Eight Years ago . . .
Kaelung picked his way cautiously through the rubble-strewn cavern.
Even after two years, the pass that the Unicorn called the Way
of Night was not a safe place. Some parts of the mountains still
glowed molten red, as if wounded by the rain of fire that had
torn the range asunder. Rumors abounded that strange creatures
had appeared from the broken crater, things that had not been
seen in a thousand years. Kaelung was not the sort of person
to give undue credence to rumor and superstition, but he held
the haft of his axe tightly nonetheless.
Though he had only recently joined
the order of Hoshi, young Kaelung was already one of the most
imposing members of the brotherhood. He was a tall, thick-shouldered
man who could move with surprising speed and accuracy. Unlike
many ise zumi, his tattoos were not visible, kept hidden beneath
the ritual robes of a sohei, a warrior-monk. Kaelung's grim features
were focused directly ahead, staring into the darkness.
"I know that you are in here,
renegade," Kaelung called out. "There is no sense in
hiding."
A second figure, as tall and imposing
as Kaelung, appeared at the edge of the darkness, arms folded
across his chest. "I do not wish to be disturbed,"
the man said.
"Then you should have covered
your trail better," Kaelung replied, scowling. "You
know why I am here. Come with me."
The man laughed. "Why?"
he asked. "So I can watch you all die for foolish pride?"
The man stepped forward into the light. A brilliant red dragon
tattoo stretched across his chest and shoulders. His eyebrows
were slightly grey, the only visible sign that this ise zumi
was older than he appeared.
"Togashi Mitsu-sama, we need
you," Kaelung said. "Why do you turn your back on us?"
"I am retired," he replied.
"I have fulfilled all of my promises. The Togashi can rest
in peace. Leave me alone."
Kaelung looked at Mitsu quietly for
a moment. "So you are sulking then," he said. "You
hide here in this cave because you are bitter about what Hitomi
did to your family, even after all this time."
Mitsu's eyes narrowed slightly, but
he said nothing.
"You are a fool, old man,"
Kaelung said. "It was not Hitomi who killed your family,
it was the madness that Kokujin bestowed upon her. The murderer
still lives, and he carries the daisho of your Kami, of the god
who gave you your tattoos." Kaelung leveled an accusing
finger at Mitsu's painted chest.
"You know nothing," Mitsu
said. "You are too young. You know only what the others
have told you."
"So tell me the truth, then,"
Kaelung said.
"Truth?" Mitsu said with
a laugh, sitting heavily on a large stone. "I know only
that my Kami commanded me to lead Hitomi to her destiny and that
destiny led her to murder my family and embrace a madman and
led Togashi to his death. When I see Lady Moon shining in the
Heavens, I know that all came to pass, as it must have I am only
left wondering why? You ask for truth, Kaelung, but I do not
think that there is any" Mitsu looked Kaelung in the eyes.
"I have made enough sacrifices for the Dragon Clan. Go and
hunt Kokujin if you must. I wish you good fortune."
A slow sneer spread across Kaelung's
face. "Fine, then," he said sharply. "Hide here
in your cave. The Dragon do not need you. If this is what passes
for a legend of the Dragon Clan, perhaps it is time for new legends."
Kaelung turned his back and exited
the cave, leaving Togashi Mitsu to his thoughts.
The Present
The Twilight Mountains had fallen eerily silent. The seven Dragon
samurai who had come hunting Kokujin now stood surrounded in
a sheltered pass, surrounded on both sides by tattooed bakemono.
A band of strange tattooed men watched them quietly; their tattoos
were tinted a dark grey. Their skin was an inhuman, bluish-black
hue. Their leader watched them expectantly with shimmering green
eyes.
Togashi Matsuo felt distinctly outclassed. Certainly in the past
he had defeated terrible foes at the side of his teacher, Mitsu.
Now he stood beside some of the greatest heroes of his clan,
including Togashi Satsu, who carried the mysterious power of
his immortal grandfather. Even yet, there was something about
Kokujin's brainwashed followers that filled him with dread. He
tried to stay near Tamori Chieko, but he wondered if he did so
out of an urge to protect her or merely to stay close to the
group's only shugenja.
"Kobai," Hitomi Akuai whispered, staring in disbelief
at the dark tattooed man that led the opposition. "This
is not possible. You died years ago."
