The Story: Ambushes

The Scream

To the west (perhaps), Toshino and his string of horses are surrounded with smoke and flames.  Tokkan is still circling in a holding pattern above the flames he is drenching.

And somewhere north upstream, in the direction opposite to that taken by Rik, Takezo, Hiro, and Ishi, a long, horrible, drawn out scream of agony reverberates, repeated by the echo.  It ends abruptly mid-note, with a gurgling sound that is unexpectedly loud.

Rik comes to a sudden halt, reverses course, and charges!

Takezo halts his southerly progress and begins to head up north. He makes sure that he's not going so fast that Rik won't have a chance to catch up to him.

Ishi has the utmost confidence in Rik's ability to vanquish any foe he'll run into, so he is focusing all his attention on his own search. Rik may act like a mere child sometimes (gods forbid!), but ever since the time when he alone caught four assassins, he's got expectations to live up to.

"What in the cold, dark afterlife was that?" Ishi mumbles to himself. "Oh well, probably too late now..."

"I doubt we would be able to make it through the flames even if it weren't, Ishi-san."  Hiro suppresses a shudder, and a concerned look crosses his face.  "Toshino and Kentou should surely have made it out by now.  Keep an eye out here - I'm going to see if I can help them."  Hiro proceeds back up the slope, looking desperately for any sign of his missing comrades.

Only Toshino's phenomenal horsemanship could keep the horses under control in this inferno.  Tokkan's mighty rainstorm is holding the wall of flames in check, but the soaked wood smokes all the more as it smoulders, turning Toshino's lungs -- and the horses' -- into a ball of red pain.  Toshino follows the slope down and tries to keep turning to his left, where he remembers the stream, as he coaxes the horses along.

Over the horses' neighing and snorting, he hears the sounds of vouices nearby.  The raking cough that shakes him prevents him form quite making out the voices, except for the occasional word.  Half conscious, he leans on his steed's neck, eyes watering.

"Husband..."

"I am here..."

"I await..."

Kasuko.  He would know her voice anywhere, even now.  He turns towards the voices, and can just barely make out their shapes.  A woman all in white, her long black hair flowing unbound, opens his arms to him; behind her, only dark silhouettes.  But he hears their whispers.

And their laughter.

"Yes, Toshino-san," encourages a mocking voice, "we await.  Now is it your turn..."

Something falls on him in a shower of bright, blood-red sparks.  He feels a burning pain in his eyes, face, shoulders as he rolls from his panicked horse.

Hiro can barely see through the thick smoke rolling like a fog bank over the hills, but he hears the stamping and neighing of frightened horses.  He directs his own mount that way, hoping to find Shinjo Toshino and the heimin Kentou alive.  He hears a great crash as a tree trunk collapses, and frightened horses emerge from the smoke, galloping past him.  Hiro can just make out a shape on the ground; he forces his mount forward, and recognizes Toshino!  Quickly, he dismounts, fighting the horse for control, picks up the barely conscious Toshino and helps him up on the horse.  Jumping back in the saddle, he whips back around and rushes back to the relative safety of the stream.

Rik, sprinting north along the far bank of the stream, overtakes the slower Takezo, who then Takezo speeds up to try keeping pace.  Rik tosses the Drunken Master a jaunty wave as he sails past, and continues in pursuit of whatever it was that made the horrible scream.
 

North

And from behind the clump of trees that hide that next twist in the stream, comes a fould stench, not unlike that of a very old corpse left to rot.  Looking down at the water, Takezo and Rik notice a muddy red-brown tinge that wasn't noticeable before.

Takezo will stop, putting a friendly arm around the Nezumi's shoulder while taking a slug of courage.  "There's nothing around that corner that we can't handle together..." And then gives Rik a little push so that Rik gets to lead the way.

