Storms of War

 

by Brian Yoon

Edited by Fred Wan

 

 

 

“It figures,” Tsuruchi Gosho growled as he stood on the deck of the Unknown Path. The downpour pounded on the ship without mercy. He swiped a hand over his head – a rather useless gesture as the water seemed never ending, but the small measure of control was comforting. “My first tour with the southern defense would be absolutely, without a doubt, miserable.”

He shook his head. It was the strongest storm he had ever seen. It seemed abnormally heavy to him, but he was not yet accustomed to deep sea patrolling to be certain. It was his first time in five years to venture out into the open sea, where he could not spot the land from the deck. He was a pure Mantis and the rocking of a boat at sea was usually a comfortable feeling. However, the crashes of this violent storm had shattered his dreams and brought him to the deck in the middle of a nightmare. Of course, none of the others in the bunk had seemed affected. He cursed them under his breath. He grabbed the bottle by his side and opened its cork. The sake inside was worse for the rainwater that constantly fell into the bottle, but Gosho figured it was better than nothing.

“I have heard the captain is a lenient man, but even he must object to a violation as significant as yours, Gosho-san,” Moshi Kamiya said. Gosho took another swig from his bottle before giving the shugenja an appreciative glance. Despite the torrent, the young woman was dressed in loose green robes that left much of her chest and arms bare. It was a popular style in the Islands of Spice and Silk and Gosho certainly enjoyed the sight, but it seemed ineffective in keeping the shugenja warm. Despite her garb, she seemed to bear the cold and the rain with equal indifference.

As the pause grew longer, Kamiya frowned and stepped closer to the Tsuruchi. “Drinking on duty can subject you to harsh punishment. I think only of the ship’s ability to function, were it to lose an able bodied sailor such as yourself.”

Gosho drank deeply once more before replying. “But I am not on duty, Kamiya-chan. I will stand watch during the night but the infernal rocking of the boat woke me early. I hope the storm passes or I won’t be able to see anything at all during my shift.”

Kamiya stared up into the sky as if she had only just noticed the torrential weather. “We are nearing the crescendo,” she said. “Our ship will continue within the storm’s grasp until the kami decide to dance apart, ceasing their lovely courtship.”

Gosho grimaced. Shugenja. “‘Lovely,’” he spat. He looked around the ship and watched the sailors struggle to keep the ship from capsizing. Large waves constantly struck the ship and spilt gallons of saltwater aboard the deck. Gosho grabbed a hold of netting and endured through a large wave that threatened to carry him overboard. When it passed, he grinned at Kamiya. “I have to ask, Kamiya-chan. Aren’t you cold?”

She looked down at her drenched kimono and shook her head. “Not at all.”

“I suppose you’ll tell me it’s something about the beauty of the elements, and nature, and all sorts of nonsense,” Gosho said scornfully. “Sometimes you shugenja are entirely too unrealistic.”

“It’s not the kami, Gosho-san. It’s… her,” Kamiya replied. Gosho blinked at the hint of reverence that had crept into her voice. “After I bonded with her, I can feel her heartbeat with every part of her being. Her presence warms my soul, no matter what may affect my body.”

“I’ll take your word for-” Gosho said and stopped midsentence. He squinted and pointed. “Is that a gaijin ship?”

Kamiya followed the finger and shook her head. “I cannot see anything but the rain, Gosho-san. Are you certain?”

“I need to tell the captain,” Gosho growled. He immediately burst out into a run toward the mast. A loud roar of water and wind swept across the ship and flung Gosho to the deck. He scrambled to grab something, anything – and a firm grip caught his shoulder and anchored him to the ship. The water receded and Gosho looked up to see Kamiya’s serene face.

“We shall go together,” Kamiya said.

Traveling across the boat was much easier with the weight of two to fight against the raging storm. Gosho searched each sailor’s face as they rushed about on their duties and finally spotted the first mate of the ship.

