In the final installment of Fiction Week, Yogo Rieko struggles to come to grips with the aftermath of the battle with the god-beast as she spends the winter within the confines of the Imperial City.
Scars
By Shawn Carman
Edited by Fred Wan
Then…
The earth shook, but through no natural means and no magic that any priest of the kami had ever seen before. No, the earth shook with the corrupted divine power of an entity unlike anything that had ever walked the Empire before, a massive, mindless, ravenous thing that hungered only for destruction. It was the god-beast of Kali-ma, the ultimate Destroyer, and it longed for the destruction of the Scorpion lands.
Yogo Rieko stood her ground. She could feel the unease of the soldiers around her, and she struggled to exude a steely certainty from which they might draw strength. She extended her senses into the winds, whispering into the ears of her comrades in arms, just under the threshold of their hearing. Encouraging them. Strengthening them. Readying them for the enormity of the task they were to face in mere moments.
The god-beast stepped closer, drawing ever nearer to the City of Lies.
“Stand ready, samurai!” Rieko called, her voice echoing through the kami themselves. “We ride to war!”
* * * * *
The Happy Hummingbird was not the finest tea house in the Imperial City. Such a claim was hotly contested among at least a half dozen other tea houses of much more opulent décor and vastly higher prices. However, the Happy Hummingbird did offer a small number of rather obscure blends that could be found at few other places within the city. They did not go out of their way to announce this fact to the city’s denizens at large, making the tea house something of a well kept secret among those who favored the particular wares they sold.
One such individual was Yogo Rieko, who sat quietly in a corner of the room largely protected by privacy screens. She could see who entered and exited through the main door, but once those who entered were seated, they were concealed from her, and she from them. This was as she wished it today, for of late she had little use for the company of others.
A serving girl appeared with a tray. She bowed deeply without spilling so much as a drop, then set the tea tray upon Rieko’s table. “As the lady requested,” she said softly. “Dark Sky blend, mixed with a hint of jasmine. This particular blend was grown in the Seiki province near the Lion-Unicorn border, purchased by one of our merchants and carefully blended by our eldest master.” She bowed again, having divulged the particulars of her wares, and retreated. It was another of the house’s customs, and although Rieko typically enjoyed it, today she simply desired solitude.
Rieko reached for the steaming cup, but withdrew it when she realized how badly her hand was shaking. She drew a deep breath and waited, then reached again. Still her hand shook. She withdrew it once again and this time, with all her considerable will, she commanded her rebellious appendage to obey and cease its incessant shaking. When she reached for the tea once again, the tremble was barely noticeable.
As the priestess sipped the tea, she wondered if it was progress or merely self-deception.
* * * * *
Rieko made her way down the street, her favorite tea having failed utterly to calm her troubled spirit. She whispered a simple invocation to the spirits of the air, and they wrapped themselves around her to protect her from the worst ravages of the winter weather. The winds whispered about many things, as was their custom, and Rieko ignored much of it. When they spoke of the man in her wake, however, she took notice. She stopped abruptly in the middle of the walk and turned. “Do you need something?” she demanded bluntly.
The Unicorn samurai walking several paces behind stopped as well. “I… apologize, my lady. It was not my intent to give you pause. I was merely trying to determine the best way to approach you.”
“Walking ten paces behind me is scarcely an effective means,” she said. “If there is something you need, please say it and be done.”
“The direct route,” he said. “That much is in my favor, at least. My name is Moto Hotei. I am a magistrate in service to the Seppun family and, of late, the Imperial Treasurer as well.”
“An admittedly impressive service record that involves me not at all,” Rieko said.
“As part of my studies with the Seppun, I have become familiar with your order, though I do not know its name,” Hotei said. “I suspect that you are among its most decorated members, and I require the expertise of an individual with such skills as those I suspect you possess.”
Rieko’s eyes narrowed. “I do not know of what you speak,” she said sharply.
Hotei’s features flickered into a momentary show of annoyance. “I have charted your travels throughout the Empire over the past decade. In more than half of your travels outside the Scorpion Clan borders, there were magistrate reports on file listing suspected maho activity. Those reports always ceased following your departure. I found other reports dating back centuries involving other members of the Yogo family. I am no fool, my lady, and I will not be treated as such.”
