Chapter 8.
Morning arrived early in the Amazon village as the hunting party made themselves ready to leave. Each member gathered up the weapon that they were most proficient in and went to stand by the entrance of the village. Ten Amazons stood at the ready, each member equaled in skill to about two warriors. If one was to count, you could say that it was the equivalent of twenty warriors that were assigned to go on this hunt. A half an hour had passed already and Ku-Lon scowled in annoyance, she had been waiting for her great-granddaughter to show up. She had been standing at the village entrance for some time now and so far Shan-Pu had failed to arrive. "Where could that child be! I know I woke her up before I left the house."
A blue hared amazon named Su-zu stepped forward, "Elder? Where your great-granddaughter, Shan-Pu? She is wasting time and we need to leave soon if we're to enter the valley undetected."
Whirling, Ku-Lon sent the girl a withering glare while growling irritably, "I know she's late! That lazy girl has wasted enough time! Maybe I should go look for the brat." Nodding her head in agreement with her own suggestion, she hopped off in search for her errant great-granddaughter.
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A half hour ago:
The sun had barely risen between the mountains when Shan-Pu had been rudely awakened by her great-grandmothers walking stick as it struck her backside painfully. She cursed silently while grinding her teeth in frustration. Shan-Pu knew that any insolent behavior would urn her a crack across the backside again, so she held it in while murderous thoughts ran through her mind, "Just you wait great-grandmother......when I finally manage to master all you have to teach me...I will kill you!"
Silently, she arose from her bed and dressed in one of her hunting outfits before grabbing a quick breakfast and walking out the door, calling out, "I will join you in a little while great-grandmother. I have to go and retrieve my weapons from the blacksmith's shop. I had thought it wise to have them repaired. Then I'm going to stop by the apothecary to pick up some tranquilizing herbs."
"Good," Ku-Lon grunted in acknowledgement before grasping her staff and heading off to wake the others.
Once Ku-Lon's back was turned, Shan-Pu headed off in the opposite direction of the blacksmiths. She had no intention of having her weapons fixed since they were in perfect working condition. The purpled hared Amazon had every intention of following her own plans. "I will kill kitchen destroyer if it's the last thing I do," she grumbled as she wove her way through the village heading for the local apothecary.
Once inside the building, Shan-Pu greeted Xain-Lon, "Nihow."
A blond hared Amazon glanced up from rummaging through the various jars that she was taking inventory on and smiled before replying, "Oh, Shan-Pu. So nice to see you." Xain-Ho blinked as she got a good look at the purpled hared Amazon and exclaimed, "My you've grown up while you were away, haven't you."
"Yes. Its been over two years since I first left the village," Shan-Pu replied.
"Has it really? My…my, time sure does fly when you're busy," Xain-Ho replied before turning her attention back to the shelves and mumbling quietly to herself as she searched, "....mmmm where is it.....where is it....darn! I'm all out. I guess I'll have to go and get some more." Turning towards her visitor, Xain-Ho said, "I need to go and get more pennyroyal. Do you think you can find what you're looking for on your own?"
"I'll be fine. You go ahead and gather what you need," Shan-Pu replied, smiling.
"Good. I'll be back in an hour," the apothecary replied before heading out the door.
Once Xain-Ho's back was turned, Shan-Pu headed towards the shelves that held all of the poisons known and unknown to the modern world. Some of the concoctions were so deadly that they were kept in glass jars and then placed in a stone jar with straw packed around the glass to keep it from moving. Shan-Pu walked right by them while muttering, "No. Not that one....no! Damnit! Not that one either." Pausing for a brief moment, she scanned the shelves before her eyes landed on the special jugs, weighing the pro's and cons of their use before shaking her head. "I won't touch those.... they're too dangerous even for me," she muttered.
Scanning the shelves to her right, Shan-Pu's eyes landed on the one jar that she wanted. The writing on the jar was illegible from many hands rubbing away the writing over the years. It sat among the herbs that were considered helpful but, if used in the right quantities, it could be deadly as well. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Shan-Pu pulled it off the shelf, measured out the right amount to make it deadly while being extremely careful not to get any on her hands.
