God Slayer Chronicles 31 A Warm Voice On A Cold Day

It was a woman with dark raven hair, a pretty pink nose and a scowl on her face. Hair was extremely wet though, dripping in fact. She also wore a robe.

Sha Ku recognised this woman from earlier – Lin May, riding the moon scale tiger.

"You!" She shouted in a stern voice, "Why are you banging on the wall like a madman? Do you have any idea who I am…" Lin May's voice caught in her throat as she saw the walls covered in blood and a young boy slumped against it, the blood lightly trickling down his lost face.

"Are you… are you okay?" She asked, stunned at the sight, she'd been expecting some brute banging on her walls to get her attention. Yet there was this mess of a boy.

"I'm fine, just trying to swallow my shame." Sha Ku muttered, turning his dark eyes towards hers.

"Swallow your shame? What have you got to be shameful about?" Lin May carefully inspected Sha Ku to find that he wasn't some trash that had never cultivated, he was already at the Qi River Stage, yet he was only a boy!

This was the opposite of shame in her opinion; he could easily be swooped up by a sect or a clan. A boy from a backwater, resourceless and alone being able to match some Central Plains cultivators? To her, this sounded more like some cruel joke cast down upon the heavens.

"Nothing that concerns you, young miss. How old are you exactly?" Sha Ku asked as he wiped the blood from his face, giving him a far more presentable appearance.

This caused Lin May to scoff; the boy thought he looked better, but all he did was smear blood all over his face.

She sighed a little, dismounting her tiger she grabbed his little hand, and pulled him, "Come with me?"

"Where are we going?" Sha Ku asked, still in a world of his own, just barely noticing he was moving.

"I'm taking you to wash your face and a change of clothes of course. It just so happens that you were knocking on the walls of house I… let's say rented." She made a little guilty smile.

"There's a fresh set of clothes inside; they should be suitable compared to the rags you're wearing now." She pointed out the ragged crimson stained clothes Sha Ku was currently wearing.

Sha Ku had made the conscious decision to make such terrible clothes, after all, he was trying to appear as a dull, stable boy. It's hard to imagine a stable boy wearing the fine clothing of the Yang Clan.

Lin May dragged Sha Ku through the front door, followed by the tiger as she bolted the door shut.

"There, it's much warmer in here as well. I don't know how you Northerners of Zi have ever managed to withstand the cold."

She rubbed her arms as she went and sat by the fire which had a huge bucket of water hanging above it.

Sha Ku stood their weak legged, next to the doorway.

Lin May turned around, "What are you waiting for, come over here and warm up." She beckoned him with her hand, as he slowly walked over taking a seat next to her on the padded bench.

Sha Ku held his hands out to the fire and felt himself relax slightly. The crackles of fire, they were remarkably soothing to the soul and mind.

Soon the semblance of sadness started to numb, the thoughts of the nightmare child began to vanish.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked, turning to Lin May.

"What am I doing here? I heard a Moon-Scale Tiger was being auctioned, how could I pa.s.s up the opportunity to purchase it? You know that a fully-grown Moon-Scale Tiger can easily reach Tier 3, but if it awakens its origin blood, along with its bloodline memories it's entirely possible to reach Tier five!"

Lin May smiled, as she stroked the back of the tiger's head, causing it to give out a large aggressive purr.

"That's not what I meant; you're not from here?" Sha Ku smiled, seeing that the tiger was like an oversized kitten.

"Oh, was it my accent that gave me away?" Lin May's face started to go as bright as a peach.

"No, you said Northerners of Zi, so I was wondering where you came from?" Sha Ku looked at her with his big puppy dog eyes.

Seeing the face Lin May's lips trembled a little.

"d.a.m.n you boy. Do you promise me you can keep a secret?" Lin May looked him directly in the eye.

Sha Ku nodded quickly in reply.

"Good. I'm not from the North, in fact, I'm from the central plains!" Lin May said proudly, with her hands placed on her hips with a smug smile on her face.

"How comes you're here then?"

"Wow, you don't even make a gasp of astonishment. You've probably never heard of the glory that resides within the central plains then!" Lin May gave a quick harrumph, then continued.

"I came here with daddy. He's the Patriarch's second son. He'd been given an important mission which is why I'm in this cold, desolate land!" Lin May crossed her arms, sulking.

"Do you want to go back?" Sha Ku asked curiously.

"Of course, I want to go back! I don't have any friends. It's just me, father, mother and my stinky brothers hanging about the place!"

Hearing this, Sha Ku laughed.

"What's so funny?!" She immediately shouted.

"Oh no nothing, it's just that I just realised I don't have any friends." Sha Ku said, disappointed in himself.

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know. I mean…" he sighed, "With my station in life and my potential, I could never bond with people where I was from."

"Oh, where you were from? Don't you live in Greenmont?"

"No, I've come here to meet with someone. I'm originally from the Yang Clan, my names Sha Ku nice to meet you." Sha Ku put out his hand to shake while trying not directly to lie to the girl.

Seeing him put his hand out Lin May smiled, but instead of going to shake it she grabbed at him with a big hug.

She held him tight in his chest, which caused Sha Ku too blush. He felt two soft ma.s.ses pressing into his chest.