“Fushou-sama! Enemy off starboard bow!” Gosho yelled over the din of the storm.

Yoritomo Fushou looked in the direction and shook his head. “I don’t see anything, sailor. The spotter on watch has seen nothing. Are you certain?”

“Of course I’m certain! That’s my job!” Gosho replied in a rush. When Fushou turned to face him, Gosho paled and bowed. “There is a gaijin warship within three hundred yards of us. It’s coming closer, Fushou-sama. Very fast.”

“Then the ship must be ready. Enemy approaching!” Fushou bellowed. “Prepare for battle!”

The ship burst out into action as the Mantis stopped their actions and ran for their weapons. Gosho hooked his foot through a rope strapped to the deck for support and began to string his bow. A predatory grin crossed his mouth. He had felt out of place in the tempest, but he was at home in the heart of battle. He slung the bow on his back and began to climb the mast to the crow’s nest.

Kamiya bowed to Fushou. “With your leave, Fushou-sama, I will rouse my sister. She would not want to miss a battle.”

Fushou raised his hand to stall her disappearance. “One moment, Kamiya-san,” Fushou replied. “Can you commune with the air kami and notify the other ships in the fleet? We may need help against the enemy, especially if they carry a hold of their demons.”

“Of course, Fushou-sama,” Kamiya replied. She knelt onto the deck and closed her eyes. Her mouth moved without making any noise as she prayed to the kami. Fushou waited patiently by her side and braced himself against the furious waves. Finally, Kamiya opened her eyes and looked up at the first mate.

“I am sorry, Fushou-sama,” Kamiya said. “The water kami are frenzied by an otherworldly presence nearby. Their panic is making communication with the air kami impossible.”

“So we are on our own. Perfect!” Yoritomo Buntaro’s booming voice called out. “We shall have all the glory.”

Fushou and Kamiya bowed immediately as the captain swaggered onto the deck. Buntaro seemed cheerful as ever and ready for combat. Kamiya nodded as her sister Moshi Chuuna appeared on the deck from the other side, looking refreshed and happy at the prospect of a good fight. She made her way through the ruckus of the deck with the grace of a dancer performing in front of the Imperial Court.

“So what has invoked our readiness, Fushou-san?” Buntaro asked.

“One of our scouts has spotted the enemy, Buntaro-sama, but we are not sure. The rain is making it impossible to see it with my eyes.”

“My sister can clear that problem, my lords,” Kamiya said. “Chuuna has a talent in talking to the water and charming it under her command.”

“I shall ask the storm to stand aside, Buntaro-sama,” Chuuna said.

“Do it, girl,” Buntaro ordered. Chuuna knelt and unfurled a scroll in front of her.

Gosho swung himself onto the top of the crow’s nest and peered out onto the waters. The storm seemed worse at the top of the ship. Still, the world felt different with his bow in his hands. He lightly touched the feathers in his arrow and searched the waters for his target. He smiled grimly, drew, and fired. Before he could see the arrow meet its target, he drew and fired once more.

The storm began to draw back like curtains unveiling center stage. The gaijin ship was less than fifty yards away and bearing fast onto the Unknown Path. A Destroyer demon stood at the bow of its ship and roared in defiance. Its roar was cut short as Gosho’s arrow fell from the sky and lodged itself in the demon’s eye. Another Destroyer at the front of the raiding party fell over immediately after with an arrow in its throat.

Buntaro laughed. “Our intrepid scout has shown us the way! Mantis, let us follow his lead!” Everyone cheered.

Kamiya raised her hands, palms up, to the sky. Her eyes glowed bright blue and her hands tingled with energy. “Your continued attempts to cross onto Rokugan will fail, demons,” she said, her voice echoing with power. “Who are you to step onto our soil, where gods have lived and died?”

“We shall show them, sister,” Chuuna said, rising to her feet beside Kamiya. Her eyes began to glow with the same power that now filled her sister. “We shall show them the strength of our bond with the Thunder Dragon.”

