"Disarmed" The sho woman struggled to free her hand from the nekode embedded in the cliff-face. The leather straps bit into her flesh as she tried to wrench it free. Fortuitously, a trickle of cold sweat ran down her wrist and allowed her to pull her hand out just in time to avoid the incoming swipe of claws from the giant mattekar behind her. Turning her back to the rockface, she drew to one side in time to get caught between the twin horns of the beast as it reared onto its hind leg and slammed its head towards her. It was the mattekars turn to get stuck. The creature bellowed as it gnashed at her with its teeth. Shu-Lien was pinned, just out of reach of the gaping maw - its horns beneath her arms. Thinking quickly, she raised her feet and thrust the studded soles of her boots into the beasts cranium, causing it to roar in pain. Temporarily stunned it slumped, its single rear leg giving way, sending the black mass of its body sprawling sideways, head still anchored to the rock. She slipped out from between the horns, just as it awoke from its stupor, which caused it to act with renewed ferocity. Starting backwards, away from the mattekar that was now regaining its wits, she tried to find some way out of the valley in which she was trapped. An encampment of Gotrok Lugians were at the mouth of the valley, far too powerful for her to overcome, and stood between her and her destination - Baishi. She headed for a small clump of rather tall trees that reached almost over the surrounding cliffs, hoping to hide from the mattekar once it freed itself in order to think of an escape route. She turned and ran full speed for one of the nearest trees, hearing the sharp crack of a mattekar horn being split off and left in a rock. Thunderous trampling followed close behind, empowered by the rage of pain. Not even daring to look back, though she could sense the creatures proximity, almost feel its breath on her heels - she ran straight for the tree as fast as she could. The ground trembled - but her timing was right, the next step took her foot off the floor and planted firmly against the bark of the tree, the next step carried her momentum forward and upward. The third step sprang her backwards in a reverse somersault - perfect timing - landing her behind the monstrous head of the dread mattekar, on its neck. Not quite perfect timing - she was supposed to land behind the creature! It turned and reared on its hind leg once again, pitching Shu-Lien backwards. She clung on to the shaggy fur of the beast, and the momentary shft in weight caused it to tumble backwards, throwing her against a tree. She fell to the floor, screaming in dismay as the huge mass of the mattekar bore down upon her. ------ The world was shrouded in darkness as Shu-Lien awoke, her legs numb and back aching, she felt something pressing upon her. How long had she been unconscious for it to be so dark? Not that long, she realized as her memory returned - the mattekar had fallen on top of her, thankfully hitting the tree as it did so. The tree had fallen but was supporting most of the mattekars mass, keeping it from crushing her beneath its weight. She crawled out from under the hulking figure and checked for signs of life from the mattekar - there were none, it had been stunned by the fall and bled to death from the arteries in the base of the detached horn. No way out of the valley was evident, the fire from the lugian camp still burned off to the southwest, indicating that they were still there, though the tree had fallen at a precarious angle, spanning the gap between the valley floor and the clifftop above. Too steep to climb, she thought - unless... She walked over to the rocks where the nekode was embedded - the Sho had traditionally used these as tree-climbing implements before they were turned to weapons - yet it was still stuck fast in the rock. She undid the leather straps from the body of the weapon, no point in leaving those behind, they could still be useful. Looking around for something else to use, she spied the claws of the dead mattekar. The paw of the creature was massive, though the span of the claws was roughly the same as that of the nekode. The thought of what she was going to do next reviled her, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Taking her katar blade from her belt - a rather sharp implement but not best suited to tree climbing - she used this to hack the paw from the beast. The stench from it rankled her nose, but she continued regardless. Digging out the fatty pads from the underside of the claw, she found that the tendons on the inside were hanging loose. She cut small slits, just large enough for her fingers to go through into these. The paw formed a glove, with bony protection on the outside and an ingenious set of retractable claws that extended as she clenched her fist. The most curious property of the dread mattekar is its ability to cause its claws to be burning hot - an ability that still seemed to linger in the claws, that burst into flame as she clenched