The Heroes of Mafeng... and the Bebilith Incident
“Whaa... How?”
Felonca beamed with pride as she the squeal of the guardsman up along the palisades of Mafeng filtered down to her ears. Instinctively, she ran her hand behind her, where normally her saddlebags would rest. Instead, she felt soft piles of fur, and she grinned. Impishly, she reached back with both hands, and pulled the lion’s head up so it rested on her own.
“May we enter the city?” she asked again, laughter now in her voice. We did good, we did real good! she wanted to giggle, until she looked to her left. Nayu’s poor mare had two people slung on its back, and both were silent, scarcely any mirth on their faces. His glumness took some of the humor from the day.
“THE MONSTER’S DEAD!” voices screamed from the palisade wall as the doors were slowly opened, and before any in the party could make any headway into the city, first a gaggle, then a swarm, then a flood of people streamed out, citizens and refugees alike. Adults cheered or cried, while children pushed forward to touch the immense pelt.
Felonca flipped the pelt back off of her head and leapt to the ground, as people swarmed around, trying to shake her hand, clasp her in a hug, or merely touch one of the ‘monster-slayers.’ The din of humanity rose, until Felonca saw even Nayu smiling ever so slightly.
“We have no need of the huntress! The hunters were already here!” some started shouting, before other calls went forth calling for the prefect.
“Our coppers can come back! We don’t need the huntress!”
Huntress? So they found someone to help them finally... Felonca smiled. Only yesterday we hunted the Councillor... so in two days, they found a huntress?
“Who is this huntress?” Felonca called out. “I’d like to congratulate her on arriving late, after she was needed!” the hengeyokai shouted exuberantly. If only my father could see me now! I am doing good in this world! If only...
“Gao Yun, the huntress!” a rather well dressed man called. “She’s part of the White Wolf... I lost 50 silver helping to pay her fees!”
Felonca immediately froze, not because of the outrageous price the man shouted, but for the immediate rush of fearful memories flooding her mind. Bai-Long Mao’s sinister promise, so many years before.
The White Wolf Clan will hunt you down, Wa-Feng Felonca! Plaintively, her eyes flashed about the crowd, as her brain processed the smells coming through her nose. Normal, nothing non-human.
White Wolf? Here... in Mafeng!? Felonca’s mind slipped into panicked mode. Finally, her motor controls came back, as she decided on a quick course of action. Safe! I gotta stay safe!
Cho happened to be riding next to Felonca as the man called out his angry yell against his lost money. Suddenly, he felt a whumph slam into his body, darkness suddenly obscuring the upper part of his view. It took him a second to realize that the massive skin had been shoved onto him, and he spun to ask Felonca why she’d shoved the honor onto him. When he saw her horse, however, there was no one there.
“Felonca!” he called, looking frantically around the horse. What happened? Where’d she go? Suddenly he heard another voice calling above the throng, loud and clear.
“Master Togashi Cho, the slayer of the White Beast! Ladies and Gentlemen, congratulate your hero!”
Cho spun around, to find Nayu calling out his praises to the crowd. Why is he doing this? We all killed this thing! I dare not take praise above what all the rest of them did! That... that would be improper! That would not give them their rightful share of...
Nayu’s rode slowly to a spot just beside the stunned monk, then dismounted, leaving his mother to occupy the entire mount. Casually and calmly, the sorcerer shifted his bags back into position, before grabbing the reins and pulling his horse further into the mass. As the crowds pressed closer, Cho slipped closer, until he was beside the sorcerer.
“Felonca’s gone!” the monk shouted, worry in his voice.
“I know!” Nayu shouted back, flashing a smile towards the crowd and waving. Cho had been around the young man enough to immediately know the grin was forced.
“Why are you not concerned!? Why do you put all the honor on me?!” the monk shouted back, confusion covering his face and voice.
“These people need a hero! You’re that hero! You struck the killing blow, did you not?!” Nayu cried, before leaning as close as he could to the monk. “And Felonca has had... issues... with the White Wolf in the past! It is best she disappear for a bit, so they don’t know she’s here!” His voice was still at a shout, but by this time, the crowd’s chants ensured his words could not be heard beyond a few feet away.
Cho nodded numbly, his monastic training rebelling at the sudden foisted of all the honor onto himself. Desperately, he tried to assuage the crowd, telling them that everyone contributed, yet within minutes, the crowds had hefted him airborne, and were carrying him through the streets, chanting his name.
