How Many More? (856 hits)
Category: UberMadness! EntryLabels: myfiction
Rating: 2 on 1 review (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Razor <Jeremy_21117.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2004-04-05 13:51:35 EDT
This post was an official UberMadness! entry. Click here to view the original matchup.
The gentle scrape of the katana leaving its scabbard was more familiar to Takeshi than his mother's voice.
His posture was relaxed and confident as he took the measure of his opponents.
Two to the left, one to the right. They were circling him, probing for a weak spot, waiting for him to step out of position.
Let them wait. He could tell from their footwork that they were undisciplined, barely trained, not even worthy of the weapons they held.
With a scream, they charged.
One stroke, two, three, and it was done.
He looked down at his handiwork. Their lifeblood was seeping across the wooden floor, inermingling in little rivulets, forming a pool where it encountered a rush mat.
The fat one stirred and moaned. Takeshi silenced him.
Soon a servant would be here, on her hands and knees, washing the bloodstains from the floor, wondering what this meant. Higher taxes and less food most likely. Perhaps an elder son taken as a conscript for Lord Kurokami's army.
Takeshi sighed and stepped over the bodies. There would be no war, not if he succeeded in his mission tonight.
His father no doubt was already marshalling his troops. They had argued openly, and Takeshi had disobeyed a direct order. He was prepared to accept the dishonor that came with his defiance - if Sumiko was rescued, there would be no need for this battle, no more death would be necessary. If that meant that he and Sumiko would have to flee to the mountains and live in dishonor, that was a small price to pay.
On the far side of the compound, he could hear the faint cries of people working to put out the fire he had started. He regretted the necessity of that fire. A ninja might have been able to breach Kurokami's compound without raising the alarm, but Takeshi was no common assassin.
He was samurai.
He would be a dead samurai if he didn't get moving. He slid the door open and stepped out into a garden. The garden was immaculately maintained, fountains and statuaries placed just so among wisteria and bonsai, paths tracing their way around the small pond that served as the its centerpiece.
He was deep within Kurokami's compound, but he must go deeper. Lord Kurokami's apartments would be in the center, the heart pillar. He was not here for Kurokami, but Kurokami would know where they were keeping Sumiko, and his life would be a good exchange for Sumiko's freedom if necessary.
Takeshi crept forward, his senses extended, feeling outwards as best he could. Aside from the clamor on the far side of the compound, he could hear and see nothing. The garden breathed serenity.
The sudden twang of a bowstring sent Takeshi diving behind a statue.
An arrow passed through the space in which he had been standing and landed with a meaty thunk in one of the posts holding up the building behind him.
He subdued a momentary panic, controlled his breathing and heartbeat. Calm again, he focused on the origin of the arrow. The post was to his right, which meant that the bowman had to be somewhere to his left. He was not on a roof; else the arrow would have stuck in the ground instead of carrying on to the post. That was good.
Takeshi extended his katana out past the edge of the statue, holding it at an angle. The folded steel cast a reflection, aided by the moonlight. He shifted the angle of his sword... searching...
His enemy was crouched in the shadows on the opposite side of the garden, bow drawn, waiting for Takeshi to move.
Nothing for it but to do it. So go.
He spun around and charged. An arrow sang towards him, and Takeshi struck it from the air with his katana.
The bowman fumbled to string another arrow, fingers made leaden with fright. As Takeshi closed, he dropped the bow and drew a parrying knife.
Takeshi struck it from his hands with the flat of his blade, and drew the katana up to his opponent's neck, holding it there, unmoving.
They stared at each other in silence, each close enough to taste the other's ragged breath.
The bowman wet himself.
"I have no wish to kill you."
The bowman nodded imperceptibly.
"Where are they keeping Takahoshi Sumiko? Tell me, and vow silence upon your honor, and I shall let you live."
"She is a guest in Lord Kurokami's apartments."
"Give me directions."
Minutes later, Takeshi slid open a door.
The room was sparsely furnished. The rooms he had passed through until now were extravagant, but here Lord Kurokami took his meditations. Mats lined the floor, on the far side was a simple wooden table upon which incense burned. Meditation paintings lined the walls, and rice paper windows left the room dim and conducive to thought. A doorway looked out onto the private garden behind.
Lord Kurokami was sitting inside, in a relaxed posture of meditation. He was older than Takeshi, in his early thirties. He was well built and radiated confidence. A katana sat in front of him, sheathed. He looked up.
"Daimyo." Takeshi's voice was stiff, formal.
The lord nodded, unperturbed.
"I have come for Takahoshi Sumiko."
