A Legend Falls by Travis Bughi

Author:Travis Bughi [Bughi, Travis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, epic, samurai, antihero, grimdark, villain hero
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

By a miracle, and the deft hand of Takeo’s personal surgeon, Kuniko did not die that night. She didn’t die in the morning, either, but neither could anyone say for certain that she would live. Fevers ravaged her body, and assuming she survived those, there was no telling how or when she’d recover.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Gavin’s prediction from coming true.

Reports started with a trickle in the morning, carried by winged pixiu sent from throughout the southern region of Juatwa. Weary messengers came next, some astride even wearier mounts, teetering with exhaustion at having run or rode through the night. None carried good news.

Qadir had quite literally emptied the Nguyen vaults and coordinated every willing ninja clan into a massive attack across all of Juatwa.

Lord Virote Yang was dead. Garroted while he relieved himself.

Several members of the Zhao family—distant cousins of Kuniko with closer ties to the late Lady Ki—were captured and being held for ransom. Payment was demanded in either an absurd amount of money or withdrawal of the troops from the war. They weren’t demanding this of Takeo, but of the daimyo that had pledged their troops to him. Considering how the Lady Ki had been treated in her final years, a good half of the Zhao family had already made its decision, and the message that was sent to Takeo’s camp was also a command to return home all those samurai belonging to the Zhao family.

The Choi, Hu, and Sun families had been ransacked of either powerful or precious members, and they were requesting aid from Takeo. Either he would pay the ransom or rescue the hostages, or else they would abandon him. They claimed to have no choice, yet added respectfully that—of course—Takeo would see them through this ordeal.

Then it got worse. Other daimyo had chosen to be the aggressors rather than the victims.

The families of the late Lady Xie and Lord Sing sprung the betrayal Takeo had known was coming. He had spared their lives in exchange for their samurai because, at the time, Takeo needed every able body he could muster, and he had hoped to have the whole of Juatwa conquered before they turned on him. Plus, how could they betray him with no soldiers at the ready? He never thought they’d be so brazen as to help ninjas capture other royalty. The two families had organized a gathering of select Hanu and Katsu parents—older ones with strong ties to their sons and daughters under the command of Takeo—then captured and sold them off to ninjas for ransom.

Either way, the message was clear: abandon the ronin, or the prisoners die. However, for good measure, the ninjas had killed a few already.

Attempts were made on the lives of Lady Zhenzhen and Lord Oiu, but both were unsuccessful. Reports stated that Zhenzhen had been locked away for months in self-imposed isolation. She’d been unwilling to see anyone for any reason, which Takeo took as a sign of her increasing madness, but it proved to be her saving grace.

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