L5r - scroll 04 - The Phoenix (17 page)

His hosts offered him food as well. This he politely declined in favor of his own provisions. "I must eat my shugenja food," he explained, "to maintain my powers." Secretly, his reasons for refusing the food were less noble. These ratlings may be immune to Shadowlands' poisons, he reasoned, but I am not. Taint within I he body is much more difficult to cleanse than the taint of a wound.

After eating, Tadaka rested for a bit. The ratlings stood guard outside his mud-hut sanctum. His mind wandered for a time in the land of dreams. He remembered the words of the Hooded Ronin, and the warning his father had given Ujimitsu. A familiar voice broke his reverie.

"That was a close one, eh?" said Ob.

Tadaka kept his eyes closed. "I thought you'd gone."

"Nope," the mujina replied. "Though I know enough to get lost when things become dangerous."

Tadaka opened his eyes. "I'll use you as a warning system."

"Now I wouldn't..." Ob began. Then, looking at the opening to the hut, he said, "Oh, rats!" and vanished.

Tadaka tensed, and his hand stole to the hilt of his katana on the mud floor next to him. A moment later, Mouse's muzzle appeared in the doorway. She bowed.

"Tadaka-sama, great master," she said. "Ke-o-kecha is here to see you ... if your fur shines enough now."

Tadaka nodded, took his hand from the sword, and sat up. "I'll see him, yes, thank you. I'm feeling much better. I have questions I need answered before I move on."

Mouse bowed and left. A few moments later, Ke-o-kecha entered the hut. He bowed and crouched on the floor across from the shugenja. "Your fur shines again, Tadaka-san. Have you rested?" he asked.

"Enough for now, thank you, Ke-o-kecha-san," Tadaka replied. "Those creatures, why were they attacking your people?"

"The dark ones grow strong. They kill any in their way," Ke-o-kecha said. "Long Tails leave this village soon soon and find new home."

"Why?"

"The Jun-zo builds great army in Unaru Numa—the Howling Mire. Army will ride out and destroy all, like bad ants."

"You know where to find Junzo's lair?" Tadaka asked.

Ke-o-kecha turned away, and his tail quivered. He ran his paws across the brown fur below his ears. "All that see Jun-zo die," he said. Then he sighed and added. "Long Tails know way, though. How else our tribe avoid evil place?"

Tadaka leaned forward, his eyes blazing in the room's dim light. "I intend to battle Junzo—to steal his secrets so that he can no longer hurt my people ... or yours."

"Then you are great great shugenja, or great great fool."

"Perhaps a little of both," Tadaka said. "Will one of you show me the way to Junzo's lair?"

"The Jun-zo slay us if we discovered."

"I know that. It is a very great risk for whoever goes with me, but I need to know the way. The sooner I find it, the more lives can be saved."

Ke-o-kecha nodded grimly. "Tribe in your debt, Tadaka-sama. We show you path to Evil One's warren. Though not many Long Tails remain, Ke-o-kecha will gather great raiding party to go with you."

"No," Tadaka said, shaking his head. "We must go quietly, quickly, so that Junzo doesn't suspect. Only in this way can we ihwart his plans."

A toothy smile spread across Ke-o-kecha's brown muzzle. His whiskers twitched. "Quiet and quick what nezumi do best," he said.

THE WAY OF THE VOID

I know you're uncomfortable here," Seppun Ishikawa said. "I know you'd rather be with your people, but I'm glad you returned." He gave Kaede a smile as they walked beneath the cherry trees in the imperial garden. "The castle shines less brightly when you are gone."

Kaede turned away so that her friend would not see the blush on her cheeks. "Uncomfortable is too strong a word," she said. A chill wind from the sea blew in, rattling the trees' red-brown leaves. Kaede watched as the leaves leapt from their branches and danced briefly in the cool air before settling to their graves on the wilting grass. Autumn had come early this year, and winter was close behind. "I wish ..." she began, but paused and walked onward.

"Wish what?" Ishikawa asked.

Kaede sighed and looked into Ishikawa's brown eyes. Despite herself, his handsome face brought a smile to her lips. "I wish that things could be as they were," she said.

