Scott McGough: Outlaw:Champions of Kamigawa

"The child is born," she said. She had been right: the hooded figure was a soratami, as they were known informally-one of the strange, ethereal denizens of the clouds above the Minamo Academy. Both the wizards' school and the soratami had excellent relations with the Daimyo's kingdom. She knew Konda took wizards and moonfolk into his confidence, but she hadn't realized that both were represented here, on the most restricted levels of his stronghold.

General Takeno grunted. "Long live the Daimyo, and his child."

"Most excellent news, Lady Pearl-Ear," said the wizard.

"Our lord must not be disturbed." The soratami frowned from beneath the folds of his hood.

"I bring most urgent news, soratami-san." Pearl-Ear assumed he was male, but the voice was a husky whisper and the heavy robe masked both scent and features. The "he" could well be a she-the moonfolk themselves drew little distinction between the genders.

"His lordship gave strict instructions not to be disturbed. The future ofTowabara-"

"Lies asleep in her mother's arms." Lady Pearl-Ear's ears stretched out on either side of her head. "Surely a father would pause in his great work to learn that he is, in fact, a father." And to inquire about the health of the mother, she added privately.

The soratami shook his head. "Your news can wait." With a condescending wave, the moonfolk turned away from Pearl-Ear.

The fox-woman's brow creased, but Takeno placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Write it down," the general said evenly. "I will mark it with my own seal and it will be treated as a battlefield dispatch. I guarantee no one will read it before his lordship."

Pearl-Ear started to nod, her eyes still fixed on the moonfolk's back. Before she could answer, a powerful voice rolled out of the darkness beyond the far doorway.

"Send Lady Pearl-Ear to me."

"Sir!" Takeno and the wizard bowed, stepping aside for Lady Pearl-Ear. The moonfolk stood firm, facing the unseen speaker.

"Daimyo Konda, respectfully-"

"Now." The ruler of Towabara had a loud, ragged voice that had led a hundred campaigns. He was not used to repeating himself.

The moonfolk stepped aside but did not face Lady Pearl-Ear or even bow. She swept past the towering robed figure through the doorway and up another set of stairs.

Daimyo Konda was waiting for her at the top. The ruler ofTowabara was over fifty years old, but he was as strong and alert as he had been at twenty-five. He wore his thin white hair long, and it flowed freely around his head from under his round skullcap. His mustache and beard both hung down past the center of his chest. He was dressed in a brilliant gold robe inlaid with rich red silk and dazzling gems. Though he seemed distracted, he was still brimming with the famous stamina that had conquered a nation. Shouldering the burdens of leadership for so many decades had made him stronger as he aged instead of weaker, seasoning him like hardwood.

Lady Pearl-Ear bowed. "My lord," she began.

Konda sat cross-legged on a raised platform, inches from the floor. He clutched the handle of a sheathed sword, cradling the weapon across his lap.

"You have news."

Pearl-Ear bowed again. "You have a child, my lord."

Daimyo Konda nodded. A strange, feral grin split his fine features and he croaked out a dry laugh. "A girl."

Pearl-Ear paused. "Yes, my lord. The princess sleeps soundly, alongside Lady Yoshino."

"Princess. Yes. But that no longer matters." The Daimyo either would not or could not focus his eyes. He stood facing Pearl-Ear from the center of his small chamber, but his rich almond pupils listed from side to side like a rudderless ship. In the dim light, it even seemed that Konda's eyes were floating outside the boundaries of his face.

The Daimyo smiled again, and let out a long wail, his voice rising and falling as his thumb worked the hilt of his sword.

Distracted, Lady Pearl-Ear's own eyes focused on the space behind the Daimyo. A small stone shrine had been built against the far wall, in the space usually occupied by the shrine to the Myojin of Cleansing Fire. Now the only representation of the Daimyo's patron god was the ornate mural that covered the northern wall, depicting Konda and the myojin leading the Daimyo's troops into battle, side by side as equals. Both wore expressions of righteous fury in the face of their enemies. Above them, the great sun spirit Terashi illuminated the heavens.

Now, a new shrine featured a square granite pedestal topped by a marble column. A rough stone disk hovered several feet above the column, smoking slightly in the cool air. A strange shape had been carved into the disk's face, something with the head and horns of a beast lying curled into a fetal position.

Konda stood, his vacillating eyes still straying across his face. He held the sheathed sword out toward Lady Pearl-Ear, its blade parallel to the ground.

"Don't look at that," he said. "It's mine."

Pearl-Ear shuddered. "Forgive me, my lord. I meant no harm."

"I am beyond harm now, Lady Pearl-Ear. I am beyond most of what you comprehend. But my will is still law in Towabara. Let my enemies tremble!"

Pearl-Ear bowed to hide her expression. "Long live the Daimyo." She looked up and said, "If I may, my lord, Lady Yoshino-"

"Has given birth, yes, yes, yes. So you have said, Lady Pearl-Ear of the kitsune-bito. But I have also created something this night. I have also given birth. I am father and mother to this entire nation. My children are legion, and will one day sit on the throne of this world and the next. You have noticed the changes to my shrine."

Pearl-Ear paused, thrown by the sudden shift in the conversation. The Daimyo was not asking; he was observing.

Lady Pearl-Ear lowered her head and bowed. "I have, my lord."

"Remember it well, for you will never look upon its like again. It is a monument to Towabara's hope. It is the doorway through which I will secure the future. It is the symbol of my divine destiny and of my people's good fortune."

"Wonderful, my lord." She was catching something strange and foreboding from the Daimyo. Something about his eyes and the nauseous excitement that came off him in waves had raised an almost overwhelming urge to bolt from the room.

"I have dared much, Lady Pearl-Ear. I have risked my life and all that I have accomplished for the sake of my people. And I have won."

Pearl-Ear raised her head. "If I may ask, my lord… what have you won?"

Daimyo Konda's vacillating eyes suddenly stopped and fixed on Pearl-Ear. "Lasting peace," he said, his face split by a mad, leering grin. "The rule of law, ensured by the power to enforce it." His wandering eyes began to glow softly in the dimly lit room. His mouth widened, revealing square, sharp teeth. "Permanent prosperity. The best of all possible worlds for my children, and their children's children." Konda's voice remained low and ragged, but Lady Pearl-Ear heard a sound like a kettle's whistle behind his words. She winced inwardly, careful not to let her discomfort show.

"Now, Lady Pearl-Ear, the glory of my beloved Towabara will never fade away." The Daimyo turned to face the marble column and the floating stone disk. He threw his arms out wide and cried, "Behold! The new spirit of my kingdom!"

Pearl-Ear stood and stared… at the Daimyo, at the shrine, at the unsettling figure scratched into the disk. On the north wall, the mural showing Daimyo and kami seemed to move in the flickering torchlight as the painted and etched figures relived a glorious victory.

Daimyo Konda still held his arms aloft. "You may go now, Lady Pearl-Ear. I will see my other new child presently. And you need not worry. Though my manner may be strange and my thoughts confused, I am finally at peace. Go, Lady Pearl-Ear. Tell the world that soon everything will change for the better."