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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 2747828" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p><strong>Ambushing the Ambushers</strong></p><p></p><p>Bai-Long Ji wanted to hiss, but he refrained from showing his displeasure. </p><p></p><p><em>Di should’ve been back by now...</em> the head of the White Wolf clan worried, his tall, thin form pacing back and forth. He was still in human form, his unusually white skin and red eyes making him stand out from his two cousins who sat with him in the clearing... and the others, skillfully hidden with their cloaks.</p><p></p><p><em>Cloaks that cost me a pretty penny!</em> Ji growled again. He’d deeply raiding the clan reserves to pay for the equipment for this trip. <em>Seeing the face of the young Wa-Feng as we slice her open will be well worth it!</em></p><p></p><p>He and his clan had been waiting for this day, ever since that dark day the year before when Ji’s brother Enlai, and his own son had been sent on what should have been a rather routine job: a Master Hsiu had paid them handsomely to recover some special dagger that had been stolen from him. The only remarkable thing about the mission was that the thief was none other than the youngest daughter of the hated Wa-Feng clan, a girl Mao had known from his days at the Academy.</p><p></p><p><em>”She’s weak and soft, father.”</em> Ji could still hear his son’s voice, confident about how easy it would be to rough up the young Wa-Feng and her friends, and take the dagger back to its owner.</p><p></p><p><em>Curse her!</em> Ji growled, the anger and sorrow from the moment he’d found out rushing back from his memory. How witnesses saw Enlai and his son barge into the room where the bitch was staying. The noise of a struggle, then Mao’s screams...</p><p></p><p><em>The screams...</em> They haunted Ji’s memory, like distant calls of a long lost soul. They said his son had burned alive, from the inside, and Ji didn’t doubt for a moment that the vile Wa-Feng girl did the deed. <em>No one deserves to die like that! Even we assassins strike our prey with deadly speed, to take them to their ancestors all the faster! They said... they said Mao screamed for several minutes...</em></p><p></p><p>Ji shook his head. There would be time to reflect on that later, when he had the blood of the Wa-Feng girl on his hands. He’d eschewed weapons this day; it would be far more satisfying to crush and snap her bones with his bare hands. She was some kind of high ranking person at the Imperial Court in Exile, a court Bai Long didn’t doubt would soon cease to exist. They’d been driven from the capital by the armies of Prince Hu, and Ji’s own contacts spoke that Hu was not only calling more recruits from north of the Desert Wall, but that his scholars were working on some huge superweapon, something that preoccupied all their attention..</p><p></p><p><em>Hence me being here this early...</em> Ji thought. <em>I want to kill her, before Hu’s people do the deed for me...</em></p><p></p><p>Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and Ji felt the hairs on his arms stand on in as a powerful blast of magic seemed to erupt around him. His eyes reflexively snapped shut, but he found himself almost riveted in place as magic howled around him for a split second. Just as suddenly, he felt something ice cold slip against his neck.</p><p></p><p>He opened his eyes.</p><p></p><p>Only inches from him stared back the blue on blue eyes of the panther hengeyokai he sought, behind her a small menagerie of followers. He blinked, then swallowed hard, the movement making the cold steel of the panther hengeyokai’s warfan bite harder into his neck. <em>Damn damn damn! I should’ve known she would have cronies teleport her!</em> The wolf hengeyokai growled lightly to himself in frustration. Desperately the wolf searched for words, to cover his surprise. <em>Don’t like the enemy see you blink... then they know you are weak.</em></p><p></p><p>The wolf’s eyes took into the menagerie that came with the panther... and immediately dismissed them all, except for the two huge panther hengeyokai, clad in full armor. <em>So... she dragged her father and uncle with her... very well. We can settle our clan’s scores in full, and save the time spent hunting down Felonxi and Dian...</em></p><p></p><p>“Ah... Mistress Wa-Feng, a pleasant surprise,” Ji said, putting all the considerable confidence and umph into his voice that he could muster. “I see you have brought far more with you than the agreed upon number.” <em>She doesn’t trust me... rightfully. Let’s see how deep the mistrust is. Eight people is no matter...