Don't really know what to say. It's been 9 months since my last update, I know. I've been crushed by my school workload... and then school and work. I'm finally done with both, however, so I'll be putting out chapters again.
I don't expect anyone to still be reading this story after so long, and I don't blame you. But I hope that eventually you will pick it up again and finish.
My plan is to finish as much as I can while on summer break and sometime in the next year, to do a consistency and spell and grammar check pass over the entire thing, so I can semi-publish it. I'm aiming to finish before the Akali rework hits, and her lore changes destroy everything I've worked on so far.
"Umph!"
Another attack, and he was sent flying.
Shen stood shakily, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. The elderly master had struck him, but with what? He wanted to gasp and cry, he wanted to throw up, and he wanted to die inside all at once. It was like a fire was lit in his inside, at the pain radiated out from his solar plexus like a blooming rose.
"We can rest if you want," The Wudang Elder offered, circling the prone boy. They were only on their second training session, but the prodigious boy had hungrily absorbed every ounce of instruction and training that Taoist Grandmaster had to offer. It was only the second morning, and already the Immortal Yang was testing the boy on skills that an ordinary Wudang disciple could only hope to witness, let along learn.
And it was only the second morning, and for the first time, the boy was hitting his first real challenge in instruction.
"What is the nature of my attack?" The Wudang Elder had asked of Shen, before lunging at him with the empty sleeve where his arm should have been, and Shen was struck by some invisible force.
Was it Chi? Shen had not done as much Chi training as Martial Arts, but he knew enough to make an educated guess on how to wrap himself in his aura.
The boy closed his eyes, and drew his energy into his gut, the sea of chi where all of his body's energy was produced. With tremendous effort, he redirected that flow from pooling within his stomach to racing just beneath the surface of his skin, toughening his body and hardening his skin.
He opened his eyes once more.
"Master. Again, please"
The Wudang Elder nodded, and crouched slightly, his empty sleeve billowing out once more, as if it had come alive on its own.
Fwoom.
The sleeve raced out, and Shen took the strike, full force over his crossed arms. He gasped, quietly as he could, and fell to the ground, clutching at his injured forearms.
That was better, this time. But still, despite the strike passing through his layer of defensive chi and the definite injury he felt in his arms and gut, the flow of chi remained undisturbed... as if a ghost had passed through him.
Or...
"A spirit." Shen finished, getting back up to stand. "That's the nature of your attack. Something is hitting me through the realm of spirits. Is that where your right hand exists? "
The Wudang Elder stared down the boy in reply, strolling towards him with narrowed eyes. The man only stopped for a second, before circling Shen, looking him over.
"Only two strikes and you've figured it out." The Elder stopped at Shen's side, and the boy felt a chill pass through the air. There was a charged atmosphere around the man. Was this incredible master martial artist… actually threatened?
The corners of the Wudang Elder's mouth turned up and as quickly as the tension had come, it was gone. The master's energy vanished from the air.
"Impressive." The Immortal Yang murmured. He put a hand over Shen's shoulder. "You remind me of my own skill, when I was younger. But with half my looks."
"Then I'll take twice your skill," Shen countered, striking a pose. The boy closed his eyes, trying to recall the feeling his body took when he was struck by the Wudang Elder.
How did his father's Taoist prayers go again? Yet another one of Shen's prodigious talents was his perfect memory. His father drilled him for hours on his recollection skills as a precursor for future intelligence gathering.
Shen muttered a quiet chant to the twin forces of the world that held apart the Mortal from the Spiritual from the Divine. He may have missed a word or two here or there, but the world of spirits answered him all the same.
His arm shaking with effort, his other hand gripped tightly to keep the otherworldly power contained within that hand, the boy raised it to show the Wudang Elder. Violet light, the color of the Second World, shone out of a translucent smoke that curled around his arm. But it was unstable, flickering in and out between our world and Theirs.
The Wudang elder grinned out of disbelief.
"Again," Shen muttered, his voice strained with effort. "Come at me again with that arm."
