"Where in the hell am I now!" Ryouga yelled as he came to a stop in
the middle of the courtyard. 'Ranma knew this would happen; why didn't
he stop me from wandering off.' "Ranma! This is all your fault!" he
screamed at the sky. 'Dammit, why does this always happen to...' His
thoughts were cut off by a large shadow that enveloped everything.
'This is not good.'
The source of the massive shadow then came into view. Four large
dragons, three red and one black, with human riders flew over the
castle. They flew about two hundred yards before turning around and
flying in formation back towards the castle, the black dragon in the
lead.
The warning sirens began to blare as the dragons flew over again. This
time, dropping lots of circular objects. Ryouga grabbed a guard who
was running to his post.
"What the hell is going on?" Ryouga asked looking upward. "What are
they dropping?"
"Dragon Scouts. They're dropping bombs, now will you let me go?" The
guard pulled from Ryouga's grasp and ran to his post, as the first of
the bombs made impact.
Ryouga hit the ground and covered his head. Most of the bombs fell on
guard towers and the city walls, leaving large holes in their wake. A
few managed to hit the castle itself, causing parts of the side walls
to fall.
As the explosions died down, Ryouga stood up and looked around.
Servants and guards alike were running all over the place. Ryouga
grabbed the nearest person's arm and followed them back into the
castle.
(-\*/-)
Ranma sighed, 'where the hell is he anyway. Come to think of it, where
am I? This place is huge.' "Ryouga!" He walked by a window as it
started to get dark outside. 'Wow sure is getting dark pretty fast.'
Ranma was about to walk on when he spotted Ryouga. He started to shout
but was cut off by a large explosion. He quickly grabbed onto the
window seal to keep his balance. 'What the heck is that?' He started
to jump the three stories to the ground, but another explosion, then a
scream stopped him.
'Was that...' "Akane!" Ranma ran down the hall in the direction of the
scream. He heard it again as he ran around a corner. He started to
open the door where it came from but found it locked. He shook the
door a few time futilely. He swore then stepped backwards and placed
his hands in front of him.
"Moko Takabishi!" he screamed as a ball of ki shot from his hand and
blew the door off its hinges. He dashed in to find the entire outer
wall of the room gone. He looked around for Akane unable to find her
until she shouted his name. He looked downward to find her hanging
from the floor by one arm, about to fall out of the hole that used to
be a wall.
"Akane!" He dropped to the floor and grabbed her arm. He pulled her up
and back into her chambers. She lay on the floor a moment regaining
composure, before promptly slugging him in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for? I just saved your life!"
"Well what took so long?" Akane growled standing up.
"Jeez, you really are a tomboy."
"You jerk! How dare you call me a tomboy."
"An uncute one at that... oh man... Ryouga!" Ranma picked up Akane and
leaped out of the hole. Akane kicked her legs about in frustration.
"Are you crazy?! That was three stories!" Akane growled.
"Nothing to it."
"My aren't we full of ourselves? You can put me down now."
Ranma blushed then sat her down. "Not like I was wanting to hold you
or nothing."
"Well it's not like I want to be held by a jerk like you anyway."
Ranma turned and ran in the direction of the courtyard.
"Hey! I'm not through with you. Where do you think you're going? Stop,
that's an order!" Akane shouted at Ranma's back.
"I'm going to find Ryouga, My Lady," Ranma said over his shoulder,
emphasising 'Lady' by sticking his tongue out at her.
Akane fumed. "Some nerve!"
Akane was about to give chase when she heard her sisters yelling. She
turned and ran back towards the castle gates.
(-\*/-)
Ryouga wandered around the castle until he was once again in the
courtyard.
"Argh! Not here again!" Ryouga cursed and kicked up a cloud of dirt.
"There ya are! You alright?" Ranma asked as he jogged to Ryouga's
side.
"Yes, is everyone else okay?"
"Akane is, not sure about everyone else yet. What the heck happened?"
"Happosai."
A battle yell grabbed the two's attention.
"That sounded like..." Ryouga began.
"Akane!" the two yelled in unison and ran off in the direction of the
yell.
"Can't that girl stay out of trouble for one minute?" Ranma growled as
they rounded a corner to come upon Akane fighting a large humanoid
creature.
"Hey jerk, fight someone your own skill level!" Ranma yelled going
into a battle stance.
Akane's battle aura flared and she swung her broadsword in a upward
arch, lobbing the huge creatures head off.
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much," she growled,
sheathing her sword. "Two others took off into the castle, come on."
