Long could here Radcliffe huffing behind him. He was tired after their battle with the dragon. So was Long, but he had excellent stamina, so he could keep going for a while. That was why Long was in the lead now, because he had overtaken Radcliffe, and the young man had been too tired to do anything about it.

Long gulped in a breath of fresh air, and gagged at once. He had forgotten that his clothes were full of blood from the dragon, and so were Radcliffe's. It made for a rather repugnant smell. He hoped and prayed that he could find somewhere to wash his clothes, and himself soon, or else he would loose his sense of smell forever, thanks to the blood.

"Long" said Radcliffe from behind him. "Let's set up camp here. It's getting dark."

"Sure, why not?" said Long.

He took off his pack that he had been carrying, and Radcliffe did the same with his. They took out sleeping bags, and set them up under a tree. Long got to work starting a fire, and Radcliffe walked out into the woods to find some diner.

By the time Long got the fire going, Radcliffe came back with a deer carcass over his shoulders. Long smiled at this, and Radcliffe dropped the beats down beside Long. He then carved it up into slices, and gave them to Long, who cooked them. After about thirty minutes the two men were feasting away on deer meat, happily.

"God" said Long. "I'd forgotten how good fresh meat tasted like."

"Me, too" said Radcliffe in between bites. "I ate this all the time during my travels, but I've been too busy to eat much lately."

Long nodded, and ripped off a chunk of meat and chewed it down. He loved food, and he hadn't eaten this much in a while. He swallowed the rest of his slice, and reached for another. Radcliffe reached over and stopped him, though.

"Don't eat anymore" he said. "This is for breakfast and lunch tomorrow, as well."

Long nodded and pulled his hand back, reluctantly. He crawled over to his sleeping bag, and moved it closer to the fire. He slid into it, and closed his eyes.

"Then I'm going to hit the hay" Long said to Radcliffe.

"Sure" said Radcliffe. "I'll wake you in a few hours to take next watch."

Long nodded, then he drifted off to dream land.

Long stood in a blank space. It was all white. There was no one else but he. He turned back and forth, but could not see anything but white.

"Hello, Long" said a voice from behind him.

Long turned and saw Lyonel Kingsley standing there behind him. Long shook off his surprise, and went into his combat stance.

"You misunderstand me, Long" said Lyonel, holding his hands up. "I don't want to fight you, I just want to talk. And so does he."

Lyonel motioned to a man sitting at a table. On the table was a chess board. The man motioned to Long to come and sit down. Long did, and the man looked right into Long's eyes.

"Do you play chess?" he asked.

"No" said Long shaking his head. "I don't have the patience for it."

"Pity" said the man, and the chess board disappeared. "It is a game for geniuses, unlike yourself."

Long's face turned red with rage, and he slammed his fist through the table. He then struck out to the man with his other hand, and it was caught effortlessly.

"Trust me," said the man. "You really don't want to do that."

Long pulled his fist back, and was amazed that anyone could stop one of his punches so easily. Then the table suddenly reappeared, and the man crossed his arms on it. Long looked at the way he held himself, and the way Lyonel was standing there with his head bowed, and Long came to one conclusion.

"Sai" he said.

The man nodded, and smiled.

"You may not be to bright" said Sai. "But your insight serves you well."

Long just looked at him blankly, and tried, vainly, to make out what was happening. He was in a blank space, sitting at a table with a man who wanted to, and could, kill him. Standing beside the table was a man who, also, wanted to, and maybe could, kill him, as well.

"I made Lyonel bring you here for one reason" said Sai. "Not to kill you, but to talk to you. To me, you are insignificant, and worthless, but you intrigue me. I want to know why we need to fight."

"I don't necessarily want to fight you" said Long. "At least not at the beginning, but now you leave me no choice. You are ruthless, cold, and devious. You abduct children to train them to become killers like yourself. You killed a friend of mine, and you paralysed another. You want my apprentice for your own, but I won't let you. I swear, I don't know if I can stop you, but I do know that I will protect her."

"Ah, yes" said Sai. "Young Wakaba. She will be a great addition to our order. That fool Genshu may have saved her once, but he won't do it again. We'll kill him, and then that will be that. And don't think we don't know about you and Radcliffe. That worm should have been disposed of years ago, but someone failed, and he is being punished right away."

Long smiled at that. He knew Radcliffe would be a bit mad at not being able to kill Ashton himself, but this would please him anyway. He turned his attention back to Sai.

"We want you to join us" said Sai. "Plain and simple. We'll pardon your actions against Jeju, and will leave Wakaba alone, if you do one thing for us."

"I'm listening. . ." said Long, enticed by the offer of Wakaba's safety.

"Kill Radcliffe" said Sai.

Long almost fell off of his chair. He stared at Sai, and thought to himself for a few seconds. On one hand, they wouldn't be after him anymore, and Wakaba would be safe. But on the other, Radliffe would be dead. He couldn't do that. His honor forbade it.

