Legend of the Five Rings

The Blood Speakers

Fujatsu slid open the barn door and strode inside. The ronin tapped his sheathed katana over his left shoulder, looking over the piles of straw filling each of the stalls, the air thick with the smell of pony. Two ponies rested in stalls at the far end of the barn, they nickered softly when the heimin girl entered behind the ronin, gently closing the barn door.

The ronin tossed back his long, wild, black hair over a powerful shoulder. Fujatsu wore a travel-stained gray kimono with black zubon. The warrior's black obi held his sheathed wakizashi, open wooden sandals protected the ronin's feet. Fujatsu scratched his short beard as the heimin girl led the way to an empty stall. The ronin smiled, admiring the girl's small buttocks and waist-length, purple-dyed hair. The peasant girl unlatched a stall door and turned to beckon Fujatsu with a seductive smile, her lips painted red, glistening in the sunlight that beamed in through cracks in the ceiling.

The girl must be well-practiced in her art, thought Fujatsu, entering the stall and tossing his katana into a corner. He dropped onto the thick pile of straw, scratching his hairy chest while the heimin girl closed the stall door and knelt beside him.

"Sake, Fujatsu-sama?" smiled the young girl, presenting a small clay jar with her tiny hands.

"Hai," nodded the ronin.

The violet-haired girl drew a tiny cup from between her soft breasts. She poured sake into the cup, then offered it to Fujatsu. The warrior accepted the cup and drained all of the sake in one swallow. As warmth flowed through Fujatsu, he held out the cup, the heimin girl refilled it. The ronin sipped the sake slowly, watching while the heimin girl set down the clay jar to open her white kimono. Fujatsu smiled appreciatively, the girl had milk-white skin and small, firm breasts. The girl's nipples were wide and pink, the tips were already erect with excitement. The heimin spread her thighs apart, her sex was hairless and puffy, the cunt flesh was bright pink. The girl crawled over Fujatsu's zubon, she sat on his thighs, slipping her hands into his kimono, gently raking her red nails through his thick, black, chest hair.

"Tell me what you want, Fujatsu-sama."

Fujatsu tossed back the remainder of his sake before dropping the cup and reaching for the heimin girl. He caressed her long, silky hair, stroked her warm, bare shoulders, her slender arms. The ronin clutched the naked girl's little buttocks and kissed her hard, the heimin hugged his wide neck and returned his embrace with eager passion. Ronin and heimin parted lips, Fujatsu let go of the girl to struggle with his zubon. The heimin deftly removed the wide-legged trousers, she tugged the garment down to Fujatsu's knees. Fujatsu took off his loincloth, the heimin girl lowered her pretty face to his crotch, she gently kissed the tip of his member, then started licking up and down the erect shaft. The ronin groaned and watched while the heimin rubbed his cock with her moist, red lips. The girl hummed softly, exciting the ronin's prick even more, her tongue stroking its length, soaking it in her saliva. Fujatsu groaned louder when the heimin girl devoured his cock, sucking it into her little mouth, letting it slide deep into her throat. The ronin hugged the girl's head, he held her as she sucked energetically upon his shaft, making it swell and ache.

Fujatsu raised the heimin's blushing face. He kissed her wet lips, licked the side of her slim neck. The naked girl wrapped her arms around the ronin, she gasped when he inserted a thick finger into her puffy-lipped pussy, wriggling it deep inside. The heimin moaned into Fujatsu's ear, she bucked gently on his lap while he wriggled his finger inside her cunnie. The girl grew wet quickly, the ronin removed his finger to suck the sticky juices from it, then he took the heimin's small hips and positioned her over his erection.

The heimin girl threw back her head and moaned sharply when Fujatsu's cock filled her vagina. The wild-haired ronin thrust with his strong hips, ramming into the heimin, sheathing his member inside her slick hole. The naked girl bounced upon Fujatsu's lap, her small breasts jumping, her mouth open and panting. Fujatsu caressed the girl's little buttocks as he humped her, he ran his tongue around her wide, pink nipples, enfolding her small, warm breasts with his lips, sucking on the soft, milky orbs. The heimin girl arched her back, arms dangling limply at her sides, head bobbing as she moaned, her alabaster skin hot and dripping with sweat.

Fujatsu groaned when he climaxed inside the heimin. The girl whimpered as her pussy tightened around the ronin's cock, her tummy clenching from her own orgasm. Fujatsu fell back into the thick straw, breathing heavily. The heimin lowered herself over the perspiring ronin, running her fingers over his powerful chest, her breath warm against his skin.

