e Duty of War
Chapter 15
Winter, 1236 - Kaiu Kabe
The next day, Harun left Kyuden Hida in the pouring rain and headed for the Wall. The fifty bushi that Hida Nasu was taking to the wall set a strong pace that Harun was able to keep up with at first but was more difficult as the day went on.
It had been only two months since Toshi Ranbo, two months since he had been with the Legion. Was he that much out of training?
Harun had attracted a little attention, but while he was in the armour Nasu had arranged for him to wear he had a certain amount of anonymity. Like wearing a second skin. He liked it.
The rainclouds were low and thick so their view of the wall on the horizon was hidden. Thick clouds, grey and…black? Was there some sort of fire?
They kept on, spending the night at Shiro Kakeguchi and then heading on in the morning into the rain. It seemed even worse than the day before. Cold, hard and relentless and it would not cease until Harun would return to Kyuden Hida five days later. He had dealt with such hardships in the Legion. Long marches, training at dawn, rides through the night and through the rain. But this was something else, it soaked his purple wool and four coat and drops started creeping in under his armour, next to his skin. It wasn’t pleasant.
The Crab didn’t notice the rain at all. They marched on regardless. So Harun tried to make it look as if it didn’t bother him.
That afternoon they began to see more of the Wall as it emerged through the clouds. A long strip of grey, solid and unbroken. As they headed south, it got taller, and taller. And, though it didn’t seem possible, taller still. Rising above the rows of buildings of the villages that ran parallel to it. Grey against the black smoky clouds that seemed to emanate from somewhere below.
Rising, and continuing to ride as they headed towards it. Impossibly tall. It seemed incredible that it could have been built by mere men. Permanent, impregnable.
And yet…Harun knew that it had fallen at least once in his life time. That the Crab had been beaten back to it, bloody and at the edge of defeat. And they had held on, and survived, despite everything.
When the got to the edge of the village, Harun could not help but stop and look up.
“You stand there long enough with your mouth open, rain is going to fall in,” said Nasu.
Harun blinked, still in awe. “It’s beyond anything I ever imagined.”
Nasu nodded.
“Men built that thing?” Harun asked in amazement.
Nasu nodded again. “That’s all that ever stands between Rokugan and the hordes of the Shadowlands,” he said. “Stone and the blood and steel of the Crab.”
Harun looked along, thinking. “Hard to get up there?”
“Easier than it has been,” said Nasu.
He nodded to the long rope hung up on poles that seemed to run parallel to the wall. Harun looked closer at it, the rope moved. How was that possible? He asked Nasu.
“All in good time,” Nasu reassured him, leading Harun along the dirty, smoky main street of the village. “There’s a great many things you will see here that you’ll find hard to explain up north.”
Harun nodded in agreement. “It seems a different world.”
Nasu grinned. “Welcome to the wall.”
The smoke and the pouring rain hid a lot, and it added to the overall grim atmosphere. The street was full of Crab bushi. All heavily armoured, and most of them male. A sea of blue and grey that Harun almost seamlessly slipped into.
Buildings of stone and wood lined either side of the street. Barracks, mess halls, houses and some places that seemed more inclined towards entertainment and drinking. Some of them back onto the very Wall itself.
Dividing the street was the rope line, still moving and every now and again Harun could see the wheeled poles pass accompanied by a very strange metallic noise. Harun wanted to get closer to see what it was, but the rest wanted to keep moving forward.
They then went into one of the barracks, the stone building even plainer than what Harun had seen at Kyuden Hida. Merely rolled futons in rows against the stone wall with an iron strongbox for possessions. When Harun got to his, he saw something carved in the stone wall. Names.
Hida Yasu….Hida Noriya…Hiruma Kaigen… Harun ran his fingers along the markings. Who were these people? But Harun didn’t have time to consider this long as everyone started leaving.
“You coming, Harun?” Nasu asked.
“Where are we going?” Harun asked him.
“Training,” said Nasu. “Then…up.”
Harun went with them simply because he didn’t want to get left behind.
They trained in an open courtyard behind the barracks. In the pouring rain. In full armour. Drills, tests of strength and endurance. And at such a pace that it was all Harun could do to keep up. Not even training with the Legion had been this gruelling. When moved onto defensive formations, Harun stepped out, leaning against the wall to get his breath back. The Hida bushi knew them as naturally as breathing, moving flawlessly as Nasu called them out, each one finding his proper place.
