Through the forest they crept, gaining ever closer ground between them and the mighty tower that rose higher into the sky, as though, were it able, it would overshadow the world. Risako shaked a little at the terrible memory of the place but found her resolve once again. The tower had to fall. The ugly pillar had no place on this earth, and something, unexplanable, was pulling her back. She had no choice but to go. There would be no peace for her should she turn back from this action.
The forest was silent towards this part of its net of life. No birds sang, no animals grazed in the underbrush, and the silence seemed to ring from the soil upwards. Only the dry rattle of dead and decaying leaves could be heard as the wind rattled them in the hope of making a noise, and any noise was better than this silenced nature.
They were close now, they passed the stumps of once mighty and massive trees, cut down for some devious purpose and the trees themselves seemed to thin as the tower loomed ever larger.
A great wall suddenly seemed to grow out from the silenced forest before them and they found they were at last looking upon the gates of Bandithaven.
Two nervous guards stood scanning the silent clearing around the gate.
Risako grinned, "I think we found the back gate."
"We will have to be silent when we take those guards down, all it takes is one shout of surprise and we are doomed." Izo whispered as he croutched down beside her and where she hid.
"Then let us bring swift death upon them," she answered as she began to slip off to the right, "I'll come from the right and you come from the left. They will not know they have died."
Izo knoded in reply and set off, his feet carrying him from shadow to shadow, becoming a mere shadow himself in the process. She herself found each shadow and slipped in closer.
From the shadows she and Izo prepared their attack, making and taking cautious steps closer to their targets. Risako found herself partly merged with the greasy and grimy wall they protected, and she could see Izo had his back pressed against the same wall. With another knod in her direction, Izo began to move in.
The twin katanas raised and she had already drawn back to slash when the guards simply fell over, massive red lines drawn upon their backs, and their death moans rattled the still air.
Surprised, she dared to look out from the shadows to see the killer of the guards, and found herself looking upon a man wearing a rough and ratty cloak, his eyes and hair hidden by his hat.
"Come out, I do not plan on harming you," he said as he sheathed his katana.
"Who are you?" She demanded from the shadows.
"I am a friend and a rebel against Kazuo," the stranger replied, "It didn't take much thought on my part to think that odds are some group would sneak around to the back gate of Bandithaven and try to enter. My name is Masao."
"How do I know I can trust your word, Masao?" Risako replied from her hiding place.
"Becuase I helped you once before, do you knot remember, ninja, your escape from Bandithaven? The one who told you of Masake and his men and the one who diverted the guards so you could escape?" he countered.
"You!" she exclaimed, steping confidently from the shadows, "But you were only half right, Masake is dead and has been dead for ten years, it is his son I found instead."
"My information was wrong then, I was mistaken. I apologize to you, ninja. Yet it seems you found a ally none the less. Do you trust me? I can help you in your mission, if you let me." Masao answered.
"I need the help and I will let you help, but my trust is something difficult to obtain. We will see what will come and then I will make my decision. Alright, you may come out now!" She answered and aimed the last part at the ones hiding.
One by one they sliped from the shadows, and she marveled at them a moment for their mastery of the Kinlan techniques, even if they were a wounded and battered little group, their spirit boosted her own.
Masao removed his hat and red hair spilled from within its confines, forming a single long tied back shaft of crimson and two long bangs framed the brilliant blue eyes that regarded her in the new light.
"Its a demon!" one of her companions moaned, feverently making a sign to ward off evil.
"I am not a demon!" Masao snapped, "My father was a foreigner and pardon the different hair color. Its in my blood. Now listen, there are fewer of you then I thought there would be, but we need to attack the tower as soon as possible. They have taken all the survivors of Dansha and locked them inside to keep them from rebelling against Kazuo while he fights this man called Keiji. If we can free them, we will have a army and we can take over Bandithaven, and if we don't, chances are either Kazuo himself or one of his high handed guards will execute them."
"You mean they have locked them in that place?" Risako demanded from surprise.
"Yes, now will you help me?" Masao replied, the pleading in his voice audible, and it was then that she decided, that yes, he was speaking the truth.
"Line up and follow Masao's lead. Question, how do you think we are going to march into Bandithaven unnoticed?" Risako answered with her own order, putting her trust in this virtual stranger.
"Simple, we are going to be noticed and we are going to march into Bandithaven," he began, "Becuase remember the Toscana have already been sent out and the soldiers remaining in Bandithaven are very familiar with the sight of armed ninja. Just play along and follow my lead."
Such a obvious solution to a inprobable predicament, why hadn't she thought of it before? She demanded of herself as they walked gingerly into the stonghold of Kazuo.
Most of the soldiers gave them the briefest of glances, their eyes not even pausing over them as the glances aimed in their direction were half hearted and purely out of habit. Some even sneered at their appearance, as though how dare they return to Bandithaven looking so shabby and some speculative glances were thrown in Risako's direction. She ignored them and focused her mind upon the tower that rose defianatly before her.
Upon the crumbling outer walls, Risako noted a familar symbol, in fact, through the dust and mold, it was impossible not to recognize it. Faintly it gleamed out from its horrid surroundings, but it was the same symbol she had seen upon Keiji's training kimono and felt her stomach roll in disgust. The place where the tower squatted was the former home of Keiji, the ancestrial home of his family and the ruined outer walls proved it. Where the courtyard would have been is what the tower dominated.
