Together the two arrows struck the two men who had sat beside Kazuo after his return. At first, there was a stunned silence as the two men slumped forward and crashed into the earth, their bodies dead long before they dared to stain the ground they fell upon. Then it began almost as a ghost of a whispere and gained voice and power as it filled up the ranks into a massive gutteral roar of human rage and hatred.
In the display, Keiji merely grinned. Behind him now all the archers prepared to unleash their deadly charges, some arrows burned, and others smelt oily with the resin that sealed them to their shafts, all poised and waiting. Keiji and the mounted samurai braced themselves for battle, for soon, once the roar had died, the charge would preceed the beast.
Kazuo at the other end, spat upon the wine red earth at his mounts hooves. He could remember a similar sight like this...
The night was dark, the only light was that of lightening as the storm hurled its anger upon the earth, and the band shited from shadow to shadow. The peaceful village that lay ahead of them held promise. More than pure plundering wealth and pleasure. Here, he would make his force something to be reckoned with.
Then in one flash of lightening, he saw them.
Fifteen riders, all abreast, the light of the lightening lingering a moment longer on the tips of the wickedly curved katana's in their deadly pose. He had seen the leader's face. A aging man, a easy target. His face had been lined by grief and time, but even from the shadows, he could see the man's strength that time itself had never conquered.
He would conquere him, he would find victory...
"We shall find victory! Let us rid the earth of his kind, men!" Kazuo yelled as the gutteral roar at last cried itself hoarse and he waved the katana forward, as though he were merely pointing out a object for the furious horde to vent their hatred and anger.
They needed no furthur urging and they leapt past their leader, regardless of rank and prestige. Instead he became a island of calm in a sea of rage.
See you survive this, Keiji, Kazuo thought as he watched the host scramble across the field between him and Keiji.
He saw the look of disappointment upon Keiji's face and laughed.
Yes, perhaps I should be the one to claim his life. Its is only right that I send the son after the father, Kazuo thought as he urged his mount into a trot to catch up with the mass of men before him.
Two things happened at once, suddenly as though the heavens themselves had decreed a unknown act. First the entire row of men on the front face of the horde suddenly crashed into the earth and tripped up the ones who had been near to them when they fell. Only when he saw thin colomns of smoke rising did her realize a volley of arrows had been realeased upon them. Second, Kazuo realized how unalone their battle truly was.
From the forest to each flank of his army, emerged a impressive brigade of foot samurai and a single mounted samurai in command of each.
Smart boy, Kazuo thought with a weary groan as he drew the katana and braced himself to face the first line of angry samurai. He was prepared to unleash swift and merciless death upon all who dared defy him.
They were near now, they could hear the angry rumble of battle that could have been a mere mile away or it could be being fought in the mountains, leagues away. But Risako knew of no other wars being fought. This one had to be the one. But they were moving on past it. As weak as they were from the clash with Toscana, seven badly banged up Kinlan ninjas could do no good on a battle of grand proportions. Instead, they had decided to head for Bandithaven itself.
With the army engaged in battle, the bandit stronghold would be realatively unguarded. It would seal Kazuo's fate should he try to retreat to Bandithaven, only to find his home had locked him out and even should he win, which Risako thought with ice in her heart, he would never reclaim Keiji's home. To that, she would hold.
Yet as tired and weak as she was, the ride through the forest was a waking dream that only pure instict kept her from curling amongst the ferns and sleeping away her pain. She couldn't rest, not yet anyhow. To be weary was a passing thing. To be wounded and sore was something time would eventually soothe away to nothing but memory. She had something to do that may not come this way again that time could not bring back or soothe away.
"Risako," Izo called as he turned to face her, "The Black Tower rises."
"Then we will have to abandon the horses," she began she noticed the single black column that had begun to rise on the horizon, "They will betray our approach."
A series of groans and complants erupted from the others and she stood there, enduring it for a moment before sighing, "Look, I am just as tired and wounded as you are. Nothing would please me more right now than to find a soft spot and sleep for as long as time would allow me. But, we have a chance to possibly change the future. We can break the death hold of the Toscana and the bandit Kazuo in one day! Our friends back at the river died so that future could exist. Our grandchildren will never remember our aches and scares, they will remember the future we gave them. But please trust me, we must not ride into Bandithaven. They will hear us coming long before we ourselves know we are there."
"Risako is right," Izo added as he slide off his mount and grabbed his weapons.
They gave in after his example and Risako was once again relieved that aging Kinlan was with her on this possible one way journey.
The journey towards Bandithaven could take a while longer, but their arrival could mean something that would go beyond their own lives. To that, she would hold, and pray to see its effects after everything was finished.
Keiji clung to the back of his mount as he fought his way into the horde that threatened to devour him and his small line. His arms were covered in their oily blood as the battle splashed around him.
From his position he could see the others fighting valiantly upon their own mounts and to the flanks of the host before him, he could see the two other groups he had sent ahead that had managed to out flank Kazuo, and from the forest, the archers fired their deadly rain in volley after volley. He was amazed that they never missed, despite the living chaos that erupted around him.
Yet he was disappointed. He could see Kazuo near the tail of his great swarm fighting one of the mounted samurai he had trusted to lead one of the brigades. He could see their struggle and saw with horror the gaping wound on the man's shoulder, but he was beyond help of either himself or even the archers. He could only watch the man's brave struggle and his defeat. Then as the defeated man slide lifeless from his saddle to the troubled earth, Kazuo met Keiji's eyes then and with a smirk befitting a demon's face, he licked the blood from the blade.
Keiji felt his anger rise at the man who then turned and faced off against a foot samurai who was angry about his leader's death. They may have been brothers, for all Keiji knew. But as he continued to fight, he vowed, You will regret that Kazuo.
He would plung through a sea of the filth that struggled against him to reach Kazuo now. To kill a man in battle was one thing, that was a gruesome partner of war, but to enjoy the death of another was another...and he had only believed Kazuo could sink so low.
Only from the mountain's did another voice cry silently, No! With that, Koreikyo rose and assended to the heavens. It was time to bring this matter to the gods themselves. Tamafune and Kazuo had gone to far and to long. Perhaps now, he could gain permission to do what he should have done in the beginning. Maybe now in light of this they would revoke their original order.
