The Story: Peace Disturbed

The Funeral

In the center of the altar itself is an urn of carved black, green and white jade, sealed with a calligraphed strip of paper and wax.  Another smaller, more modest urn of fine clay, also sealed, sits a little to the side and behind.

Togashi Kaneka was a skilled magistrate, and his funeral has drawn a good little crowd.  This is the day the Dragon clan has chosen for his funeral and that of his bodyguard, as most auspicious for the souls who now have to find their way beyond.  Some expect restlessness, for murdered souls often refuse to take the path to Jigokku, tormenting the living instead.  Others say that righteous men's souls have no need to walk the earth after their death.

In the crowd, not all wear the yellow and green of the Dragon clan.  There are representatives of most clans, including at least one Phoenix, a Crab, as well as some modestly dressed heimin, and even one ratling.  It is well known that Kaneka had been savvy and just, and the common folks had loved him dearly.

As the thin man bows again and starts backing away from the altar, a snake suddenly slithers under his sandal and darts away, causing the man to stumble and nearly fall down the steps.  A gasp of surprise and alarm ripples through the crowd at this omen.

The Crab emissary, a short and stout man in his thirties, raises both his eyebrows in surprise at seeing the incident. Then, with a look of cold determination, he silently begins to stalk the snake. Future plans involve interception, capture, interrogation and cooking of the snake.

Noting the presence of the snake, and the fact that many of the humans around him gasp and hiss in response to its appearance, Rik is puzzled.  Perhaps the snake represents the soul, and others speak to it in its own language to wish it well?  The ratling turns to the Crab samurai he has been standing next to.  He opens his mouth to ask a question, realizes that he hasn't made any snake noises, and that might be considered rude, turns back in the direction of the snake, and utters a loud "Sssssss!" (needless to say, this is several seconds after everyone else has regained their composure).  He then turns to the Crab samurai beside him.  In deference to the solemnity he at least remembers to speak softly and slowly soas to minimize both the disturbance to others and his rather embarrassing tendency to chitter when speaking the humans language quickly.

"What is importance of snake, Ishisan?  Why does everyone make snake noise when it appears?"

Being focused on his slithering prey, and not feeling up to indulging his noisy friend with a lengthy reply, Ishi decides to answer the question with another question.

"Why do snakes make snake noise?"

The man officiating, Togashi Kyugoro, quickly steadies himself after his stumble.  Ueda Ishi starts moving discreetly towards the offending animal.  Unfortunately for him, his companion the Nezumi  shows poor sense of timing in tackling concepts of etiquette.  From left and right, the snake-stalking Crab and his hissing ratling companion attract the glares of guests.

However, the ceremony must be completed, even with the unfavourable omen.  Togashi Kyugoro briefly glances at the crowd, his forbidding expression quelling any disturbance.  He picks up the clay urn and offers it to a woman dressed as a samurai of the Dragon clan.  Her hair is waist-length and pulled back into a ponytail woven with rocks and ribbons.  She takes the clay urn with a deep bow, and carries it away with her head down.

Mirumoto Haruka feels a bit guilty, being more concerned for her brother than her Lord, but he was after all her twin.  She keeps her head carefully bowed, showing reverence as she begins to walk a sedate pace toward the waiting castle. The appearance of the snake has disturbed her immensely, but she is careful to show no emotion.  It would be unseemly.

Then Togashi Kyugoro takes the jade urn and carries it with him.  Four taiko drums start rumbling with a slow, solemn cadence.  The crowd starts filing out of the open temple and heading back towards the small castle, Kyuden Otara, where a ritual meal will be served.

At the closing of the ceremony, Isawa Tokkan is in an odd state of mind. He is moved and saddened by the loss of so decent a man and honorable a magistrate.  And yet, he is no closer to solving the mystery of hexagrams he had cast.  He frowns, as his eyes follow the Crab Clan member chasing down the serpent of ill fortune. Perhaps there is a mystery here, besides the hexagram.

Tokkan decides to pay his respects to Lord Kyugoro, for the service the Dragon monks have done him in the past, and perhaps they could help him clarify his future.  He takes his basket hat in both hands, and stands from where he kneeled on the floor with the rest of the honored guests.

He moves to where the Togashi monk is after the ceremony, and bows deeply in respect. "Honored sir, I am called Tokkan. Several years ago, monks of your order rescued me while I was near death, I do not know that you would recall the incident. I wish once again to offer my thanks to your sect, and to inquire after the passing of so honorable a magistrate. I have heard rumours atht he had been killed, but no more of the tale than that."