“Cho! Cho! Cho!”
It was some ten minutes later when the throngs forced the party to the town center, where a haphazard platform had already been erected using an empty grain wagon. As hundreds chanted Cho’s name, the modest and now thoroughly embarrassed monk found himself pushed towards the front, as a young man, clad in simple silks clambered onto the back of the wagon.
That must be the prefect, Felonca thought, as the man shouted for quiet, a call that went unheeded for another five minutes. As the throngs continued to celebrate, Felonca pulled the cowl of her black hood further over her face, her eyes watching the other party members near the center of the crowd.
Let them soak up the celebrations... I’m not too keen on meeting this Gao Yun, whoever or whatever she might be.
As the name of the huntress came to Felonca’s mind, her eyes spotted someone standing at the back of the wagon, looking perplexed at the two monks and sorcerer now before her. The confused eyes belonged to a tall, well built wolf hengeyokai, a sword on one hip, a kukri on the other. As her eyes looked back and forth between the party members, her claws scratched the snow white fur behind her ear.
There she is, Felonca shuddered slightly. That woman probably could break me in half! The throngs pushed closer, squeezing Felonca towards the hengeyokai for a second, before the rogue wiggled free, keeping her distance.
’Bout a hundred feet or so... just enough you can’t smell me over the mass of people, she growled to the other hengeyokai. Finally, the crowd feel silent long enough that Felonca could hear the woman’s voice. For one that stood over six feet tall, the young was a surprisingly high soprano.
“Young man,” she was looking at Cho, “the crowd says you killed this beast with your bare hands. If that is true, I bow before you in awe of your unarmed skills,” she clasped her hands in a formal bow, before turning to the group at-large. “Indeed, I must confess that I am very impressed with all of you, and your skills. Heaven blessed this village to have heroes as yourselves arrive!” Another bow followed, this one much deeper.
So our huntress is civilized at least? Felonca asked herself, as the crowd broke into more cheering, before the prefect once again called for silence, so that the fire-wielder from the hunters could speak.
Fire-Wielder? That’s their nickname for Nayu? Felonca repressed the urge to giggle. I need to file that away, so that later, when he’s in a happier mood, I can tase him a bit...
“Mistress Gao Yun,” Felonca listened, realizing something she hadn’t noticed before. Nayu’s voice seemed different... deeper, more respectful and more commanding simultaneously. “As the beast has been slain, I would respectfully request that you return to these good villagers the fee you requested for your services,” he continued, before gesturing to the crowd at large. “They say your fee was 2,000 golden taels... a hefty sum for a village this small.”
“But of course, Master Wakabayashi, though I humbly request that the village allow me to retain the costs of housing and travel I have already incurred.” the huntress replied, bowing respectfully towards the prefect, and causing Felonca to blink in surprise.
What? She’s returning her fee?
“My villagers, Heaven has blessed us this day! Not only has the gracious Gao Yun agreed to return most of her fee, but our ancestors have been pleased enough to send us mighty warriors to rid us of the Imperial Councillor and the Great White Beast!” The prefect’s voice was immediately drowned out by cheers, and the young man raised his hands, calling for silence once again. “In my capacity as chief of Mafeng Prefecture, I hereby declare the next three days to be days of celebration, where we give thanks to Heaven and the brave and generous warriors before you!”
The roar from the crowd was deafening, and within seconds Felonca found herself shoved forward as the crowd surged. In a panic, she desperately tried to wiggle back, as the crowd shoved towards the hunters in the front.
“C’mon! Let me through!” she struggled, pushing and shoving, all the while coming closer and closer to the White Wolf shaking hands with her friends. Must get through! Must get through! she pushed with all the desperation she could, while her eyes fearfully watched the group towards the front. As Felonca was shoved to around fifty feet from the front, the white wolf’s head shot up, and began looking around, her face confused.
Dammit! Felonca swore, heaving forward with all the power she could muster. Finally, a gap opened, and she forced her way to the side of the crowd, dodging men, women, and children alike. Once she was free of the mass, she turned around fearfully, half expecting the wolf to be surging through the crowd.
Instead, Gao Yun was still far to the front, looking about in a confused manner. Just barely, Felonca saw Nayu tap the white wolf’s shoulder, and the say something, motioning towards the prefect.
Thanks again, Nayu, Felonca breathed a sigh of relief.
