Chapter 21

Shi Hou charged into the rear ranks of the scrum of fighting Gang Members, striking out with Perfection taking the form of a Reaver Dailkave. His first cut took the legs off a Rat Beastman at the knees from behind. That stunned the Chain Shirt-clad Son of Sextes Jylis who had previously been fighting the downed Rat Beastman just long enough for Shi Hou to slip Perfection into his armpit, sinking it in deep into the Man's torso and killing him. On seeing that, a nearby Son of Sextes Jylis lashed out with his slashing sword, having kicked away a snarling Rat Beastman long enough to do so, only to find Perfection moving into a parry.

The Rat Beastman lunged for Shi Hou's side even as his blade was bound by the Son of Sextes Jylis, only to find Evening Rabbit's Oriclacum Dagger suddenly sprouting from the side of its neck, the blade having sunk past sinew and muscle to sever the spinal column, killing the Rat Beastman outright. As the Orichalcum Dagger disappeared from the corpse, rematerializing in Evening Rabbit's hand, Shi Hou disarmed his opponent with a flourish of Perfection before, in a burst of essence, punching the man's throat with his off-hand, using the technique of Becoming the Hammer to crush the windpipe and send the Son of Sextes Jylis to the floor, choking to death.

Nearby, a Green-Eyed, Topknotted, Dragonblood in Green Jade Lamellar, wielding a Jade Reaver Dailklaive that seemed to excrete some sort of blackish-green substance along its blade was dueling a Red Leather-clad Rat Beastman wielding a length of leather-wrapped Ironwood as a cudgel. That had to be the Black Yushoto and Solkan the Red, the leader of the Sons of Sextes Jyllis and one of the Triumvirate of Rodents that ran the Sewer Rats respectively. The pair seemed evenly matched, as Solkan used his improvised cudgel well enough to stalemate the blade of the Black Yushoto in their current exchange.

Then suddenly, the Black Yushoto let out a shout and rushed forward, cutting out with his blade in a lunging slash, a pulse of essence granting the blade a seemingly unerring quality to it. Shi Hou knew he would not have been able to dodge such an attack, nor did Solkan the Red, though he tried substantially, a mote of essence surging into his legs as he attempted to hop away using Hopping Firecracker Evasion only for the tip of the Black Yushoto's Blade to score a thin, bloody, line across Solkan the Red's Calf. The greenish-black substance seeped into the wound, causing the Rat Beastman to squeal in pain.

That was all that Shi Hou had time to see before he was engaged by a trio of Sons of Sextes Jylis, their own Rat Beastmen opponents having been felled. The trio cut out at him on three lines of contact, forcing Shi Hou to leap away in a pulse of Essence with Hopping Firecracker Evasion. Unlike Solkan, his maneuver worked, carrying him just out of reach of the trio of blades and allowing him to rush back in, burning essence to lash out with a cut that took the throat from one of his three assailants, even as he was forced to parry a cut from the second in a pulse of essence and duck a slash from the third. His riposte took the swordarm off his second opponent even as he parried the next cut from the last one with a pulse of essence and the Blade-Deflecting Palm technique, slapping the slashing sword away from his neck with his off-hand. His last cut hacked the legs from his Third Opponent off at the knees.

As all this had been going on, however, more sons of Sextes Jylis and Sewer Rats had entered the Dry Siaka to do battle with the other patrons. The Mortal Thaumaturge had been forced to use a flask of alchemical acid to slay a pair of Rat Beastmen that had tried to press through the ward while her bodyguard was engaged by a Sword-Wielding Son of Sextes Jylis, the ward had weakened them severely and the acid had melted whatever had been left. The bodyguard had slain the Son of Sextes Jylis but was bleeding from his scalp where the Man had landed a glancing cut above his right eye, obscuring his vision on that side.

Meanwhile, the three Gambling Cheats had killed two Sons of Sextes Jylis, but one of them had taken a wound to the thigh in the process and a second had his right eye swelling shut due to a pommel strike that had smashed into his face. The third hadn't taken any wounds yet, but it showed the vulnerability of knives and daggers against armored opponents whose weapons had a reach advantage.

Lastly, the three, Finely Equipped Roughians had taken out three Rat Beastmen, though all of them sported wounds of varying levels of severity, with the Smallest Roughian with the Throwing Blades having a few light cuts and bruises and the largest one with the Two-Handed Maul having to hold his side to prevent any more blood loss from a rather large gash along his right side.

At the same time, Shi Hou saw that Evening Rabbit had downed another Rat Beastman and another Son of Sextes Jylis, and now only two Rat Beastmen and two Sons of Sextes Jylis remained standing aside from the Black Yushoto and Solkan the Red. Of those two, Solkan appeared to be favoring his left leg, the wound that the Black Yushoto had dealt him seemed to be festering and inflamed, the blackish-green substance that his Reaver Daiklave excreted proving to be some kind of poison.

