Fire from Above
9 August 1998
by Jason Lauman

Ishi jammed his counter-spell scroll back into his case. He mused to himself at the thought of having to recopy spell in the next few days; the parchment was breaking up from overuse. Ishi glanced at tired little Tomoe, and opened his mouth to deliver words of strength and courage.

Before a sound left his throat, Ishi heard someone behind him yell, "Shugenja! Your blood will color the steel of my sword!"

Ishi saw his bodyguards relax in body, but not in mind. To have a Scorpion bushi in their presence enraged them. What made it worse was that a simple shugenja will be facing him, and not one of their comrades. Ishi flashed them a toothy grin that morphed into something that belonged on the face of an Oni as he turned to the unsuspecting Scorpion.

The Scorpion bushi had already taken his stance, and was waiting for Ishi to do the same. Ishi savored this in-between moment, as he had twice before just today, and calmly approached his next opponent. Standing before the Scorpion, Ishi spit into his palms, rubbed them together briskly, stretched his arms, loosened the muscles in his neck, and lazily fell into his stance.

The play was quick and the results deadly. The Scorpion bushi staggered backward from the force of Ishi's blow, and quietly fell off the wall. Ishi wiped the streak of wetness that he felt on his cheek, and found that it was not his own blood. Absent-mindedly Ishi tasted the tangy substance from his forefinger, and reflected on the loss of another living being.

A second later Tomoe screamed Ishi's name, which signaled more work to be done at the wall's edge.

Ishi slumped against the rampart, and closed his eyes. Sheer fatigue prevented any thoughts from entering Ishi's mind, and he didn't want the bother that they brought anyway. Peace.

Pushing himself from the wall in terror, Ishi realized he must have fell into his troubled dream-world. Tomoe was at the wall releasing her usual maelstrom of fire into the Scorpion ranks. Ishi wiped the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his kimono, and found Tomoe watching him when he opened his eyes.

"Fear is like an old obi – it turns up when you least need it," little Tomoe spoke to Ishi from some well of inner wisdom. Ishi stared at her just long enough to be uncomfortable, and approached his spot on the wall next to her. Gathering his wits, Ishi surveyed the battlefield. To himself, he whispered, "This fear is like an old obi that cannot be untied."

Spotting a ripe squad of Scorpion archers, Ishi pulled one of his favorite scrolls, and began to warm it up – literally. Before he dropped into concentration Ishi spotted a quivering Hare banner among the chaos below him. The banner appeared to be held by a similarly quivering ashigaru, and next to him was a bloody Naoki settling in for a duel.

The scroll Ishi was preparing to use had barely hit the floor before a new one was firmly clutched in both his hands. Blanking his mind, Ishi focused on the Scorpion bushi that was smiling and gesturing in front of Naoki. This was no time for mistakes. As Ishi felt the energy flow through him he begged – no – he demanded more. Immersed in the pain of thousands of katana cutting his flesh, Ishi thought one last time of the Scorpion bushi and closed his eyes.

And opened his eyes to the sight of a Scorpion torch of armor and steel reeling on the battlefield near Naoki. The Scorpion dropped seconds later. Not a single soldier moved for seconds more, and even the banner was not quivering.

Ishi took in a breath of the hot and foul air, and registered the wave that Naoki sent his direction.

After dropping the sweat-moistened scroll into his satchel, Ishi retrieved the one he had dropped in his haste. A quick glance at Tomoe showed that she had not noticed his odd behavior. Ishi began warming the scroll again, and bellowed, "There's only one way to treat Scorpions...."

Tomoe hopped from the unexpected outburst. Once she saw it was Ishi, and what he was doing, she backed away several steps with her neighboring shugenja in tow.

"...TREAT THEM TO DEATH!" Several seconds later an inferno belched from Ishi's hands, and consumed that squad of Scorpion archers.