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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1942527" data-attributes="member: 15043">I’m back... and now, for more updates!The Prince of LangyaNayu giggled.Madame Cixi also laughed as the small red and green lizard crawled over Nayu’s squirming hands, its colors then suddenly oscillating to the color of his flesh.  It then stopped, its tongue flickering, searching the air as its legs tickled his skin.“Its from far to the south, young Nayu, from the lands of Chosun,” Cixi continued, her voice old but still smooth.  She leaned over and petted the astounded young boy’s head.  “A trader brought it unwittingly in his goods... he wanted it gotten rid of, and I guessed that you’d love to see it!”“It’s beautiful, Madame Cixi,” Nayu smiled, the small creature climbing up his arm again.  “I’m going to name him Kenzi!” he announced loudly and proudly, his five year old arms whirling the lizard around, “and he’ll be my pet forever and ever!”As he whirled about the market square with his new pet, the sounds of the bazaar filled the air around him.  Someone arguing with Zhiang the butcher about a pound of meat.  Lu Gi the stablemaster attempting to corral his horses.And a weird, strange thumping noise.  It started quietly, but rose in volume and frequency suddenly.  Nayu looked about, his five year old ears recognizing the sound of someone at a door, knocking.  But there was no one around him knocking on any doors.That’s really odd...  and there’s something by my head...hmm...what?  Wait... huh?Nayu’s tired and bleary eyes opened, and to his momentary confusion, he was greeted not with the light and sounds of a bazaar, but the darkness of a room in a quiet inn, save for the incessant pounding on a door.The door to his room.“Who in the...” Nayu grumbled, feeling Kenzi skitter away towards his pack.  I swear, if this isn’t an emergency, I don’t care who this is, I will beat them silly!  I swear...  Carefully, the young sorcerer stumbled onto the floor, and somehow crept over Liu and Chou’s still sleeping forms.“It is your friend,” Captain Li’s voice whispered quietly in the darkness.  “She has been calling for you for the past few minutes.  I did not reply, as I did not know if you wanted to be awoken or not.”How the heck do I respond to that?  ‘Thanks, you rotten bastard?’  Too much thought was required to think on an appropriate verbal reply, so Nayu settled on a grunt of acknowledgement to the man in the darkness, whose hands were still bound.  A part of Nayu’s mind actually thought of releasing his bonds for a few moments in the morning... a merciful thought that was cut brutally short by Nayu’s memory, and the images of his parents.“Nayu!” Felonca’s muffled and frightened voice came through the door.  “Hurry! Please!”Felonca’s frightened?  Of what?  This is the same girl that charged that undead creature when she had yellow mold disease... I think this might qualify as something of an emergency then...  dammit.“Hold on,” Nayu grunted sleepily, making his way to the door and then cracking it open.  Before she could begin talking, he had already hissed out a shush.  “The others are sleeping.  What is it?”At that moment, Felonca launched into a rapid, expressive, albeit quiet, explanation of the nights events, so quick that Nayu had trouble following.  “...andtheniopenedthedoorand Isawanotebutitwasfrommyoldmaster...”“Felonca, slow down,” Nayu gripped her shoulders, while trying to rouse his sleepy brain.  “I can’t understand talking that fast at this hour, or any hour.  Take a deep breath, calm down, and please...tell...me...slowly.”Felonca closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath.  Using all her willpower, she then explained rather calmly about the letter, and who it was from... as well as its portents of doom.“The White Wolf Clan is after me, Nayu!  They’re the best assassins in the entire region!  We need to go, and get out of here!  Now!” she tugged at his nightshirt, pulling him into the hallway.Nayu’s brain registered the warning, but his body still screamed for rest.  For a longing second, he looked back to his bed, before forcing himself to look at Felonca again.“Do they know you are here?” Nayu asked, his voice slow with concentration.“No, but if Master Quan-Shi was able to find me, they could too!” Felonca moaned.  “Well... if he knows your here, he’s not likely to tell them, now is he?”  Nayu muttered in half-sleep logic.  “It would be riskier to go now and risk ambush on the road,” he muttered on, his brain congratulating itself for that little coup of possible real logic, “so I say we stay here... and I think the sleeping people would agree with me.”“The young man has a point,” Li’s voice came through the darkness.  