The Wudang Elder lunged, his empty sleeve lashing forwards like a snake, and Shen raised his smoke-clad arm, and blocked the attack.
Wind blew from above. A red roar thundered below.
Shen watched from the alcove above, his hair falling lightly over his sharp eyes. The stoic boy watched the advancing army with increasing worry. From above, they looked like a red tide flooding into the thin pathway of the bridge. There was not much change to his facial expression, but a tightening of his lips, and the slightest sigh of worry.
The new-found ally they had found in Udyr had put forth a valiant defense against the army that had ambushed him. The lone monk had slain nearly three times the amount of the original men guarding the bridge. But finally, after a long and grueling slaughter, he was captured, over a dozen arrows finding their way into the monk's back, and a final lance to the back of the leg to bring him down for good.
And Shen... He could only stand there, seething silently as he watched only of his allies be taken down, cut by drawn-out cut.
"Akali..." He narrowed his eyes at the bridge out far, tightening his fists into a ball. He couldn't come. Not yet. He had to trust her.
He watched nearly a full company of soldiers pour into the gated entrance-way of the Bridge of Souls. The very earth shook with the thunder of their footsteps. "Just hurry," He muttered.
From where the Bridge of Souls disappeared into the mists, a great war cry erupted, taken up by their comrades in the back, until the shaking of the earth was overwhelmed by the roar of their bloodlust.
Amidst the fury, Shen stared hopelessly into the mists beyond.
"Call for me," he begged.
The advance guard, four suicide-warriors of the Blood Moon's army reached them first. Drunk on rage and wielding swords without armor, they threw their lances first at Akali.
Still, the junior ninja stood stock-still, staring blankly at her blood-soaked hands. The lances embedded themselves around her, surrounding her like a cage.
In the blink of an eye, the four blades-men surrounded her, their swords drawn in perfect unison. As one, they carved at Akali from the North, South, East and West.
"Idiot!" Kona screamed. Her friend was at her side in an instant, her scythes radiating around her. With a spin of the skinny girl's body and a twist of her scythes, white chi burst in a ring from around her, knocking the four bladesmen back.
"Huh?" Akali heard her friend say. She looked up, and saw that the Blood Moon Sect's army had retreated from their vanguard, leaving a wide berth between them.
Then, the whistling of arrows, and the first of the missiles came screaming out of the fog. "Fuck!" Kona yelled.
She felt her friend wrench her away in a rough headlock, yanking them away from a shower of arrows. The thrumming of arrows was a drumbeat upon the thick cedar panels. The four Blood Moon soldiers caught under their comrade's fire screamed and cursed as the poisoned, sharpened arrow-heads slammed into their backs.
"Idiot, idiot!" She felt Kona grinding her fist into her head.
"I-I-..." She stammered, trying to regain her balance as they hurtled through the air. The two of them crashed onto the bridge floor, rolling, then sliding, the dwindling trail of falling arrows tracing their path the entire way. Kona waved away the last few arrows, slashing them with her scythe before they could fall onto them.
At the sound of another volley of arrows cutting through the air, Kona cursed. The thunks of arrows ramming into the wooden planks below struck a steady, increasingly loud beat in the air, getting closer and closer.
"We need to keep moving!" Kona yelled. She dragged the two of them up, and sprinted the last few yards to cover. Akali was practically thrown under the cover of the bridge guardhouse. The hail of arrows was unceasing; a heavy rainfall upon the stone walls, cracking stone and piercing wood.
She felt Kona grab her by the label and yank her face-to-face, oblivious to the priest's blood that soaked her clothes. Her friend stared her dead in the eyes, yelling, spitting in her face.
"Get a grip!"
Akali looked her friend in the eyes, and with great effort, she nodded. Satisfied, Kona let go of her, turning and falling next to her, sitting by her side. She was exhausted, too.
The two ninjas leaned up against the inner wall, Kona catching her breath, and Akali still staring blankly at her hands. When Kona dared a glance around the corner, a crossbow bolt nearly put out her eye, burying itself in the stone bricks by her head.
