The road stretched out before the creaking wagon like a ribbon, weaving its way through the hills to the ocean. Taka let his oxen's reins hang loose, knowing they would find the right path as easily as he. Smiling a broad, covetous smile, he sat with his latest treasure in his hands. He studied the fine lines of the iron pot, determining within a fraction of a koku the rich price he could surely make from selling it. Traveling across the lands as a merchant was a hard life, but for Taka, nothing was more rewarding. And as long as the reward was in golden koku, Yasuki Taka would follow the roads of Rokugan.

As the wagon swayed over the crest of the hill, the road began to plunge into a thin valley. The oxen walked more slowly through the blind curves, their sure feet finding purchase in the dirt and sod of the path. Suddenly, with a sharp jerk, the cart stopped and Taka was sent sprawling backwards into a heap of beautiful silken kimonos with a loud "Ooof!" Cursing under his breath, he clambered up from beneath the pile, pushing his straw hat over the back of his head. "Kisa! Moto!" he looked at his usually steady oxen, who were shuffling uneasily in their braces. Scrabbling up over the seat, he said angrily, "What do you think you're..." then his eyes darted to the clearing ahead, and his voice faded.

Lying in the dust of the road were four dead men, each wearing the insignia of the Unicorn house. The sun glinted dully from the dark blood that stained their rich purple tabards, and one of the dead samurai still had his sword clutched in his fist as if ready to battle again the foe that had slain him. Around his lifeless eyes the flies swarmed thickly, unafraid.

"Wretched bandits." Taka thought out loud, staring at the corpses. After a moment of quick calculation, he carefully climbed down from the seat of his wagon. Glancing around nervously and rubbing his hands together, Taka crept toward the bodies. As he approached them, he noted the marks of vicious combat - smashed armor, pools of drying blood in the dirt, and the ruined mon of their house crushed into the bushes nearby. "I'll just check them, you see...," he said to no one in particular. "They may be still alive..." His eyes roamed over the four bodies, taking in the shining daggers at their belts. Stooping down, concern creasing his tanned forehead, he searched the dead men. Taking their purses and bright weapons, he sighed in elaborate regret. "You poor men," he lamented as he stripped them of their valuables. "If only I knew where you had come from, I might return all your wealth," he checked the weight of one purse as he cut it from its former owner's belt, and corrected himself, "Your scant wealth, that is, to your families." Ignoring the rich purple mon blazoned on their gi, Taka began to rise, but then his roguish brown eye was caught by something to one side of the road. "Oh dear," he murmured, "another poor victim." He pushed aside the bushes as he reached the path's edge.

Looking down at a thin trail of blood which led beneath a larger bush, Taka took a hesitant step forward. At the end of the trail lay a tiny booted foot. His eyes slowly traveled up the rather shapely female leg, past the finely sculptured knee, above the muscular thigh, to the hem of a short forest-green kimono. There, at the top of the leg, he saw the most beautiful thing in all the world. He released his breath in a joyful hiss as his eyes caressed the dangling leather purse, its seams nearly bursting with gold. Eagerly, he reached out to grasp it from the dead woman's body, murmuring in the proper tone of regret, "What a tragic thing... even the women were killed." Then, as his hand grasped the magnificent pouch, the dead body moved as swiftly as a striking snake, and a sharp knife was thrust against his throat.
"Wrong, trader-man." The woman hissed, her face inches from his. Although her jet-black hair clung to her shoulders and face, Taka's quick eye saw her wince in pain as she moved. Holding her dagger against his neck, the strange woman climbed unsteadily to her feet, pulling Taka with her. Taka noted the blood-soaked kimono that clung to her muscular torso, and heard her slight sharp intake of breath as she stood and pressed the knife against him.

"My dear lady..." Taka began, his voice trembling only slightly, "You seem to have been injured. I was just..." His hands fluttered uselessly in the air between them, as if he was trying to ward off an evil spirit.

"Shut up. Get in the wagon." She shoved him roughly, keeping her dagger pointed at his neck. "Don't try anything, trader-man," she said bitingly, "I'm not hurt so badly that I can't kill you."

As Taka backed hesitantly toward the wagon, he searched his memory, trying to determine where he had seen her sharp-featured face before. Something in the narrow, shifting brown eyes and her long, aquiline nose was strangely familiar. But, then, he had traveled many roads, to many places, and seen most of Rokugan. He sighed dramatically as she pulled herself into the back of the cart. "Drive." Her voice barked the word like an Imperial command.

He picked up the reins, feeling again the sharp poke of the knife in his back. "So, my dear," Taka began, "Where are we going?" He steered carefully around the dead bodies, as the oxen snorted and shied.

"South. Toward the great swamps. Just take the left-hand road ahead, and keep quiet." She withdrew the knife, and Taka winced in genuine pain as he heard her tearing his fine new silks into a bandage. At nearly seventy koku a yard, that bandage probably cost enough to buy the services of ten healers. He slapped the reins wearily against the oxen, and the cart lurched forward on its new journey.

They rode in silence after that, disturbed only by the rhythmic clop of hooves and the creak of the wagon. As the night drew near, Taka ventured, "Its getting late, and my oxen are tired. We need to stop soon." No reply sounded from the dark wagon behind him and he sighed melodramatically. Strangely enough, he thought, there had been no noise of a search. His carefully hidden koku were still safe, and the woman had not destroyed any of his prized wares... except the silks. He winced again at the memory.

As he pulled the wagon to a halt, he heard her say sharply, "I didn't say we could stop." He climbed out of the seat and began to unhitch the oxen, who licked at his hands in gratitude and companionship.

"I'm sorry. Kisa and Moto can go no further tonight. They are tired. If you must continue, feel free to walk." Taka tried not to let his hands shake as he waited for the knife to sink into his back, but there was no further response. "It seems we are at an impasse. You need the wagon to get to the swamps, and I refuse to abandon my rather expensive wares." Getting supplies from a compartment beneath the driver's seat, Taka fed the oxen some sweet grain and honey and began to clean their hides with a stiff brush. "Shall we at least try to be civil to one another?" As he spoke, the woman lowered herself from the high wagon. She had taken one of the finer silks, Taka noticed mournfully, and had wrapped it about her waist to staunch the bleeding. As she landed, she let out a cry of pain and collapsed to the ground. Taka rushed to her side, "By all the thunders!" he exclaimed. "You're more wounded than I thought. We must get you to a chiurgeon."

"No!" Her sharp retort echoed in the falling dusk. She lowered her voice, reaching for the knife in her sash. "No," she repeated, clutching at its hilt for reassurance. "We are going to the Tomb of Yu Weh. You will take me there." She pulled herself to her feet, using the wagon's wheel as a support, and her hand fell on a package within the cart.

