With gleaming eyes, the colossal form of the winged Minotaur Tora stood in front of the Black Baron and his subordinates.
He cracked his knuckles. "Well, what shall it be, puny mortal? A village to ravage, a powerful enemy to kill? I'm open for suggestions..."
Koan gathered his dignity and stepped forward. "Listen, beast... We are searching for an enemy of our mistress... he is a traveller from another world and has black hair, tied into a pigtail... His name is Ranma Saotome! We want you to find him! He has escaped from our fortress last night, and he shouldn't have gotten far... still, there is always the possibility that he could have reached the border of Na'aj... and you know..."
"Yes!" The beast grinned. "You miserable knights can't even cross the barrier between the realms... All right, I shall obey..." He turned his back to the baron and his men and took off into the dark sky.
----
The next morning, Ranma woke up to the sounds of someone rummaging through a cupboard. He sat up in the bed that Konaxu had allowed him to use, and rubbed his eyes.
Tsaquasa grinned as she looked up from what she was doing. "Oh, did I wake you, sleepyhead? So sorry about that!"
"Doesn't matter..." Ranma grumbled sleepily. "Back home, my father would have woken me up anyways... Damn, and I can't even spar by myself."
"Sorry, I'm not much of a fighter," Tsaquasa admitted. "By the way, sis is searching the forest. It looks like most of the knights are searching in the southern part of the woods by now. Wanna join me for a little dip in the lake?"
Ranma thought about it, then shook his head. "Sorry, not this time... But how about I watch you from the shore?"
Tsaquasa giggled. "You humans... are you all that afraid of water?"
"Hey, I'm afraid of nuthin'..."
"Oh, of course not," she teased.
In fact, Ranma just wouldn't want to activate his curse, as he didn't know if there was a way to get hot water around here... The mermaid sisters didn't seem to own a stove or something similar. Also, everything they had offered him to eat was good, but cold.
He followed his new friend outside and watched as she jumped into the water with an elegant dive. And when she splashed and jumped around in the lake, he realized that her legs have turned into a beautiful, azure fish tail. Apparently, those mermaids could turn their tails into human legs at will.
After several minutes, Tsaquasa came shooting out of the water like a living torpedo. Her fin turned back into a pair of legs, and she landed elegantly next to her new friend.
"Aaaaah, that felt good," she sighed. She really looked refreshed, almost reborn.
"You must miss the ocean, huh?" Ranma asked.
"Yeah, very much," she nodded with a sad voice. "But, it's not too bad here... the only thing that makes our life miserable are the black knights... But still, sometimes I miss life back in our kingdom... the pearl-decorated towers of daddy's castle..."
"Castle?" Ranma wondered. "Your dad owned a castle?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Tsaquasa grinned. "Our parents were the king and queen of our part of the sea."
"So that makes you..."
"Yup!" She curtsied. "You have the honor of being in the presence of the younger princess of the western sea, mylord!"
Just then, they heard a rustling in the bushes... and Konaxu appeared. She smiled when seeing the other two teenagers. "Ah... gone for your morning dip?" she asked her sister.
"Yup!" Tsaquasa replied. "I asked Ranma if he would come as well, but he obviously is a hydrophobic..."
"Hey, that's not true," Ranma protested in a playful voice. Tsaquasa stuck out her tongue.
Konaxu chuckled, but got serious pretty quickly. "Ranma... we should leave soon..."
"We?" the pig-tailed boy wondered.
She nodded. "I told you I would show you a safe way to Ja'an, right? I will come with you for a short distance, then you have to go by yourself."
"I wanna come too," Tsaquasa piped up. But her sister shook her head. "Sorry, but you don't know the way as well as I do... and I can't watch out for both of you. I'm sorry, Tsaquasa, but you have to stay back here at the lake."
"That sooo sucks," the other mermaid grumbled. "You always have to boss me around."
Konaxu sighed. "Look, sis, this isn't the time..."
But she couldn't continue, as suddenly, a dark shape came crashing down through the trees and smashed onto the ground in front of them.
Ranma gasped and went into battle position, while Konaxu brandished her trident. Tsaquasa yelped and hid behind her sister.
The winged Minotaur chuckled as he stared down at the three creatures cowering in front of him. "Well, well, long time no see, princess of the ocean... or should that be: Princess of the pond?" He roared with laughter.