The only part of the outer walls that were in solid form was the main gate, where she had heard that Masake had rode out through those gates, to his death in protection of Dansha. Now two sleepy guards glared up at them as they approached.
Beside her, she heard Masao's hand come to rest on the hilt of his katana and his faint whisper, "We need to be rid of them as quietly as possible."
"I have a idea," she answered as she stepped briskly forward, making contact with the eyes of the two guards as she approached.
"Halt, wretch!" One of them hailed as she drew dangerously close, "What business do you have in the tower?"
"Wretch? Are you bakas foolish enough not to remember the Second in Command of the Toscana? Shall I tell Kazuo that you dared insult my honor?" She snapped and behind her she prayed the Kinlan would remain silent for once, only a faint chuckle from Masao reached her ears.
"No, of course not, Commander!" The together they balked, "I will do whatever you say!"
"Good then, redeem yourselves by falling in rank with my men, we are here to execute the Dansha dogs. There are only so many of us and we need to make these executions swift so we may return to Kazuo. The battle goes ill." She continued.
They stepped in between Izo and Masao as they passed through the gates. Once one of the others towards the end of the line shut the gates, Izo and Masao struck silently and swiftly. The guards never knew the blades had passed through them when they fell to the earth, dead.
"It won't take them long to realize these two are missing." Izo grumbled as they moved guard's bodies out of immediate sight of the gates and tower.
"Then will have to be quick, won't we?" Risako answered as she opened the door of the tower.
Inside the skeleton of a man in the armor of a samurai glared at her from the darkness. For seven years the body of the brave unnamed man who had challenged the authority of Kazuo and had failed guarded the entrance to the tower. His bare bones gleamed in the faint light and the dusty crimson armor flared defiantly for a brief moment as the light first entered the space of the door and for a moment, Risako paused to salute the man. Yet, should Keiji and she fail, would their bones hang in this place? Would that be the price should they fail?
Behind him the stairs of the tower spiraled upwards, into the black abyss and from which, she could hear the shouts and cries of the Dansha prisoners.
"Let's move." She ordered as she took the first step beyond the samurai's bones. She began her ascent into the darkness.
Keiji fought on foot, his mount long dead. Now he waded through a sea of men and monsters. Occasionally, a bandit would attempt to claim his life, but a counterstrike by the blue katana would end the attempt and onwards he continued.
Beside him, he was aware of Conlan, his heavier foreign katana reaking havoc upon the bandits who tried to kill the older man. Keiji grinned. It would take something powerful to claim the weapon of the older warrior.
Ahead, he could see his goal. Kazuo had lost his horse as well, and was not fairing as easily as Keiji was. More living men of Keiji's own banner surrounded him than the mounds of those bearing the dead banners of Kazuo. In breif pauses in the action, he had even overheard that in some places on the field, many bandits had been taken prisoner. Yet he doubted the truth of that statement. The battle had pauses to catch its breath only, before plunging on heavier and longer than before.
But most of Kazuo's host lay dead around them, once Keiji claimed his goal, it would most likely end.
So close now. Keiji could hear the hot breath of the warring man before him now. Both of them were wounded and weary from battle, but Keiji could see that in Kazuo's eyes, his fighting spirit was far from weary. The man looked alive in the field of death and relished in the red rivers shed in his name.
Keiji was tired, but his spirit was not tired. He was too close to achieving everything he had sought for ten years, only a few steps more and another battlefield duel, and it would end here. A final swoop of victory upon Bandithaven, and everything would at last be finished. The war would be over, peace could return.
Now Keiji stood, not far from Kazuo, their eyes locked and it was Kazuo who broke their gridlocked gaze with a smirk.
"You believe you have claimed victory over me, don't you, young Keiji?" Kazuo shouted over the noise.
"Its your army that is near death. Mine lives." Keiji replied, close enough now that they could finally square off against one another.
"Well, yes, you do have a point there, don't you?" Kazuo answered, "However, I like my men dead. TAMAFUNE!!"
The skies darkened and the black dragon emerged from the heavens, her wicked fangs gleaming in the fading light.
"I see it is time." was all she said over the hush that accompanied her arrival.
"What is the meaning of this, Kazuo?" Keiji demanded taking a step closer to Kazuo and pointing the blade squarely upon the man's chest.
"Simple really. I befriended the dragon who has the power to give life and essentaily, resurrect my men. Such a clever strategy my young friend, such valor! Such a great feat, but you forgot which dragon that claimed your loyalty, the red dragon, Koreikyo, the dragon of destruction! He is of little use to you now, Keiji, while Tamafune here is going to make my victory here a landside. Good battle, samurai boy, its been years since a clever warrior has managed to decimate my numbers so, but my good friend Tamafune here is about to alter the deal."
Slowly around him, Keiji noted rain falling and with the fall of each drop, a man of Kazuo's that had been previously slain in battle, rose moaning before pulling the arrow out of his neck and picking up his katana and killed one of Keiji's men with a single slash before the surprised Ronin could react.
"You'll pay, your crimes will never be forgiven. What I represent can never die Kazuo! One day another samurai, stronger in spirit than I shall take my place and make this patch of earth where I fall sacred. One day, Tamafune will fail you." Keiji growled as the dead formed a sea around him and Keiji found himself facing a sea of katanas, all pointing in his direction.