Kobai smiled. "I do admit this
is awkward, to see an old friend apparently returned from the
grave. I never died, Akuai. I merely found new direction. Surely
you must remember how that feels. Just as we were once reborn
in the service of the Lady, now I have been reborn in the service
of Kokujin. Now he reaches out to you, all of you, his cousins
in the Dragon Clan. He wishes to welcome you to his home. I speak
to you, Togashi Satsu-sama. Only you can truly understand."
"Why would I understand a madman?"
Satsu asked. While the others stood with weapons or fists ready
for combat, Satsu stood casually, relaxed, and unconcerned. Matsuo
knew the stance well; he had seen Mitsu take it many times before
suddenly launching into a flurry of action.
"Kokujin is not a madman,"
Kobai replied with a rueful smile. "Of course many of you
see him so - how can a mere mortal mind comprehend that which
is eternal. How many of us have often wondered at the Kami Togashi's
actions. You, Satsu-sama, you are different. You are one-quarter
divinity. You are like him."
"Interesting," Satsu said,
nodding thoughtfully. "I have only known you for two minutes,
Kokujin Kobai, and yet I do not think anyone has ever so insulted
me. Quite an accomplishment."
"You are not listening,"
Kobai said, frowning. "Kokujin wishes to speak with you,
to help you understand what he has done. He accepted your challenge
because he knew that would draw you here, but he wishes this
feud, this bloodshed to end."
"Where is Kokujin?" Satsu
asked.
"In the ruins of Shiro Heichi,"
Kobai said. "The home of the fallen Boar Clan."
Satsu nodded and looked back over one shoulder, meeting Matsuo's
eyes for a moment. He looked at each of the others in turn, noting
that all were prepared.
"You will have your wish, Kobai-san," Satsu said. "This
bloodshed will end. It will end with Kokujin's death!"
With that, the seven Dragon leapt
forward as one. Rosanjin's twin blades formed a circle of death
as he launched into the bakemono ranks. Wayan and Akuai charged
directly toward Kobai, knocking aside any who blocked their paths
with furious kicks and punches. Hitomi Hogai lifted a boulder
with a mighty roar, sending the stone hurtling into the bakemono
behind them. Satsu moved quicker than the eye could see, katana
held low to one side as he cut through the dark tattooed men.
Chieko pointed her jade sword at one of Kobai's followers, releasing
a bolt of pure green energy that reduced the man to nothing.
Matsuo stood by her side, belching a cloud of chilling frost
as another of the dark ise zumi came too near.
Thunder rumbled in the sky overhead,
and Kokujin's followers fought back viciously. The bakemono practiced
a crude form of Kaze-do, the Dragon Clan's secret martial art.
Though their skill was not great it made them irritatingly difficult
to dispatch. Matsuo snarled as one of the tiny creatures cartwheeled
out of his grasp and pitched a rock at his face. Matsuo cursed
in pain and lunged at the creature again. This time it the creature
darted directly up in midair. Matsuo stared in confusion until
he realized that Hogai, almost invisible in the night with his
inky black tattoos, had lifted the creature by its head.
"Quick little things," Hogai
said, nodding at Matsuo, "but still just goblins."
Hogai threw the creature at the wall of the pass. Its terrified
shriek ended with a wet smack.
"Arigato, Hogai-san," Matsuo
said.
The massive tattooed man shrugged
noncommittally and turned his attention back to his foes. Rain
poured from the sky, drenching the combatants. Matsuo concentrated
on his tattoo, shifting from the dragon to the eagle; he would
need greater agility to fight on the rain-slicked rocks. He delivered
a quick spin kick to another bakemono and glanced back at Chieko.
"Go," the pretty young shugenja
said, regarding him with an amused grin. "I can protect
myself, Matsuo. Join the fight!" She was hardly any bigger
than the bakemono, but the way she decimated the enemy ranks
with each blast from her sword left little room for argument.
Matsuo nodded to her and charged in the direction he had seen
Satsu run.
Matsuo found him in the center of
the pass, cleaving his way toward Kobai alongside Akuai and Wayan.
Kobai watched them all with a rapidly souring expression.
