L5r - scroll 05 - The Crab (23 page)

The ring of steel on steel and the sound of humans dying drifted out from the main palace. Before the goblins could cross the compound, they saw Crab samurai leaving the castle, carrying sacks of rice, bushels of ground barley, dried and pickled vegetables, and barrels of sake.

"Looting!" one goblin said to the other.

"Quick, let's go before all the good stuff is taken!" replied the other.

It was already too late.

The sound of a horn filled the air. Once, twice, a third long blast-—the signal to retreat.

"Take the food! Burn the palace!" called Hida Tsuru from the other side of the shattered gate. "Retreat!"

xxxxxxxx

Yakamo sat astride his horse and watched flames lick up the walls of Kyuden Kakita. Thick, black smoke poured from its upper floors. The golden cranes at either end of the roof began to melt and warp into twisted mockeries of the clan namesake.

"Glorious ... simply
glorious"
he complimented himself.

Hida Tsuru rode up, his face smudged and wet. The rain had stopped, but the entire plain had been churned into cauldron of mud and soot.

"The last of the stores have been removed," Tsuru reported, "and our men are carrying them back to our camps. What's more, the Shadowlands troops are helping!"

"Excellent!" replied Yakamo, still entranced by the flames. "What about the Crane?"

Tsuru sat taller in his saddle.

"The Crane have been routed. Most of them were killed defending the castle, but a few have escaped into the surrounding countryside. Shall I organize a detail to hunt them down and kill them like the cowardly dogs they are?"

Yakamo shook his head absently. Small droplets of water shook free from the trim of his helmet.

"No," he finally said. "Let them live with their dishonor. We have what we came for."

"And none too soon," said Hida Amoro who walked up the hillock. He was covered in blood and mud. He wore as peaceful an expression on his face as Yakamo had ever seen. "My men report that a large force of Unicorn cavalry is approaching from the northwest. They seem to be intent on coming to the Crane's aid."

All three samurai laughed.

"Well, let them help the poor Crane," Yakamo chuckled. "Meanwhile, we'll take these provisions back to my brother-assuming that, without my aid, he's been able to hold the single most defensible position in all of Rokugan."

THE BATTLE OF BEIDEN PASS

The sun climbed toward the peak of a brilliant blue sky. Not a single wisp of cloud lingered from horizon to horizon. This was a day of purity and focus—distractions had no place on the rocky plain.

Hida Sukune rode his warhorse before the formation of Crab samurai in full battle armor. They stood just outside the north end of Beiden Pass, their weapons at the ready—a sea of katana, no-dachi, tetsubo, yari, and every other kind of blade, hammer, or polearm used by honorable warriors.

"If
this
does not make my father proud, then nothing will!"

Sukune wore his crab-shaped armor. He grunted approvingly as he reviewed his troops. It was another sound he'd learned from his father. Sukune himself was more comfortable complimenting the samurai on their preparedness, but most of them seemed to dislike that. The Crab did not take compliments well.

However, a curt, gruff animalistic sound of respect and acceptance never failed to fill the samurai with pride.

"Since the days of the first Hida, we have defended the Emerald Empire against its enemies. Your fathers and all their fathers as far back as memory stretches have been the instrument of salvation for the clans of Rokugan. They kept the empire's enemies outside our lands."

Sukune had practiced this speech alone in his tent for the past two nights. The men and women under his command would follow his orders, but he knew that precious few of them actually trusted that he knew what he was doing. Defending the pass was one thing—they knew how to do that—but going out to face an enemy on an open battlefield, that was not something most Crab had done in generations. Sukune needed to say something inspirational, something to fill his warriors with confidence in themselves and in him. He knew his plan was sound; he just had to convince them.

"But now a different threat has arisen—a threat that comes from within. The clans are on the verge of tearing the empire apart. We cannot allow that to happen. To save the empire, we must fight our own brothers."

This was not going as well as he'd hoped. Samurai shifted from foot to foot, looking across the plain at the Dragon troops deploying opposite them. Sukune raised just the wrong image when he called them brothers. The Crab had no great respect for Dragon samurai—or for those from any other clan, for that matter—but they were at least samurai, not soulless monsters like the goblins and other creatures that assaulted the Great Wall of Kaiu every day. Those same creatures marched side by side with the Crab all the way to Beiden Pass. Even now, the monsters camped at the southern end of the mountains, safe from battle.

"But these are not our brothers. Look! These troops seem to come from the Dragon Clan, yet they march under the banner of the ronin Toturi. These 'defenders of the empire' take orders from a man whose actions were so honorless that he was stripped of his title—indeed, stripped of his name."

Sukune had their attention again. Despite Sukune's personal belief that Toturi was ill-treated by the emperor, most samurai had grown to hold the "Black Lion," as Toturi was now called, in complete contempt. A murmur rose through the assembled Crab, and many shook fists and weapons in the direction of the I >ragon army.

"Clearly no true samurai would ever do such a thing! The army you face is merely using our brothers' colors to shake your belief in the ancient Crab duty—to stop anyone who threatens the empire. They dress in Dragon armor in hopes of scaring you off the battlefield. They want to make you doubt the righteousness of our cause!"

Now Sukune had to shout over the angry voices of his troops. They were incensed, ready to take vengeance on Toturi's army for pretending to be honorable warriors. Their discipline held them in place—but only barely.

"Today we fight for Rokugan! We fight to uphold the duty of our clan! We also fight for the honor of all the clans! Commanders, move your men out! Fight with honor, die with glory, and remember—we cannot fail. If we do the empire falls!"

XXXXXXXX

"How could I have been so wrong?"

