Difference between revisions of "Tactics For Hosts and Guests"

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Ishi felt little choice but to follow.
 
Ishi felt little choice but to follow.
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Inside the stables was a courtyard, open to the air, with low wooden benches all around, fronting on twenty five large horse stalls.  A few had fine Marukani battlers inside, but most stood empty; this was probably where the Black Thunder Lancers houses their mounts when they were at rest.  The townsmen sat on the benches and talked excitedly amongst themselves, passing small rice cakes around to share.  The Ivory Dragon stood in the courtyard and tried not to look confused; Mayhiros Xenon had prepared an arena for the two of them, but why?  Fame as a hero was one thing, but an exhibition was something else entirely.
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And then the crowd grew silent as Xenon himself rode his black charger slowly through the opposite door gate.  He had a jade powerbow in his left hand and his lance, Pine Needle, in his right, and Ishi saw from his posture that he had already assumed the Lightning Hoof Form.  "Welcome, Choshu Ishi.  Are you ready to end this fight?"
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Ishi drew [[Hidden Riches]], dropped into the Five-Dragon Form and said, "Once and for all."
  
  

Revision as of 01:40, 21 February 2007

Choshu Ishi walked the path to White Stone without company. With the Black Thunder Lancers' defeat, he had no more need of strategy; Mayhiros Xenon stood undefended. He had split the talon into scales, placed each under the command of different member of The Zhuque Brotherhood and bade them return to their patrol of eastern Marukan; there were still demons to find. The last fight would be personal.

Smiling Tao had delivered the best of his considerable intelligence, but White Stone held precious little to report. A range town, like any of the dozens of others that dotted the northern Marukan, it counted some three hundred people, twenty five families, as residents, and they relied mostly on sheep for their livelihood. White Stone stood out in only one respect: it hosted the Stables of the Smaller Circle, Mayhiros Xenon's manse, headquarters and school.

None of the range town's residents stopped Ishi as he walked through the open gate, although he came in his full panoply of war. Those few men and women he saw simply waved to him from in the middle of their tasks; it was almost as if they thought he was there for the Spring Market rather than a duel. Ishi waved back and continued, confused, towards the manse.

He arrived to find the stables buzzing with activity as what must have been most of the town's populace piled in through the open main gate. Ishi paused, took in the manse's solid stone foundation, the straight wood walls, and then joined the crowd as they filed in. "What's going on," he asked the men nearest him, but they only smiled or laughed and moved on.

Ishi felt little choice but to follow.

Inside the stables was a courtyard, open to the air, with low wooden benches all around, fronting on twenty five large horse stalls. A few had fine Marukani battlers inside, but most stood empty; this was probably where the Black Thunder Lancers houses their mounts when they were at rest. The townsmen sat on the benches and talked excitedly amongst themselves, passing small rice cakes around to share. The Ivory Dragon stood in the courtyard and tried not to look confused; Mayhiros Xenon had prepared an arena for the two of them, but why? Fame as a hero was one thing, but an exhibition was something else entirely.

And then the crowd grew silent as Xenon himself rode his black charger slowly through the opposite door gate. He had a jade powerbow in his left hand and his lance, Pine Needle, in his right, and Ishi saw from his posture that he had already assumed the Lightning Hoof Form. "Welcome, Choshu Ishi. Are you ready to end this fight?"

Ishi drew Hidden Riches, dropped into the Five-Dragon Form and said, "Once and for all."


On Home Ground, Assemble the People, Initiate No Action


Heaven's Mandate