"All right, all right," Taka said hastily, stepping back, "we'll go to the cave. Just don't... don't break anything." Anxiously, his eyes darted back and forth from her knife to the delicate china plates stacked in a soft leather bag under her hand. He caught his breath as he estimated the purchase value of her buttress point, trying not to let the pain he felt in his wallet show in his eyes.

"When you have taken me to the cave, merchant, then you can continue on your way." Taka nodded in relief as she removed her hand from the plates. "Until then, you can call me Tantoko."

The next morning, Taka arose early, as was his tradition. Tantoko was sleeping, he noticed, in the pile of silks in the back of his wagon. Trying to avoid the pain of calculating the cost of such a bed, he studied her face as she slept. It still seemed familiar to him, and it annoyed him that he could not place it. Suddenly, she began to rouse, and he swiftly went back to hitching the oxen. "So, Tantoko," he began, trying to force some joviality into his voice, "Why are you going to this cave?"

"Because I was told to go." She sat up amid the silken pile and pulled her hair away from her face, twisting it into a long silken rope. Her eyes remained fixed on his face impassively. For a moment, Taka felt like a bird under the gaze of a greensnake, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Can you give me just one straight answer?"

Tantoko stared at him from the wagon, and her dark brown eyes were unreadable pools of thought. "Very well." she said after some hesitation. "The Tomb of Yu Weh is a place of great riches, where a bandit, an ancient ronin of the Scorpion clan, kept his finest treasures. Within the cave is a magnificent goblet, made entirely of the purest jade. Its powers of healing are said to be so great that any disease can be cured simply by drinking from the cup."

For a moment, Taka's brain refused to comprehend the sheer monetary value of such an item, but he quickly regained control of himself. "Where did you hear of this cave?" he breathed in wonder.

"That does not matter. What matters is that I find it, and that I bring the goblet back." She leaned forward, "Nothing else matters at all." Then her eyes closed as a sudden pain lanced through her wound. After the spasm had passed, Tantoko looked intently at Taka. "You must help me. I am growing weaker each day, and I may not be able to complete my mission. If you cooperate, you can have all the other riches of the cave. All I am interested in is the goblet."

"Riches?" Taka thought to himself. "Enough gold to buy a hundred wagons, and a thousand silks. If she is telling the truth, what a wonder this cave must be!" Taka nodded, and said aloud, "Obviously, this goblet would be a great asset to the Empire. How brave a mission! I could not honorably refuse your request, of course." His mouth rambled the words as his thoughts whirled in bursts of golden koku.

For two days they rode toward the dark southern swamps on trails Taka had never seen before. Weaving through the mire at the edge of a great swamp, Tantoko called out directions unerringly, leading them away from quicksand and other dangers, until they stopped in a small grove within the wooded swamp. "We must leave the cart here," said Tantoko quietly to Taka. In the silence of the marsh, even her quiet whisper echoed loudly. Uncomfortable, Taka nodded and they climbed down from the sheltering wagon. The oxen shifted uneasily, and turned frightened eyes toward Taka as he helped Tantoko from the high seat.

"Which way is the Tomb?" hissed Taka, unwilling to break the heavy silence. Tantoko pointed at a small path to one side of the clearing, and leaned against the merchant. Keeping her arm wrapped tightly around his shoulder, he helped her across the clearing and down the thin forest trail.

For some time, they walked through the marsh together, and Taka was uncomfortably aware of Tantoko's lithe body pressed against his. He swallowed, and tried not to notice how pleasant she felt. "She's dangerous, Taka. There's absolutely no profit in it," he thought, reminding himself of his daydreams in which a rich Doji princess flung herself at him. Tantoko's hair, long and soft, brushed his cheek, and he shivered. "Keep your mind on the koku," he thought, and quickly buried his mind in the task of estimating the total purchase cost of the Ancestral Armor of the Crab Clan. Ahead, the forest grew darker, and a strange cold chilled Taka to the bone. Unconsciously, he pulled Tantoko closer. "Is that the cave?" he whispered, and his breath hung in pale strands on the cold afternoon air. Tantoko nodded, squinting through the trees.

As they approached the cave, Tantoko suddenly dropped to her knees, pulling Taka down beside her. Writhing forward under some covering brush, Tantoko squinted at the cave's dark mouth. Taka crawled toward her, despairing of ever getting his pants clean again, and pushed his way tentatively into the bush. After a few moments of watching her regard the cave with great intensity, Taka whispered "What is it?"

Tantoko clamped her hand over his mouth, a snarl corrupting her even features. Then, placing her mouth beside his ear, she whispered, "Do you see that thin beam of light within the cave?" Taka nodded, mutely, trying not to notice how pleasantly warm her breath was beside his face. The beam, a thin shaft of sunlight, pierced the darkness of the cave but was swallowed just beyond the opening. "Just behind that beam, there's movement... if you look carefully, you can see it." she whispered.

He squinted at the light, and tried to peer through the darkness of the cave. Then, just as he had given up, he saw a faint ghostly sheen within the cave, as if an ethereal helmet floated there.

"GMMM!" Taka hissed behind Tantoko's hand, bucking upright. She yanked him down swiftly, hiding behind the protective cover. He stared at her, terrified, and said more quietly, "Gmmm!" She nodded grimly, keeping her hand over his mouth.

"A shadow-samurai." She peered toward the cave again.

Take pulled her hand from his mouth and hissed, "A shadow samurai?" He shook an agitated finger toward the opening. "We can't possibly get past that! That's a Shadowlands fre..." Her fingers tightened around his chin, and clamped his mouth shut again. She nodded.

"I may have been able to best it, before, but now... we must seek other ways." Tantoko stared into the gloom of the cave again, and said, "Shadow samurai are but ghosts of dead men, brought back to life by powerful magic." Releasing his face at last, Tantoko began to move backwards, out of the underbrush and away from the cave.

"Powerful... magic?" Taka's voice came out in a tiny squeak as he stared at the cave, appalled. "That means..." He tore his gaze away from the cave to gaze, glassy-eyed, at Tantoko. "Shugenja!" He backed out of the underbrush with all the speed he could muster. Once they were back at the clearing, Taka helped Tantoko lean against the wagon. "You never said anything about shugenja," Taka rushed, "I never agreed to deal with shugenja!"

Tantoko looked appraisingly at Taka, pressing her hand against her bandaged abdomen. "That's because I didn't know there was one here." She stared at Taka thoughtfully. "Don't be so worried, Taka. I can handle a shugenja." Taka started to sigh in relief when she continued, "Its the shadow samurai that concerns me." Taka slumped against the cart, his head in his hands, and moaned softly.

