Story Time part 3: Shin and Old Mill head for the Cat People

Shinryuu and Old Mill trotted along on horseback, towards the cat people's once lush jungle home. Old Mill kept up a quiet banter, which Shin only replied little, worried at the slow pace they were making. It bothered him a bit, but he conceded to the old man not being able to keep pace. At least he is funny, thought Shin. "Yes I remember this one time out in the cornfields, I was chasing this young filly, with a batch of my butter, trying to get her to pop my corn," Mill guffawed at his own tale. Shin laughed as well," I bet you wanted her to pop your corn, you dirty old man." "Eh you young fellers think you the only ones can chase a fine women," Mill grumbled half seriously. "Funny," said Shin. "so how did you come to know the Chief of the cat people?" he asked Mill. "I was chasing after his sister with my butter in hand..." Mill rambled on with Shin only half listening to the old perverts story focusing on the road ahead, covered in blowing drifts of snow. It swirled around them, obstructing visability to a few feet in front of them. "When I crashed into him, and spilled my butter all over the both of us," Mill said. "Well he was covered in the stuff and began licking his self clean but he musta really liked that sweet cream butter, cause the next thing I know he's licking me clean too! For five minutes all you heard was lick, lick, meow. It was the damnedest thing!" Shin laughed so hard he almost fell off his horse, and into a snow bank, imagining Mill being licked by a full grown cat man. "Well we been friends ever since, but I make sure never to spill my butter around that Zero every again."

Just then the two men stumbled half blind into the edge of the jungle, hoping that someone would come and find them. The cold was biting into their extremities, burning fingers and toes alike with stinging pain. At least the trees afforded them some cover, from the blowing snow. Strangely mill was quieter now than he had been the whole trip, it seemed as though something was amiss within the jungle, it stole the mirth from both men leaving them alert for danger. They each scanned the trees around them, searching for the expected sentries and scouts employed by the cat people. Shin raised his hand signaling a stop, and whispered to Mill, "I am going to scout ahead on foot, wait here with the horses and supplies. Mill nodded and Shin turned to the nearest tree, climbing it as easily as a monkey, before leaping and darting among its branches as if he belonged there. He moved over the ground, swiftly and silently, scanning for signs of the danger that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Just ahead there was a light blazing through the maze of branches, Shin slowed his momentum to make a more careful assessment. A huge fire roared in a clearing, the source of the light. Shin stifled a gasp, as the entire cat tribe was there in the clearing, chained, or dead. An evil disgusting woman circled the fire, clutching one of the kittens by a foot and dragging the poor child around the camp. Hundreds of trolls armed with wicked looking barbed pikes stood guard over the captured people. "Hear me well, you filthy feline abominations," the woman, obviously the leader of the evil creatures said." I know your chief and some of your warriors escaped our trap." "I am Mistress Nighttang," she screeched into the air, voice so shrill the cat people with their enhanced hearing shuddered painfully. "You will tell me what I want to know or I will fling this child into that inferno, and let my trolls feast on her carcass. I will continue to do this with each and every child, then your old, then the women until you are all food for my army. Or you can tell me what I wish and become the slaves you should be to serve my master's will." None of the cat people spoke, and Nighttang wasted little time dangling the child over the flame, soon the nauseating scent of singed fur and the child's screams rent the camp. "Please," one of the cat women cried, " spare her, spare my daughter, I will tell you what you wish." "Yes, yes I knew one of you fools must have compassion,"the wizened hag spat in disgust.

