L5r - scroll 07 - The Lion

by Stephen D. Sullivan

  The Black Lion stepped back and bowed his head. For a long moment, silence reigned over the hillside, and in the valley below. Then Toturi walked quietly off the stage.

  Kazuo stepped forward and laid the Lion daimyo's body flat across the platform. He gently replaced Tsuko's head atop her shoulders and said a prayer to the sun goddess for her soul. He backed to the edge of the stage, and Toturi handed him a blazing torch.

  "I have served Matsu Tsuko's family long and well, yet I wish that I could do more for her," the monk said quietly.

  "It was her wish that I alone witness her seppuku," Toturi replied. "You have done well. No samurai could give more." He bowed. "Domo arigato gozaimasu, Kazuo-sama."

  The monk bowed as well. "Domo arigato gozaimasu, Toturi-sama. I will prepare the way for her passage and feast with her tonight in paradise." Kazuo walked to the center of the stage, sat down, and lit the platform ablaze.

  Tsuko's pyre ignited swiftly, and white smoke quickly carried her body up to the heavens. Kazuo sat silently and ascended with her. In front of the blaze, the golden mon of the Lion flapped quietly in the wind.

  Toturi turned and walked down the hill to the waiting encampment. He wiped the moisture from his eyes, but he did not look back.

  THE MESSAGE

  Matsu Tsuko has carried her clans bond with the emperor into heaven with her," Toturi said, his voice booming across the hills and through the tents of his army. "She sits beside Amaterasu now, the bravest, most honorable Lion who ever lived. Know that she watches over us, and expects us to live—and die—as bravely as she.

  "Our task on Rokugan is not yet finished. To me, she left her sword as well as our common mission: To root out the Evil One wherever he may hide. To fight our way across the land, slaying his minions wherever we find them. We will never stop. We will never slacken. Even if our quest takes us to the gates of Otosan Uchi itself, we will fight on! Are you with me?"

  As one, the assembly rose and thrust their fists into the air. "Hai!" they thundered in unison.

  The Black Lion turned to Gohei, who—having returned from his mission—stood beside

  him. "Matsu Gohei," Toturi said, "will you fight at my side?"

  Gohei bowed and said. "Until darkness covers all the world. No longer will I serve a corrupt emperor. I now serve the empire itself. I will do whatever it takes to destroy this evil."

  Toturi nodded at the Lion general and then turned his gaze out over his own troops, assembled amid their tents. "What of you, my samurai? Ronin, Dragon, Scorpion, Crab—peasants and lords alike—will you cast aside your bickering and join with me to wipe corruption from the face of the empire?"

  "Hai!" Toturi's samurai thundered.

  "Let us shake the pillars of heaven with our war cry!" Toturi said. "Let Fu Leng hear our words and know fear in his evil heart!"

  The entire army thrust their fists to the sky once more and shouted, "Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!"

  "Gambatte!" Toturi cried. "Fight on! Fight until not one of Fu Leng's minions remains!" He raised Tsuko's sword over his head, and the steel shone white in the morning sun.

  As the ovations died away, the Black Lion turned to Gohei. "Take the news of Tsuko's sacrifice to the Lion armies. Tell them we welcome their strength in the battle to come." He handed Tsuko's death poem to the general.

  Gohei took it and bowed. "Hai, Toturi-sama."

  Toturi bowed in acknowledgment. Turning, Gohei mounted a swift charger that had been tethered at the edge of the camp.

  Toku and Ikoma Bentai stepped to the Black Lion's side. "Until this moment," Bentai said, "I never believed we truly could win."

  Toku frowned at the old general. "You didn't? Well, you sure fooled me."

  Bentai smiled. "Age and guile always outstrip youth and enthusiasm. Tsuko watches over us. Her armies will join ours against Fu Leng. The Lion will be one again. We cannot lose."

  "Hai, but the worst is still ahead of us," Toturi said grimly.

  "We're not afraid," Toku said.

  Toturi smiled and nodded at his young commander. "Hai. With all my soul, I vow that we will free the land from the Evil One's grip. The emperor's madness will end."

  xxxxxxxx

  Matsu Gohei's mighty charger thundered down the hills and across the plains into the core of the Lion lands. Next to his heart, he carried Tsuko's death poem.

