Removing the slave traders II [Mission]

Slave traders - was there a fouler job?

There were many things about the Kingdom of Reim that Jian had found that he wasn't a fan of. He wasn't a fan at the fact that he was constantly at risk of being stabbed in the streets for not doing anything other than being Kouenese; he wasn't a fan of the fact that most of the ale here was wine, which made him feel overly posh. He wasn't a fan of the accent that made people sound like they were trying to seduce him constantly. However, one of the things he was definitely fond of was their treatment of slavery.

As of the coronation, slavery had become illegal in this country. Back in Kou, people could be bought and sold like nobody's business, but here that was frowned on and could land you life in prison. Unfortunately, because of how recent this law was, there were still plenty of people who were eager to break it and sell their goods to a foreign nation.

He'd put down a slave ring once before, and had almost been arrested for his trouble. Now that he was doing it again, the constable seemed a little uncomfortable around him as he'd alluded arrest for over a week and had come in of his free regard after they no longer wanted him to be arrested for his actions.

Now, yet again, he was being sent across country to deal with slaves. Unfortunately, he actually had to stop a moving caravan at this point. He was given a guardsman's horse so that he could keep up with them, but seeing as he had very little training on riding the damned things, this was going to be extraordinarily difficult.

He just hoped it didn't become so problematic for him that he failed his mission. If he failed this mission, he was failing a bunch of innocent people and that mistake was the kind of one that lingered over people the rest of their natural life.

336/1000

The clip-clop of rapid hooves filled the countryside as Jian rode the mare that he had chosen to name Banli. He'd taken a look at the map and chosen a spot to try and interfere with the projected path of the caravan. If he was right, the caravan was choosing the route commonly used by smugglers, something called "Dead Hook Pass". Not a very comforting name for a job like this, but the people who had named it were long past giving constructive criticism too.

Yanking the reigns to alter the path slightly as the incoming caravan proved him right, Jian actually found it kinda hard not to smile. He was going right towards the first coach, a hand slipping off the reign to move to his throwing knives. Two of them were up front, so he was gong to use three (one extra just in case one happened to miss) and see if he could peg them quickly before they got any further.

The issue with a job like this was that it was very hard to aim on a ship and it was even harder to aim on a constantly jostling living thing at a target that was coming towards you at high speeds. As such, he was actually scared that he might miss, and so spent a lot more time aiming than he did actually steering the horse. Little did he know this was going to kick him in the dick.

Throwing the blades, three of them hit home - One in the throat, causing the victim to spit out gargles of blood, but the other two just hitting the man riding in shotgun in both shoulders, pinning him back against the cloth wall of the caravan.

Unfortunately, the closeness between the caravan and his horse had seemed to spook it a bit as, no less than ten seconds later, the horse was rearing back on its back legs in fright, doing its damnedest to throw its rider off... which it succeeded at easily, sending Jian falling to the ground and rolling badly as he did so, twisting his ankle in the process.

791/1000

You know, were he not in serious pain right now, he might have actually found this an interesting challenge, especially as two more men came out of the forward carriage, looking at the temporarily crippled man on the ground behind them. They could have just ridden on, but it seemed they were interested in making the man who had killed their friend pay for bothering them.

The first man, an ugly brunette, pulled a short-sword out and began moving towards him with a cruel smile. It was obvious what he wanted to do... but that wrathful greed was what killed him in the end, as he didn't keep up a high enough guard. With only one ankle out of commission, Jian was still in control of all his other sensibilities, and instead focused on the battle at hand, pulling out a fan and throwing it across the area.

the fan  slit the man's neck in the arc before heading towards the second man, in an attempt to get two-for-one... but was struck down by his mace, the beautiful hum of the flying fan stopping in an almost anti-climactic thud. It wasn't permanently damaged, but it was out of his range, and after getting rid of the attack the man ran forwards, obviously intending to smash Jian's head in with the mace.

Rolling at the last second, Jian slipped out of the way of the attack and struck the staff of the mace with enough force to send it flying out of the man's grip and hitting into the slave-cage. The man, blinking in surprise, was further caught off guard as his would-be victim slit his leg vein with a knife, causing him to bleed profusely. Taking out the other one as well, the man fell to his knees, bleeding out on the ground.

Crawling up to the cart and pulling himself up, but not before picking up his fan, Jian inched his way towards the driver's seat of the wagon. Pushing the corpse aside after getting his throwing knife from his throat, he smiled menacingly at his new companion.

"Give me any trouble and I'll throw you off the moving caravan." With a nod and a promise to behave, the man allowed Jian to careen them back to town, a long and extremely awkward journey .


1000+/1000

170/200: