The Three Maidens of the Southern Gold Pagoda (book 2) Part Three

Story by fiddlesticks

THE THREE MAIDENS OF THE SOUTHERN GOLD PAGODA

BOOK TWO

By some asshole named "Fiddlesticks"

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: this is a work of fiction. Any similarity between anyone or anything alive or dead, destroyed or standing is a total coincidence.

This is Part Three of Three of Book Two, otherwise known as "the one with futa in it." This is the end of Book Two, and the end of much of the adventures of the Three Maidens for quite some time, as my personal life has become quite complex (I'm graduating!!!). However, I've already got a skeletal outline of Book Three completed so it's not a lost cause. That being said, I first posted Book 1 in February of 2007 so clearly my concept of "quite some time" differs from other people's.

Part One can be found HERE, and Part Two can be found HERE, in case it disappears...

Please enjoy...

***** PART THREE: SWEET, JOYOUS REVENGE *****

The Emperor's palace was in the center of the Yamoto providence in Japan. That also meant it was in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the entire country. For the three sisters, disguising themselves as Japanese wasn't hard, it just required some clothes cut in the local look and some new hairstyles, all very subdued compared to what they were used to. Information was key, and the lips of city denizens were easy to loosen up after a few bottles of sake. The rumors of the three "demon Ninjas" living in the Emperor's dungeons were hard to unearth. Nobody outside the palace knew of them, but those inside were all aware of the Emperor's worst-kept secret: he wanted to get rid of them, but was duty-bound to employ them. Xi-Lan was able to fish that last bit out, as well as which building they were in, from one of the palace Samurai after a particularly convincing blow-job. Evidently, the Ninja's parents were particularly effective and loyal assassins that were instrumental in helping the current Emperor's father secure the throne. Such a debt wasn't easy to pay back.

And so, only one month after their battle in the Southern Gold Pagoda, the three Maidens stood, shrouded in darkness, beneath a tree in the middle of a garden, in the middle of the Japanese Emperor's palace, in the middle of Japan, thousands of miles away from home.

They didn't wear black. Mei-Zhu hated black. Only idiots wore black. No shadow was actually black, it was just dark; so anyone who wore black stuck out like a sore thumb. Mei-Zhu preferred dark browns and greens. She bought the materials herself and sewed their outfits overnight. They blended in. And so even as they bathed in the rays of the bright, full moon, they were practically invisible. The palace guards looked right over and through them.

Yue-Fang was nervous. She'd turned homesick after only a week. "Do we have to do this?" she whispered to her oldest sister. "They didn't actually hurt anybody, did they?"

"They could've!" Xi-Lan hissed back. "What if Dad had been home? Mei-Zhu's Ninja was looking for him, what if he'd caught Ba by surprise?"

Yue-Fang looked down and watched the tip of her slipper dig around in the grass. She said nothing.

There was nothing to say. They were doing what they had to do, even if they were so far out on a limb that they couldn't even see the tree anymore. They'd killed before, but something about this seemed different. There was no joy in this murder.

"We don't have to kill them," Mei-Zhu whispered to them both as she stared up at the wall in front of them. "We just have to send the Emperor a message. But if that means killing, then be prepared."

The Emperor's palace was very secure. For any enemy to break in would've been tough, but the palace's designers didn't account for the possibility that their enemies could fly as high as Mei-Zhu. She'd had to hold her two sister's hands to help them up, but the effort was marginal.

Eight stories up, a large window, plain but functional, was always left open to help air circulation, and through it Mei-Zhu floated, her younger sisters in tow. Down eight flights of steps they descended, until wood floors and walls turned to stone. Further still they walked until they eventually met with a huge, wrought iron door that sealed off the dungeons from the rest of the building.

Mei-Zhu tried the latch. Locked, it refused to budge, and there was no visible keyhole. Rolling back the sleeve of her robe, she felt along the surface of the reinforced iron door until, at last, she placed her palm flat against the door, just above the latch. Setting her feet, she reached back and slapped the door with a resounding boom, so hard she left a deep palm print in the metal. This time, the latch moved, and the three women entered.

"So much for stealth,"

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