"Ta Ma De!" Kona swore, flinching back behind cover. The advancing march of the army was like a thunderstorm over their heads. Like the sound of drums, the Blood Moon army advanced. Bloodthirsty and armed to the teeth with their cruel, wicked weapons.
They were coming closer. Akali could now hear the clang of the army's weapons and the rattle of their clothed mail. She hung her head. Out the corner of her eye, she could see Kona silently sigh, and lean her head back.
"Was just supposed to be an easy slip in, huh?" Akali asked over the cacophony.
"Yeah." Kona muttered, closing her eyes. "Aren't we supposed to be like, ninjas or something?"
Akali closed her eyes too, and smiled.
"Yeah. Too bad we suck."
The two sat silently.
It started as a giggle. Akali was the first to give a pfft of laughter. And then, they started laughing. Behind the backdrop of the rattle of weapons and the war-cries of the wicked Blood Moon soldiers, they laughed and laughed until it hurt.
Still laughing, they gathered themselves. Akali could hear the soldiers' individual words now. Every word, every cry of how the horde of men outside was going to do every torture, every violation, every horrible thing imaginable floated into their empty guardhouse.
Somehow, it all seemed normal.
Laughing with her best friend... Akali glanced at her hands. The cold wind had dried her soaked scarlet-red hands a cracked, dark crimson. It also made her skin unbearably itchy. The young ninja scratched furiously at the bloodied coating, trying to rub it off.
"So, do you actually have a plan?" Kona asked, opening her eyes. "Or is it just to sit here and have-" Kona stopped and waited for the next obscenity to float its way into the guardhouse. "A... 'A spear shoved through our guts and be fed them'?" The skinny girl shook her head.
Akali sighed. She really did have no idea. But it felt like... something was watching over her. She closed her eyes, and hung her head. How long had it been since she prayed?
Heaven, help us. She whispered.
Her answer was the faintest noise of an eagle's cry.
Akali opened her eyes. Was that..?
"I have one idea." Akali stood up, brushing herself off. She reached down, offering her hand. "I'll need your help."
The two ninjas stood shoulder to shoulder on the bridge. Mist and wind crossed their bodies as they casually strolled to meet the advancing army. Every now and then, an arrow or two would fall their way, burying itself in the thick wooden planks below. They advanced, their weapons crossed, interlocked, just like it was always meant to be.
Akali took another look at the bridge below them. It was a marvel- a feat of daring engineering and classic artistic sense. Some great architect hundreds of years ago had this great suspension bridge built over this abyss.
The two ninjas drifted apart. Akali found her hand upon the great stone pillars to their sides. Dragons and demons and damned souls had been carved in swirling patterns along the entire length of the support. The stone of the relief felt rough and cool against her skin. She dragged her hand over its surface, letting her hand-wraps catch lightly against the jagged rock.
The army proper was nearly upon them. They had abandoned long ranged fire, and now were moving to surround the two. Men with curved half-moon likes were flanking them, charging down the middle between her and Kona, encircling them, keeping their edged crescents aimed at their necks.
So they were trying to take them alive.
Akali glanced down the middle of the army. Within the sea of of red soldiers, the monk was pushed and shoved, heavy chains around his neck. Akali could see the man stumble and fall about, blood dripping down from his face. But there was a strength to the monk's movements. He was conserving his energy, she realized.
Just hold on, Akali pleaded, clenching her fists. She turned to give Kona a meaningful look, jerking her head over towards where Udyr was constrained. Her friend gave returned her gaze with pursed lips and narrowed eyes, before nodding.
Fine, Akali gathered from Kona's facial expressions. They would save the old monk too.
The two were now completely surrounded by a sea of red robes, black metal and edged pikes. A forest of polearms reached out to tickle at her neck. She backed up to the stone pillar behind her. The rough rock was freezing to the touch; so cold, she could feel the skin of her neck stick.
