L5r - scroll 03 - The Crane (31 page)

Another Hida launched a fierce flurry of blows toward Uji's shoulders. Each strike rung from the Daidoji's blade. One more attack, and the Hida's blade turned against his own. The sharp steel of his katana entered the fleshy torso of the Crab. The man fell without a sound. Uji stepped back.

A shadow fell across the gap in the stone wall, a shadow impossibly large and terrible to behold. One Daidoji beside Uji stepped back, unable to contain the fear that overwhelmed him. An oni stepped over the broken stone and into the courtyard. One man tried to run, his feet slipping on ground slick with blood.

Before he could take the second step, Uji's sword had cut him in two.

"There is one escape from that beast," Uji howled, grabbing the samurai nearest him and guiding the man toward the oni. "Your escape is a death with valor! If you flee, I promise you, there will be no escape from me! March forward!" Uji's voice echoed with the sound of barely contained madness.

His men flinched at the command. Still, they knew their duty. With pikes and spears raised for battle, the Daidoji moved reluctantly toward the massive creature.

Its skin was covered in tar, its long claws greasy with blood and filth. It stood almost twelve feet high, towering above the Crane legions like a giant made of black blubber and greasy flesh. Humanoid arms coiled from the wide manlike torso, its muscles standing out like ropes of thick tar beneath the creature's skin. As it roared, the scent of rotting flesh blew like a massive wind from its mouth. Chunks of its last meal sprayed upon the standing legion. Four black eyes rolled in a twisted skull, shining with a crafty intelligence. Black tar oozed from its fatty skin, dripping down legs that were as thick as stone pillars. Each step caved the ground beneath its feet, crushing earth and stone. It reached toward the Crane with two grasping hands, its iron claws as sharp as twin katanas.

With a shout, the daimyo of the Daidoji blocked one of the swift claws with his sword. The oni roared again, reaching to grab another of the Daidoji in its fist. The woman launched a fierce attack with her yari, breaking the shaft of her spear on the long iron claw of the creature's hand.

The oni laughed, a terrible sound. It lifted the screaming samurai to its mouth. Biting into the Daidoji's body with iron teeth, the oni tore her in two. Hunks of flesh belched forward with the last of her terrified screams.

Uji leapt toward the oni with both swords, cutting a massive swath in the beast's foul hide.

It roared in anger. Thick black tar escaped from the wound.

A shout went up from the assembled Daidoji. The creature could be hurt, and if it could be hurt, it could die.

Renewed strength flowed through Uji. He grinned evilly. He sheathed his katana, holding fast to his wakizashi.

The oni lunged toward him.

The daimyo dodged, plunging his wakizashi high up into the oni's fleshy back. Pulling on the blade, Uji climbed onto the creature, shielding himself from the oni's claws with its own body. The Crane general clutched his wakizashi in one hand and grasped for purchase against the creature's blub-bery flesh.

It roared again. With a terrible sweep of its claw, it shattered the pikes that tore at its skin. Two more Daidoji fell, their bodies tossed aside like wooden dolls before the massive strength of the demon.

Uji stepped higher onto the oni's back, trying to draw his feet beneath him for leverage. It was no use. He was stuck against the oni's hide, trapped in the thick tar that slid from the wound in filthy bursts of black blood. Cursing, Uji reached into his obi and drew out his katana.

Howling, the oni flexed its ropelike muscles. It clawed at its own back in an attempt to reach the offending samurai. Turning from side to side, its iron claws clicked uselessly.

Uji jerked away, but before he could shift his weight, he was covered with another warm wash of tar. He clung to the short hilt of his wakizashi, lifting his katana to drive the second blade into the oni's neck.

Before he could stab with the blade, the oni turned, throwing itself against the stone wall behind it.

Uji was crushed by the sheer weight of the thing's flesh. His fingers slipped on his katana's hilt, nearly dropping the weapon. He felt a snapping in his ribcage. His breath grew

short as he choked on the tarry flesh of the beast.

The oni slammed against the wall once more.

Faintly, Uji heard a battle cry, and he felt the pressure ease.

