L5r - scroll 03 - The Crane (32 page)

It would all make sense once his brother arrived.

Climbing to the top of the palace's stone steps, Kuwanan addressed the men as they prepared for the day's battle. He stood at the edge of the wall that surrounded the inner courtyard, looking down at the samurai who had gathered to defend their ancient keep. There were no gardens here, no pretty paths—only stone and sand and ten thousand bushi ready to fight against the Lion. Looking over the tiers of blue and silver, Kuwanan felt a wash of pride.

"You are Crane!" he began, his voice high and clear. "You are the cousins of the emperor, the sons of Doji and Kakita. There is no force in the empire that can overcome you. You alone have the soul of Rokugan in your hand!"

A cheer went up from the gathering. More bushi pushed their way into the courtyard.

"The Crab destroyed Kyuden Kakita with a force ten times the size of our army there. They had oni and creatures of darkness and Taint. Yet we fought, because we are Crane, and we will not bow to dishonor and Taint." A murmured agreement came from the men, accompanied by the cheers of those who had fought at Kakita palace's gray stone walls.

"When we have turned back the Lion, we will march to the fields of the emperor, and we will demand repayment for this insult. The Matsu believe they have the strength to destroy us—but a thousand years ago, when Kakita fought Matsu, it was their ancestor who fell before his sword!" Kuwanan raised his fist as a shout went through the Kakita before him. "The Lion have never forgotten that day, and we would do well to follow their example. Let them know that they are already beaten, that their troops march in vain. Their swords will falter and break before the strength of our honor!

"Less than a day's march from our walls, Doji Hoturi brings a force of ten thousand samurai!" The cheer this time shook the palace walls. Men chanted the champion's name as Kuwanan continued. "All we must do is hold the walls, as we did at Kyuden Kakita, and Hoturi-sama will be our strength! The Lion will be crushed between his might and our walls, and they will rue the day they chose to make us their enemies!"

"Ho-tu-ri! Ho-tu-ri!"

Though all those around him chanted, Uji, the black-eyed daimyo of the Daidoji, ignored the rising sound of the champion's name. Uji turned away as the men cheered, walking toward the great gates of the castle, a darker shadow in the crowd of blue-clad samurai.

"Let the Lion know that we are not afraid!" Kuwanan could barely be heard above the shouts of the men. They raised their voices again. Every fist in the palace reached for the sky. Every face lifted with joy and righteous anger. "We will show the empire that the Crane cannot be so easily defeated!"

"Ho-tu-ri! Ho-tu-ri!" yelled some. Others chanted the name Kyuden Kakita, as if its noble defeat were a talisman of victory. The bushi of Kyuden Doji reminded themselves of those who had already fallen for the honor of the Crane.

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When the Lion attacked, the Crane were ready.

Four times, the Lion hurled themselves against the Crane walls. Four times, they were forced to withdraw, their troops impaled by arrows and burning with pitch. The Crane fought like cornered tigers. Their strength unified to drive back the Matsu. Together, Doji, Kakita, and Daidoji fought. Through their unity, the Lion were unable to gain more than a foothold in the Doji cliffs.

The Lion marched up the road, using steel shields to block arrows and throwing them down when they reached the high walls. Hundreds of blue-fletched arrows thrust through the air, cascading down upon the Matsu troops. The Daidoji from Kyuden Kakita hurled spears through the Lion lines. When the Lion slowed, hot oil poured from the castle gate, rushing down the road like lava from a volcano.

Each day was torture. The Lion spent their strength against the wall, alternating legions to rest their troops. The road was covered in oil, pitch, and blood. The corpses of the dead littered the rocky ground. Still the Lion fought. They were indefatigable.

The Daidoji spent their arrows, trying to cut down the commanders of the Lion and turn their forces to chaos. The arrows began to run out and the last spears were thrown. The oil dried up. The road froze to ice, cracking beneath the tread of Lion feet and turning to hard-packed ground. The Lion advanced farther each day. Crane resistance grew weaker with each passing battle. Time was not an ally to the Crane.

Days passed, and the Lion encampment grew closer. The Matsu assaults grew bolder.

