L5r - scroll 03 - The Crane (23 page)

"Rest, my friend. Have tea with me."

"You do me honor, Hantei-sama."

Barely able to lift his head from the thickened pillow, the emperor smiled.

Yoshi was struck by the Hantei's gentle blue eyes, his fine nose and thin lips—the imperial line's long Crane heritage. For generations, the Hantei had always married a Crane. Only this young man, infatuated with Kachiko, had broken that long-standing tradition.

A door near the fireplace slid open. Bowing, the Seppun servant knelt just on the other side of the screen. "Your wife has arrived, Imperial Majesty, with your medicines."

Kachiko bowed gracefully from a kneeling seiza, the tray on the ground before her. The emperor smiled. She rose, carrying the stained wooden tray in her perfect hands.

Damn the woman, Yoshi thought.

"Kach-chan," the emperor said, burying a cough beneath a too-thin hand. "You are kind, to remember my illness."

"Your Majesty," the empress's lips curved in satisfaction, "you do me too much honor, complimenting me in front of your noble guest. How could I possibly forget my duty to the Light of Heaven?"

As she set the tray down and lifted the cover on one of the plates, Yoshi caught the scent of warm, wet cloths.

The emperor smiled at Yoshi's casual glance. "She has proved you wrong, my friend."

"Your Majesty?" Yoshi asked.

"Her dedication and devotion has proven her nature, despite the incessant whimpering of the courtiers. I'm certain half the court still believes she is going to kill me." His chuckle became a cough, racking the emperor's body with relentless spasms. When the cough had passed, the Hantei peered up at his bride, wincing slightly as she placed the warm cloths on his forehead and wrapped them about his hands.

"I am certain she has proved a fine wife, Your Majesty."

"Oh? Are you? Yoshi-sama, I have something you can do for me."

Yoshi bowed, honored by the emperor's request. It did not surprise him that the emperor had not yet spoken about the Lion or the Crab. The Hantei knew Yoshi's purpose. He would attend to it, in time. "Your will is my heart, Majesty."

"Kachiko." In that single word, the emperor's voice retained the ring of authority. "Show him."

She froze for a moment, surprised, and then reached to untie the strings of her golden obi. Yoshi stared frankly, wondering what treachery the Scorpion woman was trying to accomplish. Turning her back, she lowered the right shoulder of her kimono. An ornate, stylized tattoo of a scorpion covered her shoulder blade and back. The scorpion tattoo was magnificent, but the emperor pointed at something else.

Just below the sting of the carefully drawn creature, a white scar marred the perfection of Kachiko's smooth back.

The emperor continued, "A few weeks ago, an assassin came into my chambers. The guards along the corridors had been killed. The man had entered by a secret passage known to only those of my blood. I do not know how he was able to enter. Kachiko was by my side. With her shout, the Seppun were summoned. However, not soon enough to prevent his blow."

Kachiko held the kimono deliberately, peering back over her shoulder with faintly concealed curiosity. Her skin shone as pale and exquisite as old ivory, delicately touched by the scarlet fabric that brushed her waist.

Yoshi wondered if she was looking at him, and then realized that every man in the room was thinking the same thing.

Foolish, he chided himself, foolish and dangerous.

"The assassin struck at me, but the empress took the blow herself, risking her own life to save mine." Pride rang in the emperor's tone. He paused, distracted by Kachiko's beauty, and then whispered, "Enough."

The empress raised her kimono, demurely tying the obi about her waist.

"You will tell them, Yoshi-san, about the attack, and about the bravery and dedication of my wife."

"Hai, Majesty."

The Hantei nodded. "And while you will defend her honor and her loyalty to the court," the very words made Yoshi ill, "I will be able to find the time, free of worry, to send a message to the Lion. 1 find it necessary to remind Matsu Tsuko that the Kakita are my cousins. If the Lion wish to visit Kakita lands, they shall need to speak with me before they continue."

Effectively, the words were an imperial command, informing the Lion to remove their armies from the provinces around Kyuden Kakita.