As Rik continues to barrel along, he suddenly discovers a large, surly, animated man with a large, nasty looking animated dog blocking his path, without hesitation, the plucky HERO vaults acrobatically over them instead of hesitating or going around, thus saving himself a couple of seconds.  As he continues to run, the sound of the fire, the gurgling of the stream, the sound of the fleeing wildlife all fade as the sound track queues up:
 

I wish I was a ferret, so filled with grace and speed
I wish I was a human, with all the gear I need
I wish I had some honey, because it's really sweet
But since I am a HERO, I look for foes to beat

HEY!

HEY!

HEY!

HEY!

HEY!

(etc.) ¹

Rik continues barreling along, straight into the clump of trees, acrobatically flipping over fallen logs, bouncing  and ricocheting off trunks, and occasionally taking to the branches themselves soas to make it through as quickly as possible.

Rather belatedly he things to himself "This looks like a good spot for an ambush."  [BEAT, BEAT, BEAT] "EXCELLENT!"

The bouncing ratling hurtles along the stream edge, and the more cautious Takezo (who hasn't reached his advanced age by being suicidal) follows from a distance.  The muddy currents in the stream become darker and thicker.  Takezo tries to stay reasonably close to the furball, just a few paces back.

Past the clump of small willows hugging a narrow strip along the stream (this really isn't good willow country) and the taller pines that hunch over them, the source of the water's befouling becomes obvious.  Four bodies are piled face down in the stream.  Although their wounds are hidden, their blood is visibly seeping.  The stench in this area is gagging, as if the bodies had been there for weeks.  There are no marks of animal bites or scavenging, and the area is completely silent except for the gurgle of the water and the crackling of the forest fire in the distance.   No bird songs are heard, in contrast to the chatter that has followed the heroes' progress since dawn.

No other presence is visible: no bandits, no waiting army.  But behind the two heroes, animals are still fleeing.  The animals are mostly heard in the undergrowth, and once Takezo and Rik get closer (say thirty meters or less) to the bodies in the water, there seems to be no more animal life around.

Rik continues his charge right up to the point that he makes it to the bank of the stream nearest to where the bodies are, then he stops so abruptly that it is likely that a less capable individual than Tazeko would crash into his back.  He studies the bodies intently, cocking his head to one side, then the other, sniffing and wrinkling his nose, his tail lashing in obvious agitation.  A slight, ratty snarl escapes his lips.

Rik recoils from the scene as if suddenly stung on the nose by a hornet.  "Drsnitsch!" he snarls, barring his teeth to show whacking big incisors.  "Tsch m'krtif-d'gr!"

"Whatever scared the animals is probably hiding somewhere around here," says Takezo while trying to calmly look in about six different directions at once.

The hair prickles on the back of Takezo's neck, as if a cold breeze had just brushed him.  Out the corner of his eye, he notices a faint flicker of movement from under the thick shrubs to his right.

"Umm, excuse me Nezumi, I was wondering if..." Takezo is deliberately not looking at the flicker while trying to attact the ratling's attention.  Once Rik is looking at him, Takezo uses a prodigious leap to try to land right behind the thick shrubs and hopefully scare whatever's hiding out into the open.

Whipping around to follow the leaping master, Rik bolts in the same direction, swill wielding rice pot and iron pipe.

The shrubs explode into a frenzy of lashing coils and something like a gigantic snake whips out to attack the heroes right back.  Whatever this serpent creature is, it is huge, and it is hard to understand how it wouldn't be spotted immediately.  It seems black as night, but when the sun shines on it the scaled skin glistens bright jade green, grass green, emerald green.  The monstrous coils loop and double up, viciously swiping in several directions at once.

"Why didn't I spot that immediately?" Rik wonders to himself as he hurtles through the air at the creature.  Then, realizing that it doesn't much matter one way or another - Rik is a HERO, HEROs fight monsters, this is a monster, therefor...  WE FIGHT!  With reckless abandon the nezumi flings himself into the very heart of the coils, poking and prodding with his iron pipe, kicking with his ratty feet, and generally making an overall bother of himself while chittering the ancient ratling war cry...

