The darkened sky was thick with the acrid smell of burning flesh.  The bodies of the dead lay scattered on the battlefield like forgotten child’s playthings.  The vultures were flying high overhead marking the area where soon their feast would begin.

Bayushi Hidari cradled his wounded arm, his tattered cloak whipping in the cold wind.  Hidari looked around and saw very few of his fellow samurai moving.  He absentmindedly meandered to the rocky knoll, half aware that the command post had been set up there.  To him, this scene reminded him of some other occasion, similar to this, but he recalled much more screaming and burning.  Only the silence answered him, playing with his matted hair, stroking his mempo covered face.  At last he recalled, the night of the Scorpion’s greatest triumph and also of their most bitter defeat.  So many dead, the clan had been betrayed again.  Finally, Hidari reached the knoll and saw the signalers sprawled faced down in the dirt, still clutching their flags.  There was no one alive here, the ripped and burnt sashimono of the Scorpion fluttered weakly in the wind.  Hidari looked at it as if some meaning had been scrawled on its crimson colored design.  Faintly, he heard sounds of marching and of movement and his instincts kicked in.  He sprang down lithely from the escarpment jolting his bruised arm, momentarily losing his balance.  Hidari hid near the base of a crooked tree, blending himself with the rest of the strewn Scorpions.  Eying the direction where the sounds had come from, he waited.  Minutes passed by when finally he saw the shapes of armored warriors approaching the knoll.

He heard them speak:

“Is it true?”

“What is, Kenzo?”

“That the Scorpions will be banished?”

“Hai.  Apparently, that bitch interceded and spared them their lives again.  If only wee had been allowed to kill them all the first time, none of this would have ever happened.”

“But they say that they did not do it.”

“Eh, Would you ever trust the Scorpion to ever tell the truth?  Of course not.  They’ll be covering their tails and avoid the blame for anything.  The only good Scorpion is a dead one, if you ask me.”

The other voice grunted in approval.

“Lets start back or we’ll be late.”

Orders were given, and things were prepared, until finally the patrol left.  Hidari laid there and thought “banished?  Banished where?”  As the dying ember that was Lady Sun sank low in the western horizon, Hidari rose and slowly walked back to the Scorpion lines fully aware that it would be another turning point in the history of the clan, something in which they had no part in but were being blamed for.

Come participate in Storm of War IV: Lies and Betrayals, a Clan War Tournament
Saturday, July 7, 2001 from 11:00 am at Adventure Games & Hobbies, 1074 Jose E. Arraras St. in Mayagüez Puerto Rico.  Call 787-832-1840 for more details.
2,000 Koku Army list prizes are AEG Prize Certificates for 1^st, 2^nd and best painted army, so come join us.

Where the Sword strikes, The soul also follows...
More to come...