It’s like leaves falling in the wind, Harun thought, it’s almost beautiful.
When they were done, everyone moved on straight away. No breathers, nothing. Harun went with them, trying to not show his energy was beginning to flag.
But Nasu seemed to notice. “You need to go back yet?”
Harun shook his head. “If they don’t get a break, I don’t.”
Nasu gave a nod but didn’t say anything.
When they crossed over to the other side of the main street, they passed under the rope. Firmly secured to the ground was something that looked like an iron ladder. It ran directly beneath the moving rope, continuing on to the left and to the right parallel to the wall. Had still had no idea what this was or what it was for, but he got no answers from the Crab. They just stepped over it as if it were of no consequence and kept walking.
Once on the other side, they went right up to the wall in an opening between two buildings. Two ropes hung from the top of the wall and reached all the way down to the bottom. Tied to one looked like some sort of weight. Tied to the other was a large iron cage, large enough to fit several people. It descended slowly, being pulled down by two burly Crab, the cage swaying slightly as it came down. And there were people inside.
Harun stood next to Nasu as the cage came down. The cage doors opened and quickly they all drew as far back as they could as the people inside came out. Harun was wondering what was going on, and then he realised why.
The people who came out of the cage were clearly tainted. Pale, thin, some even with pustules and boils. Five of them in total. Harun took a deep breath in. He had seen Taint before, not just the ones he had killed with the Legion but samurai who had been infected. This was dealt with quietly to not affect morale. But these Crab bushi had weapons, they were walking about openly.
Harun looked quickly at Nasu. They met eyes. Nasu shrugged.
The Tainted bushi passed, they started to get into the cage. Harun went with them, jammed tight and close among the Crab. The cage doors clanged shut and were bolted, then it started to ascend.
Harun felt it sway as it went up, it felt strange, he didn’t like it. He stole a quick glance at the other Crab in the cage, they were letting it bother them. Harun tried to look like it didn’t bother him.
The cage went higher and higher still, it started getting very windy and cold. They were able to see more of the village spread out before the village spread out before them, the steel of the “ladders” dividing it in two. Then, with a clanking mechanical noise, he saw what looked like a small wagon moving along it trailing several wagons behind it in a train. Each of them had poles with wheels on top that connected them to the moving rope above.
Harun stared. The Crab had this hidden in plane sight down here? What would the other clans think? What would the Crane? The Lion? It did seem a terribly efficient way to move supplies over along distance though.
As long as you keep building those iron ladders…
Nasu saw him staring. He grinned proudly. “It’s a marvel, isn’t it? The Kaiu line.”
“How does it move?” Harun asked.
“There.” Nasu nodded to a building where smoke was belching out. “There’s a mechanism in there.”
So that’s what causing all the smoke…is it worth it?
The cage stopped with a jerk and the doors at the back were unbolted and opened. Harun was at the back, his initial view of what was ahead was blocked.
The crowd parted and Harun stepped out onto the wall.
Harun had seen the ruins of Toshi Ranbo, saw the bodies lying in the water as the boats went into the city. He had seen those Dragon bushi outside the palace go completely and utterly insane that he was forced to cut them down. He had seen the gates of Yomi opened with the many, many Blessed Ancestors passing through. He had seen Zetsubou’s spirit ripped from his body. Harun had seen the blackness and madness in Shimekiri’s eyes before he had taken the tainted samurai’s head.
Harun thought he had seen things. Horrible things. Incredible things. But nothing could have prepared him for his first look upon the Shadowlands.
It had a vastness like the sea, a darkness like a moonless night, a ferocity like a raging fire. It was all of these things…and none of them. It had a presence that could be felt, like heat or cold. Malevolent, sinister. A presence that could not be ignored or turned away from. It was barren, hopelessly barren and empty with no hope of actual life. Yet things did live there, things that never rested and were never not a threat.
And there was a stench that seemed to get inside his very skin. Of decay. Of corruption. Of death.
He had grown up with the Crab standing strong against the Shadowlands. Despite everything, that defiance continued, unchanged in the face of everything the forces of Jigoku threw at them. But as Harun stood her on the Wall itself, he felt incredibly vulnerable. Only a very small part of something much bigger that stood in defiance of darkness because someone had to.
Nasu came up behind him. “Can you see it?” He pointed to the southwest.
