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By Rusty Priske
Edited by Fred Wan
Hida Fosuko damned her bare legs as a stray branch from a fallen tree left its mark across her calf. It was not that she was worried about such a scratch slowing her down from the pain – she hardly noticed that – but there were rumors that some of the Destroyers could smell blood. She would need to stop and bind it, no matter how minor the wound.
She was not afraid of these things she fought. She reminded herself of that as she tightened the strip of cloth around her leg. The things she had seen were no different than any enemy that threatened the Crab.
They could be killed.
They could be defeated.
But the things she had seen
A sudden gust of air ran through the trees, distracting Fosuko from her dark thoughts. She stood from her crouch, eyeing the trees suspiciously through the gloom. It was just the wind, certainly, but
“Lower your weapon, please. That maul looks heavy and none of us wants anything unfortunate to happen.”
Fosuko whipped her head around at the sound of the voice, but could find no source through the forest darkness. “Step out where I can see you and I will decide whether the weight of this maul will lay.”
“Understandable, but be assured that we mean you no harm.”
At first Fosuko tightened her grip on her weapon as she saw the creature’s leering face and sharpened teeth coming out of the darkness. The illusion was quickly banished as she recognized the face as a Scorpion mempo. She relaxed, but just a little. “What are you doing here, Scorpion? Have you come to fight the real war?”
“We are fighting the real war, yes, but not the one you mean. I am Bayushi Mago, and you are?”
“Hida Fosuko. I had heard the Scorpion were reinforcing our lines, but I could not believe it.”
“I wish I had the time to explain to you, in depth, how wrong you are, but let me start by asking you how long you have been separated from your unit, because you are not where you think you are. This is Scorpion territory, not Crab, though there will be no difference soon if the Destroyers are not repelled.”
Fosuko grimaced. She had been turned around after her last encounter with those things. “So how is it that you stumbled upon me in the dark?”
“We were looking for you. Well, not you exactly. We had to make sure no villagers were wandering out here in the forest.”
“You keep saying we. Where are the rest of you?”
Mago looked at he Crab for a moment and then motioned with his hand. Almost instantly another Scorpion seemed to melt out of the shadows and appear at Mago’s side.
Fosuko nodded. “So, just the two of you?”
“No.” A new voice whispered in her ear, from right behind her head. Startled, she swung her maul around in an arc while jumping away from where she stood. The third Scorpion stood watching her, from a safe distance, as if he had never been close enough to reach her.
Mago spoke, breaking the tension. “That is Soshi Ganrou. This is Soshi Mayumi. None of us mean you any harm. You have been cleared. You should come with us however. Your safety cannot be assured out here.”
“My safety is no concern of yours, Scorpion.”
“Actually it is. It is not altruism that sent us out here. We would rather ensure your safety now, rather than have to fight you later. We have great respect for the strength of the Crab, but strength is not enough to protect yourself from the plague.”
Fosuko’s back stiffened and her brow began to sweat. “Plague?”
Mago nodded. “Yes, but do not worry. Ganrou and Mayumi have asked the air kami to extend their protection to you. Stay with us and we will keep infection from you.”
Fosuko thought for a moment and then nodded. “Where are we going?”
* * * * *
The village was silent, but this was not unusual in and of itself, due to the late hour. Still, Fosuko felt that the calm was too absolute. She could hear no animals scratching at the dirt or walls of the buildings and no sentry questioned their approach. In fact, with their proximity to the fighting in the Crab lands, the lack of a defensive perimeter showed either great arrogance or great ignorance or something else completely.
Mago spoke quietly with Mayumi. As he did so, Fosuko noticed that Ganrou was no longer with them. He had departed without a word or sound.
Mago turned back to the Crab and said, “We know there is infection here, but we do not know how far the village has gone. It is our duty to stop the spread of the infection.”
“Why not simply burn the village to the ground?”
Mago nodded. “Normally we would, but following that path would soon leave all of our lands in flame.” He paused to let the implications of his words to sink in. “If we thought that destroying our lands would save the empire, we would do that, but the plague is not confined to the Scorpion, so instead we are to contain it using other means.”
“What means?”
“I am afraid I cannot discuss that with you. Be assured that the Phoenix are not the only shugenja who are delving into the mysteries of this affliction and its victims.”
“So what is our goal now?”
“We need to stay together so Mayumi’s protection can be maintained. We will sweep through the village, eliminating anyone infected or potentially infected. We are looking for any one of these things that appears to be their leader.”