"Not a very practical wish for the Mistress of the Void," Ishikawa said. His tone was playful, but the words stung her slighdy, nonetheless.

Kaede stopped and cast her gaze out, past the high cliffs and over the vast blue sea. Boats darted to and fro on the glassy surface, mirroring the seagulls circling above them; both hunted for fish. Kaede wondered where her brother Tadaka was, and what was happening to him. Her mastery of the Void usually allowed her to sense her siblings' presence. Even now she felt Tomo's comforting placidity in the back of her mind. Since Tadaka had entered the Shadowlands, though, she had felt nothing. His long absence worried her more than she would admit.

"Even the Mistress of the Void can have childish wishes," she said.

Ishikawa nodded. "Hai, we're all allowed that much."

"I wish the Scorpion had never plotted their coup," she said. "I wish they'd never sacked and burnt the white-walled city. I wish Hantei the 38th still sat upon the Emerald Throne. I wish that the throne had never been sundered."

"In days like this, it's easy to wish for such things," Ishikawa said, a touch of wistfulness in his voice. "Everything seemed much easier in the days before the coup."

She looked at him, nodded, and forced a faint smile. "Hai."

Ishikawa kicked the dirt with his foot and spat. "The empress and her ninja yojimbo are behind much of this trouble. Once a Scorpion, always a Scorpion. Are you sure you want to meet with Kachiko today?"

Kaede smiled at him.
"Want
may be too strong a word," she said. "But it is necessary. Every stone removed from a wall is one less to climb over."

"You speak of these meetings as if they were a slow siege," Ishikawa said, falling into step beside her once more.

"They are, in a way," she said. "Just as our games of ishii mimic a battle."

"I have never seen her lose," Ishikawa cautioned.

"Nor have I," Kaede replied. "But I'm playing for different stakes. I know my place. I am Mistress of the Void. Not even Kachiko can take that from me."

Ishikawa nodded, but she got the impression that he didn't completely believe her.

They came to a place in the path where the trail curved toward the late emperor's favorite lotus pond. The two of them stopped, knowing that Kachiko would be waiting for Kaede a short distance ahead.

"You're sure you don't want me to walk in with you?"

Kaede shook her head. "I hardly think Kachiko will kill me while we're sitting by the lotus pond."

"I wouldn't put it past her," Ishikawa said.

Kaede laughed. "Well, if she wanted to, I don't think you could stop her," she said. "I'll meet you tonight after the poetry reading, as planned. Will your brother be there, too?"

"I believe so, yes," Ishikawa said.

"I'll see you then," Kaede said, bowing.

Ishikawa bowed to her in return and took his leave. Kaede's eyes lingered on his rugged form and confident gait. She took a deep breath and set her foot on the path to the lotus pond.

She didn't see any guards as she walked, but that was to be expected. As the emperor became more and more ill, Kachiko assumed a greater proportion of his duties. In assigning guards, the Mistress of Scorpions reverted to her old ways. The late emperor Hantei the 38th had kept this guards in plain sight, a visual reminder of his power. The Scorpion, on the other hand, watched without being noticed, struck without being seen. Kaede suppressed a shudder.

She rounded a corner in the path and stepped into the garden surrounding the lotus pond. Beside the water sat Kachiko in a flower-patterned kimono. The robe was long and luxurious, its pleats carefully folded into pleasing arrangements. Her hair glistened, and her black eyes gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight. Seeing Kaede, she smiled—her deep red lips parted to show pris-line white teeth. The empress' beauty almost took Kaede's breath away.

The Mistress of the Void bowed, turning her eyes demurely toward the ground.

"Isawa Kaede," Kachiko said, her voice like music. "How kind of you to come. I enjoy our little games."

Kaede calmed her mind and said, "As do I, Kachiko-sama."

The empress gestured around her, indicating the pool and gardens. "This place reminds me of my gardens at Kyuden Bayushi," she said. "I enjoy its serenity."