"Kona!" Akali yelled, no-look tossing a smoke bomb to her friend at the other side of the bridge, who caught it without missing a beat. "We're doing 'The Kinxui Lover's Fall'!"
She could imagine the tsk sound that Kona would make at that order. It was the code-name for a near-suicidal defensive maneuver they learned at Kinxui Fortress, and it was meant for the thin rope-bridges that connected the cliff-hanging structures of the Kinkou's Temple, not this massive structure that stood before them now.
Kona crushed the smoke-bomb in her hands just as Akali did, enveloping the two within a sea of shining clouds. The soldiers around them cursed and jabbed wildly with their weapons, but their lances and pikes struck only air.
It was just hard for Akali to see within her own smoke, but she had a crucial advantage over her attackers- she was Kinkou. The darkness was her ally. Just the meager few feet she could see in front of her and the sounds of the enemy's movements around her was enough for her to dodge their blind attacks with ease.
Akali slipped under a lance thrust, and backed up to the stone pillar behind her. Without another moment's waste, she raced up the pillar, her feet biting into the many foot-holds that the rough-hewn rock had with ease.
White lightning arced from within the smoke cloud on the other side of the bridge, and Blood Moon Soldiers cried out, their bodies flying and their armor burning. From the silvery chaos emerged Kona, racing up the bridge support parallel to Akali, her scythes splayed behind her back.
Her friend did a little flip in the air, some small remnant of the old Kona's dramatic flair, and landed with a hand and two feet firmly on the stone pillar that held the bridge up over the chasms. Akali landed at the exact same time, her mind already racing to the next step.
"Old man!" Akali yelled to the chained Spirit Walker, and Udyr roared in response, the last of his strength rising within him. Despite being chained to a dozen different men with a toss of his shoulder, he flung three men over the edge of bridge like they were rag-dolls, the empty chains that they grasped clinking over their terrified screams and the curses of the soldiers around the monk.
Udyr exhaled, a great cloud of breath escaping his bared teeth. With a shout, the monk flexed his muscles, and the numerous arrows rammed into his body popped out, leaving rapidly healing wounds in their wake. With a roar, Udyr reached down and ripped out the lance thrust clean through his leg, his volume rising with the his pain.
The furious Blood Moon soldiers advanced on the monk, spears in hand, but he shook off the rest of the men holding him down. With each arm he grasped a bundle of chains, whipping them around him and driving the soldiers surrounding him back.
In a flash, it was pandemonium. Blood Moon Soldiers shouted angrily at either Akali or Kona, flinging their spears as high as they could up at the stone supports of the bridge, or taking cautious jabs at the Spirit Walker before them, who was using the chains around his neck as massive flails. A hellish symphony of their cries filled the air, as the iron links shattered their spear shafts and shattered their bones.
She titled her head up to stare at Kona. Her friend dodged a spear, raised her eyes and returned that gaze, determined.
Now, Akali nodded.
The two girls sank as low as they could to the base of those stone pillars, their fists raised. Akali closed her eyes, concentrating as much chi as she could within that raised fist of hers. She felt the sting of a lance race across her cheek, and her mouth tasted like blood as another throwing axe struck her high over her head, catching her on its handle. She knew that Kona was doing the same.
More... more...
The power within her reached a peak, and she heard strange whispers in a language she did not know.
"Now!" Akali yelled, and smashed every ounce of the Vortex of Shadow's chi into the stone support. The centuries-old rock fractured along its fault lines, falling to the chasms below in three massive chunks along its length. The great shards collided into the heavy oaken planks that made up the bridge, shattering them and sending the Blood Moon soldiers standing on them scrambling for safety.
She fell, the pillar under her shattered. But still, though the red planks under her feet swayed dangerously with the breeze, the bridge held.
"O Demons of Blood and Bone..." Udyr chanted, staring at the planks below him. "The Four Spirits are with me. Buddha is with me. I will fear you no more."
