Fable - Ask Battle of Carrion Valley

[Lady Karasu]

[Note: "Italics" = Spoken in Yosei Elvish]

Carrion Valley
Negurayama, Akitsushima (Isle of the Elvish Samurai - Yosei)

Through leaden clouds and bending mist flew a raven. It weaved, dived and swooped through the clouds and forest canopies that carpeted the tall jagged mountains of the narrow river valley. Reaching a gnarled maple tree it fluttered its wings bringing itself to a stop mid-air before landing on a spindly branch. From its perch it tilted its head from side to side, eyeing the massive army that was marching down the valley, hugging the thin river, using it as a road. The army was formed into a long column. Spearmen at the front, with swordsmen in the mid, accompanied by bowmen and a large contingent of cavalry on the flanks. Marking the ends and beginnings of the regiments were tall banners festooned to bamboo shafts. Much smaller banners were mounted on the backs of the warrior’s cuirasses.

All of them, samurai elves of the Akitsushima isles – warriors of the Lords of the Nagahara Midlands, come on the orders of the Overlord to destroy the Raven Lords of Negurayama. Ever since the chaos of the war in the capital, the lords of the isles, the Kyu-Sankyo Clans have been at each other’s throats. They had split into warring camps, each attached to a rival heir to the office of Overlord of Clans. For the Nagahara Lords, crushing the Raven Lords was the first step for the expansion of their power.

Having spied all it could the raven battered its wings into a heavy downward thrust and launched itself from the branch. It flew far off, higher up the mountains towards one of its many jagged peaks. Reaching a shallow slope, the raven dove down once more and flew towards a solitary ruined temple complex that sat on a terrace cut into the mountain side. As it landed within the dilapidated entrance courtyard it exploded into a plume of black mist that poured onto the worn cobbled stone path inside. It spilled into a puddle before it rose up to mold into the form of an elvish lady samurai. Clad in black armor styled like that of a raven, Funikutori-kara-Kuromi, known as Lady Karasu – the Raven Princess, marched towards her samurai commanders, gathered in the rotting main prayer hall of the once glorious Raven Peak Monastery.

The hall was cavernously tall, more than three levels high. The roof had fallen in, creating a layer of debris, muck and dust on the floor. A gaping rib cage of shattered beams provide paltry cover from the wet mist that rolled into the temple. Lady Karasu’s commanders were sat on rubble and ruin, surrounding their liege lady as she stepped between them. She paid them no mind and continued until she reached an altar at the far end of the hall.

Their, made of tarnished bronze turned deep green, was the effigy of the patron spirit of the monastery – Karasugami – the Raven King. The statue was of a man’s body encased in arcane samurai armor with the head of a raven, mane of a lion and two pairs of wings stretched out in full wingspan. Lady Karasu kneeled down and bowed to the statue and clapped her hands twice. Dropping her head and closing her eyes, she offered a small prayer. A prayer for vengeance and victory.

She had barely survived after her father and brothers were killed in the capital – and she herself impaled by a spear when she fled home with what was left of her father’s court. It was Karasugami, and this ruined temple, that had saved her from certain death. Now she would repay her debts to the raven king spirit – and offer to it the souls of the Nagahara samurai.

When she opened her eyes she spoke to her commanders, “They have arrived.”

“They’re using the river as a path to march down the valley and meet the defenders we left back at the castle.”

Lady Karasu shifted in her knelt seat, pressing the palms of her hands onto the floor to turn and face her commanders, her retainers, those of her fathers.

“We will ambush them here and stop them.”

She eyed them all and continued, “Their numbers are large, but we know these woods. Their arrogance shall be the blades we use to slit their throats.”



Wakasugi Touma
Yamanaka Tsuru
Rhiannon

 

[Yamanaka Tsuru]

Yamanaka stood with what remained of her clan. The remains of what was once called the Crane clan, having pledged fealty to the Raven Clan to spare itself from being completely wiped out by the infighting that was occurring around them.

The struggle for power that had made a void between all of the clans. That had spilled countless amounts of blood on fields and back alleys in the vying for power. That had almost wiped out not only her clan, but the Raven clan as well. The Crane's had been allied to the Ravens before the outbreak of all this fighting, now solidified with the incessant fighting around them all and the betrayal of other clans.

Contracted with ensuring their safety in transit to a meeting, and falling to the same fate as those they swore to protect.

She watched silently, sitting on the monastery steps as her human comrades mingled and checked armor. Cinching up a spot here, or patting armor and righting it before moving to another. There would be more bloodshed before this was finished. Countless lives extinguished for the greed of power.

The Crane clan had never wanted anything more than to be paid for their work, remaining neutral when clans argued among themselves in shows of force. They had been contracted to keep the peace, to keep themselves at arms length from the line of succession to the ruling seat.

Which had ultimately been the downfall for the clan. They had been considered too wild to remain, to much of a liability to be allowed the ignorance of the enemy.

Her mother, father, and brother had fallen before her. All defending the path to their clan seat and giving Yama time to rally and retreat what remained of their forces. Arrows had made their exodus harrowing, a number of her human subordinates falling to the volley's of those that sought to erase her clan from the divide of power.

Her eyes narrowed as a raven appeared, the transformation of the clan leader now something she had grown accustomed to after a short time with them. The first time witnessing the event had been, confusing. At first thinking it was some sort of parlor trick involving smoke and a spell to hide the Lady Karasu. Then believing some sort of dark magic was at work. Finally, listening to reason and watching, that it was her own gift at work.

Which still made her wonder at the Raven Clan's patron and it's powers.

"We await your will." Egawa, her second spoke quietly to her as the Raven Clan leader strode into the monastery. Yamanaka gave him a small bow, standing with the help of her naginata. The blade was wrapped, tied in faded white cloth tied with red and black string.

Her clothes were respectively colored, a faded red color for the long hip length jacket she wore. Her neck wrapped in thick layered cloth and head covered with a woven straw hat kept close by ties. The rest of her clothes were white and black, a small homage to her clan's symbol of the crane.

The simple mask Yamanaka usually wore was on her hip, plain white with small painted markings to signify her position within her own ranks as their leader. It clacked quietly as she walked, her staff also making a small noise as it crushed the stone beneath it. She sat with the others, staff

The Crane leader was silent when she caught up to the other elf, watching as she prayed to her deity and respected the task, finding a halfway sturdy post to lean against as she waited for her to finish. The other woman began to speak, and Yamanaka grinned at the news.