Rieko’s instincts had already flagged the man as a serious threat. “What is it you want, exactly?”
“Let me assure you that, as far as I know, no one else is familiar with your work,” Hotei said. “Perhaps my lords among the Seppun are familiar with it, and perhaps they are not. I have not spoken of it to them and have no intentions of doing so.”
The priestess frowned. “Why seek me out at all?”
“I fear that I have trespassed into a conflict with some force I do not understand,” Hotei said. “Have you been paying attention to the goings-on in the city?”
“I have not, not of late,” she admitted.
Hotei nodded. “I returned to the Imperial City from the Unicorn provinces some weeks ago. I was investigating a pair of murders which, at the time, I believed were related to a cult of some kind. I turned the matter over to a Jade Magistrate and returned in the company of a caravan. Since our return, there have been two incidents of murder within the city that I believe are related to the matter at home.”
“If so, then it should be a simple matter to explain to the Emerald Magistrates or your own order,” Rieko said. “I scarcely see how it relates to me.”
“They deny that the two matters are related at all,” Hotei answered.
She shrugged. “Perhaps they are not. If they do not believe it, why do you?”
Hotei grimaced. “This is… difficult to explain.”
“Do it quickly!” she barked. “I am losing my patience!”
“As you wish,” he replied. “I bear a helmet given to me by Ryoshun. It bears the blessings of Maigo no Musha, the Realm of Thwarted Destiny, and through it those within that realm can offer me their counsel. They have confirmed to me that there is a link between the two.”
Despite herself, Rieko was intrigued. “Can you not simply explain this to your order? It seems that they would be interested. I have it on good authority that Seppun Kiharu is a man of enormous piety.”
Hotei hesitated. “I am reluctant to reveal the helm’s abilities to others,” he admitted. “It will negate any value I have as a magistrate. It will be assumed that I am dependant upon the helmet, when in truth I prefer to avoid its use whenever possible.”
“Why?
His frown deepened. “It is… confusing. Too many voices.”
The matter was interesting, to be sure, but frankly Rieko had too many problems of her own at the moment. “I cannot help you,” she said flatly. “What you think about me… perhaps it was once true, but no longer.” She shook her head. “You must deal with the matter on your own.”
The disdain was evident on the man’s face. “I thought you were a kindred spirit,” he said. “But you are right, I was mistaken. I apologize for having troubled you.”
* * * * *
Then…
The ground was trod into mud with the blood of the dead. Rieko’s robes were seared, bloodied, and torn. Her flesh was ripped in more than a dozen places, but she scarcely noticed. She screamed her throat raw, a sound of primal rage and frustration. She called for the kami, but her will was exhausted, and she could no longer compel their favors.
Rieko screamed again, enraged. She cast about for something to use as a weapon, something to use against the living death that strode inexorably toward Ryoko Owari Toshi. She found nothing suitable, and she swore with all her might. Then she remembered.
The scrolls.
* * * * *
The Scorpion estate within the Imperial City was equal parts menacing and opulent, designed perfectly so that those who looked upon it would see whatever matched their expectations of the Scorpion Clan. Rieko had been enchanted by its majesty upon her first visit to the city, but had long ago stopped noticing it. Today it seemed somehow ominous, and she suspected that the weight upon her spirit.
Within the estate, the familiar chambers devoted to the Yogo family’s use were vastly less lavish than those used by the Bayushi, which were often used to host the clan’s guests. The Yogo rarely if ever had guests, comparatively, and their chambers were more practical than anything else. Rieko milled about in one of the corridors, waiting patiently for the brief but essential window of time she had been told would be made available to her. Almost precisely on cue, the shoji screen that separated the corridor from one of the small temple chambers within the estate slid open, and the slightly stooped form of a much older man emerged, the screen closing quietly behind him. “Rieko,” the man said, his voice gravelly and severe. “It is good to see you, child. You have just caught me. I leave for home within the hour.”
“I know, my lord,” Rieko said, bowing deeply at the waist. “Your hatamoto told me this was my last chance to speak to you before your return.”
Yogo Koji grunted. “You have been gone from home a long time, it seems.”
“Only a few months, my lord,” she said. “I have had many duties that took me away for longer.”