</em> he realized, his keen assassin’s eye reading his target, gauging her reactions. <em>Soon she’ll join Mao in the grave, where she rightfully belongs!</em></p><p></p><p>To his surprise, the young panther hengeyokai flashed him a smile, even as the icy metal of her warfan lightly scraped his neck. “That is what happens, I suppose, when I don’t trust the host of the party.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, my dear Felonca, trust is entirely impossible when one party breaks agreements, and has the discourtesy to show up unannounced,” Ji said, looking into her eyes, and smiling himself. <em>She doesn’t mean to kill me. That is obvious. She wants to talk... to find out what my offer means... I only need to keep her attention for a little while longer...</em></p><p></p><p>“Trust is impossible when betrayal is planned,” Felonca shot back, her voice sweet but her eyes hard.</p><p></p><p>Ji found himself smiling slightly in a strange kind of admiration. <em> No matter. Now, to give Wuxi his clear shot...</em> Ji raised his hands, and backed away from her, the disarming smile firmly fixed on his face. “They said you were a clever kitty, and I can see the reports I’ve heard to that effect are true.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes,” she suddenly moved forward, her warfan once again inches from his neck, “now, I advise you to bring the men you have hidden in the woods into the open. You see, I’ve been having problems with my arm... sometimes it gets the shakes,” the smile on her face suddenly turning into a scowl, “and when I get angry, sometimes my warfan can slip.” Behind her, Ji heard Dian growl.</p><p></p><p><em>She’s bluffing.</em> “Surely you’re joking! I have no one hidden in the woods! Why would I do such a thing?” <em>Reason her into thinking she’s being overly cautious.</em> “I only have here with me my cousins Yin and Chao, who are my protectors against treachery, just as my messenger undoubtedly told you. Surely, an <em>honorable</em> Wa-Feng...”</p><p></p><p>All too late did Bai Long Ji notice one of the horde that had accompanied Felonca moving his hands suspiciously through the air. Before he had a moment to curse, Ji saw seven bright lights seem to explode in the forest... and to his horror, he heard the loud curses of his now blinded ambushers, as they tumbled through the brush, desperate to get away from the blinding light.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t speak to me about honor!” the young Wa-Feng before him seemed to puff up as she shifted to hybrid in anger, the hairs over her body standing furiously on end. “You would invite me to a parley <em>only to ambush me!?</em> I spit on your damn honor!”</p><p></p><p>It had been a long time since Ji, self titled assassin of assassins, expert of experts, had been caught this badly off-guard, and as a consequence, he wasn’t used to cursing. In this case, he only spoke under his breath, but even then it seemed as if the damnable Wa-Feng daughter had heard, and she gave a sneering smile.</p><p></p><p>“I’d advise you to pull your men out of the woods and into the open, Master Ji... otherwise you, as well as they, will meet untimely, unfortunate ends,” she spoke coldly. “Your beloved brother Di spoke... and told us <em>everything</em>.”</p><p></p><p><em>Dammit!</em> Ji screamed at himself. <em>Wuxi and his men had powerful invisibility magic, magic that is supposed to be infallible! No one had detected them, EVER, when they used those cloaks!</em> For several moments, the assassin’s mind ran through the plan, searching desperately for where it went wrong, and where he could improvise, and turn this desperate situation to his favor. <em>Think, Ji!</em> </p><p></p><p>But as hard has he tried to plan, to find a way out, he saw obstacles. The Wa-Fengs had brought scholars, scholars of evident power to have seen his hidden men. Then there were the Wa-Feng brothers, both angry, huge, and heavily armed... Ji knew in a stand-up fight, he and his men stood no chance against them.</p><p></p><p><em>The game is up...</em></p><p></p><p>“It seems I have no choice, seeing that you brought scholars with you,” he said sourly after a minute or two. <em>What now?</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The clan...</em></p><p></p><p>He thought back to the rivalry between the two clans, a rivalry that had started generations ago with mere differences in method, that had spread to a feud of blood. Wa-Fengs fought in the open, honorably, while Bai-Longs slinked in the shadows, stabbing their enemies unawares. Hatred between the two was open and furious, only compounded by the request Bai Long had taken long ago from that damnable tiger, Hsiu. If he could save the clan...