Sha Yan Shi and the Law of the Pack
Late in the afternoon, Sha Yan Shi wandered the No-Man’s Land, lost in thought. She'd somehow managed to lose sight of the others; admittedly she was a bit preoccupied. Soho’s little speech about the Mandate of Heaven had touched a nerve. She had never really thought of exaltation as a burden before; after all, Lunars never cared what anyone thought about them! But… she supposed… deep down inside, she cared what Nameless Ravine thought about her. And now it seemed that Nameless Ravine cared very deeply what everyone else thought about him.
She sniffed the air, slicked back her mane, and made a “harrumph”-ing sound. “Well, I think he needs to stop worrying so much and pay attention to what’s right in front of him.”
That’s when she tripped over the first corpse, and pitched head over heels into the dirt. When the dust settled, she was on her belly, face to face with a second cadaver. “Ugh! Whose brilliant idea was it to leave a pair of dead bodies lying around in… AAIIIIIEEE!” In a sudden shock of recognition,she sprung to her feet, her moonsilver blade held high. She whirled around and looked back and forth between the first and second corpses. The corpses were impossibly large, and covered with fur and animal features. Mangled though they were, with limbs reduced to bloody flaps of skip, they were unmistakably Lunars. And not just any Lunars… they were her cousins.
Sha Yan Shi’s shriek turned into a keening wail of mourning. “Unfettered Moon?! Deadly Mountain Rat?! How can this be?”
From the shadows of a nearby tree, a deep, mocking voice rang forth. “So that’s who they were.” She whirled as a sinuous man with long, rangy hair dropped from the tree and began slowly advancing towards her. As he walked, his shape twisted and changed, and took on a jackal’s visage.
“You! You’re the old goat’s pet!”
“We meet again, little morsel. I never did introduce myself properly, last time. I am Hahamongna, the Wayward Eye of Ma-Ha-Suchi.”
She edged away from the Full-Moon warrior. “Did you…”
“No, little morsel, I did not kill your friends. But I did watch them die. They were ambushed this very morning by the one known as Crumbling Pillar as they made their way through the territory of the Mask of Winters.”
“And you just watched him do it?”
“They were clearly travelling to the Marukan. I did not know if they were here to spy on your Solar Exalted friends, or to bring them aid and alliance, but I suspect it was the latter. Crumbling Pillar did not see me as he passed by. What profit, then, would it have brought me to intervene?”
Sha Yan Shi snarled. “To let fellow Lunars die by an abomination deathknight’s hand, and do nothing to aid them? You fiend! You defy the very will of Heaven!”
Hahamongna threw his head back and laughed. “You, little scrap of fur that you are, would lecture me? And on the will of Heaven, no less! You talk as one who has spent too much time in the company of fools and Solars. I will accept rebuke from those who stand before me in the Pack; I will have none of it from the likes of you.”
She raised her sword and pointed it straight at the Full Moon’s eyes. “Defy the Solars at your own peril, Jackal. In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!” She suddenly grew much larger, her lean arms and legs rippling with newfound strength.
“So, the morsel has muscle as well as meat. Very well then. Bring it.” The Lunar drew his two moonsilver daggers, and underwent a change of his own; his braided hair warped and twisted, and his fangs grew long and menacing. He motioned to the catgirl, an imperious gesture, and the fight was on.
The exchange of blows was altogether too brief, and soon Root-Seeker had pinned Blessed Roar by its hilt, as Pierce-The-Fire’s-Ashes dove down and around and nicked the half-caste’s back. Sha Yan Shi tried to scream, but could barely open her mouth as a wave of numbing cold spread from the wound to envelop her entire body. She fell to the ground, twitching uncontrollably. Hahamongna stood over her fallen body and gave her a forceful nudge with his foot, spinning her around until her frozen eyes gazed full upon the corpses of her childhood companions. He leaned close, clasped one cruel hand around the scruff of Sha Yan Shi’s neck, and pulled her ear close to his mouth.
“Heaven’s Mandate is a farce. There is only one law – the Law of the Pack – and the pack has no Alpha but Ma-Ha-Suchi. Your friends died because they could bring themselves to accept this truth. And if the Solars do not yield, they will suffer the same fate.”
He released his hand, and she thudded to the ground. “The numbness will wear off in perhaps an hour, but the sun will set in fifty minutes. Do you know what happens, little morsel, when the sun sets after a Deathknight expends enough death-essence to slay two of the Chosen of Luna?” Her eyes grew wide with fear. “Yes, little one. Welcome to the shadowland. At least I’m not leaving you all alone; your friends will be up and about before long. And I imagine they’ll be hungry…”
