Chapter 8
The plan was going off smoother than was originally anticipated, every one of the pawns in this chess-match was performing as expected. Except one.
The Wildfire’s sister was putting up a shocking amount resistance against his troops. Granted Brak’katt didn’t have the best control over them in the best circumstances, but these had the Warlock’s full attention. The girl was still defeating soldiers when they let their guard down for even an instant.
"Interesting." Emperor Darr’rak murmurs as he receives yet another report of the kidnapping attempt. "Are you sure this girl is not a Ronin, Zanaton?"
"Absolutely, Emperor. The only thing the girl shows is a sympathetic echo of Wildfire’s power. Nothing more." Zanaton restates, wondering why the Dessanin Emperor kept asking such stupid questions.
Emperor Darr’rak turns back to his report. Their attempts to capture the boy were proving difficult. The boy was going to become a new host for one of his youja warriors, provided they could capture him. "You’d best capture him, Zanaton. I want Talpa’s world for mine, and I need my warriors."
In order to bring his most powerful warriors to the Netherworld they had to possess another sentient creature. Dessanins and dessan crossbreeds were difficult to possess, so they preferred human children.
Zanaton shrugs and indicates himself. "I don’t see why we need humans, Emperor. If broken, half-breeds work fine."
The Emperor scowls. Zanaton loved pressing it that he had managed to posses a half-breed; even though his host easily slipped his control when it wished to.
However, Dessanin half-breeds were fascinatingly powerful, given their mixed blood. The typical examples were more powerful than their full blooded parent. But given his host’s blood-line, Zanaton should be infinity more careful: Great power ran in both sides of it’s family.
Then one of his soldiers transmits an image of the battle, of course corrupted by the phantom’s limited sight capabilities. Most of the time it gave him absolutely no idea of what was going on . . . This time, however, this girl stood out in sharp contrast to everything around her like a lighted candle in absolute darkness.
"Interesting." He says once again as he turns back to his view of the battle . . .
____
The creatures herd Rahne and White Blaze into a corner. The tiger’s pale fur is dotted with blood from dozens of small nicks and cuts; Rahne’s shoulder hurts like crazy, the sleeve sticky and drenched with her own blood.
One of the things raises it’s katana for what it thinks will be the killing blow. Rahne’s blade meets it. With a lighting fast vault she disengages. Coming up under his guard, she slices him through diagonally from hip to shoulder; with an explosive burst of brackish smoke the thing falls to the floor.
Rahne turns to meet another downswing, blocks it. There’s a brief jarring, then the blade continues. Rahne dodges at the last second, the blade barely missing her. She tosses away her now useless weapon. That thing had sheared the blade off completely.
She risks a glance over at Yuli; the poor kid’s crying. Frightened for them. Rahne backs up into her old position in the corner. She crouches; as if in defeat.
Slowly, so they won’t notice; she shifts her weight. She slips her feet under her so they’re directly lined up with her hips. ‘Only one chance at this, Babes! Make it a good one!’
Rahne springs over the intruders’ heads as if she was launched from a crossbow, her muscles screaming with the abuse and lands on Yuli’s bed. She grabs a handful of his pajamas and yanks both of them backwards off the bed.
‘Get to the door . . .!!!!!’ A bo strikes the back of her legs, Rahne feels them start to give out.
She grabs the elastic waist band of Yuli’s pajama bottoms and a handful of his nightshirt and tosses him out the hole she made in the door. She lands on the floor hard; a hot, coppery taste flooding her mouth.
"MIAYULIRUNFORIT!!!!!" Rahne screams at the top of her lungs.
White Blaze pounces over Rahne’s prone form. The bo strikes. But all she feels is soft fur and a grunt. The tiger’s dense muscles easily take a blow that would have crippled or killed her. White Blaze immediately turns, pouncing on the soldier.
While White Blaze rips the soldier apart, Rahne grabs the bo as it falls. She had to get herself another sword, or else she’d be dead before she’d get any help.