Poor Cho, Felonca smiled sadly as the crowd shoved the monk towards yet another tavern. It had been nearly three hours since the party had arrived in the town, the sun had long since set, but the rambunctious crowd was still intent on celebrating that two several month long menaces had been eliminated. Her thief’s mind fully at work, Felonca had guessed she would be safest from discovery in the midst of the crowd, her eyes always peeled for the distinctive and very visible white wolf huntress.
The poor monk had repeatedly told the crowd he did not consume alcoholic beverages, only to be forced to drink to sate their shouts for wine. So far, he’d been able to persuade them to let him have only a sip at each establishment, before they promptly hefted him skyward and carried him to the next, until the cycle was restarted at the first tavern.
“Drink! Drink! Drink!” the mostly young and male crowd chanted as Cho disappeared into one tavern for the third time. The crowd started to clear, and Felonca caught herself slipping closer to the bar.
No... I can’t go in... if she’s in there, there’ll be no place to run, her tactical mind thought. Instead, the hengeyokai walked to right next to the bar, and with one eye watched the crowd. With her other, she looked up towards the hills outside the village, searching for a bonfire.
She’d seen Nayu’s face when the crowd had tried to drag him along, and the young man’s reserve had finally started to crack. At sunset, he bid the crowd farewell, as he and his mother rode to the hills outside of town, there to bury his father, and maintain a vigil on a bonfire in the man’s memory, as tradition required. For a moment, Felonca thought she saw a dim, flickering light on the darkened hills, until a rough chuckle broke her concentration on the search.
“Hey... Ming...” a slurred voice chuckled seemingly next to her ear. “Check out wha I’ve found!”
“Hey pretty...” another drunken voice laughed, as Felonca began to move away.
Men... the hengeyokai growled. Carefully, she treaded through the light crowds, until she was confident that no white wolf was nearby. Then, she slipped into an alleyway, and broke open a few of the ‘tools’ she’d obtained from the Mingzhong Thieves Guild... including a rather unique hat. Moments after she donned the headwear an old man, his face cragged and ancient, emerged from the alley.
No drunken people are going to be bothering me tonight! I’ve got enough crap to worry about! Felonca growled, adjusting the rather plain hat on her head. (Hat of Disguise) As long as I can stay far enough away from Gao Yun so she cannot smell me... Quickly, she slipped back into the crowd, using its numbers and scents to cover her presence.
At that moment, Cho came hurtling out of the tavern, the crowds chasing him, yelling for him to drink. The monk issued a plaintive cry, saying he’d already had fifteen sips over the past hour and a half, which was far more than he wanted. The crowd once again didn’t listen, and he was half-jostled, half carried to the tavern next door.
As the crowd surged, Felonca found herself shoved towards the doorway of the tavern, as people clamored to get close to the “monster killer” as they had taken to calling Cho. She twisted and turned, letting the crowd move her while keeping an eye out. By the time she saw the danger, however, it was too late.
She’d long since shifted to her hybrid form, using the hat of disguise to cover her claws and other features that would’ve identified her by sight. And her sensitive nose caught a sharp, close smell that caused her hair to stand on end.
Fur.
She spun, trying to see where the smell was coming from, and only had an instant to twist aside and avoid slamming into Gao Yun as the wolf stood, looking around in confusion. She ducked her head low, and twisted through the crowd. I can get away, I can get away! she thought, praying that the wolf would quickly lose the hengeyokai scent in the mass of people. After ducking and weaving for a few moments, Felonca found enough courage to look back. Behind her, the white wolf was pushing through the crowd as well, using her physical size and strength to force a gap. She was rapidly gaining on the rogue.
Felonca let loose a few vicious curses, then suddenly cut to the left, ducking into the tavern where the hero of the night was now trying his hardest to avoid downing the full glass of wine the crowd insistently kept pressing on him. Felonca quickly ducked through the front door, and slipped to the far corner, hiding behind an extremely large and rough looking man who smelled of iron and heat. She then peered around the hulking man, only to see Gao Yun at the door of the tavern, wandering in, her nose raised high as she followed Felonca’s exact path.
She’s got my scent! Felonca loosed several more even fouler curses before ducking behind a row of young drunks giving Cho and standing ovation, then crossing to the other side of the bar. Warily, she circled the throng opposite of her pursuer, the larger creature still sniffing the air intently, a hand dangerously close to her kukri.