her fist tighter, giving it the ability to both slash and burn depending on how she held it. This new weapon would serve its purpose for the time being, but would need to be dried and cleansed before putting it to any serious use. She stood on the bole of the tree, studded boots digging into the bark, in one hand she held the leather straps of the nekode, looped around the tree for grip, the other hand sheathed in the burning claw. She leaned forward at each step, gripping with the claw, leaving gaping scorch marks on the wood, pushing down with her feet, she held onto the leather loop, as she pulled back, before reaching forth with the claw in order to take another step. The progress was slow, but it was progress nonetheless, and finally she was at the top of the cliff. The snow at the top masked another danger, furrowing her brow as she spotted white on white shifting in the distance. "I cannot do this again!" She muttered, but it was too late, the faint glow from the new found claw had given away her position and a three legged form lolloped towards her across the snowy landscape. She screwed up her face in frustration as the second mattekar headed towards her, luckily this one was smaller than the first that she had encountered in the valley - a dire mattekar. Logic ticked in her brain - and she realised that she had the perfect weapon to deal with this annoyance. Whipping up the orb at her belt, she quickly gazed into its depths, focusing magical energies around herself, she caused a ward against fire to form about herself, and she poised to strike. The mattekar thundered towards her, she clenched her fist as tight as she could, gouts of flame issuing from the claws. She steeled herself for the attack, and charged also - running headlong towards the monster. At the last instant, she leaped and kicked, flying sideways with leg extended. Her foot impacted the knee of the mattekars hind leg, giving a sickening crunch - as it did so, she rolled onto her back, and thrust the clawed fist upwards towards the creatures underbelly, reinforcing her elbow with her free hand. The insulating fur ignited almost instantly, causing the mattekar to shriek and writhe in pain. Melting fur dropped like burning pitch onto her, but thankfully doing little harm due to the fire ward. She wriggled away from the squirming mass and into a bank of snow. The flailing shape stopped moving and finally the flames burnt out. Eyeing up the corpse, Shu-Lien thought to make the best of the situation, and feeling a little imbalanced with only one claw, she cut the left claw from the body, further up, this time. "That should make a nice arm guard." She thought, looking at her tatty bracers that hadn't escaped the wrath of the fire. ------ "Yu Shu-Lien!" The tailor called after her. She turned in the doorway and took the proferred bag from the shopkeeper."Thank you Wa-Son," she said, handing him a handful of pyreal in exchange for her goods. "If you do not mind me asking, how did the dress become so damaged?" He asked. "It is... A long story," she replied, a brief flicker of annoyance playing across her features. "One that proves that even the most sturdy of Yifan dresses cannot withstand an attack from a mattekar." "Perhaps then it is time to invest in some of our local armour?" "Do you think that I would be asking you to repair this old dress if I could afford a set of new yoroi?" She laughed. "No, I do not suppose so, soon you will be telling me that I should be grateful for your business at all," he said, giving a mockingly overgracious bow. "If my luck continues," she said, brandishing the newly cleaned claw and armguard, "I may not have to shed another coin to complete my armour." "Then I wish you good fortune on your journey. Joji be with you." The tailor said, bowing with palm to fist. "Thankyou, fortune to you also," Shu-Lien replicated the gesture and left. She strolled out of the woodlands and began to walk up the long branching pathway towards the top of the mountain ridge that separated Baishi from Sawato and the other mid-eastern towns. The brisk walk was exhilarating, and the pungent fragrances from the conifers below wafted over the mountain on the updrafts from below, clouds skimmed the lofty heights of the ridge, hiding the peaks from view. Once she reached the top, she followed the northeastern trail, until it turned north, where she came across an abandoned temple. For all anyone knew, the temple could have been placed precariously upon a thin sliver of land resting in a turbulent misty sea, giving the appearance of a scene out of myths and legends. Inspired by this, she decided to explore the temple. A row of empyrean figures enshrouded with moss and lichens, numerous rings of pillars, two crypt-like bunkers, a fallen tower, and a colonnaded temple building all shared the site atop the ridge. The telltale bobbing lights of wisps populated the rings, whilst scores of rats seemed to have made the crypts their home. Imp-like zefirs had taken up residence under the temple