Something about troop deployments, about whether to consolidate or divide our forces.
They were asking me to decide about something important, and I had been too lost in my own spiraling doubts to even hear the question properly.
“I . . .” My voice came out uncertain, and I hated the sound of it. “What is theDai Shogun’sassessment of—”
The doors burst open.
The crack of wood against stone echoed through the chamber like a thunderclap. Every head whipped toward the entrance, where a man in tattered battle clothing stumbled through, supported by two guards who looked absolutely terrified at what they had just done—interrupted an Imperial war council, disturbed the Emperor himself.
The messenger’s armor was splattered with mud and what looked like the dried blackness of death itself. His face was ashen, his eyes wide and haunted. The man had ridden hard—hard enough to nearly kill his horse, judging by the state of him.
“Heika—” one of the guards began, his voice shaking. “Forgive the intrusion, but he insisted—said it could not wait—”
“Yubi,” the messenger gasped out, not waiting for the formalities of court. He swayed on his feet before falling to his knees and pressing his forehead to the cold stone of the chamber. “Yubi has fallen.”
The hall went absolutely still.
Yubi.
The eastern fortress city, guardian of the coastal provinces, largest and most important of the Toshi lands.
Their capital.
Her walls were thirty feet high, and she boasted a garrison of nearly ten thousand.
“What?” Rei’s voice was barely a whisper.
The messenger chanced a glance upward—at theDai Shogun, never at me, never at the Jade Throne.
“Heika,” the messenger said. “This one brings word from the eastern provinces. Yubi has fallen to the Asami. The city burns. DaikiDaimyois . . . The Lord of ToshiHanis dead.”
No, that could not be right.
Daiki commanded ten thousand men behind walls that had never been breached, not in three hundred years.
“How?” General Tanaka’s voice cut through my shock. He had stepped forward without my permission, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about protocol in that moment. “The Toshi had the men, the walls, the supplies. How did they—”
“Siege engines,” the messenger said, his words tumbling out in a desperate rush. His eyes remaining low but drifted toward the throne. “Dozens of them,Heika. They came out of the forests at dawn five days ago. Worse, thewakobegan blockading the harbor a week before the attack. We thought they were raiders at first, but they were keeping us trapped, keeping reinforcements from arriving by sea.”
“A coordinated assault,” Rei breathed. “Thewakoare working with the rebels. There can be no further doubt.”
“They attacked at dawn,” the messenger continued. “Hit three sections of wall simultaneously. They were against the ramparts before Daiki-samaDaimyocould fully mobilize the defense.”
“How many?” Ishida’s face had gone pale.
“Our generals count fifteen thousand at least, maybe twenty. It was an army,Heika, not scattered rebel bands—a huge army.” The messenger’s hands were shaking now. “Lord Daiki-samafought. He held the inner keep for many hours after the walls fell, but the Asami had the numbers.”
Our eastern stronghold was gone.
“And what of Daiki-sama? Was he captured, or did he flee?” Nakamura asked quietly.
The messenger’s face twisted with something between grief and rage. “When it was clear the keep would fall, Daiki-samaDaimyosurrendered himself and attempted to negotiate terms. He sought to spare civilians, to arrange safe passage for women and children. He . . .” The messenger’s voice broke. “Asami Eiko-samaDaimyomet him in the courtyard herself. She listened to his terms, then she executed him in front of his retainers. She made everyone watch. Then she ordered his head salted and sent to . . . to Bara.”
“She murdered aDaimyo?” Grand Minister Satoshi’s voice was nearly a shout. “A lord who attempted honorable surrender? She did not even offer himseppuku?”
The messenger’s head snapped up. “She did, even tossed him a blade, but did not wait long enough for him to accept it.”
“That woman makes a mockery of everything,” Rei said, his normally steady voice shaking with rage. “To execute aDaimyoattempting to surrender, to take his family hostage—this cannot stand,Heika.”