She charges another soldier, she brings the bo inside his guard, but he flips her over his head. Glass painfully gives against the force of the throw. And suddenly she’s falling. The gravel driveway rushes toward her.
Rahne manages to roll with the fall. Her breath cruelly driven from her lungs, gravel flying up into the air as she skids painfully across the ground. Broken glass rains down all around her, bouncing painfully off her. Colored blotches flare across her vision as she gasps for breath. She shuts her eyes and tries to summon the energy to move, run, anything. But the shock-borne weakness holds her down as if a cold, wet net had been thrown over her.
When she opens them, a soldier is standing over her, his long-bladed spear raised executioners' style. Rahne shuts her eyes again, mentally telling the guys how much she loved them, knowing that she's as good as dead.
The blow never comes.
She feels rough hands hauling her off the ground at a dead run. Hard metal presses against her as someone in armor clutches her close, jarring her as he runs. Rahne opens her eyes to a sea of deep blue armor. As the person runs she catches a glimpse of someone clad in green armor. She’s being held at an awkward angle; hands gripping her diagonally across her shoulders and hips. Instinctively she tries to get a hand hold to steady herself, and finds a ridged shoulder guard.
Everything seems to be moving in slow motion... She absently admires the muscles that stir powerfully in the arms that grip her.
Her rescuer stops and lays her down on a small hillock. As he lets go, she finally gets to see his face.
"Rowen?!" Rahne rasps, feeling light headed.
Her boyfriend smiles, caressing her face lovingly. He looks up and shouts something to someone. Blackness closes across her vision before she can find out who.
____
Rowen looks back down with dismay to see that she passed out.
"She okay?!" Sage hollers from where’s he’s covering Rowen. They’d gotten here at the last moment. Mia and Yuli had already made it out.
Sage frowns as he warily watches for any troops who might want to end the "romantic" moment over there. He'd gotten up into Yuli’s room just in time to see Rahne flying out the window. He had been too late to save her from the fall, but he’d gotten there in time to get rid of the soldier.
"Yeah, I think. She looks like she’s been put through a blender . . ."
Sage glances back towards the main battle; they were doing a good job of taking out the opposition. So far, he hasn’t had any even come at them.
"Oh my God!" Rowen hisses from behind him. Sage risks a look behind him.
That cut that first looked like it only involved her arm; actually extended all the way to the middle of her back. Sage grimaces, then turns back to his job.
Rowen’s already out of his armor and taking off his shirt. He presses it against the wound, pressing to stop the bleeding. She wasn’t in any danger, but he didn’t want to take chances.
The battle is short but brutal. The Ronins’ didn’t take kindly to their home being invaded.
Sage and Mia check the wounded, which’s pretty much comprised of White Blaze and Rahne. Yuli had a gouge on his leg from where the door caught him during his "flying lesson", but a Band-Aid takes care of that.
As Sage helps Kento lift her in a way that won’t reopen the cut on her back, he’s shocked at how much Rahne had done to protect Mia and Yuli. She took out a fair number of soldiers. But most people couldn’t even hope to oppose them. And she did.
____
Light. It’s streaming through the window like a breath-taking waterfall. The young woman blinks her eyes: It’s morning already.
Rahne moves to sit up, and immediately regrets it. Mia pushes her back down, then replaces the covers over her. The covers brush and catch the rough gauze bandages that cover her injuries. She’d just finished redressing her injuries.
"Stay down. The guys happen to check on you every now and then . . ." She tells her slowly. "And you’re not wearing a single thing above your waist."
"My T-shirt?" Rahne croaks, surprised she even has a voice let alone can understand what the other woman is saying.
Mia helps her put on a T-shirt, tugging it over her head and easing it over injured areas that made the girl gasp and whimper with pain.