For a moment, the two groups glared at each other from across the battle lines, with Solkan's two subordinates close to his side, acting as bodyguards to defend their leader. The Sons of Sextes Jylis, on the other hand, were taking a much more aggressive role, spreading out to either side of the Black Yushoto in an attempt to flank the party of Sewer Rats. Just before it seemed like the stalemate would break and combat would break back out again, however, Arslan Beg arrived from the back rooms with two fangs of Guards in Leather Armor with Slashing Swords and Daggers that hung low on their hips. Arslan Beg himself was fully kitted for battle in his signature Thaumaturgically Enchanted Lamellar Armor, with his Signature Thaumaturgically Enchanted Fighting Dagger in one hand and a Thaumaturgically Enchanted Fighting Gauntlet in the other.

"All Sons of Sextes Jylis and Sewer Rats have until the count of ten to leave my establishment before we attack the both of you!" Called out Arslan Beg.

The Black Yushoto looked at Arslan Beg and saw he was outmatched in numbers, with at least two unknown Essence Users still up and ready to fight, and his face took on an expression that suggested he had just bitten into a lemon. Shi Hou wasn't an expert at reading the inhuman facial expressions of Beastmen, but given his wound, he interpreted Solkan's expression as one of relief.

"This isn't over, Old Man! You will pay me tribute sooner or later!" Spat the Black Yushoto.

"Perhaps. It won't be this day, however. You have eight seconds, by the way." Retorted Arslan Beg.

"And you two, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you've just made a powerful enemy today." Snarled the Black Yushoto.

"I am the Stone Monkey. If you wish satisfaction, I will await your challenge at your convenience." Intoned Shi Hou, inclining his head.

"Five seconds, Hanzo." Pressed Arslan Beg.

At that, Solkan the Red squealed out something in the inscrutable language of the Rat Beastmen, and his own forces began piling out of the door and out onto the street, one of his two remaining underlings helping him along. Clearly, they'd had enough fighting for the time being and were heading out to lick their wounds. Possibly literally, given that they were Beastmen.

"It looks like your rivals are taking the out provided. You may wish to do likewise." Offered Evening Rabbit.

"Three seconds before we attack, Hanzo. Do the smart thing." Warned Arslan Beg.

"Fine! I will remember this, Old Man." Growled the Black Yushoto.

Then with a hand gesture that Shi Hou recognized as the Lookshy Military Hand Signals for move out, the Black Yushoto made his way out of the Dry Siaka, his remaining minions following behind him closely to guard his back. Arslan Beg breathed out a sigh of relief at that as he turned to Shi Hou and Evening Rabbit.

"In truth, I was uncertain if I would be able to handle Hanzo on my own. The Black Yushoto is formidable, and I've been doing administrative work more than anything for the last few years. I'm a bit too rusty for that sort of showdown." Admitted Arslan Beg.

"We would have helped, right Monkey?" Questioned Evening Rabbit.

"It would have been that or wait to be attacked afterward anyway. Yes, we would have helped, Rabbit." Nodded Shi Hou.

"Now, it looks like some of my patrons here have wounds. I don't suppose you two can do anything about that?" Queried Arslan Beg.

"Sure, for a price." Affirmed Shi Hou.

"Monkey!" Hissed Evening Rabbit.

"Rabbit, you're not at home in your sheltered estate anymore. You need to learn the first rule of Mercenary Work." Huffed Shi Hou.

"Which is?" Asked Evening Rabbit.

"If you're good at something, never do it for free." Answered Arslan Beg for Shi Hou.

"Exactly." Confirmed Shi Hou.

"Still, they're wounded. Plus we were on the same side in the fight." Frowned Evening Rabbit.

"Which is why we'll offer discounts." Shrugged Shi Hou.

"I'll cover the costs for lost supplies." Offered Arslan Beg.

"Plus twenty percent of those costs for time and labor." Haggled Shi Hou.

"Plus fifteen percent of those costs for time and labor." Returned Arslan Beg.

Evening Rabbit nudged Shi Hou in the ribs with her elbow then and he nodded. He might have wanted to hold out for more, but he knew that without Evening Rabbit to help out, an Old Pro like Arslan Beg would get the better of him in any negotiation. It was unlikely that Evening Rabbit would help him out if he pushed for more. She seemed to not be comfortable with the idea of charging for healing to begin with, at least not in these circumstances. Best to settle now, when Evening Rabbit had given him the signal to settle, Shi Hou figured.

"Done." Agreed Shi Hou.

And with that, Evening Rabbit got to work using her skills as a healer, Charms, and Alchemical Supplies. Shi Hou had to convince her to do it that way and not to simply use her Hearthstones to heal with a touch. In the latter case, they would either have to charge way too much or nothing at all to represent the resource utilized and the time and labor that had gone into acquiring it. Healing them this way was just so much more simple when it came to upholding the deal they'd made. After several hours of doing that, all of the patrons that had fought and been wounded were healed as good as new, and Shi Hou and Evening Rabbit found themselves One-thousand-one-hundred-fifty Dinars richer.