***

The screams awoke Fujatsu from his blissful repose. The girl was still drowsy as the ronin rolled her off of him before closing his kimono and tugging his zubon back on. Fujatsu snatched his katana and charged out of the barn stall. He threw the barn's shoji open and gazed upon a scene from Jigoku itself.

Several of the mining village's homes were in flames, illuminating the wiry bodies of zombies as they cut down anyone in their path. Fujatsu frowned and drew his katana from its saya, the stench of smoke and blood heavy in the air.

The heimin girl peeked out from behind the glaring ronin, holding her kimono shut with trembling fingers. "Fujatsu-sama?"

Fujatsu glanced down at the shaking girl. He quickly gathered some silver bu from his obi and pressed them into the heimin's small palm.

"Remain here, the barn is safe," smiled the ronin before he raced into the chaotic melee.

Emaciated corpses wearing ivory masks slashed out clumsily with dull katana, butchering several unlucky heimin. Fujatsu noticed that the zombies didn't slay everyone they met, the young village girls were snatched and dragged away, no doubt for some obscene purpose.

Drawing close to the reeking zombies made Fujatsu hesitate with revulsion, but he set aside his disgust and lashed out with his bright katana, decapitating the closest undead. The headless body twitched and fell, unfortunately two others took its place. Fujatsu whirled his long blade, severing away rotting limbs, slicing open bloated, gray bellies that vomited black, smoking entrails. The ronin kicked away a gray hand that still moved before beheading another corpse. Villagers raced from house to house, putting out fires, dragging loved ones away from the hacking zombies.

The staggering zombies began to retreat from the smoke-filled village. Fujatsu followed the corpses, cutting down the ones within reach of his katana. The screams and weeping of the villagers faded away, the ronin crested a rise, then ducked behind an outcropping of rock.

The band of zombies surrounded a single man dressed in tattered black robes. The man appeared to be maho-tsukai, he wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, but he looked as emaciated as the zombies, his flesh was gray and unhealthy, his fingers were long and sharp-nailed. The maho-tsukai walked down a line of zombies, evaluating each of the girls held by their arms. When the sorcerer found a particularly pretty girl, he would pull open her kimono to fondle a breast or caress a sleek thigh. Satisfied, the maho-tsukai sharply gave an order to the masked undead, they turned and dragged their prizes north, through a narrow, steep-walled ravine.

Fujatsu rose and prepared to follow the maho-tsukai. He stopped abruptly when he heard heavy hoof beats approaching from the village. The ronin rested the saya of his katana over his left shoulder, waiting while five heavily-armored samurai charged towards him on laboring ponies.

The leader of the samurai drew his shining katana smoothly and aimed the tip at the lounging ronin. "Who are you and what is your business here?"

Ignoring the sharp whispers of "ronin" exchanged amidst the frowning samurai, Fujatsu met the leader's hard gaze. "I am called Fujatsu."

"Do you serve a Clan?"

"I serve no one," replied Fujatsu defiantly.

"What are you doing near this village?"

"Zombies commanded by a maho-tsukai attacked it. I slew several zombies and followed the rest here. They have kidnapped many of the village girls, the sorcerer led them north, through that ravine," pointed the ronin.

The samurai leader nodded and snapped the reins of his pony. The patrol leapt forward, passing Fujatsu and descending into the narrow ravine. The samurai trailing the patrol slowed, then stopped. The warrior removed her horned kabuto, shoulder length, red-dyed tresses fluttered in the cool breeze.

"A brave bushi could go back into the village and borrow a pony to follow us," said the samurai-ko, dropping a blue silk scarf with the mon of the Crab. Replacing her kabuto, the woman heeled her pony into motion, disappearing after her comrades.

Fujatsu walked to where the samurai-ko had dropped the blue scarf. He squatted and picked up the soft silk, the mon of the Crab black upon it. Fujatsu rested on his toes, rubbing the silk between coarse fingers.

***

Fujatsu swayed in the saddle, eating a rice ball as he ascended rise after rise, the rock gray and barren, the sky overcast with huge, boiling clouds the same hue as the ground. When Fujatsu crested yet another rise, he stopped eating in mid-bite, the rice in his throat suddenly tasting of ash.

A low building made of gray stone squatted within a valley. Pillars shaped like piles of screaming skulls rested at each corner of the tomb, the stone walls were cracked, the ground around the tomb was flat and scarred with jagged fissures.

