disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, Soul Edge, Taki or Sophitia. These all belong to NAMCO.
Such a pity; they won't let me have them. Oh well. But this fanfic is mine.
Requietum
by jin long
jin_long@lycos.com
Chapter 7
Thwack!
Jaeger stared at just how cleanly the axe chopped through the log. "Amazing! This is no
earthly forging!" he exclaimed. "And who would have thought that a woman would know
her way at the anvil?"
Taki just chuckled. It had only been a matter of adding a more flexible core and a slightly
more curved edge to the hand axe. A simple matter if you had been forging your clan's
weapons since you were a teenager.
"I couldn't get the right edge for this thing and you walk right in and..." Jaeger scratched
his head. "You must teach me that. Woodcutting would be so much easier." "But of course-
smith to smith eh?" Taki said. "You are keeping your end of the deal aren't you?"
"To let you and your friend stay the night? Well, of course!"
"Well, this is amazing."
Jaeger and Taki turned to Ingrid, who brought some water in. "Normally he's all coarse and
whatnot, but you have him as if he were a child." She set two mugs on a nearby bench. "I've
always thought the key to him is through his forge," she added. "And you've just proved me
right."
Taki shrugged. "It was nothing, really. Just a little shop talk. How foreigners forge amazes me
as well." She took one mug, had a look at it, then put it back down. It wasn't exactly... clean,
Taki thought. Obviously, it hadn't been boiled either. It was somewhat the color of rust, Taki
noted. That liquid was going nowhere near her lips.
Jaeger, on the other hand, immediately downed the same water in the other mug. Ewww,
Taki thought.
"Oh, where's Sophitia? I'd like to have a talk with her," Taki said, thinking 'I could use some
fresh air; geez, these two smell like they haven't had a bath in... What was with foreigners,
at least the ones she'd met? How often did they bathe? Those in the desert regions smelled
even....
Ah, good, she had gotten out. And politely too. At least the outside of the hovel smelled better.
"I said move your ass, old man!"
Taki saw a burly, unkempt man shove an elderly counterpart to the ground. "I told you that
our boss wants this village to cough up what we asked for. Now me and my pals here," the
thug motioned to his two other companions, "aren't gonna waste a good day's worth of
riding for nothing! Cough up the money old man, or you know very well what's going to
happen to you and your village."
Why were the villagers doing nothing, Taki wondered. There were a whole lot more of them,
enough to overwhelm these three rogues. She sighed. If no one was going to do anything,
well, she wouldn't let that stop her.
"We are working as hard as we can." The old man quivered. "The money would be here if
you hadn't taken a great part of our last harvest. Please, I beg you, one more week..."
"That ain't my problem!" The thug dismounted from the horse and gave the old man a
resounding kick which caused the aged fellow to gasp in pain. "Money. Now," he demanded,
giving the old man another boot to the body that sent the elder flying.
Taki caught the old man and set him down. Turning to the trio of thugs, she said "Hey, didn't
your mother teach you how to treat old folks?" She kept her body very slightly tensed, ready
for anything. Thugs were quite predictable when it came to someone standing up to them.
The rogue who had dismounted turned to her. "And what have we here? Woman, go back to
your sewing and leave the old man to us. This isn't your concern. 'Sides, what can you do
anyway?"
Taki found herself grinning. Even if she only had half of Rekki-maru right now, if she fought
these three it would be amusing, at the most. Already she could tell that they had very little
training if at all, the dismounted thug from the way he stood the other two from their cockiness
and the way they held their spears. "Acting all tough... I bet you aren't such fierce sons of a
bitch if it comes to real opposition."
The rogue's gaze narrowed. "You callin' me a wuss?"
This was getting fun. Making the thug angry was fun and to her advantage. The sooner this
coming fight was over, the better, Taki mused. Still, she'd amuse herself. "You bet your ass
I am. In any case, you ought to leave before things get ugly."
The thug would apparently have none of this. "I'll show you how things work around here,
you bitch!" he snarled, rushing at her with a sword drawn.