Harun looked where the Crab bushi pointed. He thought he could see the outlines of a fortress, but the shadows were playing tricks on him so he couldn’t be sure.
“Shiro Hiruma,” said Nasu. “Lost before our time, but ours to take back.”
“Ours?” Harun looked at Nasu.
Nasu chuckled. “In time, you need to be ready before you get on that side of the Wall.”
“I want to,” said Harun, almost eagerly. He wanted to prove himself.
“I know,” said Nasu. “Let’s see do your duty to my cousin first.”
Harun’s nightmares returned that night with a furious intensity. Perhaps seeing the Shadowlands for the first time, or just their mere proximity.
He found himself in the throne room in Otosan Uchi, the golden screen hiding the Emperor from view. Kyoumi, his father, Arami and all the members of the court watching an Otomo making a dry, droning speech.
Harun looked around, distracted and bored but he knew he couldn’t leave.
But then the screen pulled back to reveal not the Emperor, but Daigotsu Shimekiri. Sitting on the Emperor’s Golden Throne, his face a mask of face paint and blood, grinning like a madman.
But there was no reaction, no one even turned from watching the Otomo.
Can’t they see him? Harun looked around frantically. To his father, to Kyoumi, to the Seppun guards who just stood there as if hypnotised.
I’ll have to do this myself, he quickly ran towards the throne, drawing his sword as he moved, how many times do I have to kill this baka…
The Seppun quickly turned on him, drawing their weapons. His father was among them, drawing people behind him as he drew the Emerald Blade.
No! No! Can’t they see what is going on? Harun fought them off but there were so many. They kept coming, and coming. He fought them all.
“Stop!”
Arahime appeared in the purest white, she seemed to shine with light. She carried a sword red with blood.
“Arahime, look, we have to kill him!” Harun pleased. “Help me! Please!”
Arahime shook her head, she looked very grave. They all stopped and look at her. “You are the one who has ruined everything Harun,” she said. Her voice cold and hard. “I have to fix it.”
She then plunged her katana into his chest.
Harun woke up in a pool of sweat, gasping, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. His chest stung and itched where Arahime had stabbed him.
And then he realised he wasn’t alone, every Crab in the barracks was in a ring around them. And next to him was Nasu, who was holding out a piece of jade to him.
Harun blinked. “What? But you know me!”
Nasu’s face was like stone. “Take it.”
Every eye was on Harun as he took that Jade. He held it out open in his hand so they could see there was no reaction.
They all then dispersed.
Harun stared at Nasu. “They thought I was….”
Nasu shrugged. “We all do it, Harun, no exceptions.”
The food in the mess hall was hearty and served in large portions. Noodles, rice with everything fried and greasy and topped with bonito and broth. And eaten quickly with little regard for mess or appearances.
Harun found he could not eat much, not just from the table manners of his table mates but the nightmares of Arahime had left his stomach unsettled. He could still see her, her eyes alight with cold fury, shining in white light like a star.
He looked around at the crowded mess hall. What would Arahime think of this place? Would she even be here?
He shrugged. Thinking of her hurt, but not thinking of her was worse. And there she was, her face staring at him in his nightmares.
Nasu said he had duties that morning, so Harun went off on his own. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of life at the Wall. The strength and courage of the Crab he had to admire, but the fact that Nasu was able to shrug off things that were quite shocking didn’t sit quite well with Harun.
Just outside the barracks there was a large stone with many markings all over it. Harun noticed that the Crab passed it slowly, touching it almost reverently. Harun went closer, it was full of names.
Hida Suru…Kaiu Urei…Hida Dosan…Hida Senshin…Hiruma Kabuo… And more, many, many more.
Who were these people? These had to be deaths, the names of the fallen.
And then, as Harun continued to walk through the village, he began to see more of them. Little niches carved into the wall with names, more names. Chipped into the side of buildings, on rocks and shrines and even into the wall itself.
He paused near one, seeing a group of Crab bushi standing quietly while one of them inscribed a name. They were silent, reverent, and then repeated the name. Loudly, confidently, as if by saying it they banished any doubts or negativity. Harun moved on, not wanting to disturb them.
Later in the day, when he saw Nasu Harun asked him about the names.
“Yes, they are the names of the dead,” Nasu confirmed. “When the Onyx War was at its worst and we lived on the Wall itself, we lost so many. So many sacrifices…you know something of that of course.”