</p><p></p><p><em>They will avenge me... and avenge Mao...</em></p><p></p><p>“I suppose you are going to take us away and kill us?” Ji said angrily, his hands now raised in the air in defeat. <em>The rest of the clan... save the clan. They will have vengeance.</em> “I’ll have you know I was the one that took the offer from Master Hsiu on your life, so it is me that you should...”</p><p></p><p>The wolf kept his eyes staring at Felonca, while he <em>looked</em> beyond her, watching her companions. The two Wa-Fengs had their hands close to their swords, their bodies tensed. <em>They would kill me in an instant, before I could strike more than Felonxi’s damn daughter...</em> That plan would be impossible... it resulted obviously in Ji’s own death, and the probable death of all his companions gathered here. Meanwhile, the young scholar that had so clearly pinpointed his men pulled out a sheet of paper with some writing, and handed it towards Ji’s cousin Chao, standing next to him.</p><p></p><p><em>What’s on the paper?</em> Ji tried to think, even as young Felonca interrupted him.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t seek blame, but I offer my own <em>terms,</em>” she snapped, her eyes an icy blue in the sunlight. “One, you shall cease hunting me and my family. You should have no problem doing this, as the client who requested this is currently dead. Two,” she continued, “the White Wolf Clan will no longer conduct assassinations...”</p><p></p><p>“Never!” Ji felt his spine stiffen in anger. Anger at himself for underestimating this Wa-Feng girl, anger at being backed into a corner, but most importantly, the seething anger that arose from the memory of his own son’s burnt bones. <em>Mao died in the service of the family... I will not have his name tarnished to save my own life!</em> “The White Wolves have always been assassins and spies, and unlike the weaklings within the Black Fang, we shall never abandon our trade!”</p><p></p><p>“It is always possible to break the family trade,” Felonca replied sharply. “A Wa-Feng has outfoxed and ambushed you... there is proof enough there.”</p><p></p><p>“We assassinate within terms of honor and contract!” Ji spat back, pain rising in his voice as he remembered what Felonca did to his son. “We do not wantonly murder, as <em>some</em> Wa-Fengs do!” He uttered the words with spiteful hate, his memories roaring to the surface. <em>Mao screamed for minutes on end...</em></p><p></p><p>For a split second, he saw a look of shock on the young Wa-Feng’s face... then to his surprise, the look switched to a twisted look of pain as her warfan suddenly lowered. <em>Wha... she’s been cocky and sneering so far! Why would she look like that to me!</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>She’s mocking my pain!</em></p><p></p><p>“Don’t give me that fake look of sorrow, Wa-Feng scum!” Ji felt his muscles tense, his body ready to lash out in a fury that he knew would kill him, even as it killed her. “You smiled and sneered I bet when you <em>burned my son alive!</em>” For several seconds, the air between them seemed to fill with palpable anger... then, a sob.</p><p></p><p>From Felonca.</p><p></p><p>As Ji stood, clenching his hands in confusion and fury, Felonca gave a tortured sigh. </p><p></p><p>“I’m sorry, Master Bai Long. I never meant to kill your son.” </p><p></p><p><em>What?!</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>She’s trying to play mind games on me!! With my son!!</em></p><p></p><p>“You... little... bitch...” Ji snarled, his hand coiling back, ready to strike. “There was no accident! It’s impossible to ‘accidentally’ burn someone alive from the <em>inside!</em> Yes,” Ji was suddenly only inches from the Wa-Feng’s face. “Yes, I many things about how Mao died! Yes, he was sent to try to steal back what you took from Master Hsiu, but nothing, <em>nothing</em> give you the right to make him suffer like that!!”</p><p></p><p>Ji stared at her, feeling the hot fury behind his eyes, expecting her to curl her lips back cruelly, for her to laugh, for the cold steel of her warfans to return to his throat. Instead, she was silent, her eyes still towards the ground.</p><p></p><p>“I never meant to kill your son, Master Bai Long. I was horrified when I...”</p><p></p><p>“How am I to believe you!” Ji snarled, the anger rising hotter, faster. “You come here speaking of honor, but I ask you this! What honor is there in killing someone in such a horrific manner! Even we Bai-Long attempt to kill our targets quickly and with as little pain as possible! Yet you Wa-Feng scum left him to die, in agony!” <em>My son! My only son!