That evening, when the sun had left the sky, Tantoko and Taka once again were watching the cave, hiding in the shadows beneath the low brush. "How long are we going to wait?" Taka hissed, trying not to sneeze at the earthy smell of bugs and brush.

"The shugenja has to be nearby. I'll bet he can't leave that shadow-samurai alone too long. The taint of the shadows makes that kind of guardian very unpredictable." Taka glanced uneasily at Tantoko, wondering how she knew so much about such things, when suddenly his attention was arrested by a faint scuffling in the brush on the far side of the clearing. As he watched, fearfully, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows and raised its hands toward the cave.
"That's him?" Taka said breathlessly, and Tantoko nodded silently, her movements almost invisible in the darkening twilight.

From the depths of the cave, a silent glowing figure came at the beckoning of the shugenja, kneeling at his master's side. After it had made a mild supplication, the shugenja walked past the ghostly samurai, and vanished into the cave.

"All I need..." murmured Tantoko, "is one good shot." Tantoko pulled a thin, reedlike bow from her long kimono sleeve. She strung the tiny han-kyu, pulling a needle from a wooden box in her pouch and attaching it to a slender arrow shaft. Taka swallowed his objections with a whine as he saw movement at the cave's mouth.

"You can't possibly get a clear shot," Taka moaned despairingly, "that shadowlands fiend is between you and the shugenja!" Tantoko ignored him, and took careful aim with her assassin's bow.

As the shugenja passed them, a soft twang and a thunk rang in Taka's ears, and he saw the arrow lodge itself in the wizard's throat.

The wizard fell, choking, his body twisting slowly toward the bush. He clutched at the shaft protruding from his windpipe, a bloody bubble forming between his soundless lips. As he sank to his knees, he pointed an unsteady hand toward the bush, his eyes locking with Taka's. Taka froze, terrified, watching the ghastly samurai spin and unsheathe a gleaming sword that did not look at all ethereal. Although the shugenja fell lifeless and bleeding, his follower began to stride toward them with murderous purpose.

"Tantoko...!" Taka howled and flung himself backwards, scrabbling along the ground with the desperation of a rabbit who sees the wolf approaching. Tantoko drew her dagger in an instant, flinging it at the approaching specter with deadly aim. The deadly knife whirled through the air, blade gleaming in the moonlight, and sped into the face of the shadow samurai.

It bounced twice when it hit the ground on the far side of the clearing.

Tantoko's lips pressed tightly together, as she considered her next action in the scant seconds before the shadow samurai arrived. Then, her movements sure and precise, she leapt into the clearing. Taka froze, staring numbly at the injured girl as she took a martial stance. "What are you doing?" He yelled as the samurai turned to face her. "You can't even touch him!"

As the wraith swung, Tantoko leapt in the air above the blade. "Run, trader man!" She said through teeth clenched in pain. "We can't both get out of here. I'll keep him busy." The samurai feinted, trying to draw Tantoko toward him, but she bounded back, clutching at her wounded side. "I'm too wounded to outrun him, and you can't carry me fast enough," she yelled, sidestepping the wicked blade again. "GO!"

Taka paused for a moment, unsure, but then scrambled to his feet, pushing his way out of the bush. The brush tugged at his pants and scratched his face as he tried to run. Then, a thick log embedded in the mire made his feet fumble and he fell, his breath gasping as the wind flew from his lungs. For a moment he stared at the log glassily. Looking behind him at the clearing, he saw the undead spirit swing at Tantoko again as she nimbly ducked beneath the blade. Her hands whirled uselessly in the air where the transparent specter stood, unable to make contact with anything solid.

The samurai swung a third time, slicing into Tantoko's arm above the elbow. She staggered backwards, gripping her wound, and the specter seemed to grin with horrible glee. "Taka!" she screamed again, her voice resolute, "Run, you fool!"

But Taka stared at the log that had tripped him, a wild idea blossoming in his fear-filled head. Stumbling to his feet, he picked up the log in both hands, barely lifting it off the ground. Turning toward the clearing, he staggered toward the battling pair, half-dragging, half-wielding the rotted log. The shadow samurai swung again at Tantoko, slamming the hilt of his katana against her cheek, and knocking her reeling to the ground at his feet.

"You honorless dog!" howled Taka from the clearing's edge. "Come and fight me!" The shadow samurai turned slowly away from the stunned Tantoko, focusing its empty gaze on the merchant. "That's it!" Taka yelled again, waving the log in front of him, "Ya! Ya! You aren't much of a warrior!" He shouted insultingly, "Look at you! You fight like a Crane!"

Whether the Shadowlands creature was insulted or not, it strode swiftly toward Taka with its sword upraised. Tantoko looked toward them, gasping for breath, and pulled herself to her feet. "Taka... no..." she murmured, dragging herself to her feet.

But Taka swung his log at the ghost with a wild, launching swing. Smiling through its ghastly teeth, the samurai easily parried the log. As it did, the katana sunk into the rotten log, its gleaming blade buried in the wood. Losing its fetid smile, the shade yanked at the blade, preparing to jerk it free from the log in order to cleave Taka in two, when suddenly Tantoko was there.

Grabbing the end of the thick log, Tantoko gave it a swift spin, jerking the log and the ethereal katana momentarily free of the control of the spectre. As she did, the shade lurched toward her, impaling itself on the blade of its own sword. A fearsome howl ripped from its lips as the katana sank into its chest. Tantoko held the ends of the log, pushing forward and driving the katana farther into the spirit's heart. As the spectral samurai screamed in rage and frustration, a bright light leaped out of its eyes and mouth, dancing toward the starry sky. When the light vanished, the body of the ghost turned to dust and scattered upon the ground.

Tantoko sank to her knees, gripping her newly wounded shoulder, and hissed, "You could have left, trader-man." Her eyes sought his in anger and confusion, "You would have escaped."

"No, I couldn't." Taka said, tearing his pant cuffs into shreds to bind her arm. "You would've died." He looked into her dark eyes as he finished the bandage, and an unspoken thought passed between them. For a moment they froze, the trader and the ninja, silent in the aftermath of the battle.

"It doesn't matter." She said weakly, tearing her eyes from his. "I'm dead anyway." She held her stomach with her unwounded arm. I've torn open the other wound again. I think I'm bleeding from the inside."

Taka's face went white. "What can I do? How can I help?" His hands fluttered about the larger bandage, but she knocked them away. "I'm not going to leave you, Tantoko. You risked your life for me."

Tantoko grunted uncomfortably, as if Taka had reminded her of some breach of etiquette. She turned her attention to her wounds, pain showing in her every movement. "There's not much you can do, trader-man. Just get out of here. The swamp is too dangerous for you to stay, especially now. I'll bet..." she winced, "that shugenja had friends."

