12 The Bone Scythes Appear

An irate Mei was trying to persuade Lineir to see reason,

"Disciple, look here, the White Horizon Sect is still on high alert, trying to sneak back into the city is folly. You would do well to leave off and take the road. Give me a few years and you can come back and make that city yours for all I care, just don't waste all the energy I have spent pouring Qi into your meridians on something so trivial as a family trip!"

However, Lineir was not convinced,

"I'm sorry master, but I need to at least show my sister that I am alive. She must be worried sick, and she'll no doubt cause quite the ruckus looking for me. The White Horizon Sect may even catch wind of this and suspect that she may be related to me! I must tell her what has occurred before I can leave this city. Hence, I beg of you, help me enter the city!" He begged.

Mei grudgingly agreed realizing that this youth who had often disobeyed her would not bend in the slightest in this matter.

"Fine, I'll help you get in. However, you absolutely must go straight in and out. No matter what she says, we must leave immediately. Word of this will not stay contained in this little city no matter how the elders of the White Horizon Sect might try. The Greater Sects of this continent should have ears and eyes willingly reporting to them everywhere. Tell your sister some semblance of what happened, leave out most of it, she doesn't need to know and it will only endanger her, and then let us be on our way!"

Like a creeping panther, Lineir crawled on his belly out the old city.

"I have to keep following the wall until I get to the Eastern Gate, if I come in from the Western Gate, questions will be raised and I might be suspected of having come from the deadzone. Master, do you have any idea how I can get in without my face being recognized by the guards? I might be suspected dead, but I'm sure after all I've done that a young man such as myself will be suspiciously regarded by any guard no matter which gate I come in."

"Kiddo, your master may have lost a lot of precious energy... as a matter of fact a FORTUNE OF ENERGY FOR YOUR SAKE... but some uncultivated guards are less than nothing to me. Small fry will be small fry, just approach the gate quietly without raising suspicion, and then relax and let me do the rest." Mei's voice suddenly got extremely wicked pricking Lineir's suspicions.

"Mei mei... you weren't planning on doing anything... fatal to those guards were you? They're just drafted to serve the White Horizon Sect, they have no choice in the matter. They might even be somebody I know!"

Lineir quickly inquired, he, after all that had happened, was still just a youth.

"Of course I was planning on killing them. How else are we supposed to get in! If you have a problem with your master's methods, get in yourself then!" Mei had not a trace of guilt in her words. Lineir sighed, this was going to be tricky. His clothes were covered in filth and smelled wretched. Furthermore, he dared not cover his face with his shirt, which would expose the wicked black scar across his chest. Finally, he settled on a plan.

"There's no other way, seeing my sister is more important than my dignity!" He quickly stripped off his pants and covered his face. With that, he was ready and headed to the gates clad below in only his underwear. Lineir found himself slowly walking by the guards in only his underpants, for all the world looking like some poor sop who had had far too much to drink and fallen many times as drunks do. The guards, as well as Mei were snickering endlessly.

"Kiddo, I have to admit, your ingenuity knows no bounds. But your master questions your taste. Perhaps I shouldn't be empowering somebody of such a vulgar nature at such a young age. I fear what would happen when you grow up." The guards as well were holding their sides in laughter.

"Drink a little too much last night and get on the wrong side of someone? Perhaps you ran afoul of some robbers? You are quite bold to come waltzing in here with your pants on your head. Be careful in the city, some old man might take a liking to you in that attire!" With that, Lineir almost made it in to the city. Of course, the path is rarely so straight and level.

"Wait, young man, you look a little young to be drinking. Come here and let me see your face for a second." Lineir's heart began to beat faster. He had been so close. Bathump, Bathump....

"Look, do you want to humiliate me when I'm down on my luck? Just let me go home and change, my wife will be looking for me." Lineir hoped the casual mention of a wife would help make him appear older. Mei, despite the situation was still laughing endlessly,

"My, my, don't get caught for underage drinking! That would be terrible, your family will be so ashamed!" She stopped laughing however when suddenly the guard whipped out his sword from it's sheath and leveled it at Lineir's throat.

"No, I don't think you're quite old enough to have a wife yet. As a matter of fact, you look remarkably similar to another youth I saw a few days ago. Somebody who brought the dead hammering on the city gates and caused quite a bit of trouble. There's even a reward out for this person. You wouldn't happen to have come from the deadzone would you?"

With that, he took a slow step closer. Lineir's heart began to beat even faster, each thump feeling like it would hammer out of his chest. He had never had this sort of feeling before the events of last night. In the past he had always kept his cool but right now he couldn't seem to control himself.

"Master, you're controlling this undead heart of mine right? Could you slow it down a little? I'm getting a little shaky here, it's kind of hard to lie like this." Mei however was stumped.

"It's not me kiddo, this heart is acting up to your fear. I can't slow it down without stopping it, and you don't want that. You'll just have to bear it. Hold strong and find a way out or let me take over like you should have from the beginning, you're still too soft, at your age I killed without hesitation."

Badump, Badump, BADA, BADA, BADA, BADA

His heart was completely out of control. As the guard reached him, his sword a few feet from Lineir's throat Lineir turned and faced him. "Pull your pants from your face kid. If you're innocent, you can be on your way after I get a good look. What the hell is that crap on you anyway, it almost looks like... blood..." The pants slipped off of Lineir's face then and the guard's eyes widened as his sword came ever closer.

BADA, BADA, BADA, BADUMP, BADUMP

Heart going crazy Lineir shouted,

"Mei-Mei, don't kill them!"

At that moment however, something strange happened. As the guard's sword came to his throat, Lineir's eyes followed the wicked steel's arcing path, the world seeming to slow down. He leaned backwards, and the sword passed over his head by inches, yet at the crawling speed the sword was moving in Lineir's eyes, those inches might as well have been miles. A huge wrenching pain came from his chest, and then his arms felt like they were being ripped out of their sockets. an enormous curving sickle of bone shot out from his right elbow, following his forearm before ending a good six inches past his fingertips. His hands outstretched and waving in the wind from dodging the guard's attack, the bony attachment immediately sliced through the guard's throat. At that moment, another guard behind yelled out in astonishment and rushed at Lineir. To him, this guard might as well have been walking. As the guard's sword came towards him, a second bone sickle erupted from his left elbow and his arm outstretched automatically towards the rapidly approaching man's chest so that the guard impaled himself on the sickle, face twisted in shock.

"You... you....!"

Lineir, speechless, immediately ran off into the city terrified of what had just occurred.

"Master! I told you not to kill them!" Mei said slowly,

"Foolish kid, I was going to... but you killed them before I could do anything..."