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The fierce Nezumi's battle cry is often quite effective against human opponents, but it appears to leave the snake thing cold.  On the other hand, snakes don't have ears, do they?  Then again, Rik has not seen this serpent's head, maybe it does have ears.  But it sure ignores the Ratling's antics.

Mildly miffed (but at the same time secretly pleased) that such simple distractions failed him, Rik decides to try some upper division annoyance on the critter.  Fulley immersed within the writhing coils, he begins to scamper in and out, here and there, nudging a coil this way, another that way, provoking a third to lash out at him, with the ultimate goal of getting them wrapped around one another and tangled up!

This time the ploy works!  The entangling cannot be ignored like the Nezumi's cry and dance were before.  Rik succeeds in coaxing a nice knot in thrashing coils that are big enough to squeeze the breath out of a Nezumi, should they snag one.

Takezo briefly considers the squirming mass of Nezumi and snake, he's not really certain whether the Nezumi needs any help or not, but it would hardly do to stand by doing nothing while the Nezumi fought this giant snake on his own.  He leaps into the fray while trying to help the Nezumi tie the snake up.

The coils whip back and forth with vicious strength, as big across as a man's thigh.  This thing is huge!  Pinning it down proves as much of a challenge as it was for Rik to distract it.  As its loops slash back and forth, the shimmer of light makes them change colour: black, green, black, green...

The trashing coils are shaken by a seizure-like tremor, and a reptilian head whips out of the tangle.  The head is the size of large dog's and a frill of thin membranous skin is deployed like a ruff around the neck.  A mane of thin translucent tendrils squirms behind it, jewel-like yet flexible.  The creature hisses malevolently at its attackers, and turns glaucous red eyes towards the Nezumi.  A corona of greenish light sparkles in its mane, and a wave of the same eldritch light arcs towards Rik.  But Rik dives out of the way just in time.  The green wave of light leaves a black trail in the grass where it strikes behind the Nezumi's path.

Rik springs lightly onto the back of the big, icky, snake monster thing and begins running up and down, to and fro, until he manages to make it to the highest coil, from whence he springs nimbly as a diver from a diving board (if Rokugan had such things), does a double somersault with a twist, and lands with a meaty *THUD* on snake thing's head.  Before the creature can do more than register the shock of impact, Rik leaps away once again.

The Ratling's antics are definitely getting to the serpent.  The creature's gaze tracks Rik malevolently, gliterring with arcane power, and the head is following his path, those fangs just a heartbeat behind his every acrobatic move.  Takezo finds himself apparently forgotten by the monster for now.

"Hey, you stupid snake thingie." protests Takezo. "I'm just as dangerous as rat boy..."  Takezo leaps into the air and launches a flying kick to drive the snake's head into a nearby convenient tree.

The snake's head whips around, but too late -- Takezo's geta connects with a satisfying crunch! and he demonstrates his dangerousness in graphic detail.  The ophidian head snaps back under the impact, and the creature lets out a vicious snarl.  Its glare swivels back and forth between the two HEROES, shaking a bit as if trying to clear the ringing left by Takezo's foot.

Rik scampers out of snake-boy's immediate threat range (and preferably places a nice tree between it and his HEROic self) and takes a moment to summon his chi energy.

The serpent's head whips back and its eyes glitter again.  It starts swinging from side to side, its coils sliding in smooth loops, its forked tongue slipping out of its fanged mouth to taunt the opponents.
 
 

South

After clearing his eyes, Hiro looks downstream and sees Ishi, a couple of hundred yards away, still heading south.  Across the stream, Rik and Takezo are now nowhere in sight.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say we were right where our enemies want  us; separated, battered and confused."  Hiro offers Toshino his canteen.  "Here. I don't know much about healing, but I'm sure you need a drink."

Hiro grimaces as Toshino coughs loudly. "It's amazing that you were able to get out of that inferno alive at all, let alone with the horses. You are truly an incredible horseman, Toshino."

Taking a deep breath of the clean air and casting his gaze over the horses, Hiro's face hardens as he realises that Kentou is missing.  Whoever is behind this will pay dearly.