The cry came from Ritenu, the last man of Uji's legion left alive. Spear in hand, Ritenu hung from the creature's claw as it struggled to shove him into its mouth. The beast snapped its fangs together. The valiant Daidoji took his spear and drove it up into the oni's pallet. The creature screamed, shoving Ritenu down its gullet with one mighty hand and shattering the shaft of the spear entirely.

Ritenu's attack had been enough to move the oni away from the wall; enough to allow Uji to strike at the beast's unprotected neck. Even as Uji felt the pain of loss for his friend, he blessed the man's courage.

One hand clung to his wakizashi as the other swung the katana with all his strength. Uji drove his sword into the base of the creature's skull. The oni fell. Pulling himself free of the clinging tar, Uji twisted to face the wall once more, his hakima covered in grime and blood.

"The Unicorn!" the call echoed through the palace, raised by the archers on the wall. Through the breech, Uji saw that il was true—huge steeds bearing the mon of the Shinjo Hooded the far hills of the Kakita, only a few minutes away from the walls.

Outside, the Crab milled in anger, unprepared to halt the siege. Uji heard the shout of the Crab commander outside the breach. "Take the food! Burn the palace! Retreat!"

Hida poured through the broken wall and hurled torches. The palace, the elegant gardens—beneath the oil and flame of the Crab, nothing was safe. The Daidoji within the courtyard fought valiantly, but as they did, Uji heard the great gates of Kyuden Kakita burst open, torn from their hinges by a final, massive blow from the battering ram.

The Shinjo were too late. Before the Unicorn could fully enter the battle, the palace would be in flames.

"Uji!" Kuwanan howled from the battlements, watching as the Crab poured through the open gates and into the flaming palace. "We must leave the palace before it falls and destroys us all!"

"No," Uji hissed, lifting his sword again. "NO!"

Hiruma scouts, bearing the mon of the Crab forces, released a barrage of flaming arrows toward the palace. Burning shafts lit the elaborate tile roof. Pitch-covered arrows struck the already blazing wooden walls of the inner courtyard, scattering flame throughout the palace. The grass, littered with Crab and Daidoji corpses, began to catch fire. Uji's men were being cut down by the Hida, burned within the corpse of their own fallen home.

Eyes burning from smoke and tears, Uji lifted the Daidoji hunting horn and sounded the retreat.

If they were lucky, the Crane soldiers would make it through the scattered Crab lines, using the arrival of the Unicorn to cover their escape from the ruined kyuden.

Uji turned wearily, ignoring the flames that licked at the palace walls. He fought his way out of flame and chaos.

There was nothing left to save.

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One by one, the legions gathered. Eyes searched for friends thought lost. Many had died in the combat with the Crab. Many more were burned alive in the flames of Kyuden Kakita's fall. In the distance, beyond the forest, smoke still poured from the palace's northern side. Only three hours had passed, but to Uji, it seemed an eternity.

Of the two thousand men that had manned Kyuden Kakita's walls, only one thousand had survived.

"We failed." Uji's voice was hoarse from shouting, and raw from smoke and bitterness.

"I know, Uji. One day, it will be rebuilt, with twice the grandeur and beauty of the old." Kuwanan panted, sweating from the battle as he watched the Crab armies turn beneath the sudden assault of the Unicorn troops. Pointing after them with an open hand, Kuwanan said, "It seems that the Shinjo have the upper hand against the Crab."

"May it serve them well," Uji said. "We cannot help them in their fight."

"We must gather the men and make for Kyuden Doji." No smile lit the Doji prince's face as he said, "Hoturi will be gathering an army from the north. We need to take these men, and any more we can find that escaped the Crab, and meet him there."

Looking back at the ruin of the palace, Uji shouldered his father's sword.

the falling darkness

Matsu armies swelled through the valleys of the Crane, ignoring the melting snow that churned beneath their feet. The winter had been a light one, and at the first sign of warmth, Tsuko had ordered forty thousand samurai out of Sayo Castle and toward Kyuden Doji. Spring had come at last, and it was time for revenge.

The general's name was Matsu Agetoki, a fierce, bearded man with unusual red hair and brilliant brown eyes. He was portly, but beneath the flab swelled muscles as strong as an ox's. Of all the Lion, he had been the most successful in incorporating the strange battle strategies of the Unicorn, and so he led the massed cavalry of the Lion. Their shaggy ponies struggled to keep pace with his long-legged steed. Though not of Unicorn descent, Agetoki's mount had been born in the Yobanjin Mountains, bred of gaijin lineage to a foreign people.

