A/N: Back again! I'll bet you didn't expect me to be back so soon! MWAHAHAHA! PITIFUL MORTALS! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY POWER!

Ahem.

Well, I've rewritten chapter seven, as the first rendition was horrid. To those who I showed the original version: is this one good?

No review responses this time, so straight onto the glorious (maybe) work of Stone Tablet: Chapter 7!

Chapter 7: My Foe, The Dishes

Kotan was a mercenary famous for both his skill with the dagger and the way he used it. Instead of taking the way of an assassin, as most users of such weapons, he fought directly with his foe. Or, more to the point, the foe of his employer. Kotan never kept the same employer long enough to begin to gain any personal grudges. Once he was given a better offer, he chose to discreetly dispose of his former employers. He found that this decreased the number of prospective buyers, but the ones remaining were much more interesting—and more desperate, which meant higher pay. The only ones left, other than those who hadn't heard of the unfortunate fates of other employers, were those confident that they could keep themselves safe. That meant that, being worthy opponents themselves, their own opponents were just as strong or even stronger. Kotan had been in some tough battles due to this, but just because he chose to meet his foes face-to-face didn't mean he couldn't resort to underhanded tactics.

He was sitting in a large chamber of the cave that he called his home when he noticed a long shadow come from the door. He had placed lamps in the right positions to make any who entered cast a shadow through the doorway. He looked up.

His dark haired guest was unwary. He would have to be taught fear.

"Don't move." Kotan's low voice was a little raspy and cold as ice.

The intruder froze. In a move that appeared almost casual, Kotan threw a dagger, aiming to miss. It sliced a shallow cut in the man's cheek before hitting the wooden wall set up to muffle the sound of the dagger hitting it.

"Thank you," Kotan said quietly. He offered no explanation for his actions.

The man, now wary, placed a hand on his sword inside his cloak. A dagger sliced through the cloak and embedded itself into the sheath before he even noticed Kotan move.

"None of that," Kotan informed him. "State your business."

"I am the Bringer of Truth," the man declared in a pompous air diminished by the slight quiver in his voice. "My master wishes to employ you. We will pay you well."

Kotan looked unimpressed. "Let's see what you've got."

The Bringer of Truth tossed a large bag of coins onto the floor.

Kotan waggled his fingers. "If that was all your master was offering, then you wouldn't have placed it all on the floor right away. Make this worth my while."

The man seemed affronted. "My master will not give terms for any bartering!" he said indignantly.

A dagger appeared, as if by magic, in each hand. "Let's be reasonable," Kotan said calmly and coldly. "These are simply negotiations. Here are my own terms: no negotiations, no returning messenger."

This had the desired effect. Another purse of the same size landed on the floor. "Negotiations" continued until four identically sized purses lay piled on the floor.

At this point, he felt the time was right to begin examining the contents. Although outwardly, his expression didn't change a bit, inside, he was impressed. This "master" must either be incredibly rich or was planning on disposing of him afterwards. Either way, the result would be the same for this employer as was his last employer going to have. . . .

"Acceptable. I will need just a few days in order to settle my affairs with my former employer," he said emotionlessly.

His employer's messenger shivered. Good. He knew what he meant. They had done research. Smart of them.

"Who is my target?" Kotan asked.

The man drew himself up importantly.

"Your opponent," the Bringer of Truth told him, "is Shi Maido."

Shi Maido, relentless assassin and one of the few without Psynergy who ever attained fame, stood in front of his travelling companion. Both faces were serious as Shi Maido began to speak.

"We are about to face a foe from which few can escape unchanged. The mere mention of it sends even warriors to flight." Shi Maido raised his long, thin weapon high. "But we are honour-bound to do it. We have taken our time with the pleasures that it so invitingly offered and we must reap what we have sown. If we do not return, at least the world will be left with the knowledge that there are two in this world who will stand in the face of the horror and do what is right despite the trials. Are you ready?"

The five-year-old he was addressing looked up at him. "You're beginning to worry me, mister," she said, holding her own scrub brush. "You do realize you're talking about doing the dishes?"