"You should have accepted my
master's offer of peace, Togashi Satsu," Kobai said, shouting
to be heard over the storm. "You have left me no alternative."
With that, Kobai's flesh became sleek, black, and featureless.
The tattooed man seemed to melt, becoming one with the shadows
on the ground. The other tattooed men did the same; Matsuo could
see movement in the shadows as they scattered like minnows. The
bakemono were left alone in the pass, staring about in confusion
for their human comrades.
"They have escaped!" Hogai
roared.
"No," Satsu said, looking
around with a startled expression. "I sense it is worse
than that."
Thunder echoed again. Matsuo looked
up in time to see six hovering figures silhouetted by the lightning.
They wore the billowing robes of shugenja. Six bolts of lightning
hammered down on the walls of the pass, creating an explosion
of dust and rubble. The bakemono shrieked in pain and terror.
Matsuo covered his face with his arms as stone rained down. He
shouted for his comrades; he thought he heard a man scream.
Then the wall of stone fell upon him,
and Togashi Matsuo saw no more.
The city of Foshi was a quiet place.
The Lion Clan liked it that way. Everything was swift, smooth,
and efficient. The city had one purpose - to keep the armies
of the Lion well fed and content. To that end, crime and mischief
were not tolerated. Outsiders were not tolerated, with the exception
of traveling monks and the occasional well-behaved merchant.
It was the perfect place for someone
like Kaelung.
The grizzled sohei sat at a small table in the corner of one
of Foshi's largest sake houses. Foshi had few sake houses, for
most Lion had little use for distractions, but this was a rather
nice one. Kaelung had been nursing a cup of sake for well over
an hour, the cup nothing more than an excuse for him to retain
his place at the table. He stared out the window at the streets
of Foshi with a thoughtful expression, watching the Lion soldiers
go about their daily maneuvers.
"There is something quite soothing about Lion bushi,"
said a voice, causing Kaelung to look up with a start. Another
man wearing the loose robes and complex facial wrappings of a
warrior-monk had seated himself nearby. Kaelung had not heard
him approach. "I would wager that those soldiers have done
those same exercises every morning for the last ten years. I
would wager their grandfathers once did the same in that very
square. I would be quite surprised if their grandchildren were
not fated to do the same. They may have their faults, but Lion
are nothing if not reliable. Don't you agree?" The sohei
unwrapped the long scarf, revealing a familiar face.
"What are you doing here, Mitsu?"
Kaelung asked in a sharp voice. He lifted his bottle to refill
his cup.
"I was looking for you, Kaelung,"
Mitsu said.
"Pity that you found me,"
Kaelung replied.
He lunged forward and smashed the
sake bottle across Mitsu's face.
Mitsu rolled backwards, off of his
cushion into a fighting stance. Kaelung planted one foot on the
table and lunged, wielding his long axe in one hand. Mitsu ducked
as Kaelung swung the blade, cleaving the support beam behind
him. A shower of dust and lumber tumbled from above, causing
both men to dodge aside as part of the ceiling collapsed. The
other patrons shrieked and scattered, getting away from the two
men as swiftly as possible.
"I am not here to fight you,
Kaelung," Mitsu said, hopping onto a nearby table. He tore
off his robes with one hand, leaving only the hakama he usually
wore.
"That's what the last three Mirumoto
said," Kaelung snapped, lifting his axe high. "Then
they tried to kill me because of Nanashi Mura." Kaelung
brought the axe down heavily, splitting the table down the center.
Mitsu back-flipped away, landed in a crouch, and picked up a
large chunk of the broken table. Kaelung readied his axe for
another strike and scowled. "At least this time Wayan sent
his best killer."
"Wayan did not send me, Kaelung,"
Mitsu said, holding his shattered board to block the shaft of
Kaelung's axe and shoving him away. "I am not here to kill
you."
"Then stand still," Kaelung
growled, drawing his weapon up again.
The doors of the sake house burst
open and a dozen armored Lion samurai charged through. The leader
glared at the two dueling monks, who paused to look at the samurai
curiously.
"What is the meaning of this?"
the Lion demanded.