"The goblet." Taka said suddenly. "Could that heal you?"

Tantoko winced again, and her lips curled into a snarl. "Don't waste your time, Taka. You'll never get in and out of that cave alive." Quietly ignoring her advice, Taka stood resolutely and began to head for the cave. "Taka!" Tantoko shouted at him, but his bandy legs were carrying him toward the cavern's mouth. She stared at his back as he vanished into the darkness of the cave. "Crazy man," she muttered fiercely. "You'll only accomplish both our deaths." The silence of the marsh was all that answered her, and she completely ignored the tiny tear that vanished into her thick black hair.

The cave was dark and stank of fetid waste. Taka crept along the cavernous wall, his hands finding the way where his eyes failed in the darkness. Thick, sticky strands of web clung to his fingers and palms, coating them and making his hands slip against the cold wall. The walls of the cave were covered in the thick, viscous stuff and layers of it were strung across the passage like a gigantic web. Taka grimaced, trying to scrape the substance off his hands on the rock. "Filthy place..." he murmured, "What idiot would ever keep a treasure in a disgusting cave like this?" He moved ahead into the cavern although his eyes could barely make out the passage before him. He winced as his hands touched the sticky walls.

Peering ahead and moving cautiously, Taka began to make out a faint, phosphorescent light ahead, and he moved toward it. "Light!" He thought, "Perhaps there's someone in this cave after all... someone I can bargain with, perhaps? Oh, kami of koku, don't let it be another of those Shadowlands freaks...."

Perhaps the kami wasn't listening, or perhaps Taka was behind in his payments, for when the cave widened and the light allowed, Taka found himself looking into a nightmare. The webbing that had so thickly coated the walls now stretched across a massive chasm in layers stickier and more complex than any monetary deal he had ever created. Taka's breath hissed out and he clutched at the wall, looking down into the massive pit below, lit by the faint greenly glowing moss that clung to the walls. "Oh, kami! Oh, my father's beard!" Taka whispered.

He reached out to touch the clinging strands, and they shivered into the distance from his fingertip's light brush. The web was a blanket that covered the ceiling, swaying in thin tendrils over a terrifying drop into darkness. He let his foot hover over a thicker strand of webbing and pressed lightly against it to see if it would hold his weight. A huge segment of the web shivered from the touch, but it held. Taka groaned aloud. "No, no... I'm not supposed to cross this, am I? Oh, no no no..." He backed from the web into the cave mouth again. "Not all the koku in the world, not all the fine silks or rich items can make me go into that!" He stopped well back from it, looking back at the chasm, and crossed his arms. "I simply refuse," he said into the soundless cavern. The darkness held its breath, pregnant and expectant. "Do you hear me, I refuse!" The silence continued to wait patiently, and Taka looked back over his shoulder at the faraway entrance. After a few moments, he muttered to the gloom, "She can't be worth all the koku in the world," but the silence hovered around him in silent disapproval. Finally Taka threw his hands up and cursed under his breath, reaching for a thick strand of the webbing and pulling himself tentatively out over the chasm.

The web shivered and writhed beneath his fingers like a living creature as Taka crawled across the thickest strand he could reach. He hung on the cable, swaying dangerously above the pit and muttering prayers into the darkness with a thick tongue. Over each inch of forward progress, Taka clutched at his purse to see if it had fallen from his belt. "Oh, kami...oh," he winced, "... this is the most foolish thing I've ever done. Gentle kami, get me out of this mess and I swear I'll never overcharge Kisada-sama again..." Suddenly, his muttered prayers halted. The web beneath him had moved... but he had not.

Frozen in place, Taka looked up above him with wide eyes. A tremendous spider, apparently the denizen of the place, had stepped out from a crack in the ceiling, and was looking down at him. But worse, far worse than the venom on its fangs or the uncanny agility with which it navigated the webbing was the dark intelligence in its eyes. Taka's mouth started to open in a shrill scream, but the silence muffled him, and he was unable to make a sound. In his mind, a seductive voice rose from the ashes of his courage.

"Kumo..." It whispered into the depths of his thoughts, and its voice was rich and gentle. "I am Kumo... the spider spirit... You resist from fear." The spider moved, and its movements were a dance over the silken strands. "There is nothing to fear..." Its voice resounded deep within Taka's mind, and he felt his body begin to relax. "Do not resist... all you need do now is sleep. Rest so quietly...." The spider began to move across the massive web gently, its swift steps graceful where Taka's movements had been clumsy and encumbered by the clinging strands. "There is nothing left for you in this world... let me move you to a place of peace." Its mental suggestions were gentle and difficult to ignore, and Taka felt his eyelids lowering. "Sleep,... yes. Gentle sleep now. Kumo will show you the way."

"Sleep..." thought Taka, his mind wandering the halls of thought and finding nothing of interest. "I haven't slept in a while. You're absolutely right, Kumo." He started to relax, and the spider crept forward, its fangs extended. As he relaxed, Taka felt his leg slip from the cable, dangling down toward the chasm. In his somnambulent state, he watched the drop sway pleasantly under him.

Kumo lashed out then, poison glistening, but Taka's sudden shift caused the spider spirit to miss. Its lunging fangs tore into the pouch at the man's hip instead of biting deeply into Taka'a side. Taka watched the commotion through a peaceful haze, hardly realizing as golden koku spilled over his leg and vanished into the darkness below. "Koku...?" murmured Taka dreamily as he watched the coins shower into the chasm. Then, with sudden realization, his eyes flashed open. "Koku!" He reached out desperately to catch his coins, but only succeeded in tilting wildly on the cable as the giant spider hissed in frustration above him. "What?' Taka murmured, feeling the web sway under him and catching himself as he began to fall. He yelped in terror as he hung from the cable with one hand, the spider's evil spell broken. Confused, unable to scream or pray to his cherished kami, the trader looked up from the pit at the Shadowlands creature. Kumo's multifaceted eyes glistened, malevolent and hungry, only inches from his own. Then, as Kumo's mouth opened again in a hiss of fury, Taka found his missing scream.

Hanging above a dark chasm hundreds of feet above the ground, Taka shrieked at the top of his lungs. Kumo hissed again and lunged toward him eagerly. "You cannot escape me this time!" It hissed hungrily. Taka swung out over the ravine, howling as he dangled helplessly far from either side of the massive pit. Faced with the spider spirit above him and his koku vanishing below, Taka's choice was easy. He let go.

