Red Talon Piercing The Darkness

Over the next few months, Hong Zhao left five gold coins a night at Yeng Feng's small cottage outside the city and in turn, he picked up five vials of silent whisper powder. Hong Zhao had long since decided it was better not to meet with the alchemist until it was time for them to part ways with the city, that way no one could connect the powder to the older man. Instead, Yeng Feng had decided on a time which he would go out to enjoy a drink of serpent's fire in the company of new found friends. While he was out, he left the vials underneath his pillow. When he returned to the cottage, he would find gold coins where his concoctions had once resided. When he had realized that the powder was in such high demand to his benefactor, he had decided instead of buying the herbs in bulk, he would grow most in secret. Within a month, with the supply of his own qi, his own garden out in the forest began to thrive, and he was able to pocket five gold per night.

With such gains, Yeng Feng had already decided that he would fix up his cottage to be an appropriate home. He no longer felt the need to live within the city walls, such a place would only seek to kick him out once more. Instead, he felt it was right to set up his own true home where he already resided.

As Yeng Feng began planning his new home, Hong Zhao had other plans with the silent whisper powder. Over the last half year, he had planted seeds of rebellion when he rid the city of Wei Rong. He knew such an action would create a power vacuum. If he made it seem like the second most powerful man in the city had just left, many would feel he didn't have the stomach for the job. When this happened, it created factions which wanted to fill the hole Wei Rong's disappearance created. Many families rose up in opposition to the Zheng Guo. More talks in the taverns and shops spoke up an uprising.

While these talks happened, small shadows hid in the corner, observing the most boastful of men. It was one night such as this as a tiny rodent's beady eyes observed a younger man who toasted to his friends. "The City Lord has become drunk with the favor of the honorable Li Xiao! It has been ten years since Zheng Guo was sent here, and in all that time, not once has his benefactor sent word to him. Not once has Li Xiao shown favor to this man. Who is to say that he would even be mad if someone else took the mantle from him?" The man smiled as he stood at the table with a mug in his hand.

"Too right, Zhan Jia!" One of the men at the table raised his mug. "The Zhan family has been here just as long as the Zhu family. Though Li Xiao has placed them in servitude, he did not do the same for the other families. Who is to say that the supreme ruler would mind if another stepped in the place of his man?"

The man named Zhan Jia smiled as he raised his mug in a toast. It was true that he was one of the esteemed families who founded Yuan City. It had been his grandfather as well as Zhu family, Yi family, Jia and Xian families that had set the first homes within the city. Their families worked side by side for generations under the Zhu family. Everyone had idolized Zhu Bai for his many contributions to the building of Yuan City. He also was a very kind and charismatic man. All of the families flocked to him as if he were their savior.

But then Zhu Bai had become too greedy. He wished for Yuan City to be able to raise its own strength, instead of bending to Li Xiao. When this happened, it drew the attention of the man himself. All remembered the day eleven years ago that the old city lord's head was placed on a pike outside his own estate. They remembered the message that one symbol gave them. Which was what Zhan Jia told his friends. "The message was to remember the strength we are given, and to not be greedy with our lifespan. But it did not mean that we cannot find strength in other ways. So long as we support Li Xiao through our dedications to him, why can we not also support him with a fit ruler of this city?" He smiled as his friends cheered his name.

As the party continued and all eyes were on Zhan Jia, no one noticed a faint, nearly invisible trickle of dust which landed within his mug or the shadow which seemed to flow through the tavern, instead one could only feel as if the light flickered for a moment before all returned to normal. If someone blinked, they would never have noticed anything different.

"To Zhan Jia!" His friends cheered as they raised their mugs, and then drained them. Merriment replaced cheers as men began to sing drunkenly. Some were ballets of the old city lord, some were to Li Xiao and others were making new ones which had their friend within them.

Zhan Jia chuckled lightly as he looked over his friends. One could not ask for a better group within the whole of Yuan City. These men went to each corner of the city to announce a name they found to be worthy of city lord. Each one went without a single request to them, instead they went out of their own beliefs. He raised his own mug and with a smile, took a sip.

Cheers rang throughout the night as Zhan Jia's men continued their party. On that night, it would be said that they partied long after their man fell asleep with his arms folded on the table, supporting his head. They would also say that he had only had a sip of alcohol the entire night. But what words were spoken the most was of the instant death the apothecary had announced. He had said the moment Zhan Jia's lips touched the rim of the mug, he had already died.