We ride at midnight."
The black-clad samurai bowed, flames already dying out on his body. "I'll make sure your troops are ready, Junzo-sama. Shall I have the temple searched again? Perhaps there is something we missed."
"I smell no one left alive," Junzo said, "but do so anyway. Our prey is clever, but he can't hide forever."
Yakushi nodded. "I look forward to showing him Fu Leng's embrace."
Junzo laughed. "I think we may have something better than that planned for Shinsei's damnable spawn."
"As you wish, Master," the dark lieutenant said. "Searching the temple will not take long, though. What are we to do between then and midnight?"
"Until midnight," Junzo replied, his yellow teeth glistening, "we feast."
THE LION'S DECISION
Matsu Tsuko tumbled off her horse as it fell, lifeless, to the snow-dappled ground. Rattled, she staggered to her feet. A goblin had killed her steed. She jabbed her katana through its green eye. The creature gasped, its breath forming a hot cloud in the cool evening air. It fell backward into the mud. Tsuko withdrew the sword and turned to face her next enemy.
Maddened goblins swarmed up the hillside, banging their weapons together and working up the courage to attack the warrior maiden. Eight or so creatures surrounded her. They shouted obscenities and babbled incessantly, spittle flying from their ragged-toothed mouths. They jeered and stuck their green tongues out at the Lion daimyo.
Their din matched the din in Tsuko's mind. She should have been able to slay these goblins, and speedily, but ever since she had left the field at Otosan Uchi, her will and mind lay in pieces around her.
"Come on," she whispered, sending small clouds into the cool air, "who wants to see Jigoku next?"
Even as she swung her katana, her shattered mind flashed images from the Lion council, weeks before.
After their terrible defeat at Otosan Uchi, Tsuko's armies had retreated to Shiro No Yojin to lick their wounds. The castle was the stronghold of Tsuko's family. Years ago, it had been won from the Crane in a border dispute, and the Lion were determined never to give it back. Shiro No Yojin had become the seat of the Lion Assembly. Nearly all of the Lion forces gathered there following the massacre at the imperial capital. Clearly, explanations needed to be given, grievances aired, and clan strategies clarified. Tsuko was loath to initiate this council. She had spent much of the journey home brooding about her army's failure—her failure. She sat in the great council chamber, ignoring both her surroundings and the arguments being made. It was all just noise to her, noise similar to the racket the goblins were making now.
Tsuko charged forward and cut off the head of a tall, lanky goblin. The other Shadowlands troops fell back before the ferocity of her assault, retreating into the rocky foothills. They were cowards, these creatures.
Tsuko stalked after them. In search of solitude, she had ridden away from her camp near the Spine of the World Mountains. She couldn't stand having the eyes of everyone gazing at her constantly. Now, even the goblins were staring, but she'd have her solitude—if only by the sword.
Her belly felt as though it were full of broken glass.
Her commanders understood what had happened at Otosan Uchi. The emperor's order could not be disobeyed, could not be questioned. Still, they were angry at their daimyo and uncomfortable with that anger. Lashing out was a Lion's first defense.
Tsuko aimed a cut at the hindquarters of a retreating goblin. The greenish creature yelped as the Lion severed its hamstrings. It made no sound whatever when she cut off its head. She stepped over the body and continued chasing the others. Darting among the foothill's boulders, she soon lost sight of her horse's steaming body.
What am I doing? Tsuko asked herself. She knew she should probably go back to camp for reinforcements rather than chasing I he enemy by herself. She knew that, horseless and alone, the odds were against her. Yet, her anger drove her. Here was an enemy she could fight, unlike the enemies in the assembly. There, she had been just as surrounded as she was here, in the wilderness.
The assembly had quickly broken into two factions. Ikoma Tsanuri led the imperial loyalists. The Ikoma general favored honor, and the oath to the emperor. To her, Tsuko's decision was 1 he only proper one, despite lost Lion lives.
