House of Chen

Zŭmò sat at her feet whilst she steadied herself on the only chair left whole in the entire place. Looking around, it was clear these men, who had come, had done so with the clear intention of destruction, robbery and death. There was an almost military precision in how every item had been broken to the point it could not be repaired, and it was done with the minimum of effort. The only good thing was, they hadn't set fire to the place as well. Zŭmò looked at her, a shadow of a once proud and caring house keeper. She had helped bring up two very boisterous children whilst juggling the running of a large estate.  She was my aunt, my mother's sister. Ma and Pa had taken her into our family once they had settled and begun to make enough money to support others. They employed local people in the fields of flowers, the drying sheds and the distillation rooms, whilst Auntie was left, solely in charge of the house, and for the most part, us. Ma was too busy to do it herself; she was a...

 Zŭmò almost ran the final steps.  Peonie Manor came into view.... but it wasn't as he expected. There were no people tending the gardens, no overpowering smells of flower petals being brewed into perfume, no laughter, no children. Nothing, just a void which echoed the sounds of time past.  He looked around, his mind racing, 'My wife! My children! Mother', then he called out, "Mai Mai! Mai Mai, where are you? Mother?" He sank to the ground, his heart breaking. Tears of rage and sadness stung in his eyes and fell onto the ground as he screamed with rage, loss, anger, disbelief, pain, yes, pain, a pain in the heart he thought, would rip him in half. "Search the place! Anyone alive, bring them to me immediately!" "Sir." Instantly, the men separated and combed the grounds, the house, the fields around. They managed to find one old lady hidden in a woodshed. She was scared and tried hard to squirm her way out of their grasp. "I've got nothi...

Two, Three and Five remained quiet, slowly approaching the source of the call. As they approached, Two gave a recognition call, "friend?". Quiet, and unrecognisable, unless you were a Blade. A reply came back, "friend". The exchange was repeated, it appeared genuine. As Two approached, he recognised the stance, the holding of the blade, the footwear. It was a fellow Blade. "Sir. Blade stands before." Two called confidently. "Blade accepted" Within moments, Two, Three and Five were reunited with Bǎo and his group. "So how many are you?" Two asked.  "We've a mixture, but there's twenty three in total. What about you? Are you that pride of eight?" Two nodded, "we came down to find and support the two ladies. They found us!" Two laughed. 'When has anyone found them without them wanting to be found?' Bǎo's heart skipped a beat. " So they're with you? Safe?" Two nodded, "we rescued a ...

 Băo hadn 't anticipated coming across another group so quickly. He called again just to be sure and yes, it was a Blade that answered. Both groups made their way towards each other, Wolfie following on behind, watching. He dropped down and saw another group of men coming towards him. His hackles went up, until he sniffed the air. An unmistakable likeness to his adopted alpha. He sniffed again but stayed still.   "Reveal yourselves."  Băo's commanding voice reverberated through the undergrowth. Three men stood up and took the respectful pose. "Sir." Băo shook his head, "I didn't expect you at all, I would have thought you would be on the other side of the water. What brings you over here?" It was Two who answered. " A long story, Sir but the gist of it is we have twenty women, two of which are children, which were rescued from a group of traffickers. We have Alpha and Sister with us too. We met up with them by chance. With so many unskille...