As Tokkan asks his question of the monk, one of the heimin stands relatively near, watching the departure of most of the onlookers from the ceremony.  Certainly, he pays no attention to the question or its answer.  Luckily for Kentou, however, hearing and seeing things one must pay no attention to was a skill he has acquired during years of gambling in back rooms while shadowy dealings went on around him.

While he waits for the monk to answer, Kentou chews idly on the end of his unlit pipe.  Duty and obligation.  Of course, no one would expect a lowly heimin to investigate or avenge the death of his master, and even less the death of a magistrate who had simply done his duty.  But what others would expect means nothing.  Kentou sighs and wonders how long it will take.  He does have other obligations, after all.

Several guests seem to pay discreet but close attention to Tokkan's question.  Lord Kyugoro looks at the young man with a mixture of sadness and kindness.  "Isawa-san, I do recall your sojourn among us, but no thanks are needed.  My heart rejoices to see you well.  If you will accompany us to the great hall where the meal will be served, I will strive to answer your questions."

"You bestow a great honor upon me, Togashi-sama," replies Tokkan with a deep bow.

The distance between the temple and the castle is less than an arrow's flight, and the procession moves at a dignified pace.  Many of the commoners walk away without continuing towards the castle, a little intimidated.  The rest of the guests walk in a long file.

Tokkan falls into rank, as appropriate to his status, in this group of mourners.  He dons his basket hat, and follows along as the group makes its way up the hill.

Suddenly, a piercing howl rings through the air, startling the guests.  Those familiar with such things recognize the scream of a hikime¹ arrow.  There can be little doubt when one of the guests gasps and falls to the ground, clutching an arrow shaft that protrudes from her shoulder.
 

Battle!

At the sound of the hikime arrow, Ishi freezes momentarily.  Should he treat the snake as a diversion for the archer, or is the arrow a diversion for the snake?  A gut feeling is telling him that the snake was no coincidence though, so he decides to stick to his current mission of bringing the animal to justice.

In the Shadowlands, one learns early that wondering too much  about what is trying to kill you tends to get your rather contemplative head bashed in by an oni or something.  At the first sound of the screetch, Rik is running, yanking his pipe out of his sleeve, and chittering in the fiercest Nezumi impersonation of a warcry.  With amazing agility he goes over, around, between, or in some cases under any startled guests that may happen to lie in his path.

Kentou lacks the battlefield experience to recognize the sound of the hikime, but the sound is certainly enough to put him on guard, and he flattens his back against the nearest wall.  When the arrow pierces the guest's shoulder, he starts trying to follow its path backwards with his eyes, to figure out from where the shot was fired.  As Rik scurries off in a similar effort, and Tokkan lifts into the air, it occurs to Kentou that perhaps others are better suited for this task than he.  Instead, he rushes out to get the fallen guest out of the line of fire.

Ushida drops into a crouch at the sound of the hikime arrow.  He scans the terrain, trying to pick out likely spots for a concealed assassin.  Once he's reasonably certain that no more arrows are forthcoming, he stands and moves towards the wounded guest offering whatever assistance he can.

Rik, Kentou, and Haruka quickly spot the location of the archer, a man dressed in dark brown clothes and drawing a han-kyu.  Rik's inhuman quickness takes everyone by surprise, and he is off towards the archer.  The startled guests ripple in the Nezumi's path like rice stalks in the wind.

The archer's shapeless clothing blurs his outline and displays no mon; a scarf hides most of his face.  He reaches behind to pull another arrow from a quiver.

Agasha Ushida knows what he's looking for, better (one would asssume) than most of the guests.  He glances sharply at his surroundings for the spots where he might have hidden an accomplice if he'd been responsible for the attack.  Sure enough, he spots a number of brown silhouettes against the dark trunks of plum trees lining the path to the castle, perhaps half a dozen of them.   None of them seem to be drawing a bow, they're staying close to the trees and immobile to avoid detection.  This makes them much closer than the archer.

Ushida stands up from his crouch and takes a few quick steps towards the row of plum trees lining the path to the castle. "ASSASSINS IN THE TREE LINE!" he bellows as he cocks back his arm and launches a volley of shuriken towards the nearest tree.

Haruka is already moving toward the trees, a gleem of anger in her eyes.  She pauses long enough to shove the precious urn into a priest's hands as she heads for the nearest silhouette trying to hide beneath the trees.

With deceptive ease, Ushida tosses needle-shaped shuriken at the two closest ambushers. The almost laughable weapons should barely have grazed the men, but the two fall like rocks.  As the closest rolls onto the ground with a spasm, face up, the glint of a needle can be seen, sunken in his eye socket with deadly accuracy.  In the plum trees, a ripple of movement reveals more dark shapes, recoiling.

