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The FFML Refugee List
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko
Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her
licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz
Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is
intended.
"The Green Lantern", copyright ALL-AMERICAN COMICS
# 16 (July 1940)
(Note: Green Lantern #16 provided the inspiration for this
story. However only the colour green remains.)
WARNING: This story contains scenes that some readers may
find sexually suggestive and/or violent.
Extended author notes will be added at the end of
of Chapter one and again at the end of the final chapter.
*******************************************************
Bedlam Fire
Chapter 11
*******************************************************
"Where is she! Where's that bitch Ke Lun!"
"The _Elder_ is not here," Xian Kangnao lean wearily
on her staff, two attendants hovering worriedly on either side.
She'd been in bed the past two weeks with a putrid throat,
wondering if she would make it to her second century, and
didn't feel up to dealing with this crisis. But she _was_ the
most senior, after Ke Lun, and in fact was the political head of
the Amazon's. Ke Lun preferred more esoteric pursuits than
administration and , in truth, the village was a more
comfortable place to live when she was off chasing some arcane
scroll, magic jewel or a son-in-law for her favorite great-grand-
daughter.
"Don't lie to me you miserable human," wings spread
in a threat display, the Phoenix warrior took a step forward,
hand on the pommel of his sword.
A stocky Amazon moved to intercept the bird-man,
club-foot giving her a shambling bear-like gate, that added to
the menace of the twenty kilo war-hammers she held lightly in
each ham-like hand.
"Apologize to elder Xian beast-spawn, ----" the air sang
as the twin sledges blurred in a Dragon-crushes-Tiger kata
before the young warrior dropped into an offensive posture in
front of her frail mentor. "----or die."
An angry hiss came from the waiting band of bird-
people and wings opened with an angry crack of air as they
prepared to take to the air.
"Peace, Nazneen," Kangnao put a gentle hand on the
young warrior's shoulder. "They are our guests," the stocky
warrior jerked her head in an angry motion that denied these
interlopers any rights to courtesy.
Kangano sighed, unhappily aware of Nazneen's anger
and it's cause. She was one of the forgotten ones, infants
abandoned because there were too many mouths to feed,
because they were imperfect or, all too often, simply because
they were female. The Amazon's took in dozen's of such each
year; had they room, they could take in thousands----and each
adoptee became more Amazon than the Amazons. Fanatically
loyal to the laws, traditions and lands of The People, they
would walk through fire for the Nation . . .or start one.
"I apologize for any discourtesy," Nazneen quivered
rebelliously but remained still under Kangnao's light grip. "but,
as I have said, the Elder is not here. She has sent word and we
expect----"
"The Phoenix have been slaughtered, through Amazon
treachery," the winged warrior spat. "Vengeance is treachery's
coin and blood pays for all!" A growl of agreement rose from
the bird-people on the ground, and harsh cries from the air
indicated at least some Phoenix warriors were aloft. "Ke Lun
sent us that cursed stone that killed us, killed us while we
slept-----"
"Jian Yao Guai killed your people," Wu Fengtan
corrected, laying aside her healers staff she walked slowly
forward, hands held away from her sides to show she was
unarmed. "The Elder only acted to protect you, to protect all of
us."
The Phoenix warrior growled disbelievingly, knuckles
whitening on the pommel of his sword as he fought the need to
kill the woman in front of him. Kill all the wingless freaks.
Fengtang winced at the waves of hate she could feel
rolling off the bird-man. Graduate of Duke University medical
school she was chief surgeon for the small Amazon hospital
that serviced the entire district, including many non-Amazon
patients. Because of this she had more contact with outsiders
than most of The People. She just wasn't sure she was up to
dealing with someone _this_ "outside". Still, she was the fourth
most senior member of the Council of Mothers, despite her
relative youth of fifty-one years, and it was her duty to do what
she could. Another cough shook Kangnao and Fentang hid a
frown. She needed to do something, if only so she could get the
older woman in out of the cold and wind.
"We have lost much. to Jian Yoi Guai," Fentang
reiterated. The Phoenix warrior snorted in derision but Fengang
continued in a firm tone. "The Amazon Nation was once a
great power. The Daemon left only a handful of children alive
and much of what made us a people was lost. We do not even
remember what many of the words of the old tongue mean."
"Ancient history," the bird-man dismissed angrily, "and
of no interest to us. _Your_ Elder has killed us-- now. Our
women and chicks are dead or dying-- now; our city destroyed--
now. Because----"
"We have lost," Fengang stalked forward, "warriors of
the Amazon----mothers and sisters who lie dead or worse in the
mountains," she swept a hand toward the south east. "dead
fighting this monster. And others are dead, men, women and
children that knew nothing of Amazons or Mt. Phoenix or
Daemons. But they died, just the same. Jian Yao Guai is our
common enemy. We must not fight one-another."
*******************************************************
"Where are the outer guards?" Guri's already grim
visage darkened noticeably.
"You're asking me?" Nabiki replied, using her usual
sardonic attitude as a shield against her own concerns. She was
frightened enough on her own. She didn't think she could cope
if the Amazons were scared as well.
"Tagme, Drolma," she made a quick hand signal and
the two warriors trotted off to either flank, reinforcing their
scouting element. "We should have been challenged at least
twice before we reached this point," Guri explained, never
stopping her ceaseless scan of the surroundings. "and where are
the herds?"
"Herds?" Ukyou flexed her hands in her gloves,
mentally debating if she should take off her parka. Even with
the sun almost directly overhead it was still cold. But, if it came
to a fight, she might need the extra mobility she'd get by
shedding the heavy coat.
"Goats and Yak," the Amazon leader indicated the
stream they were following with the muzzle of her rifle. "At this
time of day at least part of the herd should be watering. Even if
we somehow missed the guards, the dogs should have picked
up our scent, with the wind at our backs."
"Maybe they're all watching TV," Nabiki joked. "I
think they're showing a repeat of 'Tokyo Love Story'on
NHK."