Shin listened as the woman divulged the location she thought the warriors had taken to gather and plan, before hurrying back to Mill. "I need you Mill," shin started relaying to Mill all he had overheard. "I need a distraction to reach the warriors, Mill," he said. "Ride around their camp at a gallop making as much noise as you can, pull the trolls after you, but no heroics, let them take you if they catch you, they seem to like prisoners, and I know with you there the cat people have a better chance once the warriors and their Chief return. Just await my signal, good luck old man." "Good luck yourself whippersnapper," Old Mill replied saluting his friend. Shin raced once again through the tree tops, veering slightly from his previous course to follow the route directed by the kitten's mother back at the camp. He easily spotted the troll's heading off to subdue the rest of the cat people and easily passed them, quickly finding the venerable old oak tree that was the hidden entrance to an underground cavern used by the tribe in times of need. As he dropped from the trees before the tree, a passage opened in the bark, and he was met by, who he could only assume was Chief Zero, a very regal looking orange and white striped tiger man. "Hmm... not a troll? Human, yes?" Zero asked. "Yes I have come from your Lord Stuart with a request, however your people..." "Yes, captured by the filthy witch and nasty trolls they were, but free them we shall." "Chief Zero sir, they tortured a small child until your location was divulged, and the trolls are on their way here now." "Come in, knowing means nothing, meow, they cannot get in unless we allow it," the chief replied. "By the way did your king happen to send you with some of my friend Mill's delicious butter?" Zero led Shin inside the tree, which locked shut behind them, and down a short staircase. They moved quickly into a large room with tunnels branching off in many directions. There were about fifty cat warriors armed to the teeth, inside. "Looks as though you were about to make your move," Shin said to Zero. "Yes there are tunnels that lead right to the campsite our people are being held in, meow," Zero replied. "I left Mill to get captured by the trolls, he should be there now, picking as many of the locks as he can, so that should make things easier," Shin added. "If those trolls touched my butter, meow, there will be hell to pay, " Zero stated emphatically. Shin laughed at the cat chief's seeming concern with the butter more than his own people, and Zero joined in at his own joke.

The warriors began moving down one of the branching tunnels with all haste though, for they knew that they hadn't much time to spare. Once they reached their destination several of the cat men slowly lifted traps in the ceiling peering out at the camp, they saw that few trolls remained to guard the prisoners, and the witch was on the opposite side of the camp, looking into a mirror. "What is taking those buffoons so long," she shrieked causing them to flinch. There pause was momentary, spotting the human Mill picking locks, they moved to a trap door near his location and began taking their people into the tunnels quickly and quietly. Half of the cat people had been moved before the first troll noticed something amiss. Chief zero popped up behind the troll, and ripped out its throat with his claws before it could utter a cry of alarm. Shin also took the opportunity to climb topside and help Mill with picking the locks, unfortunately mistress Nighttang took that moment to turn away from her mirror, and saw that most of her prisoners were gone, and one of her guards was dead. "Come back you idiots," she screamed in rage at the mirror, which was in fact was a communications device that allowed her to follow the movements of the trolls. "The cat people are free! Kill them! what are you waiting for," she urged the remainder of the guards. The hulking creatures quickly brought their pikes to bear, but weren't fast enough to evade the ferocity of the cat warriors.

With tooth and claw, and naked steel the army of Chief Zero lay into the trolls with brute, destructive intensity. Zeros claws were flashing, eviscerating trolls left and right, leaving pools of guts and blood laying around him. The rest of his warriors moved just as lethally as their chief, and soon the remaining guards were finished, laying in pools of viscera. Zero stalked the witch Nighttang, but with a shriek and a burst of bright light she vanished. Seeing to his people's safety Zero herded the remaining, visably shaken members of his clan into the tunnels, and had his men seal the entrances. Shinryuu wiped down his swords, not wishing the green acidic troll blood to pit his fine weapons, and turned to Zero before speaking. "Chief Zero, we come to you at the behest of Lord Stuart of Tempest, to assist our land, in this time of need. Obviously you have already been thrust into the heart of this struggle. Will you and your people join with us, and return to the castle Tempest? It's walls are probably the safest in the land." "Well that depends," said Zero, "on just how much of my friend's butter I can have...daily!" The group chuckled lightly, as Mill clasped arms with his old friend.

Far away from the snowy Jungle deep in the heart of a dormant volcano, sat the source of all that was wrong in the land. A darkness that was perpetually in search of things to corrupt, land, people, it matters little to this malignant, cancerous entity. All he sought was to rule, through destruction and fear. This self proclaimed King, sat idly in his throne of jagged stone, plotting ways to harrass those he feared might challenge him. A burst of light and smoke brought his most devout follower into his presence. "King of Darkness, ruler of my heart, I have failed you," the wretched witch said. "The cursed cat filth have escaped my clutchess through the aid of TEMPEST!" "It matters not to me your reasoning," he spat, at her feet. "Your pathetic weakness is well known. How many of my troll army have you allowed to die?" Nighttang shrunk from the ire of the black-hearted King, "Only a few guards, my liege. I have the remainder headed back to the valley Omega, to await futher instruction." "That is well for you," he said drumming his fingers on the arm of his throne, "Now take yourself to my chambers, that I may amuse myself in your punishments." The thought of the sadistic torture she faced was enough to send chills down the foul witch's spine, but she feared non-compliance more for there wasn't a scrap of mercy within this king. His heart was hard, or maybe hardly there at all, and his deviant nature was well known to her by now. His twisted soul took every bit of gratification it could from inflicting horrors on all around him. When he had his fill of that, he would then give in to his base instincts, brutishly satisfying himself, while humiliating the crone. Maybe the saddest part of all was how she had begun to hunger for this abuse.