Seeing his men fall and an enraged ratling run towards him brandishing some sort of club, the archer flinches.  He changes targets, moving his aim from the procession to the nearest threat: Rik.  He lets go of the arrow, and the howl of the hikime bulb slices the air again, before the arrow buries itself with a dull thunk! in the ground near the Nezumi's feet.

Behind him, the ratling hears a sharp crackle, and a ghostly light like the play of lightning flickers through the landscape.

Inside his great straw hat, Tokkan's eyes narrow in anger at the atrocity of this foul attack. A flicker of thought wishes he had been in his travelling clothing.  His arms flick down to his side with a snap, and suddenly tendrils of crackling blue electricity crawl across Tokkan's robe and envelope his hands.  His hands move in three rapid and precise movements before him, and he calls out, "Rope Of The Sky King!"  A shaft of lightning shoots from his hands and into the sky, drawing Tokkan up into the sky with it. From his position 50' above the path, Tokkan scans the area, looking for the mysterious attacker, and spots them easily, now that they are moving.  In addition to the archer who just missed Rik, a group of dark shapes are moving at the edge of the plum orchard.  The clouds of white blooms make it a little difficult to follow the movements from his position, but he can guess the outlines.  Two silhouettes dressed in black are now crumpled on the ground, and a man dressed in Dragon colours [Ushida] is standing midway between the scattering procession and the edge of the trees.

Attackers start rippling out of the tree line.  The four closest to Ushida draw star-shaped shuriken, and a volley of little spinning blades rip past him, but by some mysterious protection of the kami, or perhaps because the thugs are still shaken by the fall of their two comrades, none of the stars hit home.  More of the dark shapes are swarming through the trees, though, running to get in range.

Kentou, running towards the wounded guest, notes the sudden appearance of the new assailants.  "That shifts the odds," he mutters.  With a shrug, he produces a sling from his sleeve and two dice fall into it.  "Even!" he shouts as he lets fly at two of the new attackers.

Two small stone cubes fly at the dark shapes -- and hit vital chi points.  The result of Kentou's shot is as spectacular as Ushida's was a moment ago.  With a gargle or surprise, two more thugs slump to the ground.

Kentou's dice roll in the soft grass, showing 2 and 4.

Rik, having reached his opponent, feints left, feints right, feints above and below, before finally performing an acrobatic flip in front the surprised archer.  Using the instant of stunned surprise to his advantage, the ratling warrior becomes instantly still, closing his eyes and exhaling a deep, cleansing breath, as though readying himself for exertions to come.

Rik then whips off one sandal and hucks it as heroically as possible at the assassin.  The man squints balefully at the Nezumi and lets out a low growl, swinging his bow in Rik's direction.

Ushida's come to the conclusion that there are far too many sharp pointy things flying past his head. He takes cover behind the nearest plum tree and actively dodges any attacks that come his way until further notice.

Glowing blue white snakes of electricity writhe over Tokkan's body, matched by the electricity flashing in his glaring eyes. His hands cross in front of him, he pulls them back apart and lightning stretches between the hands. With a flick of his wrist towards the dark shapes of attackers swarming through trees, he calls out "Spear of Northern Dragons!"  A bolt of lightning rips through the clear blue sky, from Tokkan's extended hand towards the dark shapes.

The bolt forks in two near the ground, splitting to strike two of the moving shapes.  The targets stop running and instead start writhing in pain, their screams of agony brief but terrifying.  They collapse almost immediately into two shapeless heaps of scorched meat and clothing.

The archer lets lose with another arrow, aimed for the Nezumi's chest.  But Rik'EEEE'k'chik's wildly unpredictible leaping, rolling, and zigzagging foils the attack, and the arrow thunks! into the moist earth, leaving the Ratling unharmed.

Ishi runs after the snake, and having no idea of how to subdue a snake by using any of his weapons, he's left to relying on what he can accomplish with his own body. As he gets close enough to his slithering target, he leaps up into the air and attempts to land with his right knee on the ground, while using any one of his hands to grab the snake right behind its head.

But the serpent is faster and slips away from Ishi's grasping hand, like water running through his fingers.  The scaly beast rears back against the stone step of the altar, glittering eyes glaring at the Hiruma Scout.

Ushida reaches up and snaps off a good sized branch from the tree.  "YEEAAAHH!" he screams as he charges the nearest enemy, waving his makeshift club wildly over head. He then proceeds to beat the poor SOB about the head and shoulders in an attempt to render him unconscious.