"Tora..." Konaxu grumbled. Of all the monsters at her command, Ekana just had to send that vicious demon of a Minotaur? She didn't know if she would be able to defend herself against his power.
Tora then looked at Ranma. "Ah, the boy with the pigtail, just as Koan said... well, that was an easy job."
"So, Koan sent you, eh?" Ranma asked. He still felt a surge of anger, every time he thought about the black baron. "So, and what now?"
"Nothing!" The enormous beast turned back around.
"Huh?" Ranma was puzzled. He was going to leave? That was way too easy. Taro would have never acted like this.
"What are you planning, Minotaur?" Konaxu shouted. "Don't you want to rip us apart, as you do with all of your victims?"
"Not this time, little mermaid," the beast chuckled. "My job was to find that boy... and I did, did I? Well, now I just have to report back. If you excuse me..." And he spread his wings and took off into the sky.
"That was scary," whimpered Tsaquasa.
"We have no time to lose," Konaxu said. "If he's going to tell Koan where you are, the black knights will be here soon. Tsaquasa, get back into the cave and don't come out until I've returned, understood?"
"But sis..."
"Don't argue! We don't have time for this! Ranma, quick! Follow me!"
"All right, got it!" He took one final look at Tsaquasa. "Sorry, but she's right... Although I hope we'll see each other again. Take care..."
"Yeah, you too!" the younger mermaid nodded, and then Ranma and Konaxu left.
----
Koan felt pretty confident as he saw the approaching form of the summoned beast. That was faster than he thought it would take... so, perhaps Saotome was still around here.
After the Minotaur had landed, Koan stepped up impatiently. "Well, out with it: Where is Saotome? And why didn't you bring him with you?"
Tora laughed. "You just ordered me to find him, Black Baron... I found him, at the forest lake, in the company of two pretty mermaids... And when I found him, my job was complete. So I came back. Now remember, you can only summon me two more times before I reclaim my flute."
Koan snarled with anger. That wasn't what he wanted... But Tora was right. He was only bound to follow the summoner's command... And he only commanded him to find Saotome.
After the mighty beast had vanished again, he angrily punched one of his men in the face. Damn! That certainly could have gone better.
Well, at least he knew where Saotome was... or rather, had been several minutes ago. "Go to the forest lake!" he commanded his men. "Search around it until you found Saotome!"
"Yes, sir!"
Well, now he only had to tell his mistress how he had wasted one summoning of the flute...
----
Cringing in pain, the Black Baron fell to the ground as Ekana pulled back her wand.
"I'm very disappointed, Koan... I clearly told you: Only use the flute in a case of emergency!"
"Forgive me, my lady," Koan sniveled. "But I only wanted to bring you your enemy back..."
"I thought you would, you birdbrain... You always act without thinking first."
She sat down on her throne. "And now, answer this question: Have I ever, since Saotome has fled, ordered you to capture him?"
"Um... no?"
"You're right, no! I didn't! And do you know just why I didn't want him to be captured?"
"No, I don't."
"Perhaps BECAUSE I wanted him to escape, you fool! Do you think he would have been able to flee this fortress if I hadn't told my guards to leave their posts? I wanted Saotome to flee, so he would go and search a way to get over the Shadow Mountains."
"But, my evil mistress... Just WHY do you want him to go there? When he crosses the mountains, he will be able to reach Tokoi..."
"Yes, exactly," Ekana said. "And that's why we're going to... follow him!"
Realization dawned within the black baron's mind. "You mean..."
"You understand now? All of it has been a part of my plan. The Shadow Mountains are a barrier between Na'aj and Ja'an, created by the subconsciousness of sleeping Akane Tendo... but there are small parts where they can be crossed, only very few persons know of those ways."
She grinned evilly. "And if we can't find those ways... we let Ranma Saotome find them instead."
"Truly an ingenious plan, my mistress! Brilliant! Please, allow me to command the troops that are going to go after Saotome!"
"I'm sorry, Koan, but I already found a suitable general..."
She made a gesture, and a black knight entered the room. Other than being a woman and wearing the female version of the black knight armors, she didn't look too special... He also couldn't see her face, because of the black mask she was wearing. But Koan could feel the aura of darkness and cruelty that was surrounding that knight like an invisible cloak.
"Baron Koan, I'd like you to meet... the Black Valkyrie!"
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(Posted Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:37)
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