No answer came, but Sukune did not expect one. He was alone in his tent, kneeling before a small altar. Incense burned in a tiny brazier and wafted across a carving representing Lord Moon, Lady Sun, and their son Hida—the father of the Crab Clan. Sukune did not often seek answers at the altar. His father taught him too well to rely on the deeds of his own hand rather than the unseen movements of the kami, but tonight the youngest Hida had nowhere else to turn.

The Dragon troops were indeed under the control of Toturi— a boon from the mysterious Togashi Yokuni, champion of the Dragon Clan. Toturi had a different notion for how to keep peace in Rokugan, one that did not include the Crab shutting down travel through Beiden Pass.

The Crab army fought well. Their ferocity was a terrible thing to behold, but they were completely out of their element. They did not have the experience or instincts for offensive battle. They wanted to center themselves on a particular patch of battlefield and defend it, the way they defended the Wall.

The army needed a real leader today, someone who could order troop movements that would confound the Dragon forces and allow the two sides to fight to a standstill. They needed someone who could thwart the strategies of the great Toturi, for the Black Lion was a brilliant tactician.

Sadly, Sukune was none of these things. He had a strong mind for strategy, but he lacked Toturi's years of experience. He knew that his samurai were the toughest and most brutal fighters in Rokugan, but the enemy had used quick troop movements and deadly magic to keep the Crab off balance and on the move.

When the battle was done, fewer than half the samurai Sukune had spoken to that morning returned to Beiden Pass. In one day, he had crippled the Crab army's ability to hold off an enemy charge into the pass—something that should have been simplicity itself.

"What shall I do?" Sukune asked in a desperate voice.

"What you should have done all along, Sukune-san—use the Shadowlands troops."

Kuni Yori stood just inside the tent flap; the young Hida had no idea how long he'd been there.

"Never!"

"Your father did not strike a bargain with his most hated enemy out of the goodness of his heart. Nor did he send these troops with you on a whim. They are here for you to use and, I must agree with your brother, you are using them extremely foolishly."

Sukune rose from the altar and walked past Yori into the cold night. Fog rose all through the pass, covering what was left of the Crab forces in a blanket of clouds no less chilling than their own thoughts. In the morning, the Dragon forces would surely attack Beiden Pass. The decimated force would have to hold them off, probably for days, until Yakamo's troops returned from Kyuden Kakita. It was not an impossible task, but certainly a difficult one following today's debacle. Sukune had led them to the brink of disaster.

"I believe in my father's vision," the young man said through chattering teeth. "If he believes the only way to prevent civil war is to force peace upon the land, I will support him at every turn. But I cannot believe he dealt with the oni for any reason other than to keep the Wall safe in our absence."

"Even more reason why you should use the monstrosities to your best advantage," answered Yori. He seemed to be directly behind Sukune, breath hot on the back of his ear. When Sukune turned, he saw Kuni was a respectful distance away. "Every goblin that dies in defense of this pass is one that will never assault our great Wall. Every zombie dismembered by the Dragon warriors is a fiend that will never threaten Rokugan. They are remarkably useful tools for your use, especially now that your forces are weakened. You said it yourself this morning: We cannot fail, for if we do, the empire falls."

Sukune shook his head.

"Words," he muttered. "And my father's words at that. I've never believed in them as strongly as he does. There is a line over which we should not cross."

"You sound like a posturing Crane diplomat," Yori said without hiding his disgust. "Perhaps you are as soft as Kisada and Yakamo fear!"

Sukune shot Yori a patronizing look.

"You have a great many talents, Yori-san, but inflaming my familial rivalries is
not
one of them. You and I both know that honor is more than a political concept. There are right and wrong things to do. No matter how right an end may be, some means are never justified—they are too dishonorable. Using another warrior as a shield or allowing someone else to die in your stead is not only honorless—-it smacks of cowardice. I would rather die the most painful death imaginable than take on the karma of an unprincipled, frightened failure."

Yori bowed and withdrew. As he went, he muttered to himself, "That can quite easily be arranged, young Hida."

xxxxxxxx

"Here they come again!" Hida O-Ushi raised her dai-tsuchi and squared her feet. The warhammer was cumbersome in hand-to-hand combat, but it served her well when she found herself fighting larger opponents or those on horseback.

The samurai-ko was quite upset when Sukune told her she would not be leading her troops into batde on the floor of Beiden Pass. That was where the heaviest fighting was taking place, and O-Ushi wanted her chance to earn glory in the battle for the fate of the empire. She grew even angrier when he ordered her company to climb up to the ridge overlooking the main battle and protect the archers perched there.

"You want us to miss out on the most important battle in history so that we can nursemaid a unit that will never fall under direct attack?" she had yelled so vehemendy that she inadvertently spit in his face.

O-Ushi had no interest in Sukune's explanation that the position the archers held would be the key to whether the Crab held the pass or were pushed back out in less than a day. But she did follow orders. For all her headstrong ways, she was still a samurai, and her brother—her younger brother—was her commander.

At first the assignment was as dull as she'd feared. She and eleven other warriors stood on a narrow path looking down on the developing battle as the archers launched volley after volley of arrows over their heads and into the chests of advancing Dragon samurai. Not long into the battle, though, O-Ushi recognized that there was another faction among the attacking troops. The Dragon forces were bolstered by samurai wearing the mon of the Unicorn Clan. Though Unicorn foot soldiers were highly skilled, the clan's true genius lay in their cavalry units, particularly the—

"Batde Maidens!" came a cry from below.

Sukune had placed several pockets of warriors along the path up the ridge-—originally another source of frustration to O-Ushi. It now seemed one of the wisest moves her brother had made since the start of the campaign.

The Battle Maidens were an elite unit of the Unicorn cavalry made up entirely of samurai-ko. They had a reputation for being twice as skilled as their male counterparts and three times as vicious. From the sounds of the battle below, O-Ushi suspected that the stories did not do them justice.