Get to the door... get outside... Felonca’s mind raced, as she ducked and slipped onwards, until she was beside the door. The crowd surged yet again, thrusting Cho out of the door, and Felonca joined the mob, shouting and cheering as if she was as drunk as the rest. If they follow their pattern, the next tavern is far, and last time they sprinted to it... Gingerly, Felonca started a jog, panting to maintain her visage of an elderly man as the crowd thundered forward. After a few minutes of running, she fell to the side of the crowd, enough that she could glance back.
Gao Yun was just emerging from the tavern, looking perplexed. For an agonizing second, the huntress looked towards where the crowd was now congregating, shoving Cho into another establishment, before her face snapped in another direction, her ears twitching. With a sigh of relief, Felonca watched her dash off straight ahead... and away from her worried quarry.
Whew, Felonca resisted the urge to wipe sweat from her brow. While she was really sweating, she realized, as any good thief does, that her disguise didn’t show her sweating. She slid back into the depths of the crowd for another twenty minutes or so, as she shifted between taverns several times.
Suddenly, just as the now tipsy Cho was shoved into another tavern, Felonca heard a high voice shout, “Stop!”
Felonca let out a very quiet curse regarding the spirits of luck, and slowly turned about, playing the image of an old man to the hilt. Persuade her that she’s mistaken... that I’m not hengeyokai... ancestors... if you love me, if you watch over me, help me now! Felonca’s heart sank as the other hengeyokai headed directly towards her, her nostrils flaring in confirmation.
The game is up, Felonca, she realized, her brain desperately attempting to figure out what to do. In a panic, she made a hurried decision. If she asks for the dagger, I’ll jsut give it to her, in return for my life!
But how will I know she’ll honor that?
I need to stay in public, where there are many people around! Then, flee town as quickly as possible... Her course decided, she then did something most other thieves would have regarded as unthinkable. She took off her hat.
“Do you recognize my face?” the rogue asked, her dark features and panther lines returning to her hybrid form. Please say you don’t, and I can concoct... Felonca’s train of thought crashed to a halt as the wolf nodded uneasily, the huntress’ own eyes looking about, checking the crowds.
Quickly! To a public place! Felonca looked about, fearfully realizing the crowd had moved on. I don’t want this stupid dagger!
“Then, if you know me, we should go somewhere, in public, to discuss this like civilized people,” Felonca said guardedly, before she forced a rather dark smile onto her face. “After all, I’m sure the prefect would prefer that no violence happen on a night that was supposed to be celebratory.”
For a second, Felonca feared the ploy wouldn’t work, as the wolf eyed her closely, circling her for a moment. Finally, Gao Yun gave a huff.
“Fine. I suggest this tavern nearby that the monk’s entourage just left. It will be... quiet.” The grating tone of the normally high soprano told Felonca that the wolf really did not want to agree to the panther’s demands, but also realized the danger if she cut down someone on the open streets. While a huge crowd was not present, there would be plenty of witnesses to a murder.
“Fine,” Felonca replied.
The two settled into a corner booth of the establishment, far from prying ears, yet open enough that Felonca felt confident that someone would see if Gao Yun tried anything vicious. As Gao Yun sat down, Felonca gave a sigh.
“You want the dagger, don’t you?” she asked. If this dagger is so precious to Master Hsiu, and he’s willing to go to all this trouble... he can HAVE this thing! Felonca looked down, towards not just the ground, but her boot, where the dagger laid hidden. This dagger isn’t worth my life! She looked back up. “All I ask is that in return to returning this thing, that my friends and I are left alone by all of you!”
For a second, Gao Yun said nothing, before she burst into laughter... a harsh, barking laugh that caused Felonca’s eyes to narrow. After a few moments, the wolf regained control of herself, and looked hard at Felonca.
“You don’t even know what that dagger does, if you’re so willing to give it up!” she wolf crossed her arms, a mocking smile on her lips.
Why should I care! It does evil things! I want no part of it! Felonca’s mind shouted. At her mum reply, Gao Yun leaned forward, a glint appearing in her eyes.
“Very well, I suppose I should tell you.”
“I don’t really want to know,” Felonca confessed. “It burned a man alive... I don’t want to know what else it...”
“For thousands of years,” Gao Yun talked over Felonca’s objection, “the Emperors of Ak Konylu have been protected from assassination by the magical power of their elite scholars. No weapon can kill an Emperor universally acclaimed to have Heaven’s Will, save one...”