Agetoki quieted his restless steed, giving the mount its head as he stared up the high road toward the palace at the peak of the sea cliffs.

Kyuden Doji was massive, far larger than any other palace in the empire. It was twice as ornate, filled with the gold and artistry of a thousand years of Crane. Rising atop the sheer cliff walls of an angry ocean, it had been carved deep into the stone of the mountains. Below, waves pounded the rocks. Above, clouds thick with snow and ice blew past the high towers of the kyuden. Ancient walls, shrouded in brown, dead vines, embraced three massive towers and a white fortress. Though the kyuden was not built to withstand a long siege, the land around the palace protected it. Only one road led to Kyuden Doji's thick steel gates; one road that twisted back and forth across cliffs, hundreds of feet above a blackened sea.

The sea churned angrily against cliff shores, pounding the sand. One white boulder, the size of a peasant's hut, gleamed faintly through the spray. It was known as the Champion's Stone, final resting place of the founder of the Crane. It was also the site of the death of Doji Satsume's wife, some twenty years past.

Kyuden Doji was as ancient as the oldest stories of the empire. It had been the home of the founder of the Crane, and they would not take kindly to the Lion's assault.

Agetoki smiled. That was exactly the way he preferred it. Soon the palace would rest in Lion hands, its ocean passages and ports controlled by the mighty Tsuko. With the strength of the Lion armies and the wealth of the Crane lands, the empire would have no choice but to bow to the might of the Lion.

Inside the palace, only ten thousand Crane remained. The plague had struck their lands like an oni's blow, tearing through their paltry samurai and leaving only pus-filled bodies. Especially here, in the Doji fields, the plague had been rampant. When the Lion controlled these lands, there would be a purge of fire and ash. All signs of sickness would be destroyed along with the heimin that carried it.

Inside the palace the Daidoji general, Uji, stood firm. He had brought a thousand troops, all rescued from the fires of Kyuden Kakita. Damn the Crab for not finishing the job to the south. Now the Lion had more men to fight—uphill, through cliffs and pounding surf. Still, fight they would, Agetoki thought, his massive chest puffing with pride. His men were Matsu, and Lion, and therefore unafraid of any challenge.

Looking over the reports once more, Agetoki gave another thought to the young Crane Champion and his band of mercenaries. To all accounts, Doji Hoturi had been collecting any men who would follow him, leaving entire villages empty. The reports, if you believed them, spoke of the Taint that followed the lord of the Crane, whispering that he brought death to those who refused his service. Perhaps there was one Crane, after all, who did not have a heart of silk and flowers.

Agetoki smiled. He hoped the reports were true, and Hoturi would attempt to bring his legions to the rescue of those in Kyuden Doji. That would be a foe worth fighting, rather than the treacherous and stinking Daidoji.

If Hoturi should come, he would relish the contest.

The Lion troops marched slowly up the steep slopes of the I )oji cliff road, ready to fight once more in the name of their champion and their honor.

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With the ocean at their back and the Lion before them, the Crane had little room to maneuver. Kuwanan ordered the archers of the Doji to the castle's wall. The bitter defeat at Kyuden Kakita still haunted his mind. At Kuwanan's signal, the Doji closed the palace gates, confident all scouts and heimin in the area were safe within the walls of the mighty-keep.

"He will come," Kuwanan shouted as he marched through the wide corridors of his childhood home. Every wall, every scent and sound of the palace was familiar—but he had never once thought he would need to defend it against a massive army of Lion. "Hoturi, Brother—where are you?"

The letter had arrived less than a week ago, commanding Kuwanan to hold Kyuden Doji at all costs. It was the only word from the Crane Champion since he had left Otosan Uchi long ago, but all the reports of the north—scattered though they were—spoke of Hoturi's armies, their great numbers and their strength. Already, he had razed three villages that had been taken by the Lion, killing Crane and Lion with a fervor not seen since the days of Satsume. Perhaps a bit harsh, thought Kuwanan, but if Hoturi had discovered that the Doji samurai of those provinces had allied with the Matsu, he could have done no less. It would all be explained when Hoturi arrived with his legions.