The plunge was long, hundreds of minutes by Taka's standards, and the screaming hiss of the spider echoed in the fading light above his head. Taka yelped and tried to fumble in the darkness for his falling coins as he felt the wind rushing by him. Then - cold water immersed him, and he felt himself being swept along by a powerful current. Splashing and spluttering, Taka fought against the river's chill pull, desperately clutching at the walls of the river, finding sharp rocks and pulling himself back up to the air above. Taka gasped for breath, looking up at the far away speck of light. Hanging onto the slick stone walls, he shivered and cursed. "Ieee! What a fall!" Then he gasped again, as realization hit him. "OH! My koku!" he cried, and dove down into the depths of the water below.

Taka's hands clutched at mossy rock as he scrabbled along the depths of the pool. His fingers clawed at rock, grime and several small hard objects that may once have been bones. One cold koku clung to a dark rock, and Taka swept it up into a cold-numbed hand. The coin was half-smashed by a rock that had fallen upon it on its way down, and the sharp edge cut into Taka's palm as he clutched it tightly. As he turned to rise again, Taka saw what appeared to be a light shining off to one side. "Its the koku kami, come to take me away, I just know it." he thought to himself, peering through the murky water. "This journey has been doomed from the beginning... Oh, Taka, Taka! How foolish you are!" He rose to the surface, his lungs about to burst from lack of oxygen. As he swam in the cold pool, he looked up at he faint soft light above him, filtered through the web of the horrible spider. "However, unless I want to invite the spider to come and get me here, I suppose my only alternative," he winced, "is down. Oh, how I wish I had never come in this wretched place!" With a single shuddering breath, Taka dove again and swam toward the light like some strange kind of fish.

The waters broke above Taka's head as he surfaced, staring up at the light streaming through a thin crack in the ceiling far overhead. "A hidden cave!" he breathed, treading to stay afloat in the deep water. The cave was so small that the pool in which Taka was swimming took up most of the floor. Swimming to the far side, the trader pulled himself up onto a thin ledge of stone above the water. The light was coming from a hand-sized opening, and the bright moonlight glittered upon a cup of pure jade, seated in a depression in the wall. "Ahhh..." Taka breathed reverently, seeing dancing visions of golden koku shimmering in the pale light.

It was a large goblet, carved from a single tremendous piece of jade and studded with emeralds the size of a man's eye. As he stared at it, it occurred to Taka had never seen anything so beautiful. "Even if the healing powers of the goblet are but a myth - that is a rare and magnificent piece of art!" he chortled. "Worth thousands - no, Taka, with your unmatchable bartering skills - millions of koku!" He crawled across the small ledge carefully, moving toward the niche in the cavern that held the goblet.

"Truly stunning," he murmured, holding the delicate goblet in his hands and trying to determine its exact worth. "Stunning." As he grasped the goblet, he frowned. "But now that I've got it, how do I get out again?" He peered around the small cave, and found no escape. There was simply no way the goblet would fit out the small hole above him, much less Taka himself. As his hands caressed the smooth jade sides of the goblet, Taka slowly began to smile. "What was I saying earlier? Invite the spider down? Hmm,..." he paused, deep in thought. "Ah...I have it now...Perfect." He shoved the goblet gently under his vest and lowered himself back into the chilly water. "Taka, my dear, you are a genius," he said to himself, immediately responding, "Oh, no no no, I'm sure it was your idea, Taka!" Chuckling, he took a deep breath in order to dive under the water again. "I always think better when I'm a millionaire," he sighed, and then grinned as he dove back under the water to the other side of the cave.

"Oh, Kumo?" Taka's voice echoed eerily up through the darkness of the long chasm a few minutes later. "It seems that I've quite escaped you!" His tone was pleasant and bright despite the surroundings, and he heard the furious hissing of the spider spirit from above. "How funny...and to think, I was rather frightened of you when I first arrived. But," Taka made a loud yawn, "I suppose I have nothing to fear from you, after all." As he spoke, Taka reclined on the thin ledge above the water, pulling his hat low over his eyes as he heard the hissing approaching down the long shaft above him. Soon, he heard the spider's all too familiar mental commands, "Ahhh...Little man....I will have you now..." Kumo whispered, but Taka simply lay still upon the ledge, unconcerned.

With a devastatingly swift strike, Kumo dropped the last few feet on a thin line of silk, driving its fangs deep into Taka's shoulder and discharging its deadly poison. Taka barely had time to swallow, as he felt unconsciousness grip his mind, plunging him into darkness.

He awoke some time later, completely wrapped in the spider's silk, his body shuddering with the faint remnants of the poison. "Oh, kami!" Taka breathed, "Thank goodness that the legend was true!" He smiled as he remembered taking a gulp from the cup as the spider approached, and swallowing after he had been bitten. "The magic of the cup neutralized the spirit's poison," Taka chuckled to himself, "And I am halfway to freedom!"

Writhing slightly, Taka freed the small coin from his vest pocket, checking to be sure that the jade goblet was still safely in his possession. Then, with small but swift strokes, he began cutting the delicate silken strands until he had freed his arm, then his chest, then his face. He was hanging face down above the chasm, and there was no sign of Kumo anywhere. Hurriedly he cut the thin, sticky strands, clutching at the web around him to keep himself from falling back into the chasm. With a twist and much swinging between the thick cords, Taka lowered himself to the mouth of the cave.

Seeing the moonlight shining through the cave mouth down the corridor, Taka grinned widely. "Kumo! Catch me now!" he said.

"Perhaps I shall..." suddenly hissed a voice from the web behind Taka. Taka yelped, spinning around and nearly dropping the precious goblet in his fright. He fell to the floor, clutching the relic to his chest and trying desperately to scrabble backwards across the cold stone floor. Kumo saw the jade goblet Taka held, and its eyes whirled strange glistening colors. Its dripping mandibles spread in a grimace of shock, and it yelped back.

The goblet was glowing. Its soft golden light radiated outward toward the spider-spirit, and the dark spider recoiled in terror and pain. Taka froze for a moment, his mouth gaping open, then he scrambled to his feet. Kumo recoiled back across the shivering web, its forelegs scraping at its eyes, blinded by the radiance of the goblet. With a squealing leap, Kumo began sawing the upper cables of the web free, letting silken strands parachute down the chasm below in huge wafting chunks. Taka slid down the corridor on hands and knees, feeling the slick fungi below his fingers as he held the fragile goblet in a death grip. "Cutting the webs?" he thought. "Why on earth is that creature destroying his home?" He crawled farther down the cave, retreating fromt he injured Kumo until he could no longer hear the scuttling noises of the tremendous beast.

As he climbed to his feet, Taka felt the smooth sides of the goblet in his hands. He grinned down at the still-glowing chalice, seeing his reflection shining back at him from between the huge emeralds. "Not a smudge on it. Beautiful." He smiled covetously down at it, slowly making his way toward the opening, all thoughts of the spider-spirit vanished from his head like koku through Kisada's blockade.

