Lost Kingdoms, Chapter Two

Lost Kingdoms
Chapter Two
Flames of Condemnation
“I guess Zhou Yin isn’t the model of a perfect soldier like he says,” Suun said. “To be driven back and in just a matter of seconds. Perhaps I’ll have to fight after all.”
“Is an ox-cleaver needed to slay a rabbit?” Jingzhou asked. “Your blade will rust on such a mission. I’m enough for this.”
“Oh, I have no doubt that these…animals,” Suun gestured at the group of Zion soldiers. “Are no match for you. I was just thinking I could use a little exercise that’s all.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll destroy them all so don’t you worry about a thing.” He was off before anything else could be said.
“You needn’t hide anymore,” Suun looked back at a tree. “I know you two are there.”
“Can’t fool you,” Hanya said as he jumped out of the tree branch he was hiding in.
“Impertinent,” Geroma, the other would-be stalker simply voiced.
“Very,” Suun glanced at the spot where Jingzhou was only moments ago. “But that’s why I have you two here.”
“What do you have in mind?” Hanya asked.
“Dogs must always know who are their masters are or else they may one day bite. He must learn that lesson.”
“And if he will not learn?”
“Then you know what to do.”
“Sir,” Hanya bowed slightly before disappearing to follow Jingzhou.
“This new generation of fighters. Rather disappointing wouldn’t you say, Geroma?”
“Preparations are complete,” Geroma said. “We should return at once.”
“Oh, you’re no fun at all.”
“It seems the enemy is showing some spirit after all,” Dun Fei observed as he watched the Jin soldiers try once again to climb the rocky slopes the Zion troops had camped on.
“Let us give them a hand,” Guan Fei started clapping. “For their efforts. However, the mountain will never bow to the wind; so to shall the gods will not kneel to men. All units, prepare to attack!”
“The heavens cannot be touched by mere mortals!” Dun yelled as he led his charge.

“’It will take me only a minute to rout them all. We’ll be back for dinner’” Jingzhou said to himself. “What a moron. I guess that’s just to be expected, all things considered and all.”
His name was Jingzhou, an officer serving under General who Inspires Terror, Suun Li. Geroma, one of his old friends, had offered him the job. The two of them had worked at an assassins guild “Patriots” they had called themselves, but the guild was going downhill and work was growing scarce. Geroma had managed to convince him to take this job with General Suun.
He was a young man, about 20 and of about average height. He wore a green tunic and plane white pants over his normal-sized body. Really, appearance-wise he was extraordinary only with how ordinary he was. The thing that set him apart though was the large spear he carried around. The shaft almost measured five feat and the head had three points on it, two on each side and one pointing forward. This was his weapon and he was proud to say he was the best at wielding it.
“What would you fight for, Zhou Yin?” Jingzhou mused. “What would you die for?”

The battle was going poorly for the Jin forces. Rather then be showed up by Karinshu and Suun, Zhou Yin had volunteered to lead a force of five thousand to defeat these rebels. A choice he was beginning to regret.
“Suun Li,” he grumbled. “I won’t be upstaged by you today.”
“Listen up,” Zhou instructed the remainder of his forces, driven back by the rebel army. “I will not go back and report my failure to the Emperor. We crush them now! Victory or death!”
“Giving up lives to bolster your ego?” all turned to see Jingzhou leaning against his spear, like he had all the time in the world to say what he wanted to and didn’t feel like interrupting.
“What are you doing here?” Zhou pointed his warfan menacingly at the messenger. “Is Suun so scared now that he sends little boys to fight his wars?”
“Not the wisest course of action,” Jingzhou continued. “General Suun’s sending over another 5,000 troops to reinforce you. Isn’t he nice?”
“Probably just playing kiss-up again,” Zhou thought aloud. “’Yes, I sent the troops and fought through the whole thing? A promotion? You’re to kind, your majesty.’ Something like that.”
“Oh and here,” Jingzhou handed Zhou a letter. “Thank you for your patronage. That would be five coppers please. I could sing it for an extra three though.”
The soldiers could only brace themselves against the impending storm of shouts that was sure to come. “Those spears suddenly don’t look so bad,” one of them said.
Someone in Heaven must’ve liked one of the soldiers as the storm clouds miraculously vanished. “Alright then. All troops, retreat!”
With a collective sigh the army marched from their spot at the base of the hill to the Jin camp where Zhou Yin met the other officers that had been sent; Han Zhun, Ding Non, Rin Thon, and Zhon Ting; all good friends and not “upstart ankle-biters” like Suun Li, a lot more competent too, if his opinion was to be believed.
“An honor,” Han Zhun, General who Appeased the South, greeted. “We have been sent here to help. Not that you need it, of course.”
“Of course not,” Zhou Yin laughed. “The enemy are like ants before me! I just retreated to make them think they had me beaten!”
“Now that Han Zhun and all the others are here,” he announced. “Any anxiety I had has blown away like so much dust on the floor. Everyone, tonight we feast victorious!”
“Idiots,” Jingzhou said after the camp had once again emptied. “All of them.”