"I just couldn't get into the story," Guri said absently.
" . . .three women and two men looking for love?" she
grimaced slightly. "Two men would be hard pressed to satisfy
one woman."
"You just don't appreciate emotion driven drama,"
Baojia commented, trotting up to them.
"I liked 'Sleepless Cinderella'," Guri defended herself.
"What did you find?" she asked the returning scout.
"Looks like most of the herds are in a corral
just bellow the reservoir. There's a lot of activity between the
corral and the power plant. Unfortunately I couldn't get close
enough to tell exactly what's going on without being spotted."
The warriors expression showed what she thought about having
to approach the Amazon village as if it were an enemy
encampment.
"No signs of a perimeter guard?" the lines in her face
deepened when Baojia shook her head. "OK, let's be smart
about this. I want a war-hand to watch our back-trail, to keep
something nasty from biting us on the ass." She looked at the
jumble of snow covered rocks that lined the path and the
tangled growth of fir and spruce beyond them, enough to
provide cover to a company of heavy infantry. Of course, she
thought with a thin lipped smile, that supposed the infantry
company also knew about the little "surprises" the Amazons
had seeded in the ground around their village. It wasn't likely
anyone but an Amazon could approach them undetected or
even with all their bits and pieces still attached, but wars were
won by the warrior who made the fewest mistakes. And Guri
intended to win all her battles and die in bed, a crotchety old
woman being waited on hand and foot by some young stud less
than half her age.
Raising her hand she signaled the rest of her war-band
forward. She heard the snick of metal on metal and,
peripherally, saw bayonets sprout from the end of rifles.
Shaking her head, she decided to ignore the slight breach in
discipline. Despite the adoption of modern conveniences like
satellite dishes, television, computers and automatic weapons,
The People, at heart, retained a love of single combat. Nothing
would make them happier than a hot fought battle that would
allow them to close and finish with cold steel.
*******************************************************
"What the hell is going on?" Nabiki asked rhetorically,
as they cautiously approached the outskirts of the village. She
wrinkled her nose as the same shift in wind that carried the mob
of angry voices also brought her a barnyard smell that was
unmistakable, even to her city-bred nose. Nervous bleats and
low groans from unhappy ungulates reinforced Nabiki's belief
that animals should be left as God intended; shrink-wrapped
and in the freezer section.
"No idea, sugar." Ukyou stripped off her parka and
handed it to Nabiki, taking a few practice swings with her
spatula to warm up. "But it doesn't sound good. Better stay
here with Kasumi." Guri had moved the non-combatants to the
center of the formation, non-combatant by definition being
non-Amazon.
"I'm going with you," Nabiki panted, trotting to keep
up with Ukyou, folding the parka into an awkward bundled as
she moved.
"I wonder if Akane is here?" Kasumi smiled brightly at
the two girls as she kept pace, slightly behind them. "Wouldn't
Ranma be pleased."
"Oh----"
"Crap----"
"Move it, sugar!"
Nabiki tossed Ukyou's parka aside and sprinted after
the hard moving okonomiyaki chef, leaving Kasumi to stop and
pick up the discarded coat, wiping it off, with a tiny frown at
their carelessness.
*******************************************************
Ukyou skidded to a stop, slightly in front of the
Amazon's she'd been traveling with, and to one side of an
seething crowd----were those _wings_?----backed up against a
low brick building that stood below a large reservoir. A thick
black cable snaked it's way from the building toward the
village and Ukyou guessed this was the power plant Guri had
mentioned. Half of the winged people swung to face the newly
arrived Amazon's, the rest remained on the defensive, facing
the Amazon villagers drawn up in a defensive array on the far
side of a rapidly flowing stream.
"What the HELL is going on!" Nabiki came panting
up behind Ukyou and stopped, staring at the milling throng of
Phoenix people, hissing and screeching like a flock of angry
geese.
"Who are you, little worm?" A Phoenix warrior
sneered, stepping froward to stand in front of Nabiki.
"I'm the worm you need to get up earlier for." At the
bird-man's blank look, she sighed. It wasn't any fun if they
were _this_ stupid. "Look, who's in charge of this founding
buster cluck? Where's Kiima? She knows me. Or Koruma or
Masara? Tell them Tendou Nabiki is here."
"They are dead," the raspy voice came from a hooded
figure that slowly separated itself from the middle of the
grounded bird-people. "They are all dead," a trembling hand
pushed back the hood and Nabiki gasped at the sight. "I'm
dead too."
"Kiima----my god," It looked like someone had melted
a wax figurine with a blow-torch and Nabiki closed her eyes
against the sight.
"God? . . . God had nothing to do with this," a tear
leaked from the corner of her eye and slid a torturous path
down her ruined face. "I took Ke Lun's cursed stone. Took it to
the City of Eternal Flame," her body shook with horrible dry
coughs as her flame ravaged lungs protested the cold and strain.
"G . . .gave it to L . . .Lord Saffron," a Phoenix warrior leapt to
support her as she swayed on her feet. " . . .it came
. . .in the night. . . it came . . .fire . . .jade fire burned everything
. . .burned . . ." her voice trailed off as she stared at a vision of
flames only she could see.
"Give us Ke Lun," one of the bird-men growled, "and
we may spare some of you . . .as slaves."
Nabiki went cold as she heard the rattle of selectors
going from safe to fire. She was learning _entirely_ too much
about guns and death on this trip. She took a deep breath,
willing herself to think of this as just another opportunity to
make a few Yen, like betting on a Ranma and Ryouga fight.
*Except, Ryouga doesn't carry an AK-47*, a little voice
whispered in her head. Resisting an impulse to wipe the flop-
sweat off her brow, Nabiki pasted a smile on her face and
moved between the Phoenix-warrior and the Amazons.
"Gentlemen, Ladies . . .let's not be hasty. There's no
profit in getting ang----"
The bird-man's wing snapped out, knocking Nabiki
sprawling and her knee exploded in pain as it slammed into a
rock. That was almost inconsequential as she watched the
Phoenix warriors and the Amazon nation prepare to reenact
King Pyrrhus battle against the Romans over her supine body.