Kaelung scowled, turned, and cleaved
another support beam with his axe. Much of the ceiling collapsed
in a cloud of dust, leaving the Lion shouting and hacking in
confusion. Kaelung leapt up through the chaos, landing easily
on the edge of the hole leading to the second floor. Mitsu cursed
and leaped after him. In midair he noticed a flash of steel and
kicked hard at the lip of the hole, changing direction just as
Kaelung's axe whipped through the air past his face. He landed
back on the first floor just as the Lion recovered enough to
draw their bows and open fire. Mitsu cartwheeled through the
debris, slapping two of the arrows aside before he landed, faced
the Lion, and coughed a cloud of searing fire, burning the rest
of the missiles in midair.
"A Dragon?" one of the samurai
said, looking at his commander. "I thought the Dragon were
our allies, sir!"
"I I but" the sergeant looked
confused, uncertain what to do next.
Mitsu took the opportunity to leap
up after Kaelung again, landing on the second floor just in time
to see his quarry depart through a window. He followed after
quickly, peering out to see Kaelung standing on the roof of a
small shack across the street. Mitsu jumped after him just as
Kaelung lifted his axe and struck the roof hard. The small shack
collapsed just as Mitsu landed. Mitsu swore as he landed awkwardly
in the debris, rolling clumsily out into the street, landing
on his back. A Lion soldier shouted a battle cry and fired an
arrow at Mitsu.
Mitsu snatched the arrow out of the
air in one hand and scowled. "Stop that!" he snapped,
jumping to his feet.
The Lion blinked, his second arrow
tumbling from his hands.
Mitsu glanced around quickly, searching for Kaelung. He saw a
large robed figure duck into an alley. He could follow, but it
was likely that Kaelung was preparing another ambush. Instead
Mitsu drew upon the power of the scarlet centipede tattoo that
encircled his right thigh. He felt the spirit of the celestial
centipede fill him; the world slowed as Mitsu moved at incredible
speed. He circled around the building, heading for the opposite
exit where Kaelung would exit. Mitsu charged into the alley,
entering to find Kaelung kneeling beside the opposite entrance
with his axe held low to one side, watching the street. From
experience, Mitsu know that once the spirit of the centipede
had departed he would be left exhausted for the same amount of
time he had drawn upon its power. Moving as swiftly as he was,
normal combat would be near impossible.
So Mitsu charged directly at Kaelung, aiming one shoulder at
his back. Kaelung looked back just as Mitsu drew close, eyes
widening in surprise. The two ise zumi collided with a sharp
crack, both tumbling across the dusty street and into an alley
on the opposite side of the road. Kaelung flew face first into
a wall, his head jamming through the wooden slats. On the other
side, an elderly peasant looked up in alarm as he chewed his
afternoon rice. Mitsu collapsed in the alley behind Kaelung,
drained by the centipede's power.
"Why did you do that?" Kaelung
groaned, drawing his head out of the wall and sitting down heavily
on the ground. He spat out a mouthful of splinters. "You
could have killed us both."
"Because you wouldn't listen"
Mitsu said, gasping for breath as he sat up. "I am not here
to kill you, Kaelung"
"I wish you were," Kaelung
said ruefully. "I think it would hurt less." He massaged
his bruised face with one hand and looked around for his axe.
"Then why are you here?"
Kaelung asked.
Sharp cries echoed in the streets
outside. Kaelung and Mitsu both looked that way in alarm. "The
Lion will not be pleased at how you treated their architecture,"
Mitsu observed. "Perhaps we should leave the city before
we speak further."
"A wise suggestion," Kaelung
said. He helped Mitsu to his feet, pulling the exhausted ise
zumi's arm over his shoulder as they disappeared into the alleys
of Foshi.
Togashi Matsuo thought, at first,
that someone was stabbing him in the eyes. Then he realized that
he was laying on his back, staring into the noonday sun. The
young ise zumi groaned as he sat up and rubbed his pounding skull.
He felt like someone had dropped a mountain on his head. As he
began to recall the events of the previous evening, he realized
that someone had dropped a mountain on his head.
Matsuo lay at the bottom of a narrow crevice in the face of the
mountain, filled with rubble. He was covered with dust, but he
was not harmed at all. He noticed that the tattoo on his chest
had become a twisting vine, symbol of rejuvenation. His tattoo
had altered itself automatically to heal his wounds. It had never
done that before. Matsuo pushed the mystery aside for now and
climbed cautiously toward the light, picking his handholds carefully
in the unstable crevice. When he emerged once more he found he
was still in the pass, though the landscape had changed dramatically.