Excellent. Taki rushed at him too, something she knew he didn't expect, especially since she
hadn't drawn her broken sword. The thug slashed as she came close, and it was an easy
matter to dodge it, close in and smash his nose with the heel of her hand. She heard the
cartilage shatter as she did, driving a pair of knuckles into his solar plexus.
Her last attack knocked the wind out of him and forced him back. It was just the right range
for her kicks so she dealt his groin a strong kick and his temple a fierce roundhouse that
sent him crashing into one of the hovels.
Taki could see the rogue's nose bleeding horribly, blood streaking down from the broken
cartilage. His head must have been throbbing; she'd made sure her kick had struck his
temple directly. He must have been surprised too.
The ninja sighed. He might have been twice her weight and had twice her muscle mass,
but she had speed, which lent itself to enhancing the strength of her strikes, and she
knew where exactly she should hit in order to subdue him effectively. The pain would
keep him down for a while.
She turned her senses onto the remaining two. Fight or flee, she asked them silently,
readying herself and feeling which one would attack next.
Fight. One of the thugs charged at her, lowering his spear and readying himself to run
her through. The horse under him thundered on, fast as anything. She dodged on his first
pass; this would be challenging. He had more mobility and height than her for the moment.
But not for long.
Taki grabbed a nearby hoe, much to the amusement of the thug, she knew. She smiled in
reply under her mask, raising her hand in a gesture to egg him on. He soon wouldn't be
laughing anymore.
The thug hollered then charged again, brandishing the spear in exactly the same attack. Again,
Taki dodged, but this time she twirled the hoe and hit the horse's legs. The charger went
down, sending its rider flying. However, Taki continued the motion and knocked the thug back
to the ground before he even began to fall. She gave him one last strike to his head to
overpower him.
The ninja ditched the hoe, dropping it on the ground; she wasn't really that good with
quarterstaffs and she never really used them anyway.
She looked up at the last thug. He was staring at her, eyes wide. Fight or flee, she asked again
silently, still ready in case he chose the former. She ground her hind toe into the earth, arms
relaxed but raised, fists loose but ready to strike.
Flee. The remaining thug yanked on the reins of his horse and bade it to gallop away. But Taki
thought it better to not let him go. As the rogue turned she tossed up the hoe with her foot,
jumping then turning in the air. She kicked the hoe at the escaping goon before she landed,
smacking him in the head and off his horse, which went on to run into the distance. He didn't
move as she checked if he was out cold, which he was.
Three down and no more to go.
"You have doomed us!"
Taki turned around. A crowd had gathered and she hadn't noticed, being too focused on her foes.
Doomed them? Taki didn't understand the words of the old man whom she'd defended. How?
Hadn't she just helped them?
The crowd murmured along the same lines, although 'stupid foreigner' and 'I told you strangers
would bring us trouble' came up as well.
"They will send it! They will set it upon us and again we will have nothing!"
"It's all your fault!"
"Why couldn't you just have left them alone?"
Damn. Damn.
Taki looked at the crowd, searching for a face that didn't display some sense of hostility. She
found it as Sophitia came to her side and led her back to the blacksmith. "I don't understand,"
Taki finally said. "What the hell's their problem?" I did nothing wrong. I just did what they
should have.
Sophitia smiled as they got back to the blacksmith's house. "That was amazing, Taki. I've
never seen anything like that before."
Taki grinned a bit. "At least you're appreciative. What the hell is their problem?" Then the
intuition that had been jarred by the puzzlement became acute again. "There's something
I don't know, isn't there?" Taki asked. "Something I suppose you're going to tell me about?"
to be continued...
*jin long's notes*
ah, finally, the chapter with the action. or bit of action, really. looks like Taki's in trouble,
uh oh. anyway, expect another slow chapter, then action, action, action.
as for the quips about foreigners, well, it was like that around the timeframe of the Soul Edge/
Calibur series. it's still medieval, folks! people really smell like crud around that time, because
taking a bath was hazardous to their health (or so they said).
coming soon, on Requietum: A Journey Home --- Enter the Balrog!
