Mizu Mura, Unicorn Lands

For longer than he could remember, there had been only darkness. Every now and then, there would be a brief moment of light, and someone would come in. Sometimes they brought him food or water, and sometimes they asked him questions. He never answered, no matter what they did to him. Pain meant nothing, and he had grown accustomed to it long before he had ever been brought to this terrible place.

Light suddenly split the darkness, and Iuchi Tudev looked away. After so long in the darkness, it hurt his eyes. He heard movement, and expected to hear the familiar sound of a metal plate dropping on the cold stone floor. Instead, he heard the sound of someone walking in and setting something wooden on the floor. He looked up cautiously, shielding his eyes, and saw a young woman sitting on a small chair. She was staring at him curiously, a slight smile on her face. “Hello,” she said genially. “I’ve heard a great deal about you, Tudev.”

“Who are you?” he spat, his voice croaking from days or weeks of lack of use.

“I am Utaku Tama,” she said. “I have been sent to… speak with you.”

“Tama,” Tudev croaked with a dry laugh. “The Khan’s pet Battle Maiden?”

Tama’s smile widened. “If you hope to upset me and make me strike you, you shouldn’t bother. I won’t spill your blood. There will be no maho for you today, Tudev.” She gestured at the padded chains that held his wrists and ankles at such angles that they could not possibly be used for self-injury. “We are not fools, after all.”

“Bah,” Tudev spat. “That remains to be seen. I will tell you nothing.” “We shall see.”

“Nothing!” Tudev roared. “You have kept me here for months and I have said nothing! How arrogant are you, to assume you will succeed where others have failed?”

Tama withdrew a small glass vial from her obi and held it between her forefinger and thumb. “Do you know what this is?”

Tudev squinted, then shook his head.

“These are quite illegal,” Tama said, carefully removing the glass stopper. “Possession of one in Rokugan is grounds for execution, but then of course the Khan has always made his own rules.” She withdrew a small bamboo stick with her free hand. A needle jutted from one end. “This is called a Slayer’s Vial. No one knows for certain where they come from, who produces them, or what the liquid contained within is. All we know is what it does. Do you know what it does, Tudev?”

Again, the Bloodspeaker shook his head.

“It kills,” Tama said. Three drops is enough to kill a man. It doesn’t take long, but it is painful beyond imagining. The pain is so great that many who are exposed to it are killed not by the poison, but by the violent spasms that break their bones and tear their muscles apart. Gruesome to watch, or so I’m told.”

“Use it then,” Tudev snarled. “End my torment.”

“Oh, I think not,” Tama laughed. She dipped the needle into the poison. “Three drops will kill, as I said. A tiny amount, such as for instance the amount one might get from the tip of a needle, is not fatal. It is, however, murderously painful.” Her smile finally faded. “You will burn alive over and over again, for hours each time. You will suffer like no one you have ever seen or even heard of. The pain you have inflicted upon others with your maho will pale before this. Iuchiban himself could not conceive of a worse fate.”

Tudev licked his lips, his face pale. “What is it you want?”

“Names,” Tama said. “I want names of the Bloodspeakers you know among the Unicorn. Your master has been killed, and his servants run amok. You have doubtless felt the murderous urges he sent to all his followers. The Khan has commanded that we end their rampage, and you will help me do that.”

“So you can torture and then kill me?” Tudev spat. “Do it, then! I gain nothing by telling you!”

“Not true,” Tama corrected. “Tell me what you know, and if you speak the truth, I will free you.”

Tudev stayed very still for a moment. “Lies,” he whispered.

“No,” she said. “One Bloodspeaker escaping in exchange for the destruction of many others is acceptable to me, and the Khan has given me this task. If you aid me, then I will free you and you will be banished from our lands forever. Your name and likeness will be given to magistrates of every clan. You will be an outcast, and you will likely die.” She leaned a bit closer. “But you will be free, and you will be spared the agony I will otherwise inflict upon you.” She leaned back, and again dipped the needle into the Slayer’s Vial. “I will give you one minute to decide.”

It did not take Tudev a minute.