"Is someone looking for me?" The Phoenix people
snapped around, like puppets on a common string, to see a tiny
wrinkled figure standing atop the slate roof of the power plant.
Nabiki felt a wave of relief that was almost orgasmic at
the acerbic tones of the old Amazon. If anyone could keep this
from getting out of hand it was Ke Lun.
"Elder!" Kangnao's relief at seeing Ke Lun would have
been comic if the situation hadn't been balanced on the razor's
edge of annihilation. "I am glad to see you have returned safely
to us."
"You murdering bitch!" Wings spread wide in a threat
display the Phoenix warrior's sword leapt into his hand. Behind
and above him the sky shook with the harsh angry calls of the
survivors of Phoenix Mountain.
"STOP!"
The penned yak and goats set up an awful din, milling
around in panic as yet another group of strangers appeared,
passing between their corral and the reservoir as they made for
the almost warring groups of Amazons and Phoenix people.
Ukyou twisted to look over her shoulder as she half
knelt to help Nabiki to her feet.
"Who the hell are _these_ guys?"
Nabiki stood, favoring her left leg and looked at the
newcomers who were still spilling out of the ancient stand of
Dragon Spruce bordering the western edge of the village and
fanning out into a skirmish line. "I don't know but . . ." she
stared hard at the strangers, all of whom were heavily armed
and dressed in----
"I think they're Musk warriors."
"Musk!" Ukyou quickly checked her bindings. "What
makes you think they're Musk?"
"They're all dressed in animal skins," Nabiki indicated
a grim looking warrior in a wolf-skin hood taking point for an
elaborately decorated palanquin, "and I _think_ I know who
that is." The worn and savage looking figure bore only a faint
resemblance to the exuberant boy she'd seen only days earlier.
"Mint? Hey . . .Mint!" the young Musk Warrior looked
neither right nor left but continued on a straight line, stopping
equidistant from the Amazons and Phoenix. The rest of the
warriors formed a loose skirmish line a few meters behind the
palanquin.
Nabiki could feel the pucker factor increase as the
Amazon's realized two hostile armies were now in the middle
of their main village. The Amazon's _could_ retreat south,
back the way Guri's war-band had just come. Back toward
whatever had been dogging their trail, torturing and killing
their warriors. They could flee, abandon their homes and herds-
---but the smart money was on a genocidal fight to the last
ditch, with Tendou Souun's second daughter in the middle.
"Mint, aren't you going to say hello?" Moving forward
on legs that felt like limp noodles Nabiki kept her hands well
away from her body, in what she hoped was a universally
understood gesture that she was unarmed. It worked on TV.
"I don't know you," the wolf boy's cold glance
dismissed Nabiki as a nonentity.
"Sure you do," Nibiki kept walking, on the theory that
as long as everyone was talking, they wouldn't start shooting.
*Or stabbing* she thought queasily, looking at the long curved
sword slung across Mint's back. "We met on the tra----" The
wolf-boy's lips drew back, exposing an impressive dentation, at
the reminder of their last meeting.
"Ummm, you and your friend had tea with A----
ummmm, with Shan Pu," she covered hastily. The way things
were going it might not be a good idea to remind people of her
relationship with Akane. "You locked Ranma into girl form
when you first met," and where _was_ that idiot. Never around
when she needed him, that's where. "Pretty funny stuff." She
was close enough to see the wolf-boy's worn, strained
appearance. It didn't look like he'd slept in days. A brief shift
in the wind showed that he hadn't been bathing regularly either.
"You know, you guys look like you could use a bite to eat,"
and wasn't that an understatement. The warriors behind the
palanquin all had the pinched feverish look of starving dogs.
Nabiki could see that half----more than half---- of the animal
skinned fighters were women. And there were children, some
no more than infants. This wasn't an invading army. These
were refugees, fleeing disaster. And the more dangerous for
their desperation. A sudden thought made a cold lump in
Nabiki's belly and she sagged, would have fallen if a strong
arm hadn't caught her.
"You all right, sugar?"
Nabiki hadn't realized Ukyou had followed her ---- she
dismissed it as unimportant---- if the Musk were _fleeing_, that
meant something was chasing them. And Nabiki was afraid she
knew what that something was.
"Mint . . ." she shivered, a reaction that had nothing to
do with the cold wind from the mountains. "Mint . . .what
happened? Why are you here?"
"I think Ke Lun knows the answer to that question."
The curtains of the palanquin were pulled aside, revealing a
beautiful young man reclining on cushions of silk. Milk white
skin, as soft and smooth as a young girls contrasted oddly with
the battered dragon-scale armor that covered one shoulder and
part of one arm.
"Herb?" Nabiki wanted to make sure of her
identification. "Prince Herb?"
"Forgive me for not rising," Herb replied in a voice
laced with barely suppressed pain. Mint sprang to his prince's
side, placing an arm around his shoulders to help him sit up.
"but I'm not feeling quite myself." The traveling robe fell
aside, showing lumpy, blood stained bandages covering the
shattered stumps of legs that ended only inches below his waist.
"I see you also have benefitted from Amazon
treachery," Kiima rasped, limping forward with the help of two
Phoenix warriors. "Together the Phoenix and Musk can make
an end of these filthy mud dwellers."
"We'll see you in hell first," Guri had moved up, her
war-band spreading out to cover the Musk and Phoenix.
"Plucked and roasted like a rock-hen." She spared a glance for
Herb. "We thought the Musk were extinct. An easily corrected
mistake."
A low growl from the assembled Musk, at Guri's
remark, did not bode well. Numerically the odds seemed to
favor the Amazons, out-numbering both the Phoenix and Musk
by better than five to one. But over half the Amazon's were
men, children and those too old for combat. And while the
Phoenix were not warriors of Amazonian caliber, their ability
to take to the air gave them a significant advantage and the
Musk----the Amazons were good----the Musk were better.
