Interlude: The Sword Demon

Tian Shi Lang looked at the ironclad men behind him. They were 20 heads, 20 of the most loyal and proficient soldiers the earthern armies had produced in the years since the great war. Still the tax official was afraid. They were sent to the plains of Chu Da to collect the tax. The Lords had not paid a shim since the fall of Kuvira, they had sent apologies. Rebuilding their cities – Bullshit, in the plains of Chu Da no battles had been fought. Until now the government had tried persuasion but now they would throw a small pebble to remind the Ling Household that he wasn´t the royal family. Tian Shi Lang himself could not blame his peers, they were NOBLES and not some upstart peasants. Demanding taxes from them was just bad taste! After all they had to run businesses and take care of their lands, which demanded a lot of money. Furthermore a noble could not live like a peasant, that was against the laws of nature. Even amongst the animals the pack leaders ate different parts of the prey – and they had the dignity to die if they couldn´t claim their birthright anymore. Still it was his duty as an official to collect the tax. It was a sacred duty of the noble class, which was the reason why he had chosen this profession. And sadly he was not able to simply turn a blind eye, mostly due to the bulky soldiers who without a doubt would stand at the governments side even though they got nothing but a measly wage out of it.

At least they didn´t respond to him in the impolite tone his peasant upstart colleagues did! In the plains of Chu da everybody who wore emerald and gold was respected, the people put aside their tools and bowed low when Tian Shi Lang passed. These were good peasants – his heart swelled as he felt that the world was as it should be. The nobleman did not notice that the most peasants were looking quite poor, their simple clothing patched up numerous times, and their tools old an worn. The soldiers however did and if the tax collecter had paid more attention to the armoured, jian carrying men he would have noticed that they were rather nervous. He had heard many things about the man he was going to meet today. Ling Hei Shong was the younger brother of the famous young lord of the Ling clan. He wasn´t a true prince like his brother but he was a successful businessman. Also he was quite whealty, even for a high lord, and that earned him a lot of face. Still there were rumors going on about him hiring ten Bu Shin as personal guard and employing even shadier suspects to enforce his authority. Without a doubt the rumors were exaggerated, because no civilized man like a Ling could perform such acts of cruelty. Tian Shi Lang didn´t believe that Hei Shong had made a servant drink acid in front of his guests because the whine he picked wasn´t suited for his tastes.

If a noble did crazy things like that he didn´t deserve his titles! After all noblesse obligued - that was one of Tians priciples. He eyed the fields that somehow seemed, ill worked – it was surprising that the Ling clan tolerated something like this. The young man decided to have a closer look at the fields and as he did he noticed that the fields were largely neglected, also he wasn´t able to see any men working in then. He only observed women and children, which was quite fishy! Since the Lord hadn´t registered any large construction project he was asking himself what the male peasants were doing! The impression that the Ling clan might be up to some kind of revolution, like rumors in the tea salons indicated, was hardening since there were a LOT of men present in the villages. But these scarred, rugged looking individuals definitely weren´t meek peasants but marauding scum that had thrived on the rivalry between warlords and self proclaimed kings. They stared at the tax official and his escort with unmasked hate. Tian Shi Lang gulped and suddenly wished he had twohundred soldiers at his command. While they were passing the village one of these bandits blocked the way in front of them. He had a green skull tattooed over his face and was wearing some patched up armor and a heavy glaive. „HOLD!" he yelled with an autority that belied his dirt smeared, unkempt appearance. The nobles body reacted before he could muster a straight thought. He halted his oostrich horse. His soldiers fanned out, they were short of drawing their swords.

The other mercenaries also had grabbed their extensive weaponry and were eying the well clad soldiers with the eyes of starving wolfbats. The recent times had been harsh for men like them who were too violent and short fused for being used in usual triad business. „What do you want – peasant." Tian Shi Lang tried to save his dignity, still his voice was shivering, while fear seeped into his bones. A dignified noble was fearing some two legged beast with and uncivilized weapon, he was quite furious at himself. Still his hair was standing up and he wanted to turn his mount around to disappear out of this scary looking mans presence. The mercenary spit out in the officials direction, which made him clench his fists. Why in the ninetinine hells wasn´t he doing something. He should give his soldiers the order to chop this man to pieces but he didn´t. „Stop barking dog. The lord want´s to see ya, otherwise my boys would´ve killed you an you proper tin soldiers already." the man responded. The soldiers drew their swords.

