Visions of the Past
by Ree Soesbee
The clouds huddled beneath gray skies, wrapped closely about the plains as if awaiting their share of blood. Beneath them, a battlefield stretched from horizon to horizon, broken by small tents and galloping horses. The wind blew through the center, whistling through the waving grasses with a laugh and a promise.
On a hillock nearby, the Lion commander watched over her troops, deploying the units carefully, aware that any misstep would cause thousands of deaths when dawn came. Matsu Tsuko, Lady of Lions, bowed her head in tribute to the brave souls beneath her command who would fight - and die - today.
Among them, her favored student, Ikoma Tsanuri.
Tsanuri was a laughing girl, her light brown hair wild and cut short beneath an iron helm. Once she had been the doshi of Akodo Toturi - Tsuko snarled at the mere thought of the traitor's name. Tsanuri had seen Toturi's ruse for what it had been: a bid to usurp the Imperial Throne. Now she served with the Lion, beside Tsuko herself, and they fought together against the Crane. "My Lady," Tsanuri bowed, running up the hill to her commander. "The troops are ready for your deployment."
Tsuko nodded once, sharply, and Tsanuri bowed again.
The Lion troops crested the hill and swarmed onto the plains of Doji Castle with a cry that shook the heavens. Crane everywhere, blue armor glistening in the dawn, and arrows flooded the sky from the rear, slaughtering the front rank of Lion.
And still they came.
Daidoji pikemen, spears planted in the soft ground, turned the charge into a blood bath, every spear covered in Lion valor. The earth churned beneath Crane feet as the Matsu troops fell, and the second rank lay cold upon their field only minutes after their heroic roar. Noble souls, eyes dimming, breathed their last breath as they watched their companions rush past.
And still, the Lions came.
The Crane fell back, commanded by their rabid general, and another volley of arrows pierced the clouds. Another troupe of Lion samurai fell. The Crane withdrew again, and their pike-line reformed. Ready to engage the Matsu troops, the Daidoji knelt behind their bristling weapons, silent as death. Then, from the left, the Ikoma appeared through a haze, as if the Fortunes themselves had granted them passage. The pike-line shattered, devastated by the flank attack, and the Daidoji formation was no more than leaves in the wind.
The Lion troops streamed past the devastated Crane defenses, charging into the heart of their enemy. Tsuko saw Ikoma Tsanuri risk a glance toward her commander atop the hill. Without thought, Tsuko raised a fist in response. "Well done, girl," Tsuko roared. "Well done!"
"My Lady?" The voice behind her was rough, carefully restrained. Tsuko turned to see one of her commanders, Kitsu Motso, pointing at a rice field to the rear of the battle. "The Crane are falling back toward that point."
"Let them run, the cowards." Tsuko grinned. "We have already won the day." Motso moved to the map placed on a low table behind them, turning his fan over and over between his fingers. "That field, my Lady... it isn't on our map, and our forward scouts reported that it was dry only three days ago." "And?" A note of suspicion crept into Tsuko's voice as she glanced over her shoulder, loathe to tear her eyes away from the slaughter of the blue-armored Daidoji.
"It is filled with water today, my Lady...but it has not rained in weeks." Tsuko turned toward her lieutenant. "What are you saying. Motso? That the Crane filled a rice field to try to drown our soldiers?" Her sneer was palpable. "Think again, Kitsu."
Motso's voice was calm, accustomed to frequent comments about the 'unsuitability' of his heritage. He was born a Kitsu, the spellcrafters of the Lion, yet he had no magic. Instead, he turned his talents - and his resentment - to matters of war. "No, my Lady Tsuko-sama, not to drown our men. To drown their own."
Before Tsuko's lips could phrase a scornful question, a shout came from the field. Where there had been a hundred warriors in Crane colors, now there were three hundred - seven hundred - a thousand. Rising from the sodden rice fields, hiding below the risen waters, the army of the Daidoji surrounded the Lion troops on three sides. The last remaining Crane pikemen, left behind when the Lions charged, turned and faced the Matsu at their rear. Tsanuri was trapped.
"Why didn't we see this before?" Tsuko roared, pulling on her helm and trumpeting for her personal guard. "This was to be a simple foray, Motso! I'll have your head if they are injured!" Screaming vengeance, Tsuko charged down the hillside, her elite guard, the Lion's Pride, at her heels. "We did not see this, my Lady," Motso said to himself, raising his battle-fan to swiftly command the troops to retreat - whatever the cost. "Because we did not care to."
Tsuko's soldiers streamed behind her, their battle-roar loud in the clear sky. Ahead of them, the Daidoji tore apart the Lion lines, destroying one man after another with their flashing yari and swift swords.
"We won't be there in time!" Tsuko swore, hearing the rumble of Lion legions far behind her. Motso's call for aid had been heeded, but they were far behind the speeding Lady of Lions and her elite guard.
Then, from within the pack of trapped Lion, a furious shout was heard. Taken up by the doomed company, the Ikoma guard threw their force against the weakest of the Daidoji samurai. Shattering spears and destroying chunks of sodden earth beneath their feet, the Ikoma tore through the Crane guard. A cheer went up from the guard behind Tsuko as their beleaguered companions began to stream through the opening, racing back to meet with their legions. The Crane, outmaneuvered by force and sheer courage, sounded the retreat rather than face the Lady of Lions. As they withdrew beyond the waterlogged rice paddies, the Ikoma forces reached Tsuko's legions.
The Lion's pride gathered quickly, helping to carry the injured from the field. Their hands stained with blood and sweat, the company began to turn back to the camp. Tsuko commanded, "You!" and the nearest soldier turned.
"My Lady?"
"Where is your commander? Where is Tsanuri-san?"
He pointed to a small knot of samurai who had just arrived from the battle. "I left her there," he said simply.
"Who are you?" Tsuko snarled, impatient.
"My name," the samurai replied, "Is Matsu Gohei, son of Matsu Ochiman, son of the Matsu daimyo of old, your grandmother." As Tsuko nodded, he continued, "I am a male of the line of the Matsu daimyos, and I alone have saved your favored student." With a sneer, he bowed, and turned away.
"Impudent whelp!" Tsuko reached for her katana in anger, but Gohei spun, his eyes filled with hatred.
"I could have let her die," his voice was low and struck like a serpent. "But I knew you had no heir, and if you die without her a man will take the ancient mantle of Matsu daimyo"
"And I could take her life this moment, for allowing her men to be trapped by the Crane!" Tsuko stared, furious and wary. "Your point, Gohei?"
"I care nothing for you, except as a general. Nothing for her, except as a soldier, in her command. I am a Lion, and I serve my duty alone." With that, he bowed low, and turned away. Tsuko's hand fell from the cradle of her saya, nodding. He was a child of the Matsu, after all.
The boy would bear watching.
Tsuko knelt beside Tsanuri, watching as the Kitsu healers stanched the wound in the woman's side. "Will she live?" The daimyo murmured.
"Yes, my Lady. She will live."
"Good." said Tsuko, standing abruptly as she realized the tears of relief nearing her eyes. "She will be needed."
Five years, one dawn after another, passed between that day and the coronation of Ikoma Tsanuri as Lion Clan Champion. Their lives touched often in those times, during the Clan Wars, but Tsanuri often thought of the first moment she saw Tsuko meet Gohei on the field of battle, and of the Cranes they fought together. Of them all, only she knew the truth: neither Gohei nor Tsuko, despite their rivalry, could ever have let her die.
They were Lions, after all.