What? This... dagger? Felonca forced herself to not stare at her boots yet again. Slowly, as if a curtain was being drawn back, the realization of why Hsiu was so eager to reclaim the weapon dawned upon her. The weapon can do great evil... and I know Master Hsiu is not a paragon of virtue..
“Many, my dear Wa-Feng Felonca,” the huntressed leaned slightly over the table, “would do anything to gain possession of that dagger. Too bad it disappeared from the Academy that was supposed to guard it, and that all the Academy members are now dead... except yourself...” The look in Gao Yun’s eyes became apparent, and predatory. Felonca gulped.
Nixu is alive! They didn’t kill everyone at the Academy, but she means to kill me! Felonca’s mind came to a single, grim conclusion, and slowly, she slipped a hand underneath the table.
“Ah... my dear, sweet kitty,” the wolf smiled sarcastically, her kukri flashing towards Felonca’s throat, “First, you’ll kindly place your warfans on the table. Then, you’ll lead me to where you’ve stored that dagger.”
For a second, Felonca froze. So she doesn’t... The thought was interrupted by the sharp press of steel on her neck, the kukri pressing harder and harder.
“Fine,” Felonca sighed, reaching down and pulling out her warfans, placing them both in her left hand. As it carefully guided her warfans to the surface the table, her right hand slid to her boot...
“Ah... you are most cooperative,” Gao Yun smiled, as a few shouts arose in the tavern as others noticed the drawn blade. “Now, I must say, it will be a pity to kill a thief as skilled as yourself.” A wicked smile came across the wolf’s lips, as she growled, “If you’d been born a white furred wolf instead of a black furred cur, you might have been useful to-“
The insult was cut short by a sharp yelp, as Felonca slammed the dagger into the wolf’s knee. Felonca twisted, and then yanked the dagger out.
It didn’t work! her heart collapsed, as the wolf looked to her leg in shock and horror. No flames erupted from her eyes, no smoke bellowed from her skin.
“What...have...you... done?” Gao Yun cried, crawling back from the table, a look of abject horror in her eyes.
Again! Slice her again! Felonca panicked, slamming the dagger into the knee yet again as the wolf’s fur started to shift, rising in several places. Within seconds, the fur gave way to massive boils that seemed to explode all over her body. The wolf screamed, falling back from the table, her wounded leg flailing uselessly.
It was then that Felonca first felt the ground shake. Patrons looked about in horror, as the rumbling grew louder, into a thunderous roar with each shake, each distinct, as if some massive creature was thundering towards their location...
Nayu looked up from his prayers to the eastern winds, as even he felt the ground shudder. Cautiously, he turned towards the distant village, and the sight shook him to his bones.
Rising from the darkness as the hulking form of a massive creature, its body some fifteen feet in the air. From its central darkness hung eight spindly legs, lending it an ungainly and horrifying speed. Immediately Nayu realized it was no true spider, as its head was long and massive, and even from this distance its eight eyes, four down each side, shown brightly in the moonlight. From its front hung two enormous claws, clittering and clacking together as it charged forward.
Without regard for people or property, it thundered into the midst of the village. As Nayu rose to his feet, magic coming to his lips, it stopped over one small building...
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” Gao Yun screamed, her boils now growing filled with blood and pus as she wreathed in pain. Felonca stood in shock, her eyes flickering back and forth between the diseased huntress and the bloody dagger in her hands.
Then the crash happened. The world shuddered, exploded, and shook, as the two massive mandibles slammed through the tavern roof. Felonca’s instincts took over, and she flipped away from the danger, before her eyes looked upwards in horror. Two immense claws, reddish black in the terrible torchlight, flashed down, and grabbed the still writhing form of Gao Yun. Her screams echoed into the night as the claws flashed upwards, and out of sight...
“Nayu, what is that?”
“I don’t know, Mama,” Nayu replied, worried as well. The plaintive screams of the city echoed through the night to even his hilltop spot. Magic continued to run through his mind, as he started judging distances.
Extreme, extreme range... but maybe, just maybe...
Carefully Nayu selected his desired spell, and just as carefully, he started judging the distance towards the now running creature. Wha...what is that? he thought, his eyes spotting something dangling from the creature’s claws.
Is that... a person?
No sooner had he asked, than a brilliant light flashed through the night sky, and the horrid creature, along with its hapless prey, vanished without a trace...
Just a trifle, huh?