However, defending their homes and families, being intimately
familiar with the ground, swung the odds back toward the
Amazons.
Nabiki could feel tension shiver the air and knew she
was about to witness an epic conflict that only occurred once in
a lifetime. The sort of thing she was quite certain was better
experienced as a good book, while drinking cappuccino, a
hundred years after the fact.
"Young people today are so impatient." Startled,
Ukyou jerked around to see Ke Lun standing calmly in the
middle of the seething group of Amazons, Musk and Phoenix
people. "They want instant gratification." She reached inside
her robes and scratched vigorously. "I blame it on
microwaveable popcorn."
"Little problem . . ." Mint seemed at a loss for words.
"Little . . .!" The long sword on his back sprang into his hand
with a hiss of steel on leather. "You consider the destruction of
the Musk a _little_ problem? Then, when I carve out your
heart you shouldn't even notice it!"
"Don't you think we should take care of Jian Yoi Guai
first?" Ke Lun seemed not in the least perturbed by the
homicidal young Musk. She stood, surrounded by the warriors
of two hostile nations, completely at ease, as if welcoming a
rather large group into the Nekohaten.
"Jian----it's here?!" Kiima rasped as the remaining
fingers of her ruined hand clenched and unclenched nervously
on the pommel of her sword. "The daemon is here?"
"I really expected better of Saffron," Ke Lon replied
conversationally. "I thought that a demi-god would be a match
for a daemon. And you Herb," Mint bristled at Ke Lun's gently
mocking tone and moved to block his prince from the
Amazon's view. "surely the Son-of-the-Dragon should have
had no trouble with a mere daemon. What was it you said,
wolf-boy? 'Only the strong survive. If the Amazons cannot
defeat their enemies, they should perish'."
Mint flushed as his earlier words were thrown back in
his face.
"It seems the Amazons are still here," Ku Lun made a
show of looking around, "but where is your little friend? The
tiger-boy?"
"We're going to die." Nabiki whimpered slightly as
Mint's face twisted with rage and . . .guilt?
"You bitch----Lime died defending Herb from the
daemon that _you_ sent to us."
Ke Lun smiled slightly, causing Mint to shudder with
repressed rage. "Fortunately for everyone the Amazons have
defeated Jian Yoi Guai," she turned her back on Mint and
started walking around the reservoir, past the power plant.
"perhaps you would like to watch as I try to nullify the
daemon's power?" she threw over her shoulder, not looking to
see if she were followed.
Ukyou stood, bemused, as the Musk, Amazons and
Phoenix ebbed and flowed past her like water from a broken
damn, as they followed the Amazon Matriarch.
"Well, looks like we're not going to die, after all,"
Ukyou re-sheathed her spatula as the last of the Musk trickled
past. "Once Ke Lun gets this Jian Yoi Guai taken care of, we'll
find Akane, grab Ran-chan and head back home."
"That would be lovely," Kasumi said, coming up
behind the two girls. "I'm worried the koi may not be getting
fed properly."
Her rubbery legs gave way and she hit the damp ground
with a thump"I just want to go home." Nabiki said, rubbing her
sore calves, exhausted from the forced march and the strain of
the last few minutes "I want to sleep in my own bed, eat a hot
meal . . ." Her tummy made a happy growl of agreement.
"I'm gonna soak in the furro for a month," Ukyou said
determinedly, having her priorities straight. "It'll take that long
to thaw out." She flexed her hands, cramped from gripping her
spatula so tightly. "What is this Zanne Yakki thing anyway?"
"Jian Yao Guai," Konatsu corrected respectfully. "It
means, roughly, jade devil or demon."
"You and me both. I'd kill for a hot----oh crap!" Nabiki
straightened so suddenly she almost smacked Ukyou in the
head.
"What is the matter, Nabiki-san?" Konatsu asked,
struggling with Ukyou-sama's pack he'd been unwilling to see
left behind with the others.
"Jade Daemon----"
"What about it?" Ukyou looked puzzled.
"That's what Ke Lun called Akane back at the doujou."
Nabiki turned to watch the tail end of the mob of Amazons,
Musk and Phoenix disappearing around the brick building that
housed the power plant. "That Jade Daemon must be Akane!"
"Just calm down," Akane wasn't high on Ukyou's list
of concerns to begin with. "Maybe it is Akane, but that means
she's probably been possessed or something by this Jean . . .
Shen . . .this Jade Daemon thing." After the beating she'd
taken, to her spirit more than her body, she didn't have much
sympathy to spare for the girl. "So this is a good thing. We let
Ke Lun do her magic stuff, get rid of the daemon and we all go
home." And if something went wrong, the Amazons would take
the blame. Or, if they somehow cured Akane, it still wouldn't
be all bad, since they would always be associated with this
whole mess. It _was_ their daemon after all. And Akane would
always have the taint of daemon possession and all the awful
things she'd done. Let _her_ see how it felt being an outcast.
"Let's just go see what's going on before we panic."
"That's a wonderful idea," Kasumi smiled gently at the
okonomiyaki chef. "You are such a good friend."
Ignoring her elder sister, Nabiki started running after
the angry mob. These people didn't know what they were
dealing with. If it really was Akane----she rounded the side of
the low brick building that housed the water turbine and
generator that supplied electric power to the Amazons---and
they pissed her off . . . Nabiki felt sick recalling what Akane
had done to her, to Tarou, with no more effort than swatting a
fly.
Pounding across the arched bridge, that spanned the
stream flowing through the center of the village, she could see
the Musk and Phoenix, intermingled with the larger mass of
Amazons, slowing to a stop about a hundred meters away.
Behind her, the clattering thump of heavy boots told her
Ukyou, Konatsu and, hopefully, Kasumi were all following her.
Thank god for Kasumi. If anyone could control Akane----what
Akane had become----it was Kasumi.
Heart pounding, like a grunge-band drummer on
mescaline, Nabiki finally reached the tail end of the mob.