Lord Kurokami laughed.
"And what makes you think I will give her to you, Tokugawa Takeshi? Yes, I know who you are."
Takeshi was nonplussed. "I have no desire to be a part of this conflict between you and my father."
"Your desire is irrelevant. You were born into this conflict."
"I have dishonored my father by coming here. He forbade it, and I came anyway. I am no longer a part of my family, and I wish now only to take my bride and avert war."
"And what makes you think I wish to avert war?"
Takeshi's eyes narrowed. "How many more must die for your arrogance, Daimyo?"
Lord Kurokami stood up. "You insult me under my own roof."
"HOW MANY MORE?" yelled Takeshi. "My father's army will come here, and men will die, peasant and noble both! And what does it gain you?"
"Everything. Your father is an old fool and it does not surprise me to learn that you are a young fool. What is your plan? To spirit the Takahoshi girl out of here and take her to the mountains? Perhaps become monks?"
Seeing Takeshi's answer in his face, he continued unmercifully. "Did it ever occur to you that Lord Takahoshi might not want his daughter to become a monk? Have you stopped to consider for one moment the consequences of any of your actions? This is the problem with you Tokugawas - action alone is not enough. Action that is not tempered by careful thought is like an earthquake, crushing the life from one here and sparing another there with no regard for reason."
Takeshi snarled. "This coming from the kidnapper of a girl who would start a war? War takes life as indiscriminately as an earthquake. Where was your careful thought when you ordered Sumiko kidnapped?"
"If you were a wiser man, you would have answered that question before taking any action. I expect the same from your father, which is why he will fall. When Lord Takahoshi and I agreed to stage the kidnapping of his daughter on the way to your wedding ceremony..."
"What?"
"we both knew that your father would be so blinded by the slight to his honor that he would send his troops against me without considering the motivation behind our action. When your father's army is on the march, with his forces drawn away, Lord Takahoshi will sweep down and take his lands. Takahoshi's army will take your father from behind while they are engaged with us, and the Tokugawa clan will suffer the fate it deserves."
Takeshi's steady voice belied his fear. "Not if I end this tonight."
Lord Kurokami drew his katana. "Even if you were capable of defeating me, child, my sons would carry on my work."
Kurokami tossed the scabbard to one side and assumed the chudan no kame stance. Takeshi copied him and moved into issoko-itto no ma basi, the distance where one step forward will bring the swordsman into striking range. The next action either took would be an irrevocable commitment.
They locked eyes, unmoving.
"Hyyaaaaah!" Takeshi shouted his focus and stepped forward.
He feinted low and swung high. Kurokami parried the blow and counterattacked, forcing Takeshi back a step.
Within moments, fathers and women and honor were gone, there was nothing but the opponent. They were beyond thought, lost in their art. But for their weapons, an onlooker might have thought them two dancers engaged in a coreographed routine of surpassing beauty.
They pressed back and forth, trading blows and advantage. Takeshi was faster, but Kurokami's power made up for it. Takeshi's arms were numb from the shock of repeated blows, and he could feel himself slowing.
Kurokami began to gain the advantage, pushing Takeshi around the room with a flurry of blows to the head and upper body. Takeshi was holding them off, but each stroke came closer than the last.
Desperation lent him renewed strength, but he knew it would not last. So he gambled.
When he should have sidestepped a blow, he instead stepped into it and locked katanas with Kurokami, a foolish move against a foe of greater strength.
Takeshi let go of his katana and grabbed Kurokami's wrists, pulling suddenly backwards.
Off balance and falling, Kurokami was forced to let go of his weapon as well. Takeshi fell to the ground and tossed Kurokami over him.
Kurokami landed and rolled with the fall, gaining his feet quickly.
Takeshi was faster. He picked up his katana, and stepped towards his opponent.
"I ask you one last time, daimyo. How many more must die for your arrogance?"
Kurokami snarled. "I've already answered your question fool, you just don't understand it yet."
Takeshi stepped forward and ended it with a swift stroke.
Sheathing his katana, he stumbled out of the meditation room, and began to search Kurokami's apartments as quickly as he could.
He found Sumiko lying in a bed, eyes wide, staring at nothing. The blood on the sheets testified to the fact that her maidenhood had been taken before she was strangled to death.
Takeshi looked upon her in silence for a time, seeking understanding.
He smiled as he drew his katana. Kurokami had answered his question after all.
Every last one of them.
User Reviews
Submitted by chipolatte (user info) at 2004-05-19 19:57:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I just saw "the Last Samurai"...kick ass movie.