v4c33: The Tyrant or the Guardian part 2

Currently unedited, so there may be some scuff.

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“An… and… a cultivator will save us. She’ll come in like this, and go and beat up all the bad guys, won't they Uncle?” San Ziya’s niece whispered to him from her place on his lap. She was holding up her favourite doll like a talisman, like the cultivator who it was made to look like would suddenly appear from the heavens to save them.

Ziya tried to smile reassuringly, tried to hope.. But he knew it was something he couldn't do. He looked up at the iron bars of the cage he was in, and glanced to where his Sister-in-Law was also pressed against him and glaring at their captors. They had made camp and a fire was burning merrily away. The bandits had set up with startling  precision and speed.

It had been a full day since the attack. The day had been going so well, too, their procession marching along the road with a skip in their step and a song on their lips. His Wife’s family was a true joy to be around—he loved them all dearly, and that procession had been one of the happiest moments of his life.

They had even been joined by a rough-looking fellow, who had congratulated him on the occasion. He looked a bit scruffy, but he had been kind to everyone, and the more the merrier!

Then, when they stopped for the night… the bandits came. The attack had been sudden. There had been no shouts, no roars, no fire arrows or anything else that was supposed to herald bandit attacks like they did in the stories. Instead, they came with nets, bolas and clubs.

Ziya had tried to fight. As had their new companion, Han, but it was over before it even had begun for Ziya, tangled in a net and swiftly subdued. Mister Han managed to dodge the nets, and had engaged three of the bandits with his stick, knocking all of them down… until a fourth bandit managed to get the drop on the man and bash him over the head.

Ziya thought that would be the end for Han. he had hurt the bandits. But to his surprise, the man was bound, bandaged, and then carried to the hidden carts that the rest of them were shoved into.

At first, there had been panic and tears. But as the day progressed, and the bandits gave them food, the panic amongst their party of sixteen had turned sullen and seething—because these bandits were thoroughly confusing. They didn’t take one lustful glance at any of the women, and for the most part… they were not even treated badly, aside from the fact that they were all in cages.

They were even treating Han’s injury further, one of the bandits poking and prodding at the bound man while he glared.

“I told you it looks worse than it is. He’ll make a full recovery. I guarantee it.” The bandit said, turning to his leader.

“Excellent. I was worried for a second there, a man like this will catch a good price. He's big and strong—perfect.” The leader said with an oddly charming smile. He looked… to clean, too well but together for a bandit.

Ziya grimaced as his fears were confirmed. There was a collective intake of breath. Slavery.

“Scum. You think the Magistrate will stand for this? For enslaving Imperial subjects?” Ziya’s uncle-in-law demanded, his eyes narrowed with wrath.

The bandit leader blinked.. And then burst out laughing at the words.

“Isn’t going to… isn’t going to tolerate it! Ha!” The rest of the bandits—Who Ziya was starting to think weren’t really bandits—laughed too. They were too disciplined. “Of course he's going to tolerate it. After all, you aren’t slaves. You’re debtors. And we have all the paperwork to prove it… or at least we will. We have an understanding with a few people.” Ziya paled. Slavery was outlawed. Indentured servitude wasn’t.

It was utterly disgusting. If he really could do this, and he wouldn't put it past Grass Sea City being that utterly corrupt… then if they ran they would have the government trying to hunt them down to ‘pay their dues.’

“It seems like a lot of trouble. Coming all the way out here, when Grass Sea City has millions of people.” Ziya said carefully.

“Yeah. The slums are full to bursting—with the sick, the starving and the weak. My employers wanted higher quality goods… and it's easier to hide this kind of thing out here.” The man shrugged.

Ziya swallowed, as he felt his Sister-in-law press up against him more, the woman glaring hatefully at their captors. His niece curled up tighter in his lap as the man turned and walked away.

“Well. no point in stewing on it. Tomorrow you lot will be in your new home.”

Despair crawled up Ziya’s throat. He bit his lip to keep himself from crying out.

“Yes. You are right. By tomorrow at the latest, they will be home.” a female voice cut through the night. It was rough, almost a growl, and everybody froze at her words, whipping around to see where a girl was walking forwards, into the light of the campfires. “San Ziya. I have been instructed by your wife to deliver you safely to her arms.” She continued, before she turned her eyes to the men. “Tell me, why are they caged?”

The first thing that Ziya saw were her eyes. Twin yellow pits were narrowed with fury as they locked onto the cages. Next, he noticed her too sharp teeth.

Finally, he noticed the bulging muscles in her arms, and abs that looked like they were more like armor plates than muscles from her fallen open shirt.

An irrational thought that entered Ziya’s mind was that the girl looked familiar—

He jerked his head down to where his niece was staring, gobsmacked, at the woman approaching the bandits. Still cradled in her hands was her doll. A doll with orange yarn hair, yellow eyes, and two black markings on her cheeks.

He looked back up, his mouth dropping open.

“Lady cultivator! How can we help you? We’re just—” The bandit leader started to answer her question.

“By the Order of my Master, you have one chance to speak the truth.” The woman said calmly, before turning her eyes back to the cages.

The bandit leader paled further.