Rahne gets a quick look at her bandage shrouded hands. They hurt something fierce, which from experiences in rock climbing meant she tore them up pretty bad. She’d taken her share of falls - though most of the injuries were rope-burns when she’d managed to stop herself - so she knows it’s going to hurt for a long time.
Mia leaves for something. Rahne leans back on her pillows to relax.
She hated to fight like that. For fun, yes. Sparring with her friends, sure. But she was no warrior! She feels unexpected tears spring to her eyes.
The bed shakes just noticeably. Rahne can feel every footsteps, some worse than others: Heavy footsteps. Door opening. Heavy running footsteps. Rahne opens her eyes to see Kento bounding into the room, a look of relief on his face.
"Babes, you’re okay!" Kento grabs her up in a bear-hug. She cries out in pain as his arms press against the scrape and cut on her back. "Oh, JEEZ! Babes! I’m sorry, Babes! Oh, God! I’m so sorry!"
Kento lets her go, Rahne leans back onto her pillows; the tears now of pain. Kento rubs her arm, trying to apologize for hurting her.
Rahne shuts her eyes, trying to deal with the pain.
Someone places a hand on her shoulder. She opens her eyes to see Sage standing over her, wearing a strange green and white body suit of some type. He smiles at her and begins to rub the spot where the katana cut her upper arm. At first the pain intensifies then it fades away until it’s only a nagging ache. He unwraps her hands and holds them in his own. The pain fades, but this time she can see what’s happening: the wounds are closing and healing extremely fast.
‘He’s doing this! He’s fixing my injuries . . .’ Finally Sage embraces her and the pain from where she skidded across the gravel fades away too. Rahne can almost feel the cut on her back closing. She lays her head on his shoulder as the dizziness and the maddening pain melt away; and she feels blissfully sleepy. She stares at the bright yellow locks of his hair in strange fascination. His hair smelled only faintly of styling gel, and most of that smell came from his bangs. The rest was soft and pliable, like he’d just let his natural curl have it’s way with his hair. Rahne blinks her eyes, and rests against him. That body suit felt strange to her touch. It was as soft as cloth, but felt like it was actually some sort of metal. She could swear that she could actually feel his heart beat through the armor-like suit. He begins to rock her back and forth, and she shuts her eyes, giving in to the warmth and comfort.
Sage holds Rahne until long after she falls asleep from the effects of his healing powers and lays her back down. He covers her up, and shuts the blind over the bed.
"She’ll wake up in a little bit, Kento." Sage states, ushering Kento from the room.
"But I wanna stay with -!" Kento protests.
Sage looks in his eyes, feeling more annoyed by the moment by both Kento and the pain that came from using his special powers without being in full armor. "She needs to rest! She can’t do that with you hanging over her!"
Kento leaves, still muttering protests and the occasional lewd comment about Sage’s anatomy.
Halo leans against the doorframe for a few moments to discourage Kento from returning. He glances back in to see her sleeping peacefully. She mutters something in her sleep, then rolls over onto her side.
Sage ducks back into the room for a chair and then sits just outside the door. He picks up his book from the table and starts to read again. He was slowly developing a migraine from the strain of doing so much with his healing abilities, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle doing it again for a while. He promptly resolves himself to remaining in his armor for much of the night.
The hallway gets a little too quiet for this house. Sage doesn’t even bother to glance up. "Cye, you’re not fooling me. Go away."
Cye peeks out of the room he ducked into and grumbles, "Yes, Warden."
Sage goes back to reading. ‘If I’m right, I’ll have Loverboy and Big Bad Brother here in a moment.’
To his surprise the next attempted visitor is Kayura. She takes one look at him, and smiles. "Cye told me you were playing sentry. May I see her?"
Sage crosses his arms over his chest, "Kayura, she needs rest! Absolutely no visitors until she’s ready to wake up!"
Sage scowls as one by one, everyone tries to make a visit. He only lets Mia in so she can check the dressings now that Ryo’s sister on the mend.
____
Several hours later Rahne wakes up, and she gets the whole story about the armors and about the Dynasty.