With a yell, Udyr slammed a fist into the already precarious planks underneath him, shattering the oak planks as if they were made of glass. And with that final blow, the entire bridge collapsed under its own weight. Dozens of Blood Moon soldiers fell to their doom, their shadows and screams disappearing quickly within the mists of the chasms below.
"Alright," Akali muttered to herself. Her right hand shook with pain while her fingers popped back into place. Already she could feel her hand swelling up with multiple fractures. So her right hand was busted. Which meant she'd just have to kill the rest of these soldiers with her left hand only. And her internal chi was spent, since she had put everything she had in that last punch.
Fuck.
The twang of a bowstring, and she felt a thick punch to her collarbone followed by hot, searing pain. An arrow that she should have easily dodged otherwise had bit into her shoulder, carving a small trench over the top.
She blocked out the pain, falling to the ground to avoid more attacks. The smoke was clearing, and her advantage was fading quick.
Akali reached to her side, trying to draw her sword, but the Blood Moon Soldiers were upon her, screaming vengeance for their fallen comrades. These men were not like the bandits she fought at Wudang Mountain. They were trained soldiers, and worked well together.
One man charged her left with a pike out-raised, jabbing to limit as much of her movement as possible. Thrust after thrust aimed at her right hand, preventing her from drawing her sword. A man with an axe charged her right and she weaved under his attack- or so she thought. The feeling of the heavy weight of a leather boot slammed into her head.
She staggered, then fell to a knee, the world spinning around her. The axeman advanced, swinging wildly. But her instincts were too quick, too ingrained at this point from her thousands of hours spent training with the Dragon Maiden. Her master's movements flowed through her.
Akali tilted to the side, avoiding the man's axe, before lashing out with her left hand, a dagger suddenly in her grasp, eviscerating him. They parted, her knife left buried in the man, his guts streaming out from behind him. She fell to her other knee, gasping.
Her sword. She needed a weapon with reach.
She reached, fumbling her other sword, but the soldier was quicker than she was and he stepped past her, kicking her sword out of its sheath.
"Ah!" She yelled. Her sword went clattering across the oaken planks, before it fell over the edge, and into the abyss. The man was above her, his pike turned downwards.
Thunk.
The man screamed, twisting back, a throwing knife in his eye.
Below, Akali winced and pulling her head away. The tip of the spike had fallen onto her ear. She could feel the blood running down her neck, the side of her head a tattered ruin.
The Blood Moon Soldiers, sensing the kill, threw themselves at her. Screaming and wide-eyed they waved their weapons. She could hear the air hiss as the edges of their arms cut through the winds.
She didn't have anything left in her. The faint whispers of the Vortex of Shadows called to her, gnawing at her soul. She tried to ignore those temptations, pushing the corruption far away into the back of her mind. The void chewing at her heart told her that if she called upon this power twice within such a short time, she would be lost.
Which meant there was only one thing left that she could do.
She raised a "O" formed by her finger and her thumb to her throat, drawing upon that bond that all Kinkou share with the watchful Eye of Twilight. It was the Eye of Twilight who protected the Kinkou, who protected the world and called out to him. But it was not Master Khen that Akali needed right now.
"Shen!" She gasped. She prayed for an answer.
He tensed, hearing his name race upon the whispers of the wind. It was time. Finally.
The stoic boy opened his eyes, and performed his hand-signs, chanting, praying, concentrating with all of his might. He had to give his entire body over to the Tao, supreme chi that existed at the clash between light and darkness, and navigate his entire being over the webway that the Tao laid down. With a final shout, he clasped his hands together, releasing the barriers that existed between his body and the chi of the world around him. And then he watched as first his hands, then his arms, and then his entire body was whisked away into the mountain winds.
Warm violet light enveloped her. Her hair stood on its end, as the very lifeforce of the Kinkou was coursing through her. A foot-soldier rammed a jagged pike at her gut, but was stopped short by the flood of chi that was pouring out from her every pore. With a deafening crack, the spear shattered, and the man stumbled backwards in surprise, dropping his ruined weapon and cursing.