The Unknown Path crashed into the Ivory Kingdoms ship. Mantis sailors bellowed at the top of their lungs, and the skies exploded with lightning.

 

 

Another demon roared in the distance, and Matsu Mari could not help but flinch. She considered herself a brave warrior, but this campaign had proven to her that she was clearly beyond her capabilities in the south. She faced flaming servants of the Dark Oracle in the previous war, and the experience simply did not compare to fighting at the southern line. The Destroyers held no concept of honor, but this was nothing new; after all, few Clans held themselves to the high standards of Lion honor. The problem lay in the fact that the Destroyers and Shadowlands creatures did not seem to hold themselves to the laws of reality. She had seen one impossible thing after another, and it was tiring to her mental health. Quietly, Mari gave a snort of exasperation and made a promise to herself. When this was all over, she would return home and perform deeds where she would be safe against these horrors. She would accomplish something simple, like singlehandedly facing a ravenous gaijin horde or finding a trustworthy Scorpion.

Her snort had seemed nearly inaudible to her own ears, but her companion span in place and fixed her with a sharp glare. Hiruma Etsuro knelt and crawled his way to the Lion. Mari still marveled at how the young Etsuro never seemed to make a sound, though he passed through some thick shrubs along the way to her. Her colleagues had informed her that he was one of the Hiruma family daimyo’s prized students and it showed in Etsuro’s every movement. It was just as apparent that the Hiruma family did not seem to prize any sense of humor or zest for life, because Etsuro was the dullest man she’d ever met.

Etsuro continued toward her at a steady pace and stopped uncomfortably close to Mari. She forced herself to ignore the breach in etiquette – her sisters were not here, but if they ever heard of the event she knew they would mock her mercilessly. Etsuro leaned in and whispered, merely inches away from her ear.

“Be cautious, Mari-san,” Etsuro said. “There’s a patrol of Destroyers only three hundred yards to our west. It would not do to attract their attention.”

Mari hadn’t even seen the demons but didn’t doubt the dour young man’s word. “Can these… things hear us?” Mari whispered back.

Etsuro’s stare did not move from her eyes as he responded. It was more than a bit unsettling. “I do not know,” he admitted, his voice never louder than the faintest undertone. “Mari-san, assume that everything can exploit every weakness you show in the Shadowlands. That is how the Hiruma survive.”

Mari nodded slowly. “Have the Hiruma learned much from their vigil at the castle?”

Etsuro looked at the scroll case by his side. “We’ve written everything we have observed in these scrolls. It is my duty to place these in Hida Reiha-sama’s hands. We will succeed if you follow my every instruction. Now be quiet and follow me, Mari-san.”

Etsuro turned away as soon as the last words left his mouth. He knelt to the ground and began to crawl toward the eastern beach. Mari idly fingered the grip of her trident and wished she could simply skewer her problems away. She swung her weapon to her back and crawled behind the Hiruma. Once again she regretted the insane impulse that had pushed her to volunteer for the duty. She had joined a group of veteran Hiruma scouts and battle hardened Lion warriors nearly two weeks ago. They crossed enemy lines and slowly traveled across the Shadowlands. Their aim was not to cripple the enemy but to reestablish contact with Kyuden Hiruma. Those who survived the trek now remained at the castle to help bolster defenses, while she and Etsuro slowly made their way back to the front lines. The idea seemed more like sheer insanity the longer she dwelt on it.

They continued their silent journey for what seemed like hours. Each passing hour seemed to crawl along slower than their current pace. To Mari, not knowing the destination (or even the path) made it worse. Etsuro seemed to stop at random moments to survey the area. He made abrupt turns for no reason Mari could understand. Mari knew that their path kept them close to the coast, but that was all she could decipher. Worst yet, he seemed perfectly suited to maintaining the maddening silence. The only reason she could remain quiet herself was her stubborn desire to show the Hiruma she could do it.