"As do I, Highness," Kaede said. She wondered, at the reference. Was Kachiko reminding her of the lost kingdom of the Scorpion, or merely of who controlled the castle and its grounds? Kaede summoned up the spirit of the Void and silenced the questioning voices inside her head.

"Sit," said Kachiko, indicating a spot on the grass next to a wooden ishii board. Kaede did so, noticing that the grass was not so green as she first had thought. Indeed, the edges were quite dry, almost sharp. Early frost had robbed it of life. The trees surrounding the lotus pond also showed the premature withering she had noticed in the rest of the gardens. Even the lily pads in the quiet pond looked dried out. Inwardly, Kaede frowned.

Kachiko held out her hands for Kaede to pick one. The Mistress of the Void reached and indicated the left. Kachiko opened her palm to reveal a smooth black stone. Kaede would be black, the emptiness of the Void. Kachiko would be white, the color of death. Kachiko smiled. She handed Kaede a tray of black stones and took the white tray for herself.

"Again, you play first, Kachiko-sama," Kaede said.

"As is only right," Kachiko replied, smiling. She placed her white stone on one of the intersections in the lower left quadrant of the board.

Kaede considered the board for a moment. Its thirty-eight lines intersecting in three hundred sixty-one points looked like a spider web, at the center of which sat the smiling Mother of Scorpions. She placed her black stone down in the corner opposite Kachiko's white one.

They proceeded, alternating turns as the board filled with playing pieces, each trying to surround and capture the other's stones. As they played, they chatted amiably.

"Does the emperor still play?" Kaede asked. "He used to when he was a child."

"He did," Kachiko said, capturing one of Kaede's pieces, "but he never much enjoyed it. It was more his father's game, I think."

"Yes," Kaede said. "Hantei the 38th and I played many games here by his lotus pond." She kept her face pleasant and neutral, but it was plain Kachiko caught the allusion to the emperor killed by Kachiko's late husband.

"I'm sure that Hantei the 38th, may he dwell forever with the Sun Goddess, would appreciate that you still play the game," Kachiko said. She smiled, and the green flecks within her eyes sparkled.

"Not so skillfully as you, I fear," Kaede said. She reached out with her mind but sensed not even a trace of Kachiko's thoughts. Inwardly, Kaede's frustration welled.

Kachiko laughed and started to move on another area of the board. "How are your brothers?" she asked.

Kaede repressed a chill. "They were well—the last time I saw them," she said. She placed a black piece on an intersection next to one of Kachiko's, trying to begin a circling maneuver.

"Was that when you went home to Kyuden Isawa?" Kachiko asked. "I had reports that all the Elemental Masters had gathered."

"As is our custom," Kaede said.

"I thought such a meeting unusual at this time of year," Kachiko said. She began a counterattack against Kaede's circling maneuver.

"Routine business," Kaede replied. "Affairs of the clan."

"Sometimes," Kachiko said, "the affairs of clan—or even the empire—must take a back seat to personal considerations. Don't you think that's so?"

"Never in my experience, Kachiko-sama, though your experience may be different from mine."

Kachiko smiled. "Was your father there?"

"If he was, I never saw him," Kaede answered, smiling back.

"Surely you must miss him," Kachiko said. "To lose someone so close is a great burden."

"He is not lost," Kaede said, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "He merely answers a different call than most."

"You think the Phoenix can count on his aid then, if such were ever needed?"

"I'm sure of it," Kaede said. "The ties of blood run deep."

"Yes," Kachiko said, "they do." In the Mother of Scorpion's eyes floated the ghost of Dairu, her dead son.

Kaede captured three pieces on the board and said, "Would that those ties ran so deep in Yogo Junzo."

Kachiko stopped in midmove, for only a second. She placed her piece down, but placed it badly. Kaede spotted the error.

"Though the name of Scorpion is banned, Junzo is a disgrace to it, nonetheless," Kachiko said.

Kaede nodded, keeping her eyes carefully on the empress. "Hai. You must be as ashamed of his actions as the Crane are of Hoturi's."

"More ashamed, I think," Kachiko said quickly. "Junzo never before set his personal ambitions above those of his clan."