Gasping for breath she started pushing and shoving her way
through the crowd.
"C'mon. Move it." Ukyou came up beside her and
began adroitly moving people aside, with essentially the same
motions she used in flipping okonomiyaki on a griddle.
"Commin' through . . .pardon me . . .MOVE IT or lose it,
buster!" A Phoenix warrior squawked angrily as the butt end of
a combat spatula jabbed him in a sensitive spot. Whirling, he
found himself facing forty-eight centimeters of gleaming razor
edged steel. He moved it.
Following in their wake, Kasumi felt a slight tightening
behind her eyes as waves of anger, fear and fury beat at her
from every side. Automatically her breathing slowed and
deepened as she drew strength from the earth with each breath,
and flushed poison from her soul with every exhalation. It was
a basic meditation exercise, familiar to any student of Zen, or
martial arts, but long years of practice had brought it to a rare
level of perfection. Within moments the hate and fear were
pushed back by a shield of irresistible calm that allowed
Kasumi to move through the seething crowd like smoke,
emerging, finally, at the front.
A clearing had been made, very recently by the looks of
the ragged stumps of trees, still weeping sap, and the pitiful
rings of foundation stones that marked where someone's home
of decades had been hastily ripped apart and carried away. An
ancient Rowan tree stood alone, it's modest eleven meter height
made taller seeming by the slenderness of it's black trunk. A
dense canopy shimmered gold in the noon-day sun and it's
branches were so thick with lustrous crimson berries it was
easy to see why the Rowan had been called "Delight of the
Eye" in medieval Europe.
Just below the lowest limbs hung a battered, bloody
human wreck, tight wrapped in thorny vines and pinned to the
trunk with long cruel spikes of wood, carved from the living
tree. Only the raven black cap of hair provided a clue to its
identity.
Witchbane was another name for the Rowan, and
flames kindled from it's wood were used to destroy witches.
"Akane?" Kasumi didn't remember crossing the
intervening space. One moment she was on the fringe of the
mob, trying to make sense of what she was seeing, the next----
"Akane," gently she brushed a strand of blood matted
hair aside, to see the terrible wounds it hid. "Oh Akane . . ." she
fumbled in her pockets for a handkerchief and dabbed futilely
at a gash that was sullenly oozing blood. "you've hurt yourself
again."
"neesama?" the feeble whisper was almost lost in the
sound of wind rustling through the leaves. "hurts . . .
neesama . . ."
"Yes, sweetheart, I know it does." She looked at the
handkerchief, scarlet with blood, and put it carefully in a side
pocket before pulling out a tea-towel she'd carried along for
busy-work in time of idleness. The delicate strawberry pattern
she'd been embroidering disappeared almost at once under a
bloody stain.
"dark," Akane whimpered, twisting a little against her
bonds, tearing nasty furrows in her frozen skin. "it's
dark . . ."
"Hush . . .hush," Kasumi put a calming hand on her
ssiters shoulder, knowing how much Akane was afraid of the
dark. "Wait just a minute----" Gently lifting her head to clean
the dirt and blood she expected had matted closed her eyes----
The wind blew chill against her face and Kasumi
touched her cold cheeks, bringing them away wet. She was
crying? She hadn't cried since . . . not for a long time. Akane----
Nabiki----Father---- They'd cried tears enough for themselves
and her as well. And someone had to make sure the house was
clean. That Akane had her bath. Nabiki brushed her teeth. That
they got to school on time. There was so much to do, there
wasn't time to cry and make tea.
Tea! She would make tea. Every one would feel
better with a nice cup----
"Enough talk! Kill the daemon and be done with it."
Kasumi turned toward the Musk warrior, dressed in a
lion skin and armed with a fist-full of serrated steel claws.
"That's not a nice thing to say." She remarked mildly.
The Musk warrior turned contemptuously toward the
slender Japanese girl. A son-of-the-lion, scion of ten thousand
years of warrior tradition and breeding, his skill was surpassed
only by the Hidden Masters and the Son-of-the Dragon himself
and equaled by few. He had faced death in a hundred blood
matches and never flinched. Until he looked into the brown
eyes of a young girl, not half his size, and saw the angel of
death staring back.
"You bastards," Nabiki had snatched a discarded length
of wood from the ground, left over from the hasty demolition of
houses, and was holding it like an over-sized baseball bat.
"You lousy stinking bastards,"she was shaking in rage. "I'll
kill you. I'll kill all of you."
Flinching from the rage, and more, radiating from the
two girls the mob muttered angrily, still too divided by internal
conflicts to act as one.
"You cannot kill her," Ke Lun rasped from her position
on the right hand of the mob.
"Why not!" an angry Phoenix warrior called. "Kill her
and be done with it." there were rumbles of agreement from the
Musk and the Amazons.
At least they agree on something, Ukyou thought,
moving carefully away from the mob. It was ugly and getting
uglier. She didn't think they'd waste much time on a cute
okonomiyaki chef, but just in case she wanted room to use her
spatula to best advantage. Kontasu kept pace, her pack held
protectively in his arms, but his eyes never stopped moving,
watching for danger. Ordinarily his cloying closeness irritated
her no end, but right now he was the only friend she had, and it
was surprisingly comforting to have him around. Of course the
_best_ thing would be to see a familiar red-shirt-and-pig-tail
come bounding out of nowhere.
"This girl is not responsible for her actions," Ke Lun
pointed with her staff at the bloody wreck hanging from the
tree. "The death, the blood, the misery . . ."
"I wish Ranma were here."
Shan Pu looked at Mu Si in----shock would be too mild
a word. She would be shocked if the Council of Mothers
declared they'd been wrong and men were the superior sex. She
would be astonished if the Han Communist leaders all shaved
their heads and went dancing through the streets banging
tambourines and chanting Hari Krishna. She didn't have any
words to describe how she felt about _this_.
"Are you feeling alright?" she pressed a palm against
his forehead.
