THE COLD DARK DAWN

The Cold Dark Dawn

The samurai who stepped forward to greet them - like the rest of the samurai who stood and looked to the two riders - bore the standard of a coiled dragon, all in gold and green. The first rider wore a similar banner on his back but his was of a unicorn, noble and fierce and matching his colors of purple and gold. The third rider wore no banner at all. The two riders dismounted and the samurai bowed low to them both. As the samurai recovered from the bow, her eyes fell on the two riders and her delicate lips spoke. "Shinjo Yasamura", she said to the samurai from the Unicorn Clan, "and Toturi-san," she said to the other unadorned samurai. The two returned her bow.

"Samurai-ko," the Unicorn began.

"She is Mirumoto Hitomi," said Toturi, his voice low like thunder.

Shinjo Yasamura smiled under his mustache, his gaze falling on Hitomi's soft features, so contrasted by her hard eyes. "Mirumoto Hitomi, I did not know the training for Dragon samurai began so young."

As she spoke, Hitomi's voice was as sweet as summer fruit, but her eyes as dark as Toturi's. "Some must grow up sooner than others," she said.

Toturi nodded and pointed back behind the samurai-maiden. "What do you think of that?" Both samurai turned to face the great mountains that reached up to the morning sky and the tight pass that stood before them.

"Only a few men at a time," Hitomi said. "No room for riders."

"Their cavalry cannot match ours," Shinjo Yasamura said. "But even that is little comfort.

Toturi nodded. "We need more men. We need more time."

"There is no time!" Hitomi's voice nearly crackled with her anger. "With you it is always 'Wait, be patient.' Do you think the Crab armies are waiting? Do you think they are patient?"

"Their impatience will be to our advantage, Hitomi." The calm in Toturi's voice was enough to still her rage, but Toturi knew the rage inside a samurai driven by revenge would not sit still forever. "Regardless, we must take Beiden Pass from the Crab. The fate of the Empire depends upon it."

Yasamura shook his head. "Easily said, Toturi. Not so easily accomplished."

Toturi nodded. "I agree. That is why we must employ every advantage we have. The Dragon samurai are known for their strange understandings of magic."

"It is our shugenja who are the spellcasters," the Dragon samurai-maiden corrected. "We have developed their ways into our tactics, that is all."

Toturi nodded. "I understand. You must teach me these tactics. I will need a full understanding of the shugenja'' spell-casting ways to use them to full advantage."

Hitomi nodded. "I shall."

"Also, I shall need to speak to the ise zumi in your army."

"The tattooed men," Yasamura whispered. Toturi heard a slight tremble in the Unicorn's voice as he spoke. Yes, the Dragon had many mysterious orders among their samurai. No other Clan was so enigmatic as the Dragon.

Hitomi spoke then. "Can we count on the strength of the Unicorn cavalry, Yasamura?"

It seemed as if Hitomi's words had broken him from a trance. "Yes. Yes you can. We will be ready."

"Then go back to your horses," Toturi said. "We must meet the Crab armies before they reach halfway through the Pass. Once they are entrenched, no amount of tactics will move them."

Yasamura bowed to both samurai and mounted his horse in a single motion. Toturi watched him do it and was still uncertain how it was done. There are many things he could learn from both the Unicorn and the Dragon. He would need all of them to defeat the army that faced him on the other side of the Pass.

"Toturi-san?"

This time, it was Toturi's turn to find Hitomi's voice breaking him from a trance. He looked down on the samurai-maiden. "Yes, Hitomi?"

Her eyes were a deep brown, nearly black, and Toturi suspected that the hate that was inside her may have something to do with their color. "This army was mine to command. Given to me by Togashi Yokuni himself as a gift given on the day of my gempukku."

"Your coming of age ceremony, yes I know."

Her eyes narrowed and her hand fell to the katana at her side. Toturi knew the question that was to be asked. "Then why, only one week ago, did he take it from me and give it to you, a dishonored coward?"

Toturi nodded. Two years ago, his katana would have flown from its sheath and sliced at her with all the rage and fury of a Lion samurai. But he was no longer a Lion samurai. He was a ronin. A warrior without honor, cast down from the Emperor's grace.

"I was not always a ronin, Hitomi."

Her hand never moved from her katana. "You were the Champion of the Lion Clan. You were the greatest general in the Empire. Now, you are nothing."

"I am the general of his army, Hitomi. Your Daimyo Togashi Yokuni put me in this position. If you question my authority, you question his. Is that your intention?"

Toturi watched her eyes closely. He knew the rage she carried inside of her and was ready at any moment to defend her right to lead the army into battle against the Crab. The black fire in Hitomi's eyes never faltered, but her hand moved slowly away from her katana and she took one step back as her body bent in a low bow. "I will acknowledge your right to lead the armies of the Dragon, fallen Lion, but if you fail us, it will not be a Crab that takes your life."

"If I fail you, it will be my own steel that takes my life, Hitomi."

She nodded quickly and turned to walk back to the Dragons making ready for war. As she did, Toturi took a step forward and said, "I miss your brother, too Hitomi."

The samurai-maiden stopped. Her whole body stiffened and her hand fell once again to the katana in her obi, but she did not turn.

"Is it true that you carry his blade with you?"

Her voice was hardly above a whisper. "Aye."

"I need a samurai driven by courage, not by revenge. I need your strength, Hitomi, not your hatred."

"You will get what I give you, ronin."

Hitomi stood silent with her back to the him, then continued on her way back to the Dragon samurai. Toturi stood and watched her leave, then turned his attentions back to Beiden Pass. He had the Unicorn, the mightiest cavalry in the Empire. He had the enigmatic magic of the spell casting Dragon shugenja and their equally mysterious samurai. And he had his Lion heritage, despite what any others may think. He was still a Lion, trained from birth to follow bushido, the way of the warrior.

"They may have taken away my name," he said to the sunrise, "but they cannot take away my heart. They cannot take away what a hundred generations have given to me."

Then he thought of the army on the other side of the Pass.

"And it still may not be enough," he whispered. Suddenly, the morning air was very cold.