</em></p><p></p><p>“Sir...” Ji heard Chao whisper, yet the patriarch of the White Wolf wasn’t about to back down.</p><p></p><p>“I did not kill your son on purpose!” Felonca suddenly snapped, the steel back in her eyes as they shot up and bored into his own, the sudden explosion of noise, sharp and shrill as a drill sergeant, making Ji flinch away from the panther hengeyokai. “If there was a way I could have saved him, or even eased his passing, I would have,” she said, her voice dropping lower and softer, the remorse returning. “I can only give you my word on that, no more.”</p><p></p><p>Ji stared into her blue on blue eyes. Part of him was desperately searching for the smirk, the sneer she had when she first came... an excuse for him to lash out with his anger, to snatch her from this world before he left as well. Yet as much as he tried, he found only remorse, sadness, even fear. His muscles stayed tense, from anger, and also from confusion...</p><p></p><p>“Sir?!” Chao said louder in a panic, and Ji felt a piece of paper shoved into his hand. The White Wolf looked down, and saw on the parchment a crude drawing of a sloth, with a simple phrase written below:</p><p></p><p><em>”Do you like being human? Play nice with Felonca.”</em></p><p></p><p>Ji’s eyes snapped up, and he saw the tall, thin scholar give a smirk then a wink as magic coursed almost playfully between his fingers.</p><p></p><p><em>He means to change us into beasts!</em> Ji thought, horror in his mind. <em>That’s... that’s even worse than death! Turn us into creatures for their enjoyment, and we won’t be able to defend ourselves from their torments!</em></p><p></p><p>“If you will listen, Master Bai-Long, I will finish the terms I was about to tell you when you interrupted me,” Felonca said again. “My second term was that the White Wolf Clan will no longer conduct executions, except at the joint behest of Master Ling, Governor of Dai Province, and the Emperor. The White Wolf will thus come under the employ of the Imperial Government, training Imperial spies and envoys, as well as serving as a negotiation of last resort.” </p><p></p><p>“You’re joking,” Ji hissed, anger in his voice but confusion in his mind. <em>Why are they offering this!? We’ve been enemies of her clan for generations, yet she offers to clean the slate between us, even offering us employ?</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>What is she getting at?</em></p><p></p><p>“Too long has this feud between our families raged. You and your clan have skills that the Emperor, my master, will find most useful,” Felonca replied, her voice quiet but deadly. “I’m afraid there are only two options here, Master Bai-Long. Accept our terms, or my friends and I will be forced to take unfortunate action.”</p><p></p><p>She looked up, death in her eyes.</p><p></p><p>“Choose wisely.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 2747828, member: 15043"] [b]Ambushing the Ambushers[/b] Bai-Long Ji wanted to hiss, but he refrained from showing his displeasure. [i]Di should’ve been back by now...[/i] the head of the White Wolf clan worried, his tall, thin form pacing back and forth. He was still in human form, his unusually white skin and red eyes making him stand out from his two cousins who sat with him in the clearing... and the others, skillfully hidden with their cloaks. [i]Cloaks that cost me a pretty penny![/i] Ji growled again. He’d deeply raiding the clan reserves to pay for the equipment for this trip. [i]Seeing the face of the young Wa-Feng as we slice her open will be well worth it![/i] He and his clan had been waiting for this day, ever since that dark day the year before when Ji’s brother Enlai, and his own son had been sent on what should have been a rather routine job: a Master Hsiu had paid them handsomely to recover some special dagger that had been stolen from him. The only remarkable thing about the mission was that the thief was none other than the youngest daughter of the hated Wa-Feng clan, a girl Mao had known from his days at the Academy. [i]”She’s weak and soft, father.”[/i] Ji could still hear his son’s voice, confident about how easy it would be to rough up the young Wa-Feng and her friends, and take the dagger back to its owner. [i]Curse her![/i] Ji growled, the anger and sorrow from the moment he’d found out rushing back from his memory. How witnesses saw Enlai and his son barge into the room where the bitch was staying. The noise of a struggle, then Mao’s screams... [i]The screams...