Yoshi's mind raced, assessing the offer. To order a Lion withdrawal from Kyuden Kakita would infuriate Tsuko. Her honor would demand another strike, potentially against Kyuden Doji, or the warmer strongholds to the south of Beiden Pass—the Daidoji lands, or those of the Asahina. Still, it would give Toshimoko and Hoturi a chance to ally with the Unicorn and drive the Crab south again. It would allow the Daidoji to array their weapons against the Lion. Possibly, Fortunes prevailing, it would give the Crane time enough for the snows to come.

Yoshi nodded, bowing once more. "Your Majesty, this tale of courage and bravery has touched my heart deeply. It would be my honor to be the empress's liaison, and to further her reputation in the court." And, if cautiously done, he could make it appear he was as close to the Hantei as the Scorpion woman. Such apparent reliance could only serve Yoshi's purposes, no matter how it was gained.

"Good." The emperor smiled, his thin lips drawn and his face weary. "I fear the assassin was a ronin. My reign has earned . . . certain enemies." The Hantei sighed, pushing himself back into the lavish pillows of his futon and gazing at his doting wife. "An irony, considering all my wife has done for the empire, that it would cause her harm. Did you know that she has retained an entire unit of Lion Death-seekers, each descended from the First Akodo himself?"

Kachiko's face did not change, nor did her hands falter in preparing the Hantei's herbal mixture, but Yoshi glimpsed tension in her shoulders.

"Truly?" he said carefully, sipping a cup of exquisite tea brought to him by the Seppun servants.

"So unfortunate." The Hantei sighed ruefully, inhaling the rich steam of the green liquid. "The empress has given them a chance to die honorable deaths under imperial command. What more could they ask? My lady Kachiko-san gives her entire life to the empire, and the empire repays her with ..." Another racking cough spawned a seizure. The Scorpion clutched his hands until the spasm passed."... with deceit."

"Your empress is most brave," Yoshi nodded his head toward the woman, trying to ignore how she touched the Son of Heaven.

"Hai," whispered the emperor. "Yoshi-san, I am tired, and the sun is going down. I wish to see the sunset with my wife."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Yoshi bowed from the waist. He politely finished his tea and set the cup on the servant's tray. "May your evening be blessed, Hantei-sama."

"And may your people know the peace... that I have been forbidden."

Yoshi bowed again. He backed three steps from the emperor before turning to go. Outside the sliding paper door, he knelt once more, touching his head to his hands as the Seppun servant slid the door quietly closed. Lifting his eyes a fraction of a second before decorum would dictate, he glimpsed the empress's cold, caramel-colored eyes, burning holes into his own.

The empress. The empress employs Akodo guards. One of the ninja that attacked us at Kyuden Kakita used Scorpion magic. The rest fought with Lion techniques, taught by the Akodo from time immemorial. Yoshi fought to put it all together as he was escorted back to his chambers.

The empress's guard, eager to die beneath imperial orders. It was the only way the Deathseekers could restore their honor. The command of the empress would do. Death was death, and even the fires of Jigoku could be forgiving.

The Lion would retreat. That news, at least, was worth dying for. Yoshi's brows knitted as he reached for his fan. The empress had sent the assassins, it was certain. With no way to prove her guilt, the matter was closed.

For now.

trial of the emerald champion

C
rushing the small piece of parchment in his hands, Toshimoko scowled. He had held the title for only a few days, but already the emperor demanded that he move out toward Unicorn lands and gather the ragtag group of magistrates granted him.

"Yoshi!" He yelled through the wing of the palace, not caring about formality. "YO-SHI!" He stormed into Yoshi's private audience room, ignoring the Crane servants that scurried out of the way. This was Otosan Uchi. The servants who survived the Scorpion Coup knew the fine art of vanishing.

"By Shinsei, Toshimoko-san," Shizue scampered from a gathering chamber just outside the audience room. She held a soft cloth in her hands and wiped away whatever paint she had been using. "What's the matter? Has my brother returned?"

"No." Gruffly, Toshimoko threw the wadded paper into the fireplace, looking around for his half-brother.