  The Lion general rode grimly, determined to see Tsuko's last wishes carried out—resolved that the clan should unite under Toturi and battle Fu Leng and the possessed emperor. Hearing that Tsuko's mountain army, now led by Matsu Yojo, had returned to the capital, he rode directly for Shiro no Yojin.

  He wasted little time, stopping only when his horse needed water, food, or rest. He ate in the saddle and slept there as well. Blight-stricken land flew by under the charger's hooves.

  From the Lion capital, Gohei could search out Ikoma Tsanuri, Kitsu Motso, and the other Lion generals. Likely, he would find some of them at the castle already. Shiro no Yojin was close to Otosan Uchi, a natural place from which to enforce the emperor's will.

  The emperor! Gohei's soul burned at the thought of how he'd dishonored the Lion. At Hantei's order, many of their best samurai lay dead on the beach before Otosan Uchi. For all Gohei knew, their bodies reposed there still, left to rot by the boy emperor and his terrible allies. The evil Shining Prince had forced Matsu Tsuko to take her own life to preserve the Lion's honor.

  With her sacrifice, the remaining Lion were tree. Tsuko was bound to the emperor; her armies, though, were bound to her. Her death released the Lion from her oath. Now, Gohei and his kinsman could fight for the empire itself, and the emperor be damned. He hoped the others would see that as clearly as he did.

  Gohei rounded a bend in the muddy road and topped a small rise. The scene that greeted him caused him to rein in his charger. The awful spectacle froze his bones.

  A short distance down the road lay the remains of a country teahouse. It was a place Gohei had visited several times during his travels to and from the Matsu palace. Once, delicate painted lanterns had hung from the bamboo rafters below the green tile roof. Now the roof lay in pieces on the ground, the rafters were burning, and the lanterns had been trampled into the mud. A band of Shadowlands raiders stood amid the ruins, slaughtering the shop's owners and patrons.

  A white-skinned shugenja in black robes crouched above the shop's tea servers. She cackled with delight at the terror of the three young ladies. The women shivered and tried to crawl away from the sorceress but had nowhere to escape. The shugenja pulled one of the women to her feet and gazed into her eyes. The woman screamed, and her skin shriveled up like dry leaves.

  Nearby, a teenage boy and a doughty field worker brawled with a huge, bone-faced samurai. A circle of other Shadowlands forces, at least a dozen strong, surrounded the lopsided melee. Some of the evil samurai rode onikage—demon horses. Most, though, padded across the moist earth on their rotting feet. They cheered and laughed as the big samurai toyed with the courageous men.

  In the center of the carnage stood a tall skeletal creature with long fangs and immense bat wings—an oni. The pupils of the demon's black eyes blazed red with hate. The teahouse's owner, a gentleman named Tahei, lay in a puddle of his own blood at the monster's feet. Tahei's wife and young son knelt at his side, weeping piteously. Several dead patrons lay next to the proprietor, looks of terror etched indelibly on their peasant faces.

  In the moment it took Gohei to drink in the awful scene, the oni seized the owner's wife by the hair and lifted her off her feet. The child with her screamed, and clutched frantically at the mother's ankles. The oni sank its fangs into the mother's neck and ripped her throat out. Blood fell like red rain.

  With a cry of fury, Gohei spurred his steed and charged down the hill.

  The Shadowlands forces looked up in surprise at his approach. He struck like thunder, smashing into the samurai circling the teahouse. The charger's hooves crushed one man, while Gohei's yari skewered another. The Lion
general kicked the bandit's body off his spear.

  A black-armored samurai-ko charged him. He smashed her face with the yari's haft and kept riding. An onikage horseman rode forward to meet him. Green fire blazed in the raider's eyes. He aimed a wooden lance at Gohei's heart.

  Gohei caught the long spear on the head of his weapon. Wrenching his wrist, he drove the rider from his saddle. The man fell under the hooves of his own demon steed and perished.

  By this time, the rest of the Shadowlands brigands appreciated the threat Gohei posed. The bone-faced man dropped the teenager he'd been strangling and drew his swords. When the doughty farmer made an attempt to stop him, the huge back samurai lopped his head off. The farmer's surprised face landed in a puddle at the raver's feet.

  The second of the serving women crumbled into a pile of ashes at the hem of the white-skinned shugenja's kimono. Though the third woman lay helpless before her, the black-robed maho witch turned from her prey toward Gohei.