Still the mercenary remained calm, even if his sturdy frame seemed a tad more lively now. „Who´s your Lord?" the tax collector asked puzzled. What man would hire such a troupe of rabid dogs? Men like these should be quartered, or burned on a stake! The merc laughed. „ Ling Hei Shong of course." he responded with a smile. „That guy´s quite the man, despite stemming from some prissy girls loins." he responded in a sneering tone. The noble was speechless at this open insult. „You scum should shut the fuck up, or I´ll carve a new smile in your fuckin belly." one of the soldiers threathened in righteous fury. „Yeah?" the mercenary responded while giving a challenging stare. „Kill them." he responded in an almost coloquial tone. Nevertheless the earth nation soldiers had waited for something like this. The animals charged, they screamed, while earthspikes, rocks and javelins were hurled at them. Tian Shi Lang was frozen in horror. It was as if everything was happening way too fast for him to process. He had never seen a war, and the most violent thing he had expierienced in his live had been the public execution of a murderer. He wasn´t even able to draw the ornated Jian that hung on his side, since his hands were trembling.

His Oostrich horese whas screaching and tried to get out of the quickly escalating mayhem. Screams were everywhere as oostrichhorses were felled by spearrs, and human limbs were squashed or chopped off. There wasn´t any kind of formation, it was just pure chaos that had broken loose. Suddenly something warm sprayed into his face, it was sticky and took away his vision. He screamed in panic as his mount made some steps and then collapsed suddenly. It´s head had been chopped off with an almost inhuman strength. The mercenary, whose eyes were glowing in an eerie, unnatural red was smiling as the noble screamed in panic and tried to scramble away while shitting and pissing himself. The soldiers were holding their own quite well, even though they were clearly outnumbered. The mercenary wasn´t giving a damn about his dying comrades. „I want to cut, cut cut CUT you to pieces trash!" he yelled while sounding almost extatic. Indeed his hands were trembling like a drug addicts on withdrawal. „S-Stay away from me- demon!" Tian Shi Lang yelled, his voice barely surpassing the screams and fighting sounds that were still ringing in the dusty air. Even if the young man was mustering every ounce of strength his slim body held he couldn´t drag his left leg from beyond the horses cadaver. „I- I must not, not CUT, CUU...raaaagghhh!" the man yelled and grabbed his head while almost invisible, red flames were engulfing his body.

Tian Shi lang almost faded as he stared into the abyss. Even some soldiers were fazed by the wiry mans sudden presence. They froze in their movements and were easily killed by their opponents. He panted heavily, while sweat drenched his dirt staring face. „You cowardice is making my blood boil – bastard." he adressed the noble, while his glaive also started glowing in the same strange red. He threw the heavy weapon with an almost lazy seeming movement of his arm. It hissed through the air like an angry tree viper and clearved a soldier in two – from head to foot. His bones withering at once. The man sighed contend and grabbed the legs of the oostrich horse while the glow intensified and the outlines of an ancient seeming, heavy armor, could be seen. His eyes were blazing like hellfires. He simply threw away half a ton of meat and bones, while yelling loudly, even though the noble was forming a triangle with his fingers the obviously possessed man did not leave him alone.

He simply grabbed his throath and lifted the helplessly trashing man up – it felt as if Tian was hitting a brickwall. It was unnatural how fast Tian Shi Lang fainted and a cold, blackness consumed his very being. The Bu Shin dropped the limp noble and again grabbed his glaive. He smiled in bliss. „I´ll CUT YA ALL...!" he yelled and moved with a speed that was humanly impossible. Stones shattered in front of him as his glaive moved at a speed most kenpo-fighters weren´t able to produce with a tiny bamboo stick. It didn´t take the time you needed for repeating a mantra a hundred times until every last man in the village was a cleaved and mutilated body. The Bu Shin was blood stained from head to toe as he stood there panting! The glow faded slowly and the man sunk to his knees. He was chuckling madly.

„Geez you´ve run quite wild Mao rang. Well – who gives a fuck!" he shook his head and went over to the still unconscious young man. There was disgust on his face as he lifted him onto his shoulders like a sack of rice. His master had ordered him to take the tax official alive, since he was a man of standing. To the mercenary a dishonorable coward like that wasn´t worthy to live for a single day – but this wasn´t his matter to decide. He needed to fill his stomach and since he had had a good fight his spirit compagnon would be quite pleased for the next few weeks. He shouldered his glaive and walked towards the hill, where the large manison of the Ling Clan could be seen – even if it just was a summer house it was so pompous that he would have loved to plunder it. Raping the women of his master also was quite tempting. The power that would give him, the lone thought created an erection.

Note: So my dear readers. Not all Bu Shins are good guys – WHAT a surprise! Since I´m no big gore fan I kept it short, but still that´s a point to be made. Guys like this merc are the reason for... well I´ll not spoiler you too much. But let me tell you – WAR´s knocking on Ba Sing Ses door again.