Unforgiven Swords: Chapter 17

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Locke Wolff and his most faithful servant Hound entered the ancient Shigeru ruins before anyone else.

The air was dusty and humid, and it would be very dark if the stone building had not lost its roof.

They stopped, after sightseeing the place for a while... Silence and loneliness... Only the bounty hunters and the fungi grabbing the wall…

Wolff: Why, Hound? Why this place?

Hound: Because it is quiet, enough for we to finish this at last.

Wolff: I should kill you, you know? For your betrayal…

Hound: I’m still fighting alongside you, Wolff. For the last time, yes, and not obeying you as I said I would, but it isn’t a betrayal… Besides, it’s far faster like this.

Wolff: Except they will be prepared to fight us!

Hound: (eyes blazing in anger) … And?

The icy gaze could make even the captain of the Unforgiven Swords to freeze. Wolff swallowed and turned around, observing the desolated place that would become a battlefield.

Wolff: For a shinobi of Iga like you to abandon the chance of a surprise-attack… Why, Hound…?

Neither emitted any sound.

Silence and loneliness.

Desolation and the imminent shadow of death.

Hound: Do you remember when we first met? You were much better that time…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Wolff: Indeed. Unfortunately, I discovered that none of my ideals or dream were possible in such a horrible world…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hound: Then, you changed those ideals and dreams, to fit the horrible world you lived in… Except you had another world, in which you should have been living instead…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Wolff: Do you mean… Grainne… and Lura? Are you saying I should have given everything up because of my family?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hound: I’m not saying anything such as this… Although, I do think you know what I mean. I’ll be seeing the rest of the ruins. Come if you want to.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">He didn’t. He stood there, where he was.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Locke Wolff was alone with his ideals.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre, Karen, Naishi and Ainer Grave stood outside the old gates of Shigeru. As they were told to do, they waited until the sun was high at the sky.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: This old place is Shigeru ruins?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Grave: Yes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: It’s kinda scary…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Grave: Don’t be afraid, young lady.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: Have I said I’m scared?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Naishi: Why don’t you two stop? … What’s on your mind, Wolfy?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: Nothing important.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Naishi: So let’s get inside, then… You’re lying, aren’t you?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: Of course I am. What I’m thinking is not something you must worry. Worry only with the fight.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The initial room was large, very large, covered by fallen blocks of stone.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">From that big room, there were two corridors. One going left and the other one going straight.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: It could be a trap.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: It’s too late to think about the possibility… I’m going with Karen to the left corridor. Any objections?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Naishi: If I don’t have to hear anything about tea, that’s fine by me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Grave: Shut up.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The corridor was relatively big. No different from the first room, broken stone blocks were fallen everywhere, and there was almost none, or none at all, roof.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Long and silent, it seemed it was very big. In addition, it descended, thus it probably lead to some underground part of the ruins.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: Is it a little cold here or is it only me?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: I think it’s you. The sun is shining quite brilliant over our heads.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: I know, I’m not in cold. Just wanted to break the tension a little bit.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: Well, that’s not hard to do in an occasion like this… Know that I’ll be here to help you.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: No, uncle, know that I’ll be here to help you.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: (smiles) Oh, really? So there’s nothing to fear, indeed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: I’m serious. I wouldn’t stand to lose again and see you doing all the work.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: Just do your best, Karen.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Karen: (smiling) Leave it to me! (Holds Macabre’s hand) I know it’s childish, but don’t say a word!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: I’d never.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">An underground chamber. It resembled for sure something like a coliseum, since on the walls there were drawings that looked like warriors fighting. It also was a circular chamber, filled by seats in its borders, around the “main stage”, in which someone placed several fighting equipment, such as weapons and training dummies.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Precisely on the middle of said “main stage”, a lonely figure waited sitting down.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Lura: Two are coming. Neither is that tall, but I one is a man, due to the height and the fact that I already felt that same smelt before. The other I can tell is a girl, young, not only because of the height, but also because of the sound the heels of the shoes make when stepping… In addition, there are two huge things behind her, I believe it to be hair, and I don’t think I’m wrong. Finally, the leather of her jacket makes a small friction when she moves her arms, since it is a tight piece of cloth, commonly used by young women… I could also mention the wind current passing underneath her lady parts, because she’s wearing a skirt…

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Macabre: Fine, that’s enough!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Lura: Welcome, White Wolf Macabre RedClaw and the young Wolf Cub of the RedClaw family, Karen RedClaw. (Stands up) I’m Lura, and I’ll be fighting with you.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Naishi and Grave entered the room that didn’t resemble anything.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Half of the roof was destroyed, and its remaining formed something similar to a net, descending and made of rock.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">There, waited Hiruna Kanpare Nu and Hound.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Grave: Don’t interfere, Naishi.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">He unsheathed his Fire Dance.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hound: Don’t interfere as well, Kanpare.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">The bounty hunter took out the old duster he wore and threw it behind him. He then took his umbrella from the ground and pointed it to the revolutionary that waited.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hound: I’ll kill anyone that interferes… (Excited voice) This will be a most pleasant duel!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Hiruna: Oh… There’s quite some time I don’t see you like this.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Naishi: Can you handle him by yourself, Grave. He’s the strongest person I’ve ever met.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Grave: You haven’t see me fighting yet!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Locke Wolff, meanwhile, waited alone.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt">Wolff: (thoughts) I’ll be waiting… RedClaw… Justice… Finally…

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