Such a pity; they won't let me have them. Oh well. But this fanfic is mine.
Requietum
by jin long
jin_long@lycos.com
Chapter 7
Thwack!
Jaeger stared at just how cleanly the axe chopped through the log. "Amazing! This is no
earthly forging!" he exclaimed. "And who would have thought that a woman would know
her way at the anvil?"
Taki just chuckled. It had only been a matter of adding a more flexible core and a slightly
more curved edge to the hand axe. A simple matter if you had been forging your clan's
weapons since you were a teenager.
"I couldn't get the right edge for this thing and you walk right in and..." Jaeger scratched
his head. "You must teach me that. Woodcutting would be so much easier." "But of course-
smith to smith eh?" Taki said. "You are keeping your end of the deal aren't you?"
"To let you and your friend stay the night? Well, of course!"
"Well, this is amazing."
Jaeger and Taki turned to Ingrid, who brought some water in. "Normally he's all coarse and
whatnot, but you have him as if he were a child." She set two mugs on a nearby bench. "I've
always thought the key to him is through his forge," she added. "And you've just proved me
right."
Taki shrugged. "It was nothing, really. Just a little shop talk. How foreigners forge amazes me
as well." She took one mug, had a look at it, then put it back down. It wasn't exactly... clean,
Taki thought. Obviously, it hadn't been boiled either. It was somewhat the color of rust, Taki
noted. That liquid was going nowhere near her lips.
Jaeger, on the other hand, immediately downed the same water in the other mug. Ewww,
Taki thought.
"Oh, where's Sophitia? I'd like to have a talk with her," Taki said, thinking 'I could use some
fresh air; geez, these two smell like they haven't had a bath in... What was with foreigners,
at least the ones she'd met? How often did they bathe? Those in the desert regions smelled
even....
Ah, good, she had gotten out. And politely too. At least the outside of the hovel smelled better.
"I said move your ass, old man!"
Taki saw a burly, unkempt man shove an elderly counterpart to the ground. "I told you that
our boss wants this village to cough up what we asked for. Now me and my pals here," the
thug motioned to his two other companions, "aren't gonna waste a good day's worth of
riding for nothing! Cough up the money old man, or you know very well what's going to
happen to you and your village."
Why were the villagers doing nothing, Taki wondered. There were a whole lot more of them,
enough to overwhelm these three rogues. She sighed. If no one was going to do anything,
well, she wouldn't let that stop her.
"We are working as hard as we can." The old man quivered. "The money would be here if
you hadn't taken a great part of our last harvest. Please, I beg you, one more week..."
"That ain't my problem!" The thug dismounted from the horse and gave the old man a
resounding kick which caused the aged fellow to gasp in pain. "Money. Now," he demanded,
giving the old man another boot to the body that sent the elder flying.
Taki caught the old man and set him down. Turning to the trio of thugs, she said "Hey, didn't
your mother teach you how to treat old folks?" She kept her body very slightly tensed, ready
for anything. Thugs were quite predictable when it came to someone standing up to them.
The rogue who had dismounted turned to her. "And what have we here? Woman, go back to
your sewing and leave the old man to us. This isn't your concern. 'Sides, what can you do
anyway?"
Taki found herself grinning. Even if she only had half of Rekki-maru right now, if she fought
these three it would be amusing, at the most. Already she could tell that they had very little
training if at all, the dismounted thug from the way he stood the other two from their cockiness
and the way they held their spears. "Acting all tough... I bet you aren't such fierce sons of a
bitch if it comes to real opposition."
The rogue's gaze narrowed. "You callin' me a wuss?"
This was getting fun. Making the thug angry was fun and to her advantage. The sooner this
coming fight was over, the better, Taki mused. Still, she'd amuse herself. "You bet your ass
I am. In any case, you ought to leave before things get ugly."
The thug would apparently have none of this. "I'll show you how things work around here,
you bitch!" he snarled, rushing at her with a sword drawn.