"He will come," Kuwanan said, his face blackened from smoke. A volley of Lion arrows sailed overhead, covered in burning pitch. Heimin raced from the castle with buckets of water, quick to put out any fire that threatened the castle's roof and inner buildings. Already, the few trees within the palace had been cut down for arrows and spears. The sand beneath their feet was stained with the blood of the wounded. Of ten thousand Crane, two thousand had already been lost to Lion attacks. With ladders and ropes, the Matsu had twice scaled the walls. Even though the Crane took heavy losses, they slew the invaders both times.

Another volley of Lion arrows rained down, followed by the tremendous boom of a battering ram.

"Use the last of the pitch and tar," Kuwanan ordered. "Let them remind the Lion not to approach the gates of Kyuden Doji!"

When the orders were carried out, the steel gates were blackened with fire, and the ground charred and stinking with the bodies of Matsu samurai. Even the smell of the sea below could not block the horrid stench of war.

It only kept the Lion away for a single day.

Even the stalwart Uji nearly gave up hope. He kept his sour face turned away from the men he led. It was not his place to steal their dreams of freedom and victory. Still his heart grew heavier as each Crane fell behind the walls.

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At sunset on the tenth day, a single rider approached over the Doji cliffs, galloping down the road through the Lion armies. He straddled a Unicorn steed. The puffing stallion covered the ground in tremendous strides. On the rider's back fluttered the tall mon of the Miya, the emperor's heralds. The Lion were forced to part and let him pass.

"By the Lady Doji," Uji breathed as he watched the emperor's messenger gallop toward the leaders of the Lion armies. "We are almost beaten, and then ..."

Suddenly, a cheer erupted from eight thousand throats, shaking the palace of the Doji. Through the midst of the Lion armies rode another army-—this one led by a young man in brilliant blue armor. His sword gleamed as he rode atop a rearing black steed.

Hoturi.

As Uji watched, the herald of the emperor dismounted and spoke to the Lion generals. Something was happening, and it did not seem to make sense. At the far side of the high plain, the new Crane army slowed, as if waiting for an unseen command. They were still too distant to make out, but at least ten thousand men marched behind the Crane Champion. The Lion nearest them began to retreat into the body of the Matsu forces, shouting with fear. Hoturi's legions marched.

"What are they doing?" Uji hissed, squinting into the light. "The herald of the emperor, here? Could this be Yoshi's doing?" Barely hoping to pray for a reprieve, Uji leaned across the battlement and tried to make out the Lion's commands.

With a bow to the emperor's herald, Matsu Agetoki climbed atop his great steed and lifted his fan to command his troops.

Suddenly, one of the Lion commanders drew his sword, leaping toward the Miya herald. Before Agetoki could shout to restore order, the herald had drawn his own sword, and the echo of their blades rang out over the massed armies of the Matsu. Twice, steel met steel. The blades shone in the sunlight. The Lion screamed in fury, raising his katana above his head to complete a massive shomen strike.

Agetoki shouted another order. Three more Lion moved between the attacking commander and the emperor's herald. Within moments, the insubordinate Lion was dead. His sword was broken. His mon was cut from his corpse and cast into the sea.

With a flick of Agetoki's wrist, he ordered a full withdrawal— complete retreat and disengagement.

The massed Lion troops began to part in confusion. Entire units seemed unwilling to leave the field, refusing to march back down the twisting road.

One commander, and then a second, and then a third stepped before the red-helmed man. Each one bowed humbly to Agetoki, spoke for a short time, and then knelt to commit seppuku. For each one, Agetoki himself delivered the final blow. Thus, the Lion protested the emperor's command.

After three generals had fallen, the rest began to obey. Slowly, the Matsu armies condensed, marching down toward the valley beneath the palace. Ten legions of men lowered their banners and followed Agetoki's command. Not a single Lion banner rose again once they reached the distant plain.

At last, the wide lines of the Lion had opened enough to allow the march of Hoturi's men.

Inside the Crane palace, mad shouts of victory tore from open throats. The men at the great gates began to pull back the huge stone barriers that held Kyuden Doji's front archway safe.

