Not When Speed Matters

The first thing greeting the warriors and their family was the sight of the smoking ruins and the crushed bodies at their feet. Some of the wounded were still moaning, most were just a mass of bloody goo and bone. The Kusatte Iru had been here all right - and stampeding and raging, flattened everything in its way. Apparently this had been a city. Perhaps a beautiful one, a passage point for the few the emperor of Kozakura deemed deserving to use the portal and enter. The trail of destruction reached beyond the horizon, but the beast could not be that far as the ruins still smoked and the bodies were warm.

Sarevok held his head high, opening the visor of his helm. He folded his massive arms on his chest and observed, feeling the winds on his face.

- "Do you still feel it, sister?" he asked.

Peri didn't need to ask what.

- "Yeah," she said breathlessly, her hair waving wildly in the air, gripping her blade. The thundering inside her soul when the visions of war and battle assaulted her senses. The exhilaration and lust. It had not gone away, and they both knew it never would.

- "We know this," Winski started. "The beast is immune to many forms of magic, so Imoen and I have memorized as many different types as possible. As we don't have the time to study the lore on the beast, we will just have to try anything we can in order to damage it. Jelena, and also we, have prepared as many spells as possible to strengthen you warriors. The beast can be damaged with your weapons, but as a troll it regenerates fast, and shrugs off most of the damage. If it resembles an enraged animal, it will try to trample you once you start hitting it so you have to be very agile and use your minds. And I stress this - immediately as the beast is made unconscious, the one of you wielding the magical katana will have to attack with frenzy. There is no time to switch blades - the regeneration rate is remarkable, and it will have to be unconscious in order to make it permanently dead, or asleep. I am not sure about this point."

The warriors listened, very grave. Sarevok drew the katana and took a few tentative stances with it, whirling the blade. It felt strange in his hands. Well, it was made of steel and could be used for killing, and that meant that he could use it better than most mortal men - but there was this strange second between his thoughts and the hand holding the blade, the conscious process of transforming perception into an action. It should not have been there. Not when speed mattered. Now Sarevok found himself wishing that he would have taken some katana lessons from Tamoko as well as ones for unarmed combat. At the time he had thought that his greatsword was enough for him.

- "This is not good," he murmured with a displeased frown on his face. "The sword should be like an extension of the body, inseparable in physical and metaphysical sense. I do not have such proficiency with this weapon. Peri, do you want to take a try?"

- "I doubt I will do any better than you," she said, but took the sword and tried it out in a similar fashion as Sarevok had just a moment ago. The result was much similar. Both of them loved a big weapon that can be wielded with both hands, and so greatswords and halberds were their forte. The katana should be used in very different motions, and right now they didn't exactly have time to study.

- "The question is whether we ever can make the beast go down if the other one of us is using this weapon," Sarevok said. "This equation contains too many unknown variables to my liking."

- "What..." Imoen said pensively.

- "Yes, Im?" Peri wanted to know. "Say what you were about to say."

- "Aw, it's nothing... probably a dumb idea," she demurred.

- "Im. We have no time for that crap. If it is a dumb idea, so frigging what? Just say it," Peri snapped.

- "Well... this area belongs to that khan, doesn't it?" she said. "Perhaps... aw, I don't know, it's not like she is even Kozakuran..."

- "Goddamned!" Peri said, her eyes shining. "Too right! She was a damn good swordswoman for a mortal. She has all the time done her best to exploit the military knowledge of the enemy, and even though she hasn't invaded Kozakura yet she may well know how to use this weapon. And even if not - three warriors against the abomination is better than two! What the hell, it is worth a shot!"

- "There is one thing," Jelena reminded. "She must have a motivation. She can not be coerced or forced into anything like this."

- "Oh. There is that. " Peri looked crestfallen.

- "You met her. You said that she was fearless and proud. That is one thing - she won't fear the beast," Sarevok said. "We might point out that if the rampage continues there will be not much of an empire for her even if she conquers Shou Lung."

- "Well. That is settled then. We will seek out Yun-Men Khan," Peri said.