Fosuko’s eyebrows shot up. “Leader? The infected are mindless creatures driven by blood lust only!”
Mago just looked at Fosuko for a long moment and then said, “Stick close to Mayumi and keep that maul handy.”
The Crab shook he head and fell in with the Scorpion as they walked into the village. She asked, “What is this village called?”
“Does it matter?”
* * * * *
The first building they entered was abandoned, as was the next. In the third they found a man hunched over a fellow villager. The person on the floor had its midsection torn open and various internal organs lay exposed. The man crouching over the carnage had blood covering his face and chest. When interrupted he dropped something unrecognizable from his mouth.
Mago snapped, “Do not let it alert the others!” He darted forward, swinging his katana in a downward arc, but the creature leapt back, with agility unlikely for a peasant of his build.
It was then that Fosuko saw the way the villager’s skin hung from his bones, loosely and missing in spots. It opened its mouth and blood and spittle fell away in sprays of gore. A keening wail, completely unrecognizable as something that could ever have been human, erupted from past red and black teeth. The sound carried for only a moment before a swing from Fosuko left its head a pulpy mass.
“We have to hurry!” Mago’s voice dripped with urgency as Mayumi mumbled invocations to the spirits of the air.
“What are you doing?”
Mayumi looked at Fosuko like an annoying child. “Making sure we do not end up like him. Now unless you want to be left here, I would follow, quickly.”
Mago had already moved to the building entrance and was scanning the street for movement. “We are moving across to a warehouse across the way. There is movement along our left flank, but do not neglect the right. We move now!”
The three of them ran out into the open and towards their target. The first assault came from the left, as predicted. Mago ducked as one of the creatures leapt past him, but it paid for its temerity with a quick counter from the samurai’s katana that removed its head from its shoulders.
“It is a feint! Watch the right!” No sooner did Mayumi shout these words did they come true. One of the walking dead tried to throw itself on the shugenja but his outthrust hand combined with an invocation sent energy through the thing’s body that dissolved it in a flash of light.
Fosuko shook off this sight to catch the next attack with her maul. She caught a running enemy in the chest with a blow that sent him crashing to the ground twenty feet away.
She then watched the horrible, broken creature pull itself to its feet.
“The head!” Mayumi yelled. “You have to go for the head!”
“We are here! Get inside!”
The three of them ran into their target building and Mago’s eyes darted around before saying, “Help me with this!” He and Fosuko pushed a large crate in front of the door. Mago assessed their impromptu fortification as they all heard scratching and banging on the door. “This is one of the only buildings that offers any protection. Wooden walls instead of paper will keep them out for a time, but they know we are in here.”
Mayumi turned on Fosuko. “And if you are not going to be of any use we should have just left you in the forest!”
Fosuko’s eyes flashed. “It would help if I was given the information I needed before those things attacked! And what about that little magic trick you did out there? If you can do that, why not do it to the whole town?”
“I could kill every one of these things, but when I do so it is much harder to maintain the shield against the infection. Would you prefer I drop that?” As he yelled, Mayumi gestured towards the blood splatters from the plague zombies killed by the Crab.
“Enough!” Mago barked. “We have enough to take care of without you two being at each other’s throats! Kill each other if you both live after they are put down. Do you understand?”
Mayumi frowned but then nodded curtly. Fosuko simply said, “Is there anything else I should know? Like where is Ganrou?”
Mago paused and then said, “Ganrou has his own assignment. You do not need to worry about him. We only need to worry about” Mago stopped talking and jerked his body in a spasm. He reached back over his shoulder and stumbled forward a few steps so his companions could see the creature clamped onto the back of his neck.
The thing that was once a man had its teeth buried deep into Mago’s neck while the Scorpion tried to frantically tear it off. Mayumi shouted, “Get it off him! I need to maintain our wards or he is finished!”
Fosuko considered her maul for a second but realizing there was no way she could strike the zombie without also killing Mago, she dropped it and grabbed the creature with both hands. She planted her boot in Mago’s back and tore his attacker from its perch, leaving a spray of blood when it lost its purchase. She threw the beast to the floor and followed in with her katana, quickly drawn, and separated its body from its head, dropping it a pool of blood, much of it belonging to Mago.
“Building not secure.” Mago gasped out.
“Hold on, Mago-san. I have to make sure the infection cannot take hold. Hold on!” Mayumi muttered unintelligibly to Fosuko’s ears before she looked up at the Crab and shook her head.