Quickly, she mixed it with water and poured it onto her arrowheads. Then, she carefully wrapped the arrows and placed them in her quiver before putting everything back the way it was when she had first arrived. Then, to shake off any suspicions, Shan-Pu took down the tranquilizing herb jar and placed it on the table to make it look like she had used the correct item.
Grinning maliciously, she left the apothecary and made her way towards the front of the village. When she was halfway there, Ku-Lon appeared in her path. So surprised was she that she began speaking in Japanese while trying to calm her racing heart, "Aieyaaaaa! Great-grandmother, You scared Shan-Pu out of two years of Shan-Pu's life." Cocking her head in puzzlement, Shan-Pu asked, "Why you here? You come looking for Shan-Pu?"
"Hmph!" Ku-Lon exclaimed irritably before replying, "I was coming to get you since you're late!"
Gritting her teeth, Shan-Pu replied, "I'm sorry great-grandmother. Shan-Pu stopped to greet Xain-Ho before coming straight here."
Nodding her understanding, Ku-Lon grumbled, "Fine. But, now we must hurry or we'll lose the element of surprise." Pivoting in place, Ku-Lon hopped off to join the rest of the hunting party. Shan-Pu not two steps behind her growled sarcastically, "Yes, great-grandmother."
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The hunting party paused at the entrance to the valley as Ku-Lon signaled for them to stop. "We will enter through here," she pointed towards the small cave entrance. "But, before we enter," she reached into her robes and pulled out a small cloth bag. As she opened the bag, she continued, "…we need to wear the talismans that will ward off any and all dangerous animals that live in the forbidden valley. You are to wear them and not take them off if you value your lives!" Ku-Lon said as she started passing around several necklaces strung with feathers, beads and bones.
When she handed a necklace to her great-granddaughter, Shan-Pu frowned and muttering in Japanese she curled her lip and whispered, "This is protection?….not very pretty…..but…..if Shan-Pu have to wear this ugly thing then, Shan-Pu will." Sighing in disgust, the purple hared busty Amazon lifted her arms and slipped the necklace over her head before proceeding to fallow her great-grandmother into the cave.
Once inside, Ku-Lon paused briefly to determine the correct path to take before glancing back towards the group. Seeing that the group had managed to keep up, the elder nodded her head in satisfaction and then stepped out of the cave and into the forbidden valley.
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The hunting party had been traveling all day when they were stopped suddenly by the sound of something coming towards them from the underbrush. The Amazons formed a defensive line, spears at the ready and pointed towards the possible oncoming threat. Suddenly, something large and scaly emerged from the tree line. Su-Tan gasped in shocked surprise, "What the hell is that!"
Mou-sei blinked a few times as she tried to figure out just what this creature could be. It had the body of a horse and yet it was scaly like a lizard. Its feet were the strangest yet, instead of hooves, it had scaly claws. Moving her eyes towards its face, Mou-sei sucked in a startled breath at the sight of its eyes; they were a deep crimson in color but she couldn't be too sure because of the smoke coming from its nostrils. "Ah.....I have no idea what that thing is......" Turning, Mou-sei motioned for Ku-Lon to come forward and asked, "Elder, do you know what this creature could be?"
Frowning, Ku-Lon eyed the creature as she searched her memories. Finally, a vague memory about this creature surfaced and she spoke, "This creature is what you would call a Dragon Horse. It's a mixture of the two species when magic ran rampant throughout the world and through some strange event....the two combined and formed this new species. They're only dangerous if you try to attack them. Another difference between normal horses and Dragon Horses is that they have fangs and eat meat instead of grass."
Lu-Fa stepped backwards when the beast bared its teeth and snorted fire from its nose, "I think we better go another way since it doesn't look like it wants to leave."
"Shan-Pu agree with Lu-Fa. We should go another way so we won't become its next meal," the purple hared amazon shuddered at the thought of this creature attacking them. It looked like it could do allot of damage if it was determined enough.
Nodding her head in agreement, Ku-Lon pointed to the right and said, "Yes, we should go this way. Just be on your guard since we don't know what else is out here." With those last words escaping her lips, Ku-Lon took off, heading in the direction where she could vaguely sense some ki signatures and thought, "I think we might meet up with the owners of those soon. But, one of them seems very familiar to me….but, I wonder who the other could be? It seems twisted in some vague way and yet familiar in another."
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