Harun nodded. “They need to be remembered.”
“They do, but this is a bit more than that,” Nasu explained. “We keep their names here to protect them, so hopefully don’t meet them in battle later.”
They walked on in silence for a moment, Harun reflected on the Crab’s words. Living on the wall. “How bad did it get?”
Nasu’s face darkened. “You don’t want to know.”
“Nasu, you know I wouldn’t think less of you or…”
Nasu shook his head. “It’s not that,” he said. “It’s…it’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there.”
“Tell me,” said Harun.
Nasu stopped, frowning. “Might be better if I showed you. Come on.”
He took Harun inside the wall, guided him around trap doors and hazards until they came to a solid iron door. The door had several heavy locks and it was also inlaid with jade. Harun helped Nasu unfasten them, both of them pulling the massive door back to reveal…another door even more sturdy than the last. Once this was open, Harun followed Nasu inside. The Crab moved slowly, like he was approaching a shrine.
Inside the room was small and cold, there were no windows.
Nasu quickly lit a lantern, and it was then Harun saw it. The walls were covered with markings, covering the lower half of the wall. Harun went closer, getting down on one knee to examine. Most of it was pictures, large bushi with weapons fighting oni and tainted samurai, charging into battle. Crudely made, as if those who had done it were not very good with either ink or charcoal.
Or…children… Harun shuddered.
Nasu got down next to Harun. “This is where I grew up. The ones who stand on the Wall now, this room was the first wall we knew. This and others like it.” He gently touched a rough drawing of the Jade Sun. “The first thing I remember was how important it was to survive, to stay alive so that I could one day to stand on the wall with my father and grandfather. To fight by the side of those who protected us.” His face clouded over. “I survived, there were many who did not.” He looked at Harun. “Did you know Harun I had an older brother?”
Harun shook his head.
“Yoshida, he was badly wounded. I saw him afterwards,” said Nasu. “The next day he was gone, he walked out into the Shadowlands just as our grandfather had, so resources could not be wasted on a man who could no longer fight. The Shadowlands weren’t our only enemy then. The other was hunger, the older we got the more we knew about it.
Harun nodded. He knew something about this, growing up in the years of famine in the Crane lands. The children eating separately from the adults, the adults making excuses until the children were old enough to see through them. The journeys they made during those times under heavy guard, seeing the lean faces of the peasants as they passed them on the roads. And then there was that time when his family was travelling with Doji Arami and the village they had sought shelter from a storm in had no food to offer them. Arami insisted that they share what food they had with the peasants.
“The Crane suffered, we all did during the famine,” said Harun, trying to help but knowing his words were hollow.
“No, not like this,” insisted Nasu. “We had to fight everyday for our very survival, so that there were others to keep fighting to replace the ones that fell. And to fight the ones that go back up. No one gets this, no one wants to. If they did, they would be here.”
“I am here Nasu, I can tell them,” said Harun. “And you are here too, you did survive.”
Nasu touched Harun’s arm gently. “Thank you.”
Harun got to his feet, trying to imagine what it was like to grow up here. To never leave these walls, to see the sun… Harun understood Nasu’s reverence, this place was a shrine to the strength of the Crab. To their survival…but at what cost?
Yet there was more to life at the Wall than there appeared to be. Even there Harun could see little glimmers of colour amid the gloom and the grey.
Like the geisha who would walk the main street of the Wall village in the evenings. Their make up garish and colourful, their kimonos bright with their obis fastened at the front. Attendants lit their way with lanterns and protected them with parasols.
Harun watched them go by, not sure what to think. In Crane lands, ‘ladies’ such as these would not have paraded about so openly or received so open a welcome.
Then there was the kabuki play, one even Harun knew, the Thousand Cherry Blossoms. It was rough, no costumes and what little music there was hastily learned by the shamisen player and drummer. The actors roles were chosen from small scraps of paper drawn out of a helmet. Harun found the whole thing quite bizarre, but did manage to laugh in a few places and tried to appreciate it for what it was.
The actors and a good portion of the audience adjourned to the sake house after the performance, including Harun amongst their numbers. They were honest, straightforward accepting Harun wholeheartedly. But he could not help but think back to that morning when he had been surrounded by a ring of Crab ready to act if he had failed the Test of Jade.
The Crab had survived, but what had they turned into? And was it something Harun wanted to be a part of?