“Perhaps,” the Yogo daimyo said. “This feels different, somehow. What has happened, child? Why do you remain within the Imperial City? Your abilities are squandered on court life.”
“You are too kind, my lord,” she said. “I am unworthy of such praise.”
“Hardly!” Koji chuckled. He paused and looked at her more closely. “You truly believe that,” he said, surprise in his tone. “What has changed in you, Rieko?”
Rieko hesitated. She had imagined this conversation dozens of times, but now found it difficult to summon the words. “I… I believe I may be unfit for duty, my lord,” she said just above a whisper. “I think I may have been… compromised.”
The intensity of Koji’s stare was suddenly palpable in the corridor, like a heavy cloth that had been thrown over her. “Your last engagement was at Ryoko Owari,” he said sternly. “Were you contaminated? Did exposure to the god-beast or its spawn result in some form of corruption? Speak quickly, girl! Dozens or hundreds of others could be similarly compromised!”
“No, no,” she said quickly. “It is not that, my lord. Never that. I would have come to you at once.”
Koji stared at her intently, but nodded slowly. “I would have expected so,” he said. “But this makes your behavior more confusing. Explain yourself quickly. Even being a favored student has its limits with my patience.”
“I was there, when the clans stood against the god-beast,” Rieko said softly. “I did everything that I could, I used every resource that I have accumulated in my many years of service. I exhausted myself utterly, and it amounted to nothing.”
“Many could say the same thing,” Koji agreed.
“When my strength was at its end,” she continued, “when I had exhausted all resources at my disposal, I… I found myself wishing that the cache of scrolls I had burned when I eliminated the maho-tsukai you sent me against some months ago.” She paused and wiped her eyes. “I found myself wishing for the dark power we have always fought, so that I could continue fighting.” She shook her head. “I am everything that I have always fought against. I am a disgrace.” She looked to her lord and teacher. “Please, tell me what I must do to purge this impurity from my soul.”
To her absolute amazement, Koji burst out laughing. “You want me to rebuke you for being a loyal Scorpion?” He bent double with the force of his amusement. “My dear girl, you will need to find some other Scorpion lord for that purpose.”
Rieko was aghast. “My lord! I have confessed to longing for the black arts in a moment of weakness! I am one of the clan’s secret guardians! This is an unforgiveable sin!”
Koji finally seemed to recover his composure. “Rieko-chan,” he said softly. “All you did was to contemplate sacrificing everything that you hold dear and precious for the good of your clan. What more is any Scorpion supposed to do? Did you actually commit any black act? Summon the power of blood sorcery at any point now or in the past?”
“No, my lord,” she said. “But I would have, if I had been able.”
“So you have convinced yourself,” Koji said. “I suspect otherwise.”
“I was weak,” she said, the certainty in her voice finally wavering somewhat. “I may be weak again in the future. This cannot be permitted.”
“You are a wise woman,” Koji said. “But if you think that there will not be times, times beyond counting, when you are forced to choose between your idealism and the good of the clan, then you are also ruthlessly naïve.” He suddenly looked very tired. “Take it from me, my child.”
“You have served for many decades,” Rieko said, “but your soul remains pure.”
Koji chuckled again, but this time it was sad. He looked up at her, and in his eyes she saw the enormity of the burdens he carried. “I am not afflicted with any spiritual corruption,” he clarified, “but never make the mistake of thinking that my soul is pure, young woman. Would that it were so.”
Rieko was unsure how to respond to that. “What am I to do, my lord?”
“Persevere,” he said at once. “It is all we can do. We are faced with threats innumerable, including not only the Destroyers but the Disgrace and its attendant forces as well. Your spirit can experience temptation, and that is normal, but your will must remain unbreakable. You, of all our order, I know can endure.”
Rieko sighed softly. “I do not know that I am worthy of your faith, my lord, but I shall never stop striving to be so.”
“Excellent,” Koji said. “I will need a worthy successor one day.”
She nodded wordlessly, thinking of the Unicorn magistrate. “I have something I must do in the city, my lord,” she said. “Once that is done, I will return to the Scorpion lands and lend what aid I may.”
“Good,” Koji said. “I look forward to it.”
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