"Yes!" Shi Maido said, using his scrub brush to gesture at the dirty bowls, spoons, and pot. "For as we have eaten, so must we wash up! It is a far, far better thing than I have ever done, but despite the dangers. . . ."

"You're just weird, mister."

"And, please, stop calling me that."

The girl opened her mouth.

"Don't call me sir, either!" Shi Maido insisted quickly.

She closed her mouth and thought for a moment. "Very well, old man."

Shi Maido placed his head in his hands. "Is 'Shi Maido' so hard?" he sobbed exaggeratedly.

"Yes, old man."

Shi Maido shook his head. "Just call me mister, little one."

"Fine, mister little one," she said innocently.

Shi Maido glared at her. "You're just being facetious, aren't you?"

"Yes, mister," she replied.

Shi Maido stopped in mid-sigh. "Wait a minute—what's a five-year-old doing knowing the word 'facetious', anyway?"

"It's a secret, mister."

He sighed and looked up. "Why does that seem to be a common thing for her to say?" he asked the sky, before his gaze returned to the small travelling companion. "Whatever you say, little one."

The girl frowned. "I say that you stop using 'little one' to refer to me, mister."

"Very well, tiny one," Shi Maido replied, grinning.

The girl sighed. "That's even worse, mister."

"I know. Ow!" Shi Maido clutched his leg where Toppu had hit him. "What do I call you, then?"

". . . Something else."

"What's your name, anyway?" Shi Maido asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell," she replied.

"Hmm . . . are you an Adept?" he asked.

"Yes," she began to recite, emotionless. "I am one of the Adepts under the influence of Jupiter, the spirit of the wind; thereby I can use my powers to bend nature's storms to my will and discover the secrets of the human mind. As well, those under Jupiter are blessed with higher intelligence and are therefore the guides of Weyard to greater prosperity. I will uphold my proud lineage by following the four pillars of truth, loyalty, strength, and honour; without these we are as the low who wander through evil devoid of the guidance of our birthright."

Shi Maido stared openly. "Where in the world did you learn that nonsense?" he asked.

"It's a-"

"I know, I know. 'It's a secret, mister,'" he said, resigned to his fate. "But we can't just leave you nameless. Let me think . . . Toppuu, perhaps?"

She looked suspicious. "That doesn't mean 'little one', does it?"

"No, although that would be a good idea," Shi Maido replied. "It's 'gust of wind' in the language that my people used to speak."

"That had better be right, mister, or else . . ." Toppuu said.

"Or else what?" Shi Maido asked.

"Or else I'll make you do the dishes at every inn that we pass," Toppuu warned.

"Yikes! You're evil when you want to be, Toppuu."

As the two began to wash the dishes, someone watched from the trees.

"My newest employers are idiots," Kotan muttered to himself. "They send I, the greatest of all mercenaries, to take down a single non-Adept? That messenger's sword must have been for show only if they needed me. I could hire a child to do this." He held up a hand that glimmered with knives. "Maybe I'll just finish him off right now." He leaned back and threw several daggers.

Shi Maido didn't notice them right away, but when he did, he pulled Toppuu with him down into the water. Most of the knives stuck into the bowls that Shi Maido threw upwards, while the last clattered on a rock on the other shore.

Toppuu returned to the surface, sputtering. Shi Maido returned to the bank, his elven sword out.

"As I thought," Kotan said, dropping from the tree. "You couldn't even notice me in the trees. Non-Adepts really are worthless."

Shi Maido's right eye twitched slightly, but he tried to remain cheerful. "Ah, we've a guest. I should have saved some of the lovely soup that I made. I can make more in a minute."

"You're not worth the time. Let's get going quickly." Kotan threw off the blue cloak he was wearing. His tall form was draped with sheathed daggers. He drew a couple, lazily.

Shi Maido initiated the battle, coming at Kotan from the right and swinging to the left. Kotan blocked with one knife and drove the other dagger towards Shi Maido. Shi Maido brought up an arm and blocked it with the short sword hidden in his sleeve. At the same time, Shi Maido attempted to kick at a vital and sensitive place in his opponent's anatomy, but Kotan's leg blocked the attempted strike. Shi Maido slid his arm along where he was guarding from the dagger and reached for his opponent's throat. Kotan left his dagger in Shi Maido's shoulder as he placed the now free arm in front of himself.