Unfortunately, their plans for getting the Hell out of Tashkek the same day had been foiled completely by the amount of time it had taken to heal all the wounded patrons of the Dry Siaka. By the time they were finished, the sun had set and the gates of Tashkek were closed for the night. It looked like they would be staying the night in the City and running the risk of an assassination attempt by the Black Yushoto's second-in-command, Ma Xing. They would wind up taking rooms at the Inn of the Blue Cactus, further away from the Dry Siaka in an attempt to throw off pursuit. Shi Hou and Evening Rabbit would also sleep in shifts that night just in case.

As it happened, the precaution would prove to have been wise. . .

XXXX

Cathak Sen had seen the Black Yushoto and the Red Rat Beastman limp out of the Dry Siaka, each with only two minions remaining to them. Considering both had gone in with eight and a further six Sons of Sextes Jylis and Seven Rat Beastmen had arrived as Reinforcements, that meant that most of the forces that had gone into the Dry Siaka had perished in the fighting. That must have been a Hell of a fight.

For a brief moment, Cathak Sen entertained the idea that maybe, both the Anathema had been slain in the fighting, but banished the notion almost as soon as it came. His Circle had been unable to slay the pair, and if a Circle of Proper Dynasts were unable to do the job, then some backwater Lookshyan Provincial and some misbegotten cast-off of the Lunar Anathema wouldn't have been able to either.

Instead, Cathak Sen waited for his Anathema Quarry to exit the Dry Siaka. It took them several hours to do so, and in that time, Cathak Sen had been forced to order multiple drinks as well as food from the Cafe he was using as his stakeout point. However, Cathak Sen's Purse was effectively bottomless and the two did attempt to leave shortly after sunset. Cathak Sen paid his tab and made to follow them.

Much to his amusement, he caught up with them just in time to see the Gates of Tashkek close in their faces. The expressions that the two Anathema made at that warmed his heart. It was right and proper for such Anathema to be presented with setbacks. For some time, it seemed as if Creation had gone awry, only presenting setbacks to himself and his Circle, the Princes of the Earth who were the most ardent defenders of Creation, and not to the vile Anathema who sought to tear it all down. This was proof that the natural order of things was still intact.

Unfortunately, however, it did mean that he would be spending another day at least in this miserable excuse for a city. How people lived in such a backwater place as this was beyond Cathak Sen. At least places such as Lookshy, Thorns, and Nexus were proper cities, not glorified outposts in the middle of the desert. Even Places like Peshmi and Varsi were at least somewhat respectable. This place is more of a haphazard outpost filled with criminals and thugs than an actual City fit for habitation.

Regardless, Cathak Sen was here, as this was where his Quarry was. He would take up a room at an Inn near the glorified mud-brick building that the Anathema had taken rooms at and wait for the morning. When it came, he would follow the Anathema out of Tashkek toward wherever they were headed next. This meandering course around the Grey River had to end at some point, hadn't it? Cathak Sen would note down wherever the two hung their hats and await the word from back on the Blessed Isle about his Immaculate Reinforcements. As he lay down in the glorified cot the locals called a bed, Cathak Sen sighed to himself.

The Immaculates couldn't arrive soon enough for his liking. Hopefully, when they did, they would appreciate all the hardships he had undergone since the defeat of his Circle. Hopefully, they would see his dedication and reward it with position and wealth, enough to see to his sworn brothers, even if their wounds proved permanently crippling.

As he drifted off to sleep, Cathak Sen never realized that he had been being tailed the entire time by Ma Xing, who had been using his surreptitious tracking to her advantage. In fact, if someone had told him that he had been tracked without his notice, and used like a pawn, he would have lashed out at them in anger. It was the truth, however.

As Cathak Sen slept, Ma Xing leaped from the rooftop of his Inn to the roof of the Inn of the Blue Cactus next door, ready to infiltrate and swipe Cathak Sen's quarry out from under his nose. . .

XXXX

AN: Yeah, so here we have the fight in the Dry Siaka, plus the Black Yushoto Swearing Revenge and Evening Rabbit getting a glimpse into how the real world works in terms of paying for goods and services, along with more of Cathak Sen being a stuck up Dynast.

Unfortunately, the Black Yushoto's revenge comes in the form of the Godblooded Daughter of the God of Death by Assassination, but that's just how things tend to work out in Tashkek. It is slightly amusing that Cathak Sen got used as a pawn to help track down Shi Hou and Evening Rabbit, though.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the skirmish in the Inn Room as Shi Hou and Evening Rabbit try to fight off Ma Xing's Assassination attempt.

Stay tuned. . .