[/i] They haunted Ji’s memory, like distant calls of a long lost soul. They said his son had burned alive, from the inside, and Ji didn’t doubt for a moment that the vile Wa-Feng girl did the deed. [i]No one deserves to die like that! Even we assassins strike our prey with deadly speed, to take them to their ancestors all the faster! They said... they said Mao screamed for several minutes...[/i] Ji shook his head. There would be time to reflect on that later, when he had the blood of the Wa-Feng girl on his hands. He’d eschewed weapons this day; it would be far more satisfying to crush and snap her bones with his bare hands. She was some kind of high ranking person at the Imperial Court in Exile, a court Bai Long didn’t doubt would soon cease to exist. They’d been driven from the capital by the armies of Prince Hu, and Ji’s own contacts spoke that Hu was not only calling more recruits from north of the Desert Wall, but that his scholars were working on some huge superweapon, something that preoccupied all their attention.. [i]Hence me being here this early...[/i] Ji thought. [i]I want to kill her, before Hu’s people do the deed for me...[/i] Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and Ji felt the hairs on his arms stand on in as a powerful blast of magic seemed to erupt around him. His eyes reflexively snapped shut, but he found himself almost riveted in place as magic howled around him for a split second. Just as suddenly, he felt something ice cold slip against his neck. He opened his eyes. Only inches from him stared back the blue on blue eyes of the panther hengeyokai he sought, behind her a small menagerie of followers. He blinked, then swallowed hard, the movement making the cold steel of the panther hengeyokai’s warfan bite harder into his neck. [i]Damn damn damn! I should’ve known she would have cronies teleport her![/i] The wolf hengeyokai growled lightly to himself in frustration. Desperately the wolf searched for words, to cover his surprise. [i]Don’t like the enemy see you blink... then they know you are weak.[/i] The wolf’s eyes took into the menagerie that came with the panther... and immediately dismissed them all, except for the two huge panther hengeyokai, clad in full armor. [i]So... she dragged her father and uncle with her... very well. We can settle our clan’s scores in full, and save the time spent hunting down Felonxi and Dian...[/i] “Ah... Mistress Wa-Feng, a pleasant surprise,” Ji said, putting all the considerable confidence and umph into his voice that he could muster. “I see you have brought far more with you than the agreed upon number.” [i]She doesn’t trust me... rightfully. Let’s see how deep the mistrust is. Eight people is no matter...[/i] he realized, his keen assassin’s eye reading his target, gauging her reactions. [i]Soon she’ll join Mao in the grave, where she rightfully belongs![/i] To his surprise, the young panther hengeyokai flashed him a smile, even as the icy metal of her warfan lightly scraped his neck. “That is what happens, I suppose, when I don’t trust the host of the party.” “Well, my dear Felonca, trust is entirely impossible when one party breaks agreements, and has the discourtesy to show up unannounced,” Ji said, looking into her eyes, and smiling himself. [i]She doesn’t mean to kill me. That is obvious. She wants to talk... to find out what my offer means... I only need to keep her attention for a little while longer...[/i] “Trust is impossible when betrayal is planned,” Felonca shot back, her voice sweet but her eyes hard. Ji found himself smiling slightly in a strange kind of admiration. [i] No matter. Now, to give Wuxi his clear shot...[/i] Ji raised his hands, and backed away from her, the disarming smile firmly fixed on his face. “They said you were a clever kitty, and I can see the reports I’ve heard to that effect are true.” “Yes,” she suddenly moved forward, her warfan once again inches from his neck, “now, I advise you to bring the men you have hidden in the woods into the open. You see, I’ve been having problems with my arm... sometimes it gets the shakes,” the smile on her face suddenly turning into a scowl, “and when I get angry, sometimes my warfan can slip.” Behind her, Ji heard Dian growl. [i]She’s bluffing.[/i] “Surely you’re joking! I have no one hidden in the woods! Why would I do such a thing?” [i]Reason her into thinking she’s being overly cautious.