Shi Maido spun counter-clockwise, his sword still in his left hand. Kotan tried to attack, but the dagger was repelled by the dagger in Shi Maido's shoulder. Shi Maido grunted and continued to spin as the dagger in his shoulder was ripped out. Kotan drew another dagger and tried to block the path of Shi Maido's sword. Both bodies jarred at the impact and their weapons went flying.

Kotan raised his right hand and sent one of his daggers plunging towards Shi Maido's neck. However, he stumbled and missed as Shi Maido slammed the short sword he had drawn from his sleeve into Kotan's leg. Shi Maido gasped between his teeth as the dagger that was hanging from a chain around Kotan's neck scratched a fine line down the back of his head. He shook his left arm and let the short sword hidden there fall partly out of its sheath. He twisted his left arm around to strike behind his back, but Kotan kicked with both legs at Shi Maido's back. As Shi Maido was thrown forward, Kotan landed on his back and grimaced as he jolted his injured leg in the landing.

Shi Maido got back to his feet and began backing away to get his sword back. Kotan used the time to get up and pull the short sword from his wounded leg.

"Better than I thought," Kotan said, reaching behind his neck to unhook the chain that held one of the daggers like a necklace. While Shi Maido picked up his sword, Kotan moved his headband up, which had begun to slip in the confusion. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? Just like my master did. Before I killed him, that is."

"Come now, what's not to enjoy?" Shi Maido replied. "A wounded shoulder, nearly losing my life. . . ."

"I wasn't talking about the battle." Both men tensed in preparation. Shi Maido held his elven sword in his right hand and one of his short swords in his left. Kotan no longer had such a large number of daggers prepared; instead, he held only one that was also secured to his hand by the chain that was once around his neck.

Kotan literally blurred and disappeared. Shi Maido nearly took at step backwards but then began to look for his opponent.

"Even if your speed is great enough to seem to disappear, you won't be able to get past me," Shi Maido told him. "Your strategy could use a little work."

"It's not speed," Kotan said. Shi Maido followed the sound to some trees near where Kotan had been standing. "It's magic."

Shi Maido began to whirl. The second sentence had come from behind him. Behind him, Kotan had appeared. However, Kotan stumbled when landing on his right leg at the same time as Shi Maido began to move, causing his stab to miss any vital areas. Shi Maido thrust back where Kotan was with his short sword, but Kotan vanished again. Shi Maido unbalanced and landed on his behind as Kotan reappeared several metres away.

"A little memento from my master." Kotan ran a finger tenderly across its surface before briskly wiping off the blood with a cloth. "Even if your sword is magic, a Non-Adept could never use it to its full capacity. Of course, even at this level, the sword's probably more useful than any Non-Adept."

Shi Maido got up running, smiling casually. He attacked where Kotan was, but Kotan vanished again.

"An assassin's best friend, that's what this is," Kotan said, reappearing near the water's edge. "No speed can save you against this." He vanished again as Shi Maido slashed at him.

Shi Maido, started to turn, but kicked a bag and fell into a deeper part of the river with it. He came up again with his two swords in a defensive position.

"Very good defensive position in most cases," Kotan mentioned before disappearing. He reappeared behind Shi Maido in the river and shoved his knife into Shi Maido's back. "But your back is-or rather was-wide-"

Shi Maido's short sword cut through Kotan's arm and pinned him to the opposite shore.

"It was. I think I lost a few pasteries," Shi Maido commented, driving his other sword through Kotan's other arm. Almost lazily, he pulled out the bag that had fallen into the river out from the back of his shirt. A bun slipped out through the hole in the bag and landed in the river. "Toppu, turn away."

"You're going to kill him, aren't you, mister?" Toppu asked, turning obediently.

Shi Maido sighed loudly. "This would all be so much easier if you were a normal five-year-old," Shi Maido said, arms raised in a half-shrug and looking around as if for divine aid.