"Go to hell" said Long. "I can't betray a friend. Never. And if you had any honor at all, you would know that I couldn't do that, and you wouldn't have made that offer. I'd rather fight all of your men then throw away my honor."

Sai looked blankly at Long. He looked over toward Lyonel, who nodded, and walked away. Sai then turned back to Long.

"Really now?" said Sai. "I have honor. I don't leave my apprentices by themselves to fend for themselves alone."

"At least I don't kill my own apprentices" said Long.

"If they are weak, then my honor demands that I put them out of their misery" said Sai. "I would never leave them to fend for themselves, all alone on the other hand."

"It's no different" said Long.

"Exactly" said Sai. "We have the same honor. That's why we would make a good team. The war between Highland and Jowston will decimate them both. Then we will be their to feast on their remains. We will rise through the chaos. We will be the light to all of the darkness, and you can't stop that."

"Maybe I can't by myself, but there are others" said Long. "Genshu, Radcliffe, and myself will do it together."

"I've already spoken to Genshu" said Sai. "Our conversation probably discouraged him form continuing the fight. And if not. . . Well, he will be dealt with. But this is your last chance for redemption in our eyes. Take it!"

"Never!" yelled Long.

"Then so be it" said Sai. "You've resigned yourself to your own fate. You won't win. The Temple will not be defeated. You're as good as dead."

Sai got up, and walked away. He stopped along the way to look backwards at Long.

"If it means anything, I respect your strength, and hope you die in honor" he said.

Then he disappeared from sight, leaving Long alone at the table. He sat there for a bit in the silence, then he got up to leave, but standing there was Lyonel.

"You should have excepted the offer" he said. "Now I will have no remorse when I get my revenge for Jeju and Tyg. Try to survive, Long. I want to kill you myself."

Lyonel disappeared, and Long awoke from his sleep. A battle was waging all around him. Radcliffe was fighting off six men in silver robes. They were all armed and were attacking him relentlessly.

Long slid out of his sleeping bag just as a sword came ripping through it. He rolled, and came up with his fists outstretched. He knocked one of the men down, and jumped off. He then performed a perfect back-flip, and landed in front of another. He was armed with a staff, and Long had to react quickly to catch it. He pulled it out of the man's hands, twirled it around, and brought it down on the man's head. He heard a loud crack, and he knew that he had broken the man's neck.

Long turned, and swung the staff down hard on the back of another man. The man slumped to the ground without a sound. He looked around for more opponents, and saw five more men coming from the forest. He charged at them head on, and clothes-lined them with the staff. They all went flying onto the ground. He turned back to see Radcliffe in a heated battle with two swordsmen. Long ran over to help, and one of the swords man broke off his fight with Radcliffe to attack Long.

Long swung the staff, but the man blocked it effortlessly. The man attacked Long a few times, but Long warded off each one. Long kicked out at the man, but he jumped over Long's foot, and brought his sword down on Long's staff. The staff sliced into two pieces!

Long ran off, and the man chased him. Long ran straight at a tree, and when he reached it, he ran up it a step, and flipped backward over the man. He kicked out, and connected with the back of the man's head. The man fell, and Long seized this opportunity to kick the sword out of the man's grasp.

"Killer rune. . . SHOW ME YOUR POWER!" he yelled.

The rune energized Long's fist, and he brought it down on the man. His fist went right through the man's chest, and hit the cold, hard ground. Long pulled his fist out, and wiped it off on his pants. He looked over to Radcliffe, and saw the young man standing with his sword in his hand breathing heavily. His opponent lay on the ground, cleaved in two at the waist.

"Thanks" said Radcliffe.

"No" said Long. "Thank you. If you hadn't held them off while I was out, we'd both be dead."

"Yeah, well speaking of which" said Radcliffe. "What was going on? These guys appeared, but didn't attack. Then they suddenly struck without warning. What happened in your dream?"

"I had a chat with Sai and Lyonel" said Long. "They offered me a job, and I declined. I guess I got them pretty mad, so they decided to kill us."

Radcliffe nodded in understanding, then looked up at the sky.

"Those two will be difficult to deal with from now on" he said. "We'll need to use extreme caution."

Long nodded, and layed back down into his sleeping bag.

"What do you think your doing?" asked Radcliffe.

"Going to sleep" said Long.

"No way, buddy" said Radcliffe. "It's your turn to keep watch. Get out of there, and over here."

Radcliffe walked over to his sleeping bag, and slithered his way in. He fluffed up his pillow, and fell asleep. Long, on the other hand. Got out of his wrecked bag, and walked over to the other side of the fire. He sat on the large rock there, and scanned the area.

"I must be insane" he said to himself.

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"Long Chan-Chan" and "Suikoden 2" are (C) Konami This chapter was posted on May 27, 2000