"Our oath is our soul," Tsanuri said, her eyes narrow with concern. "Are we Crab or Scorpion, to take whatever means necessary to achieve our ends? Remember what that ideology has cost both those clans. The Scorpion do not even exist anymore. If we break our oath to the Hantei, we lose the essence of our being."
"We are fools to follow the oath if it means the end of the empire," Kitsu Motso countered. The clean-shaven man scowled across the wide, wooden floor at the Ikoma partisans. His strong voice echoed off of the chamber's high-beamed ceiling. "The emperor is corrupt. His treatment of Tsuko-sama and our armies shows that beyond any doubt. We are not Go pieces to be used and then cast aside. Our loyalty has been repaid with unjust death. The emperor is no longer worthy of that loyalty. Our duty is to all of the empire, indeed, to Rokugan itself. That obligation is greater than words given to any man, even the emperor."
Murmurs of assent echoed around the chamber, clashing with equally loud grumbles of disagreement.
Matsu Yojo and many others sat in the middle of the argument. The looks on their faces said they felt as torn as the Lion daimyo did. Fortunately, they would not be deciding the fate of the Lion; unfortunately, she would.
Tsuko ducked barely in time. A huge rock sailed over her head and crashed into a boulder only two paces behind her. At the top of the rise stood a huge shutendoji. The creature was half again as tall as the Lion and had huge fangs protruding from its wide mouth. The oni picked up another small boulder to hurl at the Lion daimyo.
Apparently, the goblins' retreat had been a trap. Tsuko chided herself for being led into it. Her breast burned at the idea of being penned in. Was there nowhere she could escape such tricks?
Matsu Tsuko sat in the back of the Lion assembly, her head in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. The smooth wood floor felt cold beneath her, even though she sat on a thick tatami mat. The dagger in her stomach twisted; her ears rang with the sound of breaking glass.
Around her, her clanmates jabbered gruffly. Even when arguing they sat stiff, their legs folded under their bodies, their swords laid by their right hands. So proud. So honorable. The hard decision to come was not theirs, though, but Tsuko's.
As daimyo, her word was law within the clan, just as the emperor's word was law to her. If the Lion were to break their oath with the Hantei, it would be upon her head.
Tsuko's head pounded with the surge of her own blood. The arguments around her swirled into a whirlpool of noise. Voices crashed like the surf on the shores outside Otosan Uchi. Mingled with them, Tsuko heard the cries of her dying men in the battle before the imperial gates—a battle she had been powerless to affect.
How could she choose?
Either way, her clan would be damned. The blood would be on her hands. Always.
The oni's attack emboldened the goblins. They charged screaming from behind their rocks. The first died quickly as Tsuko slashed her blade across the goblin's greenish throat. Blood sprayed out, staining Tsuko's sword arm up to the elbow and splattering droplets on her face.
Always blood
on her hands and darkness in her soul.
Another goblin died when it got in the way of a boulder thrown by the shutendoji. The monster cackled with delight.
Matsu Tsuko had let the wave of her clan's words wash over her. In her mind, she saw the blood of her people staining the tide red. She heard the roar of the surf, the roar of battle, the roar of the assembly. At Otosan Uchi's gate, the decision to fight had been taken from her. Had her honor been lost that day as well?
All eyes in the assembly rested on her.
Sitting next to her on the tatami, Matsu Yojo whispered, "Tsuko-sama, what shall we do?" In his young eyes, she saw reflections of her own confusion.
Slowly, she rose to her feet and propped her hands on her hips.
"The Lion fight for the emperor, and Rokugan as well," she said, trying to force herself to feel the words. "Our ties to the land are strong, but our ties to the emperor are in our souls. I will not break my word to him." She turned to Tsanuri. "You will carry out our duty to the royal house, as will you, Motso."
Kitsu Motso and Tsanuri bowed, though Tsuko saw a spark of displeasure in Motso's brown eyes.
"You will protect Otosan Uchi—as we have always done—at the emperor's behest. As long as I live, I will not break my vow to the Hantei. Neither shall any of you," Tsuko had said. "The Lion's word is our honor—our soul.