Excellent. Taki rushed at him too, something she knew he didn't expect, especially since she
hadn't drawn her broken sword. The thug slashed as she came close, and it was an easy
matter to dodge it, close in and smash his nose with the heel of her hand. She heard the
cartilage shatter as she did, driving a pair of knuckles into his solar plexus.
Her last attack knocked the wind out of him and forced him back. It was just the right range
for her kicks so she dealt his groin a strong kick and his temple a fierce roundhouse that
sent him crashing into one of the hovels.
Taki could see the rogue's nose bleeding horribly, blood streaking down from the broken
cartilage. His head must have been throbbing; she'd made sure her kick had struck his
temple directly. He must have been surprised too.
The ninja sighed. He might have been twice her weight and had twice her muscle mass,
but she had speed, which lent itself to enhancing the strength of her strikes, and she
knew where exactly she should hit in order to subdue him effectively. The pain would
keep him down for a while.
She turned her senses onto the remaining two. Fight or flee, she asked them silently,
readying herself and feeling which one would attack next.
Fight. One of the thugs charged at her, lowering his spear and readying himself to run
her through. The horse under him thundered on, fast as anything. She dodged on his first
pass; this would be challenging. He had more mobility and height than her for the moment.
But not for long.
Taki grabbed a nearby hoe, much to the amusement of the thug, she knew. She smiled in
reply under her mask, raising her hand in a gesture to egg him on. He soon wouldn't be
laughing anymore.
The thug hollered then charged again, brandishing the spear in exactly the same attack. Again,
Taki dodged, but this time she twirled the hoe and hit the horse's legs. The charger went
down, sending its rider flying. However, Taki continued the motion and knocked the thug back
to the ground before he even began to fall. She gave him one last strike to his head to
overpower him.
The ninja ditched the hoe, dropping it on the ground; she wasn't really that good with
quarterstaffs and she never really used them anyway.
She looked up at the last thug. He was staring at her, eyes wide. Fight or flee, she asked again
silently, still ready in case he chose the former. She ground her hind toe into the earth, arms
relaxed but raised, fists loose but ready to strike.
Flee. The remaining thug yanked on the reins of his horse and bade it to gallop away. But Taki
thought it better to not let him go. As the rogue turned she tossed up the hoe with her foot,
jumping then turning in the air. She kicked the hoe at the escaping goon before she landed,
smacking him in the head and off his horse, which went on to run into the distance. He didn't
move as she checked if he was out cold, which he was.
Three down and no more to go.
"You have doomed us!"
Taki turned around. A crowd had gathered and she hadn't noticed, being too focused on her foes.
Doomed them? Taki didn't understand the words of the old man whom she'd defended. How?
Hadn't she just helped them?
The crowd murmured along the same lines, although 'stupid foreigner' and 'I told you strangers
would bring us trouble' came up as well.
"They will send it! They will set it upon us and again we will have nothing!"
"It's all your fault!"
"Why couldn't you just have left them alone?"
Damn. Damn.
Taki looked at the crowd, searching for a face that didn't display some sense of hostility. She
found it as Sophitia came to her side and led her back to the blacksmith. "I don't understand,"
Taki finally said. "What the hell's their problem?" I did nothing wrong. I just did what they
should have.
Sophitia smiled as they got back to the blacksmith's house. "That was amazing, Taki. I've
never seen anything like that before."
Taki grinned a bit. "At least you're appreciative. What the hell is their problem?" Then the
intuition that had been jarred by the puzzlement became acute again. "There's something
I don't know, isn't there?" Taki asked. "Something I suppose you're going to tell me about?"
to be continued...
*jin long's notes*
ah, finally, the chapter with the action. or bit of action, really. looks like Taki's in trouble,
uh oh. anyway, expect another slow chapter, then action, action, action.
as for the quips about foreigners, well, it was like that around the timeframe of the Soul Edge/
Calibur series. it's still medieval, folks! people really smell like crud around that time, because
taking a bath was hazardous to their health (or so they said).
coming soon, on Requietum: A Journey Home --- Enter the Balrog!