Etsuro unexpectedly paused in his tracks once more and his head turned to the west. Mari looked in the same direction but could see nothing. Etsuro moved closer to the Lion, tapped her on her right shoulder and pointed to the eastern coast. She flinched at the unexpected physical contact then looked as he directed. To her surprise, she could see a Mantis boat sailing closer to the shore.

“There’s our way out,” Etsuro whispered. “The captain will only stop for one minute. Get ready to run to the shore immediately when I head out. There’s another group of Destroyers nearby. Be careful.”

“Wait,” Mari hissed back. The anger in her voice gave Etsuro pause. “You had this planned all along? Why didn’t you let me know?”

Etsuro’s expression did not change. “Our superiors put me in charge of this mission, Mari-san. All you needed to do was trust me to get you out. I didn’t know you would have a problem with it. After all, Lion samurai are used to following orders, are they not?”

“Yes, but—” Mari whispered.

Etsuro turned away as if the conversation held no more interest for him. He crouched lightly on his feet and watched both the patrol and the ship with equal intensity. Mari watched the Hiruma for her cue to move. Even then Etsuro’s sudden jolt toward the beach came as a surprise – the man was still one moment and running the next. Mari cursed under her breath and ran after the Hiruma.

They reached the beach mere seconds after the ship. A single Mantis stood at its head. The man scowled at them as they drew near, but reached out a hand to help them on board.

“You’re late this week, Etsuro,” the Mantis said.

The Hiruma bowed. “I apologize, Iwata-sama, but the plans have changed.”

Yoritomo Iwata looked at the Lion girl and nodded. “I can see that. Shall I stow the supplies below?”

“Yes,” Etsuro said. “I need safe transport back to the Crab Champion. I carry important papers that must find way to her hands.”

Iwata snorted. “If you think what I do is safe, Etsuro, you don’t understand what I’ve been risking on your behalf.”

“Excuse me,” Mari interjected. “You’re a Mantis, and you’re carrying supplies for the Hiruma?”

Iwata stared at her with a glare that clearly said ‘well done, you’ve puzzled out the obvious.’ Mari ignored it for one moment and turned to Etsuro.

“Why didn’t we know of this arrangement? Benjiro-sama told us nothing of a Mantis ship supplying the Hiruma.”

The ship rocked as it began to pull back out to the open sea. Mari barely caught her balance and continued to glare at the Hiruma. Etsuro, of course, didn’t look affected by the movement at all.

“I don’t know if the Crab Clan Champion knows of the arrangement,” Etsuro answered. “It’s one of the items that must come to her attention. It’s written here in one of these scrolls.”

“Good,” Iwata growled. “I expect to be well compensated for my troubles. I won’t get paid if the Champion doesn’t know about it.”

The Mantis walked away, shouting orders to his crewmen. Mari stared at his retreating back as thoughts tumbled around in her mind. “If Reiha-sama doesn’t know of the Mantis, how did you ever arrange it?”

“He sailed along the coast for a few week, risking exposure to the Destroyers, before he caught the attention of one of our scouts,” Etsuro answered quietly. There was no more need for silence, but it seemed to have been trained into every part of his life. “He doesn’t speak much about himself, but it’s clear he’s not doing this for the money. He knew we’d need the supplies and he made sure we’d get it.”

“An altruistic Mantis?” Mari mused out loud as the ship took on speed and the Shadowlands began to shrink into the horizon. “Surely I have seen it all…”

 

 

“We need to retreat,” Horiuchi Nobane said. “We will all die here if we dally any longer.”

“We need more time,” Hida Otoya replied. He gestured to the hundreds of scrolls piled against the wall. “Shiro Kuni served as the center of Crab Clan’s defenses. Tacticians planned here for centuries and compiled years of knowledge here. There’s hundreds of unique spell scrolls cached in underground chambers that can’t be found anywhere else. If we retreat, the Destroyers will burn this place to the ground.”