  Gohei charged directly for the huge oni. The creature brushed aside the child pounding on its bony shins and turned on the Lion samurai. The boy fell to the mud, wailing piteously.

  The general bore down on the monster. The oni slashed at Gohei with its long, clawlike fingers. Gohei thrust at the demon's ribcage. The creature leapt into the air, and Gohei's yari passed harmlessly beneath its wings.

  Gohei ducked, trying to avoid the demon's sharp-taloned feet, but the bony nails raked across his face, spraying his own blood into his eyes. The demon swooped down on the blinded samurai.

  The Lion swung his yari in a defensive maneuver, twirling it over his head like a bo staff. The weapon's haft hit the creature's bony skull. The demon hissed and arced up into the air, green spittle flying from its mouth.

  Gohei blinked the blood out of his eyes. He wheeled and threw his yari with all his might at the airborne monster.

  The spear struck deep into the oni's chest. Crimson fire leaked out of its skeletal body. The creature faltered in air, a surprised look washing over its emaciated face. It fastened its bony talons around the yari's haft and pulled.

  The spear's point ripped out of the oni's body, pulling a huge chunk of purple-gray flesh with it. The demon shrieked in agony. Scarlet flame shot out of its gaping wound. The monster tumbled awkwardly toward the earth. As it fell, the Lion drew his sword.

  Gohei met the monster before it struck ground. His keen-bladed katana flashed; the oni's head flew from its shoulders. The decapitated creature fell dead in the mud, red fire blazing from its writhing body. Its head crashed into the ruins of the teahouse and exploded.

  "Kill him!" the maho witch screamed in fury to the remaining Shadowlands ravers.

  The huge, bone faced samurai nodded and loped toward Gohei. "Gom kill!"

  The others shouted, "Hai, Kurioshi-sama!" and closed in.

  Ignoring a half-dozen raiders, Gohei wheeled his charger toward the maho witch.

  The black-robed shugenja whispered an evil spell, gathering deadly red energies between her pale hands. One remaining serving girl clawed at the shugenja's ankle, trying desperately to help Gohei. The evil sorceress turned, and red energy cascaded from her fingertips. The girl's head burst, splattering the witch's robe. The white-skinned shugenja smiled, and her long black hair danced in an unfelt wind.

  Her pleasure was short lived. Gohei reached her. She tried to duck, but his blade traced a long gash from her chin to her scalp. The wound wasn't fatal, but she fell to earth, stunned and bleeding.

  Gohei reined his horse quickly and turned it to finish her. He spurred his steed toward the fallen witch, his eyes narrow with concentration and fury. He didn't notice the big man sprinting toward him until it was almost too late.

  Gom, the bone faced samurai, swung his tetsubo, wielding the great iron-studded club with one hand. The Lion ducked under the weapon just in time. The big man followed the swing with a quick, left-handed punch. His armored fist slammed into Gohei's midsection.

  Air rushed out of the general's lungs, and he fell from his saddle, landing hard in the mud. He scrambled to his feet as Gom came in for a finishing strike. Gohei rolled under the blow and slashed his sword across the samurai's gut. The man's dark mail turned the blow aside.

  The samurai counterattacked. His swing clipped Gohei's face, and the Lion general staggered back. He nearly toppled into the demon's burning body.

  The other raiders surged toward the disoriented Lion, but Gom called, "Give room!" He smashed one of his fellows with his club and the others moved back.

  Gom swung again.

  Gohei dropped to all fours. He wheeled, lashing out at the larger man with his leg. The spin kick caught the big samurai in the shins.

  Gom gasped and toppled forward, falling onto the demon's burning corpse. He screamed and staggered to his feet, his flesh and clothing aflame. Gohei's blade passed under Gom's helmet, through his mouth, and out the back of his head.

  Gohei yanked the katana back, and the burning man fell over, dead.

  Gom's comrades angrily closed in on Gohei, cautious lest he escape their deadly circle.

  Someone screamed. Gohei turned to see the maho witch standing over the body of the shop owner's son, the child's blood staining her pale hands. She smiled; her facial wound began to heal.

  Gohei's spirit fell. Many raiders remained. His favored weapon, the yari, had been destroyed in the demon fire. He'd lost his horse, and no one remained to be saved. In this battle, the Shadowlands had triumphed.

