"Speak to me, Nikutai, my most beloved servant."
"This dawn, my men captured two heimen, half-mad with fear. They were unrecognized and had no travelling papers, and were interrogated."
"What did you find, Nikutai?"
"The men spoke of a clandestine meeting of samurai and a Mantis. They also spoke, after three hours, of a prisoner. I investigated, and discovered several things of note: A small boat, sunken just offshore. A previously unknown sake house, burnt to the ground. So was the small forest that hid it. A minor oni, burnt and drowned. A single arrow, fletched in the manner of the Wasp. The corpse of the Mantis, his weaponry and other effects missing. A large box, of the type for concealing daisho. Its lock was crudely broken. Several chains of poor make. And this, lady:"
Without looking up, Nikutai reached forward, handing over a small scrap.
His lord received the offering. "The Kitsuki mon. Which of my magistrates have gone missing that were in the area?"
"None."
"But you know who?"
"I believe it is from the kimono of Kitsuki Kaagiko. There is a partial remainder of a personal mon along the edge."
"Mmm. Kaagiko. Did not she die three years past?"
"Hai, so it is believed. No body was found, however, and the only witness disappeared before we could find it."
"Very well. You may begin the hunt." Nikutai leaned forward, kissing the black stone hand that was offered to him.
"Your will, milady."
The final days of the Empire have begun.
At the behest of Yoritomo, a small band of samurai came to the coasts of the former Cranelands.
Kisada, a ronin of a fallen Crab lord.
Agasha Dorai, a brash Phoenix shugenja.
Shosaru, a simple pearldiver and possessed of strange magic.
Yasuki Dheandro, one of the Crab's staggling warriors in the darklands.
Kitsuki Kaagiko, a traitor to Fu Leng's force and a lunatic, who bears artifacts nearly as black as her past.
Hounded by Hitomi's men, cut off from Yoritomo's forces, thrust together by the whims of the Fortunes, these five rush into the deepest pits of the Porcelain Empire...