Scott McGough: Outlaw:Champions of Kamigawa

The ogre grunted, but did not reply. Toshi's playful smile faded.

"Something big is brewing, Hidetsugu. I've got trouble with the soratami, and the kanji don't look good. The signs say moonfolk and hyozan are bound to destroy each other. I get nervous when portents use such generalities."

Hidetsugu squinted. "That seems specific enough."

"But it doesn't mention me," Toshi said. "Or you. If the hyozan and the moonfolk disappear, what happens to the individuals in each group? I'm not planning to wait to find out if this mess will claim me in the end."

Hidetsugu grinned, exposing his tusk-like teeth.

Toshi's stomach went cold. He liked ogre mirth even less than equivocal portents.

"Hidetsugu," he said. "Oath-brother. What do you know?"

The ogre's eyes danced as the brain behind them calculated. He raised his club, and Toshi sprang back, but Hidetsugu merely lowered the weapon back down onto his own armored shoulder.

"Kobo," he said, without looking at the bald youth. "Go to the spring and fill a bucket. Toshi is our final guest today, and even I did not expect him. We will shortly have grave matters to discuss."

"Inside." Toshi added.

Hidetsugu grunted again. "Inside."

Hidetsugu's home was deceptively small from the outside. The stone hut covered a great sloping tunnel that led to a deep underground cavern that the ogre had excavated himself. The cavern was dimly lit and seemed to go on indefinitely. As far as Toshi could see, small patches of light created by torches and braziers were spaced unevenly across the vast expanse of darkness. Toshi's steps echoed off something hard and stony in the distance, but he had only the vaguest guess as to the room's dimensions.

Hidetsugu led him to a large, flaming brazier next to a brick furnace on the eastern wall. There was a crude wooden bench with a series of metal rods carefully laid out like cutlery at a formal dinner. The ogre began fiddling with the twisted, sooty pieces of metal.

"This is Toshi," he growled. "An ochimusha from the marsh." He twisted a small attachment onto one of the rods with a metallic click and tossed the contraption into the furnace with one end protruding.

"So?" The voices spoke as one from the left and right of the furnace, but the fire prevented Toshi from seeing who spoke.

"He has seen signs, portents. Tell them, Toshi."

"Tell who?"

Hidetsugu snarled and beckoned. Two identical warriors stepped into the light from each side of the furnace. Both men were exactly the same in almost every respect, size, shape, demeanor, and they moved in unison with the precision of one man and his reflection. They wore thin, dagger-like mustaches and chin whiskers and they were dressed in polished bandit armor, which Toshi had always considered incongruous. The heavy plating on their shoulders and hips rang like coins as they walked, and they kept their hands on the long, curved swords on their hips.

Toshi quickly noted that the twins wore their hair bandit-style under their loose horned helmets, braided and looped around one shoulder. The bandit on the left wore his braid around his right shoulder, the other around his left. Toshi thought they looked like barbarian bookends, but he kept this opinion to himself.

"These men represent Godo," Hidetsugu said. "And behind you is Ben-Ben, from Ichi's akki tribe. Tell them your story."

Toshi did not turn around, but he heard the crab-like scuttling of an akki goblin on the move. "What about you?" he said.

"I will also be listening."

Toshi shrugged. "I ran into some soratami in the ruins outside Konda's stronghold. They were working with a pack of nezumi. Later, they traced me back to my home, but I escaped. I saw portents that said this is not over."

"And he was attacked by kami."

Toshi started, but maintained his composure. "Hidetsugu is correct, though I don't know how."

The ogre grinned again and growled happily. He urged Toshi to continue with a wave of his hand.

"But yes, I was twice beset by angry spirits." Toshi shrugged again. "I think something big is going on, and it won't end without bad business for everyone. My problems with the soratami are tangential, but I believe all this is connected."

"Toshi is a kanji magician," Hidetsugu said. He pulled the metal rod out of the furnace and inspected the glowing end. "He and I are bound by this mark." The ogre showed them the hot end of the rod, which was bent into a triangle with the hyozan kanji beneath.

Toshi recognized the rod for what it was, a branding iron. He saw that the twins did, as well.

"What is that for?" one said.

"And what does any of this have to do with our arrangement?" said the other. "I thought we were all agreed."

"Kobo!" Hidetsugu put the branding iron back into the fire. "Bring the bucket."

From the top of the incline, Toshi saw the big bald youth's silhouette descend.

The akki behind him grumbled. "Too many humans," he said. "Hidetsugu promised, only two of Godo's men." Ben-Ben sniffed. "Left my refuge for this."

In the firelight, Toshi looked at the mountain goblin and laughed. Ben-Ben was a ridiculous figure, squat and armored like an armadillo with a long, sharp nose and a crusty, rocky carapace across his back and shoulders. He was no taller than a nezumi, but his arms were disproportionately large and powerful, his huge hands capped by long, pointed claws. He wore a small leather drum around his neck and thick-soled wooden clogs on his feet. For no reason that Toshi would ever understand, Ben-Ben wore a limp, soggy thing with multiple arms or tentacles on his head, and he carried it with all the gravity and pomp of an official's hat.

"I don't get this either, Hidetsugu. I came here for information, and maybe a place to hide out for a few days. I don't know or care what you've got brewing between Godo and the goblins."

Both twins narrowed their eyes. "Keep it that way, ochimusha."

Toshi smiled. "You say that like it's an insult. If you weren't offal-eating sanzoku dogs, I might take offense."

The twins each drew a sword, but froze when Hidetsugu growled.

"I have also seen portents," the ogre shaman said. "And as rude as Toshi is, you must know this: His success is Godo's. What you and the akki are planning will not work if Toshi dies here. This I have seen."

Kobo the apprentice lumbered into the light and dropped a wooden bucket heavily onto the stone floor. Opaque white liquid sloshed over the sides, and the bald youth quietly went to stand behind Hidetsugu.

"Besides," Hidetsugu said, "Toshi is my oath-brother and also my guest. If you harm him, I am obliged to respond." He reached his entire arm into the fire, singing the hair off his flesh and raising a ghastly stink. Without the slightest sign of discomfort, Hidetsugu drew the glowing branding iron out of the furnace and inspected the tip. He blew on it like a choice morsel, and the tip glowed brighter.

"We were given assurances," the twins hissed.

"Promised no pain," Ben-Ben echoed.

"My bond with Toshi goes back further than any promises made to Godo and Ichi. Barely a week ago, you came seeking my help. I have given it. You came seeking my counsel. I now offer it: go forward as we have planned. But remember this man and this mark." He waved the branding iron. "Events will churn and bubble around him and his hyozan symbol."

Without another word, Hidetsugu suddenly shoved the red-hot brand into the bald monk's breast. Kobo screamed as his skin burned and his blood sizzled, but he held his ground. With fists clenched and eyes streaming, the apprentice stood firm under the ogre's onslaught. Hidetsugu leaned down on the branding iron, forcing Kobo back and plowing up a small heap of dust and pebbles behind the apprentice's heels.