He looked down at Kotan. He didn't notice Kotan's hand stretching towards the chain of the dagger. He was too occupied with Kotan's face.

"I'm sure that this is all a misunderstanding," Shi Maido said, his casual appearance seeming to be a little more fixed than usual. "You're an Adept. Of course someone who was sinful enough to be born without the touch of Fate couldn't beat a noble one as yourself." Shi Maido took another sword out from inside his clothing. Drawing it, he commented, "Fate would protect one of his chosen, now, wouldn't he? I'm sure this will all be resolved in the manner it's supposed to be, by Fate's will. Of course, Fate may be a little late. After all, there are so many of his chosen in the world now. He must be awfully busy."

Kotan stared with open hatred. His muscles were all clenched and his hands began to fist. "Don't talk like that. You're enjoying it, aren't you? The power over another living creature-just like my master did when he killed my-"

"I'm sure you have a lovely sob story prepared, but I'm afraid we're out of time," Shi Maido said cheerily. He brought the sword close. "Bu-bye."

"See you soon," Kotan replied, trying to match Shi Maido's relaxed manner. His fingers closed around the chain and pulled. The dagger flew across the small gap and landed in his hand. Shi Maido, realizing this too late, tried to kill his prone enemy, but Kotan blurred and vanished, leaving the swords that pinned him behind.

Shi Maido let a growl escape for a second before he straightened and began to collect his swords. "You can look now, Toppuu."

Toppuu turned towards him. She eyed the scene critically for a moment. "Letting him get away was sloppy, mister," she told him.

Shi Maido looked back at her and nearly dropped one of his swords. "Sometimes, I wonder if you're not someone older disguised as a little kid."

"I'm not little, mister! I'm five!"

"Then again, sometimes you react just like you're supposed to." He sighed. "I just wish that was more often." He began to gather his stuff up. "I think I'm going to have to see a healer soon," he commented as he took out some cloths from a bag and began to tie them on crookedly. Looking at his bloody shirt, he added, "And I'm going to have to do the laundry again. I just wish people had the courtesy to attack me when I'm wearing my red shirt."

Kotan dragged himself through the forest. He'd been able to dull the pain with an Aura spell, but he still had to get to a healer to stop the dripping blood. After he rested, he'd come back to kill that Non-Adept. That Shi Maido had been lucky all over the place. Next time, things would end differently now that he knew what he was up against. There was no way that an Adept of his calibre could lose to any Non-Adept.

"Failure," a child's voice said, interrupting his planning.

"What?"

"You failed. . . ." The child didn't even seem to be paying attention to what she was saying. "Failure is death."

"Hey, what in Chiron's name are you talking about?" Kotan said, glaring up towards the voice. "I just wasn't prepared. I'll take him on with all my strength and then there's nothing that he can do to avoid death."

"You failed. . . . You die."

Kotan stared. He almost thought that he was imagining things through the pain of his injuries. He'd never seen any wolves that were pure white, nor any that big. However, there it was, plain as day.

"Hey, is this some kind of joke? I can take on wolves any!"

Something slammed into his back. He tried to disappear, but he realized that he no longer held his dagger.

"You die . . ." the child said again. That was the last Kotan ever heard.

For those confused by something in Stone Tablet, you can e-mail me (not recommended, due to the long time between when I check my e-mail) or go to my livejournal (http : ww w.livejou rnal. com/ users/ yosan) (remove spaces). At any of my insane posts, just place any questions in the comments. I'll try to find and answer them. As for the moment, so long until chapter 8 (which also needs some tweaking)!

Preview of the next chapter:

Lugh was cut off as he was crushed from behind by what felt like a moving wall. By the time Bricriu's female supporters had finished filling up the section, only the tall Shi Maido was still visible, with the child travelling with him on his shoulders. He waded through the sea of hormonal girls, making his way to the next crowd. He stopped when he made it and looked back. After a few moments, Simon, Maura, Lugh, and Camellia crawled out.

"What's with that guy, anyway?" Camellia growled. "He's such a . . . he's a . . ."

"He's a jerk," Lugh offered.

"Thank you. He's such a jerk!" Camellia yelled.

Constructive criticism is always welcome!