Ranma and Ryouga nodded then followed, stepping over the decapitated
corpse of the orc. The trio ran full speed through the castle up to
Lord Tendou's chambers, only to find him bursting with tears.
"My babies! They're gone just like their mother!" Lord Tendou sobbed
as two members of the Royal Guard tried to calm him futilely. "You!
You will both go and rescue them won't you?" he pleaded as he looked
to Ranma and Ryouga.
"Father, I can do it, let me go. We can't trust these two to go
alone." Akane shot a sidelong glance at Ranma that seemed to scream,
"so there!"
"I believe your father has suffered enough, My Lady." Ranma smiled as
he got just the reactions he wanted from Lord Tendou and Akane.
"Yes, please stay with your father," Lord Tendou pleaded as Akane
stiffened in protest. "I will have an army asembled tomorrow to
follow, in case they are not to be trusted."
"As you wish father. I will be in my chambers," Akane said, as she
turned and stormed out.
"You two, get these two their horses. They will leave quickly as
possible," Lord Tendou said waving his guards off. The guards bowed in
acknowledgement then motioned for Ranma and Ryouga to follow. They
bowed as well before following the guards out. The guards led them out
to the stables and saddled their horses.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Ryouga asked.
"Well I guess we'll follow the orc trail. Shouldn't be that hard... I
mean I've tracked you down before, and you leave fewer tracks," Ranma
said as he mounted his horse. "You comin' or what?"
Ryouga grumbled and mounted his horse as well, then threw Ranma the
rope used to guide Ryouga's horse. Ranma grinned and pushed his heels
into the horse, and the two rode off in the direction the orcs left.
(-\*/-)
Akane grumbled as she looked out of the hole in her wall. She glanced
around her room and found just what she needed, the tassel that used
to decorate the top of her canopy bed. 'That is before that jerk blew
up the rest of my room. As if the Dragon Scouts didn't do well enough
a job.' Akane smirked. 'I'll have to get him to show me how to do
that,' She thought as she tied one end of the tassel around a still
standing piece of her wall. 'Damn, it doesn't reach all the way down.
Oh well... Banzai!' She threw herself over the rope and began lowering
herself as far down the three stories as the rope would reach. When
she got to the end of the rope, she let go, landing soundly on her
bottom.
"Ugh..." Akane stood and dusted herself off. 'I'll show them,' she
grinned to herself as she snuck around to the stables. When Ranma and
Ryouga were far enough ahead, she untied the reins of her horse and
mounted. When the guards were a few yards away, she charged out of the
stables at full speed.
"Wait! Lady Akane!" one of the guards yelled as he tried jogging after
her. He sighed then came to a stop shaking his head. "Dammit! Lord
Tendou will not be pleased."
(-\*/-)
Ranma stopped his horse and dismounted. He bent down and inspected the
ground. It was full of rather deep indentures and the grass was
uprooted. "Looks like they stayed here a while," he said standing back
upright.
"Yeah," Ryouga agreed as he dismounted. "Looks like some one got away
for a while... look," Ranma pointed to a set of female tracks leading
away from the mass of footprints. The tracks didn't get far before
they stopped abruptly.
"Hope they didn't hurt her," Ryouga said as the two remounted their
horses.
Thunder crackled in the sky as Ryouga mounted his horse. The two boys
cringed in anticipation of rain.
"Just what we need," Ranma said coaxing his horse onward.
The brief stop made by Ranma and Ryouga allowed Akane enough time to
catch up. Ryouga turned his head abruptly as he heard the clapping of
hooves approaching from behind.
"Umm Ranma?" Ryouga turned and reached forward, tapping Ranma on the
back.
"What?" Ranma asked looking back, his questioned answered by the sight
of Akane riding up. "Not good..."
"Hi!" Akane said as she slowed her horse to ride parallel with the two
boys.
"What are you doin' here? Didn't your father tell you not to come?"
Ranma enquire, staring straight ahead.
"Yeah, well I'm perfectly capable of saving my sisters. Besides, he
was too busy crying to worry about who would keep an eye on you two,"
Akane replied smugly.
Thunder rumbled again, this time fairly closer. Ryouga sighed, "can we
please try to get some where it stays dry before it starts to rain?"
"A little rain never hurt anyone," Akane chirped. "Besides, it's
cooler when it rains. Better than burning up in all this plate armor."
"Well then don't wear all that plate armor," Ranma said looking
upward. "Besides the rain might not hurt, but in our case it's not a
very pleasant experience."
"I don't understand," Akane looked at Ranma with a raised eyebrow.
"Look, if we don't find some shelter soon, you'll find out. I'd rather
just tell you if you don't mind."