Fujatsu urged his pony into a gallop when he spied the sprawled bodies of the Crab samurai. The brown pony panted for breath as it struggled down into the valley and across the dangerous rock floor. When Fujatsu reached the armored bodies, he jumped from the wheezing pony, racing to discover whom had fallen. There were four bodies, three men and the leader. The warriors' armor had been split open like shellfish, blood and entrails covered everything, Fujatsu avoided touching the dead samurai or their gear, he flicked open their visors with the tip of his wakizashi.

A faint echo of a scream came from the gray stone tomb. Fujatsu stiffened and shot up to his feet, he held the saya of his katana in his left hand, he clutched the weapon's hilt with his right. Hesitantly, the ronin approached the entrance of the tomb, foul air poured from the dark portal, heavy with the reek of blood and death. Swallowing the bile that formed in his mouth, Fujatsu slipped his katana free and placed the empty saya in his obi. Brandishing the sword with both hands, the ronin slowly crossed the tomb's threshold, following a long staircase that descended into the bowls of the crypt.

***

Fujatsu hastened his steps when he heard sounds of battle from the landing below. He found the Crab samurai-ko slashing at a group of four zombies, they jostled against each other and grasped at the woman with black-nailed, bony fingers. Fujatsu reached the Crab's side just as she lopped the head from a moaning corpse. A second zombie stabbed the Crab with a filthy tanto, the short blade punched through the samurai-ko's lacquered armor, biting deep into her right side, just below her ribs. Fujatsu beheaded the tanto-wielding zombie. As the headless body fell, the ronin slashed another corpse from crotch to throat, kicking the flailing zombie down the stairs while black blood sprayed from the awful wound onto the stone walls. Clutching her bleeding side, the samurai-ko severed the last zombie's left leg at the knee, then shoved her katana into the creature's throat. The zombie gurgled and clawed at the Crab's blade, the woman jerked her weapon free and chopped across the ruined throat, freeing the undead's head from its body.

Fujatsu grabbed the samurai-ko's shoulders before she fell to the floor. She struggled to breathe, blood soaked the fingers of her right hand. The ronin noticed more wounds along the Crab's legs and torso, he was astonished that she was still conscious, let alone able to fight. Fujatsu helped the woman sit against one of the walls. The ronin ripped a piece of cloth from his kimono and stuffed it into the hole of the samurai-ko's armor to staunch the bleeding. The samurai-ko had lost her helmet, her red hair was damp with sweat, her face was pale from loss of blood.

"Domo Arigato, bushi-san," smiled the woman, her eyes narrowing in pain.

"Fujatsu," grinned the wild-maned ronin.

"Hida Miko," grimaced the woman, holding the bundled cloth with her blood-soaked hand.

Fujatsu frowned when he noticed that the cloth was already drenched in blood, the samurai-ko's wound was serious.

"I must get you back to the village, you will die without a shugenja's aid."

"I must stop the Blood Speakers," protested Miko, using the wall to get back onto her feet.

"How do you know that?" asked Fujatsu.

"This is the tomb of Iuchiban, his followers will use the village girls to resurrect their lord."

"You should send word to the Crab, get help before descending into the maho-tsukai's lair."

"There is no time, Fujatsu-san, they begin the ritual of raising even as we speak."

Miko brushed Fujatsu aside and staggered across the landing, the tip of her katana dragging over the floor. Fujatsu thought furiously, the samurai-ko would die without his help, she might die even with his presence, he might die as well fighting the Blood Speakers. It was not his fight, the wise ronin would leave and let the woman meet her destiny.

***

At the bottom of the staircase, Miko struggled to the edge of a stone balcony. She peered over the edge, an enormous vault spread open beneath her, lit by a ring of paper lanterns, each lantern attended by a black-robed maho-tsukai. Five sorcerers faced the tomb of Iuchiban, before each sorcerer was one of the village girls, stripped naked and bound wrist and ankle with rope, their buttocks upraised towards their robed captors. The maho-tsukai began chanting, they discarded their robes and knelt behind the bound girls, stroking their round, luscious buttocks with gray, skeletal fingers. The girls wept and moaned in distress, their cries excited the sorcerers, fingers dipped between slim thighs, pussies were spread open and caressed.

Miko's vision started blurring, she swayed before catching herself on the balcony edge. She shuffled to the stairs that led down to the floor of the vault, she became dizzy before she took the first step. Fujatsu caught Miko by the waist before she tumbled down the stairs. The bearded ronin gently lowered the samurai-ko to the floor, she looked up at him with glazed eyes, sweat gleamed across her ivory-pale face.