Chapter 15
Winter, 1236 - Kaiu Kabe
The next day, Harun left Kyuden Hida in the pouring rain and headed for the Wall. The fifty bushi that Hida Nasu was taking to the wall set a strong pace that Harun was able to keep up with at first but was more difficult as the day went on.
It had been only two months since Toshi Ranbo, two months since he had been with the Legion. Was he that much out of training?
Harun had attracted a little attention, but while he was in the armour Nasu had arranged for him to wear he had a certain amount of anonymity. Like wearing a second skin. He liked it.
The rainclouds were low and thick so their view of the wall on the horizon was hidden. Thick clouds, grey and…black? Was there some sort of fire?
They kept on, spending the night at Shiro Kakeguchi and then heading on in the morning into the rain. It seemed even worse than the day before. Cold, hard and relentless and it would not cease until Harun would return to Kyuden Hida five days later. He had dealt with such hardships in the Legion. Long marches, training at dawn, rides through the night and through the rain. But this was something else, it soaked his purple wool and four coat and drops started creeping in under his armour, next to his skin. It wasn’t pleasant.
The Crab didn’t notice the rain at all. They marched on regardless. So Harun tried to make it look as if it didn’t bother him.
That afternoon they began to see more of the Wall as it emerged through the clouds. A long strip of grey, solid and unbroken. As they headed south, it got taller, and taller. And, though it didn’t seem possible, taller still. Rising above the rows of buildings of the villages that ran parallel to it. Grey against the black smoky clouds that seemed to emanate from somewhere below.
Rising, and continuing to ride as they headed towards it. Impossibly tall. It seemed incredible that it could have been built by mere men. Permanent, impregnable.
And yet…Harun knew that it had fallen at least once in his life time. That the Crab had been beaten back to it, bloody and at the edge of defeat. And they had held on, and survived, despite everything.
When the got to the edge of the village, Harun could not help but stop and look up.
“You stand there long enough with your mouth open, rain is going to fall in,” said Nasu.
Harun blinked, still in awe. “It’s beyond anything I ever imagined.”
Nasu nodded.
“Men built that thing?” Harun asked in amazement.
Nasu nodded again. “That’s all that ever stands between Rokugan and the hordes of the Shadowlands,” he said. “Stone and the blood and steel of the Crab.”
Harun looked along, thinking. “Hard to get up there?”
“Easier than it has been,” said Nasu.
He nodded to the long rope hung up on poles that seemed to run parallel to the wall. Harun looked closer at it, the rope moved. How was that possible? He asked Nasu.
“All in good time,” Nasu reassured him, leading Harun along the dirty, smoky main street of the village. “There’s a great many things you will see here that you’ll find hard to explain up north.”
Harun nodded in agreement. “It seems a different world.”
Nasu grinned. “Welcome to the wall.”
The smoke and the pouring rain hid a lot, and it added to the overall grim atmosphere. The street was full of Crab bushi. All heavily armoured, and most of them male. A sea of blue and grey that Harun almost seamlessly slipped into.
Buildings of stone and wood lined either side of the street. Barracks, mess halls, houses and some places that seemed more inclined towards entertainment and drinking. Some of them back onto the very Wall itself.
Dividing the street was the rope line, still moving and every now and again Harun could see the wheeled poles pass accompanied by a very strange metallic noise. Harun wanted to get closer to see what it was, but the rest wanted to keep moving forward.
They then went into one of the barracks, the stone building even plainer than what Harun had seen at Kyuden Hida. Merely rolled futons in rows against the stone wall with an iron strongbox for possessions. When Harun got to his, he saw something carved in the stone wall. Names.
Hida Yasu….Hida Noriya…Hiruma Kaigen… Harun ran his fingers along the markings. Who were these people? But Harun didn’t have time to consider this long as everyone started leaving.
“You coming, Harun?” Nasu asked.
“Where are we going?” Harun asked him.
“Training,” said Nasu. “Then…up.”
Harun went with them simply because he didn’t want to get left behind.
They trained in an open courtyard behind the barracks. In the pouring rain. In full armour. Drills, tests of strength and endurance. And at such a pace that it was all Harun could do to keep up. Not even training with the Legion had been this gruelling. When moved onto defensive formations, Harun stepped out, leaning against the wall to get his breath back. The Hida bushi knew them as naturally as breathing, moving flawlessly as Nasu called them out, each one finding his proper place.