“Life unworthy of life,” Suun has said. “Breath that does not deserve the air. That is how I would describe Zhou Yin and the others. Rather accurate, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Then it begins,” Hanya sighed.
“You act surprised,” Suun noted. “Don’t be.”
“It was only a matter of time, I guess. Still, I must ask if this is the only way?”
“You must cut the rot or the infection spreads. Sacrifices must be made for anything to happen. Has history not shown us this?”
Hanya nodded yes as Suun continued. “The belief that the individual is more important then the whole is the basis for moral depravity. Fools like Zhou Yin would leave an army to the slaughter to save their own skin. Infidels like that must be punished.”
Upon ending his speech, Suun drew Hanya closer to him. “I know this path will be hard for you, Hanya. What I’m asking from you is not love and peace but bloodshed and war, but remember this. I love you as a brother and would never do anything to harm you. Someday, this will all be over and then we will live happily.”
“Someday,” he said as he leapt over an offending rock as he zoomed along. “Hanya” it meant “Ruin by fire” or something like that, it was also a demon of legend, both suited him much better then any other name. At an earlier age, bandits had raided the village he was in and in a rage, had burned him alive.
At least, that’s what he remembered, or was he actually a girl? Even minor things like age and sex had been lost to the fire. His name was Hanya now and that’s all he knew. “In taking my face, the fire has taken my past. In discovering me General Suun gave me a future and I’d make that exchange any day,” Hanya had once said. Jokingly called “Inferno Mummy” for the bandages that covered the skin; Hanya was the sworn brother of General Suun Li.
“For the glory of the Majin Six,” Hanya looked stopped at his destination: a small cliff overlooking the battlefield where Suun was sure that the wind would blow in the right direction that day. “For the restoration of the Empire. May all be consumed in flames!”
There was a second reason for the name “Inferno Mummy.” Hanya had a talent for using fire unsurpassed in the realms of men. Today he carried tinder and other flammable components beneath his bandages, hidden so he could prepare them at a moments notice. All he had to do now was begin the spark.
And how the flames did grow.

A silent scream, a momentary flash of steel, and it was all over. Five other soldiers had been placed as guards of the gilded doors, all died in less then ten seconds.
Each one had been killed in one hit, the strike so clean that no blood left the wound. The attacks had each been angled so that the soldiers would hit the wall first before the floor to minimize the sound. As swift as the river, as silent as the shadows; he was Geroma.
Originally an assassin working to help end corruption he had later joined up with Suun after being convinced he could do more good working as one of the “Majin Six” then with his old guild.
“Long live the Emporor,” were the last words that Karnin heard as a knife was pushed through his throat.
The deed done, Geroma silently slipped out of the chambers. Beneath his borrowed breastplate was hidden a small quantity of gunpowder. All left to do now was destroy the evidence.
“Burn,” was all Geroma said as he lit the powder before vanishing from the imperial palace.