"Ranma's problem is that he's oversexed, overconfident
and over-here," Mu Si never took his eyes from the seething
crowd, mesmerized for the moment by Ke Lun's oratory, "but
no matter how much trouble he gets into, he always seems to
get out of it. And he doesn't leave anyone behind."
"You _are_ sick," Shan Pu declared. "I'll fetch
some willow-bark tea. "
"This is going to end badly," Mu Si whispered,
shivering at the waves of hate he could feel rolling off the mob,
like sweat off a fat man.
"It doesn't matter that your women and children lie
dead and crippled. The destruction of your homes is less than
nothing . . ."
"What is great-grandmother doing?" Shan Pu put Mu
Si's strange behavior aside as she watched the crowd
alternately calm and tense under the influence of the ancient
Amazons voice.
"The great evil that has been done to you . . .to all of
you . . .can never be redressed. Put it out of your minds. Forget
the death, the suffering, the degradation . . ."
The Musk, Mu Si noted, did not look like a very
forgetful people.
"Put all thoughts of vengeance from your minds. You
can not bring back your dead or restore your crippled . . ."
"Geeez," Ukyou muttered half to herself, watching the
mob react to Ke Lun's words, "what's the old woman tryin' to
do?" Worrying her lower lip she tired to judge her chances of
just leaving the village and trying to make her own way back
home. She didn't know the area, but Konatsu had shown a
positive genius for navigating strange areas. His ninja training,
she supposed. And even the chance of dying of exposure in the
mountains seemed preferable to getting caught in the middle of
_this_. She couldn't understand why she just didn't make a
break for it, while everyone's attention was on Ke Lun. Of
course she really should wait around for Ranma, in case he
needed help. He'd never really needed her help before, but that
was the only reason she could think of she wasn't half way to
the coast by now.
"Jian Yoi Guai is your enemy. Not this poor miserable
girl," Ke Lun's voice took on a slightly pleading tone. "For all
our sakes you must----"
"Kill it," A Phoenix warrior snarled, his sentiments
echoing around the area in an ugly growl. "Kill it. Kill it. KILL
IT!"
"You've got to go through me first, bird-boy!" Nabiki
forced him back with a wild swing of her improvised club.
"You aren't being very nice," Kasumi uttered her threat
as she sank into an awkward Horse-stance. It was obvious that
it had been years since she'd done even basic exercises, but
there was nothing childish about the stark determination in her
eyes. Nothing but death would move her from her sister's side.
"Do you think that the two of you can stop us?" A
Musk warrior asked, advancing with a sword in each hand, a
trio of fighters at his back.
"Three. Three of us." Ukyou couldn't believe what
she'd just said as her feet carried her to a spot between and
slightly in front of Kasumi and Nabiki.
"Four, if you please, Kuonji-sama," Konatsu added
softly, moving to a position on Ukyou's left.
"You owe me big time for this," Ukyou muttered to
Nabiki, just as if they had a chance of getting out alive. To
Konatsu she added, "watch my back, sugar."
"Of course, Kuonji-sama," the ninja replied, secure in
the knowledge that, at the least, he could die in the service of
his Kuonji-sama.
"OK buster," Ukyou motioned a Phoenix warrior
forward, "show me what ya got!" If she could get them to come
at her, one at the time, maybe she could stall until Ranma
showed up. It was all very well for him to pull off last minute
fiancee rescues, but this was cutting it a little close.
*******************************************************
"Herb? Is something the matter?" Mint watched with
concern as his prince and his friend turned his head slowly from
side to side as if looking for something. The lines of pain in his
face, cut deep by the wounds that crippled his body and cut
deeper every time he looked at the remnants of the people he
was sworn to protect, became even more pronounced.
"Fire . . .daemon fire," Herb muttered, plucking
aimlessly at the robe covering what was left of his lower body.
"Burning . . .burning . . .fire . . ." his voice trailed off into
disjointed muttering and Mint felt hot tears stinging his eyes to
see his proud prince so reduced. Herb had managed to rouse
himself to nearly his normal state several times during the long
forced march to the Amazon village, but each effort left him
more exhausted than the last, and Mint feared the worst.
"The deamon is captured,"Mint soothed, tucking the
robe gently around Herb's lower body. "there's no more fire."
"There _is_ fire," Herb's eyes focused suddenly on
Mint's face. "Take me closer." He pointed to the front of the
crowd, where the okonomiyaki cook was batting a Phoenix
warrior out of the sky with her uber-spatula, like swatting a fly.
"Herb, you need to rest," Mint soothed in the voice used
on fractious children, or the very ill. "There is no need----"
"Do you dare disobey?" Herb said dangerously, his
voice suddenly firm and strong.
"N . . no Herb. Of course not!" Mint stuttered, torn
between relief at seeing his prince so nearly normal, and worry
this show of strength could be his last. "It will be as you say. At
once!" At Mint's signal four giant Musk, dressed in the shaggy
fur of a creature that should have been extinct since the last ice-
age, each took a corner of the palanquin and followed him
forward.
*******************************************************
Ukyou made a quick thrusting feint with the butt of her
spatula, then brought the business end around in a reverse-
butterfly, catching the swooping Phoenix warrior by surprise.
The winged-warrior was unconscious before he hit the ground
with a thump and went skidding across the ground.
Wishing she dared wipe the sweat from her brow,
Ukyou spun to meet the next challenger. So far, with an adroit
use of the same showmanship she used to sell okonomiyaki,
(and being careful to use _only_ the flat of her blade) she'd
managed to keep the crowd at bay, or at least coming at her
only one-at-the- time. And so far the Musk and Amazons
seemed content to watch her beat the crap out of the Phoenix,
and the Phoenix seemed to take it as a personal challenge to
beat her one-on-one.
"DAEMON!"
