L5r - scroll 05 - The Crab (17 page)

"I know how you can accomplish such a thing," said a figure who had not been there a moment before. It was small and thin, and its face was hidden beneath a black velvet hood.

"Yori!" Kisada snapped.

"I humbly apologize for disobeying your orders, Tono," the shugenja said, bowing deeply. "But I believe I know how to overcome your current conundrum."

"Yes?"

"Give the oni a name," Yori said. His voice had a musical lilt, as though he was explaining some incredibly obvious fact to a young child.

"A name?" Kisada asked.

"A name," said the oni. "My Dark Lord and master does not allow his minions such luxuries."

Kisada stared wide-eyed. He could not begin to fathom an existence without an identity—particularly with a life as long as

an oni's.

"Fu Leng knows the power of a name, the fear it can instill and the devotion it can inspire," the creature continued. "He forbids us from having or taking names. Only the children of the other kami may name us."

"More correctly," Yori said, "someone can share his name with the oni and thus control it. When a human gives his name to a creature of darkness, the two are inextricably linked. If the person is sufficiently resolute, he will control the oni."

"And if the person is less strong-willed?" asked the Crab daimyo.

"Then I would control him," answered the oni.

"Essentially, yes," agreed Yori.

The Great Bear straightened his armor and raised himself to his full height.

"Give the creature
my
name," Kisada said.

"No!"

Yakamo came running up to the group. He stopped nose-to-nose with his father and placed himself directly between the Great Bear and the imprisoned oni.

"You are clearly the best choice, Father," he said. "No one can match your courage, determination, or strength. But in the coming days you will be responsible for overseeing the single most important military campaign in Rokugan's history. The strain of controlling so forceful a creature as this," he looked over his shoulder, "would jeopardize the entire operation." Yakamo bowed deeply. "I humbly ask to be given this terrible responsibility."

Kisada's first reaction was to deny Yakamo's request. The young man had all ready been through so much, and would be going through even more in the weeks ahead.

Kuni Yori stepped up and whispered in Kisada's ear.

"Who better than the heir to the Crab daimyo?" the shugenja hissed. "His reputation will be secured not only among our clan but among all the others as well—the man who tamed an oni. Tono, you may be disliked in some quarters, but no one doubts your capabilities. Yakamo must be given the chance to prove himself for all the world to see. This is the stuff from which legends are made!"

Kisada ground his teeth—a sound like the one made when the oni smiled. "Very well. You have my consent."

"The containment spell will have to come down," Yori said. "I will need to lay my hands on both parties. The naming ritual is perfunctory, but accuracy is required."

The Great Bear grunted assent, then shot the oni a glare warning it against trying to escape.

The beast nodded solemnly.

With a simple snap of Yori's fingers, the glowing white sphere winked out of existence. The oni, though, did not tumble to the ground in a heap. Instead it nimbly rolled in midair and landed softly in a three-point stance, like a runner preparing to sprint. Rather than burst away, the oni stood tall, and then sat on its haunches.

Both Yakamo and the oni held out their right hands.

Kuni Yori clutched Yakamo's wrist and wrapped his hand around one ropelike tendril of the oni's thumb. He closed his eyes and began to mumble in an ancient tongue remembered only by sorcerers. He called to the elements, as he had to forge the prison. His body began to shiver as though someone even larger and stronger than Kisada stood behind the shugenja, shaking him vigorously.

Yakamo began to shake as well, his armor rattling like an army of Shadowlands skeletons climbing the Wall. He began mumbling in the same language as Yori, echoing the shugenja's words mere seconds after he spoke them. The oni too began to shiver. Every tendril on the creature twitched individually, and Kisada feared it might fly into a thousand pieces.

The three of them stayed that way, connected and shuddering, for a full minute.

Yori's eyes shot open. The hood flew off his painted face as though an invisible hand tugged it. All three participants llirew their heads back and howled one word to the heavens— " Yakamooooooooooo!"

That name rolled out like a word of power, bringing the shuddering trance to an end. The contact between oni and shugenja ;ind samurai broke.

Yori pulled his hood low over his face and hid his hands inside his sleeves. He stood stock still for a very long time.

Yakamo slumped momentarily, then stood upright. He shook his head as if slightly disoriented.

The oni stood proud and tall, its attitude even more human than before. However, the tendrils covering its body continued to writhe and pop. Parts of the creature's head and arms seemed to be bulking up—it was metamorphosing before Kisada's eyes.

"I have a name!" the oni cried. Its voice had less of the unnatural popping and grating than before; it was even beginning to sound more human. Raising both hands to the overcast sky, it threw its head back and laughed long and loud.

"You have your freedom, Yakamo no Oni," Kisada said calmly. "Will you order your minions to lessen their assaults ;igainst my positions?"

Yakamo no Oni looked at the Great Bear and smiled. Something about the shape the creature was taking felt disturbingly familiar.

"So long as my samurai travel with you in peace, I order that aggression against the Crab wall cease," Yakamo no Oni said with a gracious bow.

"Will your troops be ready to depart in the morning?" asked Kisada. He would never acknowledge the Shadowlands forces as samurai.

"Hai!" said the creature.

Kisada grunted and nodded. Without further ceremony, he spun on his heel, returned to his horse, mounted, and urged it back in the direction of the Wall.

"One more thing, Kisada."

The daimyo stopped but did not turn to face the oni.

"We have taken a historic first step today," said the creature, "but there is so much more we could do for each other. My previous offer remains open, should you decide a mountain pass is not enough for you."

"Beiden Pass is not a mere mountain pass. It is the heart of the empire."