Nayu was not too tired to scowl.“Well... can... can I sleep here then?” Felonca gave a mix of a sigh and a whimper.“I suppose, but I’m not going on any kind of watch.  We’re fine here,” Nayu replied with a yawn.  “Bring your pallet over here... there’s room for you behind Chou.”Within a few minutes, Nayu was sleeping peacefully, while Felonca sat huddled in a corner, her eyes fearfully looking at the doors and windows.“I told you things would be fine,” Nayu grinned some hours later as Xianlung faded into the distance behind the party.“Meh,” Felonca grunted, her mind caught halfway between the world of sleep, and the hyperactive world of alertness.  Must look for danger!  Must look for danger! one part of her mind screamed, just as the other half of her mind screamed that it needed sleep immediately.  The result of the two combined was Felonca reeling in her saddle at times as she tried to look around.  A passerby could have easily taken her for being drunk.“No White Wolves in Xianlung, and I highly doubt there’ll be any in Mingzhong,” Nayu continued matter of factly.  “Besides, once we tell the Governor of Langya what is going on, I bet you won’t have to worry about any assassins anymore!”“And if they try to attack you, they’ll have to come through my sword, Liu’s fists, and...” Chou started heroically from just behind Felonca, only to end feebly, “...perhaps my...”“No.”  The statement from Nayu was sharp, definitive and commanding.“Nayu.  Please, for the old man’s sake, let him be untied for a bit,” Liu spoke.  “He’s be tied up for well close to several weeks, save the few breaks during the night when I let him loose.”“You what?!”As the furious ‘discussion’ rose in volume and temper, Felonca’s mind began to wander.Nayu is still angry at Chou’s father... but Li could be helpful... another blade is never a bad thing, especially against assassins like the White Wolf......but now he probably hates Nayu, and if those two were ever left alone...No.  Nayu’s right.  It’s for the best if Captain Li is kept tied up.  The Governor of Langya will know what to do with him.  Maybe, the Governor will release him to us, and we can use his sword...[/i]Felonca’s worn eyes then swiveled up the road, and suddenly she wasn’t tired anymore.  “GUYS!” she yelled yanking her horse immediately off the road into a small copse of trees.  As she reined up, she heard hoofbeats halting behind her, and confused questions beginning.“What was it, Felonca?” Nayu asked, worry in his voice as he, too, beheld the large column of dust up the road, radiant brown and orange in the noonday sun. “I don’t know,” Chou replied, his eyes locked on the dust cloud as well.  A dull shing echoed as he drew his blade, “but I don’t like it.  And I think from the size of that thing that an extra blade would be good.”  Now the warrior’s eyes looked directly at Nayu, whose frame suddenly stiffened as he stared directly back at the fighter.“I can fight!” Li said, wiggling at his bonds.  “Let me free, let me repay you in what way I can.  Let me regain what honor I have lost!”“Honor?!  What honor, you lazy-eyed scoundrel!?” Nayu shot back.“Hey now!” Chou suddenly jumped between Nayu and his father, his eyes blazing towards the sorcerer.The argument once again receded in Felonca’s ears as she shifted into hybrid form and crept away, towards the cloud.  Silent, swift, and deadly, her mind thought as she slinked closer, trying to find out what it was exactly that was headed in their direction.  I’d rather be that than loud, angry, and thick-headed.“Honor?  You want to talk about honor?” Nayu hissed, not paying the least attention to the large armored man between him and Captain Li.  “What honor was there in leading us to our doom?  What honor is there in ordering the massacre of a village?  What honor is there...”“HE DIDN’T BURN DOWN RED LOTUS!” Liu’s voice suddenly leapt above all, its sharp rebuke snapping through Nayu like a whip.  Instantly, Nayu stopped in midsentence, his eyes wide as he looked at the monk that had so often been so calm.  No more. “Captain Li was taking orders, from the Governor in Mukden!  He is your enemy!  He is the one that ordered our deaths, and ordered the destruction of Red Lotus and the other villages!  Captain Li was merely following orders, orders that he disobeyed because he didn’t want to kill us!”“So, leading us off into the desert to die is better than just cutting our heads off himself!?” Nayu shot back, not caring the monk was upset.  “So he’s not only a murdering scoundrel, but a coward too!”“Nayu,” Liu shook his head, placing a hand on the young man’s shoulder, “we have many enemies in this world.  We need as many blades as we can get.  