*Ohhhh . . .* Ukyou watched the two-and-a-half-meter-
plus tall Musk warriors advance with the palanquin.* . . .crap.*
She couldn't possibly hold off a single ordinary Musk warrior
(ordinary being a relative term when describing a
pathologically misogynist tribe who had devoted the past ten-
thousand years to the finer arts of ass-whuppin, she reminded
herself) ---- she wasn't sure a battalion of Imperial Marines
could stop these monsters---- if Herb ordered them to attack,
they'd crush her like a bug. She shot a quick look at Konatsu
and saw that he was still at her side, as if connected by a steel
rod. Nabiki she dismissed as willing, but not able to stand up to
a serious attack. Kasumi ----like wolf defending her only cub----
would take a lot of killing. Ukyou spared a glance for the eldest
Tendou and shivered slightly at what she saw behind those
serene eyes----a lot of killing. But they'd still go down at last
and that would be the end of them. Ukyou just wished she
could be there to see how Ke Lun explained this to Ranma (and
just where was that jackass?).
"DAEMON! Now you die!"
But Herb wasn't looking at Akane. He was looking
at----
"RYUU SEI RAIKOU!"
----Ke Lun?
The Dragon Spirit Thunderbolt, that should have
reduced the old Amazon to a charcoal briquette, slammed into
an invisible shield instead.
Ukyou shielded her eyes against the blinding flash with
her spatula. Blinking away the after image she watched Ke
Lun's withered body split apart, like a rotten fruit, and a
slender, smooth skinned figure with lustrous black hair
cascading down her back like a velvet waterfall, emerged from
the discarded husk. Rising from the remains on a pillar of green
fire the inhumanly beautiful woman turned slowly in the air,
considering the stunned humans below her with an air of cruel
amusement.
"Uh oh." A massive understatement, but Ukyou was all
surprised out.
"I'm hungry."
"Ukyou didn't think a special with all the trimmings
was what----she?----had in mind. An hysterical voice gibbered
and wailed, demanding she run. Distantly Ukyou recognized it
as her own internal voice, giving imminently sensible advice
that, watching the wall of green fire roll toward her, she didn't
think she'd be able to follow. Reflexively she brought her
spatula up in guard position, rather like the last defiant act of
mouse snarling at a tiger.
An image of a pigtailed martial artist flashed across her
mind.
*Ranma no Baka!*
Then the green fire hit.
*******************************************************
*Ukyou's fiancee ran away . . .*
"No," Ukyou flushed at the whispered comment,
"That's not what happened."
*Poor girl, can't hold a man . . .*
"It's not true," Angry tears streamed down her face.
"You take that back."
*I have no daughter!*
"Papa? What----no, papa! Don't leave me here," she
ran frantically down the beach, sturdy six-year-old legs
churning the sand in a desperate effort to catch him. "Don't
leave----"
Images came, faster and faster. Each more real than the
last. Every hurtful thing that she'd done, or had done to her,
until her soul was a single bleeding wound. She relived her
every pain and humiliation, like a dog eating it's own vomit.
Dimly she could hear a chorus of screams as daemons of green
fire ripped and tore at the minds of the Amazon, Phoenix and
Musk, flaying them with whips of despair, failure and regret,
flogging their emotions into the most delicious mix, before
devouring them.
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"
A storm of stone needles blasted into the floating figure,
staggering her.
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!"
Ki exploded in the center of her back, spinning the
floating girl like a leaf in a storm.
Ranma? Ukyou struggled to her feet, feeling as if the
top of her head had been split open and her brains spilled out on
the ground.
"BAKUSAI----"
Moaning in pain, Nabiki rolled over in time to see
Ryouga toss a calf sized boulder in the air and stab it with his
finger.
"----TENKETSU!" A cone-shaped wave of lethal stone
fragments exploded toward the floating girl, like a gigantic
shotgun blast. Ryouga had been practicing, Nabiki thought
fuzzily, crawling toward where Kasumi lay limp and
motionless on the ground.
"HIRYUU----" Ranma darted behind the thing that had
been Ke Lun, trying to draw attention away from Ryouga.
"----KOURIN----" green fire lanced from the daemon's
hands, ripping a gash in Ranma's side and snapping his arm
like a rotten twig.
"----DAN!" with the last of his strength Ranma brought
his Flying Dragon Descent Bomb down on her.
"You are stupid to defy me," the seductive voice
promised an eternity of poisonous pleasure. "I think I'll eat you
now."
"He's an idiot----"
The fire wreathed girl jerked around, her shock so
palpable Ukyou almost burst out laughing. Almost.
"----but he's _my_ idiot." The prisoning thorns and
spikes burned away in a rush of scarlet flame.
"Impossible. You can't do this!"
"You're about a million years too early for me." Red-
gold flames burned in the empty sockets of her eyes and danced
along the surface of her skin.
Green flame roared from the daemon-girl, slamming
Akane against the trunk of the Rowen tree. Flames, mundane
and eldritch, ate into her flesh with a horrible stench of roasting
meat.
"Don't turn your back on me!" Ryouga, forgotten in
the heat of the moment, thrust the ragged stump of the main
power line into Ke Lun's spine.
Screaming, disoriented by the unexpected attack, the
deamon possessed Amazon twisted and convulsed, clawing at
her back.
"I bet that hurts," hair and body still smoking Akane
was suddenly at her side. "This might help." She grabbed a fist-
full of thick black hair and yanked the Amazon's head back,
thrusting a handful of the beautiful, poisonous red Rowan-
berries between inhumanly perfect lips.
Dazed and panicked, toxins flooding it's host body, the
green-flame fled, and, like a mountain cat, Akane pounced,
grappling with Ke Lun's dying flesh in a grotesque parody of a
lovers embrace. A scarlet cloud flowed from her body,
smothering the evil green cloud as it emerged from Ke Lun,
drinking the jade poison, smothering it. Trapping it. Making it
one with herself.
Shan Pu staggered forward, glad of Mu Si's support, as
her great-grandmother's possessed body fell to the earth.
Lightning flashed across the ground with a stench of ozone and
the following clap of thunder knocked her to her knees.