Servants scurried across the impeccably polished floor. Crane house banners waved with their passage. The sliding screen doors in each wall stood open. Toshimoko peered into one, then another. Stepping around Shizue, he shouted Yoshi's name into the small Crane garden. Still, there was no answer.

"Damn the man!" Toshimoko stomped back through the room. Drawing another breath to bawl once more for his half-brother, Toshimoko was interrupted by a sudden sharp cough.

Yoshi stood, unruffled, in the arched doorway to the gardens. In his hand he held a sprig of winter violet that had only just begun to bloom.

"Yes, Brother-mei?"

"I must go. The emperor—"

"The empress, rather." Seeing Toshimoko's reddened face at being interrupted, Yoshi strode gently to the fireplace. "Come, now, Toshimoko-san, don't stand on formality. You're to head to Unicorn lands to bear the emperor's message to the Unicorn, under the guise of gathering the Emerald Magistrates, now under your care."

Flustered, Toshimoko nodded. "Curse you, Yoshi! You knew about this? My own brother, and you didn't warn me about the command?"

"We may have the same father, Toshimoko-san, but our mothers were of distinctly different breeds. That means 1 am your half-brother, and as such," Yoshi's eyes twinkled, "I have an obligation to tell you only half of the truth."

"By Kakita himself, you're a slippery snake."

"You're confusing me with Uji-san, Brother."

Shocked, Toshimoko laughed out loud. "I suppose I am." His anger faded into amused remorse. He knelt by the fireplace, watching the message-paper burn. "I have a duty to perform. I must go. Where is that boy?"

"Our esteemed champion, you mean?" Yoshi's face darkened. "Leave that to me. He's only a few hours missing, and he has no appointments until this afternoon. Most likely, he has taken after his sensei." A guarded look. "I only hope the young women he has been spending his time with are ... discreet." Morning sunlight shone off Yoshi's pale white hair and reflected in his too-blue eyes.

They are the eyes of a predator, thought Toshimoko. That much, at least, we have in common.

Yoshi wore a brilliant kimono of shaded blue, shifting From the palest sky-gray through the darkest blue of a tempest sea. The wide sleeves parted to show thin arms, pale with lack of exercise but not in any way weak.

Toshimoko felt like a hen beside a peacock. His faded kimono had once been blue, but was now gray. The only bit of brightness was the shining handle of his katana, in an obi of twisted silk. "I must leave immediately."

Yoshi nodded, suddenly serious. "I know. But there is a bit of business you can perform while you run this fool's errand. Ide Tadaji spoke of an alliance with the Unicorn. As Emerald Champion, your voice will carry a great deal of weight."

"Only the weight of politics. I am a champion without a legion. The magistrates have fallen to rubble during the last three years."

Nodding, the Kakita Daimyo placed the strip of violet into .1 thin vase, arranging the flowers carefully. His visitors today would be Phoenix, and they would understand the significance of a flower that bloomed despite the winter's struggle. "You must travel to Shiro Shinjo and speak with Shinjo Yokatsu, the Unicorn Champion. The arrangements have already been made with Tadaji. Bring back allies, Toshimoko. The Lion will retreat from Kyuden Kakita, but the Crab travel north to fill that gap. Soon, Tsuko's arrogance will take her to our door once more. Already, my spies among the Ikoma have given me her battle plans. They have taken Sayo Castle, and their next march will be toward the ocean, and Kyuden Doji."

Standing, Toshimoko nodded. "Have the Asahina pray for me. I leave within the hour."

"If they will come down from their silver pillars, I will tell them just that." Yoshi looked up from his flowers and watched Shizue bow to bid her uncle good-bye. "Be cautious, Toshimoko. A title will not protect you from danger on the roads of the empire. Without a guard, you will be at great risk."

"Yes, Yoshi-san." Formally, Toshimoko bowed, resting his hand on the hilt of his katana. "But this, and Kakita's blessing, will be all the guard I need."

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The road twisted high through the Dairuken Mountains, twining among hills and curving over glens. Late in the day, the cool scent of water and thick forest drifted from below. Rocky slopes gradually gave way to thick grasslands and clumped trees—the Shinjo hills.