All about was broken rubble and bakemono corpses. Six of Kokujin's
ise zumi and a dozen tattooed goblins picked through the rubble.
"Have you found anything?"
Kobai asked, pacing the cliff's edge forty feet from where Matsuo
hid.
"Nothing, Kobai-sama," one
of them said. "I think the rest must have been crushed."
"Then there will be bodies,"
Kobai hissed. "Keep looking. If our master has taught us
anything, it is that you should never assume your enemy dead
until you have personally devoured his heart. Find the other
three, living or dead. Kokujin will not accept failure."
Matsuo was horrified by the dark ise
zumi's words. Only three had survived? Were the others dead?
Or even worse, had they been captured, to be tattooed and brainwashed
as Kobai had? Matsuo could not imagine Satsu being killed or
captured. It was as impossible a notion as the sun falling from
the sky but that had happened once as well. The Dragon Clan had
learned, in their time, that nothing was certain.
"What do I do?" Matsuo whispered
to himself.
As if in reply, one of the bakemono
cackled. "I find one! I find one!" it shouted, leaping
up and down as it flipped a small boulder away. "Over here!"
The dark ise zumi moved over to see
what the bakemono had found. Kobai knelt amid the stones, rolling
many more away. Matsuo concentrated on his tattoo, making it
adopt the form of the wolf so that he could hear their words
from his hiding place.
"Yes," Kobai said, nodding.
"That is Hoshi Wayan. I don't think he will last much longer."
"Will not survive!" the
bakemono said triumphantly. "Let me eat! Eat heart, like
Kobai-sama said!"
"May as well," Kobai replied.
"He isn't even one of the ones Kokujin needed."
"Joy," the goblin said,
smacking its lips.
"No!" Togashi Matsuo roared,
leaping out of the pit to stand before Kokujin's minions. "You
will leave him be!" His tattoo had become the frost dragon
again, the most powerful of its forms.
They turned to face him, and Matsuo
realized to his horror how outnumbered he truly was. A dozen
goblins and six ise zumi, fighting on their own territory.
"Ah, the boy," Kobai said,
"Mitsu's brat student. Kokujin offers you the same deal
as he did the others. Offer no violence and you will receive
none. Surrender."
"I would die as a Dragon before
I would live as what you have become, Kobai," Matsuo said.
"Very well then," Kobai
said. He opened his mouth to give the order to attack, but the
words froze in his mouth. An arrow was suddenly lodged in the
dark tattooed man's throat. He staggered, looking about in confusion.
Blood poured from his mouth. He fell to his knees, leaning on
one hand, and died.
"Well said, Matsuo," Mirumoto
Rosanjin said, climbing over the wreckage on the far side of
the pass, holding his bow in one hand. Rosanjin's armor was badly
dented and a bloody bandage was wrapped around his forehead,
but he was alive. He drew another arrow and fired just as Kokujin's
minions charged, felling a second ise zumi.
Matsuo roared as the frost breath
billowed from his lungs, freezing three of the goblins and two
of the ise zumi into solid statues of ice. One of the ise zumi
spat a cloud of roiling black grease in reply. Matsuo fell flat
as the cloud boiled over his head; he could feel the noxious
gas burning the hairs in his nose and searing his chest. The
ise zumi laughed and took another deep breath, just as Rosanjin's
third arrow planted itself in his chest.
"For Satsu and the Dragon!"
Rosanjin shouted, tossing his bow aside and drawing his blades
to meet his attackers. The bakemono scattered like leaves in
the face of his two sword technique; the first five that faced
him died in the space of a heartbeat.
Matsuo rolled to his feet again and
leapt at another ise zumi. The man grinned as they collided.
Matsuo was taken aback by the savage glee in the man's eyes.
"Fight if you will," the
man whispered as Matsuo slammed him against the mountain wall.
"One day you will all bear the master's blood!"
"You will not see that day,"
Matsuo said. He planted one hand on either side of the man's
head and twisted with all his strength. A sickly snap ended the
mad tattooed man's life. He fell to the earth beside his brethren.
