Letter 3
(Clan Phoenix)
As sensai Shinsei teaches, "A messenger with bad news is better
than no messenger at all." All that we have to offer you, my brother, is
bad news.
Our armies in the Crane territory have fallen, but Shiba Tsukune's
failure had nothing to do with the courage or tactics of the Lion. No, the
unorthodox strategies of Lady Tsukune held off the enraged Lady Lion for nearly
three weeks, but it was the arrival of a Shadowlands army - led by the
blazing-eyed shadow of Doji Hoturi - that forced her to retreat back to the
temples of the Asahina family. She and the Cranes barely escaped with their
lives, let alone with their armies. There they wait for the arrival of Matsu
Tsuko and her allies from the Shadowlands. It is obvious now that she cares not
who sits on the Throne, she merely wishes to ensure her place beside it. As
things now stand, it seems as if nothing can stop her from razing the Crane to
the ground and sealing the doom of us all. We can only pray that the Lion
Champion can somehow be made to see reason, or that the rumors of a Naga army
massing near the Crane lands have some basis in truth. Desperate hopes, indeed.
But the worst news, I fear, lies not on the battlefield, but within our
own walls. The Black Scrolls continue to work their dark magic on our sugenja,
even as they gain startling new insight into the nature of our foe. More have
arrived, coming from the most unspeakable depths of the Empire, and the terrible
cost op this war demands that their hidden secrets be unmasked. Now, it is Isawa
Uona who has fallen under their corrupting spell, taking the ashen pallor and
skeletal countenance of her brother Tadaka. She walks the halls of our temples
alone, muttering prayers to stave of the terrible whispers she hears on the
wind. I fear that others may soon follow, and indeed that our entire clan may be
lost to this darkness we toy with. But I also know that this price must be paid.
Both Tadaka and Uona have spoken of terrible dreams, of a dark and horrifying
evil reaching from the Shadowlands to engulf us all. We must learn more of this
threat if we are to have any hope of combating it. The price is high, but we of
all clans understand the need to pay it. May the Seven Thunders have mercy on
our souls.
Asako Yasu