Free L5r - scroll 05 - The Crab by Stan Brown, Stan Page B

Kisada.
    "How sad that Toturi was so rash in his ascension," said a cool, feminine voice from behind the Great Bear.
    Kisada turned.
    Bayushi Kachiko, the Lady Scorpion, silently moved to his side. She wore a scarlet kimono—a vestige of her now-outlawed clan. Her hair was pulled back into an intricate knot. She wore a mask, as all Scorpions did, but hers was more natural than most. She had a delicate, vaguely butterfly-shaped lattice of crimson paint and lavender lace affixed around each eye. It made Kachiko seem as though she could see all things at once, and that was not far from the truth.
    The Scorpion Clan was well known for its information network—they had spies everywhere and raised the social skills of flattery and polite gossip to art forms. No one trusted a Scorpion, yet everyone spoke to them. And the most cunning, most sweetly engaging, most subtly seductive Scorpion of all was Bayushi Kachiko.
    In spite of himself, Kisada found Kachiko's presence at his elbow both distracting and welcome.
    "Toturi did what was in the empire's best interest!" The Great Bear shook his head and focused on the discussion rather than Kachiko's intoxicating perfume. "He believed—we all believed—that Shoju slew the young Hantei. Toturi knew that the throne could not sit vacant long and, if he did not take it, a new fight would break out between the clans. He knew that he was the one person we would all support as the new emperor. He claimed the throne for the sake of Rokugan, not to fulfill some personal ambition."
    Kachiko raised her eyebrows as if scandalized.
    Another mask, thought Kisada. Kachiko changed moods to suit her situation. She could appear demure and chaste one moment and lascivious the next. Under it all she was as cold and calculating as a trained assassin.
    "Of course Toturi did what he thought was best," she said and flashed a smile. "But if he was willing to make that sacrifice, he should have been willing to do what was necessary to keep the throne. Particularly from the weakling son of the former emperor."
    "Th-that man is to be your husband!" Kisada could barely stammer out the words. He looked over his shoulder to see the young Hantei the 39th complaining that the cleft throne hurt his delicate behind. Kisada would have laughed if not for the dire consequences this unproven ruler spelled for the empire.
    "How can you slander him so?"
    Kachiko leaned very close. Whether this was so that no one could possibly overhear her or so that her soft warm body would rub against the Great Bear, Kisada would never know.
    "I have done what I needed to survive," the Lady Scorpion whispered. "I have saved myself from the execution that should have been my punishment for my late husband's crimes. This does not mean that I am blind to the fact that my future husband is a weak-willed, easily manipulated litde boy."
    How boldly she laid out her plan, thought Kisada. Surely she means to become the power behind the throne, pulling the boy's emotions and planting ideas in his head so that he acted at her accord. The Scorpion had won the throne after all.
    "That is not what is best for Rokugan!" Kachiko continued. "Toturi would have made a better emperor. If he had decided to kill the young Hantei, or even deny his claim to the throne, who would have opposed him? Certainly not the Crab Clan."
    Kisada shifted uncomfortably but said nothing.
    "Clearly the empire needs a strong leader. Clearly my fianc^ is not that. What will it mean? Can things go back to the way they were when so many men of action have come within a whisker's length of claiming greatness? Somehow, I doubt it. We are doomed to live in turbulent times until someone of conviction, power, and respect claims the Emerald Throne for himself."
    "Or herself," Kisada said slyly.
    Kachiko looked at him with mock disbelief. "A woman on the throne?" she said. "You know that would never happen."
    "Perhaps not," agreed the Great Bear, "but even a demur wife has subtle control