The gnarled, bloom-covered tree limb connects with a resounding crack!, hitting Ushida's closest remaining opponent squarely on the side of the head.  The thug stops in his tracks, wavering dizzily.  As Ushida raises his makeshift club to strike again, the man collapses in a spastic heap, still twitching.  Ushida is left facing only one of his original opponents; The man's eyes, which are all that is visible of his face, widen in alarm as the plum branch swings back.

Having paused to assess the situation and the precious urn in the care of one of the priests, Haruka draws her other sword and sprints toward the nearest attacker.  As she gets close enough, she launches herself into the air, flipping her body end over end to increase momentum. She brings both swords down in flashing silver arc....

Seeing that direct attacks on samurai have only resulted in decimating their own ranks, the attackers change tactics.  With a few unintelligibly barked orders, they draw swords, mostly chisa-katana.  In a few steps, they move into defensive positions, with the ones closest to the procession getting near some of the more harmless guests such as children and elderly women, obviously intending to use them as shields.
 
 

Fury of the Disturbed Mourners

"Argh, vicious snake!" Ishi exclaims dramatically as he backs off and pulls out his kyotetsu-shoge. This particular weapon he starts to spin until both ends are whirling around in a most confusing pattern.

Kentou looks at the charging enemies, and stands between them and the injured woman.  "And what would a go-master do in this circumstance?  It seems a corner enclosure is called for," he says in a low voice.  "Ikken shimari!²" he shouts as he hurls small black stones with his sling at two of the enemy.  With frightening precision, his two missiles hit two more of the masked attackers, who go sprawling backwards.  By now, the screams of the frightened guests are becoming very distracting.

... And Haruka's swords slice brightly through the air like solid lightning, but her opponent brings his chisa-katana up in time to deflect the attack of one sword, arm fully extended, while he drops to one knee to slip and turn under the other sword.  The clang! of sword against sword reverberates against the stome walls, repeated several times by the echo.

Noting that his flung footwear (pitched paw wear?) has had no discernible effect on the dark clad assassin before him, Rik drops into a martial stance, his body waving rhythmically from side to side, his arms moving in hypnotic patterns as he chants "Ohhhhhhhhm, ohhhhhhhhhm, ohhhhhhhhhm".

Then, with blinding speed and sudden ferocity, the ratling warrior kicks high, using the momentum of his leg to pivot in place 180 degrees.  Bending at the waist lightning quick, Rik uses his tail to raise the back of his kimono so that he can moon the fearsome ninja, and proceeds to waggle his furry butt (and furless tail) in his assailant's direction.

The archer seems extremely aggravated by the hopping, chittering, mooning Nezumi.  He shakes his fist at the ratling, growling with rage.  Clumsily, eyes still on Rik, he starts moving back, yelling orders at his troops in some guttural language.

Tokkan, laughing at the antics of the ratling, concentrates, and extends his arms upward in a great V posture.  He seems to grab something unseen, and drawns it down with both hands to in front of his face, as he cries out "Breath of the Snow Monkey King!"  He blows over his hands, as if blowing dust from his palms.  With each inch travelled the wind from his blowing doubles in force and coldness, until it is a devestating freezing gale directed at the enraged archer.

Instantly, the man's dark outfit is covered with a white dusting of frost.  The only visible area of skin visible, the slit of his mask, is fringed with  white and he squints against the cold blast, shuddering violently.  The force of the gale sends him rolling backwards.

The dark-clad attackers, seeing that the Fortunes are not favouring them, start retreating.  Those four who were close enough to grab human shields pull the hostages with them as the move back as fast as they can, chisa-katana ready to cut down the victims.  Ushida decides that he's not ready to risk the lives of innocents just yet.  He lowers the plum branch club to his side and simply waits to see what the attackers do next.

On the altar, the snake uncoils and strikes again for Ishi's ankle, with the suddenness of an iai draw.  But the scout is ready for this and jumps out of the way, cursing.  The fangs barely miss him this time.

Kentou considers the situation of the attackers with human shields, apparently musing.  "Good enough," he murmurs, and lets fly with his sling in the direction of one of the thugs holding a guest hostage.  His aim is completely off and he misses his opponent by quite a bit -- hitting instead with unerring accuracy the tree beyond.  The stone bounces off a gnarled plum branch, sending a shower of pale pink petals all around, and hits the thug squarely in the back of the head on the rebound.  The masked man tumbles on top of his shrieking victim.

