Catching Shadows

Chapter Two: No Way Out

A/N: Here's Chapter Two, enjoy, folks! Reviews are welcome!

Chapter Two

It was gone.

Liang had first noticed the pendant was missing after he left the alley. Remembering he had put it around his neck for safekeeping, he had reached up to touch it, only to discover it was gone.

Now, as he walked through the darkened streets, he cursed himself for ever getting involved in that fight. Such things were common in Bianjing's back streets, and Liang usually ignored them, but at the sight of the young girl in the grasp of that thug, something inside him had snapped, and he had stepped in. Now he would have to face the consequences.

Several minutes later, Liang reached the edge of the city, and headed towards a large, lantern-lit building that stood by itself on the outskirts of Bianjing. Walking up to the gates, he knocked, and a while later they swung open noiselessly.

Stepping past the black-clad servant who bowed respectfully, Liang headed for his room, hoping to change his clothes and get some rest, but it was not to be. As he reached his room, he saw a familiar figure lounging against the threshold, arms folded.

"You're late."

Yanmei ran a critical eye over her one-time friend's figure. Something must have happened on his mission; his clothes were dishevelled and spotted with an unmistakable scarlet hue, and the way his eyes wouldn't meet hers indicated that he was hiding something. "What happened?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Nothing." Liang passed her and walked towards the basin of water that had been set out on an oak table near the door. Dipping his hands into the basin, he ran them over his face, before drying both with a towel next to the bowl. Straightening, he turned to her. "What do you want, Yanmei?"

His curt tone told her that he was in no mood for games, so she got straight to the point. "Dragon Lord wants to see you."

Liang's jaw tightened fractionally, but he nodded. "Alright. I need to change first."

Yanmei recognised the dismissal, and with a barely perceptible smirk, glided out of the room and slid the panel shut. Once she was outside, she leaned against the wall, a sly smile settling on her face. Liang wasn't looking forward to this meeting, she could tell. Something must have gone wrong. The quiet young man managed to fool everyone else, but not her. She had known him too long.

Nobody knew exactly where Liang came from. Yanmei's father had found him throwing knives for money in the city market one day and, impressed by the boy's skill, had taken him home. The only thing Liang revealed about his past was that his parents had been killed in a fire when he was five, and he couldn't remember their names. For the next few years, Liang had stayed with Yanmei and her family, and after he reached his tenth year, he had begun training for the life he was going to lead: as an assassin.

The Red Dragon assassins were well-known in Bianjing folklore, but no one had ever actually seen one of them and lived to tell about it. The Emperor had put warrants up for the arrest of any one of the assassins, but so far they had all managed to evade his grasp. No one suspected the old Buddhist temple at the edge of the city served as their headquarters, but there were plenty of legends about the faceless murderers who could scale walls without using ropes and kill with just a swish of their swords.

It was into this society that Liang and Yanmei had come. Yanmei's father had been an assassin, and after his death, she and Liang followed in his footsteps. Yanmei was the only woman in the Red Dragon gang, but she had earned everyone's respect with her deadly archer's aim and the lethal poisons she used to debilitate her enemies. Liang's considerable talent with a knife and his sharp eyes had won him some grudging respect, but in spite of everything, he was viewed as an outsider by the other assassins, not just because of his unknown background, but also because his secretive, quiet nature made them rather uneasy. They never knew what he was going to do next.