There was a whistling in the air, and an arrow that would have put out her eye was stopped short by a hand made of violet light. It lashed out above her head, plucking the missile out of the air an instant before impact.
And when the light faded, Shen remained, clutching the arrow in his hands, a steady hand upon the hilt of his sword. With a clench of his hands, he snapped the arrow in two.
"Took you long enough." The boy chided, his careful eyes surveying the enemy. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He shook his head quietly. He had his facecloth on, showing only his narrowed eyes. With it on, he looked harder and crueler. He was looking more and more like his father. But Akali could sense the warmth behind his words. She would have joked back, but she didn't even have the energy to do that.
"Thanks, Shen." She took a grip on his forearm, and pulled herself up. She gave him a small smile. "That was really cool."
Without another word, Shen drew his sword, the blade clutched in a heavy reversed grip. It was silver, curved and engraved with many carvings of men slaying bandits and villains. An ancient relic weapon of the Wudang; glints of gold still shone in the engravings, having long been sheared off by centuries of use. But the sword stayed as sharp and true as ever.
"The Sword Devil's Nine Blades," Shen called, waving his sword about, stepping forwards at the Blood Moon soldiers with grim determination. The boy's sudden appearance was a shock, but one that the soldiers were rapidly recovering from. They still outnumbered the boy a dozen to one.
The first of the soldiers attacked-
And with a single swing, Shen cleaved into the first three enemies before him, cutting through the first two men before being stopped short at the third. The first man had been cut before he could block, and the second man did not expect the boy's sword to carve entire through his ally to his side, but by then the third was wise, and stopped Shen's sword upon his own before it could reach him.
With a vicious kick, the last remaining man knocked Shen down, cursing, even as his two comrades fell to the ground in four pieces. And before Shen could get back up, he was slashed across the chest. The Blood Moon Soldier raised his blade once more, ready to stab the boy through the heart.
"Shen!" Akali screamed, and raced to his side, but he reacted before he needed her help. The Kinkou boy kicked out the Blood Moon Soldier's feet, and before either fighter could get up, Shen stabbed at the Blood Moon soldier's neck with his empty hand, and the soldier's neck burst out in a spray of blood.
More soldiers advanced, and Akali heard Shen muttered the quietest curse, glancing at his silver sword. And to her surprise, she watched him sheathe his sword.
"...still not strong enough, huh?" His lips said.
"Shen?" She called out, but he didn't reply.
With a vicious motion, Shen drew out his empty hand and mocked at unsheathing a sword held on his back. With his empty hand he held his invisible sword and held it horizontal to his side. It would have looked ridiculous if not for the dead serious look in Shen's eyes, and the suicidal confidence with with he strode towards the Blood Moon soldiers, unarmed. "I didn't think I'd have to use this sword so early." He said to Akali. More soldiers attacked, but they were wavering.
An invisible slash this time. The first man attached reacted to the attack, holding his blade flat in front of him and bracing it with his hand- clearly expecting Shen to have thrown a concealable weapon of sorts.
And then he fell, still charging forwards, and collapsed in a heap at Shen's side. The Blood Moon Soldier's weapon fell clattering to the ground. His tunic and weapon were untouched, but a wet darkness was spreading in a line over his back. He was clearly dead.
"The Sword Devil's Nine Blades-" Shen chanted, turning the invisible blade in his hand over and over. Now that Akali saw it, she noticed a faint, purple outline of a blade that looked as if it were made of clouds and wisps.
"Spirit-slaying Sword."
Shen held out the weapon in front of him, palm cupping the edge of the blade on one end, and the handle in the other. He addressed the remaining Blood Moon soldiers before him. They clustered in a ring at the edge of the shattered bridge, jagged pikes pointing North, at Shen, East at the approaching Kona, and South at the advancing Udyr. At their backs, a sheer drop from where Akali and Kona had destroyed the bridge. Even as the men were being pushed further and further towards their death, their comrades who were left behind screamed bloody murder from across the gap.
Shen's eyes narrowed, and Akali imagined that his perpetual frown deepened under his facecloth.