It’s like leaves falling in the wind, Harun thought, it’s almost beautiful.
When they were done, everyone moved on straight away. No breathers, nothing. Harun went with them, trying to not show his energy was beginning to flag.
But Nasu seemed to notice. “You need to go back yet?”
Harun shook his head. “If they don’t get a break, I don’t.”
Nasu gave a nod but didn’t say anything.
When they crossed over to the other side of the main street, they passed under the rope. Firmly secured to the ground was something that looked like an iron ladder. It ran directly beneath the moving rope, continuing on to the left and to the right parallel to the wall. Had still had no idea what this was or what it was for, but he got no answers from the Crab. They just stepped over it as if it were of no consequence and kept walking.
Once on the other side, they went right up to the wall in an opening between two buildings. Two ropes hung from the top of the wall and reached all the way down to the bottom. Tied to one looked like some sort of weight. Tied to the other was a large iron cage, large enough to fit several people. It descended slowly, being pulled down by two burly Crab, the cage swaying slightly as it came down. And there were people inside.
Harun stood next to Nasu as the cage came down. The cage doors opened and quickly they all drew as far back as they could as the people inside came out. Harun was wondering what was going on, and then he realised why.
The people who came out of the cage were clearly tainted. Pale, thin, some even with pustules and boils. Five of them in total. Harun took a deep breath in. He had seen Taint before, not just the ones he had killed with the Legion but samurai who had been infected. This was dealt with quietly to not affect morale. But these Crab bushi had weapons, they were walking about openly.
Harun looked quickly at Nasu. They met eyes. Nasu shrugged.
The Tainted bushi passed, they started to get into the cage. Harun went with them, jammed tight and close among the Crab. The cage doors clanged shut and were bolted, then it started to ascend.
Harun felt it sway as it went up, it felt strange, he didn’t like it. He stole a quick glance at the other Crab in the cage, they were letting it bother them. Harun tried to look like it didn’t bother him.
The cage went higher and higher still, it started getting very windy and cold. They were able to see more of the village spread out before the village spread out before them, the steel of the “ladders” dividing it in two. Then, with a clanking mechanical noise, he saw what looked like a small wagon moving along it trailing several wagons behind it in a train. Each of them had poles with wheels on top that connected them to the moving rope above.
Harun stared. The Crab had this hidden in plane sight down here? What would the other clans think? What would the Crane? The Lion? It did seem a terribly efficient way to move supplies over along distance though.
As long as you keep building those iron ladders…
Nasu saw him staring. He grinned proudly. “It’s a marvel, isn’t it? The Kaiu line.”
“How does it move?” Harun asked.
“There.” Nasu nodded to a building where smoke was belching out. “There’s a mechanism in there.”
So that’s what causing all the smoke…is it worth it?
The cage stopped with a jerk and the doors at the back were unbolted and opened. Harun was at the back, his initial view of what was ahead was blocked.
The crowd parted and Harun stepped out onto the wall.
Harun had seen the ruins of Toshi Ranbo, saw the bodies lying in the water as the boats went into the city. He had seen those Dragon bushi outside the palace go completely and utterly insane that he was forced to cut them down. He had seen the gates of Yomi opened with the many, many Blessed Ancestors passing through. He had seen Zetsubou’s spirit ripped from his body. Harun had seen the blackness and madness in Shimekiri’s eyes before he had taken the tainted samurai’s head.
Harun thought he had seen things. Horrible things. Incredible things. But nothing could have prepared him for his first look upon the Shadowlands.
It had a vastness like the sea, a darkness like a moonless night, a ferocity like a raging fire. It was all of these things…and none of them. It had a presence that could be felt, like heat or cold. Malevolent, sinister. A presence that could not be ignored or turned away from. It was barren, hopelessly barren and empty with no hope of actual life. Yet things did live there, things that never rested and were never not a threat.
And there was a stench that seemed to get inside his very skin. Of decay. Of corruption. Of death.
He had grown up with the Crab standing strong against the Shadowlands. Despite everything, that defiance continued, unchanged in the face of everything the forces of Jigoku threw at them. But as Harun stood her on the Wall itself, he felt incredibly vulnerable. Only a very small part of something much bigger that stood in defiance of darkness because someone had to.
Nasu came up behind him. “Can you see it?” He pointed to the southwest.