"I have..I have to stop them, I have to stop the Blood Speakers," protested Miko in a weak whisper.

Fujatsu stroked the samurai-ko's wet hair. "I will stop them, Miko-san. Remain here and rest."

The ronin waited a moment to make sure that Miko would not try to follow him. The samurai-ko struggled for every breath, she seemed ready to faint. Fujatsu descended the stairs in a low crouch, his katana held out before him. When he reached the bottom, Fujatsu peered over the stone railing, the lanterns illuminating the tomb and the sorcerers flickered wildly, throwing long shadows upon the high vault walls as the maho-tsukai raped the village girls, pounding roughly into their upraised buttocks, grunting lewdly and clutching smooth flesh with clawed fingers.

Fujatsu kept low and slid across the vault floor on silent feet, right arm thrown back, katana level with the floor as he drew closer to the humping maho-tsukai. The first sorcerer didn't even turn when Fujatsu swept his katana in a wide arc, separating the man's head from his spurting neck. The girl kneeling in front of the dropping corpse screamed shrilly, the other maho-tsukai stopped in mid-thrust, cruel eyes widening at the sight of their dead brother. Fujatsu howled a battle-cry and attacked the next maho-tsukai, slicing the man's chest open. The third sorcerer managed to retrieve a tanto from his black obi, Fujatsu severed the man's hand with the tanto still in the limb's grasp, then he turned the slash into an upward cut, opening the gasping sorcerer's throat.

The fourth maho-tsukai jerked up his victim's head by her long, raven hair and slashed her throat open with his tanto. The sorcerer chanted quickly, the spilling blood turned to red mist and blasted through the air into Fujatsu. Weakness filled the ronin's body, he dropped to his knees, his katana clattering to the stone floor. The sorcerer let the limp village girl's body fall, he strode towards Fujatsu, bloody tanto upraised, ready to take the ronin's life.

A spinning tanto slammed into the maho-tsukai's neck. Bright crimson gushed from the fatal wound, the sorcerer stumbled with wide eyes, then collapsed to the ground.

Fujatsu glanced up at the top of the stairs, he smiled when he spied Miko clinging to the balcony edge, her right arm dangling weakly after her throw. The samurai-ko returned the ronin's smile before sliding out of sight behind the stone rail.

The ronin lowered his hard gaze to the last maho-tsukai. The bony man held his bound victim before him, using the naked girl's body as a shield. A gleaming tanto appeared in the sorcerer's right hand, he pressed the tip into the weeping girl's neck until a bright droplet of blood stained her white flesh.

"You will allow me to depart unharmed," sneered the maho-tsukai, the one who had led the attack against the mining village.

Fujatsu said nothing, his cold eyes bored into the sorcerer's, he held his katana lightly with both hands.

The maho-tsukai stepped back from the tomb, one thin arm wrapped around the bound girl's waist. The village girl was sobbing softly, watching Fujatsu with pleading eyes.

Fujatsu lowered the tip of his katana. The ronin tensed his body, then lunged into motion, charging the retreating sorcerer. The maho-tsukai screamed, throwing the bound girl at the striking bushi. Fujatsu caught the nude girl and smoothly lowered her to the floor before pursuing the sorcerer up the stairs. Looking back at the closing ronin, the maho-tsukai didn't pay enough attention to what was in front of him. He ran into Miko's out-thrust katana, the blade punched through his belly and burst out of his back. The dying sorcerer howled, clutching the katana buried within his flesh. He pulled the weapon out of Miko's weak grasp, the man staggered back and forth, blood splashing onto the floor around his feet. The maho-tsukai dropped to his knees, vomited a gout of blood, then finally fell forward onto his face, dark blood pooling underneath him.

Fujatsu knelt next to Miko. The samurai-ko rested against the gray stone, her eyes closed. The ronin caressed the woman's red hair, she pried her eyes open and met the ronin's concerned gaze.

"Please retrieve my katana, Fujatsu-san," smiled Miko before she fell senseless against the bushi's right shoulder.

***

Fujatsu accepted the pack of food from the grateful villagers. The heimin girl he had bedded in the barn gave him a good-bye kiss, he held her tightly for a moment, then let her go. The villagers returned to their daily tasks, Fujatsu walked north-east, leaving the village behind him, saya resting lightly across his left shoulder.

*****