Flight of The Harpy's Heart

Chapter xx: Sealed Fate

Trapped inside the sealed cave, only seven battle-weary samurai remained of the once formidable unit. The rest had met their honorable ends upon the bloody battlefield or in desperate skirmishes as they retreated ever deeper into the sprawling cavern complex with a vengeful Imperial force in pursuit.

The surviving samurai found some abandoned torches left by the fleeing rabbit folk. They lit these makeshift torches which cast flickering shadows across the cavern walls - their only respite from utter darkness.

Maeda had ventured deep into the winding cave system to check the rear exit route. He returned panting and regretful. "Goto-san, the rabbit folk have sealed off the back way with a cave-in," he reported grimly to Commander Hibari.

"So we're trapped in here," Captain Ishii concluded, his shoulders slumping.

Commander Hibari clenched his jaw. "Kuso! Damn cowards!" another samurai cursed, throwing down his katana in frustrated resignation.

The rabbit folk had fled safely through the back exit, then caused a rock slide to prevent Imperial pursuit. But this act had also sealed off the samurais' only escape, trapping them inside to await their fate.

Hibari raised his chin resolutely. "We will make our stand here. Men! Draw swords - we will cut down any Imperial dogs who dare enter this cave!"

The samurai gave a half-hearted battle cry in response. Gripping their weapons, they formed a defensive line at the cave mouth and waited.

A day passed. No Imperial attack came. But the air grew steadily more stifling, and smoke began seeping into the cavern.

"You smell that?" Captain Ishii asked with dread.

Maeda observed bitterly as the truth dawned on them. "They mean to smoke us out like an infestation."

The cowardly Imperials would not face the samurai blades - they meant to flush them into surrender instead with smoke and fire.

"What shall we do, Commander?" a young samurai asked between coughs as the smoke choked their lungs.

Hibari sat calmly on the stone floor, folding his legs. "There is but one honorable option left to us now," he answered solemnly. Around him, the samurai followed suit, assuming the traditional pose of acceptance.

For half a day, the Imperial troops built up the raging fire at the cave's mouth. Smoke flooded the cavern in suffocating waves as the resolute samurai sat unmoving, slowing their breathing as best they could. Still, the heat intensified and the air grew dangerously thin.

The young samurai who had spoken earlier now wheezed and gagged, his face pale with fresh air deprivation. "I...I do not wish to perish like vermin..." he gasped out in despair.

"Commander...what say you?" another asked weakly, coughing the acrid smoke from his lungs. Even still, none broke their meditative pose. "Should we yield, and surrender?"

"I will not yield. They would parade us beaten and chained through their wretched streets to disgrace us as traitorous mutineers," Commander Hibari declared vehemently.

The surrounding samurai nodded solemnly in agreement, their faces set with grave resignation. To these proud warriors, public humiliation was a far more intolerable fate than death itself.

They knew all too well the customs of the Wessen - how the Imperial citizens loved displaying those they deemed savage or criminal in punitive processions throughout the city. Stripping their victims in nothing but their skins and chains, they would drag them through jeering crowds as a warning to others.