Toshino takes a swig from the canteen, clearing his soot-coated throat.  "Horses I understand... fire, women, ghosts... these I do not understand."  He mulls over the loss of Kentou, letting it sink in... yet another burden he must bear. Then he looks around.  "If we had not attempted to repair the bridge and cross, I would have expected us to flee down the south slope. The ambush was so expertly laid... so where is the ambush?"

"At least some of the men who prepared for the fire came down this way - there is an oily handprint on those rocks over there. Rik was heading south on the opposite side, and Ishi and I planned to move ahead of the rest of the group on this side to try and find the ambush. It appears Ishi has gone ahead by himself. We may find out where the ambush is sooner than we like."  Hiro looks with some concern at Toshino. "If you feel up to it, we should move south - Ishi may need our help soon."  Hiro looks downstream, hoping to see some sign of Ishi, or indeed of an ambush.

Toshino nods. "Perhaps Ishi has already found the ambush.  We could ask him if he prefers to enjoy it all to himself, or may wish to share it with his companions. We need to find a good place to ford across with the horses anyway, and I think the terrain flattens out to the south of us. Lead on."

Hiro nods back and begins moving to the south. "We'll need to head north once we cross to catch up with Rik and Takezo - they went back up the slope to investigate a scream. Hopefully Ishi hasn't gone too far."  Hiro points out the handprint as they pass it, and stays quiet for a while. He scans the slopes to each side, and listens for anything out of the ordinary.

Most of the sounds come from animals fleeing, causing a lot of rustling in the undergrowth.  Bird songs have ceased entirely.  Once or twice, Hiro is pretty sure he hears the chitter of the Nezumi echoing up the canyon, apparently still as enthusisastic as ever.

After a short while, he reins back his horse to ride by Toshino. "I realise you may not want to talk about it, Toshino, but what happened to Kentou...you mustn't blame yourself. I'm sure there was nothing you could have done."

As they pass the narrow areas, progress is slow because they are only two to guide all the horses, including Ishi's horse which they find tied to a tree on the other side of a rck outcropping.  That's a total of six horses.  The animals are still sweating, panting, and rolling their eyes.  Although the water reassured them, the southbound flight of the local wildlife unnerves the poor horses again.

Toshino's face hurts, his forehead and left cheek got burned but good.

The stealthy Ishi hears a crash, tumble, splash! behind him.  When he turns to check on it, he sees Hiro on his horse, carrying a slumped body, and accompanied by four more horses.  They burst from the smoke-filled wood and gallop down into the stream a couple of hundred yards north of Ishi's position.  Ishi recognizes the slumped body as Toshino.  The Ki-Rin yoriki is coughing painfully; from the smell of wood smoke pervading the air, Ishi can understand why.

Looking back south, Ishi sees that the canyon widens a little bit, although it remains a sharp mountain gorge.  At least his horse will have better footing there.

The self-serving samurai continues southwards until he finds a place that offers safe passage across the river. As Hiro is now floating down there, Ishi does not stray from the river as he did earlier, even though it feels as if he would be walking straight into any ambush or trap that that those clever little bandits  might have prepared. If they do any better than this the next time, Ishi will definitely have to consider switching sides. Working with true professionals must be a joy, at least when weighed against working with a crew who cannot even make it out of a forest fire in one piece. What on earth had kept them so long up there?

After a bit of travel down, Ishi finds a plce where the horses (and anyone who cannot swim, not that common a skill in the mountains) will be able to ford the stream safely.  Ishi being a canny, suspicious mind, uses all due precaution to check whether the ambushers are waiting nearby.

It's hard to surprise a Hiruma scout.  Perhaps it's a bit of movement caught from the corner of his eye, a fleeting shadow; but Ishi is absolutely sure there is someone on the other bank, waiting behind the cover afforded by the row of low, semi-flooded willow, the gnarled pines higher up, and the many boulders.