roof. Most of these infestations were dealt with easily, then it came to exploring the tower and the latter crypt. Entering the tower, a musty odour reached her nose, a smell akin to silk pyjamas left folded too long after washing. Creeping into the murky interior, she turned with a start as a shuffling noise started to her left, causing a sudden intake of breath - which was not a pleasant sensation at all, given the rotten stench issuing from the gloom. Two burning eyes in sunken pits of leathery flesh stared at her from the shadows. Another pair, feet on the stairs, the creak of a string being drawn. Her foot shot out towards the nearest set of eyes, a head rolled across the straw-covered floor. A snap indicated the loosing of a bolt, an arm shot up - deflecting the bolt, one of the legs on the stair gave way, the corpse-creature falling from its perch with the bolt embedded in its knee. The crossbow was upended and thrust into the face of its wielder, then swung in a wide arc and brought down, crushing the skull of the recovering zombie on the floor. Always alert for trophies, she scoured the darkness for items that the zombies may have hoarded. She picked up the now detached femur from one of the downed zombies and held it distastefully at arms length. "I am sure someone will want this," she thought, tossing it into the bag, "but that poor dress must have another wash." "What on Ispar is this?" She wondered, lifting a large, furry helm-like object off the stairs. Moving out into better light, she could see that it appeared to be a helm, covered in the scalp of an ursuin, the jaws encircling the visor, fangs still present, ears erect, and amber inset in the eyesockets. "This is a treasure!" She exclaimed whilst putting it on her head, "And it fits!" The feline headed creature burst into the second crypt and despatched the startled zombies with ease. Even the zefirs where shocked by her entrance and were too taken aback to even cast spells until it was far too late. "How interesting..." The wall at the end of the chamber appeared to be carved with an elaborate design of some kind, clearly showing a creature with two sets of arms, though the main part of the image was obscured by four large monoliths that had clearly been erected to either conceal or disfigure the inscription. She tried to peer around the back of the stones, but they were wedged so closely to the surface that she was unable to discern any further detail. A vague hint of horns at the top of the image, just visible above the concealing slabs hinted at something sinister. She recalled the smaller carvings seen on marker stones around some of the desert towns, and the empyrean petroglyps, though this seemed much more complex and totally unlike those others. She wasn't even aware of a single race of creatures that had ever demonstrated having more than one pair of arms, unless you counted the olthoi, of course - but those lances could not really be considered arms. Certainly not to the degree that one would stylise them so much as to put hands on a carving intended to be one of olthoi. No, this was perhaps something that no Isparian knew about - and judging by how firmly affixed the slabs were, maybe never would. A shudder went through her as she considered the notion of this whole complex belonging to some long dead falatacot blood-magic sect. ------ The soft shreth-leather wiped across the blade, removing traces of dust and grime, restoring the tachi blade to its former glory. Pleased with her work, Shu-Lien placed it reverently upon its stand below the shrine in the corner of the room. She knelt for a few moments in silent meditation, head bowed, then got up and closed the doors on the little shrine. She looked down at her new armour, and dusted off the jacket she was wearing. Luckily, the money obtained from the trophy smith in exchange for the undead femur had been enough to cover the costs for a new pair of celdon leggings and matching sollerettes. Koujia would have fit in with her family tradition, but she found that in the reduced gravity of Auberean, she was performing acrobatic moves more often than usual - and the flared hips of the koujia armour ended up causing an excessive encumberance. Sadly, the funds hadn't stretched to a new breastplate or sleeves, so she had to make do with an old padded jacket for the time being. She washed the polishing agent from her fingers in a little bowl of water and dried her hands. Looking out of the window she could see someone running across the blackmire swamp from one of the farming polders. He looked like one of the rice planters that tended the polders during the farming season, yet his face appeared to be streaked with blood. Taking up a healing kit, she rushed out to meet the man, he was out of breath and shaking violently from shock. As she bound a huge gash on his upper arm, he explained that some large cat-thing had come out of the hills and started to massacre the farmers He pointed towards Sawato and the fields to the south, so she urged