"I cannot ignore the pain of the land, though," she continued. "Together with Matsu Yojo and a portion of our troops, I will seek out the vermin that plague our land. I will join Matsu Gohei at the foot of the mountains, reinforcing our army there. I will guard the west, where the sun sets, as you guard the east where she rises. If we act together, we may yet stem the coming darkness." As Tsuko finished, her knees went weak. She felt wearier than she ever had in her life.
I know what is right, she had thought. Why can't I bring myself to do it? If only I could fight this battle with steel!
Only five goblins and the shutendoji remained. The demon kept well out of reach of Tsuko's flashing blade, preferring to toss rocks. The goblins tried not to present a direct target either, stabbing at the samurai maiden with their swords and spears and then dancing back among the stones. They cackled and laughed and continued their taunts.
"Damn you!" Tsuko said. "Fight like men, you cowards!"
"Fight like men and die like samurai," one of the goblins cackled. It picked up a stone and threw it at Tsuko just as she ducked out of the way of a hurtling boulder. The goblin's stone struck her on her diademlike helmet.
Tsuko winced and crouched back.
The other goblins decided this rock-throwing was a good idea. They stooped to get stones of their own and were soon gleefully pelting the Lion. The rocks did little more than sting and distract.
Tsuko maneuvered the fight uphill, to a large standing stone. The boulder was big enough to hide behind, and the samurai maiden hoped to gain a moment's respite from the barrage of rocks.
Just before she got there, one of the goblins tarried too long in picking up a rock. Tsuko dashed forward and chopped off its head. She ducked out of the way of a thrown boulder and scooped up the fallen creature's spear.
Darting around the big stone, she caught her breath. Beyond the boulder lay the ragged edge of a cliff. The drop was only a story and a half, but it prevented the goblins from pelting her from the front as she pressed her back against the standing stone.
Tsuko's protective stone shuddered as a boulder hit it. A goblin popped up nearby, and Tsuko threw her newly acquired spear through its neck. Three remained, and the oni.
Another boulder crashed, this time only a pace beyond her. Tsuko smiled. Her standing stone was doing its job nicely, even if she had no clear avenue of escape.
"Come out, little samurai!" the shutendoji bellowed. "I will give you a quick, honorable death!"
"Come get me!" Tsuko called back. "Your death will be quick, if not honorable."
The oni snarled and called to his three remaining companions. "Get her! Draw her out, or I'll have your guts for supper!"
The goblins squawked. They scrambled forward over the rocks, throwing stones as they came. None of the missiles were large enough to dent the samurai's armor. All three approached from the right, hoping to force Tsuko from her shelter. Two brandished curved swords and the other a rusty spear.
A slashing cut from Tsuko's katana parried the blows of the swordsmen. The spearman thrust at the Lion's ribs. She stepped away and grabbed the haft of the spear with her left hand as it passed by.
Turning quickly, she yanked on the spear. The goblin lost its footing and stumbled toward her. Instead of killing it, Tsuko kicked hard into the creature's backside.
The goblin went sprawling past her and landed a few paces away from Tsuko's boulder. A huge rock fell out of the sky and crushed the creature's head. The oni cursed.
Tsuko beat back the swords of her two opponents. One goblin's steel shattered. Tsuko sliced at the goblin, but it stumbled away.
The other thrust through the Lion's guard. Its sword ran along Tsuko's ribs, but her armor turned the cut harmlessly aside. Tsuko chopped the creature from shoulder to breastbone and it fell, dead.
Weaponless, the remaining goblin backed away from Tsuko's attack. The Lion jumped at it, but the creature stumbled out, into the open—away from the boulder's cover.
The goblin looked up, fearing a boulder would end its life. It seemed surprised when no rock came. Before it could recover, Tsuko ran her sword through its chest.
She darted back behind the standing stone as a rock sailed past. The oni cursed.
Tsuko panted. "Too bad you didn't bring more friends."
"I need no one to squash you, little samurai!" the shutendoji bellowed.