"Indeed, that is where I would have set my own ambush as well," Ishi says to himself. He quickly ducks behind his horse and grabs his daikyu, strings it and readies an arrow. Then he waits behind cover, trying present as small of a target as he can, while also making sure that his horse won't be turned into a pin cushion either. Maybe Hiro and Toshino will come along soon, unless they somehow managed to make it across the river where they went in. Or maybe Rik and Takezo decides to do as they were told, namely foiling the ambush on their side of the river. Was the original plan really that hard to follow, Ishi thinks to himself.  Maybe he should have expected less of his travel companions?  Much less, he decides.

Hiro and Toshino make their slow and careful progress along the stream bank.  Hiro, who has sharp eyes, is first to notice Ishi's action far ahead: the scout quickly ducks behind his horse and grabs his daikyu, strings it and readies an arrow. Then he waits behind cover, trying present as small of a target as he can.

The stream here is about five meters wide, though wider where Ishi is; the banks slope fairly steeply.  Along the edge of the stream are half-drowned short trees because the stream level is high.  From wood edge to wood edge across the stream, there is 15 to 25 meters depending on location along the stream.  Hiro and Toshino are about 75 meters north of Ishi.

Hiro casts a puzzled glance back at Toshino and shrugs. "Perhaps Ishi has found the ambush without the ambushers knowing."

Looking back at Ishi, Hiro quickly realises that he is seeking cover from an attack from across the stream.  "I'm going to try and ford the stream and surprise our erstwhile ambushers. Can we leave the horses here, or will they bolt?"

Throwing an occasional glance upstream, Ishi soon spots his companions as they're making their way downstream. He puts down his bow on the ground, and from behind the cover of a tree he performs a short series of signs. First he points in the direction of the other bank, followed by a fist going into an open palm. Then he starts counting on his fingers, one through five, followed by turning both his hands upward and outward, with palms open and turned upward.  After this little game of charades he picks up his bow and resumes his position, studying the other bank while still keeping an eye out for the others to see what they're up to.

Hiro raises an eyebrow. "I guess we were right - if I'm reading his secret Crab Clan hand signals correctly."  Turning to Toshino with a momentary deadpan look, Hiro continues. "It'll probably be easier for us to ford the stream on foot. Are you up for it, or do you have a better idea?"

"I'll stay with the horses on this side of the bank, borrow a bow from our equipment, then climb up to higher ground and provide cover fire for you and Ishi as you cross."

Leaving Toshino to finish tying up the string of horses, Hiro cautiously makes his way to the water's edge.  He is careful to get as much cover as possible between himself and the approximate area where Ishi pointed earlier.

The stream is fairly narrow and the water level high here, he will have to carry his daisho (and anything else he hopes to keep dry) above his head.  He strips to the waist and wraps the swords in his kimono; no point in getting all his clothes drenched as well.  The air is cold and quite bracing, but Dragons do that sort of thing all the time as part of their training, so Hiro shrugs it off.  With the bundle held overhead, he makes his way down the steep bank, trying to keep his footing.  The current is powerful and Hiro has to struggle to stay upright when small round pebbles on the bottom roll under his feet.  But within a few minutes he is scrambling up the far bank, his daisho safe and sound.

Hiro puts his clothes back on and tucks his daisho away properly, then starts making his way south towards the ambushers, as silent as he can.  His path takes him into the woods and out of Toshino's sight for now.

The Ki-Rin yoriki has left the horses in as secure a spot as can be found out here and cautiously makes his way uphill, searching for a good vantage point on the duelling ambushes to provide cover fire and pick off any bandits that might present themselves.

Ishi's daikyu is at the ready, and the scout's eagle eyes are on the far bank.

Progressing as cautiously as he can, Hiro makes his way under cover of the pines and bushes.  As he approaches the area where he believes the ambushers to be, he slows down even more.  He begins to hear some whispers ahead.  Once or twice he steps on a branch or twig and is sure he must have been spotted, but when he freezes, the murmurs continue.  He strains to overhear the conversation but cannot make out the words.  However, from the voices and the shadows he sees, he guesses that the group ahead is fairly large, probably ten or more people.