"What ever you say, Ranma." Akane looked to Ryouga. "What is his
problem?"
"I'm sorry, My Lady, but I have to agree with Ranma on this one..."
Ryouga was cut off by a loud crash of thunder.
The three coaxed their horses into a fast gallop in the direction of
some greyish smoke billowing up from behind some trees.
"There's a small trading village in this direction," Ranma shouted
over the den of galloping horses. "We can stay at the tavern."
"But the rain is going to wash the tracks away," Akane shouted in
protest.
"Don't worry, My Lady. Orcs leave more than just footprints. It won't
be as easy, but we'll be able to find where they went," Ryouga
clamored.
The three riders dismounted as they got close to the small village.
They walked their horses down the street, towards the center of town,
where the tavern was most likely located. They noticed most people
stopped what they were doing to glare at them as they walked through
town.
"What are they staring at?" Akane whispered.
"They don't get many visitors, I'm sure, so they probably just think
we're riff-raff or somethin'," Ranma offered as he shrugged.
"Oh," Akane said looking around as they approached the tavern. A small
sign hung above the door that read: "The Flaming Dragon Inn".
The trio tied there horses to the post provided out in front of the
tavern and ducked inside as lightning streaked across the side. The
only occupant to acknowledge them was the stout barkeep.
"We don't get many outsiders 'round here any more," the balding man
said coming out from behind the bar left of the entrance to greet the
guests. "What can I do ya for?" he asked, wiping his hands on his
apron be for extending it to the group. "The name's Takeshi."
Ranma accepted it first, followed by Ryouga. "Well we'd like two rooms
for the night and dinner," Ranma said digging through his satchel.
"Well, sir... There's but one room left," Takeshi said walking back
towards the bar.
"That's ok, we'll take it," Akane said following him. "They can just
sleep on the floor, do you have any extra blankets?"
"Sure thing, dear." Takeshi reached under the counter and handed Akane
a key. "You can find the extra blankets in the wardrobe in the room.
Though rooming with as pretty a girl as you, I doubt they'd want to
stay on the floor." He flashed her a rather toothless grin.
Akane face faulted in response while Ranma and Ryouga looked at each
other and sighed.
"Gonna be a long night," Ranma whispered to Ryouga, who nodded in
response.
"By the way, the stew is in the pot over the fire," Takeshi added
pointing to the fireplace along the wall opposite the bar. "The thirty
silver pieces will cover the room and it will be another nine silver
for dinner for the three of you."
Akane started for her satchel but Ranma stopped her. "It's no
problem." He handed the barkeep a gold piece*. "Ya can keep the
change."
"Thank you, Ranma," Akane smiled causing Ranma to blush slightly then
looked away.
"Feh," Ryouga grumbled. "I could have paid too if I held the money.
Stupid Ranma," he whispered sharply.
Takeshi pulled three wooden bowls from under the counter and placed
them on the bar. Ryouga grabbed two and turned to Akane. "Allow me, My
Lady."
Akane giggled. "Okay."
Ranma growled under his breath and snatched his bowl from the bar. He
followed Ryouga to the fireplace and waited for him to fill his bowls
then grabbed the spoon. He filled his bowl as he watched Ryouga escort
Akane to a table. 'Hrmph, what do I care anyway,' he thought as he
trudged over to the table, just as Ryouga pulled a chair out for her.
"Thank you, Ryouga," she said smiling.
Ryouga blushed, "Ah, it wasn't a problem."
'Ah, it wasn't a problem,' Ranma thought mockingly, in a sing-song
voice.
The two ate in relative silence, until Akane stood up. "Well, I'm
going to sleep."
"Yeah, guess we should too," Ranma stood up along with her.
Ryouga soon followed. The three climbed the stairs near the bar to the
rooms above. Akane unlocked the door to their room and they stepped
inside. She immediately sat on the bed in the center of the small room
and removed her armor. Ranma walked to the wardrobe and pulled out a
blanket and handed it to Ryouga. He then took one out for himself and
spread it to the right of the bed. Ryouga placed his down on the other
before pulling his boots off.
"Man, it sure is nice to lie down," Ranma said as he laid down after
removing his chain-mail.
"You said it," Ryouga replied.
Akane shrugged. "I'm not very used to sleeping in this leather
though," she said as she stood up, pulling the covers down.
"Ya kinda get used to it," Ranma said yawning.
"I suppose," Akane said as she pulled the covers over her. She then
leaned over and blew out the only lamp lighting the room. The three
soon fell asleep to the soft patter of rain on the roof.
*1 gold piece = 50 silver pieces