him to stay put until she returned. She quickly donned her armour and ran full speed towards the drained swamp polders. Sawato was deserted, the Festival of Lights drawing people from the surrounding villages into Shoushi for the main event, so she passed through and on towards the planting fields. Bodies lay floating in the shallow water in the fields to the south of the town, obscenely pink rice floating around their inert forms. Shu-Lien searched the bodies of the slain farmers and came across one holding a tuft of fur in his hand. She rolled the coarse hairs between her fingers, and sniffed it. Ursuin, she thought - though too dark to be the regular kind stalking these parts. Behind her a sudden noise caused a stir in the trees, a black cloud of flocking birds exploding from the canopy above. She ran back towards the town and slowed as she approached the trees. Not a sound was to be heard. She cautiously rounded the nearest building, keeping close to the wall in case some unseen enemy was at large. She spotted the cowering form of a woman on the roof of one of the buildings. A growling suddenly issued from around the corner as she spied three reedsharks tearing at a fowl that had been roasting over a fire. Evidently it had been the farmers' break. They became aware of her and turned in unison, yapping they decided that she would make a far tastier meal than the cremated carcass. A problem to be tackled head on, these reedshark were a little below shoulder height and approached in a triangle formation. Running towards the leading shark, she punched it on the beak, right fist, left fist then turning left slightly, jabbed her right elbow out in a strike that sent it flying backwards, taking the other two reedshark with it. They lay still, either unconscious or dead - that didn't matter for the time being, as another problem presented itself. The woman on the roof was evidently trying to escape a giant brown furred feline with a tufted head. A dread ursuin, Shu-Lien thought. As she watched, it managed to reach the lower roof with its foreclaws, scrabbling up the brickwork trying to find purchase for its feet. Mere seconds and it would be up on the roof with the hapless woman. Shu-Lien took up her orb and concentrated, she swirled her hand around over the orb, trying to form the mana into something useful - one of the only things she was capable of was a low level spell to restrict a creatures natural healing. Cupping the orb in both hands, she finished her spell and the ursuin turned towards her, evidently aware that she had just cast something upon it. Ursuin, being known for their extreme regenerative abilities, would be hard to take down. It started after her, chasing her into an alleyway. Calling up every ounce of strength, she ran alongside one of the walls, and leaped upwards and away - as she hit the opposite wall, she pushed off with all her might, taking her up onto the roof of one of the buildings. The ursuin was evidently wide enough to span the alleyway and made little trouble of climbing up after her. She leaped from roof to roof, the ursuin lumbering after her, its weight supported adequately by the span of the small buildings. Heading towards one of the larger buildings in town, the armoursmiths, she flew up the tiles until reaching the top. Normally these buildings looked like fully tiled structures, which of course, would be rather annoying for the occupants - when smoke from the forge would have become trapped by the roof and billowed out of the shutters below, so the isparians had developed a style of roof that was open, allowing the smoke to move freely upward. She vaulted across this gap, and stood waiting on the opposite edge. The ursuin shambled up the other building, leaped across to the smithy - and tasting its victory, it crested the peak of the roof, tumbling straight to its doom nearly three floors below. Shu-Lien deftly jumped down onto the monstrous skull of the beast, making sure that it had met its end. Leaving the smithy, she turned her attention back towards the place where the reedshark had been. They had gone, evidently regaining consciousness and turning tail. She walked over to the eaves of the building where the woman had tried to escape the ursuin, and held her hands up to help the woman climb down. "Thank you so much, my husband had gone off to the festival, so I stayed to look after our baby." A startled look came to Shu-Lien's face. "Oh, don't worry, she's safe at home, I'd made sure to put her somewhere that she wouldn't come to any harm whilst I tried to draw the ursuin away from the house," she said with a smile. "Is there anything I can do to repay you for helping me?" "No, it is quite alright. Knowing that you are safe is reward enough." Shu-Lien replied. "I insist," said the woman, "my husband is a leather crafter, I'm sure he will have something that you might be interested in." Glancing across to the smithy, she then thought that perhaps the ursuin's coat would look better on her own torso. The End (for now)