Hiro curses silently. "Too many for one man, perhaps." He shifts uncomfortably, then moves towards the river, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ishi or Toshino.

Checking that the prevailing wind is blowing away from the ambushers, Hiro pulls out 5 incense sticks from somewhere on his person. With his other hand, he constructs a small altar using branches and leaves (to the accompaniment of the sounds of wet towels hitting things - this is kung fu religion!). He throws the incense in the ground - it lands in a perfect circle around the altar (WHAP!)- and begins rubbing his hands together as he mutters under his breath. He clasps his supernaturally hot hands around each of the incense sticks and lights them.

"Kami of the forests, hear my plea. Come forth and wreak vengeance on those who would burn your home with fire and oil. Even now, they plot more death. Show them the forest is not to be trifled with."

Hiro snaps the burning ends of the incense off with his fingers, rubs his hands together and draws the ideograms for 'Ghostly Revenge' and 'Rage of the Kami' on two trees with either hand, punctuating both with a palm strike onto the trees that, curiously, makes no sound.

The ground shudders silently under Hiro's feet, swelling like the flank of a great beast.  Hiro has witnessed earthquakes on a few occasions; this is different: very quiet, very localized, and rippling like a living thing.  The two trees he marked with his characters bend their branches towards him like arms, their long clusters of needles trailing like the sleeves of kimonos.  Branches like gnarled hands brush against his head and shoulders as if to recognize him by touch.

The wind whips back to return to him the smoke of incense, mixed with the scent of pines.  It carries the whispers of a multitude of voices.

"Son of the Dragon * It burns, it burns * We will avenge the pain * The son will avenge the father * The forest will avenge the mountain..."

Before Hiro, the ground swells and swells until something emerges from it.  Twice as tall as an ordinary man, shaped like a mound of moss-covered rocks, with tree branches for arms, it shambles up from a crouch to its full towering height.  Briefly, Hiro sees the ghostly outline of a dragon wrapping itself around the creature, then the ethereal dragon seems to sink under the stone skin.

From the creature's head should be comes a low, rumbling chuckle. "What would you have us do, Son of the Dragon?"

Hiro smiles - underneath the soot, his teeth show up starkly. "Leave one of them alive for me. The rest you may deal with as you please."

Afer a while, Hiro reappears at the edge of the wood, not far from the spot Ishi has been watching.  Upon spotting Toshino, Hiro waves silently, just enough to get the Ki-Rin's attention.  He can't see Ishi from where he is, but he knows the approximate position of the scout and can hope that his signal will be noticed.  When he is sure Toshino sees him, he gives his signal.  He raises both hands with all ten digits displayed, then points a finger upwards, then shrugs. He then points to his left, before waving both hands close to the ground and cupping a hand to his ear.

'I'm not sure even I understood that,' thinks Hiro with a wry grin.

Hiro fades back into the forest.

Toshino scratches his head and sighs, and wonders what the Dragon Clan hand symbol is for "complete loony"...  That being said, Toshino uses his perceptive police instincts to look for ambushers.  He squints in the direction indicated by Hiro, but cannot make out the ambushers, if that's what Hiro was signalling.  Meanwhile, Hiro drops back into cover.

Watching the other bank intently, Ishi has little trouble spotting Hiro's signals. Instead his trouble consist of the ever approaching fire, and he starts to seriously doubt that the ambushers will be dealt with before he is forced to wade into the stream. "Avoiding one fire, only to draw fire of another kind," he mumbles to himself. In preparation for what he is about to do, he removes the quiver of arrows from his horse and straps it onto himself. Then he takes a bold step out from behind the tree, ready to step back as soon as he notices any arrows heading towards his position.

"You on the other side," he calls out. "Surrender now, and I will let you live so you can redeem yourselves in the eyes of the Kami! If not, you will undoubtedly face an eternity of suffering as I pierce your hearts and cut your chests open. Show yourselves, cowards!"