Harun looked where the Crab bushi pointed. He thought he could see the outlines of a fortress, but the shadows were playing tricks on him so he couldn’t be sure.
“Shiro Hiruma,” said Nasu. “Lost before our time, but ours to take back.”
“Ours?” Harun looked at Nasu.
Nasu chuckled. “In time, you need to be ready before you get on that side of the Wall.”
“I want to,” said Harun, almost eagerly. He wanted to prove himself.
“I know,” said Nasu. “Let’s see do your duty to my cousin first.”
Harun’s nightmares returned that night with a furious intensity. Perhaps seeing the Shadowlands for the first time, or just their mere proximity.
He found himself in the throne room in Otosan Uchi, the golden screen hiding the Emperor from view. Kyoumi, his father, Arami and all the members of the court watching an Otomo making a dry, droning speech.
Harun looked around, distracted and bored but he knew he couldn’t leave.
But then the screen pulled back to reveal not the Emperor, but Daigotsu Shimekiri. Sitting on the Emperor’s Golden Throne, his face a mask of face paint and blood, grinning like a madman.
But there was no reaction, no one even turned from watching the Otomo.
Can’t they see him? Harun looked around frantically. To his father, to Kyoumi, to the Seppun guards who just stood there as if hypnotised.
I’ll have to do this myself, he quickly ran towards the throne, drawing his sword as he moved, how many times do I have to kill this baka…
The Seppun quickly turned on him, drawing their weapons. His father was among them, drawing people behind him as he drew the Emerald Blade.
No! No! Can’t they see what is going on? Harun fought them off but there were so many. They kept coming, and coming. He fought them all.
“Stop!”
Arahime appeared in the purest white, she seemed to shine with light. She carried a sword red with blood.
“Arahime, look, we have to kill him!” Harun pleased. “Help me! Please!”
Arahime shook her head, she looked very grave. They all stopped and look at her. “You are the one who has ruined everything Harun,” she said. Her voice cold and hard. “I have to fix it.”
She then plunged her katana into his chest.
Harun woke up in a pool of sweat, gasping, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. His chest stung and itched where Arahime had stabbed him.
And then he realised he wasn’t alone, every Crab in the barracks was in a ring around them. And next to him was Nasu, who was holding out a piece of jade to him.
Harun blinked. “What? But you know me!”
Nasu’s face was like stone. “Take it.”
Every eye was on Harun as he took that Jade. He held it out open in his hand so they could see there was no reaction.
They all then dispersed.
Harun stared at Nasu. “They thought I was….”
Nasu shrugged. “We all do it, Harun, no exceptions.”
The food in the mess hall was hearty and served in large portions. Noodles, rice with everything fried and greasy and topped with bonito and broth. And eaten quickly with little regard for mess or appearances.
Harun found he could not eat much, not just from the table manners of his table mates but the nightmares of Arahime had left his stomach unsettled. He could still see her, her eyes alight with cold fury, shining in white light like a star.
He looked around at the crowded mess hall. What would Arahime think of this place? Would she even be here?
He shrugged. Thinking of her hurt, but not thinking of her was worse. And there she was, her face staring at him in his nightmares.
Nasu said he had duties that morning, so Harun went off on his own. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of life at the Wall. The strength and courage of the Crab he had to admire, but the fact that Nasu was able to shrug off things that were quite shocking didn’t sit quite well with Harun.
Just outside the barracks there was a large stone with many markings all over it. Harun noticed that the Crab passed it slowly, touching it almost reverently. Harun went closer, it was full of names.
Hida Suru…Kaiu Urei…Hida Dosan…Hida Senshin…Hiruma Kabuo… And more, many, many more.
Who were these people? These had to be deaths, the names of the fallen.
And then, as Harun continued to walk through the village, he began to see more of them. Little niches carved into the wall with names, more names. Chipped into the side of buildings, on rocks and shrines and even into the wall itself.
He paused near one, seeing a group of Crab bushi standing quietly while one of them inscribed a name. They were silent, reverent, and then repeated the name. Loudly, confidently, as if by saying it they banished any doubts or negativity. Harun moved on, not wanting to disturb them.
Later in the day, when he saw Nasu Harun asked him about the names.
“Yes, they are the names of the dead,” Nasu confirmed. “When the Onyx War was at its worst and we lived on the Wall itself, we lost so many. So many sacrifices…you know something of that of course.”