Suddenly Taka heard a strange noise coming from the outer cave. It was a grinding, stone against stone, echoing down the long damp cave. "Taka!" Tantoko's voice screamed from outside the cave, "the cave . . . its closing!"

"Closing. Yes, of course." Taka murmured happily, staring at the rich gemstones which made up the goblet in his hands. It was so lovely, so expensive, so wonderfully . . . "CLOSING?!??!"

In a terrified burst of speed, Taka dashed toward the cave mouth. Sliding on the fecund floor, his boots slipping and desperately seeking purchase, he could see the pale moonlight at the entrance growing fainter. With one last leap, he threw himself out, under the grinding rock slab that slammed behind him, the goblet flying from his hands. With an anguished howl, he rolled forward, straining every nerve to catch the chalice before it smashed against the ground. Pulling off his hat, he flung it with desperation at the falling chalice. Whether it was the accuracy of a master or the blind luck of the Sun Goddess, Taka never knew, but at the last moment the hat landed just beneath the goblet, its soft straw and felt cushioning the relic's fall.

No birds sang in the dark still night of the swamp. The silence hung in the air like the silken strands of Kumo's web. Taka was still sprawled at the mouth of the cave, the cuff of his pants trapped beneath the crushing slab of stone. Barely visible in the darkness, Tantoko smiled. She was leaning against the tree where Taka had left her, blood now oozing from the bandage around her waist. Finally, she broke the still night air with a soft whisper. "Good throw." she chuckled, and smiled weakly.

"Of course." Taka said, trying to recover his dignity even when the world stood on its head around him. Composing his face into a sober merchant's attitude, he said, "It's worth a lot of koku."

After Taka freed himself from the cave, he walked toward Tantoko, picking up the hat and goblet along the way. He unstrapped his small skin of water from his belt and poured some into the bowl of the cup. Gingerly, he knelt beside Tantoko in his ragged, mud-encrusted pants, his sleeves torn from the brambles and brush and still dripping from the pool's water. With a courtly bow he offered her the chalice. "Thirsty, honorable Tanto-san?" He tilted the goblet to Tantoko's lips, and she drank.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, just as Taka's hopes were fading, Tantoko gasped, a long shuddering intake of breath, and her eyes flew open wide. Color began to return to her pale face, and her body grew rigid. She clutched at Taka's hand, and her grip was strong and firm. Within minutes, she sat upright, and stared at him, stunned.

"Its true ... I'm completely healed!" With a glad cry she pulled the bandage from her arm. Where her wound had been there was now only smooth, unmarred flesh. Tantoko stood carefully, testing her balance before yanking the silk winding from her waist. The rend in her short kimono now showed only her muscular stomach, with a very faint scar near the navel. Tantoko looked at Taka, then grinned fiercely, leaping backwards into a flip and a series of handstands. "I didn't believe it, but its true! The goblet has amazing healing powers!" She continued her acrobatics in the clearing for a few moments, exulting in the lack of pain.

Her catlike grace and swift leaping movements suddenly struck a chord in Taka's memory. "Now I know where I've seen you before," he said with realization. "You were an acrobat in the Doji court, weren't you?" His eyes widened as the implications grew. "Were you a spy?"

Tantoko faced Taka, all her playfulness vanishing like sand in the tide. "Mind your business, trader man," she said dangerously, "and keep your memories to yourself." Scooping up the goblet, Tantoko retrieved her dagger and moved soundlessly toward the waiting wagon.

The wagon ride through the swamps at night was much slower than by day, but neither Taka nor his companion were willing to spend the rest of that night near the cave. The silence hung heavy and tense between them, broken only by the creaks of the wagon as it swayed behind the faithful oxen. As the rising sun crested in the eastern sky, Tantoko grabbed the reins and halted the wagon. "Here's where I get off, merchant."

"Now, wait just a moment there!" Taka said, disgruntled. "I saved your life, remember?"

"And I thank you."

Taka shook his finger in front of her nose. "I don't want thanks. I want koku. That little trinket we picked up is at least half mine, and I want my share."

Tantoko's eyes narrowed. "I don't have any money to give you."

"I know. But I'll wager a fine iron pot that whoever you're taking that goblet to has plenty." Seeing her hesitate further, Taka grinned evilly and said, "If you don't pay me to keep quiet, I know many who would pay me to talk."

"I could kill you now, and leave your body for the crows, trader-man." Her voice was cool and smooth, but Taka was not cowed.

"You owe me your life."
"I owe you nothing."
"Your life."

She stared into his dark brown eyes, but all she saw there was a merchant's determination. Tantoko cursed under her breath. "You won't like where we're going."

Knowing he had won, Taka urged the oxen back into their shambling walk. "Don't worry, Tantoko. I know all the roads of Rokugan. With Yasuki Taka as your guide, all paths are open." He smiled a victorious smile. "Which road shall we take? South, to the gates of Hida Castle? Perhaps to the distant Lion strongholds? Shall we try to catch up with the wandering ronin armies of Toturi the Black?"

Tantoko shook her head resolutely. In a low voice she murmured, "To the Imperial Palace of Hantei, trader-man. As fast as you can go."

Of all the splendors of Rokugan, from the bursting magic displays over the Isawa Woodlands to the dark, brooding seas of the southern coasts, it can be said that nothing is more stunningly beautiful than a simple rain over the plains of Otosan Uchi. The Imperial Palace of the Hantei has been standing on those plains for countless generations, its crystal and marble spires rising in majestic tumult over the waving fields of flowers. Its gardens are unmatchable, boasting rare and unique plants from all parts of Rokugan. It is common legend that one of the ancient Emperors said he wanted a garden to be built that would show him all the things that his people saw each day, so he might know their world as well as his own.

Within those ornate and fantastic gardens there are simple pools of sand, raked elegantly into spreading ripples around smooth granite and marble stones carved from the mountains of the enigmatic Dragon Clan. The fourth Hantei is said to have personally chosen each stone for its patterning, the grain of the marble and the subtle veining of sand within the massive blocks. Each area is maintained by the gentle, invisible gardeners who circulate like bees throughout the garden, keeping order and harmony. But even such earnest and deliberate care cannot always defeat the plague of serpents that long to infect such a rare and wonderous garden, and it is certain that order and harmony are no match for deception and guile.

It was night, and the darkness surrounded them like a fog over the shores of the Crab, hiding their true intention and movements from all eyes. With careful footsteps they approached a curve in the outer wall of the palace, and with a faint, secret knock they found the opening to the gardens. They were two hooded figures, moving with stealth and swiftness through the sweetly scented night. With no sound, the two figures passed into the palace as though they had never been, and only a single marred footprint against the sand of the pool left witness to their passing. It the morning, with the dew and the rhythm of the gardener's tools, it too would be gone.