If Felonca is right, and the White Wolf Clan are after her, that likely means they are after us as well.  Not to mention the Governor in Mukden, and his undead armies.”  Liu then paused, and stared into Nayu’s eyes, judging, weighing.  The calm had returned.“Captain Li is skilled with a blade,” the monk continued after a moment, “and he has expressed as great a remorse as possible for what happened.  Let him fight beside us.  I shall take blame if he steps aside.”“As will I!” Chou immediately volunteered.  “If my father tries to run off or hurt you, I’ll kill him myself!” the young man blustered, and Nayu winced.I doubt you would be able to do that, Nayu thought quietly.  Few men can kill their own flesh and blood without thinking of it.  Yet you offer...“Fine,” Nayu sighed in defeat.  “Get his blade.”  As Chou yelped with joy and Liu went to the horses to fetch the arms, Nayu’s eyes turned to the old man.I will be watching you.  Like a hawk.  And if you step even slightly out of line......I will kill you.Nayu was still angrily miffed when a scurry told him that Felonca had crept back to their little makeshift camp.“A column... a parade of some kind,” she said before he could even ask.  “Lots of soldiers, with a litter and eight bearers in the middle.  The soldiers all had red cloaks with a white circle on the back.  Does that mean anyone in particular?”Could it be him?  No... why would he be headed AWAY from Mingzhong!“Those... those are the symbols of the Hu family, the governors of Langya,” Nayu said slowly, his mind working.  “I don’t know why he’d be headed away from the capital at Mingzhong though.”  Something’s not right here!“Shouldn’t we step out onto the road to meet him?” Nayu heard Li ask, the old man jingling slightly as he walked about in his armor for the first time in weeks.“No... something’s not right here, I don’t know what.”  Nayu furrowed his brow, trying to think why the governor would be leaving his post as the noise of hoofbeats and feet trodding up the dusty road started to rumble louder and louder.“Fine... everyone down!” Felonca hissed, and jingles of armor died away just as the first part of the column rounded the bend into view.At the lead were two soldiers, armed with halberds and covered in gilt scale armor.  Their eyes roamed about, looking, searching for danger.  Instinctively Nayu shrunk closer to the ground, hoping their eyes would miss him, when he heard it.The cough was quiet, weak, and Chou had tried hard to cover it up.  Immediately, however, the two soldiers suddenly scowled in the group’s direction, and reined up their horses.  One snatched out a large bow and notched an arrow, while the other trotted closer and closer.“Come out!  We know you are there!” he bellowed, his halberd waving in the air menacingly.  “Get out here you scum before we run you through!”  Nayu crouched even lower, the smell of horse and rider overwhelming his nose, before he felt a sudden rough push from behind.  His mind had only a moment to realize he was lucky that the soldier hadn’t struck him with the sharpened edge of the blade, before he tumbled into the road, landing with a crunch.  He wanted to yell, but there was no breath in his lungs.“Aha!  You rotten rascal!” the soldier bellowed, the halberd’s sharp blade merely inches from Nayu’s neck.  “Planning an ambush, weren’t you?  Well, no one will be attacking us today!  Call your friends out, or I’ll cut your throat!”“Nayu!”  The young sorcerer heard running, and the sudden absence of the halberd’s cold touch told him that Felonca must have dashed out from cover.  Her rapid footsteps suddenly stopped, as the noise of more horses thundering close, along with running feet washed by.  Carefully, Nayu rolled himself over, in time to see eight pairs of sandaled feet, a waft of perfume coming from them.  “What is the trouble?” a voice from somewhere above asked.  The voice was young, but deep.  That’s not the Governor of Langya!  He is an old man!“Bandits!” he heard the soldier’s voice spit.  “They were likely planning to ambush Your Excellency, loot your treasures, and hold you for ransom!  I can gut them all right now, if you wish!”“Yes, Your Excellency, execution is what the law calls for!”  This voice was different.  High and tinny, its nasal twang spoke of someone from the far south... like the capital of Ak Konylu.“Excellency,” Nayu whispered.  Only now was the pain from the soldier’s blow starting to register.  “I am a trader, from the north...”His explanation was cut short, as another pair of feet seemed to step straight out of the sky into his view.  Belatedly his mind realized the litter had stopped right in front of him, and he looked up.And saw his own face looking back at him.</blockquote>

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