A/N: Quadrupdate! Okay, so not much to say up here other than asking for a review out of ten on the story. Thank you in advance.
Temujin hauled with all his might, lifting himself onto the wall with some difficulty.
The climb had been difficult. The wall was several hundred feet of solid stone, coated in ice and snow. His arms were stiff, his back was sore, but he had made it. He took the time to rest for a short while, before pulling out the valuables. A piece of flint, and a long strip of wool. He struck the flint against the icy surface of the wall, the sparks bounced onto the wool, and despite the cold, biting wind, the cloth caught flame and shone for a few seconds in the darkness of the night sky, like a single tiny star.
The signal was set.
With nothing else to do but sit and wait, Temujin relaxed a bit, stretching his stiff limbs. The climb hadn't looked like much at first, but halfway up he had wondered whether he would make it to the top, but every single urge inside him made him do it.
He was not an ordinary rhino. I am a Prince, the Crown Prince of the Mongol Tribes. He was twenty and five, short for his age, but stocky, and well-coated in thick muscles. This was his first time on the top of the wall, but not his first in China. That had been a long time ago.
He had been twelve at the time, and had been visiting the Imperial City, his father had taken him to help him build ties with the aristocracy of China. He had seriously disliked most of the children he met, unlike his younger brother, who seemed to like the lot of them. But their was one, one in particular that Temujin hated above all. The Crown Prince of China, Gaoming. The duck had been three years older than him, quite peaceful, mildly talented with a bow. That had been the start of it.
"A bow is a coward's weapon", the young rhino spoke, staring down at his fellow prince.
"Some say that. I like to think that the bow is a tactical weapon. It gives you room to think, in my opinion an axe is a thug's weapon."
The rhino snorted and stalked off, leaving the prince to his archery.
His birthday had come the next day. And as if his father had heard the very insult of before, he had received a massive six-bladed axe. "The Khan must be strong. An axe will make your arms stronger".
The young Temujin picked it up, it was heavy, but he could manage, enough for at least one swing.
On that day, a feast had been made in his honor, thirty courses, half of which were sweet. He failed to remember the foods however, the entertainmenty had been far more interesting.
Two warriors dueled inbetween the tables, one Mongol, one Chinese. And to show that peace was all they wanted, the two warriors had drawn, to show that under the Imperial Palace all were equal.
"Bullshit ! A mongol is worth thrice as many as you lot". His father had slapped him, hard, but he hadn't stopped. "I challenge your prince to a duel, maybe we shall see what weapon suits which being"!
His father had laughed, and brushed it off, but he had insisted, it had been his birthday after all. Temujin had been equipped with a tourney axe, while Gaoming had been given a tourney bow, with studded arrows. And in the end the two had dueled.
One second after the gong had been struck Gaoming had shot him, right on the forehead, much to the amusement of all present, even his father had laughed. In one moment of fury he charged at the duckling, swinging the tourney axe with a ferocity, unbecoming of any prince. He smashed into the bird's side, knocking him off balance, before bringing the axe down upon his beak, with all his weight behind him.
A mongol warrior had hauled him off, and slapped him even harder across the face, before tenderly picking up the duckling. He doesn't deserve to rule, Temujin remembered thinking. He is too weak for power.
From that day forth his father had not shown him any kind of affection, and Gaoming had lost his power of flight. As if to scorn him further the duck had written a letter to him, apologizing for any slight or dishonor he might have shown towards him. That had been his only letter from Gaoming, his younger brother however had recieved a few each month from the nobles .
Temujin laughed aloud, then the raiders came, over the wall, weapons drawn. At that moment he remembered they were here for a reason. Every few hours travellers passed through the wall, which aside from protecting China was also a sort of highway, traders, families, everyone used it, it was one of the quickest and safest ways to go from west to east, or vice versa, in China.
I am here to show that I am a man grown, my first raid. He grinned, drawing his weapons. In one hand he held a hammer, a thick square stone attached to a short piece of wood, carved with the flag of the mongols. His other weapon was an old heirloom, an axe, one with six blades. He smiled, at least he would put his father's gift to good use. His brother preferred the spear, but then again his brother was a weakling.
He heard the sound of footsteps and ducked behind a parapet. He checked himself quickly. He wore woolly brown pants, red scale armour with three thin straps that covered his shoulders.
He heard the sound of battle now, as one raider jumped into the group with a yell of battle. I want to remember everything.
He leapt in as well, his axe flew up and came crashing into a lynx's head, the cat squealed as she died, collapsing on the ground. He let go of the axe as he surveyed his bounty, she had been dragging a cart behind her, the cart held but one crate on it. He opened it, and heard the cry of babies within. He picked up one black kitten and hauled it into the air as if cried and shook, he threw it clear off the wall, relishing it's cries as it landed with a thump. All around him people were getting robbed and gutted. He picked another kitten, this one was grey, and he smashed it upon the icy ground, it wailed in pain as blood seeped from out of it's skull. Temujin lifted a leg and sent his foot crashing back into the lynx's thin skull. Blood and brains went flying everywhere, as he laughed. He drew the last baby, admiring his strength, he clenched his fist around the lynx's throat. This one was fur less. He won't live long anyway. He squeezed, the babe's wails were cut short, but so was his pleasure as a wolf sliced the back of his hand with the blade of a dao sword. Temujin yelled, and dropped the babe back in the crate, where it continued it's wailing, as the cart rolled down the wall, as if some invisible being were pulling it away from him.
He turned to his assailant as the dao came at him again, and found no purchase through the thick wall of scales that guarded his chest. Temujin brought his hammer down, it's thick wall of stone found the lupine' skull, hidden underneath a light helm. Another guard came at him with a spear. This time the blade at the end of the stick caught him on the ear, slicing a bit of it clear off, before the wolf tried to gut him. Temujin charged forwards, as the shaft snapped in two from the pressure. The poor wolf whimpered as the rhino's hammer smashed off a great deal of his teeth.
The wolf collapsed, still drawing some short amount of breath from his broken jaw. Temujin laughed and brought his foot down upon the hapless creature's spine. He heard a snap and moved away, he retrieved his axe from the lynx's skull and lifted his hammer high.
I am strong. I am a Prince. And one day, I shall be Khan.
On that day not one but two monsters were born. Temujin had through his own evil created evil.
Perhaps evil always creates evil, but evil creates good as well.
Only the fates knew what evil had created that day, but one thing was certain, a poor fur-less kitten had been left, half an orphan, stuck on the frozen walls of the Great Wall.
He would become a ghost.
Temujin, he would become something far worse.
But so far, fate has some games left to play, and we have yet to see what evil created that day.
Footnote: Well, my third update.
I guess I had still some stuff to do on the character of Temujin, seeing as he kinda has a really big role, I guess I should start portraying his charcater a bit more.
I'm going to let you guess who the furless kitten is.
Update soon.