Rosanjin now stood at Matsuo's side,
blades ready. Four goblins and two ise zumi remained, though
the goblins now shied away from Rosanjin's swords.
"Follow us if you can,"
one of the ise zumi said, "the mountains will kill you long
before you find Shiro Heichi." With that, both remaining
ise zumi turned jet-black and melted into the shadows. The goblins
looked at one another, screamed, and ran away.
"Should we pursue?" Rosanjin
asked.
"No," Matsuo replied. "Wayan needs our help."
Rosanjin nodded, sheathing his blades. "Next time there
will be no shadows for them to hide in," he promised. Rosanjin
spat on Kobai's corpse as he followed Matsuo to tend Wayan's
unconscious body.
"Do you still believe we can
defeat Kokujin?" Matsuo asked, looking up at the samurai.
"Only three of us remain. Satsu has been killed or imprisoned.
Wayan is in no shape to fight."
Rosanjin knelt beside the fallen monk
and looked at Matsuo seriously. "I must believe we can still
triumph," he said. "If I do not, we have already been
defeated."
Mitsu and Kaelung walked in a shallow
ditch beside one of the grand roads the Lion Clan reserved for
their armies. Occasionally one or the other would glance back
toward Foshi to see if they had been followed. Fortunately, thus
far it looked as if they had escaped from their chaotic encounter
there more or less unscathed.
"Tell me about Nanashi Mura,"
Mitsu said as they walked.
Kaelung shrugged. "It's a ronin
village," he said. "They've been under the Dragon's
protection since the days of the Hantei. The Dragon sometimes
use them as mercenaries."
"That's not what I mean," Mitsu said. "Tell me
about what happened in Nanashi Mura."
Kaelung looked at Mitsu in surprise.
"You have not heard?"
"I know that something happened
there, and that it drove the Mirumoto to put a price on your
head. All else is rumor; I wish to hear your side."
Kaelung nodded. "I was a Mirumoto
before I joined the order of Hoshi," he said. "I know
their tactics, their procedures. I helped rob a supply caravan
that was bound for Nanashi Mura. No one was harmed."
"Even yet, no doubt the Mirumoto
were enraged," Mitsu said. "To be robbed by one of
their own, at a time when the Dragon need resources and troops
so badly."
Kaelung shrugged. "Our need was
greater," he said. "I will say no more. If the Mirumoto
catch me, they will kill me. So I avoid them. Why did you seek
me, Mitsu?"
"Because I know that you faced
Kokujin and survived," Mitsu said. "I know that whatever
you saw last time caused you to leave the Dragon, to hunt him
on your own or perhaps with questionable allies."
"What of it?" Kaelung asked.
"You know, don't you?" Mitsu
asked. "You know the truth about Kokujin."
Kaelung was silent for a while. "I
know that you were right not to come with me the last time I
hunted him," he said. "I was not prepared then."
"And Togashi Satsu is not prepared
now," Mitsu said, "but he goes to face him nonetheless.
To recover his grandfather's swords."
"Satsu?" Kaelung said, looking
at Mitsu grimly. "Are you serious?"
Mitsu nodded. "You know what
he will try to do."
Kaelung closed his fist so hard that
the knuckles popped. "We must stop him," he said. "Where
are they?"
"Several weeks' travel to the
southwest of here," Mitsu said. "In the Twilight Mountains.
It took me some time to find you, unfortunately."
"Do they know the truth?"
Kaelung asked.
"I swore I would not share it,"
Mitsu said. "I do not take such oaths lightly."
Kaelung nodded. "With your centipede
tattoo you could catch up to Satsu in a day," Kaelung said.
"Then I suggest you do your best
to keep up with me, old man," Kaelung replied, eyes fixed
on the southwest.
Togashi Satsu opened his eyes, and
immediately wished that he had not. The son of Hoshi hung from
chains in a dank underground dungeon. The smell of blood and
rotting flesh hung heavily in the air. Decaying bodies lay scattered
about the chamber, chained to the walls, floor, and ceiling.
A huge fire pit dominated the center of the room, beside which
sat a mighty anvil made of dark red steel. Satsu imagined he
could see screaming faces moving about within the steel, begging
him to be released. A small heap of burlap cloth lay beside the
anvil.
"Satsu-sama, are you well?"
