To Chart the Clouds: A Legend of the Five Rings Novel by Evan Dicken

Author:Evan Dicken [Dicken, Evan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: samurai, legend of the five rings, media tie-in, fantasy
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2022-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

“I don’t believe you.” Shinzō gripped the hilt of his sword, but Isami was grateful to see it remained sheathed for the moment.

“It hardly matters what you believe. The records are there.” Keisuke kept his hands well clear of his blades.

“Lady Miya,” Shinzō turned to Isami, “this is but another ruse.”

“If I wanted you dead,” Keisuke replied, “I had but to order Masaru to cut your throat.”

Shinzō looked as if he wished to spit. “The Scorpion wishes to lure us into his lair.”

“Ah, yes, Journey’s End City,” Keisuke said with a wry thrust of his chin. “Truly, the Bayushi will shower me with accolades when I present them with an apprentice cartographer and disgraced archivist.”

Isami ignored the insult. “What does Keisuke have to gain by taking us to the Scorpion archives?”

“Information,” Shinzō spat back. “None know where we are, so no one will speak out if we are tortured for details.”

“Details on what exactly?” Keisuke cocked his head. “The finer points of Lion genealogy?” He flicked his fingers at Isami. “How to properly shade riverbanks?”

Gorobei’s stifled chuckle earned a glare from Shinzō, but the former rōnin only shook his head.

“He makes a fair point.”

“Are you not familiar with the parable of the Scorpion and the Frog?” Shinzō’s scowl was as unyielding as granite. “He is a Bayushi, he does not need a reason for betrayal. If we trust this man, we shall be dead before winter, mark my words.”

“You speak of betrayal, yet the only blade I needed fear was yours.” Isami could see from the twitch of Shinzō’s frown that her barb had struck home. Isami’s already brittle temper began to fracture. Master Tadataka had spoken of moving sand, but Ikoma Shinzō was like a boulder – difficult to shift and impossible to stop once he had begun rolling.

Isami swallowed against the tightness in her throat. She needed to resolve this argument before things ended in blood. There was but one path left to chart.

“If you cannot see reason, then go.”

As she had hoped, the suddenness of Isami’s command seemed to surprise Shinzō.

“Are you not a scholar? Do you not deal in facts?” Isami took a step toward the archivist, uncomfortably aware he still had a hand on his blade. “We have lain out our arguments. If anger overwhelms your reason, then there is nothing more to say.”

“Lady?” Confusion warred with fury in Shinzō’s eyes.

“Return to Lord Hanbei, tell him the Scorpion have quit Stone Willow Valley. He will be pleased, I’m sure. Perhaps he will even reinstate some small scrap of your former reputation.” Isami made a vague gesture toward the north. “You will have delivered new land to the Lion, at least until Lady Kaede arrives with reinforcements and drenches the valley in blood.”

Shinzō opened his mouth, but no words emerged.

“Would you give your life for your clan?” Isami asked. “For the Empire?”

“Without question.” Shinzō’s reply came before Isami had even finished.

“Then do it,” she said. “If this is a trap, you are no more doomed than now.

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