Does It Matter

8

  Wu Xie had been wandering for a while now, hardly anything seemed to be happening in these halls of dirt, but that was fine, it gave space for him to think..... About why nothing was happening.

  He briefly wondered about the stranger in the group, who continued to follow him from a distance as he wandered.

Is he a spy? If so then I should lose him quickly. But he doesn't seem to have any I'll intentions from what I've seen thus far.

The debate in his mind was still going strong when suddenly the he heard a skittering noise above his head, and he looked up just in time to see the first pebble fall before he dove away to escape the collapsing ceiling.

Damn something really has it out for me.

He waited for the rumbling sounds to cease before he cautiously raised his arms from covering his head, and began to push himself off the ground to continue his trek.

"What the fuck?" He muttered to himself as he hissed in pain upon shifting his leg. He gingerly sat up and saw that it was bent a little strange,

Ah great, it's broken, now what?

Just as he was wondering what he should do, he heard the noise of light footsteps rounding the corner

Ah perfect, of course they would show up now.... But wait, none of my uncles men are that light-footed, except...

Zhang Qiling pov

Wu Xie had long since vanished from sight, but he was following the ever so faint sound of his footsteps, almost inaudible now.

This  Wu Xie  seems dangerous, he's definitely smarter than he lets on. It's odd how his uncle underestimates him.

All of a sudden he heard the sound of crashing rocks up ahead, along with a slightly different dull thud. When it finally stopped he heard shuffling, and a hiss of

"What the fuck?"

  Wu Xie.

He dashed forward and rounded the corner just in time to see the younger man quickly draw out his knife from the back of his belt,

Since when did he have that?

And hold it defensively in front of himself. Upon further observation, he could see that the teenagers leg was oddly twisted just below the knee, definitely broken. It was surprising he had the presence of mind to not only hear him coming but also move to defend himself, when most would have been screaming over the pain of the broken limb.

"Ah, it's just you." He stated, but didn't lower the blade in his hand, still keeping up a wary defense.

Qiling nodded slightly, choosing not to question the knife pointed at him, and moved forward to check his injuries, only to have a much smaller knife thrown right at his feet, impaling the ground.

He stopped and looked up, expression an odd combination of confused, annoyed, and yet still somehow blank.

"Just stay back." Wu Xie glared at him until he was certain he was staying where he was for the moment, before slowly scooting a few places to the wall, using it as support to slowly push himself up to a somewhat standing position, sweating with the effort.

Once that was done, he slowly raised the knife again to point at the possible attacker.

"What do you want?" He glared suspiciously at him, but the intimidating effect was ruined by the way you could see pain radiating from his shaking body and eyes.

"What?" Qiling asked, having come close to zoning out on the sight.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Wu Xie repeated  in a shaky yell, then paused as he remembered that his uncle was still down here with them and would soon find him if he was too loud.

"My uncle hired you, why? I'm assuming you were told to keep an eye on me, he usually has someone to do that, since he doesn't want his bait to actually die. Probably anyway." He rolled his eyes at his own words, looking pissed off by whatever was going on in his mind. "But that would normally be Pan Zi, so why are you here? Unless he actually does want me dead, and he hired you to do the deed." At this he glanced warily at the sword hanging on Qilings back. "But if that's all it is, he could just abandon me here, or if he thought that I could still find a way back then he could toss me into the next den... of coffins.... and close.... the door." He finally seemed to run out of breath, ceasing his monologue for the moment in favor of panting for air, due probably to both his leg and his long-winded dialogue.

Finally he seemed to almost catch his breath, and continued."In short, I don't trust you. So I'm asking what your goal is. If it's to kill me," he smirked a little." Well then now's the perfect chance.... But I can't promise I won't fight back."

Qiling just stared, wondering what it would take to get this man to believe his explanation that he was in fact supposed to keep an eye on him originally, but now was just curious, after watching him for a while.

Finally, he opened his mouth, then closed it, then tried again.
 
    "I was hired to watch you." Wu Xie could be seen to let out a light sigh at the admittance. "But also as protection."

"Protection?"

"Mn, I was expected to assist them with situations like what you just put them in."

Wu Xie looked a little amused at this."Expected to? So you're saying you didn't?"

Qiling felt that he had said enough for now, at least Wu Xie had let his guard down a little now.

Wu Xie seemed to get that he wouldn't say anymore, and leaned a little more heavily on the wall as he allowed some of the fight to drain from his body.

He let loose a small chuckle. "Ah, I wonder what his face looked like when he saw that beast." He shook his head, all amusement disappeared as he suddenly pushed himself off the wall just in time to avoid a seemingly animated branch  that attempted to impale him through the wall.

"Shit!"