“Please must not” Mayumi understood Mago’s words and helped him to a kneeling position. She then looked up at the Crab.
“You will need to be his kaishakunin. Hurry.”
Fosuko took Mago’s katana while Mayumi helped him draw his tanto. The Crab looked at the severely wounded Scorpion. “I am sorry, Mago-san.”
“Just finish mission.”
Then it was done.
“We cannot stay here.” Mayumi finally stated.
“What was the plan for getting out of the village?” Mayumi shot a look at Fosuko and the Crab followed it with, “Oh.”
“No,” said the Scorpion, “it wasn’t like that. It is just that Mago knew the plan. It had something to do with Ganrou. I can assume that he will come to us when it is time.”
Fosuko’s eyes showed that she was not as certain about this outcome. “So what do we do until then?”
“What we came to do. Keep killing these things.”
“I approve, but that doesn’t seem like much of a plan.”
“That’s because we aren’t the plan. We are the distraction.”
Realization dawned over Fosuko. “So we have to wait for Ganrou, but”
Mayumi nodded. “We aren’t much of a distraction in here.”
* * * * *
Fosuko swung Mago’s katana like a farmer threshing wheat, dropping whatever came towards her. Mayumi walked two paces back, risking her defensive posture whenever she had to, forcing the unlife out of whatever she could reach. They made it past the front of the warehouse and crossed the face of the small alehouse next door.
“Care to stop for a drink?” Fosuko called back to the shugenja.
“You Crab have interesting priorities. How about once we get out of here?”
“You’re buying.” Fosuko looks over her shoulder. “Look out!”
A group of plague-riddled creatures erupted through the front wall of the next building, behind Mayumi. As the Scorpion spun around he was overwhelmed by three of the creatures jumping onto him, bearing him down by sheer weight. As Fosuko stepped towards him she was intercepted by more of the creatures, which she kept at bay with her flashing katana. She could see Mayumi fighting the beasts, but she also saw the blood too much blood.
Then one of the zombies rushed at the Crab, throwing itself on her blade, forcing itself towards her hand. As the katana emerged from the back of the zombie a second did the same thing.
She knew when a fight was lost and she let go of the katana and reached for the maul she had strapped to her back. It was too late. She would not be able to swing it before they were on her. She whispered a prayer to Hida that she would remain dead and not rise like these mockeries of life.
The first to approach her fell suddenly, as his head slipped from his shoulders. Fosuko saw a flash of silver as he fell but then it was gone and the next one fell.
“I need your help.” Soshi Ganrou stood beside Fosuko, a length of silver wire wrapped around each hand.
“You need my help?”
“We cannot get out of here and I was unable to locate a leader. I have started the backup plan. I have planted certain items in certain places around the village. If I can activate this,” he produced what looked like a silver egg, “it will set them all off, and the village will be destroyed.”
Fosuko set her teeth. “Do it.”
“I mean to, but if I do not do it right at the center of the village it will not set them all off and this will all be for nothing.”
“Then let’s get you there.”
* * * * *
Hida Fosuko fought like a woman possessed as she swung her maul as if to assail a mountain, leaving a trail of gore behind her. Soshi Ganrou fought with equal ferocity, but where Fosuko used muscle and sinew, he used agility and grace.
“A hundred feet more past them.” A group of the dead, as if they could sense the ninja’s goal, stood across their path.
Fosuko nodded. “Follow me.” She drove forward, using her body as a weapon as much as the maul. She fell, taking many of the zombies with her. As she did so she felt her flesh tear under their teeth and claws. If she had any illusions of leaving this village, they ended there.
As she fell she saw Ganrou leap past her and dash for his goal.
He pulled the egg from beneath his robe and prepared to activate it. Mere yards from his goal he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He looked towards it and the severed end where his hand once was. He stumbled a few more feet and shoved his bleeding arm under his other armpit, trying to slow the blood loss so he could finish his mission.
He saw his severed hand, still clutching the egg, lying some distance away in the dirt. Standing over it was one of the dead. A cloth mask hung limply from its decayed face and from its hands hung a silver wire, much like the one that Ganrou had used. The tattered cloth that had once made up a cloak was black, with a dark red lining. Ganrou couldn’t see a mon, but he didn’t need to. This thing was once a Scorpion, and from the way it wielded that wire, it was trained at the same school as Ganrou.
Ganrou dove towards the egg with the last of his strength. As he did so he felt the wire settling in under his chin and across his throat.
Everything went dark.
