Snippet #2584111

The soldiers were still tired and somewhat disorganized from the fighting by the time they started chasing Jin - and he thanked his lucky star for that, as the shouting and the spear tips eventually fell behind, and he thought for a moment that he was about to get away. But he was not that lucky, as a gout of flame suddenly made clear. Jin spun around, ready to clear a ring around himself as the flames caught on to the forest floor - only to find the flames died out before the touched the floor, nowhere near so recklessly thrown as he would have assumed. Looking over his shoulder, he found himself surrounded before he had a chance to try to run. Carefully moving to face his attackers, he swore inwardly and assumed a ready stance. That's what you get for showing yourself.

The eel hounds trampled the undergrowth as they circled him, leaving no useful openings. Jin's eyes darted from one soldier to the next and found - at a glance, at least - no one he knew. That was probably a good thing. For a moment he considered lying, telling them that he was a forward scout or spy, but he was a terrible liar and knew it. He turned back and forth, switching stances in indecision as he stared down the soldiers. Then they were ordered to take him, and Jin's fuse finally burned down. Spinning around again, he shot a short-lived circle of fire between him and the approaching scouts, singing speartips and threatening eyebrows, and as the clearing they caught him in was lit up by the flame, he spotted some tell-tale rank insignia. Jin raised his hands, and bright jets of fire sprouted from his closed fists as he faced the officer, glancing left and right to make sure he wouldn't catch a spear in the back while he talked.

"Captain," he said, "you'll forgive me if I don't bow, but I'm not a member of the army. All I've done is trek peacefully through these woods." He glanced over at the approaching mass of soldiers from the camp, "and maybe stop to help a fallen countryman on the way." Getting out from under dozens of soldiers surrounding him would be virtually impossible - especially as he'd rather not kill any of them. Dragging this out was the worst possible thing he could do. "There really is no call for this."