Yasuki Taka made it a rule never to question a customer about a fair price for an item. If the customer was not willing to pay, Taka would simply move onward, selling it to the next mlan down the road. But in this case, he thought to himself, he was going to make an exception. "Free?" he hissed at Tantoko as she handed the goblet away. "What do you mean, we'll part with it for free?" Her elbow found its way between his ribs, and Taka suddenly stopped complaining.

"Of course, Aramoro-sama," Taktoko bowed, "I have completed my mission successfully and have returned with the goblet as I was instructed."

Bayushi Aramoro was a tall man, with breadth and width through his shoulders, and eyes like a captive hawk. "Well done, young one, well done." his hands caressed the jade sides of the relic, and a faint moan escaped from Taka's lips as he saw his hopes of koku slide away. "The trader..." his gaze lit upon Taka with malicious intent, but Tantoko spoke swiftly.

"...can be trusted, Aramoro-sama. You have my assurances." After a moment, Aramoro nodded in agreement, and she continued, "He was very useful to me in my mission, and I have told him that something could... be arranged."

"Koku?" Taka whispered the word as no more than a faint prayer to his devoted kami, and thought he saw a flicker of scorn and understanding within the black depths of Aramoro's eyes.

"If koku is your price, trader, koku you will have, and be gone." Aramoro turned then, his long black gi swirling in the dim light of the tunnel beneath the Imperial Palace. "Stay here, merchant, and you will be compensated." Tantoko remained only a moment before following her Master into the darkness, her face speaking nothing to Taka's searching eyes.

"Koku?" Taka said again, although this time there was no one to hear him. "Oh, blessed kami, if they give me even an eighth - no, a fourth! - of what that goblet is worth, I'll have enough money to buy out the entire Mantis Clan!" He chortled to himself in the dim torch light. "What a wonderful stroke of luck! I bet... oh dear." He looked around suddenly, as if noticing for the first time that he was alone. "What if they don't realize how much such a piece of art is worth?"

Taka pondered for a moment. "I'll bet they intend to cheat me of the true value of the piece. They think I'm some ignorant merchant who doesn't know his koku from a clod of dirt!" He waited, growing slowly angrier and angrier, and finally he muttered, "If they think they are going to cheat on a deal with Yasuki Taka, then they're fools!" Taka grinned to himself, and headed down the dark corridor. "Even Kisada learned - you don't try to cheat a cheater!" With a low chuckle, he slid into the darkness that had swallowed Aramoro and the young ninja girl.

The darkness of the palace cleared as Taka climbed up a thin ladder to a darkly paneled hallway. Sensing no guards about, Taka moved into the corridor and began to pad quietly down the hall. Having never been inside the Imperial Palace before, Taka smiled, and murmured to himself, "What a marvelous opportunity this is! If I am captured by the Emperor's guard, I can tell them about the ninja, and I'll be a hero! And if not..." Seemingly unknown to Taka, the small jeweled statue which had ornamented a decorative alcove slid silently into his pocket, and he continued blithely down the hallway.

The palace's interior was dark and bare, the soft wood of the floors gleaming from use and polish, and the thin rice doors to either side glowing with the reflection of tallowed candles. Each corner held a thin table on which flowers, art, or steel weapons gleamed. Soft conversations rose and fell, masking the movements of Taka's padded feet as he investigated every turn and hall of the massive building. Finally, within one room, he heard a familiar voice.

"... and you say the Unicorns tried to stop you?" It was Aramoro, the steel in his speech chilling Taka to the bone. The trader froze in a shadowed corner near the rice walls of the room, quickly darting into the next chamber and closing the door. The rice paper made a quiet sshhh in the night, as if it too held a secret, and Taka listened raptly.

"Hie." It was Tantoko. "I believe they found out that I was going to attack the Emperor," Taka's jaw dropped, "and they intended to stop me."

Clamping a hand over his mouth to stop any noise, Taka slid into a crouch by the door. "Attack the Emperor?" he thought, panicked. The conversation continued.

"Nothing else?"

"No, sama. They knew nothing else, and none of them survived the encounter." Tantoko's soft sounds did not soothe Taka's fears. His ears burned, and his head whirled. "Kill the Emperor?" the thought ripped through his mind again.

"And are you prepared to fulfill the rest of your task, little one?" Aramoro asked, and the only answer was a swift assent from Tantoko. "Then take your weapon, and may the spirits of our ancestors be with you." Taka heard the door of the other room open, and then there was only silence.

"Kill the Emperor?" Taka's confused and stunned mind could hardly grasp the concept. "But... if they kill the Emperor, the Clans will be in complete war! There will be no trade at all, and that means..." A faint yelp left his lips, and he muffled it rapidly. "The entire economy might collapse!" Scrambling to his feet, Taka threw open the door between himself and the other room, but there was nothing to be seen.

"Oh blessed kami!" Taka breathed, "Now I know why I have been guided here! To save Rokugan! Oh, my pots and silks!" He almost sank to the floor again in terror, but his bandy legs were already carrying him back out into the corridor. "I have to stop Tantoko!"

The shadows at the heart of the palace seemed to guide Taka, encouraging him in his search for the ninja girl and her deadly mission. Although he could hear the shouts and laughter of the Imperial guard, he saw none of them in the hallways. All was dark and quiet, and Taka was more alone than he has ever been in his life. "Tantoko, I have to stop Tantoko!" he repeated again and again, but the shadows only swallowed his protests and led him ever onward, toward the dark heart of the Empire's master.

He finally found her within a stunning bedroom, covered in silks and luxuries that he had no time to price, and he hissed as he entered, "Tantoko, you have to sto..." but his own dagger was at his throat and her hand was over his mouth.

"I have no time to argue with you, trader-man. There is more here than you think. The Empress has..."
A soft footfall outside the door was the only warning they had.

With a mighty swing, Tantoko threw Taka through the small stone door in the outer wall of the room, pushing him back into the tunnel system's secret embrace. The door swung shut with the faintest of clicks, and Tantoko was swallowed by the darkness of the room.

Taka was not a hero. Further, he had no idea how to open the massive door. All he could do was stare through the small crack in the wall, and mutter hurried prayers to his kami. Fickle thing that it was, his kami did not answer, and his fears killed the sounds before they could leave his tightened throat. Then the door opened, and Taka could see a man's figure silhouetted by the light of the corridor. The Emperor.