The stone against Tsuko's back suddenly shook. The rock groaned and inched forward. The shutendoji heaved behind it, trying to topple the stone on her.
Tsuko darted out from behind the boulder.
The oni had its shoulder to the stone. It whirled as she dashed out to meet it, but too late. Tsuko's katana flashed. The fanged head fell from the broad shoulders. The oni's body slumped into the dust.
Tsuko stood over the corpse. There was no satisfaction in the kill—no honor, no glory anymore. At least there was solitude, but in the sudden stillness, the clamor in Tsuko's head seemed only louder.
xxxxxxxx
"Toturi's army is on the other side of the river," Matsu Gohei said. "They came out of the hills upstream, apparently trying to get past our guard. So far, we've kept them from crossing, though I'm not sure how. They outnumber us badly, even though we've killed many of their samurai. Before nightfall, they retreated to a position several miles away, out of range of easy reconnaissance."
"This 'Black Lion' lacks courage as well as honor," Matsu Yojo added. He folded his arms across his chest and scowled.
Tsuko frowned at both samurai. "Honor, yes, but courage ... ? Once, I would have said so. Now, though ... Gohei, why do you think he doesn't cross the river?"
"I don't know, Mistress," the bold general said. Gohei leaned against his yari and thoughtfully stroked his chin. He smiled. "Perhaps he's tired of my killing his samurai."
"Has Toturi sent envoys to parley?" Tsuko asked.
Gohei shook his head. "After all the months I've spent harrying his troops? I'd be surprised if he did."
"Nothing Toturi does surprises me," Tsuko replied. "Perhaps I could surprise him, though."
"How, Mistress?" Yojo asked.
Tsuko ran her fingers through her long, golden hair. "I need to think about it some more. In the morning, we'll form up and march east. As we rode in, I heard reports of Shadowlands marauders nearby. We'll find and slay them."
"That will leave our backs to the Black Lion," Gohei said. "He may cross the river."
"Perhaps, but we'll still stand between him and the capital," Tsuko said. "As Gohei said, he doesn't seem to want a real fight. He's more a wolf than a lion." She turned and gazed into the mountains. Far away, the smoke
of Toturi's campfires smudged the darkening sky. "Have our troops prepare to move out come dawn."
Yojo and Gohei nodded. "As you will, Tsuko-sama," Gohei replied.
"Keep a sharp lookout for tricks tonight," Tsuko said. "Toturi may be miles away, but that doesn't mean he won't try something if he can. He's still too clever by half. Even though we're leaving this place, we must still be on our guard. I'll be resting in my tent if you need me."
The other two bowed and returned to their duties. Tsuko crossed to her pavilion and entered it.
Rest did not come easily for her. When she slept, she dreamed of plague and death and the slaughter of her Lion army . . . and Akodo Arasou. She saw his face clearly, as if he were beside her. Then the face changed into that of Toturi, the Black Lion.
Tsuko woke with a start, sweating, her heart pounding. She stood and walked around the tent, taking a drink of sake to calm her nerves. It didn't work.
Perhaps a bath, she thought. The nearby river ran strong and swift. Its waters were swollen with the spring and would be very cold—just what Tsuko needed. The river would be guarded by her men. A late night bath should be safe enough.
Tsuko walked through the flaps of her tent and toward the river. Guards nodded politely at her, but no one questioned where she was going.
Soon, she reached the river, a rushing watercourse ten paces wide in the narrowest spots. Boulders churned the water white and sprayed the banks with a fine mist. The chill droplets felt good on Tsuko's hot forehead.
The new spring moon painted ghostly shadows on the water's surface. The night smelled of pine and newly thawed earth. Spring's warm fingers caressed the dark air. Over the river's laughter drifted the voices of Tsuko's guards. It gave her comfort that her people were so close, though she longed for solitude as well.
She stooped down on the bank, cupped some water in her hands, and splashed it onto her face. She began to strip off her armor, then stopped, thinking.
L5r - scroll 07 - The Lion Page 10
