Chapter II Early Afternoon the first day Just outside the village of Tallavast 2500 feet The battle with the Ronnin Zathuran and Oxbrows The first few hours of the day as Jade tried to move she stumbled more than walked, crawled more than stumbled and lay gasping for breath more often than not. But her grandmother’s training had made her harder than forged steel and her ninja recovery techniques bordered on the miraculous. This plus the fact that her cat *turkey* had found her and jumped into her arms, burying himself into her soft breasts and purring madly with love and concern. Had greatly improved her health and by 2 in the afternoon she was moving almost normally. She was able to enjoy the cool mountain air and the glorious colors of early fall. Everywhere around her and Turkey life burst out in euphoric displays of health and vitality. The wind danced merrily through the trees casting chorus lines of moving shadows on the ground. The water in the streams was of a sparkling blue and clarity Jade had never seen before. Just as she and her cat could see a small town in the distance about half a mile away she saw two very large men walking drunkenly towards her. They saw her at the same time at let out a loud howl of lustful glee. Turkey was a wise Ninja cat and he was gone from her shirt and hidden in the tall grass instantly. Good perv-cat she whispered after him as she grimly faced what see knew was going to be a life or death confrontation. As the men walked up to her the larger of the two roared out in what he thought was an intimidating volume I am Zathuran and this is Oxbrows we are two famous samurai and we are here to play with you. (In truth they were two disgraced Samurai who were so lazy and inept that their former master had been killed in his sleep while they were on duty. Their Samurai watch captain had been so ashamed of their behavior that he would not even kill them. Banishing them instead to be forever ronnin. They had since become drunks and murderers for hire and even though they no longer possessed the skill and grace of a Samurai they knew ever dirty bar fight trick there was, and their bodies were now more fat than muscle. Even so they were still very large, very strong and very dangerous.) Oxbrows thought his partners statement was so funny that he almost fell down laughing, yeah he laughed we don’t know whether to rape you or kill you. This apparently was hugely funny to both men as they had to hold on to each other to keep from falling they were laughing so hard. Jade pulled herself up to her full 5’2” of height and with all of her 120 pounds she said in her best smart a**ed Goth voice; well why don’t you boys do both? This said she pulled her twin knives and charged the men before they could gather their wits. Zathuran recovered first and as he tried to reach out with his right hand to hit her Jade sliced his brachial artery from elbow to armpit. The surprised man looked in horror at the gouts of blood shooting into the air covering everyone including Jade in a sheet of blood. Zathuran barely had time to realize he was dying before he collapsed at Oxbrows feet. Jade allowed her momentum to carry her forward into a shoulder roll bringing her up behind Oxbrows and she sliced at both his Achilles tendons. This hardly even fazed the enraged giant and his war club tore past her skull in a blow that would have killed her instantly if it had landed. As it was it took a nice chunk of skin and hair with it. Angry herself now and more than a little scared she stabbed upward with her blades and plunged them deeply into the man’s testicles thinking this would end the fight. She was wrong: With a roar that started deep from within his primal self and ended in a high-pitched scream of dismay the giant caught her in a backhand sweep of his club. Instantly breaking her nose and cutting a deep three inch gash in her face. The blow knocked Jade a good ten feet through the air and brought a howl of horror from turkey. At this point Jade’s ninja training took over, her mind became crystal clear, her focus was sharper than the keenest blade and time slowed down so much for her she could hear the wind change in the grass. Standing up her grandmothers words of advice about how to fight a bear came back to her. “One cannot overpower the bear’s great strength so therefore one must use his strength against him”. Keeping this in mind Jade began to move in small quick dancing steps around the mortally wounded giant. Staying just out of reach of his war club and slashing at his hands to make them blood slippery she taunted the man without mercy. What’s the matter good looking do your balls hurt? She laughed; well then bring them here so I can hand them to you! Jade was covered in the dying mans blood and her own. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl of rictus and her eyes blazed with the killing fury of a wounded ninja. Suddenly the giant’s hands slipped on the club as he swung at her in vain. This was the break she was waiting for! With a blast of speed that was a pure blur she used the man’s knee to launch herself to his heads height. Slashing and stabbing with incredible speed and strength she literally shredded the man alive. He died where he was standing even before his body touched the ground. Looking down at the ruined corpse she seemed to realize for the first time how bloody she was. Touching her hair she grimaced, great now I have to wash my hair!! At this turkey leapt back into her arms and was having a field day licking all the fresh blood. Laughing softly to herself she said let’s go you perv-cat. This is a close up of Jade