Read L5r - scroll 05 - The Crab for Free Online

struck her blade aside with his tetsubo. Her wrist twisted painfully, and the short sword flew.
    "I will not kill you now, little one, but you will remember that I could have." Yakamo said with no compassion in his voice.
    "I will!" Tears had begun to form in the girl's eyes, but she bravely held them back. "I will remember everything about today.
    My name is Mirumoto Hitomi, and by all the honor of my clan, I swear to avenge my brother's death. I will find you one day, Hida Yakamo. I will find you, and I will kill you!"
    She fell to her knees and wept bitterly.
    "I'll be where all good Crab can be found—on the Great Wall defending the empire!" Yakamo turned and walked back toward the Crab camp. "Seek me there, if you dare."
    "Now you understand my lesson, Young Bear," said Yakamo's sensei placing a hand on his student's massive shoulder.
    "Yes, Sensei," Yakamo said proudly. "Yes, I believe I do."
    xxxxxxxx
    "How long ago was that?" asked Sukune.
    "Nearly ten years ago," answered Yakamo. "She has not forgotten her brother's death. Mirumoto Hitomi has grown into a fine warrior!"
    "Yes," agreed Sukune, "but she still wants your head!"
    "She knows where to find me." Yakamo yawned. "I suppose it doesn't matter whether I die at the hands of a goblin or a Dragon— as long as I die on the Wall."
    FORM AND FUNCTION
    Pitch the daimyo's tent there!" It was an order that Kuni Yori needn't give. These servants followed Hida Kisada as he traveled up and down the length of the Carpenter's Wall. Everywhere he stopped, they turned a local grotto into the Crab Clan strategic headquarters. "Make sure the daimyo has access to both the courtyard and the command tent!" Kuni Yori was well aware the servants knew where everything went, but giving orders, particularly pointless ones, reinforced the distance between Kisada and his servants.
    Workers pounded tall stakes into the hard earth. On them they hung a long single bolt of silk, emblazoned with the Crab Clan mon. An impromptu courtyard and reflecting garden took shape for the daimyo's use.
    Hida Yakamo strode up to where Yori stood. "You waste your time and everyone else's with this cheap theater dress courtyard!" As always, he made no effort to hide his disdain for Yori's sense of decorum.
    Kuni Yori was the Great Bear's closest adviser, but no man in the Crab army was more dissimilar to Hida Kisada. Yori was a slight man with a pallid complexion, which he accentuated by painting it spectral white. He was a shugenja, and certain eccentricities were to be expected of magic users, but Yori made himself a mask more complex than many Scorpions wore. He claimed it was a mystic symbol that gave him power over creatures of the Shadowlands. The unnerving symbol, along with Yori's naturally domineering personality, gave him power over nearly everyone.
    "Yori, you are a skilled shugenja and a gifted tactician," said Yakamo. "You could talk a hawk out of the sky, but you are far too taken with polite culture. Why does my father need a courtyard when he spends most of his days actually on the Wall? The power of his office lies in his strong right arm, not in the bowing and scraping of supplicants. Does he look like that weakling who sits on the Emerald Throne?"
    "The daimyo needs a courtyard because of what it represents to the soldiers and commoners around him," said Yori. "The courtyard is a place where life and death decisions are made, Yakamo-san. It is a place of mystery that most of them will never see, but if they do, it will change their lives completely. To generals it is a place where they can show deference in the way befitting their commander. To the other clans it is a place where the daimyo rules absolutely—even the emperor would not dare enter this courtyard and order your father about. It creates the image of a great man and a great leader."
    "Bah!" spat a gruff voice from within the makeshift courtyard. "I do not want to 'create the image of a great man'—I am a great warrior. Let