Harun nodded. “They need to be remembered.”
“They do, but this is a bit more than that,” Nasu explained. “We keep their names here to protect them, so hopefully don’t meet them in battle later.”
They walked on in silence for a moment, Harun reflected on the Crab’s words. Living on the wall. “How bad did it get?”
Nasu’s face darkened. “You don’t want to know.”
“Nasu, you know I wouldn’t think less of you or…”
Nasu shook his head. “It’s not that,” he said. “It’s…it’s hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there.”
“Tell me,” said Harun.
Nasu stopped, frowning. “Might be better if I showed you. Come on.”
He took Harun inside the wall, guided him around trap doors and hazards until they came to a solid iron door. The door had several heavy locks and it was also inlaid with jade. Harun helped Nasu unfasten them, both of them pulling the massive door back to reveal…another door even more sturdy than the last. Once this was open, Harun followed Nasu inside. The Crab moved slowly, like he was approaching a shrine.
Inside the room was small and cold, there were no windows.
Nasu quickly lit a lantern, and it was then Harun saw it. The walls were covered with markings, covering the lower half of the wall. Harun went closer, getting down on one knee to examine. Most of it was pictures, large bushi with weapons fighting oni and tainted samurai, charging into battle. Crudely made, as if those who had done it were not very good with either ink or charcoal.
Or…children… Harun shuddered.
Nasu got down next to Harun. “This is where I grew up. The ones who stand on the Wall now, this room was the first wall we knew. This and others like it.” He gently touched a rough drawing of the Jade Sun. “The first thing I remember was how important it was to survive, to stay alive so that I could one day to stand on the wall with my father and grandfather. To fight by the side of those who protected us.” His face clouded over. “I survived, there were many who did not.” He looked at Harun. “Did you know Harun I had an older brother?”
Harun shook his head.
“Yoshida, he was badly wounded. I saw him afterwards,” said Nasu. “The next day he was gone, he walked out into the Shadowlands just as our grandfather had, so resources could not be wasted on a man who could no longer fight. The Shadowlands weren’t our only enemy then. The other was hunger, the older we got the more we knew about it.
Harun nodded. He knew something about this, growing up in the years of famine in the Crane lands. The children eating separately from the adults, the adults making excuses until the children were old enough to see through them. The journeys they made during those times under heavy guard, seeing the lean faces of the peasants as they passed them on the roads. And then there was that time when his family was travelling with Doji Arami and the village they had sought shelter from a storm in had no food to offer them. Arami insisted that they share what food they had with the peasants.
“The Crane suffered, we all did during the famine,” said Harun, trying to help but knowing his words were hollow.
“No, not like this,” insisted Nasu. “We had to fight everyday for our very survival, so that there were others to keep fighting to replace the ones that fell. And to fight the ones that go back up. No one gets this, no one wants to. If they did, they would be here.”
“I am here Nasu, I can tell them,” said Harun. “And you are here too, you did survive.”
Nasu touched Harun’s arm gently. “Thank you.”
Harun got to his feet, trying to imagine what it was like to grow up here. To never leave these walls, to see the sun… Harun understood Nasu’s reverence, this place was a shrine to the strength of the Crab. To their survival…but at what cost?
Yet there was more to life at the Wall than there appeared to be. Even there Harun could see little glimmers of colour amid the gloom and the grey.
Like the geisha who would walk the main street of the Wall village in the evenings. Their make up garish and colourful, their kimonos bright with their obis fastened at the front. Attendants lit their way with lanterns and protected them with parasols.
Harun watched them go by, not sure what to think. In Crane lands, ‘ladies’ such as these would not have paraded about so openly or received so open a welcome.
Then there was the kabuki play, one even Harun knew, the Thousand Cherry Blossoms. It was rough, no costumes and what little music there was hastily learned by the shamisen player and drummer. The actors roles were chosen from small scraps of paper drawn out of a helmet. Harun found the whole thing quite bizarre, but did manage to laugh in a few places and tried to appreciate it for what it was.
The actors and a good portion of the audience adjourned to the sake house after the performance, including Harun amongst their numbers. They were honest, straightforward accepting Harun wholeheartedly. But he could not help but think back to that morning when he had been surrounded by a ring of Crab ready to act if he had failed the Test of Jade.
The Crab had survived, but what had they turned into? And was it something Harun wanted to be a part of?