It was over. The Crane had won. The Lion were driven back. With ten thousand more men, the kyuden would be safe—their supplies and armaments would reinforce the keep, and the Lion would be completely unable to restore the broken siege.

Kuwanan grinned down at his men, enjoying their fervor and their almost giddy relief.

"Hoturi!" Kuwanan shouted with the rest.

"No," Uji whispered, tugging at the stubble that had grown upon his swarthy chin. "Something is wrong. The Lion move aside too easily."

"Yoshi is a master diplomat. The emperor's own herald told them to move!" In celebration, Kuwanan pounded a fist into the stone battlements. "We have won the day!"

Still, Uji was unconvinced. As Hoturi's army marched over the wide chasm, Uji's eyes were drawn back to the Lion lines. Something was wrong. They seemed almost to cringe back from the armies of the Crane. A number of the Lion units broke, their legendary discipline failing. They raced away from Hoturi's men.

"Something strange is happening, Kuwanan. Even the Lion are afraid."

Kuwanan did not hear him. Already, the champion's brother and three of his personal guard had gathered at the gates of the inner courtyard, raising their blue banners. Their feet echoed to the rumble of drums. They marched across the stone archway to greet the victorious Crane Champion. "Open the gate!" One of the Kakita yelled.

A thousand throats quickly took up the cry. "Open the gate for Hoturi-sama!"

Kuwanan's men moved with a military bearing worthy of the second son of the Doji noble house. Kuwanan himself, despite the weariness of the battle and the days of labor, walked through the gate with a martial stride, eager to give formal greetings to his elder brother on the day of their greatest triumph.

As Hoturi approached, Kuwanan bowed from the road. The gate behind him stood open and welcoming. Crane samurai cheered from the walls.

"Kyuden Doji stands with you, my brother," Kuwanan said.

Hoturi's steed reared, its sharp teeth piercing the air as it let out a wailing cry. The Crane Champion did not seem concerned by the antics of his steed, but sat proudly, helmet off and white hair flowing in the brisk wind of the sea. Behind Hoturi, ten thousand men marched.

No, they did not march, but staggered.

Rotted flesh trickled from beneath polished mempo masks. Mad laughter rang from throats torn open by ancient wounds. Eyes gleamed a foul red beneath shadowed helmets.

Hoturi rode no true horse but a hellish black steed. As his men approached the palace, the champion looked up into Uji's eyes and raised his sword in the gesture of a samurai about to begin the slaughter.

Racing for the gates, Uji drew his sword. "Close the gates!" A few men stopped in their tracks, staring at the Daidoji Daimyo as if he had lost his mind. The long stairway took a lifetime to cross, and his voice was raw and hoarse. "Shut them out!" he screamed, his voice barely reaching above the Doji cheers. "In the name of Shinsei and the Fortunes, by the Lady Doji, close the gate!"

It was too late. The Shadowlands madmen behind Hoturi's black steed had already rushed to the gates, jamming them open and flooding into the keep. They raced to join their "brothers" within the Doji walls. Without understanding the nature of the threat, the Crane left their swords sheathed and reached to welcome their brothers. They chanted Hoturi's name like a prayer.

Just outside the gate, Hoturi lifted his sword before his brother's face. The bright blade fell. Kuwanan's blood spilled across the stones. Hoturi turned to his men and gave the command to attack.

The speed of the monsters astonished Uji as they poured into the courtyard. They threw off their disguises and attacked. The Daidoji's stomach churned as he recognized the faces of Hoturi's men. They had once been Doji samurai, peaceful northern lords dead of the plague at the beginning of the season. Now they were ravenous beasts driven by the instinct to kill. Somehow, Hoturi had infected them, given them the Taint of the Shadowlands, and raised their bodies from the dead. It was a blasphemy that must be avenged.

Uji slashed desperately. Beside him, three men fell on the blades of the undead. Rusted katana and poisoned claws tore heads from bodies. Before the corpses could fall to the ground, Uji leapt into action. With one savage stroke, he sliced through three undead, and they landed with their victims.