[/i] “I only have here with me my cousins Yin and Chao, who are my protectors against treachery, just as my messenger undoubtedly told you. Surely, an [i]honorable[/i] Wa-Feng...” All too late did Bai Long Ji notice one of the horde that had accompanied Felonca moving his hands suspiciously through the air. Before he had a moment to curse, Ji saw seven bright lights seem to explode in the forest... and to his horror, he heard the loud curses of his now blinded ambushers, as they tumbled through the brush, desperate to get away from the blinding light. “Don’t speak to me about honor!” the young Wa-Feng before him seemed to puff up as she shifted to hybrid in anger, the hairs over her body standing furiously on end. “You would invite me to a parley [i]only to ambush me!?[/i] I spit on your damn honor!” It had been a long time since Ji, self titled assassin of assassins, expert of experts, had been caught this badly off-guard, and as a consequence, he wasn’t used to cursing. In this case, he only spoke under his breath, but even then it seemed as if the damnable Wa-Feng daughter had heard, and she gave a sneering smile. “I’d advise you to pull your men out of the woods and into the open, Master Ji... otherwise you, as well as they, will meet untimely, unfortunate ends,” she spoke coldly. “Your beloved brother Di spoke... and told us [i]everything[/i].” [i]Dammit![/i] Ji screamed at himself. [i]Wuxi and his men had powerful invisibility magic, magic that is supposed to be infallible! No one had detected them, EVER, when they used those cloaks![/i] For several moments, the assassin’s mind ran through the plan, searching desperately for where it went wrong, and where he could improvise, and turn this desperate situation to his favor. [i]Think, Ji![/i] But as hard has he tried to plan, to find a way out, he saw obstacles. The Wa-Fengs had brought scholars, scholars of evident power to have seen his hidden men. Then there were the Wa-Feng brothers, both angry, huge, and heavily armed... Ji knew in a stand-up fight, he and his men stood no chance against them. [i]The game is up...[/i] “It seems I have no choice, seeing that you brought scholars with you,” he said sourly after a minute or two. [i]What now? The clan...[/i] He thought back to the rivalry between the two clans, a rivalry that had started generations ago with mere differences in method, that had spread to a feud of blood. Wa-Fengs fought in the open, honorably, while Bai-Longs slinked in the shadows, stabbing their enemies unawares. Hatred between the two was open and furious, only compounded by the request Bai Long had taken long ago from that damnable tiger, Hsiu. If he could save the clan... [i]They will avenge me... and avenge Mao...[/i] “I suppose you are going to take us away and kill us?” Ji said angrily, his hands now raised in the air in defeat. [i]The rest of the clan... save the clan. They will have vengeance.[/i] “I’ll have you know I was the one that took the offer from Master Hsiu on your life, so it is me that you should...” The wolf kept his eyes staring at Felonca, while he [i]looked[/i] beyond her, watching her companions. The two Wa-Fengs had their hands close to their swords, their bodies tensed. [i]They would kill me in an instant, before I could strike more than Felonxi’s damn daughter...[/i] That plan would be impossible... it resulted obviously in Ji’s own death, and the probable death of all his companions gathered here. Meanwhile, the young scholar that had so clearly pinpointed his men pulled out a sheet of paper with some writing, and handed it towards Ji’s cousin Chao, standing next to him. [i]What’s on the paper?[/i] Ji tried to think, even as young Felonca interrupted him. “I don’t seek blame, but I offer my own [i]terms,[/i]” she snapped, her eyes an icy blue in the sunlight. “One, you shall cease hunting me and my family. You should have no problem doing this, as the client who requested this is currently dead. Two,” she continued, “the White Wolf Clan will no longer conduct assassinations...” “Never!” Ji felt his spine stiffen in anger. Anger at himself for underestimating this Wa-Feng girl, anger at being backed into a corner, but most importantly, the seething anger that arose from the memory of his own son’s burnt bones. [i]Mao died in the service of the family... I will not have his name tarnished to save my own life![/i] “The White Wolves have always been assassins and spies, and unlike the weaklings within the Black Fang, we shall never abandon our trade!” “It is always possible to break the family trade,” Felonca replied sharply. “A Wa-Feng has outfoxed and ambushed you... there is proof enough there.” “We assassinate within terms of honor and contract!” Ji spat back, pain rising in his voice as he remembered what Felonca did to his son. “We do not wantonly murder, as [i]some[/i] Wa-Fengs do!” He uttered the words with spiteful hate, his memories roaring to the surface. [i]Mao screamed for minutes on end...