  Cold reason replaced anger. His mission was not to die here. Perhaps he could defeat all the remaining ravers. If he did not, Matsu Tsuko's final message would never reach her people. He cursed himself for being a fool.

  A soft whinny drew Gohei's attention outside the enemy circle. His charger stomped on the earth beyond the ravers. A smile drew across Matsu Gohei's bruised and bloody face. Sparing one last glance toward the shugenja, he picked his spot in the enemy line and charged.

  "Matsu Tsuko!" he screamed.

  The samurai facing Gohei slashed with her katana.

  Gohei met the sword with his own and then counterattacked. The samurai-ko fell dead. Gohei sprinted through the line and leapt onto the back of his charger. He spurred the horse hard, and it shot down the muddy road.

  One of the undead riders followed him. Her skeletal steed glowed with unnatural energy; it hadn't ridden for many days like Gohei's charger. She drew her bow and fired. The arrow hit Gohei's left shoulder and stuck. The impact jarred his body, but he ignored the pain. The evil samurai-ko drew her sword and rode up next to the wounded Lion.

  The Lion turned and chopped with his katana, severing the onikage's spine. As the undead horse pitched forward, its rider leapt from her mount. She landed on the charger's back behind Gohei and tried to pull him from the saddle.

  He spun on her and thrust the point of his sword into her throat, just below her helmet. The woman clutched at the katana, yanking it from Gohei's hands. She fell backward off the horse, spraying black blood. Gohei kept riding as she landed, twitching. The Lion smiled. Another weapon lost, but the battle won.

  As he turned to face the road once more, he heard the shugenja shriek with rage. He laughed and kept riding.

  Suddenly, he felt fire burning across his chest. Gohei looked down to see the silk of his kimono blazing with crimson flame. Though he had escaped the samurai, clearly he was still within range of the maho witch's power.

  The paper! he thought. Tsuko's poem! He tried to pat out the flames with his gloves, but the magical blaze would not extinguish. It clung to him like a living thing.

  Gohei remembered a stream running near the road ahead. Gritting his teeth, he spurred his animal on. Fire burned over nearly all of his armor by the time he splashed his charger into the water.

  He dived from the saddle, landing hard and accidentally rolling onto the arrow embedded in his shoulder. White-hot pain shot through his body. Gohei struggled to remain conscious. He submerged in the cold water of the stream, d
iving under for as long as he could.

  Finally, the arcane fires went out. Gohei rose from the water scorched, sodden, bleeding, and barely conscious. He whistled gently to his steed, and the horse came to him. Every bone in his body ached as he climbed onto the noble animal's back.

  Stars flashed before his tired eyes; his ears rang with the sound of huge temple bells. Wearily, he urged his mount forward.

  They may still follow! his mind screamed. You may not have lost them yet. You're too weary to fight again. Clinging desperately to his saddle, he nodded to himself and spurred the horse to a gallop once more.

  ANCIENT POWERS

  The summer stars shone brightly in the sky above the great Dragon fortress of Kyuden Togashi. They arced across the heavens in slow, graceful patterns that remained unchanged since the beginning of the world.

  Nearly as old were the white stone battlements of the Dragon's fortress. They thrust themselves up out of the living rock, like graceful fingers reaching to touch the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu. Burnished gold decorations adorned the castle's cornices; the roof tiles were gold as well. The entire palace shimmered under the dim starlight, like a dream come to earth.

  Proud Dragon samurai guarded the castle's gates, their many tattoos serving in place of armor. With keen, unwavering eyes, they watched the frontiers below their lord's mountain kingdom; their bodies never tired. Such was the gift of their great lord, Togashi Yokuni. For many long years, the Dragon had stood

  apart from the rest of the empire. Their lord did not deign to involve his people in the affairs of lesser men. It was whispered that Yokuni feared no living man, not even the Hantei emperor.

  The great lord himself never spoke of such things. In fact, he was seldom seen by his people. Day-to-day administration of the castle fell to his servants and courtiers. Sometimes, the Dragon's son, Hoshi—a great tattooed warrior—would tend to his father's business. Often, though, he roamed the land in disguise, gathering knowledge or tending to his own secret concerns.

  Despite their long isolation, the Dragon had of late sent their troops abroad in Rokugan. At Togashi Yokuni's order, a force of Dragon samurai had recently joined Toturi's march toward the City of the Shining Prince. Soon, they would have more allies.