Dark Tide Rising

by Rich Wulf & Shawn Carman

The young Hiruma scout looked distinctly uncomfortable. That was saying something, as most Hiruma were already quite uncomfortable at sea. He somehow took the normal degree of apparent discomfort and tripled it. Sadharu knew immediately whatever was bothering the boy had nothing to do with the Seas of Shadow. No, when the Taint arose that was the only time when the Hiruma were in their element. The Shadowlands was one threat they knew how to deal with - whatever weighed on the scout’s mind must be something more mundane.

“Report,” Sadaharu commanded.

“Yasuki Tsukioka’s ship has gone down, sir,” the scout said in a quavering voice.

Sadaharu looked up from the maps and charts that covered his low table. The gruff Crab captain’s eyes were intense. Perhaps he had been mistaken. “Skull Tide?” he asked. “Oni?”

The scout shook his head, “No, sir,” he replied, “Mantis.”

“Mantis?,” Sadharu replied, incredulous. Their fleet currently patrolled the Osaku Route, a small band of pure water that passed through the heart of the corrupted seas. Only the Crab could sail it. Only the Crab knew of it.

“Hida Atasuke’s ship arrived just as Tsukioka’s vessel went down,” the scout continued. “The survivors said that the Mantis refused to turn back at Tsukioka’s warning. When Tsukioka attempted to board them, a Mantis shugenja crippled their sail with a bolt of lightning. The resulting fire eventually sank the ship.”

“Damn those Mantis fools,” Sadaharu said, rising slowly and deliberately from his seat. “I do not know what they seek here, but they have erred greatly by attacking the Crab. Turn the koutetsukan around. Rally the fleet. If the Mantis would trespass Osaku’s Route, then we shall send them to the bottom.”

•

“By the Fortunes, Iongi, that map was worth every zeni we paid for it,” Yoritomo Rui said, marveling as she stared out at the vast expanse of sea. “The ocean is fresh, free, and clear for as far as I can see. Not a single sign of the Taint. This will cut months off our voyage.”

“Perhaps,” replied the shugenja, his tone subdued.

Rui looked back at the old man, her impish face fixed in a lopsided grin. “What is wrong, Iongi?,” she asked. “Do my eyes deceive me? Does your magic detect Taint where I see none?”

“No, Rui-sama,” the shugenja replied. “However, that does not mean that more mundane dangers may not yet threaten us.”

“Do you mean the Crab?,” Rui asked with a laugh.

“What else would I mean, my lady?,” Iongi asked, his long face aghast. “You ordered me to destroy a Crab vessel. Surely they will not be alone. Surely they will investigate.”

“I do not fear the Crab on a contest of the high seas,” Rui said. “I am ready to match my ships against theirs in speed or power. The Crab have been greedy, keeping this uncorrupted passage to themselves. They do not see the opportunities we do.”

“Perhaps because they obey the Emperor’s edict against trade with the gaijin,” Iongi said dryly.

Rui looked back at the shugenja. “If your heart is not with us, then perhaps you should swim home, old man,” she said, a dangerous tone in her voice.

“Forgive my sharp tongue, Rui-sama,” Iongi replied with an apologetic bow. “My loyalty is yours, as always.”

“See that it is so,” Rui answered. “And if your conscience bothers you again, meditate upon this - nothing washes away sins like success.”

“Yes, Rui-sama.”