[/i] For a split second, he saw a look of shock on the young Wa-Feng’s face... then to his surprise, the look switched to a twisted look of pain as her warfan suddenly lowered. [i]Wha... she’s been cocky and sneering so far! Why would she look like that to me! She’s mocking my pain![/i] “Don’t give me that fake look of sorrow, Wa-Feng scum!” Ji felt his muscles tense, his body ready to lash out in a fury that he knew would kill him, even as it killed her. “You smiled and sneered I bet when you [i]burned my son alive![/i]” For several seconds, the air between them seemed to fill with palpable anger... then, a sob. From Felonca. As Ji stood, clenching his hands in confusion and fury, Felonca gave a tortured sigh. “I’m sorry, Master Bai Long. I never meant to kill your son.” [i]What?! She’s trying to play mind games on me!! With my son!![/i] “You... little... bitch...” Ji snarled, his hand coiling back, ready to strike. “There was no accident! It’s impossible to ‘accidentally’ burn someone alive from the [i]inside![/i] Yes,” Ji was suddenly only inches from the Wa-Feng’s face. “Yes, I many things about how Mao died! Yes, he was sent to try to steal back what you took from Master Hsiu, but nothing, [i]nothing[/i] give you the right to make him suffer like that!!” Ji stared at her, feeling the hot fury behind his eyes, expecting her to curl her lips back cruelly, for her to laugh, for the cold steel of her warfans to return to his throat. Instead, she was silent, her eyes still towards the ground. “I never meant to kill your son, Master Bai Long. I was horrified when I...” “How am I to believe you!” Ji snarled, the anger rising hotter, faster. “You come here speaking of honor, but I ask you this! What honor is there in killing someone in such a horrific manner! Even we Bai-Long attempt to kill our targets quickly and with as little pain as possible! Yet you Wa-Feng scum left him to die, in agony!” [i]My son! My only son![/i] “Sir...” Ji heard Chao whisper, yet the patriarch of the White Wolf wasn’t about to back down. “I did not kill your son on purpose!” Felonca suddenly snapped, the steel back in her eyes as they shot up and bored into his own, the sudden explosion of noise, sharp and shrill as a drill sergeant, making Ji flinch away from the panther hengeyokai. “If there was a way I could have saved him, or even eased his passing, I would have,” she said, her voice dropping lower and softer, the remorse returning. “I can only give you my word on that, no more.” Ji stared into her blue on blue eyes. Part of him was desperately searching for the smirk, the sneer she had when she first came... an excuse for him to lash out with his anger, to snatch her from this world before he left as well. Yet as much as he tried, he found only remorse, sadness, even fear. His muscles stayed tense, from anger, and also from confusion... “Sir?!” Chao said louder in a panic, and Ji felt a piece of paper shoved into his hand. The White Wolf looked down, and saw on the parchment a crude drawing of a sloth, with a simple phrase written below: [i]”Do you like being human? Play nice with Felonca.”[/i] Ji’s eyes snapped up, and he saw the tall, thin scholar give a smirk then a wink as magic coursed almost playfully between his fingers. [i]He means to change us into beasts![/i] Ji thought, horror in his mind. [i]That’s... that’s even worse than death! Turn us into creatures for their enjoyment, and we won’t be able to defend ourselves from their torments![/i] “If you will listen, Master Bai-Long, I will finish the terms I was about to tell you when you interrupted me,” Felonca said again. “My second term was that the White Wolf Clan will no longer conduct executions, except at the joint behest of Master Ling, Governor of Dai Province, and the Emperor. The White Wolf will thus come under the employ of the Imperial Government, training Imperial spies and envoys, as well as serving as a negotiation of last resort.” “You’re joking,” Ji hissed, anger in his voice but confusion in his mind. [i]Why are they offering this!? We’ve been enemies of her clan for generations, yet she offers to clean the slate between us, even offering us employ? What is she getting at?[/i] “Too long has this feud between our families raged. You and your clan have skills that the Emperor, my master, will find most useful,” Felonca replied, her voice quiet but deadly. “I’m afraid there are only two options here, Master Bai-Long. Accept our terms, or my friends and I will be forced to take unfortunate action.” She looked up, death in her eyes. “Choose wisely.” [/QUOTE]
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