In the forest on the east bank, Hiro draws his daisho at the sound of Ishi's ultimatum, and turns and walks into the thicket/copse/place where the ambushers are hiding, the shambling mound following him closely.

Toshino nocks an arrow and waits quietly for a target to show up.

There is a delay of half a heartbeat, then the answer first comes in the form of a volley of arrows in Ishi's direction.

Seeing the barrage of arrows headed his way, Ishi quickly steps back behind the tree, just as he had planned. As soon as it's over, he intends to nock an arrow of his own and let it fly towards an ambusher to the far right, so that he'll be able to use the tree as cover against most of the others, while at the same time not accidently aim for Hiro as he should be somewhere to the left.

In the forest, Hiro emerges into the view of the ambushers, a grim look on his face, and with his swords drawn.  "You should have surrendered," he says, as the forest kami emerges from the forest behind him.

The startled would-be ambushers (!) jump like they've been goosed.  Hiro sees a large number of men, perhaps as many as two dozens, deployed along the edge of the wood to cover the approach Ishi identified.  Most of them are wearing mismatched bits of armour over outfits very much like the dead bodies Hiro examined last night.  A row of them have drawn bows and are poised to shoot towards the western bank of the stream.  The rest have their swords in hand.

Hiro then charges the nearest two ambushers, attacking one with each sword.  The two men recoil in surpise and alarm, trying to bring their weapons to bear, but in vain.  The Dragon's onslaught seems unstoppable, as his cut deep furroughs in the men's chests and blood spaltters.

The archers let fly almost in reflex, some loosing their aim badly.  There is even a cry of pain as one archer snaps his own bowstring and gets lashed in the face by it.  But one lone archer is skilled, or calm, or lucky enough to hit the Hiruma scout despite his defensive location, drawing a streak of blood from a minor wound.

The rest of the ambushed ambushers scurry about, reacting to Hiro's little surprise.  Three of them, closest to his location, rush him with weapons brandished.

Behind him, Hiro hears lumbering, shuffling steps that are getting very close.

Hiro steps back, his swords moving smoothly into the second position - katana held high and pointing towards his opponents, the wakizashi held flat across the body.  Use the speed of the opponent's cut for yourself - his speed can be your speed...

The bandits attack with chisa-katana.  Hiro's daisho parries the flashing blades with a chink! of metal on metal.  Two of the men are repelled by Hiro's defence, but the third's attack slips past the wall of swords to leave a mean gash.

Across the stream, Toshino lets fly with his bow.  The arrow grazes an ambusher, who curses fluently.  Ishi follows suit with an arrow of his own, getting much the same result.  One of the ambushers, taking stock of the situation, barks some orders and moves away from both Toshino and Ishi's line of fire and from Hiro's swords.

From behind Hiro, a shambling creature emerges as the very branches of the trees swing away from its path under their own power.  Tendrils like a cross between treelimbs and vines unfurl away from the body and grab three of those who desecrated its forest.  The wooden limbs crush the life out of the bandits, drawing screams of agony that are echoed by the shouts of alarm from the others.  Although Ishi and Toshino can see nothing of this, they hear the screams.

Hiro spins back from the blow, bringing his daisho up to parry the followup blow. The ambusher's chisa-katana hammers down, but Hiro is already moving aside, directing the blow away and using the momentum to pirouette gracefully. As his katana arcs towards the ambusher who hit him earlier, he brings his wakizashi up in a vicious thrust at another ambushers' vitals.  The Dragon's two swords flash like lightning, trails of blood spurting behind and the two men he struck fall to the ground like dead wood.

Behind them, some of their accomplices bring their bows to bear, while more swordsmen rush to face Hiro.  They give wide berth to the monster he brought in his wake, however, which makes it difficult for them to come close enough to engage him in swordplay; they have to content themselves with hacking at the kami's tendrils.  And the rest of the archers split their fire between Ishi and Toshino.
 

To Be Continued...