"Still," Yakamo no Oni said. "If you give me one life, one innocent life, I will put you on the Emerald Throne."

"Get on your horses," the Great Bear barked at his son and adviser. "It is time to save the empire."

PRELUDE TO WAR

Are you Crab samurai, or whining children afraid of the shadows cast on your wall?"

The assembled generals shuffled uncomfortably. At some point in their careers every one of them had been reprimanded by Hida Kisada for some transgression, but before now he had never called any of his soldiers cowards. Of course, the day was filled with things that had never happened before.

In the past, Kisada had always met with his generals in the privacy of his command tent. Though the commander issued orders, the atmosphere had been casual. As much as Kisada was daimyo, he was also one of them—a soldier who had earned his position by serving on the Wall. Today, though, the Great Bear made them stand at attention in his courtyard while he sat imperiously on the tatami dais and issued commands.

Those commands were the greatest surprise of all. How could the daimyo berate them for

balking at the idea of marching into battle side by side with creatures from the Shadowlands?

The generals looked to Hida Tsuru, Kisada's brother. As a rule, the other generals did not like Tsuru. He had all the worst aspects of the Hida family—the perfectionism, the demand for absolute obedience, and, most of all, the temper—but few of their finer qualities. Although he was an accomplished warrior, he did not have his brother's (or even his nephew's) leadership skills; his men followed him because they
had
to, and because he was a deadly fighter. His samurai held their commander in more fear than awe. Still, if anyone could talk sense to the Great Bear, it was Tsuru.

"It is not that we are afraid, Kisada-sama," Tsuru ventured. "Our entire lives have been spent slaying these creatures—we have nothing for them in our hearts but contempt. You cannot expect samurai to fight alongside their most hated enemy."

The other generals nodded and murmured their agreement.

"Brother, you are a fine general, and as skilled a warrior as I've ever seen," Kisada's voice was flat and even, but it contained an edge of anger sharper than any blade in the Crab armies. As he spoke he stepped closer and closer to Tsuru until the faceplate of his helmet was flush against the younger officer's nose. "But you know less than nothing about the matters at hand! As we prepare for this campaign I would rather take the advice of your horse.' At least it will do what it is told and not waste time balking!"

Tsuru's cheeks flushed, and his hands clenched but did not flinch as his brother's breath and spit flew from the helmet.

Kisada whirled to face the rest of the generals.

"I have ruled this clan for more than twenty years. In all that time have you ever known me to do anything that was not in the best interest of the Crab?"

"lie!" the generals said as one, Tsuru more loudly than any three others.

"Have I
ever
put my personal interest above any samurai under my command?"

"lie!"

"Do you understand the ramifications of the empress's declaration? Do you see that civil war is about to tear the empire to pieces?"

"Hai!"

"And do any of you—
any
of you—have even the beginnings of a plan that will stop the dissolution of the empire, prevent the i Ian from being destroyed by our own supposed allies, rip power away from the treacherous Lady Scorpion, and prevent the Shadowlands from overrunning Rokugan?"

Silence.

The Great Bear waited.

"Anyone?"

Someone coughed nervously.

"Well then," Kisada continued, his voice calmer, "I expect you all to go back to your posts and prepare your men for the upcoming campaign. They will be fighting an enemy unlike any they have ever faced—Rokugani samurai! Our purpose is not to win a war but to prevent one. It is the same battle we Crab have fought for a thousand years, and I expect nothing less than absolute success!"

"Hai!" answered the generals as they bowed and backed out of the courtyard.

"That could have gone better," said Sukune from the corner where he stood next to Yakamo.

Before the audience had begun, Kisada asked both his sons to stand off to the side and say nothing. "Just wear the sternest face you can, and growl when I do," he'd said. They had no idea what he was going to tell the generals. Still they did as their father ordered, staring down the generals with a look of contempt that Kisada taught them the day they finished their training and became full fledged samurai. The look was surprisingly effective, even on older or higher-ranking officers.

"Nonsense!" said Kisada. He rose from the tatami, walked to the command tent, and entered. His sons followed. "I expect no less from my generals. I do not want them to be spineless toadies afraid to trust their own judgment. I do not want them to be like the other clans' generals, following meaningless or moronic orders simply because they come from a famous mouth. I expect my generals to question orders that seem strange or offensive." He paused and smiled cruelly. "But after I explain myself, I expect them to shut their mouths and do as they're told."

The silk entrance parted, and Kuni Yori entered, the sounds of chaos coming in behind him. Even under the shadow of his hood and the white paint that masked his features, it was clear the shugenja was exasperated and exhausted.

"The goblin commander wishes to know when we will be departing," Yori said wearily. "He says the scent of a human camp is driving his soldiers into a frenzy. If they don't have something physical to do soon he is afraid that rioting may break out."

All three Hidas chuckled darkly.

"Go back and loudly tell the little monstrosity that we will leave when I give the order. Any aggressions made by his so-called soldiers would violate the orders of Yakamo no Oni, thus freeing our samurai to slice them into little pieces."

"B-but
that
wasn't part of the agreement," said Yori.

Kisada winked and smiled at the shugenja. "When the rest of the goblins break into panicked squeals, tell the goblin commander to prepare half his forces to leave at midday, and the other half tomorrow morning." The smile fell from the Great Bear's face. "And tell him that if he ever loses control of even one goblin, zombie, or skeleton I will personally separate his head from his shoulders."

Yori smiled and bowed.

"When you're done with that, come back here, and I will tell you
your
orders for the first part of our campaign."