Kayura and Cale tell her about the battle from their points of view. Dais, armor clad and nearly blind, makes a brief appearance to apologize for stalking her; before retreating to Netherworld again to rest.
She takes it rather well for someone who had this dumped on her.
Rowen takes her outside to watch the stars come out. Sitting on the hood of Mia’s jeep, Rowen starts to identify the constellations for her.
"That’s Cygnus. It kind of makes a cross up there, see?"
Rahne nods and moves a little closer to him.
"Okay. Link the brightest stars up with the first two I showed you, and you have the Summer Triangle."
Rahne uses her finger to draw the triangle in the sky. "Oh! Cooool!"
Rowen wraps his arms around her and leans back on the hood. It was more comfortable this way: they didn’t have to crane their necks.
He taps her shoulder before speaking again. "If I felt like getting my telescope out, I’d show you the Ring Nebula. It’s in Lyra."
Rahne smiles at him, knowing his ribs still bothered him. He hadn’t let Sage use his healing powers on him, so the ribs were taking their natural course as his armor healed them. "What’s that one? That really bright star way over by the eastern horizon?"
Rowen lays his head over to look to the east. "That’s Aldebaran. In Taurus. I’m really surprised you can still see that in all the light pollution."
Rahne shrugs and shuts her eyes. She was feeling tired again. She yawns and sits up. "You tend to adapt a little when you’re missing the normal hardware . . ."
Rowen sits up with her. He leans in close to her, and shuts his eyes. His face seemed to loom closer and closer. ‘God, why does he become more handsome when he’s about to kiss me?’ Rahne shuts hers and meets him halfway. The kiss lasts for what seems like an eternity.
Meanwhile, inside:
"I’M STARVING!!!!!!!!"
Mia hurries with dinner, trying to placate a stomach she could almost hear rumbling almost all the way from here.
"Where’s Rahne!? She said she’d would help!" Mia calls, wondering where she was now.
Ryo comes in instead to help with dinner. He grabs the hotpads and takes the roast out of the oven. He begins to explain: "Rowen and Rahne are having a private conversation -"
"WHOA!!! LIP-LOCK!!!!" They hear Sage shout suddenly, followed by a few cat-calls.
Mia smiles, and glances out the window to see them engrossed in their kiss; totally ignoring the guys. "I guess so long as they behave."
Ryo mutters something typically big-brotherish under his breath.
A little bit a childish giggling emanates from the other room, then Kento starts laughing. Mia peeks through the door to see Yuli playing with Kento. Yuli gives a whoop of joy as Kento grabs him and spins him around.
"Stonecold Kento has him now!!!!! The crowd goes wild!!! WooHOOO!"
Kento yells, holding Yuli horizontally and spinning him around once more. Yuli lets out excited squeals of laughter as the room flashes past.
Mia ducks back into the kitchen, hoping that Yuli would be calm enough to eat in a few minutes, after Kento riled him up just now.
"Y’know, I don’t think we should leave you here when we go anymore. Cale said he drove off several approaching bands of soldiers today."
Mia grimaces, they weren’t sure what or who they wanted. Once Rahne had tossed Yuli out of his room during that first attempt; the soldiers had concentrated all their energy on subduing Rahne and White Blaze.
"This’s done, Ryo."
Ryo carefully places the roast onto a platter and cuts it. "So’s the roast."
Dinner is eaten is joyful chaos.
Mia watches Sage eat, his face pale and his normally handsome features look worn. His eyes looked sunken in as if he was dehydrated, even though he had been going through Gatorade and water like there was no tomorrow.
She tries not to worry about Sage, but he had felt the need to use his healing powers on the injured, even though their armors would do the same for them.
Rowen had gone so far as to refuse all treatment for his ribs that Sage offered. He knew that Sage’s healing powers often taxed him beyond his limits.
Mia hopes this ends soon, so everyone can rest and heal.