With a snarl of anger at having missed the first time, Haruka feints toward her opponent and with a sharp pivot almost too quick to see,spins her body at the last moment and brings her katana around in a slashing arc.  The steel blade sinks right through the thug's shoulder, collarbone, and halfway down his chest.  Blood spurts in a shower of glittering red pearls, as an inverted image of the sword's downward arc.  The man collapses to his knees, looking up at Haruka through the slit in his mask, eyes wide with astonishment and horror.

Rik waggles his furry butt at the nasty ninja, then turns and gives a tornado kick, launching his other sandal right at the bridge of the humorless assailant's nose.  The sandal misses the distracted archer, raising a cloud of white frost particles left from Tokkan's blast where it hits the grounds.

The harried archer scuttles away as fast as he can, still shivering from Tokkan's icy blast.

Tokkan reaches into the air and draws forth a fistfull of blue white crackling lightning. In a voice that echoes from the hillside he yells "Dagger of the Thunder Lord!" casting it not at the retreating villains, but at their weapons.  A lightening bolt splits into three tongues that strike their katanas.

The three villains' weapons are surrounded by a nimbus of blue lightning, and the crackle of power makes the hair stand on the neck of those who are close to the attack.  But the hostage-takers have seen Tokkan's command of the Elements already and, fearful of him, are ready to dodge the bolts.  The terrified hostages are dragged down by the manoeuvre, and a woman's shriek of alarm ends in a sob.  The rest of the dark strike team pull back around the hostage-takers, following their leader and his continued barked orders.

On the altar, the snake slithers away from Ishi, satisfied that he has shown face enough for the day.

As the lightning causes the hostage-holders to shift their position and drag down the hostages, and the others pull back, Kentou frowns. "The board is changing...a quick response is called for."  He sends a shot nearly straight up, so that it then comes nearly straight down on top of one hostage-holder's head... and then bounces over to take out the second, and then the third.  The rock is sent with preternatural aim and strength, and the hostage takers drop like empty sake bottles after a drunken brawl.

Ishi, seeing his ophidian nemesis start to retreat, swings his kyotetsu-shoge with practiced ease and sends the nasty sharp pointy bit after the snake.  Those who pay attention to such things can see that both the blade end and the "hammer" end of the weapon are crafted with a fine eye for causing mayhem and agony.  The business end of the kyotetsu-shoge describes a glittering arc and with a great clatter, hits the snake and the stone step, cleaving the beast in two (and dulling its fine edge)!

After making the world a safer place, Ishi decides to spend a little time on himself. He sits down and removes his shin guard to better be able to properly examine the snakebite and see what can be done about it. Who would've thought that a simple animal would've been able to do all this harm to a prepared warrior? It must have been a demon snake!

Seeing the dark leader, (whom he has been trying to put the hurt forever, for the love of the Kami!) moving away is almost more than Rik can stand.  Were he a believer in such things he would believe that the Fortunes had cursed him.  He chitters with rage, dancing from one foot to the other as though he can barely restrain himself.  He will mark his man.  He will!  He MUST!  Without further thought, he reaches down, finds the nearest convenient stone, and hurls it with all his might at the dark intruder.

The stone hits the enemy just above one eye, just as he was foolishly turning to check on his pursuers' progress.  The masked man reels under the impact, and falls on one knee.  Blood is trickling in his right eye.  Two of his men grab him and drag him along in their bid for escape.

From behind the orchard-topped hill, a great noise of galloping horses arises.

Haruka turns at the sound of galloping horses.  Does no one have respect for the dead?  She murmurs a soft apology to her lost twin and tightens her grip on his sword.  She carefully scans the fleeing bandits, marking their look well.  There will be another time, and they will pay dearly for the interruption.

With the rapidly increasing drumming of hooves, a group of riders, perhaps ten or twelve in all, appear in the clearing between the edge of the plum orchard and the castle's outer wall.  As the dust cloud they kick up swirls away, it can be seen they are dressed in the same kind of dark clothes the attackers are wearing.
 

The taiko drum clip is from a piece called "Kenjo", on the album Taiko by Askill/Cleworth/Lagos/Piper.  Copyright: (P) 1996 Black Sun All Rights Reserved.  Clip obtained from the Amazon.com Web page.  Used without permission, but I thought this might constitute free advertisement, as this is a nice album.

¹ Hikime arrows have perforated heads through which the air rushes with a whistling sound.  They are used to send signals on the battlefield but also to demoralize the enemy.  Although signal arrows only have the special head, any "normal" (cutting, perforating, or tearing) arrow can also be equipped with a hikime bulb, just below the steel arrow head.  Return.
² One-point enclosure, a go term.  A two-stone corner formation.  May not secure the corner, but attacker is at a disadvantage.  Return.