“We’re agents of the Grass Sea City Palace!” He tried, pulling out a token. The woman glanced at it, and her frown became more pronounced. “We were dispatched to collect these debtors… but we don’t wish for any conflict with the lady cultivator so we’ll just—”

“Your one chance has expired.” She said, her voice utterly calm. Her hand lashed out, and the man fell to the ground with a sickening crack. “Yin.”

Something slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust—before the night suddenly turned to day, heat and light washing over everybody present.

“Do I get to beat the fuck out of them, Big Sis?” a voice asked, as another woman strode through the smoke. She was clad in shining golden armor. She was utterly, entreatingly beautiful, this woman. Or she would have been, if her face wasn’t twisted into a smile that was entirely too wide.

“Yes.” the orange haired woman said. She twitched, and the closest people near her, frozen in shock, suddenly started frothing at the mouth as an ethereal tiger formed behind her.

They collapsed, and the spell around the camp broke.

The bandits threw down their arms and tried to run.

Tried.

The one to make it the furthest was intercepted by a giant, demonic-looking rooster.

Ziya’s niece looked up to him.

“A cultivator came to save us!” she shouted, sounding as shocked as he did.

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It hadn't taken too long to find this place. Tigu mused as a man screamed, seeming to move in slow motion as he tried to run. Shaggy Two’s nose was better than Tigu’s in this form, and her stalwart disciple had guided them true.

Yin had just wanted to drop in and start smashing everything, and Tigu hadn’t wanted to disagree.

But Master had decreed that everybody got one. So Tigu had decided on a more straightforward confrontation, to give them a chance…. Even after she had heard what she heard.

They had, thankfully, used up their one chance.

There was something cathartic about this that Tigu knew she shouldn’t be enjoying. It brought her back to the past, to a time when she blinded, crippled, and maimed for the fun of it, delighting in the way her enemies struggled to flee from her.

The scent of terror was heady in her nose. It smelled good. Great even. She wanted more. She wanted to rip and tear and force these men to kowtow before her—and then kill them anyway, just to see the light in their eyes fade.

She carefully reeled in the feelings. She knew exactly what was making her so angry.

She glanced back at the cages.

There was once a time when she would have scoffed at their weakness. She would have insulted them for being taken captive, for only the worthless could be held like that.

Tigu had once upon a time believed herself too strong to be subdued and caged. She had thought herself a conqueror without equal, to spread the will of her Master and subjugate all who opposed him.

But now she knew. She still remembered that dark room, and the feeling of her cheek against iron. She knew what it was to be utterly at another’s mercy, wondering if rescue would come.

Tigu knew what it was like. The terror, the uncertainty, locked in a cage and utterly at the mercy of those who wished you harm.

People who were apparently funded by a high ranking official in Grass Sea City.

There was a time when Tigu would have scoffed at the weak being taken advantage of. Perhaps, she would have joined in herself.

Now… now it just made her angry. It made her furious. That these demons wearing the guise of men would prey on people like this.

The rage boiled anew in Tigu’s gut, as something else took hold of her mind. It wasn’t as foreign as the first time she had felt it, the thing her Master and Mistress called empathy.

If Tigu was honest with herself, Xiulan’s goal had been an abstract thing to Tigu. She had listened to Xiulan say ‘never again’ but she hadn’t understood it. Not truly.

Tigu had supported Xiulan out of friendship—, because her conviction had been as beautiful as Handsome Man’s muscles. She wanted to explore. Aid her friend, and have a fun adventure.

But this… this is what Xiulan was fighting to prevent, wasn’t it?

Tigu broke a man’s leg, barely even registering resistance from the bone.

All of a sudden, their journey… it seemed different.

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There were cheers, as they returned, with the freed villagers and the people, but Tigu wasn’t really in the mood for a celebration at the moment.

She managed to smile at the reunion between Lu Fang and her husband, the woman bawling her eyes out. Xiulan was talking to one of them, the Han guy, who wasn’t part of Lu Fang’s family.

Tigu praised the Torrent Rider and Yin for their restraint—and then Yin started regaling the story to Loud Boy and Rags, and all three of them hosted Zhang Fei onto their shoulders.

Instead, her feet found her plodding back to the shrine where she had met Lu Fang.

Tigu looked at the shrine to Zhong Kui.

The King of Ghosts. The Demon Hunter.

Tigu chewed on her lip. She knew she wasn’t good at the things that needed her to truly think too much. The politics, and the planning and the laws and terms of alliances.

But Tigu did know she was very, very good at hunting… and she got along fairly well with people.

She stared at the image of the bulging eye’d man as he cleaved a demon in two.

…she’d have to do some thinking.

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The next morning, they were on the road again, though most of them were in a grim mood. There was something foul going on in Grass Sea City—something the Han guy had been investigating.

“So… you said your name was Sergeant Han?” she asked, as he held on for dear life to the cart Yin was carrying.

“Yes ma’am! Sergeant Han, second to the Special Inspector!” he gasped out. “We’ve been investigating this case for weeks!”

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Start of the Demon Hunter Corps? Return of the Special Inspector? both that and meeting Tie Delun's parents next chapter, then Back to Big D.