Tamori Chieko asked quickly. She was chained against the wall
to his left; bloody and battered but unharmed. To her left, Hitomi
Hogai was also chained. Kokujin's men had used three extra sets
of manacles to restrain the burly kikage zumi.
"I am well enough," Satsu
said, tugging at his restraints to test their strength. "Have
they harmed you, Chieko?"
"No," she said, looking
away. "Satsu-sama you should not have surrendered to them
because of me. I am not worth it."
"Nor am I," Hogai added.
"You should have let us die."
"Had I let them kill you and
fought them alone, they would have slain me as well and all of
us would have died for nothing," Satsu said. "At least
now we all have hope of escape."
The door at the far side of the chamber
opened with a rusty squeal, and a tall figure stepped into the
room. Though Satsu had never seen the man before, he recognized
him immediately.
The mad tattooed man's skin was covered
with swirling tattoos that moved and shifted by the moment. His
eyes were wide and disturbingly clear. His lips were split in
a broad smile, revealing perfect white teeth. A golden daisho
was strapped across his back.
"Hello little cousin," Kokujin said, lifting a blacksmith's
hammer and leaning it across his shoulders as he strolled toward
Satsu. "You will be pleased to know that another of your
friends has been recovered. I am particularly pleased, for once
he was my friend, too."
Two large tattooed men followed Kokujin into the room. Between
them, they dragged the limp form of Hitomi Akuai.
"Tell me, Satsu," Kokujin
said, standing before his prisoner. "What do you know of
the Twilight Mountains? I suspect Hogai told you much. He was
once a Crab, was he not?"
"I know the First Oni died here,"
Satsu said.
Kokujin nodded. "And The Boar
Clan once lived here," he added, strolling back toward the
center of the room. "For the iron in these mountains was
stronger than any other. Sadly the blood of Fu Leng's finest
creation tainted that steel, and eventually others came seeking
the dead demon's power. They made this." He ran one hand
across the surface of the Anvil. "They called it the Anvil
of Despair. The Boar Clan died so that it might live."
"The anvil that created the Bloodswords,"
Tamori Chieko added fearfully. "The Phoenix Masters said
it was destroyed."
Kokujin shrugged. "The Phoenix
say a lot of things. True, they did find it once. True, they
sent a small army of Inquisitors on a mission to destroy it by
casting it into a pit of fire in the heart of the Shadowlands.
They failed, of course. I mean, what did they expect? The power
of the Taint helped create the anvil. Did they really
expect that anything in the Shadowlands would help destroy
it? That sort of poetic nonsense only happens in stories. No
the anvil is alive and well, and ready to create again."
Kokujin smiled and gestured toward the anvil.
The two tattooed men dragged Akuai
forward. The old tattooed man suddenly stood upright and kicked
at the nearest, causing him to stagger back and fall into the
fire pit with a shriek. The other turned and stared blankly.
Akuai punched the man in the throat, leaving him lying on the
floor choking on his own blood.
Akuai charged at Kokujin. The mad
tattooed man moved with startling speed, grabbing Akuai by the
face. Akuai struggled fiercely, leveling kicks and chops at Kokujin
that would have killed a lesser man. Kokujin ignored his attacks,
dragged him forward, and pressed him against the anvil. Immediately
the steel became a thing alive, chains snaking forward to grasp
Akuai's throat and wrists.
"If you dare put my grandfather's
swords on that anvil there isn't a force on heaven or earth that
will stop me from killing you," Satsu promised.
"I have no such intent,"
Kokujin replied. "Why sully Togashi's swords, when I can
make my own?" Kokujin kicked the pile of cloth aside and
revealed a half-finished daisho, a perfect copy of the swords
he wore on his back. Kokujin lifted the katana in one hand, the
hammer in the other. He looked down at Akuai with a sad smile.
"I give all the Dragon samurai
I capture a choice, Akuai," he said. "Accept my tattoos
and join my order, or refuse, and bleed for the anvil."
Akuai opened his mouth to speak.
"Never mind. I take it back,"
Kokujin said, jamming the sword into Akuai's stomach. "I
never liked you anyway."
The blood stained the sword, and Kokujin
began his work. The sound of a hammer on steel filled the Twilight
Mountains, accompanied by the screams of a dying Dragon.