She considered her chances, fighting, an unfamiliar practice to her, though she was taught the basics of using her wakizashi before being sent to such a position as had been her's, against what were most assuredly ninja, already wounded, using her off-hand.
She had failed, she knew it, she was going to die, and the Emperor would fall. She sighed and kneeled down, leaving the wakizashi aside as she took up a tanto. She glanced around in the darkness, defiantly.
"I'll at least die like a true Scorpion," she said, bringing the the blade up toward her face. "In service to my Emporer."
As she moved to destroy her face, the ninja began to fade out of the darkness. She cursed herself for making that last comment and almost moved to stab the blade upward, but something stopped her.
That something was the figure that moved through the ninja like a farmer through the fields. She gasped as the man approached her, bearing a long katana that seemed to virtually glow red.
The tanto fell from her nerveless hand.
"You're Bayushi Nori," the man said. She looked up, but could not place him with certainty in any of the clans. "The Scorpion that poisoned the Crane courtier that spurned her."
"That is a lie," Nori insisted angrily.
"Obviously," the man said. "Or they wouldn't bother with ninja, so what do you know, 'true Scorpion,' that the Scorpion would hunt you so." Nori hesitated, unsure how to trust this stranger. "You tell me...or..." his blade lay across her throat.
The threat of death was minor, she knew what he implied as he considered her mask. Take her head, and parade her naked, unmarked face around like a trophy. It would be the ultimate disgrace to a Scorpion.
Besides, a chance to live was a chance to deliver her message to someone. Her pursuers had successfully herded her away from anyone that she could contact, pushed through Scorpion lands, harried her without end until they finally cornered her in this little forest on the road to Kyuden Hida.
"You will escort me to Kyuden Hida?" she asked.
"Tell me your secret, and I'll consider a price," the man whispered. She frowned and considered that.
"The Bayushi champion has gone mad," she said reluctantly, not deigning to call the man a Scorpion. "He seeks to take the throne." There was silence as the blade pushed forward slightly and she could feel it cutting her skin, could feel it hungering for her life. There was something decidedly evil about that blade.
"I believe you, Scorpion," he said. "And here's my price for service. You shall be my servant, you will swear loyalty to me before all save the Empire." A dark smile graced his lips. "I would never ask a 'true Scorpion' to betray the Empire."
Nori hesitated, her voice catching, and then she slumped. She could not let her mission fail for the simple concern of pride, her personal honor and status were nothing if she let the Empire fall. If the price was for her to serve this madman, then so be it.
"I swear to serve you as your servant," Nori said. "Assuming you help me deliver my message to the Crab."
"You swear upon your mask, the Empire, and the Seven Fortunes?" the man asked.
"I swear," Nori said defiantly. "May I know my lord's name?"
"I am Ryokoi,' he said simply.
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Fri, 25 Oct 2002 16:18)
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