For a moment, Taka's mind drew the pictures that he expected to see. A strong man, youthful and noble, in the silks of the Imperial Dynasty stood in the darkened doorway. But the pictures began to change as the man entered the room. The silks were rotted, and fouled with the stench of the grave, and the Emperor was no longer young. In the growing glow of golden light, Taka's eyes showed him a vision of unimaginable horror. Maggots writhing in reddened eyesockets, hands made of bone covered by barely-clinging flesh, and a darkness that was almost palpitable hovering above the shoulders of the slowly moving figure. What had once been the Emperor was now something else. Something... evil.

Tantoko's howling chi yell split the room, and she raised the goblet made of jade above her head while the thing in the Emperor's robes recoiled. Taka found a voice to give the scream that had been stifled, but again it was killed in its birth. A single soft hand, velvet skin over steel courage, held the scream within his lungs. He turned from the battle in the room to find himself face to face with Bayushi Kachiko, Empress of Rokugan.

How she had come to be there, Taka was not sure - perhaps some secret aperture within this closet in the wall, or some magic he did not understand, but her presence did not reassure him. Her eyes, dark fire and pools of mystery, turned from his wizened face to glance through the crack in the wall.

Tantoko's blow had missed its first strike, but the beast that was Emperor of Rokugan was blinded by the light of the goblet, and it howled in fury and immortal strength. Its rage shook the halls of the palace itself, but the curious, peaceful look on Kachiko's shadow shrouded face never wavered.

With a tremendous blow, Tantoko leapt to the side of the beastlike man, her sword passing harmlessly across its bones and flesh. It rallied, and struck a massive blow across Tantoko's chest that knocked her sailing across the room, the flowers of the alcove raining down like lies from a serpent's tongue. With an acrobatic roll, she managed to evade the thing's next crushing blow, missing her only by a hair's breadth as she rolled to her feet again.

Taka stood, paralyzed, unable to help Tantoko and unable to stop his eyes from flickering back and forth from the combat to the Empress's face. Although there was no reason, no glimmer of emotion in her eyes or pale reflection of anticipation in her face, Taka knew. He knew that she had planned this battle, and that it was her orders that had made Tantoko go to her death fighting the man-thing that ruled Rokugan. And worse, he knew that it was the right choice.

With a desperate thrust of her blade, Tantoko parried the arm which clutched blindly for her throat, the golden light of the goblet keeping the Emperor at bay. She rolled and twisted, keeping the goblet between herself and it, and using countless stabs and slices to try to find the weakness in its armor. As if without thought, the creature gripped the blade of her ninja-to and snapped it like a child breaks a toy. With a hollow, bone-chilling laugh, the thing's voice bubbled up from within the pit of its being. "Now you will die, mortal." The voice was stone and steel, echoing within the cold shadows that haunt the dark of the night, and all the things which should have never been spawned on this earth or any other. For the rest of his life, that sound would haunt Taka's dreams, and torture his nightmares, and he wept for the pain of his soul.

Finally, in exhaustion, Tantoko lifted the goblet from the floor and leapt toward the beast. Her body sped across the room like a golden inferno, and as the cup touched the Emperor's body he shrieked in pain and terror. For a single, golden moment, the light flashed and the goblet burst into a rainbow of glorious color, more brilliant than all the flowers of the gardens combined. A shattering sound, glass torn against the fabric of the universe, ripped apart the jade goblet, scattering the chips of jade into stunning rays of light that blinded them all. Within that epiphany of brilliance, Taka heard one last voice. Quiet and soft, with agony and noble spirit, it came from the cowering body of the madman on the floor. From within the heart of the evil, a whisper of lost nobility arose.

"Please..." Blue eyes looked up and locked onto Tantoko's brown ones, shining out from where there had only been evil shadows of despair, and the last Hantei whispered, "kill... me..."

Pulling Taka's dagger from her sleeve, Tantoko struck.

Too late, and the red eyes of the beast clutched hers again, in a mad spiral of hatred. The dagger spun from her wrist, and the sound of breaking bone rang in Taka's ears. He turned his eyes from the battle, unable to watch the final, inevitable strike. Kachiko's hand slid from his lips as snow melting from a furnace, and she whispered one cold word as she vanished into the darkness. "Stay." The awful crunch of a massive fist against a frail skull punctuated her leaving with a chilling, ghastly sound. Taka did not see her leave, but he felt the chill of her presence vanish like a shadow into a dark room.

"Kachiko, my dear..." the Emperor-thing looked up at the figure entering from the hallway, her movements silken in the night. Behind her, the Imperial Guard filled the hall, their gibbering, mad faces contorting as they strained for a glimpse of what had occurred. "You don't know anything about this, of course?" The voice was hollow, devoid of life and filled with sickness and loathing. It began to leave the room, striding with purpose toward the heallway, but when it reached Kachiko's side, it paused.

The blow rang through the room like a clap of thunder.

When they were gone, Aramoro released the hidden catch on the stone closet, and Taka fell to the side of his Tantoko. No life echoed in the body of the ninja girl, and her eyes, once bright and clever, were now cold and dead. His dagger lay on the floor beside her, and a thin trickle of dark blood corroded its fine edge. By his side stood the Empress, a dark bruise growing over her perfect cheekbone like a thundercloud in a clear sky.

Yasuki Taka looked into Tantoko's face, remembering where he had first seen her. Not on the road, among the Unicorn, but at a party in the Crane palaces, performing the tragic heroine Doji Konishiko to a record audience. Her eyes had been bright that day, and full of joy, and her fan had danced in the breeze among the flowers and the waving kites, and he had loved her without knowing her. Now, Taka looked up at the Mistress of the Scorpion Clan. In his eyes were no questions, no words of hate or anguish. Tantoko had died in a desperate attempt to break the power of the Shadowlands over the Emperor himself, and she had failed. Kachiko herself had sent the ninja, and they had both been defeated.

"We all must play our part, Tsukune-san," Taka said to the young samurai-ko many months later as he handed her a fine sword made of rare crystal. She tested the blade, and nodded.

"But why give it away, merchant? Surely there are many who would pay for such a fine item?" she asked.
"There are many who have already paid, Phoenix-sama." Taka's eyes were distant, and he looked as the falling sun sank beneath the Isawa woodlands. "We all must play our part. No matter what the cost."

Shiba Tsukune nodded, pleased, and stepped away from the caravan as Kisa and Moto started their ponderous path again, headed for the mountains of the Dragon clan. "We all play a part, you see," Taka hummed to himself, counting the rich koku he had already plundered from the coffers of the Phoenix. Above his head, a windchime made of delicate jade chips swung on strands of woven black hair, keeping him company on his long journey through Rokugan. "And some parts are larger, and some are small. But all parts must be performed before the play ends, eh, Moto?" The ox ignored him, as many things did, and the road stretched ever on.