For days now, powerful armies have assaulted the thousand-year-old walls of the Imperial Capitol. For days now, the resolute samurai of the Scorpion clan have thrown them back heavy losses. All the clans of the Empire have gathered together in a savage attempt to dethrone Bayushi Shoju, arch-traitor and self-proclaimed Emperor ... all the clans, save only one.

The Crab clan has not yet declared whose side they will support. While the Crab will bow to tradition and the restoration of the Hantei dynasty, Shoju also knows the Crab respect strength above all else. He has shown great strength in overthrowing the Emperor and holding the Imperial Palace against the rest of the Empire; strength of heart, strength of intelligence, and strength of arms. And though he has continued to hold out in spite of evverything that has gone wrong, his armies are badly beleaguered. Today the Crab army has at last arrived on the field of battle, and the clan's champion has asked to speak with the new Emperor. If Shoju can turn the Crab to his side, the other clans will have to concede, for none can pry a Crab loose from his posistion; but if the Crab join with the besieging clans, the Scorpion clan is lost. In front of the Imperial gates, Bayushi Shoju swaggers out to meet Hida Kisada, the "Great Bear" of the Crab Clan. They bow to each other slightly. "You have seen how I have taken the Throne," Shoju says, "and I have withstood the attack of the other angry clans." There is a long silence. "Join me Kisada," he says finally, "join me and together we shall be invincible."

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