Rubbing grit from her eyes she could see a fierce red flame
entwined in a much larger, if dimmer, green fire. For some
reason she had a sudden image of a honey-badger fighting a
lion. The lion was bigger and stronger, but the badger was
tough, mean and too stupid to know when it was outmatched.
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!" Ki flashed, striking the red-
flame dead center. Startled, Shan Pu twisted around to see
Ranma, broken arm tucked inside his shirt, advancing on the
two fires.
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!" Again ki burst into the
red-fire, which flared higher.
"SHI SHI----"
"NO! You idiot," Ranma took time to scream at
Ryouga. "It EATS pain."
Ryouga looked shamefaced, even as Ranma hit the
scarlet fire again, and yet again with his Mouko Takabisha.
The red fire looked stronger and, to Shan Pu's eyes, the green
was diminished. One more solid hit and Ranma sank to the
ground, exhausted, his face etched with pain. But it had been
enough, as the red fire, slowly, consumed the green and both
vanished from sight.
*******************************************************
Almost nine hours later the Nerima gang, plus a few
assorted Amazons, were clustered in one of the few reasonably
intact houses on the outskirts of the Amazon village.
" . . .put this little bit of . . .uhhhh," Ryouga scratched
his head in thought. "stuff . . .inside me. It helped me find
Ranma, gave us the plan----"
"Plan?" Nabiki had recovered enough to be curious.
She handed a cup of hot broth and a thick slice of bread to
Ryouga, who took it gratefully, then passed out more to Shan
Pu and Ukyou. She spared a glance for her sister---- she hoped
her sister----cuddled in Ranma's arms, and decided there was
no use in expecting him to be willing to use one of the arms
holding Akane for mere food.
And, thinking of arms, she shouldn't have been
surprised, considering all the other strange things going on, that
Ranma's break was almost healed. But there had been an
astonishing amount of medical help available, between the
three groups. Everyone was too scared, too battered and just
too damned tired, to worry about who had done what to whom--
so food, shelter, and medicine was being shared freely among
people who had been at each others throats hours earlier.
"The plan to . . .uhhhh . . .ambush Ke Lun . . .the thing
that possessed Ke Lun," Ryouga hastily corrected his answer to
Nabiki, looking in Shan Pu's direction and flushing. "We
. . . uhhhh . . .were supposed to distract her until Akane-san
could drive it out of Ke Lun and . . .ummmm . . .do what she
did." Flustered at being the center of so much attention he hid
behind his mug of broth, making the hot liquid vanish in great
gulps.
"You . . .you _let_ the Amazon's catch you and----"
Ukyou broke off, staring at Akane's mutilated face in disbelief.
"had . . .to . . .fool part of daemon . . .in Ke Lun,"
Akane whispered from the security of Ranma's arms. "make . .
.it . . .feel . . .safe . . . catch off-guard."
Ukyou cupped her hands around her mug, trying to
dispel a sudden chill at the thought of _deliberately_ letting----
her eyes were drawn involuntarily to the raw-wounds that had
been Akane's eyes and jerked away again, clamping her jaw
tight as her stomach revolted.
Konatsu took a mug and a piece of bread from Nabiki
with a shy smile of thanks. In addition to Ranma's arm,
everyone who hadn't been killed outright looked like they
would also recover, including----Nabiki stopped in front of a
tall slender figure, huddled miserably in the corner of the hut
the Nermia group had been allocated---- Ke Lun, who looked to
make a full recovery from her daemon possession, maybe better
than full considering her restored youth.
"You need to eat something."
Unless she grieved herself to death, first.
"You're not doing anybody any good like this."
"Great-grand . . ." Shan Pu faltered, feeling foolish
addressing a girl who looked younger than _she_ did as great-
grandmother. "Please eat. Please?"
"I killed them," eyes, so filled with despair and self
loathing that Nabiki wanted to weep, turned from
contemplating the aromatic rushes that covered the floor.
"Aziza, Xianmeng, all the others. That little village along the
trail. . . .I killed them all."
"It wasn't your fault," Ukyou astonished herself again.
First standing up to a mob, now comforting Ke Lun. "It was the
daemon that did it, not you." Dammit, now she couldn't even
blame Akane for the beating she'd taken. Somehow she was too
tired to care anymore.
"Who cares," Nabiki settled onto a cushion with a sigh,
cupping a hot mug of black-tea and barley, mixed with a
healthy dollop of yak butter. Taking a sip of the thick mixture
she realized, with horror, she was beginning to _like_ the stuff.
"It's over now. The daemon's dead, the good guys won." She
_had_ to get back to civilization soon. She was starting to like
it here.
"Not yet," everyone started at the hoarse whisper.
Ranma's arms tightened convulsively as the slight figure stirred
in his grip.
"What do you mean?" Mu Si reluctantly asked the
question no one really wanted answered.
Akane sat up, too quickly, as a fat red spark jumped
between her and Ranma, causing the pig-tailed martial artist to
jump slightly.
"What do you mean, not yet?" Nabiki repeated. She
didn't _really_ want an answer to that particular question
either. But the only way to grasp a nettle was firmly. Akane
turned toward the sound of her voice and Nabiki wished
someone had thought to bandage Akane's eyes. There was
something very . . . unsettling . . .about the red flames burning
deep inside the empty sockets.
"Ke Lon . . .Ke Lon . . . not daemon. . ." Akane
faltered, as if even that slight effort was too much. Ranma held
her gently, frightened at how fragile she felt, like a butterfly
wing that would tear at the slightest breath.
"only have . . .part . . .of daemon. she only . . . help
. . .release . . .it." She sagged in Ranma's arms. "real daemon
free . . .now."
*******************************************************
End Chapter 11
*******************************************************
notes:
Computer slowly getting better. Trying to figure out how
to get new HD formatted properly. Once these "little"
problems are solved I'll start back on Sukeban, et al. ^_^
Thanks for your patience. And, if you've written and haven't
heard from me . . .well . . .blame it on Windows 95, ME, 2000
or Western Digital. [It's not MY fault ^_*]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
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