“Whatever your reservations, Otoya-san, we cannot stay here,” Shiba Rae said. He placed his elbow on his kabuto, placed on the table, and leaned against it. “Our arrival seems to have slowed down their advance, but they are becoming accustomed to our unique tactics. It’s only a matter of time until the continued assault grinds us down to nothing.”

His gunso, Shiba Raiden, glanced at him but said nothing.

Mirumoto Takehiro nodded. “We’re losing men faster than expected. We didn’t have time to gather more under our banner, as we understood that time was of the essence during our arrival.”

“Unfortunately, the matter is out of my hands,” Otoya said, not budging from his seat. “You may not be aware of my history, but I was not born a Crab. I serve them because of an oath, but the truth remains that I was once an outsider. I am as loyal as the next Crab but I must show my devotion with deeds, not words. The Crab Clan Champion gave me explicit orders to save the knowledge maintained within these walls. I will die before I disobey them.”

Nobane paced. “Your adherence to your word is wonderful, Otoya-san, and please do not misunderstand my next words. You and your men will die if you stay here. Dead men cannot follow orders.”

“Such is bushido,” Takehiro said. He rubbed his chin and stared out into the distance. “There must be a way to solve this in a manner that will satisfy everyone.”

“I believe there might be a Phoenix solution to this, my lords,” an aide dressed in the colors of the Phoenix said from the back of the room. The commanders turned to face the young girl. She bowed deeply and stepped forward.

“I am Isawa Yutako and I have been training to join the Tsunami Legion,” she said. “There are many of us who excel in speaking with the water kami. If we are given permission, we will help transport the scrolls from this place to a place of safe keeping in the north. We can save the knowledge and all the men who would die in a futile defense.”

“A place of safe keeping?” Otoya echoed. “Would this place be under Phoenix control?”

Yutako hesitated for one brief moment before nodding. “Yes.”

Otoya shook his head. “No. These documents are secret to the Crab and cannot be viewed by other Clans. Many of them are written in cipher, but with enough time you would be able to unravel its mysteries. It would be a violation of my orders.”

Nobane turned to Rae. “Can you swear upon your honor that the Phoenix will not open these scrolls?”

Rae frowned. “The Phoenix Clan is the Clan of knowledge, friends. We would not abuse any of the information found in those scrolls, and increasing our libraries could only benefit Rokugan. Perhaps you can see it as a cost of our aid, Otoya-san. Would you prefer you die here, your knowledge forever lost, or share it with fellow Rokugani? When the Army of Dark Fire stampeded down the northern mountains over the Phoenix lands, we knew our duty. We asked Crab and Scorpion samurai to help take valuable scrolls and artifacts away from the dangerous zones to safeguard for posterity. I ask that you show such selfless devotion to our empire.”

“You will not gain control of those scrolls,” Otoya growled.

“My lords,” Takehiro interrupted, “this is a matter of life and death. Relent, Rae-san, and we can walk away from this alive. The Dragon forces will not leave their Crab brethren to die alone, and if you will not give your word you will be condemning Dragon and Crab to die.”

“It would not please the commander of my armies, Yu Pan-sama,” Nobane added, “but I will not leave our allies to die as well. Please, Rae-san.”

Rae turned to look at each of the commanders’ faces in turn. Finally, he turned to Yutako. “Begin your preparations, Yutako-san. I give my word the Phoenix will not touch those scrolls. The Legion of Flame will postpone the next attack for as long as we require.”

Otoya stood from his seat. “Everything left of the Crab forces will be by your side, Rae-san. Thank you.”

“I cannot follow the call of knowledge when lives are at stake,” Rae replied as he left the room. “I only hope that our selfless actions will urge you to serve the good of the empire in the future. The Phoenix will preserve the safety of the empire if only we work and stand together.”