Lord Stuart climbed the tower where the the sisters remained, eager to know if they had discerned anything of the identity of their enemy. Renske, Debi, and Ladywitch, remained joined in the circle of power, the blue energy of their magic illuminating the delicate runes around them, and casting their features with the same tone. "Lord of Tempest," they said voices joining as one, "the Darkness that binds attacks from many sides, the fate of the land flows like the tides. To seek a cure, find balance assured by the hope of forces combined. Singed by despair fair King beware, of the other that comes in the night, for his power is darkness and blight." The sisters sagged visably drained, with expressions of pain and sorrow on their faces. It was Renske that spoke first, "My Lord I have seen a black pit, seated there a foul King." "At his right stood our old enemy and former pupil Nighttang," Debi added. "He has amassed an army that we barely know about, the trolls maybe the least of it." "Yes sister," Ladywitch said," it is the least, for his dark magic is what I have seen and its a power we cannot fathom. He has called forth a denizen of the deep, hellspawned demon, and drawn its power for his own uses. "We must gather every member of the free races into an alliance to combat this mad King. But to do so you will need to find the Claymore of the Winged Sunlight." "That is perfect, LW," the other sisters chimed in. "It is the only weapon ever forged to wound darkness in any form. It will have the ability to cleave through his demon blessed dark magic, but it must be wielded by a knight of the light, one that has yet to succomb to earthly temptation," said Debi. "Where does one look for a warrior virgin?" Lord Stuart asked, "For that is what I take it you mean by free from earthly temptation, right? And how do we find this Claymore?" "We shall consult the fates further, and see if we can find traces of the two," Ladywitch said. "In the mean time my Lord," you must continue to marshall the forces of good in our land, for I fear that the Dark King plans to strike at us once again."

In the town of Bend, on the edge of the southern desert, a young warrior trained under his master. The young man's name was Nightranger. He had given it to himself, never knowing the name his parents had given him, or known either of them one bit. An orphan of the desert nomads, his master had found him as a baby, and put the boy through his paces as soon as he could walk. It was odd, the master had no name either, but was called Beer, as that was his drink of choice, and he could often be heard saying, "I need a beer" to anyone willing to listen or share a pint. Despite his drunkeness the master was keen of mind and body, and fought with the fire of spirits, moving with a fluidity that confounded anyone unlucky enough to oppose him. He taught the young Nightranger, all the skills he knew, tracking, stealth, moving as he did, and fighting with the blade, and unarmed combat. They lived a very hermit like existence, rarely keeping the company of others, save each other. Beer would not expose the boy to even the other townspeople, so they were each others only companionship except when Beer left at night to seek a pint or ten at the local Inn. "Heed my words boy," Beer said to Nightranger one day. "I know it is hard for you to never see another face but my own, but it is for your own good." "The art I have taught you makes use of a form of purity distilled from only the most innocent of minds, as you master it you will become even more powerful than I." "You have a great destiny, son," the master said. "I could feel it the day I found you, and it grows everyday. One day your purpose will be made known but until then, follow my words boy." "Keep yourself away from other folks, so that your heart remains pure. I am off to get our supplies, and stop off at the pub for a bit, so finish your forms, feed yourself, and get some rest."

Nightranger heeded his master's words, working the forms and weaving around the wooden dummies set up for just such an exercise, gracefully ducking the flailing arms, and striking with precision rarely seen. The agile dance of death brought Nightranger through the wooden foes in faster, and faster arcs. Almost a blur of motion, his body was perpetually aware of each swinging movement, dodging and ducking and striking without faltering, or pause. An hour passed, and another, as the pace of his training never slowed, but quite the opposite, now everything was obscured save the sound of repeated strikes ringing out a staccato drum like pattern in waning light of dusk. Finally the young man stopped, resting several different practice blades on a rack, and wiping his face with an old rag, he headed inside to see to some supper. As he sat to eat leftover mutton chops and vegetables from the previous day, he wondered what exactly his master had meant about a higher calling? He had never regretted his lack of social interaction, immersing himself fully in the arts taught to him by Beer. But now he contemplated his part in the wide world, and wondered where that would take him, and how he could stay alone while fulfilling it. He vowed to ask his Master upon his return.