"You all should have had the right to honorably surrender."
Shen drew his real, corporeal blade, and advanced upon the glut of soldiers before him. The men nearest the boy visibly quailed. For the first time, the justice they denied to others was being dealt to them. For the first time, the Blood Moon soldiers felt the fear of the weak.
"I'm sorry. But this needs to be done."
By the time Akali saw that their gruesome work were done, the blood of their enemies splattered out in a great ring around them, painting a bloody rose against the snow-covered planks of the bridge. And the vicious screams from across the the gap were quieter. Watching over a dozen men be butchered or pushed off of a sheer drop had that effect on morale, it seemed.
She bit her lip, and stomach turning a bit at the massacre. This was the life that they chose, she tried to tell herself. Wasn't easier to dehumanize the savages in the villages at Mount Wudang? But she knew that those men were rapists and murderers. And anyone who fled, the Dragon Maiden let run.
These men were the same, Akali told her self over and over.
Then she remembered the old forester and his son; their meaningless deaths; and her heart hardened once more. Their lives were worth a thousand of these scum, she decided. She glanced at the remaining soldiers stuck on the other side of the bridge.
"And what are we going to do about them?" She asked. There were multiple times as many men stuck on the other side of the gap, and already they were beginning to throw grappling hooks over the space. None of the hooks had caught, but they were starting to get close. "If we leave, they're going to cross and take us from behind. We'd be surrounded."
She swallowed, thinking of how difficult it would be to cut through five, maybe even six many times as many men. There were just under two dozen bodies left lying on their side. How many was that?
It didn't matter. It was too many. And they were running out of time.
She turned to Shen who stayed silent, thinking. Kona was by their side, nursing a cut to her cheek.
Shen opened his mouth, but the cry of an eagle interrupted him.
She turned to the sky, and smiled. It was about time.
From the skies above, the Wudang Elder's eagle descended upon the hapless soldiers below. A blur of white shot off of the eagle's back, and where it landed another batch of soldiers would scream and die. The eagle took off, knocking several men off of the bridge with it's wingbeat. A soldier was grasped in it's claws, struggling to no avail. He let out a last, terrified scream before he was lifted up and let go, sent tumbling off into the mists.
"Master..." Akali muttered. The Dragon Maiden must have saw her from upon the eagle's back. But the lady dragon remained oblivious, carving through man after man like a human wheat thresher. The hundred and a half of men was rapidly depleting. In her wake, blood, body parts and death.
She's purposefully ignoring me, Akali realized. Her master was letting her- and Kona- go.
A wave of gratitude washed over the teenage ninja. She blinked back tears, before pulling at Kona's arm. The skinny girl glanced back at the Dragon Maiden once more, before following her friend, and then Shen in suit. Udyr turned from Akali to the Dragon Maiden's spectacle in confusion.
"That not ally?" The foreign monk queried, a puzzled look over his bearded face. The Spirit Walker gaped at the lady dragon's strength. "She very strong."
"She is an ally," Akali explained. "But if my master is here, then the Righteous Alliance's main army must be close by. And if the main army sees Kona... they'll try to take her again. My master is ignoring us. It's called plausible deniability."
Akali gave her master's battle one last look. In less than a minute, a little over a half of the Blood Moon soldiers remained standing. The giant eagle had descended again, biting heads off and blasting entire rows of men off of the bridge with it's great wingbeat. The battle would be over soon. And if one of the Righteous army's men saw the Dragon Maiden alone with her student's motly band of outlaws and do nothing...
Akali closed her eyes, and ran away quickly, leaving the sight of her master disappearing fast into the mists. She didn't want to cause her master any more trouble than she already did. She was a bad enough student as is.
"Thank you..." She murmured. She and her friends moved quickly through he gatehouse, and finally into the heartland of the Blood Moon Sect's territory. She thought her thanks would be to the wind.
But from afar, as the Dragon Maiden watched her student disappear into the fog, she smiled.
"You're welcome."