"So, how do you know of my family...?" Keiji asked as he and the rider rode side by side, the archers trailing behind.
"Sir Conlan. Once, I was what you are in a nation that feels almost as far away now as the moon does. I was a samurai of my people, I was I knight as they called me. I was thirsty for adventure and the title of knight could take you places no other title could take you, so I set out upon the sea, seeking adventure and glory that were destroyed the night my ship broke its back upon your shores during a heavy storm. I washed ashore more dead than alive and it was by the grace of some benevolent deity that it was your grandfather who found and nursed me back to health. His son, your father, was younger than I and despite the fact that in the beginning, neither of us could understand the other, we did somehow manage to forge a friendship. Between your father and grandfather, I slowly began to understand the world I had crashed into and allowed me to become apart of it. Your family has saved my life more than once, Keiji, and I am glad that I can finally see to it that you are returned to your rightful place. I give you the Ronin Army!" he replied as they entered a sheltered clearing in the forest and to Keiji's surprise, he found not a small group of resitance to Kazuo, but in fact a entire army settled within this single clearing.
"So, where were they the night my father died?" Keiji asked his voice oddly cold.
The question hung heavy in the air and the air of greeting that the men who had risen to meet him evaporated and the weight of solemn grief replaced the atmosphere. It was the knight who replied, "We were not with your father that fateful night on the account that we were tricked inot believing a band of bandits would be attacking Saken, not Dansha. Not a single soul present would have abandoned your father on any eve of battle, much less his last. Its in his memory that we all fight.
You must forgive us Keiji, for we do still grieve his loss and the small group of samurai who had stayed with him that night to escort him to Saken. We all have suffered some loss in Dansha in land, blood, and honor. That night I lost both my son and wife. The moment I learned we had been tricked, I rode back without regard to the storm that night, all in the hope of coming back in time. When I arrived it was too late. Dansha was in flames and the bandits were rounding up the survivors. Had the others here now not arrived when they did, I would have challenged the entire band where I stood, my heart was sore enough and my anger was raw. These idiots kept me from saluting the death of my closest friend and his family with the blood of his enemies and spared my life for this day.
Long have we feared you dead, Keiji, a loss we felt that was even worse than Masake's death. His line was dead, there was no survivor, we came to believe. To see you alive in the flesh and blood and while you are not as happy as I would have liked to have seen you Keiji, your survival is a gift to our lost honor. We can finally make amends to Masake through you. Your anger with us is understandable, but realize that we have never abandoned Masake's name nor will our hearts fail you now."
Keiji sat considering Conlan's tale. Before, he had always been certain of what he was doing and where he was going. Conlan and the ronin samurai before him pulled at his heart. He could see the wear and tear of ten years of fighting in the forest upon what must have been at one point, family armor, that looked as poor and worn as the bandit's mismatched armor. Yet Conlan's eyes did not lie. There was something that beat in the aging foreigner's eyes that compelled him to sigh before he spoke.
"I cannot deny that I need help in this and I undestand what it is like to lose honor. Every breath Kazuo makes demolishes my own. Who am I to condem you for the trickery of another and when we see the same vision? I do not doubt your hearts nor the reach of your katanas. I accept your help and will consider your honor restored to my family by following me to battle. Prepare for war." He said carefully as he took in the group before him and felt the beginnings of a plan form within his mind.
Tamafune listened half-heartedly to the infuriated Kazuo as he voiced his rage at her failure with Keiji.
"Are you certain that he rides alone?" Kazuo demanded at last.
"Yes, but my brother guards him, the Toscona cannot touch him without Koreikyo knowing now." Tamafune replied almost glad Kazuo's ninjas couldn't harm Keiji. He was to valuable to her plan to be killed outright.
No she decided to herself, the samurai must be shattered soul outwards before death could take charge, and then she would succeed after all these long patient years. If she could force Koreikyo the Fool to act upon the very mandates the gods themselves set upon him to do, then she could very well savor the dark wine of success for all her schemes and plans. The funny thing would be that Koreikyo would be the instrament of demise for what he had sought to protect. A adequate revenge for his meddling in her life and dreams. Maybe he would learn to let her life be her own after all of this and the world was their's once again. Perhaps even switch back to the way they had been before.
"So that must mean we should prepare to battle. The Daimyo must know my plans by now and even when I kill Keiji, I will still have Baiko and his army to contend with. Prove yourself useful Tamafune and pass the orders along for all my men and slaves to gather. Time is still on our side and we can defend Bandithaven from the Daimyo's fury." Kazuo snapped as he grabed her chin roughly and a inhuman hiss escaped from her seemingly human throat.
"As you wish." she replied far more calmly than she felt. A mere human had dared rouh handle her. Another strike against the race.
"Do it." Kazuo demanded before he turned to leave.
Tamafune shifted into her dragonic self and allowed her mind to touch briefly with all the lesser bandits and slaves, passing along Kazuo's wishes before she floated sky wards and noticed a red form glowering at her from a mountain.
"You will fail, sister. Your hatred will doom you." Koreikyo said as she passed.
